Chapter 61 - Eyes of Green

Luke and Alabastor didn't enter the house with Nico and Percy. Instead, the two cousins found themselves sitting alone opposite Rhea besides a roaring fireplace. Percy's fingers twitched uneasily around Riptide in his pocket. Gaea declined to sit, instead the Primordial goddess stood with her arms crossed behind Rhea, a judgemental and murderous gaze fixed on Percy.

Clearly, she was still unhappy that Percy was involved with Kronos. Percy couldn't say that he was now. Percy, however, didn't know what he and Kronos could be defined as anymore. He wanted to tell her that, but figured she probably wouldn't care. He couldn't blame her for it though. Gaea seemed to have an intensely complicated relationship with all her immortal children, but particularly with Kronos. Percy had a suspicion it was because Kronos had clearly taken after her, in the sense of his intelligence and general untrustworthiness. Gaea had, after all, been the one to suggest the killing of Ouranos and Kronos was just as likely to hug Percy as he was to stab him more than Percy was comfortable with. But there was also more to Kronos than that – he had made it clear many times over that he sought strength, and Percy had seen many aspects of him that he couldn't also pick up in Gaea. Percy's suspicion about where that came from had grown over the course of the giant war, and he was sure that Kronos took after his father Ouranos more than the Titan Lord was willing to admit.

Percy shifted slightly, uneasily. "Are you alright?" He asked Rhea finally. It seemed a foolish question, considering Rhea's state, but he wanted to fill the silence with something other than the crackling of the fire and Gaea's judgemental stare boring into him.

The Queen pressed her lips together. Her lips parted and she let out a long, lingering sigh. "You have come here asking about the problem at your Camp," Rhea stated finally, her gaze troubled as she glanced behind her to Gaea.

Nico nodded slightly, clearly extremely uneasy with Gaea's presence. That was understandable. She had had him held captive in a bronze jar. But Percy figured that dating not-dating one of her favourite sons would mean that Percy had more reason to be worried about her presence than Nico did. "Yes," Nico said. "How did you know? I thought there weren't any messages that can be sent."

"There are not," Rhea confirmed. "We have been unable to send any ourselves," she added. At the questioning look Percy gave her, she frowned slightly. "Titans," she elaborated simply. "It is not just Olympus affected by the blackout this time."

Percy's eyes furrowed slightly. "So then how do you know about Camp? What do you know about what's happening in the forest at Camp?" He asked carefully. "And how's it connected?"

Rhea pressed her lips together, considering Percy and Nico for several long moments. "Perseus, you were-"

"Percy."

"- not with your friends when they visited me in Crete," Rhea said, speaking over him as if he hadn't interrupted. "But Nico here was. The place they travelled to was the first location of the Grove of Dodona."

Percy blinked. "What's that?" He asked. Gaea snorted, apparently amused with Percy's lack of knowledge. Percy tried to ignore her.

"Demigods," Gaea muttered scornfully under her breath, clearly purposefully making it just loud enough that Percy and Nico could hear her. Percy scowled.

Rhea grimaced slightly, though whether at Gaea's snide comment or Percy's question, he didn't know. "The location of an Ancient Oracle," Rhea said, "my Oracle."

Percy's eyes widened slightly and he sat up, his attention returning to Rhea. "You have an Oracle?" He frowned slightly. "But what's that got to do with Camp?" It couldn't be a coincidence that Apollo, the god of prophecy was missing and something was going wrong with the Oracle of Delphi whilst Rhea was now bringing up her own Oracle at the same time.

"Much as Olympus and Othrys have moved here to America, so have other locations first found in Greece," Rhea answered. "The Grove of Dodona is no exception. The new location of my Grove, is inside the forest at Camp Half-Blood." The Queen's gaze darkened dramatically, her tone hardening. "And it is under threat," she spat out angrily. Cracks formed in her mortal flesh, and the goddess made a clear effort at reigning in her temper.

Percy shut his eyes, half expecting to be incinerated since he was so close. Honestly, Rhea terrified him more than Kronos did sometimes. His skin crawled, but the light in front of his eyes faded and he cracked open an eye to find Rhea – her expression still murderous. Percy pitied the idiot who was threatening Rhea's Grove of Dodona and stirring the rage of the traditionally gentle goddess.

"Okay," Percy said. "The Grove of Dodona. Someone's threatening it? How do we fix that?" He asked. "Who's doing it? Is it the Triumvirate? Triumvirate Holdings?" Percy asked.

Rhea stilled, rage pausing as her gaze sharply meet Percy's. "Where did you hear that name?"

"Rachel," Nico said, "she's the Oracle of Delphi at the moment… or, well, she's trying to be."

Percy nodded slightly. "But also from Oceanus," Percy said. "He mentioned them once in passing a few months ago, saying Kronos was involved with-"

Rhea let out a derisive snort. "He's always involved with everyone plotting to dismantle Olympus," she dismissed.

Gaea loomed disapprovingly behind Rhea's shoulder. Percy resisted the urge to bite out a snide remark at the Primordial.

"Yeah. I'm figuring that out," Percy muttered under his breath. He frowned slightly at Gaea, before his gaze flicked back to Rhea. "Anyway. I figured if Oceanus mentioned them and Rachel's been looking into them too – well, Oceanus was the one who said Kronos was involved with them."

Rhea inclined her head slightly. The Titan Queen remained silent for several long moments, before finally speaking again. "What do you two know of Ancient Rome?"

Gaea rolled her eyes. "Just tell them, dear daughter," the Primordial goddess said, her lips curling up into a faint sneer.

"No offence, but I'm with her on this," Percy said, hardly believing those words had just left his mouth. Nico's elbow wedged into Percy's stomach under his ribs as Rhea just frowned at him slightly.

Nico cleared his throat. "Not a lot," Nico admitted. Percy nodded in agreement. Nico probably knew more than Percy did about Ancient Rome.

The Titaness seemed slightly disappointed in them, but not too surprised. "The Roman Emperors?" She questioned.

Percy blinked. "I… they ruled Rome, I guess?" He asked hesitantly.

Gaea cackled. The Primordial seemed extremely amused with them. Her eyes flicked towards the back of Rhea's head. "You are attempting to avoid the explanation," she chided. "Cease the evasiveness, daughter." The Primordial goddess shifted closer. Percy and Nico shifted back slightly in response to put some distance between them again, but Gaea didn't seem to care. "There are some Roman Emperors whom still live," Gaea said flatly to Nico and Percy. "They are the source of your present issues." The Primordial's gaze tightened slightly, forest green eyes darkening. "And of Kronos' disappearance."

Rhea rolled her eyes. "He's fine," she dismissed. "Or if he's not, a little humility would be good for him. He's needed something to knock him down for many millennia now."

"And you leading a rebellion against him and being instrumental in his fall was not enough?" Gaea questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"No," Rhea said curtly.

"Your boundless hatred for him and your desire for revenge will have severe consequences for all involved," Gaea warned Rhea. The younger immortal didn't seem to care, from the look on her face as she only shrugged and dismissed Gaea's warning, much to the Primordial's clear displeasure.

Percy however was still trying to understand what Gaea had just said. Horror pooled in his stomach. "Triumvirate Holdings is owned by Roman Emperors?" He asked, not realising he was interrupting a conversation between two ancient immortals, both of whom could and would smite him on a whim. "Like – Ancient, should-be-dead Roman Emperors?"

Nico looked stunned sitting next to Percy. "Something like that – my father would've noticed them coming back," he said. "What – they've been around since before the Doors of Death opened though," Nico said. "How did they manage it?" He asked.

Rhea looked glad to have an excuse to stop the short conversation with her mother as she returned her eyes to Percy and Nico. "The Roman Emperors fancied themselves gods," she said. "They are not, but any definition, but mortals held a different opinion at the time. The Emperors were the faces of the Roman Empire during their tenures. We immortals like to think of ourselves as independent of mortals such as yourselves," Rhea said, "but that… is not true. Whilst, of course, we existed before mortals and will continue to exist long after mortals too, mortal opinions and suggestions hold more influence than we tend to admit."

Percy frowned. "That… doesn't really answer the question."

"Percy," Nico hissed.

Rhea pressed her lips together. "Collective memories hold immense power, particularly collective mortal memories. Unfortunately, however… only the worst of mankind tend to go down in history. It is an unfortunate habit of you mortals, you only tend to remember and memorialise the worst of your kind. I am certain we can blame Mnemosyne for that. Take yourself, for example, Perseus. You have done much for Olympus, but everyone is only likely to recall that you fucked the Titan Lord once you are dead," Rhea said disdainfully.

Percy raised an eyebrow. "Wow, thanks," he said, feeling a sharp ache in his chest. He tried to squash it down. Percy had already noticed how much Camp seemed to have stopped trusting him now. Having Rhea throw everything in his face like that, just because she didn't like Kronos, made him angry. Oceanus' teachings on blood-bending didn't help either, not now that Percy knew he had enough control to influence an immortal's ichor so long as it was unexpected. But Percy had realised during his lessons with Oceanus that such a power was dangerous not only to him, but to those around him too. Oceanus hadn't seemed concerned with Percy harming others, he'd only wanted to see Percy use it on Kronos. Percy resisted the urge to let his anger get the better of him, forcing himself to clench his fists instead.

Nico shifted slightly, and Rhea's gaze turned to him instead. It allowed Percy a moment to breathe, until he realised that Gaea was still watching him. He had no doubt that Gaea was fully aware of what he was considering doing. He saw nothing but curiosity in her gaze then, the Primordial clearly believing he wouldn't do it, but the option remained. Nico cleared his throat. "So, these three Emperors, they did something that meant they were remembered?"

"Yes," Rhea confirmed. "Each of them. They are widely considered the worst of the Roman Emperors, which unfortunately means that they have been remembered enough by you mortals to allow them to create a mockery of immortality which keeps them alive, in a half-state between mortality and the divine."

Percy took a deep breath. "Ok. Not-dead Roman Emperors," Percy said. "Which ones? How do we kill them?" He added. Percy had no idea what this all meant. Still, he knew some Roman Emperors had been nasty and having them walking around unimpeded was the beginning of a nightmare. They had to be dealt with, and soon.

"What are they trying to do? What do they want?" Nico asked.

"What do most men want?" Rhea questioned. "They want the same as Kronos. Power. Power over life and death. They know that they cannot challenge Olympus and us directly," Rhea said. "They do not have the ability, the following and nor the strength. They have built up a new Empire for themselves over the past few decades, but until now they have caused no problems for any of us. As they are not immortals, and they have not challenged any of us, we cannot yet smite them where they all stand. This, for now, gives them immunity from immortals."

"But not from mortals," Nico muttered.

"Great," Percy grumbled. "Maybe I should have told Mom what was going on."

"The Triumvirate aim to control Fate, through the Oracles," Rhea said. "Apollo is the primary god for prophecies and fate."

Realisation dawned on Percy in an instant. "And they had Kronos get Apollo and hand him over to them," he breathed. "Okay, but Apollo is a mortal, with all the non-existent powers of a mortal. He has no control over the Oracles or fate right now."

"That means they're vulnerable," Nico said to Percy, clearly having picked up on something else. "Open. There's no god ruling over the Oracles now, so they're vulnerable-"

"For a hostile takeover," Rhea finished. Her expression was grim. "Apollo's four Oracles, at least."

"And what about the Grove of Dodona? You said that was your Oracle?" Percy prompted, his skin crawling as he began to realise what was currently going on. The Roman Emperors were effectively sweeping all of the Oracles away from the gods all at once.

Rhea's expression tightened, the immortal clearly reminded that someone was apparently attacking a place sacred to her. Percy figured she had every right to be so furious. Though he would prefer for her anger to be directed at the Roman Emperors, instead of him and Nico. "I passed the Oracle onto Zeus some time ago, but we tend to share it between us. Nevertheless, Dodona is an Oracle independent to Apollo. The Triumvirate are attempting to seize the other Oracles, but they cannot do the same with Dodona so long as both Zeus and I remain with our immortality."

"Is that likely to change soon?" Percy asked.

Rhea raised an eyebrow at him. "No," she curtly said.

"So Dodona's safe," Percy said.

Rhea was utterly silent for several long moments. "Unless Nero succeeds in his attempts at forcing the Grove to open so he can burn it all down?" Rhea asked, her voice harsh and murderous. Percy noted the name drop, but was far more preoccupied with Rhea's clear fury.

As the goddess began to glow and he closed his eyes, he heard Gaea's dry voice over the crackling of the fire. "If you intend to incinerate them, consider making it last so they may suffer?" The Primordial goddess mused.

Rhea's glow faded. Percy's eyes flickered towards Gaea, whom seemed vaguely disappointed with her daughter stopping. Percy was half wishing Rhea had continued. It seemed like this was a bigger mess than he had assumed, one that he was going to have to get involved in. At least if Rhea incinerated him, Percy wouldn't have to deal with it.

"Nero's trying to burn down the Grove of Dodona?" Percy dared to ask when the glow settled. He paused briefly, shutting his eyes again when the room lit up sharply. Percy didn't know much about the Roman Emperors, but he definitely remembered that one's name. Mostly when it was mentioned how Rome burnt down and the Emperor at the time – Nero – made entirely no effort to stop it, only watching as his people burnt.

Even Kronos had the sense of mind to try to keep his own people alive... so long as they hadn't betrayed him.

"The only currently-independent Oracle," Rhea confirmed to Percy after she'd calmed again. Well, it was less of calming down, and more of regaining control over her divine form so she didn't incinerate the two of them. "You will be unable to receive a Prophecy from any of Apollo's Oracles whilst they are being strangled at Delphi," Rhea said to Percy. "My Oracle – and Zeus', of course – is the only one currently positioned to help you and issue you a quest. But first, you will need to rid your Camp's forest of Nero."

Percy slowly nodded. "Okay," he said, while he tried to understand that a pseudo-immortal Roman Emperor had apparently been chilling in the forest at Camp Half-Blood and disappearing demigods. It made him angry, realising that a threat to the Campers had been situated in the camp the entire time. "We definitely can do that."

Rhea snapped her fingers, and a set of wind-chimes materialised in front of Nico. "These will turn the voices into prophecy."

"Voices?" Percy asked, straightening up sharply as he recalled the voices he'd heard in the forest, which had put him into a daze and lured him in. They had clearly been responsible for the disappearance of the missing campers. "That's your Oracle? Your Oracle's been kidnapping campers?" He demanded angrily.

Rhea's eyes narrowed sharply at Percy. "The Oracle has called for help every time Nero has attacked. He is likely the one kidnapping campers whom wander his way under its influence."

Percy scowled. "Grover shouldn't have stopped me," he said.

Rhea tilted her head slightly. "I agree," she said, looking mildly amused. "Perhaps Nero would have had you set on fire and I would not be having to have this discussion with you. Someone else might be more polite, like Nico here." The goddess was clearly at the end of her patience with Percy's presence.

Percy figured he had to be careful here. The goddess sitting in front of him had been solely responsible for kicking off the ten-year war which had turned Kronos' domain and kingdom into ashes. "I'm fire resistant," he said instead of keeping silent like he should be. Percy was surprised however when Gaea's lips twitched slightly at Percy's comment. Clearly, the Primordial was there solely for the entertainment that was Percy's impertinence.

Rhea stood then, clearly deciding their conversation was over. "It is best you leave now, and head back to your camp. You have the knowledge you sought for through coming here."

Gaea cleared her throat. "Now, wait just a minute," she said as she glided forwards. Her alien green eyes, ancient and powerful beyond measure, frowned at her daughter. "You are forgetting someone. Intentionally, I suspect. For all your supposed care for your brethren, you seem to hold astoundingly little regard for your once-King, and your youngest brother."

Rhea's gaze soured. "Kronos can handle himself."

Gaea was utterly silent for several long moments as she and Rhea stared at each other, before she pressed her lips together. "Usually? I would say yes, despite how troublesome he can be. But now? I believe he has landed himself in a difficult situation." Gaea's gaze turned to Percy. He didn't want it to. "You may recall, only a week or so ago, that you were privy to a conversation in which my son and I discussed Delphi?"

A week? That had been several months ago, but Percy didn't mention that to Gaea. He just nodded his head to her, since he could vaguely remember that discussion between the two immortals. "He was worried, because something was going wrong at Delphi… and his Sight wasn't…" Percy trailed off. Kronos had been complaining about his faint sense of the future fading for months before his own disappearing act. "Delphi," Percy muttered. "Yes, I remember," he added, his tone tight as he looked back at Gaea. Kronos had tried and failed to enter Delphi for his own investigation into his failing Sight.

Gaea inclined her head slightly. "His absence at present is suspicious. While of course, no matter his situation, he is likely to deal with it himself eventually. Whether by finding his own way out, or reforming in Tartarus-" Nico flinched violently, and Gaea smiled slightly as she paused. "Either is inconsequential. Nevertheless, it seems likely that the Triumvirate have included him in their attempt at controlling or destroying the various existing Oracles… rather foolish of them, actually," Gaea mused. "His Sight is temperamental, unreliable and ends up changing more often than not as time continues. Kronos' visions of the future should be trusted as often as his words and actions – which is, not at all," Gaea said, her tone rather dry.

Percy swallowed. "Thank you for telling me," he said. He shifted slightly. "So, uh, Rhea can't directly smite them because there hasn't yet been a challenge," Percy said. "But what about you?" Were Primordials bound by the same laws as the younger immortals? Percy didn't know.

Gaea only raised an eyebrow, looking faintly amused. "I do not involve myself in the affairs of lesser immortals," the Primordial goddess dismissed with a wave of her hand. "They may squabble amongst themselves. Whether Delphi remains, Olympus stands or the gods fall, it makes little difference to me." Gaea had a point. The earth itself would be largely unchanged no matter how this ended.

Percy's eyes flicked to Rhea. "And yet, you're here with Rhea," he slowly said.

Gaea's eyes narrowed in Percy's direction. "She is my daughter."

"Kronos is your son."

Gaea only smiled. "The youngest is always the most troublesome," she said, repeating her earlier words. "He will survive and find his own way out. Or he will die, reform in Tartarus and also eventually find his own way out."

Percy sighed. "Okay," he said. "What about – what's Hyperion doing?" He asked Gaea and Rhea.

Both goddesses frowned at him. Rhea only shrugged. "Bedding a mortal somewhere, I would imagine," she said disdainfully.

Nico seemed faintly confused. "Luke said he was looking into the fires in California?"

Percy nodded his head slightly. "Yes," he said, pointing at Nico. "That. Why's he doing that?"

Rhea rolled her eyes. "I know as much as you there. He said no more to me before he left than you have already clearly heard." She looked pointedly at Percy and Nico. "Now, you two must be getting back to your camp and stopping Nero," Rhea firmly said.

"Wait, sorry," Percy slowly said. "One more thing, before we go ask Aquila for another lift." To Camp Jupiter. Percy figured the Romans especially deserved to know that three Emperors of Ancient Rome were still alive and walking around. He pressed his lips together as Rhea and Gaea looked back to him, both clearly impatient with him. Rhea was beginning to look extremely irritated. Nico just looked at him curiously. "You said the Triumvirate aren't quite immortals? That they're still like mortals, just with a true form – immortal without a domain?"

"Yes," Rhea confirmed.

"If that's the case," Percy slowly said, his thoughts churning anxiously around one little issue he was seeing there and lingering over. "For the Triumvirate to have Kronos, they must have challenged him, right? They challenged him – and beat him." Out of the corner of Percy's eyes, he noticed Nico paling dramatically. It was unfortunate, his cousin was already too pale as it was. Rhea's expression turned grim, but more in the sense of I know where he's going with this. Kronos was amongst the most cunning, intelligent and strongest of immortals that had ever existed – with an exception of the Primordials, of course. "What kind of mortal can beat him?" Percy quietly asked.


Yeah so, Kronos is gone too. Apollo and Kronos, both in the hands of the Roman Emperors of Old. What could possibly go wrong? XD. Next chapter: to Camp Jupiter, to see what changes the Romans have made since the war against Gaea (I've made some changes to Camp Jupiter's Legion etc as a result of the war, just to shake it up a little).

skotos07: Yeah, I'm alive! University was bad, but not that bad XD.