Divergent Path

Prologue

Disclaimer: I own no characters.

Chapter 1: Prologue

On Olympus (August 3rd)

It'd been two days since the Earth Mother returned to her dirt nap, and with Leo's sacrifice still fresh in his mind, Percy was in no celebrating mood. The rest of the Seven and Nico felt the same way, all still able to picture their idiotic genius ship admiral grappling with the primordial of Earth hundreds of feet in the air on the back of his best friend: a 60 foot Celestial Bronze dragon. Even in his grief, Percy couldn't help but smile at the flashiness of the most Leo way to go out.

In spite of that, the gods insisted on a celebration to follow the defeat of their greatest enemy. The familiar ding of the elevator reaching the 600th floor freed the seven demigods from the torment of Love Is Blue playing the entire way up. As they spilled out onto the landing, they let out a collective gasp.

A wide golden bridge with intertwined shining silver and bronze railings connected them to the bulk of the floating landmass that was the home of the gods. They walked across the bridge with six of the seven demigods gawking in various directions, eyes wide as if taped up and jaws dragging behind them.

As the modern acropolis grew nearer, the demigods were hypnotized by the features adorning this paradise.

Hazel and Nico stared at the buildings surrounding the central plaza; traditional Greek columns adorning the entrances, modern sloping ceilings making up many of the roofs with periodic Roman domes over the rest to provide a feeling of symmetry.

Frank looked past the plaza, focusing on the beautiful parks that spilled towards the throne room doors. Luscious trees from every corner of the world grew in the parks, with their respective dryads bustling around making preparations or arguing on riverfronts with naiads sitting on their banks.

Piper and Jason's eyes were transfixed on buildings adorning either the far right or left sides of Olympus: the palaces of the gods. Piper, looking off to the right, mentally traced the 6 palaces on her side.

Hera, Demeter, Apollo, Ares, Dionysus, she named as she guessed who owned each one. Deliberately skipping over it for last, her eyes now settled on the bright pink, plastic-looking castle that was obviously her mother's. She grimaced for a second at how over the top it was, but was dumbstruck at what she saw at the top: a gigantic glowing pink heart? This palace must've been designed by Barbie, she thought to herself and realized that was essentially the truth.

Jason did the same over the other side, mentally assigning Mercury, Vulcan, Diana, Minerva, Neptune until he came across a dark grey citadel that radiated power. He saw lightning periodically snake across the walls in a striking blue color, and he smiled as he named his father, Jupiter.

Percy's eyes hadn't left the fountain that dominated the floor of the central plaza. Made purely of Olympian Silver, a metal exclusive to Olympus, it exuded a shine that Celestial Bronze and Imperial Gold couldn't hope to compete with. Its winding frame reached 30 feet into the air, tangling with its other branches to create an intricate pattern complimented by the sea green water the fountain carried. Sea green. In the central figure of the city of gods, Annabeth had immortalized the color of his eyes. Gods I love her, he thought as he finally tore his gaze from the fountain and drank in the rest of Annabeth's grand redesign of Olympus. Only my Wise Girl could've pulled this off, Percy said to himself as he finally closed his mouth and turned to just look at her.

Annabeth was the one that had kept her composure, but her eyes shone with pride and a level of satisfaction at her handiwork. Aside from the palaces of the gods, Annabeth had either repaired or designed everything in the city during her time as the Architect of Olympus following the Second Titan War. It was the most ambitious task she had ever undertaken and she could tell by her friends' reactions that she had been more than up for the job.