Empress (a Percy Jackson AU)

Annabeth's Orders

Twenty minutes later, Gleeson has brought most of the guards to the throne room. When they saw Annabeth dressed in armor, they kneeled, hiding their shock with reverence. "Now loukomades," Gleeson said, twirling his wooden club between his hands. "I know you guys might find it hard to believe, but Helen sent out assasins to kill Annabeth, Luke, and their child."

There were gasps of shock. "Why would she do that?" Connor asked. "That is not cool."

Annabeth took a deep breath to steady herself. It still hurt to think of talk about that night. "Helen wanted to eliminate any threat to her own power," she said. "By killing my beloved husband and son, she was able to do so. She pinned the blame on pagans to divert any suspicions from her and legitimize her claim."

One of the guards rose to his feet. "Empress Annabeth," he said. "I swear my loyalty to you."

Another guard stood up and did the same. Then another and another. "Thank you," Annabeth said. "I have a new order for you: stop putting down the protests. Let them happen as long as they are nonviolent. I have a feeling they will dissipate soon with Helen gone."

Travis stood up. "With respect, empress," he said, "not all of us treated the protestors roughly."

Connor nodded in agreement. "Some of us even tried to intervene."

"Thank you," Annabeth said, nodding her head in acknowledgement. "I will reprimand those who acted wrongly and reward those whose conduct was excellent."

"What about the emperor and his brother?" Octavian asked standing up.

His blue eyes were shining as if the prospect of seeing another suffer was pleasurable. Annabeth curled her lip in distaste. "Connor and Travis can fetch them. Be gentle."

The two men nodded and left the room. Annabeth turned to face Gleeson again. "Is Chiron here?"

       "Yes," he answered.

        "Can you go get him?" Annabeth said. "I want to officiate his freedom."

     Gleeson nodded and left. The rest of the guards looked to Annabeth for further directions. She instructed them all to return to their posts except for Percy and Jason. With the throne room now nearly empty, it looked quite eerie. Annabeth scanned the room to see how it had fared and her gaze settled on the mosaics. "She erased me!" Annabeth exclaimed, running forward and putting a hand against where her face had once been depicted.

      Helen still stood on the right side with her two sons in tow. There was a space between on the left side of Emperor Frederick between his first wife, Athena, and him. Annabeth had once been shown there, but now her face was gone. Annabeth realized with a heavy heart that Helen had hoped to eventually erase any memory of her from history.

She was still gazing at the empty space between her parents when the doors opened again. She turned around and saw Connor and Travis guiding her two brothers forward. She exhaled; now she only had to figure out what to do next.