44 DA : Chapter 44: Hope Comes Home II
"But she's always busy working," Apollo whined back before muttering under his breath. "And she's keeping me on the couch anyways."
"Enough!" Zeus boomed before the argument could escalate while lightning cracked along the skies above them.
...
As the gods settled while grumbling Hestia caught a light chuckle, barely a whisper with a familiar aura, coming from directly behind her head.
"Don't move," a voice that she'd recognize anywhere whispered before she could in fact turn to look. "Trust me Tia … play along."
"What are you going to do?" she mumbled under her breath while glancing around to make sure no one was paying attention to her… the perks of having always been ignored.
"Whisking you away on a black wolf and riding away into the midnight," he whispered into her ear so closely that she could feel his breath making her shudder in a very pleasant way.
Her eyes peaked to the side but they only caught the slightest wisps of shadow making her slightly frown in confusion before she glanced around the room.
Only now did she notice that all the dark corners and shadows seemed thicker and the general atmosphere was darker but it seemed most of the Olympians were too caught up in some new argument that Hestia missed the beginning to.
She watched as some accusations about interference in a recent war game for Camp Jupiter as the shadows continued to darken. She glanced to Hades and noted that he was looking at the shadows as well but didn't seem bothered at all.
'Hades … does he know something?' she wondered before a dark and near sinister laugh echoed around the room, silencing the squabbling gods.
Then, the shadows seemed to flow like little streams together to the center of the room. They coiled and writhed together until they formed a translucent figure of a faceless man with glowing, icy blue dots for eyes.
The Olympians stared in silence at the shade as it looked back in turn, the laugh still echoing around them. After a while the creepy laugh died down as the shade gave a mock salute to the council before unceremoniously flipping them all the bird. That got the first reactions since its appearance as Zeus started to golden with rage.
"Who are you!? What is your business here!?" Zeus roared while his master bolt crackled in his hands.
"Why hello," the shade replied in a care free tone in the same voice as the laugh that came from the entire throne room rather than one point. "As for why I'm here, well … you'll see soon enough," it replied ominously.
"You dare threaten us!?" Zeus boomed as he stood up with his master bolt itching for a throw.
"But did I state a threat?" the shade asked while tilting its head. "I did no such thing."
"Then what do you want?" Athena asked as she analyzed the shade intently.
"Me?" it asked while pointing at itself, "Nothing … I'm just a reflection of you …"
"What?" Hera asked this time as she narrowed her eyes at the shade.
"Yesss …" it hissed as it looked around. "The demons within your souls … they are so clear. Your doubts, fears, regrets … they sing to the darkness and so I come to them."
The shade drifted in midair as it approached Hera, making the goddess in question to narrow her eyes more while discreetly leaning back and away from the shade.
"Hmm …" the shade hummed while stroking a none-existent beard. "Now I see why everyone calls you a heartless bitch …"
"What!?" Hera gasped in shock while some jaws dropped at the audacity of the shade.
"How does it feel?" the shade asked nonchalantly. "Knowing that your bastard of a husband constantly picks mere mortals over you.
That his every promise of fidelity is a lie and that you are the laughing stock of every married woman that even knows a remote bit of your past for even believing him. That he forced you to marry only to fill this farce of a council with his bastards."
Hera looked like she was in total shock as she looked at the shade, her normally alabaster skin looking as pale and thin as dried-out paper.
"What a pitiful goddess," the shade sighed as it floated away without a second glance at the frozen goddess.
It floated uninterrupted until it stopped right in front of Dionysus, the pudgy god having stirred from his usual slumber to glare at the shadowy construct with scorn.
"Ahh, the hypocrite," the shade said while opening its arms in a grand gesture. "Hates demigods, calls them arrogant and prideful, that they lie and only harm others. Who was once a demigod again?" it asked with a tilted head.
"Got godhood for some sorry reason and not even a good one.
Tch, wine? More like god of whining and all the while takes his little princess, the sweet Diaphone, whispers sweet nothings and gets her hand in marriage … only to be as unfaithful as his father and now is stuck with the brats he hates."
The shade leaned closer, completely ignoring the golden tone of the god's skin as rage grew within the purple eyes behind the shades.
"You hate them because they are a reminder of your own failure, your own pathetic existence."
By now Dionysus was literally shaking with rage but still made no move to attack making Hestia wonder what exactly was he waiting for? By all means the shade had said enough to warrant violence from the volatile gods … maybe they each were too curious to see what the shade did or were waiting for a signal to attack.
All the while the shade moved on, stopping at Ares and looking him up and down. The god in question puffed out his chest while leveling an aura of hostility but the shade remained impassive.
Then, with a dismissive sniff it moved on much to the shock and rage of the war god that watched on, too stunned to try to attack. The shade then stopped before Athena. The goddess looked back with a poker face, starring at the shade before it seemed to chuckle but sounded more like a raspy breath than anything.
"Unimpressive," it drawled while looking at her and Hestia saw the first bits of Athena normal poker face crack. "I prefer you as Minerva. It's a much more accurate representation."
Athena's eyes started to get stormy at the statement. Even with the Parthenos returned, she still had a deep seated hate for the Romans even if she hid it for the sake of civility whenever having to interact with them in the recent years.
"I wonder," the shade said as it floated around while turning upside down and still within Athena's line of sight. "Are you as easy as your daughter?"
That got a very visible reaction as Athena shot up to her feet with an angry aura around her but the shade gave no pause.
"Are you sure she wasn't really the slut's daughter instead? I mean, she got tied up with the manwhore and I bet yah she's ridding some minor god or even demigod right now while hubby is here."
It continued as Apollo also shot to his feet with a golden aura forming around him while flashing in warning but Hestia could tell by his glazed eyes that he was also using his senses as a god to find Annabeth.
"Don't you dare speak about my daughter," Athena said through grit teeth.
"I wonder if you'll ever break your vow only to become unfaithful too. I mean, it probably runs in the family at this point and you're the only one left given the little moon's unmasking … technically," it continued before ducking down as Athena's fist swung at it but missed.
Seemingly finished with Athena the shade moved on until it stopped before Artemis and looked at the goddess with what Hestia could only call hate, even with the expressions limited to the icy blue eyes and shifting of the eyebrows.
"Ah yes … the hunter," it spat venomously.
The shade suddenly shifted around until it looked like the hunter Artemis lost, Phoebe, making the goddess' breath hitch as she looked at it with trembling eyes. It was a near perfect replica, only composed of shadow and the icy blue eyes.
"Why Artemis," it said in her voice. "You abandoned me …"
"No!" Artemis shouted as she shot up while looking like she was getting ready to cry.
"I called and prayed …" the shade of Phoebe continued on in an empty voice.
" But you never came … it hurts," it said as suddenly a chunk of the shade's leg disappeared as if bitten away.
" You left me …" The shade continued to fall apart as if assaulted, bits and pieces ripping off into the darkness until only the head remained unscratched while it stared at Artemis.
"I guess I was wrong to love you …"
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Don't forget to throw some power Stones, to keep the story going.
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