Down in Flames - Rewritten Entirely

Chapter 1

Walking through the royal gardens was only an appealing activity to Percy when it wasn't the middle of summer. It only got worse when he realised he'd been tricked into going there by his father who seemed to have set him up with one duchess or another for the third time that season. Fortunately, he could tell it had been a rather desperate attempt as it was Rachel his dad had sent, but the bitter feeling was still there. As far as Percy was concerned, his engagement should be his choice and not something his father or the other councilmen set up for him. In Percy's personal opinion, the ongoing war needed their attention more than Percy's upcoming wedding or coronation.

Rachel's company wasn't too bad, though. For the last few years, she'd been Percy's best friend. After an incident where she'd thrown a hairbrush at a peeping duke, she'd had Percy's full respect. She also painted amazing portraits despite how upset the hobby seemed to make her father. According to him, a duchess should play the harpsichord or sing as a hobby. According to Rachel, he was lucky she was into art and not poetry.

"You're not listening," Rachel accused, elbowing his sharply.

"Sorry," Percy grumbled. He rubbed his side and glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, but Rachel either didn't notice or ignored him.

With a roll of her eyes, Rachel continued on as if Percy hadn't been ignoring her for the past hour. After all, if she was going to convince the court to permit more female council members, she'd need the Crown Prince to agree with her. For all the times he agreed with her and for the effort he seemed to be putting into the petition, they weren't getting anywhere.

"Do you think," Percy suddenly interrupted, "I could convince my father to drop the marriage thing if I led the troops in Athens?"

He'd interrupted her often enough before that Rachel no longer got offended. She couldn't figure out why, but his mind just seemed to work faster and jump from one thing to the next. Sometimes she could redirect him to the current conversation. Other times, he wouldn't let it go until he got answers.

Although she knew Percy would likely let her continue talking, Rachel didn't try to redirect their conversation to the topic at hand. Instead, she decided to humour him. Percy may be the Crown Prince of Atlantis, but he was also the Crown Prince of Horrible Ideas.

"He'd say no," Rachel said in answer to his question.

Percy frowned. "To the agreement?"

"Of course." Rachel turned to him. "You take the throne in two months, Percy. The last thing he'll do is send you to the front lines of a war that killed your mother."

Unfortunately, Percy knew Rachel was right. His father had been growing anxious as the war dragged on, but he had rarely ever allowed him to fight in it. Asking to lead the troops in Athens would probably only make things worse. He got along with his father well enough, but the topic of the war often led to fights and Percy didn't exactly want to strain their relationship any further. They'd almost gone an entire year without fighting and as the ten year anniversary of his mother's death drew near, Percy didn't want to ruin that.

"You'd have to offer him something he wants," Rachel suggested. "Tell him you'll get married if he allows you to lead the troops."

"He'd say no," Percy said, parroting what Rachel had said earlier.

For a moment, neither of them said anything else. Right as Rachel opened her mouth to offer another suggestion, however, they were promptly interrupted.

"Your Highness."

Both Percy and Rachel turned to see Jason walking into the palace gardens behind them. With a smirk on his face, Jason stopped in front of them and bowed with a flourish.

"Your father requires your immediate presence," he told Percy as soon as he had righted himself.

Percy sighed and Rachel let go of his arm. Stepping away from him, she looped her arm through Jason's and said, "I needed an escort into town anyway."

"Oh, quit," Jason said, rolling his eyes at her. "You know I can't take you into town for more paint."

"No, but Piper has a lovely picnic basket that I'm sure she wants to show me," Rachel said. She gave him a look and Jason sighed.

Hiding a smile at Rachel's antics, Percy said, "I'll cover for you, Jason. I'm sure Piper would appreciate the company."

It had been a while since Piper had been to the palace and it was no secret that she was missing her friends. As she was pregnant now, though, she'd been forced to take leave from her palace duties and that left her alone at home all day.

Despite knowing how upset Rachel's father would be, Jason nodded. It wasn't difficult to convince Rachel to take the servant's passages into town and if Percy was offering to take the blame, Jason wasn't going to stop him.

"Sure, Rachel," he agreed, patting her hand around his arm. Turning back to Percy, he said, "Your father is in his office waiting."

Percy nodded and watched as Jason walked with Rachel back up to the palace where they would enter the passageways. As they disappeared, Percy turned and made his way towards his father's office. At least this date hadn't gone as horribly as it had when he'd met Duchess Clarisse.

* * * * *

Just as Jason had said, Percy's father was waiting in his office. A map was spread out on a spare desk where it had remained for the past ten years. All their strongholds and weak points were marked as the war raged on and although Percy wanted to stop and glance over it, he didn't.

Glancing up from his desk, Poseidon pursed his lips at the sight of his son.

"How is the duchess?" Poseidon asked before returning his eyes to the paper on his desk.

"Rachel is fine."

There was a long silence before Poseidon spoke again and when he did, Percy held his breath.

"Athena has attacked our border and burned several of our strongholds to the ground," he said. Setting aside his papers, he continued on to say, "They're threatening to destroy many of our weapons holds and villages unless we surrender."

Percy frowned, but he didn't see why he'd been called so urgently. Queen Athena's military had attacked their strongholds multiple times before and they'd always recovered. Why was this time any different? When Percy pointed this out though, his father didn't seem to agree.

"Your coronation is in two months," he reminded him. "The council is seeing this as a direct threat against you and recommends we take immediate action." There was a brief pause and then-"We're launching an attack on Athens to end the war before you take the crown."

Percy blinked in surprise. "So what do I do?"

"You will lead the attack."

If Poseidon had said anything else, Percy would have been half as surprised as he was then. After all these years of asking to join the war and being told no, Poseidon was sending him to the frontlines. He didn't have to argue about going and he didn't have to fight his father about at least joining the strategists. In fact, no one had asked if he even wanted to go.

Surprised and not sure how to respond, Percy ended up saying, "What?"

Poseidon pursed his lips.

"You will lead the attack on Athens," Poseidon repeated. "And when you return, our military will continue to attack until Athens falls."

"And once it does?" He'd wanted to say if, but he doubted his father would appreciate any sign of hesitancy or doubt in the council's newfound plan.

"Then you will marry," Poseidon said, "and the kingdom will never again know war."