~~I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians series.~~

Chapter Twenty: Judgement in Olympus

   Walking on the heavenly grounds of Olympus was surreal; Dwaine could only view himself as a tiny ant in a little girl's toy palace, only multiplied to infinity plus the extent level. Artemis didn't miss a beat in her pace, almost in a rush, relaxing her face into a neutral expression that appeared to be what Thalia was doing also. Is it because they were about to face their father?

   Dwaine absentmindedly thought it should be a regular thing with families or relatives, but maybe they were complexly different, he wouldn't know the slightest bit, he barely had one himself.

   The humungous, intricately designed double doors flew open as they made it to the top of the marble steps and a blowing foreign air brushed his skin, tingling his nerve senses to its sensitive peaks, kind of like being electrocuted with unimaginable power –godly power.

   A long table stretched vertically into the room and at the end, three seats formed a crescent, of course each seat had a special, unique touch of personality to it. And of course the one in the middle was Zeus's seat and obviously the one seated on it was Zeus, the great god of the sky himself. Dwaine swallowed, nervously gazing around the spacious room; it all looked too familiar. All those mental preparations to expect the unexpected, to oppose its very purpose, he did see what he'd expected but that made things much more difficult.

   Zeus stared his intense grey eyes to their group, addressing Artemis with a short nod to speak.

   "Father, here I bring the son of Typhon," Artemis gracefully gestured for Dwaine to step forward but he seemed to be lost in another world and so Thalia casually shouldered him rather hard to wake him up, he stumbled two steps but Artemis continued, "As Poseidon may have been dictating the battle in his domains, Dwaine had saved my huntresses. A heart he has, unlike his father; spare him."

   Athena's grey eyes noticeably grew dark on the possibilities of this child could do, "And when this is a trap, Artemis. Would you take responsibility?"

   Artemis bravely didn't turn to face her sister's contradictions yet answered, "I stand firm for all my decisions and I'm loyal to those who are to me, he saved my huntresses despite the great power he has to eliminate them in a wink of an eye on that battle; a hero he will be, not an enemy."

   Apollo leaned his elbows on the table, smiling a cocky grin to everyone, "And I don't really think the guy likes his father so much," dropping his gaze on Dwaine.

   "I hate him." Dwaine blurted out, "I realize now why I could never go anywhere, why my life was always where in only at my small town, because my father controlled my future, he said that I was meant to make the choice to join him or not. Well, he's not going to control my future anymore." He turned to Artemis as her silver eyes always managed to calm him down, "If you learn to trust me, I'd be happy to help the Olympians in a war against my father…" He slipped a gaze to Zeus, "or my grandmother, I feel, whoever is going to lead the next one."

   Poseidon chuckled, sliding his hand up and down his glowing Triton. "Well, he sure can predict."

   Zeus shrugged lightly, stroking his master bolt right beside him threateningly, "I would keep you, son of Typhon, under the quote: we should keep our friends close, and our enemies closer; battling Typhon and his son together would be massive, you on our side would give us a fair chance to victory."

   Thalia inserted in a grumble, "he's not an enemy."

   Dionysus irritably scratched his dark mass of hair and said, his violet eyes fluid like grape juice, "I have a huge problem in camp, and it is quite reasonable to include it in this discussion." He pointed at Dwaine. "That boy's girlfriend, Barnie-"

   "It's Vernie; Lillian and Kayla started to call her that, but I call her Nica," Dionysus began to wave his speech off but Dwaine finished what he had to say anyway, "and her real name is Veronica."

   "Veronica," Dionysus stretched his arms, as if she was there and he was presenting her. "The girl's mortal! I don't understand how she even saw that monster without the mist affecting her."

   "The boy's a son of Typhon; his presence disrupts those kinds of things, Dionysus." Hephaestus said, leaning against his chair with his hands folded on his lap, nails covered in grease from hard work.

   "Not the problem, but fine, I stand corrected." Dionysus raised a finger, "However, that girl can not stay in my camp. It's not a place for her. She's human!"

   Dwaine argued, "I don't understand…"

   Artemis pointed out, indirectly to Dwaine, "The girl deserves to live a normal life, is that what you mean, Dionysus?"

   "Precisely," Dionysus slouched back on his seat, "thank you, Artemis."

   Zeus sighed loudly, "Immature children! The only solution is that we erase her memory and save the ones that have nothing to do with our world, and then she can subsist amongst her kind. Done."

   "No!" Dwaine shouted almost like the giant Zeus won't be able to hear him, "If she's not with me, I'm not staying here!"

   Aphrodite pouted, who looked vaguely like Veronica in Dwaine's eyes, "That's so sweet."

   Athena rolled her eyes, "It's ridiculous!"

   Zeus was about to say something when Poseidon cut in early, "Don't you understand? Even Typhon is smart and he knows the girl is his son's weakness. If we let her out, Typhon can easily harm her and maybe even black mail Dwaine over there." He smiled when he saw understanding in the other gods and goddesses eyes, declaring, "Veronica stays in Camp Half Blood."

   Dwaine shouted in glee, "Done!"