Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Percy

Percy would like to say that suddenly finding himself in an unfamiliar area with little to no warning was new or alarming for him, but honestly by this point it was mostly just annoying. So when he found himself blinking into awareness in the middle of what seemed like some sort of forested campground that he'd never seen before he didn't panic. Instead he pulled Riptide out of his pocket and sank back into a ready stance as he swiftly scanned his surroundings.

He was pretty sure that he had gone to bed in his cabin, but now he seemed to be standing in some sort of campground. It wasn't Camp Half-Blood, but there were some similarities. A large campfire, ringed by smooth stone-like bricks would have been right at home at Camp Half-Blood, but it sat in the middle of a ring of mismatched seating that varied from mortal camp chairs to a large log and what appeared to be a blue and gold sofa instead of large tables for campers the way it would be in Camp Half-Blood. There were some picnic tables nearby, but they were more off to the side and bunched into a rectangle made of ten six-to-eight-person tables instead of in a circle around the fire. Beyond the chairs and tables there were what appeared to be thirteen buildings creating a loose circle surrounding the campfire, chairs, and tables with plenty of room between each building that allowed Percy to catch sight of thick woods stretching out in three out of four directions. The last direction led toward the edge of a beach-edged lake with a small dock, several canoes, and what appeared to be a speedboat. Or maybe it was an inland bay. He couldn't see the other side of the water the way he normally would with a lake.

The buildings themselves were odd. All thirteen buildings shared the same basic shape and design; a rectangular two-story cabin-like building with a fenced-in pouch that was facing inward toward the fire, a triangular roof, and a ramp leading up onto the porch. But that was where the similarities ended. Each of the buildings--possibly cabins?—were made up of wood, stone, or metal and had various designs or decorations both worked into the building itself or hanging on the outer walls or porch-fence. Put together like they were they seemed to both fit together like a set and stand out like distinct individual buildings.

Percy probably would have taken more time to examine the buildings if he hadn't scanned back around toward the building that had caught his attention the most (one made up of a strange blue-green stone) to suddenly find a man sitting on the blue-gold sofa who hadn't been there moments before.

Startled, Percy jumped back, uncapping Riptide in one smooth motion and sinking into a more defensive stance. If this person was mortal he'd eat Riptide's cap. Not only had he appeared in a sofa that Percy was certain had been empty just seconds earlier, but he was also covered in an array of slightly-glowing golden tattoos alongside non-glowing mortal-looking tattoos. Plus he had the standard array of animal-like traits that Percy had come to expect for divine and divine-adjacent beings. Specifically this man had an array of marbled red, gold, orange, and green feathers in his hair and growing out of his arms as well as brown canine-like ears that reminded Percy of the pit bull that lived two doors down from his mom and Paul. His hair and skin seemed mostly normal. Curly brown hair that went down to his mid-back despite being mostly tied up in a ponytail and a tanned skin tone covered by—admittedly odd-looking—freckles wasn't too unusual. Though the oddly-gold lines that branched across just about every exposed bit of skin and looked uncomfortably like lightning scars were a bit distracting from the freckles that similarly covered his skin.

Percy did his best to shake off the unease the probably-scars had given him and focused back on the man himself. Strangely enough the probably-god hadn't moved from his somewhat-lounged position in the middle of the sofa and was simply watching Percy with eyes that were a strange mix of gold and blue that almost matched the sofa he was sitting on. The man was relaxed, seemingly unbothered by Percy's sword or obvious defensiveness. If anything, his expression looked….sympathetic? Understanding? Whatever it was it was odd, but at least he didn't look mocking or amused the way a lot of gods tended to get when weapons were drawn on them.

"Who are you?" Percy asked sharply, not lowering his blade. "And why did you bring me here?" Try as he might he couldn't place this man with any of the immortal beings he could think of. Maybe Annabeth would recognize him, but Percy was unfortunately drawing a blank. Which meant he needed to be even more cautious as he figured out what—or rather who—he was dealing with here.

"My name is Lester," the man replied, shifting to interlock his fingers together on his lap as he spoke. "And I asked to have you brought here so I could make you an offer. I would request that you hear out the offer before deciding, but if you choose to reject it you will be sent back where you came from with no harm to you or anyone else."

"Haven't I done enough for you lot already?" Percy snarled, scowl crossing his face. He'd just finished a second war. A second great prophecy. Why did the gods want more from him?!

"You have." The simple, blunt agreement cut through some of the anger that had begun to boil up. "More than should ever have been asked of you, or any other child. Especially a mortal child. I am sorry for that. This offer wasn't my own idea, but when it was brought up to me as a possible way to undo the damage done I agreed it was worth trying, but you deserve the chance to decide if you agree with me or not. They have agreed not to force the matter if you disagree." He could be lying, but Percy prided himself in being able to tell if he was being bullshitted and Lester seemed honest enough so far. So Percy slowly lowered his blade, though he didn't put it away.

"Who's idea was it then?" he asked, eyes flickering around the camp briefly to see if anyone else was in the area.

"The Fates." The words snapped Percy's gaze back to the brow-haired god. Shit. That wasn't good.

"What in the world could be bad enough that The Fates decided to get directly involved?" Percy probably should have come across as more worried, but honestly all that came out was exhausted exasperation. After everything he'd already dealt with he couldn't find it in himself to feel much beyond that. He answering wry-twist to Lester's lips was both baffling and strangely reassuring.

"To make a long story short, in a little over one hundred years from your current time the world ends." The words were blunt and colored with exhaustion more than anything else Percy might have expected from that sort of announcement. Percy opened his mouth to either ask a question or break into hysterical laughter, but Lester continued before he could do either. "There were several contributing factors, but the biggest one was the leading Greco-Roman gods' unwillingness to fucking learn any sort of lesson from things going wrong in their pantheon." Percy snorted a startled laugh before blinking at the god in shock for several long moments. Had he just—? Percy giggled another slightly hysterical laugh and straightened, capping Riptide as he did so and stuffing it in his pocket.

"Are you not Greek or Roman then?" Percy asked, tilting his head at the strange god.

"Yes and no," Lester tilted one hand back and forth in a so-so motion that made him seem oddly human. "You know that gods can develop aspects in new pantheons. I was Greek and Roman, and still am-sort of. Those parts of me aren't…fully here anymore, not since the other pantheons collapsed, but they're still a part of my history and I don't think I can ever be fully not-Greek since that was my origin. This aspect of me formed in a new pantheon that was born around a year from when you are in the timeline, though unlike most gods I don't forget things between my aspects. Perks of being a god of Knowledge and Memory, I suppose. Among other things."

Percy frowned, narrowing his eyes thoughtfully at the god. He purposely didn't think about the whole new-pantheon thing, or the collapsing-pantheon thing. Instead, he set his mind to trying to figure out who this god might have been in the Greek and Roman pantheons. Knowledge and Memory huh? He couldn't think of a god of Memory, but Knowledge was a big one. He wasn't Athena, that was for sure. And besides. Athena was Wisdom, not Knowledge. Then there was the strange gold and blue eyes and the gold glow to many of the man's tattoos….No way.

"Apollo?!" The smile he got from the god in front of him was both familiar and completely foreign. He'd seen Apollo smile several times in the various times he'd met the sun god and this smile certainly had the same warm brightness to it, but at the same time it felt more present than Apollo's smiles had ever been. This Apollo—or Lester he supposed—was fully here in the moment. Not distracted by music on his headphones, teasing his sister, or flirting with whoever had caught his attention at the moment. And he hadn't been acting like Apollo at all. Apollo was…flighty. Distracted at best. This man hadn't even attempted a single line of bad poetry yet.

"Very good, Percy." The praise was warm and lacked the condescending edge it could have had. "Apollo—or Apollon—was my name in my Greek and Roman forms."

"Huh." Percy rocked back on his heels as he scanned the sun god thoughtfully, searching for anything that reminded him of the golden, model-like figure that Apollo had always taken before. He couldn't. This form was hot—Percy would give him that—and not just because he was a sun god. But it was hit in a more….human way. Gone was the perfect, glowing golden locks and sculpted eight-pack figure. Instead, Lester had somewhat-messy curls that were partly escaping his ponytail and a build that—while muscled—still had a bit of fat here and there. "You seem…different."

"Quite." The smile Apollo—Lester—gave him then was smaller and sadder, but no less real than his earlier grin. "I won't get into it, but a lot happened in my personal life. If you agree to move forward with this plan you'll learn about it then, and if not you'll see what happens as it does, or at least the effects of it. You weren't directly involved in much of that specific mess."

"Right…" Percy frowned, not sure he liked the sound of that, but after several beats he huffed a short sigh and strode over to grab one of the folding camp chairs and dragged it over to drop it about five feet in front of Lester's chosen couch. Dropping into the chair, he gestured vaguely at the god in front of him. "What's this offer then?" The smile he got for that was just as small as the last one, but warmer somehow. Affection—or maybe pride—softening the god's face in a way that strangely reminded Percy of how Jason sometimes smiled at Piper or Frank…or Leo.

"In essence, the Fates want to bring the Greco-Roman Olympians here alongside a selection of mortals to listen to the story of the last two wars and some of the events that would follow them from the perspective of some of the mortals directly involved in them. From what they told me the stories would be provided in the form of several books to be read. From what they told me the first five books would be entirely from your perspective and would show not only what you went through, but many of your inner thoughts. Hence why I wanted to get your permission before going forward with even considering this." For several long moments Percy could only stare. Then he sat back, stunned.

"So. In order to save the world you want me to allow my life and thoughts to be read out loud to not only the gods, but an array of random mortals?" Percy asked, both horrified and utterly confused. "How in the world is that supposed to help fix things?! And what about the other books? You only said the first five!"

"That is the long and short of it, yes," Lester confirmed. "Though the mortals aren't likely to be random. As you said, I mentioned only the first five books. The next five books do have your perspective in them, but they also involve the thoughts and experiences of several other demigods, including the rest of the Seven. The other seven books don't have your perspective at all. If you agreed to this plan then the others who would have their thoughts read out would also be brought in and offered the same thing I am offering you now. If you agree and they do not then we would only read the first five and then the last five, though they would be allowed to stick around as some of the mortals listening to everything. It would leave quite a gap in information, but hopefully it would do the job. The Fates—and myself—hope that hearing these stories from the mortal perspective while being forced to spend time and interact with several related mortals will be enough to move the Olympians toward change."

"And who's thoughts would be read out in the last seven bo…?" Percy trailed off, taking in the once-again sad smile on the god's face. "The last seven are your story aren't they? The story about what you mentioned a little bit ago?"

"Sort of." Lester dipped his head. "The last two books follow two demigods, one of which will also have their perspective in the second set of five books and the other does not. I already gave my permission for my story to be read, but without it going along with the stories of actual mortals the Fates don't believe it will be enough to fix anything. Not with how my Greco-Roman family tend to be."

"And they think that hearing my story will?" Percy asked, raising his eyebrow in disbelief. "They already know most of it, even if they never heard my thoughts on the matter."

"The gods in your time do know much of it, yes," Lester agreed. "And by that point in their timeline it probably wouldn't do much to change their minds. But The Fates intend to bring in the gods from shortly after you arrived at Camp Half-Blood for the first time. Before my father had the time to dig his heels in and get his mind completely set on believing he couldn't possibly have made a mistake in the wars."

"How would that work?" Percy asked, brow furrowing in confusion. "If they are from back then wouldn't that change how they—wait!" Percy sat forward, eyes widening in shock. "Are you saying that we're going to be influencing my past? Not just my future and your past?"

"That is exactly correct." Lester grinned at him, smiling brighter than he had since Percy had arrived in this place. "If you agree to do this then after the stories are read, everyone who is brought here to listen to them will be sent back to their bodies in the summer of 2007 with all of the memories they had here fully intact. The hope is that between all of you, changes could be made to fix how things went in your last two wars as well as preventing the future collapse of the world. Things only went as bad as they did because the Olympians insisted on sticking to things that clearly weren't working. The Fates are less concerned with how things went in these wars, but they agree that they could have gone better and understand that adding that to the bargain gives you and the others more of a reason to say yes."

"So it's a bribe," Percy concluded, grudgingly impressed. "They want us to prevent the end of the world, but since it happens after most of our mortal lifespans, they figured they need to bribe us into caring enough to bother." He knew this would probably be his problem at some point even if he refused to help here, but he didn't really want to think about that, so he pushed it aside for the moment.

"Essentially," Lester agreed, sounding more than a little amused. "I will admit that I was impressed when they first told me the offer. It certainly made the idea more palatable." Percy blinked at Lester in shock.

"It's a bribe for you too." The realization was a surprising one. He would have thought that the world ending would be enough for a god to agree to change things. He would have a whole immortal existence ending after all.

"Yes," Lester agreed, smiling sadly at Percy once again. "It is. While I will admit that I would prefer the world to keep turning, having my own thoughts and emotions read out to my family isn't something I find overly enjoyable. Nor is adding onto the trauma that you children have gone through, since chaos-knows you've all dealt with more than enough. I probably would have agreed without the bribe—to try and save some version of the mortal lovers and children I had between your time and my time if nothing else—but the chance to save even some of the kids I lost in the last two wars you dealt with…" Lester shook his head before looking down at his hands and Percy was shocked to see what could only be grief creasing the god's face. "I'd give almost anything for that chance. Baring my inner thoughts is a paltry price for such a gift." Lester clasped his hands together once more—more gripping than loosely holding this time—before looking back up at Percy. "But that does not mean that I will force your hand in agreeing. Nor will I force the others to agree if you choose to go forward with your part. You have all given more than enough of your lives to trying to fix the messes that we gods have made of the world. If you choose not to attempt this you will get to return to your lives and finish the lives you would have had if The Fates and I hadn't interrupted them like this."

"Are you kidding?" Percy gave Lester an incredulous look. "Of course I'm doing it!" The Fates certainly knew how to make a bribe. Percy would have given a lot of things for a chance to undo some of the mistakes he'd made during the last two wars. There were people he could save!

"Are you sure?" Lester pressed, though he didn't seem surprised by Percy's answer or his passionate way of stating it. "You won't just be having your inner thoughts read. After everything is read you and the others will be going back in time to relive all of this. The wars against the titans the giants are going to happen in your lifetime. Prior knowledge will help, but that won't stop you from having to fight again. People will still die, possibly the same people, but different people dying is just as likely."

"I'll risk it." Percy wasn't looking forward to going through two whole wars again, but he'd handle it if it meant fixing some of this. He had a sneaking suspicion that the others would agree, though he couldn't be certain. "Do we get a say in the mortals brought to listen to everything?"

"I'm not sure," Lester admitted, frowning slightly. "I didn't think to ask—"

"The mortals to be brought—"

"—have already been chosen. But—"

"—we are sure you will have—"

"—no complaints."

The three voices—raspy and cutting over each other—had Percy jumping to his feet and reaching for Riptide as he spun toward them only to stop as he caught sight of three familiar crones standing side-by-side at the edge of the circle of chairs.

"Lady Fates," Lester greeted the three women, dipping his head from where he was still sitting on the sofa. "Thank you for clarifying. And these other mortals—"

"Don't fret—"

"—god of multitudes. We—"

"—remember your—"

"—insistence. Every mortal—"

"—will be given—"

"—a chance to refuse."

Lester let out a small breath of relief and nodded, some of the tension lingering in his posture relaxing at their words. Percy couldn't help but stare at him for a moment. His insistence, huh? He had really insisted that they all needed to be given a chance to say no to this? Percy was getting the distinct impression that he might actually like this new version of Apollo.

"Thank you. Truly." Lester's gratitude was sincere and drew Percy's attention back toward the three manifestations of Fate in the room.

"Yes." It was an acceptance of the thanks and a dismissal as all three sets of eyes fixed on Percy, making a chill run up his spine.

"You have—"

"—decided then—"

"—Sea's child." It wasn't a question, but Percy nodded anyway, relaxing his grip on Riptide and straightening out of his defensive crouch.

"I have," he agreed. "I can't speak for the others, but I accept having my story read in exchange for this chance."

"Very good. Then—"

"—we shall bring in—"

"—the other involved beings."

The words had barely left their mouths before the camp clearing was suddenly fuller than it had been mere moments before. Percy was unsurprised to see Annabeth, Jason, Piper, Hazel, Frank, and Leo. Nico and Reyna were pleasant surprises, as was Will, but the biggest surprise was Apollo. As in the perfect, blond, definitely Greek sun God. An alternate—possibly past—version of the god sitting just to Percy's right. The god who made a small noise of surprise before falling completely silent as the newcomers began trying to figure out what was going on.

"Percy, what—?" Annabeth cut herself off as she caught sight of The Fates standing off to the side. The rest of the group quickly followed her gaze and similarly fell silent, though Apollo seemed to have noticed them the moment he had arrived. The bright god looked shocked, small frown creasing his face as he scanned over the others in the clearing. The other demigods—on the other hand—seemed to bunch in closer to each other, some hands moving toward weapons uncertainly.

"Easy everyone," Percy held up his hands in a soothing gesture, wry smile twisting his lips up. "There's no threat here. The Fates just have an offer for us. You can say no, but I think it's worth it." He couldn't blame his friends for looking uncertain, but they all turned toward The Fates all the same.

"An offer, yes."

"A chance. Three choices."

"An exchange. Bare—"

"—your hearts and minds—"

"—relive a version of—

"—the pain already lived."

"Gain a chance—"

"—a possibility to change."

"To fix. Alter the past—"

"—and the future. Prevent—"

"—tragedy. Not all, but—"

"—some. Enough to change—"

"—the tapestry. This world's sun—"

"—will explain."

"Choose well."

With that they were gone. Vanishing from the camp between one blink and the next. Percy couldn't find it in himself to be surprised, though it was a bit frustrating.

"This world's sun," Annabeth mused, turning toward Apollo, but the golden sun god just shook his head, brow furrowing as he turned toward Lester.

"That would be me," Lester spoke up, drawing the rest of the group's attention toward him as he straightened in his seat. "Local god of the Sun, Memory, and too many other things to bother naming at the moment. My name is Lester and I come from a time a little over one hundred years from the time you are all from. This is what remains of the pocket realm that my pantheon and I called our home. The Fates approached me with this offer first, so I can explain it to all of you if you are willing to listen."

"I suppose we might as well," Apollo agreed with a disarming and unconcerned smile, making his way over to drop into a nearby armchair. "We're already here after all. And The Fates aren't ones to intervene, so this has to be good."

"Or very bad," Frank muttered under his breath.

"Or that," Apollo agreed, pointing at Frank with another bright smile.

"Apollo." Lester's voice wasn't sharp or scolding, but it drew the other(?) god up short and drew his eyes over to meet the brown-haired god's gaze, smile frozen on his face for a long moment before it slowly faded. Lester waited until Apollo's expression had morphed into a small, uncertain frown before continuing. "The Fates didn't bring you here to offer you the same choice as the others. I have already decided for us. I would apologize, but I know your answer would be the same as mine." Apollo's eyes widened slightly as understanding hit him, something like fear flashing across his face briefly before it was washed away in pure shock.

"Why was I brought here then?" Apollo asked, tone far lighter than seemed right for this conversation. Lester frowned at him silently for several moments before he huffed a sigh and pushed himself to his feet to stride over and crouch down several feet in front of his younger self, making it so they were perfectly eye-level despite Apollo lounging sidewise on the chair.

"It is time to stop lying, Apollo. And no—" Lester held up a hand, stopping whatever it was Apollo was opening his mouth to say. "—being the god of truth doesn't mean you can't lie. Making it into a role to play in order to have one domain cushion the pain of the other doesn't stop it from being lying. Chaos knows I understand why you're doing it—why I did it for so long—but it's not worth it. I'm not sure it ever was, despite everything."

"Wh—" Apollo broke himself off, staring at Lester in something similar to horror. "What happened? Why…?"

"I won't explain everything now," Lester informed him, a bit of apology leaking into his words. "You'll learn about a lot of it during everything to come. But the most important part of it is that the kids deserve better. These kids. Our kids. The kids of the rest of our family too. All of them. We need to do better for them. You need to do better for them. Better than I did." Apollo was staring still, expressions crossing his face faster than Percy could properly track before he seemed to…change was probably the best word for it. His appearance didn't shift, but his posture dropped from something bordering lackadaisical to something far more serious and his gaze grew sharper, more focused as he swung his legs around to sit more upright in the chair he'd been sprawled across. Percy was suddenly reminded that the golden being sitting there was—in fact—a god. And one with domains like Knowledge, Truth, and Reason on top of his Music and Healing.

"How bad does it get?" Apollo asked, lighthearted tone replaced by something older. Grief-tinted acceptance perhaps?

"Bad." Lester didn't seem to be wanting to sugarcoat anything for his younger self. "In the next five years from your current time there will be two wars back to back. The demigods are at the center of both." Lester faltered then, grief darkening his expression as he continued. "At the end of the first war we only had twenty-three children still alive. Only ten of those survivors were at camp and the oldest of those ten was only fourteen."

The sound Apollo made then wasn't one Percy could properly describe. It wasn't the kind of sound anything other than a god could make. Pure grief echoed off of the sun god like a collapsing star mixing with an infant's wail and the crash of hundreds of miss-tuned instruments as he seemed to fold into himself on the chair, his faint glow dimming even further as he wrapped his arms around himself and began to outright sob. Across from him, Lester's own eyes filled with tears before the older version of the golden-god moved to wrap his arms around his younger self, seeming to help hold him together.

Movement from behind him caught his attention, causing Percy to turn just in time to see Will breaking away from the rest of the demigods to hurry over and crouch down next to the chair that Apollo—Will's father—was practically collapsed in. The moment Will came into view Apollo startled before uncurling just enough to reach for him, pulling the boy into his lap so he could basically wrap around him. Percy couldn't hear what they were saying, but it definitely looked like the three of them were whispering to each other, probably offering some form of comfort. And it looked like both Apollo and Lester were growing a bit brighter than before.

Suddenly feeling like he was intruding, Percy turned away. Unsurprisingly, the his friends looked equally uncomfortable, though Percy saw some of his own earlier surprise on most of them as well. It was hard to believe that a god was having this sort of reaction about the death of their kids. He hadn't ever gotten the impression that any of them cared that much. Sure, Hermes had tried to get him to save Luke, but he hadn't ever put much effort into his other kids. And this was Apollo, the God who hadn't ever seemed to take anything seriously.

Though…if he was understanding Lester's earlier words and Apollo's response to them some—if not all—of that attitude may have been a farce? A way to…what? Protect himself? From what? Maybe they'd learn more about that during these readings. And, thinking back now, the Apollo kids had always been weird when it came to their godly parent. Percy couldn't remember any of them ever complaining about their dad. Not like everyone else did at least, with carefully phrased frustration that wouldn't draw the god in question's attention. No, in the rare moments that an Apollo kid bothered to complain about their dad they always referred to him by name or as 'Dad', and they never seemed to be actually upset with him. Weird…

Strangely enough, Nico was the only one who didn't look surprised, or even uncomfortable. The dark-haired boy was watching Will sharing comfort with two different versions of his dad with an expression that looked more sad or fond than anything else. Maybe a mixture of both?

"Can you tell us anything about what we're being offered here, Percy?" Jason asked, drawing Percy's attention back to the current situation as Jason's eyes flickered over to the two grieving gods before refocusing on Percy himself.

"Sure," Percy shrugged. "Basically, we're being offered the chance to go back in time and try and fix things. But in exchange our stories from the last two wars are going to be read out to everyone here, the Olympian Gods from 2006, and whoever else The Fates decide need to hear them." Shocked silence greeted his announcement, not that he could blame them. But he could already see the wheels turning on each of their faces. Reyna, Jason, and Annabeth looked like they were running through the options with something like hope starting to dawn on Frank and Nico.

"How far would we be going back?" Annabeth asked.

"And what do you mean by having our stories read?" Leo added uncertainly.

"Everyone who is brought here to hear your stories would have their memories sent back to their bodies in the year 2007." Lester's voice stopped Percy from answering and he turned to find the older god standing and facing them once more. Behind him, Apollo was still curled around Will with a deep blue blanket—one that Percy was certain hadn't been in the clearing before—wrapped around both of them and tears running down his face. Will himself had shifted so he was sitting on Apollo's lap, facing Lester as well and seemingly unbothered by how close Apollo was holding him. "And while I haven't gotten to see the writing of any of the stories yet, The Fates informed me that they would be through the perspectives of each of the people currently in this space. The first five are entirely in Percy's perspective, the next five are broken up across most of your perspectives, the next five are done from my own perspective, or Apollo's future perspective if you prefer. Then the last two are told from the perspectives of Nico, Will, and Hazel. During each person's perspective, their thoughts and emotions are going to be described, revealing things that I'm sure all of us would prefer not to be shared."

"And The Fates think this will, what, fix things?" Nico asked in disbelief.

"Apparently," Lester agreed with a small shrug. "Between hearing things from a mortal perspective, being forced to spend time here with each other and various mortals, and learning about the damage future versions of them inadvertently caused, the hope is that they can be convinced to make changes."

"What caused The Fates to take such drastic action?" Reyna asked. "I know the wars weren't good, but were they really that bad?"

"No," Lester admitted with a sigh. "Not really. The wars didn't go well, but the bigger problem is that the Greco-Roman gods, especially the Olympians, refused to learn from them. Their choice to keep repeating the same mistakes led to the world literally ending in a little over one hundred years from your current time. That is what caused them to step in. The end times were not supposed to come so soon. There are some events that happen during the wars and following years that didn't help matters, but to be honest I believe that you all being sent back in time is more of a bribe to get you to agree to help than anything else."

"That makes more sense," Piper huffed, crossing her arms across her chest. "They said we had three options, right? What are those?"

"The first option is the one that The Fates—and myself—are hoping you will choose," Lester began, sinking down to sit cross-legged on the ground like it didn't bother him to be literally lower than a group of mortals. "That would be all of you agreeing to go forward with this. The other Olympians from 2006 will be brought here, along with a group of mortals that The Fates have chosen, and all seventeen books will be read. Afterward, everyone who was brought here will have their memories sent back in time to redo things and attempt to make things better. Options two and three are more individual choices. If any of you refuse to have your thoughts read then the books that your perspectives are included in will not be read. Percy has already agreed so the first five books will be read, as will the ones from my own perspective. If you choose to, you can stick around for those readings and still go back in time with the rest to attempt to redo things, just with less knowledge having been shared with everyone. Or you can opt out entirely and you will be sent back where you came from. You won't remember any of these conversations and you will live rest of your lives in the way you would have if you had never been brought here in the first place."

"I'm in." Jason's response was immediate and drew a huff of understanding amusement from Percy. Yeah. That had basically been his reaction. The rest of the group had turned to look at him with various levels of surprise, but Jason wasn't backing down. "A chance to go back in time and save some of the lives that were lost during the wars and potentially prevent a coming disaster that would bring a complete end to both our camps along with the rest of the world? Of course I'm going to do it. And if The Fates think that hearing our stories will increase the chances of this working, then I'm happy to share mine. I can handle whatever embarrassment it might cause if it means I can save those lives."

"Same, man. Same." Percy shared a grin with the son of Jupiter, understanding passing between them. There was more than one reason Hera had used them as the anchors for the bridge between their camps after all.

"Well when you put it like that, it makes my hesitating sound selfish." Leo's tone was wryly joking, but Lester's response was immediate.

"No." The brown-haired god's tone brooked no argument as he shook his head, drawing a startled look from more than just Leo. "It's not selfish to want to spare yourself the pain of reliving what you have all gone through. Nor is it selfish to want to keep your private thoughts to yourself. You have all done more than enough for the world. You've given more than enough. While I would love for each of you to agree to this, please don't do it out of a sense of responsibility or anything like that. You don't owe the world anything and you certainly don't owe the gods anything. You are well within your rights to return to where you came from and continue to build the lives you have worked so hard for. Or to agree to go back, but refuse to have your thoughts read out. Neither of those choices are selfish. Or if they are, then they are a selfishness that you have all more than earned." Silence fell across the clearing as Lester finished his surprisingly impassioned speech. Percy was staring. He knew he was. The others were too. It was hard to believe that this was a god speaking. Let alone an Olympian god. Had the next hundred years changed the Apollo of their time this much? Or was this how their Apollo really was under the lies he apparently used to hide? A quick glance at the still-crying Apollo didn't give Percy any hints on the matter beyond the fact that the golden-god didn't appear surprised. Will and Nico didn't appear shocked either though, so that might be more of a hint?

"Your time as a mortal really left a mark then, huh?" It was the words, as much as who was saying them, that had the entire group shifting their focus in an instant. Nico Di Angelo shifted slightly under their collective gazes, but shoved his hands in his pockets and stayed firm. After a moment of further shocked-silence Lester huffed a quiet laugh and nodded.

"In part," Lester agreed before tilting his head. "When are you from then?"

"2011," Nico replied with a shrug that looked like it was supposed to be casual, but the slight tightness in his frame made Percy think there was more to it than that. "Summer session ended not that long ago."

"I see." There was something in Lester's tone that Percy couldn't quite place as the god glanced back toward his son and younger self. "Will as well, I assume?"

"Yep!" Will grinned, popping the p at the end. "Nico and I from the same time. And, for the record, my vote is yes as well. For all of it. I'm going back to try and fix things. I'd pay a lot more than just having my thoughts read to get a chance to fix things."

"Are we all agreeing to go back then?" Reyna asked, drawing the attention away from how Apollo's arms had tightened around Will at his words.

"Seems like it," Percy agreed, scanning around briefly to take in the rest of his team—his family—for any signs of disagreement and finding none.

"Is anyone against having their story read?" Annabeth asked, falling back into the familiar planning mode she often used. "I know it isn't going to be pleasant, but the more know going back the better chance we have at making things go better this time." Looks were exchanged across the group at that, most of them looking uncomfortable or downright unhappy, but no one voiced a disagreement.

"Then it sounds like we have an accord," Reyna said, pausing for a moment to see if anyone would disagree. When they didn't, she nodded before turning toward Lester with a nod. "We'll do it. All of it."

"Very good." Lester was smiling warmly at them, but Percy almost thought he could see something sad there too. Wistful maybe? Jealous? But why would—wait. Percy allowed himself to zone out of the conversation as he scanned around the clearing they were in again. Lester had said that the Greek and Roman pantheons were gone. Like gone-gone. That was his family, right? Maybe not an amazing family, but his family all the same. And he'd said that this new pantheon was about a hundred years old so Lester might have been close to them as well. Despite that Lester was the only one here. He'd mentioned wanting to save his mortal lovers and kids if possible, but he'd lost his immortal family too. Possibly more than one. That…that kind of sucked. Frowning, he turned back to look at Lester and tuned back into the conversation just in time to hear Nico's question.

"Who all is going to be brought into this anyways? Outside of the gods?"

"The Fates haven't said," Lester replied. "But they said they were going to offer the option to come and hear this to the mortals they chose and made a comment that we would like their choices. So I suppose we'll have to wait and see what that means."

"You have—"

"—chosen to go back—"

"—and have your tales shared." The three overlapping voices weren't as much of a surprise this time, but the suddenness of The Fates' appearance still had several of them startling and reaching for weapons as they turned toward the women that had appeared just behind the majority of the group, next to the large log laying across the ground. Leo was startled enough he lit himself on fire.

"We have," Annabeth confirmed, though she was definitely aware it hadn't been a question. "We will go back and we will allow our stories to be read if that means it will better our chances at fixing as much as possible."

"Then one more—"

"—choice remains—"

"—before you." The group shifted uncomfortably and Percy felt the tension spike in the room. Another choice?

"Seventeen books will be—"

"—shared in order to—"

"-change hearts and minds."

"They can be read—"

"—or shown. But—"

"—if you choose to—"

"—show instead of read—"

"—there will be—"

"—a cost."

"None will struggle—"

"—to read the word—"

"—on pages. And none—"

"—will have to—"

"—pass the books from—"

"—reader to reader. Or—"

"—choose one to read. But—"

"—to show will be more real—"

"—and harder to ignore."

"For you—"

"—and for—"

"—those listening."

"So…" Leo began. "Just to make sure I'm getting this right. We can either read the books like normal, with most of us struggling to read and having to pass the books around or we can have them shown to everyone instead of being read and it'll be more realistic and harder everyone to ignore?"

"That is—"

"—correct—"

"—Forge's child."

"Cool." Leo nodded. "Sounds like a win-win to me. Since we kind of want the gods to, you know, not ignore what we're showing them?"

"I'm sure it's more complicated than that." Annabeth frowned, staring at The Fates like she was hoping they would elaborate further. When they didn't she huffed out a sigh before shrugging. "But you aren't wrong. Even if there is a cost to it we are trying to convince a bunch of stupidly-stubborn gods to change their minds." She paused for a moment as she seemed to realize something and turned to look toward Lester and Apollo with a small frown. "No offense."

"None taken," Lester assured her, looking more amused than anything else. "You aren't wrong. Gods, especially gods as old as the Greco-Roman gods, are notoriously set in our ways. We tend to be slow to change even on a good century. It takes drastic situations to force change with anything close to the speed we need in this. Personally, my vote goes toward watching rather than reading, but I will defer to what all of you prefer on the matter."

"You'll defer to us?" Jason repeated, brow furrowing in the same confusion that Percy saw echoing across most of the faces among the other demigods, himself included. "But you're a god."

"And you all are going to be far more affected by this than I am," Lester replied with a shrug. "Especially Percy, since he'll have the first five books completely to himself. Whatever I have to deal with on my end is inconsequential. I'd pay whatever price from myself I need to in order to save the lives of even some of my kids. I'm more concerned about whatever the cost might be for all of you, but I am also aware that you are all more than capable of making a choice on that matter for yourselves and I, unfortunately, know my Greco-Roman family well enough to know that it is going to be a fight to get them to change so whatever advantage we can have against that the better of a chance will be had."

"Sounds like we know what we need to do then." Frank's matter-a-fact tone had the rest of the group turning toward him in question, but he just shrugged as well. "What? The whole point of this is to fix as much as possible and stop the world from ending, right? And to do that we need the gods to learn and change. If dealing with watching the books instead of reading them—and whatever comes with that—increases the chances of that happening isn't it worth it? In for a penny in for a pound and all that?"

"I have no idea what that means," Hazel started, looking a little lost after Frank finished "but if you're saying we might as well go all the way in, then I agree. We're already having our thoughts read—or shown I guess—and going back in time to live through the war again might as well deal with…whatever it is they mean by it being more realistic."

"Right." Percy clapped his hands together, drawing their attention over to him. "Are we doing this then?" He paused for several moments, scanning across each of their faces. None of them looked happy about the idea, but he was mostly getting a mix of grudging acceptance, determination, and resignation as they nodded at him. A glance over at Will earned him a thumbs up from the boy in Apollo's lap. After several beats of silence he nodded back and turned to face The Fates. "We'll the second option. Showing the books instead of reading them."

"Very well." All three of The Fates spoke at once, their voices overlapping and echoing through the clearing like reality shifting into a new orientation. A flicker of change and movement had Percy turning toward the fire pit, reaching for his blade out of instinct, but he refrained from drawing it once he saw what it was.

Just moments ago the clearing had been empty outside of their small group, but now it was full of a strange mix of familiar and unfamiliar faces. Apollo was still settled in the same armchair with Will—though their blanket was gone and Apollo wasn't crying anymore—but the space behind them was now filled with sixteen other gods. Percy had expected the other eleven Olympians, as well as Hades and Hestia, but he was caught a bit off guard by the appearance of three other women. Two of them were familiar—he'd met both Persephone and Amphitheater before—but the last woman wasn't one he recognized. Her position at Lord D's side did give him a hint toward who she might be though. Percy had wondered if he was ever going to meet the infamous Ariadne in his mortal lifetime or not.

The crowd on the other side of the campfire was much larger and Percy was pretty sure it was made up of entirely mortal people, but there were too many of them for him to even start to try and name them all. Despite that, he found his breath catching as he caught sight of several faces that he'd been certain that he'd never get the chance to see again mixed in with people he barely recognized, if at all.

Several choked off breaths and distressed noises had Percy turning back toward his group only to find that there were now more people standing around his friends as well. Calypso had appeared, taking up a spot next to Leo. Which wasn't much of a surprise, though Percy wasn't sure how he felt about it. There were others too, at least one child for each of the Olympian gods as well as some of the non-Olympians, but the people that caught Percy's attention the most was the group of three non-demigods standing near the front. Sally Jackson-Blofis and Paul Jackson-Blofis stood next to Tyson, looking around with a mixture of interest and concern, but before Percy could move to speak with them The Fates drew everyone's attention over to them, making even the gods fall silent as they spoke.

"Welcome all—"

"—to a future—

"—fallen."

"You have be—"

"—brought here—"

"—to watch—"

"—and learn from—"

"—stories of your pasts—"

"—and futures."

"Second chances are—"

"—given here. Take—"

"—and use them."

"Your host—"

"—will explain—"

"—the rest."

"Listen well." The final two words were spoken in unison once again before all three women vanished. Knowing about what was going to come next, Percy and the others who had been here already turned to look at Lester as the local god strode forward to stand near the fire pit. Percy wasn't sure when he'd gotten up off the ground, but there wasn't a speck of dirt on the brown-haired god's clothing as he came to a stop and scanned across the crowd. Percy thought he might have caught a slightly deeper-than-normal breath that could have been Lester steadying himself, but when the man started talking his voice was steady and even.

"Hello all. I am Lester, god of Truth, Memory, Stories, Recovery, Logic, Inspiration, Prophecy, Light, Summer, and the Sun. Welcome to my home." Percy couldn't help but notice that Lester made no mention of Knowledge, Music, or Poetry, but Lester kept talking before he could spare it more than a brief moment of curiosity.

"To my understanding The Lady Fates explained at least some of the situation to everyone here, but to make sure we are all on the same page I will reiterate what is going on." He paused for a brief moment, gaze scanning the crowd of eyes that were fixed on him as he spoke before he continued. "You are currently a little over one hundred years in the future from where you are from. In this time the world has ended. The gods, mortals, and the world itself have been destroyed in near entirety. To my knowledge all that remains is the space we now stand in, the remnant of the Place of Power for myself and my pantheon. Yes, there were more than one pantheon in existence, no I will not be answering questions about that at this moment. Do not worry if you do not know me or my fellows—gone as they may be—our pantheon does not yet exist in any of your eras. You have all been brought here to hear the stories of how a group of demigods saved both Olympus and the world several times over the course of a few short years. Once the stories have finished you will all be sent back to the year 2007 to change things, hopefully for the better." Lester paused again, glancing back at Percy and his group before fixing his gaze on the group of gods from 2006. "I would like to believe that I don't need to add this, but to be clear I consider the rules of hospitality to be very important. While you are in my home you shall not cause harm to another one of my guests. If you are caught intentionally causing harm of any kind to another being here there will be consequences. This is your one and only warning. Do not test me on this. You are in my place of power."

The other gods didn't like that. Percy could smell the ozone from here, but Lester seemed unbothered by the glares he was receiving from several members of the pantheon he called his Greco-Roman family. Rather than acknowledge them or push anything further on that matter, the dog-eared god clapped his hands together once and broke into a warm, bright smile before he gave small wave of his hand, causing even more mismatched seating to appear in and a majority of the previous seating to rearrange. When he was finished there was more than enough seats for everyone that appeared to have their pick of where and how to sit and it was clearly organized so the taller seating was set up behind the lower seating. He clearly expected the main action to happen at or near the campfire.

"Please find a seat near you to start," Lester instructed. "Then all of my mortal guests can introduce themselves. Your name, godly parent or ancestor—if you have one—and what year you're from will probably suffice for now. But if you want to add more feel free. I imagine you all know the godly people here, other than myself."

With that he turned and made his way over to take a seat, settling into a taller armchair near the back of the seating instead of his previous sofa. Percy huffed a quiet laugh before sharing a look with the rest of the group that were going to share their stories. Moving almost as one, they made their way over to commandeer a larger version of them blue and gold sofa that Lester had abandoned. It wasn't quite big enough for all of them, especially when Calypso was tugged along by Leo and Will left Apollo's grasp to join them as well. And it only got worse when Grover made his way over to take a spot for himself. But after a bit bit of maneuvering, seven of them managing to settle comfortably onto it with the rest of them dragging over ground cushions to settle around the base of the sofa. They must have looked like quite the sight with their mismatch of Roman and Greek demigods, one titan's daughter, and one Satyr, especially since Reyna and Jason had both taken up spots on the ground alongside Piper, Leo, and Calypso. Percy himself had been surprised when Nico had practically shoved Will into one of the end seats of the sofa and proceeded to curl up in his lap with his legs draped over the armrest, though given how tightly the two younger boys were clutching each other's hands it might have been a choice made to allow them to comfort each other. Especially since both of their gazes kept drifting over toward the crowd of people that Percy was pretty sure came from the past.

Whatever they looked like, them moving to take their seats seemed to be enough to get the rest of the people moving to take their own seats. Most of them found seating close to where they started, but Percy did notice a couple distinctly Roman mortals making their way across the clearing to find spots closer to the sofa their praetors were at as well as two girls finding a place to sit not far from the chair Artemis had taken.

It took several long minutes, but eventually everyone had found a seat, though several of the gods had taken it upon themselves to alter some of the chairs into ones that looked a lot more like thrones. Zeus's even had a place for him to store his lightning bolt where it was both visible and in easy reach, something that had Percy rolling his eyes once he noticed it. Ignoring the gods for now, Percy did a quick scan around the room to make sure that everyone was at least mostly settled (ignoring how his heart clenched at the sight of several of the people he saw scattered around the room) before deciding to get the ball rolling.

"I guess I'll go first. I'm Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon and legacy of Salacia. I'm from the year 2010 and yes, for those of you that guessed it, a chunk of the stories we're going to be hearing are mine." He sat back as he finished, noting with amusement how Zeus and Athena were watching him with surprised confusion mixed with suspicion. On the other hand both Poseidon and Amphatrite were looking at him with a combination of relief and what could only be pride even as Amphatrite flickered between her forms for a brief moment. Percy didn't bother trying to restrain the smile he flashed his father and stepmother in response, not caring about what Zeus thought about his response. He loved his undersea family. They were one of the main reasons he wasn't as upset about the changes he knew his body was going through. Though…he wasn't sure how this whole time travel thing was going to effect things. Oh well. He'd figure that out later.

Annabeth didn't bother sitting forward, instead she leaned more fully into Percy's side as her sharp grey eyes found her mother's near-identical ones. She looked almost calm, but Percy could feel the tension in her frame and see the slight rise to her feathers, like she was restraining them from puffing up.

"My name is Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena," Annabeth informed them, meeting her mother's gaze as the goddess looked between her and Percy with a frown. "Also from 2010." She glanced at Poseidon the, giving him a small nod of greeting and earning a raised eyebrow and slight nod in return.

"Nico di Angelo," Nico began, sitting up from where he had curled into Will's shoulder. "Son of Hades—"

"Hades! You broke—!"

"Born before the oath!" Nico cut off Zeus' growing rant, scowling at the king of the gods. "Father may have several children here, but we were all born before the oath. He didn't break it."

"Quite right," Hades agreed, eying Nico briefly before turning toward his youngest brother with a dark frown.

"Not like you have any right to talk, brother," Poseidon added, scowling at Zeus. "Considering you broke the oath first." Zeus scowled back at his brothers, but beyond the increased smell of ozone he seemed to let it go for the moment.

"Right," Nico huffed before shaking his head in frustration. "Anyways. I'm from 2011."

"Will Solace." Will's eyes flickered over toward the sea of faces that they hadn't seen for a while were gathered before darting away to settle on Apollo. "Also from 2011. I'm a son of Apollo."

"I guess I'll go next," a vaguely familiar woman's voice chimed in from the ground next to Will and Nico. Percy leaned forward slightly to catch sight of a messy mop of black hair with white feathers scattered through it over a pair of dark brown eyes as Shifa drew attention to herself from the ground. "I'm Shifa, daughter of Apollo from 2010. While I helped with the direct aftermath of the two major battles that happened I've been living outside of camp for the most part since 2006 though, so a lot of this is going to be new for me too." That's right. Percy was pretty sure he remembered a couple adult demigods showing up after the Battle at Manhattan and the fight against Gaia to help out in the immediate aftermath. He was pretty sure Shifa had helped after both, tending to the injured and helping the Apollo campers find their footing again.

"I'm Grover, also from 2010," Grover spoke up from Percy's other side before anyone next to Shifa could speak up. "Satyr, so a decedent of Pan."

"My name is Hazel, Centurion of the Fifth Cohort and daughter of Pluto," Hazel began after Grover glanced at her to go. She paused for a moment, letting the murmur of confusion ripple through the group that had died before the second war. The murmur only grew when Hades flickered for a moment, shifting from his Greek form to his Roman and then back over the course of a couple of seconds. She let it go for about five seconds after that before continuing. "Like by brother said, I was born before the oath. And yes, some of us here are Roman. You'll learn more about all of that when we go through the second set of stories. I'm from 2010."

"Frank Zhang, son of Mars and descendant of Poseidon," Frank spoke up before anyone could question things further. Across the hall, Ares shifted to Mars and watched Frank for several moments before shifting back to his Greek form. Frank didn't let the shift derail him as he kept speaking. "I am a Praetor of the Twelfth Legion from 2010." Down by his feet, Piper sat up a bit from how she'd been leaning against Jason's side.

"I'm Piper, also from 2010," she told them, raising a hand in greeting. "Daughter of Aphrodite." Her part done, Piper proceeded to lean back against Jason as he straightened to introduce himself.

"Jason Grace, son of Jupiter and Champion of Juno," he informed them, tone taking on the more formal tone he often used to give reports. "Previous Praetor of the Twelfth Legion. I am from 2010 as well and yes, before some of you ask, that Grace. Thalia is my older sister." A beat of silence passed as people took that in. The campers not in the know seemed to mostly be looking between him and Thalia, but the gods turned their attention to their king and queen as they shifted forms briefly.

"Twice with the same woman brother? Really?" Poseidon asked, shaking his head. "And using your roman side to get around the oath?"

"I would have thought you would be more upset, Hera," Demeter mused, eyeing her sister.

"What makes you think I wasn't?" Hera asked, meeting Demeter's gaze squarely as he form shifted to Juno's briefly once more. "Why do you think he became my champion? I claimed him as payment for my husband's misdeeds."

"You stole him when he was two," Thalia scowled at the queen of the gods.

"Mind your words child," Juno warned. "I cannot steal what was freely given. Jason's parents gave him to me so he was—and is—mine."

"You stole him from me," Thalia disagreed fiercely. "He was always more mine than theirs. Definitely more mine than hers."

"You were nothing but a child yourself," Zeus dismissed her. "The boy was ours to give."

"Thalia," Jason cut in, leaning forward to look at his sister around the people between them. He waited for her to meet his eyes with her own sparking ones before giving her a small smile. "I'm alright. I know it scared you and caused us to be separated for a long time, but Lady Juno made sure I made it to camp safely and we found each other again, yeah?" Several tense beats passed before Thalia huffed a short sigh and nodded, sitting back in her chair. Jason gave her another worried look, but at her slight shake of her head he sat back as well and looked over at Reyna at his side to prompt her.

"Reyna Ramírez-Arellano, Praetor of the Twelfth Legion," Reyna told them, straightening as she did so. "I am a daughter of Bellona and am also from 2010."

"Leo Valdez, son of Hephaestus and mechanic extraordinaire!" Leo exclaimed when Reyna turned toward him, raising his wrench from the tinkering project in his lap in greeting. "2010 for me and this lovely lady here." Turning his head, he flashed Calypso a bright smile, earning him a huffed laugh and eye roll before Calypso turned her attention to the others in the room.

"Calypso, daughter of Atlas," she introduced herself.

"Freed by Leo after all of you swore that she would be released!" Percy cut in, glaring at the gods when he caught sight of several of them straightening like they were going to say something. Percy still wasn't certain about their whole story, but based on the message Leo sent and how he and Calypso were interacting that was the only logical explanation. "So don't start."

"They swore I would be released?" Calypso asked, both her and Leo turning toward Percy in question. Percy grit his teeth, eyes flickering to Calypso and then away as he pushed down the sharp anger that wanted to boil up in his chest.

"Yeah," he confirmed tightly, hand moving to find Annabeth's and giving it a small squeeze. "After the whole…mess that will probably make up the end of the first set of books. It was one of the promises they made as a reward."

"I…didn't know that," Calypso told him, voice taking on a slightly apologetic edge. Percy's eyes flickered to hers and whatever she saw in his made her flinch back slightly and caused Leo to wrap an arm around her shoulder.

"I gathered as much," he told her shortly.

"Percy—what—?" Leo began, but Percy shook his head sharply, sitting back and wrapping his arms more fully around Annabeth and pressing a kiss to the top of her head as she curled into him to hide her slight trembling.

"Not now," Percy informed them firmly before turning his head toward Thalia. The daughter of Zeus quickly got the hint and gave him a small nod.

"Like you've all probably gathered, I'm Thalia," the young immortal told them. "Just Thalia. I love my brother, but I want nothing to do with our last name. I'm the daughter of Zeus and the Lieutenant of Lady Artemis' hunt from 2010." Over by the other gods, Artemis straightened, eyes focusing in on the bow on Thalia's back before settling on the silver tiara on her brow. The two girls who had settled into the large beanbag chair in front of her also turned to stare at Thalia and Percy had to fight down the cold feeling in his gut that came from seeing Zoe again, though he barely recognized the other hunter. He was pretty sure her name was Phoebe, the girl that had been supposed to go on the quest, before Aphrodite stepped in.

"Malcolm, son of Athena," Annabeth's brother spoke up before the goddess of the hunt could decide if she wanted to say anything. "Also from 2010."

"It seems like most of us are from 2010," the boy in the next chair over noted mildly before shaking his head and introducing himself. "Larry Johnson, Centurion of the First Cohort and son of Mercury."

"Most of us over on this side of the fire at least," Gwen agreed, straightening in her own chair next to him as Mercury became Hermes again. "I'm from 2010 as well. Gwendolyn Taylor, former Centurion of the Fifth Cohort and legacy of Fortuna."

"Well I'm not!" The person Percy had been trying to ignore the most spoke up, straightening in his chair to try and look more important. "Octavian Aeneas, Augur of Camp Jupiter and descendant of Lord Apollo from 2007. And I can't help but notice that there are a lot more gra-Greeks here than Romans. Why is that?"

"How would we know that?" Leo asked him, giving the other boy a strange look. "The Fates chose who to bring here, not us."

"It just doesn't make sense!" From the way his voice was going up Octavian had clearly been upset about this for a while now. Percy was just glad he'd waited until his turn for introductions before starting to spout off. "If this is so important then—"

"It's probably because New Rome rejects us." Apollo's voice was colder than Percy had ever heard it before as he cut across his upset descendants words, drawing the boy up short and earning the now-Roman-looking god horrified looks from all of the Romans in the room.

"What?!" Octavian squawked. "My lord! We don't—!"

"You do," Apollo overrode him again, eyes scanning from Octavian and over to the other Roman mortals in the room before settling back on his descendant. "It isn't entirely your fault. The issue started long before your time after all. But the fact remains that New Rome and Camp Jupiter rejected most of us long ago. You honor us, to a point. Some of us at least. I won't get into the outright disrespect you give some of us or the state you leave some of our temples in, though that is part of it. The bigger part is that you have grown so set in your traditions and your self importance that Roman demigods that reach camp end up turned away if they don't have some sort of connection or sponsor to someone already in New Rome. Literal children of the gods, with our ichor and power running with the blood in their veins are deemed 'unfit' for camp and told to leave. As if their possible connections with the mortals already living inside it's walls are more important than their direct relation with one of the gods you claim to revere. And the demigods that are welcomed in are then taught to push down or hide the abilities they inherit from us. They aren't things that everyone can do, so they're disregarded or outright rejected. I've heard of them being referred to as cheating instead of divine blessings or strategic tools." All of the gods had taken on their Roman forms by this point, though Minerva was flickering back and forth between her Greek and Roman forms somewhat unstably and scowling the entire time.

"Lord Apollo we—" Jason began, voice shaking slightly as he straightened up. He cut himself off instantly as Apollo raised a hand and shook his head.

"Like I said, it is not the fault of this current generation. And it certainly isn't your fault, Jason Grace. While I cannot speak of your actions over the last four years of your life I know that you at least worked to advocate for every child that arrived at your gates. And I have it on good authority that you've submitted at least one offering at every god's temple in Camp Jupiter and New Rome proper."

"We will endeavor to do better," Reyna promised, one hand coming up to grip Jason's shoulder as she met Apollo's eyes for a brief moment before dipping into a seated bow. "I swear it. It will take time, especially since we'll be younger again, but we will do better."

"See that you do," Neptune spoke up, accepting her word for all of them for the time being and allowing the tension to start to ease as the gods returned to their Greek forms. Several moments of silence passed before Apollo turned to look at Hylla and gave her a small nod.

"I am Hylla Ramirez-Arellano," Hylla spoke up, quickly taking the hint. "Queen of the Amazons. Also from 2010." Another beat of silence passed before she lightly kicked the log in front of her to get the boy on it to start.

"Right, yes," he stuttered. "My name is Cato Gutierrez, member of the Fourth Cohort and son of Mercury. I'm from 2007." Percy ignored Hermes changing forms as he peered at Cato curiously. He could be wrong, but he was pretty sure he hadn't seen him before today. Considering all the other Romans in the room were people he knew that seemed a bit strange, but he let it go as Miranda moved to introduce herself.

"Miranda, daughter of Demeter," the girl told them, not bothering to straighten from partial-sprawl on the ground. "2010 as well."

"Katie, also a daughter of Demeter." Katie was, if anything, worse. She didn't bother turning her head to look at anyone as she spoke, preferring to continue to stare up at the sky above them from where she was laying on the ground with her legs over Miranda's and her head on Jake's lap. "2010."

"2010 for me too," Jake agreed, fingers not stopping in their path through Katie's hair. "Name's Jake Mason, son of Hephaestus."

"Oh this is getting ridiculous!" Clarisse snapped before Sherman could start to introduce himself. "Who all here is from 2010?" Her eyes narrowed slightly as she scanned around and soon enough a good number of hands went up. Almost everyone that had introduced themselves already raised their hands along with several people around and behind where Clarisse was settled on a large ground mat with Chris and Sherman. "And 2011?" Only Will and Nico raised their hands. "Anyone from later than that outside of the god running this place?" Several beats passed where no one raised their hands so she gave a short nod and looked over at Cato and Octavian. "You two said you were from 2007, right?"

"That's right," Cato agreed with a nod while Octavian scowled at her. Clarisse nodded back before turning to look toward the majority of the people who hadn't raised their hands yet.

"Who all is from 2007?" Percy couldn't find it in himself to be surprised when the rest of the mortal hands went up as well as the two remaining hunters. The Fates were trying to keep them in specific groups of time it seemed. Clarisse took several moments to scan over the crowd before nodding and looking toward the gods. "What about all of you?"

"I am fairly certain we all came from the year 2006," Hestia spoke up, cutting off any of the sharper answers that Percy could see brewing on the faces of several gods at Clarisse's tone.

"Good, that's everyone's years out of the way then," Clarisse said with a sharp nod before sitting back and looking at her younger brother who had taken up a ground cushion just to her left.

"Right," Sherman chuckled quietly, shaking his head before straightening up slightly. "My name is Sherman, son of Ares."

"Clarisse, daughter of Ares." Clarisse didn't turn to look at her dad as she said it, instead choosing to turn and look toward Chris, prompting him to go next.

"Chris, son of Hermes." On the other hand, Chris did glance over at his father, just once, before turning around to look toward Damien.

"My name is Damian. Son of Nemesis" Damian was stiff enough on his cushion that his usually sleek goose feathers were more than a little puffed up. Not that Percy could blame him. Damian was the first of the non-Olympian kids to introduce themselves. Percy kept a close eye on the gods as the other boy spoke, but other than a couple thoughtful looks, none of them seemed to have a problem with his introduction.

Damian glanced to his right as he finished introducing himself and gave the achingly familiar blond-haired boy sitting on the cushion there a somewhat apologetic smile.

"You're from 2007, right Lee?" Damian asked, though Percy was certain Damian would have known the answer even without Clarisse asking everyone earlier.

"Yeah," Lee agreed with a nod. "I got pulled here from around mid-September." Damian nodded as Percy mentally tried to place what he had been doing around that time, nothing much he didn't think.

"I think it's probably best if we finish with everyone from 2010 before we start on the people before that," Damian told him. "Do you mind?"

"Nah," Lee shook his head. "That makes sense." Damian smiled at him and nodded his agreement before turning back to look behind him, over toward where Chiron was standing between him and a smaller sofa, giving the Centaur a questioning look.

"That would be me next, then," Chiron noted with a small smile. "I am Chiron, Activities Director at Camp Half-Blood and trainer of heroes." He didn't mention his divine parent, but Percy couldn't find it in himself to blame the old trainer as Chiron turned toward the sofa just behind him with a warm smile.

"I'm Lou Ellen," the girl at the edge of the sofa introduced herself, black canine ears going back ever so slightly as she lifted her chin in what was probably a challenge. "Daughter of Hecate."

"Dakoda," the boy next to her introduced himself, lifting a surprisingly empty hand in greeting. He must not have been able to bring any kool-aid with him. "Centurion of the Fifth Cohort and son of Bacchus." Percy very pointedly didn't look over toward the god in mention. Mr. D was difficult enough in his Greek form. Percy really didn't want to deal with the roman god who had almost let them die for entertainment.

"And I'm Pollux, son of Dionysus," Pollux spoke up from the sofa next to him. It hit Percy then that he was pretty sure he hadn't seen Pollux look over toward the crowd of people from 2007 since they'd taken their seats but the boy's leopard-spotted feline ears were constantly swiveled in the direction of the wooden benches that were situated almost entirely across the fire pit from Percy himself. Dakoda, on the other hand, was occasionally stealing glances in the same direction that Pollux's ears were turned, but kept one black panther-like ear turned toward that direction and the other focused on Pollux himself. He was also sitting close enough to press his leg and shoulder firmly against Pollux's own. Percy hadn't known that the two half-brothers had gotten close, but clearly they must have if this interaction was anything to go by. Pollux looked like it was very possible that he was only holding it together thanks to Dakota's presence, not that Percy could blame him. A quick glance in the direction of the benches told Percy that there was another boy with ears almost identical to Pollux's own sitting on one of them.

"I'm Tyson." Percy jumped slightly, pulled back into what was going on as his brother raised one hand to wave from his position on a sofa next to Percy's mom and Paul. "Poseidon is my daddy." Percy couldn't help but grin at his brother and the smile didn't fade as Sally Jackson-Blofis straightened in her seat to introduce herself.

"My name is Sally Jackson-Blofis, clear-sighted mortal and mother of Percy Jackson," she told the clearing at large, smiling at Percy before allowing her gaze to shift and include the rest of the demigods on and around his sofa in that smile, followed by the rest of them.

"Also known as probably the best mortal in the world," Clarisse spoke up firmly as that smile landed on her for a brief moment.

"Aunt Sally is the best," Nico agreed, turning to give Percy's mom a smile that was bright enough that it caught Percy off-guard for a brief moment to see it on the son of Hades' face. A general murmur of agreement rippled out from the demigods from 2010 and 2011, causing Percy to beam and his mom to turn bright red. Percy was glad his friends and family loved his mom, and that his mom had built the community among them that she had. His mom might not be perfect the way Nico suggested, but she was pretty great and it was good for his fellow demigods to have a person and a place in the mortal world that they could turn to if they ever needed anything.

"She is quite extraordinary," Paul agreed, wrapping an arm around his wife's shoulder and squeezing gently before turning to introduce himself. "I'm Paul Blofis, Sally's husband." He seemed to think that was enough of an introduction so attention turned over toward the last group of people from 2010.

"I'm Travis Stoll," Travis spoke up from where he was sprawled next to Conner on another smaller sofa next to the one Sally, Paul, and Tyson were on.

"And I'm Conner Stoll," Conner added, his own legs draped over his brother's legs, their near-identical patches of snake scales seeming to make their legs blend somewhat together.

"We're sons of Hermes," Travis finished, grinning widely at the clearing as a whole before glancing around. "And I think that's the last of us from 2010." He paused for a moment to see if anyone would correct him. When no one did he nodded and turned to look over Conner toward a group of camp chairs that started up on the other side of their sofa. "You want to start off the next group, Micah?"

"Might as well," the somewhat-familiar brown-haired boy agreed, small, round, and furry ears twitching slightly as he spoke. "I'm Micah, son of Apollo."

Linus, a son of Apollo with blond hair and some sort of deer antlers went next. Followed by another son of Apollo, Aron, who had black hair that almost hid the black feathers that were mixed in with it. Then came Ethan, the son of Nemesis looked decidedly uncomfortable and had obviously chosen a camp chair that was as far away from the others in the area as possible, but he barely hesitated before forcing himself to straighten up to introduce himself.

"My name is Ethan Nakamora, son of Nemesis." Percy couldn't help but notice that the boy still had both eyes. Was it early enough that he hadn't made that deal with his mother yet? Percy hadn't ever been clear on when exactly that happened. He was pretty sure Ethan hadn't joined Kronos by this point—2007 was too early—but Ethan was probably still leaning strongly in that direction. All things considered though, Percy wasn't surprised that The Fates chose him to bring, or that Ethan had agreed. The other boy had just wanted some form of justice for himself, his mother, and others like them.

The next camp chair over held Echo, a child of Apollo who used they/them pronouns and had bright orange and black fox ears sticking out of her brown hair, followed by Octavia, a daughter of Apollo with blond hair and black feathers, and Sofia, a daughter of Apollo with red hair feathers that were tan with brown stripes. Percy was starting to notice a pattern, but his thoughts on the matter were quickly derailed as the next kid—a girl with pale skin and dark brown hair that was partly covered by a floppy green hat—sat forward to introduce herself. Without thinking, Percy raised one hand from his lap and turned it to offer it to Nico across Annabeth's lap. The younger boy was wrapped firmly in Will's arms and had his eyes fixed on the dark-eyed girl, but a nudge from Will had him noticing Percy's hand and reaching over to grab it tight enough that Percy was a little worried he was going to loose circulation before this was over. Not that he was going to complain.

"My name is Bianca Di Angelo." Bianca's voice was quite, but it was enough to make Nico flinch ever so slightly and caused Percy to draw in a short, shaky breath of his own. "I'm pretty new to all of this, but the ladies that brought me here said that I'm a daughter of—"

"Hades," Nico cut her off, though his expression moments later told Percy that he probably hadn't meant to speak out loud. "You're a child of Hades, just like me." He paused for a moment, taking in a shaky breath as Bianca turned to meet his gaze. "Hi Bianca. I've missed you." Bianca seemed to be at a loss for words for several long moments, but eventually she managed a small, shaky smile.

"Nico?" She had to have heard Nico introduce himself earlier, but Percy had noticed that Nico had been avoiding looking at her since the introductions started, so that was probably the first time they got to interact at all.

Nico's quick, short nod in reply seemed to break her out of whatever indecision she had been frozen in. Bianca practically launched herself to her feet to half-run over to them, causing Nico to scramble up from Will's lap and step out of the cushions and demigods by their feet to catch her in a tight hug as she reached him. They were both crying as Nico's legs seemed to give out under him, causing them to both sink to the grass, muttering in what Percy could only assume was broken Italian to each other.

Will hesitated for a moment before carefully getting up out of the sofa as well and making his way over to sit on the grass next to them both, using his slightly broader frame to block the view of them from the majority of the people in the clearing as he turned to glare at several of the nearby onlookers before turning to focus his gaze at the sofa Bianca had come from. Thankfully, most people took the hint and turned to look that direction as well, allowing Nico and his sister to have some semblance of privacy.

The rest of that sofa—Kelly with pale blond hair and similarly colored wolf ears, James with black hair and feathers, Indie with almost golden hair and fox ears, Helios with red hair and white-and-black crow feathers, and Helianthus with brown hair red feathers—were all kids of Apollo. As were the two girls sitting on ground cushions near their feet; Allison with black hair and wolf ears and Melody with brown hair and what looked like deer ears. Lee obviously was as well, his own blond hair and black feathers and scales a near-flip from his half-sister Sarah that was sitting in her wheelchair to his right with black hair and white feathers and scales. The last of the group sitting on ground cushions was a boy named Nathan who had light brown hair and mouse-like ears and was also a child of Apollo.

"Apollo?" Zeus' voice cut across the clearing before the next kid—a brown-haired boy with lizard scales on his neck that Percy barely recognized—could introduce himself. Percy's gaze shot over toward the gods, noticing the way Apollo straightened in his chair, a bright smile starting to form on the god's face before his eyes found Lester and the smile flickered and died. Apollo seemed to falter for a moment before his expression fell into a more neutrally polite smile as he turned toward the king of the gods.

"Yes, Father?" Apollo asked politely, drawing several confused looks from the gods around him, especially Artemis.

"Why is it that over half of these children seem to be your own?" Zeus asked, thunder rumbling under his words.

"I don't know," Apollo replied, straightforward and honest as he clasped his hands together in his lap. "To my knowledge The Fates did not explain their reasoning for the people they were selecting to come and listen to these tales. He paused then before turning toward Lester and the others that had been brought into the clearing early. "Correct?"

"That is correct," Lester agreed, eyes fixed on Zeus as he explained. "They told us that mortals would be brought to listen to the stories alongside several gods. I know that every mortal involved was given a chance to refuse to be involved in this, but they did not explain much beyond that. I imagine they selected people that they deemed might help in their end goal of preventing the end of the world one way or another."

"I see," Zeus' gaze settled on Lester for several long moments before returning to Apollo. "You do know more than we do though." It was a statement, not a question, and it drew Apollo's gaze back over to the king of the gods. "You were here before we arrived."

"I was," Apollo admitted freely. "I was brought here along with the others who will have their perspectives shown in the coming stories. The Fates offered everyone who will be sharing their stories the chance to say no and have their parts skipped."

"Your perspective is going to be shown in this mess?" Ares asked with an mocking laugh. "This aught to be good." Apollo turned to look at his other brother several long moments, expression unreadable, before he gave the other man a tired smile.

"It will be interesting I am sure." It was an agreement, but the tone and expression were enough to have Ares smile dimming and several other gods looking at Apollo with something like concern.

"What exactly will you be sharing in your story?" Zeus asked, narrowing his eyes at Apollo, but Apollo just shrugged.

"I don't know," he admitted once more. "It's from my future. I suppose we'll have to wait and see."

"I suppose we must," Hera spoke up, causing Zeus to sit back in his throne in reluctant agreement for the time being. Apollo waited for several moments—probably wanting to make sure that Zeus was finished—before turning to look back across the campfire toward the boy who had been cut off.

"Please, continue," the Greek sun god told him, smiling warmly at the boy. The boy—a child of Demeter if Percy was remembering right—stared at Apollo in shock for a couple beats before seeming to shake himself back into the present and nodding.

"Right. Um. I'm Tyrone," he introduced himself. "And I'm a son of Demeter."

After Tyrone the pattern picked right back up again. Serene (blond hair and white feathers), Rhythm (white hair and white feathers), Clio (brown hair and snake scales), and Kenya (black hair and deer antlers) were all Apollo's kids. As were most of the kids sitting on the bean bag chairs behind the log that Tyrone through Kenya had been on. Zuni (curly brown hair with snake scales), Laurence (blond hair with white feathers and snake scales who used they/them), and Seymour (black hair with snake scale) were all about as hard as the rest had been, but Micheal Yew felt like a kick in the chest. His black hair and equally black feathers had never fully left Percy's mind after the battle of Manhattan, or at least not his nightmares. Percy couldn't spend much time focusing on Micheal though, not beyond a worried look toward a still far-too-composed Will who was now holding Nico's hand as the son of Hades leaned heavily against his sister's side.

It was hard to focus on Micheal when two kids later was Selena. The daughter of Aphrodite was younger than Percy remembered her and lacked the half-melted face that still haunted some of his nightmares. It was more of a relief than anything else to see her as put together as she was. Even her pure-white feathers were neat and spotless in a way they stopped being able to be once the war really got started. Percy risked a glance at Clarisse as Selena finished introducing herself and was unsurprised to find her gripping Chris's arm-guards tight enough that Chris could probably still feel it under the stiff leather while Clarisse stared over at the girl who had been her best friend before the war turned her into both a traitor and a martyr.

Percy pushed back the mental wondering if Selena was already starting to work for Luke and turned his attention toward the next demigod. Her blond hair and iridescent snake scales had Percy thinking that they were about to get back into another list of Apollo's kids, but another voice spoke up before she could even start introducing herself.

"Iris? Honey?" It was Apollo interrupting them this time, though his tone was much gentler than Zeus' had been when the other man had cut in. And unlike when Zeus called Apollo's name, Iris didn't flinch or stiffen. Instead she turned toward her father with an openly curious expression.

"Yeah Dad?" Iris's voice held none of the careful politeness or reverence that Percy always heard from the other demigods when they talked to their parents. It sounded more like how Percy himself talked to his parents, godly or otherwise, and Percy suddenly found his opinion of Apollo shooting up even higher than it already had since this started. This was one of the kids from before the war god bad, already talking to Apollo like he was actually her parent and not just a god. That said a lot about how Apollo interacted with his kids even before Percy had made the gods swear to claim them.

"I think…" Apollo trailed off for a moment, eyes scanning over not only Iris but several of the other kids on the benches near her as well before settling back on her with a small smile. "Considering what we are all here for and what we are doing I think it would be best if we go forward with full honesty in your introductions." Percy couldn't even begin to guess what it was that Apollo was talking about, but it was clear that Iris did, and she wasn't the only one. Almost as one, all of the Apollo kids turned to look at their dad with mixtures of shock, concern, and some levels of fear. Even Will stiffened and turned away from watching his siblings to give his dad a wide-eyed look.

"Dad, are you sure?" A boy that Percy thought looked vaguely familiar asked, straightening up in his seat at the other end of the benches from Iris.

"Quite," Apollo confirmed, meeting the boy's blue eyes with his own. "Don't worry, the ancient laws about non-interference are rather useless here. I will not allow any harm to come to any of you." Well that was a concerning statement.

"But what about…?" The boy trailed off, eyes darting from Apollo over toward where Zeus was sitting ever so briefly before fixing worriedly on his dad once more.

"Don't worry about me," Apollo reassured the boy, though his eyes moved to include the rest of his kids in his words as well. "Lester has made the rules of this place quite clear. I will be fine." That was, if anything, more concerning. And the looks that many of the Apollo kids were giving their dad, alongside the side-eye being given some of the other gods—Zeus especially—was not making it any better, but eventually they settled back. Percy was starting to get a cold, sinking feeling in his gut.

"If you're sure…" Iris started, giving Apollo one last uncertain look. At his firm nod she nodded back before straightening her spine and raising her chin. "OK then. My name is Iris, daughter of Hygieia, great granddaughter and adopted daughter of Apollo, a member of the Apollo cabin." The smell of ozone, which had begun to increase when several of the Apollo kids had began giving Zeus wary looks, spiked once more, but that didn't stop the next kid from sitting up and introducing himself as well.

"I'm Elvis," the boy told them, snake-like fangs flashing over a patch of black snake scales on his cheek as he smiled at them. "Son of Asclepius, grandson and adopted son of Apollo."

"Madeira, son of the muse Nete," the next kid, a boy with blond hair and white feathers, spoke up. "Adopted son Apollo."

The next three kids were the same; Aisha was a daughter of Asclepius with brown hair and scales, Cora was a daughter of the muse Terpsichore with black hair and white feathers, and the other boy who had spoken up earlier was a son of the muse Euterpe with brown hair and black feathers named Caleb. All of them had been adopted by Apollo.

The group fell quiet then with most of the people in the clearing looking at the six adopted kids of Apollo, another Apollo kid, Apollo himself, or at one of the other gods. The tension—and sharp smell of ozone—that filled the air was enough that the next kid, another girl Percy barely recognized, made no move to introduce herself.

"Apollo." Electricity crackled across the word sharply enough that Percy felt his own breath catch in his chest momentarily and he wasn't the only one. Will and Nico's grip on each other's hands looked tight enough to hurt, but neither of them looked away from where they were watching Zeus with tension tighter than a drawn bow.

"Yes, Father?" Apollo was tense to, but it was less noticeable as the god of Truth turned toward his king.

"Am I to understand correctly that you have been claiming children that aren't yours and taking them into your cabin?"

"I have not," Apollo disagreed firmly. "Each of the kids that I claim and bring into my cabin are mine. Some of them are just mine by adoption instead of by birth."

"Apollo." The word was a warning, and enough of one that Lester stood up from his seat and strode slightly forward to stand next to where Will, Nico, and Bianca were seated on the ground, making himself more obviously visible as he stared at Zeus in what could only be a warning of his own. For his part, Apollo took a deep breath before straightening more fully and turning to face his father head-on.

"While I love my brother, it is a well-known fact that Hermes' cabin is overfull with not only his own children, but also those who have not been claimed and those that do not have other cabins to live in," Apollo explained, not seeming to notice how his words caught the attention of just about every Greek demigod present. Even some of his kids were listening with some interest, so it was possible that he'd never explained this to them before. This Apollo was from before Percy had chewed the gods out for the very issue he was now mentioning. And before that issue had caused so many demigods to go rogue. To hear him talk about it like this was near-unbelievable for most of them, Percy included. "To help ease that overcrowding and to better tend to my domains I reached out to the non-Olympian gods that fell under my domains. In exchange for their children having a stable home within camp and the same protection I provide any of my children they would cede their rights as parents to me and allow me to adopted their children as my own. And they are mine, adopted or not. I weave my power into every child I take on as my own. They are mine by heart and by essence just as much as the kids I have by birth."

"Holy shit." That was Clarisse, but the sentiment looked like it was shared by the majority of the mortals in the clearing that weren't part of the Apollo cabin and even some that were. Several of the gods looked startled too, even Artemis was staring at her brother like she wasn't sure she knew him.

"That's something that they can do?" Katie asked, sitting up to look over at Will as she did so.

"It is," Will conformed, glancing at her momentarily before turning his eyes back toward the gods. "It's just…" He didn't need to finish. They could all see the reaction Apollo was getting for themselves after all. Despite that, Percy couldn't help but notice how several demigods shot glances at their own parents, possibly wondering why they didn't do anything similar. Percy knew he was asking himself the same question as he looked over toward his dad. Though he supposed it wouldn't have been safe for Poseidon to do so, not since the oath at least.

"We will be talking about this later," Zeus informed Apollo shortly, his hand finding the sheath of his lightning bolt for a brief moment before moving away. The cold feeling in Percy's gut turned to ice at the implications that presented.

"Perhaps we can have a meeting between all of us gods after the mortals go to rest for the night?" Hestia suggested, eyes flickering from her youngest brother to Apollo and then over the rest of the gods, Lester included. "I imagine we will have much to speak about once we finish the readings for today."

"Very well," Zeus conceded, settling back. "We shall wait until the day concludes, but we will be speaking on this matter."

"Yes, Father," Apollo replied dipping his head before turning back to sit more fully in his chair. He didn't relax per-se, but some of the tension in his frame did seem to lessen for the time being at least. He wasn't the only one either, just about every mortal in the space seemed to let out a breath as the smell of ozone faded from the air. Percy watched with some amusement as Will and Nico let go of each other's hands long enough for both of them to shake and flex them, presumably to get the blood flowing in them again after how tight they had been holding onto each other.

"Until tonight then," Lester agreed with a nod, automatically including himself in that meeting despite not technically being a part of the pantheon involved. Zeus frowned at that, but didn't say anything as Lester turned to look toward the last row of demigods that were seated on benches behind the six adopted children of Apollo. "Please, continue. Once we finish introducing everyone we can have a short break before we begin to view the stories." That said, he turned and made his way back to his seat.

"OK. Right." The girl behind Caleb drew in a shaky breath before nodding, brown canine ears pressing close to equally brown hair. "My name is Laura and I am a daughter of Hephaestus."

"I'm Charles Beckendorf, son of Hephaestus. I go by Beckendorf." If the broad form and donkey ears with fur as dark as his skin hadn't been enough to make Percy's eyes water, then Beckendorf's voice would have done it. He wouldn't say he and Beckendorf had ever been close, but the son of Hephaestus had been one of the few campers that never turned on Percy, even when the rest of the camp was pretending he didn't exist or making fun of him for Tyson being in camp the muscular African-American boy had always been there to lend a hand. Percy had missed him since he died.

The next kid wasn't any easier.

"Castor, son of Dionysus." A glance at Pollux told Percy that the older twin still wasn't looking at his long-missing other-half and Castor had clearly noticed it too if the way his leopard-spotted ears were pressed against his hair as he stared over at where Pollux was sitting. Percy forced himself to look away from them as the next demigod introduced herself.

"And I'm Jessica, daughter of Ares," the previous Head Counselor of the Ares cabin spoke up, black feathers blending in nicely with her black hair and darker complexion. "I think that's all of us?"

"Almost," Artemis corrected, looking down at her two hunters and causing them both to straighten.

"I'm Zoe Nightshade, Lieutenant of Artemis," Zoe told the group firmly before hesitating ever so slightly. Percy watched as her eyes darted over to Apollo, and then to Thalia before settling on Calypso for a couple brief moments. Then, to his utter shock, she continued. "Daughter of Atlas and former Hesperiade." Even Artemis looked surprised by how complete Zoe had made her introduction. The hunter could easily have left it at her being Artemis' lieutenant, but maybe she had taken Apollo's words to heart? Percy wasn't sure what caused her to share all of that, but was a surprise non the less. Beside her, sharing in the extra-large bean bag chair that was not far from the foot of Artemis's chair, Phoebe shifted to lean ever so slightly into Zoe's side before introducing herself as well.

"I am Phoebe, hunter of Artemis," the girl let that sit for a moment before she continued. "And daughter of Apollo." Huh. Percy hadn't known that. His eyes darted over toward the Stoll brothers before landing on Aphrodite. How would Apollo take the prank with the T-shirt? It would be interesting to find out, that was for certain.

A beat of near-silence passed before Lester stood up and clapped once to draw the attention over to him once more.

"Now that that is done, let's take a thirty minute break," the local god decided. "Feel free to spread out and mingle, but I will request that you stay out of the buildings, forest, and lake for this break. I will explain more about them when we take a longer break closer to lunch, but for now please steer clear. Everything else in this clearing is fair game, including the target range and sparing ring behind the cabins in that direction." He pointed toward the gold cabin and the pale blue cabin. "And the combination of play-scape and exercise area behind the cabins in that direction." This time he pointed a little to the right of the previous two cabins, toward a cabin that was brown marble and one that appeared to be made of silver. "You can visit the beach of the lake and the edge of the forest if you wish, as well as make use of the seating here and at the tables as well if you prefer. There are now clocks on the sides and backs of each of the cabins so please try and be back here and seated in no longer than thirty minutes. When you come back we'll have some food available for everyone to munch on as we start with the first story."

Percy turned to look. There were, in fact, clocks on the sides of each of the cabins now. Clocks that Percy was sure hadn't been there before Lester had stood up and started speaking. From the looks of it the clocks alternated between digital and analogue clocks as well as alternating between English, Greek, and Roman numbers. That was certainly one way to make sure everyone would be able to tell the time with at least one of the clocks they found.

Chatter immediately broke out as people began leaving where they were sitting and spreading out. Some, like Castor, made a beeline for someone else in the clearing while others just drifted off to explore. For a couple beats, no one in Percy's little group made any move to get up, but eventually their stillness was broken by Annabeth turning to look at Will with something that still bordered on shock.

"Is your dad…always like that?" She asked. "He never acted like that during the Solstice visits to Olympus!" Will let out a small sigh before turning on the ground to face the others on the sofa.

"Yes and no," Will replied, pointedly ignoring how several other lingering mortals were obviously listening in to his answer. "Dad doesn't typically like being serious, not like that. He'd rather show the more upbeat sides of Music, Poetry, and Art. But yeah, when he gets serious he's either like that or utterly terrifying." Will glanced around before huffing another sigh at some of the blanks look he was getting. "A lot of people forget that one of Dad's domains is Protector of Youth. It's one of his big ones too, one that people still pray to him for even in this day and age. So yeah, Dad can be scary sometimes, just not at us. And he can't do it often, since there's the whole non-interference laws."

"I suppose that makes sense," Annabeth frowned thoughtfully, but didn't say anything further as Clarisse and Chris came to a stop a short distance away from them.

"I'm going to wager a guess that you lot are going to be the ones having your stories read, right?" She asked, eyes scanning over their group. "Minus the girl that's from 2007 of course, and Shifa over there, since she said she wasn't a part of this. Plus apparently adding in Apollo as well."

"That is correct," Reyna agreed.

"Well, this is going to be be interesting at the very least." Percy couldn't help but laugh at that before meeting Clarisse's eyes and giving the girl a wry smile that matched her own.

"You could say that," he agreed. Clarisse seemed to take in his response—as well as the various expressions across the rest of their group—before nodding to herself.

"Anything you lot want to share before we get going on all this?" She asked, raising an eyebrow at them. Percy paused, turning to look at the others with a small, uncertain frown.

"It might be best if we keep spoilers to a minimum," Frank responded after several beats of thought.

"Stories have the most impact if the listener isn't forewarned of what is coming beforehand," Will agreed.

"Though we might share specific things with some people before they come up," Nico added, glancing at his now-younger-sister next to him.

"Fair enough," Clarisse nodded. "I'll spread the word to the others to keep what they share to a minimum."

"Sounds good," Percy nodded with some relief. "Thanks Clarisse."

"No problem," Clarisse rolled her eyes before reaching over and taking Chris's hand in her own and starting to walk off. "Alright then. Chris and I are going to go check out what all is in the training area. We'll see you losers later."

"Yeah yeah, have fun," Annabeth agreed, waving her hand at them as the couple walked off.

"Right then." Percy carefully untangled himself from Annabeth and pushed himself to his feet. "I'm going to stretch my legs before we have to sit here and watch and listen to the unfiltered thoughts of tiny me."

That seemed to be the trigger that the rest of the group needed and soon the couch was as empty as the rest of the mortal seating was as they spread out to stretch their legs and talk to whoever they wanted to talk to during this break.