Annabeth: Talking to Gabriel about Brian

The way Brian looked after we began leaving the ruins of Saturn's Land behind us and following the dirt road back to civilization had me on edge. At first, we never spoke although we probably both had many thoughts racing through our minds. Mine were on how to explain my adventure to Percy and reluctantly let him see my deep disappointment. I had gone seeking information on how the people of Saturn's Land built their facilities but I left only with info on how it was destroyed and why.

For me, bittersweet was how you could describe this victory in my opinion and probably in Gabriel's as well. Gabriel's head was sloped down forward and I could see that he was not exactly in the talking mood. But when push comes to shove, sometimes you have to force it out of someone. Especially when you're surprise to see their eyes release a few tears just hours after leaving.

"What's wrong, do you want to talk?" I asked. At first, it seemed as if he would or if he even could for that matter. Then he wiped away his tears and calmed himself long enough to tell me what was troubling him. When I thought it was just the fact that he was leaving Brian to fend for himself once again, I soon realized that was the least of it.

"Brian dragged me away from you to tell me that I had been deceived by the gods on Nadine. Deceived so that I wouldn't feel even worse about Hera forcing me to leave her than I already did," Gabriel began. I was utterly shocked that he would say something like that but I knew it was necessary to get him to continue. "When I found out she was pregnant with twins, I was told that I was the father but that was far from the truth: Brian was the father, not me," he said.

"How did that happen?" I asked. "From what Brian has confessed to me, he and Nadine fell in love when I first introduced them to one another during the early days of my service to Hera. Though she and I made love, she had used the pill and had instead gotten Brian's seed into her body just a day or so after I reluctantly left to return to Hera's service," he answered. "So who told you that you were the father and he wasn't?" I inquired.

"She did and I had others confirm it to me, others who would know of such things. But I never realized that Hera would bring about her death through her actions against me and allowing me to be mislead by the deception," he explained. "I am so sorry Gabriel, I wish there was something I could do besides say that I do kind of hate Hera," I said. Although I had given up my feud with her when she swore to give up her grudge, I still did hate her for the way she treated members of her own family.

I guess you could say I had never quite gotten over the fact that she was the one who threw the poor Hephaestus down to Earth when he was just an infant. Now this was more than enough to enrage me and make me wish to yell at the goddess that she was a bitch. She was the goddess of marriage yet she had allowed this adultery against her own half-brother only to kill her and her children whilst she was giving birth to them later. I wondered why Zeus selected her to be his wife when she treated people this way, especially if they were related to her or her immediate family.

"Ever since that day when she forced me to abandon the only source of peace and comfort I had known until Eos and I fell for each other, I have dreamed of the day when I will destroy Prometheus and become a god because then I would be more than powerful enough to make Hera pay for what she did with no harm to myself. Zeus forgive me for this desire to attack your wife but she did take away the first bit of personal peace that I had ever known," he said. "Well, Brian is a leader now and so are you plus you two are still friends, am I right?" I asked. He nodded yes and I told him that he should not worry about Brian or his ex-wife for that matter.

"I am not angry at either of them but I am enraged at Hera for having brought us to this. Still, I think if it weren't for her you and I would not be having this conversation and probably would not have even met," he said. I giggled and I said that I was glad to have a mortal uncle, even going as far as to call him the best family member that I had ever had in my life. "Let's change the subject now to something a little happier although I'm not done talking about Brian," he requested.

"Okay, you want to know about the time Brian and I took a little endeavor to a nearby restaurant when we had not even begun to reach the mountains?" I asked. He smiled and said that he would love to hear how they had pulled that off without himself or Allie knowing. "Well, as you may know, Brian had this way of making himself and those immediately beside him invisible for a few moments. He used that long enough for us to get out of your sight and then we walked to a nearby restaurant and ordered quite the feast for ourselves," I answered.

"Now that's not so bad although I think I might have been forced to confessing the time Brian and I tried to steal a golden apple from Hera's garden. The nymphs fell for Brian's charm just like that while I went to get one but that accursed dragon of hers kept me from even getting close," he said with a smile. "Let me guess, the charm failed as soon as the nymphs heard the roar of the dragon," I said. He nodded and added that Zeus was madder than hell although he decided to let us off the hook that time.

"What of Brian's fate right now? Will he know for sure if anyone besides himself survived the destruction of his city?" I asked. "Yeah, that horn can be heard the world over by those from Saturn's Land and/or are relations to Saturn in some way. If there is anyone besides him, they will have heard the call and will know to come to Saturn's Land before he leaves," Gabriel said.

"Will it be a dangerous journey to this new location?" I asked, curious about the way Brian's destiny was going to be shaped. "Most likely but the only way to know that for sure is to be a god or goddess and know what the Fates have foretold for a person," Gabriel said, immediately satisfying my worries about Brian. "He mentioned something about having had to say goodbye before when we talked alone, do you know what he means by that?" I inquired.

"The first time we had to part, it was for missions that our trainer gave us in order to enhance our skills beyond the training arena on Olympus. After that there were two more, one in the same manner as before and the third when we completed our training to the limit. This is the fourth time that we have had to say goodbye and will probably be the worst for both of us," he explained. "At least you have the chance of seeing each other again in some small way: Iris messages if he's still around to give them after his," I said.

"Brian is a good friend and I will miss him dearly like I would a brother I have come to know. Tell you the truth, he's been more of a brother to me in just the few years we've known each other than the Big Three have been in my entire life. The only one who comes close to Chiron and you know how shaky that can be," he replied. Satisfied that I had cheered him up, I nodded and ended the conversation by thanking him for this wonderful conversation that we had had.