Chapter 18

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Demeter leads the way towards a river valley.

It was in a desert and had a river that flowed north.

I needed Zeus' help with a certain someone causing a small problem. We made a soft landing in the village.

We had learned to alter our forms only partially. Zeus had taken the brown wings of an eagle and I took the black, grey, and peach of a turtle-dove. One of the mortals ran up to us and bowed.

He was a tall dark skinned man who kept his head bald. He only wore a linen cloth wrapped around his waist that went to his knees. He wore a simple brown belt to hold it up. When I first met him he was like everyone else. Average. But farming work seemed to have defined his muscles and he cut his hair.

"Mistress Demeter. You've returned! The people have been hard at work all day today. I think the next harvest will be better than ever. Praise the Ti- er, Olympians!"

I frowned. "Didn't I tell you to stop saying that." The man bowed even lower.

"Forgive me. A slip of the tongue. Old habits die hard." He looked over at Zeus. My brother decided to wear a simple chiton and brown sandals. He waved at the man. "Is this Zeus? Ah, it's an honor to meet you lord. Come I will show you around. The man stood up, a few inches taller than Zeus.

Zeus frowned and I chuckled as Seth led us through the village. The people all greeted us. Me with respect and Zeus with admiration. Seth brought us to the fields where they grew all their crops, only to see the river flooded again and destroyed everything. I shook my head.

"Seth, I told you timing was key. It overflows around the same time each year. You wait until after, and then use the newly fertile soil. Did me telling you Zeus was coming make you nervous?"

"Yes, I wanted to give our lord a beautiful picture and show him our hard work. We have failed." I was quite angry. I told them exactly what to do and they failed. Zeus put his hand on my shoulder.

"Don't worry about it. You said the land was fertile right?" I nodded. "Well then Seth, you'll teach me what you've learned."

Seth's brown eyes lit up. "Yes of course! Come."

I followed them as they began to get to work with the other villagers.

"Damn this work is annoying." Zeus wiped the sweat off his face only to smear dirt on his forehead.

I frowned at the mess he was making in the perfectly tilled ground. Now it looked like a mud pile.

"What are you doing? You've ruined it." I frowned at him. Seth had explained what to do and he was doing other things.

"Meh, it should be fine. I only took this tiny space. Farm work isn't for me. The humans are so peaceful and hardworking. It sucks they're probably going to get wiped out in the next fight."

I stood up. "What do you mean." I couldn't allow the mortals to just be killed. I felt comfortable with them and grew a connection while teaching them.

"Yeah, Cronus' power is too much. The shockwaves would probably wipe out the humans. Don't worry though. I've asked Prometheus to create new people after the war."

"It won't be the same thing! What about Seth? I'd never see him again." I enjoyed being with the mortals too much. But here was Zeus just ready to replace them.

He grabbed my shoulders and looked me in the eyes. "Lots of things are going to go wrong. My best guess is a flood, and we can't defend the people from that. We're not the same as them, and we're not fighting for them."

"Then what are we fighting for?" I didn't like how Zeus could so easily dismiss the lives of mortals

"We're fighting for justice to be served."

"Don't you mean revenge?"

"Don't tell me you are sympathising for Cronus. Yes it's revenge. For all the shit he's put us through. Especially you guys and Rhea."

I sighed and spun my sickle, Cronus' symbol. "Yeah I know. Cronus can go to hell, but not the mortals. The Underworld isn't a place for them."

"You don't know that. We can ask Hades, he's been there so he really is the only one who knows what it's like. Did you talk to him yesterday."

He was changing the subject but I just went along with it. "Yeah I spoke to him. He doesn't look so good. Not only physically, mentally as well. The look he gave me… It was as if I had just returned from the dead in front of him."

Zeus nodded. "I noticed too. I don't know if he told you, but he took drinks from the rivers of the Underworld. He must have seen something but he won't disclose what it is. I personally think the Underworld isn't as bad as people say. As long as you don't touch anything."

"I was wondering if I could join you guys in the final battle. I've been training with Themis for just over three years now. I've just never had the opportunity to be in a real fight other than spars." Zeus has sparred with me as well. If not for his ability to dodge everything I might have had a chance.

Themis was fast, but I could somewhat handle it. Atlas was slow, and would brute force his way through everything. I was confident I could take him on.

Zeus nodded. "I see no problem with letting you join in. I just hope you understand the dangers." He replied.

"Of course I know. I've seen how even with your abilities, you can still get injured."

"Well let's get this stuff done and head back. The fight is going to be three days after today. Metis should have finalised everything by now."

I smacked his hand away from the dirt. "What's your relationship with Metis and Hera like."

Zeus groaned. "I don't know how this is going to work out. Metis insists on making Hera queen and Hera is just a little more jealous than I expected. Especially this early. I told her I'd have other women in the future and she was fine with it but…"

"You don't believe her." I sighed. Hera was always weird around Metis and two things really pushed her over the edge. First of all, her powers had activated during the wedding. (She prepared it and it was honestly lovely. Other than the lions she had brought that decided to attack before being expelled from the barrier.) Next was Metis' pregnancy. I was usually busy in the mortal world and only picked these things up from the others.

Metis never snapped even when Hera ran her mouth. She basically ignored it. Zeus had apparently snapped when he caught her badmouthing, and after that, Hera was careful to only run her mouth when Zeus wasn't around. She was probably talking now.

Zeus accepted water from one of the mortal women and gulped it down. I grabbed my own cup.

"Just give Hera kids or something. She's just jealous."

Zeus sighed. "That won't be enough. She'd probably start comparing the kids and pestering me about how much better her's were. I told her to relax but I know that it didn't work. Do I punish her? But how? She's an immortal adult."

I shrugged, this is why I didn't want to hook up with anyone. Much less multiple people. Too much drama for me. I washed my hands and Zeus did the same. "Selene is rising and we should head back."

We grew our wings and flew back to Mount Olympus.

*********

Zeus lands in the Olympian's camp.

Demeter and I landed in the camp and walked into the main tent. We definitely needed to make actual buildings after the war.

I sat at the head of the dinner table with Metis at my right and Hera at my left. Ater Hera was Demeter, Amalthea, Gida, Brontes, Steropes, and Arges. After Metis was Poseidon, Hades, Hestia, Cottus, Briareus, and Gyges. It was a start.

We ate and talked with each other like we usually did. Just relaxing before the important announcement. Hera and Metis completely ignored each other. For now, Hera wasn't insane when I was having kids so I could relax. But I'd definitely have to warn her about doing anything stupid later on.

Metis clapped her hands and everyone fell silent. "Okay here is the plan I made up. I asked Hades and he would be able to transport four people with his shadow travel to Cronus' home, and he can if he is in pitch darkness. So Zeus, Poseidon, and now Demeter will go with him.

Demeter can detain Cronus and Atlas while you three will try to kill him as quickly as possible before switching focus onto Atlas who would no doubt be there. Cottus, Briareus, and Gyges, you three will make your way straight to Cronus' home to back them up if need be." The Hundred Handed Ones nodded.

"If things don't go too well then we can retreat and wait for him to invade next week." I said.

Poseidon shrugged. "It should work out fine. We have the element of surprise."

"But you guys forget about Cronus' time powers," Hades said. "If he's conscious, it might not work as we want it to."

Metis rubbed her chin. "We can try to just keep killing him."

I shook my head. "We'll just have to go for Atlas and then fight Cronus directly."

Hera stood up. "That doesn't make any sense! Cronus is too strong for you guys to fight."

Amalthea huffed. "Sit down child. Atlas is the Titan of strength and endurance. Fighting him while he's ready will take an impossibly long time. Especially since you've imprisoned a good bit of his family, he'll fight even as a dismembered corpse."

I nodded. "Exactly. I believe the seven of us can take on Cronus." Hera sat back down.

"And what of your auras?" Demeter asked. "They'd definitely sense you so close."

"We've gone back to Dictaeon Antron and collected the last bit of the stones and we sewed you guys new, more efficient cloaks."

"Wait," Hades said. "Can't we use the chains in Tartarus to detain Cronus and Atlas?" he asked.

"Alright then," I said. "We'll leave early in the morning for the chains and head over to Cronus' base at noon. Try to get a good night's rest. You'll need all the energy you can get."

All of the olympians went back to their tents and I stayed with Metis.

"What are you going to do if the plan fails?" Metis asked while looking me in the eyes. I could see her fear.

"Well if I get captured and don't return, I want you to take everyone and go into hiding. I'm immortal so I'll just have to survive the torture."

"Don't speak like that! You're supposed to reassure me."

"You asked if we would fail, I never said that we would. There's a difference between confidence and stupidity. We've grown so much and defeated quite a few titans. If we get captured, I just want to make sure he doesn't get you too." I kissed her.

"But what of our child. They'd never be able to see you. I'd never be able to see you." Her eyes began to tear up and I gave her a hug.

"I'm positive things will go as planned. Look on the bright side, the Moirai were depicting Poseidon fighting someone we don't know about, so at worst, he'd escape and maybe my super powerful genetics will pass on to our kids and they will free us." I kissed the top of her head. "I swear I'll return to you safe and sound," I whispered.

The next morning, Hades and I went down to Tartarus to grab the chains. We had imprisoned all of the titans in the various caves. Gaea had spoken to us about it and I stalled by saying it was only for the war. I came back every week to check on them and make sure they were "fine" per Gaea's request.

Hyperion noticed us and started cursing us out and the others joined in as well. We completely ignored them and collected twenty feet of the golden chains. They were made of large, heavy gold links that were annoying to carry around. Luckily, Hades could now make them float.

When we returned, we saw that Poseidon had made a small box out of stone and was already prepared. Demeter was next to him and she wore a green chiton with gold embroidery depicting two wheat straws crossed over each other forming an "x". It was one of the many things we took from Iapetus, just with a small tweak.

Hades and I quickly got ready and I wore my new battle clothes.

Hades opted to wear a black fustanella with a dark blue belt and the hem was lined with three inches of sharp steel that reached right above his knees. On his back was a black hooded cloak with a dark blue hem. He put on his helmet and we entered the box and Poseidon closed it.

I was able to see perfectly fine but seeing Demeter trying to find her hand in front of her I could tell it was indeed perfectly dark. I was enveloped in a cold wind as Hades transported us to Cronus' throne room.