Climb (Percy Jackson x Reader)

twelve

✺ WHAT ANYTHING IS WORTH ✺

"You know why I'm here."

"Shit!" exclaims Hades, the god jumping in surprise and swiveling to face his stepdaughter.

(Y/N) stands at the doors to the meeting chamber, her arms crossed. Patches of dried blood and ichor litter her skin, her hair falls at an uneven angle, and her bloodshot eyes seem to sink unnaturally into their sockets. Dangling from her fingers is a crystal blade covered in the blood of Kronos's host—the cursed weapon responsible for his death.

To anyone unaware of the ordeal she'd just been through, they likely would have feared for their lives in the presence of this supposed madwoman.

"How did you get in here?" Zeus asks, leaning forward.

"How the fuck do you think?" (Y/N) snaps, head tilted. She doesn't care how the king of Olympus reddens with fury at her disrespect, instead continuing to speak. "I don't give a shit if you think I'm unimportant or unworthy to voice my opinion to you all, so I'd suggest you listen up willingly. You're going to change the system you're running. Because otherwise, this happens. People die. They sign up for something that they have no way of understanding, and then they die. This"—she holds up the dagger, Luke's blood rolling in crimson threads down her hand—"is all on you. So you can cut the crap about how it'll make things chaotic. Find a way around it. You're the ones with the power, here. Use it properly."

Hera folds her hands in her lap, her jaw tight. "We already told you that—"

"That you're all stuck in incredibly stupid and mistaken ways? Yeah, you already told me that. I get that there might be issues with changing everything right off the bat. But leaving things the way they are has only proven to make the situation worse. So if you need to, then lay down some ground rules with the other gods. Exert your influence or whatever other shit you have to do to ensure that things go smoothly. But even though you have all the standing here, it does not give any of you the right to tell me that your obedience to a ridiculous law has been beneficial. You all know it, too. And none of you are bound to obey him for all eternity!"

Zeus' face grows red as his siblings follow (Y/N)'s outstretched finger to look his way.

"You can't convince me that you agree with him all the time. This"—she points to her chest, her eyes flickering white—"tells me otherwise. You know you've made mistakes. So own up to them instead of pretending they don't exist. Put in the effort to fix the problems you've caused instead of watching your kids destroy themselves over them. That's your job, not only as the universe's rulers, but as our parents. You're our family, whether you like it or not. You need to start acting like it."

Silence hangs in the air, thick and weighted with shame.

Seven of the eight gods lower their eyes or nod in understanding, apology passing over their faces. Zeus, however, holds firm, keeping the daughter of Persephone's gaze with ferocity. "What do you know about the workings of our world?" he asks, his knuckles stiff as he clutches his master bolt. "What gives you so much experience and knowledge to criticize our rulings?"

"Your rulings," Persephone corrects, her eyes stony.

"How dare—?"

"Don't even think about it," Hades seethes, stepping in front of his wife as his eyes burn red. "She's right. You have no place to continually deny fault."

"The laws were made for a reason!" Zeus defends, standing, and thunder echoes in the distance. "We needed to preserve—"

"No, you were afraid!" Poseidon scoffs, his trident slamming on the floor and sending tremors through the stone. "You didn't want to lose your control over us!"