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Before the gods could move to help Perseus, darkness followed. The gods grew scared as they felt the aura of an immortal around them. The hairs on the back of their heads stood up, signaling danger. This wasn't the arrival of a Titan or Giant. The gods realized that it was the presence of a Primordial.
Darkness ensued as the day turned to night. It was like some being had swallowed the sun and moon to cast an eternal night on earth. A thick layer of veil covered the entire planet, not allowing even a speck of sunlight, or moonlight to follow through.
A beautiful woman appeared in front of Perseus' unconscious body. It was like she had appeared out of the shadows. The woman knelt down by Perseus and sent a ray of black energy into his body.
She looked up at the Olympians and they gasped. The woman was dressed in a black dress. She had unnatural pale white skin. Her eyes were volcanic black, that seemed to suck everything in them, like a black hole. With a jolt, the Olympians realized who this woman was.
"Lady Night?" Artemis whispered, but it was enough to confirm their suspicions.
Nyx looked at the gods and spoke, "Who among you pests is a healing god?"
Third Person Pov
It had been two days since Perseus was injured from his father's scythe. He still hadn't woken up. Annabeth hadn't left his side since, even when the gods asked her to. She was wrecked with guilt knowing that he was in his state because he saved her. She remembered as he took the brunt of the blade to save her life. She was reminded of the time Thalia sacrificed herself to save her; she wouldn't be able to deal with the grief if another friend of her perished in order to keep her safe.
The bolt & helm were returned to Zeus and Hades after the gods arrived, but the two gods didn't seem happy as their eldest brother was injured. Grover had gone back to camp to inform them of the quest and of Annabeth's absence. An official council meeting was informed to be held when Perseus woke up.
The gods were all worried about Perseus. Kronos' scythe was powerful enough to slay Primordials. For all his power & strength, Perseus was still a god. The only reason he survived was because of Nyx, if she hadn't helped the healing process, he would've fallen. The elder gods had seen the power of that scythe when they had slashed their father to pieces. They thanked Chaos that Perseus survived.
Perseus Pov
I woke up to find myself in a brightly lit temple; everything around me was in gold. The room looked like it was meant to be for a patient, like a hospital. I realized it must be Apollo's temple. I checked the time, three days had passed since my fight with Lelantos, and when the scythe struck me. No! I did not need a watch. I am the God of time; I can do stuff like that.
I stretched and my chest screamed up in pain. I was used to some pain, so I didn't mind it, and just gulped down some nectar immediately feeling better. I mentally messaged Apollo that I was awake. He was silent for sometime, so I figured he hadn't heard me, but after a minute his reply came. Thank Chaos that you recovered early, Uncle. Come to the throne room, my father has called a council meeting and is having the daughter of Athena explain to him, what happened in the quest.
I realized that I had some changes to make and flashed myself out of the throne room, opened the doors to the throne room, and went inside. Everyone was already here. Annabeth was sitting at the foot of my throne and recounting our quest to the council, but stopped when I stepped in.
All the gazes fell at me as I started walking towards my throne. I could see relief fill the eyes of my siblings when they saw me. Before I could continue further, Annabeth ran at me. All I could see was a blur of blonde hair, before I had someone hugging me to my death. I wrapped my arms around her when I realized she was crying. I let her until she calmed down.
When she let go of me I tried to say something to her but couldn't as a hard stinging sensation burned at my cheeks.
Third Person Pov
The entire council of gods gasped when Annabeth slapped Perseus. Not even the big three would ever dare to slap him, and this demigod had the nerve to do that? Before they could get angry, Perseus started.
He brought his hand up and rubbed his cheek as he looked annoyed, "Seriously, why are all the women in my life intent on hitting me?" He groaned as he looked at Hestia and Annabeth. Annabeth still looked angry, while Hestia looked relieved and amused.
"If you want me to stop hitting you, then maybe you should stop doing shit that makes me want to slap you. Seriously Seaweed brain, do you have any idea how worried I was?" Annabeth screamed at the top of her lungs at him.
Perseus smirked as she kept rambling about the stuff he had done to annoy her. Her ADHD was working up. He could also feel the envious look of Artemis at the two of them, but he ignored it for the time being. He raised his eyebrow at Annabeth, "Seaweed brain? Where did that come from?" He asked amused.
Annabeth blushed as she realized that she had given him a nickname in annoyance. She looked at him challengingly, even with the blush on her face, "Well you do have a domain of Sea don't you? So that means your brain is filled with Seaweed." She said, not really making sense because of her mortification.
"If you do say so yourself Wise-Girl" Perseus replied to her as he draped his arm over her shoulder. If possible Annabeth's blush deepened.
Perseus told Annabeth to sit on his throne's steps while he took care of something. Annabeth nodded and complied, seeing the serious look on his face.
Artemis saw the whole interaction between Perseus and Annabeth with bitter eyes. What she wouldn't give to have the chance to banter with him. Or have him look at her the way he looked at Annabeth.
The gods silenced as they looked at Perseus walking towards the thrones. They thought that he was going towards his own throne, but he wasn't. Perseus walked to the middle throne, the King of God's throne. Zeus and the rest of the council were confused as to what he needed from Zeus. Hestia stiffened at her hearth, as she felt her elder brother's rage. She was the goddess of home; she could feel her family's emotions all the time.
Perseus had remembered what Hades had told him a few nights ago at Underworld. He grabbed Zeus by the neck and lifted him up in the air. Ignoring the gasps of shock from the council, he squeezed Zeus' throat and threw him to the center.
Annabeth was afraid; she could feel Perseus' rage from his blessing. His domains were acting up and she did not like what she was feeling. She couldn't also ignore how deadly Perseus looked. The gods were about 15ft tall in their godly height, but Perseus was undoubtedly at least 19-20 feet tall. He also radiated power worthy of a firstborn of Kronos and Rhea.
Everyone was wide-eyed as they saw Perseus hurt Zeus; he had never raised arms against any member of his family. They knew that Perseus loved all his family, but he adored Zeus more so than anyone, except Hestia. Zeus himself looked scared out of his fucking mind, but on top of everything he looked scared. Perseus had raised him as his own son, and Zeus worshiped his elder brother. So it hurt him more than anything.
Poseidon, Hera, and Demeter were at Perseus' side in an instant. "Brother what happened?" Poseidon asked afraid, Perseus' anger was always justified. So, he wondered what Zeus did this time. Hera too, started to speak something, but the raise of Perseus' hand silenced her and everyone.
Perseus walked to the middle of the throne room towards Zeus. He looked at his brother and growled, "What was my one rule that I asked you to never break Zeus?" Perseus asked him.
Zeus looked scared and confused, trying to remember what his brother meant. When he realized he looked even more afraid, he looked done. He opened his mouth to speak, but before he could Perseus punched him in the stomach.
"I told you to never hurt a child. Didn't I?" Perseus said, looking at him in anger. Perseus looked around to see the scared look on everyone's faces. He closed his eyes and focused on calming him down. When he calmed down, he told Zeus to return to his throne.
"I am disappointed in you Zeus," Perseus said, and that one sentence was like getting slashed into a thousand pieces for Zeus. His mother and elder brother were the only people who loved him wholly despite his characteristic. To hear his brother say that brought great pain to him.
Perseus got back to his throne and slumped down and looked tired. He looked at his siblings, "I have lived for more than 7500 years. All these years I tried to do what was right. Some of you did horrible things that I didn't like but I said nothing, and tried to help you do better. Now I realize that my silence was the biggest mistake I have ever made."
The council stayed silent, but it was clear from their faces that they were deeply sorrowed and ashamed. To be pointed out, their mistake by the one person they all looked up to.
"Summon Hades," Perseus ordered, and Zeus complied. He sent a signal for the Lord of Underworld to arrive. Moments later, Hades appeared in a burst of shadows, bringing darkness with him. Hades looked at Perseus' furious expression and gulped, not wanting to get a repeat of what had happened a few days earlier in the underworld.
"The last 2000 years I was gone you lot have grown worse than before. Your pride has blinded you all to think that you are untouchable." Perseus growled. He had only been back for like a week or so, and already he had found so many wrongful deeds by his family. What more is to come?
Perseus shook his head, "I warned you Zeus to not let get your paranoia get to you, but you did just that. When given the prophecy of your downfall, you did just what our father had done. You tried to control the prophecy and forced your brothers into an oath to not have children. A move surely the Titan King would've made too."
Zeus flinched at the accusation his big brother had just implied. He hated Kronos with every fiber of his being, and he was just compared to him.
Annabeth was silent as she looked at the gods. This was the first time she had seen a real council meeting of the gods, not the glorified party version on the winter solstice. She looked around to see that every single god was ashamed and scared of Perseus. Except for Hestia, she was just sitting silently at her hearth, observing her family with tearful eyes.
"And to top it all off, you tried to kill Hades' two children because they posed a threat to your rule. How are you any different from our father brother? He too ate his children because they posed a threat to his rule. Do you see how low you have fallen that you are becoming just like the Titan King?" Perseus asked as he looked at Zeus. He couldn't believe what had become of his brother.
Zeus looked down, ashamed, as the truth was shown to him. He now realized how much of a tyrant he had become like his father. Poseidon, Hades, Hera, Demeter, and Hestia stayed silent, not finding anything they could say at Zeus' behest.
"I am sorry brother, I know my ways have been unjust until now but I can change." Zeus pleaded with Perseus.
Perseus' expression softened as he looked at Zeus, "I know you are not father little brother. I know you are better than him, but you are blinded by your pride. I would not have elected you as the King of Gods if I didn't believe that you could be a just ruler. It's time for you to make up for your past mistakes, but."
Everyone leaned forward to hear Perseus' further decisions. "For the time being I'm taking control of Olympus. Until or as long as the war stretches. Do not get me wrong Zeus, you're still the King of Gods, but until you show that you can rule better, Olympus would be under my command." Perseus declared to everyone.
The elder gods eyes widened as they heard their brother's orders. They knew how much he hated ruling; it was the reason he didn't accept the honor of being the King of Gods, because he hated ordering people. For him to make such a haste decision, it probably meant that he was finally being pushed past his limit. They couldn't help but think that they had some part in that too. Maybe, if they had done their jobs correctly he wouldn't have been in a position to do what he hated.
Aphrodite and the second generation Olympians could only watch with shock written all over them. They had never seen Perseus this angry ever; even when he found his wife cheating on him. He handled it calmly.
Annabeth watched with morbid fascination as the gods were being scolded by Perseus. None dared to oppose him.
When everyone relaxed and looked at Perseus for further orders. He straightened up and looked at his siblings, "For millennia my siblings have been separated. Not anymore. I propose that Hades and Hestia have their throne back on Olympus. They will join us on the Olympian council." Perseus said, and none dared to say anything, knowing it was not up to vote. If pushed, the wolf might retaliate.
Every single member of the council could only sit back and watch. They weren't stupid enough to go against Perseus. Annabeth was shocked too, as she heard Perseus' decision.
Hades and Hestia looked shocked beyond belief as they couldn't believe what they were hearing. "Do you think that is wise brother? You know that I do not crave for a seat in the council." She said to her big brother.
Perseus' eyes softened so much as he looked at his sister with love. It was the most caring and loving gaze one could look at a person. "Sister, I know you only want peace. But that doesn't exclude the fact that you are the first daughter of the Titan King and Queen. Most don't realize it but I know that you have the power to burn this entire mountain to crisp just by your thoughts. Hades is also a son of Kronos, and he is one of the big three. You two are powerful and I need you to be at your fullest for the war to come."
"It's time that everyone shows you two the respect you deserve. I apologize that I was silent when you were wrongfully exiled in the past brother." Perseus apologized to Hades. Hades nodded at his brother with shock-filled face. He couldn't believe he was getting what he rightfully deserved but was denied. He hoped that maybe his children would be accepted now too.
Two new thrones arise from the end of each row. One of the thrones was made of black obsidian and stygian iron. Images of the underworld were beautifully crafted in the throne. It radiated death and darkness. Hades smiled, looking at his throne. Finally, he thought, he looked at Perseus in gratitude.
The other throne was a simple red throne. The hearth was adorned at the arm rest of the throne. Unlike Hades' it radiated a calming sensation to others.
Perseus got off his throne and motioned his siblings to reclaim their thrones. Hestia rushed forward and hugged her brother and kept saying 'Thank You.' Hades shook his brother's hand in gratitude. Hades and Hestia then took their seats and immediately felt a surge of power boost rush through them.
Perseus moved toward Annabeth and looked back at the council, "If no one has anything more to say, we will be going."
Athena spoke before he could flash out, "Wait, you said Zeus tried to kill Hades' children, meaning they are still alive and kept out of time, weren't they? Because the prophecy would've come true when they had turned 16."
Perseus nodded to her question. The council grew wary as they realized that a probable prophecy child was alive. "But they pose a threat to us Uncle. Do you think it's wise to let them live?" Athena asked as she thought about the danger the children posed.
Hades wanted to speak, but stopped when Perseus spoke, "I do not know whether it is wise or not Athena. I do not know if the children would choose to save us or destroy us, but the choice would be up to the prophecy child. All we can do is help them and hope they make the right choice. But what I would not do is kill an innocent child, just because they pose threat to us."
Perseus looked that Athena was about to argue further, so he turned to Poseidon. "Do you have any children, I have to be aware about?" He asked his brother smiling. Poseidon was one of the gods who loved his children very much, and no matter the rivalry he had with Zeus, he never took it out on his children.
Poseidon shook his head as he answered, "No brother, I have been faithful to Amphitrite since I took the oath."
Perseus nodded and took Annabeth's hand in his. He looked at the council, "As on now, the children of Hades are under my protection. Any action against them would be taken as a declaration of war against me." He said, and flashed out with Annabeth.