The Betrayed Prince |Percy Jackson Fanfic|

Chapter 30: The Reconciliation (Finale I)

Chapter 30

The Reconciliation

(Finale I)

Light flooded the room as the heavy double door slammed open and came walking in was a silhouette of a man, with transparent wings and a staff with a scepter made out of bright twirling ball that resembles a star, only miniature one.

All the Gods stood, ready to attack the intruder only to have chains made out of a light shoot out of the scepter and cuffed the Gods and Goddesses in hiding.

"Who are you?!" Zeus demanded, fury rolling off of him in waves with thunders cracking on his fingers. "Untie us right now!"

"Now, don't get antsy, Sparkles," the unnamed man remarked. He approached them with a certain stride to his steps as he leaned down to meet Zeus' gaze. A flicker of amusement appeared in his yellow orbs. "You're a lot uglier than I expected," the man commented, his hand reaching up to hold Zeus' jaw, twisting it left and right, gauging him.

"How dare you!" bellowed Zeus.

From the background, the man could hear the complaints of the other gods which just made him roll his eyes. He snapped his fingers, bringing all of them in the middle of the room, seated like kids in trouble. "Now, you little brats, shush down," he said to them to which he was returned with a glare but could do nothing else. They knew they were powerless; whoever this man is, as much as they hated to admit it, was more powerful than them considering the fact that they can't escape the burning shackles they are in. "Honestly, you lot are annoying. I don't know why humanity had managed to deal with you for so long," he sighed.

"Who are you?" Athena asked, this time more diplomatically than her father.

"Why," the man replied, smirking at them. "I'm Aether, of course. Primordial of Light and whatnot. The most fun of all primordial, to be honest. Any more questions, kids?"

"Uh, yeah," Ares grumbled. "What the hell do you want with us?"

"Oh yes," Aether snapped his finger and pointed to Ares as if he was just now remembering. "You brats are in trouble. I'm under orders from the Commander to take you to see him. Man, he is not having a bad day and you guys will be at the receiving end of it. Good luck," Aether grinned before they felt a hot glowing thing stick to their mouths to keep them quiet, and then, they were traveling in a portal of bright yellow.

~

Percy stood in front of all the campers, looking at him with wonder and hope and exhaustion. Taking a deep, heavy breath, he tried to shake off the exhaustion and betrayal that he knows all too well that seeped into his bones.

He steadied his shaky hands and tried to stop his wings from ruffling to avoid any further injuries and not intimidate the campers who were already traumatized for life. How was he even supposed to start this post-war speech? Sure, he's done them countless of times before but this....these are kids. Kids who never asked for this but got tangled in the world of monsters and battles because of their heritage. How was he supposed to talk to them?

Everyone waited for him in silence; waited as he gathered his thoughts and settled his feelings. Finally, Percy flicked his wrist and made the podium that he leaned on move aside. With soreness and pain in his body, he sat down on the floor. Everyone followed his movements as the Commander settled himself, wondering what has gotten into him.

He sighed, once again. "It's my duty as a Commander to talk with you post battle but you are kids. I'm going to let that duty go and talk to you the way you need to be right now. I'm going, to be honest with you," he began. His eyes caught a few of the campers' eyes as he scanned through them. "War is a terrible thing for anyone to go through, especially for someone as young as you are. It's going to resonate with you for most of your life and I am sorry that you have to go through such thing. I can see and sense some of you holding back your tears and even if you've never been told of this, at all, in your life, I will tell you now: it's okay to cry. It's okay to let your feelings out, especially on occasions like this. Heaven knows I needed someone to tell me that when I was younger. It's okay to have emotions, it's okay to show them. You are not a weakling if you do, it shows that you're human."