The Titan Of Foresight - Part 2
The part of the Titan's curse where Percy and co finished their quest, got to Olympus, and the gods almost immediately voted on whether or not to disintegrate them right to their faces was so messed up you guys.
He had lived for thousands of years - He had risen to the greatest of heights and tumbled to the lowest pits, and faced the wraths of mortal kings and monsters and gods alike.
Yet all the same, Daedalus had never once regretted existing nearly as much as he did right then, sharing a table with a Titan, six would-be heroes, a sundered god, a downed huntress lying to the side, a mythical creature that spelled the end of Olympus itself and... ah, yes.
The looming, boundless presence of the all-consuming Darkness surrounding them and chilling the very air in his crafted lungs with the imminent threat of abyssal oblivion.
However, could he forget?
Oh, how he wished he could forget - or better yet, leave entirely.
Instead, the wayward son of Athena resolutely ignored the looming and utterly unassailable threat poised to plunge him into an unimaginable fate should he so much as twitch the wrong as only one desperately fighting back the breaking of sanity could, and did the only thing he could.
Carefully, very carefully, he took a small bite of the nearest square of ambrosia and washed it down with a measured, minuscule sip of nectar to complete the right of hospitality on his end.
As soon as he did, Prometheus did the same, reaching for the ambrosia first and the nectar second as Daedalus did.
"There is a joke to be made here," Prometheus was the first to speak, something deliberately musing in his tone as he raised his glass and brought it to his lips. "About the dangers of extended family reunions."
Without another word, the Titan took a long, hearty drink.
That was the final cue for the demigods to dig in.
And dig in they did.
Oh, they remained wary, and Daedalus saw full well the way their hackles were raised and the flickering of their eyes from him to the titan and back again, but that didn't stop them from going through the sandwiches on the table like a pack of wolves, scarfing down whatever was closest as quickly and warily as possible, and then going in for seconds.
They couldn't help it, he knew.
Even putting aside their ordeals - and they'd been through enough to fill an old classic myth or three by now - The Labyrinth had a nasty habit of leeching the strength and vitality of its victims on a disproportionate scale. It all but feasted on that and more, in fact, while insidiously twisting their senses, leaving them blind to the fact until it was too late.
But that was a problem for another day - assuming he lived long enough to make it that far, which the chance of was, admittedly, far less likely now than it had been in the least moirai be damned millennium.
Wonderful.
Unaware of his simmering dread, the demigods continued feasting, though their hackles never once dropped, from the visibly livid Thalia Grace to the uncertain Biance D Angelo.
A small part of him took note of the way Percy Jackson's hand stayed clamped onto his half-sister's even as they ate, their knuckles white from the force of the mutual grip despite the fact that neither of them seemed to be consciously aware of it.
There was a story there, he was sure - just as there was a story that led to the pale-faced and entirely too mortal Apollo to be sitting a few seats down, occasionally glancing towards a dangerously contemplative Prometheus before his eyes moved back down to his plate almost entirely of their own accord.
At least the god - if former at that - had the good sense not to glance back or around at the Primordial manifestation of power surrounding them.
That possible consequences of such a bit of stupidity would not have ended well for anyone present, and even the creatures in their presence knew it too if the way the mythical Ophiotarus - and yes, Daedalus had recognized full well what that thing was - had basically crawled halfway under the table and stayed trembling beside the corpse-stiff and equally unnatural dog was any kind of tell.
The huntress of Artemis was a non-factor - Zoë Nightshade had managed to lift herself up and onto a chair, which was very impressive considering the state that she was in, but the glazed and distant look in her eyes was proof enough that she was barely conscious as she was.
In the end, it seemed that the only one of them who wasn't on the verge of crashing hard was... none other than Luna Lovegood, who was cutting very small, carefully measured squares of Ambrosia and depositing them onto Nico Di Angelo's plate with all the patience of a saint, and the patient smile to boot.
Strangely, considering everything, that made sense.
Of the worst kind.
His thoughts were derailed when Prometheus finally lowered his glass with a clink and abruptly broke out into low chuckles.
"Mortals." He said at last when he trailed off and collected himself - a display that was entirely for the benefit of his audience - and his tone took on a lilt that was almost admiring. "I step amongst you, I familiarize myself with your achievement, and I tell myself that I have your measure. And I do, for the most part. And yet..."
The Titan smiled in a way that pulled at his scars.
"Every once in a blue moon, one of you does something - the utterly ludicrous happens-" He gestured, and Daedalus refused to follow his gesture to what lay beyond their table. "And I am once more thrown for a loop. It is both aggravating... and yet entertaining. Novel, even, though perhaps far more dangerous than anything I would have expected even knowing of your lineage. Still-"
He nodded to the girl of the hour.
"Congratulations are in order. I am impressed."
There was a tense beat, and then Lovegood inclined her head.
"High praise, form one whose domain is that of Foresight."
Prometheus smiled.
"Even immortals who dabble in the machinations of fate can be surprised, child. In fact, it happens far more often than most would guess. Wouldn't you agree... Apollo?"
A flurry of rapid-fire emotions flickered over the fallen god's face, no doubt made worse by the manner in which Bianca's eyes widened in disbelief as she spun around to face him.
"Wait, what?"
Apollo did not answer her - his face had already settled on black rage.
He opened his mouth and spewed a tirade of words in multiple olden Greek dialects so scathing that Daedalus immediately tensed.
Not on account of the words themselves, which were amateur at best - but out of fear that this meeting's patron would take offense.
He dared to glance at the darkness -if it could be called that - and nearly shattered his armrests with a terrified grip as the shadows in the very corners of his vision seemed to shift.
But nothing happened.
Luna Lovegood caught his movement and seemed to immediately understand.
She gave him a low, asinine smile that failed to dispel any of his dread.
If anything, it made it worse.
"Don't look." She whispered, almost conspiratorially. "It's easier that way."
As if on cue, the shadows moved again.
That time, he did shatter his armrests, pulverized wood and splinters raining down from between his clenched fingers.
What exactly was this girl, and what forsaken pit of creation did she crawl out of?
Oblivious to their exchange - or more likely deliberately avoiding it, Prometheus kept his focus on Apollo as his rant finally petered out.
"Goodness me, I have upset you."
Apollo glared.
"Fuck you."
Someone choked.
"And that's just rude," Prometheus said dryly, unoffended.
"That's not rude," Apollo growled, fists clenching on the table in full view of them all. "Rude would be me asking you about the state of your liver."
"In far better shape now than it was all those millennia ago when your Father sentenced me to endless torture under the guise of justice, thank you for asking," Prometheus answered without skipping a beat. "Now you tell me - How is your divinity?"
"..."
"..."
"Fuck. You."
The amount of hate put into those two words alone was impressive, even for an Olympian.
Especially for an Olympian.
Or a former one, in the present case.
"I suppose I deserved that one." Prometheus acknowledge amiably, leaning back and panning his gaze across them all. Daedalus met it stonily when it landed on him. "Having Zeus as an enemy king is an ordeal enough. Having him as a father and knowing that you are not safe from his paranoid whims must be a trial all of its own."
Apollo actually flinched.
By Prometheus's pleased smile, he didn't miss it.
"I thought so."
"Back off." Thalia glowered, hands twitching as though reaching for the phantom of her spear. Daedlus's previously non-existent blood pressure spiked at the thought of what would descend on them should she so much as try and reach for it. "Better yet, say whatever stupid shit you've been waiting to spew, and fuck off."
"That was always my intention, Miss Grace." Prometheus chuckled again, still utterly at ease despite the insults. "But these things do take a good bit of build-up... then again, however..."
The titan steepled his fingers together firmly.
"You've all had quite enough build-up, would you agree." He spoke softly, almost gently. "I am inclined to waive the theatrics, just this once, in favor of the direct approach. Very well."
The demigods stiffened as Prometheus straightened, exuding a certain air.
An Authority.
"I am Prometheus, the Foresight of the Titans. And I have come on behalf of my faction and my King, young heroes, to render an invitation." He spread his arms wide. "Join us."
...
"No." "Fuck you." "Go to Tartarus."
Luna, Thalia, and Percy spoke over one another in the very same instant, the former far less forcefully than the latter two but no less firm for it. The other expressed a similar sentiment in the way they huddled closer together and stared mistrustfully.
It was well deserved.
Prometheus didn't look one bit bothered by the rejection. He looked towards Daedalus, who merely glared back.
Really?
"I understand that you have just cause to be wary of me and mine.. Believe me, I do. The tales paint the Titans as the monsters of this conflict - cruel and arrogant, capricious and whimsical, committing atrocities against mortals at the lightest, most exaggerated of provocations-"
"You're not-!" Annabeth Chase finally made her voice known, and it was tinged with incredulity. "You're not actually trying to convince us that the stories are lies, are you?"
"On the contrary, daughter of Athena, I will admit to their truth gladly." The girl almost recoiled in shock at that, and Prometheus smiled. "Not what you expected, was it? But it is the truth, and the truth is what I've come to offer you today. This I vow on my pride as the Creator of all Greek mortals."
Daedalus grimaced.
A clever... if misleading title - in a way.
But that was a matter for another time, because Prometheus was not finished.
"At the height of our power, and at our worst, we Titans were crueler and more petty than even the most insulting of the old myths painted us to be - and our King Kronos-" A shiver went through the air, though it was quickly drowned out beneath the veil of Erebus's nascent attention - the Titan King at the fullness of his power was nothing before even a slumbering elder Primordial. "-Was the greatest offender by far. He earned his title and his reputation as the Crooken One long before he reached his zenith, and his actions in regards to his newborn children were only an ugly culmination thousands of years in the making."
"Wow. Grandpa sounds like a swell guy." Percy smirked weakly. His hand still hadn't left Annabeth's. "Where do I sign up?"
"Idly, it's a matter of when, not where." Prometheus took the jab in stride - no, he did not consider it one to begin with.
"I can't tell if you're joking, or insane."
"Neither, Percy Jackson. I am, however, not finished. It is true that the Titans once lived up to their worst reputations, exceeded them even. But we have not remained so - when you have thousands of years to contemplate your fall from grace, only a fool does not acknowledge the need for a different approach. Even Kronos, reduced as he is in his current state, knows as much."
"Yeah? What, did he watch a 'I shouldn't have eaten my kids, and here's why' Ted Talk and decided to switch things up?' Percy snorted and went right back to glaring fiercely. "The only thing someone like Kronos would change about that would be him not killing them right from the start."
Prometheus raised a brow.
"Even if that were true-"
If?
Daedalus almost laughed himself, there. He would have were he not cold right down to his last component gear.
"-then he is just the same as the Olympians whose banners you currently stand beneath."
Ah.
So that was his angle.
Percy looked startled.
"What?"
"Did Zeus not attempt to have you killed, time and again, simply based on what you could possibly do?" Those green eyes widened. "Did Hades not attempt the same with Thalia Grace? Did not the Olympians as a whole spend uncountable eons doing the same, pruning mortal lives and manipulating the board to their benefit, at their leisure, regardless of the strife and suffering they sowed in pursuit of their own ends?"
The demigods were silent.
Daedalus was silent.
"My dear heroes, you can not claim righteousness while turning a blind eye to the very same evil you pretend to stand against. The very idea that the Gods who rule now are just where the Titans are not is their greatest success - a lie to disguise their own evil. They are not good - the rule of the Olympians was merely better than that of the Titans, and only by degrees at that. To deny this is to deny reality."
"No!" Apollo faltered as he made to speak, then rallied again. "That's-!"
"The truth - an undeniable one at that." Prometheus declared solemnly and did not even deign to turn to the former god as he continued to speak. "Or did you not see as much for yourselves? How quickly they abandoned one of their own-"
The huntress of Artemis twitched.
"-How quickly they turned on themselves, and how unforgiving and unmerciful Zeus is when his own power and authority were at risk."
Apollo and Thalia exchanged a look, almost entirely on reluctant instinct.
"And it does not end there. Do not think for even a second that victory - of any kind at all - on this quest will mean anything to them. The gods will applaud you for settling a quest, and vote on your very lives in the same breath without an ounce of dignity or shame. Ask Apollo there, if you dare. As him what fate Olympus would have in store for you even if you freed Artemis from our grip and returned her to them in time for the winter solstice, on this very night even, and with not a price paid beyond the momentous effort it would take for you to achieve the feat."
Silence.
"Well?" Prometheus looked around once more. "Go on. Ask him."
No one said a word.
No one needed to.
"You see?" The titan's voice softened once more. "There is no sense in refusing to even entertain the validity of our cause when the state of Olympus and the choices it makes speaks for it all on its lonesome. To support the gods-"
"Enough."
Prometheus stilled. Daedalus stiffened, and a round of sharp inhalations came from across the table.
Luna Lovegood, uncaring of any of them, stared down at the titan with not a hint of cheer or good humor on her face.
Silvery blue against grey,
"Pardon the interruption, but your assumption is bold."
"Assumption?"
"The assumption..."
Slowly, the Daughter of Thanatos straightened in her seat.
In response, and to Daedalus's utter horror, the darkness behind her moved in a way that no one could deny, wafting and waving as it seemed to close in on her until nothing but spectral blackness existed in her shadow.
"...That I care one whit for the gods of Olympus in the long run."
...
Well, then.
Prometheus said nothing.
No one did.
And slowly, Luna smiled.
For the first time in quite some time, the gesture was not all that kind.
"Let's get a few things straightened out, shall we?"
...
Prometheus: Getting all excited dissing the gods:
[URL unfurl="true" media="imgur:MVABVZW"]https://imgur.com/MVABVZW[/URL]
Luna: Aight I'm done.
[URL unfurl="true" media="imgur:0R1sAvE"]https://imgur.com/0R1sAvE[/URL]
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