Zeus’s words caused everyone to quiet down and watch for his next move. It was Hermes; however, that stood and moved to the center of the room in front of where I was positioned and began to speak. “We are at war my friends, and we must realize this fact before we can move forward with this case. Hades is not with us today because he has chosen to betray us and is now fighting alongside the Titans against us. It is for this reason that we are here, for this human aided them and freed Cronus who is now preparing to free the others and wage war against our power. This human who sits before us has committed a crime against us once before. He was accused of stealing Apollo’s wreath no more than a few days ago, and here he sits, after freeing our enemy Cronus, alive and well. That should change and I will leave it to you as to how.” Hermes paused to ponder how to continue, giving Hera enough time to stand and intervene.

“Don’t let Hermes’s emotions deceive him, for he is leaving out very key details of this story. The allegations of this human stealing Apollo’s wreath were already dropped after investigation so we will not persecuting him for these reasons today, and furthermore, Hermes’s has chosen to leave out the fact that Cronus was released when this human used his powers to revive Hermes after being stabbed to death by Hades. From Catarsus’s report, it is said that your heart had stopped, yet he was still able to bring you back today. We have no records of any power like this human’s so there was no way we could have predicted what would happen, so keep these thoughts in mind.” Hera sat and watched as Hermes continued as if she hadn’t even spoke.

“After freeing Cronus, he continued to then fight and defeat Cronus using this power, but he didn’t stop there. After Cronus was unconscious, I moved forward to speak with the human, only to have him blindly attack me in place of Cronus. If it weren’t for Catarsus stopping him, this monster would still be free, or worse, in the hands of Hades. We have defeated the Titans before and we can do it again, but if we resort to relying on his destructive, uncontrollable power, we will digging our own graves. So my friends, I ask of you this: will we destroy this power and prepare ourselves for war? Or will we let this human continue to make a mockery of the pride of the gods.” Hermes moved back to his seat with a triumphant smirk across his face as he watched the other gods start to voice their agreement with him. It was Thanatos who stood and spoke.

“What are we waiting for? Kill the human and ready your weapons, we have a war to win!” I help a lump form in my throat as I understood now that this was where I would die. As I lowered my head in defeat, I heard the one person speak I didn’t want to hear.

“How can you all be so arrogant? Do you not remember that we barely survived the Titanomachy? Now the Titans are stronger, more prepared, and have Hades, Phtonus, and even Gaia herself on their side, so we need help if we are to survive again. Justin has shown he has the power to stand up to gods, so will we really let the “Pride of the Gods” stop us from accepting help when we truly need it? I have watched Justin put his life on the life for someone he barely knew and I know he wouldn’t let us down if we asked for his help, so I say we fight the Titans with everything we’ve got. And everything we’ve got includes him.” Cat watched as some of the other gods started to actually listen and consider what she said, but it was Hermes that spoke up as his eyes narrowed on to her.

“How do you know Phtonus is working with the Titans? There was no report of this, so how do you know that’s true?”

“Phtonus came to speak with me the day before yesterday and…” Cat paused to choose her words wisely as she remember him saying I would be the death of her. “And warned me that I was in danger.” Hermes stood once again as he saw an opportunity arise.

“Quite peculiar how one of our enemies just happened to visit and warn you of danger. That doesn’t seem like something you would do for an enemy and it makes me wonder if there is another traitor among us.” The crowd fed off this as others started voicing their agreements. It was Artemis who stood next, slamming her fist in to the table causing the court to go silent as she began.

“How dare you accuse my daughter of treason you overgrown mailman-” Artemis was cut off by another god yelling from the back.

“Kill the human and the girl, kill them both and prepare for war!” The crowd was now a frenzy of fear and excitement towards the war that they were willing to accept anything, but before Artemis could reply, Hermes continued.

“You have spent so much time with this human, it’s only fitting that you would stoop to his level and betray. You must have also slept with him while you were at it, am I right? Filthy whore-” Hermes was cut off by the sound of metal scratching against metal. Everyones eyes refocused on the center of the room as they watched in amazement as the metal pole holding me in place started to bend forward while my arm glowed a bright yellow.

“I’ll kill you.” It came out as barely an audible whisper, but Hermes heard it non the less.

“What did you say to me, you impudent human. Do you not understand the situation you’re in? You and your whore of a girlfriend will die here-” He was cut off by my voice as I yelled back.

“Speak badly on Cat one more time, and I’ll tear you apart, limb from limb.” I pulled forward one more time, causing the pole to bend a little more, before I felt a sudden pain wash across my face as I was kicked roughly. Dazed and confused, I looked up to see none other then Apollo standing above me.

“Do it then.” He said this before reeling back and unleashing a barrage of blows across my face and exposed upper body. The crowd watched silently as Apollo mercilessly attacked me with an almost lackadaisical expression upon his face. After about a minute, it was Poseidon who held back Apollo’s arm, allowing my body to fall forward against my restraints.

“He’s passed out Apollo, you’ve done enough.” Poseidon let go of Apollo’s arm, and Apollo sighed before walking back to his seat, feeling let down by the outcome of events. Before Apollo could reach his seat; however, there was a voice behind him that rose up.

“Is that all?” Apollo looked back astonished to see me, bloodied and breathing heavily, but staring back at him. “You all are scared of the Titans, and of me……so you want an excuse for why you’ll lose, but I won’t sit here and let you talk badly of the one person who cared about me. So continue to hit me, hit me as much as you want because I will take it all, but if you try to hurt her, I will kill you all.” I leaned forward again, coughing loudly as more blood came out. Hermes saw this as an opening and moved forward quickly, but Cat moved as well and met him before me, holding his dagger in place with her bow. Before they could continue, Zeus stood and began to speak, causing them both to stop and step back.

“You really would die for Catarsus…Cat wouldn’t you?” I was too tired to look up again so I simply nodded my head, allowing him to continue. “So if Cat were to fight against the Titans, you would fight alongside her?” He took my silence as a yes as he turned to the rest of the gods. “The enemy of my enemy is my friend. This saying is very important in our decision here, for if we do not kill him, this human will in turn side with the Titans. But I see another option for us to take. He very clearly agreed that he would help Cat fight the Titans, so I no longer see a problem anymore. Cat?” He turned to Cat who nodded. “Will you fight for the sake of the gods?”

“Of course I will…..no WE will.” With these words, Cat moved over to my side and helped me sit back against the pole and started to assess the damage Apollo had done. Zeus moved forward into the center called a lightning bolt down from the clouds that landed softly in his hands in the shape of a spear.

“Then I see no reason for us to stay in this meeting. The human Justin is officially a protected member of the gods and any who dare try to harm him will feel my wrath. My friends family…..we are at war.” With these last words, Zeus threw his spear high in to the air, causing it spread out across the sky, signifying the start of the war. Catarsus undid my restraints, but let me stay seated while she moved back to Zeus.

“My lord, where will he stay then?” Cat asked, worried about my well-being, to which Zeus responded with a light smile.

“I’m sure you had a place in mind for him, just make sure he is ready for what is to come.” With that said, the gods slowly dispersed and once most were gone, I started to stand, only to be helped up by Apollo.

“Thank you for reacting the way you did. I was worried you weren’t able to handle it for a moment, but you played it brilliantly.” I sigh upon hearing this leave his lips before responding.

“You are the devil you know that? I wish you had warned me at least.”

“If I had warned you then it wouldn’t have looked realistic. The reason the gods reacted is because of your spirit Justin, you stared a god in the eyes and didn’t falter, and that isn’t something anyone can do.” At this point, I stood on my own feet and nodded.

“Well…thank you for helping…..but I’m tired and my head hurts so I really want to lie down.” Right on queue, Cat sprinted by, taking my hand and leading me away from the courtroom to a tree where Lukos lay. Quickly climbing aboard, Lukos moved towards the edge of the cloud city where a single, rather large house resided. As Lukos landed in front of the front steps, Cat exclaimed happily with a slight blush.

“Welcome home Justin.”

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