Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Godhood.

It sounded so… unreal…

But… it wasn’t what he wanted.

He remembered the faces of those who died. Those who truly believed that Kronos was right. That the Olympians didn’t care.

Charles… Silena… Zoë… Bianca… Luke… and so many more lay dead. The living and the dead were both affected by their deaths. Yet to hear such a thing come from Zeus… like becoming a god was supposed to be a gift after everything… he couldn’t quite stomach it.

What he wanted was change. What he really wanted was for this to never be able to happen again.

He wouldn’t lie when he said that he wanted to live a long life. He didn’t want any of this. Even if Annabeth didn’t like him back… he wanted to live.

Not become the problem.

So when he made his refusal right to the Olympians' faces, he knew that some were going to push back. But he didn’t care.

For being a mortal… was better than being a god. At least, that’s all the Olympians have shown him anyway. And right now, the only thing Percy cared about was being better than them.

*

His opinion didn’t change later.

Not when he dived into literal Tartarus to save Annabeth from Arachne.

Bob… Damasen… Small Bob… they’re now gone too. And the booming laugh of Tartarus still haunts him at night.

Yet, he can tell on some of the gods' faces that they think he’s a threat to their existence. They never stop to think about the fact that he walked out of Tartarus, worn and bruised and…

Just so done with everything.

Now, he can’t even go to sleep at night without Annabeth being there. She sneaks into the Poseidon cabin most of the time when she can, snuggling right in with him under the blankets in the bunk. Yes, they’re slightly cramped, but it doesn’t matter to either of them.

The nights that she can’t are horrible on both of them. Tartarus and other deities haunting their minds like the plague.

He knows that Chiron knows. He knows that the Athena cabin knows because Malcolm will look at him with a soft smile at times when they walk into the dining hall together. He knows that Dionysus has an inkling of an idea… even if he doesn’t show it.

But he doesn’t want to hear Dionysus say it. Not after everything he’s been through.

*

It happens again. Zeus tried to make the deal of Godhood to his face again. This time more like a threat due to the fact that he walked out of Tartarus alive.

Poseidon tried to protest, others thought Zeus was crazy to try and force this on someone who fought for them. but it’s here that Percy finally snaps.

Months of being unable to sleep, only weeks after Jason died and he finally just breaks. Crashes out. Goes apeshit. Every inch of that fucking phrase.

“Oh, I’m the threat!?” He scowls, a face full of anger and agony that makes the gods stop. “You’re one to talk, Zeus! How about we talk about you not acknowledging Kronos’s return years ago instead of doing something to shut it down! How about when you tried to murk two of your fucking nephews and one niece for existing with your damn bolt!?”

“You…” Zeus’s voice is dangerous, some are looking at Percy with fear, Poseidon especially. Others look at him like he’s a cockroach to be stepped on. But after everything… 

Percy just doesn’t give a shit.

“You talk high and mighty like you’re some sort of tough shit! You’re not the ones that walked out of Tartarus broken and bruised! Or has Tartarus laughing in your head as he cuts your friends down! You just sit on your fucking asses and do nothing to help! Who are you to tell me what I can and cannot do at this point, huh!? You’re not the one that thought of bringing a sword to his own neck to make it stop, are you Zeus!?”

The last words came out before he could stop them.

But they were out in the open now.

He heard the sharp gasp of Annabeth behind him. He recoils as he catches the gaze of others. Grover, Leo, Piper, Frank, Hazel, Thalia, Nico… they look heartbroken…

Even Poseidon now looks horrified by Percy’s words. Hostility stops for a moment, and it’s probably here that some realize that Percy’s not some invincible unstoppable weapon for the Gods.

But a kid. A kid that has seen and done too much. And a kid that shouldn’t have been living like this.

He tunes it out after that, keeping himself afloat just barely as Poseidon turns his newly ignited rage on Zeus and Athena.

*

Months later, Percy finds himself in… some form of peace.

He and Annabeth have moved in together. Happy and proud of the small little life they built.

With a former Olympian Poseidon to help.

Yeah, that still baffled Percy to this day.

To be fair, Poseidon never actually quit being a god. He was still king of the Seas. But he relinquished his title as an Olympian. From what he heard of the incident, Poseidon had snapped, yelled right in Zeus' face that he was the second coming of Kronos, attacked Athena and gave her a wake up call about their ‘rivalry’, and pretty much sworn on his very existence that he was done failing his family.

And apparently, that no longer included Olympus.

Now, as if making up for lost time, Poseidon would come visit the duo at the new beachside house that he helped the duo make now that he wasn’t bound by Zeus's laws. Sometimes, it was lunch. Sometimes it was an evening at the cabin… sometimes they went out to eat.

One forgot that Poseidon was a king of his own right. And that was something that Zeus couldn’t control.

“I’m sorry, son.” Poseidon would say later as they sat outside on the porch. Annabeth was chatting with Amphitrite, Rhode and Kymopoleia on the beach. Triton and Tyson discussing something else by the ocean water.

“Don’t.” Percy is quick to stop him; a single finger pointed at him. “You didn’t do anything. This isn’t on you. It’s something I have to carry from now on.”

“But that’s the thing, son.” Poseidon doesn’t look happy. “You never should have been put in this position… Never… should you have seen the horrors that not even Gods could imagine… and yet you did.” He looks down at the fireplace, regretful and shameful. “I failed you.”

Percy remained quiet. He wouldn’t lie and say that there wasn’t a time where he hated Poseidon. Hell, his introduction to the Greek world had been because he was framed and Zeus and Hades wanted his head on a pike for separate crimes that he didn’t do.

But there was a difference. Poseidon showed that he cared. Even when he wasn’t the best at wording it… and when he was too prideful to fix it… he cared.

“You didn’t fail me.” Poseidon raises his head, hearing Percy’s words. “Zeus failed. The Olympians failed to do it right. They failed a lot of people both mortal and immortal.” He shrugged. “At least you tried to make do with what you had.” He relaxed against his chair. “This is just something that I have to carry for the rest of my life.”

Poseidon gives a smile, but it’s laced with sadness. Percy knows that his father doesn’t want him to die. But he also knows that he accepts his son’s wishes of wanting to live a mortal life. Chaos, if Poseidon wasn’t so concerned about Atlantis and what he already has with Amphitrite and his other children, he probably would have done the same thing.

But he lives on. Not just for himself, but for his family.

Poseidon actually removed Cabin Three from Camp Half-Blood. Percy knew that was because Poseidon had no intention of allowing Zeus to have something of his any longer. At first, Percy was worried that the Sea God had destroyed it, as he had grown quite attached to the place. Only for Poseidon to approach him later saying that if he wanted to go in it, he could.

It wasn’t very far from the cabin Percy and Annabeth now called home, but it was there if they wanted to go there.

Percy could only wonder why the Gods let blissful ignorance rule their lives for this long.

*

He’s almost surprised when he gets a noise from his doorbell. Annabeth was currently out finishing a class, so when Percy went to the door, he didn’t know what to expect.

He clutched Riptide over the cloth of his jeans, in case for some reason Poseidon’s wards didn’t hold and a monster decided to get cocky. But when he opens it, he’s silent.

Apollo stands on the other side, looking very much like Lester than he does Apollo. He doesn’t shine like a god, almost like he’s…

“Hey…” The mortal Apollo waves. “Um… do you have a place for me to crash?”

And Percy’s brain just crashes like a tidal wave.

*

As it turns out through a long discussion that courses over Annabeth’s return to their cabin, Apollo actually said no to returning to Godhood.

“I couldn’t do it anymore.” Apollo shook his head, staring at the carpet with Annabeth and Percy across from him. “The way I was the scapegoat… the failure… the reject… I just couldn’t do it anymore.”

Turns out Artemis wasn’t that good of a sister recently. Neither was Zeus a good father either. According to Apollo, only Hermes or his own mother Leto really gave a shit about him these days. So in the end, Apollo chose to be closer to something that was actually family, aka his kids, rather than go back to being Zeus’s number one scapegoat.

In all honesty, Percy had found it to be complete bullshit that Apollo got blamed for the Giant War and yet Hera got away scott free for kidnapping both himself and Jason. Zeus was a hypocrite on so many levels that Percy honestly believed that Zeus should have his domain of justice stripped away.

“Wait, so you just…” Annabeth was processing it, her grey eyes blinking comically. “You just left!?”

Apollo nods, a grim smile on his face. “Yep. I know. It’s selfish. It’s mean… it’s about every damn insult in the book.” He just looks at the two defeated. “But I couldn’t do it anymore.”

He fidgets, like he expects hostility. And that alone almost pisses Percy off. “I know you might say no… but I was hoping to crash here for a bit. Just… to figure out what I want to do now… I won’t get in your way, and I’ll help out for the duration of my stay… but…”

Percy shares a silent look with Annabeth. It’s not like they want to be rude to Apollo. They had guest rooms. Lots of them due to the idea of friends and family coming over to visit. Clearly he would have gone elsewhere if he could.

“Did dad send you here?” Percy asked, staring at Apollo again.

Apollo looks sheepish. “He might have… suggested that you would at least hear me out…”

Percy presses his lips together. True. He did hear Apollo out. But that didn’t mean he was okay with potentially getting caught in the crossfire between the former god and his father or his twin sister. But he wasn’t going to turn his back on the guy. At least he was working to be better. Unlike some gods.

He opens his mouth to speak, not missing the way Apollo braces himself, but it’s misplaced.

*

Only a week into Apollo’s stay and the former god already makes Percy concerned simply because the guy burned breakfast. How someone messed up eggs, bacon and toast, Percy could not wrap his head around it.

Annabeth is quick to jump in and correct him, not condescending like Athena most likely would have been but also enough for someone to easily learn, but clearly being the former God of Knowledge didn’t mean that Apollo had practice. Guess Nectar and Ambrosia made god’s lazy at times. Another reason why Percy couldn’t see himself living like a god at all with how things are now.

But he sits at the counter, watching Apollo learn something from Annabeth, and the scene doesn’t fail to amuse Percy at any point as he sips from his coffee.

*

For some reason, as the trio sits for dinner, Poseidon crashes the party alongside Amphitrite. They have a nice dinner around the table, striking up pleasant conversation with each other that goes into the late evening.

“Thank you for taking him in, Percy.” Poseidon says to Percy as they clean the dishes together. Apollo long since retired for the night in his room of two weeks and both Annabeth and Amphitrite talking in the living room.

“It wasn’t a problem.” Percy dismisses it, handing his father a pot to put away. “I’m just surprised that you guided him here.”

“Two reasons for it.” Poseidon said, holding up two fingers. “Gives him somewhere that isn’t Camp Half Blood over the year… and keeps Zeus away from him.”

Percy hummed. When Poseidon helped them make the cabin, he had put wards that kept other gods and monsters from being able to snoop or spy through messages. And if someone breached the property, Poseidon would know.

In a weird way, this was the safest place for Apollo right now.

“He hasn’t stopped trying.” Poseidon admitted after a short silence.

“Who? Zeus?” Percy raised a brow, scrubbing away at a plate.

“He keeps trying to persuade and taunt me to become an Olympian again.” Poseidon confirmed. “Says that I overreacted and should be grateful that he’s being merciful for my little stunt.” He shrugs uncaringly. “But that ship has long since sailed.”

“As it should.” Both son and father lift their heads to Apollo. He looks tired, his sleep clothes wrinkled, but unable to find sleep as he goes for the fridge and grabs a bottle of water. “He’s not going to get your back with threats, Uncle P. I may not be a god anymore, but even I know that.”

Poseidon chuckled. “Nephew, that would be like Zeus admitting that he was wrong.”

“I know.” Apollo gave a half smile, sitting at the counter.

“Trouble sleeping?” Percy asked.

Apollo deflates. “Yeah… I kind of miss being unable to dream…”

“Want an ear?” Apollo considers it for a moment. Silence other than the sound of scrubbing and feet against the wood before Apollo moves to speak.

“Is this what you dealt with for the past six years, Perc?” Apollo asked, his eyes on the counter. “The voices of the dead haunting your ears and every move?”

Percy freezes, but he does nothing to stop Apollo. “It started with Daphne… then it went to others… me just watching them die again and again… and again… and…” He trails off, losing his voice.

It’s here that Percy understands what Apollo is talking about. Clearly, the realm of sleep was not kind to Apollo for the past few weeks. If he had a good guess, his past mistakes were haunting him. From the beginning of his life up until now.

“If it helps,” Percy goes to speak, putting the towel down. “It’s not a matter of making it stop. It’s a matter of learning from it. Do I wish I could save them? Absolutely. But I don’t control everyone’s decisions.”

Apollo gives a half smile. “I wonder why she couldn’t see that…”

Percy has a sinking feeling he knows who she is. And he really wants to punch her in defense of Apollo. He didn’t like to hit women, but it was fair game if they were a jackass.

*

He comes back to the cabin one day after class to Apollo’s dirty laundry.

In the form of Artemis.

He had just stepped into the living room, the voice of the Moon goddess falling short as he entered the room. She was upset, and Apollo looked like he didn’t want to listen anymore. A half finished tuna sandwich and chips abandoned from the argument.

Percy takes one look at Apollo’s face, his displeasure and anxiety clear, and then rounds on Artemis. “What are you doing here?”

“What I want doesn’t concern you, Perseus.” Artemis dismissed, like Percy was a cockroach under her foot. He clenched his hand, but he refused to take Artemis’s bait.

“It’s my house.” He speaks firm, making the moon goddess flinch. “And from what I’m seeing, you’re attacking one of my guests.”

“I’m not attacking him.” Artemis is slightly angry, Percy puts his bag on one of the couches, then sits down.

“Oh? Then what are you doing, Artemis?” Percy crosses his arms. “You come into my house when I’m not here, and then you yell at your own brother, which I could hear you from outside by the way,” He ignores that small gap of shame and embarrassment on Artemis’s face, “Because he chose not to be Zeus’s punching bag anymore. Tell me, Artemis: What do I have wrong here?”

He almost enjoys the way Artemis fumbles for an answer. Apollo snorts, but a glare from Artemis makes it clear for him to shut up.

“Don’t tell him to shut up!” Percy snaps, catching both of them off guard. “Maybe this is why you suck as a sibling!”

Artemis was now livid. “How dare you!”

“No! How dare you!” Percy was out of his seat, almost in the goddess’s face, who was caught off guard by his behavior. Apollo is up as well, like he’s ready to jump in between them.

“You come into my house, specifically to attack Apollo, don’t even fucking deny it!” Percy points at her as Artemis was ready to say something. “And because he’s saying no to coming back to Olympus, you have the fucking gall to bother him like he betrayed you! Did you ever consider that you betrayed him!? Where was his defense when Zeus used him as a scapegoat? Where was that so-called protection every time Apollo got attacked by him? What were you so busy with that you couldn’t actually check on Apollo? Or was it because of the fact that he sleeps around with others that you automatically dismissed him as every other male!?”

Artemis is silent through every accusation that Percy hurls at her. Her rage was now replaced with something between fury and shame. But it almost seems like she’s losing the will to fight here.

“Artemis…” Apollo speaks up, softly, but his tone is firm. “I think it’s best you leave.”

But Artemis doesn’t seem to understand that concept. She turns on Apollo, now ignoring Percy. “Why!? Why are you being this stubborn!? Father will allow you to come back! Please, just come home!”

“No!” Apollo’s voice is now loud, it makes Artemis flinch, and makes Percy cautious, but the former god just takes a moment to breathe and then he stands tall.

“Olympus isn’t home, Artemis.” Apollo was firm. “And Father... isn’t family. I know him. He would rather strike me down than let me come back after my refusal. And the next time the Oracle opens its mouth, or another prophecy makes itself known, he’ll just blame me. And you know what?” He gave a dry laugh. “I’m done, Artemis. I’m done!”

Artemis now looks small. Lost. Unsure of what to do. Clearly, she thought Apollo would accept. But that wasn’t the case. Something in Percy’s mind clicks.

“Zeus told you Apollo would accept. Didn’t he?” A new voice voices his question for him as they enter from the back door, alerting the trio to Poseidon, who comes in through the sliding door. The goddess remains silent, but it answers the question.

“I…” Artemis doesn’t seem confident anymore. Poseidon sighs, crossing the room to stand with his son before he looks to his niece.

“Let me tell you something, niece.” Poseidon starts slow. “As someone who knows Zeus the longest, he never would have wanted Apollo to come back naturally. Knowing Zeus? He would have forced your brother to do something else or take some oath about respecting him first. And you know what? It wouldn’t matter. He’d still stomp on that and treat Apollo like garbage.”

“But he promised…”

“He also promised that he would have no more demigods on the River Styx.” Poseidon interrupts her. “And like me, guess what? He broke it. Twice.”

Artemis is silent. She looks like she wants to deny it, but clearly Poseidon’s words are hitting her somewhere.

“Sis…” Apollo speaks up next. “You’ve always been important to me… so much so that it physically hurts for me to do this. But you of all people must understand the truth. You're smart. Don’t deny what Zeus would do to me. He doesn’t care. He would rather use me as a scapegoat than care. All Zeus has done is say his way is right and just and nothing is wrong… but look at what we’ve lost? Sis… look what his denial brought Zoë? Does she not matter to you? Does silence and obedience matter more than what Zeus did to us?”

Artemis actually winces at that. Percy knows that it’s a hard blow. But it is something to consider. His words hit the goddess hard. But Artemis isn’t responding, and Apollo doesn’t seem keen to continue this anymore if she won’t.

“If you can, tell Mother I love her.” Apollo moves to leave the living room, grabbing his plate of unfinished food, his voice losing emotion, becoming cold like winter. “Take care, Lady Artemis.”

Artemis doesn’t seem happy with that. She reaches for her twin, only for Poseidon to immediately get in her way, blocking her path as the mortal goes down the hall.

“As the owner of this house.” Percy opened the back door, regaining Artemis’s attention. “I’m going to ask you to leave.”

Artemis’s rage reignites. “You think you can command me? I am a goddess!”

“You are also on private property.” Poseidon joins in, making Artemis flinch. “Now. You have two options. Leave like a mature goddess.” His sea green eyes glow with power. “Or I’ll make you leave.”

Artemis flicks between the two of them. And for a second, Percy’s concerned that there’s about to be a brawl in the living room. He watches her hands go down to the knives. The tension continues to thicken to the point of near suffocation…

But she exhales, and then flashes away, leaving the duo behind. Percy closes the door. Poseidon shakes his head but seems at peace with the outcome.

“Zeus really misses his punching bag, doesn’t he?” Percy was tired, running a hand through his hair.

“You want to know something else?” Poseidon asked, an almost amused look on his face. “Zeus tried to get Hades to join the council again. And guess what? Your uncle rejected him.”

“Wow. Shocker.” Percy’s voice was dry and sarcastic. “Uncle Hades has common sense to tell Zeus to fuck off.”

Poseidon laughs. “That’s exactly it from what I heard! Hades pretty much said, “I’m not a replacement!” And flashed away from Olympus!”

Percy smirks now. Good. Zeus was being called out. That was always a good thing to him.

*

He hears Apollo singing something outside. It doesn’t take him long to hear his words, recognizing it immediately.

“Some days it ain’t all bad…” The former god sings. “Some days it all gets worse… some days I swear I’m better off laying in the dirt…”

Percy feels himself go completely still listening to it. The words from the specific song send something through Percy and he’s not sure if it’s something good or bad. 

Good because Apollo actually sounds good singing it unlike the haikus. Bad because it clearly speaks Apollo’s mind.

And he doesn't sound okay at all.

“I know… I can’t…” Apollo’s shaky, like he’s trying to admit something to himself. “Be the only one… who’s holding out for delight…”

“But god knows…” The former god jolts as Percy joins in, singing the next verse softly. “I know when it’s all said and done…” he puts his hands in his pockets. “I’m not okay… but it’s all gonna be all right…”

Apollo gives a faint smile. Joining in as they both sing the next verse together.

*

He smirks as he looks over the table. Apollo has pretty much integrated himself with everyone, the current party being Annabeth and Amphitrite alongside Apollo and himself. They were still waiting on Poseidon for some reason, but honestly, it’s not that bad.

The doorbell rings, alerting Percy to the front door. Silence takes over the table as they also hear the sound.

“Are you two expecting anyone?” Amphitrite asked, sipping her wine. Annabeth and Percy frown, like they can’t think of anyone. Poseidon would have just flashed in if it was him.

He goes to the door, being extremely cautious as he opens the door.

In front of him is Poseidon, along with some sort of older man who had a lot of features from Leo or Jake. But… there’s a change in this older man…

“Perseus Jackson?” Hephaestus says with his hands in his pockets. “Do you mind if I come in?”

Percy just blinks at the being in front of him. Based on Poseidon’s face, he’s comfortable that Percy will let him in. The demigod blinks, not sure how he feels about this, but the fact remains in front of his eyes.

Hephaestus was a mortal now. No longer a god.

He had a feeling that things were going to get a lot weirder from here.

Chapter Text

The sound of metal against metal could be heard in the forge. The God of Fire was busy trying to work out his newest frustration on the newest blade he’s crafting.

He’s not sure when it started.

But lately… he’s been quite annoyed… no. That’s not it.

Perhaps the word he’s looking for is stale.

One may think that Godhood was some sort of luxurious thing. All that power and control was something to desire.

Hephaestus… he wasn’t sure he could agree with that anymore.

You see, when you get chucked off Mount Olympus by your own mother just because you were ugly, you tend to have a different outlook on the world.

Hephaestus would be one of the first to admit that he made mistakes in the past. Hell, his actions with the golden throne and that damn net were proof enough of his own sins along with… her.

Just thinking about it made Hephaestus recoil.

You see, unlike most stories, he never actually did anything to Harmonia, and Hephaestus to this day was convinced that Aphrodite had something to do with that (He didn’t have any evidence but he truly believed that she could be that cruel to spread such a story).

Especially with what she already does on the daily.

He remembered in the past how she put in a sham of an effort for their marriage. Actually trying to put up a front for it and act like she could love him.

Releasing Hera from his trap apparently put him in a marriage with a goddess that he already knew never loved him. And boy was he right.

Despite her attempts to speak or sleep with him, Hephaestus had been pretty sure that she didn’t love him, only putting up a front to save her image of being married to the crippled, ugly, blacksmith. After all, everyone else already took the time to insult his looks on the daily so why the hell wouldn't she?

Which made catching her and Ares in the act all the sweeter.

He had gone into it with one goal: Destroy their marriage. And at first, it worked. Aphrodite brought Ares to his bed and fucked him right there, allowing him to trap them in the net and invite the other to come and laugh.

But then Zeus and Hera… his blood boiled thinking about, slamming the hammer down harder and harder on the blade in his hand.

Despite his attempts to get a divorce, Aphrodite decided to shame him on his lack of commitment, always hiding away in the forge and never spending time with her. Whether it was the tears or that false tone that Hephaestus knew was used on countless people, he didn't know.

Clearly, Aphrodite just wanted to be cruel. That was his only theory.

Despite his attempt to counter with work from the other gods and Aphrodite’s lies of commitment, Zeus saw that as his way to call Hephaestus the coward. Hera only sneered at her son, he would rather die than call Hera his mother, and refused to dissolve it.

And thus, he remained in a loveless marriage with Aphrodite, as some sort of big fuck you from the goddess in question for her humiliation.

He almost shattered the blade in his hand just thinking about it. Along with what happened after.

He would be the first to admit that getting drunk wasn’t the best idea. Hell, he apologized to Athena a million times after that, who accepted it each time and tried her best to genuinely get him to move on. But Aphrodite was equally cruel claiming that he slept with her and forced her to bear a child.

Only for little Eros to be Ares’s child. Not his.

They both laughed at him, enjoying the prank, like their actions didn’t cause him to have a fucking life crisis over the fact that he could have become a father to one of… hers. But the prank both relieved and infuriated him for that.

Ever since then, it was just some big game to Aphrodite and Ares, who decided to be an accomplice in this abysmal joke of a marriage. And now, Hephaestus just wanted a way out. But Hera refused to answer him with a divorce, Zeus was just telling him to accept it, and Aphrodite was rubbing it in everyday.

Fuck, he wished he had some sort of a solution.

‘Then do what Apollo did.’ A voice in the back of his mind spoke. ‘Just quit.’

Hephaestus actually stopped, eyes wide. When that little nugget decided to come right into his brain, he had a wild look of realization. The same kind whenever he figured out a new weapon or saw what humans did with technology.

Why didn’t he do that?

Now he felt like an idiot.

*

He returns to his palace, and his resolve only burns brighter after catching Aphrodite and Ares bare and naked once again going at it in his bed. Once more with taunts of joining them that sound too mocking.

“Come on!” Aphrodite whined, bouncing without a care. “Come join us!”

Hephaestus just leaves, ignoring the ‘Love’ goddess. Once upon a time, he would have minded it and kicked them out, even lighting the bed on fire to make them scram. Now?

Now he has plans to carry out. And a god to meet with that could help him out of his situation.

He flashes down into Atlantis in record time. With the time of the day, Hephaestus is certain he can get away with talking to Poseidon without anyone knowing.

*

“Does anyone else have something to add?” Zeus snarled, impatient and frustrated. His fingers tapping against the armrest of his throne.

Apollo’s absence still sticks out around the room like a sore thumb. And despite Artemis’s attempt to go get him and bring him back, it didn’t work out. Something is different in the air, and Hephaestus is still trying to understand how one less god just makes a difference.

Since then, he noticed that the moon goddess is withdrawn, sheltered, almost like Artemis is too busy in her own mind then focusing on the meeting. Hermes seems blank, like he can't understand why Apollo did it. Dionysus lounges in his throne, and if Hephaestus didn't know any better, he could have sworn he looked jealous. Ares scoffed and called Apollo a wimp, but Hephaestus wasn't blind to the small look of anger behind his glasses. Athena was quiet, almost as if she was trying to think of ways to fix this growing mess. Aphrodite's giving such a fake smile it's almost nauseating. The only ones that don't seem to really care are Demeter and Hera, and Hephaestus has a pretty good reason why she doesn't.

But that doesn’t matter.

All that matters is him finally being free.

Free to find something or someone that would give a genuine shit about him… outside of his kids of course, how could he not love his children?

“I do.” Hephaestus spoke, earning eyes. He stares at Hera unflinchingly. “I want my divorce.”

Aphrodite giggles, almost amused by this whole thing, but he doesn’t turn his head. Several chuckles go around the room, but Hera rolls her eyes.

“For the last time, you’re not getting a divorce!” Hera sniffled.

“And what right do you have in that?” Hera flinches, then stares at him with rage. Once upon a time, Hephaestus would have been scared of pushing the buttons. Now he didn’t give a damn.

“You’re not my mother.” Hephaestus changes his tone. Cold, cruel, and not friendly.

“How dare you!” Hera snapped. “I am your mother!”

“No… you are not.” He snarled, shutting Hera right up. “In fact, last I remember, you forgot about me until I showed up and chained you down! You never raised me at all!”

Hera’s silence makes him continue. “For eons, I have been stuck in a loveless marriage full of scandal and lies. And you,” he jabs a finger at her. “Have only encouraged it, like you enjoy my suffering like the horrible excuse of a mother that you are. End this joke of a marriage now!”

“Or what?” Hera challenged, and it was clear that Hephaestus knew that she thought he was full of shit.

But he wasn’t here to play games.

“Or I’ll quit being a god.”

Dionysus spits out his Diet Coke as Hephaestus makes that clear.

“What!?” Aphrodite screams in rage. Her smile was gone with the wind and now replaced with anger.

“Now hold on.” Athena tries to be the peacekeeper, her words cutting into their space like a sword. “Let’s calm down for a second.”

“You shut up!” Hera snaps at Athena. She redirects her gaze on Hephaestus. “You will do no such thing!”

Her words only ignite the spark further.

Hephaestus will not be snuffed out. This volcano has been building for years. It was bound to erupt. And like hell was Hephaestus going to stop it now.

“I can!” Hephaestus says, raising himself to his feet. “And if you will not… then I will!”

“I refuse!” Hera snaps. “Sit down and cease this-,”

He snaps his fingers, causing large metal chains to come out from behind every last throne and squeeze the remaining nine Olympians in their seats.

“What!?” Demeter was caught off guard as the chains bind her arms.

“What are you doing!?” Hermes shouted, stuck to his chair. 

“Hephaestus…” Zeus snarls. “Release us at once!”

Hephaestus takes a moment to inspect his work. He could already see that Zeus and Ares were making progress getting out. But that wouldn’t matter.

“What are you doing!?” Aphrodite screams, the metal chains digging into her skin. “Let me go!”

Hephaestus makes a dash for Zeus and Hera's thrones, papers and pens that he stole from Hera's office out. Another chain wraps around one of Zeus’s and Hera’s arms and tugs it up.

“No!” Zeus thrashes, his arm forced to move thanks to the enchanted chain. Slowly, his hand begins to write a signature on Hephaestus’s paper.

“Hephaestus!” Hera yells, he doesn’t mind her words, only continuing with his task and forcing her to sign it. Divorce papers, descent to mortality, abandoning his title. Their hands are forced to sign all of them.

And Hephaestus only feels his hope ignite.

Of course, the Fates don’t give things for free, as a pair of arms wraps around his waist and tries to remove him.

“That’s enough, cripple!” Ares shouts, having escaped his chains and trying to force him away so that Zeus can make an escape.

But Hephaestus flares. No! He will not be snuffed out!

With a loud cry, he ignites his body aflame, catching Ares in a wild fire that burns him. He screams and lets go of the Fire God, allowing Hephaestus to close the gap on Zeus and Hera again.

He grabs the parchments from both, looks over each one and then turns around. There was only one thing left to do now.

“Hephaestus!” He stops, hearing fear in Hera’s voice. “Stop… please… I’ll grant the divorce! Please! Just don’t do this!”

For a moment, Hephaestus almost considers it. A divorce was all he wanted eons ago. And if he were younger and more foolish, he would have considered Hera’s words as the truth.

But he didn’t need to be Apollo to know that Hera was lying.

And he had outgrown her.

He moves away, hearing Hera scream in panic, trying her damn hardest to break out of his chains. But unlike Zeus and Ares, she is not successful.

“Stop!” Hephaestus freezes as the charming, and yet revolting, tone enters his mind. He sees Aphrodite from the corner of his eye, doing her best to put her charm speak onto his ears.

He plants his feet, not wanting to go anywhere near her.

“Come here…” Aphrodite smiles viciously, almost in victory as she flexes her index finger to herself. The minute Hephaestus takes the first step; Ares tries to close the gap.

But Hephaestus doesn’t give up. Knowing that Aphrodite is trying to stall to allow Zeus and Ares to stop him. He had nothing left to lose… except for his kids.

He would be damned if he didn’t go down fighting after coming so far!

A loud roar escapes Hephaestus as he uses every last inch of willpower and punches Ares in the face, then commands the chains to wrap around Ares again. The War God finds himself in a worse position than before, his arms now bound above his head and stuck on the floor like a dry spaghetti noodle.

He summons a fireball into his free hand and chucks it at Aphrodite, who screams as the ball comes flying at her. It hits her face hard, freeing Hephaestus from her charm speak before he makes for the door.

Only for it to slam shut.

“HEPHAESTUS!” Zeus roars, finally escaping his chains and having the master bolt out. Hephaestus turned around as the god prepared to take a step forward and chuck his bolt.

Only for vines to trip him. As soon as Zeus goes down, the vine retracts out of sight. Hephaestus spares a glance to Dionysus outside everyone’s knowledge, only to find the god giving him a look of understanding.

But Zeus is already trying to get up. And Hephaestus had a backup plan just in case of that pesky bolt. Like he always did. He removes a trinket from his pocket and clicks the button, forcing a round celestial bronze shield into formation.

Zeus lets the bolt fly, and Hephaestus pulls up the shield, holding it up in its path. With its enchantments, the bolt hits, then bounced off and goes flying right back at Zeus, who’s eyes widen comically as the bolt comes back to sender.

The loud boom echoes around the room as the bolt hits Zeus head on. Everyone freezes as Zeus falls back into his throne, dazed and unresponsive to anyone trying to get his attention. The bolt falls to the floor soon after.

Hephaestus smiles, and drops the ruined shield. It did its purpose. Even if it only got one use.

“Where do you think you’re going to go!?” Hera snarls, getting confidence from somewhere. “They’re not approved! You need a king to approve them!”

Yes. Hera was right about that. Good thing she wasn’t the only king around here.

The throne doors bust open, revealing Poseidon in his battle armor, trident out, and expecting a fight. Triton and Kymopoleia flank their father on both sides, ready for battle alongside their father. But their eyes widen as they absorb the state of everything from the council.

From the bound gods to the burnt face of his younger brother, Poseidon clearly was not expecting this. “Wow…” He speaks, both amazed and taken aback. “I didn’t think you had it in you, nephew.”

“Poseidon…” Zeus gets his consciousness back. He grins. “Finally! Have you come to cease your childish drama and rejoin us?”

“No.” Poseidon almost sneers at his brother’s words. “I’ve come to set Hephaestus free.” His words make everyone stop.

“No!” Hera thrashes. “You can’t do that! It’s not your right!”

“Thanks to the Fates, it is my right.” Poseidon’s voice stops them cold. Some widen their eyes, others begin to grow scared. Dionysus smirks, loving this turn of events. Hephaestus gets close to his uncle and hands him the papers.

“Those aren’t signed right!” Hera tells him, her voice panicking. “He forced Zeus and my hand! You can’t grant it on a false signature!”

Hephaestus is nervous through it all as Poseidon reads each one. The King of the Seas only chuckles.

“But…” Poseidon holds up the first one, showing Zeus’s signature at the bottom of the mortality parchment. “It’s his signature.” He turns to the marriage parchment. “And this one has yours.”

“He forced it!”

“A signature is a signature.” Poseidon continued, he plants his trident against the floor, makes the parchments float in front of him and pulls a stamp of approval out of thin air, sparking more hope for Hephaestus.

“He can’t do that!” He almost frowns as he hears Aphrodite. She sounds desperate. Angry. Scared. So many things that Hephaestus believes are a lie. “I’m his wife! I refuse this!”

Poseidon snorts. Then he laughs. Hard. Triton himself also snorts and Kymopoleia just looks smug about something.

“What’s so funny!?” Aphrodite is angry now. Poseidon collects himself and goes to speak, but Hephaestus holds up a hand. A silent message goes off between the two before the Sea god allows Hephaestus the floor.

“You like to parade that.” Hephaestus turns to her, her wide pink eyes watching him. “But you have never once cared about that. You just wanted something to cheat on and shame.”

“No I didn’t! I wanted to be your wife! But you kept blowing me off! I—,”

“You just put a front up for Olympus.” She stops, Hephaestus’ words hitting her ears. “Don’t deny it. You were ready to spread your legs for every god on this mountain. You just wanted one more conquest. That’s why you tried so desperately to keep this marriage afloat. Because I have never once bought into your bullshit!” He scowls. “And you could never stomach that someone didn’t want you.”

“I… you think that…” Aphrodite’s voice was now small, as if she was going back through everything. Hephaestus doesn’t stop there.

“I don’t think it. I know it. Hundreds of times. I knew it. I knew it before the golden net. That’s how vain and prideful you were. You thought I would grow to love something like you. All you wanted was something to attack and ridicule. You and Ares would come into my temple and blast your affairs on my bed! You even tried to paint me as a father to a child that wasn’t mine.”

Aphrodite recoils at that. Hephaestus feels proud of himself for telling her off. But it’s not just her that needs it.

“And not just her.” Hephaestus turns to the other eight. “All of you did. Everyone on this mountain did outside of Dionysus and… Apollo.” That name makes Artemis ready to cry, but he pressed on. “You all mocked me for what Hera did to me. All of you joined in and laughed and made me feel like an idiot. But you forgot something, Olympians. Being ugly doesn’t equal stupid! Why would I want to be family with any of you when all you do is bully and harass me!? Why would I leave my forge and hang out with people who only wanted to ridicule me!?”

Hera’s face is in shambles, trying her hardest to gather something up. Zeus is enraged at him for speaking this way in his throne room. Others are looking down at the ground, realizing their participation in the ridicule only drove Hephaestus further to this point. Athena and Dionysus seem understanding though, but there’s grief and pain on the former's face.

“For what it’s worth, Hephaestus.” Poseidon offers a hand to his shoulder. “I am sorry for my roles in the past. I realize that this isn’t something that can be fixed with words, but I am sorry.”

Hephaestus looks at him. Poseidon had been one of them too. Hell, the payment of the golden net was a prime example. But the difference here was that Poseidon had grown since then. Became better. Unlike most of the others…

Perhaps that Jackson kid had something to do with it.

“Just grant me freedom, Uncle.” He says with a nod. “And I’ll say it’s a start.”

Poseidon nods, then looks down at the papers, bringing the stamp closer.

“No! Stop!” Aphrodite thrashes desperately, tears escaping her eyes. “I don’t want a divorce!”

“Stop him!” Zeus yells, chains breaking on Ares as they both charge. Triton handles Ares by himself, smacking the War God onto his rear with the butt end of his trident. Then flips him onto his stomach and kneels, planting his knee into Ares's back.

But Kymopoleia just gets in front of Hephaestus and blasts a large geyser of scalding hot water out of her palms straight at her bastard uncle. Before Zeus can even grab his bolt, the large beam of water makes contact with him, forcing the king of the gods backwards into his own throne. But because of the pressure the throne goes backwards with the king attached to his throne all the way into the wall behind him.

It’s only when Zeus loses the will to fight back that Kymopoleia lets her torrent stop. She gives a short nod to her cousin as he turns to his ‘wife’.

“You don’t get a choice.” Hephaestus snapped. “I’m done being your toy.”

“So what?” Aphrodite looks heartbroken, and Hephaestus knows it's a lie. “You’re not even going to give me a chance!? You're just… breaking up with me? After all of this!?”

Hephaestus is silent. He thinks back to every last thing that came out of their ‘marriage’. The attempts to get to know him to save her face. The infidelity right out of the gate. The attempt to lie about him being a father just to cuck him. The bragging. It all played in Hephaestus' mind.

“I can’t break up with someone…” Hephaestus spoke carefully, but firmly. “That I never had. Goodbye, Aphrodite.”

The love goddess now looks ready to cry as he turns back to Poseidon, who ignores Zeus’s attempts to stop him and slams the stamp down on the parchment of divinity.

Hephaestus’s world fades to black after that. The screams of despair from Aphrodite and Hera echoing in his mind.

Chapter Text

Once upon a time. There would have been a part of him that cared about his siblings. There would have been a time that Hades would have used everything in his disposal to defend Olympus. There would have been a time where he would have been proud to aid his siblings.

That time was gone. Had been gone for a long time.

He remembered when he was kicked out of Olympus by Zeus. Apparently being the King of the Underworld made him a threat. So Zeus had him removed.

Hestia and Poseidon both tried to fight him back then, claiming that they needed to be united, especially in the wake of their father’s rule. But Hera and Demeter just went along with it, believing Zeus to be correct. Like he could never tell a lie.

That still sickened Hades to this day.

But he left on his own, abandoning a throne that would later be given to one of Zeus’s bastards in Hermes.

That alone showed Hades what Zeus truly cared about. Power and Control.

And Hermes was easier to boss around than Hades.

*

The marriage with Persephone was a full blown disaster.

Mostly because Demeter pointed the finger at Hades and no one else. Like Zeus could do no wrong in the matter. As if they hadn’t been trapped in their father’s stomach for so long that they should have known each other more.

Now, his wife is gone half a year. And Hades remains in the Underworld without his queen.

Is it really that surprising when Hades strays for the first time?

Their marriage is an open one. But his heart doesn’t bleed any less when Persephone is gone.

But still, even after having several children with his wife, Hades doesn’t feel any less lonely. Persephone tries, sending letters and other things to keep her husband sane, but she can only do so much without Demeter throwing a temper tantrum.

He wonders what happened to the sister who once didn’t look at Hades like enemy number one, instead as a fellow survivor of Kronos.

Hades honestly can’t answer the question. And he has a feeling that not even the Fates know that answer either.

*

He would be the first to admit he made a mistake when it came to Thalia Grace.

High off of his rage from what Zeus did to Maria out of pettiness and spite, on top of the Oath of the Big Three, he attacked Thalia with blind fury, wanting to punish Zeus for what he had done.

It was a hollow victory for Hades as Zeus was forced to turn her into a tree. A small part of him smug, thinking Zeus finally understood the consequences of attacking his blood and kin.

But later, all Hades felt was emptiness. And it was here that Hades realized something.

Revenge had no winners. Just suckers looking for motivation.

*

Bianca dies not even a month with the hunt.

And Hades is absolutely furious.

No one knows how close he was to seeking retribution against Artemis herself for her clear and plaintive sexism. Males were the biggest scumbags in her eyes, yet she rips sisters from the arms of their brothers for her beliefs. She knew what she was doing when she gunned for Bianca while she still had Nico to worry about.

He wouldn’t go for her hunters though. Not when she would just get more.

No. Hades would have gone straight for Artemis herself to make her suffer.

They have no clue how close he had really been to doing it. Deploying every monster he had at his disposal to keep her hunters at bay from interfering while he had the Furies and Cerberus aid him to humiliate the goddess where she stood. He could almost picture it too, watching his ‘niece’ crumble and beg for mercy for what she had done. And if Zeus tried to stop him, he would make sure he had every dead bird at his disposal peck the ever living shit out of him.

It was only Persephone, who had been with him at the time, that stopped him from doing so.

And he had never been so thankful for his wife. Bless her beautiful soul for her existence.

*

Poseidon quitting made Hades freeze as Alecto reported this to him immediately. But he dismisses her and hides behind his mask of neutrality.

He doesn’t think it would last. Poseidon most likely will cave and go right back to him. Especially because Zeus is the King of the Gods and… Chaos did that title sicken Hades to his core.

And he was never so hopeful that he was wrong.

He remembers when he and Poseidon actually tried to play some board games once upon a time, only for Zeus to crash the party, blow up their game of Risk, and call them both threats to his throne, accusing them of plotting his downfall.

Poseidon was ready to fight back, true in defiance of their brother to brother time, but Hades just kicked them both out of his palace. Zeus’s face alone just sickens Hades now.

There had never been another attempt to play anything, now that Zeus ruined that too. Like he always did. Poseidon kept trying, but Hades would close his heart to him.

He was done setting himself up for failure.

*

Despite everything that happened with Percy Jackson, Hades was surprised to get an invite one day.

One from the demigod in question, who got him a cabin in camp, who did more than any demigod or god did for him despite the history between them, asking if the god would be willing to attend a cookout at his beachside cabin.

Hades has a strong sense that Poseidon has something to do with it. As he always did, wanting to speak with his brother like old times. And for a second he almost declines it.

But for once, he has little work. Persephone is up above with her mother… his children are all out doing their own things… and Hades…

He’s all alone. Once again.

He damns his bleeding heart as he gets up to leave the throne room. Setting himself up once again for disappointment.

*

As it turns out, it’s actually not that bad.

He’s too close to the sea for his liking, but he actually spends time with Poseidon once again. Along with his wife, Amphitrite, nephews and nieces from his younger brother and his latest, and last apparently, demigod Percy Jackson and that Chase girl. Craziest guest being Apollo, who Hades thought would have returned to Olympus by now. But here he is being a mortal man.

It’s odd for him to sit at the table with these people. But slowly, he lowers his walls and joins in conversation. Sharing stories and making pleasant conversation since… he doesn’t know how long.

He can see Poseidon giving him a smile from the other end of the table as he listens to something from his nephew, the one from Zeus anyway. He in turn scoffs and just doesn’t make eye contact with him.

But overall? It’s nice… nicer than most things these days anyway.

And Hades had the smallest hope that it wouldn’t be the last.

*

"Fetch!" Hades yells as he throws the three rubber balls away into the fields of the Underworld. Cerberus perks up and chases the balls, barking the whole way to the bouncing toys.

"I thought I would find you out here." Hades looks over his shoulder to Persephone, approaching him with a small smile as she comes in on his side and leans into his body. "What are you doing?"

The Lord of the Dead only chuckles as he slides a hand around his wife's waist, watching Cerberus's three heads pick up each ball one at a time and then strut his way back over to his master with pep in his step. "Thought I would come out here and play with him for a bit. He's been ignored for too long."

"Perhaps Jackson and Chase could use a chance to see Cerberus again." Persephone hummed, pecking her husband's cheek. Hades nods. He hasn't forgotten that the two owe Cerberus a new ball. Perhaps he could bring him up to the cabin to see them again. It would do Cerberus some good to be out of the Underworld for a little bit. And Cerberus was really good at making people feel better... at least when he wasn't busy guarding the entrance anyway.

He had always been so busy with work that he barely had time to help Persephone with their own children, let alone play with his three headed dog. Nico and Hazel would attempt to when Zagreus could not, but they weren't here all the time.

He wasn't moving on Charon though. He needed to stop letting people bribe him before he even thought of increasing his pay.

*

He gets a letter from Zeus, or at least that’s what the name claims, but Hades isn’t an idiot.

It clearly was written by Hera, or the very least someone else, rather than Zeus, as Hades can recognize the handwriting. Showing that his ‘little brother’ thought someone else’s writing could make it genuine.

And he nearly throws the blasted thing in the fire.

Unlike Poseidon, Zeus has shown that the only thing he cares about after all these years is himself. Not his kids, his siblings, and sure as hell not his wife. So when Hades actually shadow-travels into the throne room, all gods present except the obvious Apollo and Poseidon, he remains silent.

There’s a blank throne in between Hera and Ares. Clearly, the absence of the other two have changed the throne order too. His eyes scan around the room, and his mouth remains closed. It doesn’t take Hades long to figure out what he’s being offered.

It’s so funny how once upon a time, this was what Hades would have wanted. A place on Olympus. But after everything, it wasn’t just the throne he wanted. It was to be with his family.

And his family sure as Tartarus wasn’t here on this mountain.

Before Zeus can even begin to speak what was a steaming pile of bullshit, Hades sneers.

“Do you expect me to be some kind of replacement?” He asks, disgusted and irritated.

“Uncle…” Athena begins, trying to play peacemaker. “Please just hear us out.”

Hades snarls, threateningly. Athena quivers in her seat. Good. Give these bastards of Zeus something to fear. Too long have they been up here thinking that just because their father is the king of the gods that it makes them invincible.

“Oh, of course his first response is to villainize!” Demeter wails, “If only he ate more-,”

“YOU SHUT YOUR MOUTH, HARLOT!” Hades explodes, done with the brat of a sister. Demeter actually jumps at his tone, then gasps as she processes the last word.

“SILENCE!” Zeus’s voice explodes, silencing the council of gods, well the ones that remain anyway, and stares at Hades. “Don’t be difficult, Hades. You’re being offered a spot on Olympus again.”

Hades eyes the blank throne once again. He scoffs. “Yes… I wonder why…” His onyx eyes trail over the council, sadistic and knowing. “Perhaps it’s because Poseidon quit? Or is it because you finally failed Apollo? I wonder which one it is?”

Artemis flinches. Hermes clenches his fists. Ares looks ready to jump him for that comment. Hestia gives a sad smile in the fire, silent once more. Another sibling that Zeus disrespected for absolute power.

“It doesn’t matter.” Hera sneered. “You’re being offered a spot to rejoin the council regardless. Just take your-,”

Hades snarls, blasting the blank throne with black fire. The throne explodes, making Hera and Ares jump as the remnants of the throne crash around them.

“No.” Hades clenches his fist, putting out the fire. “I think not.”

Zeus is furious. “I offer you a chance to rejoin us, and this is what I get!?”

Hades chuckles. “If I recall correctly, I was kicked out for being a threat.” He looks smug at Zeus. “Which if I remember correctly, was your doing. Now I’m suddenly an ally with Poseidon gone? I disagree heavily with your flawed logic, Zeus.”

He looks around at Demeter and Hera. “Besides. Last I checked, these two would rather see me drop dead than sit here. Like they believed eons ago. And to think, we once suffered in our father's stomach together. I guess none of that mattered to you two when you agreed with Zeus.”

“Uncle…” Athena sighs, knowing the Lord of the Dead was not going to join them now.

“Brother…” Hera begins to speak something, only for Hades to summon his bident. His sword was still strapped to his hip, but he found himself falling back on his staff more. Despite everything that his wife, son, nephew and niece did to get it.

“Do not…!” Hades growled, stopping Hera in her tracks. “Call me brother.” He puts the butt end against the floor. “That title is reserved for my family. Which, last time I checked, are my only sister, Hestia, my only brother Poseidon, my wife and children from both her and affairs. And any blood that comes from both siblings. They are my family.” His gaze turns cold and hostile as he stares at Zeus, Demeter and Hera. “You three… are not!”

Demeter and Hera looked like they just got slapped in the face with cold water.

“How dare you!” Zeus roars, getting up from his chair. To anyone else, the god would have been threatening.

But not to Hades. He had enough of his bullshit.

“Do you expect blind loyalty?” Hades was genuinely amused by his actions. “Honestly. There’s no difference between you and father these days. Not with all of the victims you piled up.”

Zeus froze as Hades stalks closer with that claim. His eyes are cold and dangerous. “I’ll say this once. And only once. Since the day you banished me for being a ‘threat’, you three have never once, never could be, or ever will be my family again! You sick, disgusting hypocrites are so deep in your own shit, you can’t even smell anything but your egos that came right from our degenerate father! No wonder that your own youngest son despises you in the afterlife! You played favorite’s and broke your laws with Thalia Grace, but then allowed Jason Grace to die. What a horrible father.”

He doesn't have to be a genius to know that Thalia found out about Jason's death. And more importantly, her father's lack of action to his demise. He wouldn't be surprised if Thalia didn't respect or wish to see her father anymore.

“You…” Zeus begins, but Hades shuts him up again by clenching his fist. Almost instantly, the room dims around them and there are voices around them, angry, vengeful, sad, broken voices that make all the remaining Olympians stop. Hades knows that the gods present recognize at least one of the dozens of them.

Their dead children, berating or cursing them from beyond the grave. Even Ares and Athena falter, most likely hearing one of their children cuss them out.

“Do you think that everyone you used and killed doesn’t have a voice?” Hades asked, voice cold and calculating. “Every last victim or tool all of you made comes to me eventually. And boy, when some of them learn what killed them and why… they are quite angry.” He leans his head forward slightly. “Why are you an exception… God of Justice?”

Hades stalks away from Zeus, who’s shaking in his throne. He ignores the pained look of Hera, revels in the guilty look of Zeus’s bastards, almost winces at Hestia’s sad but proud smile, and pretends Demeter doesn’t exist. “Now. I will make this clear once. And only once. Do not bother me with your two faced bribes anymore! And do not even think of going after another one of my children again, Zeus. For if you do, I will make sure to release every victim that you created from the Underworld and make sure they haunt you and this hypocritical empire for the rest of eternity… Even if it kills me!”

He turns around to Zeus again, enjoying the god shaking in fear. “And that’s not a threat, Zeus... That’s a vow on my very existence!”

“Hades please, stop!” Hera pleads. “We’re supposed to be family!”

Hades scoffs and looks over all of them again. He can see a scowl on Hephaestus and Dionysus like they disagree with Hera. Silence on everyone else and hurt on Demeter and Hera’s faces. For once, it was like he broke the illusion that was over their eyes and awoke them to their sins. Hestia just looks at him sadly, but nods, wanting him to stay true to himself.

She was and always will be Hades’s favorite sibling.

“We share blood from our mother.” Hades acknowledged. “But after eons of being treated like crap… after eons of one injustice after another… after Zeus here treats every child I have as an outcast and something to kill… I can say confidently that we are not family!” He declares, “Farewell, blood of Kronos!”

He ignores the gasps of pain and disbelief as he shadow travels away, ignoring the pained cries of most of them at the comparison.

*

Weeks later, Hephaestus has fallen to mortality alongside Apollo, and Hades sits outside with Percy and Poseidon as he watches Amphitrite and Persephone converse by the surf. Annabeth was inside speaking with Hephaestus about her bike and Apollo retired to his room early.

“You know, Uncle…” Hades turns his head to Percy, who looks like he realized something. “If you were to keep coming here… Persephone wouldn’t be breaking the rules by seeing you, would she?”

Poseidon is amused, catching his son’s logic. “True. We’re not in the Underworld. Persephone isn’t breaking the rules with her mother if she comes down here, is she? It’s not your fault if you end up coming here too.”

Hades almost scoffs, but he remains silent. A chance to see his wife year-round. The obvious olive branch is there, and he can tell that Poseidon and his nephew want him to take it. Some habits are hard to break though.

“I don’t see why you would offer that.” Hades brings his wine to his face again. Putting his walls back up on instinct.

“Oh for the love of-, Uncle, accept the fact that we want to have you around!” Percy snaps, catching both his father and uncle off guard. Hades blinks, then tries his best to recover from that.

“Exactly.” Poseidon nods in agreement. “Family is meant to stand together. If you didn’t want to be family, why would you continue to come here?”

Hades bristles at that. Poseidon hums in understanding and gives Percy a silent message, who gets up and goes inside. With him gone, Hades leans forward staring at the fire.

“Brother.” Poseidon says. “We’re not turning our backs on you. I won’t let that happen. Never again.”

“You can’t promise that.” Hades snaps, his eyes between bitter and fragile.

“You’re right.” Poseidon acknowledges. He grows serious. “But I’ll be damned if I let Zeus or anyone destroy it again. We either stand together or not at all.” He sits back in the seat. “Otherwise, we are no better than those of before.”

Hades is silent, taking another sip then stares at Poseidon again. He smirks challengingly. “Don’t make me regret it, brother.”

Poseidon chuckles. “I don’t plan to, brother.”

Hades allows the smallest chuckle to escape his lips. Perhaps things are going to be different now. 

And for once, Hades looks forward to the future.

Chapter Text

It takes some getting used to, but Annabeth actually doesn’t mind the company of Apollo and Hephaestus.

It’s funny watching these two get used to a situation where they don’t have the absolute power to do something. Although it is slightly funny watching Hephaestus mess with tools for the bike she has that refuses to work most of the time.

But she isn’t ignorant to the mental issues those two have. It doesn’t take much for Percy to basically do something with them in a guys night kind of thing. Hell, she joined in on them several times simply because they were doing something like Mario Party.

If she were younger…

Oh for fucks sake.

The last thing Annabeth wanted to think about was the past. Not because she regretted it or because it was bad… never mind the fact that a good chunk of it was bad. But it reminded her of a time where she was so blind to Athena that she was basically bending over like a dog for attention.

And making some of the stupidest mistakes of her life.

The Capture the Flag game before her first quest with Percy still stained Annabeth’s mind to this day. At the time, she thought it was the perfect plan, something that was fool proof. But now?

Now she saw it as the stupidest fucking plan imaginable.

After all, why would troops follow her on a battlefield if they thought she was going to sacrifice them or use them as a toy at any time?

In all honesty, she was lucky Percy ended up being a child of Poseidon and that there had been a creek nearby. For all of her faults, that was one of her worst. And she was lucky that Percy didn’t hate her after that.

Sometimes she still felt she deserved his scorn. Sometimes she felt like she deserved to be attacked or ridiculed by others for her mistakes. Like she was just as evil as her mother. Just another monster created from Athena like Medusa and Arachne.

Yet, Percy never saw her like that.

She prayed to whatever allowed her to have such a relationship after all of this. Because it sure as hell wasn’t her deadbeat, selfish mother.

*

She goes to class one day and catches Athena coming in the door as the substitute teacher. Really? Ms. Olympia? How original.

Before the goddess can even address the class, Annabeth is grabbing her stuff and walking out the door, ignoring her as she goes. She doesn’t want to hear it. Knowing that whatever comes out of Athena’s mouth after class is going to be something against her current life.

For the first time, Annabeth doesn’t care if she skips class.

*

“Really?” Percy asks later, sitting down with Annabeth, Apollo and Hephaestus at the table for dinner. “A whole week, Annabeth?”

Annabeth sighed, but nodded once, not touching her chicken. Turns out, Athena was dead set on speaking with Annabeth considering she found herself dodging the goddess all week. She didn’t really care if the others on campus had a problem with it. It just sucked because Annabeth actually liked learning something. Guess this was something that Athena ruined too.

“Wow…” Apollo messes with his glass. “Didn’t think she could be that desperate.”

“I can.” Hephaestus grumbles, messing with the rice. “I may respect Athena, but even I can see where she falters.”

She’s surprised the former god of fire is so open about his opinion. Then again, given how they interact when Poseidon and Hades come over, it’s not that surprising.

The doorbell rings, getting Percy up out of his seat as he goes for the door. Annabeth finally goes to take a bite of her chicken, wanting to enjoy her meal.

“Annabeth.” She spits it out, almost in Apollo’s face as the tone reaches her ears. She takes a moment, then looks over her shoulder to see the one person she doesn’t want to see right now.

Athena stands before her, for once not wearing any sort of armor, behind her is Percy, who was clearly shoved to the side to allow her entry. He doesn’t look happy and Annabeth is almost pissed.

“Wow…” Annabeth said dryly, turning back to her meal. “The wisdom goddess remembered my name everyone.”

Apollo snorts, Percy smirks and Hephaestus just puts his face in his cup, covering his mouth from view. Athena is not impressed.

“I’m not in the mood for your temper tantrum.” Athena is dismissive, cold and speaking with authority. “And I’m done with you disobeying me.”

“Disobeying?” Annabeth doesn’t turn around, but she knows what Athena is talking about.

“You have been lacking in your duties to rebuild Olympus.”

“I thought I made it clear that I quit. Or do you not know how to read anymore?”

“Wait. What?” Annabeth pressed her lips together as her boyfriend spoke with confusion in his tone. Right. She forgot to tell Percy that part.

“My daughter quit being Olympus’s architect. The very prize she was given after the second titan war.” Athena now rounded on Percy with a sneer. “And I assume you are at fault for it.”

That ticks something off in Annabeth’s mind.

“No. I just got tired of looking at you when all you do is remind me of Arachne.”

Apollo freezes, looking over her head at the person behind Annabeth, before she hears the sound of footsteps and a hand grab her arm. Before she can even process it, Annabeth is pulled from her chair forcefully and thrown against the floor.

Athena is now angry, staring down at Annabeth. She’s not in her armor, but her eyes glow grey like she’s about to blast her.

“HOW DARE YOU!” Athena roars, an echo in her voice. Hephaestus is out of his seat, closing in on her with a dinner knife. It doesn’t seem like he has any problems trying to subdue her.

But then the cabin shakes, before another flash goes off.

“ATHENA!” Poseidon roars as he flashes into the living room, trident out and ready to strike.

“NO!” Annabeth pushes to her feet and holds a hand out at Poseidon. “Not now!”

Percy is nervous, even after all of Tartarus, he can’t stand to see Annabeth ready to die. But Annabeth doesn’t care.

She’s done listening to this bitch.

Poseidon looks angry, but he backs off, allowing Annabeth the floor. She steps closer to Athena and,

SMACK!

Not even Apollo can keep it back as Annabeth essentially sucker punched Athena with every last bit of strength that she has. The goddess goes backward into the table, Apollo grabbing his meal and standing up before Annabeth scoops up the kitchen knife she had for self defense purposes.

But before she can move with it, Athena is already trying to attack her. Her spear is out as she pushes Annabeth back. Unfortunately, she forgot about the knife as Annabeth takes it and rams it right into her stomach.

Athena howls in pain as Annabeth kicks her off. The Wisdom goddess stumbles, falling to the floor before Annabeth kicks the spear away and starts slashing.

No one steps in to stop her as she unleashes every ounce of rage and trauma on her target. Athena hisses and snarls, golden blood flying around them but Annabeth refuses to stop cutting, knowing that one single second of hesitation would allow Athena to regain control. Her brain turns off, caught in the fog of anger while she swings and swings and swings and-,

“Annabeth!” Percy cuts through the fog in her mind, catching her arm by the wrist and stopping her from swinging again. It’s here that Annabeth’s senses come back to her as she stares at her godly parent.

Athena has cuts all over her face, wounds that leak gold due to the strikes of her knife. She’s lost the will to fight back, like she’s trying to analyze why Annabeth is doing this. Hell, she hasn’t made an attempt to get up even after Percy stopped her daughter.

“You want to know…” Annabeth shoves out between breaths. “Why… I quit? …Simple.” She grits her teeth. “It’s because you kept preaching… that Percy was a bad match for me! Even when I just wanted to work… you just had too many things to say about him! And none of them were even good!”

Apollo frowns, looking down at Athena with disappointment.

“He’ll cheat on me…” Annabeth began to list off Athena’s words. “He’ll dump me for a better woman… He’ll leave me eventually… Honestly. I got sick of it all! I got sick of you trying to act like my mother, when you have never once cared about me unless I did something to earn your attention! You think I’m just a weapon at your disposal! Your statue was all the proof I needed to know that!”

“Annabeth…” Athena chokes out.

“NO!” Annabeth explodes, wrapping her hand around Athena’s throat. “I’M DONE! YOU DON’T GET TO BOSS ME AROUND AND EXPECT LOYALTY FROM ME! NOT AFTER YOUR ACTIONS CAUSED ME TO FALL INTO TARTARUS! YOU WANT ME TO BREAK UP WITH PERCY, YET HE WAS THE ONE WHO MADE SURE I WALKED OUT OF THAT PIT! HIM! NOT YOU!”

“Annabeth…” Percy’s voice is soft, already soothing Annabeth from her rage. She takes a deep and shaky breath, lets go of her mother’s neck and backs up.

“I know…” Annabeth says, swallowing her emotions. “She’s not worth it. She never was.”

“You dare…” Athena is angry. “I am… your mother…”

“Poseidon is more of a father to me than you are a mother.” Annabeth sneers down at her. Apollo coughs on his rice, Hephaestus snorts and Poseidon turns his head away, most likely hiding some sort of smirk. “I’ll accept a parent who’s trying to actually help me rather than one that only helps themself and gives me PTSD.”

Athena stops at this, like she’s actually hearing this bit for the first time. “What…”

“Oh, that’s right.” Annabeth laughs bitterly. “You don’t care. If your weapon is perfectly functionable you don’t give a shit. Maybe that’s why so many of my fucking siblings died for your pride!”

“No, you…” Athena is shaky, like she’s unable to handle what she’s hearing. “You don’t… you don’t have that…”

Annabeth’s lips curled down. “I can’t even go to bed at night without Percy around because all that happens is me being back in that pit! How does that feel? Knowing that the reason we fell in there is your fault.”

“No, you can’t!” Athena yells. “I made you! You-,”

“Oh? You made me?” Annabeth snarls. “News flash! You didn’t raise me! Neither did dad! Thalia, Luke and Chiron raised me! Because you couldn’t do it yourself! Just like how you couldn’t stop yourself from killing Pallas!”

Athena goes cold. Not a trace of anger left. Only horror. Poseidon chokes, as does Hephaestus and Apollo, the latter two watching Athena closely.

“Annabeth…” Percy is cautious, getting ready to grab her and go.

“I…” Athena’s voice now fails, like she’s lost all sense of dignity. “No… I…” she tries to gather herself again. “No. This can be fixed. I can help you-,”

That only pisses Annabeth off.

“I DON'T WANT YOUR HELP!” Annabeth practically roars at the top of her lungs. Athena flinches hard, losing her step once again. “YOU NEVER HELPED ME! AND I DON’T NEED YOUR HELP! GET OUT OF MY LIFE!”

Athena remains quiet, heartbreak all over her face. She slowly rises to her feet, opens her mouth once… then she closes her eyes and leaves, flashing out of the cabin.

Annabeth falls to her knees, head facing the floor, and just lets go. Percy kneels on one knee and puts a hand to her shoulder, allowing her to get it out of her system.

*

Athena never tried to talk to her after that. And Annabeth pretty much retreats into her shell as she doesn’t want to talk to anyone.

She doesn’t leave her room unless it’s to go to class. Percy brings meals to her, but she doesn’t finish them until they’ve long gone cold.

Then one time, four days in, Poseidon comes knocking.

“Annabeth Chase…” He says, stepping into the bedroom.

“Lord Poseidon.” Annabeth remains curled up in a ball on the bed. Her boyfriend’s father sits on the bed, doing nothing to gain her attention.

“I thought we abandoned the Lord titles?” Poseidon smirked. “Has my son corrupted you?”

Annabeth allows the smallest smile. “He does that from time to time.” She shifts. “Did he send you?”

“No.” Poseidon answers, allowing his trident to lean on the bed. “I actually had him sit out for this.”

Annabeth looks over her shoulder. “I figured it was… appropriate to tell you the truth about the so-called… rivalry.”

“What do you mean?” She frowned, going to sit up. “Wasn’t it about Athens?”

Poseidon gives the smallest smile, almost painful, and shakes his head. “No. No it was not. That was a contest in my eyes. Nothing more.” He grew serious. “No. The truth about it comes from something far more serious.”

“Pallas…” Annabeth’s voice is a small one, laced with realization. Poseidon nods.

“Indeed.” The King of the Seas began. “Eons ago when your mother was born from Zeus’s skull, she was taken down to Atlantis to be raised by someone who could raise her. My eldest son, Triton. Because of this, she was raised as Pallas’s sister. They did almost everything together. And I would swear on my very existence that in that period of time… that was the happiest Athena had ever been in her life.”

He sighed looking down at the bed with bitterness. “But then… it happened.”

“Athena killed Pallas during a sparring match.” Annabeth continued.

“No, Annabeth.” Poseidon looked at her. “Zeus killed Pallas.”

“Huh?” Now Annabeth was confused.

“During a sparring match, Zeus showed up and placed an aegis in the way, causing Pallas to be distracted… which then led to Athena stabbing her.” Poseidon explained.

“What…” Annabeth was speechless.

“By the time I realized the truth of what happened, I had already banished Athena from Atlantis. The people calling her a traitor for what she had done to Triton’s blood daughter.”

“But then why…” Annabeth was confused about something. “Why is there a rivalry? That doesn’t seem like a stable ground for that kind of thing.”

Poseidon almost snarled. “Because Zeus wormed his way into Athena’s head. Now that Triton did all the work raising and training her, Zeus had his chance to force his way in and convince her that I used Pallas as an excuse to kick her out when I always planned to. In a sense, the rivalry was nothing but revenge for what she views as me using Pallas to get rid of her.”

Annabeth remained quiet. Wow. Still a giant douchebag.

“Have you tried talking to her?”

“Do you really think she would listen to me?” Poseidon tilted his head forward slightly. It took three seconds for Annabeth to come up with the answer.

No. No she wouldn’t.

“I’m sorry.” Annabeth said after a moment.

“It’s not your fault.” Poseidon waved her off. “The one I blame for the incident now is Zeus. Once again being the world's biggest asshole. And because he has the power… no one stands up to him.”

“You are.” Annabeth pointed out. “So is Lord Hades. Lord Apollo and Lord Hephaestus are standing up to him by essentially going on strike. Not the same thing I’m aware of, but a similar concept.”

Poseidon chuckled. “Yes. It only took two horrible wars back to back and you and my son falling somewhere where not even gods should go to be the lighter. It’s not like Zeus ever cared about though.”

Annabeth sighed, falling back against the bed. “Yeah… probably not.”

*

She knows Percy’s coming to talk about it. After all, it had been her dream once upon a time to build something grand.

“You know you didn’t have to quit.” Percy says, sitting down on the couch with her. For once, alone as the others have retired to bed.

“I didn’t have to.” Annabeth acknowledged. “But I wanted to.” She snuggles into his lap. “After all, the less contact I have with gods the better. And you’re down here, so I have no reason to go there.”

Percy smirks, and brings a hand to his chin in thought. “Ah. So what you’re saying is that their construction is beyond repair.” She snorts from his obvious attempt to get a laugh from her.

She cups his chin. “Not even the fates know how to fix that place.”

Percy chuckles as Annabeth brings her lips to his.

*

“You want the ball?” Annabeth is looking up, adjusting the catapult. Cerberus is just ready to pounce. His three heads remained locked on the triple launcher with three balls loaded and his front is low like he’s ready to just leap onto the thing. “Go get it!”

She almost laughs as Cerberus takes off down the beach, sand flying everywhere as he chases the balls. With her is Persephone, who gives a sigh watching the three headed dog run.

“Hades is sure going to hate cleaning him of the sand later.” The queen remarks as Annabeth winds the contraption back up. “But perhaps he’ll see this as a chance to give him a bath again…”

“Aw, but Cerberus is such a good boy!” Annabeth pouted, watching the giant dog move in the sand.

“That is he…” Persephone nodded. “He’s excellent in therapy too. Just curls up next to you and just lets you relax with him. Honestly the amount of times that he sneaks into the gardens alone just to comfort me or Hades is both infuriating and adorable.”

The funny thing for Annabeth is that she can totally see it. Just a giant three headed dog breaking into the gardens and just waiting for you brought some amusement to her.

Perhaps that was the reason Cerberus was busy with her today. Because she was still feeling down about everything that happened recently.

“Hey Annabeth! Package for you!” The blonde frowns as she hears Percy’s voice from the back porch. She didn’t order anything…

She leaves Persephone alone at the catapult and climbs the stairs, seeing a package that has stickers like it came from… Olympus.

She clenches her fists. So that’s how this was going to be, huh? Athena thought she could bribe her now?

In rage, she stalks toward the box and pretty much punches a hole in the top. Percy was offering her a knife, but he just relaxes again as Annabeth tears it open to find a letter addressed to her. Along with… a knife.

But not just any knife. The same knife that Luke gave her when she was seven. The very knife that was the cursed blade in the second titan war prophecy.

The same one she lost in the depths of Tartarus.

She picks it up carefully, inspecting every last inch of it. At first, she almost considers it to be an exquisite duplicate meant to trick her. But she sees the lines and scratches throughout the blade.

No matter how much a blacksmith tries, you can’t copy battle scars on a weapon.

She tries and fails to ignore the small voice in the back of her mind, telling her the dark truth of how Athena got this knife.

*

Another dinner with everyone brings something to her attention.

Hades had told the table that Medusa and Arachne were dead. And at first, it didn’t seem like anything serious. They were monsters after all. They would just come back.

But of course, Annabeth was the first to realize the point Hades was making. They were not coming back.

“What killed them?” Annabeth said, raising her glass. “If you don’t mind me asking.”

“A spear.” Hades was quick to answer. “To the back of the neck. Both times.”

She freezes as she realizes who killed them and how. The others seem to realize it as well, putting the pieces together between the two monsters and a spear.

Perhaps Athena was starting to understand why pride wasn’t worth it.

*

She gets a call from Malcolm almost three days later, asking if she got a letter from Athena.

Apparently everyone in the Athena cabin got a letter addressed from their mother. Apologies, remorse and honesty seeping through the papers that makes the cabin worried about their mother.

Annabeth doesn’t know how to respond to that. Not because she didn’t get one. She got hers two days ago. She just doesn’t understand what led the goddess to this decision. Trying to apologize to her children and act like a mother was not something on Annabeth’s bingo card.

She leaves hers unopened once more, not wanting to read the words of a woman who never showed she cared.

*

Annabeth remains conflicted, not sure what to think of the sudden change in her mother. Clearly Athena was doing things because now the sky was thundering like crazy.

And only a fool or a non clear sighted mortal would be foolish enough to think it’s a normal storm. But one quick check with Poseidon shows that this thunderstorm is covering the entire country. The winds were howling outside and the sky remained dark and ominous.

She was in the living room. Apollo was sitting in the recliner, tilted forward and looking at the ground. He was muttering something under his breath that sounded like prayers to Artemis, or rather for her. Hephaestus is quiet on the floor, messing with more gadgets and tools, but he keeps eyeing the ceiling like he expects it to burst open. Percy sits with her on the couch, doing his best not to be anxious about the booming storm.

A loud boom goes off, frightening all present. But there was not a single flash of lightning around, almost as if it came from miles away. Suddenly, the storm stops, like the rage of Mother Nature was stopped by something. Then it begins to pour. Hard.

A bright flash goes off in the living room. Bringing everyone to their feet. There stands Poseidon, covered in someone’s ichor and looking like a mess, and in his arms… was…

Athena. Burnt. Limp. Unresponsive. Wounds running deep and still gushing. Her clothes burnt and her armor destroyed like she had been struck by…

Annabeth stopped herself as Percy took control of the situation.

*

Sure enough. The truth was extremely ugly.

Despite Apollo’s hopes and prayers, Artemis had cut the chains and attacked Zeus verbally for what he was in character. The King in a fit of rage threw his bolt at her to silence her…

And Athena took the hit.

Once the goddess went down, it became a mess. Some fled, not wanting to be anywhere near Zeus with the ugly truth out for the world to see. Poseidon had come there to speak with Athena on the letter he got, only to find Zeus striking Athena down.

From the story Annabeth got, Poseidon saw red and attacked Zeus viciously, catching the king off guard and pummeling him into his own throne. Then grabbed Athena and took her away before Zeus could stop him.

Which was why he brought her here.

It had been another two weeks since then. But Athena… She didn’t wake up.

Her wounds were healed, but she remained unresponsive on the guest bed. She just breathed in and out, sometimes a wheeze escaping her mouth, and didn’t move.

Annabeth sat in a chair right next to her bed. The unopened letter in her lap as her grey eyes watch Athena’s form.

Apollo had diagnosed that Athena was in a coma. He may not have his godly powers anymore, but practice was hard to break. He could see the signs. And Athena, while still a god, was not going to just shrug it off and be fine.

There was no telling when she would wake up. Or if she would.

Zeus’s actions had hurt his standing with the Greek Pantheon. At least that’s what Annabeth and Percy heard from Hades. There was already conflict because of Apollo’s refusal to return and then Hephaestus leaving everyone behind. But Athena being struck down by Zeus himself was a straw that broke the camel’s back.

No one seemed to like the fact that Zeus was willing to kill one of his children so easily. Especially when that child was Athena.

Now Annabeth sat, watching her mother’s form carefully. Before she turned her eyes down to the letter in her lap.

With careful hands, she tore it open, revealing a singular slap of paper, written in writing that could be only from a writer. But Annabeth wasn’t here for the writing.

She was here for what she wrote.

Daughter…

No. Perhaps I don’t have the right to call you that. Especially after recently. Chaos knows I’m not a mother. And I don’t have a right to call you my daughter. I know you have every right to hate me, Annabeth. Neglect aside, I acted like your life was mine. And it’s not mine to control.

You were right about one thing. I don’t get to treat you like this. Not when you’ve already done so much for Olympus alongside many others. Fighting the Titans and the Giants back to back, then plunging somewhere not even we go because of my need for a statue… a statue that got many of your siblings killed already.

But I want you to know, Annabeth. That I was never disappointed with you. Even if you think I never cared, I did. But I didn’t care enough when I should have. I fell into old habits. I made myself void of emotion. And for what? What did I accomplish?

Mouths full of scorn and hate. And I deserve every last word from each and every one of them.

I’m not writing this letter as an excuse. Fates above know that that’s the last thing you want to hear. I’m writing this as a goodbye. You probably won’t see me again if I follow through with everything I’m planning. And that’s okay with me… as long as you live.

Live your life, Annabeth. Live what is your right to do. And never, let anyone take that from you.

If you can… tell Perseus that I said sorry for judging him… sorry that I treated him so harshly… and tell Poseidon and Triton while you're at it that I’m sorry for failing Pallas for so long…

Sincerely, Athena

By the time Percy found her hours later, the letter had tear stains on it as she threw herself over the form of her mother and cried her heart out.

Chapter Text

He should have known that Zeus’s law was going to fuck them over eventually.

He just wished it hadn’t been so catastrophic. Minor gods turning on Olympus, even ones that had a parent in an Olympian. And their own children listening to Kronos…

Hermes didn’t need to be a genius to know that Kronos barely had to lie. Especially when Zeus did all the work for him.

Zeus had done the blame game too when it was over. Blamed it on Hermes for fathering Luke. It was only Athena and Hera, that one still shocked him, that reminded him of the titan that whispered in his son’s head.

For some reason he was willing to let that go. Named Kronos the reason why the second titan war happened and then acted like it never happened.

Hermes was beginning to understand the real reason why Percy Jackson said no to Godhood. He may not be Athena or Apollo, but he could understand the faults of gods.

Unlike some, willing to live in blissful ignorance.

*

Apollo was punished for the Giant War. Because his Roman legacy Octavian followed in the same steps as Luke. Not exactly but similar.

But unlike before, Zeus refused to let that go.

After all, how do you explain that Gaea was the one doing the whispering when the primordial was gone. No confession or boasting along with it.

He knows he should have fought it. He should have defended Apollo. Helped him. Maybe even helped him get away.

But he hid like a coward. He let Apollo fall to mortality. And when the quest was over…

Hermes already knew he screwed up. Again.

He could see the hollowness in Apollo’s eyes where no else could. Zeus had been happily boasting about how his ‘son’ earned a spot on Olympus again for his crime. He had been so smug and cocky that when Apollo said…

“No.”

Hermes remembered that day vividly. For once, a bitter fire was in Apollo’s eyes. The grand speech that Zeus had cooked up had gone silent as all attention turned to the former god.

“No…?” Zeus sounded dangerous. His face was somewhere between confused and enraged.

“I said no.” Apollo’s voice wasn’t loud. But it was enough.

“Apollo?” Artemis was confused.

“Am I to believe…” Zeus tapped his armrests dangerously. “That you wish to stay mortal…?”

There were whispers among the crowd that had come for it. Apollo rejecting Godhood? What happened?

Hermes knew exactly what happened.

And it looked like the Fates decided to mock Zeus for thinking he could control Fate.

*

Poseidon quit being an Olympian. An action that made most of the Olympians panic. All because of the Olympian’s constant need to bully and torment his son.

Soon after, Hephaestus followed after Apollo. And Hermes was even more guilty.

For the former blacksmith to say those things brought forth how much of a problem he actually was.

Especially because he too had participated in the scandal. Sleeping with Aphrodite once upon a time.

Maybe if Hermes was actually good, he wouldn’t have lost Luke to the Titans.

Silently, he curses Zeus and Hades for their roles in the birth of the Oracle’s curse. The same curse that would cast a shadow on May Castellan and ruin Luke’s life.

But perhaps if he actually got involved, none of this would have happened.

Maybe… Luke and Apollo… they would still be here. One still breathing… and the other happy and cheerful like he used to be.

Even if they both hated him. Like he felt he deserved.

Hermes knows he only has himself to blame for that. Too much of a coward to go up against Zeus’s law. He just let it happen and barked like a dog. No teeth to bare or bite with.

*

He watches the cabin from afar. Watching Apollo sing something from Jelly Roll again.

He’s not sure where the former god got the inspiration for the mortal’s music at first. Then he listens to what Apollo says and suddenly he feels like shit.

Another painful reminder that he hurt another person he cared about.

*

He gets a package to be delivered from Athena to her daughter. What was in it and why he doesn’t know and doesn’t care. After all, Athena long ago stopped caring about them as siblings. 

Which is why he doesn’t bother to read the letter that Athena had addressed to him specifically. There was no need for words between them. He hardly cared these days with her attitude.

But something tells him that the wisdom goddess was up to something.

And Hermes hated not being part of the fun.

If only he realized what was about to come from this.

*

It had happened so fast that Hermes was actually stunned.

Artemis had gotten up from her throne, eyes full of fire and hatred, and smacked Zeus in the face. Everyone froze, the king gobsmacked, then enraged. But he didn’t get a chance to start yelling before Artemis cut him off with her own.

Every word that flew from her mouth was a knife into Hermes’s skin. How Zeus only knew how to abuse and destroy. How he only knew how to hurt people. How he and the others hurt Apollo. She called him every damn insult in the book.

And of course, Zeus snapped and aimed that bolt right at her.

Only for Athena to shove Artemis out of the way.

The wisdom goddess went flying into the wall to the horror of everyone. Her ichor leaking and her skin burnt from the impact of both the wall and the bolt. Zeus, horrified, or at least he played that he was horrified anyway, snarled at Artemis for what she had done.

Then the throne room doors opened to reveal Poseidon and everything became a giant mess.

Hermes didn’t stick around after that. Only going for the letter that Athena left him, because he knew that letter had something to do with her current actions. Especially because she was suited up like she was ready for war.

By the time he was done, he was cursing himself for not catching it earlier. Once again too slow to stop anything.

*

Goodbye Hermes.

Hermes froze as he heard that while working. It was supposed to be a prayer. Something that he would hear from his own kids from time to time.

But the voice alone. Hermes knew who it was. His blood ran cold and his eyes went wide before he clenched his fists in dread.

He didn’t even think as he flashed away, then ended up at the front door of Percy Jackson’s cabin. 

The sound of broken glass reached his ears before he kicked open the door.

“Hey! What the hell are you doing!?” Percy was up and moving, coming to the front door.

“Where is he!?” Hermes yelled, fear all over his face and adrenaline rushing through him. In a split second, he heard a thud upstairs, then he bolts.

“Where is-, hey!” Percy’s voice followed him as he sprinted for the stairs and then climbed. He can hear it now. Percy’s close behind, confused but trying to figure it out.

Hermes kicked open the bedroom door to find…

Ares was on the floor. Holding Apollo as he wept. Percy and Hermes end up at the door. In a flash, Percy’s sword comes out, eyes locked on Ares in a rage.

But Hermes… he looks around. And his eyes begin to widen in horror.

There was a rope attached to the wooden board on the ceiling. It was cut like a sword had slashed right through it. Around Apollo’s neck was the other end of it, wrapped tightly around like it was supposed to…

“No…” Hermes fell, trying to reach him… only for Ares to glare and tighten his hold. His sunglasses lower to show the glowing red fire in the gods eyes. Percy caught on to what happened, as he observes the broken window, clearly how the war god got in.

Slowly and carefully, Ares releases a breath and leans Apollo towards Hermes, allows his half brother to take hold, then stands to look at Percy, then back down at Hermes.

“Help him, dammit.” The War God snarls as he turns his back to them and fixes his sunglasses. “If anything else happens by the time I’m back… I’ll come by looking for both of you.”

In a red flash that reminded Hermes of blood, Ares was gone, leaving the two confused. Apollo just continued to sob, tears leaking and cries leaving his mouth. Percy puts Riptide away, confused and conflicted about what the hell just happened.

And Hermes…

He only tightens his hold on his older brother. Whispering words of comfort and doing everything in his power not to let go.

He already lost Luke. He can’t lose Apollo too.

He won’t let it happen.

*

It’s hours later when Hermes finally leaves the residence.

But pretty much forced his number in Percy’s phone and then forced his way into the group chat the demigod has with Annabeth, Hephaestus, Apollo, Poseidon, Amphitrite, Persephone and Hades. After today, Hermes isn’t taking any chances. Not that Percy stopped him at all. 

But Hermes did find it funny that the group chat in question was called: Fuck Zeus.

Percy and Annabeth both keep Hermes up to date with Apollo. They don’t tighten their hold or restrictions on the former god as they don’t want to suffocate him.

Hermes was thankful for that. The last thing that was needed was to make Apollo feel worse.

The voices grow louder in Apollo’s head. And this time, Hermes was done letting his brother listen to them.

*

He starts crashing the party at the cabin multiple times. Making changes in his busy schedule, or even getting someone to take over for a few hours.

And every second is spent at the cabin. Spending time with Apollo and reminding him that there are people that love and care about him.

It doesn’t matter to Hermes what Apollo needs. Someone to hang with, someone to listen to him, someone to just be around. Hermes does it all.

Dionysus and Ares both start crashing the party as well after a couple weeks of this routine. Despite the glares he can see from Percy, clearly aimed at the latter, the demigod doesn’t seem to have a problem with the war god. 

Hermes knows it’s hard for Percy, especially because the god in question was responsible for a bit of drama when he first came to know of the Greek world.

But perhaps with Apollo, the two have put a stake in their feud and let it go for now.

Ares has also been talking to Hephaestus about something. Hermes doesn’t know what it was, but based on the lack of Aphrodite every time Ares comes to visit, it might have something to do with that.

He’s also surprised when Artemis still hasn’t come to the cabin. He knows she has her hunters to worry about, but Hermes didn’t know why Artemis wouldn’t have responded. Especially with Apollo’s near suicide.

And that unnerves Hermes quite a bit.

*

He gets his answer to that question one week later when Artemis breaks into his temple.

At first, Hermes wants to get angry that someone broke his door, but then he looks at Artemis and he freezes.

She stumbles into the living room. Her hair is a mess, clothes are filthy, and her eyes are completely bloodshot. But a loopy smile makes its way onto her face,

“Heeeerrrmeeeesss!” Artemis’s voice slurs before she falls face first on the floor. A loud bonk that makes Hermes cringe. But he crouches down to her level, only to hear the giggles of someone who has lost their mind.

One whiff of the air gives Hermes all he needs to know.

Artemis was drunk. Drunk and broken.

*

She vomits for a long while into his toilet. Long after she tried to get Hermes to sleep with her like it was a punishment for her sins.

Hermes only responded with disgust. He never liked Artemis like that and he sure as Tartarus knows she’s only saying this because she’s drunk.

He hears the toilet flush several times, showing just how much the goddess drank. But Hermes remains quiet downstairs, at least trying to concentrate while Artemis rides out her hangover.

Then by the time the morning comes, he comes upstairs to the bathroom to check on her.

Artemis leans against the wall away from the toilet, and turns her head left to look at him. A pained smile makes its way on to her face. “Ow.”

“Well, that’s what happens when you get drunk.” Hermes deadpanned at her, throwing a bottle to her, which she caught. “Now what in the name of Hades were you thinking!?”

Artemis sighed, then slumped against the wall. Her silver eyes remained on the floor. Shame climbed its way onto her face while the messenger god let her think.

“Hard amounts of thinking…” The moon goddess eventually mutters. “Along with the ugly truth hitting me head on…”

Hermes sighs as he comes into the bathroom and sits down besides his sister. Artemis doesn’t change her gaze.

“I’m not a sister…” She continues. “I’m a disgrace. Couldn’t even keep my brother safe from…” her hold on the plastic bottle tightens, almost crushing it in her hands. “Defender of maidens, my ass.”

She takes a chug of the water, and Hermes lets Artemis get it out. Clearly, the events of recent have hurt her in multiple ways.

But he wasn’t going to be sympathetic.

“Well that sucks.” Hermes says bluntly. Artemis turns her head to glare, but the god doesn’t back down. “Are you done with self pity? Or are you going to do something about it?”

Artemis’s rage fades. She looks back at the ground, as if trying to come up with an answer. Hermes just watches, wanting to see the fire reignite.

And he sees it. He sees the silver in her eyes spark. Then it goes to deflate.

“I’m not sure how…” Artemis mutters. Hermes was angry, not at her, but at the world for this reality they live in.

Because the answer was obvious all along. He was just too cowardly to admit it. Once again.

Not anymore.

“Yes, there is.” Hermes spoke, regaining Artemis’s eyes. “But the question you got to ask is: Is it worth it?”

Artemis blinks, her nose scrunches in confusion, then her eyes widen as she realizes what Hermes means.

The fire starts once again as the two scheme in the bathroom.

*

Hermes remains still as Zeus continues to go through parchments on his throne. He’s drunk. And not reading any of them as he keeps signing.

Hera, Demeter, Ares, Aphrodite, Dionysus and Artemis are around them. The moon goddess was watching the parchments closely. His brothers look ready to leap up into action. Hermes on the other hand remains calm.

No need to give them away…

He eyes the corner, seeing the growing blob of a shadow ready to leap at someone.

Then Zeus reaches the first one and stamps without reading.

Artemis gets up out of her throne and runs, almost stumbling in her step, but she flashes out.

Hermes releases a breath, but remains on edge. That’s one down.

“What…” Zeus blinks, pinches his nose, then turns to Ares. “Bring her back here, now!”

Ares says nothing. He gets out of the throne and makes a move to leave. He eyes Hermes behinds his sunglasses, neutral faced and goes to ‘bring’ Artemis back.

With that taken care of, Zeus just keeps going.

But then Hermes catches Hera’s eye. He tries to remain calm, but the goddess begins to widen her eyes with horror, realizing what just happened.

“Zeus! Don’t!”

By the time Zeus realizes what has happened, the shadow in the corner dashes forth, snatching both mortality parchments from Zeus, and in a flash swallows Hermes up before the god can stop Hades.

Hermes smiles as the shadow consumes him and his power starts to fade. One last prank achieved. Take that Zeus.

Chapter Text

He was not jealous. No. He was not.

After all, he got the pleasure of being raised by a Hera that cared.

A Hera that wasn’t soiled by infidelity and heartbreak.

Funny how Ares was one of the few that could justify that Hera wasn’t always such a jerk. One just had to look at Zeus to understand it.

In all honesty, he misses the way his mother used to be. Would actually smile. Happy to see him. Along with Enyo and Hebe.

Perhaps even Hephaestus would have been a son of Hera too. Had Zeus not sullied that too.

Ares shakes his head and dismisses those thoughts. Those were in the past. There was nothing left but the future.

*

He meant what he said before. He didn’t fight his kids' battles.

That’s how spoiled brats were made. Always expecting their dad to come running and take care of it himself? Nah. He would rather they learn to fight the hard way.

Still… There's a part of him that longed to at least teach his kids to fight their own battles. To actually train them… not as weapons, but as warriors in their own right.

One forgot that Ares was a protector of women… even if some of his actions didn’t show it.

*

He should’ve stopped Aphrodite’s little plan early on.

When she first approached him about wanting to get Hephaestus to pay attention to her, he didn’t believe fucking another person was the answer to go. But at the time, Ares just dismissed it. They were gods after all.

And look how that turned out.

Hephaestus was gone. And Aphrodite remained locked in her palace. The few times that he has gone to speak with her end with him hearing her sniffles on the other end of the door, and he doesn’t have the heart to bother her.

When she comes to the Throne Room, she has bags under her eyes and doesn’t rise to Athena or Hera’s punches. Only looking at her mirror and doing the laziest touch up possible.

She would later admit in private that Zeus gave her the idea. Claimed that Hephaestus wouldn’t resist her. She didn’t say anything until now because she believed it and also thought Zeus would have gaslighted her.

Ares doesn’t say anything. After all, he knows his role in it. But he also should have corrected it.

*

Old Seaweed’s newest kid continues to drive him nuts.

Despite the throw down on the beach and the manipulation from Kronos, Ares can’t help but feel a little salty. Like Perseus Jackson hasn’t been a thorn in his side.

On top of that, he seems to get along with Apollo and Hephaestus really well…

Better than he did anyway…

At first, Ares wanted nothing to do with his father’s bastards. Similar philosophy to his own children. Their battles were not his to fight, even if he was ordered to do it by Zeus. Not that the asshole ever asked him to do it.

But seeing them grow… seeing them interact with each other like the world was okay and handy… seeing them happy without being on Olympus…

Ares pushes down the feeling of jealousy and denies it once again.

*

He remembers how Apollo actually walked away from it all.

At first, Ares called him a coward. Not brave enough to take his throne back and be a god again. But after a while, Ares only looked on with bitter understanding.

Zeus mumbled something about how Apollo would be back in time. Helpless in the world without Olympus.

While the image of Apollo begging on his knees amused Ares, he knew the former god wasn’t going to.

After all, PTSD was a common thing with war. Ares knew this first hand. And Apollo…

He wasn’t going to shake that off so easily.

Perhaps Ares was beginning to understand that Zeus never had children. He had pawns. Until they broke at least…

Silently he questions how and why he dodged the Bolt incident so easily.

*

Artemis tries to bring Apollo back, and Ares watches Zeus with interest.

He watches his ‘father’ get more and more frustrated. He scoffs, and acts like he doesn’t care.

But Ares can see it.

The small trace of fear.

And that gets his gears going.

He suppresses the grin as he takes in this knowledge. Zeus’s foundation is cracking. All thanks to Jackson being the first person ever to say no and Apollo refusing to come back.

When he’s alone, he finally lets the chuckles come out.

They call him brash. An idiot. An absolute jackass. But there was one thing that Ares excelled at over everyone.

War. And while there were no weapons or battles to fight, this was just another one.

He could see it. And only he knew it. Zeus was losing this chess game. Once he thought he had all the chess pieces… in all the right places… but now…

Now he didn’t know how to play. The board was stacked against him.

He sits down and cleans his sword though. Just in case.

*

Apollo’s near suicide shook him to the core.

He didn’t think Apollo could do it. Take a coward's way out of life and just pretend no one else cared about him.

He broke the glass so fast that Apollo actually flinched before he kicked out the chair from underneath him. But Ares was too fast, leaping across the room and cutting the rope.

He feels Apollo thrash against him at first. Even hearing him say to let him die. But Ares doesn’t.

He refuses to.

He sees Hermes and Jackson appear and he feels disgust. One claimed to care when he did nothing just like him, and the other was supposed to be a roommate.

But in the end… he lets go. Knowing he won’t win against Poseidon if he shows up. He gives them a warning… and then leaves…

Ares had pieces to play.

*

He strolls up to Dionysus on the porch of Camp Half-Blood. The wine god actually raises a brow as he sits down.

“Oh, for what am I owed this pleasure, huh?” Dionysus scoffs, going back to his magazine. “Did Father punish you too?”

Ares smirks. Cold and malicious. Zeus’s hypocrisy always amused him. He only punished Dionysus because he didn’t get the whore he wanted. And this was the punishment?

The same kind of hypocrisy that rose when Zeus just sold Hebe to Hercules.

Ares always hated him for that. His little sister wasn’t property, and he knows that if Enyo, his twin, was put into a similar situation, he would have tore the world down to kill Zeus, even if it ended in vain.

Only Aphrodite and Hebe herself stopped Ares from doing it previously.

Even now, it was the same thing.

Ares already knew insurgency was blooming. Just not in the way that inspired his parents, uncles and aunts to rebel against Kronos.

Not from war, disappointing for sure, but from abandonment.

Zeus was a fool.

“No.” Ares admits. “Just asking if you want to see Apollo at all? A chance to get away from here basically and help someone that needs family around.”

Dionysus lowers his magazine and looks at him suspiciously. But his eyes hold a curiosity mixed with malice and interest.

He already knows he has his little brother hooked.

*

He stares down at Athena’s form with a mask of neutrality on his face.

His glasses block his eyes as he watches her sleep. Hands in his pockets, but he doesn’t make a sound as he watches her.

“Really? You’re just watching her instead of hanging out in the living room?”

Ares side eyes to the door, watching Apollo come in. The guy has seen better days.

But then again, Ares had a first hand experience of his worst. This was already an improvement.

“What of it?” Ares scoffs, returning his gaze to Athena’s comatose form. “I can’t visit?”

“That’s not what I’m saying…” Apollo dismisses. “I’m just surprised you're doing this at all.”

Ares goes silent. True. It’s not like he’s been the most protective of his own kin over the years. They were their own individuals.

But there was a small part of Ares that wished Athena trusted him. At least enough to where she wouldn’t get blasted.

He knew that Athena was ready to fight Zeus when he struck her in an attempt to hit Artemis. Her posture, the way she clenched her spear, the way her eyes scanned Zeus like prey, he knew it.

He didn’t get his confirmation until he cornered Hermes, who had been talking about it with Athena’s daughter prior. After all, he was one of the few that didn’t get a letter from his sister.

Something ugly rolls over him on that.

“I would’ve called her a fool.” Ares admits, shaking his head.

“For fighting for her beliefs?” Apollo asks.

“For not trusting anyone to have her back and trying to take him on alone.” Ares responds, grimly. “She should have said something… she should have waited…”

“Would any of you have helped her?” Ares doesn’t turn, but he stiffens at the question. 

The idea of going up against Zeus was outrageous enough. A whiny temper tantrum throwing child in Ares’s book, but he was one with too much power.

Power that was backed by fear and control.

Ares exhales, the fight leaving him once again. Apollo hums, then turns to the door.

“If it helps you, brother.” Apollo begins, as Ares turns his attention to him. “It’s never too late to do what’s right.”

He walks out of the room, leaving Ares to ponder over his words. Former God of Knowledge indeed.

He wasn’t going to say it to Apollo though. He still had his tough guy image to keep.

A smile comes to Ares’s face, fixing his glasses, he says one last prayer to Athena, then walks out of her room.

*

Zeus decided enough was enough.

“I don’t believe you are allowed to go to that cabin, Ares.” The king of the gods speaks with a voice that’s too calm. 

Aphrodite stiffens, Dionysus smirks, Hera doesn’t react, lost in her own head. Artemis and Hermes both side-eye him. One out of guilt, and one out of amusement. Demeter is quiet, a fear in her eyes. Hestia watches from the hearth, not saying a word.

“Sorry?” Ares smirks, not at all afraid. Of course he’s the one Zeus points at. Use the big strong War God as a punching bag now that he can’t use Apollo as one and since Dionysus is already being punished, that just left him to be pushed around.

But Ares wasn’t going to be pushed around that easily.

“Are you hiding something, boy?” Zeus flares, lightning crackling off his hands.

“Only that you smell.”

Dionysus chokes on his Diet Coke, Hermes sucks on his own lips. Artemis frowns, and Hera just blinks. Aphrodite suppresses the giggles that threaten to escape her.

Zeus was furious now. Good.

“So, you plan on mutiny then…” The King of the Gods snarls, hand itching down to his master bolt.

“Where did I say that?” Ares speaks, a smirk that’s too devious. “I just said you smell. I never said I was looking to betray you.” He dips his head forward just a smidge, “Unless… you just want an excuse to chuck it?”

Zeus flares, and Ares milks every inch of it.

“Now hold on…”

Zeus makes a face at Hera, and she falls silent. A beat of rage goes off in Ares, almost the momma’s boy from eons ago…

But this Hera and that one are not the same. She has no right to call him her son.

“There’s no issue here.” Ares said, leaning forward. “I’m not looking to fight. Not today.”

“Not today…” Of course Zeus picks up on that. It’s like that’s the only thing he heard.

“I guess that depends.” Ares replies, smooth and calmly. “How many more gods do you intend to blast or gaslight?”

Now the tension rises beyond what Ares has ever felt before. The sky begins to crackle, Zeus is furious and Ares can see it. And the best part of it all is that he’s not using any magic.

“How dare you!” Zeus grits his teeth.

“I’m just saying, Athena would be here right now if you actually had common sense not to throw it.” Ares taps his chin. “But then again… Kronos was attacked by his own kin…” He shrugs and relaxes in his seat. “So, I guess that doesn’t mean anything.”

“SILENCE CHILD!” Zeus roars, standing up from his chair, and raising the bolt high. Some jump up to stop him.

Ares on the other hand, turns his head to Zeus again. This time, a sadistic, challenging smile on his face. He takes his glasses off with one hand.

“Go on, Kronos…” Ares began, his red eyes locked on his father’s blue eyes, holding an intense stare down. “Throw the bolt. Invite more insurgence.”

The hearth dims, Hestia brings a hand to her mouth as Ares’s words hit around the room like a strike from a pitcher. 

Zeus froze, his bolt still up high, but clearly the invoking of his bastard father’s name hit somewhere sensitive because the god is now even more furious than before.

“You know what’s really funny?” Ares began, getting up from his chair, and manifesting into the intimidating God of War. Armor, weapons and all. The one that could cause fear and chaos on a battlefield. The very one that if he wasn’t holding back would have clobbered Jackson into the floor. The one that knew more about battle and bloodshed then even the Titans themselves. The one that could suck the hope out of his enemies just by breathing.

Zeus does nothing as he advances. But he looks ready to snarl. “What…”

“You want guns to not shoot at you.” Ares began to the confusion of everyone present. “You want people to listen… to respect… to obey… to bow…” He begins to stalk around Zeus’s throne, two times before he end ups in front again. He takes a moment. “But… you keep throwing the bolt… expecting it to give you loyalty…” He turned his head. “Even when it’s an innocent life…”

Demeter flinched on that. Clearly that hit somewhere. But that wasn’t Ares’s concern.

“You have crossed me time and time again…” Zeus spoke too calmly. “All of you point at me like I’m a criminal… all of you pointing your guns and expecting no pushback… you are one to talk, boy!”

Ares chuckles. “You say that like the minor gods didn’t cross you because of your rule… like he had to lie to them. Like the primordial down under couldn't get gods to listen to her either...” He narrows his eyes. “Kronos and Gaea? They had some help, Zeus.” He calls his own father by name, not caring for his reaction. “And I’m looking right at it.”

“You…” Zeus tightens his grip on the bolt.

“Besides, everyone knows there’s only one way to stop someone from shooting, right?” Ares speaks, putting back on his glasses, but pushing them to the brink of his nose so that his eyes can remain on the god in front of him.

“Shoot me first.”

*

Zeus doesn’t shoot. While that disappoints Ares just a smidge, the better part of him knows it’s a victory.

Because Zeus can’t do anything to him.

If he hits him with the bolt, he loses more faith. After the incidents with Apollo, Hephaestus and Athena back to back, now was definitely not a time to lose more.

He’s losing more Olympians by the day, and Ares knows that most of the minor gods don’t care for positions on the Olympian Council. Not if so many are seeing the light of Zeus’s failings.

The best piece about it is that Zeus has to try and keep the others in line. He sees his father one time scanning the remaining children he has, both on the council and without, and he sees the fear.

The letters to Poseidon and Hades increase, Hermes tells him later. But their words are still laced with stubborn pride and arrogance that his uncles aren’t listening.

He already shrank Dionysus's sentence to not ban him from wine and reduced his sentence for just another five years. An obvious attempt to stop resentment. Too late if you asked Ares though.

He knows that Ares knows it too.

Ares smirks as he cleans his weapon once more. His father was locked in check, and there weren’t many moves left.

Apollo… Poseidon… Hephaestus… Hades… Athena… Ares knows they won’t be the last to leave or lose faith.

He can see it. Artemis and Hermes have been hit somewhere deep. Demeter looks like the boogeyman was now tormenting her. Hera fell silent, her mind so far away from it all. Dionysus was soaking it all in, Diet Coke and wine in hand. Aphrodite, while fixing her image just a smidge, doesn’t pull herself completely together. Even his aunt Hestia looks like she would rather be anywhere but Olympus.

And Ares knew that chaos was going to come forth once more.

*

He catches Artemis and Hermes scheming. After all, when has the former ever invited a male to her palace?

He comes in just as they wrap things up, Hermes having the two parchments clearly meant for himself and Artemis in hand. They look like two kids with their hands caught in the cookie jar, but Ares only chuckles. Sad to see more leave, but proud of them for their decision.

“You’re going to need help getting those into Pop’s stack of papers…” Ares holds a hand out to take them. “Allow me.”

*

The scheme goes off without a hitch. Ares’s ‘attempt’ to get Artemis back was just a ploy for him to fuck off, grab his bike and head straight for Artemis’s camp stationed in the forests of Montana.

By the time he arrives, Artemis has lost the silver glow that was her immortality, has changed to an age closer to a college student, handed off command of the hunt to Thalia and goes to join Ares, sack in hand full of her things.

The god of war salutes his youngest sister, at least for now, revs the engine, and then takes off down the road, Artemis doing her best to hang on all the while.

And for once, Ares has no intention of crashing the bike.

*

It took them three days to arrive at the west coast, one because Artemis fell asleep every night, two because Ares decided to just take the slow route, and three because Artemis was trying to organize her thoughts on what to say to her younger twin.

He offers words of wisdom in his own way. Giving Artemis some insight on the whole thing. And he’ll stick around long enough for Artemis to say her stuff to Apollo, but he knows he has to leave soon after.

But by the time he rolls up at the cabin, Jackson and Chase are outside, along with Apollo, whose eyes are big and in disbelief.

Even as Artemis climbs off the bike with her sack, he doesn’t say a word. But he watches Apollo meet her halfway and allows her to hug him hard, dropping her bag all the while.

Ares sits on the bike and shares a silent look with Jackson. Hopefully the twins will be better from here on.

*

He knows that Dionysus plans to step down.

The glorious thing about that is that it’s the Three Fates themselves that judge if you’re allowed to step down. Which means there has to be probable cause to allow you to step down as an Olympian.

“I’m surprised you’re ready to leave it.” Ares sits across from the wine god for lunch. “After all, you used to be one of them. Why not just go to mortality?”

“Because it’s not just me I have to think about.” Dionysus answered with a shrug. “Besides, it’s better this way. Better to be invisible as a minor god then have misplaced attention as an Olympian.”

On that, Ares agrees. He could probably get away with the same thing too. Not in the way that Dionysus was planning but he could.

He just doesn’t picture anyone else going to mortality. Dionysus may have been the only who knew what it felt like once upon a time, but after seeing Apollo in person, the wine god said that Apollo had the right to say what it felt like. Plus he had a wife to worry about like his uncles.

He doesn’t see any of his aunts or uncles doing it. Nor does he see himself or Aphrodite doing it. They might leave, or hold on to something that was already gone, but they weren’t going to.

Hera was an oddball in Ares’s eyes. He had been watching her as well over the past few months. She was beginning to behave less like the typical evil stepmother and now seemed to be analyzing herself.

She also wasn’t paying attention to Zeus.

He saw it once. His father's eyes darted to his mother, and there was a small inkling of fear as he stared at her. But Hera didn't pay attention. Almost like Zeus didn't exist in any sense of the word: Love.

Silently, he hoped it was his mother actually coming back to the surface, killing the evil woman and taking her skin and heart back.

But he had been disappointed before, so he wasn’t going to gamble on that.

*

“Boom! Take that sucker!” Hermes laughed as he knocked out Ares’s character on screen.

The war god bites back a snarl. At least they weren’t playing that blasted God of War game. That game was such a disgrace to him and his image that he wanted to find the guy who made it and make him burn for that.

At least the gameplay was fun though…

“Well, I’m still better than you in real life.” Ares tossed the controller away. He hears Artemis let out an ugh but Apollo and Dionysus just look amused.

“Are you?” Perseus tilts his head slightly. “I seem to recall a certain battle on the beaches of California some time ago-,”

“That’s it!” Ares snaps and dives for the boy, only for Poseidon to grab him by the neck and pull him off with a smirk.

“Come on, Nephew.” Poseidon chastises. “At least take it outside.”

“Yeah, you… wait. What?” Perseus turned to his father as he processed that.

Poseidon taps his chin, a mischievous look. “Well, I guess the only way for you to settle this is to go fight outside.”

Ares beams. “That sounds like a great idea!”

“Wait, what!? No!” Perseus waves his hands frantically. “No! I didn’t agree to this!”

“Then how about a bet, eh?” Chase giggles from the counter beside Ariadne and Hephaestus who’s messing with his computer and stops to look over his shoulder. “First burger of the cook out to the winner?”

“IT'S ON!” Perseus immediately goes for the door with zero hesitation. Laughter echoes from most of the occupants as the sea spawn goes for the door. Others begin to follow him outside.

Ares remains for a moment, allowing Triton to sneak up beside him.

“I really hope you aren’t planning to go all out on him.” The Prince of the seas mutters.

Ares shrugs. “Nah. Hearts not in that today.” He eyes his cousin. “Kinda like when you showed up in the throne room for Heph.”

Triton hums in agreement. They both know Ares wasn’t going all out at that moment. He was the War God for fucks sake so of course he wasn’t suppose to go down that easily.

Hephaestus’s speech knocked the fight out of him after all.

“Fuck him up just a little bit though, yeah.” Triton bumped his shoulder. “The little shit could use a humbling.”

“No promises.” Ares chuckles, fixing his glasses and going for the door.

But as the two set up, Ares snaps his finger, making something go off on the boy. Perseus inspects himself, then frowns at Ares suspiciously.

"Just in case you tried to complain about a handicap." Ares taunted, summoning the very sword he fought him with years ago.

Perseus smirked. "Won't have to. You're losing."

By the time the fight ends, Ares comes out on top. Reminding everyone that he was the god of war and that Poseidon's demigod only got lucky because of him being cocky and the usage of water. He still tried that to be fair, and there had been a good couple of laughs when he summoned a tidal wave in the shape of a hand flipping him off, but the war god still won.

He bit into his burger later with a satisfied smirk, relishing his victory.

*

“I highly doubt that, Ares.” Hephaestus grumbled, his hands up and tweaking something on the god’s bike.

Ares pressed his lips. Man, he was a tough walnut to crack.

But he figured he would at least do it once. After that, it was Aphrodite's responsibility.

“Believe me or not, I’m just telling you what I know.” Ares shrugs. “She actually does love you. She just doesn’t love one person exclusively.”

Hephaestus makes a sound underneath like he both believes and doesn’t believe him. Whether it’s just part of what he said or all of it, he doesn’t know.

“Don’t get me wrong.” Ares cuts in before the former god can say anything. “What Aphrodite and I did in hindsight was not the correct way to go. Hell, she should have realized that you were definitely not the same kind of person who would fawn and desire attention. But she wanted to care, brother.” He crosses his arms. “She just didn’t know how.”

Hephaestus stops what he’s doing and goes silent. For a moment Ares is ready for the mortal to just deny it. But he doesn’t seem like he’s going to.

He sighs and stands up. “So why isn’t she saying it herself, huh?”

“Because she’s sorting through her own thoughts.” Ares answered, plain and simple like it was obvious. “She wants to put everything together before she talks to you about it.” He shrugs. “Whether it ends with you accepting her or not is between you two.”

Hephaestus pressed his lips together. He sits there for a long moment, one that almost becomes awkward.

“I’m not going to fuck you.”

“Good. I don’t want you to.” Both brothers share a chuckle at that. The tension dying right there before Hephaestus leans down and closes the toolbox.

“I’m only going to talk to her if she comes to me.” He says, going for the door out of the garage. “That’s on her now.”

*

Once again, months later, Ares finds himself back in Athena’s room. A silent piece of him wanting her to wake up.

She was covered in cloth and items, mostly brought by her own children. Because everyone took the chance to leave Camp and come to the cabin to meet.

All of her children made things to show that they loved her. That she was their mother, that they wanted her to come back to them.

Ares could feel the pride and joy that Athena could feel.

“Been a while.” Ares started slowly, sitting on the chair. “Sorry for the delay.”

The silence makes it a little awkward, but Ares lifts up a knife of his, sheathed and brand new, then lays it in Athena’s hand.

“A lot of things have happened since I last visited…” The War God continues. “I wish I had time to tell you everything… but unfortunately time isn’t on anyone’s side. Not even gods.”

He shifts slightly. Chaos, this was embarrassing.

“We got a lot of people at this cabin.” Ares said. “So much so that I’m skeptical Pop’s is going to make an appearance in a bad way. Not sure how that’s going to go down… but…”

“Let it be known to you, Athena…” He takes a breath, “That until you return, your kids are under my protection. After all, how can your children see you if they die first?”

He closes Athena’s hand around the knife, then brings his own hand down to clasp it shut.

“Rest now, Athena…” Ares said, calm and firm. “The fight’s over for you.”

He gets up from the chair, and turns to the door. He frowns at Hera, Aphrodite, Hebe, Dionysus, Apollo, Artemis, Hermes, Enyo and Hephaestus who somehow manage to fit from where he sees them from the door.

“Really?” Ares deadpans at them, earning laughter. He huffs in annoyance, then sees the way Aphrodite has one of her hands laced in Hephaestus’s larger one.

His eyes meet hers, she only shuffles with a blush. He smirks, glad that piece was established between the two.

“Sorry to interrupt you, brother.” Hebe skipped her tiny form into the room. “But your kids are waiting downstairs.”

“Ah, yes.” Dionysus messes with his Diet Coke. “A chance for them to get their asses kicked by their old man. What fun.”

“You know it’s a learning experience, right?” Apollo looks amused at him. Artemis shoulder bumps her twin softly.

Ares eyes Hera, who remained outside the room. Lots of things have happened over the last few months, but Hera’s starting to turn back to the woman she used to be. 

Although she constantly avoids her children and shoves herself in the corner, feeling she doesn’t belong anywhere.

Ares could only disagree with that.

With a sigh, he goes for the door, ignoring Artemis and Apollo’s blooming war of sibling teasing.

A smile comes to his face, seeing his children lightly chatting in the living room, but very much dressed like they were going to spar. His form begins to change, slowly changing into the war god built to inspire others.

One battle had come to an end. And the next one was about to begin.

Chapter Text

All the fighting took a toll on her. And not in the best way.

She didn’t desire power. Not after so many years trapped inside Kronos. Mortals truly didn’t know what real suffering was until they experienced that.

But it wasn’t her nature to be bitter. After all, it was her nature to protect, to want to end the fighting. To want to make things better.

So why couldn’t all of her siblings stare back at their reflection without blinking when they made that promise?

*

Zeus called Hades a threat and had him removed. Despite her pleas, Hades just removed himself.

She shot such a disgusting sneer at Zeus for that, and when Demeter and Hera tried to convince her that it was for the best, she spat them off.

She watched as loneliness and bitterness consumed her brother. How Zeus’s cruelty turned him from a brother who would step in for all of them, to one who hated the mountain they fought for.

Poseidon was the only one who still understood to this day. Even after he tried to court her, at least he was respectful of her wishes.

*

The marriages with Hera and Persephone only served to remind Hestia why she never wanted to be married.

With how Zeus treated Hera, and how Demeter was such a child to Persephone, her own daughter, Hestia knew in her heart that she never desired to be married.

Besides, there were better ways to be family.

…Right?

*

Soon enough, Zeus wanted her gone too.

Dionysus showed up, and because Zeus thought lust and sex were more useful than family, he booted her from her throne.

Poseidon fought him. Hera once again said nothing. Demeter flinched, but said nothing. Some fought better of Zeus at this point, but were too scared to speak up.

Hestia just stepped off, watching her beautiful throne crumble into nothing, then disappearing from the hall.

Not before Zeus made her sit in the fire and fan the hearth. Hestia always hated how close she was to her former glory.

Perhaps it was better for Hades that he didn’t have to be near all of this.

*

She remembered how disgusted she was when she found out what Hera did to Hephaestus.

The slap she delivered to her youngest sister had silenced the hall. Zeus didn’t even fight her for once, as the queen held her cheek and tried to scowl up at her.

Only for Hestia to give the most horrifying face for any of her siblings to witness.

A complete look of disappointment.

She disowned her as her sister right there, calling her unfit to be a mother and disappeared, going straight for their mother.

In no time, Rhea arrived. And suddenly her four youngest siblings got scared of their mother.

Hestia always loved how her mother could frighten the room just by being mad.

*

Eons passed. And nothing changed.

Zeus had no family. Hestia was confident in her beliefs. He was a coward through and through. 

Many times she watched someone try to reach out to Hades, only for Zeus to interfere and accuse them of treason. Hestia had to bite her tongue each time, stopping herself from calling him a hypocrite.

One may have ate her… but to Hestia?

Both Zeus and Kronos were evil.

*

She remained in her hearth. Lonely and sad. She would fan the flames, make sure it burned, but not once did she feel acknowledged.

Almost like no one loved her. Like no one valued her. Like no one respected her.

Like no one loved family.

She puts on a brave face most of the time. Sometimes she cried to herself. Alone in a dark cold room. After all, it wasn’t like anyone cared for her. Much less acknowledged her. Why should she fool herself with a false warmth?

It was one of those times where she was reminded she wasn’t alone, as Hades came into the room and just sat beside her. How he got onto Olympus or was able to sneak around she didn’t know.

They didn’t say anything to each other. They didn’t have to. He just put a hand on her shoulder, and stayed.

*

For eons, that was the life she lived.

Until one day… Percy Jackson had a problem with that.

That time he gave her the pithos containing Hope, always hit her hard. Calling her the Last Olympian like she was to be respected…

She didn’t even realize that the demigod from her brother saw her in the fire the first time he came to camp all those years ago.

She knew it wouldn’t last… but she would enjoy it while she could. Knowing someone valued their family.

*

Apollo quit. And Hestia knew something was changing.

The way he went straight for Percy’s cabin, like it was a sanctuary rather than a prison, Hestia knew the foundation was going to crack.

She also knew that Zeus didn’t like when things didn’t go his way. She knew he wanted Apollo to learn his place as below him. Not to stay in mortality and leave Olympus without a God of Knowledge or the Sun.

The Sun Chariot was now being handled by Leto, as decreed by the Fates. Zeus dared to try and fight them, but one sadistic smile from the Fates showed who really had the power.

She knew that he would manipulate Artemis into thinking Apollo would just come back if he got an apology. That everything would be sunshine and rainbows again if she did. She frowned as she watched Artemis leave with something between annoyance and hope.

Her heart broke as she watched Artemis come back defeated, no Apollo in sight.

But deep down, Hestia knew this was only beginning. Olympus was about to become the grand star in the Fates’s newest drama.

And she was worried about what was to come.

*

She had a right to be worried apparently.

Poseidon… Hephaestus… Hermes… Artemis… they also left Olympus. Hades stood tall and proud and shut Zeus’s attempt of damage control down.

She was so proud of each and every one of them. Fighting for themselves and breaking free of Zeus’s manipulations.

The cracks around Zeus’s carefully built empire of lies were coming apart and Hestia would do nothing, but she would watch like she always did.

Only this time with Hope in her eyes.

*

She gets curious one day, and decides to go through the fireplace in Percy’s living room and watch.

It was easy when the flames were already burning and the party had already started. She can see them in various parts of the room. There was Percy, Artemis, Dionysus and Apollo distracted with something on the tv, some sort of video game by the looks of it. There was Ares, Ariadne, Hephaestus and Hermes sitting around them, either watching or engaging in small talk. There was Poseidon and Hades, sitting Amphitrite and Persephone at the table with some mortal alcohol nearby, and playing cards of some kind, clearly no party’s plan to get drunk tonight.

The only one that was missing was Annabeth Chase, who came back into the living room with a defeated sigh, most likely from going to see her mother… still in her coma… which breaks Hestia’s heart.

She curls up in Percy’s lap as he plays, not once distracting him from his fun and closes her eyes. Percy just gives a small smile of his own, but his eyes flick to the others, who just looked amused by the image and he gives a mumble of some kind that makes Annabeth smile.

She stays there for a long while, enjoying the sounds and the image. The laughter… the joy… the friendship…

Hestia wished that was her family all along.

*

She keeps sneaking off to the cabin, and not paying attention to anything on Olympus. For the first time, it’s like she’s acknowledged that Olympus is not home.

Home is where the heart is. And her heart was not with Olympus.

But she remains in the fire, never saying a word as more people come and go through the sanctuary that was Percy’s cabin. Her younger brother’s other kids show up once or twice, and she even catches the hunters at one point, most likely visiting their former leader at the cabin. And was that Cerberus itself playing outside?

Her eyes well with tears, but she has a smile at the family that was forming around her.

*

It was one of these times that she was watching that she got caught. She had been watching from the backside porch in the fireplace, watching people on the beach interact and have fun. For once they got some sort of game of chicken going where it was Percy and Annabeth vs Apollo and Artemis.

Unsurprisingly, the twins won and Percy and Annabeth go tumbling into the ocean water. The others are clapping and cheering as Artemis does a little victory dance on Apollo’s shoulders and then gives a high five down to her twin.

She feels her heart go cold again, feeling she has no place in this family and goes to leave…

Until two hands grab her wrists and yank her upwards out of the fire.

She looks around wide-eyed and finds both Poseidon and Hades, both with a raised brow and looking very amused by Hestia’s current behavior.

“Really?” Hades sounds slightly annoyed despite the smile. “How long are you going to keep doing this?”

“Come on, sister.” Poseidon says as he and Hades yank her the rest of the way out of the fire. “Come on over.”

Hestia, embarrassed as all hell that she wasn’t very sneaky, just follows after her younger brothers down to the beach.

Her presence just brings smiles all around, like she’s the best thing that could show up at this party. Like Hestia wasn’t some bastard that doesn’t belong in the world.

She’s sheepish as others try to interact with her through it all. But she begins to lower her walls and let her desire for connection burn. 

And by the end of it all, when the party breaks for the evening and go their separate ways… Hestia wants it to happen again.

*

It happens again and again. She comes through the fire and joins in on the hang outs. Sometimes she tries to hide in the fire out of reflex, but Poseidon, Hades and apparently Percy now just look at her like ‘really?’.

They keep involving her in everything. From video games and movies… to card games and outdoor fun… to cooking and campfires…

Her shell continued to crack as someone kept giving her meaning in her immortal life once again. And Hestia has no intention of shutting it off.

*

Zeus tries to bargain her with a throne and Hestia still doesn’t care. 

It’s the same reason why she’s never cared about a cabin. Unlike many, she didn’t need a cabin for power and she didn’t need a throne for acknowledgement.

Especially now.

Funny how Percy Jackson really put all of that into reality.

Zeus is panicking and Hestia can see it. Besides his own kids, Zeus clearly doesn’t want to lose anything else close to him. Or at least what he claims to be close to him.

Hestia wasn’t stupid. Zeus never cared about her before now. And if he did?

Then he was a little too late to start showing it now.

She won’t leave Olympus. There were people here that mattered. The only way she would leave Olympus is if it was only Zeus that remained.

But a lot of her time definitely wasn’t going to be here.

*

Dionysus called a trail so he could step down as an Olympian. His reason? Breach of Trust and injustice.

Ares followed short with charges of manipulation and deception. Aphrodite jumped on the bandwagon too.

Despite Zeus’s protests to each one, the Fates had no problem approving Dionysus’s descent to minor god status. Ares and Aphrodite took almost two weeks though and a lot of evidence and witnesses.

But sure enough… three more were gone. Only leaving Zeus, Demeter and Hera. Also Athena but she wasn’t in a position to be on her throne, was she?

And she begins to worry about Hera.

She had been an a step decline the second Hephaestus stepped down and left Olympus, but now was the absolute worst that Hestia had ever seen her youngest sister.

Her eyes look bloodshot. Heavy bags are under her eyes. Her hair is a mess. She isn’t wearing a lot of the jewels that Zeus made or brought for her. She reeks as if she’s been drinking entire lakes of alcohol and Hestia is now concerned.

She remembered one of the fond things in Kronos’s stomach… disgusting, she knows, when Hera sat above Hades and sang a small tune, trying to put some hope into her older siblings that someone would come pull them out of this hell.

Hestia remembers that time fondly. Which is why she doesn’t understand what happened to Hera…

Nor what is happening to her now.

*

Months and months go by once more. And Hestia feels a smile on her face.

For some reason, they got the backyard of Percy and Annabeth’s cabin as a small little party. Instead of being at Camp Half-Blood or Jupiter, Greeks and Romans have come to the cabin to have a party.

It wasn’t just demigods.

She watched as different gods and immortals from all made an appearance. Even those she would have thought impossible… even…

“You seem happy, daughter.” Hestia turns her head up to see Rhea, looking down at her with the faintest smile.

Hestia once more can’t help the feeling of embarrassment. A blush spread across her cheeks. “I don’t know what you mean.”

Rhea only sits down beside her. A laugh escapes her lips. “If I didn’t know any better I would say that you’re happy about the gathering. Did it really take your nephew to do it?”

Hestia pouted, stocking the flames once more and looking very much like the adorable seven year old that her mother had around her finger.

Rhea only hugs her from the side. “Do remember to be part of the celebration, Hestia.” The titan says. “It’s never good for you to remain in the fire forever.”

She watches her mother leave and go to the beach, most likely going to run right into Demeter’s children, who are doing something with their mother.

It’s crazy to Hestia how much the demigods actually respect their parents now. Once upon a time, there were so many feelings of anger, neglect, resentment and hate.

Now… as if a domino effect… Those feelings are slowly fading away. There is still anger… but there is also understanding and care. There is a method that slowly reminds the gods something about the demigods beyond the fact that they are fickle.

They are still their family. And it’s like the Fates have weaved that into every last one of them.

She stares down into the beach, watching Percy Jackson interact with his cousins as they stand over a small table with items from the late Jason Grace, like he’s there with them. Especially Thalia, who is at the very least trying to remain strong in a place meant to respect Jason.

Her eyes scan over the crowd once more… and finally… Hestia feels like she’s home once more.

Chapter Text

“Farewell, Blood of Kronos!”

Demeter opened her eyes with a hollow gaze.

The words of Hades still haunted her mind months later after the God refused Zeus’s offer.

Blood of Kronos. Wasn’t that obvious? They all shared Kronos as a father, if they could even call that mad titan one in the first place.

So why did Hades’s words hurt so much?

Why did something feel so very wrong?

*

Hestia’s silence hurts Demeter even more.

Maybe she was unfair to Hades back then, okay. Maybe she should have fought against Zeus like Poseidon and Hestia did. But Demeter had been so new to it all back then. She didn’t think…

‘Didn’t think? Or didn’t want to?’

She freezes as the voice goes off in her head in the middle of farming her fields. A slightly different pitch from her own that wasn’t from her Roman aspect. Why does it…

No. He’s not real. He’s gone… he can’t hurt her again…

*

Demeter scoffs as Zeus continues to sprout lies like a withering flower.

She should have known that Megan would succeed. After all, when have her children ever steered from the correct path? She was the only reason that Apollo succeeded with his punishment.

‘Are you sure that’s the only reason?’

That same voice continues to plague her mind. And it slowly turns into someone that makes Demeter freeze every time she hears it.

The same voice that once devoured-,

No. It’s impossible. Illogical. Even for gods it’s not possible. Kronos was turned to dust thanks to Perseus Jackson’s efforts. He was not able to haunt her anymore.

*

But as more begin to leave… Demeter begins to lose her confidence.

Persephone still seems to hate her, and Demeter will never understand what she did wrong after all these years. Hades was the one who abducted her and made her his queen. Her sweet little Kore was always so innocent and sweet and,

‘And whose fault is that, Daughter?’

Demeter freezes as the voice booms in her head. No. No. Shut up. Shut Up!

He’s not real. She’s not going back to that stomach again.

*

Hestia starts ditching Olympus and out of curiosity one day, Demeter snoops her way down to Perseus’s cabin.

To a very unexpected gathering.

All the former Olympians, and some current ones in Ares and Dionysus, are there at the cabin, hanging out like nothing is wrong.

Like the past is the past…

Demeter is not jealous one bit as she sees Persephone giving more attention and care to people that aren’t her mother. Like they are more precious to them than her, the woman who raised her with everything after Zeus…

Zeus…

Demeter was more conflicted than before after seeing that scene inside the cabin.

*

She finally overhears it one day.

She overhears that Zeus had a hand in Persephone’s marriage… drunk off his rocker and saying something to Garymede.

And she goes ballistic.

Her fists go flying into Zeus’s face before the god even has a chance to protest.

“You liar!” Demeter roared, anger at its absolute worst. “You said you had nothing to do with it!”

“Demeter, get off—,”

“YOU SAID IT WAS ALL HADES!”

“I didn’t—,”

“YOU LIED TO ME!”

“ENOUGH!”

Zeus blasts her hard with the bolt, earning a scream from Demeter as she goes flying away from the asshole. She hits the wall and goes to stand…

But not before Zeus sent a curse her way. Words that she’s too dazed to understand, nor hear what he’s saying.

He leaves with a scoff, leaving Demeter on the floor and telling several gods to deal with her treason.

For once in a few months, there is no talk. Just action from minor gods that have been scared into reminder: Don’t attack the King, and expect to go unpunished.

*

For a while, Demeter assumed Zeus’s curse failed. After all, nothing was wrong with her.

Now… now she was certain it was real.

Every now and then, she would turn and she would see him.

She would see the person that devoured her. The same monster that looked ready to cause chaos. Doing the slow terminator head turn as a wide and wicked gleam appears in his golden eyes.

Demeter snaps her head away each time. No. Zeus wouldn’t have dared… he wouldn’t have dared do this to her.

Zeus wasn’t Kronos…

…right?

*

There’s a moment where Demeter lets her curiosity spike again.

And one time, she snoops on Hades and Poseidon playing Risk at Jackson’s cabin. Apparently the best place for privacy from… certain beings.

“Has Demeter been bothering you again, brother?” Poseidon asked.

Hades exhaled, bitter and angry as he took a card, “When has she never? It’s always something about me these days. The way I dress, the way I eat, the way I have kids, the way I treat Persephone, it’s always something with her. Chaos, if it wasn’t her, I would assume it was our father trying to make my life Tartarus!”

For some reason, Demeter feels something tighten in her chest at the proclamation. She’s nothing like him! She knows it! She-,

She froze as someone walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge. But when it closes…

All she sees is Kronos with a water bottle in hand, grinning like a madman and staring right at her in the window. 

With a loud scream, Demeter flashes away.

*

The Halloween party that the now minor god Dionysus throws was a little less grand.

But that was to be expected given that Hermes and Apollo were gone.

Demeter herself doesn’t really partake in it. She gives herself a little touch up, puts a small witch getup and hangs around… but that’s really it,

At least it was at first.

What started as a simple song called Calling All the Monsters, slowly turned into her worst nightmare.

She looked to the DJ, wanting to know who requested this, only to find Kronos once again.

“Enjoying the tune, daughter?” The titan taunted.

“No! I…” Demeter shook her head rapidly. But then she’s met with the confused gaze of Dionysus up there.

“Is something wrong?” Dionysus asked.

“I…” Demeter does a head swerve and sees nothing before she coughs. “Nope! No! Carry on, nephew.”

Maybe if she just didn’t input herself it would go away.

That didn’t last, as two minutes later she was getting a refill from a naiad, and turned her head up to give her thanks,

Only to find Kronos grinning again. “Do you like the blood of your victims? I hope it’s nice and cold like the winter you made!”

“No!” This time Demeter jumps, unintentionally splashing ambrosia on the naiad as Kronos disappears again.

“Hey! Lady Demeter! What the heck!?” The naiad sounds hurt that she did this.

Demeter freezes. People look at her now, and she can’t help but be paranoid.

She seems to be looking at her like she’s crazy. Some are laughing at her. Some are upset.

“I-I’m sorry!” Demeter coughs. “Here let me just—,”

Clang… Clang… Clang… Clang…

Demeter feels her heart freeze over before she slowly turns her head. She looked right, towards the middle, where Kronos stood once again, a hood and cloak covering everything but his face as he gave a sharp, snake-like grin her way.

“Lady Demeter?” The nymph turns, confused, for it was just Deimos that she was looking at.

Demeter swallows hard as Kronos brings two drachma coins to his eyes and puts them over them, then points two fingers at her.

“You have made me proud, Demeter.”

No.

No.

No!

“NOOOO!” 

She takes off running, ignoring all the looks of disbelief as she runs. Zeus just watches on smugly.

*

Gonna get… your… 

body shaking, 

wishing you… could… 

just awake…

Here we go

Demeter continued huffing as she ran, but as she turned her head, she gasped as the tune plays in her ears.

Tonight all the monsters gonna dance

Kronos stood on the hill, grinning maniacally with his scythe at his hip. But one blink, turned him back into a pair of trees that separated in her line of vision.

And they're coming to get you…

She turned her head again only to panic as the mirror had Kronos’s laughing grin in the reflection as he ran in her reflection.

Tonight all the monsters gonna dance

She turned to see Kronos feeding a flower with a watercan as he flashed her a psychotic grin.

And they're coming to get you...

Demeter screamed, as she took off faster, ignoring the reflection that was trying to paint her as him.

If you’re… only dreaming…

The reflection went back to her just a second after.

Why do I hear you screaming

Demeter screamed as she ran to her palace, finally reaching the front door and shoving it open before she slammed it shut behind her.

Coming to get you…

*

There was a long period of silence as Demeter had a literal panic attack in the living room of her temple.

“It’s not real…” Demeter whimpered through it all. “It’s not real… he’s gone… it’s not real…”

She rapidly shook her head, trying to get herself together. Her hat had long been discarded to the floor, making her dirty blonde hair fly around.

“Okay… okay…” Demeter let a smile cross her lips. “It’s okay. It’s not real. It’s just Zeus’s curse. It’s not real at all. Just go to Mother… tell her everything, and hopefully this madness will end. Okay…”

She put away her Halloween costume and got back into normal clothes, before she made for the front door of her palace to carry out her mission.

But the second she opened the front door, her smile disappeared.

Kronos stood on the other side of the door, flashing that cruel smile that showed him as the mad Titan. Before Demeter could shut it in his face, Kronos smacks the door and forces his way in. Demeter falls back on her butt, and backs away hurriedly, but Kronos continues to advance all the same.

The scythe rakes its way across the ground. Slowly, making its way to its victim.

“No, you…” Demeter’s eyes waved around. “No you’re gone! You were turned to dust! No you," she closed her eyes tightly and clutched her head with paranoia. “No, this isn't real! You’re not real! This is all just an illusion!”

“You may believe that…” the deep voice chuckled as the figure invaded Demeter’s personal space. He slammed his scythe against the floor. “But I can assure you…”

A hand forcefully grabs Demeter by the chin and forces her to look up. And her fear only skyrockets.

“I… am not!” Kronos grins, his form flickering once more like it had for weeks before he opened his mouth to devour her.

She screams in despair as she falls right in. Right into the belly of her once tormentor, a place of hell that has only appeared in the realm of Morpheus. The acid is instant, laying a burning and yet cold feeling all over as she looks around and tries so hard to get a…

There’s no one here.

Demeter panics even further as her brain processes this. No Hestia or Hades waiting on arrival, or perhaps a chance that Hera or Poseidon got caught first. No.

It’s just her.

“ENJOY YOUR STAY, DAUGHTER!” Kronos’s voice booms from somewhere as he laughs away. 

Demeter sinks into herself all the while, the acid only breaking her mind further.

*

“I’m sorry…” Demeter whimpers away through it all. A broken and weak voice leaving her throat. “Please… I’m sorry… I’m so sorry…”

“TAKE IT OFF HER YOU FREAK!”

Demeter froze as Hades’s voice rings through the belly of the beast. She raises her head from the acid, looking around wildly like a crazed animal.

“I didn’t do-,” Zeus’s voice cuts through it all.

“RELEASE HER FROM IT OR I SWEAR I WILL RAZE YOUR THRONE AND FEED YOUR HEAD TO CERBERUS!” Hades’s loud voice vows.

Around her, the world begins to deteriorate like a cloud of smoke. She’s suddenly no longer in acid, and her world begins to brighten.

She’s on the floor of the Olympian Throne Room. Her eyes look around in a daze until…

She looks at Zeus, being strangled by Hades, as he stares at her with anger like-,

“NO!” Demeter wails, pushing herself away from them and right into…

To…

Mother.

Rhea is looking at her with a confused look of panic, like she didn't understand what was going on. Next to her is Hestia, who’s trying to understand as well.

“Sweetheart, what is wrong?” Rhea tried to be calming. “It’s okay…”

“I don’t want to go back…” Demeter’s mind continues to break, not believing anything to be real anymore. She folds into her mother. “Please, don’t put me back…”

“What did you do, Zeus?” Poseidon’s voice was dark and threatening. Every inch the protective god that made Odyseus’s life hell.

“All I did was remove her ability to taste cereal right.” Zeus scuffed uncaringly. “I don’t understand her childish-,”

“HE SHOVED ME BACK IN HIS STOMACH!”

Those words make the room spike in tension as most look at Demeter in horror. Rhea went stiff against Demeter.

“What…” Rhea raises her head at Zeus, who’s confused. “Did… you… do…”

*

“How much of her story do you believe?” Demeter hears the voice of Perseus outside her door.

“Enough.” Poseidon’s voice was enough of an answer. “I don’t even need Apollo to take back his former position to know that she isn’t lying. You can’t fake her fear, son. Not with that.”

“And Zeus?” Percy asks.

“He’s a lying sack of shit.” Poseidon snarled.

Demeter herself goes back to ignoring it as she curls up in the bed. Based on what everyone told her, Kronos was never real. Just a curse that Zeus designed to torment her after she put her hands on him.

The ‘king’ was still insisting that everything was a lie. All he did was curse her taste of cereal to be bad. But no one was listening to him now. There had been some minor gods that actually turned their opinions around and went for positions… only for this incident to reopen the wound and make those opinions go away. Like he didn’t just reopen her trauma as a punishment.

But Demeter knew better now.

One of her brothers had horns. And it wasn’t Hades that was the devil.

She sobs on the bed as she can hear the ringing laughter of Kronos once more.

*

For weeks, she becomes nothing more than an emotionless zombie.

She walks around the cabin, never once cracking an emotion of any kind. Happiness. Sadness. Rage. Disgust. Agony. They never cross her face as she walks around.

She’ll eat meals, but she’s aware that her presence makes people uneasy. Like she’s going to ruin their day.

Just like Kronos did.

She waits for mother to come get her again, still not understanding what she was thinking by bringing her here.

*

By the third week, Hestia, Hades and Poseidon apparently have enough.

They come barging into her room, where she only raised her head to look over her shoulder at them, before she curls back into herself.

“What do you want?” Demeter muttered.

Hestia hops on the bed, an infectious smile on her face. “Deme… I’m thinking of a song!”

Demeter sighs in annoyance, “No. Not now. Leave me alone.”

“Oh yes…” Poseidon is in full agreement. “It’s a wonderful song, I believe you’re familiar with it simply because she started singing it herself.”

Demeter tightens her hold on herself as she feels Hestia creep closer.

“We are…” Hestia starts in that stupid, adorable, seven-year-old voice. “We are… we are... not your ordinary…”

“No.” Demeter snaps. She covers her ears only for Hestia to pick up her tone as she sings. “No!”

“Fami-mily!” Hestia continues her singing as she slides on her knees on the bed.

“Shut up with your song of cancer!” Demeter insults her over her next verse.

“So, it don’t matter what it looks like, we look perfect to me!” Hestia just continues like nothing happened, making Demeter sulk on the bed. “We got every kind of love, I feel so lucky indeed!”

“They can keep on talking,” Demeter feels her heart plummet as Poseidon joins in, shifting into a young boy for a high pitch voice. “It don’t matter to me ‘cause we are… we are…”

Now Hades joins them on the bed, and Demeter only gives him thanks for not joining them in this embarrassment. Hestia only plops herself down on the side that Demeter’s looking at.

“Come on…” Hestia looks so adorable right now, that Demeter almost looks bad as Hestia pats her own cheeks and then gestures to her. “You know you know the word.”

Demeter does her best to fight her lips from going upwards. She fails.

“Oooone, little word…” Hestia giggles.

Fuck it.

“Family.” Demeter mutters, slowly shifting into a seven-year-old herself.

“Family!” The four just happily shout before Hestia takes a pillow from the bed and smacks Demeter with it.

Demeter gasps and then aims her pillow to hit Hestia back, the eldest sister only giggles as she leans back, allowing Demeter’s strike to hit Hades instead, who falls backwards. Poseidon grabs a third pillow before he aims for Demeter, only for the goddess to roll away and allow Hestia to get clobbered by the attack.

But it doesn’t last long as Hades grabbed a pillow from the closet and came back in like a screaming banshee at the three of them, smacking both Demeter and Poseidon with his crazy strikes before Hestia back hands him with her pillow.

It evolves into an all-out brawl afterwards, Demeter’s long-lived depression finally going away as she attacks them with everything she has. Pillows explode and feathers fly from some of the pillows as the four beat the snot out of each other.

Hours later, Percy finds them and leaves with a chuckle, closing the door on four passed out child formed gods who have beaten each other into unconsciousness on the complete mess of a bed covered in ruined pillows and feathers.

*

“Why…” Demeter mutters as she looks at Persephone with Aphrodite, doing some sort of foul modern dance on the beach, hands clenched in madness “Why…”

Hades shrugs, for once in agreement. “I don’t know.”

They both sit there for a while, enjoying the quiet and pretending whatever is happening down there isn’t happening. Until Demeter looks up at the night sky.

“You can tell Persephone that she doesn’t need to come up during spring and summer anymore.” Hades turns his head to her, bewildered.

“I’m sorry?”

Demeter smiles. “She’s a grown up… It’s only fair she gets to live her life.”

Hades blinks comically, and Demeter has to fight the urge to laugh.

“But maybe you could tell her to eat more cereal down there.”

“Okay, sure.” Hades rolls his eyes at Demeter’s usual speech of cereal.

Demeter smiles through it all, directing her attention back down to the beach, where she sees Persephone and then…

There he is again.

Demeter loses her smile as she sees him. Standing feet deep inside the surf into the ocean. Kronos is looking at her with a sadistic gaze in his eyes with his lips in a neutral line, and his scythe down near the water like he’s about to start a brawl right there on the beach. 

No one sees him, of course. For he’s just a figment of her mind.

The smallest of smiles graces the illusion’s lips, before he begins to fade to dust, vanishing before Demeter’s eyes once more, though weirdly his smile reminds her of what Rhea once told her, how Kronos used to be much nicer before he devoured any of them.

Demeter allows the smile to return to her lips as she relaxes in her chair. The past was there, but the future still awaited them. 

And for once… it felt like Demeter was moving forward without taking any steps backwards.