Bargain

Riordanverse

The mountaintop lies in shambles. Gold dust covers the rocky ground, Mount Othrys is now naught but ruins filled with melted slabs, and dragonfire burns brightly over much of the mountain, lighting up the night as if it were day. A now blind Koios continues to scream curses at Aemon from below the sky and yet none pay him any mind. For before them kneels Atlas, mightiest warrior of the Titans, and Commander of Kronos' army; shackled by the very same chains they stole from Olympus, a cautionary measure to prevent him from unleashing his divine form while his jaw and lips are encased in ice to stop him from speaking.

"What now?" asks Percy in between breaths, his shirt torn, bruises covering his body, and blood running over his right eye from a cut on his brow.

The demigod had done well keeping Atlas busy until Koios could be incapacitated, an impressive feat that is not lessened by the fact that Zoë, Bianca, and Annabeth greatly aided him. A lesser warrior would not have survived such an encounter, much less played a vital role in the Titan's defeat.

Before anyone can answer him, a white and silver light shines between them and two women appear before them, one that Aemon easily identifies as Artemis.

The second is a beautiful woman an inch or two taller than Aemon's six feet with long flowing black hair, calculating gray eyes that would not seem out of place on a Stark, a regal bearing that cannot be trained, and radiating power. She wears elegant flowing gray robes, Greek battle armor, and an Imperial Gold helmet on her head, which is decorated with pictures of gryphons and sphinxes. In her right hand is a spear while she holds a bronze shield in her left. Aemon quickly recognises her as none other than Athena, goddess of wisdom, civilization, mathematics, strategy, defensive warfare, crafts, the arts, and skills and intelligence and brilliance.

"Lady Artemis. Lady Athena." greets Zoë with a bow before being quickly followed by Bianca, Thalia, Annabeth, and Percy.

"Zoë, Bianca." greets Artemis with a smile. "You have done well. You too, Thalia." she compliments.

"Daughter, well done." congratulates Athena. "Your quest, however, remains incomplete. The Ophiotaurus has yet to be found." she says as she grabs Atlas by the chains around his neck.

"We shall take Atlas from your hands. Complete your quest and report to Olympus." commands Artemis as Percy hands her the keys to the chains.

"Yes my Lady." replies Zoë as she leads the demigods to leave the mountain.

Seeing Aemon make to follow them, Athena places a hand on his shoulders "Not you. Lord Zeus would have words."

Her words cause the group to come to a halt as the look between Athena and Aemon. Before any of his siblings can comment, Aemon shakes his head and looks towards Evelynn.

"You have made a promise to them, keep it. Aegon and the others too shall lend their aid." he says.

Athena briefly regards the other dragonlords, seemingly thinking of something before she and Artemis teleport away in a flash of light along with Aemon and Atlas.

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Olympus

Originally located on Mount Olympus in Greece, it has steadily moved over to the west, following Western Civilization over the centuries. It has been in central Europe for about 500 years and is now in the United States of America.

Instead of being located on a physical mountain, it is a metaphysical duplicate. This mountain does not connect with the ground and cannot be detected by mortals due to the Mist, but is connected to the mortal world by a space elevator. It is said to be hovering above the Empire State building. It possibly exists in another dimension, due to its floating with its great mass over a mortal city undetected. At the top of it is a large city containing the palaces for the Olympian gods, and residences for many minor gods and creatures of Greek mythology.

It is here that the gods commune, each having a massive throne, which are collectively arranged in a reversed U shape. It also houses some of the minor gods and magical creatures. Truthfully, most gods live on Olympus, but a few others prefer to tend to their native kingdoms, like Hades and Poseidon, though Poseidon has a throne in the council while Hades does not.

"Oh my!" remarks Aphrodite as the light disappears to reveal Athena, Artemis, a chained Atlas, and Aemon's half naked form.

As they appear within the throne room, Aemon finds himself facing the entire Olympian council. All the gods regard him with interest while Aemon himself does the same. They all appear in what he assumes is their preferred forms and sit upon their massive thrones looking down upon Aemon's comparatively small stature.

As Aemon studies them, Athena drags Atlas' chained form to a massive pillar to the side where she attaches the chain to it before walking towards her throne, slowly growing to match its massive frame, before taking a seat.

Despite standing before them, bruised and still injured and bleeding from Koios' torture, not an ounce of weakness can be seen on his stance. He stands proudly before them with the graceful and regal bearing of a ruler, and still beautiful despite his injuries and severely burned hand that rests on the pommel of his sword shaped like a snarling Ghost.

"Is that him? He doesn't look that tough. Poseidon's punk looks scarier than him. This one's a pretty boy." remarks Ares with a laugh before quickly coming to stop when he notices Poseidon's glare.

"Pretty boy doesn't do him justice, Narcissus was a pretty boy. This one is beautiful." replies Aphrodite, her voice breathy and full of seductive charm.

"You think you can do better than him Ares?" asks Apollo with a grin "This one kicked Koios' ass, put him under the sky, and then blinded him. Do half of that and maybe you'll be half as badass as him." says the Sun God while elbowing Hermes.

Rather than answer Apollo, Hermes continues to observe Aemon with eyes full of conflict.

Seeing Hermes' expression, Apollo chooses to stop "Right, I forgot that he told our baby sis to kill your kid." he mutters just loud enough for all to hear while ignoring Hermes' glare.

"Enough!" commands Zeus, his voice booming like the thunder following the lightning he commands.

A silence falls on the throne room following his command.

"Tread carefully here. These beings are no less callus than R'hllor and the Great Other. " warns the Other within Aemon's mind.

"We have more important matters to discuss." says the King of the Gods before turning to Aemon. "You have left northern Europe and come here. Why? What are your intentions in making contact with our demigods?" asks Zeus.

"The Wild Hunt hunts monsters, it is what we do. Stumbling upon a group of demigods in peril was not planned." replies Aemon, his words measured so as not to give more information than necessary.

"And yet you seem quite interested in Poseidon's son." remarks Athena.

"Aye, for he reminds me of myself. I too was unprepared for the wider world as a boy." Aemon answers, for while he wishes to limit the information he gives them, he cannot be too stringent with information he gives less they become more suspicious than they already are.

"You're a youngling." says Artemis, her eyes wide as if seeing him for the first time. "What is a youngling doing leading The Wild Hunt? Where is Gwynn?" she asks him.

"I could ask the same of you, where is Pan?" Aemon says with a shrug, causing silence to once again fall over the throne room.

"Are you saying that you don't know where Gwynn is?" asks Apollo.

"For all I know Gwynn, Pan, and all of their ilk have been missing for centuries, if not millenia." Aemon answers him, a slight smile growing on his face as he notices Athena's calculating eyes studying him.

Of course fooling the goddess of wisdom herself is a nigh impossible feat, especially since she is wise to the tactics of the fey. Skirting around a question with another question, answer without truly answering, omitting vital details in order to make the target draw their own conclusions. She is no doubt wise to such tactics and knowledgeable enough to recognise when they are being used. However, he has not given her cause to bring it to the attention of the other gods.

"Your tactic during the battle against the titans, while basic, was the optimal strategy given the resources at hand." observes Athena. "Are you experienced in warfare?" she asks, briefly stunning Aemon for he did not expect her to ask such a question.

In hindsight perhaps he should have, for his response has the potential to tell her much.

Hearing Athena's question, Ares sits up and leans forward in anticipation for Aemon's response, his eyes flaming behind his sunglasses. The other gods also look on with interest.

"Aye." replies Aemon, for there is no reason to attempt to mislead them on this and to attempt to do so would simply draw more of their interest.

"Hehehe, now we're talking." says Ares as the flames in his eyes intensify while the other gods regard him with more serious eyes.

"Why did you agree to join Artemis on her hunt for the Ophiotaurus?" asks Athena as she ignores her brother and fellow war god.

This time the god to sit up is none other than Artemis, no doubt she too has pondered this question.

"I was intrigued and excited, for how many can say that the goddess of the hunt personally led them on a hunt." replies Aemon with a shrug.

Before Athena can ask him another question, Aemon raises his hand "Let us stop beating around the bush, you wish to know what stakes do I have in this war of yours." he says, and for a brief moment he swears that that a respectful gleam appears in Athena's eyes as she regards him.

The moment however does not last for as quickly as it appears; it disappears soon after.

"This matter is personal for me now." snarls Aemon as the temperature in the throne room plummets. "That Titan had the audacity to chain and torture me, his eyes are not enough recompense for such an offense. We fey are petty creatures, and I am no different. I would see his cause fail." he says as the freezing temperature quickly becomes burning.

Aemon's answer seems to please Athena for a slight smile grows on her face.

"Athena, what are you thinking?" questions Zeus with a frown.

"With recent events, the Titans have proven that they mean to go through with their plans of a war." begins Athena, causing Zeus' eyes to narrow and briefly flash with lightning. "The demigods are nowhere near ready for a war, and while Chiron is the greatest of teachers he has never had to prepare them for war; not one of this scale at the very least. This fey has admitted and proven his familiarity with war, who better to teach them but him." she explains, causing Aemon to raise an eyebrow. This is not how he foresaw this meeting to go.

"And you would trust him with such an important task?" Zeus asks.

"Not completely. However, even if he was once in alliance with the Titans, that alliance can longer stand. He placed Koios under the sky, blinded him, even going as far as to replace his missing eye with Koios', aided us in capturing Atlas, and commanded the battle which resulted in the destruction of hundreds of the Titan Lord's armies along with the death of the figurehead of this so called revolution." Athena says, causing many of the gods to nod along in agreement.

"I agree with your daughter on this matter." says Poseidon, shocking the council. "Our father is a petty one and does not forgive even the smallest of slights. What this fey has done can be considered a major offense, and besides the fey themselves are as, if not more, petty than our father. The relationship between the two is irreconcilable at this point."

Looking towards Artemis, Zeus asks for her opinion.

"I agree with Athena, father. Aemon is a competent warrior and commander, I would trust him to teach the demigods well." Artemis replies.

"Very well, let us put it to a vote. All in agreement?" asks Zeus

"Oh yea! This little guy is interesting." remarks Ares as he raises his hand, followed by Aphrodite who winks suggestively at Aemon.

Apollo is not far behind, and neither is Dionysus who seems excited at the prospect of having someone else deal with the demigods besides him. All agree save for Hermes, and Hera who disagree while Hepheastus and Demeter abstain.

"It is decided." says Zeus before turning to Aemon. "What do you say?" he asks.

Aemon silently regards Zeus with interest. This is not how he foresaw this meeting going, he expected to have to worm his way out of a conflict with honeyed words and half truths not to be offered a job. Perhaps he has been too blinded by his own opinions on the King of Gods, aye in the books Zeus was largely incompetent, yet he also had moments where he displayed the bearing of a King. This is also not the books, nor the myths. This is a true world where Percy is not a character but rather a living, breathing demigod.

Besides, this is an opportunity to not only help himself, but also Percy.

"I would be willing to accept, for a price." Aemon replies, causing Zeus to regard him with narrowed eyes.

"What is your price?" asks Hera before Zeus can answer.

"Mayhaps 'price' is too heavy of a word. Exchange would be more fitting." Aemon says as he looks at all the Gods before him for the first time since his arrival in Olympus. "I would be willing to not only prepare your children for the coming war, but I would also be willing to lead my forces to hunt down as much of the Titan Lord's forces as possible in exchange for three simple favors."

"Let us hear these three favors then." says Zeus.

"The first one is simply tutelage from the God of the Forge himself. I am interested in the forging of arms and who better to learn from than Lord Hepheastus." Aemon replies, drawing the god's attention.

"I don't care for teaching, especially not to someone who knows nothing about forging." Hepheastus says before returning to the trinket in hands, paying no more attention to Aemon.

"My armor was forged by my own hands and I'm sure Lady Artemis can attest that it was well made." Aemon tells him, causing him to look at Artemis with a raised eyebrow.

"Aemon speaks true, it was quite well made." says Artemis with a nod.

For a second Hephaestus remains silent before gruffly responding, "Fine, but I get to study that sword of yours."

"Of course." agrees Aemon without hesitating before looking at Athena. "As for the second favor, I would wish for Lady Athena's time to exchange military tactics and to spar." he says.

"A reasonable request." Athena replies with a nod.

"And the third request?" asks Zeus.

Ignoring Zeus, Aemon turns to Hera "One golden apple from the tree protected by Ladon in the Garden of the Hesperides." he says.

Silence falls in the throne room as many of the gods worriedly glance at Hera, expecting her to become enraged.

Unexpectedly however, Hera does not explode in rage nor does she even glare at Aemon; rather, she regards him silently.

"Very well." says Hera after a few moments of silence as a golden apple appears in her hand.

Standing from her throne, Hera approaches Aemon, slowly shrinking to a few inches taller than him and placing the apple in his hands.

"Know this however, should I not be satisfied with the results there will be a reckoning." Hera warns him before returning to her throne.

With equal part disbelief and equal part excitement, Aemon places the apple in his inventory.

"With this the bargain is struck, do not disappoint us." says Zeus with a clap of thunder

"Until the demigods return, this meeting is adjourned." he commands, causing the gods to disperse while Hephaestus and Athena approach Aemon.

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Author's Note: As usual, please tell me what you think of the chapter, and if you want to support I have a Patreon: patreon.com/servantambrosius