DA : Chapter 17: Gathering the Fallen II

Percy would know, he helped train her. Even Artemis, with her millennia of using knives, didn't compare to Andromeda now since Andy had spent the last 15 years brutally training to fight other intelligent, significantly stronger combatants rather than just chasing after monsters.

Hell, his sister's reflexes were nearly on par with his and she was definitely as fast though he still won out in overall skill and strength. He had no worries now about her getting into a fight with an Olympian … or several for that matter.

...

Andromeda then started doing several practiced maneuvers, the knives singing in her hands at her effortless movement. After a few moments Nyx clapped her hands to get her attention.

"As exciting as it is to see you playing with the blades, I believe there is more to show you," she said making Andy's eyes widen in excitement.

"Try bringing the butt ends together," Phanes suggested with a barely hidden smirk.

Andromeda looked at him funny but did as he instructed. At their joining the grips seemed to fuse together as each blade grew to double the length while curving slightly. Then, a string of glowing purple energy appeared between the ends to form a completed bow.

"What!?" Andromeda shouted as she gawked at the new bow in her hands.

"You like it?" Eros asked to which Andy nodded numbly. "Good. Tartarus took one feather from Phanes and I for the blades and one hair from you too make the string before forging it with Tartaren steel. Like Percy's Sin and Purgatory, only you or those you allow can wield your weapon which undoubtedly will become your symbol of power."

"Awesome!" Andromeda squealed in delight, momentarily shifting into a kid again before returning to normal.

Percy chuckled at his sister's enthusiasm before Eros cleared his throat to get her attention.

"Well, why don't I get showing you some perks of being connected to our domain?" he asked to which she eagerly nodded.

Eros smiled as he walked off to the side with Andromeda and Phanes in toe, Rhea being dragged along by Andy in her excitement. Percy stepped beside Nyx and Tartarus as he watched in amusement while Eros started to explain about how to 'feel out' the domain and its focus. Then he felt Nyx poking him in the side to get his attention, a mischievous glimmer in her eyes.

"Hey Percy …" she said a little too sweetly, "I was wondering something …"

"… Yes?" he asked suspiciously as he glanced around for any shadows moving oddly.

"Andromeda is really pretty, right?" she asked randomly.

"Of course," he answered while wondering where she was going with this.

"And you want her to always be beside you, right?" she continued on making his eyes narrow.

"Okay, what's up?" he finally asked, knowing that with Nyx it is always best to bite the bullet.

"Oh nothing it's just that I've noticed how close you two are, with her sneaking into your bed all the time with even Rhea accepting it, and all," she said as she played with her hair while smirking slyly at him.

"And you know us Greeks … me and Erebus, Ouranus and Gaea, the dramatic duo currently in power … I was just wondering …" Nyx trailed off with a suggestive wiggle of the eyebrows while glancing at Andromeda.

Percy followed her line of sight before looking back and forth, his eyebrows furrowed in thought before they shot up and his eyes widened in realization. Nyx started to giggle in his face while Tartarus (totally forgot he was listening in) chuckled dryly with his red eyes glowing in amusement under his hood.

"Wow, wow, wow!" he shouted while waving his hands in a 'back it up' motion. "Is my name Jamie Lannister? No! I love her, sure, but not like that!"

"And what if she feels that way?" Nyx asked with that damned smirk.

"We both know that her form shifts to the kind of love she feels when completely relaxed or asleep. If that was the case she'd wake up as an adult with me," he retorted while quelling his racing heart. Nyx nearly gave him a heart attack with her thoughts dammit! Is she trying to kill her own heir before he can even claim the domains?

"True …" Nyx conceded before she suddenly went 'aha!' while taping her fist into an open palm. "What about Hestia? Are you going to talk to Rhea about it?" she asked in a whisper.

Percy gave her a troubled frown as he thought about it. Of course he wanted to tell her … but he was scared to see how she would react. Would she be angry? Disgust? Feel betrayed or cheated? He would do anything to spare her that kind of pain but letting it linger would only hurt more in that end.

He sighed as he mentality kicked himself to man up about it. He looked at Nyx with firm eyes before answering.

"I'll tell her after I get back. I do love her and she deserves to know …"

Nyx looked at him intently for a few tense seconds before a soft smile appeared on her face.

"You really have grown into a fine man," she said fondly while caressing his cheek. "I know things will pan out as they should, no Fates meddling in this time. Just trust her with the full truth and who knows … you might be in for a surprise."

"Thanks," he said softly as he leaned into her touch.

He'd never really said it but Nyx had become like his mother throughout the years he's spent with her. Tartarus and the other protogenoi like odd uncles and aunts. It was a family, a quirky one, but a family nonetheless.

"Good, now getting going while the night is young," she said as she got on her 'aloof commander' face on making him chuckle. He nodded and was about to shadow out but stopped abruptly as he heard a sharp gasp.

Him and Nyx snapped their heads to see Andromeda on her knees with Rhea kneeling beside her in worry. Percy and Nyx were by their side in an instant, scanning over Andromeda for any signs of injury but nothing was wrong. However, Percy noticed that Andromeda was silently crying while starring at the ground.

"Andy?" Percy asked softly as he tapped her shoulder.

She gasped as she turned to look at him before launching herself at him and hugging onto his neck, shifting into a child form and crying all the while. Percy held her while looking at the others in confusion. He noticed that neither Eros nor Phanes looked surprised but rather, a sad and almost resigned expressions.

"What happened?" he asked softly as he ran his hand through Andromeda's hair while Rhea rubbed soothing circles on her back.

Eros sighed while running a hand through his hair. "It's her connection to her domain. She tried it out for the first time … and obviously didn't like what she found."

"Where did she look?" Percy asked, knowing that at first they could only focus on one area until their connection grew once they claimed their domains.

His connection was already enough to get a general sense of the continental United States at night and in clear detail within a mile radius of his focus or if he's actually in the mortal world.

"She picked New York … the area around the Empire State specifically," Phanes answered.

Percy grimaced at the thought, getting an idea of just what 'love' she found there. He looked down at his sister as she finally stopped crying but kept her head resting against his chest while sniffling slightly.

"Andy, are you okay?" he asked gently making her look up at him.

"Big brother," she said softly as she looked at him with her mesmerizing purple and blue eyes. "It … it … was horrible. So much lust mixed with broken love, betrayal … and hate. It was so vile … like swimming in drakon intestines."

Percy shuddered at the description. That happened to him once. Don't ask … Nyx could be a bitch of a trainer by the way.

"But the worst part was the focus of procreation and lust … completely devoid of actual love. Someone there was thinking of making more babies but not to love them like a parent. Just have them for … trophies. Memories and proof of who she slept with."

"Her?" Percy asked only for Eros to answer.

"Aphrodite," he spat in disgust.

Percy growled at the name of the mentioned goddess. Of course it had to be her, who else? In his years here several of the protogenoi had explained to him what they'd seen that made them come together to decide on finding heirs and moving on.

Their disgust with the ruling gods and the state of the world had finally proven too much for them to truly remain on the side lines yet they knew their time was past. It was up to the next generation to fix the wrongs … and Eros had explained in detail just what Aphrodite had truly thought of his 'love' with the spawn of Athena.

Turns out while his was genuine, Aphrodite had pushed Annabeth's friendship beyond platonic forms to amuse herself and also get back at Athena for being a maiden goddess. Of course that had changed when he proved to be such a hero that she herself had begun to want him. To claim him.

He had become a prized buck in her hunting game and keeping Annabeth interested would have only gotten in the way so she stopped meddling and allowed Annabeth's true emotions out … not that they were any better than the fake ones.

Turns out the blonde girl he'd met when he first arrived, the one who saw herself as above others thanks to her 'wisdom', who sought the attentions of those in the spotlight such as Luke had been as the best swordsman at the time, were her real 'romantic' ambitions.

He even learned who had helped her 'relieve' the stress when she was 'desperate' to find him. He knew seeing Apollo looking so happy at her godhood had been odd. Well, another reason to toss said god into the deepest pit of darkness he could create.

Still, his thoughts returned to Aphrodite and how she seemed to only care about the children that did something noteworthy … otherwise she cared nothing for them. Piper had become her golden girl while the rest of her cabin laid forgotten.

Hell, the worst bullies of Aphrodite's cabin had always been their own siblings with how, 'unless they learn to break a heart, they aren't worthy to be her children,' and such.

Piper had brought out a loving, nearly forgotten self of the goddess … but she was only one daughter and it was only a matter of time before Aphrodite returned to her ways … and it looks like it happened recently judging by how Andromeda reacted to her presence.

'It's like every Olympian is personally giving me a reason to skin them alive in particular,' he thought as he looked at his sister's face and grew worried. Before she'd looked shocked and scared but now, there was only anger and disgust.

He didn't resist as she pulled out of his arms and stood up, shifting into her adult form as she looked at Phanes and Eros.

"Am I powerful enough to curse someone like an Olympian?" she asked in a cold tone.

"Yes," Eros replied without hesitation. "But you lack experience so I would have to focus it for you."

Andromeda nodded before taking a deep breath and speaking in a voice laced with power. "I, Andromeda Xena Jackson, curse Aphrodite to an eternity of sterility. May her womb become barren, her breasts forever dry, her ability to give new life in any form stripped, till the day she is nothing more than dust and ash."

A loud thunder crack sealed her curse as her body flashed with power. Percy looked in awe at his sister, marveling at what she just did to the goddess of love.

To take away one of the key known aspects of that goddess … it was brutal. Percy was sure that it would drive the goddess insane and the only worse would have been taking her ability to have sex … could his sister actually do that? It seemed that Nyx had the same curiosity.

"Hey, why didn't you just forbid her from having sex or something?" she asked while tapping her chin.

Andromeda looked at her silently for a moment before answering, "I don't care about how much she sleeps around … I just won't allow new lives to be used like that.

I could have taken away all her physical desires leaving her like a stone slab but that could get the Olympians too curious about how it happened. It should be a year or two before anyone notices something fishy."

"Now I know where most of their mother's brains went," Nyx said with a smirk while glancing at Percy.

"Hey!" he shouted indignantly much to her amusement. "I'm plenty smart."

"Yeah, after years of me teaching you to think on your feet and plan ahead and even then sometimes you rush in, guns blazing," Nyx chuckled back.

All Percy could do was pout at her, getting a giggled from not only Nyx but Rhea and Andromeda while Eros and Phanes chuckled at him.

"No support whatsoever," he grumbled for a few moments before he sighed as he looked at the group. "As much fun as horsing around like this is … I do believe I had a mission."

================

if you want to support me or just to read ahead of the public release, you can join my p@treon :

p atreon/Moonhorse