The Rule of Succession

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Six

"Scientists are still baffled by the unnatural phenomena occurring in Japan right now. As you can see here, the entire island has been cast into darkness. Right now it is noon, and the sun should be directly overhead." A reporter on the TV was saying as Percy and Artemis walked into the bar. "For those at home who haven't been following along, Last Friday, the sun never rose, keeping Japan in a state of perpetual night time. Despite this oddity, life continues as normal, with work being done via electric lighting. Whether this is just how life is now, or if the Sun will ever return remains to be seen. This was Sarah Parker, back to you Tom."

"Thank you, Sarah. And now to Jerry with the weather."

"Thank you, Tom. As you can see, it's going to be a beautiful night tonight, clear skies and cool temperatures make it the perfect night to do some skygazing."

The sound of the TV was drowned out by the people sitting next to Percy and Artemis, who had started their own conversation. Percy couldn't help but listen in as Artemis was talking to the bartender.

"I'm telling you, man. It's true."

"Fuck off dude."

The first guy pulled out his phone. "Look, I'll google it." He opened Google and began to type in his question, speaking as he did so. "Does saying the moon looks beautiful mean I love you?" He pulled up the results and showed his phone to his friend. "See. I told you."

"Wait, what?" Percy asked.

The first guy turned around. "Yeah, man. It's like a cultural thing. In Japan, if you say 'The moon is beautiful, isn't it', it's like code for 'I love you'."

"Huh. That's interesting." Percy said as he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned to see Artemis holding out a glass of cola to him. "Thank you." He turned to the man. "Thanks for the culture lesson man."

"Of course. See ya." He held his fist out for a fist bump, which Percy obliged, before turning back to his wife.

She was standing, so Percy stood as well. He took a sip of his drink. "So what now?"

She shrugged. "I do not know." She took a sip of her alcohol. "Let us sit down and figure it out."

They walked to a booth and sat down. "You know, I am kind of glad you found out."

"About?"

"The whole Hell thing."

"And why is that?"

"Well, now I don't need Nico to come get me for our dates. Let him do what he wants without being shackled to me. Especially now that he's on his honeymoon."

"Now I am shackled to you."

"Yeah, but you were shackled to me when you decided to give this a shot."

Artemis grinned. "Yeah." Then she frowned. "We did not go on a honeymoon."

Percy shook his head. "Nope, we did not."

"We did this whole 'marriage' thing wrong, it looks like."

Percy nodded. "Yep. We kinda did."

"If we did go on a honeymoon, where would you have wanted to go?"

"Ooooh, that is a good question. I'm not sure. What about you?"

She shrugged. "It does not matter to me. I can go anywhere I want, anytime. You, however cannot, and thus, the honeymoon would have meant more to you." She frowned. "That is not how I meant to say that. I mean, where we would go would matter more to you than me. The honeymoon itself would be equally meaningful to me. So, where would you want to have gone?"