A/N-I just had to put another filler to make sense out of a few things, build a base and just briefly explain how and why everything is going to be working out and all but next chapter is the reading again!
I hope y'all enjoy this chapter, though :))
"The Ave-what?" Leo asked, with his mouth and eyes wide open.
"The Avengers." Hephaestus said.
"Jesus Christ." Leo shook his head
"Yeahh, we had that coming." Apollo huffed, making a few people chuckled.
"What can't you tell us about these guys?" Katie asked. The younger gods snorted in amusement.
"I'm guessing that's mostly everything so like, what can you tell us about them?" Castor drawled.
"Ummm, well…they all have a very deep history." Hermes answered slowly. The younger gods groaned in unison.
"Yeah, that makes everything very clear." Percy raised an eyebrow. Hermes gave him a sheepish smile.
"Anyways, what are the chances that these guys are legacies?" Nico asked slowly. The Olympians looked at each other.
"Well, most of them are legacies and all of them might be related to you in some other way as well." Poseidon answered, his eyes twinkling.
"So that doesn't have a secret meaning." Katie said, her voice sarcastic but not rude. Percy looked at his dad and gave a small smile.
"Translation is most means that except one or two, everybody is a legacy and by might he means that they're definitely related to us." Percy said. Poseidon couldn't help but grin at his son.
"Yeah, I mean if they're legacies then they're definitely related to us." Lee pointed out. Percy shrugged.
"I think that the reason Uncle P mentioned it was because even the one or two who aren't legacies are related to us in some way." Nico mused. Poseidon gave his nephew a small wink to let him know that he wasn't wrong.
"Can you tell us who all are part of this team?" Dakota asked. Hera shook her head.
"Classified information, kid." Dionysus said sadly.
"So how are we going to be going about this prophecy?" Annabeth asked finally.
"Well, right now seeing as time is frozen for everybody except the ones who visited Olympus during the readings, the prophecy will occur after the reading is complete which gives you all time to prepare." Athena answered simply.
"Prepare?" Grover asked in utter confusion. "Do you mean training or like literal preparation for something?" he bleated
"Okay, we should all sit." Apollo said
"You've already given us the worst part of the news. There's no point in saving any more shocks at this point." Chris said dryly.
"No, I mean, this is going to take time so you might want to sit down." Apollo clarified. All the younger gods simply hopped onto the hoods and engines of the cars or opened the doors and sat on the driver's seat.
"Not what I mean but sure. Works." Apollo said with a small smile.
"Right, so, firstly, this prophecy will take place after the reading as Athena said. We are currently reading the third book out of 5 which talk about the Giant war. The fates have also sent another book which is seemingly another one from Percy's point of view-" Apollo started to explained. Cue groan from Percy. Apollo cracked a small smile and continued. "-and that's when the prophecy will start. Apparently there are going to be two more books but those will be read after this prophecy is complete." He finished.
All the younger gods nodded to show that they understood. They wanted to know more about just what this prophecy would entail.
"All right, next, for this prophecy you all will have to prepare in ways apart from physical training to answer Grover's question." Hades continued. Michael looked like he wanted to ask something but Hades continued once he saw Michael's raised hand.
"I think I know what you're going ask. You want to know about what kind of preparation?" he asked. Michael nodded.
"Yeah, so, you're going to have to get specialization in certain fields and learn a hell lot of languages as well. In fact, the fates sent a list detailing which one of you has to learn which language." Hades said, shaking his head at a piece of paper in his hands.
"We'll read the list out after we give you another piece of bad news. Trust us, this bad news for us as well." Ares grimaced. Most of the gods clenched their jaws and fists as they understood what Ares was talking about. The younger gods sat up straighter as they focused on Ares.
"You're…uh…not going to be gods for this prophecy." He said finally, swallowing thickly. There was pure silence and you could have heard a pin drop in the open.
"So, we're going to be demigods again?" Pollux asked.
"Not exactly. You're not going to have any of the domains that you got and though you will not die, per say, you will be having the choice to willingly fade away if you're facing some extreme brutality by saying the words 'I wish to fade and leave everything in this world behind and retire to the underworld'. You will not die or fade away without your will but instead, you'll be having the choice. And at the end of the war, if you have not chosen to fade away, you will be given your domains and your proper immortality back." Hades answered, trying to hide his flinch at the words that he was speaking. He didn't even want to know what the fates had meant by 'in situations of extreme brutality, they will be given the choice to fade'. He didn't want to think about what situations.
The younger gods seemed to be thinking the exact same thing as soon as Hades spoke and they all winced but none of them said anything, worrying the Olympians further as they had all expected some sort of reaction from them but as they looked at the faces of the younger gods, they saw that they had all just resigned to their fate and they'd just given up on trying to be surprised at anything the fates would say.
"In fact, they're saying that they are temporarily taking the domains right now so that you guys can practice with the other powers." Apollo sighed.
"What is the list of preparations?" Percy asked after a few moments of pure silence, his voice a little hoarse but strong enough.
"Right. So um…honestly, its quite a bit of stuff so we'll send the lists to the quarters of the ones who are involved in this." Apollo said
"What do you mean, involved in this?" Beckendorf asked.
"He means the ones who are going to be the ones interacting with the Avengers. These ones are the ones around whom the prophecy revolves around." Poseidon explained.
"And they are?" Travis asked, stretching his voice.
"So we have, Percy, Nico, Thalia, Will, Travis and Connor, Annabeth, Lee." Hades listed off. The demigods whose names were taken nodded.
"What about the ones who weren't listed?" Clarisse asked.
"Well, for now, they're going to be staying back but they will be joining later on." Ares replied.
"So, you're going to be sent to the time right after the second war. A couple of days after our second war took place and day or two after their battle of New York took place seeing as they defended NYC during the second war." Chiron said.
This was the first time the centaur had spoken since this whole conversation started. He was lost in his own thoughts as he saw his children in such pain. He'd hoped that they'd never have to go through something like this again but somewhere he knew that such a hope wouldn't make any difference. He made the three fingered sign for warding off the evil and looked sadly at the campers who were going to be thrown into the thick of it. He didn't know much about the Avengers. In fact, this was one of the secrets that the gods had kept well because all Chiron knew were the members of the Avengers and even he had to admit, finding out about one of them was going to be quite…amusing for the demigods.
"Is that all then?" Nico asked.
"You wanted more?" Percy asked his cousin dryly. He was really wishing that he'd drank that whole bottle of Vodka at this point even though it wouldn't have had any effect. He had a weirdly good alcohol tolerance.
"More information wouldn't be bad." Thalia sighed. The Olympians sighed. Oh, how they wished that they could tell these kids everything.
"Guys, I think we have a game night pending. It might help make us all feel better. Don't think too hard yet because sometimes our mind is worse than the reality." Hermes suggested.
"It's a little hard to not think too hard about our dear old grandfather somehow managing to come back to life." Thalia sighed. Hermes grimaced but he nodded in understanding.
"That's true. Grandfather is really a piece of work." He said with a small smile, making all the demigods chuckle lightly.
"Hermes is right, you guys. Lets have that game night. Let the only thing we worry about tonight be the awful hangovers we're going to have tomorrow due to all the beer pong." Percy said with a smile. The Olympians smiled or laughed this time and that led to a chain reaction of all the demigods laughing. Luckily, it didn't get too hysterical.
"You know, the fates are genuinely developing the habit of giving me the best birthday presents ever." Percy shook his head, a dry tone to his voice. There were a couple of light chuckles at that and Annabeth squeezed Percy's hand and the son of Poseidon gave her a light kiss. They all then fell into some silence which wasn't filled with tension but gave everybody space to think.
"What time do we come over?" Nico asked Hermes finally. The god of mischief grinned.
"Give us 20 minutes." He said.
"15's enough, speedy." Apollo grinned. Dionysus scoffed.
"5's more than enough, sunny." He said. Apollo looked at Dionysus in surprise at the nickname. The god of wine had not called his brother by that name for ages but this reading and prophecy was messing them all up as well. Sometimes for the good, sometimes painfully. Artemis and Hermes smiled at each other to see the old gang get slowly patched up and Hermes high fived Ares quietly.
"So 5 minutes?" Dakota grinned.
"Give us 15. I need to get ready. Looks like I'll have to rush anyways." Hermes said, gave a pout and then a dramatic hair flip, lightening the mood considerably.
Everybody slowly began getting into their cars and heading back to the quarters.
"Hey, you guys wanna go scream at a beach or something?" Nico asked Percy and Thalia who snorted in dry amusement but nodded.
"Dad! I'm taking your car!" Percy shouted. Poseidon raised any eyebrow at his son and paused his conversation with Hades who chuckled.
"You have one!" Poseidon complained.
"You can ride it today!" Percy smirked. "Its pretty amazing. Have a race with Uncle H or something. Bugatti vs SSC. You'll have fun." He said. Poseidon shook his head fondly while Hades looked like he was considering the idea. Poseidon tossed Percy the car keys with one hand and caught Percy's with the other.
As they left, Hades looked at Poseidon and Zeus. "So, about that race…" he started and left the rest hanging in the air.
"Oh, you're on." Poseidon grinned.
"You guys are going to lose so badly." Zeus snorted and the three of them raced to their cars. In the background, despite her anger, Hera had to smile seeing the three brothers back together and seeing Zeus happy again…at least for a few moments.
Percy, Thalia and Nico reached the beach, grinned at each other, went close to the water and screamed at the top of their voices. It was clear that they had their fathers' lungs. The water rose slightly due to Percy's voice but he kept it under control. And then the three of them started yelling random shit. Somewhere in his car, Poseidon winced due to some random people screaming near the beach.
Once the three of them were done they bent and held on to their knees, then looked at each other and burst out laughing.
"This was not the way I'd imagined our drinks going tonight." Thalia wheezed.
"I swear." Percy laughed.
"This is so crazy!" Nico shouted and then laughed.
"Ridiculous." Percy chuckled.
Nico got up and yelled "We're going to get you!" and then whooped, making Percy and Thalia collapse into another fit of laughter and then Nico fell back onto the sand and chuckled. Once the three of them calmed down, they lay beside each other, looking at the stars.
"We're going to be okay, right?" Percy asked, his voice slightly cracking.
"Yeah. Yeah, we're going to be fine." Thalia said with a small smile.
"Its us. Of course, we'll be all right." Nico said with the same smile. They stayed that way for a while, cracking jokes in the middle when the heard the sounds of revving engines and they all turned on their side to look back and saw Poseidon, Hades and Zeus look back at them.
"Ah, we'll leave." Poseidon said, holding his hands up in a surrender gesture with a smile on his face.
"Nah, nah, its fine. We've been here for a good 10 minutes. We have to change as well, soo..." Percy said, getting up and dusting his pants and new hoodie. Hades chuckled when he saw that.
"I still can't believe you gave him one of your favorite hoodies." Zeus said to Hades.
"What-" Percy said in confusion.
"Does it have a small rose printed on its cuff?" Poseidon asked Percy as he looked at his son carefully. Percy checked the cuffs and it definitely had a rose on its cuff. Hades smiled.
"Oh shit, hey, you can have it back, I'll take another black hoodie of yours or something." Percy said, removing the hoodie.
"No, no. Keep it. I gave it to you for a reason. You're one person that I wouldn't mind keeping one of my favorite hoodies especially now." Hades smiled at his nephew and Percy gave him one of the widest grins he could give. Poseidon smiled and clapped Hades on the shoulder.
"By the way, how come you guys are here?" Zeus asked the three.
"Oh, we just came to randomly yell shit." Nico grinned. Poseidon winced.
"So that was you guys. I heard it in the middle of the race." He said. Percy burst out laughing.
"You guys actually had it?" he chuckled.
"Who won?" Thalia asked.
"Hades." Poseidon grumbled and the god of the dead smirked. Nico high fived his dad.
"Not surprised, not gonna lie." Percy grinned.
"My heart." Poseidon said, flourishing a dramatic hand to his chest, making them all laugh.
"What are you guys doing here, though?" Thalia asked finally.
"We literally came to do the same thing you guys were." Zeus told her, making the three demigods smile.
"Well, carry on. Have fun." Percy said with a smile. The three demigods were heading back to Poseidon's car which Percy had rented for the trip to the beach and back. Thalia and Nico were walking in front while Percy was smiling as he followed them and his smile just grew wider when he heard Poseidon and Hades' voices.
"I still need to talk to you, brother." Poseidon said.
"Sure." Was the elder brother's reply.
Everybody reached the Hermes quarters and all their mouths dropped open. Hermes, Ares, Apollo and Dionysus had combined all their quarters and it looked insane. They'd somehow got a bar, huge speakers and everything one could need or want for a party.
They mostly just started off with games and the one favorite was beer pong except they replaced the beer with vodka because most of the demigods didn't drink beer. After that they all danced and yet the party ended early around 2am.
Once the demigods returned to their quarters, the ones who were going to be interacting with the avengers were given the list of preparations by the parents and it was as if all of them had got the list in a difference of mere seconds because everybody heard about 6-8 extremely high pitched screams and then demigods ran outside while screaming and yelling at the top of their lungs.
"WHAT THE FUCK DO THEY MEAN THAT I HAVE TO LEARN LIKE THESE 5-6 NEW LANGUAGES AND SPECIALISE IN SCIENCE!" Percy screamed.
"You already specialized in science, seaweed brain." Annabeth calmed him
"Not physics?!" Percy said, his voice an octave higher.
"WHAT DO THEY MEAN LEARN NORSE?!" Thalia yelled.
"YOU HAVE THAT TOO?!" Percy shouted back.
"I HAVE TO FUCKING BRUSH UP ON THE WORLD WAR II! BITCH, I LIVED THROUGH THAT!" Nico howled.
"Why are you smiling?!" Thalia asked Annabeth in exasperation.
"I already know Russian. That's all I need to know." She smirked.
"You have got to be joking." Travis and Connor groaned.
"Why what's with you two?" Will asked.
"We have to specialize in computers and brush up on science. I have a feeling this is why the fates gave the option of willingly fading away or something." Connor complained. Everybody snorted in amusement. The gods looked at their kids in partial worry that they were going to go crazy because even they'd read the big three kids' lists and they were huge and in partial amusement looking at the going crazy. Honestly, they were conflicted.
"What are you two doing?" Percy asked Lee and Will. The two of them shrugged.
"Nothing much, really. 1 or 2 languages and a brush up on Biology even though I'm a doctor." Will said with another shrug. Everybody turned to Lee and the son of Apollo looked at his list again.
"Just languages." He said "Well…some agility training as well." He added.
"I'm telling you I have to do the weirdest shit." Percy shook his head. "I mean some of it isn't that bad but like some of it makes no sense to me. Its not like the languages are even linked. They're all so godsdamned random." He sighed.
"Which all?" Nico frowned "Because I have some which were pretty prominent during World War II so like, there's a link." He said.
"Well, there's Russian and German, right?. Then that's followed by Hungarian, Pashto, Ancient Norse, French and Mandarin." Percy shook his head and rubbed his temples. "I'm telling you I get the best presents from the fates." He said. There were a couple of laughs at that.
"Those are actually really random. I mean its neither here nor there." Jason mused.
"Thanks." Percy said dryly.
"What do you have?" Thalia asked Jason.
"I have to learn Ancient Norse." Jason shrugged.
"Oh, this is crack. Why is it so unbalanced?" Travis groaned.
"My question is, how are we going to prepare for all this stuff?" Nico asked, holding up his hands.
"We're surrounded by gods who have different domains. I think we know what to do now." Percy said to Nico with raised eyebrows and the son of Hades barked out a laugh.
"I hate to say it but I think this is going to be fun." He chuckled.
"Get some rest, guys. This night's been really crazy and I don't think any of us want it to get any crazier. We'll deal with the rest tomorrow." Annabeth smiled. Everybody nodded tiredly. Percy gave Annabeth a 'good night kiss'. Nico did the same with Will and everybody went to their respective quarters where by now their parents were looking a little freaked out about having to tutor their children. Not that they had a problem with it, it was just that they knew that these kids were going to mess around with them as much as they possibly could.
By the time everything was settling down as much as it could have that night, Amphitrite and Triton had returned from Atlantis and Persephone had returned from the Underworld. Percy had retired to his room though everybody knew that he wasn't sleeping but they couldn't blame him one bit for wanting some alone time to process everything that happened that night.
Poseidon filled in Triton and Amphitrite on what happened after they left and even their faces morphed into those of concern once they heard about the demigods' reactions, about the implications of the prophecy and just how bad things could get. They all sat in silence for a while and they all knew that nobody in any of the quarters was going to be getting any sleep that night. They also knew that the demigods who had had no reaction to hearing the prophecy were going to be ones who thought the most deeply about it.
In Percy's case, the demigod didn't know what to make of this situation except that he and his friends were about to get pulled into another war that they didn't ask for and they only thing that he found himself hoping for is that he didn't lose anybody this time around. He couldn't let that happen again. He looked around his room and he decided that he didn't want to be alone tonight. So, he went to his cupboard, pulled out a sleeping bag and went into Poseidon and Amphitrite's room where even Triton was sitting along. They all turned to look at him and Poseidon gave his son a small smile while Amphitrite looked like she wanted to hug her step-son but was unsure about he'd feel about it. However, Triton held no such doubts and got up and tackled Percy into a hug and Percy returned it and patted him on the back and smiled at his brother.
"Would it, maybe be all right…if I sleep in your room today?" Percy asked Poseidon and Amphitrite hesitantly. The two of them looked a little surprised as Percy had never asked them this before but they nodded faster than anybody could say 'Styx'.
"What about we make this a pajama party?" Triton grinned as he suggested. A similar grin broke out on Percy's face.
"I'll go get Tyson." He said excitedly and sped upstairs to Tyson's room which was right next to his.
"He's dealing with it all right, I suppose." Triton sighed to Poseidon and Amphitrite who nodded hesitantly.
"I think he'll be all right. But what's worse is that he's got so used to all of it that he's almost stopped being surprised about it. Percy's strong…definitely, one of the strongest people I've ever known. The only thing that hurts him more than anything is losing somebody close to him. My only hope and wish is that this world doesn't break him." Poseidon said, staring at the staircase his son just raced up and sighed.
"He really is very much like you." Amphitrite said with a small smile. Poseidon gave a light chuckle.
"I want him to be better than me but then…I suppose he already is." The god replied after a few moments, thinking about his brothers and sisters as Percy came down with his arm around Tyson's shoulders.
Nico was wide awake on his bed and he knew so were his dad and Persephone outside as he could hear Hades pacing back and forth, trying to figure out whether or not to talk to his son. Somehow, it comforted Nico. He also knew that his sister was up because she kept going up and down the stairs, muttering things to herself such as how she forgot to drink water and how she drank too much water. Nico's room door was closed but all his other senses were at their peak and that was surprising since his brain was declining to work but at the same time it couldn't make him fall asleep. He closed his eyes to try and recollect his thoughts starting from his night out with Percy and Thalia to the rant they all had outside their quarters about their lists. He was in the zone for about 30 minutes before he came to a conclusion. His eyes were watery and he wiped them away as he sucked in a breath and swallowed thickly.
He went downstairs and Hades froze while pacing and Persephone looked up from the book she was reading in concern. Though they knew that Nico was awake, they were hoping that he'd somehow managed to fall asleep.
"How are you doing, son?" Hades asked, worry coloring his voice.
"I'll make you some hot chocolate." Persephone said with a smile and patted on the bed, gesturing for Nico to come and sit as she got up and went to the kitchen. Hades went and sat opposite Nico but he gestured for Hades to sit next to him and the god of the dead went and sat next to his son. To his pleasant surprise, Nico leaned his head on Hades' shoulder and the god tugged his son closer to him as he thought about how much he wanted Nico and Hazel to have a good life. He didn't get the chance to keep Bianca safe and now he didn't want to lose these two either.
Persephone smiled at the duo as she came with a steaming mug of some really delicious looking hot chocolate and handed it to Nico whose hands were shaking and the demigod was trying to control it by clenching his fists again and again while he looked lost in his own thoughts.
"Thanks, mom." Nico said, without thinking as his mind was somewhere else. Persephone froze and even Hades' heart stilled. Nico, himself, had stopped moving as he realized just what he had said. He held his palms up as soon as he did.
"I mean it." He said after a few moments. Persephone wiped the tears of happiness that had sprung in her eyes and Hades smiled in a way that was rare for the god of the dead.
"Could I-" Persephone started, looking at Nico and the son of Hades understood what Persephone wanted to say and smiled.
"Yeah, sure. Definitely." Nico said warmly and hugged Persephone. Nico gestured to Hades to join in and the god of the dead did so happily. As Hazel came down again, muttering something about water, they called her to join in as well and the four of them stayed together for fates know how long.
Travis and Connor dealt with the news a little differently. Instead of thinking about the prophecy, they decided to rather work on some pranks. They weren't as much as bothered by another prophecy as much as they were that it was about fighting Kronos again. The only thing it reminded them of was Luke and it appeared that it was also one of the major thing on Hermes' mind.
"I don't get it. How is this going to work out?" Connor said
"See, if somebody lifts it high enough, it explodes." Travis said with a small smile. Connor grinned.
"That's gonna be lit." he said. This time Travis laugh. He then carefully lifted the prank tube but then it exploded.
"Damn it!" he shouted.
"What happened?" Hermes ran into the room, his eyes wide and his face covered with sweat. Since when did the god of speed get sweaty by running?
"Nothing, uh, something exploded." Connor managed to say, making eye contact with Hermes but worried for his brother at the same time. Hermes ran a hand down his face.
"Are you guys okay?" he asked, slumping. Travis and Connor looked at each other and nodded.
"Not about the explosion but about…everything else?" Hermes asked desperately. Yes, he missed Luke sometimes but especially when his kids and family were going to be fighting the one guy who killed his son. The one guy who his son had died to rid the world of. But he cared tremendously about these three kids of his.
"We're fine, dad." Connor insisted.
"Yeah, you should talk to Chris. He's had it worse." Travis nodded. Hermes hung his head. He knew that his kids were thinking about Luke as well and he felt like he had himself to blame for that.
"Listen, I know that this whole prophecy is reminding you of your brother-" Hermes started.
"He's not my brother." Connor said suddenly, his voice hard as he got up and left. Travis looked torn between going to his brother and making sure his dad was all right because Hermes looked close to tears but the god of speed got up and he and Travis went to Connor who was sitting at the open door of the quarters with his head buried in his hands. The two went and sat next to him and kept their hands on his shoulders.
"I can't lose anybody else." Came Connor's muffled voice.
"You're not going to." Travis reassured him.
"Travis is right." Came Chris' voice as the eldest son of Hermes had come downstairs, realizing that something was wrong.
"Dad's right. It was about Luke." Connor said finally, looking straight ahead. Hermes closed his eyes and sighed.
"It shouldn't be." He said finally and at last believing himself. He thought that he'd moved on from Luke's death but apparently the god of lying was not just the master of lying to others. But seeing what condition the other three were in…it broke his heart and he couldn't stand theirs being broken. He knew that maybe he seemed biased towards Luke but it was at that moment that he realized that he loved these three more than he ever loved Luke.
"This is about you all. Don't think of Luke. He made his choices but don't let those change yours. Don't let the past ruin your future." Hermes told his sons, slinging his arm over Connor's shoulders.
"Dad's right. This time we aren't fighting against one of our own. We're fighting against somebody who can never be our own. We're good." Travis smiled. Chris, Connor and Hermes nodded. There was silence for a few seconds before all four of them burst out laughing. Maybe it was hysteria, maybe it was because they were healing and maybe it was both. But this time, they couldn't care less.
Apollo was ranting biology to Will but the second problem with that was that he was mixing archery into that for Lee and it was getting kind of hard to keep up and calm Apollo down at the same time so they ended up calling Artemis for help but then even she joined in the archery part because though she may not admit it, she had become fond of her nephews.
"Guys, relax!" Lee and Will finally shouted in unison and Artemis did with a small smile. Apollo on the other hand took dramatic and exaggerated breaths, kept a hand on his chest and nodded.
"You're honestly freaking out more than us." Lee told Apollo with a smile.
"Because I care about you and you're going to be thrown into the thick of it." The god of healing snapped but then sighed. "I'm sorry." He said.
"Nah, don't worry about it." Will smiled.
"I'm not going to lie, I'm not at all happy fighting the same guy again. At least they could've changed him." Lee said humorously, making Will and Michael chuckle. Apollo shook his head.
"At least its not somebody worse." He said.
"Dad, relax. Its going to be okay. I'm actually looking forward to meeting another group of hidden people. Its calming to know that we have new allies." Will said.
"That's true. It is somewhat calming even for me." Apollo sighed. "That y'all are not on your own this time." He said.
"Exactly. Its going to be all right." Lee smiled.
"Yeah, they're tough." Michael grinned.
"I am pretty confident in your abilities to survive." Artemis nodded at her nephews and the three of them and Apollo gave her matching grins. Artemis chuckled and playfully rolled her eyes at them. They then spent the rest of the night joking around because they wanted to make the most of every moment they had.
Jason and Thalia had decided to go to bed as soon as they came back. They didn't want to talk. They didn't want to do anything but sleep because it had been a tiring day. Though they didn't want to talk to Zeus or Hera, though they didn't want to eat and though they didn't want any comfort, Zeus knew they did because he knew that hiding emotions was something his kids had inherited from him. He didn't want them to be alone and maybe that was for himself rather than for them but still he stayed at their doorframe, watching them as they slept as he made sure that they were peaceful for almost 2 hours before exhaustion took over and he collapsed on the couch rather than the bed seeing as it was closer.
But, the thing with him was that he couldn't sleep. He couldn't sleep, knowing that his kids were going to be thrown into another war. He knew that he couldn't be a father to his kids as Poseidon and Hades had been but he had to be a leader and he had to follow the rules and make an example. But maybe just, he decided that he should set a different example. As he thought this, he did the one thing that he was confident about. He worked.
Most of the people, if not everybody were in a good mood the next day. They'd all accepted what was coming and they'd made up their minds to spend as much time together as they possibly could but yes, the fear was still there. That wasn't going to away but there was no point on dwelling on it. They were just talking about that when Jason looked at Percy and asked him the one question he had wanted to ask his cousin since the previous night.
"Perce, aren't you scared?" he asked. Percy shook his head as he grinned at his brother.
"What's the point of that, Jase? We know what's coming. We've been through it before and being frightened of it isn't going to undo what's going to happen. Am I scared that I might lose somebody I love? Always. But am I scared of another war? No. Just live, man. I'm here and that's where I'm going to be. I'll prepare for the war, sure but I'm not going to dwell on what's going to come because heck, even I don't know what's going to happen in the war. Just shrug your shoulders and say 'eh what are you going to do' because you can't really do anything about it. So what I'm saying is, screw it." Percy said with a laugh.
Zeus and Hades looked at Poseidon with wide eyes as they remembered something scarily similar that their brother had said to them once upon a time when they'd actually still been as close as their kids now were.
"Mr. Jackson. I bow before your altar of wisdom." Nico said with a chuckle, making everybody laugh.
"I'm sure Annabeth's mom would love to hear that." Thalia snorted.
Breakfast continued for a while before Chiron announced that they should probably get back to the reading as it would also help get everybody's minds off the prophecy including his. As everybody agreed, he picked up the book and flipped to the next chapter.