When Worlds Collide

134) It's Jover

Nico, his sister, and his cousins all stood frozen for a moment, before they shook themselves out of it and all knelt. After first Percy didn't, always the stubborn asshole, but Nico smacked that back of his head and pulled him down. The son of Poseidon begrudgingly stayed kneeling after Nico muttered that it was for a good cause in Ancient Greek.

The assembly was silent as the three figured approached them, not understanding what was happening, but still probably able to feel the level of power they gave off.

"Rise," Zeus said as he looked down at all of them, his eyes showing his anger at the situation.

The group of 5 slowly stood up, honestly expecting to get smote on international television, but then they did something surprising. Each god moved to stand behind their respective children.

"Demosthenes and Hortensia," Hades said, his voice booming over the silent room. "Children of the God of the Underworld."

"Pericles," Poseidon said, looking like he was almost enjoying the situation they were in. "Son of the Sea God."

"Telesilla and Julius," Zeus spoke, his eyes staring down the entire assembly. "Children of the King of the Gods."

It was like the people in the room were too scared to even breath. Their eyes showed shock, not understanding what was happening.

Troia rose from her seat, moving to kneel before the gods. Garth and Kaldur quickly doing the same. After that, one by one, the members of the general assembly knelt to the gods.

Nico stepped forward, after receiving a nod from the gods present, and motioned for everyone to return to their seats. "An attack on my people is not as simple as attacking an unknown people. To attack us is a slight on the gods themselves. We are not your enemy, but that does not mean we will allow you to target us for your own gain. From here on out, we are protected."

"How do you expect us to carry that out?" The Deputy Secretary General said, though his voice sounded terrified.

Nico turned to look at him. "Firstly, by removing Lex Luthor from office."

"I move for a vote of no confidence," Troia said, standing from her seat.

"Seconded," Garth immediately said.

Nico watched as the Assembly voted, unanimously in favor of removing the man from office. The Deputy hit his gavel, signaling that it had passed.

Nico looked over the General Assembly, seeing all the faces of the representatives looking at him and the other demigods with both fear and awe. This wasn't what he thought the day would come to, standing before the world with his father and the other gods behind him as he proclaimed their existence for the first time since the ancient days.

"For too long the world has allowed people of power to control what they believe," Nico said, the script he had created with Annabeth and Reyna going straight out the window. "You have all been taught to fear those with powers beyond the ordinary. You have allowed yourselves to be fed lies about the dangers we bring and it has left you complacent. You have watched for years as people with powers have been hunted down and demonized, but that ends today. My people are not the first to have been targeted and attacked for what we are, but we will do everything in our power to ensure that we are the last. 

"Earlier this year, I went to the Oracle of Delphi and asked a question. I could feel our world slowly bleeding into the outside world and I feared what it meant. I feared that it would lead to bloodshed and war. I feared for the children who were like me that could get caught in the cross hairs. And most of all, I feared what the world would be like after the dust settled." Nico's words echoed through the large chamber they were in as every set of eyes were locking on him. "The Oracle told me that I was correct, our worlds were interwoven in a way they hadn't been since the ancient days— but she said that there was no definite future. She told me that the choice between war and peace had not been made yet— that one day, when everything was laid out before the rest of the world, it would be the people who decided."

Nico took a long moment, letting the words hang in the air as silence filled the room. It was uncomfortable, but it needed to be. The people in this room had grown too complacent in their privilege. For too many years, they had sat in a room and talked about the issues of the world as if they were theoretical instead of the real life situations that people were living in. 

"You are the people who get to decide this," Nico said, his voice shattering the silence. "You are in a place of unbelievable privilege. You sit in this room as representatives of change. You are in the position that could change the lives of millions, so do it. Use your power to help the people of the world instead of simply boosting yourself and others like you up the political ladder."

"We can't just change how-" the American representative began to say, but Nico wasn't having any of it.

"Yes, you can," he bit out, glaring at the man. "You literally  can. You can change anything and everything. This assembly has 195 countries represented. You set the example for the rest of the world. This assembly contains some of the strongest governments in history— and I should know: my people and our ancestors were the ones to create democracy."

Nico looked to his cousins, sister, and father and saw looks of pride on their faces. Percy had a grin as he nodded to him, encouraging him to keep going. The original plan was for all of them to speak, but the looks on their faces told him to push on.

"You have people all over the world who are begging  you to change your ways, to see them as people and not just statistics or the scary monsters in the closet. Their lives are in your hands— they always have been— but you let yourself grow so used to the sound of their cries for help that you have gone deaf to it." Nico let his eyes scan the room, looking at the representatives as they nervously fidgeted in their seats. "That is why I am here. It is easy to ignore people when you never have to face them— so look me in the eyes. I am here. I am standing before you, telling you  to change —not for myself or even my team— but for the millions of metas, and magi, and every other type of person that you have ignored and turned a blind eye to— I am here for them."

"So you are saying that this isn't at all for your own people," the American representative said, probably trying his best to sneer at Nico, but his eyes still held fear.

Nico saw Percy open his mouth to speak, probably to threaten the representative's life, but the son of Hades shook his head to his cousin, instead turning to look directly at the man. 

"I believe I have proven that my people can take care of themselves," he said simply, sending a challenging look to the man. "We have existed longer than any government here, including Themiscyra. We have fought in and won more wars than any nation. Lex Luthor took advantage of the fact that we could not do anything to risk exposing ourselves to the world— but that time is over. We stand before you as both gods and mortals— the median of our two worlds.

"We used to hide ourselves, but those days have past. We are the New Olympians, but the old ones are not none. Today marks the start of a new era. We will not live in secret any longer, nor will be allow our stories to be forgotten. From now on, our history will be told as one. We are not myths or folklore or cautionary tales. We are children of the gods, and we are done with hiding."

A/N: it only took me 134 chapters, but it is finally done!!! I have a cute epilogue that I am writing rn that I hope you guys will like, but after that comes the official announcement for my next book(s). 

Vote. Comment. Tell me how you think the duology (I think the first book was better than the second, but that's just mostly because I lost motivation in the middle of this book for a while and I think it dragged on too long in my opinion).