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Chapter Text

Aurora Borealis

A natural phenomenon also known as the northern lights that is primarily seen in higher-latitude regions. Named after the Roman goddess of the dawn, auroras are created by the disturbances in the magnetosphere, showcasing brilliant light patterns in the night sky.

I recalled from one of the various textbooks I read in my free time. After so many years, I finally got to see the luminescent and radiant lights. Years of saving up for a trip to Reykjavik, Iceland to see the aurora borealis just once in my life had been worth it. The green and blue lights were the only source of light I could rely on in the night.

...But it seems that Destiny had other plans for me.

The winds had gotten stronger and the night got chillier as I watched the sky from a cliff overseeing the violent seas beneath it. I didn't see it coming, nor did I feel it, but all of a sudden an abnormal and unnaturally strong gust of wind blew in and pushed me off of the steep mountain, despite the distance I maintained from the edge.

All I could see was the cold and untamable sea as I was free falling from thousands of feet in the air. Panic filled my mind as I tried to brace myself. I'm only twenty-five, I have so much to live for, I can't die now! Six years of college just to die less than a year after graduating, seriously!?

The freezing sea engulfed my body, the water filling my lungs as I struggled to breathe, until eventually I couldn't fight anymore and let my conscious fade. Except that didn't exactly happen.

Aurora

Aurora, come to me my beloved.

I felt a tug from the small of my back, pulling me out of the grasp of unconsciousness. All I can feel is pain, and my limbs felt like they were melting in the water. My soul felt like it was literally being ripped from my body.

(I had no idea how true that was.)

Aurora, my pearl.

My skin started to burn as if I weren't in the freezing Atlantic ocean, and I kept hearing the distinct deep voice of a male. The tugging on the small of my back was getting stronger every second, and that voice became louder and clearer. All of a sudden, I broke out of the surface of the water. I looked up to realize I wasn't in the harsh waters of the Atlantic ocean under the night sky anymore, but in warm calm waters of the Mediterranean sea under the gleaming sun. (How did I know I was not in the Atlantic anymore?)

Yeah, the water definitely went into my head, and I must be hallucinating.

"Aurora, take my hand."

I turn, only for my eyes to meet blazing eyes. Magnetic, sea green eyes, that I couldn't look away from no matter how hard I tried, alluring and enchanting. A man with dark hair as wavy as the ocean tides sat in a canoe, holding his hand out for me to hold. He looked at me expectantly. He started to chuckle at what I presume must be my extremely confused and confounded face.

"Aurora, don't be silly. Take my hand and get into the canoe." The dark haired man says, with amusement lighting up his eyes.

Aurora? My name is not Aurora, I scoffed. But when I tried to recall my name, I couldn't remember, no matter how much I tried. In fact, when I tried to recall how I got into the situation, my memory started to become fuzzy, hazy.

Take his hand. A voice inside my head says and I reach out to grab it. The moment our fingers touch, the world spins and I black out.

My eyes open once again, and this time I was greeted by the face of a woman with a brilliant and beaming smile.

"Aurora Sei Jackson, my pearl." She whispered. She was tired as if she had went through hours of childbirth (she did), but it didn't erase her smile, brighter than the stars that decorated the sky.

Jackson... Sei? The names and vision of the mysterious man hit me with sudden realization, a random memory of a book series I read in my childhood, Percy Jackson and the Olympians. I don't remember much about my past life, but for some reason, that memory popped up into my head. Specifically, what stood out to me was the scene where Percy jumped into River Styx to gain invincibility, his Achilles heel, his only weak spot, the only thing keeping him grounded to mortality. My vision of the canoe mirrored Percy's trip and weak spot, and the man from earlier and the woman holding me mirrored their physical descriptions written in the book. The select few memories I've been allowed to keep by some outside force.

Aurora Sei Jackson, Daughter of the Sea God. The same voice from when I was in the water sounded in my head.

I couldn't help the ear piercing scream that I let out as I realized where I was.

I have been reincarnated into the world of Percy Jackson.

Chapter Text

Mount Olympus, January 1989

It was a regular day on Olympus, the mountain was filled with the commotion and joy of the gods, nymphs, and satyrs who inhabit it. It was relatively peaceful until a meeting for the Olympian council was called.

Surprisingly it was not Zeus who called the meeting, but his wife Hera, the Queen of the Gods.

The remaining Olympians knew that if Hera was calling a meeting, it was not going to be good. Unlike her husband, she usually calls the Olympians for important issues.

Hera sat upon her throne, waiting in the throne room for the rest of the Olympians. One by one each of them entered until only one was missing. Zeus. The first thing they noticed upon entering the room was the furious look on Hera's face, and the ten gods shared distressed looks with each other.

Well shit. The only thing that infuriates Hera this much is Zeus' affairs, but surely with the oath he wouldn't have broken it with a mortal right? Who were they kidding, this is the Big Three they were talking about, it was surprising they managed to abide by the oath for this long, especially Zeus.

Eventually Zeus teleported into the throne room with all his glory as he looked down at his fellow Olympians and took a seat upon his throne. He turned towards Hera and raised an condescending eyebrow.

"Well Hera? Why have you called this meeting?" Zeus questions.

"You dare ask me such a foolish question? You KNOW what you did! Don't play dumb, as easy as it is for you!" Hera thundered, anger gracing her features.

"And what exactly have I done to offend you this badly?" Zeus retorts nonchalantly, not pleased at the fact that he was interrupted with his private time with a nymph.

"What didn't he do?" Apollo quietly murmured, making everyone near him snort in amusement.

"You tell me husband." Hera says with venom at the word 'husband'. "YOU SLEPT WITH THAT WOMAN YOU CHEATING MAN WHORE! And not only did you sleep with a mortal, but you broke the oath as well and sired another spawn!" Hera screamed with rage at her husband. After a few seconds it registered into the rest of the Olympians head that Zeus broke the oath. The gods began to start chattering loudly until Hestia silenced them.

"Brother... what possessed you to do such a thing?" Hestia sighed. She sometimes joined the council meetings and after sensing Hera's wrath build up she decided to join this time. 

"So what if I broke the oath? I am the King. I bow to no one." Zeus scoffed at his wife's words and ignored Hestia, not taking them seriously.

"So you think that being king puts you above the oath and everyone else?" Hera sneered, Zeus' nonchalant attitude making her anger boil.

"Typical of Zeus. Always thinking himself above the laws he created and oaths that he thought of." Poseidon said with disdain at his younger brother.

"What's the child's name Father?" Artemis sighed with resignation, not at all surprised that her father was the first one to broke it. Well, if the child was a girl she would gladly take her into her hunt.

"How should I know?" Zeus rolled his eyes, not at all fazed.

"Thalia Grace. Even I know the name of your filthy spawn." Hera spat at how callous her husband was. 

The rest of the Olympians were not at all surprised that Zeus couldn't keep track of the names of his children. Once, it took Zeus three tries to get Ares' name right, first being called Apollo, then somehow Artemis. Seriously, did Ares look like a goddess to him?

"Of course you would know. You seem to be obsessed with who I choose to sleep with." Zeus said, waving her off.

"WHY YOU LITTLE-" Hera began to screech until a flash of light interrupted her. Standing in the middle of the room were a group of teenagers, along with Chiron, Hades, and Persephone, much to the confusion of everyone else.

"Hades, why are you here? The Winter Solstice was a few weeks ago." Zeus thundered, glaring at his eldest brother.

"How should I know? One moment I was filling out paperwork with Sephie, and the next moment I see a flash of light and now we are here." Hades said, glaring right back at his youngest brother.

"Perhaps we should be asking why Chiron and the demigods are here?" Hermes spoke up hesitantly. Everyone turned toward the group of demigods and Chiron.

"Well? Why are you all here when I did not grant any of you permission?" Zeus looked down at the demigods patronizingly. However some of the demigods were unfazed at his anger, which was a surprise for everyone. But they were confused on how and why they were on Olympus.

"We're not exactly sure, Lord Zeus. We were in Camp Half-Blood continuing with our activities until a flash of light brought us here. Chiron explained calmly. The rest of the Olympians along with Hades and Persephone became even more confused.

Another flash of light, and a letter appeared in the air. Persephone grabbed it and began to read it out loud.

"To the Immortals and Demigods,

You all have been brought here today in the beginning of the year of 1989 to watch the future and the life of Aurora Sei Jackson, the Prophecy Girl and the reincarnate future Queen of the Seas. The events that you will begin to watch are from over twenty years in the future and Chiron and the demigods that accompany you are from the future as well. For the time being, no immortal will be able to access their powers, as a precautionary measure for the safety of the demigods. We suggest you sit back and relax as this may take a while.

Signed, The Fates."

"Well, it appears we have travelled to the past." Chiron remarked. 

The demigods had turned toward Aurora in confusion, when the letter had referred to her as "reincarnate Queen of the Seas".

Aurora began to slightly shake at the new information, noticed by the others. Her fellow demigods -and the gods- did not know that she was reincarnated with some memories from her previous life, nor did they know about her soul bond with Poseidon. Hell, even he had been unaware of it for so long. It should be impossible for a reincarnated soul to have bits of memories from their past life (the Lethe washes it) and yet she was the exception. Her years of hiding her secret of her past life would be for nothing, now that it was going to be revealed to everyone. 

If they went back to the past to the year 1989, then that means that she didn't exist, and therefore, Poseidon does not know about her existence. And that very thought frightened her. How would Poseidon react? Would he still love her, cherish her all the same? How would the demigods even react to the fact that she was fated to Poseidon, of all people? She herself had a difficult time accepting it! Sure DNA didn't exist, and the Greek gods generally didn't care, but they were mortals, raised with mortal standards.

"Why don't you all introduce yourselves then?" Hestia asked kindly, breaking the silence.

"Thalia Grace, Daughter of Zeus." The Olympians gasped in realization that this was the girl that Zeus had apparently sired a few weeks ago, and Hera glowered at the girl with anger. However it was quite odd that she looked like a teenager despite being around twenty-one years old, until they took notice of her Hunter of Artemis clothing, and Artemis smiled in recognition at her aura before she frowned at the sight of the Lieutenant's circlet crowning her half-sister's hair.

"Nico di Angelo, Son of Hades. Born before the oath, before anyone tries to smite me." Nico explained. It was a good thing the Fates had prevented the gods from using their powers because Zeus was ready to throw his lightning bolt at him regardless of being born before the oath, until he realized he couldn't. Hades scowled at his youngest brother for his hypocrisy.

"Silena Beauregard, Daughter of Aphrodite."

"Annabeth Chase, Daughter of Athena."

"Will Solace, Son of Apollo."

"Clarisse La Rue, Daughter of Ares."

"Connor..."

"...and Travis Stoll, Sons of Hermes."

"Katie Gardner, Daughter of Demeter."

"Grover Underwood, Satyr."

"Rachel Elizabeth Dare, Host of the Oracle of Delphi." Now that threw Apollo and Hades off. Last they recalled, the current Oracle was cursed by Hades to stay in the body of the mummy. So what made Hades lift the curse?

The rest of the demigods continued to introduce themselves until all that was left was the tall, raven-haired girl with sea-green eyes. From her appearance alone, it was obvious that she had to be the daughter of the sea. Unknown to many of the people in the room besides the elder gods, the girl also seemed to resemble a certain titaness. Aurora had purposely waited until everyone introduced themselves before her to avoid the fury of the gods. She took a deep breath and decided to just go for it.

"Aurora Jackson, Daughter of Poseidon."

Poseidon was quiet, completely bewildered with the new information and his apparently new daughter. Future Queen of the Seas, the letter had said. He knew his relationship with Amphitrite was crumbling and deteriorating, so the idea that they would soon divorce did not surprise him, nor did the fact that he broke the oath. However, what did surprise him was that he had gotten remarried quite quickly... to his daughter of all people? He doesn't even swing that way (that was Zeus' job) so what had changed now? And what did the letter mean by reincarnate?

The other gods were in just as much shock. Not only did Poseidon break the oath in the future, but apparently his daughter becomes the child of the prophecy and the Queen of the Seas. It didn't bother them that they were related, they were Greek after all, but they were very much interested in how that even happened.

"The future Queen of the Seas hm? I wonder how that came to be." Poseidon observed, examining the demigoddess, taking note of every detail of her appearance, from the curl of her hair to the freckles that decorated her face like the constellations in the night sky.

Zeus' anger only rose at the sight of his niece. It didn't matter that he himself broke the oath first. Poseidon broke the oath and sired a demigod. That demigod would apparently become the prophecy child and the wife of Poseidon. If he had his powers he would have struck her down right now. The child of the prophecy should have come from his bloodline, not his brother's useless spawn! And if he cherished her enough to become his queen then that gave even more of a reason to kill her. Zeus always enjoyed making his siblings suffer, just ask Hera.

Hades had somewhat similar thoughts as Zeus did about Aurora. He grew angry that he was forced into taking the oath only for his younger brothers to break them. He would have definitely killed Thalia Grace and Aurora Jackson right this moment for existing if he had his powers. Hades didn't care that Aurora would become Poseidon's queen either, nor that Poseidon himself never tried to kill Hades' children. They both needed to be punished and would gladly sentence both demigoddesses to an eternity of torture and suffering.

Poseidon, as if sensing his brothers' thoughts, threw dark glares at both of them with a silent warning:

Touch a hair on Aurora's head and I will show you exactly why I was father's favorite.

Some of the demigods threw disgusted looks at Aurora until she gave them a scathing glare that had them backing down.

"Well, why don't we begin?" Aphrodite asked somberly, and all of a sudden a screen appeared before them.

Aurora Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief

Chapter Text

Oh, how the most dangerous thing is to love.

Aurora Jackson had once believed that being a half-blood was dangerous. It was scary. It got you killed in the most brutal ways.

"'Once' believed?" Clarisse questioned, raising an eyebrow. Silena's lips twitched into a smile as she saw Aurora awkwardly shrug.

"I don't know Rory, I would definitely say being a half-blood is more dangerous." Connor snickered.

She was wrong. Being a half-blood was not the most dangerous thing in the world. It was love.

Some of the gods and demigods nodded in agreement. The gods had lived for millennias, they had seen how love had started wars, and brought even the most powerful beings down.

The demigods themselves had been through a war, they knew they would gladly sacrifice themselves for the people they loved.

It had been love to drive her mother to selflessly sacrifice herself for her daughter. It had been love that drove Aurora to sacrifice her morals, her  freedom . All for him.

Aurora cringed at the reminder of her very first quest and the fate of her mother. Nico gave a remorseful look towards his cousin and subtly gave a disappointed look towards his father.

Hades had noticed the look he received from his son, and frowned. He wondered when Nico was taken out of the lotus casino and where Bianca was. Persephone, who also noticed Nico, scowled. She too knew about the di Angelo siblings hidden in the casino and couldn't help but scoff at her husband for the reminder of his infidelity.

But she didn't – wouldn't – regret her decisions. Not once. She would do it all again in a heartbeat.  Anything  for him.

Just like Atlas held the sky, Aurora had been crushed under his, all-suppressing love. It drew her in like a siren. Enchanting, lethal, dangerous. How could she not, when he spoke such sweet words from those nectar lips. A little too much of ambrosia would burn her up, but it was nothing compared to the love of a god.

Aurora hesitantly looked up at the Sea God's face to gauge his mood, however his face was completely unreadable. Aphrodite giddily watched the pair until she stiffened in realization.

Alarm bells began to ring in some of the demigods' heads, even as the Sea God's stormy eyes were focused on the screen, not sparing a glance at Aurora.

Love truly was the most dangerous thing in the world.

Don't say she didn't warn you.

Aphrodite quietly mused over Aurora's words as she observed the daughter of the seas. "You are absolutely right," she murmured in a quiet voice. While Athena and Artemis had to disagree with Aphrodite and Aurora, Hera found herself nodding her head with the love goddess.

Lightning flashed across the sky, wind slammed against the Camaro as Sally Jackson drove in the night.

Aurora watched mournfully as she recognized the scene. The last few minutes of her mother before she was cruelly taken away by Hades. Now more than ever did Aurora loathe the King of the Underworld. She had done everything in her power to bring her beloved mother back and right the wrongs from the past; Sally Jackson did not deserve to suffer all because Hades wanted to be petty.

Aurora had demanded the gods to help her fellow demigods and to give Hades the recognition he needed to make amends with her uncle. She had hoped it would be enough for him to spare her mother from the Underworld, but it seemed that some grudges ran too deep.

Poseidon, as if sensing his Aurora's despair, hesitantly grabbed her hand and soothingly rubbed her fingers, nearly frightening Aurora who had been caught off guard. She relaxed after a few seconds and was even heart-warmed by his actions, despite this past-Poseidon not even knowing what happened.

Grover and Aurora sat in the backseat as lightning flashed across the sky.

The green-eyed girl looked warily at her friend. "So how long have you known my mom for?"

Clarisse snorted at how awkward the question had sounded, making both Grover and Aurora blush.

"It's not what it looks like!"

Grover fiddled with his fingers in unrest. "For a few months. I've never met her in person, but she knew I was watching you... Listen Aurora, I wasn't faking being your friend, I  am  your friend." He pleaded as Aurora scrutinized his horns and goat legs.

Aurora nodded her head in understanding. "Don't worry Grover, I get it." she said. Although she was a little put off by Grover and Mr. Brunner's persistence to gaslight her back at Yancy, she couldn't exactly blame them when she herself held too many secrets.

"Like going against the laws of nature?" Hades sneered, and Aurora couldn't help but glare at the God of the Dead. For someone who hates being misunderstood, Hades sure loved to dish out the same treatment to others. Especially children like Aurora herself and Thalia.

At the glare he received Hades and his siblings momentarily faltered at the startling resemblance his niece had to his mother.

Grover sighed in relief at his best friend's understanding. "So you're a satyr, I presume? Like from Mr. Brunner's myths?" she asked. Grover noted how unusually casual she was about the Greek world.

"Yes, exactly like that–"

"Aurora, there's too much to explain and not enough time. We have to get you to safety." Sally shouted.

"Safety from what? Who's after me?" Aurora feigned ignorance.

"Shouldn't be too hard for a Poseidon spawn." Athena snarled, making Aurora roll her eyes. Poseidon's grip on his throne tightened to the point his knuckles appeared white.

"Shouldn't we be asking why she needs to feign ignorance?" Apollo asked unsurely. He remembered quite clearly how the letter from the Fates referred to the prophecy girl as: the reincarnated. "What do you know?" The Sun God asked, this time looking straight at Aurora.

Aurora shrugged sheepishly and smiled, making Apollo squint at her.

Who else would it be but the Minotaur sent by the God of the Dead? Well maybe the God of the Skies perhaps.

"Oh, nobody much," Grover said, obviously trying to lighten the mood. "Just the Lord of the Dead and a few of his blood-thirstiest monsters."

Well he clearly failed at lightening the mood.

Poseidon merely raised an eyebrow as he stared at his elder brother. It was quite unnerving to see the usually overprotective Sea God so... calm, instead of angry at the situation his future queen was in. Rather than screaming at Hades as Aurora and the other gods had expected, he smiled. A razor-sharp smile too similar to someone Hades and the elder gods knew, and something started to click in the eldest son of Kronos' head.

Unbeknownst to everyone, Nico felt a slight chill go up his spine.

"How exactly did you know that?" Clarisse asked in confusion, turning towards the daughter of the sea. Silena, who was always so in tune to anyone's emotions, seemed to have a look of understanding.

"I... have my ways. You'll find out soon." Aurora vaguely responded.

"Grover!"

"Sorry Mrs. Jackson. Could you drive faster, please?"

Aurora mused over her memories. Percy in the books had killed the Minotaur using his own horn right? Luckily for Aurora, her father had already supplied her with a weapon a few years prior.

Nearly everyone in the room furrowed their brows in thought. "Who is Percy?" Katie asked, confused.

"What books are you talking about?" Athena demanded.

Aurora stayed quiet as she had no clue how to explain that in her previous life the Greek gods truly were myths, and that the life she was living now was practically a fictional alternate universe.

The demigods watched Aurora hoping she would provide an explanation, but after a few seconds of silence they turned back to the screen. The answer would appear in the films at some point.

Sally made a hard left. They swerved onto a narrower road, racing past darkened farmhouses and wooded hills and 'PICK YOUR OWN STRAWBERRIES' signs on white picket fences.

"Are we going to that summer camp that you mentioned?" Aurora questioned.

"Yes, my dear. Please understand this is hard enough for me, to see you go through this." Her mother cried out, choking back the sob she held as her ex-lover's voice from the past rang in her head.

Come with me. I can build you a palace in my seas. You and our daughter will be safe.

Sally didn't regret her decision before and she doesn't regret it now.

Zeus turned his icy glare towards his brother while his eldest brother's lips curled in hate.

"Brother." Zeus spat. "First you break the oath, and then you try to bring filthy mortals to your domain? Breaking even more laws? Perhaps I didn't punish you hard enough after the last time you disobeyed me." Zeus smirked as he eyed his brother's beloved daughter. Apollo and Hera winced at the memory, and yet Poseidon reigned his face to keep a neutral expression.

"I sure hope Zeus doesn't kill that damned mortal woman before I do." Hades mocked as he watched the middle brother still remain quiet.

Aurora's eye twitched as she desperately tried to stay calm, she despised the way the gods (the ones who she had saved in the future!) spoke about her beloved mother. She had to remind herself that the Fates had already locked the immortals' powers away, and therefore none of them could use it against her.

As Poseidon didn't rise to his brothers' bait, the other gods disappointedly turned back to the screen while the Sea God's stormy eyes skimmed through the crowd of demigods.

This time Thalia felt a chill go up her spine.

The Fates who had secretly been watching the Olympians and demigods in the throne room smiled as they snipped two strings of life, unknown to the majority of the people in the room.

Poseidon smiled as he held Aurora's hand and brought it up for him to kiss, completely baffling everyone at the unexpected reaction.

"You didn't want me to go to that summer camp..." Aurora quietly muttered. She thought about the Fates she had seen at the fruit stand on her way home from Yancy Academy.

"The Fates?" Hestia inquired, with worry evident on her face, "You saw the Moirai?" she repeated. Poseidon immediately turned to face Aurora.

The other gods had stunned looks on their faces, not expecting the Moirai to appear in front of a mere demigod.

"What did you see, Aurora?" Artemis asked gently, as if Aurora were a frightened baby deer.

Aurora grimaced at the looks she was receiving from the gods. She contemplated on how much she should reveal. "They cut a string." she finally answered.

"No, that cannot be–" Poseidon hissed and Aurora smiled reassuringly, not wanting to reveal yet that the string that was cut was Luke Castellan's and not hers.

Some of the other demigods were also stunned to hear that revelation. Had the Savior of Olympus run headfirst into battle knowing about her own demise for the sake of her fellow half-bloods?

Sally pulled the wheel hard to the right, and Aurora got a glimpse of a figure she'd swerved to avoid—a dark fluttering shape now lost behind in the storm.

"We're almost there," her mother said. "Another mile. Please, please, please-"

Outside, nothing but darkness—the kind of empty countryside you get way out on the tip of Long Island. Aurora thought about Alecto and the moment when she'd changed into the creature with pointed teeth and leathery wings back in the museum. The Fury was very intent on killing Aurora, more than she should've been.

Persephone couldn't help but frown. Why was her husband so adamant on killing children? She knew the brotherly bond that once existed between Hades and Poseidon had dissolved into something more akin to a dumpster fire, however the girl had nothing to do with godly affairs.

While Aurora thought about the differences that she was facing in comparison to what she remembered from her past life, the hair rose on the back of her neck. There was a blinding flash and  boom , and the car exploded.

The grin on Zeus, Hades, Ares, and Athena's faces grew wide as they turned towards Poseidon with knowing looks.

Aurora felt like she was being crushed, fried, and hosed down all at the same time. She lifted her face from the back of the driver's seat and she reassured her mother she was okay after hearing her call her name.

The car hadn't exploded. They swerved into a ditch and the driver's-side doors were wedged in the mud. The roof had cracked open like an eggshell and rain was pouring in

Lightning. They had been blasted right off the road. Grover was a motionless lump beside Aurora.

Zeus roared in laughter at the scene of his niece, her mother, and the satyr bloody and badly bruised. Some of his fellow gods had joined in, Ares the most excited when it came to violence.

"Oh, how I wish that had destroyed those foul mortals." The King of the Gods smirked as he looked down at Aurora. "No worries, niece. I'll make sure to get it right next time."

"For once that lightning of yours came in useful." Hades drawled, as his dark eyes narrowed at his middle brother. Maria di Angelo had died from lightning, and Hades wanted Poseidon to feel the same misery he had decades ago.

Poseidon clenched the arm of his throne tightly to the point it started cracking from pressure, startling the gods near him in surprise.

Aurora shook Grover to awake him, and when he groaned for food she knew there was hope.

Despite the tension in the air and the various gods that were all too enthusiastic for her death, Aurora couldn't help but snicker at Grover's priorities.

"Never change, Grover." Thalia chuckled.

Chiron massaged his head in visible exhaustion, making the demigods snicker in amusement.

"Rory," Sally began, "we have to..." Her voice faltered.

They turned around and through the flash of lightning and mud-splattered windshield, they saw a figure at the side of the road, the sight of it making Aurora's skin crawl. It was one thing to read about monsters, but to  see  it was completely different.

Aurora swallowed hard. "No–"

"Rory," her mother said dead sirius. "Get out of the car."

The doors were jammed shut and the edges of the hole in the roof were sizzling and smoking, but fortunately they were able to climb out the passenger side.

"Aurora, you have to run to that big tree."

Thalia's pine tree , Aurora's mind supplied.

Thalia turned towards her cousin in confusion. "You already knew who I was?"

Aurora groaned in misery that was her life. "I just... know things." she cringed at the horrid explanation that wasn't really an explanation.

"Oh thanks, that totally clears it up." Thalia couldn't help but snark.

Hera narrowed her eyes at her step-daughter. "Your pine tree? Last I recall pine trees were sacred to Poseidon."

Thalia glared right back at her step-mother. "None of your business." she snapped.

Zeus, Poseidon, and the rest of the gods couldn't understand what the relevance was between the daughter of Zeus and Poseidon's sacred tree.

"That's the property line," Sally said. "Get over that hill and you'll see a big farmhouse down in the valley. Run and don't look back. Yell for help. Don't stop until you reach the door."

The demigoddess was vaguely aware what was about to happen  (no she didn't)  and yet she did her best to prevent it.  (she couldn't)

"Mom, you're coming with me."  (she can't)

Sally's face paled, her eyes were as sad as when she looked at the ocean.

"Please," Aurora begged. She didn't think she could stand to see what would happen, even with some of the knowledge of the future she possessed. "You are coming with me. Help me carry Grover."

Aphrodite watched with pity in her eyes, sensing the love that the girl had for her mother. Sensing the melancholy emotions coming from Aurora, Aphrodite could tell whatever was about to happen would be anything but good.

The Goddess of Family sniffed. "If only more children could appreciate their mothers like you do."

Hephaestus turned towards his mother with a bewildered look. Instead of opening his mouth to say something, he dramatically gestured to himself. Hera elected to ignore him.

"Food!" Grover moaned, a little louder.

"Stupid satyr," Dionysus sneered. Grover tried to sink into the shadows from shame as Hermes watched him with pity.

Thalia, Annabeth, and Aurora couldn't help but glare at the wine god for the insult against their friend.

The creature– the monster– was grunting and snorting as it made its way towards the trio. The creature was seven feet tall, with bulging muscles, wearing nothing but a pair of white Fruit of the Looms. His enormous head had a snout as long as an arm, snotty nostrils with a gleaming brass ring, cruel black eyes, and horns—enormous black-and-white horns with points you just couldn't get from an electric sharpener.

"Pasiphae's son," Aurora's mother said. "I wish I'd known how badly they wanted to kill you."

"Foolish mortal." The Goddess of Wisdom rolled her eyes. "Did she truly expect us immortals to be lenient?"

Hestia stiffened. "You do not speak for all of us, niece."

"Well I speak for the majority of us." Unfortunately for Hestia, Athena was right, per usual. Many of the gods, except Poseidon for obvious reasons, in the room either thirsted for the young demigoddess' blood to spill or couldn't care less. The Goddess of the Hearth had a feeling that this lack of empathy that her fellow gods held for demigods would only bring Olympus' downfall.

Aurora and her mother tried to move as quickly as they could while carrying Grover, but the pine tree was still too far away. The Minotaur hunched over their Camaro, snuffling for their scent.

As if on cue, the bull-man bellowed in rage. He picked up Gabe's Camaro by the torn roof, the chassis creaking and groaning. He raised the car over his head and threw it down the road. It slammed into the wet asphalt and skidded in a shower of sparks for about half a mile before coming to a stop. The gas tank exploded.

Not a scratch , Aurora remembered what her horrible step-father Gabe told her before they had left for Montauk.

Oops.

The demigods chuckled at Aurora's thoughts. Clarisse cackled as she watched her friend. If her step-father was as bad as she says he is, then perhaps he deserved a smitted car.

Rachel covered her mouth with her hand to hold her laugh. "Well, at least you have your own car now?" the red-head pointed out, making Aurora grin.

"Aurora," her mom said. "When he sees us, he'll charge. Wait until the last second, then jump out of the way—directly sideways. He can't change directions very well once he's charging. Do you understand?"

"Mom, don't worry about me, take Grover to safety and don't let Pasiphae's son come near you." Aurora pleaded as she took off her golden laurel-shaped headband, a gift from her father for her tenth birthday. She had found it in a gift box in her room with a note wishing her a happy birthday and instructions on how to use it.

She pulled the headband and it had shifted into a six-foot long celestial bronze scythe.

Chiron's eyes widened in recognition.

"'Happy tenth birthday, here's an exact replica of the weapon of mass destruction my evil cannibal father used.'" Aphrodite teased, eyeing Poseidon who squinted at the screen.

The other gods turned back towards the girl to check if she had the laurel on, however the only thing she had in her hair was a simple pearl headband.

Some of the Kronides had stared in horror at the wickedly sharp weapon that the girl held in her hand. Unlike the sickle Demeter carried, the scythe Aurora wielded was modeled after the one their father once carried. The looks of horror had shifted into one of rage.

"You wretched little girl," Zeus growled, eyes glowing in rage as his hand grasped the air, desperate to strike the girl where she stood. Not only did she have the audacity to possess the face of his mother but she also carried the weapon of his father.

"Strike her, I dare you." Poseidon snarled back, eyes glowing just as brightly. After a few seconds Zeus averted his gaze back to the screen, the look on his brother's face all too similar to their father. The sight of Poseidon protectively (possessively) holding Aurora was a splitting image of the Titan King and Queen, and the other Kronides couldn't help but look away as well.

The second-generation gods and the demigods were tense as they watched the dispute between two brothers.

Her mother was exhausted but she shouldered Grover, and Aurora ran to the left, hoping that the Minotaur would keep his eyes on her. She could not let her mother be taken by the King of the Underworld.

"How did you know Uncle H would take your mother and not the satyr?" Ares questioned Aurora, who raised an eyebrow.

"I thought it would have been obvious."

"No, it isn't."

Athena pinched the bridge of her nose at her brother's daftness. "She learned from whatever books the girl had read and refuses to elaborate on." She snapped in annoyance.

The bull's black eyes glowed with hate and he reeked of rotten meat. The Minotaur lowered his head and charged his razor-sharp horns straight at her chest.

Aurora held her ground, and at the last moment, she jumped to the side, swinging her bronze scythe up. Just as the blade was about to connect with the Minotaur and slice off his limb, a loud boom of thunder and another strike of lightning dangerously too close startled Aurora, making her miss her target. The blade barely grazed the bull on its leg. The bull-man bellowed and swatted the scythe far off to the side. He turned, but not towards Aurora this time, but towards her defenseless mother, who was setting Grover down in the grass. They had reached the crest of the hill but they were still half a mile away from the farmhouse.

"Shit, that's not good." Travis hissed, making Clarisse roll her eyes.

"Oh shit really?"

Silena winced. "Had it not been for the lightning, your scythe would have disintegrated him." She frowned as she looked at her friend.

Athena rolled her eyes. "My father is not at fault for the girl's incompetence." Poseidon couldn't help but laugh darkly.

"Of course you would say that."

"Fuck," Aurora cursed. "Fuck, fuck,  fuck –" She ran to grab her weapon and chased after the monster who started charging after her mother, who was leading him away from Grover.

"Language!" Chiron chided.

"Sorry!"

"Run towards the pine tree, Aurora!" her mother shouted, "Don't worry about me!"

Aurora didn't listen as she ran after the Minotaur, hoping that she could get to him before he got to her mother.

"Don't be stupid girl, listen to your mother." Hephaestus murmured and Aphrodite shot him a look.

Aurora gritted her teeth. "I would never leave my mother in the face of danger."

"Well I would." Hephaestus scoffed. Hera turned towards her son with a look of betrayal and began to glare at him.

"Yeah I can see why." Thalia side-eyed the Queen, and now Hera switched her glare towards her step-daughter. A few of Zeus' other bastard children (specifically Apollo, Hermes, Persephone, Dionysus) quietly laughed.

It was as if the fates were laughing because everything did  not  go as expected. She was unfortunately too slow, and unable to outrun him.

Once the monster had reached her mother, Sally tried to sidestep as she'd told her to do, but the monster had learned his lesson. His hand shot out and grabbed her by the neck as she tried to get away. He lifted her as she struggled, kicking and pummeling the air.

"Mom!"

She caught Aurora's eyes, and managed to choke out one last word: "Go!"

Then, with an angry roar, the monster closed his fists around her mother's neck, and squeezed, blood started dripping from her mouth. Sally screamed in pain as she began to gurgle on her blood.

"Finally!" Ares cackled, throwing his hands up in the air. "Nothing more entertaining than a traumatic experience!"

Clarisse narrowed her eyes at her father, and the other demigods had looks of disbelief. She would hate to see his reaction towards the death and destruction that occurred in Manhattan as a result of the titan army.

Katie, in sympathy, offered a white chrysanthemum that blossomed in her hand to Aurora. Aurora accepted the flower, realizing its meaning. Chrysanthemums often symbolized mourning, grief, and death. Persephone, who noticed the interaction between her half-sister and cousin, frowned. As the Goddess of Spring, she knew the symbolism behind flowers.

Aurora was stunned. That shouldn't have happened, her mother shouldn't be bleeding and screaming in pain,  she shouldn't have–

A second later she dissolved before her eyes, melting into light, a shimmering golden form, as if she were a holographic projection. A blinding flash, and she was simply... gone.

The King of the Underworld chuckled darkly at the scene, realizing that he did more than kidnap the girl's mother. Nico gritted his teeth as he glared at his father.

"Good riddance." Zeus scoffed and Aurora had the urge to pull out her scythe and start swinging.

"Fantastic. Now please tell me that the brat joins her mother so that we can get this over with already." The Wine God drawled, flipping through his magazine. Now Poseidon had the urge to start swinging his trident.

Some of the demigods had looked infuriated at how callous the gods were behaving towards the savior of Olympus. The letter the fates had sent had told them enough to know that Aurora was the child of the prophecy and yet the gods continue to pray for her suffering.

Perhaps Luke was right about some things, Silena thought bitterly. How dare they say that about her best friend.

"What exactly happened for the three of you to fight to this extent?" Aphrodite narrowed her eyes at the Big Three gods. The lightning sent by Zeus, the Minotaur sent by Hades. The Love Goddess felt as if her nonexistent heart was breaking at the scene of the girl losing her mother.

Hestia nodded in agreement. It was quite irritating to see how the quarrels of the gods were affecting the demigods terribly.

Aurora was frozen as she couldn't comprehend what she had just seen. Sally was supposed to have been teleported away before the monster could have harmed her at the very least. She tried to remember where in the books had that happened but her brain felt as if it had been short-circuited. Aurora looked back at the Minotaur's hand to see if she had possibly hallucinated, but the blood matting his fur said otherwise.

"No!" she screamed. This wasn't supposed to happen, this wasn't supposed to happen,  thiswasn'tsupposedtohappen –

The Minotaur began to bore down on Grover and anger replaced her fear. Her mother was gone, she couldn't let her best friend be taken as well.

Grover looked gratefully at his best friend as tears welled in his eyes. He remembered the fate of Sally Jackson and felt the strong feelings of mourning coming from Aurora's side of the empathy link.

Thalia winced as she remembered her own experience in trying to reach camp. She too had struggled and fought with her last breath for her friends. The life of a demigod of the Big Three was nothing more than a tragedy. The Daughter of Zeus hated knowing that her sacrifice didn't prevent other demigods from going through what she did, especially her own little cousin.

It had begun to rain, thunder and lightning flashing across the skies.

"Hey, asshole!" Aurora screamed, waving her jacket, and the monster turned toward her, shaking his meaty fists.

"Raaaaarrr!"

The bull-man charged too fast, his arms out to grab her whichever way she tried to dodge.

Time slowed down.

"WHAT?" Zeus hissed.

Aurora took a deep breath to calm herself. "I did not slow down time." She said slowly as if she were talking to a child, and now more than ever did Aurora's resemblance to her grandmother shine through as she stared down Zeus in the eyes. "I am a demigod–" for now "–I do not have the power to control time. Does it look like I can control time?" She stressed.

"Well..." Hermes began, pointedly eyeing the weapon Aurora wielded on the screen.

"It was a rhetorical question!"

Her legs tensed, and Aurora leaped straight up, kicking off the creature's head like a springboard and landing on its neck.

Connor gasped. "Just like Mario!"

Apollo turned towards his nephew in confusion. "Who?"

Now it was Travis' turn to gasp. "Lord Apollo, I never took you for an uncultured swine!"

The Sun God's face twisted in anger. "Wha–" Artemis threw a pebble at her brother's head.

The Minotaur staggered trying to shake Aurora off, but she held the horn and pulled backward. The monster grunted, then–snap!

"Impressive." Artemis' lips twitched up in a small smile.

Mitchell, Silena's brother, wolf-whistled. "Dam Rora." The Sea God narrowed his eyes at the boy and Mitchell nervously raised his hands in surrender.

She brought her scythe up, and as if the creature could sense the celestial bronze metal, it tried to swat it away again but failed. Aurora swung the scythe right through his neck and this time she made sure it cut deep. The Minotaur began to disintegrate like crumbling sand, and blew away in the wind, just like Mrs. Dodds, the fury, had.

The monster was gone.

Nico sighed in relief, while Dionysus grumbled in disappointment.

"Nice one, Rory." Katie smiled at her cousin.

The rain had stopped. The storm still rumbled, but only in the distance. Aurora's head felt like it was splitting open. She tried to convince herself that her mother wasn't dead and that she had simply vanished, but she was struggling to even believe herself. She wanted to lie down and sleep for eternity, but there was Grover, needing her help, so she managed to haul him up and stagger down into the valley, toward the lights of the farmhouse. She was mentally, physically, and emotionally exhausted, but she held on to Grover—she wasn't going to let him go.

Grover sniffed. "I'm sorry Aurora, I failed. All I did was weigh you down."

"Grover, don't say that–"

"Why not? The satyr speaks the truth." Dionysus bluntly interrupted, making Grover attempt to hide in his shadow in embarrassment.

Thalia viciously glared at Dionysus, who snarled back, before turning to the satyr. "Grover..." She began, but decided to remain quiet for now.

The last thing Aurora remembers is collapsing on a wooden porch, looking up at a ceiling fan circling above her and the stern faces of a familiar-looking bearded man and a blonde girl. They both looked down at her, and the girl said, "She's the one. She must be."

Annabeth perked up at her appearance.

"The one?" Hermes echoed in confusion. Annabeth glared with loathing at the Messenger God, which only made him even more confused and angered.

Thalia, as if sensing Annabeth's thoughts, soothingly held her hand.

"Silence, Annabeth," the man said. "She's still conscious. Bring her inside."

As the scene ended, another letter had appeared in a bright light in the middle of the throne room. This time Hestia grabbed it and read it aloud.

"To the Demigods and Immortals,

A few additional guests from the future will be joining you throughout the films. Remain respectful and maintain composure. You may  not  attack them, lest you wish to face the consequences.

Your first guest will be arriving...  now .

Signed, The Moirai"

Hera frowned in confusion. "I wonder who..."

A flash of bright, golden light appeared again in the throne room, making everyone, including the gods, avert their eyes.

The light dimmed and a very familiar looking man stood in the middle. He was dressed in a full-length black chiton with golden jewellery, black shoulder-length hair in a ponytail. On his chiton he wore a brooch that resembled a snake and he radiated an aura of terror.

The demigods and second generation gods stilled in fear in his aura and couldn't understand why he looked so familiar and terrifying. They turned towards the elder gods and froze as if they had been paralyzed.

The man held an uncanny resemblance to the God of the Seas.

The man–no, titan–opened his eyes, revealing a set of molten golden colored irises. His eyes scanned the room until they landed on six gods, Hestia, Hades, Demeter, Poseidon, Hera, and Zeus. His lips twitched upwards in a wicked smile, all sharp teeth.

The Elder six gods were frozen in shock and fear as they laid eyes upon the one person they thought they would never see again.

"Well," his voice, not unlike nails dragged down a chalkboard. "If it isn't my beloved children."

The six gods' ichor ran cold. Chiron's tail swished in agitation.

The Crooked One in his original form. The Titan of Time, Agriculture, Harvest, Fertility, Age, and more. The Divine-Usurper, Cannibal King.

It was Kronos, the King of the Titans and the father of the elder six gods and Chiron.

Chapter Text

The throne room remained eerily quiet, save for the deep erratic breaths of the demigods. Many of the occupants were in disbelief that the King of Othrys was standing in the middle of the throne room of Olympus, and it felt as if time slowed down for real this time.

Poseidon was one of the first few to gather their bearings. "Father." he growled low, eyes never leaving his sire.

The golden-eyed titan smirked in amusement at the petrifying effect he still seemed to have on people. "Son." Kronos mockingly replied, smiling at his son as if he were a small, disobedient child and not an all-powerful god.

"You." Zeus snarled. He rose from his throne, grasping for his lightning bolt to aim at the titan, before Hera hurriedly pulled on the sleeve of his suit, urging him to sit down. When she reminded him that he could do nothing to hurt their father, Zeus couldn't help but glare hatefully at his predecessor.

"Me." Kronos raised an eyebrow, before chuckling at the arrogance of the King of the Gods.

Hestia inhaled a deep breath, steeling her nerves. "Father, what are you doing here?" The eldest child of Kronos and Rhea asked, stepping forward towards her father without a drop of fear.

"Well, daughter," Kronos remarked, "The Moirai have found it fit to send me here to discipline my misbehaving and unruly children and all of their foolish spawns."

"And the Fates entrusted you of all people to parent us as if we are mere toddlers? What, have they been hit in the head or something?" Hades raised a sharp eyebrow, voice filled with incredulity.

"Watch your tongue boy, the Moirai are not as forgiving as I am," Snorts of disbelief were heard, the words 'Kronos' and 'forgiving' could never be associated with each other. "Perhaps if you all had not behaved as toddlers, I wouldn't have to treat you like one."

"Why are you here? How are you here?" Hera demanded, not at all trusting him (which she was right to, considering her father was called The Crooked One, after all).

"Pay attention," Kronos chided. "Were you not listening? I just told you. As for how I am here, well that is only for me and the Fates to know, not anyone of insignificance."

The Goddess of Marriage grinded her teeth in agitation, realizing that her father was not planning on revealing anything any time soon.

"Well," Demeter began. "We have been watching films about the girl, Aur–"

"–I know, I have already been informed about everything." Kronos waved her off. "Why don't we continue where you all have left off?"

While his siblings and father had been bantering, Poseidon's eyes never left his father's form. It felt as if he were looking at a mirror. They shared the same features, even the exact pattern of the freckles that dotted their faces, except for the sea green eyes and that Kronos obviously looked like an older version of him.

As if sensing his eyes on him, Kronos looked down and grinned when he noticed his second son watching him with narrowed eyes. His grin grew wider when he saw the possessive hold his son held over his granddaughter. It felt as if he were looking at an image of him and his own wife Rhea, with how much they both resembled them. Despite the fact that past-Poseidon knows nothing about Aurora or the future, he still felt protective over her. Kronos' eyes moved from Poseidon to Aurora's. The girl looked stunned, and downright disturbed, making the Titan King chuckle, which made the gods and demigods near him freeze (again).

"We meet again, granddaughter. I have to say, your sweet sixteen birthday party was quite a... blast. I wouldn't miss your seventeenth birthday for the world." Kronos teased.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Aurora glared, making her grandfather laugh.

"You're not invited." Thalia snapped at the same time, making Kronos laugh even harder.

After he calmed down, much to everyone's bafflement over the interaction, the father of the elder gods sat down on a sofa (much farther away from everyone), summoned for him by the Fates and gestured everyone to turn their gazes to the screen, which they all reluctantly did. The gods had become even more confused after the exchange between Kronos, Aurora, and Thalia, and they wondered what on earth had happened in the future.

Aurora had weird dreams full of barnyard animals. Most of them wanted to kill her. The rest wanted food.

"Sanest demigod dream I have heard of." Nico snarked.

The demigods snickered, making both Grover and Aurora blush in embarrassment.

"Really Rory?" Grover asked, exasperated, which only made their friends laugh harder.

"What a wonderful way to start a scene." Kronos muttered, and all of the laughter had ceased, except for Poseidon who started cackling like a maniac.

Aurora did not know what to think about her grandfather. On one hand, she despised him for all the trouble he had created the past four years since she had officially entered the Greek world. On the other hand, his appearance had unsettled her. While she had already heard that Poseidon and his father greatly resembled each other, she had not known just how strong the resemblance was. They could easily be mistaken for brothers, and what made it worse was that they also seemed to share a similar sense of humor. He unnerved her, so she decided to avoid looking at him at all.

They resembled each other a little too much.

As if Grover sensed something in the empathy link, he turned towards his best friend with a bewildered look.

Aurora had woken up several times over a period of 24 hours. She remembered lying in a soft bed, being spoon fed something that tasted like buttered popcorn, only it was pudding. The girl with curly blond hair hovered over her, smirking.

When she saw her eyes open, she asked, "What will happen at the summer solstice?"

"What about the summer solstice?" Athena demanded, looking at her daughter. Annabeth remained quiet.

Aurora stared at her, "What?"

The blonde looked around, afraid someone would overhear. "What's going on? What was stolen? We've only got a few weeks!"

"What was stolen?" Persephone repeated. "It had to be something of importance if a demigod is aware of it."

"Could it be something... something belonging to a god?" Hestia hesitantly questioned, nervously eyeing the demigods for any sort of hint.

Kronos smiled smugly, putting the gods on edge.

The demigods were still wary of the titan, after all they had just recently defeated him and his army, and to see him back in another form so soon after their struggle was infuriating.

"Perhaps it was something of Zeus'. Fates know that imbecile cannot do anything right to save his life." Poseidon mocked, always willing to demean his brother. Aurora knew that he had said that in annoyance but it still surprised her and the other demigods that he was unknowingly spot on in his insult.

"Or perhaps it is something of yours, considering this film focuses mainly on your daughter." Athena glared at Poseidon, Zeus nodding his head in agreement.

"What about Ares, that moron can never keep track of his belongings." Hephaestus accused. Ares had a tendency to leave his shield lying around.

"Hey! Who are you calling–"

"Maybe it's Hades', after all, he had sent the Minotaur and a fury after the girl. Call it karma." Demeter snapped, still upset at her brother for kidnapping her daughter. She too was unknowingly spot on in her insult against Hades.

"Or Apollo. He can never remember where he puts his bow and arrows." Artemis raised an eyebrow, much to the offense of her twin.

Kronos brought out a bucket of popcorn from who-the-fuck-knows-where and started munching giddily as he watched the train-wreck of an argument that occurred right in front of him.

As the gods continued to argue and throw accusations at one another, Nico quietly muttered to Thalia, "Did these idiots forget what the name of this film was called?"

"Girl, do I look–"

Clarisse snorted in amusement at Aurora's attitude.

"You do look like you know the answer to that question." Silena softly giggled, making Aurora roll her eyes.

"What I was going to say before I was kindly interrupted was 'do I look like I'm in the right state of mind to be answering questions.'" Aurora clarified.

Somebody knocked on the door, and the girl quickly filled her mouth with pudding.

Apollo tsked. "That's not how you treat a patient."

"I assumed only Apollo's brats did this job." Hephaestus gave a questioning glance at his younger brother. Dionysus simply shrugged.

Shortly after she had seen Argus, a husky blond dude, keeping watch over her. He had a dozen blue eyes all over him— his cheeks, his forehead, the backs of his hands.

Hera smiled in recognition at Argus.

The next time she woke up, the blonde girl was gone, and this time a dark-haired girl and a blond boy were standing over her, rebandaging some of her wounds. When the girl noticed Aurora's eyes on them, she smiled reassuringly.

Will and Silena perked up at their appearances. Silena received a few questioning looks from the demigods, most likely wondering why she was helping in the infirmary.

"Rest, I can tell you're still exhausted." She said softly. Aurora felt something strange wash over her already fatigued mind and the last thought she had before she immediately knocked out again was  charmspeak .

"Smart girl." Aphrodite commended, not having expected anyone to recognize when charmspeak was being used on them.

"Using charmspeak on an injured girl? How unprofessional." Apollo nagged. "Although I suppose it's better than interrogating her." The God of Medicine glared at Silena and Annabeth, making Silena giggle and Annabeth glare back at the god.

Kayla, Will's sister, grinned mischievously. "Hey, wait a minute, Will, why was Silena with you in the infirmary?" The daughter of Apollo snickered as she saw Beckendorf's (and Nico's?) raised eyebrows.

"It's not what it looks like!" The son of the sun god stressed, making the letter 'X' with his arms. "Silena was already in the infirmary looking after Lacy who got injured during a wrestling match with an Ares camper! She offered to help me take care of the new camper!" Beckendorf laughed at how stressed Will had sounded at his sister's accusation.

"It's true, Sherman nearly broke my arm." Lacy confirmed, struggling to hold her laughter, and Drew rolled her eyes at Sherman.

"And I nearly broke Sherman's arm for that." Clarisse grunted, making Aphrodite coo over her daughters and their friends.

"How sweet!" Aphrodite exclaimed.

When Aurora finally woke up for good, she found herself sitting in a deck chair on a huge porch, gazing across a meadow at green hills in the distance and she adjusted her laurel headband on her head. The breeze smelled like strawberries. Her head was aching, but her bruises were mostly gone. She made a mental reminder to take a dip in the ocean. On the table next to her was a tall glass of nectar, with a green straw and a paper parasol stuck through a maraschino cherry.

Drink of the gods,  she thought. She brought her hand up to grab the drink when she heard a voice from her side.

"Too much of it will burn up a demigod." Apollo muttered.

"I would hope the demigods already know of that." Dionysus drawled.

"Careful," Grover was leaning against the porch railing, looking like he hadn't slept in a week. Under one arm, he cradled a shoe box. He wore casual clothes that he usually wore as a disguise, blue jeans, Converse shoes and a bright orange T-shirt that said CAMP HALF-BLOOD.

"You saved my life," Grover said. "I...well, the least I could do...I went back to the hill. I thought you might want this." Reverently, he placed the shoe box in her lap. Inside was the Minotaur's horn, the base jagged from being broken off, the tip splattered with dried blood.

"The Min..." Aurora stopped herself in realization, "... Pasiphae's son."

"Good call, it's usually not a good idea to call them by their names." Grover sighed. "You've been out for a day, how much do you remember?"

Everything, unfortunately . She thought in bitterness. Her mother was gone, but the question regarding her life plagued her mind. The Minotaur had hurt her before she was taken.

Please be okay , Aurora prayed in her mind.

"Why pray to the gods who have made your life miserable since the day you stepped into this world?" Kronos taunted, attempting to rile up the girl and the rest of the demigods' anger against the gods.

"Like you're any better?" Thalia glared icily, which only amused the titan even more.

"And you think the gods truly are the best? Do not be delusional." Kronos laughed, and the gods began to glare loathingly at him.

"How rich of you," Zeus fumed, clenching and unclenching the arm of his throne, "To act so sanctimonious, Cannibal King." He said slowly, stressing on the word 'cannibal'.

"Ah, I see," Kronos' smirk turned smug at the God King's hypocrisy. "Cannibalism is wrong unless it involves swallowing your wife. Is that where you draw the line?"

Some of the Olympians glared at the Titan who knowingly hit a sore spot. Zeus had swallowed Metis to avoid a prophecy that her son would overthrow him. The exact same thing that Kronos himself had done, except while Kronos' misdeeds were constantly acknowledged, Zeus' was usually brushed off. Kronos crowed in victory when the gods remained silent.

Aurora had stared at how beautiful the meadow, with the groves of trees and acres of strawberries underneath the blue sky. Even the pine tree.  Mom...  Aurora thought in despair. The whole world should be black and cold. Nothing should look beautiful.

"Even my tree? What, did I look hideous before?" Thalia snarked, mockingly glaring at her cousin. Aurora cackled.

"Obviously."

The gods furrowed their eyebrows in confusion and Kronos laughed loudly at them as if they were stupid. The gods were still unaware that Thalia was the tree.

Grover sniffled as if he sensed her thoughts. "I'm a failure. I'm—I'm the worst satyr in the world."

"You got at least something right." Dionysus snapped. Hermes narrowed his eyes in anger at the insult against the satyr.

He moaned, stomping his foot so hard his Converse and styrofoam came off. "Oh Styx!" he mumbled.

Thunder rolled across the sky as he struggled to get his hoof back into his fake foot. If Aurora squinted hard enough she could see the tips of his horns peeking through his hair.

The demigods laughed as they watched Grover struggle with his fake foot.

"Why is it always me that's being publicly humiliated?" Grover moaned, pretending to glare at Aurora.

"You poor satyrs." Hermes sighed, remembering their goals to find his missing son Pan.

Aurora sighed while Grover was still sniffling. "It wasn't your fault."

"Thank you, Rory, for telling him." Silena sighed. As the daughter of Aphrodite, she excelled at reading her friends' emotions, and she could sense that Grover still blamed himself for Thalia being turned into a tree and the death of his best friend's mother.

"Yes, it was. I was supposed to protect you."

"Grover!" Thalia groaned. "How many times do I have to tell you this? I. Made. My. Choice!"

"But Mrs. Jackson..." Grover sniffled. Aurora sighed and Thalia shuffled closer to pat him on the shoulder.

"No, it wasn't. My mother didn't ask you to, and it's not like you knew that Minotaur was after me until it was too late."

"But it's my job as a keeper, at least... I was."

"Blame the gods who sent the Minotaur after you." Kronos jibed, throwing a piece of fucking popcorn at the screen.

"Shall we get into what even led to that situation?" Nico raised an eyebrow.

"Sure, go ahead, Niccolò. While we are at it, why don't we discuss what happened to dear little Thalia."

Thalia tensed up. Nico wisely kept quiet. His father had sent monsters after Thalia before Kronos had gained full consciousness. Blaming the death of Sally onto Kronos wouldn't even work as he knew that Hades still would've sent monsters after Aurora regardless if his helm was missing or not. The Big Three were petty like that (they get it from their father).

The gods became more and more confused with whatever it is that the demigods and King of the Titans shared knowledge of but refused to share to the gods.

Grover helped Aurora hold the glass of nectar to drink. It tasted like her favorite food, just as she had remembered. It was chocolate-chip cookies. Her mom's homemade blue chocolate-chip cookies, buttery and hot, with the chips still melting. Drinking it, her whole body felt warm and good, full of energy. Her grief didn't go away, but it felt as if her mom had just brushed her hand against her cheek, given her a cookie the way she used to when she was small, and told her everything was going to be okay.

"What did it taste like?" Grover asked wistfully. Aurora frowned as she remembered that satyrs couldn't drink nectar so she couldn't offer him some.

"My mom's homemade chocolate chip cookies."

"I wish my mother knew how to bake." Travis sighed.

"Ditto. Her cookies were always burnt." Connor agreed.

Man, did Hermes have a type? Aurora couldn't help but think. She thought about May Castellan who made burnt cookies, peanut butter sandwiches, and Kool-aid hoping that her son would one day come home.

"Hera tasted burnt too." Kronos murmured as if he was trying to remember what his children tasted like.

Hera squinted at her father. "What?"

"What?"

Hestia summoned a bottle of pinot noir and chugged the entire thing.

"That's good, I don't think you could risk drinking any more of that stuff." he said. Grover took the empty glass as if it were dynamite, and set it back on the table. "Come on. Chiron and Mr. D are waiting."

The porch wrapped around the farmhouse.

The nectar did its job well. Aurora was able to walk with her Minotaur horn in hand, headache already gone. On the opposite end of the big house, the valley stretched all the way up to the water, which glittered about a mile in the distance. The landscape was dotted with ancient Greek architecture. There was a sandpit where a dozen of high-school aged kids and satyr were playing volleyball. Canoes glided across a small lake. Kids in bright orange T-shirts were chasing each other around the twelve cabins nestled in the woods. Some shot targets at an archery range. Others rode pegasi down a wooded trail.

"I wouldn't trade this for the world." Katie sighed wistfully at the scene of camp, and Chiron and the other demigods nodded in agreement.

For many demigods who didn't have the best childhood, camp was their only home.

At the end of the porch, two men sat across from each other at a card table, one of them being Mr. Brunner– or should she say Chiron. The blonde girl, the dark-haired girl, and the blond boy were next to them.

The man facing them was small, but porky. He had a red nose, big watery eyes, and curly hair so black it was almost purple. He looked like a cherub who'd turned middle-aged in a trailer park. He wore a tiger-pattern Hawaiian shirt,  (ugh, what is it with gods and their ugly Hawaiian print shirts?) –

Everyone turned towards the only two gods wearing Hawaiian print shirts in the throne room. Dionysus was sipping a can of diet coke and Poseidon was braiding Aurora's hair.

"She's right, they are ugly." Aphrodite scrunched her nose. Both Dionysus and Poseidon glared at the Love Goddess who merely smiled.

Aphrodite tried snapping her fingers to change their clothes until she remembered she couldn't. Luckily for her, it seemed the Fates had a sense of humor and both gods' clothes had switched into something that was akin to modern streetwear, with graphic T-shirts and cargo pants, which is what the Goddess of Beauty had in mind. Both gods looked down at their apparel before immediately attempting to switch back to their Hawaiian print shirts and shorts before the Fates took mercy on them.

Apollo sighed. "Well, at least you tried."

–and he would've fit right in at one of Gabe's poker parties, except he definitely would've out-gambled Smelly Gabe.

"Damn right."

"Why do you look worse than you usually do?" Persephone bluntly asked, making Dionysus scowl. He lowered the magazine he was reading.

"I've been banned from my own domain and forced to look after a bunch of feral street urchins. What were you expecting?"

"Yes, but you look more terrible than Hephaestus does on the daily." Ares snickered, much to Hephaestus' irritation. The War God never missed a chance to insult Hephaestus.

"That's Mr. D," Grover murmured. "He's the camp director. The blonde girl, that's Annabeth Chase. She's just a camper–

"Just a camper?" Annabeth gawked, making Aurora raise an eyebrow.

"What else was he supposed to say?"

–but she's been here longer than just about anybody. The other two are Silena Beauregard and Will Solace, campers as well. Will is pretty damn good at his job and Silena is one of our best equestrians. And you already know Chiron...."

"Definitely not the best anymore." Silena teased, smiling at Aurora. Aurora grinned but it looked quite... forced.

Silena...  Aurora thought, recognizing the name. There was no way she was going to let her face the same fate as she did in the books. Same with the other demigods who had died.

"What? What do you mean? What was Silena's fate supposed to be?" Beckendorf asked, worried about his girlfriend. Silena frowned, puzzled.

"Who died?" Clarisse demanded.

Aurora pointedly looked away from the other demigods who looked at her confusion, but she remained quiet, not answering their questions. Many of the demigods who should have died still lived after the war from her interference. Silena, Beckendorf, Castor, and more. There was Bianca, but... Aurora winced at the reminder of her cousin. Bianca is alive, but at what cost?

And if the Fates allowed her knowledge of the future then it was for the best that she used it to her benefit.

He pointed at 'Mr. Brunner' in the wheelchair, who Aurora immediately recognized as Chiron.

Kronos scrunched his nose as he saw his son. He began to throw even more popcorn at the screen, making the centaur scowl in irritation.

"Still bitter?" Chiron asked his father.

"Hardly."

"Chiron." Aurora smiled. Her former Latin teacher turned to smile back at her.

"Ah, good, Aurora," he said. "Join us for pinochle.

He offered her a chair to the right of Mr. D, who looked at her with bloodshot eyes and heaved a great sigh. "Oh, I suppose I must say it. Welcome to Camp Half-Blood. There. Now, don't expect me to be glad to see you."

"Who pissed in your cereal?" Ares raised an eyebrow at his younger brother. Dionysus angrily brought up his magazine to cover his face.

"No one should be pissing in anyone's cereal." Demeter scowled.

Kronos nodded in agreement for the first time since he got here. "Cereal should be appreciated."

"Oh great, another cereal-loving nutjob. Now there's two of them." Hades sighed as he brought a hand up to massage his temple.

Aurora debated on how to reply before she concluded to greet him respectfully. The less gods she angered the better.

Well that didn't age well. The gods hated her simply for existing.

"You did a wonderful job at that," Apollo sarcastically drawled.

"Thank you," she said. "Lord Dionysus." she tacked on for the added respect. Who else could it be but the God of Wine?

Mr. D glared at her, not at all impressed.  Sheesh. Tough crowd.

"What's the issue? The girl showed you respect, did she not?" Artemis questioned, upset with the way her half-brother acknowledged the maiden.

"The issue is that her existence annoys me and I want her gone." The Wine God replied. Aurora knew Dionysus was still displeased over the issue with Theseus and Ariadne, but she couldn't help but scowl at his half-assed logic. Heracles was his own half-brother, does that mean Dionysus should be blamed for his actions simply because they were siblings?

Poseidon narrowed his eyes at his nephew for the threat he made against Aurora. "Your existence is a nuisance to me. Shall I kill you and your children? It is not like you provide much to the council unlike my eldest sister whose throne you have taken."

Hestia was slightly surprised at her brother's defense of her. She had given up her throne on the council for the sake of keeping peace, but she knew Demeter, Poseidon, and Hera were infuriated at Zeus' insistence to replace the eldest and most powerful child of Kronos with his own bastard.

Dionysus was shocked at how angered his usually chill uncle was, and Zeus and his children glared at Poseidon at the insult he implied. Kronos, surprisingly, came to the rescue, and when he saw Dionysus open his mouth to retort he growled in warning, making the Wine God freeze.

"Annabeth?" Chiron called the blonde girl who came forward. "This young lady helped nurse you back to health, Aurora. Annabeth, my dear, why don't you go check on Aurora's bunk? We'll be putting her in cabin eleven for now."

"Sure, Chiron." Annabeth said. She was Aurora's physical age, athletic-looking, with a deep tan and curly-blonde hair, similar to a stereotypical California girl but with gray eyes.

"Hi, pleased to meet you." Aurora held her hand out. Annabeth looked her up and down and sprinted off down the lawn, leaving Aurora's hand in the air.

Well that was quite awkward . Aurora could tell they won't become friends anytime soon. Or at all, from what she remembered the girl was like.

"What was that for?" Rachel asked the blonde girl who merely raised an eyebrow in annoyance.

"She wasn't worth my time as I had assumed." Annabeth stated, making Thalia frown. Aurora rolled her eyes.

Athena smiled in pride. "Good. My daughter recognizes detritus when she sees one." She taunted.

"More like your spawn was looking for someone's coattails to ride on. I suppose it's the only way for her to earn glory." Poseidon chided. Aurora rubbed his hand soothingly, noticing how more and more aggressive he was becoming, and she worried how he would react by the end of these films.

"The other two who helped you are Silena Beauregard and Will Solace. Silena, thank you for the cabin inspection reports, I believe Lacy is still in the infirmary."

"No problem, Chiron. Lovely meeting you Aurora." Silena gave a small smile before she headed back to the infirmary. She was about two years older with raven black hair and blue eyes like the sky. Based on her endearing aura and charmspeak, Aurora easily remembered her as the daughter of Aphrodite.

"Walker Scobell,"

"Sir, my name is Will Solace–"

"At least it's better than what he calls me." Connor Stoll muttered.

"Which is?"

"Cheese Stick."

Katie, Travis, and the rest of the demigods cackled at the horrid names Mr. D gave out too often.

"Like yours is any better," Connor hissed at his brother. "He calls you Twix Stick!"

Now Travis started to blush as the demigods laughed harder, Mr. D never hesitated to call them the most atrocious names.

"Walker Scobell," Mr. D repeated, ignoring him, "You may return to your post as well, I believe the darn Ares brat Sherry–"

"Sherman?"

"Whatever. He is back in the infirmary as well. Attend to him before he gets on my nerves."

As if on cue, Sherman's groans of pain could be heard all the way from the infirmary.

Clarisse smirked, making Sherman roll his eyes. Lacy's giggles can be heard.

"You weren't kidding about breaking your brother's arm?" Beckendorf raised an eyebrow from where he was running his hands through Silena's hair.

"I don't kid around."

Hephaestus narrowed his eyes at Ares' children. "Control your brats." He glared at his older brother, who merely laughed.

"It's alright, I like a good fight."

"On it. Nice to meet you Aurora." Will smiles brightly, almost blinding her before he ran off as well.  Definitely Apollo's son .

"I must say, Aurora," Chiron broke in, "I'm glad to see you alive. It's been a long time since I've made a house call to a potential camper. I'd hate to think I've wasted my time."

"Are you attempting to imply that my Aurora would have been a waste of time had she not survived?" Poseidon narrowed his eyes on his half-brother, who raised his hands up in surrender.

Hades rolled his dark eyes, already recognizing his brother's overprotectiveness. "The girl is as useless as demigods get. After all, we are all still here, wasting our time with these films about her." Poseidon raised an eyebrow at Hades.

"I apologize, I did not mean for my words to come off that way." Chiron placatingly said to the irate sea king.

Thalia and Nico shared a look as they both had the same thought in mind. Yikes. Many of the demigods knew that while Chiron had good intentions he wasn't exactly the best at pep talks.

"My year at Yancy Academy was to instruct you. We have satyrs at most schools, keeping a lookout. But Grover alerted me as soon as he met you. He sensed you were something special, so I decided to come upstate. I convinced the other Latin teacher to...ah, take a leave of absence."

"I figured you came to Yancy to teach me."

"What's so special about her?" Ares asked, making the demigods roll their eyes.

Chiron nodded. "Honestly, I didn't know what to think about you. We contacted your mother, let her know we were keeping an eye on you in case you were ready for Camp Half-Blood. You were two grades higher than kids your age and unusually... aware. Even now I still do not understand."

Ahh, the advantages of being a chemistry graduate in your previous life. Having the knowledge of a grown adult makes elementary and middle school a breeze . She could've finished highschool and started college by now but she didn't want to gain any additional attention.

"Huh, no wonder you kept correcting our science teacher Mr. Reynolds. He was sick of you nitpicking his assignments." Grover snickered.

"Yeah, well, the feeling was mutual." Aurora murmured. If there was one thing she enjoyed about being transported from another universe it was that she knew things about the future, providing the perfect opportunity to mess around with her fellow mortals and demigods.

"Is that why you called him an old sot?" The satyr chuckled harder, remembering the reason why Aurora was expelled from Yancy. "You kept telling him that elements 113, 115, 117, 118 have already been named but he didn't believe you."

Quietly, Connor asked Travis, "What even is a sot?"

"Mr. D." Travis whispered back. The demigods around them looked baffled at the Hermes siblings' conversation.

"There are 118 elements in the periodic table now?" Athena inquired curiously. "What are they?"

Apollo brought out a notepad and pen. "The mortals have discovered 109 so far."

Aurora debated whether she should tell them or not. "What year were we sent back to? 1989?"

"1989 years, 10 days, 16 hours, 34 minutes, 51 seconds since the beginning of the common era. 4.583 billion years, 9 hours, 14 minutes, 42 seconds since the formation of earth. 13.7 billion years, 13 hours, 59 minutes, 44 seconds since the formation of the universe. 301 days, 22 hours, 25 minutes, 48 seconds since Zeus couldn't keep it in his pant–"

"We get it!" Aurora hissed, interrupting Kronos' babbling. Hera glared with hatred in her eyes towards Zeus at the reminder (again) of her husband's infidelity (again).

"What are the nine newest elements?" Athena repeated. Aurora decided to remain quiet, they would find out within three decades anyway. Apollo and Athena both groaned.

"Is no one going to question why she has this knowledge?" Hades hissed, and Zeus nodded in a rare agreement. No reincarnated soul should be able to have memories of their former life, after all.

"No. Keep your eyes on the screen." Kronos snapped at everyone. Hades grumbled as the conversation quickly ended.

"Nevertheless, you made it here alive, and that's always the first test."

Silena groaned. "Chiron, you really need to work on your introductions towards new campers."

Many of the demigods nodded in agreement. Chiron could be quite... blunt at times.

"Grover," Mr. D said impatiently, "are you playing or not?"

"Yes, sir!" Grover trembled as he took the fourth chair.

"You do know how to play pinochle, right?" Mr. D eyed Aurora suspiciously.

"Obviously." Aurora wisely chose not to mention that she learned how to play pinochle for the sole purpose of being able to beat Chiron at the game. As far as she remembered, no one ever beat Chiron at pinochle.

Dionysus sniffed. "I wouldn't say no one..."

Chiron smiled. "We are from 2009." he gestured towards himself, the demigods, and Kronos. "I have yet to be bested."

"Guess she didn't win." Apollo muttered.

"Pinochle, along with gladiator fighting and Pac-Man, is one of the greatest games ever invented by us humans, and all civilized young men and women should know the rules." Aurora recited nearly word-for-word of what she remembered Dionysus would say, much to his bewilderment.

Dionysus put his diet coke can to get a good look at her. He squinted his eyes while Aurora smiled serenely.

"I always wondered how she did that." Annabeth mumbled. Her siblings nodded in agreement. Aurora had the uncanny ability to guess exactly what you were going to say.

"You are... quite strange." Dionysus murmured. He seemed to try using his powers to read her mind, but luckily for Aurora, the Fates were kind to her for once and blocked all memories of her past life from being accessed by other beings. He sneered when he realized he couldn't.

"Well that explains why no god has ever noticed before." Will pointed out.

"Now that you mention it... you're right. The gods have the ability to mind-read, don't they?" Kayla added.

The group of four continued to play the game. "Young Miss, are you bidding?"

"Yes."

"There's too much to explain," Chiron said, after a while of conversation. "I'm afraid our usual orientation film won't be sufficient."

That sounds ridiculous,  Aurora thought. At least it didn't matter since she pretty much knew more than everyone else did at this point.

"By what logic does that make sense?" Nico groaned. "'There's too much to explain, so it's better if we tell you nothing at all.'" The son of Hades mocked, to point out how foolish it sounded.

Chiron sheepishly shrugged.

"Perhaps it's a good thing she hasn't seen it," Will shivered along with the rest of his siblings. Apollo smirked in amusement.

Seriously, the orientation film was nightmare fuel for any child of Apollo.

"No," Chiron decided. "Well, Aurora. You know Grover is a satyr. You know that you have killed the Minotaur. No small feat, either. What you may or may not know is that great powers are at work in your life. Gods—the forces you call the Greek gods—are very much alive."

Unfortunately . Aurora thought. While her father and her siblings were wonderful, her uncles, so far, were the equivalence to a  dumpster fire . Seriously, how stupid do you have to be to blame a twelve year old for committing crimes with no evidence?

Hades and Zeus glared at their niece, while Poseidon glared at his brothers. Although they had no idea what crimes the girl was referring to, Zeus and Hades did not take kindly to being called stupid and compared to a dumpster fire.

Oh great, Thalia, Nico, and Aurora simultaneously thought, Another argument among the gods.

"Poseidon," Zeus growled, already infuriated that he had to watch some stupid girl's life, and now her degrading thoughts about him. "First you break the oath–"

"Like you are any better?" Hades scoffed, once again reminding Zeus of his hypocrisy. Thalia made a face at her father as if he had lost a few brain cells.

"I am the king, brother. Do not forget it."

"A terrible one at that."

Hades swiveled his head towards his middle brother. "You should not be talking."

"Oh?" Zeus raised his voice, while his brothers remained deceptively calm. The God King eyed the son of Hades and the daughter of Poseidon before his lips curved into a smirk that spelled trouble. "I believe it is my right as the king to eliminate anything that will bring harm to Olympus... Perhaps I should start with your spawns, brothers?"

"You wouldn't dare."

"At least kill the Hades brat! How dare he cheat on my daughter!" Demeter inputted, not missing a chance to demean her brother. Nico watched the argument worriedly as it began to escalate.

"Really, Dem? Do I really need to bring up Adonis?" Aphrodite smugly smirked at the Goddess of Agriculture, making Persephone shift uncomfortably. While Hades and Persephone remained as one of the more faithful couples, Aphrodite didn't miss her chance of bringing up Persephone's own infidelity. Especially since the Goddess of Love had to unwillingly share her own lover with her. Nico was surprised at the new information and felt slightly bitter.

Now both Hera and Ares joined the argument. Ares at the mention of Adonis and Hera at the mention of infidelity. The argument began to grow until it involved ALL of the gods, with the exception of Hestia who brought her knees to chest and put her head down.

Kronos laughed uproariously as he watched the circus show in front of him, stuffing popcorn in his mouth and occasionally egging Zeus.

"Hey, evil grandpa," Nico hissed. "Isn't it your job to discipline the gods?"

"Yes, but this is way more entertaining!" Kronos crowed, throwing popcorn at Zeus' head once in a while.

"Then why the fuck are you here?" Aurora snapped.

"Someone needs to stir up some drama!"

Thalia groaned as the argument of the gods began to throb in her head, forming a migraine. "As if there isn't enough of that already."

Kronos cackled like the fucking lunatic he is.

After a few minutes of nonsense, Aurora had grown tired, even Kronos who found it entertaining at first. "ENOUGH!" she finally screamed, effectively ending the argument. Many of the gods turned furiously to glare at her, eager to just strike her already.

"Hey, the brat is the reason why we're all here anyway. Let's just kill–" Ares suggested, before the Titan of Time interrupted.

"Alright, enough of this you fools. Focus on the film." Kronos ordered, while the gods grumbled, but listened to the annoyed titan. Aurora, Thalia, and Nico nodded at Kronos gratefully, which is something they had never thought they would do in their lives. Poseidon was surprised, suspicious, but grateful his father had come in defense of his daughter before he even could.

Mr. D yelled, "Oh, a royal marriage. Trick! Trick!" He cackled as he tallied up his points.

"Mr. D," Grover asked timidly, "if you're not going to eat it, could I have your Diet Coke can?"

"Eh? Oh, all right."

"What." was all Hephaestus could say. "I can never understand you creatures." he mumbled.

"Uh," Rachel began. "Wouldn't you prefer to eat something more... nutritious?"

"Aluminum cans are nutritious."

"I beg to differ," Demeter scoffed. "You need to eat more cereal."

Grover bit a huge shard out of the empty aluminum can and chewed it mournfully.

Mr. D waved his hand and a goblet appeared on the table, as if the sunlight had bent, momentarily, and woven the air into glass. The goblet filled itself with red wine. Aurora raised an eyebrow at the drink.

"Dionysus..." Zeus began, ready to start another argument until Kronos growled in warning. The demigods scooted further away from the titan and the gods immediately turned back to the screen.

Hestia sighed at the ridiculous punishment Zeus handed to his son.

"Mr. D," he warned, "your restrictions."

Mr. D looked at the wine and feigned surprise.

"Dear me." He looked at the sky and yelled, "Old habits! Sorry!"

Apollo dramatically sniffed the air. "I smell bullshit!"

Artemis bit her lip to hide her smile.

"You must be sniffing yourself then," Dionysus jibed and this time Artemis couldn't stop the laughter that fell from her lips.

More thunder.

Mr. D waved his hand again, and the wineglass changed into a fresh can of Diet Coke. He sighed unhappily, popped the top of the soda, and went back to his card game.

Chiron winked at her. "Mr. D offended his father a while back, took a fancy to a wood nymph who had been declared off-limits."

Aurora scrunched her nose. "Gross."  TMI much?

The demigods snickered at Aurora's bluntness.

"What a weird reason to punish someone." Rachel murmured, much to Zeus' irritation.

"Don't expect too much from my father." Thalia whispered back.

Dionysus glared at her. "My Father, Zeus–"

"My condolences." Aurora immediately replied before she bit her lip and cursed herself for opening her big mouth.

Poseidon, Hades, and Kronos began to chuckle before it shifted into deranged laughter. The father-sons trio had laughed to the point of tears falling from their eyes while the demigods and other immortals nervously watched.

Zeus angrily sneered at his father and brothers.

Aurora, Thalia, and Nico looked like they wanted to mimic the three while they held their laughter.

"Should we call the Fates?" Aphrodite nervously whispered to Hestia who shook her head.

"At least they are not arguing anymore?"

Grover looked up at the sky.

The Wine God eyed her, lips momentarily twitching up in a smile before it fell. "As I was saying... My father loves to punish me. The first time, Prohibition. Ghastly! Absolutely horrid ten years! The second time—well, she really was pretty, and I couldn't stay away—the second time, he sent me here. Half-Blood Hill. Summer camp for brats like you. 'Be a better influence,' he told me. 'Work with youths rather than tearing them down.' Ha! Absolutely unfair."

He sounded like a pouting, six years old child.

"He is a child." Hera sniffed. "Undeserving of stealing my sister's throne."

"My son has a right to hold a seat on my council." Zeus argued. "Hestia simply wasn't a right fit."

"If my father deems Dionysus a better fit for the council, then it is his right as the King of the Gods to place his son on the throne." Athena asserted, narrowing her eyes at her step-mother who scoffed.

Dionysus nodded in thanks at Athena. Hera, Hades, Poseidon, and Demeter grumbled in disagreement.

Dionysus turned back to his card game. "I believe I win."

"Not quite, Mr. D," Chiron said. He set down a straight, tallied the points, and said, "The game goes to me."

Dionysus groaned, as he chugged his can of diet coke. He looked wistfully at Hestia's now empty bottle of pinot noir.

Aurora groaned. Looks like she can't beat Chiron after all. Dionysus sighed through his nose, as if he were used to being beaten by Chiron  (he probably was) . He got up, and Grover rose too.

"What are you, the god of pinochle?" Travis joked, making Connor laugh. Chiron smiled amusedly.

"Perhaps."

"I'm tired," Mr. D said. "I believe I'll take a nap before the sing-along tonight. But first, Grover, we need to talk, again, about your less-than-perfect performance on this assignment."

Grover's face beaded with sweat. "Y-yes, sir."

Mr. D turned to her. "Cabin eleven, Aurora Jackson. And mind your manners." He left, with Grover following miserably.

"Wow, he actually got your name right." Will chuckled.

"Don't get used to it Astraea Johnson." Dionysus drawled. "You too, Walker Scobell."

"I'm sure Grover will be fine." Aurora commented.

"Physically at least." Nico added. "Mentally? Probably not."

"Definitely not." Grover confirmed.

Chiron nodded in agreement, though he looked a bit troubled. "Old Dionysus isn't really mad. He just hates his job. He's been... grounded, I guess you would say, and he can't stand waiting another century before he's allowed to go back to Olympus."

"I suppose I too would be cranky if I were forced to watch after feral children for a century." Clarisse muttered.

"At least one of you brats understand!"

"Olympus..." Aurora mumbled. "It's here in New York,"

Chiron smiled, while he briefly wondered how exactly she knew. "Indeed." He rose from his wheelchair, as the lower half of the centaur sprung from the wheelchair. A huge white stallion with the upper-half of a human.

"What a relief," the centaur said. "I'd been cooped up in there so long, my fetlocks had fallen asleep. Now, come, Aurora Jackson. Let's meet the other campers."

Chapter Text

After Chiron's dramatic horse reveal, he had decided to give Aurora a tour of Camp Half-Blood. They passed by the volleyball pit where several campers pointed at Aurora holding the Minotaur's horn and said, "That's  her ."

The campers seem to be mostly in their teens, and their satyr friends who were much bigger than Grover had trotted around in their orange CAMP HALF-BLOOD shirt with nothing to hide their goat legs.

"Scandalous. It's a good thing Zeus wasn't there."

Grover gawked at the implied innuendo at the expense of the God King. "Pardon?"

Zeus turned toward his niece, who appeared to be biting her lips to stop herself from laughing and saying anything more incriminating. "What, exactly, are you trying to imply?"

Aurora smiled as she shrugged.

The big house was also much larger than she realized, at four stories tall in sky blue with a white trim. In the uppermost window of the attic, Aurora's eye had caught a shadow.

"I bet you keep dead bodies up there." Aurora morbidly said, pointing at the attic window.

"The fuck?" Will eyed his friend in bafflement. Although she technically was not wrong, if you consider the former Oracle of Delphi.

Drew, who was fixing up her eyeliner, paused to look up at Aurora, who she considered to be an honorary Aphrodite camper with her way-ahead-of-time makeup and fashion choices. "Girl?"

"Aurora, darling," Silena massaged her temples. "Perhaps you could... phrase certain things much better?"

"Pay up Chiron, I wasn't wrong!" Aurora cackled as she ignored Silena's advice and the questionable looks she was receiving.

Chiron sighed. "A month of no chores?" He finally offered.

"Deal."

Chiron turned around so quickly Aurora wondered if he may have gotten whiplash. "Pardon?"

"What do you do with the bodies of deceased demigods? Harvest their organs? Sacrifice them to the gods?"

"Come again?"

Chiron could already feel a headache forming before it slammed into his head.

Aphrodite giggled at her nephew's long-suffering sigh. "Are your thoughts always this macabre? One would easily consider you to be a daughter of Hades."

Hades, Poseidon, and Aurora looked at her in absolute disgust. 

"I wouldn't mind." Nico piped in, making the two gods turn their glares to him.

"Oh wow, are those the strawberry fields?" Aurora not-so-smoothly changed the subject as she moved along, with Chiron trailing after her in utter bewilderment.

He was already regretting this tour.

"Subtle." A camper snorted.

At this point, some of the gods began to chuckle at the exchange between Aurora and Chiron.

They continued walking as Chiron explained that camp grows a nice crop for export to New York, after getting over his earlier confusion.

"It pays our expenses," he explained. "And the strawberries take almost no effort."

Chiron said Mr. D had an effect on fruit-bearing plants: they just went crazy when he was around. It worked best with wine grapes, but Mr. D was restricted from growing those, so they grew strawberries instead.

"So the organs don't pay for the expenses? I mean, demigods don't often live to their twenties, and at the rate the gods reproduce—"

"Foolish girl." Zeus hissed, anger at the implied accusation over his... promiscuous habits.

"I didn't even say I was talking about you!"

"You breed of immortals sire more children in a week than I have in my lifetime." Kronos raised an eyebrow, gesturing to the demigods. Some cabins had over a dozen campers each. "Perhaps her theories have merit. Questionable as they are."

"You were cut into pieces for the majority of your lifetime." Hera pointed out.

Kronos scoffed. "Regardless, I've only sired six children within the few millennias I ruled the land and skies."

"Seven children. One out of wedlock."

"Zeus was a mistake."

Hera and the rest of the gods remained quiet as she was unsure how to reply. Zeus almost appeared hurt, because how are you supposed to react when your immortal father tells you that you were a mistake? Kronos smiled smugly in victory at the silence he received.

"Brutal." Connor whispered to Travis.

"Dear fates, child."

"A kidney can cost over two hundred thousand dollars—"

"Aurora."

"Sorry." She was not sorry.

Will cleared his throat. "Technically a kidney would cost around one hundred thousand, both would be over two hundred thousand." He clarified.

"Oh shit, my bad."

The throne room remained silent.

"...How do you both know this?"

"Why do you both know this?" Both Thalia and Nico asked at the same time.

"Ask me no questions, I will tell you no lies." Aurora and Will smiled innocently.

"I am sure my Aurora has her reasons." Poseidon defended, despite his concern about her knowledge. Hades side-eyed his brother and his daughter but stayed quiet.

"...Yeah, sure."

The Fates were watching from afar with a mask of neutrality. Atropos put her scissors down and began to rub her temple as she reconsidered the decision of having them watch these films... Perhaps the three sisters should physically join them in watching the last film?

...Even cut a few strings in front of them?

Aurora watched the satyrs play their pipes and wondered about Grover. She decided to ask Chiron about how much trouble he'll get in too.

Chiron sighed. He shed his tweed jacket and draped it over his horse's back like a saddle. "Grover has big dreams, Aurora. Perhaps bigger than are reasonable. To reach his goal, he must first demonstrate great courage by succeeding as a keeper, finding a new camper and bringing him safely to Half-Blood Hill."

"By technicality, he did succeed. I came here alive, didn't I?" Aurora patted her cheek, as if to prove she wasn't a ghost.

"We'll see about that, sea brat."

"Are you sure about that?" Poseidon smiled wickedly at Dionysus, looking at ease.

"Hmph."

"I might agree with you," Chiron said. "But it is not my place to judge. Dionysus and the Council of Cloven Elders must decide. I'm afraid they might not see this assignment as a success. After all, Grover lost you in New York. Then there's the unfortunate...ah...fate of your mother. And the fact that Grover was unconscious when you dragged him over the property line. The council might question whether this shows any courage on Grover's part."

"A shame. He can't be given another chance? Third time's the charm."

Chiron widened his eyes. How did Aurora know she  was  the second chance? "How do you—"

"Who was the first chance?" Persephone met Chiron's gaze.

Miranda was quick to respond on behalf of her mentor to her half-sister. "You'll have to see!" She sing-songed, much to the irritation of the gods.

"Interesting..." Athena muttered, mind racing with thoughts. "So something similar has happened before."

She was quick to interrupt. "He's quite small for his age, isn't he? How old is he? Twenty-four?"

At the look confusion on Rachel's face, Aurora clarified. "Satyrs don't mature as fast as humans  do."

Grover nodded. "It's why I can easily blend with middle schoolers for years."

Rachel shuddered, imagining attending middle school for possibly a decade. "That's horrible."

"Twenty-eight." he corrected, still a little dazed with confusion. "Grover's a late bloomer, even by satyr standards, and not yet very accomplished at woodland magic. Alas, he was anxious to pursue his dream. Perhaps now he will find some other career."

Grover became glum as he saw what little confidence his mentor held in him. Chiron took notice and quickly explained.

"Do not take this the wrong way, Grover. I was simply concerned for your future, that you would be wasting your youth for a hopeless cause. But I know now that I was wrong."

Grover let a watery smile grace his face and thanked him. Thalia nudged his shoulder and smiled reassuringly.

"Yeah Grover, you did what no satyr could do in thousands of years."

Dionysus leaned forward, narrowing his eyes at the satyr as he noticed something off about him.

"I doubt it." Aurora smiled lightly. Chiron knew that Aurora knew more than she was letting on, but didn't push. "Why don't you show me the woods? I wonder what's lurking in there."

"...Right. Of course."

Checkmate, Chiron. Now you know how it feels to have the truth so blatantly hidden from you while being expected to know everything.  Aurora internally cackled, feeling as if she had avenged Percy with the way people had treated him for not knowing anything about the Greek world.

"You still haven't told us who Percy is." Beckendorf quietly mentioned, but he had a feeling that Aurora wouldn't tell them anytime soon. They could only assume that this 'Percy' guy was a camper or demigod of some sort.

"How does it feel to be playing 4D Chess while the rest of us plebes are stuck in Candyland?" Nico snarked.

"It feels wonderful, thank you for asking."

The forest was huge. It took up at least a quarter of the valley, with trees so tall and thick, you could imagine nobody had been in there since the Native Americans.

Chiron said, "The woods are stocked, if you care to try your luck, but go armed."

"Oh believe me, I will."

"How ominous." Katie snickered.

Demeter frowned in concern, looking at her half-brother. "Are you not going to tell her what the woods are stocked with? You should not expect every demigod who enters camp to have all the knowledge, especially since this girl has not even seen the orientation film."

Hestia scrunched her eyebrows in thought, agreeing with her younger sister. "She is right, Aurora was only lucky that she had known of our world prior to arriving to camp."

Thalia briefly wondered if her aunts Hestia and Demeter had absorbed all the common sense in Rhea's womb, leaving none for their siblings.

Chiron opened his mouth then closed it, before he continued. "Capture the flag is Friday night. Do you have your own sword and shield?"

Aurora brought a hand up to the laurel headband on her head and tucked a curl of her hair behind her ear. "Hm, we'll have to see, won't we?" she said vaguely, just to be a little shit.

Kronos smiled in pride as he remembered what the headband could shift into. He recalled the way his granddaughter slaughtered her enemies in battle with her bronze scythe modeled after his own, even if it was a little annoying that she was destroying his own army.

Chiron looked her up and down, as if to see if she's secretly hiding an entire shield in her pocket. "... I'll suppose you do not. I think a size seven will do. I'll visit the armory later."

Rachel looked at Chiron, completely bewildered. "How would she even hide a full-sized shield in her pocket?"

Aurora shrugged. "I also have a three foot long sword in my pants."

"Excuse me?"

The daughter of Poseidon received scandalized looks from gods and some demigods alike, making her burst out laughing.

The tour continued, and they saw the archery range, the canoeing lake, the stables, where the pegasi crowded her in enthusiasm as she petted all of them—

Silena smiled at the winged horses, but Aurora's mood immediately sobered up and once again turned gloomy at the mention of the stables as she remembered the pegasi. Her pegasus. Blackjack, her trusted steed, her faithful companion...

...Turned into another victim of the gods.

She recalled the exact moment, during the final battle of Manhattan, as she was riding her horse to fly when she sensed the sudden shift of pressure in the dark skies. She immediately ordered Blackjack to retreat, but it was too late. Blackjack, who sensed the fury of the gods as well, threw his (girl)boss off his back in a last chance effort to save her before the lightning struck him, incinerating him to ashes.

Aurora recalled the chilling laughter of the King of the Gods, the mocking voice of the Goddess of Wisdom:

I told you, did I not? I am the Mistress of Warfare. You may think you have won the battle, but I will  always  win the war.

The worst part was that she was defending Manhattan. Olympus. From Kronos, who was not too far away. That should have told her everything she needed to know about the gods, that they prioritized killing the demigoddess who was fighting to save them rather than the dam enemy who was nearby. All because she bruised their ego one too many times.

Gods, she felt so stupid. First her mother, taken by Hades, then her pegasus. Too many demigods were harmed, some of which were not because of Kronos, but because of the wrath of the gods. Hell, her own cousin Bianca was one of those victims. Aurora blinked the tears that welled in her eyes, in hopes that no one noticed. Unfortunately, Poseidon noticed, and lowered his head to her ear so that only she could hear.

"Are you alright my love? Did something happen?"

Aurora blinked furiously to get these damned tears out of her eyes before they spilled down her face. "Y- ...Yeah, I'm fine. I just... I don't want to talk about it right now."

The tears ended up spilling down her face anyway, and the Sea God brought a hand to her face and quickly wiped them away. He didn't move his hand back as he caressed her face.

Just when she thought he was going to say something inspirational, he instead replied, "Do you need me to kill someone?"

"What? No, of course no–" Aurora paused. What she was going to say was 'of course not' but she reconsidered. Perhaps it was about time that some gods felt the same pain she did. A certain King of the Gods. "... Maybe."

Poseidon kissed the last remnants of her tears away. "Anything for you, the sun, moon, and stars of my life."

Aurora stiffened, as she recalled him saying the exact same thing in the future. She relaxed and leaned into his hand on her face, closing her eyes.

Unbeknownst to them, a pair of molten gold eyes were watching the interaction between the King and future Queen of the Seas. For the first time in so long, the Titan of Time smiled genuinely, with no malicious intent.

—the javelin range, the sing-along amphitheater, and the arena where Chiron said they held sword and spear fights.

He showed the outdoor pavilion mess hall, framed in Grecian columns on the hill overlooking the sea, with no roof and no walls.

"What do you do when the gods are angry? How would you eat?" Aurora doubted that the controlled weather mechanism within the camp could withstand divine fury.

Chiron looked at her weirdly, as if wondering how she thought of such a situation, and didn't deign her a reply.

"...That's actually a good question," Clarisse tilted her head, looking expectantly at Chiron. She remembered how Zeus had created a rainstorm after Aurora had been claimed, drenching many of the campers who had been outside.

"Ah, well, we still have to eat, don't we?"

"Yes, but how?"

"Don't get wet?" Thalia sarcastically retorted, ignoring the fact that she herself wasn't even waterproof.

"Not all of us have waterproof powers, girlie."

"Skill iss—"

"I swear if you finish that fucking sentence I will bash your head in with a chair."

Finally he showed her the cabins. There were twelve of them, nestled in the woods by the lake. They were arranged in a U, with two at the base and five in a row on either side. And they were the most bizarre collection of buildings she'd ever seen.

Except for the fact that each had a large brass number above the door (odds on the left side, evens on the right), they looked absolutely nothing alike. Number nine had smokestacks, like a tiny factory. Number four had tomato vines on the walls and a roof made out of real grass.

"I bet those Demeter kids grow weed in their cabin." Travis accused his girlfriend.

"I bet they haven't." Chris retorted.

"Bold of you to assume I haven't."

"What?" Demeter narrowed her eyes at her daughter. Persephone snickered at her sister who was definitely going to be getting a lecture during one of the breaks.

"—I mean I've only thought about it of course! I've never actually grown anything illegal—"

"Bullshit!"

"Narc." Katie scoffed at the snitching Sun God.

"You know what they say Apollo, snitches get thrown into ditches." Persephone mockingly warned her half-brother, giggling as her husband watched amused.

"That's not even how the phrase goes!"

Seven seemed to be made of solid gold, which gleamed so much in the sunlight it was almost impossible to look at.

"Dramatic." Artemis scoffed. "Must you blind the demigods, brother? The world does not revolve around you."

"Actually—"

"Apollo, don't make me shoot you."

They all faced a commons area about the size of a soccer field, dotted with Greek statues, fountains, flower beds, and a couple of basketball hoops (which Aurora definitely would enjoy).

"You play basketball?" Hermes asked, turning to Aurora. Luckily for her, there was no evidence of her tears from earlier.

"Um, yeah?" She said lamely, unsure of what else to say.

"Amazing. We should play together, I am the god of athletics after all."

"I bet fifty drachmas that Hermes would win."

"Only fifty?" Thalia scoffed. "I bet a hundred on Aurora." She said in response to Apollo.

"Fine. A hundred on Hermes." The Sun God and the Huntress of Artemis shook hands.

In the center of the field was a huge stone-lined firepit. Even though it was a warm afternoon, the hearth smoldered. A girl about nine years old was tending the flames, poking the coals with a stick who she recognized as her Aunt Hestia.

Aurora waved at her and Hestia waved back with a smile.

I will speak to you soon in private, niece,  Hestia said in her head.  Once you have been claimed.

Of course, Auntie.

Hestia's eyebrows rose in surprise. It seemed as if she and her niece had already been in contact prior to her arriving to camp. "You saw me?" Aurora nodded her head, making her aunt smile.

"Most people never acknowledge me." She sighed. The demigods began to feel guilty, as most of them have never even noticed the goddess amongst their camp.

"You are the Last Olympian, Auntie. You are the glue that holds this family together, the most important. Without you, Olympus would be nothing more than debris." Aurora whispered, noticing how utterly exhausted her aunt looked. She could see how much the tension, the arguments between her family was affecting her.

The King of the Gods frowned, unhappy with the way his niece so clearly brushes him and his achievements off in comparison to his eldest sister. "Perhaps it is quite a bit of an exaggeration to say the most impor—"

Hades, Demeter, Poseidon, and Hera glared at him, but it was the glare of absolute loathing from Kronos that had him shut his mouth.

Hestia's lips twitched upwards. "May the Fates bless you, Aurora Jackson." Because my fellow gods certainly won't, went unsaid.

The pair of cabins at the head of the field, numbers one and two, looked like his-and-hers mausoleums, big white marble boxes with heavy columns in front. Cabin one was the biggest and bulkiest of the twelve. Its polished bronze doors shimmered like a hologram, so that from different angles lightning bolts seemed to streak across them. Cabin two was more graceful somehow, with slimmer columns garlanded with pomegranates and flowers. The walls were carved with images of peacocks.

Thalia rolled her eyes at her father's cabin. If there was one thing she enjoyed about becoming the Lieutenant of Artemis, it was that she got to stay in cabin eight at camp. Cabin one was absolutely uncomfortable with the huge ass statue of her dad in the center, always watching her, even as she slept in her old bunk.

Aurora could easily guess who they belonged to, based on their ostentatious display.

"Zeus and Hera." she stated.

"Correct." Chiron said.

Her eyes moved from the two cabins to the first one on the left, as she instantly recognized the cabin.  Her  cabin. Aurora's lips curled up into a bright smile as she walked towards it, almost as if it were beckoning her to come closer.

It wasn't high and mighty like cabin one, but long and low and solid. The outer walls were of rough gray stone studded with pieces of seashell and coral, as if the slabs had been hewn straight from the bottom of the ocean floor. She heard Chiron call from behind, warning her to not go in, but she ignored it.

"Chiron, I would not mind if a demigod mistakenly entered my cabin." Poseidon raised an eyebrow, as he noticed how his half-brother attempted to stop Aurora from entering. "Well of course as long as they are respectful towards my children." Aurora remembered how often her cousins and friends would enter her cabin to hang out, but she had a feeling that it won't be the case anymore once the Sea God sees the treatment she had received from other campers.

Chiron nodded his head. "Right, of course. I felt it was better safe than sorry."

Before he could pull her back, she caught the salty scent of the interior, like the wind on the shore at Montauk. The interior walls glowed like abalone. There were six empty bunk beds with silk sheets turned down. She closed the door and sighed.

Soon, darling . The voice of the Sea God appeared in her head.  I will make sure they know that you are mine .

Thalia and Nico's eyebrows rose in concern, as they heard how possessive the Sea God sounded. They did not voice their concerns aloud though, as they already knew the targets they had on their backs because of their idiotic fathers. They filed away the thoughts, planning to speak with Aurora about it later.

Dionysus could practically hear the bits of insanity from his uncle.

Aphrodite intently watched the demigoddess and god. They were sitting so close to each other to the point that Aurora was nearly on his lap, Poseidon's arm wrapped around her waist. The two appeared as an vision of royalty with how much they resembled Kronos and Rhea. Aphrodite could feel the budding feelings of possessiveness and obsession, not just from the Sea God, but from Aurora as well. While the goddess knew well how obsession affects gods, she was quite interested to see how it would affect demigods.

Oh she was going to enjoy this story between the two.

Before she could even respond, Chiron put a hand on her shoulder. "Come along, Aurora."

They passed by cabin five, where a bunch of kids were wrestling and arguing with each other while rock music blared. Aurora noticed one kid wearing a cast on his arm, trying to arm wrestle one his siblings with his good arm.

Clarisse cackled maniacally at Sherman. Will narrowed his eyes.

"Are you serious?" Will snarled. "I just fixed your arm and then you run off to break your other one? Are you fucking stupid?"

"Hey man," Sherman raised his (perfectly healed, thanks to Will) arms in surrender. "I can't be caught slacking."

"Dumbass."

Ares nodded in approval at the violence, making Hephaestus roll his eyes.

"Menaces," Hephaestus grunted. "Your children are menaces."

"Damn right."

They kept walking, Aurora asked about Chiron's fellow centaurs, who are apparently barbaric and enjoy major sporting events. He also told her about the wish he was granted years ago.

"You see, eons ago the gods granted my wish. I could continue the work I loved. I could be a teacher of heroes as long as humanity needed me. I gained much from that wish...and I gave up much. But I'm still here, so I can only assume I'm still needed."

She thought about being a teacher for three thousand years. It wouldn't have made her Top Ten Things to Wish For list. She was a chemist, not a teacher, after all.

Maybe she was a bit too good with chemistry, Aurora wondered, as she leaned into Poseidon's chest, her ear over where his heart would be if he were a human.

"How do you do it, old friend?" Dionysus asked Chiron. "I can barely put up with these brats for ten minutes. How did you manage three thousand years and still managed to keep your sanity?"

Chiron shrugged as he chuckled. "I enjoy my job. You don't exactly notice the time passing by when you enjoy it."

Dionysus didn't believe him.

"I'm sure it never gets boring around here." Aurora eyed the kids back at cabin five. "I bet they're quite the handful." she turned her head at the Ares kids who were now screaming like banshees.

"Absolutely," he said with a chuckle before he sobered up. "It can be horribly depressing, at times, but never boring."

"Depressing?"

"I would imagine after thousands of years of seeing your pupils die one by one." Nico answered Clarisse.

Chiron turned away before she could even reply.

"Oh, look," he said. "Annabeth is waiting for us."

Annabeth was reading a book in front of the last cabin on the left, number eleven, Hermes cabin. When they reached her, Annabeth looked over Aurora critically, like she was completely unimpressed.

"Annabeth," Chiron said, "I have masters' archery class at noon. Would you take Aurora from here?"

"Yes, sir."

"Cabin eleven," Chiron told Aurora, gesturing toward the doorway. "Make yourself at home."

Out of all the cabins, eleven looked the most like a regular old summer camp cabin, with the emphasis on old. The threshold was worn down, the brown paint peeling. Over the doorway was Hermes' symbol: the caduceus.

Hermes bit his lip, chest filled with worry at the state of his cabin. If the front looked like this, how much worse could it be inside? It was currently 1989 and it seemed that in less than two decades, his cabin had become dramatically worse for wear.

Inside, it was packed with people, both boys and girls, way more than the number of bunk beds. Sleeping bags were spread all over on the floor.

Chiron didn't go in. The door was too low for him. But when the campers saw him they all stood and bowed respectfully.

"Well, then," Chiron said. "Good luck, Aurora. I'll see you at dinner."

He galloped away toward the archery range.

She stood at the doorway, absolutely bewildered at how utterly  crowded  it was. She had known about the overcrowding issue prior to even coming to camp, but to see it with her own eyes...

Dear Fates, how can the gods allow this to happen?

Hermes began to glare at his fellow gods. "Claim your kids! My children can't even sleep on a bunk in their own cabin!" the Messenger God snapped.

The other Olympian gods scoffed in response, rolling their eyes at Hermes' anger. Chris raised an eyebrow at his father at his slight hypocrisy.

"Calm, Hermes," Athena dismissed her little brother, tapping her fingers on the arm of her throne in annoyance. "The children will not die if they sleep on the floor."

Kronos quietly snorted. How ironic. Little did the gods know just how much that resentment among demigods would fester.

"Yeah Hermes, it builds their muscles or whatever. Besides, I always claim my children." Ares drawled.

Hermes pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration and loudly exhaled. "That's not my point—"

"You realize that many of those demigods are children of minor gods, right?" Dionysus pointing a finger at the screen, as he loudly sipped from his Diet Coke can.

"That's not what I'm trying to say— Ugh!" Hermes threw his hands up in the air. "Just claim your damn kids! I can see clearly on the screen at least eight of them belong to you guys."

"Perhaps," Hestia joined in the conversation, "We can build some cabins for the minor gods—"

"Absolutely not." Zeus immediately shot down the idea. Athena frowned at her father's insistence before she set her face into a neutral expression. Hestia did offer a good idea, but it was better to not push him lest he turns his wrath on her.

The demigods all watched the gods, unimpressed. They shared a look with Kronos, who was equally indifferent. Aurora wondered how pissed Zeus would be when he finds out that they indeed started building cabins for the minor gods. Hell, she did way more than force them to build new cabins.

"Well?" Annabeth prompted. "Go on."

Well then . Annabeth definitely did not like her and she couldn't understand  why . She couldn't recall doing anything so far to offend the other girl. Well, other than that moment back in the infirmary.

"You want me to list my reasons alphabetically, categorically, chronologically, or from bad to worst?" Annabeth crossed her arms, annoyance seeping out of her.

"None of the above. I couldn't care less anymore."

Aurora looked down to make sure she stepped over the door ledge and didn't trip.

Annabeth announced, "Aurora Jackson, meet cabin eleven."

"Hey everyone," Aurora waved at the campers, who merely stared at her. No one replied back.

"Sorry Rora," Travis said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. "We were just trying to guess who your godly parent was, promise!"

Aurora waved him off. "It's totally fine."

Goddamn was this awkward.  She already went through the pre-teen and teenage phase once, there was no need for her to go through this again.

"Living through your teenage years twice?" Rachel shuddered. "Oh the horrors you must have faced!" she dramatically said, much to her friend's amusement.

"Regular or undetermined?" somebody asked.

"Undetermined, for now." Aurora replied before Annabeth could. The blonde glared at her like she just killed her puppy.

She was met with silence.

Ah, right , she nearly smacked herself in the face. Claimings didn't happen very often, and to assume that she would be claimed soon seemed too optimistic to the unclaimed campers who have spent years in the Hermes cabin.

"We are gods, we have far more important business to do." 

But not more important than trying to kill demigods? Aurora bitterly thought but didn't voice out to Zeus. She tried to shake away the thoughts when she realized how similar she was sounding to Luke.

"' For now? '" a brunette camper repeated incredulously, her face shifting into a look of pity.

"... Who's going to tell her?" A boy who appeared to be of east Asian descent murmured.

A guy who was a little older than the rest came forward. "No need to be so pessimistic, Nakamura. Now, now, campers. That's what we're here for. Welcome, Aurora. You can have that spot on the floor, right over there."

Kronos grinned wickedly as he saw his former host, appearing much younger and healthier than he last remembered him. The titan turned to look at the Messenger God who was watching with interest, and then Zeus who watched dispassionately. He internally crowed as he imagined what the gods' reaction would be like and how much he was going to enjoy seeing them suffer. They'll see how easy it was for him to turn dozens upon dozens of demigods against their parents, and how much they despised the gods. The Titan King leaned back on his comfortable sofa and brought back his bucket of popcorn (this time it's caramel flavored).

The demigods had stiffened, Annabeth let out a choked sob as she saw the guy who she once considered her older brother again. Thalia squeezed Annabeth's hand in support as she stared at the screen. So many of the campers were close with Luke back when he was a cabin counselor, his betrayal stung. The war had just ended, his death still fresh in their minds, right before they were forcefully brought to the past. To make matters worse, the guy directly responsible for that whole shitshow was a few feet away, lounging on a sofa and eating fucking caramel coated popcorn. Could the Fates be anymore cruel?

"Screw him," Clarisse sneered, staring at Luke. Chris held her hand and soothingly rubbed it.

"Excuse you?" Annabeth snarled, glaring at the daughter of war. "He was a hero—"

"Don't give me any of that nonsense, Miss Princess, I don't want to hear it." Clarisse growled. Annabeth gritted her teeth, infuriated.

"Clarisse—" Silena tried. Clarisse refused to hear her as well.

"No."

"He was a hero. End of discussion." Thalia finally snapped, effectively quieting Clarisse.

While Kronos watched completely entertained, the gods watched in confusion at the mixed reaction the demigods had for the guy on the screen. What on earth did he do to them?

Nakamura? Oh shit.  Aurora thought as she immediately remembered Ethan Nakamura and his fate.  Yeah, no, forget that . No way was she going to let him suffer the same fate again. She stared at him and sighed in relief. No eyepatch. Good, he still has both eyes.

The demigods didn't bother to question her by what she meant, knowing they wouldn't be getting an answer anytime soon.

"Petition to call her the Auroracle. All in favor, say 'Aye'." Rachel announced.

"Aye!" the demigods screamed in unison with the exception of the mentioned girl, who simply snickered.

But Ethan was not the major concern here when she stared at her biggest problem right in the face.

Luke fucking Castellan.

Hermes' eyes widened in realization. "My son," he whispered in fondness. It was 1989, Luke was currently two, turning three in a few months. But soon enough, the smile on his face dropped, taking note of the scar on his face, the way Aurora had described him, and how the demigods had reacted.

'Biggest problem,' she had called him. What in Hades did she mean by that? In fact, why wasn't Luke here with them?

"Aurora," Hermes growled, the mentioned girl's head snapping up at her name. "What exactly did you mean by that?"

Aurora froze before she decided to play it off. "What do you mean?" She asked with all the innocence she could muster. Nobody believed her a single bit.

"Does 'biggest problem' ring a bell?"

"Ah, well... I suppose you'll find out soon?" she said.

"Hermes, is there an issue?" Poseidon stared down the messenger god, an eyebrow raised.

"...Nothing at all."

He was tall and muscular, with short-cropped sandy hair and a 'friendly' smile. He wore an orange tank top, cutoffs, sandals, and a leather necklace with five different colored clay beads. The thing that was the most unsettling about his appearance was a thick white scar that ran from just beneath his right eye to his jaw, like an old knife slash... Or should she say  dragon ?

"What?" Hermes hissed, alarmed.

"Hermes," Apollo watched his brother with concern. "Let's continue watching before we make assumptions."

"This is Luke," Annabeth said, and her voice sounded higher.

She turned around to see the blonde blushing, Aurora's face broke into a smile before she quickly covered it. Annabeth saw her looking and her expression hardened again. "He's your counselor... for now."

Aphrodite's eyes gleamed as she sensed Annabeth's feelings for Luke. "Does someone have a little crush?" The Love Goddess teased, much to Annabeth's irritation.

"No." she seethed in response. Aphrodite was unconvinced.

"Bullshit!" Apollo, ever the snitch, happily pointed out.

"No need to lie, Annie. Who didn't have a crush on Luke?" Drew raised a perfectly arched brow.

The Hermes cabin raised their hands at Drew's question, as if to make themselves aware. Drew ignored them.

"I'm not lying! I don't—I didn't have a crush on Luke! He was like a brother to me. And don't call me Annie you stupid Aphrodite g—"

"—Anyway, why don't we continue." Silena interrupted with a strained smile on her face.

Aurora looked at the tiny section of the floor they'd given her. She didn't really have anything to put there except for her Minotaur horn, but she didn't trust the cabin filled with kleptomaniacs with it.

"You wound us Rory." Connor dramatically sniffed, putting a hand on the right side of his chest. "You hurt us right in the heart."

"Your heart is on the left side." Aurora dryly corrected.

"Alright then." she said. "So, uh, how long have you been here?" Aurora asked Luke. The more information she could get out of him without appearing suspicious, the better.

"Five years." he smiled charmingly.

"Cool, cool, have you been up to Oly—"

"Come on," Annabeth interrupted. "I'll show you the volleyball court."

"I've already seen it."

"Come on."

"Very subtle, the both of you." Beckendorf dryly noted.

She grabbed her wrist and dragged her outside. She could hear the deafening silence inside after that extremely awkward conversation.

When they were a few feet away, Annabeth said, "Jackson, you have to do better than that."

"What?"

She rolled her eyes and mumbled under her breath, "What an absolute waste of my time. I can't believe I thought you were the one."

"Chiron, you should've just had me give Aurora the tour from the beginning." Silena frowned. "It's clear that Annabeth isn't happy with the task."

"Annabeth was the one who insisted on giving tours to any new camper that arrives."

"...I see" Silena remembered Annabeth's lifelong wish to go on a quest and she winced. She had, in a way, robbed the daughter of Athena of her chance to prove herself to her mother.

"Idiot." Annabeth snarked. Silena ignored the insult, completely used to how most people viewed the Aphrodite cabin.

"Did I do something wrong?" Aurora frowned at the blonde's attitude. "I don't understand why you seem so upset with me. We barely know each other."

"You're not very smart, are you? Do you know how many kids at this camp wish they'd had your chance? To fight the Minotaur? Why else would we train?"

"What a ridiculous question." Apollo criticized. "Demigods train to survive, do they not?"

Athena elegantly snorted. "Your children may not be destined for much, but my children are made for glory. Know your place, brother."

Apollo bristled but remained quiet, knowing that arguing would be akin to talking to a brick wall.

Aurora inhaled and exhaled to stop herself from getting angry and raising her voice. "Look, it wasn't exactly my choice to fight the Min—Pasiphae's son. My mother was  taken  because of Pasiphae's son. And we train to survive, to live, not to fight monsters for the sake of glory."

"What would  you  know about glory?"

"Quite a lot, it seems." Silena laughed, making the blonde glare at her.

"Glory isn't my main concern. Annabeth, I don't see what your desperation for glory has to do with me, so can we please put that aside and at least be civil?" If Aurora had to go on that stupid glorified fetch quest and bring Annabeth, she'd rather they at least be on nicer terms to make the quest bearable.

"Civil?" Annabeth spat. "I am the daughter of Athena, the  goddess  of civilization. Don't patronize me."

"Don't forget I'm a patron of civilization too," Apollo loudly announced, making Athena roll her eyes at him.

Artemis threw another pebble at her twin's head.

Aurora sighed, controlling her temper. Annabeth  really  seemed intent on testing her patience. "Can we  at least  be friends?"

Annabeth looked at her as if she were insane. " Friends ? You've been a complete waste of my time, and have provided me with absolutely  nothing . Why would I ever consider you worthy of being my friend?"

"Granddaughter, you have the patience of a saint." Kronos drawled, already getting sick of the scene. "I'm surprised you haven't rammed your scythe into her teeth already."

"Trust me, it was very tempting." Aurora pinched the bridge of her nose in irritation. Annabeth looked at the two of them in offense.

Poseidon tilted his head, catching Aurora's eye, as if to ask 'Is she the one you want me to kill?' She shook her head 'no' in response.

"I will bring you her head regardless." He whispered in her ear. She raised an eyebrow, lips twitching upwards. Who was she to deny him his hobbies?

Well. That was enough for Aurora to make her decision. She didn't think she could last a week on a quest with Annabeth's condescending attitude and she sighed in disappointment. Annabeth would have been a wonderful companion on the quest, if they could get along.

"You considered bringing me on the quest?" Annabeth gasped in shock, looking at Aurora imploringly for an answer.

"Obviously."

"Then why didn't you ask me instead?"

Aurora raised her eyebrows incredulously but remained quiet.

"Alright, if you insist." she said quietly.

Then, a husky voice yelled, "Well! A newbie!"

She looked over. The girl from cabin five was sauntering toward them. She had three other siblings behind her, all wearing camo jackets.

"Clarisse," Annabeth sighed. "Why don't you go polish your spear or something?"

"Sure, Miss Princess," Clarisse said. "So I can run you through with it Friday night."

"Clarisse..." Chiron warned, looking at Clarisse with a disappointed expression. Clarisse sheepishly rubbed her neck and looked away, not meeting the centaur's gaze. "How many times do I have to tell you to stop antagonizing the other campers?"

"Erre es korakas!"  Annabeth said, which she understood meant 'Go to the crows!' "You don't stand a chance."

"We'll pulverize you," Clarisse said, but her eye twitched. She definitely wasn't sure she could follow through on the threat. She turned toward Aurora.

"Observant, aren't you?"

"When am I not?" Aurora retorted to Nico.

"Hey! I was definitely sure that I can follow through my threats!" The daughter of Ares defended. No one believed her.

Chiron looked at her disappointedly while Annabeth smirked.

"Who's this?"

"Aurora Jackson," Annabeth said, "meet Clarisse, Daughter of Ares."

"Hi." Aurora gave a little wave.

Clarisse glared at her.  Man, what the fuck is in the water at this camp? It's like basic manners and decency doesn't exist here!

Clarisse had the decency to look embarrassed when Silena frowned at her. The daughter of Ares grimaced thinking about her and her siblings' behavior in the past.

"They descend from Zeus, what did you expect?" Kronos sneered, voice dripping with hatred.

"You ate us! You have no right to speak of decency!" Hera shrieked.

"Stop complaining, it builds character."

"How does getting swallowed build character?!" Hades demanded in bewilderment.

"My stomach was better at parenting than that damned goat that raised Zeus. Just look at Hestia! She spent the most time in there and turned out fine!" Just this once, Thalia had to agree with her grandfather. Amaltheia the goat had led her to more traps than necessary when she was on the run with Luke.

"Correlation does not equal causation!" Demeter snapped.

"Then explain why the five of you possess the ability to rub brain cells together and create logical reasoning while that thing over there—" Kronos gestured his hand toward Zeus, "—Cannot form a single coherent thought about anything other than his fragile ego?"

Athena opened her mouth to retort but couldn't think of a single thing to say in her father's defense and remained quiet. Zeus began to seethe in fury at the lack of defense from his siblings and children while Kronos munched on his caramel popcorn.

"We got an initiation ceremony for newbies, bitch."

"Rude much? My name is Aurora."

Poseidon scanned his eyes on the group of demigods until they landed on Clarisse and two siblings, keeping a mental note of his hit list. He tried to look for the third sister but oddly enough, he couldn't find her in the crowd.

"I will have them worship the ground you walk on and then build you an altar made of their bones." he said, making Aurora shudder at what she assumed to be a promise and not a threat.

"Whatever. Come on, I'll show you."

"Clarisse—" Annabeth tried to say.

"Stay out of it, wise girl."

Annabeth looked pained, but she did stay out of it, not that it really surprised Aurora. One of Clarisse's sisters, who Clarisse referred to as Bellatrix (what a fitting name), grabbed her by the hair.

She let Clarisse's sister Bellatrix drag her away, allowing herself to relax since she didn't have to walk. She dragged her to the girls bathroom and her siblings followed, even the guy with the cast on his arm.

"Sherman?" Will asked quietly, like the calm before a storm. "I didn't heal your godsdamn arm just for you to walk into the girls bathroom and bully the new camper!" the son of Apollo screeched, completely infuriated.

"Sorry!" Sherman quickly apologized to Aurora and Will but it wasn't enough.

"Oh you will be. All three of you are banned from healing for two weeks."

"HUH?"

"Are you deaf? You heard me!" Will didn't back down as the three Ares campers pleaded with him to reconsider. Not that it really mattered, because when Poseidon got his hands on them they would be much too far gone for Will's healing to help.

There was a line of toilets on one side and a line of shower stalls down the other. It smelled just like any public bathroom. Aurora remained completely calm, not even bothering to fight back.

Clarisse's siblings were laughing, the sound grating Aurora's ears.

"Like she's 'Big Three' material," Bellatrix said as she pushed her toward one of the toilets. "Yeah, right. Minotaur probably fell over laughing, she was so stupid looking."

"Finally! Some action!" Ares cackled, ready to see his children pummel the Daughter of the Sea. Even Athena looked amused.

The remaining Ares campers winced at the memory.

"I'm sure you'll enjoy this." Aurora said sickeningly sweetly, smiling as she met Ares' eyes.

"Oh, I'm sure I will." Ares mocked, unaware of what he was soon about to witness. "And I'm sure you will too, Uncle." He smirked at Poseidon, who didn't reply.

Her friends snickered.

Annabeth stood in the corner, watching through her fingers.

"Is she always this useless?" Apollo quietly murmured to Hermes who began to giggle manically.

"Not as useless as you gods are." Thalia snapped as she defended her childhood friend.

Just as Bellatrix was about to bend her to her knees and shove her head into the toilet, Aurora immediately pushed back, grabbing the girl by the neck and reversing their positions. Aurora grabbed the girl's hair and shoved her head down the toilet and the girl began to struggle to breathe.

"That's a little harsh, Rory." Chris grimaced, seeing how upset Clarisse looked at the image of her sister. "But I can't really blame you."

"Idiot shouldn't have tried to shove my head in there first." Aurora defended, smirking at the screen and forgetting about what happened earlier. Clarisse's sister Bellatrix definitely paid the price for actions, way more than what was necessary.

"But still—"

"Chris, please shut the fuck up." Nico hissed at the son of Hermes, noticing the way the Sea God turned his attention towards them.

Aurora tugged on the water in the pipes. She heard the plumbing rumble and the pipes shudder. Water shot right into the girl's face, allowing it to nearly fill up her lungs before Aurora took pity and brought her head out of the toilet. The water then shot up and made an arc over her head hitting Clarisse and her two other siblings in the face as well.

Aurora turned as the water blasted out of the toilet again, hitting Bellatrix once more in the face so hard it threw her into a shower stall.

The smirk on Ares' face from earlier dropped as he watched.

"What... No, don't tell me—"

Just to be a little shit to Ares, Aurora giggled cruelly. "Oops!"

She struggled, gasping, and her friends started coming toward her. But then the other toilets exploded, too, and six more streams of toilet water blasted them back. The showers acted up, too, and together all the fixtures sprayed the camouflage campers right out of the bathroom, spinning them around like pieces of garbage being washed away.

"They're the children of Ares, of course they're garbage." Dionysus drawled, as he focused on the screen for the first time in a while, amused at the scene.

Clarisse and her siblings looked in offense at the camp director.

"You little—" Hephaestus had to pull Ares back into his seat to stop him from decking their brother right in the face.

"How insolent. Only a Poseidon spawn would be so uncivil." Hades chided, watching his niece douse the Ares children in sewer water.

Poseidon side-eyed his older brother, trying to maintain composure. "Have you suddenly went hard of hearing and lost your vision, big brother?" Did this fool not just see that his Aurora was obviously provoked?

"My hearing and vision are perfectly satisfactory, thank you for your concern baby brother."

As soon as they were out the door, she felt the tug in her gut lessen, and the water shut off as quickly as it had started.

The entire bathroom was flooded. Annabeth hadn't been spared. She was dripping wet.

Kronos raised an eyebrow at the scene, amused at his granddaughter's show of power being used against the demigods instead of him. "How have none of you figured out her parentage after this? Are all of you this brainless?" The Titan had been disconnected with the world for so long after he was chopped into pieces, but even he was able to recognize his son's ichor flowing through his granddaughter's veins.

"RIGHT?" Aurora threw her hands up in the air in exasperation. With how often her intelligence is underestimated, her fellow campers and the gods weren't any better.

"They descend from Zeus, it's in their blood, " Poseidon teasingly repeated what his father said earlier, "They are a little slow when it comes to critical thinking."

The demigods felt embarrassed as they realized how obvious it was that Aurora was a daughter of Poseidon, and if not Poseidon then another sea god.

"Hindsight is 20/20." Travis shrugged, not even daring to deny the Sea God's words.

"Don't act like you figured out her parentage instantly, grandfather." Thalia hissed, making sure to enunciate the word 'grandfather' knowing how Kronos hated the reminder of Zeus being his son.

"You think I would not notice a baby-sized Rhea running around? Where do you think Poseidon inherited his eyes from?"

"Baby-sized?" Aurora sputtered in offense. "I'm six feet now!" (182.9 cm)

"Fucking ceiling sniffers." Nico murmured. He went ignored.

"You were twelve at the time. Although I will admit you're not so baby-sized anymore. But still, tinier than your grandmother."

The girl harrumphed.

Aurora remained perfectly dry, standing in the only dry spot in the room.

Annabeth said, "How did you..."

She playfully shrugged, as if absolutely nothing had just occurred.

Outside, Clarisse and her friends were sprawled in the mud, and a bunch of other campers had gathered around to gawk. Clarisse's hair was flattened across her face. Her camouflage jacket was sopping and she smelled like sewage. Her sister Bellatrix gave Aurora a look of absolute hatred.

"Bitch, you are so dead. You better sleep with one eye open."

"I see Ares' spawns tend to inherit not just his brash personality but his asinine tendencies." Poseidon laughed at the look of utter despair on his nephew's face.

"Unfortunately." Athena said in an extremely rare agreement with Poseidon.

"Clarisse, you really need to control your siblings." Silena scolded her friend.

"Yes, yes, I know." Clarisse groaned in response.

Aurora tsked, akin to a disappointed teacher. "You really need to be taught some manners, don't you? I don't mind being the one to knock it into you." She wasn't even joking, as she knew that if she didn't straighten the four Ares siblings, her father  definitely  would get involved, and she'd rather have them alive and breathing, rather than floating in the middle of an ocean, mutilated and  dead .

"Well that didn't age well." Aurora bluntly said, not even bothering to explain when the gods looked at her questioningly.

Clarisse and her siblings sniffed in agreement as they warily eyed the God of the Seas.

Her siblings had to hold her back. They dragged her toward cabin five, while the other campers made way to avoid her flailing feet.

The demigods snickered at the completely drenched children of Ares. Clarisse and her sibling' faces shifted and they sneered in embarrassment, which only made the demigods laugh harder.

Annabeth stared at Aurora.

"Do you need something? Why are you still here?" Aurora asked when she noticed Annabeth was still watching her.

"I'm just thinking," she said, "that I want you on my team for capture the flag."

Chapter Text

Aurora Jackson was an enigma.

"I will take that as a compliment."

The Sea God was surprised to hear his own voice in the films, and so were the rest of the gods. They had expected the films to focus solely on Aurora, not an immortal.

It seemed the Fates had other plans by switching up the game.

In Poseidon's opinion at least. His beloved daughter, he adored her more than he has loved  anyone . If he were the earth and its untamable seas, then she was the sun who he would eternally center his world around. The moon that rose and ebbed his tides. The stars that one would connect to form constellations like how their strings of fate connect to form a tapestry of love and destruction.

Like the natural phenomenon she was named after, Aurora appeared in his life like a sudden burst of color and mesmerizing lights in the darkness. Beautiful and impossible to ignore— not that he would ever.

Aurora had a look of fondness at hearing how the Sea God described her so lovingly.

Aphrodite could almost giggle manically at hearing the amount of affection in his voice. Although she could detect that it was said not in a romantic sense but rather a platonic sense, she knew that it wouldn't last long.

But he just did  not  understand, as he peered into a pearl and watched how utterly calm she was as Chiron gave her a tour of camp.

Poseidon always knew she was peculiar, she seemed to know more than she let on and was always so attuned to his emotions. No child of his—or anyone in general—could read him so thoroughly. As a child, Aurora always seemed to speak more... formally towards the adults in her life: her mother, her teachers (except for that science teacher, fuck him), her neighbors (except for her ' step-father's ' repulsive friends, fuck them too).

Aurora's lip curled in disgust at the mention of Gabe and his friends.

Hestia tilted her head in thought. It was true, even as his eldest sister, sometimes she struggled to understand him due to how unpredictable he was.

He couldn't visit her as often as he would like but that didn't stop him from watching over her once in a while to make sure she was alright and see some of her weird quirks. Despite her ADHD and dyslexia, she didn't seem to struggle in school, with the exception of English. She had an unusual obsession with all things chemistry related. It was almost as weird as the time she strangled a snake in her crib (now  that  nearly gave him a heart attack).

"Strangle a snake?" Hephaestus echoed in disbelief. "Like Heracles?"

The mention of Heracles made Artemis scowl and glare at Aurora.

"Visiting your child? You ought to be punished for breaking the oath and the Ancient laws." Zeus hissed at his brother, ready to grab the girl right next to Poseidon before the voice of his father coldly cut in.

"Watch your tone, boy, you have no right to speak on this matter." Kronos interrupted with a harsh glare on Zeus, which was effective enough to close his mouth and freeze. "And keep those hands to yourself lest you would like me to slice them off and put it in a salad. I don't mind having family dinner right now."

Huh. Guess the Fates were onto something when they sent Kronos to watch the films with the gods, Aurora wondered in amusement, completely ignoring the threat of cannibalism at the end. The trauma the titan had given his kids was enough to temporarily keep them in line. Besides, getting yelled at by your dad in front of everyone was bound to be humiliating.

During her pre-school years while the other kids finger painted flowers and dinosaurs she would paint the molecular structure of complex carbohydrates (he may not be familiar with mortal children but he was pretty sure  that  was unusual). They were surprisingly neat too for a four year-old child with tiny chubby hands.

"Molecular structures in pre-school?" Athena asked, intrigued. "Even that has never appeared with my children." But it made sense now knowing that she was reincarnated with memories.

"Or mine." Apollo added. "They tend to show their abilities at most two years prior to a pre-teen or as an adolescent."

She was respectful and rarely whined. She rarely ever begged her mother for anything like what most children do, except for mixed martial arts classes to learn how to defend herself. It was not exactly how you would expect a mortal child to behave.

"Smart." Clarisse commended. It certainly made sense why Aurora was much better at wrestling matches than one would expect, and why she was easily able to fight Bellatrix off of her. She probably didn't have access to a proper weapon to wield at the time since she was too young so she went for the second best option: which was physical fighting.

Ares grudgingly approved, although he would never admit it to the punk before she grew a bigger ego. (How ironic).

It was as if she were a grown adult in the body of a child.

Shrewd as ever. Aurora grinned. As confused as he was, he had still been subconsciously correct.

"Are you sure prophecy isn't your domain?" Aphrodite teased, not earning a reply.

His daughter took note of camp as if it were nothing new, which should be  impossible . Prior to his foolish brothers and their stunt with the Minotaur and the lightning, Aurora had never been to camp, was told nothing more than the bare basics. He tried reading her mind out of desperation, for a little glimpse of what she knew, but it was as if the Moirai themselves had blocked her mind from being read, and it made his suspicions grow about her role as the potential child of the prophecy.

He longed to pluck her out of camp and take her to the seas where the cretins that he must unfortunately call his brothers could not harm her.

"Cretin?" Hades grabbed his wife's hand in support so that he didn't use it to throttle his younger brother.

"Yes. The both of you." Poseidon was tempted to gouge his brother's eyes out so he poked Hades harshly on the face, making him scowl and bat his hand away. Poseidon may be a thousands of years old god but he was still a younger brother and so he did what younger brothers do best: annoy the fuck out of their elder brothers. Because if the Fates prevented them from harming each other and he couldn't rip Hades' head off for sending the Minotaur after Aurora then poking him would have to do.

Zeus looked ten seconds away from exploding.

Hera rolled her eyes at the three gods. Ugh. Brothers.

Although it seemed the Moirai were  very  adamant about keeping her there as the eldest sister whispered in his mind.

Stormbringer , Atropos hissed.  It is not her time yet .

"The Fates... spoke to you?" Demeter asked, the slightest bit of worry in her eyes as she ran a hand through her blonde hair.

"Apparently." Was the neutral response Demeter had received but Poseidon was internally wailing, because why on earth did the Moirai have to be so involved with his Aurora's life?  The involvement of the Fates were usually never good.

Apollo hissed in warning, not liking the eldest Moirai's not-so-subtle interference. As the God of Prophecy, he also knew that it usually meant trouble.

Yet?  That was not good enough. He wanted to avoid the possibility of her dying altogether, but getting on Atropos' nerves was not the way to do it. So he complied and watched from afar, feeling as if the weight of the seas were resting on his chest.

And so he watched for a few minutes until he eventually returned back to read the report Triton had provided him, thousands of miles in the seas, far from the shores of Camp Half-Blood.

To be quite truthful, Hades had not always hated his brothers.

The entire room widened their eyes at the revelation. It surprised everyone except for the Big Three who watched with gritted teeth, their sisters who watched with intrigue, and Kronos who watched with amusement.

"Oh?" Ares questioned with a blood thirsty smile. He had a feeling that there would be an argument between the Big Three soon.

In fact, they used to be so  close . The King of the Underworld always wished for a baby brother when he was in his father's stomach, and it seemed that the Fates had blessed him  (or should he say cursed?)  with not one but two brothers. At first, Hades was particularly closer with Poseidon than Zeus, as they both were stuck there with their sisters.

"You make us seem unbearable, Hades." Demeter sneered at her daughter's husband.

"Wonderful observational skills, sister." Hades snarked.

Thalia and Nico both appeared to be shocked speechless. They had known for so long how the Big Three never got along that the idea of them laughing, smiling, and playing as young gods felt so... foreign.

To Nico, the idea of his cold and emotionally detached father as a normal older brother felt strange to imagine. To imagine the gods as not as different as humans felt absurd.

But then with the throne that Zeus inherited from Kronos, came paranoia, and soon enough Zeus had barred him a throne on the council and prohibited him from entering Olympus except for the solstice. As he was the eldest son of Kronos, Zeus considered him a threat and immediately acted to eliminate him without outright tossing him into Tartarus, knowing how much it would piss off their siblings.

Hades grasped Persephone's hand, squeezing it as he had to unfortunately remember the memories from the past. He not-so-silently cursed.

Hestia had argued against the decision made by Zeus and so had Poseidon, but Hades couldn't help but feel so  vindictive , when Zeus didn't bother to listen and dismissed them altogether.

Hestia sighed, hating how she was unable to convince Zeus all those years ago.

"I'm sorry Hades, I should have done more." Hades waved off her apology, not upset with her as much as he was with his brothers.

He felt furious, not just at Zeus but at Poseidon as well, for not trying hard enough. Poseidon did not have to worry about getting struck by Zeus' measly lightning when he was the  Stormbringer , and yet after days of arguing back and forth he had eventually given up so easily as if Hades weren't worth his energy.

"That is not true." Poseidon quickly denied. "I tried my best—"

"You could have tried harder!"

"It is not my fault!" he shouted, cheeks tinged with gold in anger. "Zeus refused to listen! What was I supposed to do!?"

"I cared for you!" Hades' voice rose louder with every word, he began to grip the arm of his makeshift throne which started to crack, and his nostrils flared in anger. "I watched over you even after we escaped that prison chamber! I was more of a father to you than him!" He pointed a finger at their father who didn't deny the accusation. "And how did you pay me back? By allowing Zeus banish me to the Underworld, alone and isolated, only to visit a single day in an entire year!"

Poseidon wanted to argue back, but noticing how unstable Hades was he stayed quiet, allowing him to simmer in rage. He figured that saying anything more would only escalate tensions.

And in a way, he realized that Hades has a point. He could have tried harder to convince Zeus and not let his status as King of the Gods deter him, like he would do for Aurora.

The demigods watched with eyes the size of saucers at seeing the usually indifferent King of the Underworld react so emotionally charged. Nico in particular felt blood thrum in his veins, emboldened on behalf of his father and had the strongest urge to curse both of his uncles in spite. To make a usually emotionally stunted gods react, well, emotionally, only meant that his father was at his breaking point.

Thalia wondered if the close bond that had existed between her uncles may have indirectly made her father's paranoia grow. She wondered if her father had felt left out as the only child of Kronos and Rhea to not be swallowed.

He hated it. He hated  him . Hades was known for holding grudges, and eventually after years of little to no contact with his brothers he managed to cool his temper, until World War II. But then it was  mostly  fine afterward. Emphasis on  mostly .

Until  she  came along.

Oh no, Aurora groaned, already having a feeling of where this was going. Why else would the Fates see it fit to include this to the films about her life?

"She?" Apollo asked in confusion. Hades, as if already understanding his future self, gritted his teeth and didn't deign his nephew an answer.

Aurora fucking Jackson. Poseidon's precious treasure, his pearl.

Hermes frowned, not understanding what the demigoddess had to do with the brotherly rivalry.

Silena bit her lip in nervousness. She had a feeling that whatever they were about to learn was going to be anything but good. Whatever issue that the King of the Underworld had involving the gods should not have involved the demigods and mortals like Aurora and Thalia.

Hades  despised  her. Poseidon had broken the oath and so blatantly broke Zeus' stupid laws with zero hesitation, and Hades  hated  it. Because why couldn't he have done the same for him? Why couldn't his brother in all stubbornness argue as adamantly for him? Why did  he  have to suffer for thousands of years in loneliness with no one to talk to but the quiet ghosts and his servants? There was Persephone but even she was not permanent, as she would eventually return to the surface every spring, leaving him in the cold and deafening silence of the Underworld.

"You are lucky that I even allow that much, Hades. Do not grow arrogant." The Goddess of Agriculture grasped the air as if she were trying to summon her sickle to chop Hades' head off with.

"Lucky?" The King of the Underworld asked incredulously, voice laced in anger. "You call being banished from Olympus and only allowed to see my wife for six months at a time, lucky?"

"Demeter," Hestia interrupted before the argument between her siblings could grow. "Persephone is a goddess. You should let her choose what she would like rather than choosing for her. The same applies to you Hades."

When Demeter did not reply, Persephone nodded in thanks at her aunt.

Hades had known about his stupid brothers' and their weeks-long argument, and he had not bothered to get involved even if it had affected him, until he detected  her  in New York.

"Argument? What had happened between the two of you?" Persephone asked with an unimpressed look towards Zeus and Poseidon. She brought a hand to her husband's shoulder to ground him, which had definitely helped calm his fury. Although she was definitely worried when the film seemed to have mentioned that her husband was involved in some way.

"I have done nothing, daughter. It is not my fault that Hades decided to act like a blubbering child."

When Persephone noticed her husband ready to retaliate and potentially start another augment she came to his defense.

"Enough, father. My Hades has the right to feel angry at the injustice you have given him. You as the God of Justice should understand that!"

Zeus rolled his eyes, not taking his daughter's concerns seriously.

One look at his brother's spawn and it was easy to see how much Poseidon adored her. Her aura seemed to be covered by him and some other repulsive scent, which explains how she had gone unnoticed for around twelve years despite living right under Olympus' nose.

Aurora scrunched her nose at the idea of Gabe's disgusting scent lingering on her and felt the urge to go shower and scrub herself clean.

"Twelve years," Artemis noted. "The girl lived in New York for twelve years without anyone noticing." Sally Jackson must have been one determined woman, Artemis thought.

One look was enough to see the extent that Poseidon had gone for this child of his and how easy it was for him to break the oath that Hades himself was forced into while his brothers walked unpunished. A measly demigod that Poseidon didn't hesitate to break the Ancient laws for.

His Maria di Angelo paid the price of that Fates-damned oath, and Zeus had nearly gotten away with killing his two living children.

Nico glared with anger at Zeus, as he was reminded of his hypocrisy. Zeus had nearly gotten away with killing him and Bianca again, after leaving the Lotus Casino, except this time he had not left them unscathed. While he was grateful he and Bianca are alive, Zeus had left a permanent mark on his sister...

Thalia put a calming hand on her cousin's shoulder, wincing at the reminder of her father's cruelty.

Persephone scowled at the mention of Maria but she remained quiet. Hades threw an apologetic look to his wife.

"See daughter? Hades is a scoundrel! Not even respectful of your wishes and instead frolicking with mortals!" Demeter sneered, which went ignored by both her daughter and her husband.

Just like Hades had to suffer from Zeus' tyranny, he wanted Poseidon to feel the same pain, the same misery that he has felt for millennials.

So when he looked back at the soul of Sally Danae Jackson waiting for judgment he smiled. He grinned wickedly when he saw that Minos would declare that she would go to Elysium and he interfered. Hades did not often interfere in the judgment of souls unless he found it necessary, and this was one of those moments. The grin did not go away when he forgoed Minos' decision and declared that the Mistress of Poseidon be sent to the Fields of Punishment. Minos did not argue as he followed his lord's orders.

Aurora made a strangled sound as if she were holding back a sob. She couldn't stand the thought of her sweet mother suffering in the Fields of Punishment for something she had no control of. Nico looked at her and winced, feeling sympathy for his cousin.

How could Sally possibly deserve to spend eternity in the Fields of Punishment? The same area that Smelly Gabe would be in!

Demeter couldn't help but clench her hands into a fist. Typical of Hades, to destroy a loving bond between a mother and her daughter. He turned Demeter's own daughter away from her and now he takes her niece's mother as petty revenge against their brother. He hurt a niece that resembled their mother so much!

"Hades," Hestia frowned. "You shouldn't be using your position as the king for such matters like pettiness." The Goddess of the Hearth may not have known the mother of her niece very well, but she knew enough to understand that Sally Jackson did not deserve such a fate.

Hades said nothing as he mused over his future self's actions.

Like how his Maria was taken so cruelly from him, he made sure that Poseidon understood his agony.  Divine retribution , for allowing Zeus to banish him. But at least Zeus temporarily made up for it by giving him permission to marry Persephone.

Fates damn him. Let his brother feel the same pain, the same affliction, the same misery he has.

"Hades," Hera finally spoke up, staring her eldest brother directly in the eyes with no pity. "Your anger is misplaced. While Poseidon has had his mishaps, at the end of the day it is my husband that has wronged you."

Hades clenched his jaw, embarrassed at his earlier outburst where he let his emotions get in the way.

"He should have defended my father better." Nico darkly murmured, hiding how he truly felt about the Sea God.

"Wronged him?" Zeus repeated incredulously. "Tell me wife, when have I wronged Hades? I was only doing what is best for Olympus—"

"Don't start with that bullshit Zeus!" Aphrodite snapped, interrupting the God King on behalf of Hera. "You and everyone else in this room know damn well that you weren't doing what's best for Olympus, but what's best for yourself!"

As Hades continued his pity party the Fates watched with neutral expressions as they weaved their tapestry.

It was a shame, really. Little did Hades know that Poseidon was, in a way,  relieved  that Sally Jackson was gone.

With Sally gone, there was no need for Aurora to live with Gabe, leaving her all for  him .

As if Aurora's mood couldn't get worse, the Fates keep proving otherwise. Aurora knew that her mother and father were not on the best terms for years prior to her death, and she had a feeling it had to do with her mother's insistence to marry Gabe to cover her scent rather than accept Poseidon's offer to live in the seas. While she never begrudged her mother for her decision (because the idea of having to rely so heavily on a god while his angry wife was nearby was not the most appealing), she had felt... frustrated. She loathed Smelly Gabe and wished him gone everyday she lived with him and his abuse. She wondered what it would have been like to live with no worries of Gabe, his poker parties, his alcohol addiction, and the prospect of the gods finding out about her.

The gods were prideful and Aurora knew Poseidon was no exception. The thought of his former lover choosing to live with an abusive shitbag and let their daughter suffer rather than accept his offer for a life of luxury in Atlantis had angered him to no end. He had pleaded with Sally to reconsider until she decided it best to limit his interaction with them to only a few visits (her siblings Triton, Rhode, Kymopoleia, and Benthesikyme had visited her often, way more than Poseidon could). It infuriated him and made him appear less than to the repulsive disgusting mortal, and worst of all, it was his daughter that faced the consequences of their actions. They would never have worried about money, rent, bills, or a disgusting, barely-human dickhead squatting in their living room.

In a way, Aurora wondered if the decision to separate her from her father is what had led to their relationship evolving into something so... obsessive. If Poseidon were allowed to visit her more often, become more involved in her childhood, would he have become more paternal towards her? Would his love have become less possessive and more pure?

(The answer is yes.)

Zeus knew that his brothers had never respected him, never respected his titles, and never respected his efforts to rule as a peaceful king.

Some of the demigods snorted in disbelief. Mainly Nico and Thalia. If you asked them, there was nothing about Zeus to respect.

Hera raised an eyebrow at her husband's thoughts. Where did Zeus have the time to rule as a peaceful king if he was too busy sleeping with anything that wasn't his wife?

His older brothers always teamed against him in their youth, always siding with the other, and supporting each other.

Zeus  hated  it.

"Jealousy, jealousy," Drew quietly sang as she brushed her dark hair, making her younger sister Lacy giggle in amusement.

Aphrodite softly giggled. Jealousy indeed, she could sense how much the King of the Gods resented his older brothers.

As much as Thalia did not like her father, she can understand how he must have felt. The demigods at camp tended to be distant towards the children of the Big Three, and similarly, it must have hurt Zeus who must have felt isolated from his big brothers. But unlike Zeus, Thalia would never want to hurt her siblings. She still missed Jason after all...

He had brushed it off as their closeness from spending so much time together in their father's stomach. But eventually the infamous paranoia came out along with the voices in his head.

They are traitors, they're planning on taking away your throne, your position, your wife . Hera even got along better with their older brothers than she did with her own  husband . Sure it might have something to do with his infidelity and her as a Goddess of Marriage, but it was beside the point. She was  his  wife. She may be the Queen but he was the King.

"Besides the point?" Hera screeched, turning her fury to her husband. "You constantly disrespect my domains and I, but the idea of me spending time with our brothers, YOUR brothers, is enough to push you off the edge?"

"Know your place, wife." Zeus waved her off, much to Hera's (justified) anger. He wanted to argue more but stopped when he felt his father's angry golden gaze again.

Hestia could almost feel the the flames of her hearth from her growing anger.

He had  enough . As long as Hades and Poseidon remained close, they would always be a threat to his throne and power. So Zeus did what he did best: cause discord and strife among his siblings. He knew it would hurt his sister Hestia and his wife as the goddesses with close ties to the domain of family, but quite frankly Zeus did not care.

He slowly started planting seeds of doubt into his eldest brother, having him believe that Poseidon did not care for him much when it couldn't be further from the truth. Zeus even subtly tried to push the idea that Poseidon envied Hades and secretly agreed to Zeus' idea to exile him from Olympus.

Athena watched with a smile, completely impressed. "A wonderful plan, father." Because the plan did work, even thousands of years later when Zeus easily managed to convince Poseidon to side with him and not Hades during World War II. 

Zeus smirked arrogantly, throwing a smug look at his brothers.

The eldest two of the Big Three watched, hiding the shock they had felt. Did they seriously allow Zeus to destroy their relationship because of his damned paranoia?

Hades in particular felt enraged, as he felt Persephone's hand on his arm, squeezing it in support which helped quell his anger. But after a few minutes, he sighed, because too much had happened between him and the Sea God for them to ever build back the brotherly bond they once had. After what the gods have learned about Aurora so far, Hades figured it was enough to completely end any possible chance for an amicable bond with his brother.

Zeus' plan worked. He had easily convinced both of his worthless brothers that they despised each other. Hestia's hearth on Olympus may have dimmed ever since, not reaching the bright flames it once had in the beginning of the rule of the Gods, but it didn't stop the smug satisfaction the King of the Gods felt.

Perhaps now his siblings would learn to respect him.

Chapter Text

The throne room remained silent, many of the occupants musing over the revelations from Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades. The mentioned three gods refused to even look at each other, whether it be due to pettiness, arrogance, embarrassment, anger, or frustration. Or all of the above.

From the peripheral of his vision, Hades watched his brothers, Zeus as pompous as ever over the success of his genius plan to destroy his brothers' relationship, and Poseidon who was staring at the floor with a brooding expression.

After his embarrassing emotional outburst, it dawned on the King of the Underworld that perhaps he had been too cruel to his niece. After all, she had nothing to do with the brotherly rivalry that was more so a case of manipulation and miscommunication... idiotically bad miscommunication.

And yet... he couldn't find it in himself to care. They were gods— selfish, prideful, and vain. To apologize that he had been wrong was difficult, and it seemed that Poseidon was no different either. It was much easier to pretend that nothing had ever happened and continue to stay as the cold and callous god that he was believed to be rather than to accept his faults and mistakes. Hades was known for holding grudges, no matter how irrational they were. At the end of the day, he was still considered to be an outcast by his so-called family. Rather than admitting to faults, he found it much easier to ignore the issue.

Besides, what would apologizing even do in his situation? It was clear as daylight that Sally Jackson was dead, and not only was she dead, he used his position as King to send her to the Fields of Punishment rather than Elysium like she deserved. While Poseidon may not love Sally as much as he once had, Aurora still did, and for her alone he wouldn't forgive Hades' transgressions. Aurora obviously did not like him for taking her mother, and no apology would change the fact that Sally was dead. Hades bitterly wondered that if Aurora despised him, he wouldn't be surprised because it was no different from how his own family hated him. Demeter being the most notable example.

When he felt a pair of eyes on him Hades looked up to see his eldest sister Hestia look at him with a frown of disappointment, as if she knew what he was thinking and Hades immediately averted his eyes. No one ever liked disappointing Hestia.

Hestia sighed as she loudly inhaled then exhaled. She loved her siblings, she really did, but sometimes (read: all the time), their behavior grated on her nerves. She could read Hades's face and she pinched the bridge of her nose. Why couldn't her brother stop drowning in his self-pity and accept the fact that what he had done was wrong? Sure, Zeus banishing Hades from Olympus was wrong, but it doesn't excuse how Hades took satisfaction in punishing a mortal woman out of pettiness.

Poseidon mused over what they had watched so far. It seemed that he was not on good terms with Aurora's mother and he wondered why. He figured it had something to do with the guy named Gabe, but what? Aurora clearly adored her mother regardless, but why was she associated with this guy?

It suddenly hit him when he remembered what was said in the movie— his future self had called Aurora's 'step-father's' friends repulsive, and then Hades's future self noted there was a repulsive scent on Aurora, which made her scrunch her face in disgust. In the beginning of the film Sally mentioned she rejected his offer to live in Atlantis. Although there was a huge chunk of the puzzle missing, what the Sea God managed to put together was that he offered a life of luxury to Sally to raise their daughter in Atlantis, however she declined and chose to live with this Gabe guy, most likely to cover her godly scent, and that Aurora hated the man. Poseidon exhaled in frustration and decided to push the information to the back of his mind when eventually more would be revealed throughout the films.

He didn't even want to think about the matters with Hades either, knowing that absolutely nothing good would come out of it either, judging based on the look on his elder brother's face.

Word of the bathroom incident spread immediately. Wherever Aurora went, campers pointed at her and murmured something about toilet water. Or maybe they were just staring at Annabeth, who was still pretty much dripping wet.

Drew gagged as if she could smell the toilet water through the screen.

"Both. Definitely both." Connor snickered at both Aurora and Annabeth, making the two girls scoff.

"Can you blame us? It's not everyday the bathroom plumbing decides to explode." Katie chuckled.

"And at least the Ares cabin stopped doing the 'initiation ceremony' for the new campers?" Will added.

"Yes, but at what cost?" Clarisse muttered, warily eyeing the deceptively calm Sea God.

She showed Aurora a few more places: the metal shop (where kids were forging their own swords), the arts-and-crafts room (where satyrs were sandblasting a giant marble statue of Pan), and the climbing wall, which actually consisted of two facing walls that shook violently, dropped boulders, sprayed lava, and clashed together if you didn't get to the top fast enough.

Aphrodite frowned at the sight of the lava wall, turning towards Chiron and Dionysus. "Is that safe?"

"No, definitely not." The Wine God replied nonchalantly.

"Perfect. Just the way I like it." Ares cackled, choosing to ignore how his children had embarrassed themselves earlier.

Finally they returned to the canoeing lake, where the trail led back to the cabins.

"I've got training to do," Annabeth said flatly. "Dinner's at seven-thirty. Just follow your cabin to the mess hall."

Aurora frowned as she eyed Annabeth's sewage-water drenched clothes. She thought about drying it for her but ultimately decided against it. It was bad enough she made the pipes in the bathroom explode, drying Annabeth's clothes would have her become even more suspicious and she would rather wait until she was claimed to openly start using her powers. Even though Annabeth was not the... nicest person she has met, she still didn't deserve to get drenched in toilet water.

Okay, maybe she deserved it a  little , just a tiny bit.

Annabeth narrowed her eyes at the green-eyed girl.

"Eh, I would say she deserved worse." Clarisse bitterly corrected and Aurora did not disagree.

Annabeth's glare shifted to the daughter of Ares.

"I'm sorry about the toilet water."

Annabeth stared at her in deep thought. "It's whatever. You need to talk to the Oracle."

"What for? What had happened that required the girl to speak with the Oracle? Why does she believe it specifically involves Aurora?" Persephone asked, frustrated with the situation and lack of explanations. Surely the daughter of Athena wasn't referring to the Great Prophecy about the children of the Big Three, right? It should be impossible for her to know, it was classified information among the gods and Chiron.

Aurora almost laughed at the irony of how clueless the gods feel at the information being withheld from them. It reminded her too much of how Percy probably felt.

She shrugged like a menace. "Who knows."

Aurora did not reply to that, she knew she would eventually have to speak with the Oracle anyway. She stared into the lake, where two teenage girls were sitting cross-legged at the base of the pier, about twenty feet below. They wore blue jeans and shimmering green T-shirts, and their brown hair floated loose around their shoulders as minnows darted in and out. Aurora recognized them, they sometimes hung out with her and her siblings on her Montauk trips. They smiled and waved and she waved back at them.

"Don't encourage them," Annabeth warned. "Naiads are terrible flirts."

"Not all of them." Aurora immediately defended. "They enjoy gossiping too."

"What do they gossip about? Apollo questioned with eagerness.

Aurora deadpanned. "The promiscuous escapades of the gods."

Dionysus side-eyed his older brother with a shit-eating grin. "Apollo's inability to please a wom—"

"Oh you little shit."

Rachel snickered at the look of offense gracing Apollo's face and Dionysus's grin. "Ironic coming from the guy who dresses like a hobo."

Drew threw her hands up in the air. "Finally! Someone who thinks like me!" The daughter of Aphrodite pointed a finger at the red-headed oracle. "You. I like you." Drew always dragged Mr. D for his choice in attire in hopes that he would change it, but the god was always quick to ignore her.

Annabeth scrunched her eyebrows in confusion but remained quiet. Aurora took the chance to change the topic. "You said your mother is Athena, right? What's your dad like?"

Her hands tightened around the pier railing. "My dad is a professor at West Point," she said. "I haven't seen him since I was very small. He teaches American history."

Aurora recognized the bitterness in Annabeth's voice. "My step-father is horrible too, if it makes you feel better."

"I can turn them into jackalopes and have my huntresses chase them like prey?" Artemis offered. Annabeth immediately nodded her head while Aurora shrugged. Gabe has been dead for years.

"It doesn't."

Drew snorted at how utterly awkward the conversation had turned. Too many demigods were not on the best terms with their mortal families. Some did not even have mortal families.

"Perhaps," Dionysus spat, "Your father and step-father would not be so terrible if you brats were not so troublesome."

Annabeth and Aurora's jaw clenched in restrained anger at the Wine God's dismissal of their problems and choosing to shift the blame onto them instead.

"Dionysus." Hestia said curtly. "We do not fully know what kind of homes the demigods have come from. Do not be so quick to blame them, they are still children after all."

"Do not defend them sister. The girls undoubtedly brought upon themselves whatever punishment their parents gave them." Zeus asserted, dismissing his sister's concerns. Athena did not look delighted by her father's words against her daughter but remained quiet.

Aurora could tell Annabeth did not want to speak more about it and decided to switch the subject once again to the state of the Hermes cabin. "Has Cabin eleven always been so... crowded?"

Annabeth ran her palm along the rail. "For as long as I remember, yeah. The gods are busy. They have a lot of kids and they don't always...Well, sometimes they don't care about us, Aurora. They ignore us."

No god made an attempt to disagree with Annabeth's statement. Although there were a few like Apollo, Hermes, and Hestia who looked like they wanted to challenge it.

The lack of defense had made many of the demigods frown in disappointment. Kronos had to shove a handful of popcorn in his mouth to prevent himself from cackling as his gaze shifted back and forth between the gods and the demigods.

The gods were making this way too easy for him. In fact, they were doing his work for him. Was it truly a surprise how the Titan of Time managed to turn dozens of demigods against their own parents?

Kronos didn't have to do much to convince the demigods. The gods did most of the heavy-lifting.

"Dionysus is the camp director right? He still has his powers regardless of his alcohol prohibition so can't he just..." Aurora waved her hands around to indicate expanding the cabins to accommodate the growing number of campers.

"Dear Fates, how foolish is this girl?" Dionysus brought a hand up to rub his temple in annoyance.

"She inherited it from her father." Athena mocked, using the Sea God's words from earlier against him.

Poseidon raised an eyebrow at them in annoyance as if they were chihuahuas barking like maniacs.

Annabeth sighed, understanding what Aurora meant. "It's like I said, Aurora. The gods don't care about us. Mr. D is no exception."

Castor and Pollux looked like they wanted to defend their father but were unsure how. Beckendorf patted them on their backs.

Aurora frowned in confusion. "Is it not his job to look after the demigods? It shouldn't take much effort to create new cabins with a wave of a hand"

The daughter of Athena looked up at the sky. "For something like that, we would need permission, which I highly doubt we'll ever receive."

"Why would I even want to help any of you brats? It is bad enough I'm forced to look after you like an unpaid babysitter." The Wine God scoffed.

"We get it." Katie grunted in barely-hidden anger and frustration. "You don't like us and we're a nuisance to you gods. You don't need to repeat it again."

Aphrodite can already feel the pain and the budding resentment building up in the daughter of Demeter and silently nudged the agricultural goddess.

Demeter frowned at the bitterness in her daughter's voice. "Do not listen to your cousin, daughter. We do care for you demigods. We just... are not allowed to."

Aurora looked at her aunt in surprise, not expecting her of all the gods to speak on behalf of the very few that cared for their children.

"It doesn't feel like it." Katie quietly said, tracing patterns with her finger on Travis' jeans.

"Sometimes, it's easier for us to ignore our children to avoid the eventual heartache." Hermes quietly said. "We do care."

"Right." Travis drawled. "Because everything is about you all-powerful immortal. Who cares how us mere demigods feel?"

Aurora understood what Annabeth implied. Zeus would not approve building cabins for non-Olympian gods. It would probably hurt his damn pride. "That must suck for those campers... unable to have even a little bit of space in their own cabin. They're stuck here for fates-know how long." She thought about some of the kids she'd seen in the Hermes cabin, teenagers who looked sullen and depressed, waiting for a call that would never come.

Aurora eyed the looks on her fellow demigods' faces and cringed how their mood was becoming worse and worse with very few people to reassure them that they are cared for.

Annabeth shook her head. "Well it depends, camp is usually less crowded in the winters. Some campers only stay the summer. If you're a child of Aphrodite or Demeter, you're probably not a real powerful force—"

"That's... not exactly true, but whatever. "

Aphrodite and Demeter both raised an eyebrow at that, not surprised at the daughter of Athena's words. The Aphrodite and Demeter cabin campers weren't surprised either and the goddesses immediately used the opportunity to distract the glum demigods from the previous topic.

"Yes, I suppose the daughter of Zeus would be oh-so much more powerful than us mere goddesses." The Goddess of Love drawled, making Demeter elegantly snort.

"Absolutely. It's not like humans have relied on the agricultural industry for thousands of years to feed all of mankind or anything. No, not at all."

The two goddesses side-eyed each other and bit their lips, as if to hold their laughter. Persephone was silently snickering at her mother's childish attitude while Hades rolled his eyes at his sister.

Annabeth narrowed her eyes in irritation but continued anyway. "—The monsters might ignore you, so you can get by with a few months of summer training and live in the mortal world the rest of the year. But for some of us, it's too dangerous to leave—"

" —I know, monsters ignore us until we're older and they can only enter camp if they're summoned." Aurora interrupted once more. "You're a year-rounder, I presume?"

"Why would anyone want to summon monsters inside the only safe haven for demigods?" Rachel asked, baffled.

Grover shuddered. "You would be surprised." He paused before he retracted his statement and shook his head. "No, you wouldn't actually."

"Why is there even an option to summon monsters inside the camp in the first place?" Rachel insisted. It seemed like a massive oversight, at least to the only human in the room.

"Practical fights? Practical jokes?" Miranda offered.

"Ridiculous." Rachel scoffed, fixing her hair and pulling out her blue plastic hairbrush that nearly sent Kronos into war flashbacks.

Nico and Aurora took notice and wheezed from holding back their laughter.

"Oh fuck off." Kronos snapped.

Annabeth nodded and showed her leather necklace with five clay beads and a college ring. She explained she has been here since she was seven, longer than most counselors who are in college, and a bead is given at the end of every summer session.

"Do most demigods come to camp so young?" Persephone questioned. She had assumed most demigods entered during their pre-teen years.

"Not really, most demigods are around middle-school age when their parents first send them to camp. It's when the monsters start to sense us." Silena explained.

"I see." Persephone muttered. "So why did you come so early, little demigoddess?"

Annabeth gritted her teeth and looked away. Persephone took the hint and made a noise of understanding.

Eventually, Aurora asked about the winter solstice, eager to know if Annabeth had any information she could use.

"Luke, Clarisse, I and a few others took a field trip during the winter solstice, for the gods big annual council."

Aurora looked like she was on edge at the mention of Luke.

"Right after we visited," Annabeth continued, "the weather got weird, as if the gods had started fighting. A couple of times since, I've overheard satyrs talking. The best I can figure out is that something important was stolen. And if it isn't returned by summer solstice, there's going to be trouble. When you came, I was hoping...I mean—Athena can get along with just about anybody, except for Ares. And of course she's got the rivalry with Poseidon. But, I mean, aside from that, I thought we could work together. I thought you might know something... I've got to get a quest." She quietly whispered the last part.

Hephaestus and Persephone were deep in thought as they considered Annabeth's words.

Hera side-eyed her husband and brother at the mention of the weather changes. Her sisters had caught onto the information as well. The Goddess of Marriage couldn't help but bring her hand up to her temple to massage it. Her husband had a tendency to throw around lightning to intimidate rather than use logic and reasoning like how a civilized king should act. Unfortunately, it sometimes ended up hurting her. She shivered as she remembered her punishment for the rebellion that backfired with Apollo, Poseidon, and Athena. She was strung up in the skies where her husband threw his bolts at her while she begged for mercy. He eventually agreed to let her go after a few months, on the condition that she never goes against him again. It made Hera wish she had just been turned into a mortal to slave away like her brother and step-son rather than having to experience that brutal torture and bound to never side against Zeus.

Kronos quietly snickered at the mention of the Athena-Poseidon rivalry. He had been wondering why very few of his attacks against the demigods and gods had been too easy throughout the war if Aurora knew what to expect but he now understood why. The demigoddess probably tried to plan ahead by having Poseidon convince the council with her information to take action but the Wisdom Goddess, who is also Zeus's main advisor, refused to listen to anything that came out of the 'stupid' Sea God's mouth. Aurora even managed to drag Luke to Olympus after the pit-scorpion incident, but luckily Luke was able to rely on the Olympian's inability to work together to escape. Kronos had to thank Athena for unintentionally making the war easier for him. Who knew how useful the pettiness of the gods could be?

But still, many of the demigoddess's strategies that did not involve the Olympians had put a dent into his own plans, much to his annoyance. Like how she used my own spies against me, the titan thought as he glared at Silena Beauregard, Chris Rodriguez, and Ethan Nakamura.

The titan was both irritated and proud that at least one (1) of his grandchildren possessed critical thinking skills. Seriously, he was starting to get a little embarrassed.

"Something important had to be stolen from a god. The only way someone can do that is if they were invisible... right?"

Annabeth blinked, pulling out her Yankees cap before she glared at Aurora. "Are you insinuating—"

Annabeth blinked owlishly at the screen. How had she not noticed that Aurora knew about her cap before she even used it in front of her?

"So something from a god was stolen and it needed to be returned by the summer solstice." Persephone affirmed. She was probably the only immortal who had their priorities straight when it came to these films. "But why the summer solstice?"

The Goddess of Spring did not receive an answer.

"No." Aurora rolled her eyes. "But take it into consideration. Did you let anyone borrow your cap around the time of the Winter Solstice?"

Annabeth furrowed her eyebrows in thought. "No, I did not, but..." she hesitated, checking their surroundings to see if anyone was nearby before she continued. "While we were on Olympus, there were a few minutes where I couldn't find my cap, but it turned out I just misplaced it..."

Thalia whirled around to meet the blonde demigoddess's eyes. "You don't think that he—"

"I don't know." Annabeth said miserably. She did not remember Luke going anywhere near her cap nor did she remember him asking for it either.

However... it would make quite a lot of sense if he did. How else would he have stolen directly from two gods? Not just any gods either, but two of the Big Three gods. Unless, perhaps, she overestimated their intelligence, which really wouldn't be a surprise.

The two demigoddesses hesitantly turned their gazes towards the Titan of Time. If anyone knew how Luke had done it, it would be Kronos. Luke was following his orders after all. Kronos, who felt their gazes on him, turned to meet their eyes and raised an unimpressed eyebrow. The demigoddesses immediately turned away, unsure if they wanted to know the answers to their questions.

Aurora's eyebrows shot up. This was news for her. "Where was your cap when you found it?"

"It was in my backpack."

"Are you sure you did not see anyone near it?"

Annabeth shook her head.

"Are you sure?" Aurora insisted. "You mentioned Clarisse,  Luke , and other campers were with you." She emphasized Luke's name, hoping it would jog any memory Annabeth had of the Winter Solstice. If Annabeth had solid proof that a certain  someone  used her invisibility cap then Aurora could hopefully use it as evidence for Chiron. She probably couldn't avoid the quest, but it was proof enough so she could accuse the true thief much earlier without looking oddly suspicious.

"Annabeth," Silena blinked as if she had remembered something. "Do you remember how he was acting throughout the whole trip? He looked like he was on the edge the entire time we were up there."

"What?" Annabeth asked in confusion.

"He?" Apollo echoed, zeroing in on the pronoun. He did not receive a reply.

Silena blinked again. Ah. It must have been her Aphrodite senses. Luke was an extremely good actor and liar so it was not a surprise most people did not notice. Hell, even she wouldn't have noticed had it not been for her strong sense over emotions spiking at Luke's apprehension. It seemed quite obvious now that Luke was up to something but she and a few other demigods had brushed it off as his uneasiness of seeing his father Hermes on Olympus again.

Realization dawned on Annabeth's face. "Oh... I thought it was because of..." She trailed off, glaring at the Messenger God once again, much to his confusion. Luke always did look tense whenever Hermes was brought up in a conversation, and she too brushed off his weird actions as daddy issues.

"Were your spidey senses were tingling?" Lacy snickered at her older sister.

Silena snorted. "Yeah."

"Your what?" Annabeth and the rest of her siblings' eyes widened at the mention of spiders, much to the other demigods' laughter.

"No. If anyone did then I must have been distracted. What could have possibly been stolen from a god using my cap?"

"Oh, you know," Nico shrugged as if he were talking about the weather. "Just two of the most powerful weapons in the world, no biggie." Luckily for him, he was quiet enough that none of the gods took notice. Or cared.

"Yes, totally, nothing important at all. Nope, nothing." Katie chuckled.

"I see," Aurora sighed and she shrugged, feigning ignorance. "I don't know, I'm just speculating."

The two girls remained quiet in deep thought before they heard Aurora's stomach growl from the barbeque smoke coming from nearby. Annabeth told her to go on and Aurora left back to Hermes's cabin.

♡

Back at cabin eleven, everyone was fooling around waiting for dinner. Aurora took note of how many of the campers shared similar features: sharp noses, upturned eyebrows, mischievous smiles.

Luke came over, he had the Hermes family resemblance, too. It was marred by that scar on his right cheek, but his smile was intact.

Hermes smiled in pride at how much his children resembled him, but the scar on Luke's face still unsettled him.

In fact, it wasn't just the demigods who resembled each other. The gods themselves, unsurprisingly, shared similarities with one another. Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades shared the same shoulder-length black hair and nose that they inherited from their father. Call it the Kronose, if you will. However Hades and especially Poseidon looked more like their father with their sharp facial-structure and strong jawline while Zeus took more after his mother with his slightly rounded chin. Hera and Hestia resembled their mother Rhea with there doe-like eyes, although unlike Hera, Hestia had orangish-golden irises like her father's. Demeter was a blend of both her parents.

It was also no surprise that Aurora, Thalia, and Nico could pass for siblings. They are a miniature Big Three, something the campers always liked to tease them for, referring to them as 'baby Big Three' or 'Little Three'.

Ares and Athena were both brunettes with high-cheekbones, and while Apollo was golden-eyed and blonde and Artemis was silver-eyed with auburn hair, they both had the same smiles and the same glares.

"Found you a sleeping bag," he said. "And here, I stole you some toiletries from the camp store."

"You stole them, huh?" Aurora innocently repeated, going for the kill. "I bet you have quite  a lot  of experience in that department, hmm?"

Nico snorted at the lack of subtlety his cousin had. "Ruthless, aren't you?"

Aurora shrugged. "It's a mercy upon ourselves." She then cackled like it was some sort of inside joke that no one understood. Everyone looked at her in absolute confusion, even Poseidon, which made her laugh even harder.

The gods, demigods, oracle, satyr, centaur, and titan all looked expectantly for an explanation which they did not receive.

The smile on Luke's face became strained before it relaxed. "I suppose you can say that." he chuckled casually.

"I would assume, Hermes being the god of thieves after all," she drawled. "His talents aren't to be underestimated and I'm sure the same can apply to you. I bet you're skilled enough to steal from someone much higher up too... like an  immortal , perhaps?"

The smile from Luke's face fell. "Don't get your hopes up, Rory," she scrunched her nose at the nickname her parents, siblings, and friends call her by. "I couldn't even steal a stupid apple."

The God of War raised an eyebrow at the admission. "So the girl is wrong then, about the Hermes spawn being a thief." Ares stated. "If he can't steal an apple then there's no way he can steal from a god."

"Not a surprise, what can you expect from a Poseidon spawn?" Athena scoffed in agreement.

Hermes genuinely hoped that Ares and Athena were right, and that Luke had not done anything to earn the fury of the gods... The Messenger god has seen the way how his fellow gods treat the Daughter of the Sea, so how would they treat his own beloved son?

Aurora, Thalia, and Nico massaged their temples in aggravation. Chiron and the demigods sighed collectively.

"The resemblance to your father is uncanny." Hera drawled, side-eyeing the two war deities. "There is... no doubt that you both are the children of Zeus," The goddess leaned back on her throne nonchalantly, the insult going unnoticed by most except Aurora who held back a snort.

Kronos snorted as well. It seemed that the titan's theory about the Athena-Poseidon rivalry affecting the war was true after all. If the goddess refused to trust the daughter of Poseidon who very clearly has knowledge of the future, then she was even less likely to trust the Sea God himself. Good.

Aurora raised an eyebrow, signalling for him to continue. She already knew the story but she let him tell her anyway.

"I'm sure you know about Annabeth's wish to go on a quest?" she nodded. "Yeah, well, let's just say I ruined that for everybody. The last two years, ever since my trip to steal a golden apple from the Garden of the Hesperides went sour, Chiron hasn't allowed any more quests. Annabeth's been dying to get out into the world. She pestered Chiron so much he finally told her he already knew her fate. He'd had a prophecy from the Oracle. He wouldn't tell her the whole thing, but he said Annabeth wasn't destined to go on a quest yet. She had to wait until... somebody special came to the camp."

"An apple from the Garden of the Hesperides? Shit, no wonder he failed." Apollo hissed.

"Who does he think he is? Heracles?" Artemis sneered in contempt. The Moon Goddess was understandably displeased with the former hero for what he had done to Zoe.

Aurora did not miss the way Luke subtly changed the topic away from her question, but she let it slide. For now.

"Someone special huh?"

"Don't worry about it, kid," Luke said. "Annabeth wants to think every new camper who comes through here is the omen she's been waiting for. Now, come on, it's dinnertime."

Quite a lot of demigods side-eyed Annabeth. She had stayed with them for their first few days at camp until they would be claimed. If they weren't children of the big three, she would immediately leave them alone and forget that they existed.

"Can you do me a favor?" Aurora asked, ignoring the horn blowing in the distance. At Luke's nod she continued. "Can you honestly swear that you didn't take anything from an immortal?"

Luke stiffened. "...Why would you want me to do that?"

"Rory, you really need to learn to be more subtle." Miranda giggled at her cousin.

Will shook his head in exasperation at the Daughter of the Sea. "I'm surprised he didn't suspect anything with you."

"Oh, I'm pretty sure he did. He probably thought Aurora was being Aurora."

Aurora narrowed her eyes at the Son of Hades who looked like an image of innocence.

"Ah," Rachel snickered. "So the Auroracle strikes again."

"I feel like I'm being insulted here."

Now it was Aurora's turn to stiffen, cursing herself for being  way  too unsubtle. "Uh... um... It's just that I find it really hard to believe you couldn't steal that apple so I just want to be sure. I always make people swear for stuff like this?"

It was an absolute bullshit excuse and she internally winced at how stupid it sounded. Luke blinked at her.

"Sorry, I'm just really stressed." Aurora sniffled pathetically. "I don't belong here, I miss my mom, and Annabeth doesn't seem to like me. I'm just so new to this world I can hardly believe that the gods exist and now you're telling me that the Garden of Hesperides and golden apples of immortality are real. I just wanted you to swear, just to prove that all of this is real and that this isn't a weird hallucination..."

Okay, yeah, Aurora was starting to see why everyone thought she was stupid. This was not one of her best moments. The demigoddess hid her face in her hands and turned away hoping that her blush from her embarrassment would go unnoticed.

The demigods snickered in amusement along with a few gods whose point had been proven. Luckily for her, the overprotective Sea God glared at them, effectively shutting them up.

"Relax Rory," Silena giggled. "At least you took initiative to take action?" It's not like Aurora could accuse Luke of stealing the bolt right away when she's supposed to be the new kid who is unaware of everything.

"Yeah, that's more than what most would do." Thalia pointedly looked at the gods. Hell, even her father had not bothered to look for his own master bolt, instead sending his children to look for it.

Luke tilted his head. "Don't worry I get it. First days are always rough. But that's why we're here, we're family aren't we? And yeah, Annabeth can be a little... headstrong. She just really wants a quest, so don't take it to heart if she gets a little intense. I'll swear it if it makes you feel better."

Aurora blinked the crocodile tears out of her eyes. "Really?"

"Rory, you really need to work on your fake crying." Drew reprimanded, making Silena slap her shoulder.

Persephone raised an eyebrow at the tears in her cousin's eyes and turned her gaze to her husband who watched stoically.

"She looks like she has experience in... manipulation."

Hades nodded in agreement but said nothing else.

"I swear on the River Styx that I carry no stolen possessions from an immortal."

Hermes felt his faux heartbeat and ichor pressure rise, praying to whoever that would listen that his son would not be killed by the Styx for a broken oath.

Thunder rumbled outside, and Luke remained in his spot, perfectly fine.

The Messenger God let out a sigh, relieved that his son was still alive.

"Now, let's go, we're late for dinner! Eleven, fall in!"

Artemis and Apollo narrowed their eyes at the screen. The boy had told the truth, if he hadn't he would have been incinerated by now.

Dionysus chortled in glee. "So the girl is wrong. Liam Carpenter didn't steal anything from an immortal."

Ares chuckled along with his younger brother and turned to his sister Athena who grimaced. The smile on Ares' face fell as he saw the serious expression on the Wisdom Goddess's face.

Unlike Dionysus and Ares, Athena had taken notice of the wording of Luke's oath and frowned in thought, but she did not voice her concern out loud until she knew for certain. The boy did not swear that he did not steal anything, only that he had nothing stolen on him.

"We still do not even know what was stolen..." Hephaestus mumbled, impatient at the lack of information revealed.

The whole cabin, twenty of them, filed into the commons yard in seniority order. Aurora thought about the oath Luke took, the wording of his oath not going unnoticed by her.

He had spoken the truth, he did not have anything belonging to an immortal that was stolen in his possession right now .

Artemis and Athena's eyes widened as they were deep in thought.

Well played, Luke . He had outsmarted her, but two can play that game.

"And you played well." Thalia smiled at her cousin. While Thalia did miss her childhood friend, she both scorned and understood him. Many of the demigods did not agree with her and Annabeth, but she still believed Luke was a hero, which was often a common disagreement between Annabeth and Clarisse.

The Hermes cabin marched up the hill to the mess hall pavilion. Satyrs, naiads, and nymphs joined them. In all, there were maybe a hundred campers, a few dozen satyrs, and a dozen assorted wood nymphs and naiads.

At the pavilion, torches blazed around the marble columns. A central fire burned in a bronze brazier the size of a bathtub. Each cabin had its own table, covered in white cloth trimmed in purple. Four of the tables were empty, but cabin eleven's was way overcrowded. Aurora had to squeeze on to the edge of a bench.

Hestia exhaled in frustration. "Brother, please. At least allow the demigods to have more tables to eat—"

"—No."

"Zeus, what's the harm in Hestia's request?" Aphrodite raised a perfectly arched eyebrow.

"We are gods, Aphrodite. We do not bend to the whims of mere mortals."

"Father," Athena began, "Maybe Hestia's suggestion is a wise—"

Zeus narrowed his eyes at his favorite daughter, making her remain quiet.

Grover was sitting at table twelve with Mr. D, a few satyrs, and a couple of plump blond boys who looked just like Mr. D. Chiron stood to one side, the picnic table being way too small for a centaur.

Annabeth sat at table six with a bunch of serious-looking athletic kids, all with her gray eyes and honey-blond hair.

Clarisse sat behind her at Ares's table with Bellatrix and their siblings. They'd apparently gotten over being hosed down, because Bellatrix was laughing.

Ares squinted at his children on the screen, then at his children in the throne room who looked like they were mourning at the sight of Bellatrix. He wanted to ask why she wasn't here.

Finally, Chiron pounded his hoof against the marble floor of the pavilion, and everybody fell silent. He raised a glass. "To the gods!"

Everybody else raised their glasses. "To the gods!"

A few demigods rolled their eyes at their past selves. So much for making offerings to a bunch of gods who couldn't do much to help their kids.

Wood nymphs came forward with platters of food: grapes, apples, strawberries, cheese, fresh bread, and yes, barbecue! Aurora took her glass and spoke to it.

"Blue Cherry Coke."

The glass filled with sparkling cobalt liquid and she toasted to her parents.

Many of the occupants in the room squinted at the color of the soda, not understanding the context.

"You know, Rora, I don't think you ever really told us about the blue food." Kayla piped up.

Aurora took a deep breath, not wanting to think about her worthless step-father or her deceased mother. She didn't want to explain either but she figured might as well since the blue food would be brought up pretty often during the films.

"My... step-father, Gabe," Aurora spat in disgust. "Told my mom that there was no such thing as blue food. They had a really stupid fight about it, it wasn't really a big deal but ever since, my mom went out of her way to prove him wrong." She then listed many of the blue foods her mother would make, counting on her fingers. "Blue birthday cakes, blueberry smoothies, blue-corn tortilla chips, blue candy. It was her subtle way of defying Gabe, and she kept her maiden name Jackson instead of Ugliano too... which I'm glad she did considering what a terrible name that it. She had a rebellious-streak, you know. Unlike me with my obedience-streak." She chuckled near the end when everyone's stares became too intense.

"He sounds terrible, why did your mother marry him anyway?" Clarisse asked, voice unusually soft.

"It'll probably be explained in the films." Aurora deflected, wanting to avoid the topic in its entirety.

Clarisse stared at her but eventually nodded and accepted her explanation.

She's not gone , she told herself. Sally Jackson was simply being held hostage and eventually her mother would be returned to her...  right ?

"Denial is not just a river in Utah."

"Egypt. The Nile is in Egypt and flows through eleven countries in north eastern Africa." Athena dryly corrected Ares.

"Whatever. Same thing."

"No, it is not!"

And yet... Aurora felt as if something was gripping her heart, the anxiety that not everything would go to plan.

Thalia frowned. "Maybe it's your gut instinct?" she offered.

"Maybe." Aurora agreed. It was a shame that she had been too deep in denial to acknowledge it.

"Here you go, Aurora," Luke said, handing her a platter of smoked brisket and she loaded up her plate. She walked with him to the fire in the center of the pavilion.

Everyone took a portion of their meal and dropped it into the fire, the ripest strawberry, the juiciest slice of beef, the warmest, most buttery roll.

Luke murmured in her ear, "Burnt offerings for the gods. They like the smell."

"What does it smell like?" Rachel asked.

"Food." Nico deadpanned.

The mortal rolled her eyes. "Gee, that was so helpful, thanks a lot."

The son of Hermes approached the fire, bowed his head, and tossed in a cluster of fat red grapes. "Hermes."

Aurora was next. She sacrificed the brisket to her father, then to Hermes for allowing her to stay in his cabin. A strong scent of sea breeze drifted by. She then hesitated before sacrificing to the final god on her mind.

Hades. Please keep my mother safe.

If Aurora had the ability to time-travel she would have screamed at her younger self to stop being so naive.

Hades's eyes widened in disbelief, not having expected a demigod that wasn't a child of his to sacrifice to him.

This was like watching a train-wreck in slow motion and being unable to do anything about it except watch. If the previous scenes where Hades had sent the girl's mother to the Fields of Punishment were anything to go by, then Sally Jackson was anything but safe.

Unlike the other sacrifices, this one did not smell pleasant. After she sacrificed the final portion the pungent smell of rotten flesh permeated the air, overtaking the sea breeze from prior. The smell of the  dead .

At the reminder of the smell Aurora had the most sickening thought... What if the rotting flesh smell was her mother?

No, that shouldn't be possible. She had only been dead for a day, corpses do not smell that strongly. But Hades is the God of the Dead, and a petty one at that, so it wouldn't surprise her if he had sped up the decomposition process or something so sickening out of spite and anger.

The demigods shivered, imagining the scent of decomposed flesh and they warily eyed the eldest son of Kronos.

"Jesus." Nico quietly whispered. He has sacrificed to his father before at camp but never had it smelled like the dead. It was usually ripe pomegranates.

Will raised an eyebrow. "Wrong pantheon." he whispered.

Persephone towards her husband. "You must really despise the girl. She does not seem so terrible like the other demigods, don't you think this is an overreaction?" She asked, making the King of the Underworld clench his jaw.

Oh gods, oh no.  That did not reassure her in the slightest. She felt a shiver run down her spine. Aurora immediately returned to her seat, heartbeat racing and desperate to get away from the stench of the dead.

She already felt her appetite declining and she played around with her mashed potatoes, deep in thought. Did she anger the King of the Underworld? Did he not like the sacrifice? Were her fears proven correct?

"Don't you know Uncle H hates brisket?" Ares snarked sarcastically.

"My apologies," Aurora said, voice dripping with sarcasm. "Next time I'll sacrifice my first newborn child to appease our lovely uncle."

Thalia and Nico shared nervous glances. Aurora tended to use humor to hide her negative emotions.

Aphrodite gave a once-over at the King of the Underworld, appreciating the sight and the fact that he can dress properly. "Well he is quite lovely." Hades ignored the Goddess of Love's eyes on him and his niece and nephew's bantering.

"Make sure to sacrifice a bottle of Chardonnay for me while you're at it." Dionysus piped up.

"How about I shove that bottle of Chardonnay up your—"

Before she could think more about it Chiron pounded his hoof again for their attention.

Mr. D got up with a huge sigh. "Yes, I suppose I'd better say hello to all you brats. Well, hello. Our activities director, Chiron, says the next capture the flag is Friday. Cabin five presently holds the laurels."

A bunch of cheering rose from the Ares table.

"Hell yeah!" Clarisse cheered, ignoring the fact that her cabin lost the game right after. Annabeth snickered.

Ares puffed up his chest in pride.

"Personally," Mr. D continued, "I couldn't care less, but congratulations. Also, I should tell you that we have a new camper today. Astraea Johnson."

Wrong goddess, wrong pantheon , Aurora thought. Astraea was the Greek goddess of justice, innocence and purity. Aurora was the not-Greek goddess of dawn.

Will raised an eyebrow, realizing he said the same thing as Aurora.

The Moirai who watched from afar continued to weave their tapestry that shifted into the colors of pink, blue, and green— the colors of the aurora borealis. How ironic. It seemed that just like the Roman goddess of dawn who brought a new day, Aurora Jackson would bring in a new era.

It was a shame the girl did not even realize it yet.

Chiron murmured something.

"Er, Aurora Jackson," Mr. D corrected. "That's right. Hurrah, and all that. Now run along to your silly campfire. Go on."

Everybody cheered. They all headed down toward the amphitheater, where Apollo's cabin led a sing-along. Later in the evening, when the sparks from the campfire were curling into a starry sky, the conch horn blew again, and they all filed back to their cabins.

Aurora waited until murmurs among the Hermes cabin turned into snores and deep shallow breaths, letting her know that everyone had fallen asleep.

Quietly, she got up and tip-toed to the front door, trying to avoid stepping on someone's face or limbs.

"What, exactly, are you planning, little cousin?" Apollo inquired.

"You'll have to see."

"Rory," Will called out in concern. "The harpies would eat you if you're not inside your cabin after curfew."

"Those harpies can try me."

Rachel looked even more perplexed. "You guys have children-eating harpies at your camp?!"

"We have a horse and an alcoholic running the camp and a children-eating grandfather. Harpies are nothing."

She made her way out of the Hermes cabin and sprinted straight to cabin three where she found the door unlocked and slipped inside.

Inside the dark cabin were two gods lounging on the empty beds, both leaning over a phone the goddess was holding.

"...Kymopoleia and Triton?!" Hermes asked in bafflement. The other gods looked shocked as if they also couldn't believe what they were seeing.

Poseidon's eyebrows raised higher and higher at the scene. What were his godly children doing in his cabin at camp? More importantly, what was Kymopoleia doing there? Last he recalled she would linger in the remains of his former palaces and avoided Atlantis like the plague.

Zeus turned towards his older brother with a face that clearly wasn't happy. "What is that goddess doing there? I thought I told you to get rid of her." He hissed in fury.

"This happens in the future. Does it look like I can see the future?" Poseidon asked calmly.

"Ye—"

"Shut up."

Thalia snorted at her father and uncle's antics. Sometimes she forgot that they were siblings too and were not too different from humans.

Triton and Kymopoleia looked up from the phone at the sound of the door opening and closing before their faces broke into small smiles.

Aphrodite took a moment to appreciate the Goddess of Violent Storms. Kymopoleia took on a more human appearance instead of the monstrous one she usually dons which the Goddess of Beauty found equally lovely.

"Took you long enough." Triton snarked impatiently.

"I had to wait until everyone was asleep, you idiot." Aurora fondly rolled her eyes. She gave her siblings a hug and plopped right between them on the bed.

"Excuses." Kymopoleia teased as she went back to typing on her phone. Aurora peeked over her sister's shoulder to see what her siblings were up to before she arrived, only to find her arguing on Twitter. And what she saw was probably the most bizarre exchange between two gods she had ever seen.

"Twitter?" Hephaestus repeated in confusion. "What is that? And what is the funky looking object your sister is using?"

"It's a modern cell phone." Aurora answered before quietly wondering how on earth was she going to explain Twitter to a bunch of gods living in 1989.

"As for Twitter... It's a digital platform on your phone where you send messages called tweets to people anywhere. Anyone can see and reply to the messages, and you can keep up with the news around the world. Or in Ares' case, start fights." She pulled out her monster-proof phone from 2009 and pulled up the Twitter app to show the gods and they all looked quite fascinated with it. Like a bunch of cavemen discovering the sun.

"So... like Hermes but faster?" Apollo aptly summarized.

Hermes looked at his half-brother with offense.

"...I suppose? I mean, Hermes is still the messenger, so it's not like a replacement if that's what you were wondering."

It was a good thing the phone Kym used immediately translated English to Ancient Greek, but it didn't prevent the headache already forming in Aurora's head after reading the ridiculous conversation.

Woke Up and Chose Violence @ares

i hate jellyfish, those slimy fuckers 
amorphous blobs. who do they think they are?? 
oOoOOhH loOk aT mE i hAve stUpiD noOdLe sTinGeRs bUt i cAnt lAsT 12 hOuRs oN lanD 
pathetic.

Ya Gals In My DMs @kymopoleia
@ares    you got stung by a jellyfish, didn't you?

The entire room looked at the screen, completely mystified at what they were reading. Especially Ares.

"Woke up and chose violence?" Ares echoed in confusion.

"I find it is quite fitting for you." Dionysus snickered.

"What are DMs? And why is my... gal in it?"

Aurora looked like she was pleading with the Fates to end her misery right then and there.

"DMs stands for direct messages." Thalia chirped in reply to Persephone, pointedly not answering the second question. Persephone didn't ask more questions as 'direct messages' sounded straightforward enough.

Woke Up and Chose Violence @ares 
@kymopoleia    THOSE LITTLE SHITS 
HOW DARE THEY STING THE GOD OF WAR

Ya Gals In My DMs @kymopoleia 
its not their fault you're a fuckin idiot 
who told your dumbass to go around touching poisonous jellyfishes?

Woke Up and Chose Violence @ares 
bitch you look like you washed up on the jersey shore, you shouldn't be talking

Ya Gals In My DMs @kymopoleia 
funny, that's not what your girlfriend told me last night.

Aphrodite giggled as Kymopoleia's username was starting to make sense, much to Hephaestus and Ares's agitation.

Clarisse had a look of seriousness. "Aurora. Aurora. Is your sister looking for an adoptive daughter? I'm available." The daughter of Ares looked like she was ready to start begging for the Goddess of Violent Storms on the screen to adopt her. Aurora wouldn't be surprised if Clarisse handed her older sister adoption forms and started introducing herself as the daughter of Kymopoleia.

Ares looked at his daughter in betrayal. First, the unhinged Sea Goddess steals his girlfriend, now she steals his daughter. And she isn't even here!

Woke Up and Chose Violence @ares 
big talk cousin, and yet u couldnt keep yo husband from runnin away from u. 
loser.

Poseidon pinched the bridge of his nose at the mention of Kymopoleia's husband, the topic usually being a sore spot for his daughter.

"Damn. Your sister is married?" Katie questioned Aurora with disappointment. Travis looked at his girlfriend suspiciously.

"...It's complicated."

"Who even is her husband?" The son of Hermes asked.

"Briares."

The demigods blinked at the unexpected answer.

"Briares? As in the Hundred-Handed one?"

"That's him."

"Well... that certainly explains a lot."

Ya Gals In My DMs @kymopoleia 
fuck you BITCH. pull up to the usual waffle house at 5am.

"...Why are they meeting at Waffle House at five in the morning?"

"We ride at dawn bitches."

"'Usual Waffle House?'" Hestia echoed in concern. "You mean this happens often?"

"Oh absolutely," Aurora waved off as if her sister and cousin beating each other up at a Waffle House was a regular Tuesday. "The idiot over there has yet to learn his lesson." she motioned her hand towards Ares.

"...I see."

"Do they always fight at Waffle House at the ass crack of dawn?" Clarisse asked.

"Not always."

Hestia sighed.

"Sometimes it's a Wendy's parking lot at three in the morning."

"...Of course they do."

"Oh, I love Waffle House," Ares snickered. "They're always the epicenter for fights among mortals."

Clarisse raised a brow. "Why? What the hell is in the food?"

"Who knows. But those employees have my blessings, that I can tell you."

Woke Up and Chose Violence @ares 
say less. on ya mother, i'll have ya lookin busted and crawling back to whatever hole u came out of, bozo

Ya Gals In My DMs @kymopoleia 
suck my dick, dumb fuck 
i'll deadass steal your kneecaps AND your girlfriend, clown.

"How is she going to steal my kneecaps?" Ares demanded with a mix of confusion, anger, and fear.

"Never underestimate a psychopathic, violent goddess." Thalia dryly replied.

"That's what you're worried about?" Hephaestus grunted, unamused with another immortal trying to steal his wife.

Grover and Silena blinked at the screen. The satyr sighed while Silena quietly giggled.

"Well," The Daughter of Aphrodite said. "This makes so much sense. No wonder Ares looked busted at the diner." Grover hummed in agreement. The War God looked extremely disheveled. He was even sporting a few bruises, and Grover could have sworn he was limping a little.

Aurora mused over memory. She wondered if her sister had made Aurora's fight against Ares at the beach easier due to the injuries she had given him.

If the conversation between Kymopoleia and Ares was bad then the replies were even worse.

REPLIES:

Woke Up and Didn't Choose Violence @damasen 
man, i really thought  @ares  would've learned his lesson after getting his shit rocked the last 97 times. 
     ↳  The Hotter Twin @apollo
     Reply to @damasen    it's actually been 98 times.
     ↳  Woke Up and Chose Violence @ares
     Reply to @apollo    be very careful with what you say next 
     ↳ T he Hotter Twin @apollo 
     Reply to @ares    aaaah my timbers have been shivered. i'm PACKING
     ↳  The Hotter Twin @apollo
     *panicking
     ↳  The Hotter Twin @apollo
     that too ;)

Apollo chuckled at his username and comments, making Artemis roll her eyes.

Ares looked miffed at the information that Kymopoleia had 'rocked his shit' ninety-eight times already. Along with the fact that everyone seemed to know.

Now that Aurora wasn't concerned about the whole lightning bolt fiasco she started to pay more attention to the usernames. She squinted at the very first reply on the screen.

...Was that Damasen? As in the peaceful Anti-Ares giant created to oppose Ares living in Tartarus? It seemed that a few of the other gods had taken notice as well.

"Damasen? How is he on Twitter?"

"There's Twitter in Tartarus?"

"There's internet in Tartarus?"

"Well if Tartarus has its own extension number then the internet isn't so farfetched." Aurora thought back to the collar on the Chimera she had fought years ago.

"Pardon?"

Queen of Hearts @aphrodite 
@kymopoleia    is the offer still available, darling? ♡
     ↳  Heph @hephaestus 
        Reply to @aphrodite    sigh...

Hephaestus rubbed his forehead but remained quiet.

Men Are Pigs @thepuppeteer 
DRAG HIS ASS KYM

Artemis was unsure who 'The Puppeteer' was but she found herself agreeing with the username.

Hermes on the other hand narrowed his eyes at the same username. The person reminded him of a certain sorceress with a dislike of males...

I <3 Tristan McLean @tristanmcleanfan007
talk about family drama lol. this family sure seems obsessed with greek mythology tho...

hes_tea_yuh @MatchaTeaLeaf 
what an absolute circus show lmao

children give me indigestion @time4revenge 
i love seeing the young people fight 
     ↳  Woke Up and Didn't Choose Violence @damasen 
     Reply to @time4revenge    should you really be encouraging such barbaric behavior to children? 
     ↳  children give me indigestion @time4revenge 
     Reply to @damasen    fuck them kids

Poseidon sighed as he read the last few replies, which were undoubtedly his father. It seemed that his daughters and father made it their life goal to turn all of his hair grey in stress and he shivered in fear when he wondered what kind of chaos would occur if Kymopoleia and Kronos ever decided to team up against him. Jumping into Tartarus sounded more peaceful than whatever those two would plan.

Nico, Thalia, and Aurora narrowed their eyes at the last username, before flicking their gazes back and forth between the screen and their grandfather who was cackling. The three demigods didn't even question why and how their grandfather was on Twitter. If Damasen had Wifi from Tartarus then surely Kronos would as well. Or perhaps he ordered Luke to make a Twitter account for him and typed the tweets by proxy for the Titan. The imagery of a Titan forcing a demigod to create a Twitter account for the sole purpose of encouraging violence among his grandchildren was oddly amusing.

"Gee," Thalia said sarcastically, "I wonder who Time 4 Revenge could be."

Aurora looked exasperated. "Really? You had to use a pun about your domain?"

"That's what you're worried about?" Nico hissed, as he eyed the other part of his grandfather's username.

"Duh."

"I fucking hate this family." The Son of Hades groaned, putting his head in his hands. Why couldn't he have a normal grandfather instead of a menace with an affinity for chaos and violence.

Unsurprisingly, most of the gods did not bother to acknowledge the last few replies, choosing to ignore the problem at hand instead. As expected. No one had noticed the replies in the past either.

Aurora blinked at the screen before scooting away from her sister who continued to laugh like a maniac.

"Anyway..." Aurora murmured before she pulled off the laurel headband which took the form of a six-foot long celestial bronze trident instead of the scythe. "Can we begin training already? I have a long day tomorrow and I want to be prepared." The headband has the ability to turn into both the scythe and the trident, based on whatever suited Aurora's needs.

The gods blinked at the headband again.

"It can turn into both a scythe and a trident?" Hephaestus gruffly asked. Aurora nodded her head.

"How practical. It's good to learn how to use a variety of weapons." Aphrodite smiled in approval.

Whenever her siblings visited over the summers or during the school year, they would practice sparring with her to prepare for the monsters that would soon seek her out. Usually, it was Kym who helped her learn how to fight with a trident and scythe. Triton refused to ever spar with Aurora, always choosing to watch from the side like a hawk and offering advice instead.

Hermes scrunched his eyebrows at that. "How strange... Triton is proficient with using a trident and spear, no?"

Ares tilted his head in thought, nodding in agreement. "Yeah, he was the one who taught— oh fuck."

The demigods looked slightly alarmed as they saw the color drain from Ares and Hermes's faces in realization.

"What is it?" Clarisse insisted, but neither her father nor uncle answered.

Athena appeared indifferent and Poseidon clenched the armrest of his throne in unrestrained anger before Aurora put a calming hand on his arm. She later understood Triton's refusal to spar and she couldn't help but feel sympathetic for him.

"Sure, shall we head out to the beach? I doubt father would be happy if we razed his cabin."

Aurora snorted. "No kidding. He'd kick our asses."

Triton gave her a look. " Our  asses? No, father will kill  us ." He gestured to himself and Kym. " You , on the other hand, will be fine."

The demigoddess harrumphed and did not deny her brother's claim. "Whatever."

Aurora could never deny the fact that she had the Sea God wrapped around her finger. It would be akin to arguing that the sky isn't blue or that grass isn't green.

Triton snapped his fingers and they teleported to the seashore, where the tides were receding under the dark cloudy skies. Thank the gods their father and uncle's storms covered the moon.

Artemis narrowed her eyes at their relief of her moon being blocked by the clouds.

"Artemis dear, they must have been worried that you would see them and inform your father." Aphrodite dryly clarified. Artemis was one of Zeus' favorite children so it would not be a surprise if she snitched on her cousins for entering the demigod camp. Especially if one of them were a male.

"Huh. I'm surprised you didn't say anything." Ares said to Dionysus. As the camp director, the younger god should have noticed if a god entered the camp.

The Wine God shrugged. "Maybe I didn't know. Or cared. They were on the beach, after all." It was also hard to know what happens in his uncle's cabin too.

Kym summoned her own trident, the sand under their feet not a deterrent for either of them. "Ready?" she asked. Aurora gripped her trident and nodded. Immediately, Kym swung her trident, which she managed to deflect.

Triton remained a few feet away as he watched his sisters' every movement with stress. As they would fight, the clashing sounds of metal against metal, Triton would occasionally yell at Aurora, whether it be to fix her stance or to strengthen her grip on the shaft of her weapon.

"You're getting better  mikrí aderfí ," Kym commended in rare approval, not breaking a sweat.  (little sister)

Triton tsked. "Do not stroke her ego. There is still room for improvement."

"Oh shush." Aurora couldn't hide the smile from her face.

They continued sparring for about thirty minutes until everything went to shit.

Kym lunged forward, to thrust her trident towards her sister's midsection. Aurora saw the strike coming and was ready to catch the prongs with her own trident, but when she stepped back to create distance her right foot got caught behind her own left leg. She missed her chance to block the attack and instinctually braced herself for an impact that never came. Aurora hadn't realized she closed her eyes until she opened them. Triton was between them, shielding her body with his own and gripping the shaft of Kym's trident with a look on his face that could only be described as pure  terror .

Although it wasn't necessary, Triton had jumped in to hold back Kym's weapon impaling their younger sister. Kym was ready to pull back her trident before Triton had intervened, so regardless, Aurora would have been fine.

Dionysus looked disappointed. "A shame it didn't kill her."

Kym's eyes were as wide as saucers as she stared at her sister and then her brother who was trembling slightly. "Tri—"

"We are done for today." he said tightly, leaving no room for argument.

Clarisse and many of the demigods looked baffled at the scene. "This seems like a massive overreaction... Lady Kymopoleia looked like she would have handled it?"

Sherman nodded in agreement with his sister. "Yeah, she looked like she was prepared to pull back her trident at the last second."

"That, children, is what we call PTSD."

"Huh?" The demigods blinked at Persephone, who oddly enough looked... sympathetic. It was both an unusual and unexpected look for an immortal.

"It stands for post-traumatic stress disor—"

"—Trust me, we know all about PTSD." Clarisse shivered, thinking back to the Battle of Manhattan. "But what does it have to do with Aurora's brother?"

Now it was Ares's turn to blink in confusion. "Is our history not being taught at your camp?"

Aurora exhaled. "That story isn't taught at camp."

"What story?" Annabeth demanded, eager to know what the gods were talking about. The daughter of Athena narrowed her eyes at the War God and the Goddess of Spring before she looked expectantly at her mother and paused. Her mother looked tense.

"The story of Pallas." Hestia replied softly.

"My mother?"

"No child," The Goddess of the Hearth shook her head. She noticed a deceptively calm look on her brother's face and quickly clarified. "The daughter of Triton."

"Oh," Annabeth blinked in recognition, remembering the story from a book she had read before. "She lost against my mother in a sparring match, right? Because she was not as skilled as my mother with the spear."

CRACK!

Every occupant in the room's head snapped to the direction where the deceptively calm Sea God sat. His hand was on the right armrest of Zeus's throne which had a large crack running through it. Zeus glared at his brother for the damage done to his throne. Of course his dramatic brother just had to ruin his throne instead of his own, that bitch. As the King of the Gods was about to rage at his brother, his father sent him a scathing glare that made him close his mouth.

"What did you say, child?" Poseidon asked calmly. Kronos immediately grabbed his bucket of caramel popcorn in anticipation. Persephone looked like she wanted to grab a handful of his popcorn.

Annabeth was stunned, fear shone in her eyes but she managed to repeat herself. Aurora couldn't blame Annabeth for her confusion, her cabin was taught to remember that their mother was the best. Poseidon shifted his gaze from the demigod to the Goddess of Wisdom who looked nonchalant. She raised a challenging eyebrow at her rival.

"My daughter speaks the truth," Athena said coolly. "Pallas was simply too weak. Her father had not trained her well."

"I see." The Sea God said with a disconcerting smile. He leaned back into his throne and gestured for everyone to focus on the screen, baffling everyone in the room again at the lack of threats and violence. If you ignore Zeus's cracked armrest, at least.

Aurora, Hades, and Zeus recognized that smile. It was way too unsettling. They wished that Poseidon had yelled and screamed just to get it over with because it would be far better than this psychological torture. It seemed that Poseidon knew that as well and took pleasure in it, the bastard.

As everyone reluctantly turned back to the screen, Poseidon leaned towards Zeus to whisper something in his ear. The anger that graced the God King's face from earlier turned into one of confusion, making Aurora curious about what he had told his brother. She strained her ear to listen but it was far too quiet. Eventually both gods leaned back and focused their attention onto the screen. How strange.

"Triton, I'm fine—"

"—No. I'm taking you back to the cabin."

Aurora exhaled with frustration but complied, knowing that arguing would be pointless. She couldn't understand why her brother was acting like this. "Alright, see you both soon..." She gave them a little wave and she saw the look of concern on Kym's face. It was probably the first time she had seen such a gentle look on her violent sister's face. Her brother on the other hand... while he had his face turned away from her she could see that his hands were still trembling.

Most of the gods who knew Kym looked at the screen in shock. Kym was nowhere near a gentle goddess, so seeing her look sympathetic was... unusual. Especially since she was as unhinged as Ares, if their argument meant anything.

Before Aurora could even ask she felt herself being teleported. She opened her eyes to find herself in front of Hermes's cabin, feeling more refreshed. She looked down to see that the sweaty clothes she had on during their spar match had been changed with a new set of pajamas. She quietly slipped inside the cabin and tip-toed around the sleeping bodies on the floor to her section of the floor and slipped into her sleeping bag.

Thalia and Clarisse couldn't help but feel a little envious at how close Aurora was to her immortal siblings compared to them.

Phobos and Deimos were absolute nuisances and the personification of a headache while Thalia doesn't even have to explain her own siblings. Just look at Dionysus! At least she got along well with Artemis, and Apollo through extension.

As she stared at the ceiling and listened to the sounds of snoring from the campers surrounding her, Aurora couldn't help but wonder  what the fuck just happened?

"Trauma happened."

Chapter Text

The scene switched to one depicting two young men running through a forest. The moon shone brightly in the night sky and the constellations shined brightly forming different shapes. The taller man was clutching his stomach, face in a grimace as he held tightly to the shorter one.

"You've got to be kidding me..." Hades quietly muttered, angrily rubbing his forehead.

The majority of the people in the room looked confused at the screen, except for eight immortals. Nico in particular squinted at the taller man who looked very familiar.

"Who are they? They don't seem like demigods." Artemis asked, confused. Her eyes scanned over the forest and landscape that looked too unfamiliar to her.

Poseidon's face was in a pinched expression. "Because they are not."

The very little moon light that filtered through the trees shone on the faces of the two men, making their appearances more clear. Both had long, waist-length inky black curls that tumbled down their shoulders. The taller man was clearly older with the appearance of a young man in his twenties with a sharper and more defined jaw while the shorter one appeared to be in his late teens— face still youthful and softer. They wore similar white chitons that were ripped and dirty, but the older man's chiton was covered in something shimmery— ichor, the blood of the gods.

Both men stopped in their running, the younger one holding the older one's shoulder to stabilize him and make sure he didn't fall. The older one didn't move his hand that still clutched his stomach, golden ichor covering the hand and staining the white chiton. They looked up at the night sky and scanned their surroundings, the moonlight making the obsidian black eyes on the older man and the sea-green eyes of the younger man glow eerily.

Most of the younger gods were able to come to a conclusion on just who the two men were and slowly turned to where the King of the Underworld and King of the Seas were watching with stoic expressions.

Nico and Aurora already came to the conclusion that they were looking at the faces of their fathers in their youth.

"Aidoneus, let me look at it." The green eyed man asked frantically, eyes filled with worry.

"Poseidon, it is  fine ," Aidoneus groaned, clearly not looking as fine as he claims.

Well that was enough to confirm that the two young men were none other than the two elder sons of Kronos and Rhea.

"Aidoneus?" Miranda quietly repeated. The name sounded familiar but she couldn't remember where...

"My husband," Persephone clarified for her half-sister. "He also used to go by the name of Aidoneus before Hades became more common among the mortals." The Queen of the Underworld looked intrigued by the scene, curious on what her husband was like in his youth. Was he always gloomy and dreary as he is now? Or was he full of life back then?

Hades, however, did not look happy that he was once again being exposed in these films. "I swear, these films serve to humiliate me..."

"Now you know how I feel." Aurora bitterly scoffed.

"No, it is not." Poseidon argued, helping Hades (Aidoneus) lay down in the dirt ground, uncaring of their chitons getting muddy.

Poseidon pried Hades' hands off of his stomach, revealing a deep wound with ichor still spilling from it like a waterfall. It looked as if Hades had been impaled. Poseidon began cursing to the nth degree of Tartarus while attempting to clean the wound.

"Oh Fates," Persephone gasped, tightly holding onto her husband's hand as if to remind herself that he was still here and completely fine (physically at least). "Who did this to you?" she demanded, eyes beginning to tear up.

Hades soothingly rubbed his wife's hand in an attempt to comfort her. "It'll be revealed soon. You can relax my love, this was in the past."

"Fates damn that worthless uncle of ours!"

"Ah, that looks like the work of Iapetus," Kronos guessed. His older brother had a weird obsession with stabbing, not that Kronos could judge— he was a cannibal after all.

"Who else?" The Sea God sneered.

"He did have quite the fixation on stabbing anyone and anything." Demeter murmured, reminiscing the times of the old Titanomachy.

"Well, I supposed he isn't called the 'piercer' for nothing." Apollo muttered, watching the screen intently, fascinated at how different his uncles were. He is used to seeing his Uncle Hades as emotionless and always level-headed while his Uncle Poseidon always had a brooding expression. But neither looked like that in the past— it was enough to see how much they had turned into battle-hardened warrior kings after the war.

"Bob?" Thalia and Nico exclaimed in confusion at the mention of Iapetus. The children of the Big Three had encountered Iapetus before in the Underworld during a secret quest. Long story short, they brainwashed the titan and turned him into the janitor of the underworld. It was also now clear why Hades was not happy with keeping Bob in his domain...

"Bob stabbed you?" Nico repeated, looking at his father with wide eyes. Hades looked baffled by his son's question. Poseidon looked equally baffled. Who the fuck was Bob? Hades almost felt offended that his son believed he was stabbed by someone named Bob, of all names.

"Bob? You named my older brother Bob?" Kronos demanded his grandchildren. He remembered that his older brother had gone M.I.A. after he went on a mission to steal the sword of Hades. That mission was an absolute bust, unsurprisingly so since it involved the children of the Big Three. He had heard from one of his servants that his brother took a dip in the River Lethe and had lost all of his memories.

Nico snickered, quick to shift the blame to his older cousin. "It was Rory's idea."

"Traitor." Aurora mockingly glared at Nico.

"We brainwashed that bitch. He's much better the way he is now." Thalia snorted. Bob is a vastly improved version of Iapeus, in Thalia's humble opinion.

"You erased my brother of his identity and gave him such a foolish name as Bob?"

"Yes."

"Understandable. Have a good day." Kronos knew how annoying his big brother could be, and sometimes he had the urge to stab Iapetus whenever he went on a rant about the therapeutic benefits of murder. As resentful and infuriated as he was when one of his strongest fighters was taken down by his demigod grandchildren, he couldn't exactly blame them for tossing the titan into the Lethe, Kronos sometimes had the urge to do the same to his brothers.

"I beg your pardon?" Demeter blinked in confusion. The gods' and other demigods' glances bounced from Kronos to Aurora, Nico, and Thalia, utterly confused with the entire conversation. What in Hades were the demigods talking about? The conversation sounded utterly incoherent to the gods and understandably, they were struggling to comprehend it. They hoped that any of the three demigods would explain, but unfortunately for them, they were quick to move on.

"I want whatever the fuck those four have been smoking." Ares quietly muttered to Persephone, pointing to the three demigods and titan. Kronos was a titan of agriculture, surely he must have the good shit. Truthfully, Persephone could use a joint right now, the image of her husband bleeding in pain was too much for her to bear.

Chiron pinched the bridge of nose, having heard Ares' words. "That's just how they usually behave."

Aurora, Thalia, and Nico simultaneously cackled.

"Brother I am fine,  trust me . We cannot waste anymore time, we must meet Zeus in Dodona." Hades winced as Poseidon roughly scraped his skin to clean the area Iapetus had stabbed.

Zeus blinked at the mention of his name, memory quickly resurfacing in his head.

"Dodona? Iapetus? Hold on, is this taking place during the original Titanomachy?" Apollo gasped in realization.

"It would certainly explain their youthful appearances and why they were running." Artemis nodded in agreement.

"Yes, I believe this was after my siblings and I were freed from our father." Demeter said, appearing completely composed even though the memory of the Titanomachy still haunted her and her brothers and sisters.

"Holy shit... we've read about the Titanomachy at camp but now we get to see it?!" Clarisse asked, amazed and giddy. The other demigods and younger gods were just as enthusiastic.

"The Titanomachy is not mere entertainment for you children." Hera sneered, aghast at the Daughter of War's excitement. "It was bloody and brutal, time against nature. Do you not understand the kind of wide scale destruction that was created? My siblings and I had to fight tooth and nail to survive him!" The Queen of the Gods pointed an accusing finger at the former King, her father.

"You thought I would make it easy for you brats?" Said former King bluntly asked.

"Never with you." Hestia quietly answered her father.

Clarisse did not back down at Hera's angry lecture. She herself and her fellow demigods had fought against the Titan of Time and his army in Manhattan. In fact, the gods were utterly useless the entire time, and so Clarisse refused to be cowed and belittled.

"A shame that you couldn't provide help a second time." she angrily whispered.

When Hades' ichor refused to stop spilling, Poseidon quickly tore the clean ends of his chiton to use as a makeshift bandage. It wasn't perfect but it would have to do until they could find Hestia, their eldest sister who was skilled in healing and medicine. He looked around the forest looking for anything that could be used as salves. He squinted at the leaves of some of the trees when he recognized some of them to be yarrow leaves. Poseidon quickly tied the torn piece of his chiton around his brother's body and was quick to gather some of the yarrow leaves. He crushed it enough to turn into a poultice and removed the makeshift chiton bandage to make space for the poultice before he rewrapped the bandage around it to keep it in place.

Regardless if the yarrow leaf poultice worked or not, Persephone was just grateful that Poseidon tried to help him. It also saddened her to know how far apart the two brothers are now.

Apollo assessed the wound. "I suppose it is not bad considering what little resources you had for an injury like that. Cleaning the area with water would have been more effective though instead of trying to scrape whatever dirt was near it."

"Apollo, if I had access to water I would have completely healed his wound." Poseidon dryly replied. Although thinking about it now, Poseidon could have used the water in the air or made a rainstorm, but he was young and too panicked to think properly and had very little experience using godly powers, nor were any of them strongly connected with their domains at the time. Besides, it had led to him discovering something else that was equally useful...

Traditional medicine was not something Poseidon was exceptionally skilled at, but he knew enough from all the information his eldest sister drilled into her younger siblings' head. If only there was a river, pond,  anything  nearby, he could easily use water to at least close Hades' wound, but he couldn't sense any body of water...

Hades winced at the jarring movement. Poseidon stared at the wound, hoping that the poultice would help accelerate Hades' healing, but unfortunately it was not enough.

If Persephone ever came across that titan, she would make sure he will always regret putting his filthy hands on her husband. She began to come up with a list of ways she would torture him.

"Typical of Poseidon, unable to do anything correctly in his life." Athena snorted with amusement.

"Iapetus' spear is made of Stygian Iron, brother. I need nectar or ambrosia."

Zeus smirked at the image of his brother in pain and ichor bleeding from his wound.

Hestia had caught the smirk and uncharacteristically snapped, surprising many of the occupants in the room. "Wipe that smile off your face Zeus. The only reason Hades is injured is because he took the spear for you."

The God King faltered, frown gracing his face. "Hestia, what nonsense are you sprouting?"

Hestia looked at her middle brother and Poseidon took the hint and began explaining. "While we were scouting Mount Othrys, Iapetus had discovered the three of us. Our uncle wanted to hurt you Zeus, as the one prophesied to overthrow father. Hades allowed Iapetus to hurt him instead so that you would have time to escape to safety. After we told you to escape to Dodona where mother would be, we managed to temporarily incapacitate Iapetus and run before he called reinforcements. That's why the two of us were in that forest, it would be much harder for them to track us there, especially in the middle of the night."

"It is true." Kronos affirmed, remembering a report he had received from Iapetus after he set himself free. "I ordered Iapetus to track you, not your brothers. I wanted you brought to me in chains and you would have, had Hades and Poseidon not allowed you time to escape."

Truthfully, Kronos once held some level of care for his eldest two sons, they resembled him too much in many ways. And so he didn't want them needlessly harmed unless it was necessary, which was why he only had Iapetus track the youngest brother. It was Zeus that Kronos wanted to tear into shreds.

Zeus was unusually quiet, not even deigning to reply to either his father or siblings.

"But we don't  have  nectar or ambrosia!" Poseidon wailed. Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus had planned to scout the nearby area of Mount Othrys, which was the base for the titans. However the plan immediately failed once their Uncle Iapetus had sensed them. He was quick to attack the three brothers, taking advantage of the fact that they lacked armor and weaponry and they already used up their ration of nectar and ambrosia.

"That is truly pathetic." Ares bluntly stated. "Seriously, who goes to war with nothing to use to defend yourself?"

"How foolish," Athena agreed. "To charge into battle without either armor or a weapon. Clearly this is a good life lesson for the two of you. I see there is a reason why father had become the King." The Goddess of Wisdom looked at her uncles who didn't care enough to acknowledge her words. No, the two brothers were too worried about what was soon about to happen on the screen. Something that would reveal a secret that only the two of them had known for millennias.

"Did you expect our father to eat five full sets of armor and a couple of swords and spears?" Demeter held back her laughter. "Unlike you dear niece, my siblings and I did not come out of our father's stomach in shining armor ready for war. No, we had nothing with us but ourselves."

"No experience of the real world, no training, no knowledge of the present, nothing." Hera murmured.

Athena looked unimpressed. "Your symbols of powers? The trident, the helm of darkness? Did you forget to bring it with you before you went scouting or were you all simply clueless without my father?"

Ares nodded. "Had it been us we would have ended that war in a year instead of ten years."

"Pfft—" Aurora had to cover her mouth to stop herself from laughing. Ares was of no use to her when she had to fight Kronos, he was nothing more than a disposable pawn for said titan and was barely much use for him either. Hell, he couldn't even win against her. She shared looks with Thalia and Nico who looked equally amused. Unluckily for Ares, it looked like a certain God King had a nerve struck.

"Our symbols of powers were not something that was created with a snap of our fingers." Zeus coldly answered his children, much to everyone's surprise. "It took days, weeks, months, for the cyclops to forge our symbols. Did you think the titans would simply wait until we received our weapons to attack us? Of course not, and so we fought back with nothing but our power for those few months because any and all sets of armor and weapons were back on Mount Othrys, an area we were clearly not allowed to come close to." The God King faced Ares and Athena with a disappointed look. "Can you proudly tell me that you can win a war in the same manner we had? Forced to fight at a young age?"

Thalia looked like she wanted to point out that her father had just described the life of a demigod. Forced to fight a war at a young age.

Ares and Athena looked at their father with wide eyes. Never had they heard him use such a tone on them, Zeus only spoke in such a cruel manner towards his other children like Apollo and Dionysus. It was something the two gods took pride in, being two of his favorite children and their ability to get away with anything.

"Ares, you are a war deity and yet it seems that neither of you truly understand how brutal war can be." Hera sniffed.

Hades and Poseidon blinked. Did... did their brother just indirectly defend them? Who the fuck was this and what happened to the Zeus they knew?

"Enough of this foolishness, let us continue watching." Kronos drawled, not wanting to listen to another ridiculous argument. Fates knew he had heard enough drivel back when he had possessed Ares, and he wasn't keen on listening to more.

Poseidon looked like he was ten seconds away from a mental breakdown staring at Hades' ichor and the movement of his chest rising and falling with each breath. If he just had water...

Water. Ichor. The blood of the gods was more viscous than water— thicker and only slightly more dense.

Athena was quick to deduce what Poseidon was planning and scrutinized his every movement on the screen. To control one's ichor should be impossible...

"Brother?" Hades asked quietly, studying his younger brother's expression. Poseidon did not respond.

Ichor is thicker than water. It was a phrase that Poseidon remembered his mother once say.

The throne room was quiet. Hades and especially Poseidon looked tense.

"Brother," Demeter quietly said. "What. Are. You. Planning?"

Poseidon clenched his jaw, gripping the arm of his throne tightly instead of holding Aurora like he did earlier, worried that he might hurt her instead.

Hera eyed the screen and then her husband, wary of how explosive his anger would get if Poseidon was about to do what she thinks he's going to do. Watching her brother bleed made Hera feel uneasy. Millennias ago, her and her siblings were so close, but then as time went on they allowed their pettiness to get in the way of rationality. Hera had not considered Hades as a part of her family in thousands of years and yet she felt her ichor pressure rise when seeing him in a life or death situation. How ironic, he was the God of the Dead. Well, he is now, but he had not received that domain until after the war.

Aurora was beginning to understand exactly why the Fates were showing this scene to them. Of course, they do not do anything for no reason.

"Sei?" Hades repeated, using the nickname their siblings always used for Poseidon since they had met him in their father's stomach.

"Hades had given you that nickname?" Aurora asked curiously. Her own middle name was Sei, named after her father, and she was curious how he had received the nickname in the first place. (and if she was delaying the reveal of a power she knew her father had then that was only for her to know)

Hades shook his head.

"I did." Kronos answered with a sharp smile, making Aurora's eyes widen. Now that was new. She had presumed it was an affectionate nickname given to Poseidon by Hestia, not his cannibal father.

Apparently she wasn't the only one surprised by the admission. Hades, Demeter, and Hera raised their eyebrows. Hestia, however, was not surprised, and Zeus was too focused on the screen to listen to their conversation.

Poseidon barely acknowledged his brother's words and slowly removed the makeshift bandage and the poultice. He brought a hand to the ichor still flowing, fingers skimming what was the essence of Hades' divinity.

Hades looked unusually calm even with his ichor spilling out of him, as if accepting the fact that the Fates may or may not simply remove him from existence. And wasn't that a scary thought? Poseidon couldn't imagine a world where he didn't have his siblings with him. Especially a world where his older brother was gone. Hades was more of a father to him than Kronos was.

Dear fucking Fates, I was a fool. Poseidon looked like he wanted to jump through the screen so that he could shut his younger self up. Nevermind the fact he did not actually say anything, his thoughts were what was being read aloud. He was also curious... why hadn't Hades told Zeus yet of this power? They had not been on good terms for thousands of years.

"How adorable," Kronos mockingly cooed, amused at how badly his second son's line of thought aged. "Truly, I've forgotten how precious my children could be."

His eldest five children looked at him warily. Hestia found herself reminiscing a time where her family was closer and had deeply loved and cared for one another. Hestia and Hades as the eldest of the six siblings had taken on more parental roles for their younger siblings, especially when they were in their father's stomach. They were more motherly and fatherly to Demeter, Poseidon, Hera, and Zeus than Kronos and Rhea were. They were a tight-knit group but those once familial bonds were now filled with hatred and loathing. If only it could have remained strong even now...

"Do you trust me?" Poseidon quietly asked, worried that what he was about to do may not work or in the worst case scenario harm his brother even more.

"Always."

Liar, Poseidon wanted to say but remained quiet.

Hades pinched the bridge of his nose at the trainwreck of a scene.

Nico can see himself and his sister and cousins within his father and uncle. He would gladly sacrifice himself for Bianca, Aurora, Thalia, Katie, Miranda, and even the rest of the Demeter cabin, and he knows they would do the same for him as well. Suddenly, it seemed as if the gods weren't too different from the demigods after all. Or at least they used to, Nico winced, reminded of how quick his father was to kill Sally Jackson.

Aphrodite couldn't help but coo at the once strong brotherly bond. Even if that bond was now broken beyond repair, she was glad to see it still remained in their children, sensing the strong familial love the Son of Hades had for his close ones.

Aurora wanted to snort at how poorly that aged. Thousands of years in the future, Hades had barely trusted Poseidon and was quick to assume he stole his helm, not that he knew about that yet. But at the same time, it was also much easier to understand how close the two brothers were. They were practically inseparable.

Aurora did not like the frown that marred Poseidon's face. She hooked her hand into his, intertwining their fingers and bringing his hand to her lips to press a kiss, similar to how often he would do it to her in the future. The Sea God looked put off by the action as if he hadn't expected it, but it immediately wore off and this time he brought her hand to his own lips to press a kiss. She giggled at the feeling of his beard scratching her skin. Poseidon noticed and when the others weren't paying attention he kissed the side of her jaw, making sure his beard rubbed her neck and making her smile even wider as she tried to cover the sensitive area of her neck. He pulled her closer until they were chest to chest.

When Aurora realized how close their faces were, she immediately turned away, cheeks reddening. The frown on Poseidon's face was already gone and replaced by a sly smirk, and it was enough to make Aurora internally cheer in victory even if her body felt like it was on fucking fire... Dear gods, how can a simple smile, a slight touch, or chaste kiss from him make her melt into a puddle?

Concentrating, Poseidon tugged, as if he were looking for water but all he could feel was Hades' ichor. He imagined the ichor receding back into his brother's body and immediately the ichor stopped flowing, as if it were under his command. He tightened his control and tugged harder. Slowly the ichor was receding back into the open wound, leaving no trace of it on Hades' pale skin, except for the stains on his chiton. At the same time, the ichor that leaked shimmered and glowed brighter as if to purify itself of dirt and muck before returning to his brother. The open wound was beginning to stitch itself back close, skin glowing, threading and weaving itself as if it were one of the Moirai's tapestries. Soon enough the wound shrunk and Poseidon tore off another end of his chiton that was clean before wrapping it around his brother.

The gods and demigods were quiet, staring at the screen. Poseidon looked like he wanted to jump off Olympus but the only thing holding him back was Aurora.

"You... you controlled ichor." Apollo said faintly. "You actually controlled the divine essence of another god... Oh gods, oh fuck, oh no—" The Sun God was on the verge of panicking, already imagining how bad his father's tantrum was about to be.

"This is not good," Athena muttered, thoughts spinning a mile a minute. "This is dangerous, he is a threat to Olympus—"

"He used it to save his brother." Aphrodite was quick to brush it off. "It was not a power discovered from malicious intent but from brotherly love. How sweet!"

"But still, we are at the mercy of a single god!" The Wine God cried out, unusual since he was focused on his wine magazines the entire time.

"We already are." Hermes snorted, eyeing his father who was as still as a statue.

While the younger gods argued and the demigods gossiped among themselves, Nico and Thalia were unfazed. They were not surprised in the slightest, in fact the Sea God's ability to control ichor made sense to them. The two demigods met their cousin's gaze, sharing quiet glances.

"As long as the girl doesn't inherit that ability, we should be fine... for now." Hephaestus waved off. His godly siblings nodded in agreement.

If only they knew, Aurora quietly snickered, purposefully avoiding all of their gazes.

Hades blinked, as if he had been hallucinating the entire time from the ichor loss. "What..."

The older of the two just stared at his torso where the stab wound was, mostly closed as if it were an injury given by a minor deity and not a son of Ouranos and Gaea.

CRACK!

Everyone's head snapped to where Zeus was, his hand on the arm of Poseidon's throne which now had a crack running through the side. The Sea God rolled his eyes, unsurprised that Zeus had decided to ruin his armrest in revenge for Poseidon destroying Zeus' own. Truly, his brother was a petty bitch and the Sea God had the urge to smack him.

One look at the King of the Gods' face showed that he was pissed.

"We'll talk about this later, after we've met with Zeus. Don't tell anyone about this," Hades hissed, warily eying the trees around them as if there were an enemy listening behind.

Poseidon was quick to agree, not that he was planning on telling anyone truthfully. Hades brought his brother closer, kissing the crown of his head. "Still, thank you baby brother."

"So, brothers," Zeus began casually, as if he were talking about the weather. It was a bit reminiscent of how Poseidon behaved when infuriated, like the calm before the storm. It was also weird too, since Zeus was always quick to rage. "When were you both planning to tell me of this... revelation?"

"Some day in the future perhaps." Poseidon drawled, matching his brother's casual tone. 

"Oh?" Zeus questioned, tone taking a dangerous turn. He was really regretting defending his brothers earlier... so this was how his kindness is repaid, huh? When Hestia and Poseidon had revealed that Hades had taken a spear for him, Zeus thought his siblings could finally be trusted. But clearly he was wrong. If the Fates had not revealed this event from thousands of years ago, Zeus would have still remained oblivious to the secrets his brothers hid... he wondered what other secrets his family was hiding from him? Clearly nobody can be trusted, and nobody respects and appreciates his title as the King of Olympus.

It was also a wise plan that the God King had ruined the brotherly bond among Hades and Poseidon, who knows what other traitorous plans they would have hid behind his back?

Hestia gave him a look as if sensing his thoughts and Zeus bared his teeth at her as if to dare her to reprimand him again.

"I did not think it was important." Poseidon shrugged nonchalantly, much to Zeus' irritation.

"You have the ability to control the ichor of another god and you didn't think it was important enough to inform me?" Zeus repeated incredulously.

"No."

"No?"

"You have said it yourself, Zeusie," Poseidon smiled sharply at the nickname he and his siblings had once given the baby of their fucked up family. "I am weak. You claim I have never been able to match you in power, strength, and smarts, so what do you have to worry about me?"

It was a lie that Zeus had once told, after the rebellion of Apollo, Athena, Hera, and Poseidon, to make sure they never attempted it again. It was to discourage them from ever trying to rebel against him again. Of course it was a lie, or else Zeus wouldn't fear his brothers so much.

Unfortunately for Zeus, Poseidon had managed to manipulate the argument against Zeus, and now either he has to refute the lie he once told or agree with it. He decided to turn against his other brother instead.

"Hades, what is your excuse?" The King of the Gods asked his eldest brother.

"Same as Poseidon's." Hades shrugged, a smirk tugging his lips.

Zeus was ten seconds away from raging (throwing a temper tantrum).

"Careful brother," Poseidon's mocking voice quiet, pushing a lock of his brother's hair behind his ear. "You are about to burst a vein. Relax a little."

Kronos who had been listening to his sons' conversation from afar began cackling like a lunatic.

Like a dog on a leash, Zeus had no choice but to obey and lean back on his throne. This conversation would have to wait until they were in private. It was like Hephaestus had said, Olympus would be mostly fine as long as his brother's children did not inherit this ability. Poseidon's previous children never had this power, and so Zeus would not have to worry... for now.

Chapter Text

After that... eventful scene revealing a secret held by two of the big three for millennias and the subsequent argument that followed, everyone turned back towards the screen. Zeus was more upset than others but one glare from his father was effective enough to shut him up for a while.

But one thought still lingered through many of the audience's heads... could Aurora Jackson bloodbend just like the Sea God?

The next few weeks, Aurora settled into a pretty much normal routine.

In the mornings she was supposed to have Ancient Greek with Annabeth. It wasn't very necessary as Aurora was quite fluent in the language from the time she spent with her siblings throughout the years. While Kym mostly taught her fighting with weapons, her eldest sister Rhode had taught her Ancient Greek and she picked up pretty quick on it. So instead of spending the lessons learning the basics, she and Annabeth would discuss ancient Greek philosophy instead, usually involving Plato's dialogues and the stories about Socrates.

Apollo and surprisingly Athena nodded approvingly at their choice of topic. Even though the Goddess of Wisdom despised the daughter of the sea and would prefer she stay as far away from her daughter as possible, she couldn't deny that the two demigoddesses seem like they had the potential to work well together. Not that she would ever admit it.

Hestia shared a similar line of thought as Athena. She wondered if it was just their different nature that turned the two girls into rivals. Surely they wouldn't allow their parents' nature to dictate their lives, right?

"How did you both get interested in philosophy?" Apollo asked giddily. Most twelve year old children would rather spend their time talking about anything else instead of something that a bunch of dead guys had written centuries ago.

"I took a philosophy class." Aurora replied. Well she had taken it twice, both in her previous life and this life, and weirdly enough she found it much more interesting now than in her previous life. She figured it might have something to do with her being born in a world involving Greek gods and monsters.

Annabeth didn't answer the Sun God's question. She was a daughter of Athena, of course she would be interested in philosophy.

"Booooringg." Ares yawned, much to his half-sister's annoyance. "Seriously, who wants to learn about philosophy? Now war history is where it's at."

Surprisingly, Annabeth started to warm up to her and became less hostile. They even had an intense conversation about Plato's cave allegory. Aurora hoped it would stay that way, but realistically, she knew whatever progress she made would go down hill as soon as she got claimed.

Well. That was it. Hestia remembered that her niece's children tended to carry the same beliefs their mother did.

"It's a shame that a silly rivalry far older than the two of you prevented you from befriending each other. You two would have made a great duo." Silena said, smiling at her friend and the blonde. Annabeth scrunched her nose in disgust.

"That's why I tell my children to create their own opinions rather than following mine. It is immature to force a feud on children who did not even exist when it began." Poseidon said nonchalantly. The underlying jibe made Hestia and Aurora chuckle to Athena's anger.

In the afternoon Aurora rotated through different activities so that Chiron and the other head counselors could figure out her godly parent. Chiron tried to teach her archery, and while she wasn't the worst (if you ignore her accidentally shooting an arrow into Chiron's tail), she wasn't as expert at it as the Apollo campers. She preferred the close range combat that involved footwork. Despite that, Aurora still wanted to make an effort to become proficient in using a variety of weapons.

As much as Aurora enjoyed wielding different weapons like Riptide and her trident, she had to admit that the scythe was her preferred weapon. Not only was she a natural with it, but her enemies would always hesitate when their eyes land on its wickedly sharp blade, whether it was due to how uncommon it was among demigods and immortals or the stigma behind it, being the symbol of the titan.

It was also amusing to use a scythe against Luke who preferred a sword before he became a titan's vessel. Luke may have been Kronos' servant, but somehow she gained the titan's respect simply for wielding his favorite weapon, a weapon that Luke never tried to learn on his own.

"I can teach you archery?" Apollo offered charmingly, his smile nearly blinding until he saw the death glare his uncle was sending him.

Artemis sighed in exasperation. You would think that her twin would know better than try to rendezvous with a girl who very clearly isn't going to remain single for much longer. "I can help you with archery."

"Now that offer I can accept." Aurora smiled. She didn't really have anything against Apollo, but the god was known to be flirty. But more importantly, Aurora wanted to make sure Poseidon didn't flay him alive out of a fit of jealousy and possessiveness due to Apollo's flirty nature.

Aurora wasn't too bad in foot-racing either, but she didn't really compare to the wood-nymphs who had too much experience running from lovesick gods and she pitied them.

Hera glared at many of the male gods in the room, eyes lingering mainly on her husband, but remained quiet.

Artemis on the other hand sneered at the male gods. Were they truly so animalistic that they could not keep their urges to themselves?

"It is always a little embarrassing to be slower than a tree." Will grumbled.

Nico had a shit-eating grin on his face that spelled Trouble (yes with a capital T). "So it's a common skill among trees? Is that why our dear pinecone—"

Thalia slapped a hand over Nico's mouth until he licked it, making her pull it back as her nose scrunched in disgust. "Oh shut up."

Now wrestling is where Aurora had fun. She had convinced her mother to send her to mixed martial arts class when she was younger to prepare for demigod bullshit so she had some experience in striking and grappling. She was able to go toe-to-toe with the Ares campers who were closer to her size and beat them, including Bellatrix who became even more enraged at losing. But with Clarisse, she barely lasted five minutes before the larger girl would eventually pin her to the floor. Not that Aurora minded really, it helped her become much faster on her feet and better at assessing weaknesses, so all in all, it was good practice. The Ares campers didn't go easy either, still upset over the embarrassment of getting doused in toilet water.

Clarisse smirked at the scene of her beating Aurora and sat up straighter, making the other girl snicker.

"You wanna go at it again, Clarisse?" Aurora challenged, making the daughter of War falter. The two girls were now nearly the same height with muscled builds after years of training, putting them at a much more even match compared to four years ago.

Silena snickered when she noticed Clarisse subtly ignored Aurora's challenge.

But of course, what Aurora excelled at the most was canoeing, and so her weird variety in skill confused everyone. The senior campers and counselors ruled out Apollo as she wasn't amazing at archery and Dionysus over her lack of skill in vine plants. Ares was a 'maybe' because of her experience in hand-to-hand combat.

Dionysus and Ares looked disgusted that they even dared to consider Aurora their demigod child. If Aurora cared enough she would have been offended at their disgust. If Sally Jackson were here she would argue that Aurora was a wonderful daughter.

Apollo looked relieved that he wasn't considered as a potential godly parent for Aurora but for a completely different reason from Dionysus and Ares that would have him skewered by Poseidon's trident. And Artemis.

They also considered that she could be a daughter of Hephaestus because of her knowledge over the properties of metal and forging— but not forging itself. Granted, no one knew that she had a masters in chemistry in her previous life which is where her knowledge of chemical reactions involving heat and thermodynamics in physics came from. But it was enough to utterly baffle the campers to the point that they wondered if she were a daughter of Athena. The suggestion was enough to make her snicker and wonder how her father would react to that.

As expected, Poseidon did not look thrilled at that (or any of the other guesses of her godly parent) but said nothing as he held Aurora closer.

Athena looked equally distrubed, she would rather jump into Tartarus than have Aurora for a daughter.

Hephaestus perked up at the mention of his forge and scrutinized the girl. She didn't have many traits that were related to him whether it was in appearance or skill. Even if he were not told of her heritage, it was rather obvious to him she was a child of the sea and not fire. Although, he was impressed with her knowledge in the science behind his domain.

Luke suggested she could be a child of Hermes and she nodded in agreement, enjoying the way she completely confused the entire camp.

"Seriously guys?" Thalia groaned, slapping her hand to her forehead. "She just blew up the plumbing in the bathroom. No one guessed her parentage from that alone?"

"Hindsight really is perfect vision, Thals." Connor shrugged, reiterating his brother's words from earlier.

Drew scoffed in disagreement. "I had my suspicions because of her eyes. They're just too divine and I couldn't stop staring at them during our Winter Solstice trips to Olympus."

Aphrodite nodded in understanding, gaze shifting from the screen to the Sea God. "Agreed, I too enjoy staring at those eyes during the council meetings."

Poseidon pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance. Meanwhile, Aurora squinted at the Goddess of Love and her daughter, not liking their tone, and leaned closer to Poseidon.

Aphrodite's smile sharpened, sensing a little bit of possessiveness. Softening her smile, the Love Goddess blew a kiss towards Aurora and she immediately eased herself.

Other than the usual camp activities involving guessing her parent, Aurora made an effort to get to know the other campers, especially the ones that she remembered to have a terrible demise—other than Luke.

Hermes nervously chewed on his lip, remembering how May Castellan had received horrible visions of the future after attempting to host the Oracle. She was convinced that Luke's life would end in a tragedy but Hermes had foolishly hoped that maybe her visions were just inaccurate due to the Oracle not accepting her as its host... but hearing Aurora's thoughts is making him rethink practically everything.

Hopefully Luke's fate wouldn't be too bad... Right?

Apollo side-eyed his younger brother, giving him a weary look as if he could sense what he was thinking. Apollo couldn't help but think that Hermes was being too hopeful.

She began by making small talk with some of the unclaimed Hermes campers, specifically Ethan Nakamura and Chris Rodriguez, and eventually they started to open up more with her. They would tell her about their complaints about how unfair their godly parents were being. Aurora subtly pushed them into participating in activities closely related to their parents and encouraged them to not lose their hope in the gods. It wasn't like she could tell Ethan he was the son of Nemesis or Chris that he was the son of Hermes so she had to make do with what she had.

Ethan spent more time in sword fighting and Chris helped Travis and Connor with their pranks (Aurora was starting to regret that one).

The majority of the demigods slowly turned to face Aurora who was pointedly keeping her eyes on the screen to avoid their gazes.

Will did not look happy at the mention of the pranks. "That was you?"

Miranda had a look of mock offense. "You betray me, cousin?" Her and her siblings were the usual targets of the Hermes cabin pranks, much to their annoyance. Luckily for the Demeter cabin, Aurora's loyalty was with her cousins so she sometimes joined their revenge plots against the Hermes cabin (not that the Hermes campers knew much about that).

Aurora raised her hands in a 'surrender' gesture. "In my defense I didn't think they would bond over pranking of all things."

Katie looked unimpressed. "You had faith in those clowns?" she said, pointing her thumb back at the Hermes cabin, making them cry out in defense. Travis in particular pretended to faint into Katie's lap before she shoved him off with a light scoff.

Aurora shrugged with a small chuckle. "It was my first week at camp. Lesson learned."

Silena snickered at the interrogation her friend was receiving. "If not pranks then what did you expect Connor, Travis, and Chris to bond over?"

"Athletics? Basketball, volleyball, football, literally any other sport. You know, like normal bonding activities?" she offered. Hermes was the god of athletics, and she hoped that that was what they would connect over.

"Nonetheless," Chris snickered before his expression turned somber. "It worked. If you hadn't..." he trailed off, warily eyeing his father. It seemed that spending time with his half-brothers and doing activities related to his father was a reminder of his existence to the Messenger God, who soon enough claimed him. Chris had been unclaimed and living in the Hermes cabin for years before that and he shuddered at the thought of how much longer he could have remained unclaimed... it would have been enough for him to join Luke and Kronos, not that he would admit it out loud.

Hermes scrunched his eyebrow in confusion at Chris' expression which only heightened his nerves over the whole situation... Did he forget to claim his own son living in his cabin?

Ethan on the other hand looked utterly confused. What had been his fate that apparently was supposed to lead to his demise? He recalled earlier that Aurora looked relieved when she found out he did not wear an eyepatch and that confused him even more. Was he supposed to lose his eye or vision? It was strange, the only demigod he knew of that lost their eye was a certain Huntress of Artemis...

It worked. Chris was finally claimed by Hermes at dinner and clapped on the back by his half-siblings and Aurora held back a sigh of relief. Nemesis, however, had yet to reveal herself to Ethan, but Aurora was holding onto the belief that she would eventually.

Aurora cringed slightly at the memory. Nemesis had indeed revealed herself to Ethan as his mother, but it seemed to come at a price other than his eye. Nemesis no longer held care for her demigod son, most likely because he didn't join the Titan army like his mother had. It was a price that Aurora was okay with, she would rather have Ethan alive than die a painful death. Ethan for the most part took it better than she expected him to. He did seem bitter, but his former cabinmates from cabin eleven were able to cheer him up.

Hermes also sighed in relief, glad that he didn't leave his son unclaimed any longer. Although now he felt embarrassed for scolding the other gods for not claiming their children when he was no better.

She also started to spend more time with the Aphrodite and Demeter cabin. Ethan was close with Drew Tanaka, Silena's younger sister, and those two enjoyed shit-talking about anything and everything. Aurora found it amusing. She also made an effort to befriend Silena, one of the campers who had taken care of her while in the infirmary. She and the Daughter of Aphrodite sometimes spent time together during their free time, and today Silena decided to tell her about her ambitions for her future career.

Wary looks were given from the demigods to Drew and Ethan who purposefully met none of their eyes.

Kayla squinted at the two. "Don't tell me you've shit-talked about us..."

"Of course no—"

"—Yes we have." Drew cut off Ethan's lie before he even finished. The daughter of Aphrodite showed absolutely no regret from her admission, much to Ethan and the other demigods' annoyance. Silena fondly shook her head. While Drew may be sassy and overbearing at times, she was secretly a sweetheart.

"I want to be a cosmetic chemist." Silena told her on a Wednesday afternoon while braiding her dark hair. Silena invited Aurora to cabin 10 during one of their breaks from camp activities. The Aphrodite girls were way too keen on using her as a human doll to dress up.

It seemed that Aurora and the counselor of cabin 10 had much more in common and Aurora had to bite her lip to prevent herself from smiling. "Really?" she asked, hoping she sounded nonchalant. Aurora wasn't exactly a cosmetic chemist in her previous life but she knew quite a lot about the job.

Aphrodite smiled proudly at her daughter. Her children are viewed as weak, stupid, and vain, and so she was glad that her fellow gods would finally see that that was not the case.

"What about you, niece? What were you like in your previous life?" Hestia asked softly, a smile on her lips.

Aurora blinked in surprise, this was the first time someone had asked her about that aspect of her previous life. Most of the people in the room wanted to know about the Percy Jackson books she had read in her childhood which gave her knowledge of the future, and so she was taken back at her aunt's question. This was a change.

"I was— I am... a chemist." Aurora vaguely answered, repeating an already known fact. She didn't really want to reveal too much about that life. It felt too personal, and it was bad enough that her demigod life was being shown to everyone. Besides, she couldn't even remember much about that life. She knew how she 'died', what she majored in college, and the younger siblings she swore she had, and yet she couldn't remember her previous name or the names of her family, much less what they looked like.

"So you plan on pursuing the career again in this life? Have you already figured out what college you would be attending?" Hephaestus gruffly asked. He assumed that the girl was in her teens and almost done with secondary education.

Dear fucking gods, this felt like some sort of mortal family reunion where a bunch of older family members would interrogate their nieces and nephews about what their career goals are. This felt too... normal, but it was nice, in a way. A much needed change from the other gods who looked at her like they wanted her dead.

"Oh, I've already graduated." Aurora waved off.

Many of the gods and demigods slowly turned their heads at the admission. Only a small group of people seemed unsurprised, specifically her demigod cousins and friends like Silena, Beckendorf, Rachel, Grover, along with Chiron.

"...What?" Hephaestus blinked.

"I thought you were physically a teenager." Apollo squinted at his cousin. Sure there were cases of young children starting college very early and Aurora was practically a grown woman (not that he knew her age) in the body of a child, but she was a demigod that was very clearly the child of the great prophecy. Her ADHD and dyslexia wouldn't have made it easy. How would she even have the time for her coursework? Especially with the amount of monsters that wanted to kill her and not to mention her godly uncles who seemed to enjoy making her life miserable. Apollo side-eyed his father and Uncle Hades.

"A teenager with both a bachelors and masters degree." Nico snorted.

"With the highest honors too. From Columbia University." Thalia chirped from where she had been ruffling Nico's fluffy hair to his irritation. The two of them had even thrown her a little graduation picnic along with their other cousins right before they focused on the war... although that picnic had not ended well...

At the mention of the ivy league school, the demigods' eyes widened.

"What, like it's hard?" Aurora sassily sniped. Although she wouldn't admit it aloud, it had been hard. Not the actual classwork of course— she already had the knowledge and excelled in it (until her learning disabilities got in the way), but the fact that her uncles didn't exactly stop their attempts in killing her, taking advantage of how Poseidon had been preoccupied with the war with Oceanus in Atlantis. Kronos for the most part left her alone until the end of the school year, the summer, winter breaks, or the weekends, weirdly enough.

While Zeus looked unhappy (as usual) and Hades looked indifferent (again, as usual), Poseidon looked proud. The life of a demigod could not have been easy, most times they never made it to the age of even attending college. Especially for a child of the Big Three. She was a child that was on the receiving end of two of the Big Three gods' anger, and yet Poseidon could see how much she had (or would?) achieve.

As much as Poseidon would like to believe otherwise, he knew his brothers would never allow Aurora to exist peacefully... All the more reason for him to make his brothers kneel at his feet and beg for his mercy...

Silena nodded at the mirror on the vanity that the two girls were right in front of, her hands weaving through to form intricate double fishtail braids (ironically, it was the same style of braid Poseidon liked the most). Silena rambled a bit about what college she wanted to go to before she moved onto fragrances and the scents she liked the most and which could be improved. Silena also told her a bit about her father who ran a chocolate shop, and she even offered to take Aurora to the shop to try out their confections at the end of the summer.

Poseidon looked back to the Aurora next to him to see he had just done the same braid on her that Silena in the film did.

Aphrodite cooed over the bond her daughter had with her friends. Silena and Aurora were practically sisters in all but blood.

Annabeth looked surprised, a daughter of Aphrodite with ambition and wanting to receive an education sounded strange to her. It was almost as strange as Aurora who was finished with education. It should not be possible for a daughter of Poseidon to graduate from university during war, while she, the daughter of Athena, was still in high school. It didn't matter that she was born from another universe, it was unfair. Aphrodite and Poseidon are stupid, so it should be impossible for their children to do anything meaningful with their lives.

Beckendorf smiled at his girlfriend and gave her a chaste kiss. They would soon be attending university together, and it would be an understatement to say that he was ecstatic. Like Aurora, Silena would be majoring in chemistry while he would study engineering. After spending so many years fighting for their lives they will finally be free.

Aurora grabbed one of the perfume bottles from Silena's fragrance collection, squinting at the ingredients that were unfortunately written in English. It was an eau de parfum, by Chanel which was one of the much stronger concentrations, the scent typically lasting hours.

"Hm, I wonder..." Aurora scrunched her eyebrows, deep in thought. "No, nevermind, I'm being ridiculous."

"What is it?" Silena urged.

"I was just thinking, how highly concentrated a perfume would have to be to cover up demigod scent."

"Smart girl," Aphrodite commended, smiling at Aurora. "That is why I gift my children perfume quite often." Sure, it wasn't a reliable method, but it gave the goddess a peace of mind that her children are less likely to encounter monsters in the mortal world.

Hermes looked confused. "Would that work? Could perfume help cover demigod scent?"

"A strong mortal scent is what throws off a monster's sense of smell... but those bottles of perfume are from the mortal world so I suppose they could qualify as 'mortal scent'." Apollo tried to reason. He was eager to hear more about Aurora's idea. Apollo has had many children die over the centuries from monster attacks so if there was a way to cover their scent he would be delighted and even be willing to help his little cousin with the task.

"It just wouldn't be as effective as a repulsive mortal scent." Like Gabe, Aurora added.

Apollo raised an eyebrow, taking into note the emphasis on repulsive.

Silena paused in her braiding and stared at the bottle of Chanel's Coco Mademoiselle with wide eyes in realization. It was a gift from her mother for her twelfth birthday. Most Aphrodite kids actually received fragrances as their first gift from the Love Goddess. "It's enough to cover up demigod scent for a few hours, but not for an entire week or even days unless you keep reapplying. It must be why my siblings and I don't attract a lot of monsters in the mortal world."

Drew, Mitchell, Lacy, and the other Aphrodite kids nodded their heads. They often wore fragrances in the mortal world but they never realized that it had been secretly protecting them the entire time.

Drew threw a smug look at many of her fellow demigods, especially Annabeth. "You still wanna think that Aphrodite is stupid and weak?" Annabeth rolled her eyes but didn't respond to Drew's bait.

"I figured," Aurora agreed. "But if I were to go about making a bottle of perfume for demigods I would have to probably use divine magic and material or some shit."

Some of the gods widened their eyes, following along with Aurora's line of thought.

"Hypothetically speaking, if we use the proper ingredients to create a potent bottle of perfume, would it be enough to counteract the curse of Lamia?" Apollo asked, excitement in his voice.

"What's the curse of Lamia?" Rachel asked. While she learned and read about many of the Greek myths ever since she met Aurora, Lamia's curse didn't sound familiar.

"Lamia was a daughter of Hecate and queen of Libya who my..." Apollo hesitated here, looking between Hera and Zeus. "... Father had fallen in love and had an affair with. Step-mother dearest killed Lamia's children out of jealousy, and in retaliation Lamia used an incantation that always allowed monsters to sense the demigods."

"So the curse can be countered? Even slightly?" Rachel asked hopefully.

"No, of course not. It is simply a case of wishful thinking." Dionysus immediately disagreed, to Apollo's disappointment.

Katie hummed thoughtfully. "If potent perfume is the reason why Aphrodite cabin aren't targeted by monsters often then... What about us? My siblings and I are hunted but not to the same extent as Aurora, Thalia, or Nico." She figured that was a part of the reason why Annabeth had called her and Aphrodite campers not powerful, but Katie refused to believe that that was the true explanation why monsters didn't sense them (not that she was complaining).

"Ah, I think I can explain that one." Kronos spoke up.

Katie blinked and so did her siblings and her mother. The remaining audience turned to face the titan as they were curious as well.

Kronos took his granddaughter's silence as cue to continue. "As you should already know—if you do not, I will harvest your organs—I am the Titan of Agriculture, just like your mother is the Goddess of Agriculture." Katie nodded her head in confirmation, ignoring her grandfather's threat. "Because of our shared domain, our divine auras are similar to a certain extent. Just like how Poseidon's immortal children with oceanic domains have a fainter, diluted version of their father's aura, Demeter's aura is light compared to mine, and her children's are even more watered down. Those idiotic monsters believe that your aura that they have picked up on is mine, which must be why they choose to avoid you, in fear that they will run into me."

Huh. That... actually made a lot of sense. Kronos was a feared divine being that most rational creatures would want to avoid, and considering their shared domain, Katie couldn't argue against the logic, as much as she hated the idea of resembling the titan in any way.

Demeter mused over her father's words. "So you have been unintentionally aiding my children in their survival?" she asked quietly.

"Unfortunately."

Demeter did not like that answer, nor did she like the realization that she resembled her father way more than she expected— at least their auras were only partially similar, Poseidon was much more unfortunate enough to look nearly identical to the titan. But at the very least, she was grateful that her demigod children were not in as much danger as their fellow campers were... even if it meant they smelled like a cannibal.

"Language," Silena chided and she tied the ends of the double braids. "Maybe the Hecate campers could help with that? Lou Ellen Blackstone is quite skilled in mist manipulation. Maybe she can help figure something out in hiding demigod scents?"

Lou Ellen Blackstone... Aurora mentally ran through a list of names of the Hermes cabin members and recognized her as the daughter of Hecate with the bob haircut and dangling earrings in the shape of the moon phases.

"Huh... maybe the demigods can figure out a way to reverse Lamia's curse." Apollo muttered.

Dionysus made a face at his older half-brother that said 'explain'. Apollo got the hint and continued. "The curse was implemented by Lamia who was a daughter of Hecate, but none of us gods ever reversed it... but what if a half-sister of Lamia tried?"

Zeus narrowed his eyes at his son. "Apollo, enough of this foolishness. A Hecate spawn cannot be trusted to handle such serious matters. This curse clearly cannot be lifted, and it would be futile to even try." The God King turned towards his favorite daughter with a silent look. Apollo looked like he wanted to point out the hypocrisy in his father's statement since Zeus had hooked up with a 'Hecate spawn' but he remained quiet. He would rather not have a lightning bolt thrown at his face, thank you very much.

Athena understood and spoke in defense of her father. "Father is right, it is unwise to trust a mere demigod, especially a spawn of Hecate with such matters. She is far too young and unreliable, what if in her attempt to reverse the curse she enhances it? Besides, Hecate's loyalty to Olympus has never been stable. For all we know that girl could be plotting against our father, the King."

Zeus nodded and Apollo deflated again, the remains of his previous excitement gone.

Hera rolled her eyes at the entire topic. The entire curse was foolish in itself. Hera did not and would never have demigod children so she would never worry about losing her own children to death since they were all immortals. She smirked in triumph at how ineffective a curse targeted towards her was.

Zeus noticed Hera's smirk and was quick to acknowledge her. "Perhaps, if Hera had learned to be a more kind and forgiving goddess and wife, the curse would not have occurred in the first place." he chided with a condescending tone, chin on his hand leaning towards his wife.

"Perhaps," Hera mocked, matching the same condescending tone as her husband, "If Zeus had learned to be a more faithful and loyal husband and king, the curse would not have occurred."

"Perhaps," Aurora, being one of the few who wasn't afraid of intervenening in the marital spat, joined in using the exact tone, "The two of you can get some fucking marriage counseling."

"Bold of you to assume marriage counseling would be enough to help them." Poseidon quietly muttered and laughed before he quickly stifled it, remembering his own shitshow of a marriage with Amphitrite.

The King and Queen of the Gods had a silent staring contest that resulted in both looking away.

Silena backed up, admiring her handiwork with Aurora's fishtail braids and smiled approvingly. "Anyway, there's actually a reason why I called you here, Rory."

"Yeah?"

Silena walked to the front door of the Aphrodite cabin and opened it, revealing three campers. Aurora internally groaned when she realized it was Clarisse and two of her siblings from The Bathroom Incident™.

"...Did Silena make you guys wait outside the cabin the entire time?" Will asked, noticing that he didn't hear a knock on the door before Silena went to open it. How else would Silena have known there were people at the door?

"Yes." Clarisse groaned, running a hand down her face. "For half an hour!"

Beckendorf bursted into loud laughter, tears running down his face as he clutched his stomach in pain from laughing too hard. "You... you..." He wheezed and after a few moments he finally calmed down enough to continue his sentence. "You guys just stood there, outside in front of the cabin the entire time, and didn't even try to leave? Even while Silena was inside and wouldn't have noticed?"

"It's Silena man," Sherman shrugged. "She would've dragged our asses back anyway."

"Speaking of which," Clarisse pleadingly looked at the centaur. "Chiron, would Silena get punished for making us wait at the door of her cabin like dogs waiting to be let in?"

Silena laughed at the daughter of Ares who looked suspiciously close to pouting at her. Chiron looked amused but didn't answer the question.

"Were the Ares kids punished for The Bathroom Incident?" Persephone raised an eyebrow and Clarisse and her siblings immediately looked away. "Because if they were not I see no reason to punish the Aphrodite girl."

"Clarisse, and her siblings wanted to apologize for trying to dunk your head into a toilet. Right guys?" Silena gave a sharp smile at the three children of Ares that pretty much said 'if you don't apologize I swear to the gods I will make your life a living hell'. The smile made the Ares kids shiver and Aurora mentally made a note to never piss off Silena.

Apollo and Hermes shivered at the smile. The smile was way too similar to Aphrodite's whenever she was scheming and it brought a sense of dread in them. It was an unspoken rule to never piss off the Love Goddess.

"Jeez Sil," Will snickered. "Who knew you could be that scary?"

"I knew," Beckendorf slowly raised a hand like an elementary school student.

"Uh right, totally," The guy with the cast—Sherman—muttered, not meeting Silena's gaze. The other two siblings hummed in agreement. Unsurprisingly Bellatrix was not with them.

Clarisse tried glaring at Silena for forcing her into this but Silena did not falter and so she eventually gave up. "Listen, uh, Astraea—"

"It's Aurora."

"Did my dad possess you?" Pollux asked the daughter of Ares. "You sure were channeling his spirit with the misnaming."

Clarisse grumbled but said nothing else.

"Perhaps Dionysus may be Clarisse's secret father." Connor offered, snickering.

Ares glowered at the Son of Hermes. "Are you implying that I fathered the girl with Dionysus?"

Dionysus looked perturbed. Clarisse, Pollux, and Connor blinked at the God of War and immediately looked away at the thought of their fathers together... the Ares and Dionysus cabins shuddered.

Despite the uncomfortable mood settling in the room, Ares did not shut his mouth. "Because if you are, then Dionysus is totally the botto—"

"—Why don't we continue with the film, instead?" Hestia interrupted with a strained smile.

"Right, Aurora. We're—" Clarisse gestured to herself and her two siblings. "—We're sorry about the whole... initiation thing with my sister Bellatrix trying to dunk your head in a toilet." Clarisse grimaced as the words tasted like ash. She hated apologizing but Silena was her friend so for her she would do anything.

Persephone snorted. "Like parents, like children."

"What?" Hephaestus squinted at the goddess.

"Ares finds it difficult to ever deny Aphrodite. It seems his children are the same when it comes to Aphrodite's kids." The Queen of the Underworld snickered at the resemblance between Clarisse and Silena and Ares and Aphrodite.

Silena chuckled, much to Clarisse's annoyance and Beckendorf's amusement.

Ares didn't even deny his half-sister's accusations.

Aurora raised an eyebrow. "Where is your sister?"

"At cabin 5," Sherman explained. "She's still not happy that you kinda tried to drown her. Silena tried to drag Bella here earlier but she locked herself in our cabin. But yeah, we're sorry about that." he sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck and the third Ares sister murmured a similar apology.

"Hm," Hephaestrus grunted. "I would never have expected Ares spawns to have the emotional maturity to take accountability..." Even if it were forced by his wife's daughter. He nodded approvingly at Clarisse and her siblings. "If only your father could be more like you."

Clarisse looked surprised but grateful by her uncle's admission. Ares, however, was not pleased.

Huh. Aurora couldn't say she was expecting this. She didn't think that Silena would force them to apologize to her, but it was still sweet regardless. Hopefully this would spare them from her father's wrath. (it didn't)

"Pardon?" Ares asked. When Poseidon's eyes landed on him the War God shrunk into his throne.

"I accept your apology." Aurora smiled and the three Ares children looked relieved. "But—" they tensed once more. "—I will not apologize for trying to drown your sister in a toilet." Or for dousing them sewage water, but it's not like they knew that was just a part of her power.

"Hm, I can work with that." Clarisse said gruffly and Silena beamed at her as she clapped her hands.

"Finally. Now that you guys finally made up, you can be my new test subjects. I want to know what shoes go best with bell-bottoms. Platforms or wedges?"

"Platforms." Lacy said.

"Wedges." Drew countered. The two sisters began to have a staring contest until Mitchell shoved his sisters' heads away.

"Hm," Aphrodite pondered, interrupting her children. "I wonder how many of the 80s fashion trends will remain in the future."

"Those horrendous mullets are so out of style in the future." Aurora said. Aphrodite immediately pulled out a notepad and scribbled it down.

"Since we're on the topic of trends," Thalia looked mischievously at the Sun God. "Haikus are so overrated." If Thalia was forced to go back to the past to watch her cousin's life, she might as well take advantage of it so that she and Artemis didn't have to put up with Apollo's ridiculous haikus in the future.

Apollo looked devastated before he took note of the glint of mischief in Thalia's eyes.

"I'm going to call bullshit on that." Apollo squinted at Thalia, much to her and Artemis' disappointment.

Clarisse, her siblings, and Aurora groaned but couldn't hide the smiles off their faces.

♡

That night, Aurora had a vivid dream. It was actually a familiar dream she already had right before her mother and Grover headed for camp and faced the Minotaur. Except this time... it didn't go quite the same.

"Demigod dreams, huh? How bad can this one be?" Connor whispered to his brother.

Aurora who heard him from afar snorted. "See for yourself."

Will frowned. "I don't like the sound of that..."

It was storming on the beach, and two beautiful animals, a white horse and a golden eagle, were trying to kill each other at the edge of the surf. The eagle swooped down and slashed the horse's muzzle with its huge talons. The horse reared up and kicked at the eagle's wings. As they fought, the ground rumbled, and a monstrous voice chuckled somewhere beneath the earth, goading the animals to fight harder.

The gods stiffened as the monstrous voice from the dream sounded eerily similar to a certain titan in the room.

No, that couldn't be right. Perhaps they were just confusing the two voices, because there was no way that the Titan of Time would be involved in anything in the future, when he was supposed to be rotting in Tartarus.

Athena's thoughts were spinning a mile a minute. It was obvious the two animals were her father and uncle. They were clearly fighting over something, and immediately Athena recalled that Aurora and Annabeth mentioned something was stolen. Could it be...

Athena gasped. "The lightning bolt!" She suddenly remembered the name of the film. Aurora Jackson and the Lightning Thief. That couldn't be a coincidence.

"What?" Zeus questioned.

"That must be what was stolen! The films, they are called The Lightning Thief, remember? This explains why you are angry and fighting with kelp-for-brains."

All of the gods' eyes widened and they took Athena's words into consideration as they began discussing among themselves.

"Shit, who would be stupid enough to do that?" Ares laughed as he lounged back in his throne. He was overjoyed at the prospect that there would probably be a war in the future over his father's bolt.

"Whoever it was, they clearly want a war." Persephone muttered an answer to her half-brother. "Why else would anyone do something so reckless?" She paused, taking a moment to squint at Ares in suspicion.

"Took them long enough." Silena sighed, making Thalia and Nico laugh. Aurora smirked in amusement.

Poseidon's lips twitched up into a brief smile. It looks like his earlier accusation of Zeus being stupid enough to lose his bolt was correct after all.

"It must be Poseidon." Zeus sneered, eyes narrowed in anger. "Who else would be foolish enough to dare dethrone me, the king? It's clear that he must have used Aurora to sneak into Olympus and steal my bolt."

"And why would I bother to do that?" Poseidon countered. "Why would I want anything to do with your sex toy or your throne for that matter?" The Sea God knew nothing of the future but he was confident that if Zeus truly did lose his bolt then it had nothing to do with Poseidon nor Aurora. Poseidon doesn't even want Zeus' position as King of the Gods when he was already stressed over his seas and the ongoing pollution.

"Because you have resented my father for millennias for both his power and intellect—both of which you lack." Athena sneered, throwing a loathing glare.

Poseidon laughed loudly. "Zeus can believe whatever delusions he has about himself and you can go ahead and feed into his delusions. But know this—if I truly wanted to overthrow your useless father, I would not need his damned bolt."

The Wisdom Goddess's sneer turned into a smug smirk. "This would not be the first time you have tried to overthrow him, correct?"

"Are you perhaps referring to the same rebellion that you had not only actively participated in but also was the mastermind behind?" Poseidon shot back, smile turning sharp.

As Athena was about to make a scathing remark, her father interrupted.

"Enough of the lies, Poseidon you are clearly the culprit. I always knew you desired power and my throne. Did you truly think you could fool me?" The God King demanded, clenching his fist as he desperately wished he could use his lightning to kill his brother and his useless spawn.

"Here we go again." Aurora said, throwing a disdainful look towards Zeus. This was exactly what happened in the future, and here it was happening again. Despite Kronos' obvious hatred of Zeus and the gods, none of the gods has suspected him of stealing again. Here they were, making the same stupid mistakes—jumping to conclusions and throwing around accusations with no proof. Here they were completely ignoring the threat of Kronos' presence because they were too deep in denial. It was annoying as it was pathetic.

"I wish common sense was more common." Thalia sighed as she side-eyed her father. "Anyone with a brain should realize that if Rory did have my father's bolt then it would've been brought up in these films. Since, y'know, it's privy to her thoughts?"

"This is just pathetic." Silena groaned as she dug a finger into her temple to make her headache go away. Seriously, why couldn't anybody wait until more information was given from the films before throwing around accusations like candy? Her poor best friend was always on the receiving end of those accusations.

It seemed that even the Fates grew tired of such an argument that Atropos had sewn the mouths of all of the gods shut so that they could continue with the films. Eventually the eldest Moirai removed the temporary silencing spell.

Here we go again, Aurora rolled her eyes. Seriously, why was she having the same dream again? She sighed, and just as she tried to run toward the two animals, time slowed. Except this time, from the peripheral of her vision, she saw something... shiny in the sand. Scaly.

A sixteen foot (five meters) long python was slithering through the dunes of the sand, slowly but surely heading straight for the horse and the eagle, both of whom were unaware.

From the corner of her eye, Aurora once again caught something shiny. This time, she turned towards her grandfather to see the shiny brooch that was pinned to his black chiton, clearly resembling a snake. How fitting, of course her grandfather's sacred animal was the snake. No one was more deceitful and sly as the Crooked One.

As the eagle and horse fought and the snake edged closer to the horse's leg, a fourth animal decided to join the circus show.

A black screech owl.

Athena narrowed her eyes in suspicion. Owls were her sacred animal, but she knew right away that this owl was not meant to symbolize her.

"Fuck." Hades threw his head back against his seat and Persephone and Nico stared at the god in surprise. Hades was not usually the type to use profanities—that was mostly Poseidon who tended to curse like a sailor.

Even if time hadn't frozen her in place, Aurora was sure she would've stood still in the same place out of pure bewilderment. What was going on? The snake and the screech owl weren't there before. Did a bunch of animals just break out of a zoo and this was supposed to be some sort of weird sign from the Fates?

"Did you just compare Olympus to a zoo?" Ares asked incredulously.

"I would have assumed she was referring to Tartarus as a zoo, but I think I prefer your version better." Kronos snarked.

The screech owl joined the eagle in trying to slash the horse, and Aurora knew the horse was in a losing battle.

STOP! She tried to scream but to no avail.

Zeus sat up straight, his smile smug. There was no doubt about the identities of the animals, and he was extremely pleased to see Hades supporting him avidly against Poseidon, despite the God King striking his mistress with lightning. It was in times like this that Zeus would pat himself on the back for ruining his older brother's relationship. For as long as either of them stood by him against the other, he would always be granted a swift victory, and this dream and World War II were the perfect examples of that.

If Aurora wasn't so busy panicking, she would have noticed the snake climbing up the horse's leg. If the horse, eagle, and screech owl weren't too busy fighting they would've noticed the snake slither around the horse's neck.

The eagle and the screech owl both dived down, both of their beaks aimed for the horse's eyes... until the snake leaped into action right at the two birds, making the eagle and owl's eyes widened. The snake unhinged its jaw wide as it bit into the flesh of the two birds and swallowed them up whole, creating a bulge in its narrow body.

Zeus and Hades froze as they silently watched the screen. This... this couldn't be a coincidence... right?

A snake eating a couple of birds while leaving the horse relatively unharmed. What were the odds? A snake shouldn't even be able to eat an eagle.

Hera gasped at how smoothly the snake swallowed the two birds, as if it had experience in eating living creatures. Demeter was stunned as she stared at her two brothers as if to make sure they were still here. Hestia looked devastated, her lips quivering for a few seconds before she pressed them into a smooth line.

Poseidon was dumbfounded. He knew exactly who the four animals were supposed to represent, but he could only question why his father needed to jump in after seemingly being the one to goad them in the first place. More importantly, what did this mean for his Aurora? The Fates do not show dreams like this for no reason. Obviously his father is involved in a major way in the future, but unlike Zeus he wouldn't deny it. Not to mention, since when did demigods receive such... vivid and peculiar dreams like this?

"Never beating the cannibal allegations, right grandfather?" Nico drawled, after getting over his temporary stupor. Nico knew Aurora has the worst demigod dreams out of all of them but this was just ridiculous.

"A snake, eagle, and an owl aren't of the same species, so technically this isn't cannibalism, Niccolò."

Nico gave Kronos a deadpanned look.

The horse stumbled back in shock. If Aurora wasn't in complete shock over the scene she might have laughed at the expression on the horse's face. She had never seen her father look dumbfounded, and it was almost hilarious to witness such a look on a horse. But it's not like she could laugh at him when her jaw probably dropped to the floor.

The horse seemed to have noticed Aurora and both of them looked at each other as if to say 'are you seeing this shit'.

"Now there's an image." Katie snorted, amused over Aurora and horse!Poseidon sharing confused looks.

Now that the incredulity of first experiencing this dream had worn off, Aurora couldn't help but laugh hysterically. The whole situation was just so bizarre. She hadn't expected the screech owl to barge in her dream, and especially not the snake to just... swallow the birds whole. Honestly, Aurora thought either she was going crazy or she and the horse may have ingested a couple of magic mushrooms.

She then turned to her grandfather. "Why did you goad them, only to intervene and help my father?" She was confused by the entire dream sequence, and the only logical conclusion she could come up with was that the Fates wanted to show her that there was an alternative ending to the war they fought?

Kronos yawned, making his jaw unhinge wide just like the snake. His five children momentarily stiffened at the familiar sight, fear curling in their gut. "I wanted my dinner to kill each other off and leave me with their carcass but then I became impatient and took a few bites sooner."

"And my father?" Aurora questioned. "You only ate the birds."

"I wasn't craving horse meat."

"Well," Aphrodite began, shaking her head in bewilderment. "That is an... interesting way to show your children that you indeed have a favorite."

"Hardly," he snorted. "Poseidon tasted the saltiest out of my five children. I had high ichor pressure for months after swallowing him millennias ago and I simply wanted to avoid that again. My brothers advised me to avoid high sodium intake."

Poseidon preened a little, satisfied to hear that he didn't make it easy on his father even after being swallowed. He was also sure that his father just didn't want to admit that he had favorites. Kronos would rather have people believe he hates everyone equally.

"Enough of this conversation." Zeus grunted. "This was simply a childish nightmare, like all mortal children have. This does not involve me, or my brothers, nor my father."

Aurora wasn't surprised Zeus now wanted to ignore the dream in its entirety now. The implications that his father was involved in some way in the future was not something Zeus ever wanted to acknowledge so he would rather deny the dream altogether.

Before she could even say anything to the horse, or acknowledge the snake who was eating the bird feathers in the sand, Aurora woke up with a start in the middle of the night, heartbeat racing as she stared at the ceiling. She turned her head to the nearest clock, the red neon lights indicating it was 3:15 am. She internally groaned as she pushed the dream out of her head and shoved a pillow over her face.

Nope, no, nada, this was a problem for another day. Aurora did not want to think about the implications of this dream right now.

"That's a lie." Thalia countered. "You were definitely thinking about it all night."

"Can you blame her?" Nico retorted. "It's not everyday you have a dream where your grandfather decided to take a chomp out of his sons."

Nico blinked as he realized that might have been the most unhinged sentence he has uttered in his 80+ years of existing.

(that was a lie, she was thinking about it all night.)

"I knew it."

♡

Thursday afternoon, three days after arriving at camp, Aurora had her official camp sword-fighting lesson.

Everybody from cabin eleven gathered in the big circular arena, where Luke would be their instructor. They started with basic stabbing and slashing, using some straw-stuffed dummies in Greek armor. Aurora fared pretty well, since she's had practice using a scythe and trident with Kymopoleia. She had to hold herself back in case Luke got suspicious so sometimes she would throw the match when faced against each other.

"Smart choice, wouldn't want him to know too much of your fighting style." Nico pointed out.

"Huh, I guess it should have been obvious then," Chris said. He'd seen how the two spar, but now he realizes how odd it was that Aurora would do fine and then all of a sudden was unable to block a thrust or 'accidentally' dropped her sword.

The other issue had been that the blades felt too unbalanced. Either they were too heavy, or too light, or too long, so she had to make do with the practice blades until she could receive the pen from Chiron.

"The practice swords at camp are made for general use. They're not specifically tailored for anyone or for anything serious so that is why it's preferred you have one specially forged for you." Hephaestus gruffly explained. Every demigod is different, so it made sense that the practice swords were too unbalanced for some.

Beckendorf mentally kept note, he and his siblings would have to prepare more weaponry for the newer campers who could also be struggling to find a balanced blade.

They moved on to dueling in pairs. Luke announced he would be Aurora's partner, since this was her first time.

"Good luck," one of the campers told her. "Luke's the best swordsman in the last three hundred years."

Hermes felt a swell of pride in his chest at the title the younger demigods refer to his son. Weirdly enough, his other children seemed to have reacted bitterly. Chris was currently scowling at the screen while Clarisse patted his back.

Ares was surprised that the best swordsman was a son of Hermes. He had assumed such a title would belong to one of his own kids or even Athena's, and he was disappointed to hear otherwise.

While Annabeth smiled at the reminder of Luke's exceptional skill, some of the other campers couldn't help but sneer. For all that Luke was skilled, it was a shame that he used it to help the titan army.

Katie laughed. "Well that didn't last long."

Hermes squinted at the daughter of Demeter. "What do you mean?"

"Lets just say that title now belongs to someone else."

Ares preened, laughing off his earlier disappointment. "One of my children I can bet."

Athena scoffed at her brother. "Unlikely. I am confident it is one of my own children who—"

"It's Aurora." Clarisse bluntly interrupted the two war gods before they went into a silly argument. Artemis seemed quite happy with that information.

Hermes looked disappointed, Ares blinked in surprise, and Athena frowned in disbelief. "Surely there has been a mistake—" She began before she was once again interrupted.

"No. There is no mistake. Aurora is now the best swordswoman in the last three hundred years. Grandfather dearest can attest to that." Nico said, leaving no room for arguments or disagreements. He knew his cousin was exceptionally skilled in using weapons like the sword and scythe, and Nico wasn't going to allow the gods to deny it for the sake of their own pride.

While some of the gods seemed disgruntled at the news as they turned back to the screen, Poseidon turned towards Aurora, pleased with the news of her skill.

"Hm, perhaps you and I can have a little spar. Why don't you show me what you know?" Poseidon hummed, voice low for only Aurora to hear.

Aurora hummed back an agreement, quite eager for a spar possibly during a break. "I can use my trident instead. Why don't I show you how proud I am to be yours?"

Luke demonstrated some thrusts and parries and shield blocks. Aurora was a bit lousy in blocking attacks just so Luke didn't get suspicious, but she still put some effort so that it didn't look obvious that she was faking it either.

During the break Aurora resisted the urge to pour the cup of ice water on her head, similar to Luke, but the water felt like it was calling to her and she decided to pour it anyway. Immediately, she already felt strength surge back into her arms.

"Interesting. The water boosted her strength." Persephone noted, seeing how energized the girl on the screen looked just from a cup of water.

Hades grunted in agreement. He already knew that his middle brother had control over not just sea water and ichor but other types of water and liquids, like poison, some freshwater and even the Underworld rivers too. It was unusual... When they were younger and on better terms, Poseidon would visit Hades in the Underworld, and Hades had noticed how sometimes the rivers, whether it be the Styx, Lethe, Acheron, Cocytus, or Phlegethon would respond to his brother's emotions. It was another secret that they kept from Zeus (in addition to the ichor bending), knowing of his paranoia, and even after their falling out Hades never bothered to inform the God King or anyone else because it would be more trouble than it's worth.

It did not make sense. How does the King of the Seas have control over rivers of the Underworld? Hades was the King of the Underworld, but the Styx would easily respond to Poseidon's commands as if he were its king. Hades would not be surprised if his brother's daughter could control the River Styx too.

"If water boosts your strength, why didn't you want to use it here?" Rachel asked curiously.

"I was supposed to be a newbie with no knowledge of the Greek world." Aurora explained. "I knew the water would energize more than necessary for a simple training session and I didn't want Luke to become suspicious. Not that it mattered because I couldn't resist the temptation anyway."

"Okay, everybody circle up!" Luke ordered. "If Aurora doesn't mind, I want to give you a little demo."

"I do mind."

Aurora went ignored.

"Just like my husband." Persephone teased. Hades heaved a sigh at the reminder.

"What husband?" Demeter blankly asked, eyes firmly on her daughter and ignoring her brother.

"Oh ha ha, very funny." Hades deadpanned (pun intended).

"Hades, when did you get here?" Hera asked in a similar blank tone, much to Hades' aggravation. Oddly enough, the God Queen had an unusual glint of mischief in her eyes similar to Demeter that astonished the demigods and her children. Or maybe she just enjoyed making Hades irritated, which wouldn't be surprising.

"Who is Hades?" Poseidon tilted his head inquiringly. At this point, many of the gods and demigods were stifling their laughter at the facade of confusion Demeter, Hera, and Poseidon had.

Hades looked like he wanted to throttle all of his younger siblings, irritated by their mischief against him. Persephone and Hestia looked way too amused than they should have been.

The Hermes guys gathered around. They were suppressing smiles. She knew they'd been in her shoes before and expected to see how Luke use her for a punching bag. He told everybody he was going to demonstrate a disarming technique: how to twist the enemy's blade with the flat of your own sword so that he had no choice but to drop his weapon.

"This is difficult," he stressed. "I've had it used against me. No laughing at Aurora, now. Most swordsmen have to work years to master this technique."

"Good thing Aurora is a swordswoman who can master it within a few minutes." Katie stated with a smirk. Artemis and Poseidon were amused while Zeus was not.

"No kidding," Connor murmured in agreement with his brother's girlfriend. It was impressive how quick Aurora adapted to using a sword when she seemed to have more experience using a scythe and trident. Speaking of the scythe... Connor wondered how Luke reacted when Aurora used a weapon his own master specialized in against him.

Connor almost pitied his older brother, it seemed like no matter what, Luke was doomed to draw the short stick. Hermes loved and favored Luke above all of his other children, but the god was on better terms with Aurora than he was with his own children (he can blame Zeus for those Ancient Laws). Luke died thinking Hermes did not care for him. Now Kronos holds Aurora in higher regard than he did to his own vessel, as if Luke were nothing more than a tool (which he technically was). But still, it must have sucked for Luke, that the guy you devoted your life to would choose your enemy over you. And it sucked for Connor and his other siblings, their own father was quick to speak with the demigoddess who isn't even his daughter while ignoring his sons and daughters who aren't Luke.

He demonstrated the move on her in slow motion, making the sword clatter out of her hand.

"Now in real time," he said, after she'd retrieved her weapon. "We keep sparring until one of us pulls it off. Ready, Aurora?"

She nodded, and Luke came after her. Aurora kept Luke from getting a shot at the hilt of her sword. She felt her senses open up from the water. She saw his attacks coming with more clarity and instead of trying to throw the match like she planned she felt a rush of energy and adrenaline and started to fight back.

"So that's what it must feel like," Thalia mused, throwing a mock glare at Aurora. "Lucky you, I don't get a power boost from breathing air."

"Zeus isn't the god of oxygen." Nico pointed out.

"Poseidon isn't the god of dihydrogen monoxide either." Thalia retorted, before she realized what she just referred to as water. "Oh gods, Aurora has corrupted me!"

"Dihyrogen monoxide? What is that, some kind of toxic chemical?" Ares glanced at the two demigods. Athena gave an incredulous look at her brother, as if she couldn't believe his buffoonery.

Poseidon raised an unimpressed eyebrow at the War God. "You're as sharp as marble, aren't you?" The Sea God then turned towards his brother. "He must get it from his father."

Luckily for Poseidon, the insult went undetected by his younger brother who threw a smug look at him.

Zeus smirked. "It is good to see that you have finally acknowledged my wise counsel, brother. While your mind has dulled over the years, my wit has remained as sharp as marble, as you aptly put it."

"Absolutely." Poseidon snarked. Athena sighed at her father while Hades and a few others quietly snickered.

She countered and deflected his thrusts, beginning to put more effort as the spar became more intense.

Luke deflected her thrusts and she saw a change in his face. His eyes narrowed, and he started to use more force as well.

Once Aurora found an opening she went and used the disarming maneuver. Her blade hit the base of Luke's and she twisted, putting her weight into a downward thrust.

Clang.

Luke's sword rattled against the stones. The tip of her blade was an inch from his undefended chest.

"I wonder how well you would do in a real fight, without holding yourself back and with a balanced blade." Artemis mused, smiling at the scene. 

Thalia, Nico, and Katie threw smug looks at the gods. The children of Zeus, Hades, and Demeter had fought together during the war so they knew how well the Princess (Queen) of the Sea was able to match the King of the Titans in battle.

The other demigods who were not there during the Hermes' cabin training session looked impressed.

The other campers were silent.

Shouldn't have poured the water over my head, Aurora internally groaned. She knew how it would affect her awareness and she had done it anyway.

Katie smiled, "Rory, that was wonderful. I don't think anyone ever managed to defeat Luke, much less on their first try."

Thalia nodded her head. "Agreed, I get that you didn't want him to find out that you have some experience, but it's nothing you should feel regret over."

Clarisse snickered, "Yeah, someone was bound to knock him down a peg, might as well be the tiny twelve year old."

Aurora frowned. "I wasn't tiny." Clarisse rolled her eyes. Of course of all things that they had said, that was what Aurora chose to focus on.

Luke stood silently, his eyes analyzing every movement Aurora made. She stiffened and prayed that Luke hadn't realized that she had been throwing her fights the entire time before his face split into a smile. "Show me that again, Aurora!"

Oh great, Luke was onto her. Shouldn't have let the water get to her, she internally cursed herself. So when their swords connected again she made sure that Luke was able to easily hit her hilt and send her sword skidding across the floor.

After a long pause, somebody in the audience said, "Beginner's luck?"

"Definitely not." Rachel snickered.

"I don't think beginner's luck would work like that either." Miranda added.

Luke wiped the sweat off his brow. He appraised Aurora with an interest. "Maybe," he said. "But I wonder what Aurora could do with a balanced sword...."

"Huh, I'm surprised Luke wasn't too upset about losing against a twelve year old." Nico pondered.

"Luke wasn't always so bitter." Travis clarified reluctantly. His relationship with his brother was not something he liked to think about. It hurt Travis to remember how quick his once supportive big brother was to turn again their siblings.

♡

Friday afternoon, Aurora was sitting with Grover at the lake, watching the naiads do underwater basket-weaving,

"About your searcher's license." Aurora began. Grover's face turned a sickly shade of yellow at the mention. "You need credit for completing a keeper's assignment right? Good thing Mr. D suspended judgment, you still have a chance."

Grover tilted his head. "How did you— nevermind forget it. My only chance of completing it is if you got a quest and I went along to protect you, and we both came back alive."

"And I will make sure you will. The council can shove their judgment up their ass." Although Mr. D was... not pleasant to be around, she was glad that he had at least helped Grover against those no-good judgmental elderly satyrs.

Hermes sighed. Those satyrs were always quite harsh, even towards young satyrs like Grover. Hermes had a feeling that his son Pan wouldn't be happy with the way the council of cloven elders were behaving.

Dionysus was not pleased with the demigod's disrespect towards him and sneered. Grover gave an apologetic look to the god on behalf of his friend.

Chiron gave a respectful nod to the Wine God. "Thank you, Dionysus, for assisting Grover in earning his license."

"I suppose I should thank you as well," Aurora reluctantly added. "I was partly to blame for him not being able to complete his assignment."

Dionysus glared at Aurora and nodded back in appreciation at Chiron.

Grover panicked at her blatant disrespect and was quick to cover her mouth. "Shh! Do you want the satyrs to hear you? They'll trample over you! And besides, the chances of you getting a quest... and even if you did, why would you want me along?"

Aurora pushed his hand off and waved him off. "Why wouldn't I want you along? You're my friend." Truthfully, even though Grover is her friend, her main reason for wanting him along was that his satyr sense of smell would be quite useful for detecting monsters. But she was also hesitant and didn't want to risk him getting hurt during the quest. The gods could be cruel and she knew Zeus and Hades were angry at her, she didn't want to risk Grover becoming collateral damage.

Grover was the satyr who had accompanied Thalia, Annabeth, and Luke to camp. It was very possible that those two gods would want to exact revenge on him too. Zeus because he had failed Thalia and allowed her to turn into a tree, and Hades because he wasn't able to successfully kill Thalia. As much as Thalia, Annabeth, and Aurora told him that they didn't blame him for how they arrived at camp, Grover still carried the guilt, even more since he failed again with Sally Jackson.

He can understand if Aurora wanted to distance herself from him, even if she always claimed otherwise.

Hestia sighed as she side-eyed her brothers. "I wish that the three of you can hold at least the slightest bit of compassion." It was unfortunate that a girl and her young satyr friend were in constant danger due to her brothers who were always quick to take their anger out on innocents.

Nico sighed. "You're asking for too much, Aunt Hestia."

"Gods are capable of holding compassion? What's next? You're going to tell me that Zeus is a virgin and grandpa Kronos is a vegan?" Thalia snorted.

Nico and Aurora immediately fell into hysterics as they went into a fit of laughter.

Zeus was not happy with his daughter's disrespect but remained quiet. The other Olympians were astounded by the demigod's audacity except for Poseidon who hid his laughter and Hades who held back a snort.

Grover stared glumly into the water. "Basket-weaving...Must be nice to have a useful skill."

"Have some confidence in yourself, Grover. You're the G.O.A.T."

Grover looked confused. "Of course I am?"

"Exactly!" Aurora snickered. Grover became even more confused but he eventually settled to give her a small smile instead.

The demigods began snickering at Grover's confusion.

"I still don't understand what you meant, Rory." Grover said, just as confused as he was on the screen.

"She meant the acronym G.O.A.T." Travis chuckled, slapping a hand on the satyr's back. "She was calling you the Greatest Of All Time!"

"Oh." Grover's ears turned pink in embarrassment, making Travis and Aurora laugh harder.

"Quite the accurate title for Grover," Rachel laughed. "No other satyr ever managed to..." Find Pan, is what Rachel wanted to say until she cut herself off, realizing she would reveal too much.

Eventually, Aurora switched the topic of their conversation on the cabins. "I noticed that cabin eleven is really crowded, some of the Hermes campers don't even have a bunk to sleep on. I talked to Annabeth about it before and she mentioned that if we were to build more cabins we would need permission from..." Here, Aurora pointed to the sky, signalling that she was referring to a certain King of the Gods.

Grover sighed, remembering the state of cabin eleven. "Yeah, we can't go behind the backs of the gods. If we did it would not end well for us..." he shuddered. "The cabins are only for the children of the Olympian gods. Cabin eight, the silver one, belongs to Artemis. She vowed to be a maiden forever. So of course, no kids. The cabin is, you know, honorary. If she didn't have one, she'd be mad. And number two," he pointed to another cabin. "That's Hera's. Another honorary thing. She's the goddess of marriage, so of course she wouldn't go around having affairs with mortals. That's her husband's job."

Artemis raised a brow. "It is not just honorary. My huntresses sometimes stay at camp."

Grover sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment. He definitely should have remembered that.

Connor, Travis, and some of the Aphrodite campers were not happy at the mention of the huntresses. Artemis caught the looks of some of the male campers and growled at them.

Hera glared at the gods and demigods. "Marriage is sacred, none of you should even be dallying with those filthy mortals. No surprise my husband's job is having affairs, how is he supposed to do his duties as king when he's too busy in the bed of some whore?"

"Ouch." Rachel muttered quietly in response to the insult towards mortals.

While the married gods pointedly did not meet Hera's eyes, the unmarried gods rolled their eyes.

"My job?" Zeus asked Hera incredulously. "I have done far more for this pantheon than you—"

"And how so?" Hera sneered. "You are quick to drop your loincloth for a common street whore, so where do you find the time to rule as a proper king?"

"Common street whore?" Aurora echoed. "Is Zeus dropping his loincloth for himself?"

Zeus' eye twitched. "Are you referring to me as the common street whore?"

"Oh, so his braincells do work." Poseidon hummed at the surprising revelation. "Sharp as marble, right Zeusie?"

Zeus' sneer turned into a slight smirk, still not having registered Poseidon's disguised insult. Poseidon snickered as Zeus once again preened.

At the mention of Artemis and Hera's honorary cabins, an idea suddenly formed in Aurora's head.

"What about cabins for former Olympians?" Aurora asked. "Hestia, Goddess of the Hearth and the eldest of gra— Lady Rhea's children used to be an Olympian. Is it possible for an honorary cabin to be built for her that can be used to house the unclaimed and children of minor gods?"

Grover raised an eyebrow at the mistake Aurora had caught before she corrected herself. She had nearly revealed herself by calling the Titan Queen Rhea 'grandma'. He should have noticed the near slip-up but he had been too distracted with his dilemma over his searcher's license.

Nico was quick to catch it and snorted. "Subtle."

Aurora knew her aunt well enough to know that she would be thrilled with the idea. The Olympians despised the idea of building cabins for minor gods, but why not build a cabin for a former Olympian? Surely they won't argue against that, right? It would be a win-win situation, Hestia gets a cabin, Hermes campers would finally get their own space, children of minor gods and unclaimed have a place to stay, and the ego of the Olympians would only be bruised just a bit (until Aurora can demand that they recognize all demigods).

"That seems like a good idea," Silena murmured, twirling a strand of her hand while deep in thought. While it was no longer necessary, it still could have helped them before.

"Agreed. It's a great way to show appreciation for Auntie Hestia and the unclaimed children." Miranda added.

Hestia smiled at the idea, nodding her head in approval. Unfortunately, there were quite a lot of gods who seemed to disagree, her nephew being a vocal one.

"If there is one thing that's common among all children of Poseidon, it's that they're all utterly foolish." Dionysus drawled. The mentioned Sea God turned his stormy green eyes on his nephew, planning different ways to torture him once they finally finish watching these films. He was about to argue in defense of his beloved until she put a hand over his arm, telling him to allow her to handle it.

"Enlighten me, you old sot." Aurora growled. She was getting really irritated with the way many of the gods underestimate her intelligence, and she had to put up with Dionysus' hatred of her for years because of something her stupid half-brother had done over two thousand years ago. "What, exactly, was wrong with my idea, hmm?"

"Our dear aunt Hestia is a former Olympian. Emphasis on former, silly girl. What reason would my father have to build a cabin for her if she no longer serves on the council? Whine all you want, but I am the last Olympian, so deal with it, because nothing will change that." The God of Wine spat, crushing his can of diet coke, purple eyes blazing with wrath and promising insanity.

"Who cares if she's no longer an Olympian?! Is she not worthy of respect? Building extra cabins at camp hurts no one except your fucking pride! The children of the minor gods deserve to have their own space in the safest place for a demigod! You accuse of me whining, however the only one who has been whining is YOU, over some stupid incident that occurred millennias ago!"

"You—"

"Enough." Hestia interrupted tiredly. "Please, cease your arguments. Calm yourself Dionysus, my niece only offered a suggestion. If building a cabin dedicated to me bothers you much, we do not have to do so, if that is what you wish. There is no need to argue senselessly."

Dionysus eventually calmed at her words, but Aurora became even more agitated. But for her aunt's sake she decided to remain quiet and not start another argument (yet). It seemed like she was not the only one upset, as the demigods and Demeter, Poseidon, Hades, and Hera looked frustrated as well. Castor and Pollux looked conflicted on whether they should support their father or friend.

Grover mused over Aurora's suggestion and hummed. "It's not a bad idea, Rory, but the chances of that happening are slim. I wouldn't suggest you keep your hopes up."

Aurora deflated at his words but she understood. Grover took her silence as cue to continue.

"Only two of the Big Three have a cabin here, Zeus and Poseidon. After the great battle with the Titans, the Big Three took over the world from their dad and drew lots to decide who got what."

"Yes, because that was such a lovely idea." Kronos scoffed at his sons. "Now we have two clowns ruling the world."

"Two?" Nico raised an eyebrow. There were three kings, meaning Kronos didn't consider one of them to be a clown. The mentioned three kings gave their father a glare, silently debating among themselves on which two were the clowns. Clown-to-clown communication, if you will.

"My old man and Uncle Doom and Gloom?" Thalia questioned. She couldn't say she was surprised, both Zeus and Hades had been the ones to lose their symbols of powers and then proceeded to blame a child for their own mishaps.

"Who else?" The titan snorted.

Poseidon snorted, gleeful that he was not considered a clown. The expressions on Zeus' and Hades' faces darkened at that, and Poseidon had to wonder what else did his stupid brothers do in the future other than try to kill his daughter? Zeus had apparently lost his lightning bolt, and Poseidon wouldn't be surprised if Hades was foolish enough to lose something of his as well.

"Don't get so confident now, agoráki," Kronos drawled when he noticed his second son gloating. After all, Poseidon had unknowingly allowed Zeus to ruin his bond with Hades. (agoráki- baby boy)

"I would hardly consider you one to talk about 'clownery', considering you mistook Zeus for a rock which led to the end of your own reign." Hera scowled.

"It is hardly my fault that Zeus is utterly hideous and dense enough to resemble a rock."

Hera was unsure how to even respond to her father.

Hades and Poseidon began quietly chuckling and didn't bother to hide their laughter, Hades' momentary irritation diffusing rapidly at the sight of his youngest brother's face flushed gold in anger.

"We used to play hot potato with rock baby Zeus while Hestia sang a song," Demeter murmured. Zeus scowled even more. His siblings probably respected that rock more than they did him.

Don't laugh, don't laugh... Aurora internally chanted on a loop and she had a feeling she wasn't the only one. Thalia was already rolling on the floor, repeatedly slapping it as she tried to regain her breath. Whether it was Kronos calling his youngest son ugly or Demeter mentioning her and her siblings played with the rock inside the titan's stomach, Aurora, Nico, Thalia, Katie, and Miranda were wheezing from their laughter. Who knew the Elder Six had a sense of humor?

"Zeus got the sky, Poseidon the seas, Hades the Underworld." Aurora recited. "Hades doesn't have a cabin here." Aurora had once sympathized with her uncle before, she understood it must have sucked to be exiled by your own family, but now that he kidnapped her beloved mother...

"No. He doesn't have a throne on Olympus, either. He sort of does his own thing down in the Underworld. If he did have a cabin here..." Grover shuddered. "Well, it wouldn't be pleasant. Let's leave it at that."

Hades was not pleased and neither was Persephone. Hades has already resigned himself to the fact that his family would never include him as a part of them, but to hear it from a satyr of all beings was absolutely humiliating. However he was surprised to hear that his niece once sympathized with him... It seemed to Hades that he had ruined another potential familial bond before it could even begin.

Nico clenched his hands into a fist, but he couldn't fault Grover, after all it was his father who terrorized Thalia and Aurora. Grover's first and second missions to escort demigods failed because of his father.

Grover gave an apologetic look to Nico. Even though Grover wasn't fond of Hades for what he had done to Aurora's mother, he had pitied Nico, who had to suffer from the stigma from his father's actions. At least Bianca managed to escape it by joining the Hunters and they were... mostly accepting of her, mostly because Thalia had already become the lieutenant and could defend her younger cousin.

Zeus smirked at hearing the disrespect his brother was receiving. Good, good.

Demeter agreed with the satyr. Her brother has already been proven to be a cruel god towards his own twelve year old niece and her mother, who knows how he would behave if he had a throne on Olympus too.

"Speaking of the sons of Kronos, the oath that they took, the one where they swore on the River Styx to not sire a demigod child with a mortal... I think I would be right to assume that it wasn't very effective?"

"Oh of course," Kronos scoffed. "Those brats are only Lady Rhea's children when it's convenient. Whenever they do something absolutely stupid, somehow they've become my children. Ridiculous." Seriously, Aurora had called Hestia the eldest child of Rhea earlier but now she refers to the Big Three as his sons after they took that idiotic oath. This was just adding insult to the injury.

"Yes, exactly. I am glad you finally understand." Poseidon deadpanned and his father gave him an unimpressed stare. Hades couldn't help but quietly snicker at the interaction, and Hestia, Demeter, and Hera followed suit.

"Which means Zeus is your son as much as you want to deny it." Thalia reasoned, ignoring the golden eyes glaring a hole into her head.

"Would you like to die, child?"

"I'm surprised you know about that oath, but yes." Grover's face darkened. "Seventeen years ago, Zeus fell off the wagon. There was this TV starlet with a big fluffy eighties hairdo—he just couldn't help himself. When their child was born, a little girl named Thalia...well, the River Styx is serious about promises. Zeus himself got off easy because he's immortal, but he brought a terrible fate on his daughter."

Seventeen years ago. It was currently seventeen years prior from Aurora reaching camp. The gods just met up for a council meeting in 1989 after Hera discovered the existence of Thalia, leading to the arrival of the demigod time travellers and now they were going to discover what was the fate of the girl. Zeus leaned forward, curious about what happened to his daughter. She would clearly survive considering she was here with her fellow demigods. Of course she would, she was his daughter, not his brothers' spawns.

The Daughter of Zeus scrunched her face at the mention of her mother. Wait a minute... if the Fates had taken them to the past, right after she was born, did that mean there was a Beryl Grace in California, right now with a baby Thalia?

... Did that also mean Sally Jackson was young and alive, somewhere here in New York? Thalia made a mental note to talk to Aurora about that later.

Hera sneered at the mention of Thalia and Thalia sneered right back at Hera and her father, because of course she had to face the consequences of Zeus' actions. Never the oh-so precious king.

Annabeth stiffened at the mention of that day she had lost Thalia. She also loathed the King of the Underworld, which is what prevented her from even befriending his children despite them being demigods of the Big Three who could potentially bring glory.

Rachel frowned. "What's the point of River Styx oaths if you can break them and escape the consequences?"

"The gods can escape the consequences, us mortals can't." Katie clarified with a bitter tone. "There really isn't much point in an immortal making an oath on the Styx."

"Well that's not fair... Thalia and Aurora don't deserve to suffer because of their fathers oathbreaking." Rachel insisted.

Nico sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Welcome to the life of a demigod."

"Not all of us are oathbreakers." Hades quietly added, reminding the others that he was the only one of the Big Three to not sire any demigods. He was also one of the few gods to take an oath on the Styx seriously.

"Ah yes, because you are the epitome of virtue aren't you?" Aurora mocked, holding back from spitting even more vitriol at her uncle. "A Greek who reeks of false righteousness."

"That's what I hate." Poseidon hissed, making Aurora's sneer turn into a smile.

Hades looked a bit taken back but stayed quiet. Persephone frowned at the interaction.

He pointed across the valley, to the pine tree where she'd fought the minotaur. "All three Kindly Ones were after them, along with a hoard of hellhounds. They were about to be overrun when Thalia told her satyr to take the other two half-bloods to safety while she held off the monsters. She was wounded and tired, and she didn't want to live like a hunted animal. The satyr didn't want to leave her, but he couldn't change her mind, and he had to protect the others. So Thalia made her final stand alone, at the top of that hill. As she died, Zeus took pity on her. He turned her into that pine tree. Her spirit still helps protect the borders of the valley. That's why the hill is called Half-Blood Hill."

Thalia sighed at the memory. She really didn't want to think about dying again.

"Interesting, so that's what the demigods had meant by the girl's pine tree." Artemis noted and wondered how Thalia managed to turn back to human. She glanced at her half-sister who was dressed in her huntresses' silver parkas. Now to wonder why the girl was wearing the circlet of the lieutenant huntress. There was no way Zoe would step down, unless... the Moon Goddess blanched.

Zeus turned his glare of loathing to his eldest brother, who glared right back. How dare he hurt his daughter? To the King of the Gods, it did not matter that he tried to kill Hades' own children, it still was not in Hades' right to harm Thalia. 

"How dare you—" Zeus seethed, as Hades' lips curled in disgust. Just as the two gods shot up from their seats, they immediately backed down when they were all of a sudden painfully whacked in the head. The two brothers turned around to see Kronos holding a slipper (where the fuck did he even get that from?) that he used to smack his two sons.

"Behave yourselves." Kronos hissed, pointing the slipper at his sons. "If you two don't zip it, I'll give you something to cry about." Zeus and Hades grumbled but sat back down as they rubbed the back of their heads that was still throbbing in pain. Seriously, did their father have to hit them that hard? 

While Hestia was glad her father effectively ended an argument between Zeus and Hades before it even began, she couldn't help but frown at his way of handling it.

Persephone gave her husband an unimpressed look. So Hades had attempted to kill not one, but two demigod daughters of his brothers. No wonder the satyr had spoken of her husband in such an ill manner. Although Persephone can understand why Hades went after Thalia, Zeus had killed Maria di Angelo (which she wasn't upset about) and nearly killed his children. As much as she disliked Hades bastards, she did not try to harm them unless they were deserving of it.

Demeter looked like she was given more ammunition (ammunition for her hatred of Hades) and bitterly laughed. "So my brother had nearly killed another one of his nieces? I cannot say I am surprised, it seems that is all he is worth. How pathetic, his one purpose is to make his nieces miserable since he cannot find happiness in his life." Persephone, Thalia, Aurora, and Sally Jackson, all victims to the King of the Underworld, even if her precious Kore claims otherwise.

Hades wanted to retort until his brother's chilling voice interrupted.

"From what I understand, I have done nothing to harm the Zeus spawn?" Poseidon had a dark look on his face, silently questioning why Thalia was turned into a pine tree of all things.

Thalia nodded her head warily, nose scrunched at the mention of 'Zeus spawn'. "You have been the only one of your brothers so far to not hurt either me or my cousins." For now, went unsaid, because Thalia was unsure how this past Poseidon would react.

"Quite the opposite, actually." Miranda agreed. Her uncle may have been extremely intimidating, but he hadn't done anything to hurt her siblings, and even helped her demigod cousins at times. Miranda had a feeling it had something to do with Aurora.

"You're the reason Bianca is even alive." Katie quietly murmured, glancing at her other uncle who also happens to be her brother-in-law. Hades considered his niece's words in deep thought... she must be referring to his daughter Bianca which couldn't have been a coincidence.

Poseidon faltered slightly. His future self saved Hades' daughter? "And did my brothers stop their attempts to torment Aurora afterwards?"

Thalia, Katie, Miranda, and Nico were silent and were pointedly looking at the floor to avoid meeting Poseidon's eyes. Their silence was enough of an answer.

Aurora shook her head and was the one to answer. "That would be wonderful. But no, one of them locked me in a cell and the other shot me down from the sky." Poseidon felt anger surge that his brothers' tendency to hurt his daughter was not a one-time event. Even worse, Hades apparently locked Aurora in a cell after Poseidon had apparently saved Bianca?

"I had done nothing to harm your daughter, your children, and yet you both dared to harm what is mine? Aurora, who is mine to love?" The Sea God quietly asked both of his brothers. His tone was disconcertingly casual.

Hades and Zeus remained quiet and it did nothing to satisfy Poseidon.

"You dare to decide Aurora's fate, when that choice belongs to me and me only?" He repeated and once again, he received no reply. Fates be damned, he needed to make his brothers bleed right now, and the only thing that was stopping him was the fact that the Fates themselves made sure the gods could do nothing to hurt each other and the demigods.

"Father," The Sea God turned to the golden eyed titan.

"Yes Poseidon?" The typically callous King of the Titans who tended to find amusement in his children's anger and misery looked unusually subdued.

"Send my apologies to mother."

"Oh? Why is that?" Kronos raised a brow, intrigued. Of all the things his second son could say, this was not what he had expected. The Unpredictable one indeed...

"Because let me assure you that I will have no living, breathing, full-blooded brothers after the end of these films."

Kronos barked a laugh. "Your wish is my command, my king. I will let your mother know to start mourning at my earliest convenience" He replied teasingly, summoning a chalice filled with wine and taking a swig of it. He may as well start mourning his eldest son Hades and celebrate the end of Zeus. Good riddance, gods knew Olympus desperately needed a new ruler.

Hades and Zeus on the other hand... the word tense couldn't even be used to describe them as they kept their eyes on the floor, not even daring to look up in case anyone would see their faces.

The remaining gods and demigods warily return to viewing the screen, not daring to breathe lest it sets off the Sea God and he puts his promise into action right now. It wouldn't be a surprise if Poseidon figured out a way to kill an immortal being with his bare hands regardless of the Fates' precautions.

Aurora kept her hand intertwined with the Sea God, rubbing her thumb against his palm in a soothing manner.

Aurora silently thought about the fate of her cousin and the Underworld. "Orpheus. Heracles. Houdini. All three of them have reached the Underworld but none of them returned somebody from the dead."

Grover looked at her suspiciously, understanding why she was mentioning those specific heroes.

No one ever returned somebody from the Underworld but Aurora had to be the first to do so, she had to for her mother.

(she never could.)

Persephone threw a look of concern towards her husband before her lips twitched up into a strained smile at Aurora. "Don't even think about it, little cousin." The Goddess of Spring quietly teased, hoping to break the earlier tension.

Aurora tried to smile back half-heartedly but it looked more like a grimace.

♡

That night after dinner, there was a lot more excitement than usual.

At last, it was time for capture the flag.

When the plates were cleared away, the conch horn sounded and the campers stood at their tables.

Campers yelled and cheered as Annabeth and two of her siblings ran into the pavilion carrying a silk banner. It was about ten feet long, glistening gray, with a painting of a barn owl above an olive tree. From the opposite side of the pavilion, Clarisse and her buddies ran in with another banner, of identical size, but gaudy red, painted with a bloody spear and a boar's head.

Ares smirked at the image of his cabin's banner and Athena watched with a calculating gaze, no doubt having already inferred who the winning team will be.

"I am sure my children's victory will be swift and easy, it is not like they have much competition."

Ares scowled at his sister. "You wanna bet?"

Clarisse grimaced. "Please don't." As much as it embarrassed her, Clarisse would rather her father didn't hold high hopes for her and her siblings for this game of capture the flag, considering they lost.

Annabeth smirked and Clarisse sneered. "Wipe that smile off your face, Miss Princess. Your batshit insane plan led to—"

Chris squeezed Clarisse's hand to prevent her from revealing anything too soon to the gods. Mainly because Poseidon already looked like he was on the edge of going on a rampage, and once the god eventually finds out what happened during the game... Chris shuddered in fear.

"Am I right to presume that Hermes made a temporary alliance with Athena?"

Luke gave Aurora a sly look, the scar on his face making him look evil in the torchlight. "Correct. Ares and Athena often lead the teams, and tonight, we get the flag from Ares. And you are going to help."

Hermes became even more worried. He hoped that Aurora was simply exaggerating and that she didn't think Luke actually looked evil. He inherited Hermes' blue eyes and many of his facial features and May's blonde hair. In the Messenger God's eyes, Luke was perfect, not even the scar that ran down his face ruined it.

Apollo squinted at the scar on Luke's face and took note of how Aurora described how it made Luke look. He warily side-eyed his uncle, who was watching the screen with a fist on his cheek. If Apollo didn't know that Aurora was technically from another universe he may have assumed that she inherited some sort of prophetic power.

"Huh, now that you mention it..." Silena murmured as she took another look at the son of Hermes. Luke, while handsome, indeed looked like some sort of stereotypical movie villain with the scar and harsh lighting on his face.

The teams were announced. Athena had made an alliance with Apollo and Hermes, the two biggest cabins. Apparently, privileges had been traded—shower times, chore schedules, the best slots for activities—in order to win support. Ares had allied themselves with everybody else: Dionysus, Demeter, Aphrodite, and Hephaestus.

"Biggest cabins you say?" Artemis gave a pointed look to Hermes and Apollo, both of whom were avoiding her eyes.

Hermes raised his hands in surrender. "In my defense, half of those demigods are not my children."

Artemis nodded her head at Hermes' explanation before sharpening her glare at her twin. "What's your excuse?"

"I—"

"—He's a whore." Thalia bluntly said, interrupting the Sun God before he could prattle an excuse to his twin.

Apollo looked affronted but didn't deny his half-sister's accusation. What is it with these demigods and their disrespect?

"She's not wrong, dad." Will snickered as he gestured to all of his siblings.

Dionysus's kids were actually good athletes, but there were only two of them. Demeter's kids had the edge with nature skills and outdoor stuff, and may not seem aggressive at first, but don't let that fool you. After a prank by Connor, Travis, and Chris on the Demeter cabin, the three pranksters returned to their cabin and woke up in the morning to find poison ivy in their bunks and blistering, red skin. Their rash was so severe that they had to go to the infirmary, which led to a scolding from Will about the dangers of pissing off a child of Demeter. Not that the three Hermes kids listened—they went back to planning their revenge.

"Totally worth it." Travis quietly whispered, making Katie lightly elbow him. Clarisse on the other hand gave an approving nod to the daughter of Demeter, which Chris pointedly ignored.

Hermes winced at the thought of his sons suffering from a poison ivy rash. He couldn't even blame the Demeter cabin since they were provoked, unless he wanted to anger his aunt.

Demeter raised an eyebrow at her children's antics. "Poison ivy?" Persephone giggled at the slightly exasperated tone in her mother's voice.

Katie shrugged. "It was either a rash from poison ivy or nausea and vomiting from morning glory. Or foxgloves. Or—"

Hermes narrowed his eyes at Chiron and Dionysus who brought his magazine up to cover his face. "You allow the demigods to grow poisonous plants in the camp? Dionysus, Chiron, what were you thinking? My children could have died!"

"We're not stupid," Katie scowled. "I would have only given them a little bit, just enough to create mild discomfort. I wasn't going to kill them, I'm not that evil."

"But I am." Kronos bluntly said. "You should have put some nightshade in their food and watched as their bodies slowly shut down."

"What about crushed lily of the valley?" Persephone offered. "Its looks have always appeared deceiving. Like me."

"Hm," Demeter interrupted. "I used to enjoy growing some aconite near the crops of those who have disrespected me."

"Ah, you truly are my daughter," Kronos nodded in approval. "My favorite are water hemlocks, I wouldn't mind feeding it to Zeus right now, Socrates-style—"

Persephone gasped. "Oh you are evil."

Katie looked equally shocked. "Cicuta? That's like one of the most toxic plants here in North America! Grandfather, I hate to say it but you're a genius."

As the three immortals and Katie went on a ramble about the different kinds of poisonous plants, Hades leaned back in his makeshift throne and threw his head back, massaging it as if to make his headache disappear.

"Dear fates, now there are four of them." Hades wondered who was the fool that believed that those with the domain of earth and its plants were weak, because whoever they are must have never met Persephone, Demeter, or Kronos.

Poseidon listened intently to their conversation, silently mouthing the name of each plant that they listed as if to memorize it. Thalia brought out a crumpled piece of paper and pen and started taking notes of the different plants that the four would mention.

Nico squinted at his cousin. "You're being awfully quiet."

"No one plans a murder out loud."

"What?"

"What?"

A few of Aphrodite's sons and daughters mostly sat out every activity and checked their reflections in the lake and did their hair and gossiped. Lacy sat out because of some injury but Silena and Drew however looked eager to play. Drew in particular looked viscious.

Drew shrugged when she was met with many looks of confusion. "I just wanted to kick Sherman's ass."

Sherman groaned as Lacy teased him over his misery.

There were four Hephaestus kids who were big and burly from working in the metal shop all, and finally there was the Ares cabin. While Aurora was now on better terms with some of the Ares campers, there was still the issue with Bellatrix who has been keeping her grudge ever since The Bathroom Incident. Aurora and Clarisse have attempted to reach out to her, however the other girl would always sneer before stomping off to another direction.

Chiron hammered his hoof on the marble.

"Heroes!" he announced. "You know the rules. The creek is the boundary line. The entire forest is fair game. All magic items are allowed. The banner must be prominently displayed, and have no more than two guards. Prisoners may be disarmed, but may not be bound or gagged. No killing or maiming is allowed. I will serve as referee and battlefield medic. Arm yourselves!" He spread his hands, and the tables were suddenly covered with equipment: helmets, bronze swords, spears, oxhide shields coated in metal.

"Chiron, we should really have reworked the punishment for the no maiming rule earlier." Silena pointed out. The punishment was ridiculously light and it led to it becoming one of the more commonly broken rules in camp.

"Oh absolutely, you have no idea how crowded the infirmary would get after capture the flag. Even worse when the Hunters visited. For fucks sake, I was a ten year old working overtime!" Will scowled. "I'm too young for this shit."

Chiron winced and nodded in agreement. "Yes, that punishment was not very... effective."

"That is quite the understatement."

"What was the punishment?" Rachel asked curiously.

Chiron sighed. "I am sure it will be revealed soon."

Luke gave her a set of armor and a helmet with blue horsehair plume for Athena's side, while Ares' and their allies had red plumes.

Annabeth yelled, "Blue team, forward!"

As the teams cheered and split off into different directions, Aurora followed Annabeth to the creek.

"You're on border patrol. Stand by the creek, keep the reds away. Watch out for Clarisse's spear, you don't want that thing touching you. Leave the rest to me. Athena always has a plan." Annabeth said just before she was about to run off.

Athena smirked in pride. Bait. Her daughter was going to use the sea spawn as bait. The Goddess of Wisdom nodded approvingly, it truly was a plan worthy of her. It was a shame that the sea spawn and the Ares spawns put their differences aside, meaning that Aurora wouldn't die. Unless Annabeth used that stubborn Bellatrix girl against her...

Poseidon narrowed his eyes, having realized what the Athena spawn was planning to do with his Aurora. Annabeth was so, so lucky that the Fates had blocked all of the gods from using their powers for the duration of these films to protect the demigods and prevented the gods from harming each other.

"Annabeth, how often do you use new and unsuspecting campers as bait?"

Annabeth stiffened, slowly turning around to face Aurora. "Excuse me?"

"Setting up untrained demigods to fight against experienced campers is bound to get messy. Someone can get seriously injured from this, you know."

"She is right, Aurora is lucky she has some training experience, but most new campers do not." Hestia softly added. "They should be put in positions with minimal risks or allowed to watch instead."

Ares shook his head. "Auntie, don't get too soft on the punks."

"Ares, do not forget they are still children." Hesia chastised. Aurora may be mentally older, but compared to the gods they are still young.

"Aunt Hestia is right," Miranda piped up. "Will, how many new campers were injured after capture the flag because of a lack of training?"

Will shuddered. "Too many to count."

The daughter of Athena narrowed her eyes. "Just stick to your job, newbie." She ran off, disappearing into the trees, leaving Aurora alone by the creek.

Well that was awkward.

Silena frowned. "What's with the hostility? You two seemed to get along fine earlier during those Ancient Greek lessons." Aurora had not been claimed at the moment either, so the Athena-Poseidon rivalry couldn't be the reason for Annabeth's coldness.

"She doesn't like it when people question her orders." Aurora shrugged. Annabeth glared but she didn't deny her words.

Athena scoffed. "As if a Poseidon spawn could offer anything of use. My daughter was right not to listen to whatever nonsense the sea spawn sprouts. This is a war game, not a silly, childish game of hide and seek. Casualties are to be expected."

"They're twelve. And it's a game of capture the flag." Rachel blurted, making the goddess give her an unamused look. 

It was a warm, sticky night. The woods were dark, with fireflies popping in and out of view. Far away, the conch horn blew. She heard whoops and yells in the woods, the clanking of metal, kids fighting. A blue-plumed ally from Apollo raced past like a deer, leaped through the creek, and disappeared into enemy territory.

Will squinted at the screen. "That looks like Kayla." His siblings and father scrutinized the image for a moment before simultaneously nodding their heads.

"Oh that's definitely me. I wanted to say hi to Rory but there really wasn't much time."

Aurora spent the time scouting the area, searching for a certain Underworld creature so that she could kill it right away. She finally heard the low canine growl close by, and just as she was about to head straight towards it, the underbrush exploded. Five Ares warriors came yelling and screaming out of the dark.

"Underworld creature?" Persephone echoed, recognizing the sound of the growl of a Hellhound. She glanced at her husband, wondering if he had anything to do with it. After all, he had made his hatred of this girl very clear earlier.

Demeter narrowed her eyes at her brother. "Of course. Typical Hades."

Hades shrunk back in his seat, avoiding Demeter and Poseidon's hateful looks. Nico pitied his father; it probably wasn't fun having your younger siblings look at you like you're the devil incarnate.

"Demeter, if you would be so kind, would you provide me with some of those... plants that you mentioned earlier? Preferably the water hemlock." Poseidon asked in a faux tone of innocence.

"Of course, anything for my baby brother." Demeter smiled sharply at the wince from Hades.

Aurora shook her head, sparing Hades from the two gods' wrath. "It wasn't him this time." Demeter raised her brow in confusion but Poseidon did not falter in his glare towards his elder brother.

"This time?"

"Oh fuck, it's Astraea!" An Ares boy exclaimed.

"It's Aurora."

"Oh fuck, it's Aurora!"

The demigods began snickering at the exchange between Aurora and the Ares boy. Clarisse shook her head in disappointment at her brother but even she couldn't hide the chuckle.

"Hm, maybe that kid was right about Ares and Dionysus..." Hephaestus mumbled. Once again, the Ares and Dionysus campers looked horrified. This was the second child of Ares that was mixing up names, and Hephaestus was seriously starting to consider that theory Ares and Dionysus may be having some sort of tryst. If only to poke fun at Ares.

"Heph, don't even think about it."

Clarisse looked like she was debating the consequences of angering Silena if she ended up hurting Aurora. Eventually, she readied her five-foot long spear that flickered with light, looking determined but not angry.

Aurora surveyed the other four Ares campers. She didn't recognize any of them except for Clarisse and one of the girls from The Bathroom Incident. Oddly enough, Bellatrix was not with them. Aurora had expected she would join them in the ambush to get her revenge but perhaps she had been mistaken.

"Let me guess, you made them eat dirt?" Nico snickered as Clarisse heaved a sigh. He was eager to see his cousin kick ass.

Thalia laughed. "I would assume so with that creek nearby." 

Aurora put the thought away as she focused back on the five campers and prepared to go on the defensive. As she held her shield up to block their attacks with her left, she one-by-one attacked each camper with her sword, leaving them bruised. After disarming and kicking the other four to the ground, it was finally Clarisse that was left with her electric spear. Aurora took great care to avoid being shish kebabbed by the thing. While Clarisse wasn't feeling wrathful, she certainly didn't pull her punches either.

"That was impressive." Silena praised. "It was nowhere near a fair fight but you still managed to take down four of them rather quickly."

Nico nodded. "Yeah, if you wanted to make it fair they should have brought in ten more demigods and a couple of gods to help Clarisse."

Aurora laughed at the serious look on Nico's face. "After those intense training sessions with Kymopoleia, that felt slightly easier."

"Rory, please, you need to introduce me to your sister. I need her to adopt me, I'm sure my mother would love her too!" Clarisse pleaded, making Silena and Aurora chuckle at her desperation.

"Absolutely not. If Kym properly met you, she would immediately replace me as her favorite human and I'd rather not take that chance."

Ares looked affronted by the entire conversation. "What's wrong with me?" he asked his daughter. Was she not proud to be his child? Was she disappointed in him?

Clarisse snorted. "What isn't wrong with you?"

Hephaestus and Athena didn't hold back their snorts at the look of devastation on Ares' face. Ares heard them and sent the two gods hateful looks, which only made their amusement grow.

Eventually, Aurora found an opening in Clarisse's defense, hitting her with enough force to her left leg to stumble and fall back and then her right shoulder, making her wince in pain and drop her spear. She immediately took the opportunity to kick away the electric spear far from Clarisse's grasp. Aurora pointed her standard issue bronze sword at Clarisse's neck and the girl grumbled as she surrendered. Aurora took a moment to look down at herself, noticing some of the cuts and bruises she received during the fight but hadn't noticed earlier.

"Mmf t'is wa' emba'wassing." The boy who had mistakenly called her Astraea said, his voice muffled from the dirt after Aurora had shoved his head down earlier.

"You actually made him eat dirt?" Rachel raised a brow as Clarisse sighed again.

"Hey, I was put on border patrol and I take my job very seriously." Aurora solemnly said. "At least I didn't make him eat grass. Like a cow."

Katie shrugged. "That's what I did when I was placed on border patrol."

"You made your opponents eat grass?"

"Of course."

Rachel side-eyed the two cousins who began cackling manically. "...I suppose that's one way to make children eat their greens. Straight from the source."

Demeter, unsurprisingly, nodded in approval.

Aurora cackled in amusement as the guy tried to get up again and spit the dirt out of his mouth but when she was about to shove him back down she felt a chill down her spine. Suddenly, she could feel someone's presence behind her.

She immediately went on defensive but it was too late. "Agh!" Aurora cried out when she felt a burst of pain in her torso and a crackling of electricity. When she looked down she found the tip of a spear breaking through her skin and part of the armor she wore from the left side of her abdomen. She had been impaled. She was quick to fall to her knees to clutch her stomach and eventually the spear was pulled back.

Nico stiffened, the image of Aurora clutching her wound after being impaled appeared way too reminiscent to the old memory of Hades and Poseidon.

Oh.

Oh.

So this must be why the Fates had decided to show them events from the Ancient times. Both Poseidon and Hades had come to the same conclusion that Nico had, and neither god looked very happy.

A strong scent of sea breeze and salt wafted through the air and Nico briefly wondered how that was even possible, when the Fates temporarily removed the gods of their powers and aura. He turned to look where Aurora was sitting and he caught a glimpse of his uncle's face.

Poseidon appeared calm but those green eyes said otherwise. He was pissed. Even more than he was earlier. Which was saying a lot since the god looked like he really wanted to say 'fuck it' to the Moirai's rules and drown everyone in the room.

Aurora turned around to find Bellatrix with a smug grin, holding Clarisse's spear that was now dripping with red blood that briefly glinted gold in the light.

Ares, Dionysus, and Athena fell into hysterics as their laughter boomed across the room. The demigods glanced at them in weariness as they looked like they may fall off their thrones any moment. Zeus' lips twitched upwards but he didn't make a sound with Poseidon so close to him.

Poseidon eyed the four gods and felt his anger boiling as the urge to turn the gods' ichor against them increased and yet he could do nothing with the restrictions the Moirai placed on their powers.

Miranda gaped at the screen. "She tried to kill you?!"

Will winced as if he could feel phantom pain of being stabbed. "Good thing she missed your major organs. Rory you would've been screwed if Bellatrix aimed a few centimeters to the right and above."

Apollo looked stressed, as if he had the urge to drag Aurora to the infirmary and get her checked. A brief look of worry flashed across Artemis' face.

"I am not surprised, this is the typical behavior of Ares and his brood." Hephaestus sneered venomously as he tinkered with some metal in his hands.

Clarisse shook her head. "Not all of us, Uncle."

"Bella? What the fuck are you doing here?!" Clarisse screeched. "You were supposed to get their flag!"

"You guys know how to strategize?" Annabeth asked in mock surprise. The Ares' cabin strategy for Clarisse and her siblings to distract Aurora at the border while Bellatrix grabbed the flag wasn't entirely awful, but Annabeth was still surprised they even managed that much.

"We're not entirely stupid, y'know."

"So only three-quarters stupid?"

Clarisse scoffed and didn't bother to argue back, knowing how quick she is to anger and she would rather not start a fight in the middle of the throne room.

"I don't care about the flag," Bellatrix hissed. "An eye for an eye. This newbie tried to kill me, so it's only fair that I return the favor!"

"This isn't an eye for an eye, you idiot!" Clarisse tried to get up but her legs wobbled from the well-placed hits Aurora had given her earlier and she fell back in the dirt. "This is a limb for an eye! She stuck your head in the toilet, so you try to skewer her with MY spear?"

"She embarrassed us!"

"You already do that without my help."

"Now is not the moment to be a little shit, Rory!" Will hissed.

"What do you mean? There's always time to be a little shit."

"Who cares?!" Clarisse yelled at her sister as she tried to grab her spear back but failed as Bellatrix deftly avoided her reaching arms. "You've made us lose our dessert privileges for the fifth time this month!"

"Dessert privileges?" Rachel echoed in disbelief. "That's the punishment for killing and maiming? Losing dessert privileges? Who was the idiot that came up with that?!"

All eyes landed on Dionysus and Chiron, as they were the only two candidates who could have created such a pointless punishment.

Chiron sighed. "Dionysus and I discussed the idea in the past and we agreed. I thought it would be a fitting punishment as it was one that was not harsh, but I see now that I was wrong."

Hestia, who had been watching with a frown on her face, raised a brow at the centaur and her nephew and eventually nodded. "I hope you've rectified that mistake already."

Just get to the creek, Aurora internally repeated to herself, as she managed to get up despite the pain and the excessive blood loss. This is fine, this is fine—

"How did you remain so calm?" Persephone implored, the slightest hints of worry shone in her eyes. "You just got stabbed!"

"I looked calm to you?" Aurora asked incredulously.

"Rory is quite proficient in hiding how she really feels, at least from most people." Silena sighed as she fixed her best friend with a lighthearted glare. "I just wish you didn't try to hide how you felt from us." Silena can sympathize with Aurora, it wasn't easy hiding such huge, life-altering secrets from the people you love.

Aurora wanted to deny Silena's words but when she felt Poseidon's arm around her waist tighten she immediately shut her mouth. She could feel his anger thrumming in his veins, but it was not at her.

"Oh no you don't," Bellatrix immediately said, as she thrusted the spear making sure Aurora didn't make it to the water, but this time Aurora caught it with her hand. As if she had a sudden rush of adrenaline, she snapped the spear with her hands, holding it by the shaft to avoid the electricity at the tip. She kicked the other girl in the knees, making her fall down.

Aurora felt a sudden rush of energy as she charged at the other girl, as if she hadn't been stabbed just moments prior. It was odd considering she didn't get to step into the water. Bellatrix tried to get up but Aurora didn't give her a chance and she brought a foot up to stomp on left arm with a satisfying 'crunch', making the girl scream in pain. She may or may not have fractured her radius.

"Such monstrous behavior, I would not expect anything else from a sea spawn." Athena sneered at Aurora's violent reaction towards the Ares girl.

Ares nodded in rare agreement with her. "Is she trying to kill my kid?! She may not be able to use her arm again, how is this behavior even allowed at the camp?!"

"DoN't gEt tOo sOfT oN tHe pUnKs." Nico mocked in a high pitched voice. "It's a wAr gAmE, cAsUaLtiEs aRe tO bE eXpEcTeD."

Rachel leaned towards Thalia and Nico. "Is hypocrisy something that's common among the gods?" she whispered.

"Definitely." Thalia whispered back, cackling at Nico's excellent impression of the gods.

"Where is this energy even coming from?" Apollo asked. "You didn't even step in the creek, I thought water is what replenishes your energy? For Fates sake you were just stabbed ten seconds ago!"

Poseidon just laughed, the same mocking, cruel, and apathetic laughter that the other gods did when they witnessed Aurora getting stabbed. 

Monstrous indeed. Poseidon would know all about that, he was called the Father of Monsters after all, and he relished in the pain of his enemies.

Hades rolled his eyes at the war gods. "Relax with the dramatics, a broken bone isn't going to kill her. I would hardly consider this monstrous, this is simply a case of self-defense. The Ares spawn stabbed her in the back, so it is only fair my niece returns the favor."

Aurora blinked, eyes widening. Hades was defending her? He was using his brain cells? And he called her his niece?! In a non condescending manner? Was he trying to butter up Poseidon to avoid his wrath or did Kronos knock his son's head in too hard?

"Oh be quiet, you Bellatrix Lestrange wannabe."

"Who is Bellatrix Lestrange?" Sherman questioned. "Our sister's name was Bellatrix White."

White? What is this, some parallel universe to another book series? Aurora hoped not.

"Bellatrix White? Don't tell me she had younger half-sisters on her mom's side named Narcissa and Andromeda White."

"How did you know?!"

Aurora blinked.

Sherman blinked back.

Aurora blinked again before taking a deep breath. "Nevermind, don't worry about it."

Just as Aurora was about to stomp on the girl's trachea, she heard yelling, elated screams, and saw Luke racing toward the boundary line with the red team's banner lifted high. He was flanked by a couple of Hermes guys covering his retreat, and a few Apollos behind them, fighting off the Hephaestus kids.

Some of the Ares kids got up to check on Bellatrix while the others grumbled and cursed. Clarisse who got up with a slight limp gave a quick once-over at Aurora and her brows scrunched in confusion. Aurora gave her a confused look back, confused on why Clarisse was confused. They both just stared at each other in confusion for two different reasons.

"...What?" Thalia uttered, as if she couldn't comprehend what she just heard.

"This hurts my head." Sherman groaned.

The few Ares kids staggered after Luke, but it was too late. Everybody converged on the creek as Luke ran across into friendly territory. The blue side exploded into cheers. The red banner shimmered and turned to silver. The boar and spear were replaced with a huge caduceus, the symbol of cabin eleven. Everybody on the blue team picked up Luke and started carrying him around on their shoulders. Chiron cantered out from the woods and blew the conch horn.

The game was over. They'd won.

A few Apollo kids ran up to check on the Ares kids, just as Aurora was about to confront Clarisse about that weird interaction she heard Annabeth's voice right next to her. "How..."

Aurora turned around to see empty space.

The air shimmered, and she materialized, holding a Yankees baseball cap as if she'd just taken it off her head. Annabeth just stared at her with the same amount of confusion as Clarisse.

Persephone and Hades narrowed their eyes at the Yankees cap, its power reminding them of the helm of darkness.

"She was there the entire time?" Hermes asked. Fortunately for him, his question was answered soon enough.

Aurora was beginning to get frustrated. Why was everyone staring at her like that?!

"You were here the entire time? Did you seriously watch me get stabbed and did absolutely nothing?"

"Annabeth! Why didn't you help her?" Silena gasped. What kind of person watches someone get impaled and doesn't try to help them?

"She clearly didn't need it."

Poseidon checked his fingernails, testing how sharp they were. This was fine, he was fine, no biggie.

He would simply have to wait until the end of these films to avenge Aurora. The Sea God's eyes skimmed over the mortals and Annabeth and he briefly wondered how sturdy a demigod's skull is so that he can use it as a chalice to drink her blood out of.

Aurora seemed to have many enemies, but that was fine. At least that meant Poseidon would have many carcasses to work with to create a throne worthy of a Queen, made out of the remains of those who have dared to harm her.

Annabeth blinked.

"I knew you were using me as bait but I didn't think you would let it get this far! You set me up so that Bellatrix would come after me and not the flag! You stood there invisible the entire time, you saw Bella sneaking up behind me and you let her, and didn't even try to stop her!" Of all the ways that Aurora expected Bellatrix to get revenge on her, trying to kill her wasn't one of them.

Annabeth rid herself of whatever confusion she had earlier. "It was a part of the plan. I told you. Athena always, always has a plan."

The mentioned goddess tsked. "A shame that plan did not get her killed. But regardless, you did well, daughter." She smiled at Annabeth who looked both pleased and confused. Did her mother actually expect her to kill Aurora? Would that gain her approval? As much as Annabeth hated Aurora, it just seemed too extreme just to gain parental affection. But she said nothing as she smiled gratefully.

Forget demigod skulls, Poseidon mused over how sturdy immortal skulls were.

"A plan to get me killed! I've been stabbed!"

"You were stabbed. Look."

Annabeth pointed to her abdomen where she had the deep wound earlier... only to find that it was nearly fully healed. In fact, it was as if there was no sign of her getting impaled by the spear. The wound was fully closed leaving a mark and the only blood left was what was stained on her clothes.

It was as if time reversed itself and stitched her wound closed, as if she never got stabbed in the first place.

The wound closing looked exactly the same as when Poseidon bended Hades' ichor and the chilling realization slowly made its way to the gods. Zeus' eye twitched.

"That's not good..." Dionysus whispered.

"Perhaps Aurora didn't heal it? Maybe it was her father who wanted to help her?" Hermes offered but even he didn't look like he believed it.

Artemis didn't look convinced. "Maybe..."

"So Barnacle Beard broke the no interference law?" Athena decided to point out when she realized Zeus wouldn't say anything.

"Yes, exactly. The girl does not have the power to do it herself, Poseidon must've healed it. We have nothing to worry about." Ares waved off.

The gods all turned towards Aurora, expecting her to confirm them as correct so that they could continue with the films.

"Sure, if it helps you sleep at night."

Well that was not reassuring in the slightest, but the gods decided to accept the answer anyway, not wanting to linger on the thought or the consequences that would arise. Except for Apollo who looked like he was going to faint.

Typical. They were always one track minded and always ignored important matters for the sake of their pride. Ever the embodiment of 'ignorance is bliss', because they can always push their problems onto demigods anyway.

"How..." Aurora was speechless. How was this possible? She didn't even get a chance to get in the creek and let the water heal her. This must be what Clarisse and Annabeth had been confused about.

Aurora slowly took a step into the water, like what she originally planned to do before the odd rush of adrenaline. The cuts on her arms that she had earlier while fighting the Ares cabin started healing and the mark left from the stab wound quickly faded. The gashes turned to white scratches and then into scars then disappeared. She felt a rush of energy and stood straighter.

Annabeth's eyes widened. "Step out of the water."

Aurora rolled her eyes, but she did anyway. She looked noticeably tired when she was out of the water. But this didn't explain how she started healing before entering the creek.

"Oh, Styx," she cursed. "This is not good. I didn't want...I assumed it would be Zeus...."

Apollo looked dumbstruck. "You saw her blow up the bathroom plumbing and assumed she was my father's daughter?"

Thalia looked horrified. "You thought Aurora was my sister and yet you still used her as bait and allowed her to nearly die? For a fucking game?!"

Zeus looked pissed, either because Annabeth mistook Aurora as his daughter or that Annabeth would willingly put his children in danger. He did not voice his complaints out loud, however.

"Does it matter who she is the daughter of? None of this should have happened to her in the first place!" Silena exclaimed.

"Who cares? Look, she healed herself!" Annabeth defended, but the combined disappointed looks of Thalia and Silena made her cringe. "But that's not important—"

"No?" Nico echoed, tone taking a dangerous turn.

"She controlled her blood! Do you not see how horrible that is? Some things aren't meant to be controlled!"

"We're the children of the Big Three!" Thalia cried out. "We have powers beyond reason but that doesn't mean we're horrible!"

"What matters is how you choose to use your powers." Silena murmured. "That power helped save Aurora's life." As a daughter of Aphrodite with potent charmspeak, Silena did her best to control her power so that she didn't accidentally use it on innocents. Charmspeak was a dangerous ability, nearly as dangerous as bloodbending but Silena has never used it to hurt others who didn't deserve it.

Annabeth shook her head in disagreement. Why couldn't they understand that Annabeth was right? "That doesn't matter. No demigod should have the power to bend another being's blood. It's wrong! She needs to be controlled and put on a tight leash!"

"Controlled?" Both Aurora and Poseidon repeated, voices low with barely hidden anger. Control? A child of the sea?

"My daughter is right." Athena said sternly, focusing her glare on Poseidon and Annabeth was grateful for her mother's support. "Regardless if the girl can control blood or not, she is a liability. She could endanger Olympus. And you—" she pointed an accusing finger at the Sea God. "You are responsible for this. You have created this monster that could bring the downfall of our world, our pantheon. Provide me with one good reason why we should not eradicate this... filth, right now."

Poseidon tilted his head, sharp smile on his face. "My my, for all that you are Goddess of Wisdom you have provided absolutely nothing of importance nor any meaningful discussion this entire time. A shame that I cannot rip your tongue out right now and be done with your incessant whining." He silently cursed the Fates for this stupid restriction.

"You—"

"Enough." Hestia interrupted, looking exhausted with her family's bullshit. "Can the two of you please learn to be more civil?" The Goddess of the Hearth asked as Athena and Poseidon pointedly avoided meeting her disappointing frown. "There is no confirmed proof that Aurora controlled her own blood, and even if she did, it does not warrant eradicating my niece." Hestia said sternly.

Before Aurora had a chance to react, there was a canine growl again, but much closer than before. A howl ripped through the forest.

The campers' cheering died instantly. Chiron shouted in Ancient Greek "Stand ready! My bow!"

Annabeth drew her sword.

There on the rocks just above them was a black hound the size of a rhino, with lava-red eyes and fangs like daggers.

"A hellhound. Of course." Persephone sighed. She had an inkling of a feeling that the hound was sent by the same person who stole from the gods. But who?

"Hm, hellhounds aren't so bad." Aurora shrugged, feeling her earlier anger dissipate as she was reminded of Mrs. O'Leary. "They're like big fluffy dogs that are the size of a firetruck."

Persephone looked concerned. "Did you hit your head too hard when you fell?"

"No, I'm just saying they make cute pets."

"Rory isn't completely wrong I suppose. They're kinda cute once you get over their size." Rachel shrugged.

"A hellhound? A cute pet?" Hades repeated incredulously. Aurora's smile turned stoic as Hades just had to ruin her fun by inserting himself into the conversation.

"Yes, but not as cute as Cerberus."

The King of the Underworld sighed as if he had this conversation a thousand times. "He is a guard dog."

"An adorable guard dog."

Hades opened his mouth to go on a lecture of how Cerberus is a fearsome guard and not some puppy to be played with before he immediately shut it when faced with a look from Poseidon that said 'close your mouth before I decide to rip your tongue out as well' and 'how dare you look at and speak to my Aurora.'

It was only afterwards that Hades realized something was odd. How does Aurora know what Cerberus looks like?

It was looking straight at Aurora.

"Aurora, run!"

"AURORA, MOVE!" Clarisse screeched at the same time as Annabeth but Aurora took no mind.

"Usually when Clarisse tells you to move out of the way, you're supposed to move out of the way." Will hissed. "Rory you could have almost died if that thing sunk its claws into you!"

"It's fine I suppose. I was already stabbed, it literally could not have gotten any worse. Besides, the creek was right there, should there be an emergency."

"You suppose?" The son of Apollo echoed incredulously. "I should just keep a fish tank specifically for you in the infirmary."

Kayla squinted at her brother. "What is she, a fish?"

"Yeah, a clown fish." Nico snorted, making Aurora flip him off.

Once Nico finally stopped laughing at her and went back to watching the screen, Poseidon brought a hand up to tuck a curl of hair behind Aurora's ear. "Hm, I believe you are more of an angel fish. Heaven-sent."

Aurora blinked, immediately turning away to hide her reddening face.

The hound leaped straight at her and in less than a second Aurora threw the sword to the side and removed her headband off her hair, tugging it and it elongated into a bronze scythe. Just as it was about to hit her, Aurora swung her scythe up and lodged it into the hound's flank. It hissed in pain as it fell dead at her feet.

Unbeknownst to all, a pair of wide eyes focused right in on the sharp scythe, the person letting out a small gasp of recognition.

Thalia rolled her eyes. "Gee, I wonder who that can be."

Chiron trotted up next to them, a bow in his hand, his face grim at the sight of the monster.

"Chiron, why didn't you attack sooner? If Aurora hadn't slain it, the hellhound would definitely have harmed her." Apollo questioned with a frown.

Chiron sighed. "It all happened too fast. I wouldn't have let the hound reach her but she surprised us all and acted first, and I could only assume she expected the attack."

"Di immortales!" Annabeth said. "That's a hellhound from the Fields of Punishment. They don't...they're not supposed to..."

"Someone summoned it," Chiron said. "Someone inside the camp."

"So wanna take bets on who?" Dionysus yawned, stretching his arms as if he had fallen asleep.

"Bellatrix? She has a motive, as ridiculous and petty as it is." Hephaestus murmured.

"Agreed. Either her or Annabeth." Hermes immediately jumped in to accuse.

Ares scowled. "It was Aurora! She summoned it! She knew there was something in the woods and she probably wanted to push the blame onto my poor daughter!"

Athena hummed but she didn't look convinced. "It is a possibility. She seemed to have known that a creature of the Underworld was lurking in the forest in the first place."

"You think Aurora would be stupid enough to endanger herself and her fellow campers? For what reason would she even need to summon a Hellhound?" Apollo gaped.

"It's a sea spawn, who is to say that she did not accidentally summon it like the fool that she is. Ineptitude is a common trait among those of the seas." The Goddess of Wisdom retorted.

Poseidon's eyes turned to slits, tuning out Athena's grating voice as he examined each and every camper on the screen, contemplating on who would dare to harm what is his. His suspicions lingered on the Ares spawn and the Athena brats, but Aurora seemed to hold no trust in Luke and was extremely wary of him. As much as Ares and Athena angered him, he couldn't let prejudice cloud his judgement, and if Aurora really suspects the Hermes spawn, then Poseidon will not question it.

"Luke Castellan. He is responsible for this, is he not?" Poseidon asked, voice cutting through everyone's discussion and his eyes scanning the faces of the demigods to read their reactions.

Some of the gods snickered while others were thoughtful. Hermes' eyes widened and a look of panic flashed across his face. The demigods looked taken back at the bullseye guess. Although it made sense that Poseidon would figure it out sooner, he was one of the few gods who had nothing against Aurora and so would actually pay attention to her thoughts.

"Father was right, Uncle has gone senile." Ares laughed. "Sure, the only kid who seemed to show care towards your brat is the suspect. Do you even hear yourself?"

Senile? What the hell was Zeus saying about him behind his back? Poseidon clenched the armrest of his throne but didn't deign to give his nephew a reply.

"No," Persephone shook her head in disagreement with Ares. "Uncle might be onto something."

"Oh, so the silly flower goddess agrees with him? No surprise there."

Persephone kept a hand on her husband's arm to prevent him from killing the God of War and she glared harshly enough that it had Ares reeling back. She smirked at the look of fear on his face.

"Uncle, you should pick five numbers from 1 to 69 and one number from 1 to 26. It's about fucking time I win the lottery and become a billionaire." Katie said, shuffling around to look for a piece of paper in her pockets until Thalia offered her crumpled up paper and pen. It seemed that whatever prophetic powers Poseidon had was working so Katie might as well use it to her advantage.

"For allowing you to borrow my paper and pen, you give me half of your earnings."

"Fine."

"Guys, we're in the past. I hope you remembered all the winning numbers in the future." Miranda pointed out, and Katie and Thalia shared matching grinch-like smiles.

Poseidon looked visibly confused at his niece's question which had Aurora cackling.

Luke came over, the banner in his hand forgotten, his moment of glory gone. His eyes shone a slight amount of trepidation.

They watched the body of the hellhound melt into shadow, soaking into the ground until it disappeared.

Aurora's eyes widened as she realized she accidentally used her scythe, and while everyone was distracted by the hellhound fading into the shadow, she quietly tapped the end of it into the floor, shifting the blade of the scythe into a three pronged trident.

The campers looked up and their faces contorted into confusion at the sight of the trident.

"Did you really have to gaslight us about the existence of your scythe?" Will sighed. After the hellhound incident, many of the campers (including him) thought they were going crazy with Aurora's scythe suddenly turning into a trident when they weren't looking. Wherever they interrogated Aurora about it she would play dumb, acting as if she never even held a scythe. It was annoying at the time but now Will found it quite amusing.

"Absolutely."

"First you gatekeep your knowledge of the future, then you gaslight us about your scythe. What's next?"

Annabeth's eyes widened at the sight of the trident before she and the other campers started staring above her head.

Aurora looked up to see a hologram of green light, spinning and gleaming. A trident that matched the one in her hand.

"Your father," Annabeth murmured. "This is really not good."

Nico raised a brow. "Would you say that Thalia being a daughter of Zeus is not good either?" If being a child of the Big Three is the reason Annabeth thinks their existence is more trouble than it's worth then technically she shouldn't get along with Thalia.

"Of course not."

"So it's just Rory, Bia, and me who are the problem?"

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "There's a difference. Thalia's the daughter of Zeus. You three are the spawns of Hades and Poseidon. Do you not see the issue or do I need to spell it out for you?"

"We're dyslexic."

"What is being taught at that camp?" Persephone muttered to herself. Why did so many assume her and her mother are weak, Aphrodite is powerless, Poseidon is stupid, and Hades is some sort of cartoon villain? (Okay, she can see that her husband had been needlessly cruel towards Thalia and Aurora, but cruelty was common among all the gods, so why were they the ones being underestimated?)

"It is determined," Chiron announced. All around Aurora, campers started kneeling, even Annabeth and the Ares cabin.

"Poseidon," said Chiron. "Earthshaker, Stormbringer, Father of Horses. Hail, Aurora Jackson, Daughter of the Sea God."

"This was probably the most dramatic claiming I have ever seen." Travis said. "Even more dramatic than the Aphrodite campers."

"Ditto." Connor snorted.

"What can I say dear, go big or go home." Aphrodite shrugged.

Far from the eyes of all but the Moirai, a smaller, translucent hologram flickered momentarily. A hologram unseen by all, even those of the sky, the seas, and the Underworld.

A golden scythe and a turret crown.

The Elder Six gods' eyes widened in surprise.

"How..." Hera whispered. This has never happened to any of her own children, step-children, or nieces and nephews.

"What's going on?" Artemis demanded, but the six gods were far too stunned to reply.

Othrys has gained a new princess. A granddaughter to the former rulers of the world. For the first time, a child of the Kronides was acknowledged and declared royalty of Othyrs by both Queen Rhea and King Kronos.

"What the fuck?"