506As usual, I apologize for life getting in the way and interfering with me being able to work on my stories. The plant I work at is still struggling with finding workers, I ended up letting myself get involved in a shitty relationship, and my now ex-girlfriend has put me in a financial crisis. I've been going through some tough times lately, and I just can't seem to get out of them. Hopefully none of you have any of this shit to suffer through. Anyways, here's the next update.
Party On Olympus
Percy's POV
There are parties, and then there are huge, major, blowout parties. And then there are Olympian parties. If you ever get a choice, go for the Olympian. The Nine Muses cranked up the tunes, and I realized the music was whatever you wanted it to be: the gods could listen to classical, and the younger demigods heard hip-hop or whatever, and it was all the same soundtracks. No arguments. No fights to change the radio station. Just requests to crank it up.
Dionysus went around growing refreshment stands out of the ground, and a beautiful woman walked with him arm in arm, his wife, Ariadne. Dionysus looked happy for the first time. Nectar and ambrosia overflowed from golden fountains, and platters of mortal snack food crowded the banquet tables. Golden goblets filled with whatever drink you wanted. Grover trotted around with a full plate of tin cans and enchiladas, and his goblet was full of double-espresso latte, which he kept muttering over like an incantation: "Pan! Pan!"
Gods kept coming over to congratulate me. Except for the ones that had voted to kill me, of course. Thankfully, they had reduced themselves to human size, so they didn't accidentally trample partygoers under their feet. Hermes started chatting with me, and he was so cheerful I restrained myself from bad mouthing Luke. Even though Luke obviously deserved it at this point. Apollo told me I could drive his sun chariot any time, and if I ever wanted archery lessons, I could come to him. I had to restrain myself from saying his sister already made that offer to me a while ago, and I was already considering accepting her offer. Then again, why just learn from one master when you could learn from more? Ares has helped me a lot with my skills with a sword, spear, and my quick wits. Though we never really covered archery.
Of course, when I just said that I'd think about it, Apollo response was: "Target practice from the chariot as we fly over the U.S.! Best fun there is!"
After that, I made some excuses and wove through the crowds that were dancing in the palace courtyards. I was looking for Clarisse. I hadn't seen her since the gates, and I was getting worried about her. I was stopped in my tracks when a man spoke to me.
"You've done well kid." The man spoke to me.
I turned around to find Clarisse's father Ares standing behind me.
"Lord Ares." I acknowledged and bowed.
"Taking on Atlas and bearing the weight of the sky is no small feat for a demigod. Seems like you have more potential than Olympus expected." Ares commented.
"Well, being trained by the god of war has been a huge help." I offered, which actually got a smirk from Ares.
And it wasn't one of his usual mocking, insulting, or gloating smirks. It was actually a genuine and sincere smirk. Or as close to one that Ares could manage.
"Indeed. But your war is far from over." Ares said as he crossed his arms.
"Yeah. Luke's still out there, serving the Titans. Because of the golden apple he got from the tree, the fall he took didn't kill him. And he still has so many in his army of monsters." I replied.
"Yes. Hermes' son is causing a lot of trouble to say the least. Even rallying many of your father's old enemies, the older spirits of the water. He is more dangerous than ever. And the golden coffin is still with him, still growing in strength." Ares added.
The mention of Kronos' coffin sent some very unpleasant chills down my spine. I couldn't help but think I could still hear his voice somewhere in the back of my head. There was no hiding from him.
"And Atlas. He'll definitely be wanting vengeance on me soon." I added, which earned me a snort from Ares.
"That's of no concern to you now. The curse of the sky can only be forced upon a Titan, one of the children of Gaia and Oranos. Anyone else must choose to take the burden of their own free will. No one in Kronos' army would dare try to bear that weight, even upon pain of death." Ares replied.
"Luke did it. He let Atlas go. Then he had Artemis take the sky somehow." I said.
"Kronos must be playing him very well then. That's very troublesome." Ares commented.
"Very." I agreed.
"Well, I'm sure you're looking to celebrate like everyone else." Ares stated.
"Actually, I was looking for Clarisse. I have some explaining and apologizing to do." I said.
"She went to the guest bedroom she's staying in right now. That way." Ares pointed out.
"Thank you, Lord Ares." I bowed and took my leave.
"I hope you don't screw up punk." I heard Ares mutter before he too took his leave.
I was about to keep making my way through the crowd when another voice spoke.
"Many great risks are being taken through you; you know." A feminine voice spoke.
I found myself face-to-face with a gray-eyed woman who looked so much like Annabeth. Of course, it wasn't her though.
"Athena." I tried not to sound resentful, after the way she'd written me off in the council, but I guess I didn't hide it very well.
"Do not judge me too harshly, half-blood. Wise counsel is not always popular, but I spoke the truth. You are dangerous." She smiled dryly.
"From your point of view. But not everyone else's." I countered with a cross of my arms.
"I concede the point. You may perhaps be useful. And yet your fatal flaw may destroy us as well as yourself. Kronos knows your flaw. He knows how to study his enemies." Athena smiled dryly.
"You wanna tell me something I don't know?" I countered.
I could see that stuck a nerve with Athena. Apparently like me, she's not good at hiding certain emotions.
"You're a danger to us all Percy. Think about it. How have you been manipulated thus far? First, your mother was taken from you. Then your best friend, Grover. Now he attacked camp recently with unbelievable force." She started, disapproving.
"Your point?" I edged on.
"In each case, your loved ones have been used to lure you into trap after trap. Your fatal flaw is personal loyalty, Percy. You do not know when it is time to cut your losses. To save a friend, you would sacrifice the world. In a hero of the prophecy, that is very, very dangerous. The most dangerous flaws are those which are good in moderation. Evil is easy to fight. Lack of wisdom, that is very hard indeed." Athena went on.
"No, that's only half right. And only right from the point of view you think things through. Personal loyalty as a fatal flaw is dangerous, but it can also be the greatest strength of all. People like me and the rest of Camp Half-Blood use personal loyalty to support ourselves and each other and push us to do better. It is what will push us to save ourselves and each other against the greatest of odds and to keep us fighting no matter what. It gives us something that's worth living, fighting, and dying for. Not that you would actually understand that, because you're all about the wise decisions in life. Times of war are all about facing between choices of what is right, and what is easy. Wise decisions are always the easy decisions, and therefore, never the right decisions. So, I'd say you your so-called wise council is far more dangerous than you claim me to be." I countered.
"You have some serious nerve to speak to me like that." Athena said.
"I concede the point. And whether you want to admit it or not, it's the truth. Nothing you say or do is gonna change that." I replied.
"Nor will anything change the fact that your flaws will likely get us all killed." Athena tried to counter.
"You mean like how your flaws and the flaws of the other gods has put us all in this dilemma in the first place?" I countered.
"Excuse me?" Athena asked in a dangerous tone.
"You wanna talk to me about how Kronos has used my flaws? How about then we also talk about he used your flaws against you. Because quite frankly, your flaws are more likely to get us all killed rather than mine." I continued.
"I hope for your sake, you have something to back you up on that." Athena challenged.
"Well, feel free to disagree with me if you want. But as you more or less said, Kronos knows how to study his enemies. Which means he knows how to identify what his enemies truly fear." I started.
"And exploit them." Athena said, taking a step towards me.
"Wrong. Give his enemies a means of mastering their fears. So that he can master his enemies. Which not only makes it so that he can use his enemies' weaknesses against them. But also allows him to use their very own strengths against them as well. To be able to use someone's weakness against them is one thing. But to be able to use their strengths against them, that's a far more fatal blow." I corrected.
Athena seemed momentarily shocked at what I just threw at her.
"Take Zeus for example. How do you think Kronos has so many demigods fighting against you rather than for you? It's because Zeus passed the law forbidding gods from ever having contact with their children. Not that Kronos would need to use the law against Olympus anyways. You Olympians are in truth shitty parents who always put yourselves over everyone and everything else. Including your own children. You Olympians just prove to your children you're just as selfish and evil hearted than the Titans could ever be." I stated.
"How dare you!" Athena said taking another step towards me, but I still didn't back down.
"And you Athena? Kronos no doubt knows you're all about making wise decisions. That your intelligence is what you rely on above all else. He also knows you hate being wrong about something. So, he puts you through many obstacles that're designed for you to rely on your wisdom for, to trick you into making sure you always prove yourself to be right. Letting you think you know what's best, when in reality, all you're really doing is playing yourself right into his hand. Your arrogance and pride in yourself are your own downfall, Athena. He allows you to rely on your intelligence and wise counsel because they end up serving his cause more than rebelling against it. Your wise council is nothing but child's play to him. Q.E.D., what you're doing right now, it's ensuring that Kronos' victory over you is all the easier and more assured." I continued.
Athena looked like she wanted to retort, but she didn't seem to be able to come up with a suitable argument for that one.
"All that wisdom and intelligence you have, and you aren't able to consider for a single second that you're playing into Kronos' hands just as easily as anyone else. You're fucking pathetic, Athena. Do yourself a favor and just fuck off. Otherwise, you'll just prove me right more and make a complete ass out of yourself." I said and walked away, not bothering to wait for a response from her.
After leaving Athena, I went in the direction Ares pointed at earlier. It took a few rooms, but I managed to find Clarisse. She was just standing by a window, looking outside.
"Clarisse?" I asked as I closed the door and went over to her.
She didn't say anything or even look at me.
"Clarisse." I said as I placed my hands on her shoulders.
"I'm still upset at you for leaving." Clarise got out.
"Clarisse, you know it wasn't my fault. And if it was up to me, I wouldn't have gone on that quest." I offered.
"But you were in it. And I was left worried sick about you the whole time. You have any idea how horrifying it was to think you were dead? That you could've died? Or that I'd never see you again and have to raise our baby all by myself?" Clarisse got out, raising her voice with every question.
"Clarisse, please calm down. This won't be good for the baby." I tried to reason.
"Don't you dare go there Percy Jackson." Clarisse seethed as she turned around and looked at me.
She had dried tears under eyes. It was easy to tell she'd been emotionally stressed lately. Made me hate being in that quest more than before.
"Don't you dare use our baby against me." Clarisse stated.
"If you don't calm down though, it'll negatively impact the baby's health." I said trying to cool her down.
Clarisse just looked away without a word.
"Look, I know you're upset Clarisse. I'm upset that I got dragged into the quest to. I wanted nothing more than to just come back to you. But the more that was thrown at me, the more I got stuck until the very end." I reasoned.
"I know." Clarisse sighed.
"I'm here now Clarisse. That's all that matters." I said, placing my hands back on her shoulders.
"I'm still upset with you." Clarisse said.
"Come on Clarisse. Let it go." I said.
"Don't bother trying to talk yourself out of this." Clarisse said.
Unfortunately, when Clarisse was in this mood, it was her way of saying to not bother trying to talk yourself out of being on her bad side. I knew that from experience. But luckily for me, I also knew other ways of getting her to calm down.
(Remember the jokes from chapter 15? These are some more jokes I have.)
"Hey Clarisse?" I started.
"What?" Clarisse replied.
"What the difference between a redhead and a brick?" I asked, starting a few jokes.
"What?" Clarisse asked.
"Out of the two, the brick actually gets laid." I answered.
Clarisse quickly covered her mouth with her hand to try and hide her laughter. One thing I learned about Clarisse is that an offensive joke always puts a smile on her face.
"Why does Santa Claus have such a big sack?" I went on.
"Hm?" Clarisse got out.
"He only comes once a year." I finished.
Clarisse just put her other hand over her mouth to try and compose herself and hide her laughter.
"How do masters keep their slaves?" I continued.
Clarisse just slightly turned her head.
"They use their master's card." I answered.
Clarisse still just tried to cover her mouth, but her shaking made it obvious she was laughing, and I was calming her down.
"What do you call a lesbian dinosaur?" I asked.
Clarisse still just covered her mouth.
"A Lick-a-lotta-puss." I answered.
I could hear a few snorts from Clarisse as she tried but failed to conceal her laughter.
"How did Burger King get Dairy Queen pregnant?" I continued.
Clarisse just shrugged her shoulders.
"He forgot to wrap his whopper." I answered.
Clarisse was starting to bend down as she continued to battle against her laughter.
"What's the difference between a pregnant woman and a lightbulb?"
Clarisse was just breathing into her as she kept trying to stop laughing but wasn't able to.
"You can unscrew a lightbulb."
At that, Clarisse bent all the way down and wasn't able to hold it anymore. She was laughing her ass off. I placed my hands on her hips and brought her to me so I could hold her in my arms as she laughed.
(Once again, I hope everyone found my jokes hilarious.)
"That smile really suits you, you know?" I stated as I began to rub her sides.
"Stop it." Clarisse laughed.
"My, my, is the daughter of Ares ticklish?" I faked gasped as my hands started traveling under her arms.
"Percy!" Clarisse warned in her laughter.
"You are!" I started and started tickling her.
"NO! NO, STOP IT! STOP PERCY!" Clarisse laughed trying to get out of my grasp.
But it was no use as I held her against the window. I kept tickling her for a good minute before I finally let up and turned her around to face me.
"Now don't you feel better?" I asked and moved my arms to her back.
"Why can't I stay mad at you?" Clarisse groaned.
"Because that's not good for the baby, and you don't want to be angry with me." I answered.
"Is that so?" Clarisse challenged.
"If you'd rather I stop and just leave you alone, by all means, speak now or forever hold your peace." I replied.
Clarisse just took a minute to just look at me. As if she was trying to decide on something. It seemed like she was in a debate about something until she took a deep breath.
"Gods, I hate you so much." Clarisse sighed right before pouncing on me and smashing her mouth on mine.
I responded right away by wrapping my arms around her and kissing back. This kiss was unlike any other. This was aggressive, dominating, and unrestrained kissing as we were at like we were trying to suck the other's soul out. The need for oxygen ended approaching after about five minutes. But that wasn't anywhere near the end. A powerful spark ended up igniting inside of me from the kiss, and Clarisse seemed to have felt the same way. It was when the kiss broke that Clarisse immediately started to tug at my clothes and take them off. Seeing where this was going, I began to undress Clarisse as well.
Once all clothes were discarded, Clarisse jumped to me by wrapping her arms and legs around me and went back to our intense make out session. I responded with kissing her back and catching her with the grab of her ass. Then I moved to the wall and pushed her against it and went ahead and entered inside of her. Clarisse gasped and moaned loudly at the feeling of me penetrating her. I didn't bother to stop or go slow. We both already knew what was going on and it was perfectly clear we both wanted and/or needed it. So, I just went in and started thrusting in and out of her.
"Do it! Take me! Make me feel violated! You have days' worth of attention to make up for!" Clarisse breathed out against my mouth.
I knew that this wasn't gonna be good for the baby, and that we probably shouldn't do what we were about to do. But after everything that happened over the past couple of days, I just didn't have the will or much care to say no to her. Chances where Clarisse wasn't gonna take no for an answer no matter what anyways. So, at her command, I held nothing back and thrust away at her. I also ended up moving one of my hands away from her ass while the other stayed to grope it and move up to her bouncing tits. One tit was being groped while the other was being sucked on by me, which got Clarisse thrashing her head around as her moans got louder. Not wanting to hold back, I alternated tits after a few minutes.
No words were spoken after then. Nothing but the sound of our moans and sex filled the room. I couldn't help but wonder if anyone was gonna end up overhearing us. Something it seem neither of us were gonna pay any attention to as we just continued having sex.
Eventually, Clarisse clung tight to me to make it so that there was no free space between us. She held my head right into her chest as she started biting and licking my neck as well as clawing at my back. Feeling her trying to dig into my flesh got me going at her even faster than before. I was merciless by also attacking her chest with my mouth and groping her whole body, especially everything below her waist.
By that time, neither of us wanted to say or hear a single word. All that was wanted to hear were the sounds coming from us making love. No words were even said when Clarisse came and had her orgasm, with mine following just shortly after. We both gasped when our orgasms started. But still no words were said. I just licked my way from her chest to her neck and into her lips. Clarisse responded right away and easily shoved her tongue in my mouth. We just kissed and moaned into each other's mouths as we completed our orgasms.
When our orgasms finally subsided, we just looked at each other with our faces being only a few inches away from each other. There was nothing but pure bliss, desire, lust, and love to see in each other. There was a small tear that formed and started to fall from one of Clarisse's eyes, I quickly brought my hand up to rub it off and rub her cheek. Clarisse responded by tracing her fingers down my face. Seeing that the only thing that mattered to us was each other, we just kissed again. Only this was a slow and love-filled kiss.
My legs were starting to feel sore from what we had done. So, while keeping myself inside of her, I started to head over to the bed. I laid Clarisse down on her back and I on top of her without putting my whole weight on her. Had to make sure I didn't hurt her or the baby at all. Though that didn't end up looking like the case as Clarisse wrapped her arms and legs around me again and I was thrusting inside of her again. Though this time it was slow, steady, lovemaking. And that's what we were. A couple making love nonstop until exhaustion caught up to us. Even then, we refused to let the other go, and allowed Morpheus to take us while we gladly and tightly held each other in our arms and legs.
Hope everyone enjoyed the chapter. I kinda rushed through it. As I said at the top of the update, I've been going through quite a bit of hell lately. And I'm trying to get back on my feet. But the road is quite long, rough, and irritating. It's kinda putting me in a state of depression again. I hope none of you ever suffer from any of this. Thanks for reading, and hopefully I'll update again soon.