This was a little idea I had that wouldn't go away, so I wrote it. Last night, however, it evolved. The tale I have spinning in my head now strikes me as better, so I'll be writing that. From here on out this will be an old scrap up for adoption. All I ask is that you keep it well written on your own or have a Beta help you.

You had said your piece and heard Astraeus say his and, for a moment, you just stood there, uneasy and tense. You and the Titan leader looked at each other, him with a quiet confidence about him. You were suddenly struck with an edgy, agitated sense of deja vu when a grin spread on his lips. It was slightly mad, like this was the kind of wicked that girls fantasized of taming.

"Something wrong, my Blossom?" Astraeus suddenly said. "Do I intrigue you?"

It hit you then, why you knew him. It was the same as when you trailed after Cyprin when you were only just 17. They were nearly 19 at the time and you, crushing as badly as you were, decided to see where they were secreting themselves off to. That was when you discovered how wild they could get. Cyprin had discovered you early on, but not early enough to send you back home. They took you 'for a wild ride', as they put it, and after more than a few illicit drinks of gods knew what at some house party, you found your own wild side. You lost your virginity to the non-binary demigod that night.

That wilderness in Cyprin's eyes back then was in Astraeus' eyes now, making you that same kind of breathless. "In a way." You know he can see the past in your eyes when he steps closer to you. "You have that same look they did back then."

"Really?" Amusement colored his voice. "Tell me, Blossom. Who do I remind you of?"

Whatever he expected, the name that crossed your lips wasn't it. "Alex Cyprin."

The surprise on his face jarred you back you the present. You spun around, abruptly worried about being overheard. You ran to the door and peeked out, sighing in relief when the hall was empty. You closed the door. You had been expecting Hades to burst in at any moment, but it seemed like he had gone to bed. Part of you was glad for it. Part of was guilty for feeling like that. The rest of you was confused.

Astraeus was meant to be your enemy, yet here you were calling to him, letting him remind you of a lingering love. "He doesn't have to be…The old Titans are gone. Pallus was the only one of the new Titans that was so power crazed." Your thoughts betray you, letting slip the words you know Hades would never forgive. "If you can reach even ground with them, maybe things can really get better."

You think back to the time May had a cancer scare when you first met Bruno. May was in so much pain and the doctors had warned her that it might be the first visible symptoms. When you helped her tell Bruno, you were both shocked that he didn't know what you were talking about. You ended up needing to explain the severity of it with a human getting a corrosive aura forced on them. He got the point after that, even agreeing to spread the word about the disease among the monsters. It ended up being a false alarm, but it had struck you how much could change if monsters agreed to help humans a bit more.

"Blossom, What's wrong?" You looked at Astraeus, now looking at you with worry. "I can feel your heart trembling like a leaf in a storm."

In an instant, you knew. As much as it hurt, Hades couldn't be trusted to stay calm about all of this. None of the gods would, but it was Hades especially.

"We need to see Cyprin." The Titan looked confused, but only nodded. "If we can get on even ground about all this, then we can really make things better, no chaos needed."

A flicker of curiosity was in his eyes before he schooled himself into a gentle smile. "What of your lover? Should he not be the Olympian you go to for this?"

You look to one side, attempting to hide the hurt. "He can't be trusted to stay calm about this. Al-" You catch your slip as you make it. "Cyprin will."

Your attempt must have failed, because Astraeus spoke softly and stroked your hair. "He is keeping you hidden away up here. You have the passion of a tigress, and he would see you locked in a gilded cage. Death is a greedy thing, Blossom, his shadows will not easily let you go."

"I know." You were starting to realize that for yourself. "Let me give a note to Persephone. She'll delay him as much as she can come morning." You grabbed a pen and a piece of paper from the desk in the room and started writing.

Persephone~

I know this is sudden, but I can't explain much. I've been taking the past few hours to think about the situation, and have come to a dangerous conclusion. The thoughts I have now are ones that we both know Hades won't forgive me for having.

As kind as he is, he's still a Top Tier God.

I've gone back down to earth. There's something there that I need to do.

The night is still early when I wrote this, so I'll have all night to take care of it, but I might need a little more. Please, I need you to delay him until the sun is fully up. By then, things should already be in motion.

Do the others really wonder about all the secrecy? If so, I hope I have your support going forward. Not that I expect any of you to turn on family if this goes south.

I'm on the edge, so here's to fate.

~(F?) (L?)

"Diamond, my blossom?" Astraeus asked as folded the note in half.

"A code my mother made for undercover missions. She mentioned once that she created it with the help of a few Low Tier Gods, Persephone among them. Before she died, she taught Cyprin and I how to use it." You explained. "Stay here for a sec."

You slipped out into the hall and to Persephone's door. Kneeling, You flicked the note into her room, hearing her rise to get it before You hurried back to my room.

"She has It. Let's go." Astraeus took hold of my hand and held me close.

The world pulled away to pulsing shadows before we're standing at my desk at HERA.

You take a breath before walking with Astraeus to Cyprin's office door. Before You can knock, however, Cyprin calls out. "Come in, Titan. I'll hear you out, but only once."

You let Astraeus walk in first. "Greeting, Alex Cyprin. It's good to officially meet you. I've been told we're not so different."

Cyprin sounds stirn, cautious, as he speaks. "Astraeus. Who told you that?"

You took my que as the titan stepped aside without a word. "Me." Walking in, You could see that Cyprin wasn't expecting you by the shock in his amaranthine eyes. You waste no time in updating them. "I'm on the edge, so here's to Diamond Fates."

A flurry of emotions race across their face before they settle on something You can't quite define. "How long do we have?"

"Morning, beyond that it depends on how long Persephone can stall Hades finding out I'm here." You say.

Cyprin leans back on the front edge of his desk with a sigh, motioning you and Astraeus to sit. When the two of you are seated, you only wait a minute before starting your plan.

"We can start with discussion of goals. Cyprin? Will you speak or listen first?" You motion to the sofa across from Astraeus.

It takes a moment for them to, but they sit and wave a hand at Astraeus to speak first. "We titans want little but this world of color and light to explore for ourselves. We have yearned for freedom as birds yearn for the sky." Astraeus' voice goes from calm to scornful. "Yet we are spurned, for what? The loss of a battle from before we were born? I believe you would understand our resentment at being cast in the shadow of our parents. We want to stand on even footing with this world of light, and your gods would deny us even the smallest of rays."

Astraeus was riling himself up. You put a hand on his knee, making him look at you. "Easy Astraeus. We're here to talk, not fight." He nods and you look at Cyprin. "Cyprin. Your response?"

Cyprin takes a breath. "The Top Tier Gods refuse to see the world as much different than how it was when they first ruled in Greece. The younger of the immortal beings, however, ask in secret why we should hide from the mortal world. We want the same thing you do, the difference is that we can see what we're missing." Cyprin runs a hand through their hair. "What hurts more? Wanting something you can't see, or seeing what you can't have? All we know about the new Titan generation is that they have different powers that stem from being locked in Tartarus. Nothing else." Cyprin looked at Astraeus with a hopeful grin and reached across the table with a single hand. "I do know that most of us are willing to learn."

Astraeus grinned back and took their hand in a firm shake. "I think we can teach as we learn."

The rest of the night was spent planning and discussing how to bring the other Titans and Olympian Immortals into the fold. Astraeus told the titans easily enough, just sending his aura off to tell them what's happened. Cyprin shot a few cryptic texts to those he knew would give this a chance with a request to spread the word quietly. You, on the other hand, were worried about the fall out of all this.

"Hades… What's stopping us from working through this?" You sat there in the office staring into a cup of tea that Cyprin made. "Why can't you see that I need to be here on earth? Are we really so different that it won't work with us?"

The seat next to you sunk down. Looking up, you saw the worried eyes of a demigod gazing at you. "(F?)? Is everything ok?"

There was a pain in your heart that kept you from speaking, making your tongue heavy, choking you until you felt tears in your eyes. You reached for the suddenly relentless weight on the chain around your neck. It felt more like you were reaching for a noose than an engagement ring. "It hurts, Alex."

Seeing the delicate band resting in your hand, Cyprin whispered your name in sympathy, causing Astraeus to look over from the window. He took one look at the ring and scowled, almost growling aloud before he saw your face.

"Oh, Blossom. This is what I was trying to warn you about." He sat in the seat on your other side, grabbing your free hand to stroke it. "The Olympian Gods are selfish, greedy beings. Like parasites, they take as they please with no regard to the harm they force on others. They would tear families asunder if it meant they got what they wanted."

Between sobs, you gasped out a pained two words. "I know." You let Cyprin explain the rest.

It was more than once that Mom was brought home supremely late. On these days, she was often slammed. There was one night, about a month prior to her death, where you and Alex were the only ones still awake at the time. Alex was staying over that night 'just because'. Looking back, you're pretty sure he knew your mom had gone out drinking. When an agent of HERA dropped her off, you and Alex helped her to her room.

You're not sure what came over you, but the normally silent action of putting her to bed wasn't so quiet. You kept asking her different questions about HERA. How certain things worked, why certain people were/weren't hired, where places were in the building, it was thorough. Your last question had you dumping the woman unceremoniously on the bed and running for your room in tears. You had asked her what she would give up for good if she had to choose between her family and her job. She had chosen to give up her family because she loved Olympus more.

Alex had chased after you, understanding how that would hurt. The next morning, he told your brother and father under the guise that your mother had volunteered the information in her drunken state. The fight that followed had been catastrophic, leading to Josh take boarding at his college. Alex had volunteered to take responsibility for you, letting you stay in the apartment that their mother had bought for them. That living arrangement had stuck around until her death, when you moved back home under HERA C.S. jurisdiction.

Morning arrived for the three of you after a quick power nap, and at 8:56am Persephone called Cyprin.

"Good morning, Persephone." Cyprin answered, making sure that you and Astraeus was out of sight.

"Morning, Alex. Have you seen, (F?)?" Persephone asked, looking restless.

After a glance at me, he responds vaguely. "Yeah. Is something wrong? You look panicked."

Persephone looks at something off screen before looking Cyprin. "Does the term 'Diamond Fate' mean anything to you?" Persephone continues at Cyprin's flicker of surprise. "(F?) is planning something. I don't know what it is, but I'm gathering as much support up here as I can without tipping off the Top Tiers. I have Hecate and Morpheus on our side as well as a few others. Could you tell her that she only has until 10 to finish up? Hades won't wait for her beyond that."

"Got it. I'll let her know right now." Cyprin nodded with finality. "Stay safe, Persephone. My mother and her's won't like this."

"I know, Alex. You stay safe too." Persephone hung up, leaving you to help them prep a month's worth of cases for the office, just in case he couldn't make it back in. By the end of the hour, everything was set for the worse case scenario and the three of you were gone.

You stopped off at your place first to grab a few changes of clothes and the emergency bag before going to Cyprin's so they could do the same. As Alex drove you around to shake off any pursuers, you couldn't help but laugh a bit.

"Blossom?" Astraeus questioned you from the back seat.

"This just reminded me of a time back in Alex's black leather phase." You said.

Cyprin flicked through surprise and confusion before they remembered what you were talking about and settled of embarrassment. "Ah, right, that, um, well…"

"Oh? What did you do, Blossom?" Astraeus asked with amusement.

Holding giggles behind a smirk, you told the story slowly just to tease Cyprin. "Well, now. They might have been in the middle of a wicked phase, and i might have caught them sneaking out and tailed them. They also might not have caught me before it was too late to send me home, and I might have coerced them into taking me along to a house party that was rather lose with the whiskey."

Astraeus started laughing. "I can hardly imagine them so sinful!"

"Yeah, well, I-i wasn't exactly...u-uhm… I-i-i didn't…" Cyprin stuttered.

Snickering, you added more. "They also might have gotten more than a little bit tipsy and given in to my slammed 17-year-old-self's plea to be my first."

You probably shouldn't have mentioned that part, because Cyprin's blush turned into a familiar smirk that had you wondering if he ever really left their wickedness with the past. Your eyes flickered to Astraeus, gulping at how excited he seemed. You were getting no help from him.

"Odd." Cyprin drawled as they pulled into a secluded parking space in a full lot. "I distinctly recall forcing a sobering elixir down your throat before that part." Cyprin turned to glance at Astraeus. "She doesn't exactly fight when you want to roleplay as a goddess and her most devoted." As you sank into your seat, redder than a stop sign yet somehow happy with the situation, the two of them laughed.