Demeter
Hades threats did little to quell her simmering anger, but she held her tongue. Hitting her child was not the solution, she was already aware of this.
Thankfully Zeus had the sense that Demeter did not at the moment to lead the Harvest Goddess away from their daughter and brother. While her blue eyes still remained on Hades dark figure, she listened to Zeus's soothing words.
"He's just mad, but you must leave them alone for the rest of the dinner. You will have Persephone back soon enough"
She sighed. "You are correct, but still..." she lifted her hand to run her long fingers through her crimson locks, " to see our child with that Devil even after all these years always makes me feel troubled." Even as she spoke, she could feel her brothers hands kneading into her back in a comforting manner. She did not shy away from his touch, but the sudden feeling of someone watching them made the Goddess take a single step back.
"Darling," Hera's dangerous voice cooed, "I think everyone's arrived. Perhaps we should have everyone seated?" she asked. Demeter took another step back in order to get the full view of Zeus and Hera's mortal forms. In her opinion, they suited one another perfectly. The King and Queen of the Gods were as different as night and day, but their differences are what made their marriage enviable (besides Zeus's countless indiscretions).
Before the Queen left their brothers side, she shot Demeter a look that could have matched Hades in coldness. Message received sister, he's your husband Demeter thought, but did nothing except giving her brother and his wife a brief nod. "I'll go wait in the dining room ." She said quite glumly, gathering long ends of her dress in hand before walking towards the dining hall.
A ripples of goosebumps made their way over Demeter's body when she spotted the final Immortal, and the most important for tonights events. Apollo was chatting with his twin, with no trace of his frightening grimace he had bore in Persephone's shop hours ago.
She could only hope that was a good sign.
Cronus
âI had to come. I've spent the better part of three millennia free to walk upon the surface of Gaia, and I don't want to wonder if today will be the day that someone binds me in chains beneath the earth or chained to the sky once again, and staying hidden it would be a matter of time before you or your son came for those without a side.â
Cronus could hear the bitterness in his nephews voice as he spoke and his own mirrored it. " We've all had our own troubles Atlas. Need I remind you of your brothers trouble with a certain bird devouring his liver?"
The boy, for that was what he would always be to the elder Titan, was not a favorite of Cronus's. He cleared his throat and folded his hands neatly across his lap before speaking to each and every Titan in attendance. "Brothers and sisters," he began, "we have only struck a minor blow to the Olympians. It is true of course that the burning of my granddaughters shop was not the wildest of plans" he shot a look over towards Atlas, as if daring him to speak, but continued before any could get a word in, "this was only the first step of many to overthrow our foes and to once again take our rightful place in the heavens."
Now he stood, though he lifted a hand to signal he wished none of his kin to rise along with him. He began to walk around the table, his hands now clasped behind his back as he paced.
"We require a sacrifice."
"A sacrifice?" Epimethius questioned, not bothering to raise his hand as he blurted out the question.
"An Immortal sacrifice my dear nephew." Cronus smiled at his dimwitted kin, not bothering to scold him for interrupting his speech. "We need to show the Olympians exactly how serious we are. "
A murmur swept across the table and Cronus raised a hand to continue. "The only question is who should be killed first. Clearly the more powerful of the God's is not the wisest of choices," he paused and his wicked smile began to form over his rugged face. "Atlas." He called out, staring directly with his beady eyes at the only standing Titan in his presence. "Who do you think should be the first to die, nephew?"