Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“In 18 days precisely; The planets will align ever so nicely.”

The man sipped at his beer, eyes on the glowing eyes in front of him, one eyebrow raised.

It was a show, but he would let them have it.

“The time to act will be at hand; The Titans will be unleashed, that monstrous band.”

Kronus never gave up did he. You would have thought being beaten by demigods so viciously would have made him give up, but apparently not.

“Then the once-proud Zeus will finally fall; And the Titans, will rule all!”

A smirk spread across the man’s face. He didn’t like the Gods, famously so…but he liked the Titans even less. He wondered how Jackson was going to react to this.

“But a word of hope to this tale; Should the sons and daughters of Heroes fight, their plan will fail.”

The glowing faded away and the woman sitting opposite, sighed.

“You can’t hide in the shadows any longer Oath-Breaker.”

“Who said that I was hiding?”

She mimicked his raised eyebrow, “You kept an eye on the descendants of heroes for centuries…are you really going to let them do this alone now?”

“The Gods will never let me near them.”

“They won’t have a choice.”

…..

Midnight on New Years Eve rolled around, and the time froze for just a bit.

Long enough though.

….

“Oracle.”

“Oath-Breaker.”

“…He’s already been to see you.”

“Sooner than you did… He is not as powerful as he was before.”

“He’s found a new mortal shell?”

“Hm. I told him about the prophecy, he couldn’t believe that mortals would defeat him, especially when demi-gods struggled to do it. I reminded him that I am never wrong…4000 years- “

“- Without making a mistake, I know.” He sighed, “Do you know who these heroes are?”

“You’ve spent a lifetime following your descendants and the descendants of heroes…and you need my help?”

“You know as well as I do, that the First World War screwed up everything.” He leant in closer, “I know the Gods will find them, I’m not worried about that. Descendants of heroes have a tendency to survive against the odds…where is old Olympus nowadays?”

“You’re not going to like it.”

“Try me.”

….

“I am no teacher Mother, you know this.”

Ares’s voice boomed throughout the halls, as Hermes paused.

This was the third argument about this today, since the incident with the clocks in the turn of the year. When an oracle confirmed that it wasn’t something they could pass off to Camp Half-Blood again, all Gods suddenly started to panic a little.

Demigods were easy to find.

Descendants of heroes, not so much.

He looked at the names flashing on the screen. Much like with demigods, creatures would soon be coming after these children and there was a very small chance that they would find them before they did.

Only one person could find them, or at least reveal their locations.

With that on his mind, he got to his feet and moved to the other room, where Ares and Hera were standing face to face. It had been centuries since everything happened with Hera, but still a part of him tensed at the sight of her.

“There is someone else we can call in for that.” He carefully interrupted the conversation, as both sets of eyes turned to him. “Someone who’s kept an eye on heroes for…centuries.”

“Him?” Hera’s voice was outraged, “You cannot think- “

“- Hermes has a point.” Ares sighed, “The past is the past, and there is every chance that something will happen with the demigods as well at the same time. The Gods are needed there.”

Hera glanced between the pair of them, before sighing.

“Find the descendants. Then we can talk about teachers.”

…

Hermes used griffins to save the descendant of Jason.

They were a little cranky because of missing breakfast, but they could do the job.

They then saved the descendant of Atalanta.

Then it was the two descendants of Herakles, and honestly, Hermes just about managed to stop himself from breaking down when the slighter of the two boys, stared at him with familiar eyes.

He couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen Autolycus, being one of those Immortals who disappeared amongst the humans all those years ago.

Still…what were the odds of the descendants of Herakles being cousins once again? Or having those mismatched eyes again?

He didn’t want to think about this anymore.

…..

Would Jackson be upset that there was an actual descendant of Perseus hanging around.

Probably not.

He would probably try and adopt the kid.

“…can’t miss it.” He finalised cleaning off his sword as the girl stared at him, “It should be unlocked, and then you just…I don’t know, announce your name and someone will help.”

“You’re not coming with me?”

“I have other things to do.” He saw the look on her face, wincing and giving her his best reassuring smile, “Don’t worry. It’s not far and I don’t think these guys are coming after you again.”

May they rot in Tartarus.

….

Jay had no idea what was going on.

Hermes had left them on the field, then they had been joined by another teen who had been saved from monsters…and now the caretaker was leading them on a wild goose chase through the empty school.

“You got to ride griffins?” Peri groaned, “That sounds amazing. Mine just killed the monster, albeit cooly, but still! I had to make my own way here!”

“Your rescuer killed the monsters?”

“Hermes didn’t?”

When they came across the locked door, finding that the lock matched the necklaces that they all had, the situation just got weirder.

“Welcome. I am glad that you’ve found your way.”

…

Hermes always found Hera’s welcoming persona a little funny. Everyone on Mount Olympus knew that it was fake, and he gave it about a week before these teens found out for themselves.

Less if the Oathbreaker came.

He looked over at Ares, who was also looking fed up by the little performance.

“Hermes.”

He looked up, seeing that Hera was staring at him.

“I thought you said that you’d only collected four of them?”

“I did.”

Hera visibly gritted her teeth, before gesturing at the dark-haired girl with the hair tied up in a messy bun.

“Ah.”

“I was told to come here by a man in a hood.” She looked between the pair of them, “he had a sword and just- “ She made a slicing motion, “- right through the monsters.”

“Did you see anything else about him?”

“...Very, very blue eyes?”

Hera turned to Hermes, who gave her his best innocent look. It wasn’t hard, considering that he hadn’t been responsible for this in the slightest...unless mentioning him summoned him or something.

“How is he involved already?” She asked him, as Hermes shrugged.

“He knew this would happen as much as we did.” He argued, “With what happened with the Demi-Gods and those threats finally put to rest, it was only a matter of time before this happened. The fact that it hasn’t happened sooner is nothing short of a miracle.”

It was clear that she was less than impressed with this.

“Well…you’re here now. Let’s try and find out where the others are before ANYONE else does.”

The meaning was clear.

….

Peri remembered when her mother passed, pale and still in the hospital bed. She had been so scared to see her there.

"Shame." Her mother whispered, "I really hoped that he'd be here."

"Dad's just gone to get something for you to drink."

"No...I mean HIM."

"...God?"

Her mother's laughter was weak, but it was laughter nonetheless. "No darling, the man from my grandfather's stories. He-he used to tell me that this man protected our family, checked in on us every so often... I-I hoped he'd be here at the end."

Her Dad had come back at that moment.

Her Mum had died less than half an hour later.

Was the man who’d saved her, the same one her mother was talking about.

“Peri?”

Startled out of her thoughts, she looked over at Atlanta, who was looking a little uncertain.

“This is all bit weird, huh?”

“That’s one way of putting it.” Peri sighed, “Heroes…Gods….Goddesses…I think that I’m dreaming you know.”

“Yeah.”

They entered a large room, where a woman with a bow on her back was sitting in the corner of the room, hunter eyes on Ares, who was pacing the room.

“He’s not as bad as you all paint him.” The woman stated, “Why is this even up for discussion? He’s fought with almost every hero that has ever been and probably will ever be. He’s the best teacher for them, you admitted that yourself!”

“You only like him because he saved all those women.”

“You only don’t like him, because he ends wars. No opposing army wants to see him standing opposite them.”

“He hasn’t fought in another war since then!”

The woman rolled her eyes, before spotting the teens standing there. “Hey.” She ran her fingers through green hair, “You’re all looking a little lost.”

“We feel lost.” Jay sighed, “You’re…Artemis, right?”

“Right.”

“…Great.” Jay looked at the others, before clearing his throat, “It’s nice to meet you?”

She simply nodded, even as Ares rolled his eyes.

“Forgive my sister. She is not the best at social interaction unless it is with her hunters.”

“Most of the Gods in this family talk enough to make up for it.” Artemis leant forwards, “So…has Hera told you who you’re descended from yet?”

“Um, no?”

“Oh.” She looked over at Atlanta, “Probably for a good reason.”

Nearby, a peacock squawked.

“Why are the Gods and Goddesses of Olympus in a school?” Jay asked, “Why not a big fancy office building that goes right to the sky, or- “

“- Technically we have that as well, but teens going into a school attracts less attention.” Hermes zipped into the room, “The tower is a bit obvious.”

“It is also safer for us here.” Hera stated, “It also keeps us closer to you, so that we can keep you safe from Kronus.”

“Kronus?”

“Many times, the Titan Kronus has attempted to bring this world to its knees. There have been times where has he gotten close, forced by half-bloods to retreat back into his chains.”

“And…they can’t do it again?”

“The time for the half-bloods has passed for the time being. When the planets aligned on New Years Eve, he was able to draw on some of that cosmic energy and allow some of his sub-conscious to break free.”

“Our clock at home...it-it stopped at midnight.”

“For just a second, yes.” Artemis nodded, “That was Kronus. It was only a small part of him, but it was enough.”

“Enough for him to free some giants as well.” Ares grunted.

“And what does this have to do with us?” August asked, “Because whilst Herry can handle giants, I…can’t. Unless you want something from their pockets.” He frowned, “Do giants have pockets?!

“You are the ones who are going to stop him.”

“…Stop him from doing what?” Atlanta dreaded the answer, “And please don’t say- “

“- From destroying the world.”

“-That. Please don’t say that.”

Chapter Text

//They expect a bunch of kids to save the world?! \\

“Why do you sound so surprised Valdez?” The man chuckled, “The Gods have always relied on children to fight for them, once they ran out of legendary heroes after all. It’s been predicated by an Oracle and everything. They’ll preach about destiny and these kids will think they have no choice.”

There was a series of Spanish curses, before Leo finally managed to calm down.

//Do we need to come down there, because we will, all of us and the various kids and- \\

“I have it all under control… but I could do with some weaponry?”

//Say no more dude, say no more! \\

He hung up the phone, just as Hermes appeared by his side.

“Hera doesn’t know you’re here I can bet.”

“Nope!” Removing his helmet to run his fingers through his hair, Hermes sighed, “How-how have you been?”

“…I’ve been better.”

There was an awkward silence, before Hermes took a deep breath.

“Hera won’t like this…but I think you should come and teach them.”

“You’re right…She won’t like that you’ve spoken to me about this.”

“I stopped caring about what Hera would want a long time ago.” Hermes frowned, “You’re the best one for the job.”

“There are more of them that need finding.”

“I can do that if you point me in the right direction.”

“… There are discrepancies.”

“Ominous.”

“If you want to look it at that way…sure.”

**

Herry had no idea how to feel about any of this. Keeping the others distracted as August went to do a little ‘investigating’ was easy enough, but when Jay started going on about Greek Heroes and their possible ancestors, his head started to hurt.

He was born on a farm.

He expected to do that for the rest of his life, and honestly, he was completely fine with that.

Why did the world suddenly depend on him?

His thoughts were suddenly interrupted as Atlanta shrieked, turning and grabbing August by the front of his shirt as he held up two hands.

“You little- “

“- I was just curious!”

“By grabbing my wallet?”

“Yeah!”

Herry sighed, moving to grab his cousin from Atlanta’s grasp, only for there to be a gust of wind.

“Alright, listen up!” Hermes clapped his hands together, all attention on him, “You probably don’t believe any of this, right?”

“Hermes, what are you- “

“- I wanted to bring your teacher in now.” Hermes cut Hera off, straightening up when that cold gaze settled on him, “But there are more of you left to find, and he is more well-equipped to get them.”

“Our teacher?” Jay asked, “Who- “

“- Not important.” Hermes waved a hand, “But he emphasised the need to prove to you that you’re who we say you are, to remove any doubt.” He pointed at Herry and August, “First…the descendants of the children of Herakles. The muscle and the thief.”

“Thief!?”

“You kind of are.” Herry admitted, “Shouldn’t we both be the muscle though?”

“Herakles’s daughter, married one of the greatest thieves in the world. That’s who your cousin is descended from.” Hermes excitedly gestured for them to follow him, leading them to the gym, where Ares was fitting weights onto a bar.

Several weights that had far too zeros on them.

“No-one can lift that much weight.” August frowned, “I know Herry’s strong, but- “ He was cut off when Herry moved over to them, lifting them easily with just one hand, “- Alright, I was wrong.”

“This is too easy!” Herry sounded halfway in shock himself, as Ares threw him another set of weights, catching it with his spare hand and raising it high above his head.

“Next test!”

August moved easily through the shadows, pickpocketing dummies with setting of a single bell that was attached, even when the lights came flashing on and off, trying to catch him off guard.

“Atlanta.” Hermes gestured at her, “Descendant of Atalanta, fastest hero around and the huntress of the Argonauts.”

Fastest was an understatement.

Artemis was thrilled at the speed the teen was picking up as she raced around the track. She jumped over obstacles, dodging the projectiles that were fired at her.

“Are these surprises a normal part of this teacher’s training?” She panted, making her way back to the others.

“He calls them ‘pop quizzes’.” Artemis shrugged, “Whatever that means.”

“He knows that unexpected things happen, and that heroes have to be prepared to react.” Hermes piped up, “Alright now for Peri, descendant of Perseus, the Monster Slayer.”

“…Can’t I have a nice title, like Huntress?”

“You can shorten it to the Slayer if you want.” Hands clapped together, she fumbled to catch a spear that was thrown at her, Peri turned to see a large animatronic ambling towards her…and then lots of little ones.

It was all a blur from there.

Weak points made themselves known.

Tactics were obvious.

Her movements were quick.

Before she knew it, the bots were in pieces on the ground.

“Wow.” Jay whispered, “That was…amazing.”

“…How did I do that?”

“Your teacher will be able to explain it a little clearer.” Hermes beamed, as Ares clapped his hands.

“Very impressive young one. It does make me wonder why The Oath-breaker didn’t let you handle the monsters yourself?”

“Because he’s not a dickhead?”

For a moment, there was an awkward silence, before Jay turned to them. “I can’t do any of that?”

“Jay…descendant of Jason of the Argonauts.” Hermes looked a little uncertain, “The Leader. You might not have the same sort of abilities but- “

“- But their fates and the fate of the world rests in your hands.” Hera finished, as Hermes groaned.

“No. You are here to help, but don’t think like that. Too many heroes have fallen because they think it all rests on their shoulders.”

Again, there was an awkward silence.

“This is too much.” Jay whispered, prompting Hermes to turn back to him.

“Yeah, it is a lot for one night. Like I said, your teacher is a lot more…” He made a vague hand gesture, “… Yeah. You should all get some rest. We have rooms and everything for- “

“- Woah, woah, woah!” August protested, “Our grandma is going to be worried about us! You can’t just abduct us and expect everyone to forget about us!”

“Don’t worry, it’s all been taken care of!”

…

“I sensed this day would come you know.” The elderly woman poured them both a cup of tea, “We all knew the truth.”

“The vast majority of your line were stronger than everyone else, of course, it’s not a surprise to you.” He sipped at the tea, “Most of the other families will have no idea though.”

“Poor mites.” She gave him a stern look over the top of her cup, “You will protect them.”

It wasn’t a question.

It was a statement.

“Of course. No matter what.”

….

“This is n-nuts! A mistake!” Jay stormed ahead of them, “I’m not who they say I am! We can’t be!”

“How do you explain the strength?” Herry muttered, as Atlanta stepped forwards.

“You helped save me from those creatures…alright, you might not have these special abilities, but you have some sort of instinct, right?”

“…You all know who you are. Am I really meant to wait for this teacher to tell me the whole truth? What kind of role is Leader, amongst Muscle, Thief, Huntress and Slayer?!”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself…whoever this teacher is, they’ll be able to explain everything, right?”

Peri nodded, “Exactly! From what they were all saying, this guy is the best one to tell us everything and teach us how to defeat this Kronos guy.” She then looked up at the building that they were in front of us, “Apparently this is the dormitory? I kind of expected something more…you know. And who is this Athena they said would help us settle- “

She was cut off when there was a commotion from inside, all of them rushing inside to see what happening.

What they saw was a man pushing an owl out of the window.

“Out!” The man was snarling, “You see children as a gift for your favourites, why in the name of Hades did they put you in charge of their well-being?!”

The owl made a sound that would probably be considered a curse, before flying off into the night sky, the man firmly shutting the window behind it.

“Um…” Jay’s voice shook a little, “…Please tell me that wasn’t Athena?”

“Athena?” Herry muttered.

“Goddess of wisdom and tactical warfare.”

“Dude, how do you know all this?”

“His mother is Greek.” The man sighed, “And yes, but don’t worry. She already knows I despise her.”

Silence.

“Right, well I think introductions are in order.” The man shifted nervously, looking too uncertain for a man of his size, “You can call me…well, call me OB.”

“Obie? That’s your name?”

“It’s a shortened version of what I’ve been referred to for a very long time.” The man shrugged, “I’m your teacher.”

“You?”

The man was at least six feet tall, with skin a shade or two darker than olive. His hair was a dark brown, styled into thick dreadlocks that were then loosely tied back in a ponytail. Like Peri had described, against the dark skin and the dark hair, his eyes did look hauntingly blue, but as they scanned over all of them…Jay could see traces of green and gold in there.

“You’re the teacher?”

“I know, you probably expecting someone like Herakles?”

Herry tried not to show that yes, he kind of thought one of their so-called ancestors would be teaching them.

“Sorry to disappoint.” OB looked over at Jay, frowning a little before sighing, “Why don’t you all settle down…take a moment to yourselves if- “

Jay was already heading out of the door.

It was all too much.

Chapter Text

“These look amazing!” Herry eagerly tucked into the pancakes.

“Glad you appreciate them.” OB chuckled, “Don’t get used to it. You’ll all be learning how to cook for yourselves if I have anything to say about it.”

“Mmph?”

“Because I remember how much Herakles and Creontiades used to eat, and I am not spending hours doing that every night.”

“You met Herakles?!”

“Yes, although I should stress that he was mostly retired by the time I met him.” OB pointed a spatula at them, “But he knew how to cook, and that’s the main thing to take from this.”

“Aren’t you a warrior?” Atlanta frowned.

“And?”

“…Never mind.”

Herry was silent for a moment, before clearing his throat, “So…I-I’m descended from Cre-cre- “

“Cre-on-tia-des. And yes.” OB nodded, “Whereas August- “

August looked up from where he’d been squirted syrup all over his pancakes.

“- Is descended from Megara.”

“Isn’t that Herakles’s wife?”

OB rolled his eyes, “A few people get the story wrong; Christianity decides that homosexuality is wrong, and Disney run with it. No, Megara was his daughter.”

“Then, who was he- “

“- Iolaus.” OB looked out of the window, frowning when there was still no sign of Jay, “Come on. Eat up and then we’re going out.”

….

Jay had a lot of regrets right now.

As the creature advanced on him, he hadn’t though much of anything.

Just how to get out of the situation.

And quickly.

The exposed, sparking wires was a fluke.

It just had to be.

…So, what was he doing following the creature?

Right to the docks.

Where there were now two creatures and a man dressed in a black suit, giving off the same kind of aura that the Gods had.

No.

Not today.

…..

“A gang?” Herry frowned, “This looks…too bad for it to be a gang.”

“The Mist protects the minds of mortals.”

They all looked at OB, who cleared his throat, “Those with godly parents or those with strong ties to heroes…who usually have godly parents, can see the creatures that tried to capture you. Mortals, however, can’t deal with that sort of strain, so the Mist protects them. Gives them a reasonable explanation for what’s going on.

“All mortals?”

“Most of them- oomph!” OB reached out catching Jay as he stum into him, “Jay, what are you- “Whatever he saw in his eyes had OB frowning, “Back to the house. Now.”

….

“Are you hurt?”

Jay looked off into the distance.

“…I can’t do this.”

“Why?”

There was no judgement there, only a quiet sort of understanding that made Jay pause. Seconds later, the door was flying open, and Hermes rushed inside.

“Bad news!”

OB sighed. “Of course.”

“Typheus has escaped…or more correctly, he’s been freed. Chiron just sent the message from the Camp and Jackson is livid!”

“I’m not surprised.”

Jay looked between the pair of them, before clearing his throat, “Typheus?”

“I’ll make this as brief as possible.” OB stated, “Gaia sent Typheus to destroy the Olympians after they defeated the Titans. He is one of the most powerful foes ever faced, to the point where only Zeus dared stand against him, nearly destroying Earth in the process. Zeus trapped him in Mount Etna…and then about fifteen or so years ago, there was a small, but catastrophic explosion that freed him. This time, the Gods weren’t able to defeat him.”

“What happened?”

“A demi-God, known as Percy Jackson, called to his father Poseidon and the Cyclopes…they chained Typheus down and Poseidon opened a tunnel to Tartarus, casting him down into it. That’s where he was meant to stay.” He frowned, “Let me guess…Kronus freed his brother.”

“And seems to be keeping him restrained, on account of there being no freak storms this time.”

OB looked over at Jay, “I know you have your doubts, but will you give us the chance to- “

“- No. I-I’m sorry, I can’t. This is all just one crazy dream!”

OB didn’t try to stop him, but nor did he stop the others from chasing after him.

….

“Jay, what gives?!” Peri reached out to grab him, “Is this about the tests, because OB seems to really know what he’s talking about and- “

“- I saw Kronos.”

“…You work fast, we’ve only just got here.”

“And I was SCARED! Fighting someone like him is insane, fighting all these creatures is insane! We’re just kids!”

“You are.”

They all tensed, looking behind them to see OB leaning against a nearby building, staring up at the blue sky.

“Gods have never cared about sending kids out to do what they should be doing. I know this well, and I vowed that I would protect as many others as possible from sharing my fate.”

“…What does OB stand for?”

“Oath-Breaker.” He confessed.

“Oath-Breaker?”

“…I made a vow on the River Styx and broke it. I don’t regret it, but the Gods and Goddesses would have me reminded of it whenever they can. I reclaimed that name and made it my own and made a new vow. When I have the power to do so, I will protect those who need it…namely, those the Gods drag into their messes.”

“What if we just…leave?”

“If only it was that simple.” OB sighed, “Jay…what do you know about Jason?”

“…He was the leader of the Argonauts, a team of heroes that sailed off on a quest to find the Golden Fleece.”

“And he gave up before he found it, correct?”

“…No, no he didn’t.”

“I can’t just leave knowing that Kronos wants to destroy the Earth.” Herry pointed out, all of them silent as Jay turned and nodded in determination.

“You’re right. You’re all right.”

OB returned the nod, turning to head back to the house. “Come on!” He called back, “As that Mulan film said, I’ve got to make heroes of you all, and I can’t do that in the middle of the street.”

“You watched Mulan?”

“I’m thousands of years old, I’ve seen most Disney films.”

“Even Hercules?”

“…If you really want to annoy Hades, that’s the one to show him. I swear, he changed his whole personality because of it.”

They walked on for a few more steps, before Jay suddenly stopped.

“Wait, I-I think there’s something you have to see first.”

Chapter Text

“Looks like they’re gone.”

They all peered around the corner at the ship.

“The Typheus could be on that ship, right?” Jay turned to look at OB, who hummed a little.

“It’s possible. Kronos would have to have some very powerful restraints for his brother though. He probably wants to make sure that freak storms don’t ruin everything before he gets the chance to.”

“He probably wouldn’t be hard to find, right?” August muttered, “I imagine he’s pretty big? What if I just…sneak on board, have a look and then report back?”

“But…what do we do then?” Atlanta asked, as they all turned to OB, who shrugged.

“Not one of the creatures that I faced down.”

“We don’t need to fight.” Jay pointed out, “We could just… have a look and then go back to the Gods, right? Tell them where Kronos is?”

OB was silent for a moment, before he nodded. “Alright…stick to the shadows, no being heroes just yet and when we have enough proof, we leave, agreed?”

They all nodded.

“Because we don’t have any weapons, aside from my sword and spear…and Herry, but I’m not throwing him at anything.”

“…Thanks?”

….

“Something’s already busted out of here.” Peri frowned, gesturing at the hole in the grating, “I guess we should- “

“- That hole is nowhere big enough to- “ OB paused as glowing eyes stared up at them, “Run…go, go, go!”

“I see you’ve met my brother.”

OB span around, drawing a spear in one smooth motion as he pushed them behind him, brandishing the sharp point at the figure that emerged from the shadows.

“But, we’ve not been formally introduced.” Kronos sneered, “Of course I know you Oath-Breaker…taken on more children have we? How many is that now?”

“Why? Getting some cravings?”

Kronos sneered at him. “A new prophecy, where a group a teenagers- “

“- Another group of teenagers.” OB pointed out, “Let’s not forget the last time you decided to do this.”

“- A group of worthless teenagers, who are playing at being heroes. I just wanted to talk and make them aware exactly what they’re getting into.”

“Well, we don’t feel like talking!” Jay called out from behind OB, trying to step forwards, only for the older man not to let him budge an inch.

“Where are the others Oath-Breaker? Surely there are more then these? No…son of Odysseus? I bet that’s made you happy- “

“- You- “

“- No Theseus child…Achilles?”

Silence.

Perhaps, had they not been behind the older man or transfixed by the sight of actually standing in front of a Titan, the group might have spotted the way OB’s grip tightened on his spear.

“It’s still all of us against you!” Peri pointed out, as OB sighed.

“One thing I have learnt- “

Creatures emerged from the shadows.

“- The odds are never what they appear to be.”

They leapt into action. Peri grabbed a piece of metal to use as a weapon, Atlanta distracting those who were getting too close. Herry was managing against two of his own.

OB couldn’t see August, but from the way some of the orges and cyclopses were yelping, he was taking advantage of the situation.

Jay though…Jay was struggling.

“You’ve got instincts Jay!” He stated firmly, catching Atlanta before she could hit some oil barrels, stabbing his spear into the metal of the ship like cutting through butter, using it to spin around and kick an ogre away from Herry, “Use them!”

He was sure that he heard August cheering as well why Jay managed to trip one of the creatures into the prison with Typheus, hearing those screams before it was ripped apart.

“Can we let that thing out?!” Jay asked OB, who was rushing to help Atlanta.

“We’ll keep that as a last resort plan! Try again with those instincts!”

As Herry used chains to bind two of the creatures, throwing them into the hole as well, OB threw Jay his spear.

“The tip is poison…just in case you might need it.” He then turned to Kronos, who had a scythe in his hands.

“They’re scared children. How many times are you going to raise children to stand against me?”

“As often as it takes for you to get the hint. Stay in Tartarus…accept that you’re yesterday’s news and retire.”

There was the creaking of metal snapping from behind him, as OB fought not to sigh.

Surely, other plans could have been tried first?

“Time and time again, you’ve been defeated, usually by teenagers. Melione? Jackson and the demigods?” OB raised an eyebrow, “Every prophecy says that you’ll never come to power, so why bother?”

“Prophecies don’t always come true.”

“Name five.”

Kronos’s grip tightened on his scythe. “Only fools believe in destiny. You say I’m destined to be defeated…I say you’re destined to succumb to your curse eventually.”

“You still talk a lot I see?”

Vaguely, he heard Atlanta and Peri knock the final creature over the side of the ship….and the bellowing of Typheus breaking free from restraints, and the screaming of children.

He ducked for cover, looking to see Jay hitting the side of the ship.

Hard.

That was probably a bruised elbow at the very least.

The spear clattered to the ground as August shouted out something that sounded like “THAT WAS A LAST RESORT PLAN! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!”

That was then followed by Herry shouting “IT HAS SNAKES FOR LEGS!”

“It sounds like you might have your work cut out for you.” Kronos chuckled, “Until next time.”

And then he was gone.

“Coward.” OB muttered, rushing over to grab Jason and his spear, pulling him back over to safety as one of the snake heads lunged for them.

“This is too hot for us to handle, right?” Peri winced, “Because I’m looking and I’m not seeing a weak spot!”

OB glanced between the creature and his spear, before shaking his head.

Another time.

“Into the water!” He ordered them, “GO!”

“What about you?!”

“JUST GO!”

And so they went, diving into the water as the flames reached the oil drums, the ship exploding, sending them further back as the waves pushed at them.

They swam and swam to safety, hearing the screeches of the creature but seeing no sign of OB anywhere.

“We need to save him!” Herry protested, as they climbed to safety, “What if he’s hurt?”

They all looked to Jay, who looked a little uncertain for a moment, before clearing his throat. “He’s clearly some kind of warrior…he would have found another way off and if he hasn’t…we call Hermes?”

“….Deal.” “Sounds like a plan.” “Okay!”

“Okay…let’s get back to the dorms. Hopefully, he’s already there.”

….

Just as Jay predicted, by the time they made it back to the dorms, soaking wet and having to have taken the long way to avoid authorities, OB was already there, bandaging up his wrist.

“And here I thought I was going to have to go back out and find you all.” OB winked at them, “Well done.”

“Are you alright?”

“A sprained wrist from hitting the docks at a slightly wrong angle, a bruised back from the force of an explosion throwing me into a wall, and I think I might be coming down with a cold.” He winked at them, “The last one is a joke. I very rarely get ill, but as we’re on the subject, one of my rules…any and all injuries are to be reported, which means Jay…let me check that elbow.”

Jay sensed that there was no point in arguing, sitting opposite OB and rolling up a sleeve.

“Why didn’t you just jump into the water with us?” Atlanta asked, as OB winced.

“There are…well, there are threats in the ‘I’ll kill you’ sense, family members and threats in the ‘come live with me in the bottom of the ocean’ that might have made my life complicated.” OB shrugged, “Much easier to avoid it.”

“And those aren’t threats to us?” Peri hissed.

“Some of you may have an issue, but no-one here should… I think.” He thought about it for a moment, before shaking his head, “No, you’re all safe. Other descendants may not be so lucky.” He finished the bandaging, “There, better?”

Jay moved it around a little, nodding slowly.

“Yeah…thanks.”

There was silence for a moment, before August softly spoke up, “Did we…did we ruin everything? By setting Typheus free?”

“No.” OB shook his head, “Kronos has something bigger planned, and as he plans, I will find the rest of you and try and figure out what that plan is. Get ahead of him, so to speak. You didn’t bow down as he believed would happen and that makes him nervous.”

“Um, I think you’re the one who made him nervous.” Herry pointed out, “Have you fought him before?”

“I’ve…been involved in one of his defeats before.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It’s a very long story.” OB sighed, “Far too long for right now.” He got to his feet, “I need to go out. There are wards to stop any unwelcome visitors and training is at six.” He smirked, “You decide when you sleep…but training is at six.”

It was odd how these things sounded like a threat.

Chapter Text

All his children were different.

Unique in their own ways, but all of them special. He didn’t care if they wanted to be farmers, sailors, warriors or even princes should they find the right royal.

He didn’t mind if they were quiet or if they were loud.

If they preferred hunting or their studies.

He loved them as they were, and even when their paths led them away from him, he never stopped.

Above him, the wind danced through the rustling leaves.

He had lost so many of those he had raised. Some were deified, most were not.

He would probably lose more in the future, but none of these heroes.

This he vowed.

….

“Who is that?” Atlanta yawned, joining Jay on the upper level of the training room.

When OB said that they were training at six, he meant it, even if he did rush off as soon as they were in the training room, muttering something about finding Hermes.

Down below, there was a new teen.

His hair was purple, and he was wearing a large hoodie and matching shorts. In the light coming in from the window, she noticed that he seemed to have something golden on his ankle. Currently, he was making his way through the obstacle course, another teen sitting on the sidelines, watching the proceedings with large eyes behind big glasses, a red bandana barely seen under wild curls.

“And him?” Peri asked.

“…Poe, I think?”

They all looked down below, where Lord Ares was nudging OB in the side, “This is my favourite part.”

“What a shock.” OB chuckled, making Herry frown.

“I thought he hated the Gods.”

“I thought that.” Jay sighed, “But apparently he doesn’t mind Ares? The literal God of War, Bloodlust and all that?”

“At least you know what you’re getting.” August groaned (the six am had hit him hard, having spent most of the night trying to get to the upper levels of the building), “He likes war and fighting, you’re going to get war and fighting.”

They watched as Archie nimbly dodged lasers like they were nothing, defending himself from four wooden warriors. When OB looked up at them, Jay avoided all eye contact.

He had given the order to free Typheus.

He couldn’t do any of this.

What was the point of-

Archie landed at Ares and OB’s feet, as Ares stopped the stopwatch.

“Tch, I’ve seen better.”

“No way!” Archie protested, “From who?”

“Myself! You ancestor, Achilles and this one- “

“- You know I don’t buy that!”

“You’re the best in your age group.” OB sighed wearily, “Let’s put it that way.”

“You would have been faster at his age!”

“Maybe, maybe not, we’ll never know.”

The other teen, Poe, got to his feet, heading over to Archie and placing a hand on his shoulder. “Maybe we should hear them out?” He gently pointed out, “Just a little?”

“If this is just because of the brace- “

“- The brace has nothing to do with Achilles.” OB rolled his eyes, “Achilles was killed by an arrow to the throat…although you could argue that he was dead long before that.”

“His anger was something to behold.” Ares muttered, looking away when OB glared at him.

“The point is, that the brace is just a coincidence. I know that you’re a descendant of Achilles, because of what I’ve just seen here.” He gestured at the obstacle course as Archie fell silent, looking over at his friend.

“Why don’t you two take some time to talk, and- “

There was a roaring from above, catching them all off guard as OB looked to the ceiling. “Suitable Valdez.” He sighed, looking over at Ares, “Be right back.”

“You invited a Demi-God here?” Ares frowned, “My Mother- “

“- Is just going to have to deal with it.” OB went to leave, the others all rushing after him, even Archie and Poe who were clearly intrigued, even if they didn’t fully believe anything that was going on.

Outside, Hera was staring down a large, metallic dragon that just huffed at her, a small group of adults climbing off of it.

“They think it’s a helicopter, it’s fine!” The man speaking was clearly of Latino descent, with curly, black hair (that looked a little singed at the edges), dark brown eyes, some light scruff of a beard that didn’t look overly out of place, even on the elf-like face. There was something in his eyes though…a golden twinkle that implied that he might have had a little too much caffeine.

“OB!”

“Leo.” OB walked over, ignoring the way Hera was looking at him, “You didn’t bring the children?”

“Jason is looking after them.” A sorrowful look flashed across Leo’s face, “His wound is bothering him, you know? Frank and Hazel are there as back-up as well.”

“Ah.” OB cleared his throat, “Tell him I said hi.”

“Duh.”

OB then turned to the teens, “Leo Valdez-McClean-Grace…son of Hephaestus, brilliant inventor, one of the best if I’m being honest.”

“You flatterer.”

OB then gestured to the other adults that were gathering around, “Piper McClean-Grace-Valdez…or whatever the order it is, daughter of Aphrodite and a terrifying warrior, don’t be fooled.”

Piper was…stunning. Her chocolate-brown hair was cut short, eyes changing colour like a kaleidoscope to the point where none of them could tell which colour they actually were. She was beautiful.

“Nico and Will Solace di Angelo, sons of Hades and Apollo respectively.”

Nico was a fairly tall, gaunt looking man, a little skull ring on his finger that seemed to have diamonds in the eyes. He was paler than anybody they had ever seen before, but perhaps it was the dark clothing that he was wearing. His hair was just as dark, long and tied back in a messy, small ponytail. On his face, were harsh looking scars that Archie was afraid to ask about, even if he was a little intrigued.

In direct contrast to that, his husband seemed to be the typical surfer type. Blond hair, blue eyes…everything you’d expect from a child of Apollo really.

“Annabeth and Percy Jackson-Chase, children of Athena and Poseidon, respectively.”

Annabeth was dark-skinned, taller than average with hair neatly tied up in intricate braids, several of which were grey, creating a streak there. Her eyes were a steely grey, scanning over them as though trying to figure out what made them tick. Percy also had a grey streak in his hair, and there was just something in his whole…being that SCREAMED dangerous.

And then he turned to them and sighed wearily.

“At least they’re older than twelve.” He muttered, “Not by much though.”

“Hey!” Jay protested, “I’m sixteen!”

“That doesn’t make this better.” Jackson turned to OB, “It’s an aspect of Kronos, why can’t the Gods take care of this themselves, just this one time!”

“We were the ones who defeated him in- “ Hera started to pipe up, only to be cut off.

“Look, I would have just left it, but once there’s a prophecy- “

“- Ugh, say no more.” Jackson looked over at them again, “Hopefully they have a better time of it than I did.”

“Better?” Peri asked cautiously, “How-how bad was it?”

“…Bad.” Jackson hissed, “When I was twelve, I saw my mom killed by a Minotaur, was blamed for the theft of Zeus’s thunderbolt, ventured into the Underworld to save my mom, and then stopped a war between the Gods.”

“Jeez, only that?” August muttered weakly, “You- “

“- A year later, I had to find the Golden Fleece, which meant sailing into the Sea of Monsters.”

Herry was looking a little pale.

“I was fourteen when I had to save Annabeth and Artemis, who had both been kidnapped by the Titans.”

“Wait, fourteen?!” All the sarcasm had drained out of August’s voice, to be replaced by disbelief.

“Not long after that, my friends and I had to go into the Labyrinth to find a way to stop Kronos and his army from finding a way to attack Camp through it.”

Herry was seriously looking pale.

“I wasn’t even sixteen when the final battle took place, and someone I knew…” An odd look flashed across Percy’s face, “…Someone that I once considered a friend, sacrificed himself to make sure that Kronos was defeated. And that’s just what happened before I was sixteen.”

“It got worse?” Poe whispered, looking over at OB, who nodded wearily.

“So much worse.” He turned to them, “This isn’t fun and games, and Percy has the right to be angry about all of this. But we’re here now, and I am going to make sure that this ends permanently.”

“And you are all a lot luckier than us.” Annabeth stated.

“We are?”

“…You have OB.”

There was a moment of silence, before Leo was clearing his throat.

“And the cool weapons that I made.”

“Really Leo?”

“It’s true!”

Chapter Text

“Why did you never tell us?”

OB paused, seeing the figure standing outside of his rooms, fingers playing with the ‘Valdez whip’ that Leo had given him. A weapon made of the thinnest metal in existence that sliced, diced and could cut through anything. “Would you have believed me? You still don’t really believe in all this, would you honestly have believed me then?”

Archie was silent, as OB gently moved him to one side, opening the door.

“Follow me.”

Archie entered the room behind him, looking around at the clutter of unpacked boxes. “All these paintings…” He muttered, “…you lived through these.”

“Archie- “

“- Like this painting here!” Archie gestured at a painting of a man in traditional ancient Greek clothing. The man was on his knees, only held up by his desperate grip on a spear that was stabbed into the ground. His lower garments and cloak were stained with blood, and it looked like it was raining, “The Grief of Achilles…you were here for this, right?”

“…I was.”

“And it was like this?!”

“…Originally, I had painted in Patroclus’s body.” OB pointed at the slight discoloration.

“Oh.”

They stood there in silence for a moment, before Archie pointed, ”What about this one? Is this Pegasus?” He pointed to a painting of a man atop a winged horse, holding a sword up in the air, Ancient Greek writing carefully painted at the top.

“Hm, and Bellerophon.” OB sighed, “Would that Disney had gone down that route…alas, nobody really knows about poor Bellerophon.”

“…Did you ever meet him?”

“No! How old do you think I am?!”

“Um- “

“- Forget it.” OB sighed, getting to his feet, “I don’t think I want to know the answer. It will only upset me. Besides, we’re about to be interrupted in five…four…three…two…one.”

KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK.

“Everything okay Herry?”

Herry poked his head in, “How did you know it was me?”

“Magical powers.”

“Really?”

“No. You’re very heavy-footed coming upstairs.”

“Oh.” Herry glanced curiously over at Archie, before clearing his throat, “Um, Hermes said that mine and August’s Grammy wants to speak to us, is it okay if we- “

“- Visit? Sure. Go and speak to Hermes. He should be able to get you there quickly.” OB got to his feet, “I should probably make sure there’s no needless destruction with the new weapons.”

“Thanks!”

Herry rushed off, as OB turned to Archie.

“Come on. You might be surprised at just how much you’ll enjoy it here.”

…..

“You knew?”

Their Grammy chuckled, “My father used to move the barn to wherever he thought was the best place for it. And his father used carve paths through mountains…not for any good reason mind you, he just knew that he could do it. OB was the one who came to tell us who we were and what we could do. Came to check up on us.” A sad look flashed across her face, “When your parents were killed, and you both ended up with me, he offered to help raise you. Said that he would help out on the farm, but there are several hundred people who could benefit from his help over the course of a year. I said I would call him if I needed help, and that was that.”

“Wow.” August muttered, “I wonder if he’s been involved in the others’ lives?”

Herry wondered the same.

“Herry?” Their Grammy hummed, “Can you move me closer to the fire?”

“…Chair and all?”

“Can’t do it?”

“Alright, alright?”

…..

“Archie, wait!”

Jay paused, hearing Poe calling out for his friend (?). Together, he, Peri and Atlanta rushed forwards, seeing Poe standing in front of the purple-haired teen, hands out, stopping him from going any further.

“We can’t just go running off! Where would we even go?!”

“OB lied to us, don’t you even care about that?!”

“Technically, he just didn’t tell us the whole story and- “

“- Oh give me a break!”

“Um, hello?” Jay waved a hand as they all approached, “I’m Jay, these are Atlanta and Peri.”

“Poe.” The bespectacled teen waved back, “And this is Archie…ignore the grumpy look, he’s not usually so bad.”

Archie huffed out a scoff, as Atlanta gestured back at the training room.

“That was amazing back there! I guess you passed the test huh?”

It was clear that they were trying not to mention the overheard conversation.

“Just because they say that I’m a descendant of Achilles, doesn’t make it so.” Archie then gestured at Poe, “They haven’t even said who he’s descended from.”

Looking up at the ceiling, Poe shook his head, “OB is looking into it.”

“You two know OB well then?”

The pair turned to the trio, looked at each other, before Poe winced, “It’s… yeah. We know him.”

“Mum died, Dad cared more about his career than me, adopted Poe for a publicity stunt, OB reamed him out for it and has been there ever since.” Archie sneered, “Never thought he was some…immortal Greek warrior.”

“…Did he ever tell you who he was before? Back then?”

“No.” Poe was the one to answer, “We always thought that his name was Obie, why would think that it wasn’t?”

That was a good point.

“I don’t suppose he’s mentioned it to you?”

They all shook their heads, an awkward silence falling over them, before Jay spoke up again.

“Doesn’t any of this mean anything to you? Achilles was one of the greatest heroes in…well ever! Everyone knows his name!”

“Yeah, look at this place!” Atlanta spread her arms out, “Look at what you can do! How can you not believe!”

“Easy, I walk away and forget this ever happened.”

“Can we even do that?” Poe winced, “I mean…your Dad is away again and OB is our legal guardian, so… I think we might have to stay.”

Archie was silent.

“Besides, you did promise that we would give this place a week before giving up on it?” Poe raised an eyebrow, “Remember?”

They stared at each other for a moment, before Archie rolled his eyes. “I hate you.”

“No, you don’t.”

“Is Archie being grumpy again?”

They all turned to the doorway, where OB was standing, arms folded over his chest, an amused smirk on his face, two other teens in front of him.

“I’d like you all to meet Theresa, descendent of Theseus…” He gestured to a rather tall, fairly muscular ginger girl, who gave them all a little wave, “…and Odie, descendent of Odysseus.” He gestured to the much smaller, dark-skinned boy, whose hair stuck up in all directions.

“Hey!” Odie beamed, bounding over, as Atlanta and Peri both headed over to Theresa, excited that there was another girl joining.

“Hey.” Jay greeted Odie fondly, “Nice to have you join us. Ready to…help us save the world?”

The pair let out nervous laughs.

“Sure?” Theresa shrugged, “Although…OB said something about this not being our ‘sole responsibility’?”

Archie rolled his eyes, “He’s over-protective. Always have been.” He turned to OB, “Figured out who Poe is descended from?”

“Ah…with a little bit of investigation, I believe I do.” OB placed a hand on Poe’s shoulder, who was practically vibrating with sheer excitement, “Poe…descendent of Hektor of Troy and Polites, beloved of Odysseus.”

Chapter Text

Polites loved the feeling of the wind blowing through his air. It was one of his favourite things in the world and he couldn’t imagine life without the feeling.

Odysseus and the other kings were planning the next stages of their attack, and he was waiting for him, holding Osias in his arms, hoping that his son would come to love the feeling as well.

“What are you doing?”

He turned seeing piercing blue/green eyes staring at him, a curious look on the ten-year-olds’ face.

“Appreciating the view…care to join me?”

The child hesitated, before nodding sharply.

***Present Day***

“That’s impossible!” Archie snapped, after a prolonged period of silence, “Hektor of Troy didn’t have any surviving kids! I’ve read the Iliad, his son was killed when- “

“- Those stories are written by the winners and those who want to appear like the heroes.” OB sighed, “And the Iliad is…fine. Mostly factual accurate, aside from some key points. Don’t believe everything that you read and hear though.”

“And Odysseus was faithful to Penelope!”

“He was.” OB agreed, “But the pair of them were also close with Polites, who was Odysseus’s beloved from childhood and Diomedes, both of whom Penelope was more than happy to share her husband with. Diomedes was one of her closest friends by the time the war started, and she doted on Polites.” He shrugged, “It’s a Greek thing.”

“So…you’re telling us that Hektor’s son survived…got together with a child of Polites and Odysseus…and eventually, that led to Poe?” Jay slowly said out loud to himself.

“Essentially, yes.”

“Then why isn’t he classed as a descendent of Odysseus as well?” Archie snapped, “Is there some sort of requirement that he didn’t meet?”

“…Well, yes, in a way.” OB sighed, “You were given all titles…muscle, slayer, warrior…Odie is classed as a tactician, a key trait of Odysseus. Poe however, has inherited characteristics of both Hektor and Polites. He is a peace-keeper.”

To Jay, that made some sense….but not totally.

“Didn’t Hektor want the war?”

“Not even a little.” OB rolled his eyes, “I think if he could have gotten away with killing his younger brother to bring peace, he would have. Especially when that brat set his eyes on Helen and brought war to their doorstep. Polites was…well, he was one of the kindest men known, and was never a big fan of war.”

“Why was he a part of it?”

“He was the right age, perfectly fit to do so. I know his parents argued against it, but there was nothing that anyone could do there…as is the way of war unfortunately.” OB shrugged, “Now for some tests. Odie, there’s a chess board with our names on. I never managed to defeat Odysseus or any of his descendants in these sort of strategy games, so let’s see how you fair.”

“You came close though!” There was a gust of wind as Hermes suddenly appeared, holding a package in his arms, “Which one did you lose out by only one move?”

“A great, great, great something grandchild.” OB sighed, “Now that was a waste of a brain. They could have done anything and what happens? Alcoholism and falling into a lake in the middle of winter. But enough about that.” He turned to Theresa, “I’ve set up a test for you in the training room. A bit more…maze like than the others had. With your sense of direction and fighting skills, it should be a piece of cake.”

“So, we have Jay the leader, Herry the muscle, August the thief, me the slayer, Odie the tactician and Archie the warrior and Poe as the Peacekeeper…what’s Theresa?” Peri asked

“The fighter.”

Odie frowned, “Isn’t that the same as a warrior?”

“No, there is a suitable difference. A warrior is trained in certain fighting styles. They know the poses, the katas and all that…fighters fight to win, and they often don’t stick to the standard rules. Theseus often used dirty tactics to win his fights, but that was who he was. Achilles, however, was trained by warrior in the art of war-play and all different fighting styles. Theresa also has a sixth sense, a psychic ability that I’m really interested in looking into more because I can’t think of anyone in that line who had similar powers.”

“Um, you can read minds?”

Theresa flushed a little, “Well, not really.”

“Someday though, maybe.” OB stated, “I’ve asked Persephone and Hekate to help out a little there, maybe Nyx as well. Together, we should all be able to help out there.”

“Do we all get mentors?”

“Of course Odie, Hermes is probably going to be yours and Augusts…two different mentoring styles, but it should work out well.”

“Not Athena?”

OB scowled, “She had her chances with Odysseus and even Telemachus and Telegonus. If she honestly thinks I’m giving her another chance- “

“- He’s not a big fan of the Gods.” Peri whispered to the newcomers, “Apart from Hermes and Ares…and Artemis I think.”

“Ares will mentor Archie, Hercules and Jay…no, maybe Peri. Jay and Poe can be mentored by Persephone. Atlanta with Artemis when she’s around, when she’s not, her and Theresa can work with…let me think more about that, maybe Ares as well. He’s good with kids.”

“Are you not mentoring us?”

OB paused for a moment, before nodding, “Oh yeah, sorry, I should have explained better. When I CAN’T be there, then these Gods will be in charge of your lessons…Maybe I can try and persuade Hestia to get involved again.” The last part was murmured to himself, as the others all glanced at each other.

“What are they like?” Theresa asked

“Hm?”

“Well, we’ve met Hera- “

OB scoffed.

“- Ares seemed…blunt but nice.” She continued, “Hermes is nice, and I think it was Artemis who was leaving, but what are the others like?”

“Well, Persephone is very nice. Don’t be fooled by that smile though, she is a fierce fighter and twice as scary as Hades if you ask me. Hestia is just as blunt as Ares, but she doesn’t get involved very often. Hekate is nice...very involved in their work so they might not wish to travel here. And Nyx is lovely, you’ll like them.”

“And you’ve really met them all?”

“Each and every one of them.” OB shrugged, “When you’ve lived for as long as I have, it’s kind of a given.” He clapped his hands together, “Now, there’s just one more of you left- “

“- One you don’t have to worry about getting a teacher for.”

OB tensed visibly, plastering a fake smile on his face as Hera entered the room. “Oh? Do tell?”

“Well, I would have thought it would be obvious. Aphrodite will mentor them”.

“...What.”

“The descendant of Narcissus should have a suitable teacher. And who more suitable than the Goddess of Love and Beauty?”

There was a beat of silence...and then laughter.

“Strap in.” Poe sighed, watching OB nearly double over as Hera got steadily more annoyed, “This is going to be fun.”

“...What kind of Peace Keeper are you?”

“One who knows when to stay out of it.”

Chapter Text

“Narcissus?! Are you kidding me?!”

“You dare speak to- “

“Narcissus had NO line for any descendants to come from! Unless this is a flower? Am I to train a flower?!”

“He- “

“- Was asexual and aromantic in a time when nobody understood that. So, when people walked away upset that he didn’t want anything to do with them in a romantic sense, they got pissy and had Nemesis curse them!” OB threw his hands into the air, “Cursed to fall in love with his reflection because people didn’t understand how he could possibly not want to be with ANYONE!”

“Well, who would you say they are a descendent of?”

“I have a small list; I will work it out when I find him!” OB turned to the group, “Training! Let’s go!”

“Umm…we’ve already- “

“- come on!”

…..

“Well, this is…cosy.” Theresa looked around the shared living area, “And…we all get our own rooms?”

“Yep.”

She was silent for a moment, before shaking her head and collapsing onto the sofa, “What a day.”

“What happened?”

“I still can’t believe it! Daddy had just gotten me a new car for my birthday, so I was taking it for a drive and then some kind of…gryphon attacked me!” She then gestured to the ceiling, where OB had disappeared to, “Then he appeared and…cut its head off! Just like that!”

“Wow…happy birthday I guess?”

Theresa just sighed, burying her face into her hands, “He didn’t even flinch when he did it.”

“Yeah, he’s like that.” Jay looked behind him as OB walked into the room, “Um, does Kronos really have Gryphons’ on his side now?”

“Unfortunately.”

“I thought he only had the giants, ogres and Typheus?”

Theresa looked a little panicked,

“Kronos wrecked my wheels as well.” Odie muttered.

“You saw him?” Atlanta whispered, “like, he came after you personally?”

“No, I got this…giant pig coming after me!”

“Giant pig?” OB frowned, only for Hermes to suddenly appear right next to him. “Not the Calydonian boar surely?”

“That’s the one!” Hermes made a show of checking his nails, “I took care of him quickly enough.”

“So, this Kronos knows who we are and where we are…” Archie frowned, “…Which means that he’s going after the last one now.”

“Probably.” OB held up a sheet of paper, “Thankfully, I know exactly where he is.”

“…We weren’t attacked.”

“My house has some useful little charms that stop Olympian or Chthonic attentions from lingering too long.”

Archie did not look impressed, muttering something about wanting a proper chance to prove himself, which OB rolled his eyes at.

“Funny how you’re such a non-believer up until the idea of you getting into a fight pops up.” He sighed, “There are some traits that I really wish you didn’t get from Achilles.”

“What does that- “

“- Can we get back to the giants?!” Theresa frowned, “And the…Typheus? Whatever that is?”

“A giant, fire-breathing creature that has snakes for legs. Causes storms usually. Very nasty.” OB looked up, wincing at the look on Theresa’s face, “Come on. Let’s have a chat.”

“O-okay!”

Behind them, Odie was trying to laugh the comment off.

Jay would handle it.

….

Theresa watched as OB moved a large painting to one side, revealing a soft looking armchair. For a moment, she examined the painting, easily seeing that it was Lady Artemis, standing atop a series of rocks, staring off at something in the distance as she pulled an arrow from the quiver.

She looked so serene.

“She has the easiest life of all the gods I think.” OB noticed her staring, “The rest of the Olympians accept that she’ll never be like them, and give her a pass for almost everything gathering.”

“…Are you close?”

“We had some positive interactions.” OB answered vaguely, “I respected her boundaries and she didn’t demand complete and total respect when she didn’t deserve it.” Seeing the look on her face, he sighed, “She’s a good leader to her huntresses, and protects them in a world that still ruled by men…. of course, most of the men nowadays wouldn’t know what to do face-to-face with a huntress of Artemis.”

Somehow, Theresa could believe that.

Slowly, she moved around the room, seeing another drawing, of a skeletal man carrying two babies on his back. “Um- “

“- Charon the boatman carrying Hypnos and Thanatos.”

“…How old are you exactly?”

OB rolled his eyes, “That one’s done from a story I was told.”

“…From who?”

“Charon himself.”

Theresa was starting to feel a little sick.

“Woah!”

Huh…she must have looked sick as well, because he was helping her to a chair to sit in.

“I know this is all a bit…much.”

“Ha! You think?”

“I KNOW.” OB stated firmly, “I’ve been in this position, forced into a fight that I had should have had no part in. Prophecies are an awful thing though and now you’re here.”

“I don’t get a choice?”

“If you don’t want to go out to take part in missions or fights, then that’s your choice…but you need to stay here to be safe. And I am going to insist a little on the training.” He sighed, “But I will not force you into directly taking part in a fight that you have no right being in.”

“…Where are the cameras, this has to be some kind of reality show, right?”

“Unfortunately, this is all too real. Most of the others that you met, have looked Kronos in the eyes, faced him head on and lived to tell the tale.”

“How many times have you faced him personally?”

OB frowned for a moment, “Well…I didn’t take part in the fight against him personally last time he rose to power. He was inhabiting the body of a teenager nearly adult, and that was just a little too close to being a kid for me to be comfortable.”

“Um- “

“- I don’t kill kids.” An odd look flashed across OB’s face, “Call it a personal preference of mine.”

That was a relief.

“But the time before that, I did end up facing him, but only after Princess Melione had literally whittled him down to his last remaining strength. In his desperation, he made one final attack on the Crossroads and those who had sought sanctuary there, which didn’t end up going well for him, not when the other Gods of Olympus made an appearance.”

“And now? Is he at his lowest strength now?”

“Well, he’s definitely not at his full strength.” OB muttered, “We would be in a lot more trouble if he was.”

“…I can’t wait to meet him.”

“That’s the spirit.” OB perked up a little, “Ah, Herry and August are back. Just in time as well.” He got to his feet, “Just so you know, this room is a safe space. Any worries, concerns, stuff like that, just let me know.”

“Anything?”

“…I’m no good at the romance stuff.” OB winced, “I’m not sure how I even got my husband in the first place.”

“Got it.” Then the words hit, “Wait…husband?!”

Chapter Text

Herry and Odie were already getting on well.

Jay tried to remember if Herakles and Odysseus would have interacted back in the day, before deciding that it was probably best to ask OB. He would probably know...had probably been there when they did meet.

“Hey, why can’t we find something as big as this Typheus?” Odie asked OB as soon as he walked through the door, “No offense, but something that big must too hard to hide in a crowd.”

“We’ll find it.” Was all OB said, as August rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, it’s not like Kronos gave us a forwarding address when we faced him...where’s the new girl?”

“Her and Atlanta are speaking...gossiping, whatever you want to call it.” OB looked around, “Where are Archie and Poe?”

“Ummm...don’t know?”

“Great. I’ll worry about that later.”

“Yeah...because we have other problems to worry about.” Herry cleared his throat, switching on the TV as a reporter started talking about recent power outages and the possible causes. One cause was apparently...a giant monster according to an eyewitness.

“Perfect.” OB groaned, “Just perfect.”

....

“Husband?” Atlanta frowned, “No, he never mentioned that, but then again, it’s not like we’re close or anything. We’ve only known him one day, maybe two tops!”

“Oh.” Theresa bit at her lower lip, “I mean...he’s apparently this big Greek hero, from the ancient times. Is this another immortal warrior or some mortal man that he’ll outlive.”

It was an awful thought.

Atlanta opened her mouth to reply, only to hear movement in the shadows nearby. “Someone’s there.” She hissed, “Attack first, ask questions later. On three.”

“After three or after you say two, directly on three?”

“NOW!”

She darted forwards, grabbing whoever it was by the wrist and slammed them up against the wall, only to hear Theresa yelp when she went through a similar experience.

“Woah, woah!”

Atlanta took a step back, wincing when she saw Poe gripping at his wrist for a moment, before readjusting his glasses. “Ow.” He muttered, looking over her shoulder, prompting her to turn, seeing Theresa and Archie still grappling for control.

“Archie!” She groaned, “Why are you both sneaking around like this? Were you spying on us?”

“We were checking this place out, making sure that it’s safe.”

“Despite the fact that OB said that it was.” Poe rolled his eyes, “I did say we should have just trusted him.”

Archie scoffed, going over to check Poe’s wrist, only for all the lights to suddenly go dark.

“See!”

“Shut up Archie.”

…

The lights went dark and OB sighed.

“I pay my bills for nothing.” He joked, “Having candles and flame torches was such a simpler time.” He looked up at the ceiling, “EVERYONE! MEET ME IN THE HALLS!”

“Where are we going?”

“Olympus.”

…..

Ares opened up a wall of weapons, humming as he ran his fingers over the sharp points and blades.

“You guys have power?” Peri frowned, finding that she was actually thankful for the light.

“We do not bend to the limits of the mortals here. We are…how does Hephaestus put it…off the grid.” Ares grunted, “They have their weapons, right?”

“Of course.” OB gestured at Archie, “The whip, Jay has a…gravitational blade, I think that’s what Leo called it.” He gestured at Theresa, “The black belt over there can have the nun chucks that he dropped off. I’m sure you can do some deadly damage with that.”

“The descendant of Odysseus?”

“Odie?”

Odie looked a little panicked at the thought, holding up a hand and shaking his head, “I’m good. I’ve got my weapon already, satellite connection that actually works! Portable and powerful, and- “

“- I don’t care if it’s something small.” OB sighed, “But that laptop isn’t going to save you if you get into trouble. Poe has a bo-staff that he’s willing to use for defence.”

Ares nodded, “Odysseus was a talented archer. Perhaps something attached to his wrist?”

“Odie…something small attached to your wrist? Just in case?”

The pair stared at each other, before Odie sighed. “Fine…but if I miss and hit someone friendly, don’t blame me!”

“We can have some basic aim lessons.” OB sighed, looking a little relieved, before clearing his throat, “Where was I…ah, yes, Atlanta has the bolos- “

“- The ones she destroyed my statue with.”

“She broke the nose off, it’s an improvement….and yes. We’re working on it. August has chosen some small daggers that are attached to his wrist ala that Assassin game, Peri has a similar sword to Jay, albeit with a curve on it and Herry has decided to rely on his strength, and I am not about to argue with that, honestly.”

“How are we going to beat this Typheus then?” Herry asked.

“The first time, my Lord Father blasted it with lightning bolts and then dropped a mountain on him.” Ares mused, “The second time, my Lord Uncle Poseidon was able to send him back to Tartarus. Perhaps we should contact my Lord Uncle Hades this time.”

“Ha! Funny!”

“I am hilarious.”

As the pair bickered, Peri and Theresa went to sit by a brooding Archie, who was staring at OB.

“I’ve been meaning to ask…what’s with the fancy footwear?”

Archie frowned at them, before realising that they were pointing at his brace.

“I know that OB said that it has nothing to do with Achilles, but- “

“- I’ve got a wonky heel. Apparently, it’s just bad luck.” Archie sighed.

“…Sorry about what happened before.”

Peri perked up a little, “What happened earlier? We thought we heard fighting.”

“It was nothing.” Archie rubbed the back of his head, “Poe’s wrist probably won’t even bruise.”

“You attacked Poe?!”

“I didn’t!” Theresa protested, “Atlanta might have gotten a little over-eager, but- “

“- The power’s down across the entire seaboard.” Odie piped up, “All the power is being diverted to the station where your fire-breathing friend was last seen.”

“If that’s where the Typheus is, then so is Kronos.” Jay looked over at OB, “Why isn’t he going after the last descendent?”

“Hopefully, because he doesn’t know where he is.” Clapping his hands together, OB raised his voice a little, “Those who want to come, grab your weapons and let’s go!”

…

He was a little bored.

He tried so hard not to be, after all, the mortals were still dying in unusual ways and his sisters did make sure that he was at least a little entertained.

It had been six weeks since he’d last seen his husband, which was possibly the reason behind his restlessness.

Sighing, he headed over to a scrying pool, leaning over and pressing the pad of his index finger to the water, thinking of his husband as he did so.

Teenagers.

Why was he-

His eyes widened when he saw Archie and Poe there.

It was that time already?

His sisters warned him that this day would come, but he never thought that it would come so soon.

...Why hadn’t his husband told him?

Fists clenched, and long hair billowed in the non-existent breeze as he left.

Chapter Text

“You’re Patroclus, right?”

OB didn’t look away from what he was doing, merely tilting his head a little in Odie’s direction to indicate that he had indeed heard him.

“Explain the reasoning?”

“Well…there’s the fact that you took in Archie, a descendant of Achilles, and everyone knows that Patroclus was probably a lover of Achilles. Why wouldn’t you want to still be close to the bloodline of someone you loved?” Odie leant forwards, “From what everyone has said, you don’t like the Gods and it would make sense for Patroclus not to like the Gods, especially ones like Apollo.”

“Didn’t Patroclus die?” Jay asked, “That’s why Achilles killed Hektor.”

“What if he did, but he’d…broken an oath sometime before then?”

“Being an oath-breaker grants me immortality not invulnerability.” OB hummed, taking all the words in for a moment. “Solid reasoning...well thought out. But no, I’m not I'm afraid. It’s an honour that you though I was though.”

Looking a little disappointed, Odie slumped back in his seat, muttering something to himself as he typed on his laptop.

“Are you keeping a document about it?”

“Of course.”

“...You are so much like Odysseus.”

“Thanks!”

When Herry glanced over to OB, he wasn’t sure that that was meant to have been a compliment.

**Flashback**

He had picked all the herbs that he could fit into the basket, giving a small bunch of flowers to Telemosias for him to give to his Mama. The five year olds’ eyes were red and puffy, probably having come across some of Agamemnon’s men who delighted in getting their kicks where they could.

Bullying children, specifically, one of the only other children here, was one of the many ways they chose to do this.

None of them dared to challenge him though.

“****”

He looked over his shoulder, wincing at the look on the older man’s face. “They deserved it?”

“To be doubled over with cramps for the next few hours?”

“…Definitely.”

“I will have to take your word for it.”

There was a wink, and he knew that all would be well.

Blue eyes twinkled with triumph.

**End Flashback**

“How are we all fitting in here?”

OB flinched, looking into the rearview mirror, before shrugging, “Hermes is the God of Travel, He probably made a couple of modifications to make sure you could all fit….and to make sure that I have enough leg room.” He stretched out, “I remember when they first made cars, the space was fine, but then they started making them smaller and more expensive!”

“Did you ever meet Henry Ford?”

“No.”

“Really?”

OB scoffed, “I’ve met a lot of famous people, I’m not going to lie to you about that, but Henry Ford wasn’t one of them.” He suddenly held up his hand, as Hery braked, right by the wreckage of a truck. OB examined it for a moment before sighing, “Okay…whoever was in there got out in time.”

“Probably into the woods, right?” Jay asked, as Archie frowned.

“Shouldn’t we try to find them and help? Isn’t that part of being a hero?”

“No time for that.” OB gestured for Herry to move a bit closer, before then silently gesturing for them all to get out, “Kronos won’t be worrying about a couple of emergency workers. We need to find him.” He paused, “Anyone who doesn’t want to, can stay here and try and help anyone else who comes if they want to?”

No-one spoke up.

“Alright.” OB clapped his hands together, “I think we should split up a little here. Herry…Odie…Atlanta and Peri. You four came with me to check out the dam. Jay, I want you to take Theresa, Archie, Poe and August to search the area. If there’s any trouble, call me.”

“Do we have your- “

“- Archie has my number.”

“I have some PMR’s that will do the job better.” Odie piped up.

“…Oh?”

Reaching into his bag, Odie pulled out several walkie-talkie-looking devices and handed them out.

“PMR?” Herry frowned, “It looks like a walkie-talkie?”

“It’s a bit more than a walkie-talkie.” Odie rolled his eyes, missing how OB looked over at Archie, making a silent phone gesture to him.

“Alright, are we all ready?”

“To fight a giant monster, take on an immortal God and possibly save the world?” Archie shrugged, “Yeah, why not.” He dodged OB’s playful swipe, the older man rolling his eyes fondly.

“Go on. Try not to trip over your own feet or anything embarrassing like that.

….

“I can’t believe you were raised by an actual Greek hero, and you don’t even know his true name?”

Archie shrugged, “OB was a fine name, why bother prying. To us he was… a cool uncle.” He frowned, “Am I the only one who noticed that he seemed a little…bothered by Odie?”

“Odysseus was one of the greatest heroes ever, right?” August piped up, “He probably knew him. Maybe they had a bad run in once or twice?”

“He likes me though?” Poe frowned, “And I’m descended from him as well.”

“And Hektor of Troy, who he should really not like if he was on the side of the Greeks during Troy.” Archie rolled his eyes when the other three turned to look at him, “I like the classics. If he met Odysseus, knew him, then chances are, he wasn’t on the side of Troy.”

“Odysseus was a friend of Achilles apparently.” Jay piped up.

Archie and Poe looked at each other, as Poe shrugged.

“They were on the same side, but friends?”

“Well…they would have had to be to work together, right?”

Poe shook his head, “OB always told us not to believe everything that we read, especially when it comes to the Greek myths. It’s ‘written by those who see themselves as heroes’, he always says. Just because they were on the same side, it doesn’t mean that they were friends. Achilles and Agamemnon hated each other, right? And they were on the same side.”

It was a good point.

“So... everything that I've learnt about Greek Mythology, might not even be true?!”

“Herry and I are apparently descended from Herakles and an...Iolaus. Wasn’t Iolaus always the cousin in the myths?” August pointed out.

“...I think it differed on the source.”

“Exactly our point!” Poe beamed, “Who knows what the truth actually is, aside from a guy who lived closer to the times! He probably knows about all of our family trees!”

“The Gods would know.”

“I don’t know if I really...trust them?” Theresa admitted, “I mean...there are a lot of stories about them, right? What if they are all true?”

“What? All the abduction of women, starting wars because they’re bored, killing people who cause them the slightest bit of offence?” Archie smirked, “It would explain why OB doesn’t like a lot of them.”

Theresa looked at them all, before locking eyes with August, who shrugged. “I know. I’m learning as I go to be honest. We don’t all have the benefit of having a Greek mum, or being raised by a Greek warrior…or reading a lot of classic poetry.” He then nearly bumped into Jay, who had suddenly stopped in the middle of the path, “What are you- “

“- GET DOWN!”

Chapter Text

“WATCH OUT!”

A ball of fire came flying towards them, prompting them to dive in different directions in order to avoid being struck.

“WHAT THE FUCK!”

…

OB straightened up when he heard he roaring, looking over towards the forest, cursing when he saw Typheus rising up, wings spreading out wide. He pulled out his mobile, speed dialling Archie immediately. “Archie, speak to me.”

…

“Are you alright?” Poe asked Theresa softly, helping her to her feet.

“Y-Yeah, thanks!”

Archie was speaking into his mobile, “We’re a bit busy right now!”

Typheus flew towards them

“But I just want to say that I definitely believe now! No doubt about that!”

…

“Amazing what a monster will do.” OB tried to joke, “Stay alive, I’ll be right there!”

…

“Stay alive?!” That’s your advice?!”

Jay slashed at one of the snake heads that snapped at him, jumping back to avoid getting bitten, as Archie lashed out at the other head, hanging up on OB, only for his eyes to widen when Typheus grabbed the whip.

“Uh oh!”

“I’ve got you!” Theresa grabbed a hold of Archie’s legs, only for them both to be yanked into the air, screaming wildly.

She wasn’t sure what happen, but it was like Typheus had been struck by lightning, letting go of them as they were flung towards the other side of the river. Archie was flung into some trees, managing to grab onto some branches to slow his descent. Thereas, seeing that she was heading for the water, tried to mitigate that blow.

She had no desire to drown on her first mission out.

Back on solid ground, Poe was calling OB desperately, seeing Typheus now heading in the direction of the dam. “OB!”

…

“Don’t tell me.” OB sighed, “The aspect of one of the most vicious creatures to ever exist, is currently heading straight for us?”

The teens with him all looked at him in shock.

“Yes.” He nodded, despite Poe not seeing him, “I am very good at guessing games.” He looked to the west, “That, and I can see him. We’ll meet you back at the truck, now RUN!”

They all rushed across the dam, jumping forwards when Typheus fired a fireball at them.

“Ugh, bad breath.” Peri muttered, grabbing some stones and flinging them at the creature, hitting it in the eyes and sending it flying back blindly, “So, what’s the plan?!”

“Keep running! I’ll figure it out!” OB snapped, as another fireball was spat out, eyes widening when Odie was blasted over the side of the dam, “ODIE!” He looked at them, as Herry managed to dodge the snake heads, “GET TO THE TRUCK!”

“Where are you- “

OB dived over the side of the dam after Odie.

…

“Where’s OB and Odie?!”

“OB is dealing with the Odie situation!” Herry leapt into the truck, “Get in!”

Typheus continued to pursue them as they sped away.

“What happened?!”

“Odie went over the other side of the dam.” Peri answered, “OB went after him.”

“Like it was nothing!” Herry swerved and dodged, “Barely even thought twice about it!”

“I thought he hated water!”

“He does!” Archie frowned, twisting around, “Did we lose it? Maybe we can go back?”

“I think it just stopped following us.” Poe whispered, “It’s probably guarding something back there.”

“Then we’re going back right?”

They all turned to look at August, who shrugged.

“We can’t just leave them! I know we can’t exactly beat that thing, but neither can they? Did any of those heroes leave anyone behind?”

Silence.

“Alright, let’s not go into that. Just turn around Herry!”

…

“Hold on.” OB grunted as he clung to the side of the river, fingers digging into the rocks and dirt, Odie clinging onto his back, “Tighter than that!”

“S-S-Something’s grabbing my ankle.”

OB muttered something in Greek, leg kicking out as the pressure on Odie’s leg disappeared. “Damn water gods.” He muttered, climbing up a little further, “Can’t just let it go, just for a moment. Archie has instincts that tell him to stay away from the water, I don’t suppose I'm going to be as lucky with you?”

“M-Maybe a-a-after this?”

“Fair.”

He pulled them up further, straining to hear if the creature was on its way to blast them, or if the others were in trouble.

“I-I have another guess...” Odie spluttered out, “...What about- “

“- Give it a rest, this is not the time!”

A little further up again, followed by another kick of the leg, as though something was trying to grab onto OB this time.

“Right, as soon as you can see solid ground, you are going to climb over me and back to safety, alright?” OB stated, as Odie shook his head, the wet locks hitting the older man in the face.

“I can’t!”

“You can and you’re going to, or I’m going to throw you as far as I can!”

Unsurprisingly, Odie did as he was told, panting and spluttering for breath once he was on safe ground.

“See if you can get a hold of the others.”

Odie nodded, pulling his radio out, only to wince at how dripping wet it was. “Um…I don’t think that’s going to work.”

“Damn technology.” OB muttered, pulling out a coin, “Figure out how to make a rainbow, we’re doing this the old-fashioned way.”

…

‘Jay? Anyone?’

A rainbow appearing on the front seat was enough to make Herry slam the brakes on, all eyes staring at the strange vision. Eventually, Odie’s face shimmered into view.

“Odie?!” Peri whispered, “What the- “

“- Are you okay?” Archie leant over to see closer, “Is OB with you?!”

‘I am.’

Another face came into view.

“Where are you guys?”

OB looked around, ‘We’re fine. We’re on the other side of the river.” His eyes widening when he spotted something in the distance, “And we have eyes on Kronos.’

‘We do?’ Odie looked in that same direction, adjusting his glasses a little, before frowning, ‘How did you even see him?’

‘Good eyesight, keep your voice down!’

“Are you both serious?” August hissed.

‘Deadly…and it appears as though he may have some kind of…laser device.’ OB shook his head, ‘Perfect.’

‘That’s probably where he’s diverting the power to, right?’ Odie hissed.

‘Probably. Guys, we’ll meet you on the road. I think we’ll keep the splitting up to a minimum from now on.’

“There’s only one across the dam so we’ll- “

“- We have a problem there!”

Typheus blocked the way.

Archie, who was still leaning over the seats, smirked. “You know…his stance is awful. Why have his legs that far apart…anything could get through it.”

“I like the way that you think.” Herry smirked, pressing his foot down on the gas pedal, even as they heard OB protesting in the background.

‘Archie, you’re a bad influence’

“I’m about to be an even worse one.” Archie looked around the truck, “Who’s going to join me?”

“Huh?”

“We can’t fight Kronos and that thing at the same time, so someone’s going to have to distract it.”

Atlanta was the first to smirk.

“Herry, stop the truck!”

Peri moved to leave as well, the three of them jumping out of the truck.

In the rainbow mist, OB threw his hands up.

‘Why do I even bother?!’

Chapter Text

“Why do I even bother?!”

The rainbow call ended, and Odie felt a little bit awkward just standing right there. He cleared his throat, catching the older man’s attention.

“Odysseus?”

“…What?”

“Are you Odysseus?”

“No?” OB frowned, “Explain? I’m sure I’ve talked about Odysseus before; did you think I was talking in the third person?”

“Well, it’s just that…you’re pretty smart, clearly fought in a war and then there was the whole thing with the water.” Odie gestured at the water, shivering a little at the feeling of fingers wrapping around his ankle and pulling at him, “Odysseus made Poseidon angry, right?”

“Oh did he.” OB laughed, “It was his own fault to be honest. The smartest man in the Trojan War and he got out into open water, all his brains seemed to leak out of his ears.”

“The water was grabbing you as well.”

“I didn’t anger Poseidon. My life would have been a lot easier if I had angered Poseidon. No, my issues with water are…revenge and family driven.”

That made no sense.

Odie sighed, looking around the area for a moment as OB muttered to himself. It was then that Odie noticed the bandage on his wrist.

“Um, didn’t that hurt? Pulling us up with that?”

“Hm?” OB looked at his wrist and shrugged, “Yeah, but over the years, you come to recognise which pain you can and have to fight through, and the pain where you should rest. We had to survive, so I ignored the pain.” He rotated his wrist, “I’ll rest it when this is over.”

“…What are we going to do?”

“We are going to trust that the others know what they’re doing.”

….

“Ares is wrong.” Archie whispered, as they crept towards the electricity stations, “We can totally defeat it with bolts of lightning.”

“I don’t know about Peri, but I am fresh out of lightning bolts!” Atlanta hissed, “What’s the actual plan?”

“Wait until he gets closer.”

Typheus was flying right towards them.

“He seems to be pretty close to me!”

…..

“Evil God, giant laser….bad combination.” Jay grunted as they managed to fight off the two monstrous guards that were protecting Kronos and the laser.

Kronos was unphased, staring up at the sky.

“One moment Jay and I’ll be right with you.”

…

“I should have known that you wouldn’t want to stay put and miss out on all the fun.” OB helped him a little further up the cliff face.

“...Odysseus wouldn’t have hid, right?”

“No, but he also would have had some sort of plan.”

An ogre was flung over the edge, managing to cling onto a branch, meeting OB eye to eye with a growl.

“How’s it hanging?” OB smirked, as Odie kicked out at the ogre’s fingers as hard as he could. When that didn’t work, he pulled his communications device out and sent an electrical shock that forced the creature to let, sending him falling into the water with a scream.

Seconds later, something dragged it under fully.

“Keep going and don’t think too much about it.” OB sighed, looking down at the water. “I’m not saying thank you.”

“Who are you- “

“- Just climb.”

….

“I heard you were fast.”

Atlanta looked over at the other two and smirked, “Very.”

“We need to split its’ attention.” Peri hummed, “That should give us the edge, those heads work in unison. Split their concentration and we’ve got them.”

“Atlanta, you go on the other side of it!”

She glared at him, as Archie used his whip to lasso the heads together, tying them to the large pipe nearby. With Peri distracting them by lashing out at them every so often, blinding them and hitting them on sensitive spots that even they probably didn’t know existed, she took a deep breath and started to run.

…

The laser fired,

In space, it hit a meteor, which exploded into some sort of glittering dust.

….

Typheus screamed in pain as it was shocked, mustering up enough strength to rip through the flimsy pipe, only to find that it didn’t have the strength to do anything else. It fell into the water and didn’t emerge again.

….

“You’re too late.” Kronos sneered, turning to face the heroes.

“What did you do?” Herry frowned, as they all brandished their weapons at the God.

“Put those away. I doubt the Oath-Breaker has taught you enough about TRUE fighting.” Kronos smirked, “Besides, I’m the least of your worries now.”

“What is that?” Thereas asked, staring at the glimmering light that moved like a river above them.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Kronos smirked, as the other teens and OB rushed over, “I’m no teacher. I leave that for you Oath-Breaker.”

And then he was gone in a cloud of golden sand, leaving them all stood there.

“Fantastic.” OB sighed, “That’s just fantastic.”

....

“It doesn’t have an official name- Atlanta, stop playing with the taser- in fact, I think this is something Kronos must have discovered during his last escape attempt. Now, had he succeeded, maybe he would have done this, but thankfully, it never got that far.”

“What does it do?” Odie asked.

“Essentially, from what we’ve been able to find out, this ring encircles the entire earth. It will probably disrupt signals all over the world, and if you notice something a little odd, it’s this ring spinning opposite to the Earth’s rotation, effectively slowing down the planet.” OB sighed, “I don’t need to say that it’s a bit not good.”

“And he’s never done this before?”

“Of course he hasn’t.” Jay frowned, “The Ancient Greeks didn’t know about the Earth’s rotation, right? And where were they going to find a laser to do the job…this is all my fault, I should have been quicker.”

“It’s actually my fault.” OB sighed, “I knew that this was one of the many things that he might aspire towards and failed to set up the correct defences. You are a teenager, and whilst I know you’ve gotten the title of Leader, all blame will naturally fall to me, as it should.” He looked up at the rings, “We have time though, despite everything. The important thing is to make sure that we find the final member of the team, then we can worry about all that.”

“I thought you knew where he was?”

“I did...but apparently he’s the move quite a bit, so it’s a little hard to keep track.” It was obvious that OB was less than pleased about this, “I’m going to try and get a hold of his travel itinerary, so we can beat him and Kronos there.”

“Travel itinerary?” August frowned, “Who is this guy? One of those backpack walkers?”

“Worse...he’s a model.”

Chapter Text

Archie’s father had never made it a secret that he had not been impressed with the fact that he was a Dad, too consumed with his own career.

OB had never made it a secret that he wanted Archie and Poe to be the best versions of themselves. He kept them safe from Archie’s fathers’ neglect, made sure that that neglect was pushed to the back of their minds, remembered only in little stories that made them remember just how much different their lives could have been,

OB raised them like they were his own.

It was a thought that Archie mulled around the back of his mind for a while, that night they got back from the docks, staring up at the ceiling.

Like they were his own….

It was impossible though, right?

He couldn’t see any similarities between the pair of them, but then again, it had been centuries and centuries. The chances of him and Achilles looking the same after all that time was slim.

Unable to sleep, he got up and headed up towards OB’s bedroom, knocking on the door, wincing when he heard a sleepy murmuring.

“..C’me in.”

“Sorry.” Archie whispered when he entered the room, “I-I needed to ask you something.”

“Mm?” OB sat up as best he could, “What?”

“…Are you Achilles?”

OB was awake then.

“Pardon?”

“Well… I remember what Odie said about you taking me and Poe in, and then I remembered that you hate water just as much as I do. Odie said that there was something- “

“- I’m not Achilles.”

Archie’s face fell as OB sighed, moving to sit up a little further, patting the edge of the bed, prompting Archie to sit down. “I’m going to give you some advice… Odie is going off the books and myths that he knows. Jay and the others may do the same. I want you to remember one thing one with relying on that knowledge…these stories are usually written- “

“- By the winners, I know.”

“…By the ones who want to be seen as heroes.” OB’s voice was low, almost dangerous sounding, “And if that means putting someone else in the role of ‘villain’ then so be it. Just remember that Archie.”

Archie was silent.

He had no idea what to say to that.

Instead, he looked away, catching sight of a sketch of a young woman, who seemed to be laughing at something as she walked.

“Who’s that?”

“…Megara. The daughter of Herakles, consort of Autolycus. Eventually, she became the Goddess of Vulnerability.”

“She’s beautiful.”

OB laughed, “She was a spitfire, took after Iolaus more than Herakles.” He examined the drawing for a moment, before clearing his throat, “Go on. Try and get some more sleep. Training is still at six.”

“That’s cruel.”

“I don’t care.”

…..

“Everything’s all fuzzy.” Odie reported, groaning on the sofa as he tried to recover from the morning training (rock climbing...he felt like OB was making a point somewhere).

“As in you physically or anything to do with the radio and TV?” OB smirked, “Because I did warn you that both would happen. I assume that you’re also aware that sunrise was one point three five seconds late today?”

“…I did, but how do you know?”

“Thousands of years on this planet had attuned to me to the sunrises and sunsets, and when they should be.”

“Really?”

“No Odie, I use the same technology that you did.” OB sighed, “Next are the hurricanes, the earthquakes and global disaster.”

“Geez, what’s the bad news.” August rolled his eyes.

“Well…if the rotation of the Earth stops, all human life will die. Does that sound like bad enough news for you?”

“…Yeah. That sounds pretty bad.”

OB smirked, turning his attention back to his wrist, twisting and turning it around, before giving it a satisfied nod.

“You’ve healed already?” Odie frowned, “Even after climbing with it?”

“I heal well…which brings me neatly onto the subject of healing and injuries.” OB made to look at all of them, “I know I’ve said this before, but all injuries are to be mentioned. I don’t want anyone brushing them off as just a bump or just a little scratch. You’d be amazed how something small can actually be something much bigger. I will always be honest about recovery times, and those recovery times are to be respected- “

“- But you- “

“- I heal well and when I push through injuries, it’s to help all of you.”

“Does that mean that if we push through an injury to help, we won’t get into trouble for that?” Jay asked, “It can’t just be you taking all of that on, right?”

“…You will run it by me first.”

“Will you so the same for us?”

OB stared at him for a moment, before smirking, “Deal.”

There was a gust of wind, before a letter was suddenly on OB’s lap, making the older man sigh.

“It appears as though we are being summoned.”

….

“Kronos seems to have caught you unawares Oath-Breaker.” Hera commented as they entered the golden hall, as Peri muttered something about ‘not seeing any Gods helping with it’

“Do I really need to remind you of the first time Kronos broke free? How long were you trapped on your mountain again? How long was Hades and his family held captive in the depths of the Underworld?” OB raised an eyebrow, “At least humanity is still functioning…now, have you managed to pin down that final descendant?”

“I have. Hermes has set up a job offer that should get him to stay where he is for at least a week.” Hera’s voice was a little pinched, but she let the previous comment go. “An…advertisement photoshoot I believe.”

OB sighed, “Best not to ask too many questions. It’s never something I’ve understood.”

“Does it really matter?” Peri piped up, “I mean…Kronos is literally threatening to rip the world apart, is he really going to wait for all us to show up to class?”

“Prophecies are a large part of Greek mythology.” OB hummed, “If it is said that ten will stop him, and there is still one of you wandering around unprotected, then he will seize on that opportunity to kill that one, and therefore disrupt the prophecy.”

“Will he make that much difference?” Archie asked, “You don’t even know who he’s descended from.”

“I have a better idea now, and I am reasonably sure that I am quite right.” OB smirked, “We have fighters, we have brains, we have peace-keepers…we don’t have a healer though.”

“A healer?”

“A healer.” OB ignored the look that he was getting from Hera, “Neal…descendent of the famous healer, Asclepius.”

Chapter Text

Silence.

“Asclepius....” Archie frowned, “...Wasn’t he the one who was killed?”

“Actually, that’s a very long story and we don’t really have time for it today, but soon, I promise!” OB clapped his hands together, “The main thing we need to focus on, is getting to Neal before Kronos does. Then, once we have all of you together, we can work on developing some useful techniques and helping you work well together.”

“Archie and I worked well against Typheus.” Atlanta pointed out, straightening up when OB nodded proudly at them.

“I know, but I can’t just keep pairing you off together. You have to learn to work well with everyone.”

“Was that something you learnt?”

“Not until I was older.” OB shrugged, “Working as a team just wasn’t- well, it wasn’t what I was focused on.”

“As I recall, it took you a long time to learn that lesson.” Hera stated, not looking up from whatever she was working on, even as OB glared at her.

“The Gods have no right talking to me about teamwork.” He turned away, only to freeze as the doors were flung open and a very tall…very naked woman strode into the room, her long pink hair covering anything particularly risqué, “CLOTHES!” He snapped, “PLEASE! There are children here!”

“So stuffy.” She teased him, “I heard you were hanging about, and yet you didn’t come to see little me?”

“I’ve been a little busy. Besides, it’s not like we’re friends Aphrodite.”

“So hurtful!”

“Goddess of Love.” Atlanta was looking pointedly away, “Yeah, maybe I should have got that sooner.”

“You can’t just go exposing yourself to anyone anymore! There are laws against it!”

“Oh, you know how I feel about those laws!”

“I know, which is a large part of why we’re not friends! Put some DAMN clothes on, even just some underwear, please!”

Aphrodite clicked her fingers as a shimmering, pink robe covered her up.

“That’s…not much better.” August whispered, watching as OB visibly tried to calm himself down.

“Now…what do you want.”

“Neal- “

“- Is not going to be mentored by you. You are not a Healer.”

“And if he is a descendent of Narcissus and you were wrong darling?”

“Name one child of Narcissus.”

Aphrodite pouted as OB rolled his eyes, “Exactly. Whereas Asclepius had at least five daughters that I can think of. He needs a healer to help him when I can’t train him.”

There was a moment of silence before Aphrodite smirked and leant forwards, “Does that mean you’ll be talking to Apollo?”

“I was actually thinking about Will from Camp Half-Blood.” OB snapped, “In fact, I’m tempted just to bring them all to the Camp and do the training there, far from any divine influence.”

"Oath-Breaker, I must protest!" Hera got to her feet, "The prophecy- "

"- Mentions nothing about you.” OB sighed, “Now, as I have better things to do than argue with Goddesses, let’s go to find Neal.”

….

“Is he one of those secretly smart novels?” Poe asked, “You know, the ones you see on TV. You think they’re really dumb, and then…wow!”

OB watched as a bus passed them by, Neal’s advert on the side of it. “I- well, I haven’t met him. I’m sure he’ll manage.”

“Maybe he’s a super model!” Archie mocked, Atlanta giggling beside him.

“Yeah, with super healing powers like Rapunzel!”

The group laughed, as OB sighed.

Neal having healing powers would make it easier to actually train him in the art of healing.

They arrived at the train-yard, to see Kronos standing next to Neal, a hand on the oblivious teen’s shoulder.

“Kronos!” He called out, the group behind him, “A little young for you isn’t he?!”

“I was never like my son; you have to give me that Oath-Breaker!”

As much as he hated to admit it, that was true.

As the two ogres moved closer and Kronos started to pull Neal away, OB quickly grabbed Jay before he could jump at them.

“Don’t. Looks showy, but very impractical. Stay low, find the blind spots.”

Herry threw a steel barrel at the next one, only for it to be caught and thrown back at them.

“Herry, they are just as strong as you! Think a little smarter!”

From there, it was chaos.

Atlanta worked on distraction again, getting any of them who had fallen out of the way, especially as train carriages were being pushed all over the tracks to try and take them out.

“Do we actually have a plan?!” Theresa called out.

“I said the plan! Stay low. Blind spots!”

Archie laughed at the exasperation in her voice, the sound dying off when he came face to face with a giant creature. “You know, you’re too old to be playing with trains!”

He dodged away.

Theresa, Peri, Jay and Atlanta managed to take one of the creatures out, practically burying it in coal.

“Good job.” He congratulated them, as Herry frowned.

“Pity we don’t have a bigger train.”

“Herry, you see but you don’t observe.” August smirked, “Get the other two over there and- Oh, I think Archie has it handled. Jay! Switch the tracks!”

“On it!”

OB turned, groaning when he saw Archie treating his target like a wild bull, whipping it to get it to go where he wanted, Poe in front, acting like bait.

Well, if it worked, it worked.

One ogre barrelled into the next, both of them falling on top of the third, where they were all then hit by the train that August had spotted. OB nodded, “Well done…not brilliant at first, but you got into the rhythm of it soon enough. Right now though, we have a bigger issue.”

“...Where are Kronos and Neal?”

“Exactly.”

“No offense.” Theresa cleared her throat, “But he didn’t really seem like the hero type.”

“Maybe not, but he is one of you and important all the same.” OB sighed, “Unfortunately, Kronos seems to be aware that Neal isn’t the descendent that the Gods believed him to be, hence the kidnapping thing rather than the killing on sight thing.”

“Or it’s a trap?” August pointed out, “To get all of us.”

“Well thought out. Now, I have one strategy for traps.”

“Yeah?”

A sly smirk appeared on OB’s face, “Spring them.”

Chapter Text

“Hippolytus!”

“Bless you?”

Jay shot a glare at Archie, who just smirked back at him, before looking back over at OB, “Are you Hippolytus?”

“Ah…the son of Theseus and the lovely Queen Hippolyta of the Amazons.” OB hummed, “Go on?”

“Well, you don’t like a lot of the Gods, but you seem to respect Artemis and he or you did worship her, right? And then there was that whole thing with Aphrodite. You were very vocal about Narcissus and his sexuality, and I think most books agree that Hippolytus was the same, right? That’s why Aphrodite hated him.”

“Yeah, she felt a bit…snubbed.”

“And then there’s this whole thing about making sure that Neal is safe. Asclepius is said to have brought Hippolytus back to life when Artemis asked!”

“I don’t know if that’s actually true.”

“So, you’re not- “

“- No…how old do I look by the way? Because Hippolytus was quite a bit before my time.”

“One century tends to fade into another, don’t you think?” Peri pointed out, “Does it matter if you’re 1000 or 2000 years ago?”

“It matters to me!” OB sighed wearily, as they arrived back at the school, leading them inside, only to chuckle when he heard Odie’s voice in the distance, “Ah, I think someone’s found Hephaestus.”

“..Mesa-what?”

“The mesosphere?” Odie sounded a little exhausted, “It’s the layer above the stratosphere.”

OB led them into burning forges, where Hermes was hovering next to a large, but clearly strong man, who was tending to some kind of sword. He was in a wheelchair, his left leg a prosthetic, nose a little crooked and several burn making patches up dark, tattooed skin.

“Very cold.” Odie continued, “So the debris fragments from the asteroid broke up….”

OB looked at the other teens and then at the two Gods, seeing that there were very similar expressions on all their faces.

‘What?’

Sometimes, it was a little incredible to see just how time affected the Gods. All these things were around when they ruled the Earth at the peak of their power, but unless it actively affected them, they weren’t interested in the slightest.

Even Hermes, a God of many, many things had a lot of blank spots in his memory.

“You’re speaking to the wrong gods for that.” He called out as they entered, “When was the last time you left the forge Hephaestus?”

“Dunno, when did you last need a good talking to?” Hephaestus chuckled, waving him over, slowly getting to his feet and pulling OB into a particularly painful looking hug, “Good ta see you kid.”

“Nice to see you to.” OB chuckled.

“Aphrodite’s a little pissed off at you.”

“I don’t care.”

“You wouldn’t say that if you had to live with her.”

OB mocked shuddered at the thought, even as Theresa held up a hand, “Um, sorry but...I thought that you and Aphrodite...weren’t together? That she was with Ares?”

“Ha!” Hepheastus clapped OB on the back, sending him stumbling forwards a couple of paces, “I’m surprised that you haven’t given the lecture on, ‘modern interpretations of Greek mythology being full of shit’ yet!”

“It’s not like I've really had time.” OB groaned, “No Theresa. The incident with the netting was...more of a joke than anything else and the rest of the Gods definitely weren’t around to see it.”

“Ares would have killed us.” Hermes confirmed, “I think I still have the scars from when I stole his helmet.”

“You deserved that.” Hephaestus chuckled, “Anyway, what those myths don’t say, is that Aphrodite wanted to marry me for some unknown reason. Ares was both of our boyfriends for a while, and then he met his own husband. Mind you, whenever Hypnos goes into one of his extended naps, Ares tends to come back to us.”

“I...what?” Archie frowned, “So, Aphrodite loves you, something that the myths always get wrong. But she and Ares...and you have also been together?”

“Smart one, isn’t he?” Hephaestus smirked, as OB sighed.

“Don’t start.”

“Whatever.”

“Ares is married to Hypnos?” Jay frowned, “That’s not mentioned ANYWHERE!”

“The myth books don’t like venturing past the whole, Ares is an asshole who just likes war and having someone else’s wife.” OB shrugged, “He’s pretty cute with Hypnos…but then again, Hypnos is probably the only one who can give him whatever he wants, especially in the Dream world. Anyway, Odie, what were you talking about?”

“We got the cold part.” Hermes piped up as Odie groaned and rolled his eyes.

“The ring is made up of ice particles in the sky.”

Hephaestus huffed, “Dunno why you didn’t just say that. Just like Odysseus that. Why say it the easy way, when you can dance around the subject and confuse everyone into doing what you want.”

Odie looked a little disheartened as OB gave Hephaestus a warning look.

“He had his good qualities as well. The Gods tend to focus on the mess that was the Odyssey.”

“Sacrificing his crew like that.” Hephaestus muttered, “Athena had to do some serious sweet-talking to get me to say yes to freeing him.”

“She said please, and you know it.” OB sighed, “Besides...we both know that Odysseus made the right call. He had been betrayed long before Zeus got involved.”

There was a moment of silence between them, before Hephaestus looked away.

“Anyway.” OB sighed, “Kronos has Neal, which means that we are walking into a trap. They have weapons, but I think we’re going to need a bit more than that.”

“Like re-doing Herry’s truck?”

“My truck?!” Herry squeaked.

“Oh yeah, I made a few minor modifications for ya.” Hephaestus rolled over to the garage area of his workspace, pressing a green button, “Enjoy!”

“Yes!” Herry whooped at the sight of the new-and-improved truck, “Yes!”

“You spoil them.” OB chuckled, as Hephaestus rolled his eyes.

“Go on with ya. Give Kronos a kick in the teeth for me.”

“I’ll give him two.”

....

“Eurylochus.”

OB looked behind him, seeing Peri’s earnest expression. “Now that’s a name I haven’t heard in a long time.” He hummed, “Go on?”

“You don’t like water, which makes sense for someone in Odysseus’s crew, right? You’re a bit iffy about Odysseus, but you know a lot about him, including the fact that he was apparently in a bit of a committed threesome at times. You don’t like Athena, but I’m not sure if he would have any hard feelings towards her about everything.” She then held up a finger, “And you want us to think outside the box on this. Eurylochus betrayed Odysseus by leading a mutiny against him, and was then killed when he made the decision to kill a cow, right? But what if you weren’t killed, because you were seen as an oath-breaker, when you betrayed your Captain?!”

Her voice got higher and louder with each word, finishing by spreading her arms out wide in a ‘ta da’ gesture, nearly hitting August and Jay in the faces.

For a moment, there was silence, before OB chuckled.

“I met Eurolychus…he was Odysseus’s brother-in-law. Very stern, very…war-driven at times. I can’t say I was close to him, but I don’t think I was surprised when Odysseus told me about his betrayal and his then death at the hands of Zeus.”

“So, you’re not him?”

“No. Sorry.”

Peri looked disappointed, only for Poe to pipe up.

“Does that mean that you met Odysseus after his trip home?”

“I did.” OB smiled softly, “I had to help someone home.” He then cleared his throat, “Time to focus now, okay?”

And that was that.

Chapter Text

Many times, over the course of his many centuries, OB had wondered if he would ever find peace. And when he did find that peace, where would he end up?

Perhaps he should have been more focused on the upcoming battle and the need to free Neal, but the thought had been weighing on him more and more nowadays.

Perhaps that was a bad sign.

Perhaps that was the fates way of telling him that they were close to cutting his life thread, no matter how much they claimed to like him.

…That would have to be a problem for the future.

“Keep sharp.” He ordered, “If Hermes and I are right, this is where Kronos is hiding out.”

….

Kronos was convinced that even at his worst, his grandson Apollo had never been this bad.

Neal preened in front of the window, admiring his reflection as Kronos glared at him from behind.

There was nothing healer-like about him.

One part of him whispered that there was really no need to worry about him. That there was no way that he could class as the final hero.

A louder voice warned him against underestimating this boy.

He had underestimated the princess of the Underworld, and look where that had got him.

….

“This screams evil villain.” Herry muttered, as they parked in an alley near the tall, posh looking building.

“To be fair, it just screams Gods.” OB sighed, “You should see the Olympus tower.” His phone buzzed in his pocket, pulling it out and rolling his eyes, “Heph has blabbed to Aphrodite…and now I’m getting warning texts about not letting Neal look into a pool of water. When I say that I will be as smug as anything when he turns out to be a healer, I am not joking.”

“…Should we be worried if he does look into water?”

“Nah, just push him in. That tends to fix the issue.”

….

They made their way up to the very top of the tower, finding it disturbingly easy to sneak into the penthouse suite. There, Neal was staring into a pool of water, a dopy look on his face.

“He can’t get enough of himself.” Peri tilted her head to one side, “And I really don’t see the attraction.”

“Is that so?”

They all turned, seeing Kronos standing there, two gleaming, golden scythes in his hands.

“He attracted all of you, didn’t he?”

“It was a bit of an obvious trap.” August pointed out, “Like…really obvious.”

“Yeah! We can still take you down!”

“Oh Herry…you are all but children.” Kronos pointed one of the scythes at OB, “He is the only one who poses even the slightest threat to me, and even then, the odds are on my side.”

“You had the Fates themselves captive, and you still lost.” OB smirked, “I think you need to accept that the odds are never in your favour.”

Kronos just smirked, darting forwards as OB swiftly met the blow, scythes clashing against a sword.

“GO GET NEAL!” He ordered the teens.

“But he- “

“- Oh, just dunk him in it!”

“You heard the man.” Jay shrugged, racing out into the balcony.

And then the Earthquake hit.

“It’s starting!” Odie grunted as he slammed against the glass, all of them hearing Neal shriek as he fell into the water, “The planet is being torn apart!”

“Yeah, we figured!” Archie snapped, narrowly avoiding having his brace being sliced apart as Kronos attempted to take them all on, along with OB.

Jay got an elbow to the face, splitting his lip as OB was sliced in the side, wincing in pain.

When Archie’s steel whip cut into Kronos’s ear, and the scythes disappeared into golden dust, Kronos desperately tried to stem the flow of the golden ichor.

“It seems our little pool party has gotten a little out of hand.” He snarled, reaching out and grabbing Neal as he climbed out of the pool. “Time to prove yourself useful boy!”

“H-Hey! What’s going- “

There was a golden tinge to Neal’s skin, just as Krono’s ear started to heal up, with OB rolling his eyes.

“Aphrodite owes me so much gold.” He muttered, “Atlanta- “

“- On it!” With a war cry with Ares would have been proud of, she threw her bolas at Kronos, tying his arms by his side as he was forced to let go of Neal. With the force of the throw, he took a step back...slipped in the water that had been left by Neal...stumbled back and then fell over the side of the building with a cry.

“...I meant grab Neal, but that works as well.” OB sighed, “One hint...try not to lose your weapon in the future. Ares only has so many and Heph will stop making them if he thinks you’re being careless about it.”

“Oh.” Atlanta flushed a little, “Sorry... it wasn’t very clear you know!”

“We’ll work on it.” He then headed over to Neal, who was staring horrified over the side of the building, “Don’t worry. We can work on you actually healing who you want to heal. I wasn’t expecting a miracle right away.”

“I still can’t believe you were actually right about him.” Archie muttered.

“A-are you guys crazy?! You just killed my agent!” Neal squeaked, only to be cut off by the sound of sand particles shifting together.

“We’ll argue about that later. Let’s get out of here.”

…

Neal was still a little in disbelief, mocking them as he used his golden pendant to open the door to the realm of the Gods. Even him healing OB a little (making his side wound close up to the point where it wasn’t too much of an issue), hadn’t been enough to convince him.

The glowing portal however, was.

They all stepped through, only for Aphrodite to appear from nearby, her hair being the only shield once again.

Neal shrieked, covering his eyes, muttering something about being too gay for this.

“Clothes!” OB snapped, “And you owe me gold, he heals!”

Aphrodite pouted, tight denim jeans appearing this time, along with a crop top…that could only just barely be considered a top. “Wouldn’t you prefer another reward?” She cooed, “Perhaps something…closer to the heart.”

“No, for a number of reasons…happily married…like my relationships consensual…and the last time you decided to mess about with things like that, there was a ten-year war where I lost everything!” The last few words were shouted, catching even the goddess by surprise as she stepped back.

She looked guilty, Odie noticed, making a mental note of that.

“Come on Neal.” OB just sounded exhausted now, “Let’s show you around.”

There was no argument from Aphrodite.

Chapter Text

Neal was still taking it all in as they headed into a room that was filled with computers, barely hearing the boy with the glasses (Odie, he was sure he was called), explaining about the rings in the sky.

Well…he wasn’t paying attention until he mentioned something about the world ripping itself apart in less than 24 hours.

Frantically, he pulled his hand mirror out of his pocket, checking to make sure that…one, he looked okay for the end of the world, and two, to make sure that when he slapped himself to make sure that he wasn’t dreaming, that he didn’t leave a red mark behind.

“Neal, your reflection- “ Odie paused, “- Neal, you’re a genius!”

“…Huh?”

“I have to agree with that, huh?” Herry frowned, “How does Neal nearly blinding you with his little mirror, make him a genius?”

“I would also be interested in this.” OB was leaning against the wall, looking amused by all of this, “Go on Odie. Wow us.”

....

There was nothing but traffic outside, people running and screaming, as the ground rumbled.

“Alright...maybe we need to get a portal going.” OB muttered, “Actually...Herry, that truck is a four-wheel drive, right?”

“Right?”

“Get the keys.”

...

Herry crashed through the road barrier, all of them clinging on for dear life as they raced down the hill below the highway.

“Is this a bad time to make another guess?” Theresa asked, as OB cackled.

“You can try!”

“T-Telegonus!”

“Go on!”

“Issues with water, I mean, he travelled across the sea and that couldn’t have been easy...” Theresa squeaked as the truck jumped up into the air, “...y-you use a spear and didn’t he kill Odysseus with a poison spear?”

“Accidentally, and when Odysseus was in the throes of madness, but yes, Odysseus was temporarily killed...no, I am not Telegonus.” OB’s knuckles were turning white with how tightly he was holding onto the handle, “I really should introduce you to Circe. She has some of the best stories about heroes.”

“Didn’t she blackmail Odysseus into sleeping with her for safety, or…didn’t he fall for her or something?”

“Nah. She gave them passage to the Underworld in exchange for a lock of his hair, which she then made Telegonus from.” He smirked at the looks on their faces, “It was a very different world back then. She was one of the most powerful magic users in the land, is it really such a surprise that she could make a child from a lock of hair?”

“…Why? Why would she- “

“- Even witches get a little lonely.” OB looked at Odie, “You’ll need to guide Herry to where you need to get set up. Hopefully this solar idea of yours works.”

“It’s going to work! The rings are made up of mostly ice, and the array that we’re going to collects and concentrates the energy of the sun. If we can then REFLECT that energy back at the rings, we can melt the ice in, which should break up their structure enough for them to fade away, or at least, weaken their hold on the Earth and stop it from being destroyed.” Odie paused, “Apollo might have been use- “

“- I’m not calling Apollo. End of.” OB stated, “Your plan has a solid basis, so that’s what we’re going with.”

“I can’t believe Neal was the one who gave you the idea.” Jay muttered, as Neal shrugged.

“I am an inspiration to all who know me, what can I say?”

OB shook his head, “Don’t start.” He then muttered something about preferring a Narcissus descendant over an Apollo one, but none of them heard him clearly enough to call him out on that.

Instead, Odie just cleared his throat and changed the subject, “Better step on it Herry, we’re running out of time!”

Herry nodded, only for the ground to shake beneath them as something gave chase.

“Umm…something weird coming after us!” August reported with a squeak, watching as the giant anteater like creature then landed in front of them, “Now in front of us!”

Herry just about managed to weave in between its’ legs, continuing on towards the array.

“Herry.” OB sighed, “Slow down the truck.”

“Are you nuts?!”

“I need to jump out and keep Kronos busy, and I would rather not end up with some form of road rash whilst I do it! It’s not a good look for me!”

“You’re not going out there without a few of us!” Peri snapped, “I’m coming with you! That’s a monster and I am a monster slayer!”

“Me too!” Theresa.

“And me!” Jay.

“Alright, alright!” OB sighed, “Herry, make sure you get Odie to the array. August, Poe, you go with them as back up. The rest of you are with me…including Neal.”

“Neal?!” “ME?!”

“Call this throwing you in at the deep end!” OB snapped, “I want to see what I have to work with!”

Herry slowed the truck down, as most of them left, speeding up as Kronos gave chase.

“Archie!”

“Got it!”

Using the steel whip, Archie restrained one of the legs.

“He’s unsteady, use it to your advantage!”

Atlanta leapt into action, throwing her bolo and wrapping it around another leg, causing the creature to wobble uncertainly, as Herry quickly started to back up. As the others sliced at the other legs, trying to get it to fall over the side of the road and into the water below, OB stabbed at the multiple tongues that were attempting to grab him.

“Excuse you.” He muttered, “I. Am. Married!”

He jumped back, just as Herry backed into the creature’s head, that final act, causing it to rear back, until it and Kronos were falling into the water.

“Back in the truck! Back in the truck!”

….

Odie plugged his laptop into the array’s system, as the others all hung around a little awkwardly, bracing themselves when another earthquake rumbled through the ground.

“Odie. Time to get rid of those rings.”

Odie typed something frantic into the laptop, as all the solar panels started to move into place. Another earthquake started up, sending some of them to the ground. In the nearby sea, OB could see the waves started to rise up, getting bigger and bigger, threatening to turn into a tsunami very soon.

“Come on you gormless air-head.” He muttered, “Rising sun please?”

There was a few seconds pause, before Odie cried out in glee, the sun peeking over the horizon, the solar energy hitting the panels dead on. It was a process that probably only took a few minutes, but it felt like hours, feeling the earthquakes dying down and seeing the waves calming as the ice in the rings slowly melted, until they were gone.

“Yes!” Herry grabbed Odie and span him around, “You did it! You did it!”

“Herry…you did close your sunroof, right?”

“Why?”

The heavens opened and rain poured down from the sky, as OB burst out into laughter. “Nice going.” He winked at Odie, “Odysseus would be proud. Now, come on. Let’s get home.”

…

“So, they’re all brave and strong and smart and all that…and I’m a healer?”

“Healers are important.” OB sighed, taking a sip of his drink, “Besides, you’re also…lucky in another sense.” Gently, he tapped the rim of the bottle against Neal’s head, “Don’t let this get too big. There’ll be no special treatment here.”

“We did good though, right?” Theresa piped up, all of them turning to OB.

“You did…but this is only the first in a long series of attempts by Kronos until we manage to send him back to Tartarus.” OB smirked, “We missed training today…so we’ll start at five tomorrow.”

“No!” “Oh come on!” “FIVE?”

Chapter Text

"I can't believe they still haven't figured out who you are."

OB's eyes narrowed, looking up at Will, who was still picking out some of the best starter medical books that he was willing to loan to Neal. "You say that like YOU know who I am."

"Nico is in the Underworld a lot." Will shrugged, "He notices things, you know this."

"...You're not going to say anything?"

"We all have a bet to see when they figure it out."

"Everyone knows?!"

"You know how news travels around here."

"Well, keep it to yourselves....throw in a book about broken bones will you?"

"I think I feel a little sorry for this Neal."

"Don't."

....

"Am I going to have to lift these? Are these weights for me?"

OB gave him an unimpressed look. "You are going to learn what's in these books until you know the basics of first aid.”

“I literally have healing magic! Why do I need to read?”

“Ah, so you’ve figured out how to control this power?” OB raised an eyebrow, “So I could cut my finger right now, and you could heal it like- “ He clicked his fingers.

“…Yes?”

“Read the books Neal.”

At that moment, August popped his head into the room, “Telemachus!”

“What?” Neal frowned, “No, I’m- “

“- Reasoning?” OB hummed.

“You know loads about Odysseus and his family and the Trojan War, you have beef with some sort of water God and apparently, you’re smart up to keep up with a literal descendant of Odysseus, like minds and all that.” August then frowned, “You hate Athena, but then again, she fell out with Odysseus so maybe it’s warranted…and you do seem to get annoyed by Odie, but he has no ’water is bad’ instinct, so maybe it’s more because of that?”

OB stared at him for a moment, before shaking his head. “I’m not related to Odysseus in any way…well, if you go far back enough, we probably are loosely, but I’m not one of his kids.”

“Damn.” And then August was gone, leaving behind a very confused Neal.

“What was that all about?!”

“They’re trying to guess who I am.” OB shrugged, “So long as they give me good reasoning behind the answers, I don’t mind. Technically, it’s a bit educational, especially if they start thinking outside of the box.” He tapped on the cover of the top book, “One hour going over this, and we’ll go from there.”

.......

“Why do you hate Apollo so much?”

“I couldn’t list all the ways I hate him.” OB sighed, “Like...I’m sure you would all be old and decrepit before I could finish that list.”

“But-but he’s a God, can’t he just smite you for thinking that?” Odie frowned, “Like, oh you don’t like me, here’s a century of blindness for you?!”

“I have a secret weapon against that.”

“What kind of weapon- “

“- His son.” OB smirked, “Apollo went through a bit of a...self-reflection period, and he promised to be better. His children at the Half-Blood Camp hold him to that. To be fair, they all try to force their parents into being better, but it is a lost cause for a lot of them.”

Odie did not look thrilled at hearing OB speaking against more of the Gods but sensed that there was no point in arguing. Not when OB had clearly lasted this long without being killed by a God or Goddess, he had wronged.

"Moving on from one of my least favourite topics." OB swiftly changed the subject, "Peri, I think we're going to need to try and train you in a multitude of weapons, I feel like we could reach your full potential there."

"I can't just stick with the sword?"

"What if it's a monster who's too difficult to slash with a sword?"

Peri had no good answer for that.

Before she could argue about it further though, Hermes was zipping into the room. "This is either going to be the funniest thing that has ever happened, or the start of a new war." He blurted out, as they all stared at him.

"...Go on."

"Well, Apollo found out that you basically have Neal here, the descendent of one of his favourite children, and was really miffed that he hadn’t been told about it- “

“- Boo Hoo.”

“- So, he’s decided to come her in person to meet him.”

OB’s fists clenched, “He is NOT coming here!”

“I don’t think you’re getting much of a choice.”

The doors opened, as if on cue, with all the teens shielding their eyes at the bright light that came through.

“YES MORTALS!” A voice boomed, “TIS I, THE MIGHTY- OW! HEY!”

The light disappeared, to reveal a blonde, tanned man who was now rubbing at the centre of his forehead, glaring at OB, who was returning the look with just as much venom.

“Oath-Breaker.”

“Plague Starter.”

“That was one time!”

“I’m sure the mortals are very glad for it.”

The man, who the others now assumed to be Apollo, straightened up and looked over at them, the frown disappearing to be replaced by a beaming smile. “Ignore him, most of us usually do.”

“I really don't think that's true." Peri pointed out, only to be ignored as Apollo strutted over to Neal.

"I can't he didn't mention that you were here! Surely I should have been the first choice to mentor him?"

"Will's going to teach him when he has the chance."

Apollo paused at the words, looking a little uncomfortable, before clearly forcing a laugh. "He has children to worry about, he doesn't need to- "

"- You have more important things to worry about." OB smirked, "Sunrise has been a little...off recently."

Apollo whipped around, looking like he was going into a rant, only to visibly stop himself and take a deep breath. "I'm not going to let you get to me...let's make a deal. I'll let Will teach Neal all about healing if that's what you really want."

"...But?"

"But I want to take him with me on the chariot. Work experience, you know?”

The teens all looked at OB, who did not look impressed in the slightest.

“I would rather send him to the Underworld. At least, he’d learn something there.”

“You’d kill me!?” Neal screeched, as OB rolled his eyes.

“You can go to the Underworld without being killed…Hades just gets’ a bit annoyed about it.” He looked back over at Apollo, “The answer is no.”

“It’s not really up to- “

“- Actually, it is!” OB snapped, “Their teaching and training has been given to me, it is MY responsibility. End of conversation. If you want to actually be a responsible mentor, maybe you and Artemis can help with archery practice, but that is that!”

The two stared at each other, before Apollo scoffed and stormed out of the room.

Somehow, they all felt like this wasn’t the end of it.

Chapter Text

Apollo came to him that night, appearing in his room with a flash.

His voice was cold, contrasting harshly with the warmth that came off him.

He told Neal about OB, never saying his real name, but telling him all about him.

By the time he was done, Neal felt sick, clutching at his stomach, staring at the duvet.

He didn’t go to sleep for the rest of the night.

Apollo came back before the sun rose, and held out his hand.

Neal took it.

....

OB frowned when he woke up, seeing that it was still dark outside. Rolling his eyes, he got up and stared out of the window. “Really?” He stared up at the dark sky, “You’re really going to have a sulk when I tell you no?”

Silence.

Not that he was expecting an answer.

“Fine. But when Zeus makes you a spotty teenager again, don’t expect my help.”

....

Kronos hummed as he watched that glowing idiot with his idiotic descendant clamber onto the sun chariot, the teen not even realising just how foolish the God was being.

“Steal the sun.” He hummed, hearing the harpies in their cages, “A little childish, but it did put a little damper in my plans last time.”

He snapped his fingers as the cages disappeared.

“Go...and if you have to kill them, don’t hold back.”

....

“Now be careful, she slips a little going into third sometimes.”

Neal shakily held onto the reigns, feeling a surge of doubt as he looked down at the ground far below. When this had first been suggested to him, it had seemed like a good idea, but the light behind him was turning his nice tan into a lobster red burn, and he just did not suit red!

He looked over at the other God, frowning when he saw that Apollo was looking back down at Earth.

It was like he was more interested in what was going on there, rather than making sure that Neal was actually doing this right.

Like this was all sort of ploy.

Neal was a little used to this. His parents were never overly interested in his career, and when he did spend time with them, all their praises and compliments were just empty words.

He was just someone to be paraded around.

“Right, ready?”

“...Yeah. I’m ready.”

He cracked the whips, and the chariot took off, making him yelp in alarm.

...

“Late today.” OB muttered, watching as the sun finally started to rise, “Zeus must have given him a zap in the butt.”

The other all decided to stay quiet.

It was too early to start with this.

“Where’s Neal?”

“We knocked on his door.” Peri shrugged, “Nothing.”

OB let out a weary sigh, before instructing the teens to run a few laps around the gym, whilst he went to fetch the wayward descendent.

He made his footsteps as loud as possible as he went up the stairs, giving Neal the opportunity to at least act like he was just running a little late, and not still asleep.

Nothing.

“Neal, time to get up!” He banged on the door, listening for a moment and frowning when he heard nothing. “Alright, you asked for this, remember that.”

He opened the door, only to pause at the residual heat that he felt.

Nothing.

No Neal on the bed...residual heat in the room.

He was going to kill Apollo.

....

OB stormed past the room, and nobody talked about it.

For about ten seconds.

“Isn’t it a little bit nuts that he has beef with an actual God?” Peri frowned, “Who hates Apollo that much in the myths?”

“The two that I would have guessed have already been suggested.” Archie shrugged, “Patroclus and Achilles have good reasons for hating him.”

“To be fair, I think anyone fighting against Troy had a reason to hate Apollo.” August pointed out, “But then again, Apollo seems to really hate him back.”

They were all silent for a moment, before Archie spoke up again, “Does anyone have any ideas about who he might be?”

“...He mentioned that Astyanax had lived. Hektor’s son?”

They all turned to Herry, who looked a little taken aback at the attention, flushing a little at rubbing at the back of his head.

“I know it doesn’t make sense that he hates Apollo because he was just a baby at the time.” Herry slowly continued, “But...I mean, maybe Odysseus was the one who saved him? That’s why he knew so much about him?”

“He might be mad at the Gods because they wanted him dead...that was how it was meant to go! Right?” Peri looked over at Odie, who nodded slowly.

“I mean...I know that a lot of people believe that Homer lied about Astyanax dying in the Illiad.” Odie stated.

“Who was meant to have killed him?”

Odie shrugged, “Depends on what version of the story you read...that would mean that he’s Poe ancestor. And if he married Odysseus’s son, that would explain why he defends Hektor and yet knows so much about the key players in Troy. I don’t know if it fits in with him breaking some kind of oath though.”

“Do we have any other guesses?” Jay asked softly, hearing OB shouting at someone in the distance.

There was a beat of silence, before Peri put her hand up.

“Meneleus?”

“No way.” Atlanta frowned, “He’s been talking about having a husband. Meneleus literally went to war for his wife!”

“That was years ago, he might have remarried!”

“He did seem angry when he was talking to Aphrodite, and Meneleus is probably the person who would be angriest at her.” Theresa admitted, “And I suppose it does sort of explain why he hates Apollo. And I’m sure I read somewhere that he helped Telemachus home after some sort of mission, right?”

“But the breaking of the oath, when did that happen?” Odie protested again.

And then everything went dark, making a couple of them yelp in shock.

BANG!

There were another series of yelps, before the small space was illuminated by a lit torch, held by a clearly pissed off OB.

“I’m going to go and kill a God...anyone want to join me?”

“...It’s like you don’t know us.” Archie muttered, all of them getting to their feet and joining him, “We have a couple more guess by the way?”

“Tell me on the way.”

“On the way to where?”

“To the one place Apollo is really hoping I don’t know about.”

Chapter Text

Honestly, Neal did start to have fun before it all went wrong.

He imagined rubbing this moment in the faces of the other heroes, who had sneered when he joined them. How many of them could say that they’d done something like this?

None of them he would bet.

So, he soared through the sky

“Harpies!”

And then it all went dark.

....

“No.” OB sighed, “I’m not Astyanax or Meneleus. But they are some good guesses...Meneleus loved Helen until the end, I can’t fault him that.”

Another two guesses to strike off the lists, Odie sighed to himself, making a mental note to that regard, as they continued to drive, watching as everyone panicked around them, unable to believe that the sun had just...vanished.

“Looting galore.” OB muttered, watching as a group of men rushed past them, several of them holding bricks, “Some things never change.”

“Did this happen back then?”

“Oh yes. Any sign of the Gods being unhappy, and there were always a few groups who went to take advantage of that.”

“A sense of doom often brings out the worse in mortals.”

OB tensed at the words, as did the rest of the group, turning to see a being standing the middle of the path behind them.

Whoever they were, Odie was reasonably sure that they were a God, but they looked nothing like the ones that milled around Olympus.

Purple eyes, grey skin with white hair that spilled elegantly over an obsidian circlet, which was adorned with gnarled horns. He was dressed in a smart black suit that seemed to be embroidered with various designs, gold that glimmered when the light hit it right. On his belt, there was a skull belt buckle with what seemed to be spinning wheels embossed onto the leather.

“Moros.” OB stated, “I expected you to show up sooner...was looking forward to it if I'm honest.”

For a moment, the pair just stared at each other, before Moros chuckled, the sound sending shivers down their spines.

“I didn’t think this day would come by so soon.”

“Your sisters would argue that it happened at exactly the right time for it to happen.”

“They are usually correct as well.”

“Yeah.” There was a beat of silence, before OB chuckled, “It’s good to see you, I’ve missed you.”

“And I you.”

As the pair moved in for a hug, the other teens looked over at Archie and Poe.

“That’s M.” Archie stated, “OB’s husband.”

“...A God?!”

“Well, he didn’t look like that when we’ve seen him.” Archie muttered, “He wasn’t as...grey.”

“I donned that appearance in order to make you both feel more at ease in my presence.” Moros bowed, “I apologise for the deception.” He turned to OB, “The situation is dire.”

“We’ve not all frozen though, which implies that Kronos has kept it in this plane of existence, which is something, right?”

“It is indeed...something.”

“Care to join us for confronting Apollo.”

Moros smiled softly at OB, shaking his head. “I have many things to do. But I will see you later.”

“Later it is.”

And then Moros was gone, OB turning to the others and gesturing for them to follow him.

“That-that was the God of Impending Doom and Destruction who drives mortals to their deaths!” Odie whispered, “You’re married to the God of Doom? How?!”

“...It was during the first time Kronos broke free.” OB hummed, “I had taken shelter with Hecate and several spirits. The young Goddess Melione and numerous other Chthonic Gods were there as well. I placed myself in charge of weapons training, whilst Hecate taught her magic...it was close to the end when Moros showed up.” OB chuckled, “He didn’t have the best social skills...I was one of the ones he talked to, talking about how I was surrounded by doom.”

“...And you married him?”

“How could I not have done?” OB shrugged, “With the exception of one or two Gods, none dared to talk to me. Nemesis, who was also there, really REALLY didn’t like me.”

“Why?”

OB paused for a moment, humming thoughtfully to himself, before sighing. “I made an oath on the River Styx, to get vengeance. It was an oath that I did not see through, and Nemesis, Goddess of retribution and revenge, took offence to it.”

They all looked at each other.

This was the most information any of them had gotten.

“Now...best way, best way...” OB muttered to himself, before clicking his fingers, “Got it!”

....

Apollo wanted to crawl into a hole and die.

His Father was going to kill him.

Forget being turned mortal or into a spotty teenager again, Zeus was straight up going to kill him.

Him or Helios.

“What are we going to do?”

He looked over at Neal, feeling an irrational surge of anger building up inside of him, before it dissipated just as quickly.

This was his fault.

No-one else’s.

Not Neal’s.

His and his alone.

“Neal, I- “

“- Well, thank the Gods, you didn’t lose him as well.”

Apollo winced, looking back to see OB and the other teens all standing in the doorway to this little home that he had built for himself.

Perhaps a tanning salon was a little too on the nose.

“An entire sun.” OB hissed, “You have messed up in the past, but one is really taking the cake. The moment Kronos figures out how to remove the sun from his plane of existence, humanity will die, you know this, right?!”

“...I know.”

“At the moment though, he must be enjoying getting a tan, so at least, that’s something we’ve got on our side.” OB rubbed wearily at the space between his eyes, “And here I though the teenagers might be the most difficult thing about all this. I should have known it would be you lot.” He looked over at Neal, beckoning him over, which Neal did.

He looked more than a little guilty, and there was a fairly light slash on his arm that hadn’t healed...or been healed.

Muttering something about useless healing Gods, OB went about getting it cleaned and wrapped up, making sure that Neal was watching, before turning back to Apollo.

“We need to get to Kronos...before your Dad finds out.”

“So, we have to work together.”

“...So, it seems.”

Chapter Text

“Eventually, the Sun is going to let people know where it is.” Apollo stated, as they rushed to Krono’s last known location, “If I could just focus for a while, I could probably- “

“- No offence, but I’m going to follow that beam of light in the distance.”

They all turned in the direction that OB was pointing, noticing that yes… there was light from over there.

“…See.” Apollo preened, “I told you the Sun would let us know.”

OB ignored him, and the group followed behind him as they stormed away.

Theresa cleared her throat, “Is this-is this the bad time for another guess?”

“A little bit.” OB sighed, “Later, okay?”

That was fair.

....

Finding their way into Kronos’s home was relatively simple, and the closer they got to where he had been keeping the Sun, the more they started to feel the heat.

Well, all of them aside from Apollo.

Smug bastard.

Kicking open a door with a loud BANG, the teens watched as OB cautiously entered the room, spear in hand as he looked around. Whatever he say, made him him sigh.

“Good afternoon Helios.”

Slowly, they all followed him inside, using their hands to shield their eyes as best they could as they looked over to where OB was looking. Sitting on a stone throne, was a youthful looking man with fiery red hair/beard, chained down as little balls of fire seemed to dance around him, taking on vaguely familiar shapes.

The closer they got, the more they noticed the off-putting ordor of ozone, a sickly burning scent like plastic burning.

“Oath-Breaker.” The man’s voice was barely above a whisper, still containing the hint of a Greek accent, “And Apollo.”

“Helios.” Apollo sounded a little nervous, “Look, it was nothing personal, but- “

“- I will be raising this with your Father.” The man’s eyes narrowed at the God, “You had best hope that Selene has not missed my presence.”

“Nobody wants that.” OB reassured the man, before looking over at Apollo and making a sharp gesture for the God to free him, moving back towards the group.

“That-that’s the Sun?” Archie frowned.

“That is Helios, the Titan known as the personification of the Sun.” OB gently corrected, “One of the nicer Titans, if a little hard to spend much time around.” He paused, “Odie, you might want to stay back. I’m not sure what his feelings about Odysseus are like after all these years. He did so love those cows.”

“I would argue that Eurylochus is to blame for that.” Odie muttered, but stepped back anyway, even as Apollo and Helios argued up front.

“…Promised!”

“How was I meant to know that this would happen?!”

“This generation of Gods- “

“- Oh, don’t start!”

“They’ll be there for a while.” OB sighed.

“What are they even arguing about?” Jay whispered.

“Helios was…bewitched into fighting for the wrong side a few years ago. When the witch, Medea, was defeated, Helios went supernova. It was only when Piper and Apollo freed him, than Apollo promised to work alongside him more. I assume that Apollo has also promised his protection against the other Titans and possibly, Zeus himself.”

“And now- “

“- Helios is rightfully pissed.”

Eventually, after Apollo had taken his scolding, he grabbed at the chains that were restraining Helios and yanked on them…and then yanked on them again.

“I could use some help here!”

“None of us can get close enough to him.” OB called back, “Put your back into it!”

“Why don’t you come here and put your back into it!”

Apollo yanked one more time and the chains shattered into lots of separate links, quickly stepping back as Helios rose to his feet. Helio’s burning eyes scanned over them all, before he nodded his thanks and shot up towards the ceiling, leaving nothing but rubble and broken pieces of the building behind.

“Let’s go.” OB turned to leave, “Before Kronos opens his eyes and realises that we’re here.”

“Where is he anyway?”

“Hopefully, suffering from a sunburn. Let’s go!”

They headed back onto the streets, still not running into a single Kronos lackey, which struck them all as being a little odd. Everything outside had gone back to normal, with the vast majority of the people clearly believing that it had just been some sort of...unplanned solar eclipse.

Nothing to worry about.

How embarrassing that they lost their minds a little there, but no harm, no foul, right?

“I’m sorry.”

OB turned to Neil, who looked more than a little repentant. “You’re sorry?”

“...I wasn’t thinking straight.”

“No, you weren’t.” OB shot a look at Apollo, “But you’re not really the one to blame.”

Apollo glared back at him, before visibly sighing and looking over at Neil, clearing his throat. “I…may have pushed you into this, and I am sorry for that.” He admitted, before looking over at OB, “Happy?!”

“Estatic.”

Apollo sneered at him, disappearing in a flash.

For a moment, they were all silent, before Herry held up a cautious hand, “So…why do you hate him so much?”

“Oh Herry, even if we had all the time in the world, I couldn’t list all the ways that I hate him.” OB sighed.

Peri held up a hand next, “Can you tell us one example? Just one, and then we can ask for another example another time?”

There was a moment of silence, before OB sighed. “Cassandra…the daughter of King Priam, a princess of Troy.”

Theresa was the first to wince, recognizing the name and recognizing that this would not be a happy story.

“She was beautiful, and Apollo wanted her.” OB smirked, “Apollo’s lovers had a habit of running away from him, so he offered her the Gift of Prophecy, something that she accepted. When he then tried to get some payment from her, in the way of sex as most gods preferred, she said no. Now, he could have just taken the prophetic abilities away from her, but he decided to curse her instead. He prophecies would always come to pass, but no one would ever believer her predictions.” A sad look flashed across her face, “It practically drove her mad.”

“Didn’t she predict that Paris would bring Troy’s destruction?”

“She did…her half-brother agreed and that was the only reason Paris was sent away from Troy as a baby. Of course, he came back, and then kidnapped Helen, and Cassandra was the one who warned that this would lead to the ruin of Troy. As per the course, she was ignored. Maybe things would have been different. I just know that she probably warned them about the Horse trick…and was ignored again.”

“When did you meet her?” Jay asked.

“…It was during the sacking of Troy.” OB held up a hand, halting any further questions, “No, I don’t want to talk about it.”

He continued to walk.

“Are you Agamemnon?”

OB stopped right in his tracks, “…I beg your pardon?”

Jay looked a little taken aback by the hostility, “I mean…if you were, it would explain why Apollo was so angry. He took a priestess of Apollo, right? There was tension between the pair of them, and…he’s kind of known as a villain for sacrificing his daughter?” The more he talked, the more he realised that it probably wasn’t the truth.

OB looked ready to explode.

“Agamemnon…was a parasite. He tried to kill his daughter, and would have done if it hadn’t been for…Lady Artemis and a little help from her ‘intended’.” OB snapped, “Do you want to know what I did when I heard that his wife had practically chopped him to bits?”

“I- “

“- I laughed so hard that I thought I might die myself.” OB turned away, “I am NOT Agamemnon!”

The group stood there in silence, before August leant over to whisper in Jay’s ear.

“I don’t think he’s going to forgive you for that one.”

Jay sighed wearily.

Chapter Text

Kronos had thought the idea was a good one, and it had been all too simple to take it from the stupid boy and that preening grandson of his.

Helios had stood against him for too long.

It was good to take him down a peg or two.

Or so he had thought at first.

Apparently, this mortal frame was vulnerable to high levels of heat, turning redder and redder the longer he spent in Helio’s presence, the other Titan smirking at the sight.

By the time he called it quits and decided to retreat, he was as red as the skin of a pomegranate, that accursed fruit.

“Not….one….word.” He hissed, when one of the cyclops’s opened his mouth to point it out.

They could have the Titan.

He didn’t care.

He had another plan in mind.

Chapter Text

Jay watched as Hermes and OB circled each other, Hermes a little bit above the floor as he teased and taunted OB.

OB’s face never shifted.

His grip on his spear was steady and Jay was fairly certain that he could probably hit Hermes if he really wanted to.

“OB can’t be serious about this.” August muttered, “I mean, yeah, he’s quick, but he’s not as quick as Grandpa.”

“...Grandpa?”

“I’m not wrong...I just can’t be bothered adding all the greats.”

Surely it was a little...dangerous to start calling Gods familial terms like that? Like, would that mean that August could call Zeus Grandpa...and Peri and Herry...Actually, how many could do that?

Hermes let out an almost demented sounding cackle, turning his attention back to the sparring as OB and Hermes moved quicker than he could actually keep up with, slashing and stabbing at each other.

It didn’t seem like they were actively trying to cause damage, just catch the other off guard.

“I have another guess!” Archie called out, “Ajax the Lessor!”

“Ha!” OB panted a little, “Go on?”

“Fought in the Trojan War, like you obviously did at one point. Considered a villain because all the history books say he dragged Cassandra away from the alter of Athena, which I really don’t see you doing, so perhaps it was a rumour started by Troy. All the Gods went after him, which would explain why you don’t get on with many of them...you’re an oath breaker. Because you attempted to flee divine judgment, because you didn’t think it was fair.”

Hermes let out another cackle, “He definitely didn’t think what the Gods wanted was fair!”

“And it is true that I never attempted to have my way with any of the Troy women.” OB nodded, “But Ajax definitely did, and he got what he deserved.”

Archie looked a little disappointed, putting the book to one side.

“Wait.” Peri piped up, “So, you didn’t go through with your revenge, and that angered ALL the Gods?”

“I didn’t go through with ALL my revenge.” OB corrected, “Revenge was had. And in the end, what the Gods said would happen, didn’t.”

“I can admit we’re wrong sometimes.” Hermes sighed., yelping when the spear nearly clipped one of his head wings, “Alright, alright, I yield!”

“You lost focus again.”

“Yeah yeah!”

OB made his way over to them, “Now, what did we learn from that?”

“...Gods have weaknesses.” Jay whispered, “Hermes sometimes loses focus...Kronos seems over-confident in his own strength.”

“Every single one of them can be hurt in one way or another.” OB confirmed, “Now, hopefully, the only one we have to worry about, is Kronos.”

Hopefully.

Didn’t sound all that positive.

“Any questions?”

Herry was the first to put his hand up, “When are you going to tell us more about our family and everything?” He asked, “It’s just...everything seems to be different from what we’ve ever learnt?”

“I was actually hoping to start all that this week.” OB stretched himself out, “Hopefully, we can get all that over and done with, before getting onto the heavy-hitting subjects. You should speak to your grandmother though, I remember telling her the stories of Herakles and Iolaus when she was barely seven years old.”

“Really?”

“You say things like that, and I’m reminded just how old you really are.” August muttered, “Grandma is ancient.”

“Then I must be crumbling. Now get up. We’re going to work on some stances.”

“Ugh!”

….

“Oh yes.” Herry’s grandma hummed, “Those were my favourite stories when I was a child. Of course, it was in a time where nobody liked to think about men being with other men, so we had to keep it a secret between us.”

Barely noticing how August was running around with the neighbours’ dog, Herry tried to imagine his grandma as a young girl, tucked up in bed as OB told her stories of the past like that.

It was nearly impossible.

“He hasn’t aged a day.” She mused, “It seems like such a lonely life. I know that I am long past my prime, but I know what awaits me at the end. Sometimes, I don’t think OB knows what happens to him when all this is over.”

It was a sobering thought.

….

Theresa plucked at the strings of the lyre.

She was slowly adjusting to her life here, the lessons and the training. It was…odd, but it was doable somehow.

Finishing the song off with the flourish, she slid across the floor like she was a rock star.

“Thank you New Olympus!”

“That was beautiful… except for the end, that was a little dramatic.”

Gasping, Theresa turned around to see Apollo leaning against one of the pillars.

“And that’s coming from me.” He shrugged.

“…Should you even be here? OB- “

“- I liked Theseus you know.” Apollo cut her off, as she silent, “I’m not going to lie, I favoured him a little during the whole Minotaur thing. I thought he’d go for the princess, but hey, I guess some people have specific tastes.”

She flushed at the insinuation. “I- “

“- And here I thought Neil would be the one to be the musician in this little group.”

“Have you actually talked to him since the sun incident?” She straightened up, looking him right in the eyes, “You could have gotten him killed.”

“I apologised didn’t I?”

She rolled her eyes, moving to put the lyre back where it was as Apollo continued. “You know, I can’t think of any in this modern world who can play the lyre so well. Wait until I tell- “

“- Don’t tell anyone!” Theresa snapped, “Look, you know that the guys won’t let me live it down. Playing the lyre is…just not cool anymore.”

“…Your precious Oathbreaker used to play the lyre you know.”

“Really?”

“Hm.” Apollo smirked, “He learnt before that whole Troy business. He was quite good as well.”

Interesting.

Theresa didn’t think that it was much of a clue towards OB’s identity, but maybe Odie would disagree.

Before she could question him further, Atlanta and Peri poked their heads into the room.

“We need a few things. Fancy going shopping?”

“Always.”

She was always happy for a quick getaway.

“Does OB know you’re here?” Atlanta then asked Apollo, who muttered something very unflattering and disappeared with a flash.

…

OB had been expecting a new plan by Kronos, keeping his eyes and ears open for any news.

The dogs with their mutated teeth and new, feral activities were the only thing that was different, and it was the only thing that hinted at something related to Titan-esque.

“Could it be a radiation leak?” Neal asked, as they returned from the pound.

“Hmm.”

“…Maybe it’s just this place that makes me think of toxic waste.” Neal cast a look over at Odie, who was working intently on a new invention.

“I hope he never thinks to send you all back in time.” OB muttered, “You’ll love this place after that. Actually, maybe he should! At least then, I won’t have to deal with the whining.”

“Got it!”

They all turned to look at Odie, just as Archie and Poe entered the room.

“Got what?” OB frowned, “Or is this, one of those things I don’t want to know about.”

“Well, it’s not like this has anything to do with Kronos, so I thought we could keep ourselves busy by figuring out what’s happening to these dogs.” Odie paused, “It does involve breaking into the dog pound and getting one though.”

“…Oh, the things I do for you lot.”

Chapter Text

They picked out a small dog to put the tracking collar on, following it through the streets as they tried to find the source of the disturbance.

“It’s just seems too small time to be Kronos!” Jay sighed, “What kind of super-villain decides to turn dogs a little wild.”

“Dogs can be dangerous.” OB pointed out, “One guards the Underworld, remember?” An odd look flashed across his face, before he shook his head. “No.” He muttered, “Someone would have mentioned that.”

“That?” Atlanta questioned, as OB waved her off.

“Just a wild thought. Nothing to worry about.”

They continued to walk.

“Paris.”

OB groaned, looking over at Herry, who winced. “Please…please tell me that’s not a guess?”

“Why not?” August shrugged, a wicked little smirk on his face, “You obviously have some sort of connection with Aphrodite. You probably regret the whole war thing, right?”

“And Paris’s first wife was a nymph, Oenone, right?” Archie pointed out, “Therefore, an Oathbreaker for abandoning that marriage. Against the Gods that sided against Troy, like Athena and Poseidon. Issues with Apollo because of Cassandra, and you said that we shouldn’t be quicky to label people as villains.”

OB stared at them for a moment, mouth opening and closing for a moment, before he shook his head. “I…am NOT Paris of Troy.” He spat out, “I can’t scold you for the logic, but-but Paris? Really?” He leant in close, “When Philoctetes killed him, I can’t even tell you how much restraint I had to not stab him twenty times myself…just to make sure that he was dead.”

With that, he turned and continued to walk, as the group were left behind.

“Yikes.” August muttered, “At least we can rule out him being that second guy, right?”

“Philoctetes? True. We can rule him out.”

“I thought that was the goat-man from the Disney film?”

“It was, but remember…”

OB tuned the rest of the conversation out, heading deeper into the woods.

Selene was high in the sky when they all heard the growling coming from another clearing. Taking the lead, pushing through the branches as Odie’s device beeped louder, OB froze at the sight of the three dogs now staring them down, eyes glowing.

“Turn that off.” He hissed to Odie, “No sudden movements. At the moment, we are nothing but chew toys and possible food in their eyes, and I’d rather not make that a reality.”

“…Please tell us that we don’t have to kill dogs.” Peri whispered, “Please, please, please.”

“Sssh.”

For a moment, there was no movement at all.

And then came the growling from the side.

Seconds later, a giant dog came charging through the bushes, one gigantic paw pinning the three dogs to the ground, a warning growl echoing throughout the area as OB visibly relaxed.

“Your timing is wonderful Nico.”

The pale-skinned man that most of them had seen that first time, appeared from behind the mass of black fur. “Don’t thank me. Thank Mrs O’Leary.”

“How could I do anything else?”

Stunned, the group of teens watched as OB casually walked over to the gigantic dog, that giant head with glowing red eyes lowering until he could scratch behind massive ears.

Herry couldn’t hear him, but he was sure that OB was probably cooing.

“Umm.” August held up a hand, “What the f- “

“- Mrs O’Leary. The next generation of heroes. Next gen teens...Mrs O’Leary.”

“Born from Cerberus?” Odie ventured a guess, as OB made a ‘eh’ gesture with his hand.

“Nyx thought it would be nice to give him something to focus on after the Prince and Princess started to grow up and not need him as much. A lock of his hair, some of her magic and there we have it...Mrs O’Leary.”

“...Why Mrs O’Leary?”

“She came with the name. Seemed rude to change it.” Nico then turned to OB, “We have a problem.”

“Don’t say it.”

Nico opened his mouth, only for a bone-chilling howl to echo throughout the woods.

“He’s loose.” Nico sighed.

OB let out a string of curses, followed by “HOW?!”

“Three guesses.”

“Ugh!”

The teens watched as OB paced back and forth a little, before Herry held up a hand. “Ummm…he?”

“Cerberus. Three-headed guardian of the Underworld and ultimately, the Alpha of all dog, hence the way all the dogs have gone a little…crazy.” OB hummed, “It would explain a lot, except for how it happened in the first place. Kronos should never have been able to get close to the Underworld! What has your Father been doing? Do we even know where he is?”

THUD

“Take a wild guess.” Nico raised an eyebrow, looking up as did the others.

Staring down at them, was a giant, three-headed, red monstrosity of a dog. One mouth was open, drool coming out of one mouth that dripped onto the grass, leaving burnt patterns behind. One was staring at them, utterly focused and growling lowly and the third head was looking at something in the distance.

“It’s like…Clifford the Big Red dog on crack!” Peri whispered breathlessly, “I can never unsee this!”

“That would have been a very different book series.” Herry nodded, the pair turning and smirking at each other, before the growling head leant down, getting right into OB’s face.

His breath was foul, even from where they were standing, but OB didn’t flinch in the slightest,

“On the count of three.” He muttered from out of the corner of his mouth, just loud enough for the closest of them to hear, “We are going to run.”

“…There is no way that we can out-run him.”

“Trust me. I have a plan…someone tell Nico, I need him to be ready with Mrs O’Leary.”

Peri turned as slowly as she could, gesturing for Theresa to come a little closer, whispering the message in her ear, all of them not daring to make any sudden movements.

"On the count of three." OB repeated, eyes still never leaving Cerberus, "Three...two...one...GO!"

He threw something into the air and then there was just chaos.

Chapter Text

“DOWN CERBERUS! SIT CERBERUS!”

Whatever OB had thrown into the air, had disappeared in a second, and now, it was strangely preoccupied with catching OB.

“I AM NOT DEAD! WE’VE BEEN OVER THIS!”

To be fair to Cerberus, it looked like he was seeing it as more of a game, than anything else, not even flinching when the teens, Mrs O’Leary and Nico tried to stop him.

“It’s just not playing fair.” Herry panted.

“ATLANTA!” OB called out, “TRY AND FIND US A WAY OUT OF HERE! WE’RE GOING!”

“You heard the man!” Neal was already running, “Let’s go!”

Atlanta raced ahead of them all, coming across a metal fence that had a huge sign on it.

BEWARE OF THE DOG.

“That is not funny.” She hissed, turning to call her friends over as they all frantically climbed over the metal fence, OB practically jumping clear over it in his rush, all of them skidding down the hill on the other side.

Cerberus slammed into it, growling lowly as they all stared up at him.

“Dogs are man’s best friend?!” Peri frowned, “Yeah right!”

“He’s a good boy usually.” Nico sighed, heading over with Mrs O’Leary, “Take him from the underworld though and his instincts go into overdrive. He has to protect and guard something but can’t figure out how to get back to the Gates.”

“I thought dogs can always find their way home?” Neal whimpered, “Like, there are stories about it, right? Dogs travelling miles to find their owners?”

“When you consider all the lost souls that wander in the mortal realm, he’s probably confused.” OB shrugged, turning around and seeing that the seats of his pants were ripped and torn, “Bloody creature.” He sighed, “Come on, let’s get back to the school. I need to speak to a certain lord of the underworld and his apparent lack of communication.”

“He sent me.” Nico pointed out.

“Can you get Cerberus back into the Underworld?”

“…Not without some help.”

“Exactly.” OB sighed, “Which means that we might need to call in the big guns.”

….

“Cerberus, Guardian of the Underworld. Nobody sneaks in or out without getting past him.” OB hummed, “Previously, Kronos used him as a guard against entering Tartarus when he took over Hades’s realm, leaving him in the Fields of Mourning, where the lost souls clung to him, changing his temperament and attitude drastically. The Princess, Melione had to fight him every time she wanted to enter Tartarus to fight Kronos.”

He pulled out an old scroll, where a much scarier version of Cerberus was painted onto it.

“We’re lucky that he’s just been set loose on Earth this time.” OB sighed, “I am not sure how we would manage against him like this.”

“…We can’t handle him now.” Theresa pointed out, “Do we even have a plan for defeating a three-headed dog?!”

“It’s not about defeating him; it’s about getting him back into the Underworld.” OB hummed, “There’s a path to the Underworld in the school, but I don’t think Hera would ever forgive me for letting Cerberus just run amok in the building.” He hummed, “He’s usually well-behaved you know…just kind of sits and watches. Close to the Prince of the Underworld if I remember correctly.”

“…And when he’s a bad dog?”

“Satyr meat…that’s the best way. That’s how the Prince used to persuade him to just…let him leave when he was trying to escape the Underworld.”

They all had so many questions.

“Why are you all looking at me like that?”

“It’s weird knowing that you know the Royal Family of the Underworld apparently?” Archie frowned, “Like…it would be like if you’d met the English royal family or something.”

“Well actually- “

“- I don’t want to know.”

OB shrugged.

“Besides…” Archie frowned, “…I kind of thought that you might be a Prince of the Underworld or something like that, and the whole Oathbreaker thing is just a cover for the immortality or whatever.”

“Why would I lie about something like that?”

“Oh, because that’s the thing that doesn’t make sense about all this?!”

OB rolled his eyes, “No, I’m not Prince Zagreus. I’d be respected a lot more if I was.” He clapped his hands together, “Now, to get satyr meat, we will need to send some of you down to the Underworld. I’ve already asked Nico to ask his half-brother to get some for us, but you will have to go down and get it.”

“Why can’t Nico bring it?”

“Nico has other responsibilities. He’ll just be passing through the Underworld on his way to do that.” OB raised an eyebrow, “Are you really telling me that none of you are just the slightest bit curious about the Underworld?”

Neil was the only one who raised his hand.

Unsurprisingly.

"Right, so we'll have one team getting the satyr meat- "

"- Satyr meat?!"

OB nearly tore a page out of the book with how quickly his fists tightened. "Apollo...."

"In going to the Underworld you will meet the lovely Orpheus! His lyre is surely the best way to calm such a beast!" Apollo frowned, "Cerberus loves Orpheus's music!"

"He does." OB admitted, "But it's not the way to get him into the Underworld! Satyr meat- "

"- Disgusting!"

"Necessary!"

The pair glared at each, before OB drew in a breath. "There are only three people in this room who can play the lyre. You’ve already screwed up recently, and I don’t think this will get you in Daddy’s good books again- “

“- How dare you- “

“- I haven’t played since before the war and my voice was unbroken.” OB paused, “And the other person probably doesn’t want anyone knowing, as it’s a completely outdated instrument.” He held up a hand when Apollo tried to interrupt, “We’re going the satyr meat route and that’s that.” He turned away from the God, “Now, the two teams....”

...

Jay, Theresa, August, Poe and Archie were eventually chosen to go down to the Underworld.

“Charon will probably be a bit more lenient with payment if August is there….but just in case.” OB handed Jay a bag of gold coins, “I doubt you’ll need them. He’s a big softy for family really.”

Herry, Peri, Atlanta and Odie were to go with OB to try and wrangle Cerberus closer to an entrance to the Underworld…which left Neal.

“Chose a side.” OB stared the teen down, “I am willing to give you a choice here.”

“…So, my choices are the Underworld or the giant dog?!”

“You’ve got it.”

“…Neither?”

“Nope. Cereberus it is.” OB looked over at that group, “Odie, I hope you have a good plan for us?”

“The best!”

“Excellent. Hermes!”

Hermes was there in an instant, as OB gestured to the ‘Underworld Group’. “Hopefully, Hades doesn’t mind the small intrusion.”

Hermes just laughed nervously…which didn’t make any of them feel better.

Chapter Text

Jay watched as OB charmed the four seasonal-looking sprites, the four women giggling as he laid the charm on thick. They all must have known that he was married right, but he supposed that in Greek Mythology, that didn’t matter to people so much.

“I have a guess…” Theresa carefully spoke up, as OB turned his head slightly in their direction, indicating that he was listening, “…Hektor? Of Troy.”

“Hektor of Troy.” OB repeated carefully, as the sprites all continued to giggle, “Explain?”

“…Well, he lost basically everything after the war, right? And maybe you thought that your son had been killed, and your wife was made into some sort of slave. Troy was in ruins, all because of Paris and some golden apple...Maybe you made a vow before Achilles killed you that you haven’t fulfilled or maybe you didn’t die and then made the vow... And of course you would be angry with the Gods, because of all that?” She then frowned, “I don’t know how Moros fits into all this, but- “

“- I am not Hektor of Troy.” OB interjected gently, “I have the greatest of respect for him, but unfortunately, when he was killed by Achilles, he stayed dead. I raised his son...and to give you an extra hint, though it has never been mentioned in the books so far as I am aware, I also saved his wife and the other women of Troy all those years ago. You can ask Artemis for more details.”

“I need to ask this.” Jay interjected, “I know that that being an Oath breaker made you immortal in one sense of the world, but were you also...going to be long-lived?”

“Is that your subtle attempt to see if I’m a demi-god?” OB raised an eyebrow at them, “Good thinking.” He thought to himself for a moment, “Not a Demi-God in a sense that I could have gone to Camp Half-Blood...or my parents could have gone there...but my grandmother is still alive. That’ll probably help.”

It did…a little they supposed.

“Hermes, can you- “

“- I will take them.”

They all turned to see Moros standing there, wearing something a little closer to ancient clothing, but not fully.

“You will?” OB raised an eyebrow, “Are you sure?”

“Of course. It has been some time since I have seen my brother…it will do us some good to reconnect.” Moros then looked at the teens, “They have not guessed at your identity yet?”

“Not just yet. They’ll get there.” OB pulled Moros into a gentle kiss, “Thank you, I’d take them myself, but- “

“- But the Underworld may try to keep you.” Moros nodded in understanding, “I know.” He turned to them, eyes lingering on Archie for a moment, before he gestured for them to follow him, “Have fun wrangling the Beast.”

“Cerberus is just a little confused.” OB waved a hand in dismissal, “I’m sure It’ll be fine.”

Moros nodded, before he moved past the sprites, all of them looking a little less giggly now as the teens rushed to follow him.

The path looked like it had been carved right into the very earth, a rocky surface along the sides and the ceiling. Fire torches lit up the path, the flames green and eerie in the darkness.

Moros stayed quiet and so did they, the silence stretching out before them.

…

“I think we should try it my way.”

“Atlanta, you do know that violence is the first resort of a limited mind?”

“…I didn’t know that.”

“OB! She’s pointing a gun at me!”

OB, who was stopping Neal from just reaching out and grabbing a glowing weapon, rolled his eyes. “Atlanta don’t shoot Odie. Odie, I trust that Atlanta has a good back-up plan…right?”

“Right…let’s bring the stun baton and the EMD. Cerberus won’t know what hit him if he decides to play up.”

“Odie’s plan first.” OB warned her, “Cerberus might be capable of terrible things, but I don’t want to hurt him.” He then turned to Odie, “What is your plan to get him closer to the gates?”

“Live bait.”

“…Great.”

….

Archie and Moros were walking on ahead of them, and had been doing ever since Moros had turned to Archie and asked if he had any question about their past, and Archie had rushed over, hissing that he didn’t want to talk about this now.

It was odd thinking that he and Poe had been raised by a literal Greek warrior and a God.

The rest of them tried not to eavesdrop too much on the conversation (well most of them…August got a very stern look when he tried). They passed a beautiful garden, which Theresa pointed out was probably the work of Persephone.

It stood out brightly in the dark cavern.

And then they saw the river just up ahead.

Silently, August pulled out the bag of coins that OB had given him, hurriedly counting them out as a boat slowly drifted into view. Archie fell back to join them again, his face pale as a tall, skeletal figure stepped off the boat, glowing purple eyes fixating on Moros.

“Hello Brother.” Moros greeted.

“Nnrggh?”

“Apologies. I know that it was meant to be Hermes, but I wanted to bring the teens myself.”

“Aarrgh.”

Moros turned, gesturing for them to come closer as August clutched at the coins in his hands. “They require passage to the House of Hades…but I’m sure you know that already.”

“Grrggh.” The figure, who they all supposed was Charon, the Boatman of the Underworld, focused on them, as August stepped forwards.

“Don’t worry, we’re willing to- “

A skeletal hand pushed the hand with the coins away gently.

“Yaarrggh agh.”

“Really?” August replied, much to the surprise of the others as he shoved the gold back into his pocket, “Well...thanks!”

Charon nodded once, before gesturing for them to get on board, looking over at Moros, who shook his head.

“I must return to my duties. I sense that my husband is...getting into trouble.”

“Arrggh, errgh.”

“I am aware that this is nothing new, but that doesn’t mean that I should be there.” Moros then turned his attention to the teens, “Behave. Hades may not be as harsh as he was…but he can be an unforgiving man.”

“Be nice…got it.”

Moros nodded once and then he was gone.

“Once more unto the breech!” August announced, heading onto the boat eagerly as Charon watched with an expression that almost seemed…fond.

It was an odd look on a skeletal face.

“Pretty easy so far.” Thereas hummed, “What do you think Hades is really like?”

“Honestly…I never wanted to find out this young.”

…

“Great warrior…” OB muttered, sitting on the back of the truck, watching as Cerberus playfully chased after them, looking thrilled by this new game, “…Feared in the minds of all Greeks, defeater of minor Gods…relegated to bait.”

In the truck, he could hear Odie shouting about speeding up as he lay back a little.

“How is this my life?”

Chapter Text

August seemed to be able to understand every word that Charon was saying to him, not realising that none of the others could.

Or so he thought.

"He's talking about other heroes." Achilles whispered, face creased a little in confusion, "About Odysseus's journey here...about Orpheus's quest...Theseus...Achilles."

"So...he's met all of our ancestors."

Archie's gaze was a little distant, focusing on the conversation that was happening.

"Achilles apparently waited on the banks of the River Styx until he was forced into the Halls." He reported softly, looking over towards said banks, where there were people wandering around.

Souls who hadn't gone through the proper burials, unable to enter the House of Hades.

A sad thought really.

"You can understand him?" He then asked Archie, who shrugged, "That's kind of interesting."

"...It is?"

"August can understand him, because he is descended from Autolycus, child of Charon. Maybe you're also descended from a Chthonic God?"

Archie just hummed as the boat slowly came to a stop, and they got their first look at the central hub of the Underworld.

Slowly, they left the boat, as August beamed at Charon and thanked him, accepting the hair ruffle from the Boatman, before Charon was disappearing off down the River once more.

“Hey, welcome to the House of Hades!”

An obvious God floated over to them, wrapped in a warm-looking red blanket, grey/white curls hanging around a soft-looking face, one wing sticking out.

“Can I get your name for the list?”

“Umm…” Jay looked at the others “I- we’re not dead? Just hear for some satyr meat?”

The God stared at them blankly for a moment, before beaming and floating closer, “You’re the heroes! The ones working with- Opps, shouldn’t say his name! I’ll go and let Lord Hades know that you’re here!”

“I already know that they’re here.” A voice boomed, making the foundations of the foyer shake a little, as the teens all huddled a little closer, “You are not exactly quiet Hypnos.”

Hypnos, God of Sleep.

Married to the God of War.

"Am I the only one who was hoping that we wouldn't have to actually meet Hades?" August whispered, as Jay shook his head, knowing that he wouldn't be the only one who had hoped this.

Hypnos didn't seem bothered by the light scolding, waving for them to follow him as they moved further into the foyer.

Instinctively, Jay looked around the area.

There was a corridor that seemed to lead to a couple of rooms and a garden to his right and on the left, he could vaguely see a blonde man standing guard over...something.

And then, right in front of him, was a large desk, with an even larger man sitting behind it.

And when Jay said large...he meant large. Seeing Hades sitting behind that desk, made him think that the Gods that they had met previously, were consciously appearing more human.

Hades had grey skin, red eyes with black sclera and wavy black hair. On his head, there was a flame-covered wreath.

"Ah." He spotted them, putting his quill back into the inkpot, "The new heroes. Nico has informed me of your quest to bring Cerberus back to the Underworld."

"W-we're sorry to have to bother you like this?" Jay ventured, as Hades waved a hand wearily.

"Better you be here, than have Cerberus run amok up there." Hades sighed, the sound rattling through their ears, “My brothers would see it as some hint that I cannot control my own realm.”

“Don’t worry.” August gave him two thumbs up, “We’ll tell them that everything is running smoothly. Ten out of ten!”

Hades stared at him for a moment, before shaking his head, “You are most definitely a descendent of Hermes and that thief.”

“You’re Autolycus’s descendent?!” Hypnos got right into August’s face, “That makes you a nephew of mine!”

“Yep! Apparently, I have a lot of uncles and aunts!”

“Oh yeah...” As Hypnos began to rattle off the long list of brother and sisters that he had, that were technically August’s relatives, Jay saw Archie focused on the blond guard.

“What is it?” He whispered, as Archie shook his head.

“Just...a feeling, you know.”

“...Good or bad?”

“I don’t know yet.”

Deciding not to push, Jay looked around the room again, seeing Persephone entering the area, waving a little at her as she gave him a soft smile back.

And then a girl who looked a lot like the Queen of the Underworld, came bounding into the room, stopping short at the sight of them, eyes widening.

One was green, the other was like Hades's.

"Melione." Hades's voice was soft, "I thought you had decided to go with Zagreus."

"I love spending time with him, but not when fighting with rats." She shrugged, still looking at Jay and the group, "You're not dead."

"These are the descendants of the heroes that I was talking about." Persephone softly explained, as Melione's face lit up with glee.

"OB's students!" She exclaimed, "He trained me as well!"

As the Princess of the Underworld launched into a story about one of their training exercises, August was the first to look over at the others, mouthing 'Gods. Actual Gods?!"'

It was a harrowing thought.

"Does he still have that beef with Apollo?" Hypnos asked when Melione was finished, "He really hates him!"

Jay could see the blond man in the other corridor nod slightly before catching himself.

"OB has always been a professional to me." Melione defended their teacher, "Does he really hate Apollo?"

"Oh, you have no idea."

...

"Stick to the side streets!" OB snapped from the back of the truck, taking in the smashed cars that they were driving past.

"Yeah, Yeah, we know!" Atlanta groaned, "Herry's truck is too big though!"

"You can't have a truck that's too big!"

"Focus! Focus!"

"And try not to get in front of it!" Neal squeaked, "Unless you want to be a pancake!"

"LEFT! TURN LEFT!"

"Is this rope unbreakable?!"

"We're about to find out!"

"Not reassuring!"

...

"Orpheus's lyre." Hades sighed, "Ridiculous. Cerberus doesn't mind the music, but he has never once been tamed by it."

“Indeed he has not.” Orpheus sighed from his seat, “There has been many a time that he has destroyed the lounge and my music has done very to stop him.”

“Apollo has...high opinions of music.” Persephone gently interjected, “We cannot fault him for that, no matter what OB says.”

Hades muttered something under his breath that sounded very much like a petulant ‘Yes I can’, but Jay was not about to call him out on that.

The area around them turned green, and there was an almost GONG sound that reverberated around, prompting them all to turn as a man dressed in a hooded black cloak with a scythe, stepped back from another young man who bore a striking resemblance to Hades.

“Thanks Than.” The second young man sighed, “I did not fancy trying to keep a hold of this down the Styx.”

‘Than’ huffed fondly, leaning over to press a kiss to the other man’s cheek, before disappearing again.

“Did someone order some satyr meat?” The young man held up a huge sack, which was dripping onto the marble floor and smelt awful, to the point where Hypnos was miming choking on his lounge.

“ZAGREUS!” Hades groaned loudly, “You’re making a mess!”

“But- “

“- Besides..” Hades almost seemed to smirked, “...Apollo seems to believe that Orpheus’s lyre will be more effective.”

Zagreus made a ‘huh’ face. “Since when?”

“Umm” Jay cleared his throat, “OB did say that meat would probably work better, but Apollo was insistent? Then again, they seem to hate each other, so maybe Apollo was just arguing for the sake of it?”

“I say Apollo’s been watching too much Harry Potter, but what do I know.” August shrugged, “Bagsy not carrying the meat back.”

“Who are you lot?” Zagreus frowned, then looking up at Hades, “Who are they?”

“Descendants of actual heroes!” This time it was Melione who answered, “OB is training them to fight Kronos!”

“…They’re kids.”

“It’s been prophesied!”

“That’s- “ Zagreus groaned, “- So, so stupid.”

“The Fates- “

“_ Probably think that’s it’s stupid as well.”

“Disrespectful.” Hades sighed warningly, which Zagreus ignored, heading over to the group, taking them all in.

“So…which heroes?”

“Um… Jason.” Jay gestured at himself, moving his shoes out of the way of the dripping meat.

“Never met him funnily enough.” Zagreus hummed, “He’s in Elysium though, right?”

“If I may?”

They all turned, seeing the blond guard stepping forwards, clearing his throat, “Jason tends to keep to himself. His life after the quest was not a happy one.”

“Fair enough, I wish more of those heroes were like that.” Zagreus then turned to Theresa, “You?”

“…Theseus.”

“HA!” Zagreus cackled, “Oh man, he is going to flip when he hears this. I think I’ll save it for when he wears that stupid armour again. The look on his face will be worth everything.”

“You know him?”

“I defeat him in the arena of Elysium fairly often.” Zagreus shrugged, “Not to boast or anything…unlike him.”

Theresa’s face flushed a little red, looking down at the ground as Persephone warningly cleared their throat.

“I-I mean…” Zagreus winced, “…He’s nice enough, but he’s kind of been undefeated in the arena for centuries and it went to his head a little. Asterion’s nice though, no complaints about him?”

“Thank you.” Theresa sighed, “I suppose that’s...something.”

“Well, yeah, he’s not wrong.” Desperately changing the subject, Zagreus turned to August, “You look familiar.”

“Autolycus descendant.”

“As in…Charon’s son Autolycus?!”

“Yep!”

“Woah!” Zagreus turned to Hypnos, “He’s like, a grandnephew of yours!”

“I know! Isn’t it exciting! Charon didn’t even charge him for the ride here!”

“Well yeah, he’s family!”

“I know!”

Hades looked down at the paperwork, seemingly resigning himself to the fact that he wasn’t getting this finished, especially as there came movement from the shadows nearby, Nyx stepping out of them, not at all surprised at the sight of all the living children standing in the middle of the House.

Their glowing eyes focused on August, softening for a moment, before then turning to Archie and widening just a bit. “Oh my…” They whispered, prompting Zagreus to turn to the last teen.

“And you?”

“…Achilles descendent.”

Silence.

“Shit.” Zagreus whispered, turning to the blond man from before, “Achilles!”

Archie tensed up, blue eyes meeting blue.

Chapter Text

Achilles had fought down armies, countless enemies, his own reflection on darker days, Gods who neglected their sons.

But now, as he locked eyes with the purple-haired teen, he didn't know how to feel.

Centuries had made it so that this...Archie didn't look much like his son, but if he looked, there were some similarities there, such as the eyes inherited from his own non-mortal bloodline, and familiar features of himself. The nose was more like Patroclus's though.

"It is very nice to meet you." He bowed his head a little, as the teen made a noise of confusion. He could see that the other teens seemed to be just as confused by what was happening, though the descendant of Jason was clearly bursting at the seams to ask questions.

“I- You’re Achilles.” His great- however many times- grandson whispered, “I- “

“- I Imagine that this is quite the shock.” He accepted.

“I thought you’d be in the Fields of Elysium?!” Jason’s descendant blurted out, only to flush, as though mortified by his outburst.

Zagreus, not seeming to care that it was technically improper, placed an arm around the teen’s shoulder, “That...is a very long story which yours truly managed to fix- “ He glared at his father when the Hades let out a warning clearing of the throat, “- I did!”

“You interfered, as you so often do.”

“And isn’t it a good thing that he did.” Persephone hummed, “Otherwise, I might not be here still, isn’t that, right?”

It was hard to miss the warning tone in her voice, as Hades mumbled something about good things coming out of bad decisions, but he let it go.

“I have a purpose here in these halls.” Achilles stated, “But I am able to travel to the Fields when permitted.”

On his seat, Orpheus started to pluck at the strings of his lyre, humming a relatively old composition that he had started about Achilles, before the hero had gently asked that he stop. As it stood, he gave the musician a warning look.

He didn't need to hear about the mistakes that he had made in the past, or how his son had had to take up his spear to end the war.

Or how long he and Patroclus were separated for.

The teens all still looked curious, wide-eyed and brimming with unasked questions.

"Do you not have a certain creature to wrangle back to the Underworld." Hades's booming voice cut them all off, as they all straightened to attention, and Achilles couldn't believe that he was thinking this, but he was actually grateful towards the God, which was a completely new feeling for him.

"I'm sure the others have it under control." Theresa tried to defend, only to wince when blood red eyes turned to her, "But you're right, of course Lord Hades."

"They should be near that entrance now." August turned to Hypnos, "Do you think Grandpa Charon will take us there?"

"Call him Grandpa and he will take you anywhere you want to go."

...

"Diomedes!"

"NOW?!" OB growled, Cerberus staring him down "Peri, please! There's a time and a place for guesses!"

"I can multi-task!" Peri held up a hand, the other still clinging onto her weapon, herding Cerberus closer and closer to this supposed entrance to the Underworld, the sound of police sirens and busted, whining car alarms echoing in their ears, "I've thought about it! A sense of responsibility because you became king too young, annoyed that you're not Athena's favourite champion and feels abandoned by her, hence why you don't like her. No stake in this war, but lost everything anyway?"

"What about the whole oath breaker thing?!" Odie pointed out, hiding behind a dumpster, Neal huddled by him.

"I don't know everything! Maybe he cursed at Athena and she cursed him back?!"

"I'm not Diomedes!" OB interrupted, "Can we please focus?!"

Cerberus let out a low, threatening growl...and then he stopped as a revolting, rotten smell filled the air.

"Here boy!" August called out, gesturing at something just beyond the doorway, "Come on Cerby!"

Cerberus's eyes seemed to light up in delight, and just like that, he was charging through the door, the teens all rushing out as it shut behind him.

"Nice timing." OB sighed, giving them a warm smile, "No issues?"

"Nope." August beamed, "Grandpa Charon took us to the Halls, we had a bit of a talk with Hades himself and then Grandpa took us back here."

"...Did you actually call him Grandpa?"

"He did." Jay sighed, "Charon...seemed to like it?"

“...Of course he did. Why am I not surprised?” OB shook his head, “Come on, let’s get back to the school before someone decides to blame us for the car situation.”

“Umm, what’s going to happen with all those cars and the property destruction?”

“Olympus has its’ own insurance policy. They’ll send checks out, keeps everyone happy, you know?”

They all looked at each other, before deciding that it was probably best not to question these things and staying quiet.

Well, mostly quiet.

“As a guess, how about Nestor?”

“N-Nes- HOW OLD DO YOU THINK I AM?!”

.....

“Thank you.” Hades looked a lot more approachable in this form, Jay had to admit, dressed in a neat suit as he looked at them all, “You have spared us a lot of trouble.”

“Why would Kronos even set Cerberus loose?” Peri asked, looking the God right in the eyes with a confidence that Jay couldn’t help but respect, “Surely there are more defences in and out of the Underworld than just him?”

“He is usually the first or the last defence.” OB hummed, “And in the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t take a lot to distract him. Food...a well-thrown ball.”

“He is spoilt.” Hades grumbled, “But this has shown that my father is once again, able to enter my realm with no challenges and I will not have him think that he can just stride into my home again and take my FAMILY!”

Jay was glad that he wasn’t the only one to flinch.

“He’s messing with you.” OB rolled his eyes, “Your defences have improved since the last incident, and even Kronos is going to think twice before coming face to face with Melione again.”

A proud look flashed across Hades’s face for just an instant. “He will, won’t he.”

“Exactly. Cerberus is back where he’s supposed to be, all the dogs in the city are back to normal and all in all, this was not one of Kronos more dangerous plans.” OB shrugged, “And some of you got to see the Underworld and return, which not a lot of people can say.”

“Hmm, Achilles was pleased to see his descendant.” Hades hummed, watching as OB tensed up a little, “He always was fond of his family.”

“...Most heroes were.” OB turned away, “Gods have a habit of ruining that though.”

And then he was gone.

“Well...” Odie mused, “...that was interesting.”