Thunder Temper
This was not a good day, Will had decided.
It started with Nico not being there because he had sensed a disturbance in the cycle of life and death, and so Will hadn’t seen him all day.
Then, he had been proven once again in his ongoing theory that immortals attract more trouble than mortals with the sheer number of patients at the hospital.
And then, he had been summoned at midday while speaking with Nico through Iris Message (which had kept its name even after Fleecy and Iris’ children had taken over) for a meeting of the Council, which he was required to attend as the head healing deity of Celestis.
And if that wasn’t enough, the meeting had been about the gods that had caused the most trouble in Will’s demigod life making a reappearance. After having buried them.
Lady Hestia had been the one to summon them all, because she had been the first to see her siblings, including Mr Thunderbolt and Lightning himself, and then his father and Artemis had seen the other Olympians.
They hadn’t recognized them at first, but now they were sure.
Great. Just peachy.
Look, Will normally wasn’t in such a bad mood, but with so many things going on, he believed he had the rights to be a little grumpy and sarcastic. Sue him if he was pulling a Percy.
Nico would probably tell him that was his job, but if Nico could be a ray of sunshine, then Will fully believed he could be angry sometimes too.
He looked over the bridge he was walking on, into the bright turquoise waters of Celestis. They reminded him of the waters of Delos, in a way, and he knew it was fully intentional.
If Olympus looked like a mountain from Zeus’ domain of the sky and altitude, then Celestis, under the rule of his father and Artemis, looked like Delos: a collection of Mediterranean islands with picturesque waters and views.
And now that Celestis had moved to Greece, the islands looked even more beautiful.
He smiled as Percy, Silena, Piper, Beckendorf and Leo shot past in a jet of water, possibly going back to Atlantis before the feast started this evening. There was still some time left before it started, and Will needed to tell Nico the disturbance he had felt was the Olympians coming back.
Will doesn’t know how to deal with them anymore. Before he would have just bowed and gritted his teeth, but now he had more authority than them in Celestis, especially with all the worship the Celestials received these days.
As he walked down the bridge unto another island, one halfway between the Council island and the Gates, he spotted some figures at the big statue of a sun and moon smack in the middle of the plaza.
Three group were standing there, one slightly farther than the others, trying to listen but not seem suspicious. Well, Will definitely thought they were suspicious though. The two other groups were people he knew quite well: General Reyna of New Sparta and her elite soldiers, and Thalia’s Hunt.
Reyna’s group was wearing the standard New Spartan uniform for combat, reminiscent of old Sparta’s but with new techniques and technology: bulletproof chest pieces, heat resistant gloves to grab hot weapons, and other upgrades Beckendorf and Leo had come up with. Clarisse was already arguing with Annabeth while Malcom watched, amused. Reyna was passionately kissing Thalia.
Some hunters seemed amused by this, while others looked mildly uncomfortable. They wore silver and black clothes, and their trusty bows and quivers sat on their back. Will remembered when Artemis had passed her Hunt over to Thalia: some older hunters had been absolutely offended to have someone in a relationship as their leader, but they had begun to accept it over time. Will knew their loyalty to Artemis was still very strong: after all, they swore their oaths to the Moon, not to Thalia.
“Kissing already, General, Thalia?” He snickered, coming closer. They pulled apart.
“Hello to you too, Will. Rough day if you’re pulling a Percy, huh?” Reyna retorted, a sly grin on her face.
“Yeah, aren’t you normally already with Nico at this point?” continued Thalia, her expression matching that of her partner.
“Indeed, indeed. Though I must say you must also be having a bad day with all the preparations of the Feast if the General of New Sparta and the Lieutenant of the Hunt haven’t noticed the subject of the council meeting listening in to their conversation, hm?” Will enquired, slowly turning to face the group that was most definitely the Olympians. Annoyance passed both their faces after a short moment of confusion.
Zeus and Athena stepped up, looking younger than ever, while Reyna and Thalia flanked Will on both sides, like bodyguards.
“Hello… Zeus,” Thalia started, addressing her father without titles. An expression of annoyance passed his face, but Athena smiled coldly.
“It’s Lord Zeus to you, half-blood.” She snickered.
Two replies in and Will was already annoyed. As much as he liked Annabeth, he’d have to tell her how much her mother sucked. He much preferred the Architect of Olympus and Celestis: at least she seemed to have emotions.
He wouldn’t need to tell anyone Zeus sucked. Everyone just took this as fact now.
“No, it is not.” Will stepped in, anger and annoyance seeping into his voice. They were the masters of Celestis. He would have bowed before, but now the Olympians were on their territory. He could call his father, Artemis or Lady Hestia anytime. “Thalia will address him however she likes. You are not the masters of this place, nor are you particularly welcomed.”
“How dare you, half-blood?! I am Athena, goddess of Wisdom, and you are talking to Lord Zeus, King of the Gods!” Athena screamed. At this, many of the other Olympians stepped out of the group, seemingly not wanting be part of this.
“Sorry to burst your bubble, Owl Head, but the gods are no more! Apollo, Artemis and Hestia are now Celestials, and you don’t seem very godly right now.” Thalia managed to only raise her voice by a bit instead of screaming like Athena. Will was proud.
“Indeed,” Reyna added. “As General of the armies of Celestis, I can very easily ask every single of the guards to escort you out. I suggest you keep your comments to yourself and avoid screaming at important celestial figures: you are making a fuss in the middle of a public space. People are already busy with the Feast, I suggest you don’t disturb them.”
People were starting to gather around, as ozone and electricity danced across the plaza. It wasn’t Thalia’s. Will moved away from Thalia and Reyna to try to make people leave: he didn’t want anyone in the hospital later.
“I am the King of the Gods, Lord of Olympus, and you will address me as Lord or be incinerated!” He bellowed. Will thought he looked a bit like an overgrown baby, with the way his cheeks reddened. He usually thought babies were quite cute: usually, at least.
Thalia took the lead again.
“Yeah, and Olympus doesn’t exist anymore! It’s been millennia, wake up!”
“Your fault we passed out!” Zeus screamed.
Will was positively trying not to send hay fever his way.
“Our fault? OUR fault?!” asked Reyna, now also screaming. If she was losing control, then Will knew this wasn’t good. “We had to clean up the whole mess you left behind after you died and now it’s our fault?!”
“If my blasted father took his throne from his father, and I took mine from him, then you definitely did create the explosion!” Mr Thunderbolt and Lightning raged, lightning dancing even more threateningly around the statue. Will pushed more people around to safety, before noticing the gods who had left the group doing the same thing. Poseidon, Hades, Hermes, Mr D- Dionysus and Demeter were trying very hard to get out of this situation, while Ares, Hera, Athena and Zeus were openly glaring at Reyna and Thalia. Aphrodite and Hephaestus just stood there.
“We didn’t create the explosion, you dumbass! We didn’t have enough power to do so!” Thalia took a step forward, waving a hand to diminish the electricity in the plaza. Reyna stepped up behind her partner.
“If it wasn’t you, then it was that damned Apollo!” Zeus also took a step forward, matching his daughter. Will winced at all the noise around. He just wanted to go home before the feast.
“He wasn’t on Olympus at that time either, and you know it. He was on Delos with Artemis.” tried to reason Reyna, having slightly calmed down.
“Then it was Hestia!”
Oh no. Oh no.
Will stopped right there. The plaza went silent, before whispers of anger rose up.
No one insulted Hestia.
Especially not Zeus.
It was one thing to insult an astral, one of the many deities with no domains one Celestis. It was another to insult a Celestial.
Even worse, insulting someone with the title of Lady or Lord of was basically a death sentence.
Insulting the Queen and King was the equivalent of suicide.
Insulting Hestia..,
Zeus really wanted to suffer, didn’t he?
Pure rage could be seen on every face in the plaza, and Thalia was no better. Reyna’s was a mask of calculated violence. Will was very aware of his own expression being equally as terrifying by the look Nico’s dad was giving him.
“Annabeth. Malcom.”
Reyna’s voice was cold. The mentioned advanced closer.
“Arrest these two.”
Before Zeus or Athena could react, the two children of Wisdom pulled out handcuffs and slotted their hands in.
“High level security cells, general?” Malcom asked, glaring at Zeus when he struggled and screamed.
“Yes. Malcom, since you are not necessarily demanded for the feast, I order you to look over them. Take one of Clarisse’s subordinates if you must.”
“Yes, General!” Reyna’s group said in unison, before some detached to escort Zeus and Athena to the cells alongside Annabeth and Malcom.
“People!” Reyna shouted in her most commanding voice. “The feast starts in an hour. Go home, rest, and prepare!”
“As for you all,” she pointed over to the other gods. “You better behave yourselves, or it won’t be only Zeus and Athena we’ll be seeing in those cells.”
Welp.
Will definitely had more things to tell Nico now.
And he still wasn’t home.
Hugh.