Mateo slowly woke up to a soft glow in his room, when he looked out the window he saw Apollo glowing, with a smirk on the Sun God's face. He got up and walked to the window, and looked behind it to see the Sun God. He also saw Artemis and Hermes, shaking their heads. He looked back at the imposing god, and smiled sweetly before shutting the curtains. As he walked away to get changed, he heard Hermes laughing and Artemis struggling to contain hers.
When Mateo got changed, and walked out of his fathers temple, he looked over at Apollo. Who had a false innocent smile on his face.
"Really? You couldn't have come in to wake me up? You had to glow through the window?" Mateo asked, tilting his head.
Apollo looked at him with a small smile, "I wanted it to seem like you were still at camp, with the Sun shining through the window. I didn't want you to wake up sad."
Mateo looked down, a small smile on his face. How could he be mad when that was the reasoning? He really wished this didn't warm his heart the way it did. "Thank you, Apollo."
Artemis looked at her brother with worry in her eyes, Hermes shared a similar look while looking at Mateo. "Come on, everyone is waiting. It's a long day of preparations, and talking to your mom." Hermes told the two.
Artemis walked in step with her twin, while Hermes and Percy walked in front of them. "He just got out of a relationship. You do realize that right?"
"Yes I am well aware of Hecate's daughter, and her place in his heart." Apollo said coldly. "But in time I will win his heart in a greater space than she holds now."
"I'll be sure to be watching Brother. Just don't acquire Uncle's wrath." Artemis said, looking straight ahead at Mateo who was walking in front of her.
"I'll be careful, don't worry Sister."
When they entered the throne room, the four tensed. The air was filled with a stiffness and coldness, it was as if the world was waiting for an event to take place. As they got farther into the room, the worse it got on Mateo. He struggled to move his legs through the room. It felt as if he was walking through jello. Zeus watched as Hermes, Apollo, and Artemis took their seats, and flashed in a bean bag for Mateo to sit on if he wanted to.
"Okay, Athena, what is today's schedule for the meeting?" Athena looked over at Mateo then pulled out a pad of paper. Mateo was fully expecting a scroll or pad of lamb skin not paper. His face must have given away his surprise at this aspect of things, as when he looked over at Apollo he was laughing in his direction.
"We have two meetings today actually. One with the minor gods and Diaz to lay out how things will be taking place, and the second being with Diaz alone, to talk about his preparations and the ritual."
Mateo really wished he could just sit out from these meetings, but he understood the importance of them. If he was going to go through this, they wanted him to have full knowledge of what would be happening to him during those moments.
Zeus nodded looking over at his son, "Apollo, who all got the news of our newest member?"
Apollo looked over at his father. "We told all the leaders at camp, and every member of the head council. Rue and Mateo said their goodbyes and then we came back here."
Hera looked at him, "And what of the boy's mother?" She may not like Mateo but Lucia Diaz was still a mom, she deserved to know what was happening to her son.
"We were going to either allow her visits after things are done and settled, or phone calls through the whole process. It is up to Lucia and Mateo."
Mateo looked up, "Are visits even safe? Would my mother be safe visiting.."
Mate didn't say the rest of his questions, but no one needed to hear the last word to know it was 'me'.
Apollo looked down, a grim look spreading throughout his face, "After you are able to control the transformations yes, but before no." Mateo nodded looking down, at least he didn't have to say goodbye to his mother just yet.
"When is the meeting with the minor gods?" Zeus asked, looking over at Athena.
"This evening." He nodded, "Okay let's start the meeting on the preparations, so we can spend the day getting ready before breaking the news to the rest of the world."
Apollo got up and guided Mateo over to the bean bag. If they were going to explain the process to him, it would be best to have him sitting down for the worst of it.
"Okay, so Mat, when we start triggering your ascension, it is going to be painful, there is no way around that. We can't put you to sleep for the simple reason of, when you ascend you will need to be awake, that's how we will know if it worked or not." Mateo nodded, sitting on the blue bean bag.
Dionysus looked over at Mateo with empathetic eyes, "It will burn. I will not lie, it will be like hell. You will want someone to kill you. You may even beg for it, but once the triggering process is over it won't burn as much. However, the burning you felt in the beginning will get worse as you start to ascend. Apollo, he will be there, so will your father, your mom can video chat, but there is no stopping it once it has begun."
He nodded, "What happens after?" Mateo asked, looking at Dionysus then at his father.
"Your powers will get stronger. Powers that were locked away will no longer be of no use to you. Your domains will be decided, and then it's training. Lots and lots of training." Dionysus looked down, "In some ways going through this process is like first finding out about this world. A whole bunch of pain and shock, and then training to control."
Mateo nodded, now he just needed to know how to explain things to his mother so she doesn't flip out over it. He would hate to scare her while he goes through this all.
Apollo flashed some supplies into the room. "These will be your best friends this coming week."
Mateo got up and walked over to Apollo. "Is that a blanket?"
Apollo laughed, nodding to his question. "The blanket is lighter and cooler than a sheet so it won't cause extra pain to your skin. This process can be compared to radiation poisoning." Mateo nodded, a grim look on his face as he took note of all the supplies. There was a blue blanket, a container of Ambrosia and a glass jar full of Nectar. There was a thermometer and an ice pack. The ice pack and thermometer seemed to be displaced amongst the other objects, but Mateo didn't know how to be surprised anymore.
"Okay, what do we have to prepare?" Mateo asked.
"A lot of it we have already done. Preparing the room you are going to use during the worst of it, designing your temple, and getting all the Demi-gods caught up with your ascension; they have already been done or started." Hermes took a glance at Mateo before continuing on with his explanation. "The main thing though, is we will have to close the doors to Olympus, we will still be able to leave and answer prayers, but unless you can flash out you won't be able to leave or inter." He finished answering.
"So, we have to build a temple, inform at least one thousand people of my situation, and close the Olympus doors all before the meeting tonight?" Mateo asked.
"We have already informed the Demi-Gods, and your temple is in the design process now. Closing the doors will be the easy part of it all." Apollo noted, before putting things back into the basket.
"Not we." Poseidon said, looking over at his son.
"So what, I am just supposed to sit back and let everyone else do all the work?" Mateo asked, like this was the worst option out there.
Hermes laughed, "Man I am glad I will never have to say goodbye to that snark of yours!"
Zeus shook his head, "Mateo, you have to mentally and physically prepare yourself, so we will be doing all the labor. You can't ascend this way if you aren't at least mentally prepared for it."
Mateo nodded, "At least let me tell the remaining demi-gods, it would be better. I'd feel better."
Zeus nodded, "Okay, I guess you saying goodbye to more than the council and leaders would be helpful."
Mateo arrived at the school, via Hermes. Chiron met him at the main doors and guided him into the lunch room. Everyone was gathered in the room, Greeks and Romans alike. He was guided him to the center where Dionysus was standing.
"Silence!" Chiron commanded before pointing toward Dionysus.
"Mateo Diaz will be leaving us." Everyone from the school started going crazy.
"What do you mean?" An Aphrodite kid asked.
"Guys!" Rue yelled.
"Thank you, Rue." Dionysus said, "Mateo is here to say goodbye. He is not going off to college or anything. He is-"
Mateo interrupted him. "Dionysus, why are you beating around the bush?" Everyone was now looking at him confused.
"What do you mean Mateo?" Vino asked.
"Vi, I am not just leaving the school, my powers are too strong for a mortal body."
Everyone gasped, and then one by one the questions just kept coming.
"Why?"
"Another war?"
"What do you mean?"
"Guys!" Mateo yelled, his voice strict, everyone stopped and looked at him. "Tomorrow, the Olympians are going to trigger the process for my ascension, I am being turned into a god." Dionysus looked at him amazed until he saw it. Mateo was wearing his war mask, his tone even gave it away. It was obvious if you listened hard enough to his voice. He was in 'leader mode', as he called it. He wasn't letting his emotions through, and just telling facts.
"Are you sure?" Mike asked.
"Yes, it would have happened anyways. My soul isn't all there and my abilities are already burning through my mortality." Mateo saw a younger student with tears in their eyes. "Come here." He told her, holding his hand out.
She came and ran up to him, "Why do you have to leave, Matty?" Mateo hugged her, then wiped her tears the same way Hestia did with him earlier that week.
"I have to, to keep you all safe." He called forward all the younger students and hugged them. Afterwards, he asked Chiron to take them to their rooms so he could talk with the older students. He nodded, then hugged Mateo before guiding the younger students out of the lunch room. "Guys do you know what my name means?" Mateo asked them.
"Gift of god." Rue answered looking at him, confused as to what this had to do with anything.
"If I triggered the ascension without knowing, whoever I was with in that moment would be gone. To keep people from being hurt I chose to have the gods trigger it. It will be like a 'gift from god'. It will be at least 50 years before I will be in total control, over my form and powers. The actual ascension is a painful process. I will be on Olympus through it all. I won't be allowed off. The gods are closing the doors for entry so if you can't flash in or out you can't enter or leave. They are still going to answer prayers and do their jobs but for the next week to month- no one will be able to enter." Mateo explained, looking at everyone.
"Will you be in pain?" An Apollo kid asked. Mateo's mask broke for a second before he covered it back up again.
"Yes, I will be. My blood will be turning into Ichor, and my soul will be burned away as I ascend. My mortality will be fully burned away and my connection to the mortal world will be gone. My powers will increase and the powers I have either started to unlock or haven't unlocked yet will be to my full use. This is the last day I have fully in the mortal world."
Everyone gasped, while a Demeter kid cried out, "That's torture. Why do you have to go through that?"
"It is being spanned out, so if I didn't do it this way all that pain I just described would come all at once, and I could kill hundreds if not thousands of people. That's not counting whoever was looking at me or near me at that moment."
Everyone watched as Mateo and Dionysus flashed out, leaving them behind in the scent of grapes and wine.
"So, the irony huh?" An Ares kid chuckled.
Everyone turned to him and glared. He put his hands up in surrender before walking out of the lunch room.
"Hey Julia?" Annabeth asked. "When his domains are announced, how about we team up and build him a Temple?" She nodded talking with Rue more on it. The other students head off, either through the portal to sister school or to their rooms.
Dionysus flashed him and Mateo back to the Throne Room.
"Does anyone have any paper and envelopes?" He asked as he became steady on his feet again.
"I do?" Hermes said as he handed him about 10 envelopes and some sheets of paper.
"Mateo, what are you going to write with?" Athena asked. Mateo looked down at the collection of paper, before looking over at Hermes.
"Here ya go." The god of thieves said as he handed over a pen.
Mateo wrote letters to mortal friends, his mom and Paul, and one to his sister. For when she was old enough to understand. He wrote one to his dead friends in the underworld, and then he wrote one for his brother Alec. Once he was done he turned back to Hermes, "Can you deliver these to my mom please. I will do the rest so I can say goodbye to them in person." He turned to Poseidon, "Hey Dad, can you give this to Alec?" He asked him before turning for the door.
Mateo met some of his friends at the library. "Hey, these letters will explain everything, but I wanted to say goodbye in person." They nodded, tears in their eyes. "Please don't grieve me, I am not dying. I just won't be around anymore." They nodded, concern lacing their eyes, hugging him one at a time. "Charles, all you have to do is call me and I will come around if I can. It will be a few before I definitely can but I will." He nodded.
"You make it sound like you're being locked up?" Sarah asked.
"What do you mean?" Mateo asked, confused. "I sound totally normal"
"Sarah is right. What's going on Mateo?" Charles yelled.
"Just promise you will read the letter?" Mateo asked with a small smile gracing his face.
"We promise." They both laughed mournfully. They both couldn't shake the feeling they would never see him again.
They hugged him again before Charles left after his sister.
Percy met Max and Aarron outside their house.
"Hey, I am guessing Rue told you?" Mx nodded, turning to Aarron.
"If I may ask, what pronouns today?" Mateo asked Aarron.
"She/Her, and thanks for asking." She said.
"Of course, I would never want to get those wrong." Aarron nodded with her signature smirk.
"Hey, you have to visit when you can!" Max said, pushing Mateo's shoulder.
He laughed, nodding, "Here, these will explain everything." They nodded, Max hugged Percy, while Aarron tried to attack him from his side.
"Hey! Contrary to popular belief I am not invincible, you gremlin." Aarron's face showed no emotion but her eyes told Mateo everything. She was sad to see him go but happy to know he won't be gone for good. And truthfully he won't be leaving anytime soon.
No matter how much Mateo tried to keep Aarron out of the mythical world, she always seemed to get into trouble. She was one that Mateo was convinced knew the truth, but didn't say anything.
"You'll be okay. Promise to read those letters, okay?" Mateo patted Aarron on her head before walking away from the house.
As he walked away, he kept his head down and his pace fast. He really didn't want anyone to see him cry.