章 116: DA : Chapter 116: Questions Abound IV
"She forced Aphrodite to swear on the Styx to never use her power or domains to interfere with me and my father ever again. Makes the goddess near harmless if she can't charmspeak you but it didn't stop her persistence."
...
Raven whistled at that while looking at Piper mildly impressed.
Even without the use of her power Aphrodite was still someone experience in using pure feminine charms and a silver tongue to get what she wants, not to mention her resources as a goddess were nothing to scuff at. She could easily imagine the goddess coming to Piper with promises of just about anything, from riches to power if only to reclaim her daughter, likely the strongest one she's ever had. And yet Piper had said no to each and every one.
"Hmm, so what then? Happy now with all this?" Raven asked as she waved around to which Piper idly tracked before sighing.
"It's … pleasant," she answered after a quiet minute. "But … boring I guess." She then sighed as she looked down at her lap. "I thought that what I had with Grace was what I wanted," She said while Raven wondered on the specifics on not using Jason's given name.
"We were together, partially immortal with respect and all that but more importantly, peace and quiet finally. I didn't really like the whole 'demigods fighting and fighting for glory only to get eaten at some point' so I didn't even officially join the legion. Sure I would fight if actually needed but otherwise I was happy just going on with the days but …" She now looked at Raven with wet eyes.
"I guess what I wanted and what Jason wanted weren't exactly matched up. I stayed at home, he was out there being a hero and such, recuing demigods. I was happy mostly keeping to regular mortal stuff while he was training, searching, and leading with the legion. I guess in the end I got frustrated because even then we didn't progress together as a couple, and then all the stuff with that damned goddess."
Piper gave a mirthless chuckle as she set her tea down.
"But then here I am. Living the mortal life with a celebrity parent and I can't help but feel like it just isn't enough. Like I can and should be doing so much more, even if I lost all my abilities." She then trailed off as she looked at her lap.
"And what now? Are you going to remain like this? Daughter of a movie star just living an uneventful life," Raven said with a slightly disappointed frown.
"I get that everything that happened during the second war really put a pressure on everything, especially when you went from being a clueless mortal to demigod fulfilling part of a prophecy, but in the end it's still in your blood. You were born to do, not just stay stagnant, even if you're definitely Greek rather than the uptight and duty bound Roman."
Piper sniffed a bit before muttering, "Maybe … I still don't want anything to do with those of Olympus though, I would just mean being closer to that goddess again."
"What about Hestia? You seem to still like her," Raven commented while hiding a small smirk.
"Well, I'd like to see her and appreciate what she did for me but wouldn't it still bring me in contact with Olympus even after being separate from them for near half a decade?" Piper asked.
"Not necessarily," Raven hummed as she looked at the former child of love intently. "A lot has been going on with the mystic side of things, as I'm sure you're aware from the news." At Piper's nod, she continued.
"Well, the reason seeing Hestia again is due to what you saw on the news and what's been going on in recent years, and it also coincides as to why I came looking for you."
At Piper's questioning look Raven smiled as she leaned forward. "Well Piper Mclean, if you'll humor me, I might just have an interesting offer for you …"
...
( Athena POV )
Hours Later
The goddess groaned softly as she woke back up, her head throbbing and a metallic taste in her mouth. Her vision was blurry for a few moments as she blinked repeatedly before getting a full view of where she was. She immediately noticed that her hands were tied together at the wrists and hung up above her head.
She was in a marble room lit by odd lamps in each corner that almost looked like they were made of solid light. It was considerably large, around some 20 feet cubed if she had to guess, the chains holding her to the ceiling made of an odd black metal that definitely wasn't Stygian Iron but she couldn't identify it.
Her feet just barely touched the floor, more of her toes grazing the chilly floor. She was dressed lightly, in a simple white sundress and much to her alarm, nothing else underneath. Her heart started to race as a cold pit of worry and fear built up in her, her eyes starting to look around almost wildly.
Every single thought was turning to what this scene could play out, every scenario getting progressively worse. However, before she could scare herself further the single door before her creaked as it was opened and stepped in … the winged goddess that fought her before.
Those same lavender turning to pink eyes looked at her without giving anything away as the winged woman came closer. She felt oddly familiar, like Athena had seen her face once or twice before but for the life of her she couldn't remember properly.
The woman stopped just a few feet away, looking Athena over with her hands held behind her back, the silence between them quickly becoming heavy. It got to a point that Athena was unconsciously starting to squirm, only now truly being able to feel the power rolling off the woman even while suppressed.
"So …" the woman began, her voice carrying a pleasant, near musical chime to it. "… how are you feeling, Athena?"
Unsure of how to address such a question considering her current state of detainment, Athena skipped answering only to shoot back her own questions in a tone that was far more confident than she actually was. "Who are you? What do you want with me?"
The winged woman didn't seem surprised that Athena avoided the question only to ask her own but answered regardless.
"Well, my name is Andromeda Jackson, Percy's little sister that Artemis kidnapped," the now named Andromeda answered simply much to Athena's shock but she continued on.
"I'm also now Percy, Rhea, and Hestia's fiancé and future royal consort, the Primordial Goddess of Love, Attraction, Desire, and Procreation, and member of the new Primordial Council," she finished while Athena had trouble picking her jaw back up at the influx of personal information.
"B-but, how, I mean what!?" Athena spluttered, her eyes wide as she looked at Andromeda and spotting the clear amusement in her eyes.
"Before you can go off on me marrying my brother, Hestia, and Rhea, or that fact that, yes, me being their consort does mean the three are married already, please explain to me your family tree," she said casually while crossing her arms under her rather impressive bust.
Athena tried to think up something of an argument but came up dry as she stared at Andromeda. Taking her silence as leave to continue she spoke on.
"As for me being a goddess, Eros and Phanes along with most of the old protogenoi decided it was their time to move on and picked their heirs to take their places. I took over for Eros and Phanes, Percy became the heir of Nyx and Erebus, Rhea took Gaea's place, and so on and so forth with a few of the other missing heroes," she explained before narrowing her eyes. "But we aren't here to discuss that right now. Instead, let's focus on you."
At that Athena became more on guard, her legs pressing together remembering her current position and state of dress.
"What are you going to do with me?" she asked, glad that she managed to keep any stutter out of her voice.
"Not what you're thinking obviously," Andromeda answered as she glanced down at Athena's tense legs. "We can be pretty brutal with our punishments but you can be sure that they will always be proportional to the crimes and besides, this isn't Olympus," she added with obvious distaste at the mention of the city of the Greek gods. "We don't go murdering and raping every prisoner just because we can unlike your father and several others."
Athena couldn't honestly give any retort to that, much to her shame. She knew just what kind of being several of the Olympians were, the very myths passed on throughout the millennia detailing it in painful accuracy and that was just what they knew of.
"Granted what happened to your brother was a little more heavy handed than what I would have done but in the end it might just have been what he deserved," Andromeda added.
"What did you do to him?" Athena asked wearily.
"Not entirely sure. Only the late Lord Tartarus, Ikelos, and Nico know in detail but they've refrained from giving them out. I do believe though it involved turning all of Ares' favored memories featuring rape and torture against him," she answered before her face grew dark. "Though you may come to find that having me as your … warden … could in fact be worse."
Athena felt a shudder go through her as she looked at the winged goddess, somehow finding little doubt in her claim but she still tried to put up and air of defiance.
"Oh, and how, pray tell, could you be worse than Tartarus?" she asked, a near haughty look taking her features and she tried to look down at the shorter goddess. "You just said that you aren't like the Olympians so my virtue is safe, if you're telling the truth that is, but then what else could you do?" she asked, gaining confidence as she went on.
"I could slowly break through your mental barriers and take away your very Desire to live until you're nothing but an empty husk waiting for someone to kill you and make you fade," Andromeda shot back, her answer like a bucket of cold water dumped on the restrained goddess.
"I could instead turn your every want and desire into nothing but lust until you'd become worse than Aphrodite and your father, or even take away any and all love you might feel for your family until you're left with nothing but bitter emptiness and even hatred before setting you lose on them, need I go on?"
At Athena's silence Andromeda continued, this time slowly beginning to walk around the restrained goddess.
"You need to forget everything you know about Love and Lust, Athena. Aphrodite is a very poor example to go off and few gods or mortals have truly contemplated it enough to understand either. Love and its counterpart, Hatred, are dangerous emotions, possibly the most. Both are blind, death, and dumb.
Logic does not matter to them nor reason, and because of that those emotions can be used to control someone like good little puppets," she then paused as she stood behind Athena. "Then there is Lust, an emotion that is far more in tuned with the body and what it wants.
Why torture someone with pain and threats when lust is far more effective. Anyone can be trained to tolerate pain, even to the point it becomes too much and their minds shatter but by then it defeats the purpose, especially if you want information. A person can close off their heart and cut all ties that could be used against them, maybe even using such methods might validate stubbornness."
Now Andromeda stood before her again.
"Lust on the other hand is more … sinister. Unlike pain, neither your mind nor body would try to guard itself against lust, even if by your will you do. There is no danger of your mind shattering or withdrawing within itself …"
"But-"
"Again, you misunderstand," Andromeda continued as she stepped up to Athena's side. "This isn't about taking you against your will or any threats of sexual violence but frustration," she said as she lightly traced a finger from Athena's elbow to her armpit, causing goosebumps to develop.
"Gods may like to think they're so above mortals and we are admittedly in several ways but by the same token we are nearly identical, if not worse. Especially in regards to our bodily desires," she added before she blew softly into Athena's ears making her shudder, and much to her horror, lean into it for more.
"Gods at the end of the day, are horny beings. The only ones on this entire mountain not going at it consistently are the virgins and that's before they gain their first experience before all bets are off. And at the same time, it's the unexperienced that tend to be the most vulnerable to new … sensations," she whispered almost huskily as she softly caressed the outside of her thigh, the very touch seeming to almost burn the goddess as her heart sped up.
"Of course, with it being me, bringing anyone to the point of overwhelming need is pretty simple, especially if I know what they want and how," Andromeda continued as she moved away before looking back at Athena.
"Of course, you aren't here for that so turning your own lust against you is merely a means, not an end. Maybe if we needed information, then I'd be more prone to using my own methods, but again, we don't need any information could provide."
"But that means …" Athena trailed off as she got the simple shrug from Andromeda. "… There's a spy."
"Yeah. The barrier you lot have been using may be enough to detect if our consciousness gets too close whenever you're having meetings but otherwise New Rome isn't that well-guarded. Not that we need to try and eavesdrop anyways," Andromeda replied with a thin smile on her lips, much to Athena's growing worry.
Just how well informed was this new Protogenoi council?
"W-what is the ends then?" Athena asked, desperately tried to control her heart and fight down the faint blush that had appeared and remained since Andromeda touched her.
Andromeda gave her a knowing look before her face got more serious. "Originally your death was intended with the rest of the Olympians but after some others gods came forward with their thoughts on the matter, it was decided that each Olympian would go by case as to what they deserved."
"So rigged and backroom trials? You have an odd sense of justice," Athena bit back as she finally regained control of her body.
"Sweet heart this war's purpose was to off you and a good chunk of deities that have spent the last couple eons tormenting each other and innocent mortals alike. A trail would be the debate on your execution and punishment leading to it, and that's if we even bother taking you into custody rather than kill you out on the battlefields.
We aren't claiming the higher morale ground as there is none, this is us simply giving those of you with lesser evils to your names a chance to possibly change or even gain redemption." Andromeda then paused as she looked down, a frown marring her face. "However, sometimes if you want to a chance to change or find redemption, punishment is needed first."
As Andromeda spoke the door behind her opened and two woman walked in. Both Athena immediately recognized and a feeling of dread built up inside her. Even with the new black hair that fell to the back of her thighs and vibrant green, slit eyes, Medusa was every bit the beauty that Athena remembered of her priestess.
The other, once a dear friend as well, also an exotic beauty with her new sets of eyes and the lower body of an enormous arachnid, Arachne still turned heads but it was their eyes that made Athena cringe. Such utter loathing and anger, all directed at her, made the goddess want to look away and curl up in a corner.
"I leave you to them now," Andromeda spoke up as she glanced at the two former monsters before glancing back at Athena. "I'll return later but for now, what happens is between you three, and that's none of my business."
With that Andromeda turned her head away and left, her heels clicking the whole way before she was out the door leaving the three women alone. Athena looked at them, unsure of what to say, if she even could say anything to them but it didn't look like Medusa and Arachne were much interested in what she had to say.
Instead Medusa raised one hand and a whip materialized straight out of the shadows as wires appeared in Arachne's hands.
"Hello Athena," Medusa started as she leisurely cracked the whip against the marble floor, leaving a clear cut in the stone making Athena gulp. "We've been wanting to see you for quite some time," she continued with a thin, grim smile.
"And now we have all the time in the world," Arachne added as she pulled the strings taut between her fingers…
===================
Don't forget to throw some power Stones, to keep the story going.
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