Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians

Chapter 33

All actions and chattering died down to stare at the maiden. Aphrodite made a face.

"Who wants to eat bear meat?" Aphrodite scolded, wrinkling her nose. "It's disgusting- you look disgusting too. I wouldn't be caught dead in that scruffy outfit-"

"Oh you wouldn't be caught dead?" Artemis growled, throwing the bloody sack in the ground. "How about I'll make you die?"

Before the two rivals could even start to kill each other, Apollo stepped in the middle of them. He glared slightly at Aphrodite, taking his sibling's side, but cast a warning look to Artemis as well.

"Easy now," Apollo warned. "Aphrodite, I think you broke a nail."

If she can't deal with her nail polish being scraped off, I hate to see what will happen when her nail is broken, Artemis thought with a wry grin, turning towards Apollo rather gratefully.

Aphrodite however, wasn't amused. She squealed loudly as if she was in an opera house and ran towards the bathroom, not even tripping in her high heels.

"Wow," Hermes commented, watching another person go to the bathroom. "If I had known she could run that fast in heels, I would have encouraged her to be in the Olympics or buy her running shoes."

"Running shoes?" Someone that sounded far away screeched. "Don't you dare Hermes! Don't you dare!"

"Pink running shoes?" Hermes offered, failing to stifle a laugh as a frustrated yell came.

"Shut up!" Aphrodite yelled as the bathroom door opened slightly so she could throw one of her hand cream products at the suggester.

Hermes just laughed at her attempts of aiming. The product missed and hit the wall behind him instead. He chuckled loudly, but Aphrodite proceeded to ignore him and started fixing her broken nail.

"Could you bring the bear meat to the kitchen Artemis?" Hestia called out. "Maybe we could cook it."

A genuine smile finally made its way to Artemis' face. She dragged the bloody sack across the floor towards the kitchen- making a blood trail that looked horrific along the way.

Zeus cleared his throat. "Artemis," he said stiffly. "If you could stop dragging it, and perhaps, carry it, so you cannot see the blood?"

The hunter stopped in her tracks, taking a glance look at the floor before nodding. She picked up the large sack, carrying it, and making the other occupants sigh in relief. Poseidon just stared at the blood marks, thinking about how much blood there would be in his son's house depressingly.

"Are you okay?" A familiar voice asked the sea businessman.

"I'm fine Amphitrite, don't worry about me," Poseidon responded, smiling for reassurance, but it didn't reach up to his eyes, and even a toddler could see that he was lying.

"Is it your son?" Amphitrite asked again, but this time, her tone was stiffer. Clearly, this wasn't a topic she didn't want to breach, but she knew she had no other option.

When her husband kept silent, she sighed, not knowing what to say. Eventually, she walked away to chat with Persephone, knowing that he needed space to think and grieve.

The door was rammed open, and Nico came crashing through, followed soon by Thalia and Percy, who both made a crash landing on the bloodstained carpet. The son of Poseidon groaned slightly as his damaged arm was what had hit the lamp next to him.

The bloodstained carpet got even bloodier as Percy's arm dripped blood from one of his earlier wounds. He winced, but knew he had had worse. Gripping his arm like it was his lifeline, he got up, ignoring the stares he got- especially the one from his father.

"C'mon Perce, we still haven't checked out the armory yet," Nico said, saving his cousin from another question.

Percy nodded eagerly, running after his cousin with Thalia grinning as she joined them. They looked like the Three Musketeers as they ran together. The father of the green-eyed boy didn't even have time to utter a single word or help his son. He sat back down in his chair.

A mouth-watering smell wafted from the kitchen. Hermes looked up from his phone eagerly, awaiting the food that awaited him. He sprang up from his chair and rushed towards the kitchen like it was the Olympics.

"Hermes," Hestia greeted with a smile as the said person entered the kitchen. "So glad you could come. Would you mind setting up the table?"

Instantly the messenger's eager eyes turned to hidden disappointment. He nodded glumly, slowly moving forwards to gather up the tools to set up the table.

Demeter smiled at the sight as if Hermes was a cute toddler who wanted to help everyone around him. She finished stirring the soup, before looking at Hestia. "Dinner!"

The last plate that Hermes was holding crashed on the floor.

Sounds of pounding footsteps, and people cursing could be heard all around the mansion. Apollo managed to trip over Ares, who pushed him right off.

"Watch where you're going punk," Ares growled from the floor as he tried to get up.

"From my point of view, I saw that it was you who was running," Apollo retorted. "I was walking-"

Ares snorted in amusement, "sure you were walking. You collided-"

"Ooh! Big word-"

"-with me. Hey what did you say?!"

In his rage, Ares proceeded to uppercut Apollo right in the face. The doctor staggered back, clutching his jaw in pain as he glared at the person that had declared war. Said person grinned sadistically, cracking his knuckles as if to say 'got a problem with that?'

It was Apollo's turn to growl. Still placing on one to comfort his jaw, he fought back, throwing in a left hook punch towards Ares' eye. The other person expected it, and blocked the punch, with two of his arms raised before kneeing the medic.

"Whoa," a person breathed out in amazement.

It was Thalia. Her cousins trailed behind her. She stared at the fighting scene in amazement.

"I haven't seen a fistfight in a while," she continued, grinning. "Bad luck Apollo, try to improve the left hook. Other than that, Ares, that was awesome!"

Said congratulated person grinned, giving his half-sister a thumbs up, before dusting himself off, and making his way to the dining table. Apollo lay on the floor.

While Thalia and Nico ran to go to the kitchen, Percy stood his ground staring at them. He knew they weren't coldhearted people, but when they ran off like that, congratulating Ares on beating up Apollo, it seemed like they were evil. Just like Gabe, he thought, as an imaginary cold fist closed around his heart.

"Are you okay?" Percy asked, holding out a hand to help his friend.

"I'm fine," Apollo grunted, accepting the hand as he finally stood up. "Ares is a jerk. He picked a fight because I bumped into him. Or when he bumped into me. Idiot."

The son of Poseidon nodded slowly, understanding what Apollo meant. His appetite had suddenly disappeared and all thoughts about actually attempting to have a great family reunion drowned in the sea.

"What took you so long?" Nico questioned, seeing the last two people arrive at the table.

"I was helping my cousin," Percy responded causally, but there was a hint of ice in his voice. His eyes blazed. "Unlike you and Thalia, who were running towards the food."

"For a guy that doesn't know the meaning of family, you sure know how to help that idiot over there," Ares remarked, digging into the food hungrily.

A forkful of food was halfway towards Percy's mouth. The fork dropped on the neatly set up table with a clatter. Hestia sent a disapproving look towards her nephew, and the cousins looked horrified, but the damage was already done.

The son of Poseidon stopped what he was doing entirely. He stared up at the person who had just insulted him. Without another word, he left before anyone could even stop him.

"Leave him be," Hestia said, placing her hand on Thalia's arm as she went to run after her cousin. "He needs time to calm down."

Hades was trying to prevent Poseidon from killing Ares, while some were still in shock of what had happened.

Eventually Hera banged her fist on the table. Her eyes glared at Ares so hard, even he had trouble trying not to look away. "Hermes, go get Perseus." Her tone was tight and sounded regal. "We will make this reunion work. Whether you like it or not."

A/N: Sorry for the late update and any OOCness. The next chapter is definitely going to be all about the family reunion. Thanks for all the support!

karaliza76: There will be a chapter (or scene) about Annabeth, probably in chapter 34.

. .27: I'll be using some parts of your idea, but not all, and thanks!

angelfabeth: Thanks, and maybe next chapter.