Hope - Elpis

Hi, people. My name is Persephone Jackson, and I'm trying to atone for my sins.

You see, sixteen-year-old me made a mistake. Olympus was razed to the ground. That was five and a half years ago.

Ok, a bit of backstory: the Greek myths are real. Three millennia ago, the original children of Kronos overthrew their father and began to rule the Earth. They called themselves the Olympians, and they watched over the progression of Western civilization from Mount Olympus. Some of them like to have kids with mortals, or regular humans. You might've heard about some of these kids: Hercules, Perseus, Theseus, all these big-shot heroes you'd see in Chiron's copy of The Iliad or Theogony or whatever other ancient epics he made us read.

These kids are called demigods, or half-bloods. They still exist. So maybe I should redo my introduction.

Hi. My name is Persephone Jackson, daughter of Poseidon, the former god of the seas. And I'm trying to atone for my sins.

As I was saying, the Olympians overthrew their Titan parents and began ruling the Earth. Well, the Titans made a comeback. Nine years ago I was thrust into a world of gods and monsters and a doomsday prophecy that foretold I would preserve or raze Olympus. Five years, four months, and two days ago I led an army of demigods against the Titans in Manhattan. Five years, four months, and an hour ago, I faced off in the Olympian throne room against Luke Castellan, son of Hermes, traitor, and host of Kronos. Five years, four months, and one minute ago, I had a choice — to trust Luke for the last time and let him kill Kronos before he assumed his true, immortal form, or kill him myself.

Five years and four months ago, I tried to kill him myself. Thirty seconds later, Kronos killed me. So he won.

You might have a few questions at this point, like how are you still alive, Sephie? Or, what happened after that?

The first part, I'm still trying to figure out. After I died, I didn't go to the Underworld, or at least I don't remember. All I remember is blackness. Maybe with the Underworld practically destroyed, my soul had nowhere to go — until later.

A year and four months ago, I woke up in the snowy ruins of Camp Half-Blood. I didn't have anything except for the tattered clothes I wore in Manhattan and Riptide, my trusty sword. After killing a dracaena patrol, I'd stumbled down the road out of Camp until I arrived in my mom's apartment in Manhattan.

She wasn't there. Neither was Paul. The place looked deserted. Everything was still in place — the dining table, couch, TV. But nobody was home.

I cried. Then a gang of telkhines broke through the door and I killed them. I've been on the move ever since.

The second question is a bit more complicated. After they rounded up all the Olympians and imprisoned them, the Titans became the new rulers of the West. They would have liked to dismantle Western civilization immediately, but the battle with Olympus had left them drained of power, and with everyone who worshipped them long gone, they recovered very slowly. So they had to bide their time and slowly expand their influence. That meant getting themselves some believers, first in the United States, then across the rest of the world.

So, in between hunting down the last of the demigod resistance, establishing diplomatic ties with other pantheons, and churning out cult propaganda (yes, they have websites and T-shirts), they haven't made time to destroy Western civilization as we know it just yet. But it's nearly time. The last pockets of rebellion are fading. I haven't heard from anyone in months. The Mist is failing. Monsters roam the streets in broad daylight, and mortals are beginning to realize. For the past year, I've been traveling the country, killing Titan patrols, and trying to find information about the whereabouts of the gods. I haven't been very successful, and time is running out.

But a month ago, something gave me hope.

I arrived back at Camp Half-Blood for the eighth time. Eleven months of searching — all for so little. I used to come back here for nostalgia's sake, to rest and remember what I was fighting for, but the past few times I was here I'd felt nothing but shame.

Stumbling with exhaustion, I approached the blackened, broken trunk of Thalia's tree and placed a hand on the burnt wood. The magic that had been Camp Half-Blood's last defense against the Titan army was no more. Kronos had apparently deemed it poetic to have the daughter of Zeus's tree struck down by lightning.

I didn't know if Thalia was still alive. I didn't know if Annabeth was still alive. I wanted to believe the gods were still alive and in the mortal world somewhere, but that belief was evaporating. Groaning, my muscles screaming with pain from nonstop running and trekking, I sat down heavily with my back against the tree and closed my eyes.

Maybe I would have cried, but tears abandoned me a long time ago. The piercing guilt and sorrow I'd felt when I first woke up had muted into a dull throb of despair.

A cold, dry wind blew into my face, making me cough. Even the air tasted like smoke and ruin these days.

My eyes shot open. Smoke?

Scrambling up, I peered down the hill. My heart began to thump. A plume of smoke coming from where the campfire used to be. As far as I knew, nobody except for me has been at Camp since it fell — it was way too dangerous. But smoke meant fire. And fire meant something.

I half-ran, half-stumbled down the hill towards where the cabins used to be. It could have been a monster roasting some poor mortal's leg for all I knew, but I didn't care. I'd been looking for some sort of lead for so long and if this wasn't it, nothing would be.

Sure enough, there was a small pile of wood alight with warm, orange flames in the middle of the ruins of the cabins. Next to it was a familiar Greek vase, about three feet high and a foot wide, glazed with black-and-white geometrical designs. The lid was fastened with a leather harness.

'Pandora's Box,' I said in disbelief. Then I began to laugh like a maniac.

Was this a joke, a cruel prank Kronos was playing on me? Five years ago, Prometheus gave me the box, which contained Elpis, the spirit of Hope. He'd tempted me into opening it, giving up Hope and conceding the war. I had refused. Now it was back, like, you should've just given up five years ago! Here's another chance!

Or maybe this was what it meant: You doomed humanity into ruin, just like Pandora! Congratulations!

Red-hot rage coursed through my veins and tinted my vision red. 'ARE YOU SERIOUS?' I screamed at the heavens. Then, chest heaving with sobs, I picked up the vase and threw it to the ground.

It broke into a thousand pieces. A small glimmer of light floated up from the wreckage, like a firefly. Elpis.

'Well?' I sneered at it. 'Isn't it time for you to leave? Isn't that how it works, that the spirit of hope leaves when released from the box?'

Elpis didn't respond. It hovered infuriatingly in front of my face, twinkling with light like a fallen star.

I snarled. 'You should be leaving! LEAVE!'

Elpis didn't move. Dry-sobbing, I swatted at the little light. 'Go away! I give—'

My hand made contact with the light. A bone-chilling cold spread through my body. Images flashed before my eyes — my mom in the hands of the Minotaur, Zoë being swatted away by Atlas, and the taunting, golden eyes of Kronos as he crushed the dagger in my hand. My worst failures, relived. 'Stop,' I begged. 'Please, I—'

Just as suddenly, the piercing cold disappeared, replaced by a warmth blossoming from my chest. The images in my head changed. I saw myself holding the Minotaur's horn atop Half-Blood Hill, a pile of golden dust settling around me. I saw Zoë smile at me as she faded into the stars in Artemis's arms. I saw my mom as she handed me a blue chocolate chip cookie. My biggest triumphs, my greatest moments. I would give anything to experience them again.

'Stand up, Persephone,' a gentle voice whispered. 'You have risen from the ashes of despair many times.

Gasping, I wrenched my hand away from the spirit of hope. It pulsed with power, rhythmically, gently, invitingly. It wasn't here to taunt me. It was here to help.

I stared at my hands. I glanced around at the rubble of Camp Half-Blood. Then I stared at Elpis. 'Rise from the ashes of despair, huh?'

I smiled, maybe a little maniacally, and stood up. Fuck it, eh? I had no more options. 'Alright, Elpis. Show me what you got.'

Grasp me. Grasp the power of Hope!

I grasped the light.

The power of Hope is difficult to describe.

After all, hope is such an intangible thing, isn't it? I'm the daughter of the sea god. I'm intimately familiar with the fluidity of water, the coldness of storms, the pressure surrounding me as I dive into the depths. Thalia is the daughter of Zeus and can control lightning bolts. Apollo's kids shoot straight. Our powers are defined by clear boundaries, and as much as they can get stronger within these walls, they can never through them. I will never be able to control lightning just like Thalia will never be able to breathe underwater.

Even the more vaguely defined traits, like wisdom, are at least easy to understand. Children of Athena are smart. 'Smart' can be defined in many ways — book smart, street smart, good at math, good at reading, etc. — but they can be somewhat generalized as being intelligent in some way.

But what exactly does the power of Hope entail? You'd expect something like 'the ability to never give up'. But that's not a very useful power when Kronos is cracking your head open with his scythe.

I can give you some concrete answers. Hope makes me stronger. I hit harder and run faster. My wounds heal quickly and I rarely tire. My control over water has strengthened tenfold. Your average superhero shenanigans.

There are some small perks too that made my time searching easier. Elpis would guide me towards small Titan camps and patrols and I would destroy them in the hopes of getting some information. Sometimes I picked up useful tidbits — raiding a convoy a few days ago had given me the projected path of another, bigger convoy I'm currently on the tail of.

Other aspects are not so easy to explain. Elpis is a primordial power. There's a reason why the Olympians were unable to force hope to abandon humanity back in ancient times. Elpis is hope, just as Gaea is the earth and Ouranos is the sky. But Gaea and Ouranos are bounded to the planet they inhabit — they are spirits tied to the Earth. Hope has no physical form. Its powers are not limited by the planet it was conceived upon. You can do anything as long as you have hope.

I've been testing the limits of 'anything'. So far I've managed to conjure energy barriers, shoot light bullets with my hands, and on a good day fire off a highly destructive plasma-energy beam or two. They're difficult to harness and drain my energy quickly. But they do make me feel like a lone superhero in a young-adult dystopian novel. The point is, the limiting factor is me. The power of a primordial is far greater than that of a god or a Titan. But I'm only a demigod. I can only harness so much power before I spontaneously combust. I'm improving — using these powers is like working out your muscles — and I've discovered some tricks, like the fact that naming certain techniques can make them easier to use. But there's definitely some way to go before I can face off against Titans at their full strength.

But dealing with normal monsters...that's a different story. Maybe I'm becoming a cold-blooded murderer, but I do enjoy target practice. Plus, I just caught up with the envoy I was tracking. Time for a little stretching.

'Hi-ya!' I somersaulted over the advancing telkhine and, extending my arm, fired off a bullet of light from my hand. The sea demon shrieked and exploded into particles of light. Pivoting, I stabbed another one in the snout with Riptide and kicked his friend so hard he flew into the sky and smashed into the ground some twenty feet away. Both of them exploded into golden dust.

Twang. I heard the sound of bowstrings snapping as arrows were fired. Thrusting my palms forward like I was pushing against a heavy rock, I summoned a circular barrier of light that rippled like the waves of the ocean. The arrows bounced off harmlessly. The six dracaenae shrieked in indignance — or maybe fear.

'Playtime's over,' I grinned, gathering energy in my arms. 'Elpis, lend me your power.' My hands started to glimmer with golden light. When I felt the energy was about to burst, I crossed my forearms, left arm horizontally in front of my right, like a cross. 'Cross-Ray Storm!'

A golden beam of destructive plasma energy swept across the serpent-women. Shrieking, this time in pain, they all exploded into particles of light that faded away like dying fireflies.

I dusted off my palms. 'Right, that's done with. Now, where was the kid…HEY! Are you seriously trying to run?'

Sure enough, he was, scrambling away on his hands and knees like a pathetic four-legged crab. I marched over and yanked him by the ear, eliciting a screech of pain. 'You didn't think you could just run away after that, did you…'

My eyes narrowed. The Kronos lackey's eyes were a haunting grey. 'Wait a minute...Malcolm?'

He spat on the ground. 'And you're Sephie Jackson, in the flesh. I thought you died.'

'Careful.' I twisted his ear, causing him to wince. 'You don't get to call me Sephie anymore. As you can see, I'm very much alive and doing quite well.'

He laughed. 'Doing quite well? That's rich coming from you. The supposed hero of the gods who failed us when it matters.'

'Failed us?' I shoved him to the ground, hard. 'You are not part of us anymore, Malcolm Pace. The us I failed are the ones still fighting against Kronos and his errand boys. You don't get to claim a place among them.'

Malcolm glared at the ground. 'They won't be fighting for much longer.'

My anger boiled over. I grabbed his chin roughly and yanked it so he had to look at me. 'Look at yourself! Groveling at Kronos's feet for a shred of mercy. Where is your Athenian pride?'

'Children of Athena are smart. We know when we're defeated.'

I shook my head. 'That's not the children of Athena I know. They would never admit defeat. Annabeth would be ashamed to see you now.'

That hit a nerve, because Malcolm's eyes lit up in rage. 'Shut up,' he hissed, and lunged at me with a knife. I sidestepped the clumsy thrust easily. Mere seconds later, his knife clattered to the ground, and I had Riptide pointed at his throat.

'Tell me why I shouldn't kill you right now.'

'No, please,' he gasped, his grey eyes wide in fear. 'Let me live.' In that moment, I saw who Malcolm was now. He didn't believe in anything anymore. The only reason he was still alive was because he feared death.

'I believe in second chances,' I said. 'Tell me where you're going and I'll let you go.'

He shook his head. 'No. The Titans will kill me.'

'I will too. Pick your poison.'

He shook his head again. My grip on Riptide tightened. 'Last chance, Pace, or I'm running Anaklusmos through your stomach.'

'No you're not.' He looked at me hopefully. 'You're Persephone Jackson. You don't kill demigods.'

I laughed humorlessly. 'Then you don't know me anymore.'

Five minutes later, I dumped his body into a nearby river. I would have let him go, but I couldn't risk him running back to the Titans. I learned that lesson the hard way after I let a kid who was barely ten get away one night and had a dozen hellhounds on me before dawn. Plus...he had his chance.

I examined my 'spoils'. A bloody shirt, a thin jacket, and a knife. Nothing useful. I was about to dump them into the water too when I noticed something on the jacket.

I squinted. 'Is that...a moon insignia?'

Sure enough, on the chest pocket was emblazoned with a crescent moon shot through with an arrow. There were specks around the 'wound' in the moon which vaguely resembled blood — or ichor, in this case. Kronos thought he was funny this way.

But if this wasn't something about Artemis, then…

Where would Kronos imprison Artemis? The guy has a bizarre sense of humor. Since Artemis didn't fight in the first war, he didn't throw her into Tartarus — only the elder Olympians were — but he definitely put her somewhere he thought would be hilarious. Malcolm's little field trip group was heading west. Where in the American west would be a funny place to imprison the goddess of the moon?

After a little while, I got a suspicion of where she would be. And I laughed, mirthlessly.

Where should I imprison the goddess of the moon? A place where the moon doesn't shine. A place no rescuer would dare venture into. A memorial of her greatest failure.

The Garden of Twilight, where the sun doesn't set and the moon doesn't rise, still sat at the foot of Mount Tamalpais. Seven years ago, I held the sky in the ruins of Othrys. Othrys was no longer there, but the sky remained. And someone had to hold it up.

I took a deep breath. Nearly a whole year of searching — tomorrow would be the anniversary — and I finally have something concrete to fight for. And out of every Olympian I could have found first, Artemis was a good one. She's practical. And a little easier to deal with than the rest of them.

I closed my eyes. 'Elpis, we've got a lead. Let's head towards the Twilight Garden.'

Immediately, I felt the familiar warmth of Hope begin to shroud me. Looking up at the night sky, where a pale, lifeless half-moon hung tiredly onto the black canvas, I allowed myself to become the brightest light in a world of darkness.

...

Oh, you thought I was being metaphorical? Zeus might've wooed Danae as the original shower of gold, but Elpis definitely does it better. Who would pick golden rain over a literal shooting star? Within seconds, I was soaring through the sky towards Mount Tamalpais. There would be Hesperides to deal with, and maybe Ladon. All in a day's work.

I'd say a prayer to the gods, but at this point, they're better off praying to me.

So this is my attempt at a Titan-victory AU. I recently found 'The Darkest Hour' by Just A Drop In The Ocean and found the general idea very interesting. Pandora's Box is also something I found important as a symbol in the canon book and wanted to explore.

Much of how the power of 'Hope' works is inspired by 'Ultraman Nexus' (2006). You should watch the show if you're interested in Tokusatsu but with a more mature storyline. If you don't want to watch it, here's how it works: people are chosen by the Light and gain the power to transform into Ultraman Nexus, a giant of light with superpowers. The light is passed on from person to person and symbolizes the hopes of those desperately defending their homeland from Space Beasts. To quote the main protagonist, Komon, 'Perhaps the light is the entrustment of people's hopes. That's why it is passed on from person to person.' I found it a powerful quote and also a fitting premise for Elpis, the literal incarnation of Hope.

The chosen ones, of 'Deunamists', get enhanced strength, healing, and the other powers aforementioned in the main chapter. I got rid of the transformation gimmick because it felt tacky in a PJO context, where monsters aren't as tall as skyscrapers and there's no need for a fifty-meter giant.

Anyways, we'll see where this goes. Ciao.