Chapter Text
Will:
Will stepped out of the cave where he, Clarisse, Leo, and Frank had been sheltering for the night into the sun. The light bore down on them and seemed brighter than usual. Upon examining their surroundings outside the cave where they’d hidden was a battlefield, by the looks of it. There were a lot of dead soldiers in - Greek armour?! Why - why were they - were these demigods?! But there were so many, there weren’t that many kids at Camp Half Blood! The entire camp would have to be dead for there to be this many dead demigods! But…I don’t recognise anyone here, and I know everyone!
“These…aren’t demigods…but how? Why? Why would this many mortals be in Greek armour and dead?! This…doesn’t make any sense!” said Clarisse. He and the others nodded in agreement. This definitely wasn’t normal. Cautiously, they crept further out and away from the cave. Whatever had happened here, it hadn’t been natural. The bodies weren’t just lying haphazardly without any sort of coordination. They were right next to each other, in neat, orderly lines. Almost like… they were intended to look like a symbol from above or something.
“This place gives me the creeps,” said Leo nervously. “And that’s coming from a guy who’s died before. It’s really weird. I don’t like it. It…I don’t know.”
“I think the bodies are supposed to look like something, a symbol of some kind from above, but I don’t know what.” he replied.
“Frank, you can turn into a bird, right?” Clarisse asked, turning to her half brother.
“Yeah, I can. So what? Please don’t just think make more animal jokes, Leo does that enough.” he replied, and Leo snickered.
“So you could get a bird’s eye view of wherever we are and also see what mystery “symbol” Will thinks is here!”
“Alright, sure!” he said, brightening before transforming into a vulture, his father’s sacred bird, Will noted, and taking off. He climbed high above the battlefield and circled there for a moment, taking it all in. Then he let out a startled squawk and plummeted to the ground. Instantly, all of them ran towards where he was falling, and Clarisse caught him. He was in the middle of shifting into a human, and looked shocked and shaken.
“WHAT THE HELL - WHY DID YOU FALL OUT OF THE SKY?! YOU COULD’VE BEEN HURT! FRANK!” Leo shouted at his friend, who was still dazed from whatever he saw. Why is he so worried? Wha - oh. Death, even non-permanant, is always painful, and I bet he never wants any of his friends to experience that. Poor Leo. Frank groaned and shook himself, his eyes going from dark and bird-like to his human, normal chocolatey brown.
“Guys…I - the symbol, the one the bodies are making…it’s not quite like what I’m used to, being a Roman and all, but I’ve seen it and I’d remember it anywhere. These people…whoever they are or were, their deaths were in the name of Ares. We have to get out of here now!”
Instantly, all of them froze. No one there had much affection for the war god. He knew Clarisse had a terrible relationship with her father to say the least, Frank just wanted to live his life without fighting or wars which directly conflicted with his father’s(Mars was less warlike than Ares, but he was still a version of Ares) desire for conflict, Leo wouldn’t have died or been heartbroken if it weren’t for the war with Gaea, and Will had lost far too many people, seen far too many horrible things brought on by conflict, that he’d never like the god. Of course, simply being god of something didn’t mean that was all he was, but Ares, from how Percy and everyone else who’d met him, loved war and conflict. Bloody, violent, terrible death was mere entertainment for him. And if he was the one responsible for the deaths of these people…
“Come on, before we’re next!” Clarisse shouted, grabbing his wrist and pulling him along as Leo and Frank joined them in fleeing the area. They had to leave, fast. Whether the war god or his followers had done this, they couldn’t stay here, it wasn’t safe. Will just hoped that they’d be able to get away before they or any monsters noticed the presence of four young, unarmed, vulnerable, weak demigods.
Ares:
Ares surveyed the battlefield from Olympus and scowled. All the Olympians took the protection of children very seriously, but he was one of the more harsh punishers. These particular nasties had drafted children under the age of ten into their ranks, which would have warranted retribution regardless, but their leader had abused them! This would never stand. Everyone was raring for a piece of them, it was rare someone did something like this so they all delighted in destroying them. He’d been given the privilege of ending their sorrowful existence and sending yet again the message that this behavior would never be tolerated. Of course, he’d sent all the children away before that, he didn’t want to scare them, but once they were gone, he let loose. Child abuse of all forms was the highest of sins, and it was to be punished accordingly. As he looked down on his handiwork, he could swear he scented something that was like him, his brother, Apollo, and his husband, Hephaestus.
“Hephaestus, η φλόγα μου(translation: my flame)?” he asked, turning to him and Aphrodite, his wife and their beloved partner.
“What is it?” said the blacksmith, turning to face him.
“I - I’m not sure, did you come to watch me take out the trash? Because I swear, I can scent you and ‘Polls down there, or well, something like you two, but not. Am I imagining things?”
“I didn’t go, no, but I know better than to doubt your nose. Perhaps we will get Apollo and check it out?”
“That’s a wonderful idea!” Aphrodite chimed in, smiling. “He is the god of logic after all, so he can help us figure it out,” They quickly went over to Apollo’s temple, however he was out with something, so Artemis went with them instead, and headed down to the mortal world. Ares and the moon goddess tracked the scent while Aphrodite and Hepaestus investigated the area. The trail began abruptly at the edge of the battlefield, with no clue as to where it had come from. It was stale by now, likely from the night before, seeing as he’d taken care of the assholes yesterday. It led throughout the area, but it was strongest in a cave that looked like whatever-they-were had stayed in for the night. As Ares took in a good strong wife of the scent, he recoiled in shock.
“What is it?!” Aphrodite said, turning to him, worried. She was the one who worried for the other’s safety constantly in their relationship, since her love for them was so intense as a love goddess, she never wanted to see them in pain. This also made her an expert at telling when their husband was ignoring the fact that his leg was feeling bad and working anyways or something. Hepaestus was like that. ”What’s wrong?! Did you find something?!”
“I…how? Sister, do you smell it too?” he said, turning to Artemis. The goddess hesitated, then took in the scent of not them, but children, their children, before straightening instantly.
“How can this be?! Ares, I scent two of yours, how could this be hidden from us?! I…I thought this day would never come…h-how?! Who dared hide them from us!?” she said, shocked as Ares was.
“What? What was hidden from us?!” said Hepaestus, turning to them, confusion plain on his and Aphrodite’s faces.
“Primordials above…these aren’t the scents of some impostors or faked somehow…there were children here last night. Godlings. I smell two of mine, which was more than I could have ever imagined, one of yours, and one of ‘Pollo’s.” he said, although he didn’t even want to get his hopes up that there could even be one child between him and his partners, let alone three, and two of them his his his.
“That’s…impossible…” Aphrodite trailed off, before calling one of her minor sacred animals, a white hare, to verify. It said yes, it did smell them, before disappearing in a puff of pink smoke. “Godlings, ours…I never dared to dream of it…parenthood…I…”
“We have to find them!” Hephaestus said urgently. “The Crooked One’s curse will harm them if we can’t get to them fast enough! They - they could -” he didn’t dare finish that sentence. Everyone knew when he was born, his leg had been utterly destroyed. He’d had to make a prosthetic to walk around at all. Hera and the rest of the family fussed over him all the time, since the curse had been worst upon him. It was clear that he wanted to get to their children as soon as possible so they could be given domains, made gods, and kept safe.
“Come on,” said Artemis, grim determination settling over her features. “It’s time to find these godlings and save them.”