7 - The One With The Gifts
Ch. 7
At Camp Half-Blood, with both Greeks and Romans present, Gwen missing, and all the Gods gathered at the ping pong table for an emergency meeting. All cabin leaders and the whole Roman Senate included, the group was waiting for Hades, who was also invited:
"Lord Zeus, why have you called us here for this urgent meeting today? Unless I'm mistaken this is the first time the meeting is being held here and not on Olympus. You generally summon whoever you wish to have a word with." Chiron said respectfully.
"I'm a King, Chiron, I'll do whatever I wish to." Zeus shut him up rudely. That shocked every mortal in the room. No one was ever rude to Chiron, not even the Gods. Zeus looked seriously pissed off, and so did Poseidon.
"I'm sorry, I should know my place, my Lord. Is everything alright? You look upset." Chiron said.
"That's because I am upset, centaur, and yes, you should know your place, but apparently you don't. None of you." Poseidon stated angrily. Everyone looked taken aback by the sudden outburst and anger of two of the big three.
Suddenly there was a flash of bright light and Hades appeared, but he was not looking happy. Everyone nervously gulped. The big three looked quite angry and when they observed the others, each Olympian had different expressions ranging from glum (Artemis) to nervous (Dionysus and Ares) to concerned (Hera), but all the remaining ones were angry. Of all of them, Apollo and Hestia being angry was quite a shock to everyone since they weren't the angry type. Meanwhile, Hades had settled on his throne.
"Thank you for joining us brother, but formalities aside. Did you find his soul anywhere?" Zeus asked, extremely anxious.
"No. I checked the entire Elysium, Isles of the Blessed, fields of Asphodel and punishment as well just in case, but in vain. He was never judged, his soul never came to the underworld."
"Hermes, any news of him? Zeus asked Hermes.
"No my Lord, I couldn't find him anywhere," Hermes replied sadly.
The mortals present in the room were growing more and more impatient by the minute. They were very curious to know who this person was that the Olympian Council wanted to find so desperately.
"Has anyone else seen or heard of him since...", Zeus cast a pointed, angry stare at the campers, particularly the Greeks, before coniuining, "Since before they did it?"
Reyna mustered up the courage to ask him the million-dollar question that was in every mortal's mind.
"Who are you talking about Lord Zeus? Maybe we can help you find him..?"
"Reyna. I wish you could, but what happened is your own doing, all of you." Now they were confused as hell. "I don't understand, sir. What did we do to get you all so angry?"
"You kicked my son out, even after he saved us and your lives countless times. You mistreated him after believing an enemy agent, and you dare question us with what wrong you did?!" Poseidon growled, scaring the crap out of Reyna.
"Wait...Lord Poseidon, you don't have any child, except of course...oh...you mean...Percy...? Jason asked, realization dawning on his face.
"Yes Jason Grace. We are talking about him." Hestia said. "One of the few loyal heroes out there, one who got me and my brother Hades a throne, and you brand him a murderer and kick him out? Who gave you the right to judge some death caused during the war as murder, Romans? And how could you betray the person who led you all to battle against a being like Kronos, Greeks? He called this camp home and you all family!" She added.
And one by one all the Gods began scolding the demigods and Chiron for their foolishness. The demigods were all surprised at the revelation that Gwen was not speaking the truth. They all kept on arguing, but finally, the Gods had had enough. When Annabeth argued that it was for the best and that Gwen was actually good, Apollo angrily blasted one of the empty chairs and growled, "Are you really challenging me in my own domain, girl? I am the God of truth! And that Gwen girl was speaking nothing but lies!"
"This was no undoing of mine, daughter of Athena, you broke up with him of your own accord. You kicked out a fine young man from your life and insulted love."
"Don't call her that Aphrodite, I am ashamed to call her my daughter. I am the Goddess of Justice as well with other things, and you have done nothing but injustice to Perseus. All of you." Athena scolded.
After every God was done shouting at the demigods and the demigods had finally realized their mistake, they hung their heads in shame and regret. The guilt would torture them for all eternity, it seemed. And it actually would, because of the announcement soon made by Zeus.
"What's done cannot be undone. We may forgive you eventually since you are our own children, but it will take some time. We are sorry as well that we weren't present when your common sense had deserted you. But the Council has decided, taking the death toll of the past two wars into consideration, that there is a need for experienced fighters for the future. Also, we will honor Percy's memory-"
"Memories of the dead are honored, and my son is not dead." Poseidon snapped, cutting Zeus off.
"I'm sorry, brother. So as I was saying, we will honour Percy's wish of equality to all Gods and display a list of all minor gods and goddesses outside the camp, their children will be forever welcomed and treated equally at both camps. But since there aren't many children of minor gods only two cabins will be built for them. The number of cabins will increase as the number of their children showing up at camp increase. And lastly but most importantly, we the Council have come to the decision of making the heroes of the first two wars and all the cabin leaders part immortal just like Artemis' hunters. So you may die if you are killed in a fight or battle, but otherwise, you will neither age nor get sick. This is to ensure we have capable fighters for the future as the mortal fate also depends on the wars we fight. "
It took a while for the demigods to let that sink in, but needless to say, they were glad and agreed to the offer immediately. The list of immortal demigods as announced by Zeus was :
Annabeth Chase, Jason Grace (Even his sister Thalia had been a hero, but she was already part immortal, being a huntress), Hazel Levesque, Frank Zhang, Nico di Angelo, Reyna Avil Ramirez-Arellano, Piper McClean, Leo Valdez (His girlfriend Calypso was welcomed to stay at camp by the Gods, and she got to keep her partial immortality intact), Katie Gardner, Travis and Connor Stoll, Clarisse La Rue, Grover Underwood and all other cabin leaders.
The day was celebrated with great pomp, joy, and reverence, the big downside being the absence of Percy. As a result, the ones closest to Percy, being the new immortals themselves, couldn't really enjoy the day.
(A/N: PLEASE VOTE/COMMENT, CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM IS APPRECIATED)