"Even your own son who turned tail in the middle of battle?" asked Ioke hotly, one of the bloodthirsty goddesses leading in the minor god forces, and under Bellona's command.
...
Allen tensed slightly as seeing the way the raven-haired goddess was fingering a knife strapped to the inside of her left arm bracer as her dull-red eyes narrowed on the god of Fire and Metalworking.
"No," Hephaestus replied as his eyes hardened as they stared back at the goddess. "But Leo messaged me a few hours ago and told me there was an attack on Ogygia. From what Calypso managed to tell him, some of the gods charged with protecting New Rome were part of the attackers.
He managed to arrive, Chase not far behind him, and get to Calypso before anything serious could be done to her but the main attackers left before they arrived." Hephaestus' face darkened as his fist clenched when he continued, "They took Chase's daughter with them and baited her to follow."
"Who led them and where?" Allen asked before he could think on it, his entire frame rigid as he listened, his fists clenched up to the point his knuckles were visibly paling under the dried blood.
"Olympus," Hermes answered as the attention was turned on him even as Hephaestus nodded. "I've been getting reports from some of my messengers left in Manhattan that they felt a battle on the mountain, including several gods assuming divine form … and then fading."
"And supposedly they were led by Pallas," Hephaestus added making everyone snap to him, eyes wide and disbelief.
"Impossible, he's supposed to be trapped in Tartarus!" Zeus all but declared as if it were absolute truth and to contest it was blasphemy, his nostrils flaring in growing agitation.
"Apparently not," Hephaestus retorted, for once not backing down from the gaze of his father. "And even if untrue, Calypso's claims cannot just be dismissed to mere shell-shock from an attack.
The fact is that there was an attack under a powerful leader, Cloelia—your granddaughter—was taken, and Annabeth pursued to what seems to have been Olympus. There was another battle and several of Hermes best in the area felt gods fading. Now I don't know about you but I think we need to get a team there immediately and check everything to see who faded and if possible look for signs of Anna—"
"Don't bother," Apollo cut in, making some jump at the suddenness of it as they turned to look at the god.
"… Don't bother?" Allen question lowly as he slowly stood up as he glared at the god. "Don't bother?" he asked again before slamming his hands on the table making it shake as some flinched at the action. "That's my sister you're talking about and your daughter! If anyone should already be there searching for them it's you, you bastard!" he practically snarled at the sun god.
Nothing else could be heard aside from Allen's near panting as his eyes remained glued to Apollo's glowing ones, neither backing down. The more rational part of Allen's mind, the part that realized just how much danger he'd put himself in and was begging him to apologize and back down, was viciously overruled by the enraged part demanding an answer from the god that dared dismiss a search effort for his sister.
However he still felt a shiver run up his spine as Apollo slowly moved, his right hand overlapping his left where there was a brief glow beneath it. When it faded everyone watched as he pulled something off his finger before he held it up.
It was a faded gold ring, the metal looking oddly dull and worn with even a few cracks running the length.
A gasp from Hera was largely ignored as Apollo let the ring go, the ping of the metal hitting and bouncing on the table echoing in the tent. When it finally settled, many looked at the sun god and the ring in confusion while some gods paled or cursed, fists clenching as they glared at the jewelry. Allen wasn't sure on what the ring meant or why Apollo even showed it to them but just looking at the thing filled him with dread.
"A broken matrimony ring for a godly union, something that only happens through a divorce … or if one or both of the pair die," Apollo said, his voice scathing as he looked at Allen, steaming coming in bursts from his eyes that Allen now realized must have been tears evaporating as they came. "So tell me demigod, why bother searching for my wife when I know she's already dead?"
Allen felt all the air leave his lungs as he looked at the ring, a white noise filling his ears as his legs gave out and he fell back in his chair. He didn't bother to look around to see how the others were taking the news, instead his thoughts revolving not only around the loss of his sister but of her daughter.
"What about Cloelia?" he asked, his voice cracking as he felt the sting in the back of his eyes but he held back as much as he could.
His question got the general attention and most seemed unsure what to say for a few moments before Apollo spoke again, his clipped tone bordering on resigned contempt.
"I can sense her nearby on that mountain but it's faint and getting weaker."
Silence fell again as some shifted in their seats, looking around to see how they would continue from there. Zeus cleared his throat to regain attention at some point and ask another commander about the condition of their division but Allen started to tune them out. He own thoughts were on how this news could affect his siblings and his mother…
...
( Percy POV )
A Few Hours Later
The primordial god slowly opened his eyes as a heavy sigh escaped him, a cool mist flowing out as he started to sit up. He didn't even need to glance to the side to know he was alone this morning … or was it more appropriate to say afternoon? Regardless he got up and paused for a moment as he caught his reflection in the vanity of one of his wives. His dark-flamed eyes looked as his hand came up to trace the small, pale line running across his left cheek before it lowered to his ribs. There was another, longer line that flowed beneath the last rib.
The temporary evidence of his battle against the late lunar goddess.
However his eyes then focused on his right hand, the very one he'd used to trace the nearly faded lines, and noticed the uneven shading of his knuckles and minute tear lines. The damaged done to him in a pseudo-divine form and permanent reminder of the battle on the moon.
With a sigh he lowered his hand as he got out of the bed before, with but a thought, was surrounded in a cocoon of darkness for all of five seconds. Once it dissipated he was revealed to be fully changed into mere dark jeans, black boots, a grey shirt, and his Coat of Darkness fashioned into much like a leather jacket sitting snuggly of his lithe frame. The moment he finished he left his room and headed in the direction of the entrance as he sensed for any others in the house and found none.
'Probably best … could use a little quiet,' he thought as he made it to the main doors and walked down the steps, his gaze shifting off to his right. The planet below continued its slow spin but beyond its horizon his eyes focused on a black spot that couldn't even be illuminated by the sun. For a moment he remembered of times long gone, of the days when he was but a boy who would gaze upon that silvery splendor for hours at night. Now the seemingly empty, scarred, and dead moon was swallowed up in darkness and left adrift.
… His Darkness.
'How times have changed.' A tired sigh escaped him as he turned his eyes away the bitter reminder as he walked down the steps of the landing, each footfall echoing out into the void beyond until he stepped over the edge. For a moment he floated, hi wings pulled tight against his back and his eyes centered on the immense globe below him before the first pulls of gravity began to take him. He started to descend, his face unfazed as the planet got closer.
The fall gained momentum by the second as speed started to build but he paid it no mind as his gaze drifted up. His eyes looked on into the expansive abyss full of faraway lights and shapes as it got farther and farther away. Soon he felt himself enter the first layers of the Earth's atmosphere and felt the pressure build against him, his jacket starting to billow lightly. It seemed to last for ages before, like a sudden breeze passing over him, he entered the next layer.
There was a spike in heat and sound a sort of sizzle could be heard as a distortion of pressure began to surround him as his fall got even faster. As the heat rose an orange glow started to surround him but it didn't faze him, barely registering as a warm breeze to him. Then there was another jump in pressure as a familiar and inviting coolness enveloped him, his frame now steaming. He glanced up to see the dark void having become a dark blue sky, the stars he usually looked upon all but hidden from his gaze.
He then looked down, his eyes roving over the expansive layer of white and grey fluff tinted with shades of orange and red from the overhead sun. Closing his eyes he let himself drift back as if laying down for a nap, his arms and legs left to stretch as the muted throb of his fall become a dull roar as wind billowed around him. He didn't count the time as he simply immersed himself in the sensation of the careless fall.
Idly he wondered if he looked like a fallen angel cast from the heavens…
...
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