Son Of The Cup Bearer {Percy Jackson x Ejen Ali}

Everyone Realises Alicia is a Daughter of Athena

Despite the threat, Alicia did not lower her bow a millimetre. Beside her, Iman hesitated and slowly dipped her bow.

"Alicia," Ali said apprehensively. "You might want to-"

"It's alright," Hades said absently. "She has every right to be suspicious of me. It's not every time I allow welcomed guests into my palace."

"Because you only bring them in for your own benefit?" Nico supplied helpfully.

Hades didn't try to argue with Nico's point but continued to stare at Alicia. Finally, Alicia bit her lip and reluctantly let the bow fall to her side, though she did not unnock her arrow.

"If I see you take one step out of line-" Alicia warned. 

Hades sniffed. "You remind me a lot of your mother, Athena. Always so guarded and suspicious."

Alicia frowned. She especially did not liked to be compared to her mother. And let's face it, Alicia wouldn't have been angry at Athena if she ignored her. It was the fact that she claimed all her children - except for her - during their birth. Alicia simply despised the favoritism. But wisely, Alicia decided not to dwell on that, or else she might as well be responsible for the destruction of the throne room and the death of her friends.

"So, you were saying, Lord Hades?" Alicia said. 

"I should be asking you," Hades said coolly. "What do you think you're doing in my compounds?"

In the corner of her eyes, Alicia saw Nico's eyebrows crease together. The man seemed to be getting even more confused by the time.

"Lord Hades, we didn't mean to trespass," Khai said quickly. "We only came here because we needed to meet someone."

Hades quirked an eyebrow. "Who?"

"There's this Cyclops-" Moon began, but Hades immediately interrupted her.

"If you're looking for Cyclopes to help you forge new weapons, I believe you're in the wrong place," he said, turning on his heels to creep back to his throne. The Furies approached them, opening both their clawed, leathery hands as if to ask permission before grabbing their armpits.

"We're not looking for weapons, Lord Hades!" Khai gulped, probably terrified of his own courage to correct a god. "We-we're...looking for this one specific one."

That made Hades pause in his tracks. Slowly, he turned around and fixed his eyes of void at the bespectacled boy. "Speak their name," he said in barely a whisper that Alicia could barely hear him.

"Delta."

It wasn't Khai whom had answered, but Iman. She was being blocked from Alicia's view by a Fury, but Alicia rather thought she saw a flash of Iman's grim expression from the sweaty underside of the Fury's- you know what, Alicia's not going into details.

Hades stroked his chin in a thoughtful way, then turned to his son. "You heard of this Delta before?"

Nico seemed to stiffen. Alicia had to admit, the atmosphere here would be better being hostile than awkward. At least then Alicia would be able to use her bow. 

"Yes, father," Nico replied uncomfortably. "He's one of the members of the uprising Numeros. But they think that he was banished to the Underworld and sentenced to the Fields of Punishment."

Hades snorted. Or so Alicia thought. "There's only one Cyclops that has ever been sentenced to the Fields of Punishment."

Before Alicia could even say, "Now, can we go see him?", Hades snapped his fingers and a Cyclops in an oversized white labcoat appeared in their midst. The Furies hissed at the Cyclops' presence and returned to their positions behind Hades' throne. Hades didn't even seemed fazed that he had summoned a monster into his throne room; he proved this by turning his back completely against them and taking his sweet time to walk to his throne.

"Wh-where am I?" the Cyclops whimpered. His single eye in the middle of where usually two human eyes would have been was brown, and it was flickering to every face present in the throne room. The Cyclops was so terrified he even shook where he stood, and unusually, Alicia felt a pang of sympathy for this poor Cyclops.

"You're in my throne room, Cyclops," Hades said from his throne. The Cyclops whipped around at neck-breaking speed. "And please, answer the guests' questions. They are beginning to annoy me."

Iman stepped forward. "Delta, I think you remember me-"

Apparently, Iman's presence was not welcomed, because he took a good few steps back and looked at her with a fearful eye. "Back away from me! Don't hurt me!"

Iman, on the contrary, appeared hurt. "I won't hurt you, Delta. I promise. We're only here to ask you a couple of questions-"

Delta seemed to calm down at that. His breathing eased, and he closed his eye. 

"Now, uh, let's start with introductions?" Moon tried a smile. "I'm Moon, this is Alicia, Iman, Ali and Khai."

His eye lingered on Iman's for a fraction longer during her introduction, but he quickly looked away. 

"I-I'm sorry for the wreck," he muttered. "It's been a couple years since- since I've been out of the Fields."

Alicia patted the Cyclops' back. She initially wanted to try for the shoulder, but since Delta was about eight feet tall, that was the furthest she could go. 

"Anyway," he breathed, then straightened his back. Alicia couldn't help but notice how much his stomach bounced. "What is it that I can answer, fellow demigods?" When Iman coughed, he quickly added, "And mortal?"

"Since you were part of the Numeros association-" Khai began.

"Cult," Delta corrected.

Khai blinked. "OK...cult, then. We heard you were the forger of their project, Asteri."

Delta grumbled annoyingly, "Too true to that. It was a stupid project, and extremely dangerous! They only gotten the best of me because they threatened my family. And what did they do when they realised I was backing down? Stabbed me in the chest with a Celestial bronze sword!" He rubbed his chest, as if the wound still hurt. "I hate that woman Epsilon."

Iman murmured, "Same."

"Eh, what happened?" Delta asked curiously.

"There'll be time to catch up later," Alicia ordered. She sensed the topic was going off-course, and Hades didn't specify the time he granted for them. Anytime, he could just snap his fingers and their only lead to find the Cocytus part of Asteri would just vanish. "Could you please tell us where the Cocytus part of the Asteri was hidden by you?"

Delta stared at her impassively. "Are you any chance a daughter of Athena?"

Alicia glared back, so Delta dropped the question. 

"Um...well," Delta said nervously, bouncing on the balls of his large feet. "If I'm not mistaken, it was ditched somewhere in Johor-"

"We have to search an entire state?" Ali groaned. He received an elbow in the rib from Alicia by that. She was affectionate that way.

"But you must remember something, right?" Iman asked hopefully.

"Trees," Delta said thoughtfully. "Oh! Now I remember. It's in the oil palm plantation by Jalan Paloh. That should be good enough for you."

From his throne, Hades clapped his hands once. Everyone's attention was instantly snapped to the god of the Underworld.

"I believe it's time to return Delta back to the Fields of Punishment," Hades announced.

"NO!" Delta screamed in protest. "Please! I beg of you! No more opera music!"

"Opera music?" Moon asked, bewildered. Alicia had to admit she felt confused by that too.

Delta turned to them pleadingly. "Before he takes me away, kill me, please."