บท 43: DA : Chapter 43: Hope Comes Home I
Hestia slowly walked along the streets of Olympus as she headed in the direction of the throne room. Her face was near blank, her orange eyes lacking the usual fire in them. Over a decade had passed since Percy left and she still missed him as much, if not more.
His smile, his mischievous smirk, those deep sea-green eyes and unruly hair … but most importantly his warmth. He had been like a walking beacon of hope and courage, always striving for the better future against all odds.
It was that and how he felt just before he left that made her feel so cold and lonely without him.
It seemed that with his disappearance, tragedy after tragedy followed suit and most of them were from the Olympian's actions. The council had fallen apart to the point most looked at each other with open hostility or indifference.
Poseidon rarely attended meetings anymore or moved from Atlantis and she hadn't spoken directly to him in all this time. Tensions between Apollo and Athena were at a near constant high ever since he was caught cheating on Annabeth, his wife.
She grimaced at the memory of the wedding, knowing it was more of a political play on Zeus' part and power-grab from Annabeth with her mother's backing.
With Annabeth's marriage, the demigods who respected her and didn't know about her betrayal to Percy saw it as a hope for a better tomorrow.
One of their own had succeed in reaching Olympus and having a 'happy' ending, gaining loyalty to Olympus and bringing the Apollo and Athena cabins closer together … until the affair that was.
The godly politics had spilled into both camps with the respective children at each other's throats during war games and such.
At this point Hestia was wondering if Annabeth would ever have a repeat of what she did to Percy and have an affair but then again her pride wouldn't let herself be brought down to a place similar to Aphrodite in that regard so Apollo was safe from that particular rage that he would doubtlessly have if any man dared touch Annabeth that wasn't him.
'Hypocrites the lot of them,' Hestia thought as she recalled Poseidon's words on Sally and how she was no longer his concern just because she'd moved on with her life.
Otherwise there was the infiltration of Artemis' Hunt, the kidnapping of Andromeda, and slaughter of Phoebe … She'd seen the state of the body in a memory projection since Artemis had been too distraught to even speak during that emergency meeting so all the Olympians got a prime view of the carnage left behind by this 'Umbra'.
Aphrodite had to leave from feeling sick at the sight with Dionysus close behind her. That event hadn't helped the tensions at all and Artemis had the gall to try and come to Hestia for comfort.
Never before had Hestia outright rejected someone in need but she didn't even flinch as she told Artemis to leave her and closed her palace doors in her once favorite niece's face.
Things got quiet for a few years then, Hestia simply remaining silent as she watched her family decay by the day as they got angrier with each other and made their heroes angrier as well, which ultimately went back to them.
It was a vicious cycle of self-perpetuating hate. Then disaster struck again in a mere three days with the revelation of Piper cheating on Jason (thanks to the meddling of Aphrodite), the defeating of Apollo and then disappearance of Jason but Nico as well, and finally Thalia leaving the Hunt as well.
That had been particularly nasty since Thalia had openly revealed how Artemis got around her oath making several Olympians lose faith in the huntress and soon enough all of Olympus knew.
The twins had become laughing stocks after that week, one for being defeated so soundly without any clue as to what happened and Artemis for even further losses to her Hunt as well as the remaining failures of tracking down Percy or Umbra.
Aphrodite was a wreck still after losing her relationship to her favored daughter, Ares was even more irritable, Zeus spent the meetings between scolding a silent Artemis and holding back a furious Athena from murdering her half-brother while the rest of the council watched on in silence.
Lastly had been the release of Hercules and that thoroughly terrified the council since there had been an unknown and clearly powerful presence there during the breaking of the seal keeping the god of Strength contained on the island between the Straights of Gibraltar.
Major and minor gods alike had panicked for days but the council quelled them soon enough while managing to keep the information from the camps … but now there were whispers of a new enemy coming along with the ominous name 'Umbra' that Thalia had called on her disappearance.
'I wonder what the meeting about now is though. It's been quiet again for a year or two,' she wondered as she glanced around and noted that she was in the market of Olympus, still on her way to the throne room.
It was depressingly empty compared to usual, with only a few minor gods milling around and some salesmen still calling their pitches. However, with her attention elsewhere she didn't notice until too late as a child ran into her.
She stumbled a bit as the child squeaked in surprise while falling on her bum. Hestia took in her dark brown hair and light green eyes … though something about her face seemed almost familiar.
"Oh I'm sorry, here, let me help you," she said kindly as she offered a hand which the little girl took eagerly.
"Thank you miss," the little girl, which Hestia assumed was a godling considering she felt different from any demigod.
"No problem sweetie, just be careful now," she replied while ruffling the girl's head making her pout cutely as Hestia giggled.
"Okay, bye miss!" the girl chirped before she turned and ran down the market before taking an alley and disappearing from sight.
"Hmm … kids," Hestia said with a faint smile before she frowned as she looked at her own hand, noticing for the first time that there was a note in it.
"When did … the girl!" she muttered in surprise before looking around but spotted nothing out of the ordinary.
She then looked back at the folded note and slowly opened it before reading the sentence as her eyes widened. Them, the note suddenly caught fire and turned to ash before she could stop it.
"W-what …?" she stuttered as she watched the ash blow away, the words written playing over in her head again and again.
'Remember my promise … and play along.'
There was only one person who'd made her a promise she cared about nowadays … and that was Percy. 'Percy … is he back!? Did he return … for me?' she asked herself as a spark of hope ignited within her eyes.
Percy, the boy who grew into a man, the man that turned into a hero, the hero that claimed her heart. He was coming back and had told only her about it! She suddenly felt giddy as she quickened her pace to the throne room.
The note said to play along so she assumed it meant go about the day as usual. So she did just that as she arrived at her throne soon enough and waited patiently as the others either walked in or flashed in.
Once everyone was assembled Zeus called the meeting to order by sending a bolt into the sky. It had gotten so old no one bothered to even roll their eyes.
"This meeting is now in order," he boomed as he looked around the throne room. "Now then, Artemis, anything to report?" he asked testily while rubbing the corner of his lips where Hestia could make out the slightest trace of lipstick … and judging by Hera's fuming expression another child of Zeus was on the way.
"Nothing father," Artemis replied coldly, her eyes never leaving the floor before her.
Zeus scoffed before continuing, "And Lupa? At least her pack should be able to get some results."
Artemis didn't react to the jab, just merely shook her head in the negative as Zeus grumbled before looking to Poseidon. "And you brother, any news from the seas? There was that odd earthquake a year or so back that you claim wasn't your doing."
"Damn near leveled part of the Bay Area in California," Athena added with a snicker at her petty rival.
"It wasn't my doing," Poseidon bit back at the wisdom goddess before looking away.
Silence reigned for a few moments before Zeus cleared his throat to get the attention before continuing. "Very well. Does any other god have anything else to say or report before we move on to the reviews of our domains and any disturbances?"
After a few seconds Aphrodite slowly raised her hand while wiping away at a tear or two.
"Yes Aphrodite?" Zeus asked with a raised eyebrow since Aphrodite never takes an active part of the meetings.
"There is something wrong my lord," Aphrodite answered weakly much to the growing curiosity of the council. "It seems that … I can no longer have children."
She was met with many blank or outright confused faces before Artemis spoke up for the first time, "And? Who cares about your spawns? All they cause is havoc anyways."
Aphrodite got some fire in her eyes as she glared at the huntress. "It matters because it means someone powerful cursed me and I can feel the control of my domain reducing by the day."
"But who could?" Hera asked this time as she leaned forward in interest. "There are no other gods that share your domain aside from some of your children and most of them revolve around lust and sex aside from Cupid but he's your lapdog so he wouldn't try to take control from you."
"I know that," Aphrodite retorted before looking at her own belly sadly. "But then who? And more importantly, why?"
"Maybe it's just a dry spell," Apollo offered as he looked at her before gaining a mischievous smirk. "You could stop by for a checkup and see if everything is working as it should," he finished suggestively only to get Aphrodite to blow up at him.
"I want nothing to do with you bastard," Aphrodite hissed venomously making several gods start in surprise. "I've already lost my daughter because of you."
"Me!?" Apollo asked incredulously before adopting a fake hurt expression. "I'm sorry, did I doll her up and take her to a club? Was I the one crying wolf about 'poor me and my marriage' before convincing her daughter to cheat?"
"Then Grace should have manned up!" Aphrodite snapped angrily. "It was supposed to be simple but you had to tail us and listen in, and what's worse, you intentionally got her caught!"
"So that's what you're worried about?" Hephaestus asked with a raised eyebrow, speaking up for the first time in years, especially after he looked for Hestia's counsel on his inaction and later guilt in regards to Percy.
Hestia gave him a scathing remark on how cowards shouldn't speak and he's mostly remained silent ever since. "Not that she cheated but that she was caught and rightfully took out that anger on you."
Aphrodite looked at him in surprise but answered nonetheless. "Don't try to take the high ground oh dear husband. You can't come to me with words of 'shame' and 'fidelity' considering you have demigods too.
And besides, in a perfect world Piper would have seen that she didn't need Jason and found herself someone to satisfy her. But because it was you," she said while turning a glare to the sun god.
"…she thinks I set it up for her to get caught and she disowned me!" Aphrodite said while screaming at the end with tears falling down her cheeks.
"Tch … go ahead, blame it on me," Apollo retorted before muttering not too silently. "… Still gave her the best night of her life."
"How dare you!?" Athena hissed as she stood up while radiating a grey aura, having gotten fed up with her half-brother. "Have you no shame you bastard!? Isn't my daughter enough!?"
"But she's always busy working," Apollo whined back before muttering under his breath. "And she's keeping me on the couch anyways."
"Enough!" Zeus boomed before the argument could escalate while lightning cracked along the skies above them.
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Don't forget to throw some power Stones, to keep the story going.
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