Chapter 10

After the meeting was over they all began leaving the tent. "Hades, Poseidon, no need to train. Take the rest of the day off and relax." Hades nodded and headed out while Poseidon looked lost. "No training? What am I supposed to do for the rest of the day?" I walked over to the tent flap and before I walked out I placed my hand on his shoulder without making eye contact. "Just relax and enjoy the rest of the day, brother".

The rest of the day was calm. Everybody was doing their own thing. The Cyclopes were sitting together talking about something but from the nostalgic looks on their faces it must be about a good memory. I didn't see the Hecatonchires so I opened my eyes and searched the entire mountain. In moments I spotted them, they were a bit higher up and were arm wrestling. It looked a little weird as they used multiple arms and since the heads and arms were all over, it looked like armies trying to wrestle each other into the dirt. I switched my view to see Demeter making her way towards them with a smile and some pep in her step. Guess she enjoys their company.

Scanning the rest of the mountain I looked for Hades, he seemed to be at the very top of the mountain just looking towards Cronus and Rhea's thrones. The scene was a somber one. His tall and lanky frame sitting on a ledge looking on to everything and nothing. The wind blew his hair around wildly but his face never changed, even when it obscured his view. Disturbed snowflakes danced around him but never made contact with his person. As if even the snow is aware of his need for solitude, scared to rip him from his troubled thoughts and incuring his ire. His helm was in his lap and clutched firmly between his hands. His face didn't have the usual seriousness that I had grown accustomed to. With my eyes I can see many emotions on his face, from pain to melancholy. Anger to longing, and finally resting on what I can only describe as determination.

Deciding to leave him to his thoughts, I shifted my gaze to Amalthea who was just busying herself with knitting. Gida as usual not far away in her line of sight. The well cared for goat just lazed about without a care in the world. Poseidon was sitting in his tent and writing in a scroll and I decided not to look. As I was about to look for Hestia I saw the little minx attempting to sneak up on me. I made sure to not alert her to my discovery of her activities. She is truly a joy to be around, her bright and funny personality is infectious and is hard to remain anything but happy when she is near. As if her mere presence is enough to drive out all the bad thoughts and bring warm feelings with little to no effort. Like the sunrise banishing the darkness to usher in light, change, possibilities, a new day to look forward to.

As I watched her she inched closer and closer making ready to pounce. She lunged in the air aiming for my back but at the last moment I spun and caught her in my arms spinning us as she laughed her heart out. "Haha haha, no fair, you cheated." She said between fits of laughter as she put her arms around my neck, holding on to not be flung away. After another spin I fall to the ground making sure to cushion her fall with her lying on atop me.

"Who told you it was okay to sneak up on me?" I question with a mock seriousness. She placed her hand to her chest while wearing an affronted look.

"You would accuse me of such fiendish behavior?" She said dramatically and then put on a face of sadness. "To think, my own brother jumping to such conclusions. I was merely taking a walk, enjoying the mid evening breeze when I was beset by a barbarian." After a short pause with her wiping fake tears we both burst into laughter. "Ahem!" We both looked up to see Hera looking down at us with an expectant look. "Oh! I almost forgot", Hestia said while tapping her head as if attempting to jar any other memories from her mind. "I have to help Amalthea prepare to milk Gida, see you guys later". With that she pushed off me and ran off towards Gida and Amalthea's .

Laying there I placed a hand behind my head and waved to the spot next to me. "Care to join me?" She looked at the offered spot, seeming to contemplate the offer before walking over and laying down looking at me. I placed my other hand behind my head and looked up to the sky. I closed my eyes and just relaxed.

"How can you be so sure of yourself? Aren't you scared? To fight against such odds, even fighting Cronus alone would be near impossible. Yet you seem to believe that it is a foregone conclusion that you will win. That everything will work out in your favor." What was I to say? That I have knowledge of future events, well at least the end result anyway. I just had to make sure I didn't screw anything up.

"The road to success is always under construction, I prepared myself for this. Even now I try to hone my abilities to perfection so that I have no fear of the outcome. Why should I fear anyway? I have done all I can and then some. I go to the next challenge knowing that I am mentally and physically ready for success or failure."

She looks up to the sky, "but that's what I mean, how can you be prepared for failure and be sure of yourself? I have nothing to prepare. Everyone is doing something to help but I can do nothing. I cannot help you fight, nor can I help you recover. I am utterly useless in this fight and those to come. What can I do to prepare? I have nothing to offer. I'm nothing like Metis, she is so sure of herself and is always looking for ways to contribute however she can. She shows no fear and places herself in harm's way without hesitation. You are truly lucky to have her."

I reached over and pulled her into my embrace, just holding her. If I'm being honest, she is pretty useless in most events. Her power has no immediate usefulness and that must be hard on her. Also what was that bit about Metis?

After holding her for a few minutes I release her and help her to her feet. "Everyone has something they are good at, and even then we are capable of learning new things to be useful. However, nothing will change unless we actively try to change. Until you value yourself, you won't value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it."

With those words of wisdom I give her a tight hug and a kiss on the head and left her to her thoughts.

I walked to my tent and found Metis washing a silk gown. "What's that?" I asked, sitting on the bed.

"It's just the gown us Oceanids always wear. I plan on wearing it when we talk to Oceanus."

"About that, he won't really kill you will he."

Metis sighed before laying the dress down and looking me in the eyes. "He'll have to. I'd assume Cronus is already mad at him since I had helped you poison him. He'd probably want to have a talk first though. He may be a titan, but unlike Cronus, he cares for his children." Metis' eyes turned sad as she sat down next to me. "I already know he is going to plead with me to save him. But I already know what I must do. If I have to choose, I'd choose you one thousand times over." She pulled me in for a long kiss.

"Metis, I also want to talk to you about Hera."

"You still haven't kissed her yet? I mean she clearly likes you and you told me you share her feelings. I don't know what you're waiting for." Metis laid back and smirked."

"Well I'm in a dangerous war, and right now doesn't seem right."

Metis laughed. "Do I need to call Aphrodite. You're a man. Just go for it. It's not like she'll refuse. You're being paranoid over nothing."

"Anyway, that's not what I was talking about. Hera is clearly antagonizing you. I know you've noticed. If you want me to do something about it, you only need to say the word."

"I'm not a baby. If I had a problem I'd say something to her directly. She's basically just a child with a crush. But sadly you're dating someone already and she just happens to be cooler and smarter. She knows it and decides to be petty. As long as she doesn't go over the top, I'll be fine." She waved me off. "The only person's emotional state you need to worry about is Hades'. He's not over what Cronus said to him and it's still eating him from the inside out. He's probably thinking about it right now. A little group hug won't help."

I nodded. I wasn't a very emotional person and all I could think of was to have him spill out his feelings. But he wasn't very approachable anyway and he wouldn't start a conversation himself. I also didn't expect him to tell me much if not anything at all. I could only wait for the others to talk to him. They could at least somewhat relate to him. I didn't want Hades to become distant like he did in the myths.

"You're so hopeless without me you know that." Metis said. I shrugged. She was simply better at certain things than me. I could lead and fight. Become the figurehead. Metis though, would work in the background. Making plans and fixing the small things. We completed each other. "Hey Zeus, before we fight Oceanus, do you want to take me now?"

I raised my eyebrow. We had never had sex. Hell, we never even mentioned it to each other. For her to bring it up now only highlighted how difficult the Titans were to fight. I ultimately decided to not cuck myself. "I'd like that." I said and smiled softly while looking into her blue eyes.

"When you look like that it's weird." She blushed furiously and pulled me in for a kiss and undid my himation.

Early the next morning we prepared ourselves for battle. Luckily the Cyclopes had created us armour. They weren't indestructible like our weapons but it was at least able to survive a normal hit from a titan. They guaranteed it and I trusted them and put on the bronze breastplate over my chiton. Hades fastened his new kopides to his belt. The Cyclopes had also crafted them since he kept breaking the normal ones. These were made of bronze and the sharp edges were gold.

Hera walked up to me and hugged me tight. "Good luck." She said.

"He doesn't need luck." Hestia said. "Just do your thing and make sure to shapeshift. I don't get why you guys forget about that all the time." Poseidon laughed.

"I won't this time. Can't have Zeus taking all the glory now can we?" He looked at Hades who shrugged.

"Just don't do anything unnecessarily stupid alright."

Poseidon nodded as he gave up trying to sheath his trident and just held it like I did. Demeter walked over and hugged the Hecatoncheires, before saying goodbye to the rest of us.

Hades gave Hestia a head pat before looking at us with a serious face. "Remember, there's no point in dying now. We've yet to reach our full power, so if anything goes wrong. Run." We all nodded, if we couldn't kill them now we could kill them later.

Now that we said our goodbyes we started to leave. Hades and the Hundred Handed Ones disappeared under the shade of a tent and Posiedon, Metis and I turned into a group of falcons and flew over to the north sea.