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As soon as Apollo closes the doors to his temple, he jumps at the sound of someone clearing their throat behind him and whirls around-
Only to see Athena and Demeter standing before him.
“What is it, dear aunt and sister?” Apollo asks worriedly. “Why do you look so…”
He stares at the concern in their faces, the worry in their eyes. “...troubled?”
Demeter looks sadly at him.
“May you walk with us, dear nephew?” Demeter requests. “We have learned some… information about our children.”
Apollo narrows his eyes. ‘From the mortal man Lady Aphrodite spoke to before she came to see me? Or from someone else…’
He glances at Athena and sees her clasping her hands together.
/Was it you, sister? What did you discover about them? Did you find who is responsible for their state?/
Athena winces. Feathers spread all over her face and she looks away from Apollo.
“Brother, I… I think it would be best if we spoke about this with everyone gathered.”
‘What happened?!’
Apollo keeps his mouth shut but nods. He looks around for Aphrodite, Dionysus, and Pan, only to see that the latter two have already gone into their home.
“Of course I will, but… Lady Aphrodite and I just completed our examination on our children. They are currently resting, so if you would like to speak with them, it might be a while.”
“We need to speak about this now.” Athena says firmly. “It is dire.”
“We also have dire information to tell our family.” Aphrodite cuts in. “So we are more than willing to join you.”
Apollo knows when he has been defeated, so he bows his head. “Very well. Lead the way.”
~~~
Everyone has gathered in the dining room, except for Hermes, who sleeps in the warmth of his temple. When Apollo enters, the night has begun to settle in, with Artemis out tracking the monsters responsible for taking and trapping their children.
Everyone's gaze turns to him as he stands at the edge of the dining room.
“They will live.” He announces. “Hermes and our children will live.”
The Gods breathe out sighs of relief and fall into idle chatter as Apollo approaches the main table.
“Though we should let them rest first before we see them.” Aphrodite adds, nudging Apollo's shoulder. “It is clear to all that they have not rested by choice in days. They deserve some peaceful rest.”
“By choice?” Hephaestus frowns and leans closer to the table. “What do you mean, my Lady?”
Aphrodite and Apollo exchange a look.
Athena and Demeter are clearly worried about the children, Athena especially, since she needs to strategize on how best to take care of them. But they are letting them talk for now, so Apollo tells the truth.
“There are eleven children total.” He begins. “At least, that we know of right now. Luke, the son of Hermes; Percy, the son of Poseidon; Annabeth, the daughter of Athena; Will, my son; the son of Hades; Clarisse, daughter of Ares; the twin sons of Dionysus; another son of Hermes; baby Jason, son of Zeus…”
He takes a deep breath and looks his Father in the eyes. “and Thalia.”
Zeus's eyes widen. “What do you mean, Thalia?” He breathes.
Apollo takes a shaky breath. “I heard Poseidon's son call the dark-haired girl Thalia.” He repeats. “I do not know if-”
“We heard it.” Pan interrupts, idly spinning a leaf under one of his fingers on the table. “Dionysus and I heard it. Aunt Athena, did you-”
“I heard it as well.” Athena looks at her Father. “I do not know how it is possible, but her name is Thalia, Father.”
“Thalia…” Zeus repeats quietly.
Tears fill his eyes. “My daughter, first to die from this wretched curse, lives again?”
Apollo bows his head. “I believe so, Father.”
Hera brings a hand to her mouth as tears fill her eyes. “That can not be… How is this possible?!”
“We do not know, Mother.” He frowns. “Unfortunately, according to Luke, Clarisse, Dionysus, and Pan, they were separated into two groups from the moment they appeared here, with Luke, Percy, and Annabeth being in one group with Arepo, and Will, the son of Hades, Clarisse, Thalia, and Dionysus's twin sons being in their own group. I believe Jason and Hermes's second son came at a later time, but from where and how I do not know.
The point is: sometimes between when they arrived here in Hellas and when we found them, Will's group was poisoned with Henbane.”
“It was earlier today.” Hades interrupts. “This morning when my son appeared in Chiron's graveyard scared out of his mind.”
Apollo freezes. “Ah.”
He nearly forgot about how long it has been since the son of Hades and the daughter of Ares were first brought to Olympus.
“So they are sick?” Demeter asks.
Apollo winces. “Not everyone, but yes, they have been injured. I healed what I could after healing Hermes. They are sleeping off the effects now, and should fully recover by tomorrow morning.”
Ares backs off on his growls. “So what now?” He asks. “They are here with us, and that is it. That is everything we need to discuss.”
“Not quite, brother.” Dionysus comments. “Pan, Apollo, Athena, and I have noticed some things that have our concern. Though they are mostly unharmed physically, they show signs of being attacked by monsters and look as though they have seen nightmares a thousand times over. When I looked into their minds, I saw…”
He tenses. “Impossible things.”
“Like what?”
“...Their minds are filled with nightmares.” He says finally. “Twisted monsters roam the villages they live in, and strange buildings made of metal fill the sky with smoke. They dream of and have seen countless death, and their minds are wired for war.”
“They do not know peace, love, or warmth from their parents.” Aphrodite adds. “They only find it with their siblings. There are many, many threads tying them together. Bonds of friendship and siblings that can only come after years of survival and complete trust in the others. While most of them have been hidden from my sight, I can tell that they are still there.”
She gives Apollo, Hades, Poseidon, and Athena a small smile. “I did find the traces of the bond of love between young Will and the son of Hades, as well as young Percy and Annabeth and Clarisse and Hermes's second son.”
Apollo beams. “I KNEW IT!!!” He cheers. “I knew there was something between those two boys!”
Athena frowns. “My daughter with Poseidon's son?” She repeats slowly.
She glances hesitatingly at Poseidon, who stares back at her.
Slowly, a warm smile spreads over her face.
“I suppose it would not be a bad thing for her to rely on…”
“There is one last thing.” Aphrodite adds, silencing the room.
She places her hands on the table and visibly steels herself. “Almost all of the children, except for Percy, Annabeth, and Jason, have anger and hatred toward Luke.”
‘That…’ Apollo sets his chair legs on the floor. ‘-is surprising. Except…’
“Ares.” He says aloud. “Did your daughter say anything about Luke when you found her?”
He shakes his head. “She was more focused on defending herself from us at the moment.”
Apollo winces. That… was not his proudest moment. He could have (and will be) better than that.
‘Our children deserve our best.’
“Luke is clearly haunted.” Dionysus continues. “And so is everyone else. Even the youngest three, Percy, Annabeth, and Jason have their minds shrouded in this… fog that I can not break through. Except… Percy and Annabeth's fog is dark, almost black, and it clogs the senses with an oily rot that sets your very being on edge.”
“I… might have an answer for that.” Apollo says hesitantly.
‘I have to tell them. They have to know what I found.’
“Apollo?” Aphrodite leans forward. “What did you discover-?”
“Percy, Annabeth, and the son of Hades bear the mark of Tartarus.” He confesses. “It has a far deeper hold on the younger two, and they might be close to descension.”
Poseidon gasps. Athena shrieks.
“NO!!!”
The two Gods shift almost instantly, Athena fully unleashing her white and gold owl wings and golden talons as her helmet flickers into view. Next to her Poseidon slams his teal hooves on the floor and summons his trident.
“How DARE THEY?!” Poseidon roars with righteous anger. “How DARE THE MORTALS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS HIDE OUR CHILDREN IN TARTARUS ITSELF?!”
“Uncle! Sister! Please, I beg of you, hold your anger in for just one moment!” Apollo yells, shoving his chair back and stepping in front of them.
“Why?!” Poseidon snarls. “When we find the mortals who dared take our children from us, I will deliver a flood so terrible, their homes will become a part of my trenches!”
“Because our children are terrified of us!!” Apollo yells. “They can not stand a second of being around us! We need to focus on them, for they are hurting in ways we can not even imagine!”
Poseidon stares at him for one more second, then sighs. He slowly decreases in size until he has returned to normal.
“You are right, Apollo.” He says softly. “We should focus on our children for now.”
Athena also returns to normal, but her talons sink deep into the table as she takes a breath.
“I-” Athena shakes. “I did not break my vows. I know that much. But no CHILD OR CREATION of mine should ever be near that place!!! I- I would never-”
For the first time in Apollo's life, he sees his sister feeling the full power of the emotions she claims she does not have.
“It is not fair.” She mutters. “I would never do that to my child or creation. I would never abandon them to such a place like that…”
The Olympians fall silent, exchanging worried glances.
What could they do to help their children now? How could they possibly heal the damage that was already done?
The mortals… or whoever was claiming to be the Gods of Olympus themselves, taking their children, and raising them to believe in lies-
“Let us take some time to reconvene.” Zeus says gently, his gaze on his daughter's shaking body. “It is clear that this information is… heavy.”
Apollo whirls around to talk to Athena and Poseidon, to apologize for the terrible news he gave them-
And finds Athena already gone.
~~~
Athena tears out of the room, sprinting down the halls as fast as she could run.
‘I have a daughter. I did not break my vows. I have a daughter.
I have a daughter who is not mine. Why me? I do not know how or want to be a mother. I care about the children, but after seeing so much loss, I could not bear to lose one of my own.’
She pauses at the door to the healing temple and shakes.
‘I want to see her. I want to know her. I want to hold her in my arms and understand how she sees the world.
How old is she? What is her name? Why am I crying over a child I did not know I even had?
…who took my daughter from me? Who dares to rob me of the experience of raising my child?’
She raises a hand to the door, but then- she freezes.
The information she has been holding, the kind she has only shared with Demeter, just to understand what she has to do now that she has a daughter-
It all comes back to her and ichor roars in her ears.
The next thing she knows, she stands in front of her father and the gathered Olympians, shaking.
“There is one last thing you all should know.” She spits out.
Everyone's gaze turns to her.
Her white, gray, and gold feathers emerge again, and she straightens her back to look at them all.
As she stands before them in fury.
“After Uncle Hades reached out to me about searching for the missing children, I ordered my owls to search all over Hellas while I, myself, would search the area Lord Triton was attacked. Then, one of my owls alerted me to a strange thing: a floating cocoon made of yellow string in the middle of the woods atop Mount Etna. I watched as the cocoon unraveled and a young boy fell out of it, wearing a strange bag on his back. He shook himself, pushed himself to his feet, brushed off the dirt from his hands, elbows, knees, and sandals, armed himself with a strange spear that seemed like it was from Ares, and started looking around the area. Then, he approached the cliff at the edge of the forest, where he stabbed the spear into the ground, and I'm guessing he prayed to Ares specifically, since Demeter and I sensed his presence for both the boy, and his daughter.”
Ares nods. “Yes, that was me. They prayed to me at the exact same time and I blessed them both.”
“Why?” Apollo asks.
“Clarisse is my daughter, and the boy seemed to know her.”
“Yes, while their reunion was something Aphrodite would adore, I listened to their conversation and found out something shocking.”
She lowers her head to the floor, staring at the marble flooring in a sudden moment of weakness.
‘Say it, Athena. Say what you have been holding back out of confusion and desperation to understand.’
She raises her head and looks directly at the other Gods.
“Our children do not come from this world.”
~~~
Apollo's heart stops. ‘This world… this world-’
“What does that even mean?!” Ares demands. “This is our world, our home! How could there be another one?!”
“According to the boy your daughter calls ‘Chris’.” Demeter says.
Apollo quickly realizes that she is speaking of Hermes's second son.
“There is another world where we were able to have children without problems.”
The room fills with silence as the Gods stared at each other in disbelief.
“...Another… world?” Queen Hera repeats in wonder.
“Do we know how many children there are?!” Zeus demands, face white with fear for their safety.
Athena looks directly into her father's eyes.
“There is more than eleven.”
Apollo's heart swells. ‘More than eleven?! One was enough for us when we learned about Jason… but eleven?! More than eleven?! How many of our children are there?!’
“How many of our children are there?!” Dionysus asks.
“Hundreds.” Demeter whispers. “Two camps worth. One is currently unknown, he did not speak about it much, but the other is left to Chiron.”
Apollo narrows his eyes. “Chiron? The… graveyard's caretaker?”
She nods and Zeus sighs. “Of course… We trust him with watching over our children, so we would trust him with teaching and raising them too.”
Athena continues. “From what I heard, Chiron works with someone called Wine… whom I can only assume to be Dionysus. But we… I mean. The Gods who created them, are not involved in their lives. According to our children, and I quote: ‘usually, they want nothing to do with us.’ Which is absolutely absurd, we created them, so we should want everything to do with them, I can not understand why-”
“Athena.” Aphrodite reaches a hand towards her. “You are crying.”
Athena swallows. “...It is not fair.” She chokes out through her tears. “I do not want to suffer the same losses as you all have, but I have a daughter. A daughter that I did not know about, but I can not bear the thought of losing.”
Apollo bows his head. “We understand, sister. You know this.”
“We should be there for them.” She whispers. “We should be involved in their lives from their very first breath. And we are not.”
“Why would we not be involved in our own children's lives?!” Ares asks angrily. “It does not make sense!”
“It does not make sense to us, either.” Athena admits, wiping the tears from her eyes. “Clearly-”
She clears her throat and straightens her back, until she looks like herself again. “Clearly, we are missing parts of the story that only our children can tell us.”
“Are they still ours?” Pan asks, looking worried.
“Absolutely!!!” The other gods shout out. “They came to our world for a reason and we have to figure that out.” Aphrodite adds.
“Could Fate have heard our cries?” Hestia whispers.
The room, again, goes silent.
“What do you mean, sister Hestia?” Queen Hera asks carefully.
“For eons…” Hestia whispers. “We have… cried out… to Fate… begging… for a child… to live…”
She looks around the room. “Now… we learn… of a world… where we…. do have children… but we… we neglect them…”
Her face twists in fury. “Could Fate… have heard… our cries… for children… and finally answered… with children… who have… no parents… like they deserve to?”
The question rings in the air, silencing all possible answers.
“We'll need to speak with Fate itself.” Zeus declares finally. “Apollo.”
“Yes, father?” He responds immediately.
“When the children are awake and healed, bring them here.”
He leans forward in his chair, clenching the armrests in clear anger. “I want to hear about this… other world…”
“And after that, Father?” He asks.
Zeus's face breaks into a smile.
“We summon Fate for answers.”
No need, Gods of Olympus.
I am already here.