Chapter 12: The Prometheus Affair
"The thing of it is is that I still do blame myself for it, but with what happened a few days ago with the nightmares, I feel like it's given me closure." I said as I organized my third pot of flowers.
"Very interesting," Miss Kore said as she tended to her own flowers. "So, you think that the nightmares subconsciously helped you truly realize that your mother's death wasn't your fault?"
"Yeah, but it's weird." I told her. "I've spent so long blaming myself, that it feels weird finally accepting it. Does that mean I still feel guilty about what happened?"
"No, sweetie, not at all. That's a sign that says you still have room for healing." Miss Kore smiled as she gently lifted up one of the roses she had planted. "Just because one rose on the bush has blossomed doesn't mean it'll give a full bushel as soon as possible."
"I guess so." I shrugged.
Just then, Miss Kore glanced over at the kitchenette hourglass in time to see the last grain of sand fall into the other half. Signaling that my session for the day was now over, and that I'll have to wait a whole other week to continue on this healing path I've recently found myself enjoying more and more of. Which is fine, but it still feels nice to know that somebody really cares about helping me out with my problems. Miss Kore's really is the best there is.
"Well, I think you've made some progress today with what we've discussed." she then said before noticing the flowers in the vase. "What a beautiful arrangement! I especially love the combination of the lilies with the blue hyacinths."
"Thank you, Miss Kore." I smiled before explaining. "I really wanted to capture the pure form of forgiveness despite the blue feeling."
"Wonderful use of symbolism." Miss Kore complimented before she handed me back my satchel. "I'll see you next week for our session. You have a nice day."
"You too!" I nodded before heading out of her office.
I walked out of that building with a better attitude than ever. Not only have these sessions with Miss Kore helped me with my problems regarding Mom's death and all the trauma I put myself through, but they're also helping me learn more about how to properly heal from it all. And if you combine the sessions with the nightmares Phantasos gave me, I keep this up, I'll be as good as I was before everything happened. I'll be normal again.
Of course, I say that word 'normal' as I go to meet up with the imps as they wait outside Miss Kore's office building to pick me up from my session.
"Good session today?" Pain asked me.
"I think I'm making some pretty good progress." I told them as we left the building. "Of course, only a month and a half of therapy won't solve all my problems."
Panic gave a supportive smile. "At least you're getting help."
"Yeah." I agreed before changing the subject. "Hey, you guys still planning on doing that titan status update?"
"You sure you wanna tag along?" Panic asked me. "You have school."
"Yeah, you already missed half of it already." Pain agreed.
"I have a doctor's note from both Hippocrates and Miss Kore saying that whenever I'm in the midst of the grieving process I don't have to attend school. It's called a Mental Health Day." I explained. "Also, Thursday lunches at school are liver days, and I got sick the last time I ate that stuff."
Okay, so that's a half truth. Yes, Hippocrates and Miss Kore gave me doctor's notes for me to give to my teachers at Pro Ac every Thursday after my sessions, but I'm supposed to actually go to school after said sessions. But every Thursday after my sessions are the same. I arrive at lunch time on literally the grossest meal day ever: Liver Day. I guess to really keep up with the school's namesake, they give us liver meals in honor of Prometheus. When I tell you I threw up after eating something called a liver cake -which isn't a cake, but just fried liver patties- I mean it. So, yeah, I am abusing my doctor's notes, but you can't blame a girl for trying.
Anyway, after I lied to the imps about the doctor's notes, they both exchanged looks before Pain ended up nodding at what was clearly a silent conversation between him and Panic. Indicating that they both decided on taking me with them to do their titan status update.
"Hades isn't gonna be happy when he finds out we let you come with us." Panic worried.
Pain gave him a mischievous grin. "You mean IF he finds out."
A light flicked on in Panic's head as he grinned, remembering those words he said all those years ago in a similar situation. "
Just then, the two of them caught me staring at them while I smiled brightly like a big idiot.
Pain gave me a funny look. "Uh, you okay?"
"You guys don't know how long I've waited to hear you say that." I told them as I was having a mild fangirling moment.
Two Minutes Later
The imps and I teleported to some rock features smack dab in the middle of the ocean. These rocks were tall and large enough for the three of us to walk around on, and they were high enough to give us a beautiful view of the Mediterranean Sea. It's things like this that remind me why I love this world so much. Of course, my thoughts about the view changed when I looked down from a ledge and saw that were were a long way up from the water's surface. Yeah, I might have a bit of a thing about heights ever since the 'incident', but I guess so long as I don't look down, I'll be fine.
"Whoa…" I gulped at the sight. "We're really high up."
Panic shot me a look. "You've been to Olympus, and you think this is high?"
"I didn't look down the last time we went to Olympus." I gave him a sassy remark. "I was too busy getting over a headache and getting the taste of imp breath off my lips."
Panic chewed the inside of his cheek at that unfriendly reminder.
"Okay, Panic," Pain spoke up. "You know the drill."
Panic gave an eye roll before he and Pain started to do a round of rock, paper, scissors to see which one of the two would actually swim down to where the titans were imprisoned to check up on them. I would've volunteered, but considering the fact that I'm mortal, even if I didn't drown swimming halfway to the gates of Tartarus where the titans were at the bottom of the ocean, the pressure of the water would crush me before I got the chance to get there. And since the imps were mostly immortal, they would handle the pressure better than I would. Also, them shapeshifting into an aquatic animal probably helps them out.
"Ha! Paper covers rock!" Panic laughed victoriously.
"Dang it!" Pain yelled in defeat before looking down at the water. "I hate goin' down there. It's dark and creepy and endless."
"So is the Underworld." I reminded him. "But we're stuck with that."
"I won't take long. Maybe." Pain said before pointing at Panic and I. "Watch her."
Panic nodded as he summoned up a clipboard and a quill.
"Be careful." I told Pain.
He gave a nod and jumped off the ledge. I watched as Pain turned himself into a fish right as he hit the water and swam deep below the surface. Leaving Panic and I on the rock while he went to observe the titans while they were still imprisoned. Apparently, this thing of theirs has been going on since they -y'know- failed to kill Hercules all those years ago, but the imps weren't able to do it last year because it was around the time I convinced them to cover for me when Hercules and I acted as spies to find out about that King Midas plot. Hades never found out about the imps not doing the status update, so, this makes up for it all.
"So, uh," Panic broke the ice after an hour or so of silence. "How's school?"
"Good." I gave a short and sweet answer.
He nodded. "And your, uh, non-Jerkules friends?"
"Why?" I smirked. "Still obsessing over Cassandra?"
Panic chuckled before shaking his head. "Nah, not really."
I gave a surprised look. "When did that happen?"
"I dunno." he shrugged as he tapped the clipboard with a claw. "I guess I just started to realize that no girl would ever think twice about a guy like me unless the situation called for it."
Panic stopped talking when he saw me giving him an offended look. Reminding him that I was a girl who thought more than twice about him even if the situation didn't call for it. I knew what he meant, but he still needed to remember that I love the beans out of both him and Pain. No matter who or what they are. They're my best boys.
"I-I mean, except you." he rephrased himself. "I just meant like-"
"You really want someone to love you, huh?" I interpreted for him.
"Yeah…" Panic gave a longing sigh before looking up at me. "Will I?"
"Hey, don't go chasing after love, bud." I told him with a reassuring smile. "It'll happen when it happens."
Panic gave me a thankful grin before hugging me. I'm honestly pretty proud of him admitting that he'd fallen out of love with Cassandra. Now, I know what you're all thinking 'Why is Panic so obsessed with Cassandra? Isn't he WAY too old for her? It's inappropriate'. Well, I've been living with the imps for a while now, and I've learned some things about both of them. Imps age and mature quickly than mortals, but they still are the same age they were when they stopped aging. Panic's been in his early twenties for about a century now. Also, Cassandra's older than you think, too. She actually just turned nineteen. Why a nineteen-year-old is still in high school is a long story, but you get the idea.
I broke off the hug and looked back down at the water. "Hey, how long has Pain been down there?"
"Too long." Panic stated before calling down towards the water. "Pain, the tide is coming in!"
On cue, Pain swam back up to the water's surface, jumped onto the rock we were on and turned himself back to normal.
"All the titans are snug as lugs in a cage under the suds." Pain reported.
I had no idea what any of that meant, but I gave him a supportive thumbs-up. "Good to know, bud."
"Rock Titan, check! Ice T, check! Volcano Dude, check! Wind Guy, check!" Panic started checking off the titans' conditions from the checklist with a quill.
"The big, fat one with the one eye was starin' at me!" Pain then shuttered uncomfortably at a thought.
"This concludes our annual Titan status update." Panic announced as he put the quill away.
"Whoa!" Pain stopped him with a mischievous glint in his eyes. "What about that Prometheus guy?"
"Ahhh, the good titan? Eh..." Panic brushed off the idea as he made the clipboard disappear. "He's chained to a rock for eternity. We'll get to him when we get to him."
"You guys think we can hang out here just a little longer?" I asked them as I felt the sea breeze blow against my face. "This is so relaxing."
Panic shook his head. "Sorry, Aria, but you know the rules."
I gave a defeated sigh. "'Report quicker than later'. I know, I know."
"Besides, we've gotta think of a good lie to tell Hades about why you weren't at school today." Pain reminded me.
He had a point. And just as I stood up to get ready to head back to the Underworld with the imps, something in the distance caught my eye. I looked and saw a giant of a man -not like Briarius' height, I'm talking an actual fifty-foot-tall giant- chained to a rock and being pecked at by a giant eagle. No doubt that 'giant' was actually the titan Prometheus facing his punishment from the eagle once again. But that's not what caught my attention. It was a white winged stallion hovering by with a certain red-headed boy riding it.
"Hey, you guys," I told the imps. "You might wanna take a look at this."
The imps looked at the sight as Hercules flew around Prometheus and tried fighting off the eagle. But the eagle wasn't too keen on having his lunch interrupted, so the massive bird started attacking Hercules. Herc managed to lead the eagle into a bunch of rock formations far away from the chained titan, and while the imps and I weren't able to see what exactly happened, it was obvious Hercules was victorious during that scuffle the moment he and Pegasus flew from the rocks with the eagle nowhere to be seen. And then to add more surprise to this whole thing, Hercules flew back to Prometheus, and with their combined strength, they broke the chains from the titan.
"Hercules is freeing Prometheus?" Panic gawked at the sight.
Pain started counting off the years of Prometheus' imprisonment. "Eternity's not as long as it used to be."
"But his own dad stuck the guy there!" Panic said before turning towards me. "Anything we should know about why he's doing this?"
"I'm trying to remember, but it's all fuzzy." I said before shrugging. "The only logical explanation as to why Herc would do all this would be-"
I stopped talking and bore a wide-eyed expression with the imps doing the same thing when they realized why exactly Hercules was freeing Prometheus despite Zeus being the one to punish the titan.
"He must not know." the three of us said with mischievous grins planted on our faces.
Pain gave an excited laugh. "Oh, I know someone who's gonna love this."
Panic nodded eagerly. "Yeah, no use standing around this popsicle stand! Let's go tell Hades."
The imps tried getting me to go with them, but I stopped them. "Wait. Maybe you two should go on ahead."
"What?" Panic gave a surprised look. "Why?"
"Because you two are the only ones who can sneak into Olympus without being noticed." I pointed out the obvious.
They hesitated, but after some reassurance, the imps agreed with leaving me on the mainland, and they took off towards the clouds to reach Mount Olympus to tell our boss, who was at his weekly council of the gods meeting, about what we saw. It's one thing for Hades to find out about Hercules' act of treason against the gods, but when Zeus finds out it'll be a whole different story. Hey, I'm not doing this to be mean, okay? Herc's gotta learn the hard way that his oh-so-great dad ain't the benevolent ruler he thinks he is. I would've told him sooner, but it would've taken me at least a week to list all Zeus' crimes I remember reading about. Maybe even two weeks.
Anyway, it took about an hour, but thankfully, my patience was rewarded when I saw two mice falling down from the sky right as they turned back into the imps and flew down to the mainland I was on. I take it they managed to tell Hades about Hercules freeing Prometheus, but they must've taken a quick route to escape being seen by the other gods. Hence why they both started breathing heavily the moment they got back onto solid ground. Can't say I blame them for being exhausted.
"That was way too close!" Pain panted when he turned back to normal.
"Y-yeah." Panic nodded in agreement. "We are definitely not doing that again!"
"You guys okay?" I asked them.
Panic breathed in exhaustion as he gave me a weak thumbs-up. "We'll live."
But just before I could congratulate them on going in and out of Olympus without getting caught, the ground beneath us started to shake and rumble. The three of us looked up and saw massive storm clouds swirl and engulf the once cloudless sky. That could only mean one thing: Hades told Zeus about Prometheus being set free, and the king of Olympus was pissed. And this storm was proof of Zeus' anger. If you guys thought a simple lightning storm was only part of Zeus' wrath, you'd be sorely mistaken.
And the imps and I got a bad taste of the wrath of Zeus when lightning struck the ground around us, and the resulting tremors caused a nearby mountain to rumble. Which was more of a problem when the three of us saw massive boulders break apart from the mountain and started hurling down right towards us.
"That's not good." Pain said as he started backing away.
Another thunderclap and more rocks falling gave us a good excuse to try and run away. But much like the time the imps and I hid the cure for Catastrophia in a canyon with a similar falling rock problem, we had trouble dodging the oncoming rockslide. And unlike last time, the imps couldn't find an exit point to shapeshift to fly us out and I didn't have my travel pearls on me either -I accidentally left them on my bed. So, we were sent scattering amongst the chaos. That is, until a massive boulder crash-landed and caused a minor earthquake that sent the imps and I flying through the air. I landed on the ground hard with Pain landing right next to me.
Pain winced as he stood up. "You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm good." I grunted as I stood up. "How about you?"
One cracked back later, and Pain gave me a weak thumbs-up. "I'm fine."
"Pain! Aria!" Panic's voice screamed out frantically.
Pain and I looked up and immediately ran towards the direction we heard Panic calling us from. Thankfully, the crazy storm subsided so that meant no more falling boulders or earthquakes to prevent us from finding our bud. And we were able to find him seemingly unharmed. Well, I say that after finding out that Panic had fallen horns-first into the ground and had found himself unable to get out.
"Help, I'm stuck!" Panic started to freak out as he failed to push himself free. "I'm stuck!"
"Calm down, buddy," I assured him as I grabbed his hands. "We've got you."
Pain grabbed his brother by the horns, and on the count of three, we managed to pull Panic free from the ground.
"You okay, pal?" Pain asked.
Panic rubbed his now bruised horns before nodding. "Yeah, I'm good."
I then looked around at the damage around us. Massive rocks had scattered around the ground after Zeus' little outburst, and I had a feeling that somehow, Hercules and Prometheus were now somewhere among this chaos. If I was ever going to find them, that meant I had to get a head start looking for them. But the imps? I couldn't risk them getting caught by Hercules with me and end with them getting hurt somehow if Hades saw us with Herc. And the imps already looked rough from the rocks. Heck, I don't think I've ever seen Panic's horns look so purple after getting them bruised and Pain was walking a little funny after hurting his back.
"Look, why don't you guys get back home?" I suggested.
"You sure?" Pain asked me. "We don't want you getting hurt."
"Don't worry, I'll be fine." I told them before pointing out their own injuries. "Besides, I don't want you two getting hurt anymore than you already are."
After another round of hesitation, the imps agreed and teleported themselves back home to the Underworld. I knew they'd be fine in like an hour or so, but a gal can't help but worry about her best friends. And when I was truly alone, I went out to find one titan and one demigod somewhere on this island. Which was harder than I thought. While the storm and earthquakes subsided, it was still dark out, like if a storm had come around right at twilight. So It was hard for me to even try to find one person on the island, let alone two.
But, luck was on my side when I finally found someone. A titan with tanned skin, blonde hair and matching mustache and beard, green eyes, wearing a blue single strapped chiton had emerged from the rubble and started rubbing his wrists that had chainlink-like bruises around them. This titan was the now freed Prometheus. And all I could do was hide behind a boulder to make sure he didn't see me and think that Zeus sent me to find him.
"If there's any hope that Zeus mellowed over the years, I say that little outburst rules it out." the titan muttered before looking around. "Speaking of which, where is that little son of Zeus? Sonny?"
Prometheus started looking around the rocks for the demigod, but it wasn't him who found Hercules first. In fact, if it weren't for Pegasus nuzzling his head against an unconscious Herc as the latter laid there pinned underneath a massive rock, I don't think I would've found him. I know Hercules can handle things falling and crushing him, which must be a side effect of his demigod powers, but it was still a scary thing to see.
"Hercules!" I screamed before racing towards him.
Pegasus turned his head towards me, and started neighing and rearing up. Forcing me to be wary of what would happen. I've known this horse for a long time now, and I know that Pegasus wasn't acting this way in anger or spite after the things I've done. He was scared and wanted to protect Hercules. And me running up towards an already spooked animal was definitely not the brightest idea in the world. So the moment I was near Pegasus, I raised up my hands in a defensive yet calming manner, trying to calm down the horse.
"Easy, boy! Easy!" I calmed him down with some gentle pets on his snout. "Good horse."
Pegasus nickered as he rubbed his head against mine.
"And who might you be, li'l miss?"
I looked up to see that Prometheus had finally found Hercules and I. It was weird seeing a titan that wasn't an elemental beast, but it felt nice to actually see a more human-like one. One that both looked and acted like a human, I mean. It made me think of why he felt so connected to mortals all those years ago when he -y'know- stole fire from Olympus to give as a gift to them. Prometheus, in this world at least, was the only 'human' titan.
"My name's Aria. I'm a friend of Herc's." I introduced myself. "I take it you're Prometheus?"
"Lucky guess." Prometheus confirmed before moving the rocks off Hercules. "Here, let me help out your friend here."
"You okay, bud?" I asked Hercules.
"Wha-what happened?" Herc asked in a confused state as he sat himself up.
"Well, let's say you got a piece of rock." Prometheus said as he picked up Hercules with his hand.
"Huh?" Hercules looked up at the titan. "Who are you?"
"Prometheus the titan." Prometheus reminded him. "You're the one who rescued me, remember?"
"Ah, neat!" Hercules smiled before getting a confused look. "By the way, who am I?"
"You're Hercules." Prometheus' tone started to get annoyed. "Say after me: "I am Hercules, hero-in-training, and son of Zeus.""
Herc gave a laugh before congratulating himself. "Right! Yeah. Good for me."
"He must've hit his head harder than we thought." I muttered to Pegasus -who snorted in agreement.
Hercules then looked down at me. "Who are you?"
"I'm Aria." I reminded him. "We're friends, you and I."
"Cool." he said before looking at me lovingly. "Wow, you're pretty."
"Oy..." I facepalmed.
Prometheus rolled his eyes at the situation and started carrying Hercules as he walked. "Let's get you two outta here and someplace safe."
I nodded before hopping on Pegasus and taking flight. Leading Prometheus and Hercules to find some shelter from another potential storm, or worse, Zeus and the other gods finding us out and punishing Prometheus for being free. I didn't even want to think about Hercules and I would get punished, but who has time to worry about that when you're on the run, right? Not exactly how I wanted to spend my Thursday after my session, but it definitely beats Liver Day at school. So, I guess this is better than nothing.
Later That Night
It took hours, but we couldn't find any shelter. All Pegasus and I could find was an open field with very few trees large enough to hide Prometheus, who was still carrying Hercules after the whole rock slide thing. And I knew that I was riding on a horse, but I was getting exhausted from traveling and looking, but what was I supposed to do otherwise? It's just like Uncle Homer says when you're in bad situations and want out: Just suck it up, and deal with it.
"I think I'm okay to walk now." Hercules said.
"Sonny, you got hit by a mountain back there." Prometheus told him. "Enjoy the ride."
"Yeah, it's best if you rest for a while." I agreed.
Pegasus then stopped flying forward and flew in place for a while. I knew he must've gotten wind of something he didn't like, but when I looked through the dark valley, the only thing that caused concern was what looked like a massive search light falling through the clouds. This was a problem because one: light just doesn't normally fall through clouds this late at night, and two: that light was actually sunlight. Which meant that Zeus sent Apollo to search for Prometheus.
"Uh-oh." Prometheus worried. "They're after me!"
Prometheus took Hercules and did his best to hide under some of the trees to remain unseen. Pegasus and I did the same thing and landed on the ground to keep away from the light right as Apollo flew by on his solar chariot and was using the smallest bit of sunlight as a spotlight to search from the skies to find Prometheus. Got to hand it to the sun god, points for creativity, but it was still bad news for the four of us. If we didn't find shelter soon, we'd all be in big trouble.
"Who's after you?" Hercules asked.
"Apollo, dummy." I reminded him harshly.
"He's not after Prometheus," Hercules said. "My dad must've sent him to find us."
Prometheus scoffed. "Yeah, that's my theory."
Just then, Hercules dropped down from Prometheus' arms and tried saddling up on Pegasus. "I'll flag him down!"
I immediately stopped him with my foot by putting it on his chest. "Oh, no, you don't."
"Uh, yeah, sonny, I have good reason to believe that Apollo is working for the god who chained me to the rock." Prometheus tried to explain.
"Really?!" Hercules then got an angry look on his face. "Oh, wait till my dad hears about this!"
I rolled my eyes at him. "Easy, Malfoy, he'll find out soon enough."
"Yeah, he'll be shocked, I'm sure." Prometheus agreed sarcastically.
"Okay, here's the plan:" Hercules started to say as he looked at his horse. "Pegasus, you take Aria home, and go tell Phil what's going on. I'll stay with Prometheus to protect him."
"Yeah, no. I'm staying here." I objected to his plan as I hopped off Pegasus.
"What, why?" Herc asked me.
"You expect me to mope around and be all depressed when I'm missing out on all the action? Fat chance." I told him with a determined look.
"Aria, please, you could get hurt." Hercules tried to reason with me.
"I'm still hurting from my mom's death." I retorted. "How much worse could I get?"
Herc immediately stopped talking and gave an apologetic look. I know it's petty to pull out the 'my mom's dead and I do what I want' card, but I mean it. Sure, fighting a dream god was sort of fun, but it wasn't the same as any other adventure Hercules and I have been on. Those other ones, especially the ones after Mom and I officially moved here, reminded me of the good times when she was still alive. And how she wanted me to be happy and to be with friends more than anything. She didn't want me to worry about her, she wanted me to save people and be a better me. Maybe doing this would help keep those happy memories of her alive, even if it meant I could get hurt.
And so, after much deliberation, Hercules sent Pegasus away to get Phil for help. Leaving the three of us to fend for ourselves and to avoid getting captured by Apollo or any other god Zeus had sent after us. My worries at the moment were Artemis and Demeter. Artemis because we were in the wild at night: Her specialty. And Demeter because we were in a valley: Also her specialty. Basically, we had to watch out for nature goddesses more than the rest.
"I'm sorry about your mother, li'l miss." Prometheus then gave me his condolences after a while.
"It's ok. I'm getting better." I assured him with a pained smile.
"And as for you," Prometheus then turned to Hercules with a scoff. "Like I need you to protect me."
"You needed me to free you." Herc reminded him.
"There's one for you." Prometheus muttered before sitting down to talk to both of us. "Okay, but I've gotta tell you two, it's gonna be dangerous."
Hercules folded his arms smugly. "Like we need you to warn us."
I gave him a mean look before shaking my head and going to keep watch for Apollo while Herc and Prometheus gathered some wood for a campfire as recluse as they could be. I must've watched Apollo fly over us about ten times before he finally steered his solar chariot away to the other side of the island. A bit of relief for now, but night only lasts so long. And I hoped we'd find a different place before dawn lest we'd risk getting caught.
"I think we're all clear." I finally confirmed.
"Good." Prometheus said as he finished preparing the dead trees for kindling.
With a small pair of stones, Prometheus then struck them together three times until he managed to get some sparks. And eventually, the sparks on the logs got bigger, and soon the campfire was a massive blaze. A nice change of scenery compared to the blue fire torches I was used to lighting back in the Underworld as my before-school chore, especially since I could actually revel and relax after it was lit. I found myself sitting by the fire alongside Hercules as Prometheus sat down and marveled at what he made.
"Nothing beats a campfire." Prometheus sighed happily as he watched the flames dance.
"You said it." I agreed as I warmed my hands up with the heat.
"You know, before I brought fire down to the mortals, they just sat around like a bunch of schtummies, lookin' at a pile of rocks and sticks." Prometheus told us as he tended to the fire.
Herc looked up at the titan from drawing in the dirt. "Must've been dark."
"And cold." I added.
"Indeed. They didn't even have s'mores! They had s'lesses!" Prometheus continued before smiling proudly at the flames. "But then came fire; my greatest gift to humanity."
"Well, thanks on the half of humanity." Hercules said for both himself and I.
"Just remember: It needs air to burn." Prometheus told us. "The only way to put it out is to smother it. Follow?"
"Yes sir." I nodded, even though I already knew that.
"Good." Prometheus said before looking at the night sky. "Now, you two better get some shut-eye. We've got a big day tomorrow."
Herc and I nodded as we found ourselves a nice spot to sleep for the night a few feet from the campfire. I normally wouldn't resort to sleeping on the ground, but if I did it as an imp, I could do it as a human. I made myself a small sleeping spot that rested under a tree while Hercules found a spot a few feet away from me. Mostly so he could keep watch if a god should happen to pass by and find us. I managed to snuggle down in my spot and had just closed my eyes for a decent night's rest…
"Hey, Aria?" Hercules started talking to me.
I gave a groan before answering him. "What?"
"What do you think of it all?" he asked me. "Being on the half of humanity and the gift of fire?"
"I don't really know." I shrugged, not really understanding what he was asking. "Where I'm from, we just see fire as dangerous. Heck, we had days in school about how to prevent fires from happening."
Hercules shook his head. "That's not what I meant."
"What did you mean?" I opened my eyes to see Herc giving me a strange look.
"I meant that you-" he fumbled with his wording. "You're a… um…"
"Yes?" I tried to get him to continue talking.
"Never mind." Herc brushed it off. "It's not important."
"You're making it sound like it's important." I sat up. "What's up?"
Hercules took a deep breath before asking me an interesting question. "What would you do if you found out that someone you knew was a demigod?"
"Herc," I stated the obvious. "You're a demigod."
Hercules shook his head. "No, I mean what if you had a different friend who was a demigod? And they had no idea that they were one?"
"We'd still be friends, obviously." I gave him an honest answer. "Nothing would really change."
"And how would you tell them that they're one if they didn't know?" he then asked.
"Why? Who's a demigod?" I started to get curious. "Is it Helen, or someone else from school?"
"N-no, it was more of a hypothetical question." he answered unsurely before turning his back towards me. "Don't worry about it. Uh, g-goodnight."
"Night." I said in confusion.
Weirdest hypothetical question I've heard so far, but I guess it was a good thing to ask. I mean, this is Ancient Greece, and seeing as Herc's the only actual mortal demigod I've known, it'd be kind of cool to know if there were others like him. I mean, it'd be a little weird at first knowing that a close friend of ours would be a demigod and them not even knowing, but they'd still be our friend, right? Nothing about our relationship would change just because of it.
The Next Morning
Well, I slept decently that night. The worry of the gods discovering Prometheus while we were all asleep still lingered, but I still couldn't help but worry. Not to mention my mind was still thinking about what Hercules said the night before. About what it would be like if someone we knew was a demigod. Hercules never really talked about the possibility of there being other demigods like him out there. I mean, Herc told me once that Poseidon had two sons about our age, but they were born gods. They weren't like Hercules. Maybe he was feeling a little insecure about him being the only demigod or something, I didn't really know. But it was still puzzling to think about.
Unfortunately, by the time dawn came, those thoughts immediately came to a halt when trouble started to boil. And that trouble consisted of me waking up to Prometheus and Hercules yelling. I sat up from where I had been sleeping to see the two of them struggling to free themselves from vines that had somehow managed to grow all over their bodies. This could only mean one thing: We've been spotted by the gods.
"What the-?" I was then interrupted by the constrictive feeling of vines all over my own body.
I struggled to free myself. These vines were strong and grew tighter whenever I moved my body. When I had a moment to look and see who was doing this to us, my earlier theories were proven right when I saw Demeter, goddess of the harvest, using her power to grow the vines ensnaring Hercules, Prometheus, and myself. But something looked off about Demeter when she was trapping us. Her furious eyes looked shot, as if she had been crying. But why? Prometheus never did anything to her. It was Zeus who had it out for the titan not Demeter. Something was up, but I didn't have time to play Miss Kore's role. I had to get out of here with the guys.
Just then, Prometheus and Hercules used their strength to break themselves free from their viney restraints. While I lacked such power, Hercules then turned my way and managed to pull the vines off my body. Freeing me as well.
"Thanks!" I said as he helped me up.
"Hurry, sonny and li'l miss, Demeter is running!" Prometheus exclaimed.
The three of us bolted right as Demeter tried to get us with another vine attack. But as we were running, we found ourselves being cornered by two armies. One army of very angry rams being led by Artemis and the other being an army of bloodlust Spartans led by Ares. There was no running anywhere between our left and right, but there was a third option. Prometheus grabbed Hercules and I, ran towards the island's cliff, and the three of us made a break for it in the ocean and tried to swim to safety.
"Oh, boy!" Prometheus panted as he swam. "C'mon, kids! Just don't look back!"
I made the mistake and looked back. Right in time to see Posiedon emerge from the depths of the ocean and summoned forth a tidal wave that was rapidly making its way right towards us. Yep. Why'd I expect anything different when we were being chased by nearly all the gods of Olympus. The skies weren't safe for us, the land wasn't safe for us, so why should the waters be any safer for us?
"Definitely don't look back!" I shrieked as I started swimming faster.
But unfortunately, the tidal wave caught all three of us and spat us out on a different island. Just once, I'd like to not be tossed around while I was in mortal danger, but I get no such luxuries when I'm currently laying face down on the ground, drenched in saltwater next to my friend and convicted titan while being on the run. I groaned as I sat myself up and spat out a stream of seawater while Hercules and Prometheus got up.
"You're like Olympus' Most Wanted." Hercules coughed as he looked at Prometheus.
And as if our problems couldn't get any worse than they already were, the ground started to shake violently once again.
"Another earthquake?!" I gawked as I tried to keep my balance.
The earthquakes from yesterday were bad enough, but this one? The ground split open four different ways. Hercules and I were trapped on one section of the earth while Prometheus was separated on a different section. And if that wasn't bad enough, the grounds that we were standing on started to break apart and fell into the ocean and the new cracks within the earth. With the intent of dragging us along with them.
"Jump!" Prometheus shouted at Hercules and I.
Herc took my hand, and we took a leap of faith right as the ground gave out from underneath us. We managed to land on the other side of the ground safely right as Prometheus jumped onto it. Let's see: Ensnared by vines, nearly crushed by rams and Spartans, almost drowned, avoided falling into an abyss and getting buried alive by the earth, and now we were surrounded by half of the Olympian gods and goddesses. Is there anything else that could possibly make Prometheus' escape from Olympic custody any worse than it already is?
"Bada-boom!" Hades announced as he appeared from the massive crack in the earth. "Am I tardy to the party?"
I really need to stop saying things like that.
"Hades too?" Hercules asked before looking at me. "Did you know about this?"
"No!" I yelled offendedly -even though he was partially correct.
Just then, a loud squawk echoed through the air. Our heads turned to see that massive eagle -y'know, the one tasked to eat Prometheus' liver every day- fly over us. His golden eyes staring right at Prometheus as he landed right in front of his escaped prisoner/holder of his daily lunch and bearing a mean scowl upon his beak. I don't think I've ever seen a bird look so angry, y'know that wasn't on a phone game.
"Back for more, you buzzard?" Prometheus asked the eagle before using a broken piece of pillar as a club and started swinging. "Well, the chains are off now! Back off!"
The eagle squawked angrily as he tried dodging getting smacked in the face by the pillar. But eventually, the one thing that ended the fight between Prometheus and the eagle was a massive thunderbolt that struck Prometheus in the chest. Sending him flying back into an abandoned temple, and temporarily putting him out of commission. I would've gotten a look at the god who struck the final blow, but it doesn't take a Greek myth genius like myself to know who did it.
"Nice shot, bro!" Hades smiled at Zeus -shocking, I know.
"Prometheus!" Herc and I worried.
"Hercules, my boy!" Zeus called down to Herc. "Then, it was you and your friend who found him! You know, son, I believe you may become a true hero yet."
"Thanks." Hercules said. "I believe I've righted a great wrong."
"Indeed." Zeus nodded before scowling at Prometheus. "By capturing this insolent fugitive-!"
"Capturing?" Herc repeated in confusion. "But I didn't capture him."
Zeus then gave a confused look. "You didn't?"
Hercules shook his head. "No, I freed him."
Prometheus then sat himself up with a pained grunt. "You know, sonny, I was about to mention this. I really was…"
"Mention what?" Hercules asked.
Prometheus gave a sigh before answering. "Zeus was the one who chained me to that rock to punish me for stealing fire from Olympus all those centuries ago."
Herc shook his head in disbelief. "What?!"
"My own son!" Zeus exclaimed. "How could you do this to me, Hercules?"
"Why did you punish Prometheus?" Herc retorted.
"He stole fire from Mount Olympus." Zeus gave him an answer.
"But, sir, it was for a noble cause!" I interjected.
Hercules gave me a surprised look. "You knew the whole time?"
"Herc, everyone knew." I told him. "Why you didn't is way beyond me."
"But…" Hercules struggled to find the right words. "But, Father, that wasn't fair!"
"Give it up, kid." Prometheus shook his head. "He never listens."
"You stay out of this!" Zeus yelled at the titan. "You could've saved us all this trouble by following my orders."
"He was like this ages ago." Prometheus told Hercules and I before rolling his eyes at the god. "Those were dumb orders! Dumb then, dumb now!"
"There he goes again!" Zeus groaned in aggravation.
"I don't get it." Herc spoke up. "What's so wrong about giving mortals fire?"
"In some ways, it's like playing with fire." I tried my best to explain it to him.
"Exactly." Zeus agreed with me. "The mortals weren't ready for such a thing. It could've been a disaster."
"But it wasn't, though. Maybe you didn't think they were ready," Hercules tried to defend the titan's act. "And maybe a few got burnt-"
"Hey, you can't pin that on me!" Prometheus interrupted offendedly. "I taught them stop, drop, and roll."
"But how can you find out if somebody can handle responsibility if you never give them any?" Hercules asked his father.
"He has a point, sir." I added.
"Children, you may never understand this," Zeus shook his head. "But I can't allow some know-it-all titan to just ignore my authority."
Hercules gave a sigh. "Father, at least think about what I said."
Zeus thought for a moment. I've known him for a while now to know that when Zeus makes a decision, he stands by it. There's no changing his mind to anything that could bring reason to his word, Prometheus' punishment was proof of that. But seeing Zeus' formerly stern and furious look soften as his son pleaded with him and fought for Prometheus' freedom, there might be a chance that Mr. High-and-Mighty would make an exception just this once.
"Fair enough." Zeus gave an agreeing sigh. "For you, my boy."
"Pardonne moi," Hades started speaking. "Correct me if I'm way off here, but don't I remember something about the King of the Gods that doesn't change his mind? Or was that, like, some other king of some other gods? I mean, 'cause -and again, correct me if I'm wrong- but these gods heard it, am I right?"
The rest of the gods remained silent.
Hades' flames started to flicker orange at their stunned silence. "Hello? Is that what we heard or is that what we heard?!"
The other gods started agreeing immediately.
"What are you getting at, Hades?" Zeus asked.
Hades then got a wicked look in his eye. "I think this calls for -and this is literally off the top of my head- a trial by fire!"
"Not involving our Hercules or the girl!" Hera exclaimed as she pushed herself from the crowd of gods towards her brother-in-law.
"Hey, if Zeus has gone soft on crime -I mean, it is still a crime to defy you, isn't it?" Hades shrugged.
"The children didn't know what they were doing!" Zeus defended Herc and I before glaring at Prometheus. "But Prometheus blatantly defied me. If trial by fire will end this, once and for all, so be it."
"Hey, didn't I just get struck by lightning?" Prometheus gripped. "Doesn't that count for something?"
Hades then used his powers on the eagle. Turning the massive bird from his former feathered form into a dark bird with massive fiery wings and matching tail feathers. If that wasn't cool and frightening already, the moment the eagle gave a mighty screech, fire flew right out of its beak. Yep. This was a full-on Firebird, now. Note: not a phoenix. Completely different type of fire bird. Also, phoenixes originally came from China, not Greece. The Greeks just adopted the bird into their mythology, so this Firebird was its own thing.
The Firebird laughed demonically as he glared at Prometheus. "This time, fried liver."
"Did I do that?" Hades smiled smugly. "Nice, huh?"
Prometheus stood tall to face the Firebird. "Come and get it, featherhead! Gimme your best shot!"
Right on cue, the Firebird blew a stream of white hot flames right at Prometheus. Burning the titan to a crisp. Call me insensitive, but I find the fact that the titan known for giving mortals the gift of fire getting burnt by the very eagle sent to eat his liver was some sort of twisted form of irony. And again, call me insensitive for thinking that, but that's literally all I could think of when Hercules and I saw that happen.
"Well, that was a pretty good one." Prometheus coughed before fainting in a singed huff.
Yeah, this was not good. With the Firebird having the advantage over Prometheus, it would be obvious that he'd lose this trial. And I didn't want to think about what would happen if Prometheus quit so soon. If getting chained to a rock and having your liver eaten everyday for all eternity was bad enough, I didn't even want to think about what other punishment Zeus had in mind for Prometheus. Probably imprisoning him with the elemental Titans, but aside from that.
And if things couldn't possibly get any worse in this situation, Hercules got that stupid determined look on his face again. Y'know, the one that indicates whenever he was going to do something that could get him killed so he could become more of a hero. Which then resulted in Herc running towards the downed titan right as the Firebird started to dive down from the sky, aiming himself at Prometheus' liver.
"Hang in there, Prometheus!" Hercules yelled as he picked up Prometheus. "You're not fighting alone!"
"No!" Hera cried out.
"Son!" Zeus worried.
Thankfully, by the time Herc managed to get Prometheus to safety, the Firebird got himself stuck in the ground for a moment before pulling himself free and taking to the skies again. If this keeps up, Hercules could get himself killed. I knew what I had to do, after all, I was the one who got the imps to snitch on Hercules, and I want to be the one who makes sure he doesn't die protecting an innocent titan.
"Herc, stop!" I tried running after him.
But I couldn't reach Hercules. The moment I got close enough to him, Hades had grabbed me and held me up in the air like I was some cat being held by the scruff. And let me tell you, it's bad enough having to deal with Hades being mad at me when he's his usual seven-foot frame, but when he's a three-hundred-foot tall giant holding me in the air? Yeah, I might as well be like the imps in that position because that is a frightening thing. But I still had to help Hercules fight that firebird. I may have helped cause all this, but I want to be the one to help end it. For Herc's sake.
"Put me down! Let me go!" I tried swinging punches at Hades, but to no avail.
Just then, a familiar horse whinny called from high above. I looked up to see that Pegasus had finally returned with Phil for backup. And right on time too. Because when the Firebird started going after Hercules and Prometheus again, Herc tripped and dropped Prometheus. Which doesn't sound so bad, but Hercules took a bad fall and hit his head on a rock. Knocking himself unconscious for a bit. Right as the Firebird breathed another stream of flames right towards him.
"We gotcha, Herc! Hang on!" Phil called out.
Pegasus dove and slammed himself into the Firebird, knocking its fire path off course and saving Hercules -now, awake and alert. But now, Pegasus and Phil were in trouble. I mean, Phil could probably manage just fine, after all, he used to do stuff like this for a living with all the other heroes he trained, but the last time he did was back when he trained Achilles, and we all know how that turned out. I didn't want Phil risking his life for Hercules either.
And to make things worse, Hades wasn't having any of this.
"Hera, babe, could you hold this for a moment?" Hades asked his sister-in-law as he dropped me into her hands. "Kinda need my hands for this."
When I was safely in Hera's hand, I watched as Hades used his powers to entrap Phil and Pegasus in a fiery prison in midair. One where the singed stallion could break free from unless he wanted to burn the feathers off his wings. I guess he really didn't want anyone to interfere with the trial by fire, even if he wanted Hercules to die in the trial. The pettiness of that god can really be as big as his ego sometimes.
"You're on your own, kid!" Phil yelled.
I started to hyperventilate at the situation. "I have to help him!"
"Not on your life! You'll be killed." Hera stopped me with her finger in a worried tone.
"But I can't just stand here and do nothing!" I exclaimed.
A thought then came to my head when I saw the Firebird preparing for another attack. Fire may be a destructive force, but it's like Hades once said: Everybody's got a weakness. And fire's one weakness was also the very thing that can keep it alive for hours if fueled properly. Which was just like Prometheus said the other night: Fire needs air to breathe. If there was any chance at defeating the Firebird, smothering out the flames was the only way to do it.
And so, I did what any normal person would do to try and stop a rampaging Firebird; I started to take off my skirt. So I would be wearing nothing more than my athletic shorts.
"What in Olympus' name are you doing, young lady?" Hera asked me in disgust.
"Don't worry, 'm wearing shorts." I assured her as I bundled up my skirt into a ball and aimed it at Hercules. "Herc, use this!"
Hercules looked up, and I chucked my skirt right at him. He picked it up, and I could see Hercules understand why exactly I would embarrass myself in front of the gods by doing this. But, a wide-eyed and understanding expression from him told me that Hercules remembered the same thing about fire needing air to breath. And in the moment when the Firebird dove in for the final blow, Hercules used my skirt and flung it right in front of the Firebird, getting him all tangled up among the fabric, and eventually smothering the flames. The eagle then emerged from the skirt, now normal, and coughed up smoke. The trial of fire was over. Hercules had won Prometheus' freedom.
Hera smiled in relief upon seeing that my plan had worked and that her son was now safe, and so she gently placed me back down on solid ground. Right as the fire prison that had trapped Phil and Pegasus disappeared, freeing them as well. And the three of us made our way towards Hercules to congratulate him on his victory.
"Beautiful, kid!" Phil smiled.
"That was awesome!" I gave Hercules a relieved hug.
Herc chuckled before handing me back my torched skirt. "Sorry about your skirt."
"Don't sweat it." I assured him as I broke off the hug. "I've got other dresses."
"Well done, son!" Zeus congratulated Hercules. "You stood by your conviction."
"Thanks, Father," Hercules then tried to insinuate something. "And?"
Zeus gave a puzzled look. "And?"
"Anybody you'd like to apologize to?" Hercules put his hands on his hips as he looked up at his father.
"Oh, yes. The Council, of course." Zeus nodded before turning towards the other gods. "I'm sorry I sent all of you on such a wild goose chase."
"Don't worry about it." Hephaestus assured him on behalf of the Council.
Hercules rolled his eyes. "Father, I meant Prometheus."
Zeus gave a mean scowl at the thought. "That overgrown-"
"Look, I'm sorry you didn't like what I did, but it was the right thing to do." Hercules brought back a major point.
Prometheus chuckled nervously as he raised a finger. "Ditto for me."
Zeus remained quiet for a moment before Hera elbowed him in the arm. Which was what finally got him to agree to his son's pleas.
"Oh, all right." Zeus said before turning towards the titan. "You're off the hook, Prometheus."
"Well, it takes a pretty big god to admit that he was wrong." Prometheus bowed his head in respect. "I thank you."
Later That Evening
Well, I'm happy to report that when Hercules and I returned to school that day, Prometheus tagged along to see how much his gift of fire had done well for mortals, especially of the teenaged variety. Not to mention he officially banned Liver Day from the school lunch menu as an encore for his previous gift to mortals. Finally, I'll actually eat a decent meal on Thursdays from now until graduation -which was only months away, mind you. So, thank you, once again, Prometheus. From the half of humanity, you have once again given us a wonderful gift.
Unfortunately, when I returned home that evening, I was given a less than wonderful gift.
It had been an hour or so after school let out, and I was just about to enter the entrance to the Underworld after returning home from school when I saw a pretty unusual sight. Hades was sitting by the entrance, looking aggravated after the aftermath of the trial by fire and Hercules surviving it, while the eagle from before was perched on the ground next to him. The eagle made sort of a whimpering sound as he reached towards Hades with a talon.
"I've got a waiting list for minions." Hades told him in a frustrated tone. "You're not on it."
I hesitated to speak up as I approached Hades. It was bad enough that he now found out that I skipped school to go with the imps for the titan status update and got myself roped into the whole Hercules freeing Prometheus situation, but after seeing how I almost put myself in danger during the trial by fire earlier that day, I knew that he would be pissed off. I know he said he's not a worrying god, but ever since the incident a while back, Hades has been keeping close tabs on me to make sure I don't do stupid stuff that would kill me. And what I did was definitely putting me closer and closer to being under domain arrest for years.
"Well," I tried to make light of the situation when I decided to speak. "At least it looked cool when he was a Firebird."
Hades glared at me as he stood up, scaring the eagle off in the process. "You: Big trouble!"
Yep. Called it. Hades is pissed off, and I'm now in trouble and was about to get another heated -no pun intended- lecture. Not the way I wanted to spend my Friday evening, but I don't know why I expected anything different to something I technically caused. Word to the wise: Never expect anything different from a god with the emotional range of a teaspoon.
"First, you skip school to go with the imps to give me a titan update, and then you have the audacity to try to interfere with a trial by fire?" Hades yelled at me. "You could've gotten yourself killed! Again!"
"Hey, I wasn't thinking about myself during that stupid trial, okay?" I told him. "I was trying to be a good friend to Hercules!"
Hades started to flame up. "And that's another thing-!"
I groaned in annoyance. "Do you really need to bring this up, again?"
"Do you know the answer to that, or do you know the answer to that?!" he retorted.
"Look, I didn't come back to live with you to have you treat me like I'm your kid." I argued. "I'm not like you! Okay? I don't hate Hercules. So, stop trying to make me exactly like you!"
Hades rolled his eyes at me as his flames cooled down. "Y'know, sometimes I think the only thing you're good for is sabotaging my plans."
"Good." I scoffed. "Maybe you'll stop treating the imps like crap from now on."
Hades then thought about something that I assumed was imp torture. "Which reminds me-"
"I talked them into letting me go with them yesterday, so it's all my fault." I interrupted.
"Why do ya always stand up for those idiots?" he asked me. "You know my schemes fail because of them!"
"Is it because of them or is it because of you and your big ego?" I shot back.
Hades then gave me a heated glare. "Grounded. One week."
Fair enough, I suppose. Especially after all the stuff I did the day before. A grounding for talking back and nearly getting killed is something that I could live with, but two roasted best friends? Not so much. Hades then made me stand next to him as he teleported us back to the Underworld. A little lazy since we were literally standing at the entrance, but, again, he was pissed and I didn't want to get an extension on my grounding.