(A/N: Iiiiiit's FRIDAY! Thanks to everyone who reads, reviews, follows or favourites, you all give me miniature heart attacks every time I get a notification from you :3)
CHAPTER FIVE
The first time Leo met Zeus face to face on Olympus, he was recovering from smoke inhalation and swearing loudly in Spanish.
"Maldicione!"
"Oh stop complaining."
"Pendejo! Ahhh!" Leo wheezed, half convinced he was coughing up a lung.
"You're fireproof kiddo." His father pointed out as he cleared the smoke from their entrance away with a clap of his hands.
"I don't think that extends to lung damage!" Leo accused, still coughing even as he began to realise the wooden floors of Bunker Nine had been replaced by glistening white marble with streaks of gold and silver running through it.
"By all means, continue shouting and bellowing in the throne room. It's not as though it's a symbol of Olympian might and power or anything." Came a low, dry voice that reminded Leo a lot of a certain huntress he knew.
Blinking more smoke from his eyes (seriously, Leo didn't usually have this problem. His Dad must've put tear gas in it or something), he glanced upwards, studying the huge cavernous space before him, filled with twelve enormous thrones sculpted for their various gods.
Only four were filled.
"Zeus, I am tired." Leo's former nanny, Tia Callida, complained, her posture impeccable as she studied the pair before her. "Make this quick."
"Oh great, this is going to be fun." Leo muttered and Hephaestus seemed to grunt in agreement as he strode towards his seat, his oily jumpsuit somehow shedding and morphing into a plain chiton the colour of steel with hammers embroidered into the hem.
"What is this about, Hephaestus?" a beautiful woman in a bright green dress snapped, her dark haired braided with leaves like her children at Camp Half-Blood often did. "The council is not even full."
"My son, Leo Valdez of the Seven has decided what he desires in return for defeating our lady grandmother Gaea." Hephaestus boomed, his voice echoing around the ethereal white chamber.
As his father spoke, Leo took a sneaky step towards one of the columns that bordered the room, rising high until they disappeared into the glittering night sky. Just a quick brush of his fingers revealed the column's inner gears and switches. "It's all mechanised." He observed, absently studying the hollow core. "I wonder…"
"Leo?" Hephaestus sighed as though his son was quite an embarrassment. "You've woken several Olympians tonight, focus on the problem at hand, son."
Do gods even sleep? He wondered for a moment before deciding it was not the question he had better ask. Abashed, Leo withdrew his hand and stepped into the enormous U of thrones, his eyes studying first his dad's wife, Lady Love, who sat primly in her seat, clothed in a silk negligee and pretty pink robe and then the King of the Heavens, Master of Lightning, Mr-Hey-You-Get-Off-My-Cloud-Or-I'll-Ram-My-Lightni ng-Bolt-Somewhere-Painful, Zeus, himself.
The King of Gods wore pinstriped pyjamas, fuzzy slippers and an unamused look in his electric blue eyes.
"Right." Leo concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other, even though he was starting to wish he'd taken his friends' advice and let them tag along. He'd briefly met some of the Olympians but he'd collapsed from being buried beneath the mountain of Gaea, which was sort of embarrassing.
"Speak, Leo of the Seven," Zeus said, sarcastically. "I'm interested to hear what you have decided upon."
The wryness in his voice set Leo's teeth on edge and while he had fought for months to protect the way of the gods, to protect his fellow demigods and his friends, he could suddenly picture very clearly a dozen Olympians who created punishments like turning mortals into cattle or burning out the eyes of a peeping tom or cursing a faithful daughter to fall in love with heroes who will only ever leave her.
Tightening his hands into fists, Leo met Zeus' gaze head on. "I want Calypso freed from her curse."
The silence that permeated the room was almost too much for him to bear but the fire starter forced himself not to twitch, though his ADHD was suddenly kicking in like crazy.
Zeus snorted finally. "It's not precisely as simple as snapping my fingers, hero. No, there are processes, procedures to be followed-" he blustered on.
"No?" Leo echoed, clenching his teeth. "My friends and I risked our lives for you. You cut yourselves off from us when we were facing a threat from your own grandmother and we still didn't abandon you. We reunited the Romans and Greeks which hasn't happened ever, saved you all from going utterly loco and attacking your different personas and resisted Gaea's offers, even though compared to you at certain points, they were pretty damn tempting!"
Aphrodite smiled brightly. "I say let her go. I've been waiting for a very long time for this particular story to come to a happy ending. I'll admit you weren't my first choice but you'll do nicely." Leo tried to not focus on that last part.
"I said no! I can't simply make it so, you demigods don't understand the work that goes into imprisoning an immortal!" Zeus stated, firmly though his voice took a slight whine toward the end. "Besides, how is it going to look if I start revoking punishments here and there? How am I going to set a standard?"
"You want to set a standard?" Leo argued back, unable to help himself. "Your wife put me in a fireplace and let me play with snakes when I was a baby! She erased the memories of my friends and nearly caused another civil war to break out! You ignored Gaea and stuck your head in the sand like an ostrich!"
"Hera! Honestly woman!" Zeus threw his hands up though his wife seemed far more interested in Leo than her husband.
"Did you just compare the Lord of the Skies to a flightless bird?" Demeter asked in a dull tone though her eyes betrayed her amusement.
"Damn straight I did!" Leo was on a roll now. Talking was one of his best skills. "I haven't asked for anything and the one thing I do ask, you say no? Percy already asked the same thing when he stood here a year ago and you said yes then!"
"It's not exactly an easy request, hero!" Zeus snarled, his beard rising with electricity. "Calypso is the daughter of Atlas and she supported him in his war against us, her punishment was woven quite tightly!"
"She also told Gaea to take a hike from Ogygia when she asked Calypso to kill me and gain her freedom." Leo pointed out, triumphantly.
Zeus groaned, clutching his head. "This is too much! Hephaestus, control your son."
"I'm afraid Leo is pretty damn headstrong, father." His Dad shrugged, unbothered. "Reigning him in is harder than it looks."
"Look, you already agreed once and you didn't follow through." Leo pointed out, heading straight for the weak spot. "What's stopping you now?"
"In a moment of weakness!" Zeus growled. "That Jackson boy deliberately asked at his opportune time! The matter should be restudied!"
"I didn't think gods had moments of weakness!" Leo countered, recalling a small piece of advice Annabeth had given him before he left. The one flaw all gods share is their pride. Prick it and they bleed ichor.
"Well look, it's a decision for the whole council to make-" Zeus began to lecture though Aphrodite coughed daintily.
"Actually, we only require a half council to pass judgement." The Lady of Love interjected, politely with a victorious smirk.
"I'm being overrun by hormonal females." Zeus complained under his breath, instantly earning himself the glares of the three goddesses in the room. "Oh fine, someone go wake Hermes."
(A/N: Poor Zeus. He's not doing very well is he? Did anyone catch the sneaky Disney Hercules reference?)
cecld16: If Leo doesn't find Calypso in Blood of Olympus, heads will roll. Luckily, in my universe, happy endings do prevail. Most times. Thanks for reading!
Explosivefrogs: You are awesome (no, seriously, people on this website make me jump up and down like a little kid on sweets) and I hope you like chapter five!
Miisting: awww shucks. Hope you enjoyed this one too. Calypso next chapter, I promise!
Souffles: Hello again! I think I've been reading too much Riordan lately, his style is very easy to slip into but I'm glad you like it :) Also: CALEO? Holy Hephaestus, they had me at 'Leo disliked her instantly'!
Tenneyshoes: Seriously, you can't send me firsts like that. They give me small heart attacks. (I am going nuts. But Leo does not buy his girl jewellery; he makes it…preferably with some kind of killer gadget attached to it. (Yes, Leo would think it was the greatest ring ever) (No, Calypso would not find it amusing.)My writer's senses are tingling…) Honestly, I'm glad people seem to like Hephaestus, he's difficult to write at times. Hope you like chapter six, it's CALYPSO TIME!
Laslus: Hi again! I've got plenty more adventures and arguments for those two planned and I'm glad you're enjoying it so far! Next Monday is Calypso! Hopefully!
Guest: WILL DO!
Cookielover1441peace: Poor Seaweed Brain. Honestly, he's lucky to have Annabeth there to shut him up.
Dids107: Thanks! Lord of the Forge is tricky to write, all the gods are in fact. I'm trying to balance the sense of immortal power vs a tendency to screw each other over out of pettiness. Glad you like it so far!
Totalbooknerd13: Surprisingly, I'm excited about this too! The ideas are bubbling away like crazy!
Magpiefeather: *blushes hard enough to catch fire* You are perfect, my friend. I'm so glad you like it!
Guest: Agreed, Calypso and Leo are the best. So glad you're enjoying it and the style (experimenting with Riordan's style is shaping up okay so far), hope you like chapter five!
Callmemisstayla: Miss Tayla, the reunion will be…eventual, might be the right word. I really didn't want to have Leo act differently from how he's portrayed in the books so I'm happy no one thinks he's acting oddly. Also, this is my mechanism for coping with the wait until Blood of Olympus too so we must keep strong and CALEO on! (hope you like chapter five!)
Julia: On it, boss! Updating ASAP!
Winonabcd: *shrieks* SERIOUSLY? LIKE ON AN ACTUAL PAGE? LIKE ON THE INTERNET? I'm sending you mental hugs and happy dances will I drool and melt all over my keyboard. (Also, I'm incredibly flattered, thank you so much :) )
Geekmaster13: It has occurred to me. Can you imagine baby Zeus eating lightning bolts? What an adorable cutie. Then he grew up and never learned how to keep it in his pants…
That'sthe411: I'm not sure if I should encourage you to read HoH or prepare you for the eventual heartbreak that certain points will bring…hmm…Lazel was adorable for a while but I can't help it, I'm a Caleo girl at heart. Hope you liked chapter five!
NerdyAthletic: I legitimately used to tell my PE teachers I had a severe lethargy condition and I almost got away with it. Almost. Really happy everyone likes Hephaestus, he was my biggest worry. Gods are hard to write. Very pleased that cryptic was okay, I tend to write answers as though everyone already knows the rest of my story (helpful, I know right?) and I hope the speed of the story isn't too slow for everyone. I want to take time with each part though. Hope you liked chapter five!
Angel's Apple: *blushes* nawww….you can't say things like this, I go so pink that I look sunburned :3 (thankyou) As for Blood of Olympus, this is my coping mechanism as well and if Calypso does not get off that freaking island in the next book, heads will roll. Caleo fangirls will raise an army of pitchforks and wailing to win their happy ending! HOPE YOU LIKE THIS CHAPTER!
Aztec Moustache (I like that name): Caleo FTW! Just try keeping them apart, Riordan. Try it. (Hope you liked this chapter :) )
Rodo272: Yay about this chapter too perhaps? ;)
Dragonrider2345: Do I mind? Well, you know it's a big step in a writers life and I really have to think- NO OF COURSE NOT, FAV AWAY YOU WONDERFUL WONDERFUL READER :D :D :D Glad you're enjoying it so far ;)
Hannahthemelon (welcome, I myself am Shytheapple): I'm really glad you like the writing style, I've been trying to focus on Riordan's book as closely as possible. Knowing that I've replicated the Riordan-jitters (we all get them, let's be honest) makes me so HAaappYyy! Let the Caleo passion burn, really glad you're enjoying it so far!
The Jesteress (like the name ;) ): BRONZE BULLS, BUY THE SHIP AND I CALL SHOTGUN ON BEING FIRST MATE! Glad you like it and I really hope you enjoy what's coming. Next chapter: CALYPSO…sort of.