Archive of Our Own

They were sort of lucky that Pollux had woken up mid flight. Having someone unconscious was a liability in the face of what was ramping up to be an awful fight.

Potentially unlucky was how Pollux immediately, no questions asked, began sink his claws into the giant many legged bird carrying them. His hiss would haunt Annabeth’s dreams for the next few nights, if this whole situation didn’t in general.

“Hey, Pollux, is my sword going to be anywhere on me?” Percy asked as soon as it was clear Pollux was awake fully and not just attacking on instinct. It was hard to tell the difference, but the muffled curses helped.

Pollux didn’t even glance over from his job of… whatever he was doing. He surely had a plan but after whatever god was carrying them gave no response, she didn’t think it was working. Or they had found a god that wasn’t angered easily. That narrowed it down into gods she didn't actively know. They were simply lucky that the god either couldn't understand them, or was pretending not to.

“Depends,” He grabbed a mouth full of feathers and yanked, before sputtering and hacking them up. “Eugh, these taste wrong. Gross. If you asked my dad, than he could have. He lets me keep stuff all the time.”

“I didn’t know it was an option and was kind of distracted by the whole I’m a cat now.” 

“Fair, its fun once you get used to it.”

Annabeth was afraid they were both going to bring up dolphins again after that, and while she was curious, there were more pressing matters. “Do either of you remember this god from class?” She asked instead, “Owl form based on the wing shape, many limbs?”

“Immune to claws,” Pollux grumbled and did his best to try and wiggle out. Annabeth was jealous about his grasp on being a cat, even if he was failing. “No, not any stories I remember. Is it all owl? Your mom maybe?”

“She never took on a form like this.”

“We didn’t even get to see it, really. It just grabbed us.” Percy glanced to her, “Any ideas? Plans? Owl weaknesses?”

“I’m working on it, there’s not much to go on.”

"You guys don't seem to panicked," Pollux hacked up another feather.

"Eh, been through worse," Percy swatted at a rogue feather. "After sitting here for a few minutes and nothing changing I have hope. And the talons aren't poking me. You seem sort of chill with this too."

"Got grabbed by a hawk once. It's only bad when they drop you. Owl seems like the better option."

"Owls don't drop, they bring to a nest or perch and eviscerate." Annabeth said. Pollux and Percy paused to stare at her. "What? It means we have time."

The ‘owl’ slowed its flight, and Pollux was lifted up as a head looked down at him with two far too human eyes. “I really wish you would stop that, child. There is no need for such violence.”

“Mother?!” Annabeth shrieked, and those eyes turned to her, analyzing her, looking at the very weaving of her being. It was her mother. Those storm grey eyes, the voice that she heard in her nightmares, the giant owl, the way she’d felt that this was Athena and just hadn’t wanted to consider it as an option because dealing with anything else seemed easier. 

Percy let out a louder hiss that seemed to surprise even himself before he doubled down on it.

Athena took another glance at them, before looking ahead. “I am sorry, little ones. Your… guardian does not allow us to understand you. Soon, when he is gathered and you are safe, we will ask him to return your voices and forms.”

“Annabeth, can I please keep trying to mangle your mom?” 

“Can I join Pollux in mangling your mom? We’re getting to lightning man is going to smite me height and by me, that’s gonna include us.”

Annabeth considered it, mostly because after the whole Mark of Athena ordeal she… she wasn’t sure on her mother. As much as she craved affection, for her mother to have pride in her, to actually see her and all she’s done…

She was honestly on the mangling side at that moment. 

But she shook her head, and realized that didn’t work well as a cat. “No, she doesn't seem to want to harm us. Wherever we end up, Mister D can track us down. I think its best we wait for him and not anger a literal goddess.”

“I mean, you guys have been through worse, I think we have a solid chance,” Pollux pointed out. His claws seemed to be stuck in Athena’s feathers, ending his rampage for a moment. “Oh weird. this is thread. No wonder she tastes like yarn.”

“You’ve played with yarn as a cat before?” 

“Percy. If my dad turned you into a dolphin, would you not try and balance a ball on your nose?”

“No, I’d see if I could still use a sword as a dolphin and go get myself smoted for my next actions.”

“But after that?”

“… There has to be other dolphin tricks.”

“I couldn’t balance it right, but the yarn? It’s great until it tangles your claws. Like this.” Pollux yanked his paw away bringing with him what she thought were feathers. 

The barbs were made of finely braided threads, woven together to create its own rachis instead of relying upon another structure to give the feather shape. Had she not been looking, she wouldn’t have noticed. This version of her mother was a tapestry of threads, each richly dyed and joined together to create the appearance of the muted tones of her patron owl’s pattern.

“Dionysus had mentioned that these gods are more archaic, and different than the ones we know…” Annabeth pawed at the feather until it stuck to her claws so she could see it clearer. “My mother does not like being seen as inhuman, she has never considered it… civilized. If she doesn’t hold the same values, I don’t know how to properly speak to her.”

“Oh we are going to get absolutely crunched by a giant owl,” Percy griped before he began to join Pollux in his attempts.

Annabeth had used politeness and social customs to keep them alive before in the face of gods. Percy had always been on the opposite side of being able to get gods to not kill them. The sea didn’t like being told what to do, or to not curse out the nearest divine being. He’d gotten better, and she’d gotten worse, especially with Hera, but she’d been confident she could keep them alive against their mother. But realizing this? “Just keep your heads down and be what you think of as polite. Like you’re at a parent teacher conference and you’re in trouble.” 

They were troubled kids so it was always a 75% chance that had happened in the past.

“Annabeth, my dad ate one of my teacher’s at a parent teacher conference because he’d insulted me.”

The other 25% didn't include that.

“Pollux, dude, what the actual fuck.”

“Okay, everyone except Pollux imagine that. Pollux… just don’t get killed.”

She didn’t have time for any other plan, not with Olympus appearing from the clouds below.

Where Olympus had been palaces and monuments and temples farther than one mortal could see packed together from the many minor gods, spirits, demigods that populated it, this Olympus was rather small in comparison and far less filled with obvious life.

Large palaces existed, sprawling in a way that almost reminded her of a Minoan design of having been built upon itself while remaining elegant, surrounded by lush gardens and fields kept controlled by roads bordered with mosaics. Temples rose, colorful and bright in their splendor, dotting the landscape as smaller villas and gardens had been built up around them. To one area existed an impossibly large lake that churned with glowing sea life below, and to another area sat a colosseum, flags waving in the winds.

There were few people there, mostly nymphs who popped out from the greenery to gaze up at them and one or two beings she’d consider minor gods, not the hundreds she'd once seen

Olympus sat nearly silent, beyond the satyr that sometimes played for those who listened, both plant and person.

Athena headed towards the largest of the palaces, sprawling at the very peak of the mountain, seeming to climb down the cliffs like ivy. The walls were ablaze in colorful frescoes, columns rich in detail as flowering vines and trees wrapped between them in decoration. 

Annabeth longed to be on the ground and simply see it, to see the glittering mosaic floors and to see ornate paintings along the architrave and the careful moldings on the along the frieze. To know what stories they depicted, the history of this new world. 

Her work with Olympus had been comparatively modern, but like how she’d been genuine in wishing that Arachne’s tapestries could be displayed in its beauty in Olympus, she wished to know the artist who had crafted this so they could work for her. This Olympus did not have the population it needed to appreciate such fine work, and to her that seemed like an insult to the artist.

"Welcome home, dear children,” Athena called in an owl’s screech, the sound echoing through Olympus as if she were proclaiming her triumph. 

She quickened her flight, zipping through halls in a blur until she brought them to the commons room. Seats sat around a hearth, some trailing upwards and through open windows in the tall ceiling above that allowed warm sunlight to filter in. It was not as lavishly decorated as the halls, the walls bearing simpler frescoes of nature patterns, though the detail work within the moldings and columns was just as gorgeous.

She set them down carefully onto a cushion, air billowing around them as she flapped her great wings to keep herself steady before moving some ways away to land before them. 

They all but tumbled into each other, the cushion soft and plush enough to create a pit of death of which no cat could escape. One of them let out a mew in embarrassment and another nearly started to shred it on accident with raking panicked claws until finally they managed to keep their limbs separated enough to sit up properly. 

Annabeth gazed up at her mother, the fur standing on end along her back as the hisses around her confirmed her own fears.

Athena had taken the form of an owl, or what was close enough to be one.

She stood on many legs, talons wicked sharp as a multitude of wings were raised to the air once before they settled against her back, appearing if only one had existed in the first place. She bore the spotted patterning of her patron owl, the little owl which Annabeth would swear was named incorrectly, though now in the reflecting light of the fire and sun below the colors that made up the tapestry of her feathers nearly glittered and gleamed in a riot of rich threads that anyone worth their weight in gold would be clamoring for. 

But on the face of the large owl were human eyes, grey and calculating just like her mother’s, just like hers, but it was a rare look on her face.

Athena watched them, head tilting all the way to the side in consideration, the same way an artist cherishes the art their child makes, with adoration and pride. 

“Peace, dearest children.” She warbled. 

She than appeared to pick herself upwards, rising up taller on only two owl feet as the other legs rustled and melded into a chiton and her wings wrapped around herself into a masterfully woven himation that appeared more to Annabeth like a tapestry than an actual garment. It was reweaving itself, undoing borders to redo them in another nearly overly complicated design. Her helmet, shaped like an owls face, was held on her hip, and Annabeth was glad that there was no weapon in her hands at the very least.

Her hair was of an intricately sewn style made up of long grey feathers. Her face was still almost owl like, despite the near human structure, though the eyes remained the same awfully familiar ones. 

Beyond those eyes though, she was unrecognizable.

She took a step forward, and had to pause as Percy let out a spitting hiss and jumped in front of her and Pollux, nearly falling off the cushion in the process. Annabeth was shocked when she realized that this version of her mother seemed… unsure. 

Anytime her mother was unsure, it was when something terrible was happening, either within the goddess’s mind or around them. They really were going to die.

It was almost lucky when the hearth flared. Flames rose before allowing themselves to drape into delicate fabrics as a woman, a goddess stepped out from the coals. 

“Mom?!” Percy and Pollux called though to Annabeth she looked more akin to Chiron. 

The goddess stepped forward on cloven hooves, standing beside Athena. “Hera is on her way.”

Her voice sounded like the Big House’s fireplace, how it crackled in the winter months when the few campers who stayed would gather, and like the roar of the bonfire where the campers would sing. 

“It’s Hestia,” Annabeth told the two, though they could probably guess.

Percy sank his claws into the cushion, tail puffed up, “And she’s bringing our favorite goddess.”

Hestia looked at them, her coal black eyes blinking in surprise. “They said my name.”

“Father did say that their guardian appeared to recognize him.”

“Better than not knowing us at all,” Hestia looked to the door, which all but burst open.

Hera, queen of the gods, was birdlike in a similar way to Athena, though her features remained veiled beyond the glow of her eyes by a deep orange krokos. Fine peacock feathers traced down her arms from beneath the veil as her chiton seemed to be made of the tail feathers of the same bird woven together into beautiful borders and trims.

Her crown glittered in the light as did her jewelry as she clasped her hands over her chest at the sight of the kittens, and the kittens began to puff up once more at the sight of her.

“Oh! You have found them, dear Athena,” Hera breathed, her eyes glowing brighter in joy. “Oh wonderful!”

“There were two more of the smaller ones,” Athena said in reply, “But I thought the easiest way to get their guardian and those two here was by bringing these ones.”

“Of course it’s a trap,” Percy grumbled and Hera turned to look directly at him, earning a grumbling hiss in return. 

“The look so sweet. And small… I thought Zeus had said they were mostly mortal human? What has their guardian done to them?” She strode into the center of the room to get a better look at them.

Athena stepped back to stand beside Hera, Hestia joining them.

 “I assume it was to keep them close more easily. But we are unable to communicate with them effectively. Perhaps Hermes could help?” Athena looked over them more critically before looking away, a crease in her brow that some of her siblings got formed. A headache from Mister D’s powers most likely.

Hera hummed in thought, “My newest son… Perhaps he is still learning his powers. Poor soul, we were not there to guide him as he learned.”

“They’re gonna be pissed when they learn this was on purpose,” Pollux murmured to them.

“Dionysus is going to be pissed that they said that.”

“I mean technically they're right with the fact that they were not there to guide him… Or these versions of them.” Annabeth wasn’t sure how different one was allowed to be before not being considered at least sort of the same as another self, mostly because there was no precedent for that. That she was aware of at least…

“Are you talking about your guardian?” They jumped to find Hestia crouched before them, her himation settling around her. Up close they could see the shifting woven flames and hear the gentle crackling. “I can feel the power in the name you speak, but not its exact form. I’m sure he will be here soon, there’s no reason to be frightened.”

Annabeth had always had a good opinion on Hestia, and so did the others, so they didn’t start hissing up a storm at her being near, though that started up as Hera moved to approach. 

“Perhaps they’re partial to fire,” Hera murmured to Athena. 

“The little one with the woven bracelet kept trying to bite me, which made me think it was just being in a strange situation, but they spoke Hestia’s true name. Perhaps the hearth is still worshiped in their home.”

“I cannot tell if I am a patron to them,” Hestia said sadly, standing to return to the other two goddesses’ sides. “This guardian's power… If he is untrained, he is still good with what he does in masking their claims and selves.”

“Did she say tried?” Percy squeaked. “Pollux ripped out chunks!”

Annabeth took a step back and brought the other two with her. “Its’ better than them thinking we’re hostile.”

“That wasn't me being hostile, that was me acting on principle. Are we going with hostile right now? I’m kind of confused on what we’re supposed to be doing.”

“You and me both, Pollux.”

“Thank you, Peter.”

Percy hissed at him and he hissed back, and Annabeth just sighed, putting herself between them. There wasn’t any actual anger or threat in the hissing, and it was all in good nature, but she didn’t think the gods would know that, especially as they stared down at them. 

“I cannot believe I am saying this, but Mister D better hurry up,” Percy said, leaning against her. Their tails tangled together and she just huffed a sigh at that.

And because Percy had said something, of course it meant something else would occur. 

With a great crash of lightning, a new god appeared.

He had taken the form of a giant eagle with a bull’s head, storm clouds rolling off his feathers and lightning crackling in his downy as glowing white eyes sparked with pure white hot electricity. Than he dissipated into a storm, reforming in the shape of a person in the way Athena had, though he didn't manage as well looking human. 

His hair and beard crackled, made of dark clouds that trailed off as if in their own atmosphere around his bull-faced head. Eagle wings were kept close to his body as he stood proudly in a chiton woven of storm and clasped in ornate gold. His power sung in the air and made her teeth hurt.

Annabeth realized that they were being met with the nearly full attention of the gods, instead of just a piece of them that had expanded to mimic their true size.

There were very few times this had happened to them, and most of the time it was a sign of danger, or the gods debating her and her friends’ deaths. 

Even Mister D did not exist with his full self at Camp Half-Blood, spread out wherever revelry and parties existed. The only time she’d seen him in near full was during the wars, or in this universe when he’d been protecting them. 

And now, the nearly full being of Zeus was staring down at them in amazement, like they weren’t just scared balls of fluff.

Apollo followed after his father, bursting into the room in the form of great light, burning her eyes as the other two squeaked in pain around her. It soon faded, revealing a wolfish man whose face soon turned almost human. His many wings settled behind him, some a charred black of crows and others speckled like a hawk in the design of setting and rising sun, all threaded with golden watching eyes so numerous she only knew of their existence from feeling them watching. His wolf ears pointed toward them, listening intently as he smiled in what was meant to be a comforting way, and would have been, had it not been for the mouth full of sharp teeth.

“I heard that we might have some children in need of aid?” He said, voice more of a song, sitting in the air with the remnants of choirs of birds and lyres.

“Yes,” Zeus said, voice softer than Annabeth had ever thought she’d hear, “One of them, when with their guardian… With my son, was injured and unconscious. Which one though I am… unsure with their current form.”

“Aw shit, do you think that was me?” Pollux ducked his head, ears flattening. “That’s embarrassing.”

“Mister D said you were being attacked by a monster, its understandable,” Percy said.

Annabeth sighed, “Mister D saved us too if it helps. ” 

“I got full body slammed by a grypes, still embaressing. I sort of thought it was a dream. The monsters here are definitely built wrong.”

Annabeth let out a chattering sound, which surprised her but voiced her agreement well enough. “Their forms were sort of twisted, malformed…”

“I didn’t notice anything wrong if I’m being honest.” Percy admitted. To be fair, he had an entire ocean to worry about being different. 

“I’m sorry to interrupt, but it was you who was injured, little one?” 

All of them jumped, turning to look at Apollo.

Hidden behind him and his light was who they assumed to be Hermes. He looked the most human of any god they’d met besides Hestia herself, or would under his wide brimmed hat, wearing rather simple clothes, though from behind a shadow that stretched unnaturally across his face and hid his features, his eyes held the mischievousness that every half blood who’d been to camp recognized in the children of Hermes. His cloak shuffled like feathers and the shadow that hid his face was broken up some by the winds on the side of his head. Something was off about him, something she couldn’t exactly place. His pédila, winged sandals, fluttered slightly as he stepped more clearly into view.

“Wait, they were waiting for Hermes to translate,” Annabeth said, sadly out loud. Not her finest work. “Plan B?”

“What plan B?” Pollux turned to her as Apollo reached out a gentle hand yet still very taloned.

“Don’t worry, I’m here to help, child. No need for that hissing or any plans,” Apollo gave a charming, very sharp toothed smile. 

Pollux started hissing very loudly as the hand neared.

“Plan B,” Percy said. “Meow! Normal cat noises! We are normal cats!"

Plan B was to fight for their lives but she had to give him credit for guessing Plan C.

Even if this was not the full pantheon before them, it was still enough to terrify her as they stared at them in an emotion she did not fully know, gathered in nearly their full selves. One wrong move could set them off, killing her and her friends, especially now that their voices weren’t being hidden by Dionysus’s power. Logically, she could perhaps get away from a one or two Olympians, at least long enough to buy herself some time, maybe three with Percy and Pollux backing her up. But this many? Who kept their eyes on her and kept them within the light, watched by Apollo the apparent all seeing bird guy?

Annabeth considered calling out to her mother. It was only for a moment, and it was a moment that made her pause. Logically, appealing to this strange version of her mother who seemed to be treating them with love was a smart move. Emotionally she wanted that love, wanted that care that she was being regarded with. She could so easily call out and reveal their relationship, reveal that she needed help, that she wanted to be carried away from here as Athena had done before to get them to Olympus.

Even deeper emotionally, she despised what her mother had done to her.

And a bit above that emotionally she longed for a presence she did know better. 

She cried. She put in every bit of a kitten missing their mama cat into her voice and Pollux joined immediately. His voice ricochet off the walls and curls into her ears in an awful way, the gods around them flinched back, some jerking their heads as if to shake off whatever magic Pollux had.

Percy took more time, but joined soon, crying for the one person who could both help and make them not cats, and the three voices they had were answered.

Mama cat did not jump down through the windows, elegantly landing before them and full of rage like she'd expected.

Instead, Mister D rammed through the door, bringing with him a wall of greenery and flutes. Ripe grapes bloomed from the vines that curled across the ground and around the kittens, quickly turning sour with the scent of biting vinegar stuffing their noses. A smoke curled around him, like the bonfire at camp that they'd sing around. Mister D bounded over and skidded to a stop over them, his claws left gouges in the stone. Nico and Will were settled beside Annabeth with little squeaks, falling prey to the stupid cushion. 

Apollo to his credit jumped back as Dionysus bared his teeth, growling out loudly in a voice that would make a mortal mad merely overhearing a whisper of, "You WILL NOT touch them!"

His claws shrieked against the palace ground to accentuate his warning. It made her head spin, whispering with giggling voices of what exactly would happen if anyone moved wrong, of heroes maimed and cities fallen and people far stronger than her brought to their knees.

The only reason they were spared was because Mister D had transformed them, had contained their minds within something he created, but that didn't stop Percy from clawing at his own ears and Nico and Will burying their faces within each other's fur.

Pollux seemed elated, mimicking his father's roar in his tiny kitten throat as he took steps forward to stand under his father proudly. 

She braced herself for Zeus to strike out, to call lightning upon them and she would die as a glorified house cat.

But Zeus stared at Dionysus with those blank lightning ball eyes. The being made of storm and thunder took a step, than another, than another. Each time he shrank until he was still imposing, but not a towering giant over them. His power had condensed, like a pitcher’s worth of water suddenly contained in a small sealed jar.

He crouched to be on the same level, reaching a hand to Dionysus who reared back with a warning growl. 

"My son," the god whispered in reverence. "You are so strong. Where have you been hiding from your family, my dear child?"

Dionysus reared back, a paw shoving Pollux back under him. Pollux tumbled, knocking them over once more and he gave a grumbling hiss before righting himself and peaking out from under again, Annabeth joining his side. 

Slowly strawberry leaves began to crack through the stone and unfurl around them, attempting to shield them from sight.

Annabeth wasn't sure it would work, since it didn't work the first time.  But considering it was Athena tracking them down... Annabeth didn't blame Mister D for failing. She appreciated the cover, or at least the terrified kitten and scared demigod parts of her brain did. The shadows would shield them somewhat from the sunlight’s eyes.

"You... are not the version of my father I know," Dionysus spoke into the spaces between ears, power in his voice, demanding both respect and ensuring that he could control what emotion he sounded out. "I do not understand what sort of trick Chaos has pulled, but this is not the lands nor world me or my children have hailed from. We will be taking our leave as soon as we are able."

Percy hissed at being called Dionysus's kid and earned a flick of a strawberry tendril for his effort. 

"So these are yours than? All five?" Zeus said, voice like quiet rain, the sort that comforts after a long day. "The First Mother has blessed us. I can feel that you are my son, not one I have known until know, but welcome all the same. There is no need to leave. This is your home, whether you have known it or not,  you shall all be safe here."

Dionysus shifted over them, Annabeth rarely had seen the god unsure of anything beyond which card to play, and that thought unsettled her. He was stronger than she was though, she would’ve cracked the first time Athena crouched down to comfort her.

"Can we escape now?" Percy grumbled far too loudly.

Pollux bumped his head against his father's leg, "Maybe they could help us get home? If not, escaping would be nice."

"It would cost a lot," Nico hissed, seeming to melt into the shadow Dionysus and the leaves cast. "The gods rarely do anything for free." 

Will shook his head, "It's not like we have anything to lose, really."

Dionysus ducked his head to level them a look. "You lot do realize you are speaking out loud, correct? This didn't work during counselor meetings and it won't work now. This isn’t poor old Chiron you’re in front of." 

"You're trying not to laugh at us," Pollux's tail curled happily.

Dionysus rolled his eyes, which was weird on a cat face, before looking up at the strange form of his father. "As of now, in all the ways that matter yes. These demigods are under my protection and watch. Sometimes regretfully." He dipped his head to stare at them again. "You know which ones you are."

Nico hissed at being caught attempting to shadow travel, and Percy on the principle of being called out.

"I will ground you again."

"You can do that? I thought you just turned people into dolphins, if you weren't too lazy in the first place."

Will and Annabeth let out matching hisses of "Percy!"

Pollux, ever the guy ever, just gave a little huff. "I was banned from growing strawberries for a week after the Jesus incident, if that counts as being grounded."

"Not the Jesus incident," Will peaked out from under Dionysus at his own father. “I thought we agreed to never mention it again.”

"There will be another Jesus incident if you don't allow the adults to speak." The warning was received and met with various hisses. "Better yet, I’ll convert the camp into a new religion. I think Mormonism was next on the list?" 

That was met with louder hissing that Dionysus ignored. 

"And what exactly is a demigod, brother?" Athena asked, her voice making Annabeth jump straight up.

Dionysus faltered at that. "Our half mortal children? Born of a god and mortal? Oh you know the little gremlins you lot send on quests to become heroes or die and than forget about after a good fifty years?"

Both hero and die was said in equal disdain, a growl lacing his throat though it was not that which caused the gods to rear back. 

Percy gave a grumbling hiss about Bacchus.

Annabeth swatted at him and hissed back a reminder that Dionysus had been a demigod hero.

That settled him.

Athena stepped forward, "Kronos has cursed us," the very mention of the name caused the room’s temperature to drop, fear and anger and anguish choking the air from the gods around her. "It is rare that our family can have a child, a miracle even. Most do not make it to birth, and fewer past that first night, and those who do remain as monsters."

"We had given up hope," Zeus murmured.

Dionysus tilted his head, tail lashing, "Fascinating," he murmured. 

Pollux and Annabeth shared a look which they only shared when someone was about to call the gods put on having so many kids in front of one of said gods. It happened more often than one would think, and considering the jokes Mister D made behind closed doors at camp? 

Pollux knocked into his father's leg, letting out a whine, "Dad? Can we leave now? We're really tired..."

Dionysus knew he was putting on an act but the other gods didn't. 

They cooed, peaking down at Pollux like he was the most precious thing. Apollo started forward, to try and heal those wounds but was once again reminded that there was a divine jaw of sharp teeth who was in a very bad mood.

Annabeth wondered if they thought that Pollux, who was eighteen, refused to pay taxes despite technically being employed officially by their farm cover, and had more traffic violations than the harpies who drove the camp vans, would be cute as a human. 

Dionysus though played along, or she suspected he was. "In a moment, I will find you a place to rest,“ His voice was soft, kind in a way that she’d rarely heard and genuine, accentuated by a comforting purr that rumbled in his chest before it cut off as he looked up to his not really but kinda is father. ”For us… long story short, where we come from you have many children, for better or for worse."

"And we send them on quests? To die?" 

"Yes, that's the number two reason why gods have children, at least so my theory goes." Dionysus didn't flinch as Pollux began to climb up his side, tiny claws sinking into godly flesh.

"And number one?" Lightning roared in the distance and uncomfortably close not distance as the smell of ozone permeated the room, swiftly overtaking the wine and vinegar. 

Dionysus hissed, crouching lower over them, but didn't move much, not wanting to upset Pollux’s balance. She contemplated climbing up herself. It would be easier for Dionysus to fight and run, though he’d probably still have to carry some in his mouth. At least she wouldn’t be rendered immobile from it. 

There was a moment of silence, the vines that had flooded the room catching a breath to calm. "The number one reason is a fleeting fascination with mortals. Gods fall in love for a season, have a child, and leave before that child knows their face. They only tend to care if the child makes something of themself." He said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world, and by the way Annabeth cringed and the way her fellow cats looked anywhere but one another, it really was.

"And yet you are not like this," Hera said. That put Annabeth on edge. 

Dionysus let loose a snarl that sent those under him scrambling to hide behind his legs. 

"I was a demigod like this lot. My mother was killed before my birth and so my father stitched me into his own thigh. When I was born I was hidden among the wilds so Hera… The Hera I knew, would not destroy me and still she drove me mad for years upon years. The only reason my father even spared me a single thought is because he sensed I was closer to ascension than the rest, that I would achieve something, become something he could claim was his doing," Dionysus made a noise halfway between agonized and angered. "I refuse to do the same to my children. I would be there for each one until death if Zeus had not banned the gods from interfering with the lives of our children with threat of punishing them." 

A memory of a funeral came unbidden, and something deep within the recesses of her mind howled in mourning. She wondered, vaguely, how different the Battle of the Labyrinth would have gone had Dionysus been allowed to interfere. What would have happened had he known his son would die.

What he might do now that he’s given up on following those laws.

Eyes turned to Zeus, who thundered deeper, before turning back to the wine god. Perhaps it is the horror that keeps them quiet, which she didn’t think she’d ever witness. Perhaps it is the anger she feels humming amongst power in the air, and she hopes desperately that the gods don’t lose what control they have and accidentally incinerate all of them. 

Dionysus’s angry rumble changed. He lowered more. Annabeth took it as a sign motioned for the others.

They began their climb upwards. Small claws sunk into godly flesh and Annabeth felt as though she should be smited for this, since surely it counts as some kind of blasphemy. She settled beside her seaweed brain and Pollux, Nico and Will taking point behind them, all looking up at the gods. 

"I will destroy this other version of myself," Zeus thundered, met with a similar rallying cry from those around him. 

Hera stepped forward, her eyes searching Dionysus's face. "All children are gifts to us," she whispered to him, to all of them as her eyes swept each demigod. "Even if you had done nothing but sit and breath for eternity, as long as you had lived and been happy I would have cherished you."

Dionysus flinched. 

Annabeth's paw sunk slightly into the god, into the vines and leaves and something else like gore that formed the fur and flesh in the way that made no sense to her mind but she knew for her sanity she had to ignore. She focused on this version of Hera, with no hostility in her voice and no cold apathy for those imperfect. She tried to picture this Hera next to the one she knew. 

These gods were less less physical, less putting on a facade in the way she knew them to be. Their Hera wouldn't be caught dead anything less than perfect, anything like these inhuman gods, and especially how she reached out to place her hand delicately on the cheek of an unraveling Dionysus. 

"I was being punished by my father," Dionysus started, raising his head away from Hera's touch. "There is a place demigods go to not be hunted by monsters and to be trained to fight. I was their unwilling  director. Or... well overseer. These children are under my protection and watch, no matter the consequences."

Dionysus had risked everything to protect him. Growing grapes, defying and running from his father, fighting their battle for them. Annabeth sent a quiet prayer in thanks, one that drifted along the campfire smoke that still trailed around the god's legs. 

"These children have been forced to fight wars in the names of the gods," He continued. "I do not like heroes. They are selfish and cruel and take everything for themselves," he hissed out, layering things into his words Annabeth could not fully make out as a mortal but could feel, vaguely in the planes of her soul. "These children are not that. They have fought wars. They have walked through Tartarus. They have held up the sky itself. All to fight for the wars of gods who would shed a tear when they died and than never think of them again. They are owed something that can never be repaid fully." 

Again he was met with what Annabeth could see even clearer as rage, though they did not direct it towards Dionysus. If anything, she would think they attempted to try and mitigate it, hide it.

They were failing, and it was a baffling concept. 

"If you are true in that love you claim, if you had any sense in kidnapping them, you will at least let them rest in Olympus in safety, for a night. There are… three more of them out in the wilds, and I need a place to hide these three until than." There were multiple squeaks of protest that were silenced by the god quickly with a simple flick of an ear. “After that, I will figure out our future plans.”

Hera nodded, turning to the other gods and gave quick instructions that Annabeth could not follow, not fully. She hated being out of the loop.  

Annabeth did not like the idea of being separated from Mister D. Objectively anything could go wrong, from these gods themselves attacking to someone invading Olympus, but she… understood. If the gods did not get their way with them staying for at least some time, they would force it, and that would end in something called disaster. Especially not with how the gods were regarding them, like precious things. If she could figure out their ulterior motives in the time they had to be separated than maybe she could learn something useful in there time there. 

Or she could sleep for a few hours. Being tired wasn’t exactly a lie.

Hera turned back to them, “Who will watch them while you are away and who will go with you? None of us wish to leave children alone, just in case.”

“We can take care of ourselves,” Percy all but spit out at her, Nico grumbling loudly in agreement.

“Just because you have had to, doesn’t mean you should,” Hera says and Annabeth really wishes she’d wake up from this nightmare with weird caring Hera. “Just one of us than, if you’d allow, my child? So we can ensure their safety.” She directs the question at Dionysus.

Dionysus’s ears lay flat, and Annabeth hopes he declines any of these strangers, but for a moment his head shifts to Hermes whose feathers ruffle in expectation before he quickly turns to Hestia instead. “If you won’t take no for an answer, for the sake of getting things done already, Lady Hestia would cause the least drama with this five.”

Drama was an understatement, considering half of the gods had at one point hated them and the other half were their parents. Athena kept looking at her critically and she did not appreciate it. 

Hestia stepped forward, smiling softly. "I would be honored to watch them." 

“That still doesn’t answer who will go with you.”

Dionysus scoffed, “I don’t need someone to go with me. I’ve done far worse things in far worse states than picking up children.”

She looked as though she wanted to say something, but Zeus placed a hand on her arm and she took a breath before stepping back. “Very well.”

Dionysus relaxed some under them, and began following after Hestia at her beckoning. 

The chambers were close to the heart of the palace. The power of the gods thrones was nearly overwhelming, but the sort that you could get used to, instead of when you sit in the room with them and can’t help but want to cower a bit. But more importantly, any monster would be a fool to attack them there.

The walls were painted in frescos of night skies, beautiful master works she longed to see clearer. Fine cloth hung from the ceiling, acting like clouds to cover what she realized was the actual night sky, spanning far above.

It looked like it hadn't been used in a long time. A fire blazed in a nearby covered hearth, cushions laid about in clumps and small beds lined one of the walls.

Annabeth had the realization that this was a room for children,  beautifully made and full of hope. She bit back many of her comments she wished to personally deliver to Hera and decided she’d save it for when they got home. 

Hestia smiled softly to him, "They will be safe here." 

Dionysus nodded, "Thank you," he rumbled before he stalked to one of the beds. He reached behind him with surprising dexterity and picked them off his back, one by one. "Now than, stay here so I can get the rest."

"Wait are you going to just keep us as cats?!” Percy yowled from next to her, and she was quick to agree.

“What if something happens? We can’t fight like this.”

“I don’t know if I can even heal right now either,” Will reported, standing beside her. 

Pollux stayed quiet, awaiting his fathers verdict. He didn't really have any complaint, Annabeth suspected. That would work anyway. He could fight, it wasn't so different than the teeth he’d been known to maul people with during war, and also because if he spoke up he might remind his father that it is safer to lock them away in Olympus where they can’t escape. 

She did not think Mister D trusted these gods, because he was not an idiot, but she knew he had reached the same conclusion as her that these strangers were genuine, and it was dangerous to piss off genuine gods. 

“I don’t know, you lot are quite a bit more bearable like this,” Dionysus purred, turning from them to stalk the perimeter of the room as it checking it. 

Percy rolled his eyes, which once again did not work right in his cat face. “If I stay a cat I am going to climb the drapes with my claws and shred them and blame you.”

“Nephew,” Hestia spoke up. The cats mostly jumped, which by the humored look they got from Dionysus would not be lived down, “If this form causes them distress, why do you not free them of it?”

Dionysus seemed satisfied with the room, and looked to Hestia, head tilting. Hestia and Dionysus had, at camp, always gotten along as far as Annabeth was sure. After all, no one got in or out without Dionysus’s knowing, and it was Hestia who often tended the bonfire and fire pit and sometimes the Big House’s fire. 

Annabeth missed seeing her there, tending the flames. She missed how just about than they’d have gathered to sing songs together, how she would be sat with her boyfriend beside her and her siblings around her, how the flames would roar in a multitude of colors in their joy.

This Hestia, so different from their own, still reminded her of that. 

Dionysus snorted, “These ones are quite tricky. If I free them, they’re going to try and escape and I’ll have to track them down again.”

“We wouldn’t escape, Mister D, I think we all just want rest,” Will tried.

Percy nodded, “Yeah, no escaping.”

Nico huffed, “At least try and sound believable.” He stood and stepped forward, bumping against Will. Their tails curled together. “Mister D, what if we swear on the River Styx to not attempt to escape Olympus, at least until you return.”

Dionysus considered it, locking eyes on each of them. “That is a good offer, but I know better. As soon as you swear, something will go wrong and you’ll need to escape and than we will be, such is the insufferable form of luck god spawn face.”

Dionysus turned and strolled out.

"You're just going to leave us like this?!" Percy called, fury in his puffed up fur. "You have to do something!"

Dionysus paused at the door, looking back at them almost lazily, head tilting. "Once upon a time I believe I told you I don't have to do anything. But things change, Perseus. I am doing something. Don't burn down Olympus while I'm gone, or cause too much trouble at the very least." 

He gave them a look that said many things, one that Annabeth had seen him give his twins and than only Pollux many a times over the years.

Usually that was when a cabin was attacked by plants, or there was a leopards hunting down a rogue Hermes kid who'd stolen the gods wallet and he was too lazy to get it himself or when someone had blown up the strawberry fields and vengeance was called for.

She placed a paw on Percy to hold him back, and looked to the other three.

They had a job to do.