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It was a dim and miserable day in Tartarus. So, about the average. Koios still thinks this is the closest he’s had to a good day since the Second Titanomachy, though, as his biggest pains and the biggest pair of idiots he knows, otherwise known as his brothers, are engaged with other things. And by that he means engaged somewhere he doesn’t have to interact with them. Idly after popping a hellhound he didn’t like the look of, he continued on in his endless trek through the cursed place. Until he tripped over something.
Swearing, and quickly killing every monster who had seen his fall, Koios looked down at what he had tripped on. Books? Mortal books? Rolling his eyes, he picked them up to examine them. Ridiculous and idiotic as the mortals were, anything was better than interacting with his brothers. Then he read the titles.
“Which one of you was it?”
Krios and Hyperion both looked up at Koios’s cold demand, as he dropped the books down at their feet.
“Which one of you got distracted by having a child with a mortal when you were supposed to be fighting our war, and then got mortal parenting books?!”
Both of his stupidest brothers immediately began filling the air with their pointless lying denials. Acting as if Koios was as foolish as the two of them. Right. This time he’d start with their legs for breaking, then get to their tongues later once he got the truth out of whichever one couldn’t help himself.
Then a familiar presence got all three of their attentions. ‘Oh. Those were mine. Just more broken dreams.’
Koios raised his eyes towards the shadowy roof of the Pit, in a futile attempt to get patience from the idiot he called his king. “And why exactly were you getting mortal parenting books? Explain, in words Krios will understand.”
‘Part of my agreement with Oceanus. He wanted me to “prove I was at least putting an effort towards parenting”. So he would go to war and help clear the way for my heir.’
“Your HEIR?!”
Koios resolutely ignored that he had shouted that at the same time as his brothers. “If you have an heir, then who, by our mother’s name, is it?! And why were we not informed?”
‘Divine heir. Meant to inherit my domain. I didn’t inform you because by the time Hyperion and Krios were out of Tartarus, it would have been a distraction. Plan B would have gone into effect after destroying the Olympians’ thrones.’
Kronos’s disembodied thought rumblings sounded almost wistful. Which wasn’t an emotion Koios had ever heard from him. Or liked to hear from him. “You still haven’t answered my question. And I know you heard it, you don’t cover your ears with your horns the way Krios does.”
“Hey!”
The Titans ignored Krios with millennia-long practice.
‘My heir was Perseus Jackson, of course.’
“NO!”
Now it was Hyperion, jumping up and waving his arms. “I refuse! Absolutely not! NO! I AM NOT DEALING WITH THAT UPSTART FOR THE REST OF ETERNITY! NO!”
‘Koios, cut Hyperion’s tongue out if he shouts again. As I was saying, plan B was to disintegrate his mortal body and force his ascension when I regained my full body, and use his vulnerability to capture him. Spend a century or two working on him and coaxing him to see things our way. We never did get to have a proper talk uninterrupted.’
Koios rubbed his face with one hand, the other preoccupied with holding an arrow up to Hyperion’s mouth to keep him from screaming more. “You didn’t even bother trying to recruit him. You tried to drag him down here, and sent him nightmares. Exactly what was your idiotic plan A?!”
‘Eavesdropping on private conversations is rude. The boy needed to be disciplined for that. A few nightmares just to scare him straight. He couldn’t be a proper heir if he was just sticking his nose into everything.’
Krios was nodding now, as if he had a thought between those rams’ horns. Koios couldn’t help but nod, seeing his king’s logic. “It’s important to instill proper respect in your children. Out of the lot of you, Iapetus was the only one any good at it.”
‘Being down here would’ve been good for him. Boost his divinity, put some hair on his chest. And he would’ve gotten a proper education with you and I to teach him.’
Koios wished his youngest brother had a face he could stare disbelieving at. “You wanted me to teach him. It may be impossible for him to be as bad as Krios, but that doesn’t mean he has any brains.”
‘Do you really think MY heir would be a fool? Oh, you would have enjoyed teaching him, Koios. Clever and tricky, he is, always at ease with using deception in battle. And quick to turn things to his advantage, as well. And Iapetus could have trained him in martial matters. Oh, I had so many plans…’
Koios didn’t sigh. Or groan. He was the Titan of Intelligence. He was above such matters. “And yet you tried to have him killed.”
‘I did no such thing. I could not control every single poor decision my future host made. I told him to leave the boy alone or attempt to recruit him, but no, he just had to try and murder him repeatedly. It’s why I ordered him left alone by our forces during his school year. Mortal education may have been disgustingly paltry for my heir, but without direct access to us, he needed something. Leaving him uneducated would have been an insult to both him and myself.’
Koios stared down at the books. “And he was why you decided to move when you did?”
‘Of course. Once he ascends, it’ll be his domain, not mine anymore. So I needed to either get the war with the gods over with first or train him up. He was also the ideal host. Hosting me would have boosted his power and divinity even faster. I even had a bride picked out for him. Atlas’s most loyal daughter was fond of him. A dutiful bride for him, a reward for her continuing loyalty for her. And it isn’t as if any attempts to kill him would have succeeded. Fate ordains he will ascend, therefore he cannot die before it happens. But no. Castellan had to be a complete fool and toss away his most valuable potential ally with a tantrum. Now I float here with my broken dreams.’
Hyperion pushed the arrow away, and as he seemed somewhat calm, Koios didn’t stab him in the tongue when he opened his mouth. “Why did you push so hard on Zeus’s daughter, then? Atlas could have captured the boy and we would have had him.”
‘First, because there was the possibility of her being the child of prophecy, though my heir was more likely. And second, because I couldn’t let on to his importance to the Olympians. If those foolish children had had any idea of his destiny, we would never have had a chance. They would have either imprisoned him where we couldn’t reach him or forced him to ascend to steal my power before it was time. But alas. It all went to failure.’
Koios stared out at the expanse of the Pit. Knowing that Perseus’s ascension would mean the end of Kronos, and the end of any chance of Titan rule again. “Fuck.”
And so passed another day in Tartarus. A shit day, to tell the truth.