Coming Down
Part 3 of Ricki’s present! I hope you had a wonderful day, love!
part 3 of the greek au you didn’t know you needed.
“I don’t trust her.” That’s what Harry heard when he finally made it back to his room. Turning around, he looked at Brooke; she had her arms crossed over her chest, a sour frown set on her face.
Everything turned into a whirlwind when Demi had pulled her scene at the gate. As excited as he was to see her, she was making everything more difficult and confusing. Nothing she said added up; it was like a riddle and a vague one at that. He had never been afraid of his sister, not ever. But in that moment, she seemed to be fitting her mother’s true identity.
And thinking that killed Harry. He knew Demi; at least, he thought he knew her. She would never pull something like this. She had always been more concerned with how other people felt rather than how she did. Now, she had some new brand confidence that Harry had never seen; and it was terrifying. As disheartening as it was, Demi and confidence just didn’t seem to mix.
But she was still his sister. No matter how dark and mysterious and evil she seemed, she was still Demi. He had been separated from her once; he wasn’t going to let that happen again.
“She’s different,” Brooke continued, sitting on the edge of their shared bed. Harry lay back against the pillows, hands behind his head. He hummed in reply, urging her to continue. “She’s not…I mean, she’s not like us.”
“What exactly are we like?” Harry asked, eyebrow raised.
“All I’m saying is that if she were meant to be in New Americana, she would’ve been allowed in here when she was claimed. But she wasn’t. Which means she doesn’t belong here.”
He wanted to tell Brooke that she was wrong, that she didn’t know Demi like he did. He wanted to prove to her that there was more to Demi than just a goddess who claimed her. But she had a point; Demi had never been able to get through the gates until now. What changed it?
“Promise me you’ll make her leave,” Brooke said, climbing in next to him. Head resting in the crook of his neck, she let her lips linger on his jaw line.
Eyes closed, Harry sighed. “Yeah. In the morning I’ll…yeah.”
…
“Thank you for meeting with me,” Demi said, standing in front of all twelve Olympians. It was a bit intimidating, but a bit of anxiety was nothing compared to the Titans regaining power. “I’m sorry for the scare last night, but I had to get your attention some how.”
She tried to keep a calm smile on her face, but it was getting hard. One girl with a long brown hair and a frustrated scowl was clutching onto Harry’s arm a bit too tightly, which gave Demi a good idea as to knowing who her mother was – Hera – and was giving her a death stare that could cut through glass. Another boy, with spiked hair and tanned skin looked more annoyed than anything else. Another girl, her brown eyes cold and beautiful at the same time, had her teeth clenched, nails digging into the arms of her chair.
Still, she could see Sami’s bright smile and Aaron’s small wink from the corner of her eye, and that littlest bit of hope sparked something in her. “I came here to warn you.”
“Warn us?” the brown haired girl questioned. “Warn us about what?”
“It’s a bit of a long story,” Demi said honestly with a small chuckle. “For a while, there has been some…concerning sounds in the Underworld. We assumed it would stop, but it hasn’t. Dustin has been sending Jeremy out to check the Doors, but he can’t find them. And he always knows where they are. So it got us to thinking that it was more than just a noise.”
“Hold on,” Harry said, sitting up straighter. “You’ve been in the Underworld this entire time? With Hades?”
“Well, yes.”
“So you expect us to believe you and Hades?” the beautiful girl scoffed. “As if.”
“Willow,” Sami warned.
“I know it sounds a bit...strange. But in times of great danger, all of the Gods came together to fight as one, right? Olympian or not, we’re…we’re in this together. We’re supposed to protect each other.”
“So you’re telling us that you’ve been in the Underworld, and what you’ve been hearing are the Titans moving?” Harry asked.
“More or less.”
“That’s ridiculous,” the brown haired girl said. “The Titans have been locked up for centuries, and they haven’t gotten out yet.”
“But that’s just it! This time is different. This time around, things are so different, which means the Titans are different too.” It was becoming clear that she wasn’t going to get through to them no matter what she said. Perhaps they weren’t being stubborn; perhaps they just didn’t want to listen to what she had to say. Suddenly, that night all of those years ago – the night of her sixteenth birthday – came back to her, and she was reminded that, no, she wasn’t wanted here.
But not now. After months of being pushed aside, she had learned that what Alex had told her was true – she was important. Whether these twelve wanted to believe that was their decision.
“Think about it,” she went on. “Greece is so different now than it was during the very first set of Greek Gods’ reign. We’ve all been changing each cycle. So have the Titans. They’re controlling the Doors and have been preventing Thanatos from finding them. It’s a clear sign that something’s wrong.”
“Well, what do you suggest we do?” Aaron asked.
“We’ve been trying to familiarize everything,” Demi said. “Trying to be like the first group of gods. Recreate all of the things the first Grecians did. I see that you have already gotten married.” Her eyes landed on the sharp fingernails grappling at Harry’s shirt sleeve, and with a soft smile, she continued, “And we’ve already succeeded with the Abduction of Persephone. The next step we should take-”
“You took Kylie?” Hera shouted, standing up abruptly, marching towards Demi. Finger pointed at her chest, she shook from what appeared to be rage, eyes squinted in anger. “You’re the reason Sami’s been so miserable! You’ve been working with that…with that fiend Hades, steal one of our own, and then come here and try to get us to believe you? You’ve got some nerve, Hecate.” The way she spat her name, so cold and disgusted, made shivers run down Demi’s spin. The brown haired girl spun around to glower at the rest of the table. “I told you we couldn’t trust her! She’s a good-for-nothing, low leveled minor goddess who has her head so far up her ass that she can’t even think straight!”
The tone in the room shifted; the atmosphere dropped to a chilling aura, one that Demi knew, one that she no longer feared. Within a blink of an eye, the coolness enveloped them all, and as the Olympians looked around in bewilderment, Demi would only watch, a knowing laugh itching the back of her throat. Whoever this girl – this daughter of Hera – believed she was talking about was in for trouble.
In a wisp of black smoke, Dustin stepped forward, armor gleaming in the sunlit room. How odd it was to see him out of the usual darkness of the Underworld without a needy Colton hooked on his waist. Regardless, his overwhelming presence was still the same; all eyes were on him, which surely fueled his ego.
“So, Olympians,” he said, face twisted in one of his too famous smirks as he leaned forward onto the table, “I heard that you were talking shit about my girl.” Smirk disappearing, his eyes bore into each person’s eyes at once, the sides of his mouth turning downwards. “And I don’t take that lightly.”
“So what?” Hera questioned, most of her bite stricken back. “You’re here to punish us or something?”
“Oh, no. I’m just here to watch the show.” Dustin took a step back just as Demi moved forward, confidence recharged and ready to explode. Hands clutched at her side, her mind focused on the water basin in the center of the table and within a few seconds, a roaring fire rose from the surface of the water. With practice, she had learned to control her anger, no longer burning sticks out of surprise. The power she felt, something so foreign to her, swirled inside of her, mixing in with her new found confidence, creating a new recipe within her.
Without missing a beat at the sight of the fire, the Olympians leaned back in their chairs, fear evident on their faces. “Minor goddess,” Dustin commented.
Grinning over her shoulder at him, she scoffed. “You say it like it’s a bad thing.”
“I don’t know what you’re trying to accomplish,” Hera said, voice wavering, eyes unable to detach themselves from the fire. “You’ve set a fire in our meeting room. How does that show trust?”
“Brooke, maybe you shouldn’t provoke her,” a boy with unruly, curly hair suggested, knuckles white from the harsh grip on his armrests.
With a smirk, Demi softened her eyes, allowing the fire to extinguish itself. There was a unison breath let out around the table, all eyes still on high alert. Arms crossed over her chest, she turned to Dustin. “Is everything ready?”
“Yep. Just waiting for our last few lines.”
“Hold on,” Harry said, standing up. “You mean you’ve already got an army ready?”
“Have you not been listening to a single thing that Demi has said?” Dustin demanded coldly, stepping closer to Harry. “For the King of the Gods, you really are dense.” Chest to chest with him, Dustin’s eyes grew hard and serious. “Why would she come here – a place she knows she’ll be tormented – if it wasn’t important? And why would I come here – a place I absolutely despise – if I wasn’t being serious? The Titans are awake, brother. So get off of your high fucking horses and join us. Or die. The choice is yours.”
Harry swallowed hard, suddenly feeling a lot less helpless. Of course he believed Demi; he always believed her. But what Dustin was implying was unthinkable and far more than they had bargained for.
Arms wrapped around his abdomen and he instantly grew concerned. “Don’t listen to them,” Brooke hissed in his ear. “They’re trying to trick us.”
“Hera,” Dustin said, voice flat, brows furrowed.
“Why would they want to protect us?” she asked, directing her words towards all of the Olympians. “They’re just using this as a ploy to get us to keep our guards down. And then they’ll take Americana for themselves.”
“Look, princess,” Dustin growled. “Just because you’ve made up some false persona for us does not make you right. You’ve forced all of us out of your precious New Americana, but it doesn’t mean we’re gonna let you all die. You’ve seemed to forget that our family is here too.” His eyes landed on a tall, brunette girl sitting on the far end of the table, her eyes staring right back at him. “And besides, it’s July. You think I’m going to let Kylie stay here in danger?”
“You mean your fuck toy?” the beautiful girl muttered, nails piercing the palms of her hands in frustration.
“Don’t talk about my wife like that.” Demi rested her hand on his arm, squeezing his bicep lightly. With a nod and a silent agreement, he looped his arm around her waist. “We’ve given you warning, Olympians. It’s your choice whether you’re going to listen to us or not.”
With his final words, they faded into the shadows. But even as they dissolved, Harry didn’t fail to notice the look of disappointment on Demi’s face.
…
It was eerily quiet in the Underworld. Usually, the moans from the Fields of Punishment drowned out the silence. At the very least, she would be distracted by Dustin’s usual shenanigans to notice it.
But with hundreds of thousands of lines of skeleton warriors, all standing at attention without anything to say, she for once felt scared to be there, a place she had been calling home for months now. She took notice of Skye in the middle of a huddle of vampires, and she was struck with the horrible realization that she had never seen her so serious. Jeremy was next to her, face far paler than she remembered it being. He was taking the disruption worse than anyone, the loss of the Doors hitting him in a way that no one else could feel.
Despite knowing that she had to focus on the fight that could start at any moment, Demi couldn’t help but think back on her time in New Americana. When they were younger, Harry had been attached to her. He listened to whatever she had to say, but now it seemed that things had changed. All she could do was hope that he would believe that she really was trying to protect him.
“Hey,” Dustin said, nudging her shoulder. “Whatcha thinking about?”
“Hm? Oh, nothing.” Dustin had come to her rescue, something she couldn’t say about Harry or Sami or any other person who, in the past, claimed to always stand by her. Were times really changing so much that she could no longer rely on her own brother, but the King of the Underworld stuck by her side? How different things were. “What can I do to help?” she asked her savior. If Dustin could do anything for her, she could do anything for him.
“You could add to our army.”
“Unless you want an army of sheep, I can’t help you that much.” Chuckling, Dustin brought her close to him, an arm situated around her back. The palm of his hand rested between her shoulder blades, strong yet soft as he hugged her.
“Just don’t get yourself killed, okay, Hudson? That’s all I care about,” he said, lips tickling her hairline.
“Don’t tell me war makes you soft, oh great one,” she teased only to be pinched.
“No; you’re the one making me soft.” Kissing her forehead, he smiled at her. “But don’t tell anyone that.”
“Your secret’s safe with me.” They were quiet for a while, allowing themselves a moment of peace before the chaos began. What a sight it was, to see the King of the Underworld and the Goddess of Witchcraft embracing in the middle of what was soon to be a battlefield. But it was the only thing they could do before insanity was all that would surround them.
A loud shout broke through their calmness. “Sir!” A young guard ran forward, tripping over the weight of the water basin in his arms. “Sir, you have a call!”
Sighing, Dustin took the basin from him, lifting it as if it weighed nothing; it was moments like this that Demi remembered just how strong Dustin was – physically and mentally. “Yeah, Sof?” he asked quietly as not to startle the mute girl. That was the other thing that startled Demi: Dustin’s ability to be so cold yet so warm to a quiet girl like Sofia. He tended to yell whenever he was frustrated – such as now – but he always collected himself just enough to talk to Sofia. It was endearing, but Gods forbid she ever told him that.
The girl smiled softly at him, closing her eyes as her voice carried from the basin with no mouth movement. You have a call, her smooth voice whispered. They say it’s urgent.
Nodding, Dustin waved her on. “Let them through.”
Sofia’s face faded only to be replaced with the image of a pale girl with vibrant red hair. Dustin straightened, clutching the basin just a bit tighter. The girl grinned at his shocked expression, murmuring, “Hello, Dustin.”
“Jessie,” he breathed. “Are you okay? Do you need help? I can come get you right now if you need me to.”
Giggling, the girl tucked some hair behind her ear, and it wasn’t until then that Demi noticed that she was dressed in full battle armor. “I’m fine, Dustin. We’re preparing for the battle.” So Harry had taken her word seriously; despite whatever his wife had tried to convince him of, he had chosen to believe her. That built up her confidence just a bit more. “We have a little surprise for you waiting outside.”
“Surprise?” Dustin cocked an eyebrow. “What kinda surprise?”
Winking, Jessie waved. “Guess you’ll just have to go and see. Message us when you need us. We’re standing ready.” And with that, she disappeared.
Head whipping around, Dustin grabbed Demi’s shoulders. “Go figure out what the hell she’s talking about. If they sent whatever this surprise is, it has the potential to be really bad. I don’t care if they’re “the good guys,” I still don’t trust them.”
“What about you?”
“There’s something I have to do. Use your best judgment and then use my better judgment to decide what to do with it.” Scoffing, she rolled her eyes before hopping into the boat and setting sail down the River Styx.
Anxiety settling in her stomach, she took in a sharp breath when she caught a glimpse of sunlight peaking out from the mouth of the cave. She continued down the river, searching for the Olympian’s surprise.
That’s when she saw the barrier between where the River Styx began and the New Grezca River ended. At the wooden dam bobbed an array of mermaids and Nereids, all staring at her. In the center, wading in front of his own little army was a boy with a snow-white skin and vibrant red hair. His expression was bored, his mouth downturned as Demi approached them.
“Who are you?” he asked, voice monotone.
“Hecate, Goddess of Witchcraft, Magic, and the Undead,” she said, chin held higher than it had ever been when introducing herself. Quirking his mouth into a smirk, the boy raised an eyebrow, as if to ask if she really had to sound that cocky. “And who’re you?”
“Name’s Michael – or Triton, I guess – perhaps you’ve heard of me,” he said. Messenger of the seas, she told herself without breaking eye contact. “Hermes sent me by orders of Zeus.”
“To do what exactly?”
“Help you fight!” a Nereid exclaimed, pushing herself up next to Michael. “Each Titan has an Olympian counterpart, so there has to be a Titan of the Sea.”
“We’ve been over this, Jenny,” Michael said with a huff. “His name is Oceanus.”
“That just sounds so lame,” she said, crinkling her nose.
Demi looked between the two, wondering if this was a normal exchange. “You would be?” she questioned, nudging her chin towards the Nereid.
“My name is Jennifer, otherwise known as Amphitrite.”
“Just call yourself Poseidon’s wife; then people might know who you are,” Michael muttered, earning himself a slap to the arm.
“Oh,” Demi said, smile stretching across her cheeks. “You’re my big brother’s wife?”
Blushing, Jennifer nodded. Her face turned from happy to serious in a second, and she swam closer to Demi’s boat, gripping onto the sides of it with her hands. “My brother is in there, isn’t he?” she asked, pointing towards the cave. “I need to see him. Let me come with you.”
“Your brother…?” Demi asked, cocking her head to the side. Hundreds of people had brothers in the Underworld; the girl must be crazy if she thought she could figure out who she was talking about on the spot.
“Both of them. Jeremy and Colton. They’ve been in the Underworld for ages. I need to go see them.”
Demi was stunned. Neither Jeremy nor Colton talked about having a younger sister. They acted as if they were the only two in the family, and yet here was this girl looking up at her with so much pity in her eyes that she couldn’t help but believe her.
“Enough from you,” Michael said, pulling on Jennifer’s shoulder to tug her back towards him. “Get any closer and you’ll fall into the other side. And I can’t have anyone dying while I’m in charge. Now, we’ve gone over this, we don’t go there, no matter what. We get our orders and we leave. Understood?”
Jennifer nodded, eyes glazed over with tears. She looked back to Demi. “At least tell them I was here.”
“Sure.” Turning back to Michael, she began giving off orders, “Get as many Oceanions as you can; form an army. If the Titans act how we think they will, they’ll come through the Doors of Death and out to here. Stand at the ready.” She looked amongst the creatures wading in front of her, and she bit her lip.
“We’ll do our best,” Michael said. “You heard the woman! Go get all your friends! And tell them to bring weapons!” And they all left without a word more. “Jenny,” Michael addressed the young girl. “Go back to New Americana.”
“What? Why?”
“Because those were the orders. As soon as you were done here, you were to report back. Boss doesn’t want you in anymore danger than you already are.”
“Aaron is not in charge of me!” she shouted, glaring daggers at Michael. Demi couldn’t help but laugh, gaining the other two’s attention.
“Sorry,” she said, clearing her throat. “That just really sounds like my brother: always thinking about everyone else rather than himself.” Squatting on her ship, she became level with Jennifer. “I really would listen to him though. This isn’t about him not thinking you’re strong enough. It’s about him not wanting you to die.”
“If that were true,” Jennifer said, patting Michael on the shoulder, “Jackson would make you go back too.”
Despite his outwardly emotionless demeanor, the Sea God’s cheeks tinted pink, eyes averted towards the water. “Jackson knows that I have a job to do just like he does. And we are most certainly not married–”
“You might as well be.”
“Jennifer,” he scolded. “Just go back. Before Aaron has my throat.”
Rolling her eyes, the small Nereid shot Demi one last smile before diving under the water and disappearing. Michael let out a long breath. His face had returned to its natural pale state as he moved to also go back under water. “Good luck,” he said and she almost thought that she saw a glint of emotion in his eye. “You’re gonna need it.”
…
“Dustin!” She had raced back to the castle, rowing as fast as she could to find Hades. The army had grown bigger, more weapons being handed out with each breath she took. Dustin was nowhere to be seen amongst the battalions. She searched the throne room with no luck, moving to run through hallway after hallway in search of him.
She skidded to a stop when she heard hushed voices behind a door on the fourth floor. Dustin’s bedroom.
Usually, she was against listening in on other’s conversations, but damnit, now was not the time to listen to her morals. Cracking open the door, soft enough as to not disrupt whatever was going on inside, she was met with the scene of Dustin holding Colton against his chest, his fingers tangled in his hair.
“Dustin, you’re being irrational,” Colton whispered which only caused Dustin to pull him in closer.
“I am not,” he said, voice low. “I’m being protective. Call me crazy.”
“You’re crazy,” Colton said, resting both hands on Dustin’s chest and lifting his head up to look him dead in the eye. “And irrational.”
“Colton, there is a war about to happen, and people are going to die.” Demi cringed – harsh much. “But damnit, I can’t have one of those people be you.” Her heart stopped beating at those words. Dustin was a lot of things. He was brave and tough and a wonderful leader. But one thing he also was – which she rarely saw – was passionate. And this was a pure example of it. “I cannot lose you. I won’t.”
“But Dustin, I’m the spirit of hope. This is kinda my job,” Colton defended.
Dustin shook his head, resting his chin in Colton’s hair. Eyes closed, he grabbed both of Colton’s hands. Sitting him on the bed, he stroked his cheek gently with his thumb. “You can work from up here. Hope has no boundaries. If you go out there and you get hurt or…” He cut himself off, and Demi swore she saw a tear peak out of his eye before he blinked it away. “Or anything else, hope would disappear. The war couldn’t be won. And I…I couldn’t go on. Just stay here. Please, Colton.”
His eyes still looked unsure, but Colton reached up to thread his fingers through Dustin’s curls, pushing them out of his face. “Don’t be such a sap.”
In any other instance, Dustin would’ve slapped him; Demi had seen it first hand. But this time Dustin leaned forward, catching Colton’s lips with his own. It was a sad sight, seeing Dustin kiss him like that. It was as if Dustin truly thought this was the last time he would see his lover, and it hadn’t hit her until just then that it might be. It was war after all.
She shut the door and made her way back down the stairs and out towards the army. They needed their moment of sanity. And so did she.
