Heeeey! Thanks to 17headlines (was that review a good thing or a bad thing?), KitKatWei (ahem, you cheater), Turquoise Crystal (thanks! :D), Lea Valdez (I like your last name), and MarburyBlur (I like to imagine that Nemesis had a hand in organizing it; did we ever find out Leo's real too-hard-to-bear thing in BoO, or is it just the whole Calypso thing?) for all your various favs/follows/reviews. Means a lot to me. And since I didn't get any requests (SEND THOSE IN) I had to look through the reviews, and so I am doing…

HERA

The queen of Olympus sat stoically on her throne, watching the world go by below. She was so lost in thought, she wouldn't even have noticed had her husband himself come up flirting with another mortal woman; she was tired of it. So tired. She didn't care anymore. She didn't care about anything.

Hera had heard of immortals becoming like this, sometimes—petrifying because they'd lost the will to live, to care, to stay open and loving and wondering and free. Some of the gods retained all that, but she hadn't. She didn't bother. Life had become so tiring, and it hurt to keep going. Zeus, though, was impervious to her troubles.

"Hera?"

Hera looked up and smiled bitterly. Speak of the devil. "Zeus," she said without emotion. "What are you doing here?"

"What am I doing here? This is the pantheon of the Olympians; I am their king, and you are my queen. I bring you good news, too. Be happy, darling."

Hera doubted that she would have much of a reaction. Her husband was silly. A powerful god, and king too, but silly nonetheless. "What is it?"

"I know you didn't like Annabeth." Zeus looked slightly awkward.

"Didn't?"

"Well, Gaea's defeated, anyway," Zeus offered, not sounding in the least surprised that a bunch of half-mortals had defeated an ancient primordial. To be honest, Hera wasn't either. She supposed that the demigods had worked hard. Hard enough, at least, by her standards.

"She's defeated, anyway? I didn't like Annabeth? What's going on here, Zeus?" Hera asked. She really wasn't in the mood for this.

"Percy Jackson and Annabeth died in the fight." Zeus' eyes twinkled, though Hera could see the stress underneath, and how much he wanted to please her. "I'll see you later, then, my darling. I have business to attend to, you know. King of the gods and all." With a flash, he disappeared, and Hera watched him tiredly. She thought of how Jason Grace had looked upon her true form and somehow survived it. He was a good boy. She was glad he hadn't died.

But Anniebell had, and so had Jackson.

Briefly Hera pondered what this might mean for the world. Jackson had been the most powerful demigod of the century—an accolade not to be looked down upon. It was a good thing, to be powerful. She should know.

And Annabeth…

Hera remembered something the girl had said to her once, in the Labyrinth, as she had forced her own hatred down and tried to help them. You only want a perfect family, Annabeth had accused her.

At the time Hera had pretended to burn with anger and curse the insolent girl, but somewhere deep in her heart she'd known it was true. That she did only want a perfect family, that she hated imperfection the way Hermes hated slow Wi-Fi connections. "Ugh!" she'd heard him storm once. "I'm trying to play League of Legends! I'm a god! I should be able to make free internet!" That was really how Hera felt about flaws; she should be able to fix them and make everything flawless again. It wasn't right for anything to be broken. For her, everything had to be perfect.

She realized with a jolt that that meant Annabeth had been right. Hera had been in denial for so long that she'd eventually been able to tell herself that Annabeth was wrong, but what if she hadn't been? What if, as a demigod, and a daughter of Athena, too, she'd had a unique aspect of life that even Hera didn't have?

Then she shook her head. She was just being paranoid now. Annabeth was dead, and she'd been wrong…

She was doing it again. She was in denial. Which was a habit she'd have to wean herself out of. She was a goddess, and she could do anything, fix anything!

Yet another habit she had to fix.

Wait, she was trying to fix herself? What had happened to the brave, strong, perfect goddess she'd been trying to be for eons?

Hera decided then and there that she was going to try to make herself a better goddess, in case another wise demigod came along. She'd be ready. So…how did one begin fixing themselves?

Hera stood. "Hello!" she called, trying to get the attention of her fellow Olympians. "Anyone want lunch?"