Chapter Text
Neeks lies on the couch looking over at Hades.
'So, what years or now?' He asks.
'20XX.' Hades replies. It's not yet autumn yet since Persephone isn't here at the moment so he should probably try warn his dad about the winter solace thievery.
'Right. So I don't know if I'll get back to the underworld before the solace but don't take your helm to Olympus for the winter solace or like if you do keep it with you at all times. There's going to be a thief.' He spoils. Hades knows that Neeks is a ghost from the future, or more specifically Nico's ghost from the future but this is the first time Neeks has actual told him something about it. Probably because he doesn't know stuff that happened when he was in the lotus casino.
'Oh, and just warning you that we are probs going to leave the casino either next year or sometime close to that. 'Cause of the stuff that's gonna happen.' Neeks says. Hades processes the information he was given.
'The prophecy?' Hades asks. 'Is is you or Bianca?'
'Hmm. No. Neither. It's a child of your brother. The less stick up his ass one. He preserves Olympus by the way.' Neeks says. Bianca would be older than Percy at the moment but she'd probably join the hunters again and this time it won't kill her. He promises himself. 'You should probably not claim Nico and Bianca when they get to camp just in case lightning boy is trigger happy.'
'Right.' Hades says. This time he wasn't the one to send the monsters after Thalia due to Neeks but that didn't stop them from being overwhelmed and her becoming a tree again anyway. Multiple childen of the big three drew monsters to them with other demigods a lot anyway and well Hades isn't the only one who'd not want a big three child just yet.
'How are the kids going?' Hades asks.
'Good. Bianca's learnt how to use a spear and now and arrow from some of the casino games and the skills are transferable to real weapons. I've been keeping up with Nico's shadow powers and he can shadow travel both him and Bianca across the hotel multiple times without getting tired. He's also started to manipulate them and solidify them so he's making good progress.' Neeks replies, 'They are happy and are doing well.'
'Good.' Hades nods. He's a lot more awkward around Neeks than Neeks remembered but maybe not since really it had been a while since he had been the small demigod interacting with his dad and his timelines Hades was a lot more used to Neek just being like this because of the chaos Percy, Neeks, Thals had been consistently getting into since appearing. Hazel also got into chaos just not in front of Hades. 'Food?'
'No.' He's not stupid, dad, stop offering food. It is not going to get him to stay, especially since he has to watch over Nico and Bianca so that they have a better life than before. Even as a ghost Neeks is the Ghost King and the ambassador of Pluto, though he hasn't actually gone to the romans yet, he'd have to do that once Nico's out of the casino and in camp. Maybe use it as an excuse to check on Jason at the Camp Jupiter.
...
Thals watches as half-bloods leave camp and pass her border. She remembers this feeling, from the first time it happened. She watches like a dream and when she was revived from the tree she thought what she had seen was a dream but this time she knows it isn't. She wonders if this is what dryads feel like when they are trees or if it is simply what is like for someone who wasn't meant to be one to take this form. She wonders what Thalia feels about this state, especially as she is able to drift in and out of consciousness unlike Thals who can always see through her eyes. She wonders if bringing Jason to camp only to leave him, as she is a tree, is any better than her mother abandoning him to the wolves. She knows logically it is so much better but it still hurts when she sees him come to the tree with Luke and Annabeth alone and lost and only 10 now.
Luke has grown older and more bitter and she hates to see him become the Luke she hates. It hurts even more than last time because she knows what happens and she just can't change it as she is. Annabeth grows the same as well and Thals can't help but be proud of how she is growing to be the amazing young lady who led the Greeks through two wars with Percy. She isn't quite there yet but Thals can't help but to be proud anyway. She gets to see Jason grow up this time. She fully raised him after they ran away and now she can only watch him from the tree but its more than she had before. He's growing differently from the boy that he was when she finally was able to meet him again. He's still young but she can tell that she lost the Jason from the last timeline when he had died. She won't let him do so so soon in this one and she can't bring herself to regret it since he seems happier anyway.
When she is revived from the tree she'll get him the friends that he had in the last timeline and introduce them to the godly world for old times sake and a small hope that Jason can be as close with them as before but without the memory baggage. There isn't many demigods his age at camp yet but there will be soon as he grows. He hasn't been claimed and she's glad that nobody knows who there father is this time around.
...
Hazel tunneled under the walls defense. The opposition had made a rookie mistake when it came to her and hadn't built on pre-existing foundations allowing her to easily breach their defense's with most of her team with her. Only the distractions stayed behind to keep the enemies eyes up. They reached the surface right next to the flag and the fighting broke out but the inner defenders were not enough for the sheer numbers of the cohort attacking.
'For the glory of the gods!' One of the soldiers yelled when they grabbed the flag, heaving it up. The game ended and Hazel grinned. She had turned her cohort around and they were now one of the best. This time they didn't need Jason becoming preator and then Percy retrieving the eagle to gain their honour back.
Haze laughed from her side. She wasn't allowed to help but she could shout encouragements at them when they weren't trying to be stealthy and she did.
'We won!' She yelled. She's doing so much better than Hazel was at this age. Maybe it was the lack of war and loss or maybe it was the lack of responsibility but Haze seemed to be more of free young adult than Hazel had been when she was a teenager.
She had gotten a message from Percy saying that he would be joining the godly world this year and to start looking out for signs of titans rising. Since Jason wasn't here Hazel had already started to plan on how to take down Krios, she didn't know how it was done in the last timeline nor could she find out but either way a titan would be hard to kill, especially since she didn't have her curse since her timeline.
Hazel follows the cohort back to the barrack and gets ready for bed. Haze is talking with some of the other members and Hazel is glad she's got friends. Hazel does too but they are more reserved relationships than Haze's.
...
Percy was excited to start at Yancy because this would be the year he met Grover. Meeting Grover had been his lucky break in his old life and the start of his introduction to the godly world. This time, with the knowledge of the godly world already and with Perseus having the eternal support of Percy and Tyson, who could be closer to him than his mother solely due to the fact that they weren't in charge of him, Grover mightn't be what he was to Percy for Perseus he would be meeting him for real for the first time and they were both excited for him to do so. Perseus had all of his things packed and they were going over how they were going to deal with all of the mythological intruders at Yancy. Tyson would be in a younger grade and hopefully not have to deal with any of them too much but if they wanted to look after him and check in on him than Grover would as well and he didn't remember if Chiron and Ms. Dodds had taught other grades as well.
So, I think we are going to tell Grover that we are Hellenistic but not that we are a demigod. Mr. Brunner gets to be gaslit for payback. And Ms. Dodds is to be convinced that we are innocent at all costs before we get to the museum even if it means revealing our seer properties.
Perseus mentally nodded and showed his agreement to the plan they had made. They both wanted to make sure that no one could guess their godly parent and would pray to him to not claim them until they were ready for it. They pack their shoebox altars into their bags last so that they can be placed in the dorm first off and then go to Tyson's room to help him pack his bags. Tyson was mentally really young but physically Perseus' age, despite this they were able to get him in two grades down from Perseus so that he wasn't as behind, and he was a lot less behind than he was in Percy's timeline already since he had been going to school since he was physically 7. Their shrines were for Hestia, for family and hearth, Soteria, for safety, Poseidon, as their dad, Amphitrite, as their step-mom, a shared one for all their siblings just in case and one for Dionysus for advanced making their lives better at camp. Tyson had a copy of the first five as well as one for Athena and Hephaestus to help with his crafting. Mom was at work at the moment but she had asked the boys to get their bags packed fully for going to Yancy tomorrow morning since they were leaving very early in the morning. They helped Tyson finish his bag and checked that it had everything, only leaving the stuff for tonight to be packed into his backpack like Perseus had done.
Mom was going to go to university this year since Perseus and Tyson would be boarding at Yancy. Unlike in the first timeline, in which Smelly Gabe had been using all of the savings for alcohol, Mom had been able to save up enough to send Perseus and Tyson to Yancy and herself to college to finish her writing course and hopefully write her book. Silently, Percy also hoped that she'd be able to meet Paul as well so that Estelle could be born but he knew that things changing might have destroyed that possibility. This is the end of the beginning of his story, Percy thinks, because from now on, the godly world will be watching and Perseus can't rest. Things would go better this time, things would have to be. Percy isn't going to let things happen the same. Neither had Hazel and apparently Thals. And probably Nico as well.
A half-blood of the eldest gods,
Shall make it to sixteen against all odds
No. Six half-bloods of the eldest gods would make it past sixteen against all odds.