"… And Raven being pushed to full godhood does that, how?" Thalia asked this time, having relaxed her stance somewhat as she dismissed her blades.
"The Moon," Percy answered for Phoebe, his gaze shifting to the obscured celestial body.
...
Now with some of the adrenaline fading off, he could distinctly feel the new connection slowly forming to it, barely slipping by his hold of it. It was thanks to Raven's bond to him that she could even do it, but the link was nowhere near complete and he could probably break it with a thought. His gaze shifted back to the Primordial of Fate.
"What does Pontus want with the Moon?"
If he went just by Selena's attempts at getting past his hold and connecting to it, he'd say she was desperate, probably hoping to regain some power now that Artemis was gone. But, going by her presence within bodies of water meaning she was in Pontus' camp now, then her efforts might not just be for her own sake but a bigger play at hand.
"Artemis didn't even scratch the surface of what her lunar domain could do," Phoebe said instead, her own eyes shifting up to where the moon stood still. "Even Selena didn't know much more but Pontus," she paused, her eyes returning to him. "He does and he knows that having the Moon under his control, direct or otherwise, could give him the edge he needs."
"I doubt it'd be enough to help him beat most of us in a straight fight," he returned.
Call him a little cocky, but he knew it was the case for several of them. His own domains, along with Hestia, Thalia, Jason, and Nico all had elements or abilities that greatly impaired the water primordial's combat strategy. Nyx had told him all about Pontus' preferred methods, usually focusing on large, overwhelming scale attacks to take advantage of the unparalleled reserves of a primordial god and simply wear out an opponent.
He was a lot like Gaea had been in that regard. A dangerous long-ranger but limited at close-quarters, something Percy and co specialized in.
"That may be, but giving him more cards to his hand would just mean more destruction and collateral before one of us can finally pin him down and finish it," Phoebe countered sharply, the goddess starting to pace around as the other's watched on. "And a lunar deity is already dangerous enough on their own, worse still if he blesses one and gives them even more power."
"So, you used Raven, putting her at risk of power overload, just to swipe an opportunity?" Rhea cut in, looking distinctly annoyed at the Fate controlling primordial.
"We can't just leave something as powerful as the moon just floating up there, without a god to head it," Phoebe swiftly countered. "And if not Raven, who else? Percy refused to take it when he would have been ideal for it, so why not his daughter then?"
That got some dubious looks from the others, but Percy could see where Phoebe was going with that. He hated to thrust such responsibilities on Raven like that, but at the same time, she had a better chance of fully connecting with the celestial body and having a stronger influence over it because of her bond to him.
It almost made him grit his teeth, but he held back, just barely.
"Fine," he growled out, his eyes pinning the goddess to the spot. "But you better not pull shit like this again. If something important comes up, bring it up in council, am I clear?" he asked, letting some of the pressure of his power bleed out.
"Crystal," Phoebe returned, looking chastised enough along with the other looks she was getting.
Far too many of them here have had to deal with random occurrences of Fate screwing them over to take this lightly.
Nodding curtly, Percy gave Hestia and Rhea a look, before he faded into shadow. In seconds he reformed, this time in the ever-snowing forest of his office. His eyes quickly shifted to where he felt one of his wives and his daughter, his movement swift as he got to them.
He found the pair leaning together against one of the larger trees, surrounded by some of his wolves that had felt his agitation and had shadow-walked here in case they were needed. Raven was curled up in Andy's arms, faintly whimpering as she kept her eyes shut, in clear pain even if the angry glow of her veins had lessened significantly. A wolf or two moved out of the way as he got closer and kneeled down beside the pair, his hand settling on Raven's burning forehead.
"How is she?" he asked his wife softly as he let some of his cold aura saturate his hand.
Raven gave another whimper but this time it was lower, and her shoulders relaxed a little.
"She's not about to combust with power at least," Andy answered, one of her hands rubbing Raven's back. "But she's already starting to get echoes of prayers. That's where most of the pain is actually coming from."
Percy winced in sympathy, knowing what going through that was like.
The body could be trained, broken down and built back up to take all sorts of punishment in the hopes of improving, but the mind was its own beast. Without learning to properly divert the voices of prayers into the subconscious until you could settle down and really focus on them, it was nothing but shrill pain pounding away inside the skull.
"Daddy…"
Percy's attention focused on Raven's face, one of her icy blue eyes trained on him even as she winced.
"… It hurts," she moaned.
"I know," he murmured back, gently taking her from Andy's arms and into his.
He felt Lupa shift in behind him in her wolf form, so he let himself settle back against her warm side as he pulled Raven along, wrapping his wings around her.
"Just focus on what's here and now, okay?" he said gently as she cuddled into his embrace, getting a soft nod from her.
Andy settled herself beside him, her hand now gently trailing through Raven's hair helping the godling relax further.
"We're here baby, and we'll stay as long as you need," she cooed softly.
That seemed to get the young goddess to relax more as the two primordial shared a glance. 'Well, there goes any plan for me,' he mentally noted as he comforted his overwhelmed daughter. Raven was in a similar boat to what Athena is, but it could get worse once she fully connected to the moon.
For now, that meant anything needing his attention on the war effort would have to go to the others since Raven needed him right now. He'd have to help her complete her bond to the moon soon, otherwise her body will be in a constant state of confused limbo reaching out for the bond she'd just started.
A low sigh escaped him as he tightened his grip on his daughter. Regardless, he'd do what was needed to help her through this…
...
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