Ares peeked around the corner.
It was nighttime, and while the camp didn't have a curfew, most kids were already in bed. There were some older kids, doing things they probably shouldn't be doing. But while they were all technically underage, it was in fact a camp meant to teach them to fight monsters.
At the end of the day, Chiron or Dionysus or any of the gods weren't going to say something if they were up late or were running around at night.
Not to mention they were Greek.
If a group of kids wanted to sneak out and drink around a bonfire near the lake, that was far more tame than what the supposed adult supervision gets up to.
That's why Ares needed to be cautious.
His living in camp wasn't a secret per se, but it also wasn't told to all the campers. No one went around advertising it.
It was supposed to be a humiliating punishment from his mother, for the gods to witness. But just as well, he was an Olympian, a god; his humiliation was for the other gods to enjoy, not the mortals.
The god's authority and pride had to be retained even now. He was a reflection on all of them, even in this state.
Even if the kids knew older stories, like how Zeus forced Poseidon and others to build the walls of Troy by hand as punishment, it wasn't visible; it wasn't something they experienced or could point at.
It was history; it was a cautionary tale.
They didn't want any of the kids getting ideas just because they saw one of their own brought 'low.'
His children knew, and while it was punishment, it was a good opportunity to spend time with them without breaking any rules.
Every once in a while, one of his kids would sneak over and help him with his 'chores.' Not even with his beckoning or request, they just did it because they wanted to.
Regardless of anything else, Ares loved his kids.
But right now, he sorely hoped that none of them saw him.
He was hiding behind the corner of the Poseidon cabin.
As much as he hated even being near his uncle's fishy stink, it was the best place to hide as he ducked away from a passing couple of demigods.
He was about to come out as they left his sight and hearing, but he jerked his head up and saw one of the camp's Harpies flying by.
One of the domesticated ones that works for Chiron and helps patrol the perimeter. They also 'attack' any demigods running around at night as a way to dissuade any of the younger kids from getting ideas.
Ares reached into his back pocket, taking out a bolo. A hastily made version, just two rocks wrapped up and tied together by a rope.
Spinning it quickly to build momentum, he flung it up at the sky, wrapping around the harpy, wings and all.
It didn't even have time to shriek before it fell from the sky, hitting the ground.
Ares pounced on it, covering its mouth and putting it in a chokehold, watching as its eyes finally closed and it went unconscious.
He looked around, making sure no one noticed, and he dragged the unconscious harpy away towards the Hermes cabin.
He heard some weird rumors that one of Hermes' kids was into this sort of thing, so he untied the creature and left it out back.
Speaking of Hermes kid's, he saw one walking right his way.
And it was in fact the Hermes kid that was there that day when the stupid Cyclops framed him. Ares also noted that he seemed to be drunk, his steps were wobbly, his posture was off, and he didn't walk in a straight line.
He looked at the unconscious Harpy on the ground, then back at him and shrugged.
He snuck up on the drunk Luke and immediately put him in a chokehold.
The demigod's eyes widened, but he was pushed to the ground and his mouth covered so he couldn't scream.
Ares was merely a mortal right now, but he wasn't someone a drunken demigod could fight off, especially if he got the drop on the kid.
After several moments, Luke went limp, and Ares let up.
He dragged him over to the unconscious Harpy and made it look like they had been hugging.
He looked it over and nodded to himself. He was sure that the kid was far too drunk to even remember what happened.
To sell it, he felt around the kid's jacket until he found a flask. He popped it open, noting that it wasn't bad stuff. He drank about half of it before dumping it over the kid and the harpy to make them smell of alcohol and just tossed it to the side.
No one would suspect a thing.
At least he thought so, but he heard the cabin door opening and dove around the corner.
"Gods dammit, Luke! "Again!?" A voice called out. "Guys, Luke's screwing a Harpy drunk again!"
…it was intentional, Ares told himself.
The perfect distraction.
While they were focused on the debauchery of Hermes' kid, he made a line towards his destination.
Though, he came to a stop when he saw someone tending to the fire—or rather, the camp's hearth.
"Ares," Hestia greeted.
"Aunt Hestia."
"..."
"What are you doing?" She asked him, noticing his behavior was strange.
"Nothing."
"Why does everyone lie to my face? Is it because I'm so nice?" She let out a sigh. "Go do 'nothing' somewhere else." She shooed him away. "And I swear to Father, if you do anything to cause problems for the kids, I'm going to kick you in the balls."
Ares' eyes dilated slightly because he felt like it wasn't a threat.
He did the smart thing and quickly ran in the opposite direction of her.
Finally, he found his target.
"My precious." He hugged his toilet.
It was just…in the middle of camp!
That damn Cyclops dropped it here, and now everyone knows it was here. Not only that, but he heard what everyone was talking about!
And now he could see the words written on it.
'Whosoever holds this toilet, should they be worthy, shall possess all the power of Ares.'
Why?
Why would anyone even believe this nonsense?
It was a damn toilet!
But obviously, he couldn't be seen trying to take it back. Imagine if his kids saw him trying to drag his toilet back home!?
He would lose all respect and reverence as a god in their eyes.
He just needed to sneak this back home, and he would have his toilet back.
Ares wrapped his arms around it, trying to lift it up, but it wouldn't budge. He was by no means weak; even as a mortal, he was very strong. He could lift up a toilet without any issues. That's why he was confused as he was straining himself with all his might and couldn't lift the toilet up.
He let out a panted breath as he let go of it; it hadn't budged a centimeter.
He dropped to the ground, inspecting the bottom to see if someone jokingly nailed it to the ground or something.
But he could quite literally see gaps between the base of it and the earth to see that it wasn't attached to anything.
Once more, he tried to lift it up, and absolutely nothing.
It was like trying to lift up a building; it just simply wouldn't move at all.
The frustration slowly made way for realization.
His eyes landed on the words written on it again.
"You mother fucker."
"Dad?"
Ares froze in place; he saw a small group of his kids standing there. He hadn't been paying attention because he was so caught up in his own thing.
"...kids."
"What…are you doing?" Clarisse, the head of the Ares Cabin, asked.
"Nothing," Ares said firmly, brushing himself off. He then looked at Clarisse and the others. They were holding ropes, hooks, and some other equipment. The kind of stuff that would be used to drag something heavy away. "What are you doing? "
Clarisse looked at the ropes in her hands and slowly hid them behind her back. "Nothing."
"Nothing Dad."
"Not a thing."
They all answered.
They too had snuck out to try and drag this thing away.
"Dammit, give me the rope and let's deal with this thing." Ares sighed.
"Alright guys, same plan, wrap it up and then we pull." Clarisse barked out.
Ares sighed again.
At the very least, he could call it family bonding.
[Line Break]
"Sorry I'm late; I was dealing with camp stuff, you know how it is." Dionysus walked into the Olympus Throne Room, growing in size before hopping onto his equally large throne.
"Since when do you actually do work at the camp?" Apollo asked.
"Work?" Dionysus blinked.
"Have you at least been doing the job you were assigned?" Athena looked at him.
He was the center of attention right now.
He waved a hand of coke around and noticed his father's glare. "Of course, of course. Dionysus, the reliable worker. I have been performing my job wonderfully."
Athena let out a short sigh, knowing exactly how her brother was.
"What job?" Poseidon spoke up and looked around. "What are you talking about, Athena?"
"Why, dear uncle, the job I was given was to watch your son, of course." Dionysus revealed it without a hint of hesitation.
Athena shot him a look, but she knew he was intentionally ignoring her.
It's not that it was a secret, but some things shouldn't be spoken so indelicately.
"Percy?" Poseidon furrowed his brow. "Why is Percy being watched?"
"Wrong son," Dionysus corrected. "Your other one, the one that's been causing…problems. He's been at the camp for a couple days, and dear Dad and sister told me I need to watch him closely."
Poseidon's head snapped to his brother. "Zeus."
"I need not explain myself." Zeus said dismissively, but that only seemed to further rile Poseidon up.
"Uncle." Athena stepped in, as she always did, to keep things peaceful. "The decision is not without merit."
"Not without merit?" Poseidon repeated back. "Say that if it was one of your children being put under watch."
"If one of my children suddenly ascended to godhood, then I would welcome it." Athena shot back, carving right to the heart of the matter so quickly that Poseidon didn't have an immediate response.
Logically, she had a valid point, and it was nearly impossible to refute.
"Poseidon, man, don't play dumb. We all know what happened recently." Apollo said casually. "It's weird enough that we should look into it, don't you think?"
Poseidon frowned.
"When was the last time we had a god appear without our approval?" Demeter asked, not taking sides explicitly, but raising a concern.
Her words were much more polite, and Poseidon's growing temper abated ever so slightly.
As they said, it was impossible to miss what happened not longer ago. To them, it was the feeling of a mortal stepping past the wall of mortality and becoming a god.
A lesser god, but a god all the same.
It was unprecedented in the current era, something not seen since the world was much more chaotic and rife with magic and myth.
"I've had to work overtime too, you know. Other Pantheons had been asking—through proper channels and all that—what was going on in our part of the world." Hermes added. "They all felt it too; it was not at all subtle."
Poseidon found himself being forced to relent.
He knew that he had no ground to stand on, and if he just threw a tantrum now, then his words would be even more meaningless if something more important appeared in the future.
It was best to bide his time and wait for things to really turn for the worse.
That, and he was trying to keep a low profile right now.
He had taken his son's advice; his eldest had 'left the nest,' so to speak, and started building his own palace closer to the mainland.
It had been the talk of the court until it wasn't.
Which fit his plans but also concerned him because it was replaced with his other son.
As thankful as he was that his secret plans were working, and they were subtly expanding their forces, their armies, and their influence, he felt that things weren't going to stay in his favor forever.
"Do we know how he ascended?" Hera asked. "Apollo?"
"Don't look at me; I don't know shit. Prophecy isn't prophesizing answers." He responded.
Zeus looked at Poseidon, who scowled, making it clear he wasn't going to say anything.
Though, for some reason, Zeus had a feeling that his brother also knew nothing, which satisfied him for the moment.
"I sent out someone to inspect the area." Athena began to speak. "Except for the…mountain, which is now inaccessible unless one of us wishes to destroy the magic barrier around it, I could not find anything particularly strange. I suspected a handful of ancient artifacts had been used, maybe something that was presumed lost. But I found nothing of the sort."
"Make a list of items or lost relics that could potentially let someone achieve godhood under our noses." Zeus replied.
"I have it prepared; I will send it over after."
Zeus gave her a single curt nod.
"Is the new god's brother not being taught by Hephaestus? Should we not just ask him?" Artemis raised a valid point.
The God of the Forge didn't speak overly much in these meetings unless specifically called on. He let out a grunt to confirm it. "I already did. He's too young; the boy just spoke in nonsense and didn't know anything."
"And what of the new god in camp? What did he do?" Zeus looked at Dionysus, seeking any clues.
"He went to go meet with the other water brat, spent some time with him, helped him do some training, and all that." Dionysus answered honestly, "Then he went over to the Hecate cabin and spent the rest of the time there."
"The Hecate cabin?!" Aphrodite perked up. "Did you say he went to the Hecate cabin?"
"Uh…yeah?" Dionysus blinked.
"And…what did he do that?" She leaned in with a strange smile on her face.
Dionysus didn't know why, but he felt like she was in a strange mood right now. Something was definitely off about her, but he also didn't care enough to ask why.
"He played with her kids or something like that." The God of Wine answered dismissively.
Aphrodite let out a breath, looking very happy.
If anyone cared to pay her any more attention, they would have seen her hands have cracked her armrest.
"It's happening." She whispered quietly.
"Why do we not just summon him and demand answers?" Artemis offered perhaps the most obvious answer to the problem. "If he is a new god, he still needs to understand where he stands."
Zeus stood up from his seat before Poseidon could reject that. "Very well. Summon this new god before us, we shall have him explain himself before we add him among the number below us."
The King of Gods paused for a moment in realization.
"Does anyone know his domains?"
In fact, no one did.
[Line Break]
A/N
Ocean Song is going to be summoned to Olympus, now as a god and not someone ignorable by the current council.
If you want to read 1 chapter ahead or support me, visit my p.a.t.r.e.o.n.c.o.m / astoryforone
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