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Okay, so maybe Percy was a little bitter. But to be fair, who breaks up with someone on Valentines Day of the 364 other days in a year? The odd thing was, it's not even the first nor second time it's happened, but the fourth!
"Maybe it's a sign, amata," Jason said, failing to conceal the mirth in his tone, "you were just cursed by Saint Valentine...or Eros, whoever's first,"
Percy groaned and dropped his forehead against the stone table. Hadn't the gods had enough of him? Even he got sick of himself at some point, gods bless Hypnos, so couldn't they give himself and his friends a break?
At that very moment the throne room up on Olympus hosted Hypnos, Apollo, Hermes, and unexpectedly, Hestia, who was in the midst of a screaming match with Apollo.
"And do you happen to omit the fact from your haiku filled brain that all of your lovers become ensnared with death, imprisonment, or fates forbid both?!" she screeched in a cold and heavy voice, the tones of her skin turning cool and the hearth she tends to flaring blue and white.
Hermes winced and Hypnos squirmed uncomfortably as Apollo's face fell at the reemergence of sabotaged, forbidden, and dare he say, failed, partnerships. "I refuse to allow you any contact with Perseus Jackson, especially in a romantic sense," Hestia's screaming toned down into a booming command, her associated tones of warmth returning to her; the little gold she donned seeming to harmonize with her skin once again.
"Oh, says the forgotten goddess of feather dusters and awkward family dinners," Apollo scoffed, "Eros himself could prance his happy ass over from Rome or wherever the fuck and it wouldn't mean a damn thing, because Percy is mine,"
At that moment, Hestia had enough of her nephew. No one took her seriously, seemingly forgetting that she was the eldest of the gods aside from Aphrodite and that they maintained their domains out of respect and partially due to the fact that sticking to a few chosen skills was just convenient.
Hestia was sick of convenience.
She wanted something now, and when she wants her teeth are bared and the object of her desire would be scarred with marks from her grip whether she obtains it or not.
"I've heard dogs speak more eloquently," she said flatly and lifted her hand. Before a protest or rebuttal could be spoken, Apollo was gone.
At Camp Halfblood, there was a stutter in the light, time, and motion of everything. To a mortal it was no different than blinking for a moment longer than usual, but any living thing with a sensitivity to the cosmos felt the shift.
"Jason, did you..?" Percy began.
Jason nodded and stood along with Percy from their spot in the Pavilion. "Feel that? Definitely," he finished. "A new spell from the Hecate kids?"
"No, knowing our luck it's another war," Percy sighed, half bitter, half resigned.
As they were tossing theories out into the open and gathering their game of Uno from the table, said table shook as something hit it from underneath. At the same time, Hazel scrambled into the Pavilion with the ground shifting at her feet.
"Guys! I don't — Nico?"
"You guys couldn't be under a tree or something? Fuck," said Demigod grunted as he crawled from under the table.
Hazel huffed, shaking her head. "The Apollo kids have new insignias above their heads! It sounded like Chiron mumbled Hestia, but 'm not sure," she informed.
Jason watched as Percy packed away the last of the cards. "Are the gods having some sort of custody battle?"
"Alaska was nice," Percy sighed.
Hazel let out a slightly exasperated chuckle. "It was," she agreed.
"I think Will would love it there," Percy said pointedly to Nico.
Nico furrowed his eyebrows and shook his head. "Besides the point — my Dad said that a "reborn" god has claimed the title of Olympian,"
Jason and Percy looked between the four of them and finally settled their gaze on Nico. "What's...that supposed to mean?"
The sound of hoofs clopping against the ground made itself apparent. "It means, young Perseus," Chiron spoke in lieu of a greeting, "the gods may be at war,"
"YOU KILLED MY SON!" Zeus roared as soon as he apparated into the throne room. Hera, Artemis, and Ares following soon after.
Hera kept her tone level, speaking in the voice of control, of a true god, "You and I both know I didn't kill him. We merged, forcibly, but merged regardless. He's quite annoying,"
Zeus snarled, "I should've cut you to pieces along with Kronos,"
Hestia's lip quivered and she covered her face to hide it. Hermes looked on, slightly exasperated and confused. Her body then shook too, and she curled into herself. She shot upright with a child-like squeal of joy. "But cha didn't! Oh, so selfless and reverent God King Zeus, should I bow? Grovel for something you did eons ago?"
Ares moved to sit in his throne, thoroughly amused. Artemis scoffed at the action.
"Even I have done so much more since then, Zeus. Evolve. Grow. I know we are gods and immortal and invincible and everything of the likes but even mountains shift," Hestia spoke, exasperated.
Zeus growled. "You go too far,"
Hestia reared her head. "My journey has just begun,"