Chapter 1- Secret's Out
The night on Olympus was storming, lightning flashed followed by a terror filled scream. All the Olympians – Hades and Hestia included thanks to our favourite hero – were spending the week on Olympus with a week filled with meetings. They were woken by the haunting scream that unnerved the few who recognized the voice. Flashing to the source of the shout those who didn't know were greatly shocked to see who it was. The Olympians stared in complete shock at their brother and uncle as he twisted and turned in his sheets covered in a thin sheen of sweat, occasionally letting out a whimper or a slight shout. Hades and Hestia rush forward to comfort their younger brother.
"Hey. Hey, look at me," Hades whispered when the god bolted awake from his nightmare, smiling when his brother focused on him.
"'Des?" the disoriented god asked latching on the Hades' chest, trying to figure out if he was seeing his brother or if he was still dreaming, just another part of his torture.
"'Tia's here, too. You're not there anymore, we got you back. He can't hurt you anymore," Hades reassured the shaking and crying god, bringing him closer. "'Don, look at me. He's gone, and he is never coming back." Poseidon laid his head on his brother's shoulder, burying his face in the crook of his neck. Hades continued to rub circles on Poseidon's back through his sleeveless top while Hestia was whispering her comfort to help calm the scarred god down. When Poseidon had finally calmed down and was on the verge of sleep Hades asked him to remove his shirt.
"Why?" mumbled the tired sea god while adding to the confusion of the others in the room.
"I just want to make sure there aren't any new ones," Hades responded with a slight teasing but serious tone, they had just gotten out of a second war with their grandmother with less than a year after the previous one with their father.
"M'kay," Poseidon whispered almost too quiet for Hades to hear. The Olympians crowded around the bed were even more confused and shocked once the sea king's shirt was off. Almost every inch of skin had at least one thin white scar running through it. Hera, Demeter and, Zeus all gasped, realizing where all the scars came from and what the nightmare was about, and why he had it in the first place.
"Are those…" Demeter began.
"Yes, and it was only a matter of time before something like this happened," murmured Hestia sadly watching as the god of the dead traced each scar with his fingers.
"Those, those scars look to be a few mill-millennia old. O-old enough to be from the f-first…" Apollo couldn't bring himself to say what everyone was thinking/span; what happened all those millennia ago that caused their uncle to look like that?
"Titan war," breathed Athena with obvious shock and disbelief in her voice, "But I know everything that happened, this has to be some sort of joke that Barnacle Brain is-"
"You will speak of my brother like that. Just because you don't know about it doesn't mean that it never happened. No one was supposed to know that wasn't there to receive him when we brought him back. But with Father's rise and as well as Gaea's, along with his son's trip to the Pit, he was barely keeping himself from breaking down at the smallest resemblance his time there, that with Demeter's accusation today during the council meeting it is no surprise that he had the nightmare. For almost five years he has had to deal with constant reminders of what happened to him. The demigods weren't the only ones getting nightly visits from dear old Dad. He was tortured in his dreams. He was tortured." Silence permeated the room.
"He was in T-Tartarus." The whisper came from the back of the group. Turning to the back of the group everyone stared at the goddess who spoke.
"Aphrodite how did you know?"
"A passing nymph mentioned one of the gods were in the Pit. I guess I never really put much thought into it at the time," the love goddess answered, reminding the others that she was much older than she seemed.