Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

They had been traveling for days. Perseus even longer, as he had been in his kingdom Mycena and had to take another two days' journey just to Kheiron’s training camp. He was beginning to hate prophecies more than he hated Medusa. 

Persues didn’t mind his brother or cousin, not truly, he mused. 

While Heracles could be full of himself and believed he was the optimality of a perfect Demigod hero, he had grown up training side by side with him under Kheiron's tutelage. He was the one that had taught the boy how to use his powers from Zeus, so while he wasn’t proud of all of his younger brother’s decisions he would stand by the man.

Theseus on the other hand… the children of Poseidon were always strange. More than a few times had Perseus seen his cousin’s mood change as quickly as the seas, from cheerful laughter that seemed to bounce around the training field to a focused rage as he ripped training dummies apart as if they were little more than parchment to his mighty sword. So, he was a little weary of all children of his uncle but if he had to choose one to go on a quest with, he knew Theseus would back the sons of Zeus in a fight.

Even then, with this knowledge of the prophecy, quest, and backing of the gods, he still thought it was rather foolish to have three boys heading to Ephesus to find the grand temple of Artemis. Surely one of Persues’ of Theseus’ sisters would have been a better option to bring to the maiden goddess temple.

 He absently wondered if this would be the quest that didn’t let him return to Andromeda. He was a king, he thought sourly, surely that meant Zeus shouldn’t call on him anymore. He had left his two sons Perses and Alcaeus to watch over their heavily pregnant mother as well as the kingdom. Though, the task was more to give his young sons something to focus on than wonder and worry if he would be returning home to them.

He shook his head, trying to dispel that thought. He knew between his wife and his trusted advisors his kingdom was in good hands, he had prayed to Hermes and Poseidon for a safe voyage to and from the quest, and done his customary prayer to his father Zeus. He briefly wondered if once he got to the temple he should pray to Lady Artemis, while she mostly watched over maidens she was, he remembered, also the goddess of childbirth. While his wife had already given him two sons, everyone knew births are one of the most dangerous things a woman can go through. He had lost many half-sisters to it, as well as lost many of his kingdom’s people. To bring life, he mused, was the most divine thing he could think of. 

Maybe, he mused tapping his leg against Pegasus, we should make a memorial for the women lost bringing life to their kingdom. Of course, then he also should commission a temple of Artemis somewhere in the kingdom. It would honor his half-sister, bring safety to the women, and would give them favor from the sun god. 

But he was not in his kingdom. Instead of being in his kingdom by his family, he was here.

Here he was, on horseback towards the temple. Well- Pegasus’ back, his pure white winged horse would have made this trip quicker if he could have done it alone. His brother and cousin did not have a way to make it to the temple as fast though, forcing this journey to take much longer than he found acceptable. The journey had already taken seven days and they were still not at their location. From the base of Dirfi to the shore, Theseus was able to find them a ship to sail across the archipelago, face stone cold whenever he heard the whispers of its new name the Aegean Sea. A storm had blown in, and even with two sons of Zeus and a son of Poseidon on board, they had to turn and dock at Chios. From Cyssus they had another two-day journey before reaching the temple of Artemis outside of Ephesus.

Perseus had to hope his message bird had made it before him, as he had not had time to stop and wait for a reply. He would have preferred to wait knowing the implication of a foreign king coming to another kingdom could look like.

That, mused Perseus, was when Heracles had started to taunt Theseus, as they were attacked even with the child of the sea god on their ship. He could hear the taunts from his brother in the back of his head, having gone so far as to question the man’s parentage. For a demigod, he thought, his brother was being awfully unwise, every demigod- nay- every Greek knew how Poseidon defended his children. 

“I have asked my brother, Orion, to ask Lady Artemis for leniency while we enter her temple.” Theseus spoke suddenly, kicking his horse forward to take his place between the sons of Zeus, “While my brother is young, he already has the favor of Lady Artemis for his hunting skills.”

“Then should he have not been the one on this quest?” Heracles demanded, voice coming out harsh and snide.

He couldn’t help but give his brother a look, “Orion is still but a child, only nearing twelve summers, that, with his skills, is the reason our godly sister favors him.”

Heracles squinted as he tried to recall which brother Theseus.

“He is the other royal, the prince of Crete?” he asked after a long moment of silence. “Surely a young boy such as him, let alone a child of Posiedon, is not a good enough shot for the Lady’s attention. For not even I have received such favor and I’ve shot great beasts for the gods.”

Even then, with this knowledge of the prophecy, quest, and backing of the gods, he still thought it was rather foolish to have three boys heading to Ephesus to find the grand temple of Artemis. Surely one of Persues’ of Theseus’ sisters would have been a better option to bring to the maiden goddess temple.

Theseus grunted, a flash of annoyance flickering on his face, leaving just as fast as it came.

He glanced between his brother and cousin for a moment, taking in Theseus’ pinched expression, sea-green eyes stormy while Heracles shrugged as if he didn’t understand how insulting it was for him to dismiss his cousin and the other children of Poseidon as he did let alone a princeling. 

“We must find a place to rest for the night,” he decided, “We will not reach Artemisium for another night, we will need our strength for when this quest truly begins.”

Heracles opened his mouth to argue, well aware there was still some sunlight left in the day, but with a stern glare he bowed his head with gritted teeth.

“Heracles can hunt us for dinner as we set up camp.”

Theseus sneered bitterly, “Yes, a meal by the great hunter.”

Before Heracles could retaliate, Perseus urged his horse forward, standing between the two heroes staring his brother down until he turned and galloped away. 

His cousin waited exactly for a beat to pass before announcing dryly, “Your brother is an ass.” 

He let out a loud groan from between his teeth wondering what his wife and kingdom were doing and if the weather was just as cloudy there as it was here, “Could you just get some firewood?” 

Thesus shot him a smug smile like he had won because I had not defended Heracles. They both slid off their saddles, leaving the horses loose. While he didn’t know anything about Theseus' brown horse, he knew Pegasus would come back if he wandered as long as Perseus called for him.

He watched his cousin retreat, throwing his head to the side to speak to his horse for a moment before heading into the underbrush. Perseus couldn’t help but glance at Pegasus and the horse standing next to the white stallion, wondering briefly what they thought of all this. He stared at them for a brief moment wondering if at the end of the quest he should ask the son of Poseidon if the mighty horse needed anything.  

Shaking his head he crouched down to dig a small shallow pit- they did not need to accidentally start a fire on top of all this tension. It was as he moved to grab his traveling pack from Pegasus that he heard a loud shout and curse come from the woods. He turned quickly, grasping his sword and tensing, eyes darting trying to see through the shadows as dusk started to set in. Then the shouting started. He closed his eyes and bowed his head, nearly dropping his sword into the dirt, when he realized he recognized the voices.

“By the fates, why?” he groaned, fastening his sword back into place.

He raised his eyes to the sky, “This is punishment isn’t it?” he questioned, watching the streak of lightning arch in the clouds, “For telling my boys I missed quests.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was a good day, she thought, the shadowed darkness of Greek tragedy wasn't in any of her siblings' eyes. Instead, they danced with light as they laughed around the campfire, passing around marshmallows and tossing chocolate and graham crackers with ease. It was an unexpected but happy change to the anniversary. 

The second gigantomachy anniversary always brought strong reactions from the group. From the deaths and destruction caused by the war to the scars both physical and mental, the day had been marked forever as a day for mourning. That is also without mentioning what happened after that fated trip to Greece.

For her blood brother, the only thing worse than that was the death of their mortal parents. She could still vividly remember the heartbreak, she was still mortal then and had no way of knowing how her brother’s devastation would affect everything. She remembered the earth shaking under her feet, the ocean waves rolling and growing larger and larger with each second, and the thick blanketing smell of ozone that consumed the city. 

That was when the others found out, and humanity still did not know that one of the worst storms to hit New York in hundreds of years was caused by three newly ascended gods, trying to deal with grief.

Shaking herself out of the depressing thought, her eyes sparkled as she met the amused eyes of her sister in everything but blood, bringing a cup up in mock cheers. At the same time, her brother pushed the god of shadows over, smearing half-toasted marshmallow onto his black hoodie as the god of temples pushed him away, fingers sparking with blue electricity to tease the younger god fondly. The laughter grew louder around the campfire, and she couldn't help but thank the fates. Surely this was a good sign that this coming year would be good.

It was peaceful, the boys laughing and jeering at each other. The moon was high in the sky, with no clouds in sight, as the huntress constellation made its way across the heavens. 

It was then that she realized the darkness encroaching on her vision was not night nor the god of shadows, but her vision turning dark and cloudy. She opened her mouth to shout, blinking rapidly against her fading vision and the fuzziness that was consuming her mind but everything went black.

It was almost unconscious. It was pitch black in each direction she looked, and though she could move there was no direction to go in. There was a suffocating burning silence that even her labored breathing didn’t help.

“Hello!” she shouted, but her voice was halted, the sound dying as it left her lips. 

And she blinked.

She couldn’t even begin to describe what happened next. 

The light that filled her vision was blinding, for about half a second, then there was an explosion of color. There was a rush of something, leaving her skin feeling as if someone had draped something that was just barely touching her, creating a bubble around her being. The lights that had blinded her shone brightly against the darkness before each split, blue and green into six pieces, the pulsing purple into four, and the light yellow into two. She blinked harshly against the dots dancing in her vision from the change in lighting. Barely seeing that it wasn’t a ball of light shooting away from shining items, though she couldn’t make them out at the speed she was traveling at.

It took her several long moments to realize she was falling, and instinct took in, even with the thought of knowing this fall should kill her, she tucked herself in to go into a roll to break it. 

She did not die. She landed with a roll, jumping up and grabbing her bow, and notching an arrow with a single practiced movement. Her eyes were wide as she looked around. Trees surrounded a grassy plane, parting for a lone dirt path on the far left of her vision. In a second a blur of silver struck the earth a few feet away from her, before her lieutenant sprung up on quick feet, electricity dancing around her form as her mouth pulled back into a wolf's sneer.  

“Whe-”

“MOVE!” she yelled, running forward just as a defining boom echoed behind them. 

Dirt, grass, and stone flew up behind them. Right as she turned to look at what had happened she realized.

The boys were falling, one by one, and unlike her and the lieutenant they were not prepared for the landing, but instead heading down head first like a dive or missile. Their divine bodies become meteors to the earth's surface. 

They backed up, watching as they fell, until all four lay in craters, steam, and smoke heading towards the heavens. But the boys did not move, they did not stumble from scared earth, nor make a sound. 

She didn’t think, moving to slide down the crater her brother made, hands shaking to make sure he was okay. 

He had no injury she could see, no bruise or cut, but his face was slack in sleep and he did not move when she called for him nor when she shook him. As she watched the steady rise and fall of her divine brother’s chest, a panic she hadn’t felt in decades began to settle in. She felt the bubble settle large and heavy in her chest. Her muscles tensed to an uncomfortable degree as her chest heaved, her lungs feeling as if they were being compressed.

Tears had just sprung to her eyes when the lieutenant called to her, her blue eyes sharp and demanding. 

“We need to move them,” her voice came out commanding but anyone who knew her could hear the choked suppressed fear in it.

While being huntress of Artemis’ they were nothing if not strong, it was still awkward for a physically fifteen-year-old and a nineteen-year-old to carry four men across a clearing. They took breaks in between, heaving slightly, as they placed each boy in the temple.

 It was more discouraging for each one they dragged into the temple, for she knew the ride was not smooth, yet none of the boys reacted.

She tried to not let it bother her, but it made her nervous and uneasy. Her brother was always overprotective of his family, and once she had been born he would come to her side if she so much as sighed. To have him completely unresponsive, for him to not come when she called… Even with her sister lieutenant next to her, she suddenly felt very very small, and very very alone. 

It was only as they placed the last boy down that she glanced up to see her surroundings. It was one of the largest temples she had ever seen, it was nearly the size of a football field and was one of the most beautiful things she had seen. Carved in ivory were depictions of griffins and sacred trees, amber was set into some of the stone in the domed ceiling. There were double rows of peripheral columns some forty feet high that formed a wide passage to the altar and cella. Each column, she realized, was carved into beautiful images, and as she gazed at them she realized.

“We are in Lady Artemis’ temple,” the lieutenant spoke softly in respect, a fingertip light going along the smooth surface depicting the birth of the divine twins. 

“My brother has not made a temple for our lady yet,” she continued, “The only other one I know is the one that was in the ancient lands.” 

A shot of fear hit her at those words, the hair on her neck stood up as tremors shook her. She had only heard stories, and while she knew the boys had come back to the ancient lands before, somehow this felt wrong. Something was wrong. 

“By the fates, why?” she demanded, her tone harsher than she had intended. 

She realized that was the off feeling. The way the air smelt crisp, the way her lungs did not protest against the pollution that she had grown up around. The brightness of the earth and how everything looked… so young and new.

“You do not understand,” she was sparking, the smell of ozone filled the empty temple, “This temple for Artemis has been gone for thousands of years, I had only heard brief descriptions of it in passing, the only thing left of it is a few marble columns and a single statue of our lady. Only some truly strong sorceress could pull something like this off, to put gods to sleep and cast the mist or enchantment on the hunters of Artemis. Our Lady gives us protection against such illusions. ” 

“Are- Thalia, are you saying we’re in the past?”

Her electric blue eyes showed a storm, though her face was set into hard lines and unwavering focus, her eyes held a storm of fear and uncertainty. She opened her mouth to answer, gaping for half a second before shaking her head.

“That’s impossible.” She settled on “For now, see if you can find water, I’ll watch the boys.”

Chapter Text

      Theseus knew he was the youngest out of the heroes, at only just reaching eighteen summers. Heracles was nearly three years his senior and Perseus was almost double his age at thirty-five summers. He knew he hadn’t done nearly as many quests or deeds as his cousins and his experience was lacking but he didn’t think that gave his cousin the right to mock him.

     He had only recently traveled across the land and faced the brigands, four of which were his half-siblings! Which was a great way to meet family! Even if a few had been blessed by Hephaestus, it was a great way to remember that while his father was known for seas, storms, earthquakes, horses he was also the father of monsters.

     It had been hard enough to learn that his mother Aethra wasn’t even his birth mother. To find instead he was unrelated to her and was born of an affair between Poseidon and King Aegus instead. He had only to have been given to Aethra to nurse and protect till the civil unrest in their kingdom was through. It was all a bit much. He desperately wanted to not think of weird cryptid words about the sea not being restrained by words or forms, he did not want to know how he was conceived or born.  

      He wasn’t even sure he should be here, he hadn’t even been given a prophecy for his first journey. Technically, he thought, he doesn’t count as a hero, even if everyone says otherwise. He had only really gone on a journey to his father’s kingdom. He definitely didn’t think he would count for this one, not as the very first line of the prophecy Perseus got was Three heroes of the eldest gods.  

      “Lord,” Theseus glanced by from the flame he had been smothering, meeting the dark eyes of the Dhruv horse gifted to him via his godly parent, the stead shifted bowing its head before flicking it towards the back of Heracles, “I can trample him?” 

      He couldn’t help the grin that stretched across his face. Standing to make his way to his good friend, patting his snout he leaned in to whisper, “No trampling on a quest,” he muttered, “But some… difficulties wouldn’t be amiss.” 

       “Theseus,” his eldest cousin called, pulling himself onto his Pegasus- technically another brother of his- he tried not to think of that, “We have half a day's travel before we are in Ephesus, the temple is not far after that.” 

       He nodded before pulling himself up and onto his stead just as Heracles reared back and toppled him off. Theseus snorted, patting at his loyal steads head before having him trot forward, passing Heracles’ cursing form to take pace closer to his oldest cousin. Heracles was in the dirt, his curly dark hair covering his eyes, and dark scowl giving away anything he was trying to school or hide. 

      “Come now, cousin,” he laughed lightly in jest, “surely the great Hera-cles can tame a horse.” he pronounced slowly, lip twitching as he saw his cousin’s glare and the way his shoulder tensed, blue eyes darting up to watch the skies.

       The horses snickered, Pegasus throwing his head back as he laughed uproariously, taking a moment to gently headbutt Theseus' side. 

       “Serves him right.” Dhruv trotted, allowing them to take the lead. 

       Theseus almost felt guilty when he saw the look on Perseus' face, the long suffering frown of disappointment almost made him flinch. Yet, when he thought back to the comments Heracles had made about his half-siblings, Theseus straightened his back meeting the king's eyes head on.

       Heracles got up, reaching for his sword as he stalked forward. 

      “Enough!” Perseus snapped, turning away from his gaze, locking his blue eyes onto his brother’s, “We are heroes, and-”

       “That boy is barely a hero, he’s nothing but a child!” Heracles exclaimed, “I could have done this journey on my own, it would have been faster too, without us having to stop because the son of the sea god is mediocre at controlling his power.”

       His chest tightened, and he felt Dhruv tense turning to face his fellow demigod. He jumped off his stead, feeling the ground ripple underneath his feet as he did so.

      In a second Perseus was off his Pegasus, standing between the two, sword pointed at his brother while he held Aegis pointed towards Theseus. He turned his head away, unwilling to see the shields engraving. While Heracles made to side-step his brother’s sword. The ground slowly came to a crawl, low rumbling stopping, after he was shot another look.

     “You will get on your horses, and you will not speak,” Perseus said through clenched teeth, “If you delay this quest or cause any sort of tragedy, I will personally throw you to the gods to judge.”

       For a long moment it was silent between the three, before Heracles tried to lunge around the sword, only to have his feet swept out from under him and the sword pressed close to his throat.

      “I will swear it on styx if you do not believe me.” Perseus said conversationally, staring at his younger brother challenging.

      They stared at each other in silence before Heracles bowed his head with a scowl. Nodding to himself, Perseus sheathed his sword, and held out his hand to help Heracles up. Scoffing at the gesture, Heracles rolled back slightly before pushing himself up, walking past Perseus silently. 

      They did not talk the rest of the journey. Even the horses were unusually silent. 

       It wasn’t long in the tense silence that their road met with its counterpart and soon turned into a steady stream of people as they got to Ephesus. Theseus told Dhruv to hold back, allowing himself to study the large port city. Taking in the white stone and blinking rapidly when he noticed that encrypted on the marble pillars leading into the city were familiar symbols. Dhruv trotted closer allowing him to peer at the trident and waves that circled the column. 

      “A son of Poseidon, Androcles and the Amazon Queen, Ephos, built the city,” Perseus suddenly spoke, having noticed the youngest confusion. “His descendants still rule these lands.”

      That would make sense wouldn’t it, he thought, eyes trailing towards the horizon, a child of Poseidon to calm the seas. Yet he couldn’t help but feel conflicted at the news, he knew both Athens and Mycenae had some trade agreements with the Ephesus but…

      “Periphetes, Sciron, Cercyon, and Procrustes were all children of Poseidon,” he informed the older man, “The only siblings I have met and not had to kill have been with Master Kheiron.”

        Perseus sighed sadly, “The children of gods,” he settled on after a moment, “have the great burden of choice. They can either bring great honor and protection into the world or great cruelty and discord.”

        His blue eyes were soft and almost pitting as he gazed at him, “You will face siblings on the field, siblings that have lost themselves. Some will stand by your side steadfast and ready, others will wish Uncle had never sired you.”

        “How do I tell which ones are on my side?” 

        Perseus' lips thinned as he turned his eyes away, staring at the great city before them. 

        “Are you coming!” Heracles yelled.

       Heracles' horse shifted under him uncomfortably, and Theseus could see both the man and horse's hair was beginning to rise and he knew if he got too close a small shock of lightning would await him. The older son of Zeus shook his head, his dark hair fanning onto his shoulders in the motion.

       Jerking his head towards his brother before letting Pegasus gallop after the wayward hero. 

       Theseus took one more moment to lay his hand on his father’s symbol, silently begging that this new family will be better than the others. 

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        Day turned to night and made Thalia increasingly more agitated and worried, though she would not allow that to show. She didn’t want to worry her fellow huntress but she knew it was starting to show in her actions. She had prayed, more than once, to her Lady-sister Artemis. Hades, she had prayed to her father Zeus, brother Apollo, Uncles and anyone else she could think of that would-should be willing to help. 

        But nothing, no word had come nor the glow of worried gods. Poseidon nor his wife came barreling in, face unable to hide the worry he had always held for the youngest sea royal. Hades nor Persphone didn’t bleed in from the shadows to peer at the god of shadows as they had taken to do when he had overworked himself. None of their godly siblings came, Triton and Rhodes didn’t come to stand guard over their fallen brother, not Plutus or Zagreus to hide their brother in the shadows he so adored. Not even Apollo came. Which, Thalia thought to herself, was the most worrying. Her godly half-brother was even more likely to break any rule than Poseidon when it came to his family and here she sat with one of his sons and his beloved husband. 

        No one came. Which scared her the most. 

         None of the four boys awoke. She had even poured water on them and gave them each a small zap- but they slumbered on. Idle, she played with the bit of ambrosia she always carried with her, wondering if it would be better to save or see if it helped the boy's conditions. 

        She might have been fine with it, she thought as she crouched over her brother, but they made no sound and other than the rise and fall of their chest they appeared little more than corpses. They laid in the exact same position they put them in, laying perfectly still, no twitching or snoring. 

                                                                               Just

                                                                         Completely

                                                                              Still

          Something that none of the boys had ever achieved. While they were immortal and divine it did not take over their upbringing as demigods- it did not make them any less ADHD. They were constantly moving. Even as gods the four boys would fidget and tap and sway. Asleep they were no better, rolling and shaking and mumbling. 

        Stop thinking about it, she told herself firmly.

       They had enough water to last them until tomorrow and the hares she had caught early would have to last them until then. 

        She had dragged the boys into a corner mostly hidden in the shadows, unwilling to be in the way of women that needed her Lady’s help.

         It was strange even for her, even for a demigod, to be standing in a temple long gone. In an age thousands of years before her time. It was strange and almost as terrifying as when she flew the sun chariot. Though, like the chariot, her heart hadn’t stopped pounding since they landed. 

         She wished the pounding of her heart at the uncertainty would go away, she knew in any other situation she would be fine. She would appreciate her Lady’s temple. Taken in the crisp, clearness of the air, the way her lungs felt full and the only sent in the wind was the trees and grass. The untamed, unexplored, unmapped wilderness that had long been gone before he was born. She couldn’t take in those things, not when she only had one huntress, no help and four unconscious gods to look after. 

        Thalia was nothing if not adaptable. She remembers waking up being surrounded by children in orange shirts and pajamas, the little girl she had been protecting now nearly grown, and a tanned hand held out to help her. He had been kind in ways she would never be able to repay when she had first been revived.  

        She reached forward, sitting herself besides Percy, hands reaching forward to card through his black curls, tugging on knots.

        “You’re safe.” She promised his sleeping form, remembering how much those words had comforted her all those years ago. 

       Her eyes slid across the stone floor, watching silently as the others slept. Meeting the eyes of praying maidens with a steady gaze. Most of the people coming in wore sandals, but a few wore some time of leather boots, which she thought looked rather strange with the chiton, caps, and veils that were custom to the time. An inkling of a thought started to take form. 

                     As day started to fade to dusk and the candles in the temple were lit she thought with dawning horror. 

       Three boys walked into the temple. 

        A man, in his early twenties with curly dark hair and familiar eyes-

      He wore a white chiton with gold details woven into the ends of the fabric, over top was brown and black leathered armor, shining celestial bronze armor chest plate, shining greaves protected his legs, one hand held a shield close as his eyes darted, and clipped to his side was a celestial bronze sword. 

       The boy by his side was about 17 or so, with dark black hair and coppery skin as if he spent his life in the sun. He wore a white greek tunic and laced leather sandals, his hand loosely held a large wooden club. 

        Lastly was a boy that looked a little younger than the other, long curly dark hair fell onto his shoulders and the sea-green eyes of Poseidon stared at her. He wore greek armor and clasped with a seashell pendant was a blue green cloak.

         Her mouth dried as she looked at them. Her stomach sank as she realized why the eyes were so familiar- she saw them every day when she looked at her reflection. If this was not an illusion created by the mist. 

        The man strides over to them, his eyes taking in the four asleep men, before looking between her and the other huntress. Kneeling he put the shield down, and Thalia had to stop herself from recalling at the sight. Aegis sat innocently on the stone floor. 

        The man eyed her in confusion but bowed his head at the sight of her circlet marking her Artemis’ lieutenant. 

        “My Lady,” his voice was deep, but respectful. 

                       A voice she had heard once in a demigod dream. One of the few rare ones of the past.

          The son of Poseidon shot forward, hastily to kneel next to the man and bow his head to her. She felt a thin film of satisfaction at the action, before her electric blue eyes met the gaze of the other boy, refusing to bow. His own blue eyes were narrowed and nose slightly upturned to her. 

         “Well met, brother.” she said hoping her voice did not give away her hesitance, nodding towards the kneeling man before her eyes slid to the boy, “cousin.” 

          She kept her gaze on them as she heard the huntress stand, walking to stand behind her to show support. 

           “What brings you to Artmision?” 

                      The gods did not answer her prayers, because…

Chapter Text

             Heracles scoffed at the question, eyeing his half sister with little interest, she was pretty he supposed. Though he had never seen a maiden with hair as short as she.

            “A quest was bestowed to us,” he declared, letting his head tilt up as his chest swelled with pride, “As we are the best-” his eyes couldn’t help but flicker to his younger cousin, “heroes in the land.”

            His sister’s eyes twitched and the huntress that was by her jerked violently, opening her mouth as if to speak before shaking her head and going back to tending to the men. 

           “I am sure,” her voice pinched as her freckled nose scrunched up, “your fine heroes.” 

           “I am Thalia, Daughter of Zeus, Lieutenant of Artemis.”

           “Perseus, Son of Zeus, Slayer of Medusa, Savior of Andromeda, and King of Mycenae.”

            His brother lifted his head as he spoke, moving to sit in front of their sister with ease.

          “Heracles,” he introduced himself with a smile, “Killer of bandits and tyrant kings, Slayer of the Giant Alkyoneus and Porphyrion.” 

          Jerking his head towards his cousin he explained to the huntress, “This is Theseus, a son of Poseidon.” 

         The son of Poseidon shot him a scathing look before looking back at Thalia, “I am Theseus, Son of Poseidon, Defender of the Six Underworld Entrances, Defeater of Periphetes, Sinus, Sciron, Cercyon, Procrustes and the Crommyonian Sow.” He listened hurriedly, tanned cheeks turning red.

        As if that was impressive, Heracles thought bitterly, if I had listed each creature or bandit he killed they would be here till tomorrow eve. 

         “And you?” Theseus asked, nodding towards the other girl.

          Heracles wanted to scoff, the girl was clearly not important in the hunt and had little to do with why they were here. They had more important questions to ask and more important people to deal with.

          “I am Estella, Sister of the Hero of Olympius, blessed by Posiedon and Amphitrite, Champion of Triton, Rhodos, and Kymopoleia.”

          He could see Theseus' jaw drop as he gapped at the girl. Heracles took a moment, taking in her dark hair and brown eyes, the trident crest that was weaved into the clothing she wore. It was only then that he realized he didn’t recognize anything they wore. They both wore tight fabric wrapped around their legs, yet it was material he couldn’t name, unlike any cotton or silk he’d ever seen. They wore layers, both wearing short tunics and then some thick tunic overtop that was cut down the middle. The tunics were even stranger as they had woven designs in them, as if they were decorative pieces then everyday clothes. 

        Thalia his half-sister was mostly in dark colors, undertunic having been stitched with a silver thread to show skulls across the top half- maybe to show the men that have fallen by her hands- on her outer tunic horns were coming out of her shoulders like armor and a silver lightning bolt was over her heart.

       Estella was in a green and black tunic, the bottom of which depicted waves that curled up towards her stomach, and the same dark fabric over top, there were no horns on her shoulders but instead a bright green trident with a shell and sea turtle overlapped on the fabric. 

       The four unconscious men at their feet were in similar unfamiliar attire. 

       The girls eyed them for a long moment, “Tell me,” his sister spoke, “What is the prophecy of your quest?”

         Heracles felt his lip twitch into a frown, why should they tell them the prophecy? Girls couldn’t help them.

“Three heroes of the eldest gods

 Find the flourishing stars

Among the ascended kept asleep

Domains scattered remains to seek”

        Perseus said promptly, eyes straying to the men on the floor. 

       The girl and his sister froze, eyes widening for a split second before his sister’s eyes seemed to spark before she turned to speak to her companion, speaking in a strange tongue. It was like nothing he had heard in his travels and set his nerves on edge as he saw her face grow stormy as the Sea gods blessed grew scared and flickered with uncertainty. 

       “Can you discern the meaning?” Theseus asked.

       Heracles figured that would happen, his younger cousin was no doubt scared and knew just as well as Heracles did that the son of Poseidon shouldn’t be on this trip.

       Thalia’s eyes flickered to them, studying them with a rather disgruntled look.

       “Flourishing stars mean us, tis our names after all.” She said bitterly. 

       “We have an idea for the rest of the prophecy, but we’re in a dilemma. We cannot leave our brothers here without someone to guard them.”

        “Are your brothers so weak they need you to defend them?” he couldn’t keep the disgust out of his voice, the very idea insulting him, to be defended by a maiden was worse than anything he could think of.

        The girl, Estella reared back as if he had struck her, before her eyes became stormy and a snarl curled her lips. She moved from her sitting position, kneeling as if to lunge at him, hand falling to her waist as if she had a weapon. 

         Heracles was so focused on her, he didn’t see when his sister stood up and sparks flew between her hands for a fraction of a second before aching to hit him. He flew back going airborne just from the power of the blast though it didn’t damage him. Absorbing the crackling energy with practice ease, he back flipped so the soles of his sandals hit the marble wall before pushing off and into a roll, counterbalancing the momentum of the blast. Glancing up he gave his sister a smug smirk. Thalia moved swiftly, pulling a spear out and jumping over the body of the boy between them. 

       “Know your place, boy,” she hissed.

        Perseus moved with quiet but quick steps, placing himself between the two and at the end of their sister’s spear. He took a moment to shoot Heracles a scathing glare, before turning to face Thalia.

         Heracles bit back his own snarl, trying to look past their older brother to show the girl her place. 

         “I’m sorry for him,” Perseus apologized with a grimace as he gestured behind him, “We’ve been traveling for… many days and he’s never seen the Hunt or seen any of our sisters upset.”

          Thalia snorted, “The Hunt would kill him in a heartbeat,” she twirled her spear and before their eyes it shrunk before turning into a silver hair pin, “As for our sisters… I doubt he spends much time around them to see them truly angry.”

           Heracles' eyes darted down, watching as she seemingly stretched her wrist and Estella relaxed- a signal then. Perseus relaxed his stance in response. But Heracles didn’t care about that, after seeing the magic of the spear he gazed upon the other girl, trying to find magical items, anything glittering silver was met with distrust. 

         “But, Lady Thalia, what exactly is wrong with them?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

         Estella didn’t like this. The Ancient Demigods before her were making her skin crawl. Theseus looked at her in awe, while Heracles’ gaze flickered between hunger and mistrust. Her brother’s namesake seemed the most normal, and had the same look her brother got, when he looked towards the Olympus and silently questioned the fates of his luck. Tyche, Nike, and Nemesis all swore they had nothing to do with his luck or unluckiness, leaving him nothing to blame but the fates themselves. Perseus the first seemed to be questioning the same thing.

        “Should we explain?” she asked her big sister, eyes moving from the men to speak to Thalia, switching to English with ease.

        Thalia looked annoyed, which was a normal expression for her really.

          “I’d rather not- but there is a prophecy.” 

“ Among the ascended kept asleep

Domains scattered remains to seek”

         Estella said slowly, tasting the words on her tongue. “The ascended kept asleep,” her eyes glanced down at her brother’s dark curls, her fingers curling at the thought.

         “If we’re in the past… well between Percy taking the domain from Hera and Jason taking Justice….” mused Thalia.

         Thalia turned her back to Estella, eyeing the three in front of her. Meeting the steady gaze of Perseus before eyeing the nervous and fidgeting form of Theseus. Estella couldn’t see her expression, but she knew when she didn’t turn to heracles judgment had already been passed. Which was good to know Thalia would stand with her against the most celebrated son of Zeus, because Percy would never forgive her if she didn’t treat him to the wrath of the Jackson siblings.  

        When they finally looked at Heracles they could see the anger sitting on his face like a well worn mask, a sneer of disgust that became more prominent the longer we spoke between each other

        “The ascended refer to them.” she admitted easily enough, gesturing to the sleeping boys with steel in her eyes. 

         “When we landed her their domains scattered, putting them to sleep. That is what your prophecy is telling you.” Estella picked up, voice steady as her fingers buried themselves into the fabric of her brother’s clothes.

         “When you… landed?” Theseus questioned, tilting his head just like Percy did, familiar sea green eyes sparkling with confusion. Estella stopped herself from reacting, turning her head away from the boy that resembled her brother. 

        “This is none of your business,” Thalia cut in, “We have told you the information you need to know. Will you complete your quest or not?” she added quickly.

       “Of course we’ll complete the quest!” Theseus assured, looking worriedly between the girls.

      “For the night we will rest,” Perseus decided, “I will speak to King Tahy-”

      “Who?” she couldn’t help but question, the name ringing familiarly in her ears.

      “A descendent of Poseidon, he is king of the Ephesus. No one will deny a bed to the divine.” he assured her, “He is a good man and will watch over your brothers with care.”

      Bowing his head, Perseus stood and turned, beckoning Theseus to follow him as he reached down and pulled Heracles up by his Chiton. Making the boy look like a very angry cat. Standing up, she walked them to the temple entrance, intent to make sure they left, watching them head down the road before turning to Thalia. Swallowing thickly she tried to squash her fear and apprehension, knowing it would not help, and not for the first time curse her mortal nature, knowing any demigod would not feel as offset and uncomfortably panicked as she did.

       “Thalia,” her voice came out as a squeak, “I’ve never been on a quest before.”

        “I know.”

         “Percy will be furious.”

         “I know.”

        “He never wanted me to go on a quest.”

        “I know!” Thalia snapped, teeth clenched as she glared up at her from the floor.

         “I know Percy would never let you go on a quest, I know we don’t have any information and no one to rely on, not even the gods will help because we are nothing to them! I know Stella.” She yelled, lightning flashing in her eyes as her hair stood up as the smell of ozone filled the temple. 

        Bowing her head, Estella took a step back, knowing she had pushed too far. Thalia would never hurt her she knew, but she knew to leave her sister to deal with it then to keep pushing. Only Percy and Jason were ever able to help when she got like this after all. The boys, the only one willing to deal with the anger and need to fight that Thalia oozed and the tension that kept her so good at defending and helping lead the hunters turned against her at these moments.

        It wasn’t until Estella was walking out of the temple, the sound of Thalia’s angry shouting, that she realized in all the years she had been part of the hunt and the years before when Thalia would visit them, that Estella had never seen Thalia scared- not as scared as she was now. 

        She’d seen her angry, sad, and worried but never scared.

         Estella sat next to the edge of the cliff overlooking the sea, eyes focused on the horizon as that thought rolled around her head. 

          She tried to remember the stories her brother had told her, about finding the lightning bolt, going through the labyrinth, the wars. They had seemed like fairytales to her, even when she saw the scars and the shadows that never fully left her family's eyes. She’d lived her entire life at the edge of her brother’s world, not a demigod, but so ingrained in the life she might as well be.

        She’d been scared hundreds of times, had been scared when she made her oath of maidenhood, scared fighting her first monster, and scared each time her brother walked out the door.

        For the first time in the decades after she finally joined her brother’s world, she thought she might regret her choice. Estella wanted her mother to be there, carding her fingers through her hair and whispering the stories of her brother’s quest, how strong and brave he was, and she just had to wait and Percy would wake up. She wanted her birth father to be there with his comforting presence and never ending faith in their small family. She wanted to be with Artemis as they shared amused smiles as they watched their brother’s dance around one and another. She wanted to be in the waves with Triton and Kym. At the family dinners Lady Amphitrite insisted on having, at the palace. She wanted to be anywhere but here. 

         Thinking back to her brother’s sleeping face, she rolled her shoulders and cracked her neck, jumping on the balls of her feet. She couldn’t think like that. Her brother didn’t have a choice in his heritage and endured and fought through until he got his happy ending. She had always looked up to him for his resilience and strength. 

        Please, she prayed, father Poseidon, protect Percy and watch over me on this quest. 

         A faint smell of salt water came with the next breeze, smiling, Estella nodded. 

          “Okay,” she whispered, “I’m ready.”

Chapter Text

              Thalia remembered the last time she went on a quest with five people- her only quest really. She tried not to think about Zoe or Bianca when she agreed to the quest, remembering Zoe dying in their Lady’s arms- though, Thalia mused, Zoe would be alive in this time, still with her family as it didn’t seem like Heracles had done much of anything yet. 

              She cast the thought from her mind, instead pushing her brother’s unresponsive body onto the stallion Perseus had brought. Nico was slung over Pegasus’ back, the only horse willing to hold the son of Hades, which had gotten a startled and wide eyed look from Theseus. Which was a whole thing she was trying not to think about. 

           Perseus was at least an adult and while Heracles was a kid she knew he got worse with age. Theseus, though, reminded Thalia painfully of the 14 year old Percy. All big eyed interest one second and brooding scowl in the other, she swears children of Poseidon were all bipolar. Yet she couldn’t help but have a soft spot for the son of the sea, not when he shared the same dark slightly curly windswept hair as his brother and the same stormy sea green eyes. 

            Even Estella relaxed around him, her smile small and amused as the younger boy told her about his kingdom and studies. 

            Which also had the great effect of pissing off Heracles. 

            Was she going to bully her currently maybe twenty-something older brother?

            Yes. Percy would never forgive her if she did not take the opportunity to do so, and she would never be able to look at the huntress constellation if she didn’t. 

             Was that the mature and responsible thing to do, especially on a quest?

              No, it wasn’t but she was forever fifteen and this was probably going to be mildly entertaining if not down right hilarious to show Heracles his place- he wasn’t even a god yet.

             “The king has set up quarters to place them, they will be well looked after during our quest.” Perseus assured them, as they finally began the journey to the city, “He has supplies ready for us, so after they are settled we can head out.”

              “That’s all well and good,” Estella muttered, “But does anyone know where to go.”

            “Yeah…” Theseus agreed, “How do we find a god's domain?”

             “Nico and Will should be easier to find then Jason and Percy,” Thalia said without hesitation, nodding at her own answer the more she thought of it, “We can try battlefields, three or four of the domains between the two could be found there.”

              “Nico and Will?” Theseus questioned, shaking his curls out of his face to look at her.

               “Lord Nico, Son of Hades, god of spirits, shadows, and mourning.” Estella answered for her.  “And Lord William, Son of Apollo, god of battle medics, self-care, and light.” 

               “On a battlefield, that leaves battle medics, spirits, and morning.” Theseus ticked off, “You said four?”

               “If we’re lucky. Another word for light is hope and during a battle? Hope is sometimes the only thing you have left.” kicking her horse into a tort, Thalia gripped her brother’s shirt as they took the lead, unwilling to elaborate anymore. 

               She ignored any conversation after that, spurring her stallion on if another Demigod approached her, and taking the lead on the road. There wasn’t much to see, a plain of wild wheat, Karpoi peering out before turning to make waves through the field. 

                It was wild, free, and clean in a way she only caught bits of Artemis and Grover when he used his powers. It was something she was sure Estella- even as a mortal raised with a foot in the immortal world and as a huntress of Artemis would not be able to understand. Estella was still mortal and grew up in a city. She never understands the demigods' longing or enrapturement to the wild that they themselves barely understood as anything other than their parents domains affecting them. Thalia desperately wished Jason and Percy in particular were awake, she’d wonder how the clear, clean oceans would affect the son of the sea or the crisp air would affect the son of Jupiter. Jason had always had a deeper connection to their father’s domain then her and now? With the world like this and he would be unable to experience it in its glory? Wild flowers and grass growing, the smell alone of trees and hints of smokiness, it was something she’d never be able to describe correctly. Everything she said just seemed like an understatement.  

             The thought quickly escaped her when she caught sight of the city. It was beautiful, and for a moment she thought of Anna- of the children of Athena and how they’d appreciate just the magnitude of the ancient city. Large columns of white- marble or some sort of limestone, maybe?- stood on either side of the road in rows, each etched with magnificent deeds and quest, on the bottom was a thin row of blue and green painted before shells and tridents rose up towards the deeds. The dirt road gave way to large gray and white brick and the entrance to the city was dotted with brilliantly painted statues, watching over the residence.

            It was more colorful than she had ever imagined. It wasn’t the bleached white from the sun she’d seen in pictures of the ancient lands, instead painted in blues, reds, golds, and more. Some columns were delicately hand painted when they weren’t carved and even still homes, buildings lining the streets were painted and depicted murals of the gods and family lines. Fountains and water lines ran through the city in steady streams, marked with Poseidon trident.

           She wondered if this is what camp half blood would have looked like under the influence of its two leaders…if Annabeth and Percy had- but that is not a thought for her. Annabeth had died nearly a decade ago anyway, and while a piece of her will always love the daughter of Athena she knew better than to mourn her and think of the what ifs. To think of her and Luke, the ones she used to trust above all… and their fall from grace.

          Shaking the thought from her mind, she held her head high and back straight, ignoring the looks shot to her and Estella by these ancient men. She met their eyes in challenge, allowing the blanket of ozone to cover her and the crackle of electricity to dance on her skin. Her horse shifted uncomfortably from under her, but she kept the show up, if they would not respect a lady of Artemis they should know to fear disrespecting any child of Zeus. If they did not know, she’d make sure to show them. 

             His sister was not trying to hide her divinity. Her face set in a fierce mask of defiance, a look he recognized from his siblings as the look of a child of Zeus getting ready for battle. Lightning danced across her body in a show of control, lighting up the silver from her jewelry and showing off the unnatural blue of her eyes. 

             He knew it was because of the reaction of the men of the city, the sneer that had disfigured their faces when she led them into the city and not he, or Heracles. But his sisters had always been headstrong and unwilling to bend. 

             Perseus met the retreating eyes of the men when comprehension seemed to dawn on them. Thalia did not bow her head but raised it in defiance as they rode into the king’s courtyard. The trotting of the horses on the limestone echoing as the people grew silent. 

           The courtyard was just as magnificent as it was before. The gray stoned road before a large building flanked either side of the courtyard and a large mosaic covered the wall showing the kingdom's birth. Before the mosaic was a large fountain in the middle with flowing sea water, with Lord Poseidon at the center with his trident raised to the heavens.

         “Oh gods,” Estella muttered, face turning red as she looked away.  “Why,” she whispered in horror, releasing the horse's reins to cover her eyes.

         Perseus felt the frown tug on his lips as he glanced between the girl and fountain, wondering how the statue of her Patron displeased. If she had met her Patron maybe the statues were not to his likeness and should they inform the king?

          “Am I going to see statues of the rest of my family naked as well?” her voice shook.

          Thalia snorted at the comment, smiling but noticeably averted her gaze away from the monument. 

          “The gods have given us these divine images, is it not proper we celebrate them?” Heracles cut in sharply, looking at them with a frown.

          “Is this because you are sworn maidens?” Theseus asked at the same moment. 

          Estella shot them a horrified look at the questions. Before anyone could make another comment King Tahy hurried down the stairs, beckoning servants and slaves to come grab the horses reins. He was a tall man, with peppering dark hair and full beard, he shared the eyes of the sea, a starling green that seemed to glow in the right light.

          “My Lady,” he bowed to Thalia, “King Perseus, has told me of your arrival.”

          Thalia looked down at him with hard eyes, and he feared for a moment she would insult the young king or perhaps shoot him with lightning. 

           She nodded her head after a moment, face relaxing a minuscule amount before, dismounting from her stead with ease, “King Perseus says you are willing to watch my divine brothers until we can awake them.”  

            “It will be my pleasure,” he assured her, eyes glancing over to meet his own before he turned towards the bodies of the men slumped over the horses. 

            She patted her stead head fondly before striding over to one of the unconscious gods. 

             “If this goes to plan, he will wake up first,” she told them, gesturing to the unconscious blond, “Will is a healer before a warrior and will be able to calm the others upon awakening. The others should follow soon after. When this happens, tell them Estella and Thalia vouches for you.” 

           The king bowed his head in acknowledgment, green eyes flashing with confusion when Thalia turned around to gently lay a kiss on one of the boy's heads. The words were lost to them, a prayer or another whispered into the hair of the blond haired god. Thalia and Estella stepped aside as the gods were placed on cloth stretchers and led away, the girls following on their heels.

          King Tahy watched them go before turning to face the heroes. 

          “Not very divine?” the king mused, pushing his clock away to hold out his hand.

           Perseus reached forward to clasp his forearm in greeting. 

           “I think,” Theseus mused, “They are mortal at the moment, our quest is to get their divinity back after all.”

              The king made a noise in the back of his throat as he gazed at his uncle, eyes searching his face just as they had the few days before. Theseus seemed to realize his mistake in addressing the king so informal  and ducked his head, eyes turning away to look anywhere but at the king.

            “Your sister is also…”

            “A heathen? A charlatan? Unknowing of her place?” Heracles muttered, knuckles tightening on his reins as his nose scrunched up and teeth bared at the mere thought of her.

           “A Child of Zeus.” Perseus spoke loudly, looking at the king with a steadfast expression, daring him to comment.

            King Tahy hummed, glancing between Perseus and the other two with amusement dancing in his eyes.

Chapter Text

Theseus felt his fingers jolting, and his foot tapping. It was unbecoming of a prince to be nervous or rather to show it. He should be standing tall and proud, showing Tahy the power, pride, and fineness of the kingdom of Athens. But he felt like no Prince nor did he feel particularly demi-god like. He felt small next to his cousins, and even with Estella he felt rather childlike, as if he knew nothing of the world and she held all its knowledge. He wondered if she did, while she may look around his age if not a few years older he knew Huntresses were granted immortality.

Heracles was nearly foaming at the mouth at the thought of a battlefield, a large wicked grin stretched across his features as he danced at the idea of showing the huntresses battle. Theseus thought it was rather foolish, neither girl had batted an eye at the thought of walking into war, yet Heracles seemed to be under the impression both girls would beg him for protection against the gruesome sight. He wasn’t sure he should point it out or just ignore his cousin as the girls had steadfast been doing since the night before.

He bit his lip, worried suddenly that if he spoke about Heracles behavior the older would say he didn’t want to go to the battlefield- which he didn’t- knowing it was a matter of pride at the moment stopping him. He had never seen a battlefield. He had fought one on one and was spared but the idea of armies, of hundreds of men fighting around him, all at once was rather terrifying. He did not want glory, he thought, he would just like to not die.
The group had gathered, kings, huntresses, and demi-gods, after laying the divine to rest. One the table in front of them was a map of Greece, each kingdom and city carefully dotted, and to the side were small wooden carved pieces of ships and chariots and such. Light streamed through the large window and many candles with reflective glasses dotted the room, making it glow in the afternoon light.

“To the south of us, Miletus has been battling Persians raiders on and off for the past few months.” Tahy tells them, leaning over to point at his map, eyes glancing up to meet Perseus.

He and Perseus were closest to the table, leaning over to study the map with calculating interest. Heracles scoffed, eyes darting between the floor and the two women and cruel smile flickering on his face every few moments as if something horrible was about to happen and he just couldn’t wait to see the fallout. It was that expression that he thought made him look like a true child of Zeus, the anticipation to a good show and giddiness of a fight. It was when his cousin was like this that he thought it was the divinity showing through in a way it didn’t in most others, as if human affairs did not affect him.
His mind nagged as the words of the king echoed in his head, he did not yet know much of the politics of the kingdoms of Greece but he had thought… “You do not aid them?” it took Theseus a moment to realize it was himself who blurted out the question.

Tahy smiled amusedly at him, eyes sparkling just like his father’s. The King waved away Heracles' angry insulted grumbling and Perseus' sharp reproachful glare.

“We have sheltered their women and children and have sent some of our fighters, but it would be ill-advised to send our entire fighting force for aid.” he placated.

“But are the Persians not all of our enemies?”

Tahy beckoned him forward at those words, gesturing for him to gaze upon the map of Greece. Theseus pushed himself away from the wall he had been leaning against, striding across the room to look at the map trying to figure out what the King wanted him to see. The map meant little to him, other to show how close the city of Miletus was to the port city they resided in and leaving him more confused on why they would not stop the threat before it reached their own door.

“They are Greece's enemies.” he agreed, “But if I send my forces here,” he slid his finger across the map, showing the distance between the cities, “Then we leave our kingdom open to attack, from the east.”

“I see, I did not think-”

“You are young yet, Uncle” he teased, a familiar smile playing at his lips, collapsing his shoulder with a heavy hand.

“Sometimes it is necessary though.” Estella’s voice chimed in, from her place against the wall, looking intensely at the King, eyes almost glowing as she stared at him begging him to refute her.

“My brother-”

“The god.” Heracles sneered mockingly as if the title was false.

“My brother rallied Poseidon, advising that the loss of Atlantis would be nothing compared to Olympus falling if he did not take up arms against Typhon. Atlantis fell to Oceanus but Olympus and the gods were saved and because Olympus was saved he was able to drive Oceanus away later.” she continued, staring at Theseus and ignoring Heracles comment with little more than a dismissive wave.

“The greatest skill of any Hero, leader… or King,” Thalia continued, “Is when to ask for aid and when to retreat.”

“You say we should run?” Heracles demanded, “We are no cowards.”

Thalia frowned, eyes turning sharp at her brother’s words, “Retreat to gather forces, retreat to heal those that can be saved, retreat to fight another day. There are battles that need to happen and there are battles that can be negotiated and stopped, less there be needless bloodshed. Needless souls lost to Hades. Retreating to fight another day instead of losing the battle or worse the war, is not cowardice but a sound strategy. Retreating is not running or cowardice, or are you calling the Olympians cowards? Having retreated once out of Kronos' stomach?”

Thunder rattled the building. For a moment Theseus heard nothing but the sound of his heart beating ever mortal in his ears, the tightening of his chest as fear seemed to blanket him at just the name of Titan. The building seemed to swell with great breath as they waited for the next words to be spoken, the air turning heavy as if waiting for the skies to open up and the smell or storm was imminent.

“Well?” Thalia egged on, face set in an expression of challenge, a single brown lifted as she gazed at her brother, “Do you call our father a coward? Our divine aunts and uncles?”

Heracles bowed his head as the lightning crackled in the distance, “Maybe…” he said through clenched teeth, hands fisted, jaw set and eyes boring a hole into a set place on the floor, “There is some wisdom in retreating.”

She studied him for a moment allowing the silence to linger heavy and thick, like unforgiving fog, before nodding sharply at his answer.

“There is wisdom in every strategy. In sacrifices and in retreating. Cities, walls, temples, and homes can be rebuilt… but people.” her voice trailed off, sounding wistful, “People cannot come back from Uncle’s realm.”

The room descended into silence at her words. Tahy’s and Perseus bowed their heads and after a moment so did Theseus, sending a prayer to the gods for their safe passage and for the souls of those lost in the battle to safety in Elysium. Heracles' head was bowed but his eyes were dark and an enraged frown distorted his features, making him a rather ugly sight.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I know he still has many more quests to do and lives to mess up, but… hear me out… we can easily stab him and throw him into the sea.” Estella proposed, closing the door behind them with a finality.

They had been given guest rooms for the afternoon, to rest and pack for their journey. The room was a good size with a straw bed with linen blankets and large windows overlooking the courtyard. Estella avoided it, unwilling to see the statue depicting her father. She was thankful she hadn’t seen more, knowing from Apollo's flirting that it wasn’t unheard of for people to walk around nude some places in Greece. She shuddered at the thought.

They had been given bags, brown threaded things that sunk deep and reminded Estella of the grocery tote bags her mother had used. The king had also told them more clothing would be ready for them to use in the room, his wife and daughter’s old things.

Thalia snorted, shooting her a smile before lifting the fabrics they laid out for them. Estella stepped closer to eye the cascading fabric.

“Is this a dress?”

“A peplos or maybe himation?”

“How are we supposed to fight in this?”

“Why is it so heavy?”

“Wait, there’s more clothes under it.”

Estella reached down, grabbing the plain white fabric cut much shorter than what Thalia was holding up.

“That’s a chiton,” Thalia commented, “I don’t think girls wore those.”

“Well it’s a bit short but… we can move in it?”

They stared harder at the fabric willing it to change.

“I’m going to ask if they can lend us sewing supplies.” Estella settled on, “I can turn these to shorts… or pants.”

Stepping out of the room, she glanced down the hall, yet both ways looked identical, white gray stone walls with large hand spun tapestries. She waited in the doorway for a moment before picking a direction and starting her way down the massive hallway. She's stopped once or twice to look out the massive windows, no glass or anything in the way, just a large cut in the stone allowing for sunlight and air to blow through the building.

Peering out one, she could see into the city and she paused to watch. Men hurrying along the streets, women fluttering around, some with large woven baskets. She caught sight of children running hazardously through the streets and dogs lazily wondering. It was beautiful, between the white stone and colorful fabrics and paintings on the stone with the backdrop of greenery and hillsides.

It was hard and made her heart ache when she realized none of this stood a chance against the test of time, knowing the beauty she saw would fade to war, sickness, famine, invasion, the natural rolling clock of time.

“Lady Estella?” the smooth voice of her brother’s namesake broke her out of her reverence.

He stood tall and in a new chiton, a light cream fabric that was embroidered at the seams in gold writing. A thick brown fabric was over his right shoulder, a chlamys, fastened with a golden brooch that was etched with Zeus bolt.

“Perseus.”

“Is there a problem? Are you done packing?” he inquired.

She watched his face, watching as his eyes flickered behind her uncomfortably, a thing she’d have missed if she wasn’t so used to reading her brother’s subtle tells.

“I was going to ask for a small sewing kit to bring along with us.” she tells him easily enough, looking away and trying not to smile at the ease in his shoulders when she turned her gaze elsewhere.

He nodded, “That… would be wise. Come, I’ll show you to the slaves, one will have such objects for you.”

Perseus turned on his heel and started down the hall, missing the flinch and uncomfortable frown that settled on her face. Shaking herself, she hurried after him, her sneakers slapping the stone loudly as she ran. They walked for several long moments of silence. She took this time to study him, eyeing the gray that was beginning to settle at his temples, the heavy set of his shoulders and tense set of his features. He reminded her of her brother when she was young, world weary and convinced he would never get happiness.

“...Lady Estella.” he mused, “My sister, Lady Thalia… I had noticed she seems unwilling to work with our brother.”

“She is.”

Perseus stopped, blinking back at the easy admission. Turning her head away from him, watching his expression out of the corner of her eye.

“This will not affect the quest.” she said finally to the silence that grew between them, “Thalia loves her brothers too much just to get back at that boy.”

“I thought huntresses took vows against love.”

“Familiar love is not romantic.” Estella said sharply, “Lady Artemis knows I made my vow with my brother in mind, that I chose immortality so he did not have to bury his entire family.”

“You chose maidenhood for your brother?”

“I always knew I would, ever since I was a child and he ascended.” She told him softly, unwilling to meet his questioning gaze, “My brother has led friends, demigods, and children to war when he was little more than a child himself. He has survived while burying so many friends and family. I had the chance to make it so he would not have to mourn me as he did them.”

“Did you not want a family of your own? Children? What of your family line?” he shot back.

“Our family line will be immortal in us.” she said with an easy shrug.

Her eyes trail across his form, seeing his unhappy frown and the anger on her behalf.

“You misunderstand. My brother may have introduced us, may have brought me to the divine, but my destiny always led me here. I did not find love or anything close and I did not belong in the mortal realm, not when I was always teetering over to the immortal so easily. No mortal will ever find peace and happiness after being raised by immortals like I had. I made this choice for myself just as I made it for him.”

Perseus nodded slowly, looking rather thoughtful of her words.

“If I did not become a hunter I dare say one of my patrons would have offered me immortality soon enough… the sea is nothing if not possessive.”

And she did not know what showed on her face but Perseus flinched back at her gaze as if she was the Gorgon Medusa herself. She wondered if her eyes gave off a faint glow like they did in the sea or if her displeasure at his questioning was shown on the hard lines of her face. If he could see how ancient her family really was just by seeing the gold under her skin even with her seemingly mortal parentage.

Estella wasn’t sure she explained herself very well, unable to voice or touch the fact of immortality- divinity was so far ingrained into her being, it was written into her DNA even without Poseidon… She didn’t know how to explain that her mother had been offered a kingdom before she had Percy, that she had chosen death over immortality. That gold ichor had been in her family line long before Posiedon had touched their lives. Her family line was ancient even during the ancient times, mixed with divine just as much as morality chained them.

There was a reason Zeus feared her brother, there was a reason the council listened and bowed to his whims so easily. There was a reason the fates re-woven their tapestry when he took his first breath in the mortal plains.

Estella looked back at the King and knew the words dancing on her tongue were swallowed.

Instead, she offered the hero king a smile before taking the lead, raising a hand to knock firmly on the servant quarters door.

Chapter Text

Heracles did not know how to handle his older brother-king bowing so easily to the whims of a girl, even if that girl was their half-sister. It seemed foolish, and fundamentally wrong for them to allow the girl to lead. But he was letting her take the lead and speak as if she was a man instead of below them. He didn’t know how to voice or explain his fury and utter disgust at the situation- he felt deeply ashamed. It was so below them as children of Zeus, as rightful rulers to be following a girl as if she knew anything.

It made sense Theseus was alright with it, everyone knew something was off and wrong with the children of Poseidon, more monster than man. Everyone knew it. It came with the territory. 

But it seemed, he thought bitterly as he watched the ease in which tiny bolts of lightning danced over her skin, his sister had been blessed with more power from their shared father than he or Perseus. 

Shaking himself out of her anger, Heracles urged his horse into a gallop as they made their way out of the city and onto the open road to Miletus, set on ignoring the women in their company. The horse whined under him but ran on obediently. 

It was when he was so far ahead that he heard it. The familiar shuffling and growling of hounds, of large dark evil beasts from Hades realm. Heracles couldn’t help but smile. He could prove himself to these girls, show them they should be listening to the men defending them, not arguing, back talking, and ordering them around. He readied himself for battle, grasping his sword at his side and swinging a leg over the horse for an easier dismount. 

He did not shout a warning or call attention to the threat, instead he unsheathed his sword and allowing it to rest lower, to not draw attention to the weapon, and kicked the horse into a fierce gallop. 

“AHHHHH!” he bellowed from deep in his chest with his sword raised, “For Zeus!” 

The beast leaped from the tree line, all sharp glittering teeth, it was the size of a chariot, its fur a ink black and eyes the red of blood.

Before he could get closer to give it a mighty strike a silver arrow whistled through the air, its delicate tip landing right between the beast's eyes. It did nothing and Heracles tried to not take satisfaction in their failure, when the beast gave a mighty roar as it flailed before a sharp sound echoed, blooming from the arrow in a rippling wave of force. Heracles' horses reared up at the noise, dropping him before turning back, galloping towards the others.The beast burst into golden dust as if it was never there. 

His arm dropped and his fingers loosened on his mighty sword as he stared at the gold dust that now decorated the earth. He blinked at it, mind eerily blank as he rose from the earth. 

Thalia urgered her horse forward, her face set into an odd expression, her eyes soft but brow turned downed, her mouth was set in hard lines but her voice came out calm and soothing like a mother comforting a frightened infant.

“Are you okay?” 

He blinked at her, baffled and confused, uncertain in her concern. 

“Wha-?”

“The HellHound didn’t get you, did it?” she asked slower, her eyes racking over his figure critically, looking for a spot of blood or bruise.

“No?” he answered back unsurely, looking up at her with a deeply confused frown.

Her shoulders relaxed at his word, before he saw the spark of lightning in her eyes and the snarl rip its way across her teeth. She let out a low growl frighteningly similar to the hound.

“What were you thinking?”

“Thalia-” Perseus rode up, reaching out to their sister.

“No! Were you being an idiot on purpose?” she demanded, her zone dripping with acid, “There was no reason to go off charging like that, do you have a death wish?”

“We are heroes!” Heracles defended himself, rising on his steed to make himself taller than her, “Our job is to fight, if I die in battle then I will be honored and welcomed to Elysium with open arms and a light heart.”

“THERE IS NO HONOR!” She shrieked. “There is no honor in death.” she said after a moment, catching her breath, she glared fiercely at him, before moving her gaze to Perseus and Theseus in turn. 

Heracles felt the spark of anger that would consume him before battle, ignited in his belly at her words. A deep burning that sent him sparking with lightning, light dancing across his skin in arches that grew wildly as the anger grew.

“That is what you think, woman.” he sneered.

Her head reared back as if he had struck her and her eyes grew dark at his words, teeth clenching as her hands tightened around the reins of the horse.

“To die for no reason,” she said through clenched teeth and tense jaws, eyes turning away from them, “because you had no wisdom to stop and use your resources, to believe running head first into danger? That is not honorable, that is nothing but foolishness and a death wish.“

Thalia turned away then, face fierce and set like the stone of their father’s statues, her horse rears up and she runs ahead past the tree line with ease.

“We are made to live.” Estella says after a moment of watching them sneer and glare at her retreating back.

Tilting her head, she kicked lightly, sending the horse into a slow gallop, urging it to circle them as she spoke slowly, words curling around her tongue as if she was tasting them and wondering how they would take it.

“Honor means to fulfill an obligation or adhere to what is right and natural.” 

Theseus frowned, opening his mouth to argue. Heracles shifted, the fire that had seemed to burn him so fiercely crackling and fading to a dull buzz as he watched the girl in confusion.

“There is nothing more natural than our own survival. We fight not for glory or the violence but for survival, to go out seeking the unnecessary violence of war? There is nothing more dishonorable in that. There is an honor in living, a quiet whisper of a thing, but an honor nonetheless.”

She waits for them to meet her gaze before continuing, “To die needlessly is a dishonor on yourself, as well as your mother’s who worked to protect you and your godly parents who gifted you with life and power.” 

“But the beast needed to die,” Thesus cut in a firm voice as he nodded sharply at his own words, “Else it would have gone forward and killed innocents.” 

Her lips quirked upwards for a split second, “It did,” she agreed, “But to just charge it?.” shaking her head, her curls came loose falling over her shoulders in a cascade of dark brown.

“That’s nothing but foolishness.” Perseus agreed, breaking the silence.

Heracles felt his shoulders tense at his brother’s words. He turned to snarl, baring his teeth in threat as his elder brother spoke, eyes distant and thoughtful as he spoke.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“That ignorant, fucking, idiotic-” Thalia seethed, dismounting the horse and stabbing a pine tree with her hunting knife, “fucking boy.”

Lightning crackled around her, lightning up the area with brilliant arcs of light, the heavy smell of ozone began to bleed off. Breathing heavily she tried to pull it in, to control the power radiating off her like a beacon. Knowing to remove herself from the situation before she started a fight, but also unwilling to go too far, least Estella would be unable to get to her in case something happened. 

She felt like a live wire, all the anxiety, fear, anger, and tension since they arrived building up and swallowing her hole. She was better than this. She told herself firmly, I am the daughter of Zeus, sister of gods, slayer of monsters, and veteran of two wars. She will not lose her cool because of a dumbass.

She flexed, tensing her muscles as she ached with the need to release the energy that was building like a bubbling storm and she wondered if this is what Percy and Jason felt like. All the infinite energy and ozone as they tried to control themselves and each other. Nico might have felt something similar she supposed, but storms were not his domain and he didn’t have to worry about causing natural disasters just because he was having a shitty day.

It was all so overwhelming though. She tried to imagine one of the boys in her place and it made her smile. Percy would have smack Heracles the second his name left his lips, intent on at least getting some payback for Zoe. Jason would have been a looming presence of disapproval. Upset at children on a quest, upset with the comments and looks the demigods shot her, and because Percy rubbed off on him, he’d probably be mad at their dad for ignoring her- even if she hadn’t prayed to him. Nico would have waited all of two seconds before shadow traveling to their destination, set on ignoring the old heroes. 

Shaking the thought away she tried to relax her shoulders, eyes slipping closed as she breathing deeply against the fresh crisp air that blanketed this time period. It was as she did so, her eyes slipping closed, that she felt it. Prickling close to her awareness. 

She didn’t tense or open her eyes, keenly aware of the familiarity of it. The cool warmth and the power that crackled just under the surface or a presence that would not hurt her unless provoked. It was the same feeling all children gave off, the feeling of a supernova just under the surface waiting to burst, blind, and crackle across their skin. The smell of cooling ozone or cold rain storms and freshness of nature in one of its purest forms. 

Her arms dropped and she moved her palms face out to show no weapon before allowing her eyes to slowly open. Eyeing the silver glow that admitted between the cypress. 

She wore a full snow white peplos, silver threading on the sleeves and the hem of the dress, of tiny arrows deeply carefully etched into the fabric. Her feet were bare, toes digging into the earth even as her head was held high, a crown of laurels and amaranth placed delicately on auburn hair. Her eyes flickered into a reflecting silver as she met Thalia’s stead gaze. 

Her voice came out soft but firm as she

“You wear my mark, yet I do not remember you… Sister.” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dhruv shifted under him, agitatedly hitting the ground as they descended into silence. Theseus ran a hand down his neck, taking comfort in the silky texture of the horse fur. He kept his eyes on the girl, unsure what to do or say. He thought her argument was compelling, so not rushing to Uncle realm made sense to him. But he knew his words would not be welcome. He had only turned eighteen a few months ago, thus just entering adulthood and in many ways still considered a child. It was why, Theseus knew, Perseus was so patient with him, taking him under his wing as he traveled with the great godly king.

Heracles' features twisted into a scowl and he scoffed, pulling his horse reins and forcefully turning his head away. He kicked and in a second Karl sprinted, taking the son of Zeus over the ridge.

Pegasus cuffed, shaking its mane, as Perseus met his eyes for a moment before following after his brother. Estella isn’t facing the heroes, her gaze staring off into the woods. 

Theseus took the moment to study her. She wore the same silver tunic as the temple, but had cut the cotton peplos and sewn it into more of the leg wrappings and feet were covered in leather made dark boots that were covered in mud. Her face was blemish free though a trail of sweat left her forehead. Back straight and her shoulders tense, chin sticking out and as he looked, Theseus realized she was just as angry as Thalia.

“Um,” hesitating, he shifted on the saddle, unsure if he was supposed to follow the demigods.

“My brother,” Estella said suddenly, “was forced to lead an army of children. The oldest just reached eighteen summers.”

Swallowing thickly, Theseus hesitated biting his lip but blurting out his question, “Your brother the god?”

“He was still mortal then,” she explained, turning her piercing gaze to meet his own, “Only a child himself, only sixteen.” 

Theseus hid his shock as much as he could, suddenly deeply uncomfortable and something was building in his chest, he wanted to rage at her words at the unfairness of the simple statements she spoke. The earth rumbled ominously as he breathed heavily through the anger that surged through him. The god was his brother and the way Estella spoke made him seem human, mortal, someone just like Theseus. He wondered if before his ascension if they would have been friends, close like Perseus was with some of his siblings. 

But the words she spoke, sixteen and leading an army of children… children to be slaughtered like cattle for sacrifice. He tried to imagine it, tried to picture himself at sixteen leading children to a war zone, so inexperienced and unknowing.

“Half survived, the others… my brother held their death close to his chest, each name etched into him as if a carving on stone. He knew them,” her voice shook, “I think that was worse. They were friends, taught each other how to fight, helped each other through nightmares and hard times. He had no choice in the matter but he will speak as if he was the one that cut them down. Not even a year had passed and they called him to lead another army of children against an even bigger threat… I was not yet born,” she admitted, sounding sorrowful as if her presence would have changed his fate, “and have only ever known my brother as he is now, burdened and forever mourning. I was just a babe when the toll finally took effect completely. I have only memories of my brother as a god, not the mortal he once was.”

Her hands trembled as she weaved fingers through her horse's mane, tugging on knots absently.

“I cannot miss what I never knew, but I’m told of my brother from before, without the shadows that cloud him and the mourning that cloaks him like a second skin. No one in his generation, nor the other new gods would ever say there is glory in war, only in survival. It is my brother that taught me that he does not care if I retreat, or if I fail, as long as I return he will always be proud…”

Dhruv moved then, bringing them to stand side by side with the huntress.

“I do not know war. '' he admitted freely, “I have been in…few battles, but I am called a hero nonetheless. So, I do not know much about the subject… I am sorry though. For the words so harshly spoken by Heracles and the… ideals…”

She shook her head, offering him a small pleased smile. But he wasn’t sure what else to say so fell silent.

“Come, let us find Thalia.” 

Chapter Text

“Lady Artemis!” Estella exclaimed, pulling her horse to a stop before sliding off of him in a hurry.

Theseus follows a moment, dropping his gaze as he did. Only taking a glimpse of the girl that stood next to Thalia, she looked young, maybe thirteen summers, with browning hair and decorated in silvers. Theseus didn’t dare get a better look, remembering Orion’s words on how the Lady goddess and her particulars when faced with men, she might have been more forgiving had he been younger but he was acutely aware of his adulthood the last spring had gifted him.

He kept his face angled downward, focusing on the dirt and thus missed the exchange happening as the women met each other's eyes.

The young faced goddess tilted her head, auburn hair falling over her shoulder as silver eyes studied the new girl, gaze flickering to Theseus for only a moment with a pleased smile before choosing to ignore him. 

She nodded slowly, turning her attention back to Thalia. “I sense you speak the truth.” she settled on, “Though… you leave information out.”

“I do not know what will influence the course of time my lady.” the daughter of Zeus admitted freely, “I know we have lost a lot but we are recovering and I fear a darker future if I tell you too much.”

The goddess hummed, eyes glowing as she studied them.

“That is… very wise.” she settled on, her lips forming the words as if tasting them, like sipping a fine wine from her brother god Dionysus orchards.

“You left the young gods in Ephesus, near my temple? I will send my brothers to watch over them until your quest is finished.”

“Thank you, my lady.”

Her eyes flickered, the silver light flickering to a warm gold she shared with her brother, “You have caught the attention of my father and the council, we felt you land and were unsure of your purpose only that it was shrouded by the fates themselves. Be swift and step lightly, as my brother would say, the fates are guiding you.” 

Theseus had kept his head bowed the entire time, silently studying the worm that wiggled to the top of the earth surface, and the moss that sat just a foot away, knowing anything he said would not be as welcome. He didn’t dare to lift his head until the light dimmed and the burn of godly presence didn’t leave his entire body tingling. 

When he looked up, Estella had moved to stand with Thalia, her hand resting on her arm, a small frown and a quirk of her brow was aimed at Zeus’ daughter. Who nodded once, before stretching her neck, letting it pop loudly in the now silent forest. 

Holding back a shutter at the noise, he swallowed thickly, suddenly very aware that these women spent most of their time around a goddess- the goddess that just left them. He wasn’t sure he would have lasted much longer in her presence, the thickness that seemed to turn the air to stone and leave his chest aching. The tingle of lightning that danced so wildly in the air and he swore his ears rang with the sound of beasts.

Just as he was lifting his head fully, taking the moment to glance around the sound of thundering hoofbeats met his ears. At once he drew his sword and crouched, bending his knees and preparing for a fight. Thalia spun, placing herself in front of Estella and pulling a spear out of thin air and a shield spun into existence a moment later. Gifts from the goddess?  Estella pulled an arrow from her back and notched her bow just over Thalia’s shoulder, her face going blank as her eyes turned dark.

Theseus heard it before them.

“Put down your weapons,” he barked, even as he relaxed his own stance, scared for a moment Estella would shoot before catching sight of their companions.

“My Lord,”  Karl’s voice called out, “ My Lord are you okay?”

He came to a skidding stop in the clearing, just as Estella let her arrow fly, cutting off a lock of Heracles hair, letting it glide through the air before hitting the ground. Pegasus flairs his wings, sending a gust of wind their way as he rears up. Perseus has a firm hold though and keeps himself on the startled horse with ease. 

“ Brother?” Pegues' deep voice echoed in his head, as he stamped his hoof down into the earth, creating a crack in the crust. 

“Everyone is okay,” he answered the horses, glancing up to meet Perseus' eyes, “Lady Artemis came to speak to us.”

Swiftly after the meeting with the goddess, they gathered the horses and took off, set on Miletus, riding along the coast line with a swiftness unprecedented and as night fell Theseus realized.

“The horses.” he choked in surprise, “They are glowing in the moonlight.”

“A Blessing from Our Lady.” Thalia said promptly, before kicking her stead's sides and sending them into a galloping run, their hooves hitting the earth like crashing thunder, sparks dancing across the daughter of Zeus.

They rode all night, stopping only when dawn began to break across the skies and sending the heavens into a sea of blues. They ate fresh berries from the earth and packed bread from Ephesus, dried deer meat the huntresses gave them and fresh wine.

“If we keep this pace, we should be there by nightfall.” Perseus told them. 

They rested there for a few hours, till Apollo and his chariot were high in the sky, before packing up and heading out, set on making it to the battle before night.

As they readied the horses, Theseus heard Estella muttering something under her breath before tossing the last bit of berries into the fire, her eyes flickering upward before she joined them.

The battlefield was nothing like what Theseus expected. It was a sight he wished and prayed he would not have to see again. He had been told stories of great battles, of fighting for your city and kingdom, of wars waged in the gods honor. He’d grown up with the ideology of war being honorable, like any spar. He thought it much the same as his fight against his half-siblings, the boars, and monsters just to a vastly larger scale. 

He was wrong.

The earth was soaked, the soil slick under his sandals. Sandals that sunk into the soft earth panting his feet red. The field was a muddy mess created not by rain but by blood, the same red color spilling from both sides and watering the greedy plants, giving life as it was taken.

He could make out the city walls in the distance, passing what was once a field. He tried to imagine the field as it once was. Tall stalks of barley and wheat, but the food used to nourish now crushed, and trampled underfoot, covering the field in a bed of stalks for the dead to lay in.

Bodies were piled on the sides while others were in the field, being stepped over as if they were nothing, as if they were not another person, friend, brother, son. The bodies he could see were grotesque and had the attention of flies, buzzing around them. The flesh was paling, wide eyes of blues, greens, and browns stared at the heavens. The ones that had heads that is, some had holes through their skulls, clumps of red covering their jaws- the only thing left of their head. Others had spears and arrows still lodged into their chests and sides, one man had an arrow sticking out of his left eye socket. 

Yet even with his brutality the men on the field fought on. Men in familiar leather and Corinthian helmets, leaders with the plumage of dyed red horse fur on top. The Persians wore leather armor as well, though instead of a chest plate it was shining scales like the hide of a great serpent, and as he stared he realized their shields were woven wicker and many were discarded on the field.

Swallowing thickly he tried not to gage at the sight and smell that permitted the area. Coughing through the sting in the back of his throat, he turned to the girls.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Heracles licked his lips, feeling the jolt of anticipation, the lightning dancing and the tension of his muscles, he felt like a lion ready to pounce. His eyes tracked the men fighting with ease, snickering and smearing when he caught sight of mistakes that led to devastating blows, knowing if it was him the opponent would have fallen with a single blow. He itched, shifting on his feet impatiently, and sinking his feet deep into the earth grinning at the feel of bloody mud that clung to his sandals feet with relish. 

He could see himself down there, grip tight on his club, laying the enemies bodies to the field to rest in Hades realm. His heart beat faster as he bounced on the balls of his feet, battle ready and anticipating cutting through the field as if cutting dough.

He turned his gaze away after a moment to study his companions. Perseus stood stark still, expression carefully blank as he watched over the battle, but Heracles knew his brother and could see the tension in his shoulders and the way his hand hovered over his sword. He too craved the rush of a good battle.

Theseus was green, his skin a strange pale under the hew. His green eyes were blown wide as he gaped at the battlefield before him. Heracles scoffed at the younger godlings reaction, he should know better as a man and godling.

Before he thought more he turned his attention to the hunters. Estella was pale and frowning at the field but seemed more at ease than Theseus. Thalia though…

Her eyes were storming, not like a thunder storm of violence and vengeance but a shower of sorrow that left her shoulders tensed but ever so slightly hunched. Her face was set in stone even as her eyes glowed-

“THERE!” she shouted, pointed off towards the stone walls of Miletus.

Heracles turned his attention to the area she pointed out but saw nothing of note. The Miletus soldiers were regrouping there, the injured and the dead they could carry off the field were there but he saw nothing else. Before he could point out this, Thalia had mounted her horse and had taken off. Perseus cursed, kicking Pegasus to a heart gallop. Estella didn’t hesitate, pushing Theseus to his own stallion as she mounted her and followed Thalia into the heart of the battle.

The Milestus parted for them easily, stepping away from the horses without a second glance once identifying them as Greek. The Persian screamed, scrambling to try and pull them down and to the field, others threw spears and javelin. Heracles could not see what his sister did or what terrified everyone so much, he caught sight of her holding a large bronze shield aloft but could not make out the picture from his spot behind her. Whatever was painted on the bronze sent herds of men to fall and scramble away with whimpering cries of terror, while others stood stunned. 

They cut through the battlefield in minutes, much to his displeasure. They rode straight up to the walls and as they slowed he finally saw what had gotten Thalia’s attention. A small tent had been set up and injured men walked into, bloodied and dazed, only to walk out fine. It was a sight he only saw with godlings when given ambrosia, an almost instant healing effect. 

It was Estella that stopped them from entering the tent, her teeth digging into her lower lip as she met Thalia’s eyes.

“If we take it,” her eyes glanced to her left, the man hobbling forward with the entirety of his left arm gone, “these men will die.” her voice dropped low, knowing saying the words louder would cause panic.

Thalia smiled softly at her, placing a hand on her shoulder.

“It’ll be for a moment the magic will be gone. You know as well as I, Will, cannot help himself.”

“And if it takes longer for his domain to set? Nothing like this has ever happened, what if getting his main domain back knocks him out for the night?”

She grimaced, looking over Estella’s shoulder at the sorry state of the men.

“What would you have us do?” she asked back sharply, “We cannot fight an army.”

“We could,” Estella disagreed, “My brother held Olympus with only forty demigods.”

“Against monsters and grandfather, not other men.”

“Against other demigods though.”

They stared at each other.

“Do you hear yourself?” Thalia finally demanded, “Are you prepared to take a human life? Will you sleep at night with that on your conscience?” Her eyes and tone softened when Estella flinched back as if struck, “We do not know these men, this city, or people. If fate calls for them we cannot fight it, we are not your brother.”

“You cannot ask me to stand back when I can help!” 

Thalia stared at her, face set in hard lines, a deep frown making her seem impossibly old.

“What do you think you can do?” she asked softly, “You may be blessed by Poseidon but you are no child of the sea. You have no power. You join the battle and all that means is your vow to your brother and Artemis is broken and a grave will be dug.” 

Thalia's gaze never wavered, her gaze burning, judging. For a moment Heracles thought she was a child born under their father’s lesser domain, a child of judge, order, law, a child of the King.

“This is a battle that does not matter, Greece has fought with the Persians for centuries already and they will continue fighting them. These men? They are not important. History does not remember them, it is a hard true fact, but a fact nonetheless. We cannot stay here with his domain just there, letting our brothers suffer because you feel guilty.”

Estella snarled, lips pulled back and fists balled as if she wished to strike.

“What do you want us to do?” Thalia asked, studying the girl before her. “Do you think four demigods and a mortal huntress can stop an army? How long are we supposed to help Stel? A year? Two? The next decade? We’re on a quest, not only that we’re on a quest for our brothers . Who knows what being here, godly but without their domains is doing to them! We have an obligation to our family, who knows what is happening in our time, the demigods and our nephews and nieces without protection from their patron? Your brother has worked for decades to give the Greeks a fighting chance to live past their childhood.”

Her gaze dropped as shoulders came up to her ears, and from his spot besides her, he could even see her cheeks run red. Her chest heaved as if she was out of breath and her entire frame shook. Heracles eyes her, wondering if a fight between huntresses was about to break out. Tilting his head back he caught sight of Perseus standing guard, sending the soldiers of Miletus away. Theseus stood on the other side of the two, hands up as he looked concerned and unsure if he should step into the fight.

Estella closed her eyes and relaxed her shoulders, though her face was still painted red, she nodded.

“Okay then, Lieutenant.”

“That is all well and good,” He said, standing tall as twin glares focused on him, “What makes you think they will just hand whatever it is over?”

Heracles swung the club over his shoulder, glancing back at his brother holding the reins of his stead. The girls, his cousin, and brother had taken the horses off back towards the ridge they came from, leaving him alone to enact his plan. A truly great plan that would show his sister that some things were better left to the men. 

“Well meet.” he greeted, stepping into the healing tent, bowing his head towards the good healers and half healed soldiers. 

The tent was packed, half a dozen physicians with wrappings and strong smelling ointments standing over men with various stab wounds, who groaned and whimpered in pain. The earth was covered in furs and coats were lined up, half empty, but each with bloodied sheets. In the middle a soft glowing gold shown, tentacles reaching out and guiding physicians with ease, while another caressed split flesh, knitting it together under its glow.

It was a graying older man with light blue eyes that stood, his hair was once a fine blond that Heracles knew represented children of Apollo. He was stocky but not that tall, and when his arm reached towards a short bow, Heracles couldn’t help but smile as for sure this was a sign he was correct.

“Cousin,” he nodded towards that man and no other, “the gods have smiled upon you.”

The man narrowed his gaze, staring intently at him before his lip pulled back, “A child of Zeus?”

“Aye, you may have heard of me. The great Heracles.”

The man chuckled, “A child of Zeus named for Lady Hera? Your mother must wish illness upon you.”

He felt the sparks crackle over his skin, lightning the room up in a glow of pure light as it danced.

“Speak carefully cousin, I do not wish to harm you.”

“Then why come to the battle? We do not need you here, our men have held them off for years and we will hold them off for years to come.” his eyes glowed slightly as he stepped up, standing across from Heracles with ease.

He smiled at the question, all sharp inhuman teeth as he turned and swung his arm out towards the other physicians and patients “I have come on a quest from the gods.”

“The gods have already cast favor onto us!” the son of Apollo yelled over the murmur of the men, “My father and brother, Asclepieia, have given us a gift of healing!” he gestured. 

 “Aye, so it seems.” he nodded considerately, “yet the gods have tasked me with retrieving it.”

Suddenly the room became tense, heat rolling into the tent like a desert wind. The men grew silent, watching him with dark angry eyes. The son of Apollo sputtered, looking taken back at the declaration and greatly insulted. 

“My father-”

“Is nothing,” Heracles said softly, tasting the words as they rolled around in his mouth and tried not to smile too cruelly when he spoke, “compared to mine.”

Clearing their throat another physician spoke then, “You can try and take it, good hero.” ignoring the cries from the men at the words the young physician spoke haughty, looking smug , “But any who touch the divine object are burned as if laval poured out of its core, some have even perished.”

Heracles smiled at those words, rolling his neck to crack it. Stepping carefully through the tent he smiled wickedly at the son of Apollo before facing the glowing globe. A god domain stood before him, pulsing with power unimaginable to us lowly mortals. His fingers twitched and briefly wondered if he could have the power to himself, if he could consume it and all the others they were setting out to find.

Then his finger touched it and for a moment he felt nothing and nothing was there, his eyes widened at the flash of light that blinded him and left him seeing white, the fuzzy buzz that left his ears ringing, his mouth tasted like ash and the metal taste of blood. He could not feel the heat of the tent, nor the fur that cushioned his feet, the sweat and mud that caked his skin was nothing as if he was newly washed. The smell of fire, flesh, blood, and body odor was gone as well leaving nothing in its wake.

Then all at once he felt it. It didn’t hurt terribly so, a constant low burning as if he was burning from the sun, his skin red and peeling, started from where his hands were cradling the domain in his strong grip. He felt… powerful. A power he had never felt before, bubbling and reaching in his chest in his entire being. He blinked passed the whiteness and started blurring his vision horribly.

  I could keep it. He thought, it could be mine, I can stand before my Lord Father and bring him glory as a god. 

It pulsed, like a dying star, and the tingling burn grew worse, traveling up his arms and leaving a trail of numbness in its wake.

Clenching his jaw, he breathed deeply through his nose to try and help the burning that sat in the back of his throat. Steadily but carefully he turned, dragging the star with him. The tent went silent, the men staring bewildered and half in awe as Heracles held it aloft, turning in measured steps before stepping to leave the tent.

“Wait!” the young physician shouted desperately, jolting himself out of his awe, “We need that! The men need that! The city cannot be taken!”

Heracles eyed him from the corner of his eyes, appealingly as if studying art, “You are brave for a physician.” he rumbled, “But what makes you think I care? You wish Greece to fall… for your city? The gods have required this, if your city falls it will because you do not appease them, because you have cast doubt on their divine plan. If you stop me,” he said conversationally, as if commenting on the hues of the sky, “it will not be Persians tearing down your city, but the gods themselves.” 

Silence met his words and after a second he left the tent, with no more opposition. 

Chapter Text

        Once he stepped outside the battlefield went silent. A hushed awe blanketed the field and as he steadily made his way through it the clashing and clanging of metal against metal died down like a whimper. 

         Heracles paid little attention to the soldiers, focused on trying to keep himself reined in, fighting against the want to consume the ball of power before him. Tried not to imagine himself standing by his father’s side, the god of he tried to shake the thought out of his head. The light seemed to ooze, becoming liquidly the longer he held it. It inched up his forearms, tentacles of pure power caressing his bare arms.

         He wouldn’t know but his expression was dull and lifeless, eyes staring vacantly at the power in his hands as he walked as if in a trance. 

        It was that sight that greeted the other questers.

        “-cles, Heracles!” Perseus called, moving to shake his brother, mindful of the godly power between the young man's hands.

         Blinking out of his thoughts, he glanced around at the group before looking behind him to the battle. The fighting closest to the city walls were still at a stand still but the imposing Persian army was pushing forward from the east.      

          “I?” Heracles wasn’t even sure what to say and before he could even question anything his sister interrupted.

          “We need to get farther from the battlefield, can you hold it for a few moments longer?”

          Swallowing, he tried to draw the confidence that had allowed him to walk into the tent but his hands began to sting uncomfortably; the power seemed to pulse sending dots dancing across his vision.

           “Yes, though I doubt I could ride.” he told them, hoping his voice came out as steady as possible.

            Thalia looked at him as if considering something.

           “Let us head out then, this should be done before nightfall.” Perseus said hastily, bring an arm around Heracles as if to guide him. 

            Theseus turned to look at their surroundings thoughtfully, “The mountain range by the lake,” he pointed to the left of them, “should be a good place to rest, without worry of the soldiers sneaking upon us.”

           They stopped close to the water edge, before the tree line thinned too much, on a bed of knee high grass that swayed in the evening breeze. It was a beautiful scene, one he’d appreciate if he was not solely focused on the feeling of power radiating in his hands and the way his chest- his own power core tried to reach out.

       Estella grabbed the discard and ripped paplos she had been using to repair and mend the foreign clothes the girls wore, laying the soft fabric on the ground before Heracles all but threw the power onto it. Pulling back his hands and flexing his fingers and rolling his wrist, staring at his skin as he did so. From his fingertip to nearly his shoulders was bright angry red, with flaking skin, and underneath a glow of pulsing gold that ran through his veins. 

        His shoulders relaxed and his jaw unclenched, the muscles that had wound so tight trying to contain the power were finally at ease and suddenly burned with overextension. His entire being with aches and pains he hadn’t felt since he was a child, joints popping and unwilling to bend as he lowered himself to sit.

        Thalia started a fire before taking out a rabbit and some of the fruit given to them by the King of Ephesus, she butchered it before stuffing it with the berries and placing it into the fire. He could not hear what she said next, his gaze settling on the rabbit burning away. The smoke thick with the smell of offerings twisted and danced its way to the heavens. 

     The wind whistled in his ears for half a second, pushing his curls away from his face. It was the split second it took him to blink that the man appeared- 

      Curly black hair that fell to his nap, slim and fit figure with sly grin stretched over shining teeth, sharp nose, familiar blue eyes twinkled mischievously at him as he winked. Blinking bemused at the figure before him, it took Heracles a moment to notice the laurel on his head woven with crocus and at the side of his head two wings, as his gaze traveled downward, past the perfect gold and white chiton to golden sandals feet, both with wings on the side. The wings were that of birds, white feathers turning iridescent at the tips and fluttering as the god stepped onto the rocky path with ease.

     “Sister,” he nodded towards Thalia before smiling wickedly at Perseus and Heracles, “Brothers!” he exclaimed. 

     “Lord Hermes,” Perseus acknowledged, bowing his head as he scrambled from his sitting position to kneel. “It’s nice to see you again!” He greeted, rather nervously but with a smile nonetheless.

       “None of that now,” he waved it off with ease, “Do you still have the sandals?” he asked curiously, waiting for Perseus' nod before turning to gesture to all of the group.

      “No need for formality, we’re all- well,” he paused looking at Theseus and Estella for a moment, “mostly children of Zeus here.”

       The sky lit up and a rolling rumble echoed through the mountain pass. Hermes looked up at the sky looking pleased with himself as Perseus and Theseus scrambled to stand. Heracles stood at a slower pace, feeling off balance as he studied his brother with open curiosity as he steadfastly ignored the rumbling he knew was coming from the queen of the Heavens. 

      “You’d think ol’ step-mother would learn,' ' he mused, grinning inhumanly wide when Thalia snorted at his words.

       “Lord Hermes,” Thalia greeted, “Thank you for coming.”

        The god tilted his head, gaze focusing on Thalia intently.

        “Artemis asked.” he nodded, “I wasn’t sure if I’d drop by, but I was in the area.” his gaze flickered for a moment before glancing at the power besides himself.

        “Though really, all of Olympus is abuzz about this little quest.” he waved his hand towards them dismissively as he focused. 

        Thalia smiled, looking amused as Hermes' attention turned fully to the domain in front of him. His head tilted as he exclaimed it, reaching forward to poke it as if testing the waters. The light caved in slightly from his touch before the tentacles from before flowed out, waving around and traveling across the gods arm. His head jerked back as if struck, pulling his arm to cradle the limb, sharply turning to Thalia. Heracles didn’t know how she stood so confidently with no fear or uncertainty, the god’s expression was severe, the grin that had stretched his face was completely gone from his face.

       “Will’s main domain,” Estella spoke, keeping her head forward even if she tracked Hermes' movement out of the corner of her gaze, “Battlefield Medic, emergency services if you will.” 

        “He feels like-”

        “Aye, Apollo’s favored son.”

         Perseus hissed, glaring at her warningly as she interrupted a god.

         He didn’t turn to them acting as if she hadn’t cut him off, face set in awe as he stared at the domain pulsing in front of him.

        “Lady Artemis said she was taking them to Olympus, could you possibly deliver this to the sleeping gods?”

         Hermes did turn around, stunned at her request. 

         “I’m the god of Thieves?” he questioned, looking faintly amused with her.

          Estella and Thalia shot each other amused expressions.

          “And Apollo is your favorite sibling,” Estella said back, as if stating a fact even as Thalia shook her head as if that wasn’t the true reason they trusted him so.

        Hermes smiled at that, looking confused at her words as he shook his head.

        “Even then,” Thalia continued,  “You may not know me, but I do know you,” she said with an easy shrug of her shoulders.

        He looked thoughtful at her words as he studied the girls, looking at them as if they were something new and rather interesting. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

        Hermes didn’t look back to the godlings. Tanned hands gripped the domain as if lifting a vase, delicate but with ease not reflected in his expression. His eyes were darker, a navy storming blue with specks of gold piercing through the irises. He made sure his sister, Thalia, could not see his unease as he allowed the domain to hum in his hands.

     He didn’t check to make sure the demigods had closed their eyes instead, lifting the power and disappearing from their sight in the same second. Unknown to them he did not go far, instead aiming upwards to land towards the presence he had felt watching the second the gods name had been uttered.

     Hermes' dark eyes met his eldest brother’s, his eyes were blue and a lazy smile tugged at his lips. Hermes couldn’t help but relax at the image, relieved of his brother’s unspoken support. The elder god was peering at him, as he leaned against the sun horses, even as he split his attention to keep an eye on their mortal siblings.

     “So,” the blond said with a smile Hermes usually matched, “I’m your favorite?”

      Hermes glared, ignoring the feel of ichor flooding his cheeks as he tossed over the glowing domain to the sun god.

      Apollo caught it with ease, cradling the piece as if holding a babe. His blond hair sweeping over his face and hiding his eyes from view. One of the sun horses snorted, as the other nudged the god on his gold woven chiton as it laid its mighty head over his shoulder to peer at what the god held. Hermes discreetly wiped his brow, trying to show his ease at being so close to his brother’s burning chariot. 

      “Meet your son.” he answered back dryly. 

       Apollo’s smile faded as he peered at the domain in his hands more seriously. As he looked his eyes sparkled gold as they shut and he hummed softly, swaying with the shard of his son’s soul. Hermes knew better to interrupt as Apollo allowed his own essence to seep into his child, reassuring himself that the young god was fine and healthy.

      “Come,” he commanded, beckoning his brother, “Let’s meet my boy.”

       With swiftness that only Hermes himself could overcome, the two gods took off, chariot and winged shoes flinging them off into the heavens, leaving the five godlings behind. 

        Apollo and Hermes swiftly made their way through the heavenly city, ignoring the questions of the spirits and minor gods as they hurriedly went towards Apollo’s golden home. 

        As they got closer the domain in Apollo’s hands jerked and flared, burning brighter and brighter before finally Apollo released it. It phased through the marble walls in the direction of the sun god’s home. As the two hurried to follow, Artemis stepped out, halting them in their tracks just outside of their destination.

        Apollo’s home on Olympus was rather small, the lands he had taken instead being used for his extensive garden, something he carefully took care of and had even asked his sister, cousin Persephone for help with on occasion. Nestled through his field of flowers and trees was his home, a stark gold and white building that stood tall and opened up in the back for his stables of his sun horses. The walls were white and integrated with patterns woven with molten golds, bright oranges, and light sun sky blues. Apollo took great pride in the patterns and artistry in his home, having spent decades creating the mosaics that decorated some of his walls.

      “Sister!” Apollo greeted happily, looking at her preferred younger form as she stared intently at his face, eyes scanning as if looking for something before she relaxed.

        A small pleased smile stretched her lips, and her freckles grew darker making her look even younger. 

       “He looks just like you, brother.” she told him.

        “Ha,” Apollo laughed, “Dashingly good looking?” 

        “No,” she denied, just as quick, silver eyes meeting his own molten gold. 

         For a moment they did not move, staring at each other silently with searching expressions. Apollo opened his mouth, to ask what she meant or to argue, but it didn’t not matter as the marbled gold doors slid open.

         A young man came out, blinking rapidly, as he stumbled out of the doorway looking hesitant and confused. He had the same slightly curled blond hair, a shade or so lighter than Apollo’s own gold, sky blue eyes flaked gold and tanned sun-kissed skin. Behind the boy was Asclepieia, the older man hovering behind his brother worriedly, unlike the newly awakened boy, Asclepieia’s hair was darker, like honey instead of the golden color the boy and Apollo shared, though it was easy to tell they were brothers between their complexion and the same shaped blue eyes staring at their Olympian father.

       “Dad?” he mused groggily, before his eyes narrowed, “Did Hermes spike our drinks again?” 

       Artemis snorted as Hermes smiled widely at his question. Before anyone could speak Apollo stepped forward to stand across from his son, reaching up to push his hair away from his face as he studied the face before him. Apollo’s stare was intense and firm, memorizing his child’s face and burying into his mind. His gaze darted out, noticing the strings of fate that tangled around his son’s form, different colors and events weaving around as if he himself was a tapestry. 

      “Hello,” he spoke softly, watching his son’s brow go down as he frowned up at him in confusion. 

      The boy blinked up at him, tilting his head to peer at Hermes and Artemis before turning to see Asclepieia hovering behind him. The boy closed his eyes and took a sharp breath in before opening his eyes. He stared at the god for a long moment.

      “Hi?”

       Apollo felt his lips tug tightly, as he smiled widely and unashamed, pulling his son forward to hold him in his arms as he spun on his heel.

        “Look!” he said gleefully, “My son!”

        Asclepieia snorted but relaxed in the doorway, leaning against the marble walls as he watched his father show off. The tension in his shoulders dropped at the sound, turning his head to meet his older son’s eyes for a moment. 

        “Wha-” the boy mumbled, “What are you doing?” the boy questioned.

      “Introducing you to your Uncle and Aunt.” he said simply, ignoring the boy's expression as he made a face toward his siblings.

Chapter Text

Estella stared up at the clear blue sky for a while after the god left, humming to herself at the familiar presence that sat at the edge of her awareness. It was like a warm summer day, the feel of the sun just at the edge of it all and she knew between Hermes and Apollo, Will would be up in no time. 

She tried to focus on that thought instead of the empty feeling that sat in her chest, the gnawing feeling they left those soldiers to die horrible deaths. 

Before that train of thought took over Thalia gave a loud sigh. 

“Okay, now where do we find the others?” she asked.

Theseus eagerly leant forward, “ “Lord Nico the one that is the Son of Lord Hades?” he waited for their nodes before continuing, “The god of spirits, shadows, and mourning … could his piece be found by Nekromanteion in Ephyra? Surely the doors of Hades hold spirits and shadows, it will also bring crowds of mourners.”

“Ephyra is closer to Athens, on the other side of the sea.” Perseus mused.

Estella froze at that, tilting her head to look at Thalia wondering if she should speak up for all of a moment.

“The Pantheon is in Athens…you don't think…”

“No, not Athena’s temple at least.” 

“But-”

“Not Athena’s.” she snapped, “Just because the Pantheon is the most widely recognized does not make it the only choice.”

Estella scowled, even as she heard Theseus whispering to Perseus. Before she could discern what they were saying, Thalia stood, grabbing the water skins before making her way towards the lake. 

“Er…” Theseus leaned away from the older man, glancing between the figure of Thalia and her as if he wished to speak.

“Athena is a sore subject.” 

Both Heracles and Perseus winced at her casual declaration, as if she wasn’t speaking about a goddess that could smite them.

“May I?”

“Ask?” she tilted her head, eyeing the three men, she did not mind Perseus the man was rather quiet and spent most of his time looking rather forlorn, Theseus on the other hand… he made her smile, reminding her vividly of her brother, just more innocent than she had ever known him to be. Finally, her gaze settled on Heracles, a proud man, that while strong, seemed to have no thought to his surroundings or anything else but what he perceived as his duty…

“My brother was betrothed to a daughter of Athena.” She settled on, ignoring the scandalized gasp when they pieced together what that meant, a son of Poseidon with the Wisdom's daughter, “They were young,” she frowned, “and my brother’s fatal flaw is loyalty.”

“It did not end well,” Perseus said, not really asking but instead nodding along to his own words.

“The daughter of Athena… She grew scared of the power my brother held and weld so easily. That fear… festered and grew, consuming her entire image of him until it was the only thing she saw. She would look at him as if he was a great beast instead of the boy who she had grown up with and fought battles besides.” she had to stop, trying in vain to relax her tightening fist and calm her racing heart, just remembering what happened… it always causes a swell of anger, wrath , unimaginable fire and all burning storms of wrath.

“Did she run?” Heracles asked, looking up after wrapping his hands carefully in cloth, looking vaguely insulted at the notion. 

“No,” she spat, “she did much worse.”

She couldn’t speak for a moment, fighting back the memories of panic, the sound of her mother’s sobs and begging still echoed in her ears some nights. While she didn’t remember the devastation brought to the coasts, she had still picked up history books that spoke of the calamity in awed horror, the lives lost and bodies never found as her patron and, his like, raged for weeks.

Swallowing against the rising bile, her voice shook as she spoke of the girl who was supposed to be her sister-in-law, “She waited instead, waited until Artemis’s chariot was nearly across the sky, with only the constellations watching as she snuck into his bedchambers with her gleaming cursed dagger.” 

The men tensed, frowning deeply at her words and their implications.

“My brother screamed,” her voice dropped, tilting her head to gaze at the shore edge and Thalia’s hunched position. “I did not hear it,” she admitted, “but the gods did.”

She let that sink in. Watching silently as their eyes widened and shoulders tense. Poseidon was well known for his defense of his children, for his rage against civilizations, monsters, and even other gods if what he claimed as his was harmed. He had sunk more than one harbor city for daring to touch his children.

“Poseidon answered.” Thalia’s voice came out strong and steady even as her fist shook, and her teeth were clenched. 

 “When the daughter of Athena walked out, she did so with her head high as if she wasn’t covered in his blood. Both gold and red ran down her frame and she said it so calmly, as if stating a fact, as if we were all just  too  dumb to see it.” Estella was spitting and her entire body felt as if it was wound up, waiting to spring. 

Her fingers flexed into claw shape and her lips pulled sharply back, the words dripping out like venom, “She was just killing a monster , she said. And really what's another monster to a demigod.”

Standing abruptly, she turned away and nearly sprinted towards the lake, hastily throwing her weapons down and hopping to get her shoes off before diving under the water. She sat cross legged in the sand, looking up at the surface light, even as the blurred forms of the men were pulled back by Thalia. Estella silently thanked Poseidon and Amphitrite for their blessings as she pushed herself backwards and deeper into the lake's waters. 

She wasn’t the ultimate fish as her brother put it, her body could not handle the pressure and depressurization he could so easily, but with their families blessing she could breathe underwater and see relatively well.

She closed her eyes against the sunlight and allowed herself to float, relaxing fully like she hadn’t since they arrived in the past.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Perseus stared at the water in shock, glancing back at his sister to study her. Her face and body showed no worry but a resignation.

“The children of sea deities or those blessed by them can breathe water as if it was the very air on land.” she told them, “She will resurface when she wishes to and not a moment sooner.” 

Theseus perked up at the words, looking eagerly at the lake and Perseus just knew he’d have to watch him for the moment he took off running to test those words.

“She was telling you about Annie.”

“Annie?” Heracles muttered.

“The daughter of Athena and her brother.” Perseus nodded.

Her chin jutted out and her teeth ground together, nose creasing as she turned her head away unwilling to look them in the eye.

“I practically raised her; Athena led her to me.”

Perseus kept his face set even as Heracles and Theseus reared back at the news, Thalia barely looked of age, to know she had already raised a child, even if not her own was startling.

“Estella was home with their mother, when Annie betrayed us. She stumbled out covered in blood and was so- so proud of herself and her skill, her ability to see what we didn’t.” she scoffed, “She took his blood being more ichor as a sign, her eyes were wild and she kept saying… Poseidon was the father of monsters , and she was saving us. That by taking his life… she might be saving what was left of his soul before it burned up and left nothing but a creature behind.”

She grew quiet then, curling herself slightly. Perseus couldn't stop himself though, the idea of Andromeda, of his beloved being scared of him and his father, sat in his mind.

“Did no one see her fear? Did he not try to assure her?”

“He did, he swore and promised never to touch what had scared her so, and he didn’t. But it wasn’t…” Thalia huffed, “It was more than that, he studied trying to help other godlings and children by teaching them what he learned, he spent time with his godly family and his cousins. With me. Annie became suspicious of anything he did when she wasn’t around. Convinced he was using the dreaded power blessed into his very being by the fates and his father. Anything he did she used against him, as if he was hiding himself from her. After the war… she never trusted him, not like she used to.”

 “But” Heracles uttered, a frown set and eyes dark, “Did she not love him? To take a weapon to your beloved, is nigh impossible!” 

Persaeus agreed, he couldn’t imagine ever raising his sword against his wife or children even if he believed them to be willing and able of great devastation. 

Thalia nodded, “Her siblings believed that a great madness driven by fear took her, but even when Dionysus reached out to her, when her breathing calmed and eyes focused, she stood firm in her decision that she was saving the godlings and even that she was saving him.”

The group stood in stunned silence each lost in thought as they looked out across the lake in contemplation.

“He is a god now.” Theseus said shakily, wondering if he too had the power that drove the daughter of Athena to such actions.

Thalia smiled bitterly, “He had been holding onto his humanity with his entire being, unwilling to watch us grow old and fade before him, leaving him behind with nothing. His blood had been turning gold since his sixteenth birthday. When Percy screamed Poseidon rose from the sea and took him.” closing her eyes, she tried to block the memories. 

But she remembered. She remembered being with Lady Artemis when the ground shook and the seas raged. When Artemis had the dawning look of realization even as Thalia had tried to argue, Percy was too strong, too good, the best of them, there was no way he would die .

“We heard nothing for a year. Nico told us his soul was not in Uncle’s realm but that was it, that was all we had.” 

Perseus stepped forward, sandals sinking into the grass as he reached forward to place a hand on her shoulder, pulling her to his side. It was as he did so that she realized tears were falling down her face, rapidly descending and watering the earth. Her head began to feel thick like someone had poured molasses onto her brain. 

“Percy would never allow for execution or any harm to befall a fellow demigod. So, she was cast out, disowned by Greece, by her siblings… even Athena, her mother, could not bear to look at her. If she steps foot onto our land, a single bit of her hair falls within the base of Olympus, and she’d be cursed. A dreadful curse made by the elder gods, even father contributed as he unwillingly favored Percy.”

Thalia allowed her words to trail off and grow softer as she spoke, tucking herself under her brother’s arm, she could almost imagine it as Jason, comforting her as she mourned and raged for the family that had betrayed her so completely. First Luke… 

Sometimes she wished she never met them. Luke who broke her heart and then Annie. She shook her head, trying not to overlap the image of adult Annie and the seven-year-old girl in her pajamas she saved. She had trusted them so completely then, had never thought they were capable of the cold, calculated, evil they would do later.

Taking a deep breath, she pulled away from Perseus, whipping her eyes, and ignoring the sound of her voice, the grittiness she associated with crying.

“Theseus, you should go get Estella. She’ll sit down there for days if you don't.”

Chapter Text

Will leaned back, eyeing his father in silence as the words washed over him, itching to go check on his friends but unwilling to upset the gods before him.

They all looked so different. It was perhaps hard to see unless a fellow god, but it was in the smaller details and the wait they held themselves. He had never seen Hermes high-strung, used to him being relaxed and easy to talk to, unlike now where he seemed almost marble-like in his pose. Artemis seemed… softer, her expression more open as she smiled at her fellow gods. 

It was weird to see his father like this. He had gotten used to the freckles and his hair being several shades darker in the form he had taken to use after the whole Lester thing. He seemed… inhuman in a way Will had never seen.

His form was too fluid and jittery, like energy waiting to be brought forth, his glow would have been blinding if he was mortal. His face… was perfect, completely symmetrical down to the bone, it was unnatural, a perfection no human could achieve. His nose was perfectly straight and sharp, his eyes were almond-shaped and pure gold, the pupil completely gone from his eyes, and his hair was a fine shade of blond in ringlets that fell to his shoulders interwoven with flowers.

As he studied his father, he realized what he was thinking, what it all meant. Apollo looked young. He looked young and the longer Will looked into his father's golden eyes, the dawning realization began to set in.

This is Apollo before the tragedy of Daphne or Hyacinthus, this is before Troy and the plagues he sent to slaughter soldiers, this is before the name Apollo became acquainted with Tragedy just as much as it did the sun.

Suddenly the breath seized in his chest and his heart ached for what would befall his father. He almost wanted to tell him, and he tried to picture it, to tell him-

You,  firstborn of Zeus, golden prince of the skies, will suffer greatly and deeply for millennia. You god of Sun and Life, will mourn and wish for mortality to take you. Your tears will create rivers and your sorrow will ruin you. Your family will hurt you and you will be wrongfully punished. You will suffer like no other god or goddess.

You will grow. You will find love that brings Aphrodite to shame. You will stand tall and proud, knowing that you succeed where all other gods have failed. None of your children will ever doubt you and all will know you love what is yours. 

You, Apollo, son of Leto will bring great devastation to mankind, and you will push them to the greatest feet unheard of nor thought possible. Your name will be more recognized than any god or goddess before or after you. 

You, a son of Zeus, will be the catalyst for the gods, the call for change and honor.

Instead, Will smiled, reaching out to accept the hug offered by his young father, peeking back at his older brother and offering him a look of… something. Asclepieia watched, his face ages older than the one their father wore, he was taller than Apollo and thus Will by several inches, but his eyes were familiar, the same shape and shade of blue that Lee had, and he had the same colic that Austin hated with a burning passion. Will had only seen his brother in passing in his time, much more used to following his father and friends around than hanging around the marbled city of Olympus. 

“Will you help me Father?” he asked softly, “I have a few more domains to find and the others to help.”

And Apollo smiled, white teeth and glowing molten eyes - the only god to inherit Kronos’ eyes- and he wrapped an arm around his shoulder.

“Tell me, son,” he spoke loudly, all chest as if the world should bow to his words, “where should we look?”

“Well,” he said softly, “I took after my father, and took hold of light soon after ascending to godhood.”

Apollo nodded, turning to look at his siblings.

“Olympia’s flame stays lit for another week,” Hermes offered, “We can try there.”

“If not, Lefkada’s shores, during the night they light up under my chariot in a warm glow offering light to the people.” Artemis added, “We will find your lost domain nephew. You have my word.”

Nodding in thanks, he moved to begin the journey out of Olympus when Hermes' voice laughed from his side.

“But you must tell us Nephew, how you ended up with a child of Hades.” he teased as he sidesstepped Apollo’s half-hearted swipe, while Will turned his face away feeling the ichor turn his cheeks gold. 

“You do reek of uncle's descendants.” Asclepieia admitted, “It’s woven into your essence.”

Biting the inside of his lip he set his gaze to the left, towards the fountains that showed the edge of Poseidon’s area of Olympus. The view was rather beautiful, with dazzling water glittering in the light, decorated in silvers and iridescent pearls. Large sea plants came out of the shallow pools, reaching up in colorful displays as they flowered.

Apollo giggled, shaking him lightly, “Come now, it is nothing to be embarrassed about.”

A spark of something lit his chest in a way he knew it wouldn’t have been if he was mortal. He frowned and felt his shoulders tense.

“I will never be embarrassed because of my husband,” he declared hotly.

The gods stepped back, appeasingly holding out their hands to show no harm was meant. Sniffing angrily at himself, he took a deep calming breath, allowing his eyes to slip closed to take a moment.

“Sorry, that was unintended, I’m still getting used to controlling my temperament as a god.” he told them freely, “I am Will god of battle medics and light, son of Apollo and a musician Naomi, partner of Nico the god of shadows, of ghosts and mourning of the dead, the son of Hades. What would you like to know?”

Asclepieia eyed him from the corner of his eye for a long moment as the three Olympians watched him wearily and unamused.

“Tell me, brother,” he settled on, “How did you meet the son of Hades?”

Will allowed a smile to bloom and felt the warmth in his chest, just thinking back to when they were nothing but children often left him in a mix of fond reminiscence just as quickly as bitter anger.

“I was thirteen summers when I met the son of Hades… I had seen and heard of him in passing but after the battle everyone ended up in my med tent-”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Theseus glanced nervously back at Thalia even as he now sat thigh-deep in the water in his underclothes. He licked his lips, glancing between the murky depths and the daughter of Zeus.

“Are you sure-”

“I swear to the gods-”

Theseus ducked under the water, puffing his cheeks out to hold air in as he did so. For a moment he sat suspended there unmoving. Glancing down at himself he blinked back the confusion, his underclothes were completely dry, and as he waved his arm around and brought it to his hair, he realized he was completely dry too! 

He turned back, popping up out of the lake after a second to shout to the shore.

“I”M DRY!” he shrieked, “LOOK!” 

“That’s great, you're a fish, please go get Estella,” Thalia said dryly, looking unimpressed with him as he danced slightly in the shallows.

But Theseus was barely listening, he felt particularly jittery as if something was dancing across his muscles at this revelation. Hoping slightly and letting it splash he couldn’t help the grin that stretched his lips wide and left his jaw aching. Shaking himself slightly, he stepped back before diving forward, seamlessly slipping through the water. 

Blinking opens his eyes he glanced around himself in awe. He shouldn’t know what he was looking at but for some reason he did, the deep rightness making it seem like his mind sighed in relief. He could see the natural currents, he could see the flickering forms of Naiads as they darted through the clear waters with ease, some stopping to offer him a wave or smile before swimming away. But as he pulled his attention away from the pretty faces he realized as he looked around him at the fish swimming around him unbothered and the plants swaying in the tides, he knew what everything was, he could make out eels, two types of goby, and killifish, spinning himself around he peered around at the rocky bottom, looking for more fish. 

‘Little Prince, little Prince.’ the fishes chanted, swimming around him.

Theseus fumbled, wide-eyed for a moment and where he was on land had fallen back in shock.

“Hello?” he answered back, blinking as bubbles left his mouth and suddenly his mind was in overdrive.

How had he done that?! How did he speak underwater? Why didn’t his lungs burn? Why wasn’t he drowning?! 

‘Little Prince, hello little Prince.’ the fishes chanted, some darting up and knocking themselves onto his exposed back and forearms in greeting.  

Blinking at the fish he tried not to show his panic, instead blurting out.

“Have you seen a girl?” 

The fish started, unblinking, some still chanting ‘Little Prince.’

“Er… Has another human that can breathe underwater come by?” he tried.

‘Princess,’ one of the fish muttered , ‘Little Princess.’ 

“Er, yes? Where did she go?” he tried. 

The fish bobbed up and down, caught between chanting Little Princess and Prince devotedly. One particular shiny killifish darted out of the group, headbutted his hand before darting to the left, turning around to swim around him before doing it again.

“Okay…”  Theseus whispered to himself, “My father will not believe this,” he told himself thinking of his mortal parent. 

He followed the fish. 

Estella was leaning against the rocks, her hand outstretched as she played with some of the fish, allowing them to curl in her hand before tossing them only for it to line back up to do it again. She avoided his gaze, focusing on the animals around her indulgently.

“Estella?” Theseus called hesitantly, unsure if she would lash out and completely willing to admit the huntresses scared him.

She sighed, shoulders slumping. “You can go, I cannot stay longer.” she told the fish, tossing one more before facing him. 

She stared at him, he didn’t know exactly what she was thinking or anything, but she stared at him intently, her eyes rolling over his face in dead focus.

“Er…” he shifted, acutely aware of being in his underclothes while she stood fully dressed, shoes still on her feet.

She shook her head, suddenly looking amused, glancing at his lack of clothes with a raised brow.

“What?” he whined, crossing his arms.

“Nothing… nothing,” she claimed, moving forward to swim back towards the surface edge.

The two swam back to the surface in silence, climbing out of the water to see Thalia, Perseus, and Heracles standing ready with the horses, what threw Theseus off was the man standing with them. He was a head taller than Thalia, with shaggy golden blond hair and shining blue eyes, something about him made his head itch with familiarity and as he stepped closer the feeling of warmth and peace came off the man.

Theseus bowed just as his feet left the water.

Estella, though, ran forward, shrieking loudly, sending the birds flying and the fishes that followed them scattering.

“WILL!”

Chapter Text

“Stell,” Will said fondly, even as she nearly tackled him to the ground.

He hugged her easily, rubbing his cheek against her hair- both Percy and her had the same rough texture from all the salt that blanketed their skin. He lay his hands carefully, allowing the warm hum of his power out, scanning her and closing any scrap or scratch that blemished her usually tanned skin. He could feel the flare of power at the corner of his mind and knew his father was watching curiously from the heavens.

“She was worried,” Thalia offered with a teasing grin.

Meeting the daughter of Zeus' eyes with a raised brow, “I’m sure she was the only one.”

“Yep,” she popped, “I know you’re made with sterner stuff.”

She punched his shoulder, looking highly amused. Will smiled at her tone, letting his eyes bleed more gold as he met Perseus horrified gaze. Perseus swallowed thickly, squaring his shoulders and seems to be calling on every bout of experience as king or demigod. Will smiled at the display, wondering if it was their display of familiarity or his status as a god that sent his uncle so off kilter.

The younger demigod in their mist, Theseus, scrambled up the sandy beach looking very much like a younger Percy. Tilting his head allowing his blond hair to fall slightly into his face, he eyed the son of Poseidon quietly. He looked like an unsure Percy, like he had at 14, walking out of water and up to his own funeral. Percy had looked confused and unsure, his green gaze darting between campers before falling on the burning funeral shroud.

Will willed the thought away, trying to cast the image away of how painfully young Percy had been when he put himself between the monsters and campers, when he raised his head high and said that it was enough. The hard lines of his face when he stared Zeus down and said the demigods had nothing to prove.

Theseus looked just as unsure as Percy had on that beach, slightly panicked looking between Thalia and Perseus uncertainty. The blond smiled slightly at that, petting Estella's hair, like Kayla and Gracie used to do when she was a toddler.
“I am Will, the son of Apollo.” he introduced, bowing his head in greeting, just before resting his chin at the top of Estella’s head, wrapping his arm loosely around her.

Estella giggled lightly, letting go of Will’s middle to turn and face them. Her eyes seemed to sparkle, Will knew, as they often did when she was near gods, making the green flakes in her eyes nearly glow unnaturally. Such is the fate of a mortal being half-raised by gods.

“My lord, I am Perseus and this is my brother Heracles, we’re the sons of Zeus.”

Before Theseus could introduce himself Will smiled, eyes twinkling mischievously as he looked between them. His gaze shot briefly to Thalia wondering how much she had told her half-brothers.

“I know who you are. I’ve heard great stories of my uncles.” his eyes shifted to meet Theseus' own, “All my uncles.”

“But you are the son of Apollo?” Theseus blurted out, face flushed as he realized the brashness of his words.

“Aye, and my father married your brother. '' he said with an easy shrug, trying to ignore the sudden flare of heat at his back and the burning question that echoed in his mind, the soft breeze as Hermes and Apollo seemed to take that news in, he reached forward, tilting Thalia’s head in the illusion of checking the nicely healing cut across her cheek, letting her gaze wonder to the newly crashing waves of the lake- Poseidon had never believed Apollo was good enough for his son. “Mother is very protective of all his children. '' he grinned sharply.

Heracles seemed particularly lost at that confession, glancing back at Perseus with a look of complete disbelief.

“But my brother isn’t your mother?” Theseus tried, tone coming out thick and face scrunching up as he stared at the god.

“My little sister started calling him that as a joke, he just went with it.” he hummed, thinking of the way Percy seamlessly inserted himself into the position of parent, the soft and proud look he’d give them. “We were born before he married dad so he didn’t mind, most of the demigods call him some term of family. Mother, Father… brother.” he shrugged.

“Soon after demigods of other deities started to pop up with little powers.” he told them, and the sun flared when the clouds seemed to disappear, and the scent of ozone seemed to come with a swift breeze, “Most of the children have something like swimming faster or being able to hold their breath longer. Children with healing can heal with water, others with affinity to animals can speak with sea creatures. Little things.”

He tilted his head, listening to the whispering confusion and astonishment from the other gods.

“The son of Poseidon,” he flared his power, letting it swell around the group slightly, Estella shifted in his arms, and Thalia stood straight as the waves calmed slightly as he spoke and he knew before he found light he’d end up before the council, “He changed everything.” he admitted, eyes turning gold as he stared at the heavens seeing the flickering forms of gods watching them in the skies.

“He looked at the gods and told them to do better.”

Thunder crashed and the gods shifted a heaviness set in as the three demigods shifted looking around wildly.

“He believed they could, that they could change. To be better…” he shifted his gaze bringing their attention to the churning seas.

“Poseidon, Amphirite, Triton, Rhodes, Kymopoleia, Benthesikyme, the cyclops…” Estella's voice trailed off slightly as the thunder rolled across the skies and the waters began to crash harshly into the sand beached, each wave an answer to a name, “I wasn’t a child of Poseidon, but I was connected to them. They’re family.” she told them firmly, “I spent summers under the sea with my brother, aunts and uncle. They taught me to fight, to defend…to understand the sea. We had this because my brother looked at them and said, We are family, this is what I am loyal to, this is what I fight for. He led Olympius to victory not for the gods, but for this family.” she said firmly, pressing her hand flat to her chest, crossing her arm over Will’s.
“My father grew fond of him,” Will said when Estella didn’t continue, “It wasn’t until after the wars that a friendship began to grow… Apollo was the first one to know he was ascending, not because of a prophecy but because of the trust Percy had in him.”

He didn’t mention the year and a half they danced around each other, all the Apollos children easily spotting their father’s love-sick gaze. He didn’t mention how Percy came to him uncertain, when his father proposed, convinced Will, Austin, and the others would hate him. Nor the way the second Gracie called him mother he had softened, he had always been protective of demigods but no one blamed him or could deny his favoring of his husbands children. He didn't mention how being with Percy made his father human, the gods' eyes never bleeding gold, the way he doted on them, the way he did things without powers, trips to beaches and forests, him taking them north to see the Northern Lights or that one summer he picked them up and spent a month in Delos walking the sacred streets with their grandmother Leto.

He wasn’t sure the godly eavesdroppers would be able to stand the news. Percy Jackson made Apollo mortal in ways no punishment or understanding had ever before. He dragged that from each god in other ways, telling them to stop running and feel, accept the mourning for the children as proof they lived and even if they left no mark on man, they left a mark on the gods themselves.

The three demigods shifted looking confused and rather uncomfortable to the news. Will watched them for a moment waiting for some unsaid sign.

Thalia broke the silence, “Anyways,” she said easily like the heavy topic didn’t happen at all, “Can you help us?”

Will tilted his head listening slightly to something none of the mortals can hear. He listened to his father’s whisper and the strings of fates chiming faintly. He was not connected to prophecy as much as he was healing, but any child of Apollo could hear the faint wind chimes music of the fates if they listened hard enough.

“There is a prophecy,” he pointed out after the note rang high in his ears, a warning sound, “I am heading west to get my lesser domain and after that I can be a companion but I do believe you have to gather the main domains.”
“Alright then.” Thalia nodded easily enough knowing he had his hands tied.

“But, you can still pray to me, I’ll send you supplies and might be able to talk dad into handing over ambrosia.”

Thalia hummed looking troubled.

“Now, tell me why Estella walked out of the lake.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Apollo leaned over his throne, nearly completely in half as he watched his son with the godlings. His eyes were pure, sold gold, as he rolled the words Will had spoken around in his head. He could feel his sister’s gaze on him and the nagging of her voice whispering in his head, mixing and weaving into his thoughts so seamlessly.

Him? Married? Did he forget his promise to the muses? The heartbreak that seemed all consuming and worse than any wound, insult, or injury he had ever faced. He was Phoebus Apollo son of the King of gods and Titanius Leto, he was the first born son, heir to an immortal throne. He was not meant for love. He knew his fate of silent suffering, of falling in love but never keeping that love. It was his fate, weaved by the three sisters themselves.

A son of Poseidon to…

His mind wondered and he split, sending himself to the temple of the sleeping gods. He sat on his throne with a mock display of disinterest as he hurriedly made his way through Olympius, shrugging off his sister and waving away Hermes' worried call, telling them to keep their focus on the council instead.

He entered the room swiftly, letting his eyes wander to each of the young gods sleeping. The blond was the tallest and broader than the two ravens, he had the same nose as Athena and the jaw line he shared with Hermes and Ares, marking him as another one of his younger brothers. He passed the blond with half a glance, turning his gaze to the other two.

His eyes passed over the other two critically, taking in the equal inky dark hair and the telling features of any of the children of the big three. The was a younger one though he seemed taller and leaner, he was pale skin nearly bone white with gold veins prominent pulsing through his body, his face was thin and cheekbones high reminding Apollo of Hades when he was first born, his Uncle having watched over him and Artemis with found if bemused eyes.

Which left the shortest of the three.

“You are apparently my husband.” he spoke to the sleeping god, hand reaching up to caress his cheek.

His face was softer than Poseidon, with long lashes and darker skin, he looked… rather beautiful, he supposed. His skin alone showed he was not purely Greek if not the smell of divinity that came off of him. Apollo supposed, he understood where the older him took interest. He was fit and the pulsing of his core let him know that should Percy have all his domains he would truly be powerful. The longer he looked the more he noticed. His lips were delicate and when he ran a thumb over it, they were petal soft. His dark hair was nearly to his shoulders and curled softly like waves, pearls of multiple colors had been woven into his hair. He kept imperfections, Apollo noticed next, realizing the left ear was rounder then the right, and a scar that peaked out of his clothing. Yet, the longer Apollo gazed at him the more divine he thought he looked. And it was there as he stared that he felt it, a stirring in his chest calling over, he could almost see their strings of fates weaving and spinning together into one thread.

“He is mine.” Poseidon’s voice hissed as he stalked in, trident in hand in clear display of his displeasure.

Poseidon shifted his form to be imposing, seemingly filling the space with ease. His hair was dark and if Apollo met his gaze he knew he’d see the full destructive power of his uncle in all his glory. Tidal waves, earthquakes, the very oceans rebelling and shaping the world around his anger.

Apollo lifted his hands away from the sleeping god, raising to show he had nothing and bowing his head slightly in acknowledgment.

“You will stay away from him, Nephew, if you know what is good for you.” His voice came out echoing, deep and dangerous, the crashing of waves seeming to become white noise behind the gods and Apollo could feel his sacred land shifting and shaking with his uncles furry.

“You do not know this boy, Uncle.” Apollo pointed out mildly feeling the sun flaring as he grew irritated with the accusations and insults left in Poseidon's tone. “He should mean little to you if I claim him.”

The Sea god snarled, teeth elongating into something close to shark teeth, sharp and ready to tear. The gold under his skin seemed to glow and Apollo knew if he pushed too far his Uncle’s godly form would burst forth like flood waters, washing away anything in its way.

“He is of the sea, it is the sea he belongs to, not the sky to dry out and die as all your lovers do.”

It bubbled into his chest like lava and suddenly the sun was beating down on the poor lowly mortal as Apollo snarled, his own teeth barred in warning and eyes lit with malice as he glared angrily at the words Poseidon spoke into being. Flicking his wrist he felt his bow land in his hand as his back grew heavy as arrows appeared at the ready.

Clearing his throat Will stepped into the room, rippling to show most of his attention was still with the demigods. He placed one hand lightly on Apollo’s sternum and left the other out in the air towards Poseidon but unwilling to touch the sea god.
“He would not appreciate you fighting,” he said sharply.

Poseidon snarled, slapping the hand away from him and sending Will stumbling.

“Don’t touch my son!” Apollo roared, letting his aura bleed out into blinding light and the mask of death to curl into his form as Prophecy and Plague whispered tantalizingly, caressing his biceps and writing words into his very skin.

“DO NOT TOUCH MINE!” Poseidon shook Olympius, sending its lakes, ponds, and fountains clasping into white stones as the very foundation of the city shook.

Vaguely he could feel and hear the start of a crowd outside the door, lesser gods and spirits gathering to see the fallow of two Olympians fighting. At the edge of his consciousness he could feel his siblings gathering and the burning attention of the council. Pushing back at the thought, he pulled himself fully into the room, with nothing but the consciousness driving the sun left out of the room.

Will had stepped back up in the few moments his attention was elsewhere, pushing himself between the gods with a straight back and his own snarl, his form flickering as he fought for control.
“Both of you will do nothing.” He said firmly, glaring at them both, “Percy will never forgive you if you do.”

The men stood a few feet apart glaring angrily between each other, allowing the tension to blanket the room. Will was glared, heartedly trying to hide his racing heart and uncertainty. Apollo reached out, gently placing a hand on his shoulder even as he fought to rein in his own anger at Poseidon’s words. Taking a deep breath at the gesture, Will spoke his words thoughtfully, carefully choosing what to tell them, saying them softly to the gods, ignoring the burning glare Poseidon was aiming at him.

“Percy is your favorite, My Lord, and we’ve been told he’s the most like you out of all your kids. Unwilling to be restrained, loyal and protective, the best fighter.” he said appeasingly, and Apollo could see his Uncle preening at the praise, “Headstrong and stubborn. His moods and whims are ever changing with the tides. His compassion to his people and subjects, those he believes are his to protect, his destruction and devastation he rains down is legendary and just as well known as his compassion and need to help.”

Will’s eyes closed as if he was bracing himself for his next words.

“Percy has fought Titans and Giants, monsters that you have only dreamed of… monsters you forgot existed.” his voice was soft, a whisper that seemed to have the entirety of Olympius holding its breath. “He fought and beat Ares as a mere mortal child, and Hades and his army a few years before he reached adulthood.”

He continued on, ignoring the thunder from Zeus that rumbled angrily at the words and the shocked awe or pride that seemed to be Poseidon’s entire being as he began to bounce lightly on his feet.
“He stood up to Zeus and the Council with head high before he began to ascend.”

Suddenly Will’s gaze turned sharp and his next words came out harsh and choppy.

“He cares not for any feud you share or hold. These are all reasons you should know. If you try and make the choice for him, He will never forgive you. Percy is the one who stood up to the Fates themselves and won.”

His gaze met Apollo’s and Apollo could see the images of battles curling in his gaze, battles that were yet to come.

“This is not a decision for you to make, my Lord.” He settled on pointedly, “Neither of yours.” he said after a moment, turning to stare at Apollo.

Chapter Text

Thalia thought traveling for quests was bad at 15 in modern times, it was nothing compared to now. They had to backtrack through their journey and make their way across the sea to the other side of Greece. Her thighs, back, and ass already hurt from all the time spent horseback riding and they still had days more of it before they reached a boat. She has never been more thankful for being born in the time of cars. 

Traveling with the old heroes was nothing like traveling with her brothers or even just Percy during quests. There were long stretches of silence, broken up by Heracles saying something to belittle Theseus or literally anyone or thing other than Perseus, a small argument breaking out before the group went back to silence. Honestly, the entire thing was a nightmare and she hoped Will was having better luck. 

She was also trying to figure out what the main domains were for the rest of the boys. Nico’s main domain she was pretty sure would-be spirits of the dead, zombies, and ghosts. But Jason and Percy? She didn’t think his duties to the temples would be his main domain, the longer she thought of Jason the more she couldn’t help but think his biggest one would be Diplomacy, the peacemaker, silver tooth, all those titles he earned for his role in the senate representing Greek and Roman demigods, between each other, Olympus, and the demigod meets. In that sense she wouldn't be surprised if his domain was hopping between the city-states, looking for an ambassador. If that was the case, the only one who might have an answer on where her brother’s lost domain would be was Perseus, or she hoped he’d know seeing as he is a king.

Percy though… While a great deal of his being went to heroes and demigods, his family he’d argue she didn’t think that was the main point. She had long ago stopped arguing that all those domains were lesser and tied to the one that drove all his actions. Loyalty, loyalty had driven Percy while mortal and once he claimed his godly hood it was what kept him more down to earth than the others. But who would he tie himself to here? She’d say his husband or father, but she knew Percy. These gods were not up to his standards. He’d never accept them as they are now, not his father causing destruction and curses with no remorse and Apollo? Ha, Percy would more likely try and kill the sun god than allow this version of his husband near him. His maternal family line would be in the islands, nearly impossible to get to in this day and age. His domain hadn’t sought out her or Estella which…only left one option.

“Chiron.” she gasped, “With no one familiar around, Percy would seek out Chiron.” 

“What?” Theseus turned, startled at her loud exclamation.  

“Percy!” she yelled excitedly, sure in her answer, “Percy loves his city but it’s thousands of years before that will be built.”

“And even with the city there are things he’s more loyal to.” Estella said firmly, trying to hide her visible jealousy at the implication her brother was not loyal to her. 

Thalia bit back a smile before continuing, “But even compared to his loyalty to the gods… above the city and the gods- Percy is loyal to the demigods and to Chiron.”

“Above his city?” Perseus whispered.

“Above the gods?!” Heracles demanded, “Would he not fight for his father?”

“Percy would fight for Poseidon within reason,” Estella answered, looking at her thoughtfully, “Poseidon knows that Percy would not fight for him if it meant going against demigods or me…”

“Percy is not with you, which leaves…” Thalia trailed off.

“Chiron and the demigods under him.” 

“What does that mean?” Theseus questioned looking rather concerned at their synchronization. 

“Nothing bad, Percy’s domain is loyalty and demigods, he’ll stay close to Chiron offering protection and safe haven, he will protect them until we come for him.”

“Kheiron was outside my kingdom when we left,” Perseus offered, “I told him to make camp on its border and I would give him food and shelter for the season.” 

Estella shot her a smile nearly bouncing off her horse at the news.

“How does his father allow him to be more loyal to a creature than himself?!” Heracles demanded, shaking his head as if to rid himself of the thought.

Sighing heavily, Thalia couldn’t help but pay for patience.

“My brother is loyal to Poseidon,” Estella said sternly, “Same as I.”

“Perseus,” Thalia couldn't help the face she made at saying his full name, “is…. complicated. He will fight any god or monster, even his father, if it means ensuring a demigod child will live… well I mean any child. Poseidon doesn’t begrudge his nature. I think the only one that is truly upset about this protection he gives the demigods is god Queen.”

“And Poseidon allows this?” The wonder in Theseus' tone made Thalia’s heart ache, just knowing he had no clue how fair Poseidon was to his children compared to the other Olympians. 

She shot Estella a look before they both threw their heads back with a roaring laugh.

“Allow? Let? Those aren't words to be used with my brother.” 

The three men looked between each other puzzled but they did not answer their confused mutters. 

They made it back into the city at noon the following day. Nodding politely to the guards and heading straight to Tahy. Thalia and Estella averted their eyes, now expecting the unnecessary statue. 

Tahy’s eyes had widened at the sight of them but greeted them with open arms. 

“I was sure I would not see you for days. The boy gods were taken up to Olympus shortly after you left." He told them promptly, “You can rest here and tell me the tales of your journey and how our sister city is doing.”

Thalia and Estella left to bathe, coming back into the dining room to a crowd. The room was lit up by candles and the food was mostly gone, yet a crowd had formed Tahy’s wife and seven children, along with servants and guards, were crowded around staring in awe.

 Heracles was throwing his arms out as he set the scene of the battle between the Greeks and Persians and their harrowing journey across the battlefield as if it hadn’t taken minutes.

“I gotta say,” Thalia softly said absentmindedly to Estella, “He is a good storyteller.”

“I do not understand how he is taking something that took five minutes and making that alone an epic tale.”

“Suddenly I understand why his stories are still widely known…”

The night passed pleasantly, with wine and good food. Thalia took a moment to entertain the legacies of Poseidon with small pops of electricity, smiling smugly at the ooh and awe she received from everyone. She tried not to run when she caught sight of Tahy leading Estella into an excluded corner, knowing her sister would be able to handle him but also not trusting the men of this time to be as pure in their intentions as their brothers and friends. When the thought passed she couldn’t help the quirk on her lips as she remembered the grumbled complaints between Leo and Percy saying there were too many girl groups that hate guys and that they should start their own immortal hunting group just for guys.

It was only when Tahy wife stepped forward, that her gaze dropped from her sister. Tahy's wife was slime and tanned, dark hair was pinned up into braids and her eyes were soft, wearing simple peplos with embroidered hems, she was the picture of modesty. She smiled at Thalia as if they were family. 

“Daughter of Zeus,” she bowed her head, “I am Thekla, sister of the great priestess Klytaimnestra, both of us are daughters of Lady Aphrodite.” 

Thalia offered her bow, “Lady Thekla, thank you for welcoming me and my sister into your home.”

“It is not a problem dear,” she told her, laying her hand lightly on Thalia's elbow before leading her away. 

She tucked them against a wall with a large mural painted against the white stone, from this angle it gave them a full view of the room. Of Perseus and Heracles entertaining the children with embellished stories. Theseus sat a few feet away next to a small fountain with Tahy and Thekla’s older children. Estella was showing Tahy the silver trident pendant and Thalia could only guess the stories she was telling of their shared family.

Thekla was looking at none of that, her attention pointed towards the mural.

“This is a mural that Tahy commissioned of our wedding day.” she told Thalia, “The combining of our family and a show of his devotion to me. It is riddled with symbols of our godly inheritance.”

It was a beautiful piece of art, with Tahy and Thekla standing in the center, there were flowers, roses, and myrtle dotted the painting, with horses and bulls standing behind the couple, fish and swans sat at the bottom against a rolling weave of blue.

“We have murals of our family, of each child I have bore him on that far wall.” she pointed across the way, towards Estella and her husband.

Thalia smiled at the thought, like an ancient photo album. 

“My husband thinks you coming to us for help is a sign of good fortune, of the gods favoring our family, so.” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Will left the room without much confidence and tried to hide the nervous shaking. Will was many things, but he was no Percy Jackson, never had he dared to stand so firmly between two gods… but he knew if Percy woke to them fighting no wrath of the Olympians would compare to Percy. 

Will had barely survived the last time Percy and his father had fought. Apollo ran to him with his tail between his legs and wide-eyed with a gash so deep Will had thought he would have to give a god stitches. He had suffered with Apollo sulking and alternating between his and Asclepieia's homes, moping and crying, bemoaning how he had messed it up and how surely Percy would never forgive him. Will had gone to Percy once to ask him to forgive his father and really… Will had only ever seen the look he gave at the mere mention of Apollo given to monsters.

Poseidon and Apollo would continue fighting he was sure and in the meantime while the girls and old heroes searched for the domains someone needed to watch over Nico, Jason, and Percy and make sure they weren’t caught in the crossfire....

The other Olympians were out the question, Aphrodite and Ares would egg them on, as would Demeter when she found out who Nico’s father was. The rest wouldn’t care… though… Hestia may lend a helping hand and neither Poseidon nor Apollo would lift a hand nor raise their voice if she was there. 

Will took off. Ducking and weaving through the busy halls of Olympus, minor gods talked with foreign gods and Will stopped more than once when he caught sight of gods long since gone, shaking himself away from his itch to speak to the ones he’d never get to meet otherwise. He made his way down the same path trying not to focus on the differences that seemed so stark to him. The designs of the outcasted daughter of Athena, or the designs Jason had added to make Olympus more inclusive to minor gods and to demigod children… it would be thousands of years before any of it was even thought of, any design laid out in blueprints, any marble cut, or murals painted. 

This Olympus was beautiful, statues and pillars painted in bright colors. Fields of wildflowers and marble-framed ponds. He could make out houses and temples dotting across the scene. He took a moment throwing his memory back to what his uncle had told him when he first ascended; each temple was an impression of one they had on earth's surface, a direct connection to their altars. The temple and altars tended to group together around the house of the god they were for. Gods like Hermes who spent most of his time traveling tended to just have altars pop up in front of him for easy access to their gifts. If he so wanted, he’d send it away, to his home on Olympus or somewhere else, he had looked at Percy when he explained this.

Beyond the painted altars and temples and homes of the gods was a vastness, a wildness that had faded from the earth long before Will had been born. He wanted to head towards it, see if it was the same as his own time or if it had been tamed over the years.

Will shook his head. 

Peeking his head into the council room he was met with a sight that he knew would burn Percy to his core. The gods sat on their thrones watching a rift in the clouds, a rainbow projecting the image of Thalia speaking with a woman, behind them a warm glow of a fire and the low murmur of conversations. Will tore his attention away with a scowl, scanning the room until he met the curious gaze of Hestia. She sat tucked slightly away from her siblings and the council sitting by a hearth tending to the flame.

“Hello,” she greeted, appearing next to him.

She wore a familiar appearance, looking about 8 or nine, with soft brown hair tucked under a veil. Like usual it always blew Will away how much of his siblings and even the children of Demeter looked like the goddess of hearth. They often shared the same nose shape or the same round eyes.

“Auntie,” he bowed, suddenly nervous that this would not be the gentle goddess he knew from his time.

She tilts her head with a small, pleased smile. 

“Hello,” she repeats.

“I’ve come to ask a favor,” he admitted, hating the admission. “I fear for my friend's safety if Poseidon and Apollo end up fighting. In our time you are close to Percy, and you both even share a domain over family. You are also close to Nico, helping him when he ascends to godhood. I know you have no memories of these things, but I had hopped-”

“That I could protect your friends from my brother and nephew?” 

He nodded, trying to not look too hopeful. 

“All of my family is protected under my hearth,” she swore.

Will smiled gratefully, thanking his great aunt, and he turned. Before he could make his way off, Olympus Hermes found him. It was strange to see his uncle, both him and his father seemed incredibly young even though they were both several hundred years old at this point. But this Hermes didn’t have the same laugh lines and seemed almost…naive.

He smiled brightly, “Hello Lady Aunt and nephew,” he greeted cheerfully, “Lord Zeus would like to see you in the throne room.”

Will held back a wince and scowl, he was no Percy Jackson, he couldn't go directly against Zeus. This is , he thought rather sourly, Zeus before Percy .

Squaring his shoulders, he tried to look pleasant as if this didn’t bother him. Walking side by side with Hermes and Heista as they all entered the throne room.

“So, this is my Grandson?” Zeus boomed.

Ah, this is going to be a shit show. Will couldn't help but think. 

Chapter Text

Estella waved her hands widely, trying to impress upon King Tahy, exactly how big the game room in Poseidon's kingdom was. They had been talking for hours now, first about their shared connection to the sea, the longing that always turned their heads to the horizon, yet the struggle of not being a direct child of the sea gods. The longing to be part of it all.

Percy, Estella knew, would be bitter if he didn't get to meet one of the nicer family members. He always complained about how many of his half siblings tried to kill him. She also knew that he would probably favor this version of Theseus, young as he is, he’d try and take his string and weave a better fate than the ones told in the myths.

She smiled slyly into her wine glass as the King spoke of the small sliver of power he and his children possessed, both politely ignoring Theseus as he tried to hide that he was eavesdropping. It was… adorable, she thought, how earnest Theseus was. Truly his fate and future actions were nearly unthinkable when looking at this version, young and willowy, so eager to listen and learn.

Tahy threw his head back and laughed when he caught her gaze as their eyes darted to Theseus and back.

“Come,” he beckoned, “Any child of Poseidon is welcome here. Lady Estella was just telling me of her brother’s room in Poseidon's palace”

Theseus stood up sheepishly.

He brought them over to a mural, showcasing the art piece with lovingly put details. But she could not stay focused on his tale he weaved, instead she caught sight of the queen corning Thalia with a thinly veiled smile. It was as Tahy trailed off that she looked back at him. His expression probably meant to look stern and stoic but to her, just as she saw Percy so clearly in Theseus, she could see the corners of his eyes lit with mirth.

“I must apologize for my wife. She is convinced that your presence here will bring us misfortune.”

Theseus looked shocked at the news, “Why?”

“It’s because most of us are demigods.” she told him, looking towards Tahy for confirmation before continuing, “Children of gods bring about trouble, they can bring great honor and be heroes, but the gods watch us more than they do regular mortals and the company that comes and finds us…”

“My family godly ties were generations ago,” Tahy explains, “While we still honor my grandfather, for the gifts he’s given us, we have not been targeted or look upon by the gods since. My wife fears this new found role we play will draw enemies… of the godly variety.”

“The worst kind to have.” Estella nodded.

“What can we do to help? We are already here, it is not as if we can change anything now.”

“Be calm,” Tahy said soft, placing his hands on Theseus shoulders and looking him in the eye.

“Her fears are not unfounded,” she said before the king could speak, “But we are not on a quest from the gods, but from the fates, we can not guarantee her anything, but know the Sea and it’s people will notice and protect you for watching their own, for honoring the blood you share though it is many generations from you now.”

Tahy smiled at her words and bowed his head, “I shall bring the message to her and hope this puts her concerns to rest.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“My King,” Apollo bowed, quickly falling in step to stand beside his future son.

Zeus shot him a stern look before his gaze rested on the young god. Apollo wished he could ask if Zeus could see his divinity as plainly as he could, the golden spark that linked him to Apollo and to Zeus, the soft warmth that he had only seen in his Aunt Hestia. He also wondered if he noticed the way Will had rocked back, placing one foot behind the other into a strange stance or the way Will's eyes seemed to shine with a panic usually only held by the mortals. As if he was scared of his grandfather.

They stared at each other for what Apollo thought felt like ages before Zeus’ lips twitched into a fond whisper of a smile.

“You look remarkably like your father.” he declared, shoulders sagging just a bit as he studied the young god.

“Like Asclepieia.”

“No,” he disagreed, “Like Aristaeus.”

Will's nose scrunched up at the comparison though he didn’t know why. Aristaeus was a fine child of his, more into fielding arts with his fondness for animals.

“You know of Aristaeus?” he asked, surprised, he was not the most skilled son of his and but for him to be remembered so far into the future as Will had come from… maybe he should watch this child more.

“Is he not a god yet?” he asked looking between them, “I admit I don't think I listened when he told me his story but yes Aristaeus is one of my elder brother’s”

“A god? Little Aris. Now that is a thought. Tell me Apollo, how old is he now?”

Tilting his head Apollo thought through all his children humming and hawing in thought, “He should be fourteen summers soon.”

“We will watch out for him then as it seems he is far more important than we thought.” Zeus mused before staring down at Will.

“Now, Grandson, tell me about your companions. We have heard…talks about some things that have been said by the hunters.”

Apollo hid a wince, unwilling to look at his father’s face knowing he would not like anything he found. Instead he looked at his son, the nervousness that left him nearly trembling and the look he sent to him, begging for interference. Will swallowed thickly, looking like he was thinking hard about what to say to the god king.

“Well there is a lot to say. Jason, you're so lord Zeus, he defeated many monsters and led an army against Krios and is ambassador. Nico-”

“I care not for the others.” he snapped, “As you well know. The one, Poseidon’s spawn, that ignorance you speak as if he were above his king.”

Will pursed his lips, his eyes flashing to look at his own. His face went carefully blank, eyes turning icy make Apollo think he had done something wrong.

“I apologize my king,” Will began with a bow, “I had not meant to alarm you. Perseus stands firmly by the gods. He led quests and armies in your name and in many ways is the Olympians' champion.”

Zeus stared him down, lightning flashing in his eyes even as Will’s face stayed steadily on the floor in his bowed form.

“Would you lie to your king boy?” he hissed, stepping closer and reaching forward to grab at the young god.

“He’s not.” Apollo blurted out, smiling charmingly at his father as he tried to move himself between the two.

“God of truth,” he reminded his glowering father.

The snarly died on his lips but the frown remained, glaring between the two.

“If I find out this boy lied to me, Apollo,” he said firmly, standing himself straight, “Not even your sister will stray my hand.”

Swallowing around a large grin he nodded at the words, watching as Zeus turned on his heel and walked out. Will sagged the second Zeus was gone.

“Gods,” Will said under his breath, “What an ass.”

Apollo turned wide eyed, mouth hanging open as he stared at Will’s equal shocked face like he couldn’t believe he had said it either.

“...I might be hanging out with Percy too much.”

Chapter Text

They sailed out in the morning. Leaving behind King Tahy and his family. Theseus promised to return one day to learn more about his distant relatives and start more permanent trade agreements with Athens. The king had been generous, giving them supplies for their journey and even telling them about heading to the temples to give Poseidon offerings as well as Hermes. 

 Thalia didn’t know if they worked, offering in their times weren’t used the way they were in this day and age. A lot of demigods used offerings to get their parents just to ‘leave a voicemail.’ As Leo and Percy always put it. She would assume it did, as Heracles heckled and jeered at the young son of Poseidon. Honestly, she had no idea how they made it from to the temple without one of them dying with the way Heracles kept a complete ass out of himself.

Even Estella, who had the patience of a saint inherited from her mother, seemed to be at her wits end and close to stabbing the unruly demigod. 

Thalia leaned against the railing of the trireme. She tried not to glance down, knowing it would make her heart race like no monster could. It wasn’t so much the height this time as it was a mix of that and being over the open ocean without Percy. In her time, she had no fear of Poseidon, knowing her uncle would not hurt her unless specifically provoked and even then falling under the protection of his favorite child and his niece meant that Poseidon was one god she never had to fear. But that was in the future. Here in the past, she had no idea what to expect. All the stories she’d been told about the sea god only seemed to reinforce that he had mellowed out over the years, meaning if there was ever a time to fear him it would be now. 

Shaking the thought from her head she looked out over the horizon. In the distance, she could see an island sticking out of the ocean. 

“Samos,” Perseus said, seemingly appearing beside her, leaning forward to rest his arms against the railing as he looked out at the island. “It’s a large city with trading ports that go as far out as the Egyptian empire to our south. They have some of the best wines in the area.” 

Thalia turned to face him, studying his features as he looked out. They stayed like that for many long minutes, in silence.

“Tell me, sister. Where are we heading?”

She sighed “I had really hoped Nico’s domain would be near Will’s,” she admitted, “They are usually never that far apart, chasing each other like the moon follows the sun.”

He waited patiently as she stared at the island ahead, watching it as they sailed away. She wondered what her father would think that even in ancient times she would be more comfortable sailing than she would ever be in the sky.

“His domain could either be at Hades Temple in Epirus or the Entrance to the underworld in Mani.”

“There is an entrance to the underworld in Mani?” he asked, utterly bewildered. 

“Yes, a cave system that if you journey deep leads to a door. I think,” she hummed, “It would be better to check the temple first because the journey to the door itself is dangerous.”

“Why do I have the feeling it will be in the cave.” he muttered, face paling.

“Hope not, the cave towards the bottom is filled with poisonous gas, mortals tend to think it's carbon dioxide…and you don’t know what that is.” she trailed off staring at his confused face. 

“I believe the best course would be to sail along the coast,” he settled on after a long moment of silence between them, “We can travel to Mani, then up to my kingdom, where K hiron will be, from there it will take us three days on horseback to Athens. If the piece is not in Mani’s caves we can travel north to Epirus.” 

Thalia stared, none of the quests or journeys she’d been on ever ended up so straightforward but Perseus spoke as if it was already fact or if this was just a fun road trip to pass the time. 

“I pray the journey will be as smooth as you make it seem.”

“Praying to Hermes and Poseidon would probably win us favor, I shall do the same.”

“You jinxed it!” Thalia screamed as the boat rocked dangerously on the seas. Her voice echoed down the hallways seemingly coming right outside Theseus' door.

Climbing out of his bunk, he darted out of the room, taking a moment if this was one of his powers, as every sailor fell with the crashing waves. He had to stop himself from laughing when Heracles slid down the hall when the front of the boat was tipped up with an oncoming wave. 

Making it onto the deck was a feat by himself and something Heracles couldn’t do without help. Theseus made a note to remember that, needing to have that for later when his elder cousin decided to have one of his jests . There were no storm clouds, the morning was clear and rather nice, the sun peaking over the horizon and basking in the sea in a warm lovely glow.

“Wha-”

Theseus wanted to go back under the deck. The ship rocked dangerously to the side, waves crashing when the railing tipped into the sea, sending salt water flooding the deck. 

“Something is ramming into us!” a sailor shouted from the mast, there was a pause then a shriek of “BRACE YOURSELF!”

The ship rocked again, and Theseus could only watch in horror as the man from the mast lost his footing and went screaming into the sea.

Estella appeared in the next second, looking at him out of the corner of her eye as she ran across the deck, kicking off her boots and diving into the sea in one fluid motion. Clenching his teeth, he glanced down the corridor he had come from before running after her. His dive is a lot less coordinated than her own, hitting the water with a loud splash. He sank a bit, letting himself go under the waves and the ship until he made out a giant-

He shot up, shooting himself through the water and throwing himself back onto the deck. It was only when he looked up did, he realized Estella had jumped in to get the man from the mast, who was being helped inside. She looked down at him in confusion even as he mumbled.

“It’s a giant shrimp?” he asked, utterly bewildered at their foe.

“Oh!” she said, her eyes lighting up with recognition “The Skolopendra! Percy told me about this.” 

“Did he tell you how to fight it?”

Before she could tell him, a giant tentacle rose from the sea and wrapped around her, dragging her overboard.

“Well, that’s not helpful.” Theseus muttered bitterly, staring at where the huntress once stood.

Chapter Text

Much later Herakles would tell an epic tale, waxing poetry of his great deed and mighty battle against the sea beast. One in which neither the son of Poseidon nor his Champion could concur, but instead he, the mighty son of Zeus faced head on and won.

But that time is not now.

The son of Zeus swayed, slightly green faced, with the ship, fighting to stay on his feet and moving forward, nearly positive the ship groaning meant it would soon split in two and sink to Poseidon's depths. He stumbled over sailors, crawling over them with a disgruntled frown. Knowing their lives mattered little compared to his and his siblings. Reaching the hatch to the door, he was slammed against the wall several times before he was able to swing it open. Blinking back spots from the sunlight he nearly fell back. Instead of the raging storm and blackened sky, he expected it was clear, the sky shining a velvety blue and the sun shining bright overhead, not a cloud in sight. Instead a tentacle as thick as tree trunks rose from the water and slammed into the ship, hitting the water on the other side and causing a cascade of water to fall onto the deck. Before he could get his bearings, or really figure out what he was seeing, Estella and Theseus shot out of the water.

Estella threw a sailor onto the deck landing on her feet just a bit away from Theseus. Between the noise of the ship creaking and the sailors shouting, the slap of the tentacles into the water, Herakles couldn't hear what the two spotted. What he could do though was try and shout a warning, a spike of fear shooting through him as a tentacle reached out and grabbed Estella bringing her over board as if she wasn't a warrior. Theseus froze, his back to him and arm outstretched, his back was tense and after a brief rock onto his heels he dived back into the water.

He did not resurface.

Herakles could feel his heart beating widely in his chest, a bitter acid taste on his tongue, and an ache begin to grow just under his breast. He didn't know what he felt. It felt like a dark shroud over his shoulders and made him hunch slightly into himself, wishing for a protection and consolation he knew would not come. It felt. He thought bitterly like when he had been separated from his brother. The dawning relation that he was different when he caught sight of his King Father's hateful gaze as he dragged him away.

After the second tutor he had accidently hurt his adoptive father and beloved mother had locked him far away from their family, from his brother. As if he had any say in the gifts he received from his godly father.

He shook his head. This feeling made no sense. Theseus was a dumb child-man, not strong in any sense and too bright eyed for the future that awaited all the children of the gods. It was the annoying girl, so full of herself and unknowing of her place. They were ignorant of the world, children really. Nothing to miss. Nothing to mourn. Even if they called him cousin so casually- called him family as if it was little to no consequence.

He tried to keep calm, tried to feel the breeze on his skin and knew it was of little importance. They were not important and would not stop him from being the grand hero his father- his family- expected him to be.

The burning didn't stop.

The raging inferno that beat hot with his heart and whispered horribly in his ears. He could feel himself start to shake. Could feel the pressure building in his head until he let lose a scream. Something primal and inhuman, shaking his lungs and cutting through the deafening sounds of the ship under attack.

With it came a loud crack and-

Boom

Light arched across the sky from a newly forming gray cloud. It swung wildly before slamming down on the tentacle that was constricting the middle of the ship, crushing it inwards. The creature flailed, releasing its grip to slam angrily, slapping the ship and the water with aggravated and quick assaults.

"Nice one." Thalia commented, looking impressed with the show, "That seemed to work."

Her hands lit up with lightning, letting it dance across her hands and arch up and over her shoulders.

Herakles took the moment to look around in shock, pointing to himself when Thalia arched her eyebrow.

"That was me?" his voice came out high and squeaked slightly in shock.

She smiled and normally he would be mad at her laughing at him but he was too busy looking between the display of power and skill of her arcing lighting to his own hands, clenching and uncleaning his fist trying to figure out how to do it too.

Perseus slid into place on his left, sliding across the water slick deck of the ship and looking between them, twirling the sword around his wrist. After a glance at the black burned mark on the failing tentacle and Thalia's lit up form Perseus tensed, before him his own sparkles traveled from his hand and down his blade.

"Whoa," Thalia mumbled in shock, "What is that?"

Perseus shrugged smugly, "A gift."

"From father?"

"No." he said calmly, stepping forward to take the lead, "My wife."

Herakles looked up at that, eyes lit with the lighting that coursed through their veins. “Could she make me one?” 

Perseus shot him an amused look, twirling the blade once more, “Perhaps.”

“Less talking boys,” Thalia called out, already beginning to jog toward the nearest monster limb. He couldn't see what she did, but in one step she was jogging empty handed and the next a long doru and shield were nestled in her hands.

Herakles huffed, eyeing both of their weapons that danced with electricity. He wanted one too. 

Perseus nodded along, following after her and catching up fairly quickly. 

___________________________________________________________________________

Fighting with her brothers- and they were her brothers even if they weren’t the ones she usually hung out with- was something that was relatively easy to fall back on. She didn’t want to say it was trust, but it was some form of it she’d assume. It wasn’t as seamless as when she fought alongside Percy, Jason or Nico, not even as seamless as that one time she fought side by side with Hermes, but it was a near thing. She could read them easily. She knew when to back up to let Herakles charge through, that Perseus shot her a single glance and she knew he was heading to the sails to attack from above. It wasn’t perfect. But it was something. 

She didn’t have time to worry about Theseus or Estella knowing the two couldn’t drown was her only solace as the three children of Zeus moved in tandem. 

Herakles used his fist and strength to give thundering punches that boomed across the ship- reminding her vaguely of the Pokemon game the boys loved to play and the all electric team Nico had decided was her’s. The nights of wild giggles as Jason shouted at Percy to use Aqua Jet. shaking the thought away, she moved just as Perseus gave a loud shout and flew from the ship's riggings, slamming his sword into the tentacle and nearly cutting it clean through. The monster wailed, flailing its arms, and with a sharp look from Herakles they moved forward, slamming the open wound with cracks of lightning. 

She was so focused on the arm in front of her she didn’t notice another coming up from the other side of the ship. It raced towards her, smacking her head on and ripping the air out of her lungs. Her spear and shield fell harmlessly onto the ship’s deck. It rose, with her still on it. It’s rough skin clinging to her clothes like velcro. It brought her higher and higher. She didn’t even think of how much it would hurt her if the limb suddenly slammed down into the water, the force would definitely crush her bones. Instead she tried to think of anything else. The encouragements from Percy and Jason had given when they had found out her fear, the silent support with no pity or mocking as they kept her focus. 

She turned, clutching at the rough skin in a death grip, trying to find something to hold on to. Her heart beat wildly in her ears and she could feel her chest constricting with panic fear. Unable to focus on anything else but the need to get her feet firmly on the ground and unwilling to even glance abc at the ship to see what was happening below. 

______________________________________________________________________

Herakles had grabbed her spear, biting down on the integrated carved handle to keep hold of the weapon, and climbed. Making swift work and losing only a single sandal to the journey. Finally after several minutes he reached the top and Thalia.

It took him a moment. Several in fact. She didn’t look like Thalia. Not like the strong sister he was becoming to know. The one that had scolded him from recklessness. Had saved his life. She looked small. She didn’t look like the fearless leader that had strong-armed her way into coleading this quest with Perseus. She looked frightened. 

It was something he had wanted. For her to finally act like the girl she was. To need saving. Women weren’t supposed to fight and swear and take the lead after all. But this isn’t who she was. He liked to think he was beginning to understand the lieutenant of Artemis, the huntress… the daughter of Zeus. her steadfast and stubborn presence, her pigheadedness but… this. 

There was no rush of smugness or satisfaction, the I told you so that he thought would be on his lips. Instead he swallowed. Reaching forward to grab her shoulder and pull her up, dodging an elbow and punch as she swung blindly. Her teeth clatter and eyes wide, face flushed when she met his eyes. 

He didn’t say anything. Couldn’t. It felt…wrong. He handed the doru to her, ignoring how she clutched it to her chest. 

Turning away from her so she could wipe her tears he looked down at the ship. It looked so small in the monster's grasp. but - in the waves just under the surface he could make out the monster’s head. He studied it, wondering if he would be able to hit it in its eye. Surely that would make it release the ship. A hand reached out and grasped his bicep. He tried not to flinch or react as Thalia shakily stood up, stepping next to him. She kept her face to the horizon and set even though her eyes were a bit red.

“I have a plan to get down.” he offered, “I just don’t think you’ll like it.”