Coming of Age Ch. 36 (Percy Jackson) (Patreon)

A/N: Things get whacky.

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“I don’t understand. Why are you afraid of me?”

Percy’s voice echoes through the Hall, causing the Gods before him to go still. Poseidon’s jaw clenches as he looks to his son.

“Percy…”

But his father’s warning is drowned out by Zeus’ snarl.

“Afraid of you, boy? You think me afraid of a mere whelp who has barely even begun to come into his powers?”

Even if Poseidon is all but begging him to stay quiet with his eyes, and Hestia’s hand is squeezing a bit harder on his shoulder… Percy can’t stay quiet. He shakes his head, pressing his lips thinly together.

“No. I think you’re afraid of what you think I really am. Which is what I don’t understand. You’ve just described me to a T. I’m Perseus Jackson. My mother is Sally Jackson. And sure my father is Poseidon, but I didn’t even know that until a little while ago. So what reason is there to fear me? Just because I’m the reincarnation of Adonis doesn’t change who and what I am. Just because Ares bled on me a little doesn’t change the fact that I’m literally nothing but a bug in the face of your power.”

Percy can tell his words are confusing Zeus a little bit. It’s probably all of the self-denigration he’s doing. The King of the Gods doesn’t quite understand whether Percy is insulting him or insulting himself. Truthfully, Percy isn’t doing either. He’s just speaking facts as he sees them, as unbiased as possible. All he wants is to understand. Still, his next words are probably crystal clear.

“And yet you still fear me. Is it what I could become? All I want is to be Percy Jackson. I told Hestia I didn’t even want to know who I was the reincarnation of. If it wasn’t for fucking Ares, I wouldn’t even know abou-!”

That’s when Zeus decides to interrupt him.

“Careful, boy! Speaking of a God with such disrespect will gain you no favor with me!”

Percy’s nostrils flare at that, his eyes widening for a moment before narrowing into slits. His next words come from gritted teeth.

“I’m not sure I want your favor if it would require me to show respect towards a God who tried to trick you all into a world-ending war and then tried to kill me and my friends when his plan nearly failed… Lord Zeus.”

The Skyfather’s eyes narrow right back at that.

“You most certainly do want my favor if you seek to leave this chamber alive, Perseus Jackson! You speak of fear?! It is not fear that moves my hand towards your execution, but duty! My brothers swore an oath, as did I! You are a direct defiance of said oath!”

There it was again. Defiance. Percy was a ‘defiance’. But then…

“And what about Thalia Grace, huh?”

The room goes still, even as Percy sneers.

“You had a daughter in direct defiance of that oath too. Years before my father did. A demigod child. If my father is to be punished for creating me, where is YOUR punishment Lord Zeus?!”

Silence falls again. A heavy blanket. Percy isn’t sure if his words will get through to the King of the Gods unfortunately. He’s probably not doing a very good job of arguing his own case. Or maybe the very fact that he has the temerity to speak in the presence of Gods instead of letting them argue for him is what’s not helping him in the slightest.

… Honestly, he doesn’t know why he’s not a smear across the floor already. Hestia’s presence, maybe? Her hand remains on his shoulder, protecting him, shielding him. Would he be forced to the ground by Zeus’ presence if Hestia weren’t here? Perhaps.

Meanwhile, Percy’s last words have had a variety of effects on the Gods in front of him, oddly enough. Hades has become completely closed off. Poseidon looks stricken. Zeus, meanwhile, looks strangely thoughtful, his gaze no longer on Percy but going off into the distance.

“Thalia… yes… my daughter, made in direct defiance of the oath. My punishment for creating her… to lose her mere steps from safety.”

Percy blinks… and feels ice suddenly run through his veins. In the middle of his own righteous fury, he might have forgotten exactly what happened to Thalia in Annabelle’s story. They’d almost been to Camp Half-Blood… when ALL three of the Furies, plus an entire army of hellhounds, had suddenly bared down on them, forcing Thalia to sacrifice herself so the others could escape.

 Zeus looks to Hades and raw rage, fury, and hurt appears on the Skyfather’s face for a moment. Percy watches as the Lord of the Underworld stiffens up. But then just as quickly it’s gone and Zeus is looking back to Percy with a resolved expression on his face.

“Yes… I would say the punishment I received would be best doled out again.”

“Brother!”

Poseidon’s angry warning tone is ignored by Zeus as he lifts up the Master Bolt and it begins to glow and crackle with power.

“Fret not, brother. You shall have ample opportunity to take the boy’s soul back to your domain. Just as I was given the choice between letting Hades have my daughter or turning her into a pine tree.”

Zeus rises from his throne and takes a step forward, Master Bolt crackling with power as it’s pointed unerringly at Percy’s head. Well shit, this is it then, isn’t it?

“Move aside, sister. I will not ask twice.”

But Hestia’s grip on Percy’s shoulder only grows tighter.

“I cannot do that, brother. Please don’t do this.”

But Zeus’ jaw just clenches and he rears back his arm, clearly intending to smite them both and be done with it. To be fair, Hestia could probably survive what would kill Percy, so it made some sense.

Staring down certain death, Percy’s only regret is not getting Hades to release his mom before they came here. He can only hope the divine bastard will do so after he’s dead for services rendered or something… and that his mom will finally be able to move on from fucking Gabe even after Percy is dead and buried.

Only… just as Zeus is about to call down divine lightning and smite Percy from existence, a number of things happen in very rapid order. First, Zeus thrusts his arm forward… only for the Master Bolt to actually fizzle, the crackling lightning suddenly dimming as the godly weapon goes DEAD in his hands.

Just as Zeus is staring in disbelief at his Master Bolt, three golden prongs spear out of the Skyfather’s chest as Poseidon, Lord of the Seas, impales his brother with his trident from behind. Golden blood… divine ichor as Percy now knows it, once again splatters across his face and front and he wishes he could say he didn’t flinch, but he definitely did.

Finally, cursing arises from Hades’ Throne as the God of the Dead stands up and takes a step forward. Suddenly, he wields Ares’ sword in his hand… and without hesitation, cuts Zeus’ head from his body, decapitating the King of the Gods right on the spot. More ichor splashes across Percy and Hestia at that, even as Poseidon yanks Zeus’ headless body backwards away from the two of them, back to his throne.

The prongs of the trident come out of his brother’s chest with a squelching noise, leaving behind three terrible wounds as the headless god collapses back into his throne. Zeus almost looks exactly like he did before he rose to his feet… save for the loss of a head and the wounds in his chest.

Again, silence falls in the Hall of the Gods. Everyone stares at Zeus’ headless corpse… or is it even a corpse? This alone is not enough to kill a God, is it? Looking down at the ground where Zeus’ head landed, Percy sees the God’s eyes still open, still moving around. He sees Zeus’ mouth moving, trying to speak though no sound comes out. Is that because he can’t get the air from his lungs to be able to make noises? No, that sounds like far too much of a limitation to be imposed on a God, right?

“What… what have we done?”

Poseidon looks horrified as he collapses back onto his own throne just staring at his headless brother. Clutching his trident in one hand and the arm of his throne with the other, the God of the Seas looks almost distraught.

Hades, meanwhile, scoffs and flicks the god blood off of Ares’ blade before leaning down to pick up Zeus’ head. He sits back down on his own throne much more casually as he eyes Zeus’ face for a moment before shrugging.

“I was merely following your lead, brother. Unless you think he would have so easily forgiven you for stabbing him in the back like that.”

Poseidon clenches his jaw, but it’s not him who answers. Rather… Hestia’s voice suddenly rings out through the Hall of the Gods, filled with power.

“You both did what had to be done. You protected hearth, home, and family.”

Percy’s father flinches back at that, stiffening upon his throne as his eyes widen. Hades, meanwhile, lets out a laugh.

“Aha. I thought I noticed something was up with the way Zeus let the boy speak for so long. And to think, I always thought you to be the sweet, innocent sister, Hestia.”

Poseidon, meanwhile, growls.

“You… you forced me to act, Hestia. You forced my hand. Why?”

“I did not force you to do anything, brother. I merely opened your eyes to your true desire. Had you allowed Zeus to kill your child, had you allowed him to slaughter Percy in front of your eyes just for the sake of keeping the peace… you would never have forgiven him. Nor yourself. All I did was strip away the obligation you believed you had to power… so that you might remember your obligation to family.”

Percy looks back at Hestia finally, only to have to look up. Her hand is still on his shoulder and feels completely of normal size… and yet, when he looks at her, he sees a Goddess easily the size of Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus… if not bigger. Her golden eyes flick down to him for a moment and she gives him a soft, gentle smile before turning her gaze back towards her brothers.

“I did my best to soothe our brother’s ego. I have been with him since before Percy was sent on his quest. I listened to him as he ranted and raved that his brother’s spawn had stolen his Master Bolt and attempted to placate him then. I listened to him as he spoke of lies when word first came that our father might be behind this… and I attempted to reason with him then. I watched as you arrived Poseidon, and you and he argued about whether our Titan father could be trying to return.”

Her blazing golden eyes flicker down to the head of Zeus, currently resting on one of the arms of Hades’ throne as the Lord of the Underworld holds it by its hair. If Percy didn’t know any better, he’d think Zeus was averting his gaze from his big sister.

“For too long now have I let our brother get away with his trespasses. For too long I allowed our familial ties to stay my hand. But no more. He has only grown more and more paranoid to those around him, while paradoxically remaining willfully blind to the true threats on the horizon. If we are to stop our father’s return, if we are to hunt down his agents and end his plans… then we must have someone else at our helm.”

Hestia raises her free hand and snaps her fingers. All of a sudden, Zeus’ throne comes to life and… and for lack of a better word, swallows the God’s headless body whole. Percy can see from the suddenly discomfited looks on Poseidon and Hades’ faces that that was NOT supposed to be something that could happen. Zeus’ throne remains, but Zeus himself is gone… save for his head.

Hades clears his throat, the first to speak.

“And who would that be, sister? You?”

Rather than answer with words, Hestia finally lets go of Percy’s shoulder, stepping away from him and over to Hades’ throne. The God of the Dead doesn’t show an ounce of fear or trepidation at Hestia’s approach, even as she looms over him… but somehow Percy thinks Hades is nervous all the same. He’s not sure why, it’s just a feeling he’s getting.

“Give me the head, brother.”

Hestia holds out her hand, even as she demands more than asks. Hades and Poseidon share a look for a moment but in the end, Hades hands over Zeus’ head wordlessly. Then, before anyone can react, Hestia turns, takes two giant steps towards the massive bonfire in the center of the Hall… and tosses Zeus’ head in.

Percy’s eyes widen as both Hades and Poseidon jerk up in their chairs, half-rising before realizing it’s too late. The bonfire explodes in height with the addition of Zeus’ decapitated head, blazing all the way up to the ceiling as Hestia tends to it for a moment with her bare hands. Now that she has the stature of a proper Goddess, her arms are able to stretch all the way to the center of the humungous hearth, moving amongst the flames but never once being burned.

It's then that Percy remembers something about Hestia. She wasn’t just the Goddess of Home, Hearth, and Family after all…she was also the Goddess of Sacred and Sacrificial Fires.

Finally, she comes back out with a ball of golden light in her cupped palms. No sooner does Percy register the ball of glowing energy then it suddenly splits into four different beams. Three of are equal thickness and volume. One strikes Hestia in the chest, one strikes Hades in the chest, and one strikes Poseidon in the chest. The fourth however, barely a strand of golden light… strikes Percy in the chest.

He sucks in a deep breath, even as Hestia whips her head in his direction, alarmed. After a moment, she grimaces.

“Unfortunate. The amount of divine ichor you’ve bathed in… I am sorry Percy, but it is unlikely that you will be ‘just Percy Jackson’ forever. Or even for much longer.”

Percy’s not an idiot. Even if he’s still reeling from everything, he can read between the lines. Zeus was afraid of him becoming a God in his own right, wasn’t he? And now Hestia was saying that winding up covered in Zeus’ blood was going to make it all but inevitable. Fuck. Still… better than being dead, he supposed.

Rather than respond to Hestia, Percy decides he might as well go for broke and turns to look at Hades. The God of the Dead is staring at his own hand, having clearly received a huge boost of power from whatever Hestia had just done. Though the instant Percy’s eyes fall upon him, he looks up.

“My mom… return her to me. Please.”

Hades hesitates, but under the weight of a glare from Poseidon and a look from Hestia, he smiles magnanimously.

“But of course. It was always my intention to release Sally Jackson unharmed.”

Percy bows his head and swallows his pride for a moment.

“… Thank you.”

There’s a brief pause at that, as though they’re all taking in a collective breath. Percy wonders at that moment what's going through their divine minds.

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A/N: "Fuck canon." - Hestia, probably