Demiurge (a Poseidon self-insert in Percy Jackson)

She watched invisibly through all the existing hearths and homes of the world both mortals and immortals panic. Her brother had not been subtle.

To be honest, she didn't really know what to think about everything happening. On one side Poseidon had challenged the entire world for his child. He had done what he had promised, to be a better father than the Titan king.

She could feel due to her nature as a family goddess the love that her brother and his latest half-blood had for each other. A love that was deep and powerful. It was the kind of love that made insignificant mortals dare to challenge the Fates, the world and its horrors.

On the other side, it made her angry. If Poseidon felt this way towards all his siblings, their family might not be as broken as it was today.

What did this child do to make Poseidon care so much? She knew of the existence of the child since his first breath. After all, it fell within her domain to know every member of her family.

Poseidon had loved the child before but it had not been like this. Things changed when Poseidon claimed his son. All of a sudden, it was as if something fundamental had changed in her brother.

She didn't know what happened but it made Poseidon care for the child as much if not more than his siblings, something even when they went to war against each other in the past never happened.

She watched from the hearth of the Olympian Council how her family bickered. Zeus had summoned them to an extraordinary assembly.

Her brother tried to act as if he wasn't affected but Hestia could feel inside of him anger and was it sadness? It was indeed sadness.

The pride of her family members would be their end. If only they could discard it like Hestia did, if only they could try to communicate and understand each other, things would not have ended up this way.

They had forgotten that Pride had been one of the reasons for the downfall of their Titans precursor. What was the point of power or pride if in the end, none of the things you held the most dear in your soul could be realized?

Hestia could try again like she did countless times in the past to try to reconcile all the members of her family with each other but she was exhausted. She had all her immortal life tried, tried and tried and there were no results to show.

Maybe they were cursed all along. Maybe unlike, the Titans and Ouranos, their fate was not to be dethroned but to lose what had given them the strength to fight and win, to lose their family.

Every Olympian god was present except for her brother, Poseidon. They all looked grim except the foreigner. After all, what Poseidon had done was something that even the stopping of the seasons that had been done by Demeter in the past didn't come close to. Demeter had almost rid the entire world of all mortal life because of her daughter.

Poseidon instead wanted to destroy both the mortal and the immortal sides of the world. It was folly yet it made Hestia smile.

“I suppose that we all know the reason for this meeting” the voice of Zeus boomed.

“Yeah, we're here because of the action taken by the Sea Lord, Father,” Dionysus said. ”I should have got rid of his half-blood the first second I saw him” Dionysus scoffed. “It would have made things easier for everyone”.

“What's done is done” spoke Athena. “We can't change the past. The only thing we can do is think about the future. We have to find a way to get a handle on the situation”.

Athena turned towards her sire ”Father, maybe the wisest thing to do would be to at least retract the bounty placed on the head of Poseidon’s spawn. It could alleviate his fury and make him retract his curse”.

“You want me to allow a thief, the thief of my lightning bolt to be able to walk freely in my world?” the voice of the sky god boomed. Arcs of lightning had begun to flicker around the Olympian king. His blue eyes had been discarded to be replaced by the true eyes of the god. The mortal blue eyes had been replaced by lightning.

The Kronide looked as if he wanted to throw with wild abandon at his child and he didn't only by a thread.

Even though she faced an almost mad god that would probably try to destroy her with joy at the first opportunity, Athena stayed calm. The goddess didn't back down. She looked her father in the eyes and said ”Yes, Even if we can create a new humanity or make new demigods after this disaster, it would be too much-wasted energy.”

“The curse of your brother is not only toward us but the entirety of the world. I felt it, like a snake trying to burrow itself into the veins of the world and poison them. The curse feels also too strong even for your brother.” Aphrodite spoke.

“Stop your riddles and say your piece Aphrodite” Zeus said.

“Either your brother has found a way unknown even to us to grow substantially stronger or he has the full backing of his wife this time. It means that we could be facing more than just your brother, something at the level of a primordial deity” Aphrodite told Zeus.

Fear began to appear in everyone present. The second Olympiomachy had been won because most of the oceans had not backed up Poseidon because of Triton but if the wife of her brother intervened directly, there was a large chance that Olympus could cease to exist.

Hestia could see uncertainty etched on the faces of most gods and Zeus could too. They thought that it would be a war mostly against Poseidon and some of his subjects. They had thought that in case of a war, they would be victorious, Poseidon would be punished for a moment before gaining back his divinity and his half-blood would be killed. But now it was clear that this would not be the case.

A lot of gods that had sworn to support Zeus, would now be looking to switch sides after Poseidon's actions. Most of the children of her brother already hated him but were loyal to him because they were scared and didn't have any better options, but now that they did, most would not hesitate to betray Zeus.

Zeus had filled the Olympian council with most of his children so that in a fight against one of his siblings or an exterior threat, he would have the upper hand but most of them hated him and Hestia could not blame them.

Zeus had raped Artemis's huntresses in the past while he had taken the form of Artemis herself so Artemis hated him. That would have been enough for Apollo to hate Zeus because of the links the twins had but most of the huntresses that had been raped at that time were his children, so both of the archer gods hated him.

Athena may hide it well but Zeus was the one that killed her mother when he tried to make sure Athena wasn't born and also the incident where he killed the daughter of Triton made sure that Athena would never stop hating her father.

Heracles, one of his strongest children was exiled to the old world in Greece because he had supported Athena's bid to the throne.

The only ones he hadn't directly or indirectly hurt in a way are Hermes, one of the youngest of them and Ares that had been intentionally conceived to be a counter to Athena.

“There must be a way for us to counter Poseidon. We can not let him do as he pleases. There must be consequences” Zeus said while tightly gripping his throne.

“Consequences,” A familiar voice said. It resonated in all the council room. From the ground, a hole opened with a roar. A hand came out of it and scratched the marble leaving deep gashes in it. He clawed out of the divine marble like a demon from the seven hells. The figure was unmistakably her brother, a brother who was the cause of all the chaos happening.

“You began without me and even barred me from entering Olympus. It is rude of you brother”. The Lord of the Seas said in a careless tone as if he hadn't declared war on Olympus.

“You” their younger brother hissed. “How dare you?

“If any of you think I regret it, I'm sorry to disappoint you. I'm just here to tell you that I won't involve my wife. It would be too unfair. All other sea deities though will be against you.” Poseidon spoke.

“Poseidon stop this madness. You're doing all of this for a mortal that most likely not going to live more than half a century”. Hera left her throne to put herself in front of Poseidon. “Please brother” she said while looking at him in the eyes. She put the palm of her hand on the left cheek of Poseidon’s face. “Please brother, end this madness. We're your family, we are the only ones you know you can truly count on, we're the only ones that will always be there for you and that truly knows you.”

Poseidon and Hera had discarded the older form they took before most immortals and mortals. They had unconsciously taken their original shape, the one they had when they came out of Kronos and fought against the Titans.

The younger Olympians gasped in unison. No one would know how similar Poseidon and Hera were until they took their original forms. They looked almost identical. Only the feminine and womanly curves of Hera distinguished them.

The sea god said nothing. He closed his eyes and he leaned in the touch of his sister. Hestia felt in Poseidon love, longing. For a moment she thought that maybe bloodshed and conflict could be evaded.

No other Olympian god dared to speak. The Kronides rarely showed before people other than themselves affection.

The love that was inside Poseidon was buried deep inside of him. It had been replaced by sadness, melancholy and conviction.

The god took the hand of his sister and removed it. Everyone at that moment knew the answer he would give. “I can't sister.”

The god looked at the pained face of Hera “I swore to never be like him.” he said softly. “If I could change the past, make sure that this present wasn't real, I would but it is impossible. If only you knew how much it hurts to go against my own family again” Poseidon said softly.

“So don't fight against us brother” pleaded Zeus. “We fought so that our family will forever endure. You don't have to do it. I'll do it in your stead. I'll commit the sin of killing directly someone of my blood instead of you doing it. You have to understand that the child is a threat to our kingdom, to our Olympus. Maybe I was wrong when I accused you directly of stealing my lightning bolt but it can only be your child. Ares felt traces of it on him. Let's do what must be done and forget all of this”. Zeus was literally begging Poseidon, something shocking for most of the other Olympians but they could never understand Hestia thought.

What they had was probably toxic, unhealthy, something that should not be worth fighting anymore. Like all things, their bond would probably erode one day. Hestia herself was tired and longed to go back to Chaos.

It was only the metaphysical chains pierced into her godly flesh that linked her to her siblings that made Hestia unable to fade.

“I can’t” Poseidon whispered. The god had taken back the usual form he showed as an Olympian god. Steel entered the voice of the god “I declare to all Olympus and beyond” the voice of the god boomed”.

Athena and Ares had tried to stop Poseidon from making his declaration. In quick and perfectly executed movements, Athena and Ares tried to cut the head of Poseidon from his shoulders to prevent him from speaking.

The air exploded due to the attack of the two gods going faster than the sound. The marble under them exploded as if a giant with his monstrous hand had caved it.

Fragments of marble were sent flying and shone in the air like golden rain. Hera had with a push of her heels got out of the epicenter of the attack.

The sound that was produced at the impact wasn't the ugly and disgusting sound of flesh being torn, of innards falling to the ground. It had instead echoed as if a giant hammer had entered in contact with a mountain of steel.

Poseidon stood proudly between the two gods of war. Both of them had their weapons stopped at the throat of the elder god. Poseidon had not tried to move or block. His skin had just been too hard to penetrate by the war gods.

Athena and Ares's muscles were bulging trying to force their weapons into the flesh of the god of the sea. “It should not be possible” Ares screamed. “Even if you are an elder Olympian, the gap shouldn’t be this great”.

Athena said nothing. Her skin began to flake off. She had made the same observation as her brother and had decided to directly go to full power.

The sea god sighed like someone that was told they had to throw the trash out. The god of the sea exhaled. His breath was less a breath and more a hurricane. It sent the two gods of war flying. The two gods tore through the remaining marble as if it was butter. They entered into contact with the exterior wall of Olympus that caved under their way. They went through the divine wards put by Hecate around Olympus and in a deafening sound broke through it to continue their fall at high speed toward the mortal world under Olympus.

All the other young Olympians gathered their energy and began to discard their mortal forms.

Poseidon lifted his eyebrow at Zeus. Zeus sighed and turned toward his children “There is no point in fighting. He's not here to fight, he's here to deliver a message,” said Zeus. “Say what you have to say Poseidon but know that at the end, all of your actions will be moot. You'll lose. I will gather every resource at my disposal to quench your little rebellion” Proclaimed Zeus to his brother.

“Things have changed brother of mine” Poseidon answered.

The voice of the god boomed “To anyone that wishes to be exempt from the curse, swear your allegiance to me. Swear fealty to the seas, to my blood and you'll be exempt from the curse. Don’t suffer like fools.”

“That's all I wanted to say. The next time that we'll see each other, it will probably be on the battlefield.” Poseidon turned toward the Hearth of Hestia as if he could sense her ”I wished it could have been different.“

Poseidon began to disappear in drops of water. Only his head remained. It was disappearing slowly. “Siblings of mine. Do you think that in another world, we could have been a true family, one where we are happy?

Hera laughed. Her laugh was broken as if she was trying to not cry “Yes, I'm sure that in another world, we're all happy”.

“That world,” the disappearing voice of Poseidon said. “I wish it was our reality”. The presence of the sea god left Olympus. The divine throne of Poseidon that was on Zeus' side dimmed as if the connection between Poseidon and Olympus had been completely cut.

“Goodbye brother” Zeus whispered. The sky god closed his eyes but a golden tear was able to escape from his eyes. When the god opened back his eyes, they were cold and emotionless.

“Aphrodite,” Zeus spoke. “Tell your siblings that anyone that will join will be afforded the benefit of becoming a member of our pantheon”.

The Goddess yawned. “Alright bossman” the goddess and she disappeared in a pink flash.

“Dionysus, prepare all the demigods with Chiron to war. Artemis, do the same with your Huntresses”.

“Yes Father,” both of them answered.

“Hephaestus,” Zeus continued. “You now have an unlimited amount of budget and resources. Ask for anything and you shall receive it. Your duty will be to create weapons, weapons specially designed to be used against sea creatures and deities.”

“As you wish my king” The crippled god answered before leaving the council room through a portal he made with one of his machines.

The sky god turned toward his youngest remaining son” Hermes, I need you to go check which God is loyal or not to our cause.”

“I will do so Father” Hermes answered.

“Apollo” Zeus spoke to his last remaining child “Go inform Ares and Athena that we're officially at war and that they have permission to do everything they see fit to help us win”.

“Your will shall be done Father” Apollo said before disappearing in a flash of gold.

Hestia felt burning tears coming from her eyes and blackening and searing the flesh of her face. It should hurt but how could Hestia feel this pain when it couldn't even come close to the pain that Hestia constantly felt due to losing her family? Hestia wished things could be different. Hestia wished that her family was still a family. Hestia wished that all the atrocities she had committed for her family were not in vain.