When Percy had been traveling to Othrys, he hadn't been granted the foresight to really feel what it was like to march to your own grave. Since regaining his freedom, the man also hadn't had the time to digest the absolute whirlwind of information that he had received in the past several hours.

The walk towards the throne room of the gods afforded him the unpleasant opportunity to do a little bit of both.

Percy had never felt so nervous, at least from what he remembered. In fact, he wasn't sure he could feel any more nervous. Aphrodite had flashed away after breaking their hug on the balcony, promising to see them soon. With the way her eyes lingered on the sky bearer, he had a feeling she was specifically thinking of one Jackson over the other.

Still, the goddess had taken with her a calming presence that Percy hadn't even known he was relying upon so heavily. He only realized how much he would miss her energy once it was gone.

"Stop it, Percy." Sally Jackson slapped away one of her son's hands as it crept back up towards his mouth. Percy wasn't sure why we wanted to bite at his fingernails so badly. "I thought you broke that habit as a kid," the shorter brunette woman grumbled. Despite her words, the elder Jackson's hands were fidgeting towards her face just as much.

Percy didn't respond. He had clammed up completely, like his body wanted to default to silence just as it had under The Burden. His brain seemed half-incapable of translating the multitude of thoughts in his head into anything vocal, and when it did it was a struggle to keep his mouth from blurting everything out at once.

The white marble walls in the long corridor towards the throne room may have felt welcoming to some, but to the sky bearer they seemed restrictive. There were no lightning fixtures to explain the corridor's glow, no evidence of wiring or plumbing. Every door along their route was shut tight, funneling them in the exact opposite direction than he wanted to go.

Percy missed the feeling of the wind on his skin, the sensation of earth beneath his feet, the sight of clouds above his head. Even just a taste of the outside world had left the man yearning for more. At least the bright lights made the teal mist puffing from his mouth almost transparent. Almost.

"It's going to be okay." Percy's mother had hooked their arms together when they had started out, apparently nervous that his legs might suddenly give out again. "You'll be fine." The man couldn't tell who she was trying to reassure.

Percy wanted desperately to spill his guts right then and there. This was their first real opportunity alone together since before . . . well, everything. He wanted to tell his mom that he really, really, wasn't fine. He wanted to tell her why, how the very memory of her betrayal haunted each step he took, how just the thought of seeing her again had him queasy.

Instead, Percy said nothing. One foot continued in front of the other.

Their pace slowed nearly to a crawl as they approached the end of the hallway. An inexplicable pull in the air contributed to their decreased speed, a rising breeze flowing in the opposite direction. It tugged incessantly at Percy's hair and the edges of his clothes, strong enough to make his mother have to work for each step. Their shoes tracked through a half-inch of fog that had materialized over the floor when Percy hadn't been paying attention. It felt like gravity had doubled since they first entered the building.

Percy hadn't lied to Aphrodite. He wasn't ready for this.

The pair stopped in front of a large, extravagant door. Intricately carved out of polished stone, the portal matched the above-human scale of the rest of the building. There were a plethora of humanoid figures on the front laid into the marble as pure gold. Each was wreathed in flowery, carved depictions of everything from leaves to swords to lightning bolts. The thing was foreboding as it was tall, ominous as it was impressive.

The son of Poseidon forced himself to sober as his mother's hand alighted on the golden vertical rod that served as a handle. The thickness of the hazy green on his skin abated a few degrees with the man's conscious effort to breathe deeply. When Sally shot him a glance, Percy gave her his strongest expression. It felt a lot like a strained grimace.

"Percy."

The sky bearer had expected his mother to fling the door open. What he hadn't foreseen was the woman slowly releasing her grip on the handle and turning back towards him. Her blue eyes were brimming with anticipation, anxiety, and tender affection.

"I can't even begin to imagine how you feel right now." She took a step towards him, stopping less than an arms length away. "To be gone for so long, enduring gods only knows what, only to come back just for all this. With me and your father and, well, everything." It looked like Sally was about to cry.

His mother's hands reached out to gently grab the front of Percy's shirt. "I wish it didn't have to be this way. I just . . . I wanted time." Her next inhale was shallow, unsteady. One tear escaped, then a second. "Time for us. Time for me. Time to just see you and feel you. Time to maybe fix what's been wrong for years but you're not okay and I'm not okay and I don't know what to do-"

Percy didn't bother to fight the burning in his chest. He scooped his mother into a tight hug, fighting off the wetness in his own eyes. He felt Sally press her cheek into his torso.

"I know, mom." Percy said. "Me too."

This time, it was Sally Jackson's turn to cry. She was quieter than her son had been, fighting to keep her sobs contained. Her choked breathing echoed in the empty hallway. Percy's torso was quickly wet but he didn't complain. Instead, the sky bearer just stroked his mother's back and laid his cheek on her hair.

Percy knew that the gods were waiting for them. He could feel them on the other side of the door in the same way he had felt the currents of the air outside. They were equally powerful and impatient. It was certain the council wouldn't approve of an even longer delay.

Percy decided he couldn't care less.

Eventually, Sally pulled away. "Okay." She wiped her cheeks aggressively with the back of a hand, meeting Percy's gaze with red and puffy eyes that were no less piercing. "After this, a couple of things are going to happen."

The son of Poseidon could only stiffen at the woman's suddenly stern expression. It was like he was a child all over again. Her blue eyes were rock solid, and Percy could suddenly understand how Sally had captivated a god.

"First, you are going to take a nap. Maybe two. As many as you need." Percy nodded. Sounded good to him. "Next, we are going to sit down and have a long chat. With all the . . . stuff going on in your head, I want to hear everything. Understand?" She poked him sharply in the chest. "I'm sure you have a lot of questions too about the past six and a half years." The elder Jackson only seemed to notice how much her last statement affected him a moment later.

"Six and a half years?" The words didn't feel real falling from his mouth. "I'm . . . I'm twenty."

Percy was an adult. A real grown up. He had lost basically all of his teen years, even as he falsely gained a thousand more. The world had passed him by without his knowledge. He was a man out of time, literally.

That wasn't the worst of it, either. What about the Great Prophecy? There had to have been other candidates, cousins he might have even known. Aphrodite had mentioned that the events foretold hadn't come to pass - the Titans had lost the war, after all - but all she had told him they were 'out of Kronos' reach'. What did that even mean?

Oh gods.

Were they all dead? Just because Percy didn't remember any of them didn't make the prospect any less horrifying. Corpses stacked on corpses, with the son of Poseidon standing on top. The sky bearer didn't, couldn't believe that. He was still alive, after all, just . . . different. Yeah, that was it. That was definitely the only thin-

"Okay, okay." Percy was snapped from his thoughts when his mother forcibly grabbed his chin and pulled his head down. Her face was apologetic but firm. "Think about that later, okay? We'll talk about it, I promise. But I need you to focus right now Percy. For me?" Those last words were exactly what the fire in his heart needed to hear.

Percy found the strength to muster another shaky head bob. He felt like he might fall over again, blinking rapidly to hold his vision steady enough to keep his balance. The man put the worst of the thoughts into a tiny box in the back of his mind, one that was worryingly full already. Still, his mother needed him. He could be strong for her.

"Okay." The elder Jackson said, half to herself. Sally closed her eyes for a moment, before opening them again. "Part of that talk . . . needs to be about Aphrodite." The elder Jackson peered up at her son, searching his hazy gaze for understanding.

"What about her?" Percy's mouth had moved before he could stop it, still half out of his control. The question came out more defensive than he would have liked.

"Nothing mean, if that's what you're worried about." Sally's response was equal parts exasperated and amused. "It's just . . ." He could see her warring with her next words. "Something I learned when me and your father were together was that gods aren't people, Percy."

". . . Okay."

The sky bearer was confused. Confused and perturbed. There was something strained hiding beneath his mother's eyes, something deep enough to knock him fully out of his emotional spiral. Their conversation on the bench outside flashed across Percy's mind. There was still so much context, so much history he was missing.

His mom put a bit of space between them, pinching her forehead. "I don't mean in the obvious way. I mean in all the ways people usually don't think about." Her hand slid down her face before dropping to her side. "You just saw it for yourself. Doesn't she seem . . . odd, sometimes?" The woman posed the question carefully.

Percy hesitated. "Yeah." His mother waved a hand in a small circle. He took it as a que to elaborate. "She's really intense. Her emotions and decisions sometimes don't make sense. That sort of thing?" He guessed.

"Yes, good." Sally drew herself up. "At first I wished I couldn't, but I can tell Aphrodite is really trying. Gods bless her soul." The woman huffed the last phrase. "But she can't help what she is and it wouldn't be fair of us to ask her to try and be something different." She grimaced. "I made that mistake once already."

Okay, yeah. Percy didn't even know how much he didn't know. He had to bite his tongue to keep a river of questions contained.

His mother reached out to gently snag the edge of her son's sleeve. Her expression was sincere, pleading. "Just be careful, okay? Be kind to her, Percy, but you can't let her run all over you. You're a Jackson, no matter what you look like or how old you are." She nodded resolutely. "I didn't raise my son to be a doormat."

Percy couldn't help the smile that crossed his face, nor the rush of love in his core. The blaze inside his chest was burning bright and free. "No. No you didn't." He answered. Percy brought the woman in for another quick hug. "Love you mom. I missed you." He whispered it into her hair.

"I love you too." She drew away. Sally closed her eyes for a few moments, adjusting the bottom of her white blouse. "Alright. Let's do this."

"Into the lion's den." Percy thought he had just spoken the words internally until his mother chuckled darkly.

Without further preamble, Sally Jackson retook hold of the handle and pushed the door open. The great stone portal complied as if light as air. The woman gestured for her son to go through first, face settling into hard lines. Percy's feet moved of their own accord. Once the man was through he heard his mother follow. The door closed behind the Jacksons without so much as a whisper.

The throne room of the gods certainly lived up to the name. The massive circular chamber could have fit a whole army inside, expansive enough that the floor simply disappeared into a white haze near the edges. Hanging beneath the crest of the domed ceiling floated a ball of energy large enough and bright enough to believably be a piece of the sun.

The general lack of unobstructed sightlines allowed the masterful work inlaid into the floor and ceiling to really shine. Carved stone of every color and sheen was placed so carefully, so seamlessly that it felt like he was standing on top of the universe itself. Percy couldn't help the feeling that it hadn't always looked this way, but he couldn't put his finger on exactly what was different. He and his mother followed the lines of color as they swirled about, all flowing and coalescing to the center of the room.

There, the Olympians were waiting.

Fourteen thrones were arranged in a great reversed U formation in front of Percy. He blinked at the number, brain tingling for a moment. Each god was perched on their own opulent seat, the backs of which were over twenty feet tall. The base of each throne sat on a square pedestal tall enough to let the sitter look down upon anyone below. The sky bearer caught a single glimpse of bright red hair on the left arm of the arrangement and almost broke his neck pushing it out of his field of vision.

"Perseus and Sally Jackson!"

The figure at the center of the room boomed the words from his throne. Percy's mother flinched visibly at the offensive volume. The bearded man's voice was the rumble of thunder, the sound of a brewing storm.

"You stand in the presence of the council of Olympus." The speaker's tall, imposing form was glowing a bright gold that nearly outshone the miniature star above his head. Electric blue eyes, older than mankind itself, settled directly on Percy. "We have some questions for you, Perseus. Pray that you can find satisfactory answers."

Within a single instant Percy knew it was Zeus. If the white robes inlaid with shining thread didn't give it away, the sparking lightning bolt strapped to his waist and the golden crown of leaves on his black hair certainly did. Zeus' throne was seemingly carved straight from solid cloud and wreathed with depictions of the sky god's various domains.

Percy knew each word before it was spoken - the faint voice of Aphrodite in his brain had recounted so many such greetings he had lost count. It was strange and painful to be on the other side of it.

Percy and his mother stopped at the gap between the two lines of thrones. The sky bearer felt as if he was standing at the center of a microscope. Even the light from the floating sphere above seemed to focus directly onto the top of his head. The man kept his neck cranked to his right to avoid any glimpses of crimson from the left side of the room.

Just breathe. The two words were his mantra. Just breathe.

Ultimately it was only the calming visage of Aphrodite that allowed his train of thought to run at a speed other than completely frantic. His eyes found her three thrones from the end of the right arm of the formation. The goddess had changed into a gorgeous and flowing red chiton that hugged her in all the right places. The transition between auburn and black in the love diet's hair was more pronounced to the latter than Percy remembered, as if the brighter tones were leaching to deep russet right before his eyes.

A simple circlet of gold was paired with shining loop earrings and several jeweled bracelets on Aphrodite's wrist. The accessories didn't take away from her effortless elegance. The goddess was simply perfection given form. Two vertical slits on the side of the Greek dress exposed her long, tan legs and a pair of black stiletto heels the same shade as her painted nails.

Aphrodite seemed different, up there on her throne. The thing was carved into the shape of a gigantic unfurling rose, the goddess a beating heart at the center. She looked objectively regal, emotionally disciplined. Aphrodite was nestled into the gap between the massive bloom, hands laid delicately on drooping petals on either side. The love deity gave Percy a reassuring smile that let his heart settle a beat or two.

"Clam yourself. This is not an interrogation, brother." The sky bearer craned his neck back around at the next deep male voice. He could already tell he would quickly tire of looking back and forth.

Percy was somewhat conflicted to find the familiar form of his father sitting directly to Zeus' left. The absolute deluge of information he had just learned was swirling in his head. He found himself examining the deep lines in the god's face, analyzing the slight bend on his posture.

Even more than before Percy found that the god looked old. Honestly the sky bearer wasn't quite sure how to feel about that observation.

Poseidon's seat of power resembled crashing ocean waves and spraying seafoam that literally moved across Percy's vision. The ocean god's traditional Greek robe was a deep blue, perhaps a few shades lighter than his aura. It was adorned at the edges with sparkling shells. An impressive three-pronged crown sat on the god's head. Percy's father had on that same practiced mask from their meeting at the beach, though his grip on the arms of the throne were anything but relaxed. His eyes kept twitching between Percy and his mother.

"Let it be whatever our dear brother desires." A svelte male voice came from the throne on the other side of Percy's father, this one the color of obsidian and topped with screaming human faces. "His ego is still recovering, it seems."

A pale-skinned god, garbed in a black robe that did nothing to hide his muscular bulk, leaned casually to one side with his chin on one hand. His crown mirrored Zeus but was made of a flowing dark metal instead of gold. Percy could see that the pose was a ruse, however.

Hades' eyes were twinkling pits of tar, locked unwaveringly on the younger Jackson. The sky bearer could hear the whispering of Aphrodite in his mind, warning him to step with care. The Lord of the Underworld was often the most perceptive and most cunning of the brothers.

"Let's not start this bickering again." A regal female voice quickly swooped into the conversation. "My husband retained the right to oversee council meetings, as the treaty indicated."

Percy's head moved back around to the other arm of the formation. The goddess occupying the seat at Zeus' right hand was the dictionary definition of a queen, complete with the delicate crown atop her head. Long and flowing chocolate hair was pleated with sparkling gold ribbons the same color as her aura. The female Olympian's throne was simple yet elegantly carved white marble. Hera wore a beautiful dress that shimmered with all the colors of the rainbow.

The goddess of marriage held both perfect posture and a schooled visage. Still, she managed to be the second most beautiful woman in the room. Percy dared to say her feature would have made a portrait painter weep with joy. There was no visible discontent in her expression, but Hera was pointedly sitting on the opposite side of her seat and as far away from Zeus as possible.

Percy's brain helpfully supplied him with hundreds of stories about that tumultuous relationship. When those soft brown eyes turned his way Percy found them calculating, yet not overly hostile. The pulling sensation Hera's gaze generated was similar to Aphrodite, if a degree less powerful. Something in the man's gut screamed at him to tilt his head in a gesture of respect.

He listened to it.

When the sky bearer raised his eyes again, one side of Hera's lips had quirked in a curious and pleased fashion. Percy took that as a win. Perhaps the knowledge in his head was good for something after all. He would have been willing to lay down, shake, and roll over if it meant escaping from the room with his mother unscathed.

"Indeed." The next goddess down the line had her nose high up in the air and her eyes directed at Hades. "Perhaps we should have added a clause to force you to keep such comments to yourself." The god of the dead only rolled his eyes a bit in response.

For some reason this female Olympian had chosen an older, sterner form than the others. Somehow the increased age had no negative impact on her super-human perfection. The goddess seemed only a bit younger than Percy's mother, with lustrous black hair and warm dark eyes. There was something alive in her deep verdant aura, several shades noticeably darker than Percy's own.

Demeter's Greek dress was the color of a wheat field, her throne made of vines that seemed to have grown straight out of the floor. There was a crown of flowers resting on her head. Percy knew that the harvest deity had only spoken up to take a jab at Hades rather than to defend Zeus. When the goddess finally turned away from her son-in-law, her motherly expression relaxed significantly.

Percy and Sally simply stood in place under the goddess' scrutiny, sharing a glance as the meeting began to quickly devolve. His mother seemed about as surprised as he did, which wasn't surprised at all. Percy couldn't help the feeling that he had witnessed such a breakdown a million times. There was a flow to it, an ease built over thousands of years.

The strange familiarity only made focusing on each inhale and exhale all the more difficult. The sky bearer's heart was torn on how to feel - was Percy to hate the council and how they had forgotten him, or find comfort in their familiar presence? He wasn't sure. Percy just knew that the gaps in the conversation belonged to his voice only his own head.

Just breathe.

"How about we all agree to shut the fuck up." The seat to Demeter's right was occupied by a lounging god wearing a pair of tinted aviators. The sunglasses looked completely out of place when contrasted with the Olympian's traditional red garb. "These ancient-ass clothes are uncomfortable and I gotta find new shit to kill. Get on with it." The god tilted down his shades with a finger, peering at the two Jacksons. "Pitiful mortals. Waste of time and space when they aren't fighting if you ask me." His sneer was poisonous.

The black-haired god's very being screamed of violence. His throne was alive with an active battlefield of tiny carved armies engaged in the most brutal fighting Percy could imagine. Sally swallowed a gasp at one particularly gruesome beheading - the dark stone of the throne somehow depicted the slimy gore just fine.

The god's bloody aura was so thick it dripped off the edge of the throne's seat in viscous clumps, pooled on the floor. Percy hadn't expected it to be so dark, so almost physical. He didn't like it.

The sky bearer intrinsically knew that Ares was the kind of person to just glare at everything in general. But when the Olympian's gaze turned to him, the war deity's expression became something completely different. If looks could kill Percy would have combusted right on the spot.

Aphrodite's voice was in his head again. The immense burden of guilt and shame in her tone each time her half-brother had been mentioned stoked the flame in Percy's chest into a rising fireball. The sky bearer found that he didn't much care if the anger was his own or not. Instead of cowering, he gave the god best approximation of the grin he had given Kronos right before dropping the sky on his back. The ashen-haired man took extreme satisfaction in the way that the war deity's face stiffened.

Percy only realized his hands had flexed into tight fists when his mother grabbed one with her own. Feeling his control over his own emotions beginning to slip, Percy broke the angry staring contest and turned back to Aphrodite. He was pleased to find that the love goddess was side-eyeing enough daggers at her half-brother to fill a butcher's shop. When the beautiful Olympian sensed his eyes on her form, she turned back and met Percy's gaze.

It was naïve to hope that the encounter would have gone unnoticed by the watching gods and goddesses, so Percy didn't. Aphrodite's expression had stoked the fireball into an inferno.

Let them stare.

"Hmph." The grunt from next to Ares could have been agreement, disagreement, or anything else really. The son of Poseidon's eyes were pulled back, further down the line on his left.

A great steel throne, masterfully composed of thousands of interlocking gears and other mechanisms, was host to a strange and deformed lump of a god. With slanted shoulders and scraggly brown hair, he was perhaps the only one in the room who didn't fit the bar of standard Olympian beauty. The god's robe was a workman's coal gray. It was the same color as the mist of power surrounding his form.

Percy caught sight of one thick eyebrow smoking a bit, and there were licks of fire as the god ran a hand through his bushy beard. Hephaestus seemed uncomfortable in his seat, clearly favoring the leg without a thick metal brace. His malformed face was covered in dark welts.

Percy had half expected the forge deity to be as mad as Ares. That clearly wasn't the case. Instead the god's expression was appraising yet aloof, like Percy was nothing more than a novel toy.

"Now, now." Perhaps for any other group, it would have been strange for the mature voice of reason to come from the mouth of a child. "Tensions are already high and fighting will only make things worse. We just finished a war. No need for another."

Perched on a throne that literally dwarfed her body was a young, kind-faced girl. She looked physically no more than eight or nine, draped in an equally small light-brown robe. Three of her could have fit on the seat, which upon closer inspection resembled a great stone fireplace more than a chair. The goddess' mousy brown hair and fiery eyes were the exact contrast to Ares.

When the diminutive Olympian flashed a smile Percy's way he felt some of the stress in his chest unwind. The urge to hug Hestia was almost overwhelming - the hearth deity had always been Aphrodite's favorite aunt. The man knew it would have been a bad idea. Percy wasn't sure if he could have held himself together when she admitted they didn't know each other.

"I agree with Hestia." The young male god to the hearth deity's left answered. His voice was almost hesitant, an unusual emotion for an immortal deity. "This topic isn't particularly pleasant. The quicker it's over, the better."

The blond Olympian sat on the very edge of the right arm of the formation, closest to Percy and his mother. A pair of elfish ears and curly salt-and-pepper hair sat above a morose face. The god's deep frown looked out of place on his roguish features. His particular throne was made from a swirl of scrolls of paper, envelopes, and various forms of human currency. Hermes seemed to pointedly avoid looking Percy in the eyes.

"Maybe don't let one of your bitches give birth to a fucking traitor next time." The slurred voice of a decidedly drunk man came all the way from Percy's left. When the sky-bearer went to look, a flew locks of bright red crossed his vision a couple of thrones down from Hephaestus. Percy refused to turn in that direction any further, chest tightening painfully.

Anything further down from the forge deity was just too dangerous, Percy decided. It was easier to just pretend that it didn't exist, to tell himself that the U-shaped formation of thrones extended no further. Maybe if he lied to himself he would actually start to believe it.

He knew who was down there anyway. Apollo, Dionysus, and her. Artemis.

The sky bearer could only pray the hunting deity kept her mouth shut. Exploding into a storm of either anger or hysterics at the seat of the gods was the last thing he wanted to do. Well, the last thing his rational brain wanted, anyway. There was a large part of him that was almost willing to take the gamble, roll the dice, and see if he could reach her before the other Olympians could intervene. Maybe he would get to punch Ares, too. The inferno in his heart gave him pretty good odds.

Instead of giving that exceptionally violent through any more attention, Percy decided to move his gaze back on Aphrodite. Even just viewing her made the world seem more real, his own skin more comfortable. The love goddess hadn't participated in the familial bickering. Instead her focus had remained entirely on Percy. When they two locked eyes her smile was back in place. Seeing it made it easy for the sky bearer to believe she had everything under control.

"Just breathe." Aphrodite mouthed to him. It was as if she had read his mind. The covert action was hard to miss because Percy had a really hard time not looking at the goddess' lips all the time.

Percy let out a great huff of air, dispelling a creeping blackness at the edge of his vision he hadn't even noticed. Sally, apparently seeing the same message, leaned further into her son's side in a welcome show of support.

The elder Jackson was visibly frazzled, put out by the brewing argument between some of the most powerful beings on the planet - one of whom was her ex-lover. The fact that the sea god kept looking at her clearly didn't help matters. The woman's eyes were weary more than anything else. Percy could suddenly understand all those new gray hairs she sported.

"Go back to drinking. Pretending to be useful isn't your forte." Someone snorted from the portion of the room that was now off-limits. "If things keep going this way maybe I'll join you." That relaxed, sunny voice had to be Apollo. What did the god or his throne look like? Percy allowed himself to naively hoped he would never know, other than what his fake memories already supplied.

For a moment the universe seemed to hold its breath, or maybe it was just Percy again. Nearly every Olympian had already given their two cents. It seemed that the last, a stiff blond goddess to the right of Aphrodite, was waiting for something.

The brief silence was extra loud to the sky bearer. Percy could physically feel the gaze from the second closest throne on his left. Two tiny pricks of pressure bored right into his cheek. The urge to just take a single glance was nearly overwhelming. To do so would mean his complete unraveling.

Please. Percy wasn't sure who he was praying to, or what he was asking for. Please.

His plea would go unanswered.

"Perseus." That smooth, young female voice couldn't have been anyone else. The room grew tense as the natural flow of conversation came to a crashing halt. Percy's heart missed a beat, then a second. "Why do you refuse to look at me?"

For a moment all the sky bearer knew was red. A rush of hot anger bubbled from his stomach up his throat and out of his mouth. He felt his teeth bare, lips pulled back in an almost animalistic snarl. The string of his control finally snapped, and for the first time in over half a decade Percy Jackson laid eyes on Artemis of Olympus.

She sat perched on a throne carved from solid moonlight, shimmering silver like the air surrounding her skin. On either side sat her twin brother and the god of wine, though Percy's brain couldn't have cared less about them at the moment. Unlike the other Olympians, Artemis had forgone a Greek robe in favor of a traditional leather hunting tunic. Her form lacked any visible weapons. Percy knew that wouldn't make a difference. It wasn't her physical form that was most dangerous, but her treachery.

Over the years, much of Percy's memory of Artemis had faded. All of the non-important bits, anyway. He had forgotten how young the hunting deity often chose to appear - those teenaged features may have seemed approachable once, possibly even sympathetic. She looked barely a few years older than Hestia, but Percy knew better. He had seen what was hiding behind that childish face.

She was watching him, hands folded over her lap. The same hands that had doomed him. The same shining eyes framed by fiery red. The same weakness behind her gaze, masquerading as pity. Oh, how those sights had haunted him for so long.

The chamber was still. Percy could feel all of the other gods watching.

"You may not believe me." Artemis took advantage of his silence to continue speaking. Each word was deliberate, carefully chosen. "But I am glad to see you alive." Well, she got one thing right. He didn't believe her.

"Is that what you would have said to Zoë?" The voice that came from Percy's mouth didn't feel like his own. "Or would you have lied to her, too?"

His friend's name had torn from underneath the mental fog with a banshee's scream. It came alongside the image of her broken form, of Atlas' foot as he shoved her into the open air, of the smile of the Titan's face.

Percy took particular vindictive pleasure in the way the hunting deity's face sagged. He only realized that he had taken a step forward when both of his mother's hands snagged at one of his arms, desperately trying to hold him in place. The sky bearer shrugged her off with little effort.

"Perseus!" Not even Aphrodite's voice could pierce the tunnel that had formed between his eyes and that of the virgin goddess. Neither looked away. There was a storm in Percy's veins, a tornado beneath his skin.

"What is the meaning of this?" Zeus spoke up, leaning forward with a displeased expression. Artemis held up a hand to stop him, not even sparing her father a glance.

"I am to blame for many things, boy. Hate me if you must. I cannot stop you." The goddess' voice balanced on a wire, wavering between two emotions Percy couldn't place. She leaned forward, aura flashing dangerously. "But do not insult me or her memory by assuming that I would-"

"Insult her memory?" Percy would have laughed if the notion wasn't so comically hypocritical. "Did you decide to care before or after Atlas kicked her body off a cliff?" The man's voice trembled against his will. "At least I lived."

When Percy took another step forward, a single drop of golden liquid dripped from the gaps in between his fisted fingers. Only one pair of eyes, darker than the depths of the underworld, followed it as it fell and vanished into the floor.

Percy felt like his form was ablaze. He willed that wind from the balcony to appear, dreamt of the floor beneath Artemis' throne collapsing into the abyss. He knew he could do it, that the power was inside him, but he didn't know how. Every attempt at grasping it ended in failure.

In the end, there was nothing. The writhing energy, right when he needed it most, stayed just beneath the man's skin. Still, it felt good to get the truth of his chest, to see the way his words hit home. Almost too good.

Apparently, Percy was the only one who knew the specifics of the fate of the former Hesperides. Artemis had been more than hit by his words. In fact, the goddess had nearly fallen backward in her seat. Her silver aura fled the room for several seconds, throne visibly dimming. When the hunting deity straightened again, the sky bearer watched her face flash from grief to anger in a single second.

"Cease this foolishness!" There was a crack of lightning near Percy's feet, so powerful all the hair on his body stood up straight. Zeus was standing from his throne, hand around the Master Bolt. "Take one more step, Perseus, and I'll strike you down where you stand." The sky bearer met the words with a sneer, barely stopping his feet in time.

"Calm yourself, husband." Percy was pleasantly surprised to find Hera of all people rising to meet the sky god. "Such favoritism is unbecoming." The regal goddess motioned towards Artemis with a hand. "Your daughter was tasked with securing the Ophiotaurus and destroying any threats she found along the way." There was a vindictive twist to her beautiful face. "She failed at both."

The hunting deity flinched again, this time deeply. When Hera turned back towards Percy, there was a calculating gleam in her eyes. "Let the boy speak his peace. Perhaps, with the battle behind us, there is a portion of blame to be assigned."

Percy was glad he had trusted his gut. Was it manipulative to use his acquired knowledge of the council to pit mother against step-daughter? Perhaps. Frankly, Percy didn't give a shit. Hera's dark chocolate eyes were sharp and intelligent as they met his own. The man could see that the goddess knew that he was thinking it and didn't care either. An understanding passed between them.

Unexpected allies indeed.

Sally had finally broken from her stupor and rushed forward to grab at Percy's waist. The man could feel his mother pulling with all of her might, yet he would not be moved. The man tried again to bring that elusive power into the chamber, straining every muscle in his body to the point of pain. Nothing.

"You dare?" Zeus' was trembling with anger.

"I dare." Percy watched as Poseidon spoke up from his own throne. The god's eyes were swirling pits, dark as the sea during a storm. "Perhaps this meeting would be better served without Artemis' presence." Whether his father made the suggestion due to political motivations or personal ones, Percy couldn't tell.

"My daughter's seat on the council is not at question!" The sky god thundered in response. His grip was tight around his signature lightning weapon. The sparks that spat from between his fingers were identical to those flying from his eyes.

"I did my duty." Artemis had finally regained her composure. She was sitting stiff and straight in her throne, hands clutching either arm rest. "I sat on the council and fought as directed, unlike some members present." It was an effective jab. Poseidon was forced to acquiesce, sinking back down into his throne.

"You broke your word." Percy's rumbling growl cut through the bickering. "You left us to die! I gave my life for you and you abandoned us." His face was wet, moisture dripping down his cheeks. Percy tried to take another step and his legs gave out. His mother fell with him, two sets of knees impacting the floor.

Faces, names, ghosts were standing around him. Just black shapes with pits for eyes, real only as far as his mind allowed. Those that had left him behind, those that he had forgotten. They were watching him.

"Do not speak to me of sacrifice." Artemis sniffed, face twisting. She turned her nose up in a way that boiled the sky bearer's blood. "I lost more than just my lieutenant that day."

"I lost everything!" Percy struggled against the arms of his mother, writhing with what little strength was left in his body. "You took everything from me!"

The sky bearer collapsed to the floor. The anger, the rage left Percy in an instant. With it, that elusive power he so desperately desired to control whispered away. What was left in its palace was nothing but a crushing, all-consuming emptiness. It was the same as the gaps in his memory, as the missing faces of the ghosts haunting him. Everything that The Burden had taken away.

There on the throne room floor, Percy Jackson was spent completely. There were no more tears to give, no more emotion to summon. It was made all the worse by the fact that his betrayer in reality was a woman Percy couldn't help but consider a sister in his heart.

"This is not productive." He dimly heard Hades say. "The boy's presence here is required. Your daughter is not." The words were distant. "Send her away and let us move on."

"Put it to a vote if you must, husband." Hera again, voice forceful. "But I fear you may not like the results."

"Percy! Stop it!" His mother's hissed in his ear. She was prying at the man's fingers to release his death grip. When the woman finally succeeded, any evidence of injury had already vanished from Percy's palms.

"Even you cannot ignore the truth, father." Aphrodite's tone was pained. Percy could hear the torrent of emotions buried underneath. Anger. Sadness. Guilt. "Artemis' failure allowed Atlas to roam free and robbed Olympus of its most valuable soldier in one fell swoop."

"Don't you shit talk my sister!" Through his dim gaze, Percy got his first real look at Apollo when the god burst from his throne.

The sun deity had taken a form several years older than his twin. His handsome teenaged face was topped with a mop of curly blond hair, skin more tan than the rest of the Olympians. He was wearing a white chiton that glowed from the inside out, standing in front of a throne made of energy that roiled and spun like the surface of the sun. His angry expression mirrored his seat of power. The god was almost hard to look at, his yellow aura was so bright.

"Sit down, Apollo!" Zeus' words were sharp as a whip's crack. For several tense moments the chamber was silent before the sun god settled.

"This will not be a final decision, brother." That was Hestia. "But allow Perseus this reprieve. He has been troubled enough."

Artemis was still watching Percy. Her eyes betrayed nothing. The sky bearer hated that she got to look at him from her throne's perch, stare down at him just like she had all those years ago. All the man could muster was his finest scathing glare.

This isn't over. Percy poured the message into his gaze, willing it across the gap between them.

You would threaten me? The voice of Artemis answered in her own blank expression.

I'll do more than that. Percy promised. He meant it with every fabric of his being. The goddess turned her face away.

"Daughter." Zeus' voice was weary. "Leave us."

"What?" Percy found pleasure in the way the diminutive hunting deity straightened. The word came out high-pitched. "You can't possibly-"

"Now." The sky god's interruption left no room for negotiation. "You may return after this matter is concluded." Percy watched as father and daughter stared each other down.

Inevitably, Artemis shrunk under the gaze of the ex-king of the gods. She was gone with an almost petulant expression and a flash of silvery light. Apollos' shocked face mirrored his sister's. Zeus practically collapsed in his seat, reaching up to massage a temple with one massive hand. Percy finally felt like he could breathe again.

"Satisfied?" Zeus' stormy blue eyes were trained on his wife.

Hera tilted her chin up in response, golden ribbons sparkling with the movement. "Hardly," the goddess sniffed. Still, she sat back and said no more.

"What a shit show." A dark haired Olympian on the other side of the now empty throne tilted his head back to gaze towards the ceiling. The god of wine had a strangely chubby face, cheeks and forehead tinted a flushed red. His blue eyes were bloodshot. Hanging limply from one hand was a shining metal flask. "I wouldn't even be here if alcohol privileges weren't on the line."

Dionysus' throne had taken cues from Demeter - the thick vines growing from the floor were laden with clusters of grapes the same purple color as the god's robe. The weaving branches of the plant-life had trapped various symbols of alcoholics and party-goers everywhere inside their grip. A beer keg and a wine barrel were the two largest items.

"Can we just move on?" Percy found the strength to turn his head at Hermes' words. The blond god of messengers still refused to meet his gaze. "Please." The Olympian finished.

"Are you alright, Perseus?" Aphrodite was watching Percy with those swirling, perfect eyes. He could see nothing but concern both on top of the veil and underneath it. A few thrones down from the love deity, Poseidon awkwardly closed his mouth a half-second later.

"Are you well enough to continue?" The question was posed publicly, but to Percy it felt like she was speaking as if the two of them were the only ones present. He could physically see Aphrodite restraining herself from leaping off her throne.

He couldn't answer.

"Give him a minute." Sally's reply was snappy. At least she had stabilized him on his knees, rather than resulting to the fetal position on the floor.

"Give me a fuckin' break." Only Ares could have managed to sound so venomous.

"Silence! You shall have one minute." Zeus allowed, still working his forehead. "But no longer."

The next sixty seconds were some of the shortest in Percy's life. He wasn't sure how, but in between blinks his mother had gotten him up onto both feet and standing somewhat straight. When she finally released and took a step back, the older woman was watching him like a hawk. Sally's expression smoothed a bit when he managed to not fall over.

At that moment, Percy found himself both disappointed and relieved. It was combination he had not expected. He was disappointed that Artemis had escaped. Relieved that it meant that next time they met, the man would have better control of his powers. Whatever they were. When he and the goddess were face to face, someday it would be on equal footing. No, not equal - it would be Percy staring down from the high ground.

The sky bearer took a few deep breaths to try and release the iron bands around his lungs. It felt good to have a purpose again. For the past years it had only been to survive, to continue to exist and see his mother again. With that accomplished, Percy Jackson was a man on a mission once again. That empty hole in his chest didn't seem so daunting when its edges flickered with that fire in his soul.

He reveled in it.

"Let us begin." The sky god waved a hand.

"Perhaps I could be allowed to ask the first question, father." The blond goddess next to Aphrodite spoke first. It was the first time the particular OIympian had opened her mouth all meeting. Under her gaze the feeling of standing under a spotlight returned to Percy with force.

The throne behind the striking female goddess was appropriately utilitarian, and about as intellectual as the sky bearer had expected. Both the backrest and the arms were more bookcases than stone. The thing wouldn't have looked that out of place in a large library. The steely-eyed Olympian on its seat sat with perhaps the most textbook posture that conceivable. Both her aura and clean white tunic were pressed sharp and neat.

Athena's intense features were set directly onto Percy. The man couldn't read the cold emotion in her gaze, but it wasn't especially pleasant. It seemed almost . . . personal. His brain itched again, a faceless ghost interposed over her features for a moment. Was that one of his own missing memories?

"Very well, daughter." Zeus somehow managed to sound both exhausted and accommodating. "I trust you to lead the correct line of questioning."

"Keep it short." Poseidon interjected, one large hand slapping the arm of his throne with a sharp crack. The water inside reacted appropriately, tumbling and waving madly. "My son deserves an awards ceremony, not an early grave." It was clear that the meeting was wearing on his patience. Percy fought the urge to shoot his father a look at the sudden show of support.

When Percy turned his head away from the god of the sea back toward Athena, his gaze caught on the Lord of the Dead. Hades' dark eyes hadn't moved a single inch. Percy got the distinct feeling of someone poking and prodding at the edge of his skull, though the sensation found no headway and vanished soon after.

"Thank you, father." The wisdom deity's polite reply jarred Percy back into reality. "Let us move in chronological order, then. Perseus Jackson." The direct use of his name had both the sky bearer and his mother standing at attention. From the seat of her throne, the goddess peered down at them both.

"The first proper order of business is the fate of the Titan Kronos." Athena's clipped tone was all business, her face smooth and controlled. "It is well known that, in the final battle on Othrys, Kronos fled at the last hour wearing the skin of the traitorous demigod Luke Castellan." Percy saw Hermes shrink into his seat. "Before the collapse of the fortress, his energy had been tracked to the throne room. The very throne room where Olympian intelligence holds you were carrying Atlas' burden."

The words inspired another hush in the chamber. There were a few new emotions showing - Poseidon was literally glowing in his seat, thick arms crossed over an increasingly puffed chest. Aphrodite looked equally as proud, though Percy suspected he was the only one who could see it through the mask. Ares growled and Hephaestus hummed to himself again. Hera's expression was once again highly intrigued.

"In the end, only your body was recovered. The ruins of the fortress remain inaccessible for the moment." Athena's recap of events came to a close. "In the interest of the records of Olympus, and as a point of courtesy, you are being allowed to speak in your own words instead of having your memories audited. I pray you put this matter to rest." The ominous way Athena delivered the statement made Percy swallow heavily. "So, Perseus." The goddess gaze never wavered.

"What became of Kronos?"