Chapter 15

Apollo, God of the Sun, hung around the throne room of Olympus.

He was waiting.

He was expecting something to happen. In particular, he was waiting for the big man to call a meeting of the gods. Meetings had definitely been called for lesser reasons. Heck, he remembered a year ago when his father called a meeting because some oblivious mortal created a cereal with his depiction on it.

They had to vote on whether to smite him or not.

He wasn't usually one to care about that sort of thing. Mortals died all the time; he wasn't going to lose sleep over it. However, even he felt a little bit of sympathy for the mortals who had a hand on it without knowing any better. So he just used his influence in the mortal world to smooth things over and calm his dad.

They went out of business before it could gain traction, and his dad was happy. Nobody died, so he'd call that a win-win for everyone.

That's why he was here early without any prompt.

He knew his father, so he was expecting it any moment now. The thunderous roars of his, the demands for revenge or vengeance. The pointing of fingers towards everyone and the rampant paranoia.

However, the King of Gods was absent from his throne.

Even Poseidon was sitting there currently. Silent, without any decipherable look on his face.

In fact, all the gods currently sat on their thrones, and even Hestia was there tending to the hearth in the corner.

All except one.

Yet, no one blamed Zeus for not being there at this moment, because he was doing something rather important.

He was currently fixing the sky.

A simple glance from Apollo, and he could peer out from the realm of Olympus to look back onto the Earth.

Across the sky, the mists were gathered in such a dense amount that it was staggering. And it was all used to hide a particular facet that appeared not long ago.

It looked like someone had cut a chunk out of the sky.

"Hey Uncle, got a question." Apollo raised his hand, the awkward silence disrupted at his words. Poseidon's head turned to him, eyes narrowed. "So, uh... since when are your kids so strong?"

That earned a snort from Ares. "Are you sure he's one of Barnacle Beard's? I've never had a Cyclops as one of my brats before, but who knows?

"Watch your words, Ares." Poseidon warned.

"It's surprising that this is the first we've heard of such a child, Poseidon." Even Athena looked at him, trying to get him to speak.

"Since when does Olympus care about Monster Children?" He countered with a beat of silence from everyone else.

It was true; they didn't care about monster children. Even with the Great Prophecy, they never once believed it spoke about monster children of the gods.

"Actually, I already reported this or something." Dionysus waved his hand rather flippantly through the air. "You can ask Artemis over there. We had a talk about something strange happening with the monsters near the camp, so I enlisted her help."

All eyes turned to her.

"...you pelted one of my huntresses with a can of your stupid drink!" She hissed. "How is that at all a proper conversation!?"

Dionysus let out a sigh. "I guess I expected too much from you."

Artemis's eye twitched. "My Huntresses were on their way to the camp. They should be there in a couple of days since we were literally on the other side of the country at the time."

Ares leaned forward, putting his head in his hands. "And what's this about monsters?"

"Apparently, no monsters in the city were hunting demigods anymore. Not only that, but some spider monster—maybe one of Arachne's children—literally delivered one of the brats to the camp. That's when I realized that we needed to investigate and enlisted the help of Artemis due to her expertise. Unfortunately, I believe she didn't view it with the same urgency as I did."

"You just threw a can of soda at one of my huntresses! How was I supposed to interpret that!?"

Dionysus just ignored her.

"Are we sure he's even a Cyclops? I don't think I've ever seen a Cyclops that handsome before." Aphrodite chimed in.

"He called himself a Cyclops." Apollo shrugged.

"He had three eyes." Hermes pointed out.

"Is this really the important question to ask?" Athena looked around. "Besides, Poseidon should be able to answer a lot of these questions." She expertly navigated the talks back to Poseidon.

Poseidon looked at them and frowned. "He was born a Cyclops." He just said cryptically.

Despite the humorous tone before, there was a certain tension in the room between everyone, and it seemed like everyone was dancing around the subject.

That was until one God decided to cut to the chase.

"Hey Uncle, how did you raise a brat that could survive pop's lightning for so long?" Ares finally decided to be direct. "That isn't something a normal monster could do. Heck, even your other son would have trouble surviving after that."

He was, of course, talking about Triton, who was only considered a minor god.

"I didn't raise him." Poseidon said simply, not elaborating any further.

All the other gods present were a little annoyed, but it wasn't like they could force him to speak. It was already a delicate situation all around. They were only speaking so openly because Zeus wasn't there as well.

The truth of the matter was that all the gods here were taken aback. Let alone demigods, when were any of their kids that fierce?

It was no secret that the more ancient demigods were... cut from a different cloth. The old names that even the mortals knew were of a higher standard than the demigods of today.

And the same thought they all had was that the son of Poseidon they witnessed was almost certainly born in the wrong era.

Poseidon couldn't help but feel regret. He knew his strange son was strong, but he didn't realize to what extent. How did all of this happen beneath his notice?

And he even sacrificed himself to protect his youngest.

He made a promise in his heart to give more attention to his children in the future.

(Line Break)

Percy sat on the steps of the Poseidon Cabin, staring up at the sky.

Or rather, he was staring at the big gash in the sky, like someone took scissors and cut out a piece of it. He hadn't done much else the past couple of days than just this.

He wasn't the only one either; every one of the kids at Camp Halfblood was aware of what happened at this point. Beyond just the residual effects, they could hear and see the action from a distance even if the details were missed.

Percy had been slapped with a lot of new things these past few days. From finding out about his father to meeting a brother he never knew he had, and now to learning that the brother he met is now dead.

It was a whirlwind of emotions he was experiencing.

And he wasn't stupid enough to not realize that his brother died to protect him and his mom.

For the longest time it had just been him and his mom. He didn't consider Gabe at all part of his family, more like a rash you couldn't just get rid of. And after meeting his half-brother for the first time, he finally felt like he was adding someone else to his family.

And now, he was gone.

He was confused, angry, and more confused.

Frankly, he didn't even know what was happening.

Things just… went to shit all of a sudden for him, and everything blew up.

And none of the other campers came near him.

They were terrified.

Rarely have they ever seen displays of powers from their parents. At most, it was something simple like teleporting or creating something out of thin air. For the majority of them, this was the first time they saw someone tear the world apart.

Percy looked up because a familiar face was approaching. Well, half familiar for the demigod, as it was the face of his teacher, only that he had a horse body as well.

"Percy." Chiron greeted.

"Mr. Brunner."

"Just call me Chiron." He smiled good-naturedly despite everything that's been going on. "How are you holding up, Percy? Have you been adjusting well?"

"Yeah, I mean. I just found out I had a brother, and he sorta just died. Is that normal around here? If so, I'm adjusting pretty well." Percy shot off.

Chiron winced but didn't really have a retort. Unironically, that was normal around here, but he refrained from saying something so idiotic to an obviously distraught boy.

It also answered some of his questions from when he first met the supposed 'Ocean Song' previously. He had been utterly confused about the strange monster, and now... well, he was still bewildered by everything that happened.

There was a hole in the sky.

He could sense Zeus using his power to slowly mend it, but the fact that it wasn't already 'healed' for lack of a better word spoke volumes about what actually happened.

There was a hole in the sky, and it was caused by a Cyclops swinging his sword.

No one knew what to say to that.

Chiron knew plenty of gods that were not capable of such a feat. The number of 'mortals'—and'the term was very loose in this situation—who could be capable of achieving that could be counted on one hand over the past several thousand years.

One of which was his most famous student—now a god himself. Though frankly, he didn't know if Hercules could do that either. Similar feats of greatness, sure. But gouging out a literal hole in the sky… Chiron found himself shaking his head.

If Ouranos were still around, he was sure that the Primordial being would have woken up.

The whole camp was rife with the smell of magic due to the sheer amount of the mists that were being gathered to hide it from the mortals below. It threw off Chiron's own senses just from this distance.

Chiron felt it was unfortunate that the young monster was dead. From what he understood, the child of Poseidon did not take after its kin in the slightest. A young monster who dreamed of heroism and had such frightening talent.

It was truly a waste for the old Trainer of Heroes.

"You're supposed to train me, right?" Percy suddenly asked.

Chiron, grateful for the change of subject, happily answered. "That's right. All demigods will be trained to the best of my ability here. Whatever you want to learn, I'll do my best to teach."

"Really?" Percy looked at him skeptically. "Then can you teach me how to use a sword?"

Chiron chuckled lightly. "Of course. Swords are a very popular weapon." But he also knew the reason he specifically asked for swords.

"What about Magic?"

"Magic?" Chiron repeated. "While it's rarer for one of the campers to want to learn… it's not impossible." He said it a little bit more awkwardly. "Most just focus on the gifts they received from their godly parent."

"I want to learn magic." Percy said firmly.

"...I'll see to it then." He said, mentally deciding on how to go about that. It's not like he didn't know magic, but it was far from his area of expertise. Maybe he could contact the Goddess of Magic and ask for a favor? She has plenty of students who don't have a notorious reputation that could be swung as a teacher for the camp…and she had her own kids here, so it wouldn't be strange.

Well, it wasn't an absurd request, so he was more than willing to try his best to accommodate, maybe—

"Oh, can you also teach me how to do that?" Percy pointed upwards.

Chiron followed it with his eyes and looked back up at the big hole in the sky.

He felt himself twitch slightly.

Even he couldn't do that; what was he expected to teach there?

Chiron did the sensible thing and pretended he didn't hear him ask that. "By the way, there's someone here who wanted to meet you." He gestured to the side, and a boy walked out. "Percy, meet Malcom. One of our newer campers, beating you by a couple of weeks."

"Hey." Percy raised a lazy hand in greeting.

"Hi." Malcolm awkwardly greeted back.

"I have some matters to take care of. Why don't you have Malcom show you around the camp?" Chiron offered, giving no time for a response before hurriedly going off.

There was a beat of silence as the two looked at each other.

"He's your brother?" Malcom asked, pointing up to the sky.

It didn't take a genius to know who he was talking about.

"Yeah….I just met him for the first time a few days ago." Percy said quietly, looking away.

Malcom, as a child of Athena, was adept at reading people. He could clearly see the melancholy that Percy practically radiated at answering the question.

"He saved me." Malcolm said in an equally quiet tone. "Killed a Drakon, you know?" He glanced at Percy, whose attention sort of piqued. "They're almost like dragons but kind of different too."

"He killed a dragon?" Percy perked up even more.

Malcom wanted to correct him after literally just saying they were different but decided against it. "Yeah, it was awesome. He swung his sword and was all like, 'You court Death!' and cut it in half!" He excitedly explained.

Percy snorted with a growing smile. "I only knew him for a little bit, but he's the biggest dork I've ever met in my life."

Malcom smiled along with Percy. "He taught me something too. Did he teach you as well?"

"Teach me?" Percy shook his head. "I think he said he was going to teach me some things, but…" Again Percy seemed to fall back into a depressed state.

Malcom swallowed and knew what he had to do. "I'll teach you." He said firmly. "It's the least I could do, right? I'll teach you what he taught me!"

Malcom had been hiding it; he never told anyone, even at the camp, about what his savior taught him. And he hadn't even showed it off either. To everyone else, he was a normal child of Athena.

He realized he was taught something significant after observing the camp for the first few days of his arrival.

Right at this moment, he was already one of the strongest in the camp despite only having been here for a couple of weeks at this point.

But he would teach Percy to pay back the debt he owed.

Besides, what's the worst that could happen?

(Line Break)

Deep in the underworld, something stirred.

In a far corner, away from all the other deities and monsters that inhabited the place, the workshop of the Goddess of Magic existed.

No one approached.

Even Hades himself would send word ahead of time and be polite when 'intruding' on her domain.

Besides her immense power, she had a particularly protected status in the underworld due to the role she played in Hades and Persephone getting together. However, rarely did she show up amongst the other gods; rarely did she participate in anything relating to the gods in general.

She was reclusive even for the ones who lived in the underworld.

So, no one would have guessed that at this moment, the talk of the Greek world was currently lying unconscious in her home.

Specifically, Ocean Song was lying on the ground in the middle of a ritual circle as Hecate desperately did her best to keep him from dying.

In fact, it was easier to count the ways he wasn't dying at the moment.

His soul was breaking down. His physical body was shattering. And even his essence was starting to leak out.

What made it worse was the fact that his body seemed to be greedily devouring any magic she cast around him, as if to use it to nourish itself.

While it was beneficial, it was also impractical compared to actual spells.

It was already a miracle that he was alive. Not just from Hecate's end, but the fact that she was able to sneak him away in the last second under everyone's notice.

Just the sheer amount of the Mists that were forced to gather to hide what they were doing made it so she could pull a fast one under all those godly eyes.

With what felt like hours, Hecate finally relaxed as the stupid Cyclops she was healing finally stabilized.

If he wasn't nearly dead, she would have started kicking him.

Against all logic, somehow, her stupid Cyclops was still breathing.

If she weren't so angry right now, she would have been impressed. Not many can say they stood against Zeus and lived to tell the tale. Especially three times in a row, even if a couple of those were half-hearted at best.

That final Lightning Bolt, however, had surpassed what was normally permissible by the Ancient Laws. Hecate was perhaps the most knowledgeable about them. One had to know the rules thoroughly to be able to break them or to establish deals. Magic in general could be thought of as how many rules one could get away with breaking.

Hecate was aware. For Zeus to put forth that much power, he had to have released his divine form even for a brief moment.

And the stupid Cyclops under her care had survived.

She was more than aware that many gods would have perished under that might.

She peered out across the realms and looked at the results of their 'battle.' The remnants that were left behind, and she frowned.

Hecate watched briefly as Zeus did his best to mend it, slowly and methodically.

Space and Time had been torn asunder in a very specific part of the sky.

And it wasn't merely a scar left behind on the face of the world. She knew without a shadow of a doubt that Zeus felt it just as much.

And she was utterly baffled at how the stupid Cyclops had accomplished such a feat.

The only reason that more waves weren't being created was most likely due to the fact that everyone believed him dead and that currently Zeus was preoccupied with mending the remnants.

As for Ocean Song, slowly his eyes began to flicker open.

Pain was the first thing he registered.

The second was also pain.

The third was who was standing over him when his eyes were able to refocus.

"I thought Angels were a different pantheon?" He was barely able to utter a few words.

Hecate crossed her arms with an annoyed huff. "I was going to ask you how you were feeling, but now I stopped caring."

"Am I dead?" He asked.

"Hmph." She let out another annoyed noise. "After all the work I put into saving your stupid behind, you dare ask me that? If you weren't so close to dying, I would have given you a thrashing already."

Ocean Song just smiled brightly despite the fact that his body was still screaming in pain.

However, that just seemed to anger her even more, scowling deeply.

"My younger brother and his mother, are they safe?" He finally asked.

Hecate relaxed slightly, perhaps even adopting a more gentle expression. "They arrived safely at the camp and remain living." She informed him.

"Good, that's good." He forced himself to lean upwards, the pain intensifying by quite a large margin.

"You're lucky to be alive." She pursed her lips. "Your soul is nearly shattered. Not to mention your body was breaking down to the point of collapse. And you started leaking your essence everywhere. And you— She paused, blankly looking at him because he silently looked down at himself.

Ocean Song let out a long sigh, seeing himself completely naked under her gaze. "I prepared myself for this the moment I decided to become the Jade Beauty."

"...What in the world are you talking about?"

Ocean Song could only praise his earlier self for anticipating this very scenario. Yes, the dark and mysterious protagonist accidentally seeing the Jade Beauty naked.

It's a tale as old as time.

Thus, he must follow the ancient texts.

"It's okay; my heart is prepared." He said again, turning to her, meeting her gaze. "Since you've seen my naked body, I'm now ruined forever; you must take responsibility."

Hecate's words died in her throat. Anything she wanted to say in this moment had completely disappeared as she stared at the Cyclops.

She looked at him; he looked back, completely serious, without an ounce of insincerity in his eyes.

It only took a moment before Ocean Song was sent flying out of her home.

He briefly admired the architecture as he went headfirst through her front door. Weirdly, he experienced absolutely no pain whatsoever, even as he hit the ground outside of her home and bounced a few times.

Yes, and despite eating a mouthful of dirt and the immense pain he was feeling, he was smiling brightly.

She didn't reject him.

(Line Break)

A/N

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