Torturous Truth
Kassandra woke up, sat down at a table with her hands tied behind her back. The last thing the ex-huntress remembered was seeing her father. When she tried to break free of the restraints she found that no matter how hard she tried, her arms were stuck. It must have been some enchanted rope or something equally as silly.
The room she was in was pretty well furnished, a hard oak table and various other pieces of furniture. An array of flowers decorated the walls, and the room had plenty of potted plants dotted around.
"Good afternoon Kassandra!" giggled a voice across the table. Raising her head, she found herself to be in the worst company imaginable.
She sat at one end of the table, and it was covered in food from various cultures, all still hot and fresh from the kitchen. A stack of honey cakes presented itself just out of what would have been her reach. But sitting around the table were five others. On her far right was Ikari, the one who had greeted her, wearing a new hoodie and jeans. Opposite him was Ichiro, sat with a neat posture and looking down at his plate soullessly. He wore his traditional robes.
On her close left was a boy, no older than 16. His hair was a messy raven black and he had tanned skin. He really looked like Percy and Kassandra could probably easily mistake the two with their backs turned. Unlike Jackson, he had a scar running down his face that trailed from his cheek and somewhere down his back it seemed. He was wearing a plain white chiton, pretty common it seemed.
The person on her close right at the table wasn't a person. It was a dracaena, some weird gauntlet of the sorts on her wrists and tattered clothes that looked like they had been through a bombing. She looked sad, as if she didn't want to be here and longed for some far off place.
Then, opposite her at the opposing head was (Y/N), her father. But... Now she remembered it was him who had brought her here. He really was in cahoots with the giants. But her father could never, which means that this-
"Welcome Kassandra. As I am sure you have guessed by now, I am not your father."
"Then who are you?" demanded the daughter of Rome, tossing around in her seat.
"I am Gaia, but you may call me mother," remarked fake (Y/N), the lily in his eye switching from white to green to yellow and back to white in a fraction of a second.
"Oh, like hell I will, what have you done with my father?" demanded the goddess, turning to the two on both sides. "And who are these two? More little devils we have to stamp out?"
"Be kind now, they're not here for any aggressive intention. These are my assistants, Adamantios and Elara. They run my errands and other... tasks," introduced Ichiro.
"As for your father, no unwarranted actions have been taken against him. He surrendered his body willingly to me and now serves me with his body as a vessel. Don't worry, Olympus and those with authority at camp half-blood believe he has been killed, but Thanatos has not claimed him."
"And so I'm here to be gloated at?" asked Kassandra. "For you to make yourselves feel better about not being able to stop a group of teenagers from reaching the Ancient Lands?"
"Yes!"
"No," said Ichiro and Ikari at the same time. The dracaena slapped the nature demon, who rubbed his cheek and laughed, letting his brother speak.
"We have brought you here to extend an invite; join us at our table and help bring about the return of the old ways. Abandon the gods and take your rightful place on the winning side."
She was shocked.
"You must be out of your minds. My friends and I are on our way to save the world and you think I'll just flip the script and join you just like that? Fate is on our side, it has been prophesied that we will win."
Kassandra wasn't exactly sure if prophesies could change, she was banking on the fact that they were hopefully set in stone.
"Perhaps they are," continued Ichiro, "But we can remove prophecy all together. You received that scroll from Hermes, right? About guiding the seven, bringing unity to the pantheon, blah blah blah. Well we can take that weight off your shoulders if you just join us."
"My friends are counting on me," insisted Kassandra. "They need me and I need them."
"Oh silly," giggled Ikari, "You don't have friends! You have colleagues and associates, but no friends. They're demigods, all in the same boat. You are a goddess, an outsider to them. You think after everything someone like Percy Jackson has been through he really trusts you? I mean, they don't even know you're here and they're about to take off and leave you!"
"No, they wouldn't. And we are friends-"
"Oh please, you've known them for less than half a year. Your father didn't even have proper ties to them."
She frowned and furrowed her brows. "What's that supposed to mean? Annabeth was like a daughter or a sister to him and apparently he and Jason were close as possible."
"Perhaps you need the full story about your father. The gods have held this information from you. And so have your supposed 'friends'."
Grass wrapped up and around her seat, encasing her lower half in a soft cushion. Then something forced itself into her ear and everything went black.
When she woke up for the third time that day, Kassandra found she couldn't move. She could look around, but had no body. It was as if she were a wind spirit, free floating but unable to control her own body.
She recognised where she was, it had been described to her many times; the throne room of Olympus. But it was in a state of destruction, the room crumbling in on itself. The ceiling that displayed the constellations threatened to collapse at any given moment.
And at the centre of it were three figures, no. Three men. One with blonde sandy hair, another with an eye patch and a third with emanating a godly golden glow. She knew who all three were; she had seen their pictures at camp. Luke Castellan, Ethan Nakamura and (Y/N) (L/N). Except here, she knew this wasn't Castellan but more so Kronos. Her father lacked an eye, and there was no flower to replace it. They were talking and so she listened in.
"How about we spar? No powers, no levelling buildings. Just good swordsmanship," offered her father.
"Hmm, well I don't see why not now that we're here."
Fake Luke and very much real (Y/N) clashed, and Kassandra was yelling as loud as she could to support her father. (Y/N)s eye blazed gold, and from seemingly nowhere he produced a beautiful blade. Funny, the metal reminded her of her own dagger.
The two were so fast, even without reinforcing their physical capabilities. She had watched her parents spar before, and this was something truly spectacular to witness. Annabeth had listed off the feats of Percy Jackson during the battle of Manhattan, but her fathers actions had never been brought up. If he was this powerful, she wondered why.
The two duelled for a while longer before they interlocked blades and pushed, talking quiet enough so Kassandra couldn't hear. Then, from the corner of her eye, she saw Ethan bend down and pick up a sword from the ground. She could see what was going to happen before it did.
"No!" the ex-huntress screamed, "Don't!"
But of course, her words had no effect, and Ethan edged towards her father, blade out. And then he lunged forwards. (Y/N) had disposed of his godly energy temporarily for the fight; he was vulnerable. The blade slide through his chest and out the other side. His sword dropped to the ground.
Another blade was summoned to him, but as he gasped desperately for air fake Luke snatched the sword and shattered it into a thousand pieces.
"Pater!" she cried, trying to move to his aid but to no avail.
"And so you lose," sneered fake Luke, kicking (Y/N) in the chest hard. He rocketed back and slammed against the throne of Zeus. Why was she being shown this? Knowing her father was hostage to Gaia was bad enough, but seeing this happen was too much for her.
The god of divine healing, forced into the darkness behind the throne, checked his wounds to reveal his chest and heart had been pierced.
"My Lord," called out Ethan huskily.
At the entrance to the throne room, Percy, Annabeth and Grover entered, clambering over rubble.
Suddenly, her perspective changed. She was looking through they eyes of who she could only presume to be Annabeth, blond curls in her peripheral. She watched as Chase analysed what lay before her. The daughter of Athena looked up and down the two servants of Kronos, the crumbling ceiling and the thrones.
Finally, her gaze fell upon (Y/N). Kassandra's mood spiked. Perfect, so this was how her father was saved. Annabeth, Percy and Grover would beat fake Luke and Ethan, then the gods would arrive just in time.
She waited, sitting in the head of Annabeth for the girl to call out to him. But she didn't. She tore her eyes off of (Y/N) and refocused on fake Luke.
Kassandra was... confused to say the least. Why had she ignored him, the man who had favoured her since she arrived at camp and was now bleeding out?
Everything faded to black.
Kassandra's head slammed hard into the table and she went to rub her forehead before remembering she couldn't.
"What was that?" demanded the daughter of Bellona. She was on the verge of tears but couldn't let it show. Ikari smirked at the end of the table, sensing her weakness.
"That was what happened to your father, what the gods fear to tell you," said fake (Y/N). "Do you need any further imagery or-"
"No, that was enough," snapped Kassandra. She looked down at the shattered plate in front of her. "Why would Annabeth do that," she mumbled, her vision becoming blurry with tears.
"Simple; demigods are stupid," responded Ikari. The scarred boy, Adamantios, kicked him under the table. But the nature demon kept talking whilst biting down on an annoying delicious looking steak. "Annabeth Chase, she was so infatuated with Luke Castellan that despite being evil, chose him over (Y/N). You know, he even gave her his blessing!"
"His... blessing?" muttered Kassandra. What?
"Indeed, I witnessed it," interrupted Ichiro. "(Y/N) blessed Annabeth so she could perform to levels never before dreamed of by the daughter of Athena. As a matter of fact, when I sent some of my monsters after her at our little encounter at camp half-blood, I was surprised to learn she still bears the blessing. Must be that we still have (Y/N)s soul."
"She would have told me if my father had blessed her, that's not something she'd keep a secret. And I know Annabeth, she wouldn't abandon (Y/N) for some traitor."
"Perhaps when you meet her again, ask her for her perspective on this all. I think she'll give you the same answer." She could just hear the sincerity in his voice. He wasn't lying.
There was silence at the table, and the only noise was Kassandra's muffled sobs Ikari gnashing his teeth on his food. Animal.
How could she? How could Annabeth abandon her father in such a moment of need?
"So, with this new information, does that sway your opinion in any form?" inquired fake (Y/N).
Kassandra forced her head up. Summoning all her strength, she spat at him, or technically her since it was Gaia. Her saliva hit the flower, and fake (Y/N) slightly recoiled back before grinning.
"I like that spark of resistance. But not against me. Ikari, do that thing," he/she said, flicking a hand gesture at the nature demon. "One more big reveal before we wrap up our meal, hey?"
Ikari stood up and buried his hands deep in his hoodie pocket, rummaging around for something. When he withdrew them, he held something out for everyone around the table to see; a seed. So incredibly small Kassandra could barely make it out.
Before she could question his intentions, he spun around and threw it at the ground. It hit a rug that covered the wood panelled floor rather anticlimactically.
"Wow, a real good reveal that you carry seeds around in you pocket."
Ikari held a finger up to silence her. The seed burst, branching out rapidly and growing at an exponential rate. Except it didn't grow into a plant. Instead it began to take the shape of a person, forming feet, legs and working up to a torso. There was even a cloak forming. That answered Kassandra's earlier question about making clothes of her own energy.
The 'person' wasn't a person, they were a dryad. The ex-huntress knew how they were born and tied to trees, but to see one grow this fast was unreal.
"I have come far in the mastery of my powers," said Ikari, staring at the forming dryad. "But this... this has always been a trick I'm good at."
He sounded so serious it almost frightened Kassandra. The body was finishing creation now, details of the face forming. As she admired the dryad, something felt off. It was a she, and she looked familiar as her features were better constructed. Eventually, long hair fell from the head and the dryad was complete.
Holy.... Holy gods...
That was Aspen.
"Yes," said Ikari menacingly as if he had read her thoughts. "Aspen. The girl, no dryad, you're seeing. Do you understand what this means?"
The two assistants of Ichiro, Elara and Adamantios, seemed slightly uncomfortable. They had both been through heartbreak before, pathos leaking from their skin.
Kassandra didn't answer Ikari's question, choosing to struggle over her bonds instead. So the nature demon pressed forwards.
"Aspen isn't a real dryad silly. I made her."
Kassandra shook her head to try and silence his voice.
"Don't hide from the truth, Kassandra. I made Aspen. I made Aspen. I made Aspen."
Every time he declared it, he got closer and closer to the chair that restrained Kassandra until he was talking into her ear.
"You think a dryad would date a goddess? The gods have such a horrible reputation with nature spirits, you should hear what 'Aspens' friends talk about. She only loves you because I have designed her that way."
With a snap of his fingers, the new Aspen jolted to life, and almost instantly swivelled itself to face the daughter of Rome. Adamantios and Elara stood up from their seats and left the room, Ichiro making no attempt to stop them.
"Dear, how are you?" asked Aspen, moving forwards and to the other shoulder that didn't have Ikari leaning on.
"This is all a bad dream, none of this is happening," muttered Kassandra, unable to see through teary eyes. This couldn't be real, it couldn't be real.
"What's the matter? I'm here for you," comforted Aspen, but what would have been warm and affectionate was shallow and meaningless now.
As the daughter of (Y/N) wallowed in her misery, fake (Y/N) gave yet another hand gesture. This time, Ikari hit her hard over the head and she passed out, darkness consuming her. She was destroyed.
Fake (Y/N) stood up and Ikari sat back down in his seat. 'Aspen' looked around blankly.
"What of me now, sir?" she asked her creator.
"At Camp Half-blood you must continue to live. If we keep you alive we can use that against Kassandra and therefore the seven if we ever need to."
With that, the dryad crumbled to dust. Fake (Y/N) grabbed Kassandra and carried her like how a father carries his sleeping child.
"I would have liked a daughter like her," he/she said. "The god of divine healing got lucky. It's a shame we didn't get a hold of his wife Bellona though, she could have been a good asset. At least she's not with the Olympians."
Snapping their fingers, fake (Y/N) looked at everyone in the room. Ichiro's assistants had returned.
Suddenly, his eye faded to gold and the flower drooped. He looked down at his daughter in his arms.
"Kassandra-" he started, before his eye lost the golden spark. He snapped back up.
"Prepare the eidolons, the strongest you have my son."
And on that note, fake (Y/N) dissipated in a shower of pollen along with Kassandra.
The daughter of Bellona sat in a fetal position, rocking back and forth as she let warm water wash over her. With the help of Jason and Percy she had managed to get up and directed herself towards the bathroom. Everyone had a private bathroom but since Kassandra lacked a room this one was unofficially hers.
When the son of Jupiter and son of Poseidon got her to the door, she was still a mess but had somehow managed to pull herself together to dismiss them and tumble in. She was destroyed, her spirit once unbreakable now a dying flame. She wept as she tore off her clothes and crawled into the shower, a flick of her hand turning the thing on.
Sometimes she wondered just how low she could fall, and now she knew. The bathroom was moderately sized, with a bath, walk-in shower, toilet and sink. The tiling was cold to sit on but her body was quick to warm up, sending jolts up her spine.
Last time she was in so much agony her mother saved her, but Bellona would not arrive now. Her salty tears mixed with the water. She knew her life had been too good to be true. It made so much sense, Aspen was the only one at camp who really accepted her for herself and not being a goddess.
She wasn't an idiot, she could read people enough to understand the respect and opinion campers had on her was built purely on the fact she was a goddess. Percy and Annabeth had taken her in, but for the time period she spent with them she was more of a third wheel. Something she understood for the new couple, but almost no one else actually socialised with her.
So it made so much sense that someone as beautiful, trusting and perfect as Aspen wasn't real and just a project of someones imagination. Ikari's sick, twisted imagination to torture her.
Her father though... why would the gods hide such information from her? How come Annabeth would be in on such a plan too? Did others really know too? Was Chiron lying to her about everything? Too many questions for her to comprehend in such a state.
But there were a few things she did know.
One: Where her father was, what state he was in and that he wasn't truly gone. If she defeated Gaia then (Y/N) would be freed or at the minimum she could claim her pater's body to reconnect it with his true soul.
Two: Wallowing in her own misery was both pitiful and would accomplish nothing.
Her sadness was suddenly quick to twist into anger. Anger at those who had wronged her and those who now stood in the way of her goal. Ichiro, Ikari, Gaia, Olympus, even Annabeth and whoever else was involved with this situation about her life.
Kassandra tightened her hands into fists and slapped a golden bandage over her mouth before screaming as loud as she could.
When she left the bathroom, an unknown amount of time had passed. All she knew was that it was night now, and everyone was in their dorms, sleeping peacefully. Well, maybe not peacefully as she could hear Hedge somewhere on the ship screaming for everyone to stay in their rooms and whacking his bat on walls.
Moving silently, Kassandra made her way up top to the deck and began to walk. She didn't really know how to feel now, it all seemed so... wild. Her face was still stained with streaks of tears and she sniffled in the wind and cold air.
She moved over to the side and gripped the metal railings that separated her from a painful fall till her knuckles went white. She could just leave, return to Gaia and her stupid crew to take up their offer. Maybe she could bargain for her fathers soul and get a child of Hades or Hecate to put it in another body.
But her mother... Bellona was also somewhere out there, probably also wandering where (Y/N) was. Would it be fair to tell her what she knew when they met? On second thought, was her mother one of the people who knew what happened? Maybe that was why she had been so distant, trying to hide the truth from her.
That wasn't the right way to think though. If she really did start to accuse everyone of being in on covering the truth, she'd start fighting a war on all fronts against way too many people. So until she really got all the facts straight, her targets were Ichiro, Ikari and Gaia.
Something deep down told Kassandra it wouldn't be right to go after Annabeth. The daughter of Athena was far from off her radar, but perhaps there was more to the story. She knew Luke and Annabeth had been like brother and sister so jumping her whilst she slept probably wasn't the best move.
Suddenly, there was a beam of light from her head, her diadem, as it glowed gold in the dark and from it shot a figure. It was Hector.
"Where have you been?" demanded Kassandra, pulling herself together so her voice didn't sound pathetic and wimpy and enforcing an authoritative tone.
The Prince of Troy had seen better days. His armour was dented in a few places, one of his eyes was black and his sword was shattered, the blade completely gone. However, such injuries began to heal and the armour bent itself back into the shape. Even the sword began to reform itself. Magic or something like that.
"My Lady, I beg for your forgiveness. I couldn't be there in your hour of need, and I have failed my duty as your faithful servant."
Kassandra threw a hand at him and moved forwards to check out his state, admiring him up and down.
"What happened to you?"
Hector looked down at his sandalled feet, almost in shame.
"The sorcerer, Ichiro, he did something whilst you were unconscious at the table. He pulled me from your mind as if he knew that's where I was and bound me in chains. They were like the net that captured Aphrodite and Ares, I couldn't escape."
He swallowed and the ex-huntress slumped down onto the deck to be at the same level as him.
"I saw everything ma'am. Everything. And I am so sorry. I was not strong enough to break free and fulfill my duty as your-"
Kassandra moved forwards and hugged the prince. He tensed up a little, surprised.
"You have nothing to be sorry for," admitted Kassandra, squeezing her eyes shut and squeezing Hector. "I think that if anything, it could have been for the best. Now I'm not so obsessed with my father and I actually have a direction now. Before I wasn't sure what my real goal was, but now I know what I must do. What my purpose is intended to be."
Hector managed a weak smile.
"Well, at least you earned something from it."
In truth, the prince of Troy hadn't just been constrained. He too had been tormented by the first-born, but what he was shown...
Nightmares of his family, nightmares of the fall of his city, nightmares of his failures when he still roamed the mortal earth as a living, breathing human. How his Andromache was assaulted and his Astyanax murdered in cold blood. He too now was fuelled with the flames of drive and passion to carry out his mission.
Kassandra rose from her slump and looked back over the deck into the darkness below. She couldn't see what was below them, hidden by fog and clouds. Mindlessly, she pointed her hand into a finger gun and began firing weak shots off into the darkness.
As she continued her mind numbing task, she shot soullessly for ten minutes whilst Hector slouched against the wall to think. Then, there was the sound of someone coughing. Kassandra, confused, turned around to come face to face with the last person she expected to see.
Through an IM message, Reyna dressed in her full battle armour stared at her intently. She appeared to be in some backroom, surrounded by golden weapons and crates of what were probably supplies for a military campaign.
"Are you receiving me? Our knowledge on IM messaging in this form is built on shaky texts-"
"I can see you, and hear you," responded Kassandra, straightening her posture and flattening any creases in her clothes.
"Good. Is there anyone else with you Kassandra?"
The goddess looked around for Hector, but he was long gone. The weight on her head ever so slightly increased.
"Just me," confirmed the ex-huntress.
"Perfect. I just need to ask you one question Kassandra; who are you? And don't lie to me, there are no recorded demi-gods in history with the powers you presented when the seven fled New Rome, so tell me the truth. Are you even my sister?"
The godly daughter of Bellona took a deep breath.
"I didn't lie about that bit, my mother is Bellona and I can swear upon that."
"Then your father, who was he."
She considered finally telling the truth. If anyone could help her out, it would be the only family she had now. She should. She would.
"You... you're familiar with the god of divine healing and demi-gods, (Y/N) (L/N) right."
Reyna nodded. "Of course. He's one of our two patrons alongside our mother and the most recent god to join the pantheon. His contributions to Camp Jupiter when it was still based in Rome and even just last year are so legendary that we constructed a temple for him just recently. You should have seen Annabeth Chase's face when she saw it."
Did Annabeth still think about (Y/N)? The father-figure/brother she had lost?
"Well, do you also know that he married?"
Reyna stared blankly. Damn, her poker face was really good, but that information had to have shocked her.
"To put it simply she was put into an arranged marriage where she bore a child. Me. And the husband, my father, is (Y/N)."
The poker face broke, her eye witching.
"So you... you're a-"
"Goddess. Partially. In truth I need to find my father and mother to properly ascend to godhood."
"Why? Is moth- Bellona missing too?"
"I fear so. At least, she's avoided me recently."
"She visits you?" asked the praetor, fidgeting with her cloak. Funny, she was pretty sure Roman demigods didn't have ADHD and Reyna seemed to be pretty collected most of the time.
"Yes-"
It was then Kassandra put the pieces together. She knew that gods didn't often visit their mortal children, and so she was one of the lucky few who actually lived with both of her parents, even if it were just for a couple weeks. Had Reyna ever even formally met their mother?
"Yes, but it's only ever been briefly," she lied, "It's just that it's been so long since I last saw her I've grown concerned about both of them."
Reyna was taking this surprisingly well. But then her eye twitched and she narrowed her eyes.
"You lied somewhere in all of that. What was it?"
Kassandra smoothed herself over. She had lied quite a few times, what exactly had her sister picked up on? She considered her next words carefully. What could she, or more importantly what should she, pass onto her?
"Yes, I lied," admitted Kassandra. "About (Y/N). He isn't missing as the Romans or the Greeks or even I believed. I know where he is."
Reyna leaped up from the chair she was sat on and moved closer to the IM.
"Where? Tell me. If he's in need of aid I can send all of Romes legions and resources after him. If it's worship we can triple expenses towards his sacrifices. If-"
"That won't help him," said Kassandra, squeezing her fists. "He's been taken hostage."
"Hostage? By whom?" she demanded. The ex-huntress prayed Reyna was alone in that room.
"I met with our opponents in this upcoming war just today. Ichiro, the monster summoner you told us about was there with my father. Except it wasn't (Y/N). It was Gaia."
The praetor hung on to every one of her words as if she were about to fall to her death,
"At the battle of Manhattan, which I'm sure Percy Jackson has informed you about, (Y/N) was pushed to the brink of death by a betrayal he didn't expect. However, he clung to life when... when Gaia stole him away from Olympus. She took advantage of his weak state and now she's-"
The daughter of (Y/N) took a deep breath in, deep breath out.
"She's using him as a vessel. She's taken control of his body and holds his soul hostage for some reason I don't know."
Reyna considered her sister's words carefully for a minute.
"How can I be properly sure you're telling the truth?" asked the praetor.
Kassandra stared back into the IM which was befogging to fade away.
"What could I possibly gain from fabricating such a story?" she asked.
The praetor locked eyes with her properly.
"I don't know, sister. When we meet again, we must speak about-"
The IM cut out.