Disclaimer: I am not Rick Riordan. I don't own any works credited to his name. I'm not Cassandra Clare, either, and I don't own any works credited to her name, either. I'm simply just me, and I only own works credited to my own name. Check out my profile if you'd like to see those! (Writing Desk's Raven, previously JustAnotherChapter, Fangirl Queendom, and some other name I don't remember.)
Time Skip: 9 Months Later
~Sage's POV~
"...And then I knocked the bowl over. So, that was the end of my trying to bake brownies." Eleos told me.
I laughed. "You suck at baking." I teased.
She pouted. "I don't suck at baking. I'm just a bit klutzy right now, is all. She helped me clean up, afterwards, thank the gods. A-phrodite is super nice." She abruptly stopped when she was saying that name, finishing off with Aphrodite's name to cover it up. But I knew her better than that. She was hiding something. But if she wasn't telling me, there was probably a reason for that.
"Did you at least get brownies, though?" I asked.
She smiled wide. "Yeah, they brought me some. I still can't get used to the whole invisible servants thing, though. And they've been doing absolutely everything for me, recently."
"They're just trying to do their jobs, whatever they are, whether magic or being or what have you." I told her. "Anyways, you excited for the meeting tomorrow?"
She hadn't been able to go to the Winter Solstice meeting in December, figuring going to the first huge meeting after she went into hiding would likely be a bad idea, but she was going to attend the Summer Solstice meeting tomorrow. No one except for Aphrodite and I knew she would be attending and no one would know until she arrived, to keep her safer, and I was truly happy to be able to see my wife.
"I wouldn't exactly say I'm excited." She said hesitantly. My smile faltered. She spoke up quickly. "No, I'm totally excited to see you in person! I just meant I'm a little apprehensive about the possibility of danger and everything else hanging over our heads."
"Aphrodite and I are doing everything within our power to keep you safe." I told her.
"I know." She sighed. "I guess I just don't want anyone hurt or anything going wrong."
"I know. None of us want anything to happen." I agreed. "But I think it'll be okay. I love you, Eleos."
She smiled softly at me, but then her face drained of all color. Glancing somewhere off to her side, she yelled at someone I couldn't see in a panicked tone. "It's happening!" She looked back at me, a slightly fearful expression in place. "I love you, Sage." She whispered.
She lifted her hand and waved it through the mist, gone from my view. I didn't know what had happened to make her so fearful, but I hoped I would find out tomorrow, and that everything would be okay. My soul would die if something happened to her.
Eleos never showed up to the Solstice meeting.
~Eleos's POV~
I didn't mean to end the IM with Sage so quickly. But I'd never found a way to tell him I'd gotten pregnant, and I didn't figure telling him the moment after my water broke was the best idea.
I'd kept it hidden the entire time, being mostly careful not to say anything or anything else, and being careful not to be standing or lying down whenever we IMed. He never had a clue.
I felt bad for not telling him, but it was also something I figured would be better off told in person, you know? I didn't want to spring it on him over Iris Message and leave him worrying all day and night until we spoke next.
The labor lasted seventeen long hours. I had twins. I named them Manon and Everly Tucker. They both had deep blue eyes, while Manon had brown hair like Sage's and my own (dyed, not that anyone else knew) hair, Everly with soft blonde hair. The color blue my eyes were now, and the color blonde my hair used to be, before Eleos. If Sage ever asked, it'd be easy to explain away. 'My mortal father had blonde hair.' Not exactly a lie, not at all a lie.
Because of how long it took, and recovery time afterwards, I missed the solstice meeting. Aphrodite informed me she'd told Sage that there was a complication, and I wouldn't be recovered enough to contact him for a few days. He was freaking out and worried about me, but she assured him everything was fine.
Aliya helped me take care of the girls for the first few days after I was finally allowed out of bed. Aphrodite said that the reason it'd taken so long, and the reason it took me so long to heal, might have been because of the ritual I underwent to become Eleos. It was just a theory, that she had no proof whatsoever for, but she said it could've altered me just enough to make certain things, like having children, harder.
All I know is that Athena didn't know how much of a great thing she had when it came to having her own children.
The fifth day after I was allowed out of bed, I finally IMed Sage. When he answered, he looked extremely worried and disheveled. There were bags under his eyes, and he looked as though he hadn't slept in a week. Which may very well have been possible.
He perked up a little the moment he saw me in the IM, though. "Eleos! Is everything alright? Are you okay? What happened? What-"
"I'm fine, Sage." I cut him off. "Everything's alright, now."
"What happened?" He asked quietly. "You looked so afraid, and I was terrified something bad had happened and I'd never see you again."
"Well," I hesitated, "thing is-"
I didn't have the chance to finish that sentence, because Aliya entered the room with the twins in her arms, not noticing the Iris Message. "Hey, Mi-" She cut herself off abruptly, looking at the IM.
I turned back to it to see Sage with his jaw dropped. "Aliya? What- How- When-" Finally, he gathered himself enough to ask an entire question. "Why are you holding children?"
Aliya and I shared a look, and she nodded slightly. I sighed, ran a hand through my hair. Sage watched quietly, trying to guess at the silent conversation passing between us. Finally, I nodded, swiped through the mist screen, and disappeared form the room.
Sage wasn't entirely surprised when I appeared in his room. He knew there was no way for me to get out of explaining this one.
"What was that-" He started, but I cut him off again.
"No one will miss you if you're gone for a short amount of time, right?" I asked.
"They all leave me alone when I'm IMing you." He told me.
"Good." I said, and grabbed his hand. It felt amazing to see him in person again after so long, even if it wasn't the best of circumstances and wouldn't be able to last very long.
I brought him to my room in Aphrodite's get-away. I sat down on the bed, and he sat next to me and slipped and arm around my shoulders, and I spoke quietly when I explained.
"I didn't know about Aliya until she showed up here." I told him. "The only people supposed to be here were myself, Aphrodite, and those invisible servant guys, if they're beings and not forces of magic."
He didn't say anything, so I continued. "So, of course, when I hear someone at the door when Aphrodite isn't scheduled to arrive that day, I was wary. I ended up with a knife to her throat before I realized it was her." I explained. "She told me how they managed to heal her - they took away her status, but used nectar and ambrosia to make it less painful. But, being mortal again, the nectar and ambrosia kept her alive. It was a slow and painful process, but it worked, and she lived. Aphrodite gave her her status back."
"But where do the tiny children come in?" Sage asked softly. "Aliya found a guy or...?"
"No, Aliya didn't find a guy." I told him. "I did."
"You what?" Sage asked, hurt clear in his tone.
"Oh, no! I didn't cheat on you, I swear." I exclaimed. "I probably could've phrased that better. Aliya didn't find a guy, but I found you."
"You mean..." Sage trailed off. "You mean they're ours?"
"Yeah." I confirmed.
"But... Why didn't you tell me?" He asked. I didn't meet his eyes.
"I wanted to, I really did. At first, I figured it was something better told in person. And then, I realized that likely wouldn't happen, so I tried to find the right moment, but the right moment never came along." I explained quietly. "I also figured telling you right after my water broke probably wasn't the best idea. But I was also afraid to tell you, afraid of how you'd react, because, you might only be twenty four or five years old since you were born, and I'm older, but we're only sixteen, for the gods sakes and-"
Sage cut me off with his lips on mine. It was a short, sweet kiss, full of love and understanding. I didn't even realize I was crying until he flicked away a tear with his finger. "Hey, Eleos, I understand." He said softly. "I understand, and I love you, and I love them, more than anything in this world. You are my wife and they are my daughters, and you are all my family."
I think she must've been listening at the door, because Aliya chose that exact moment to walk in with Manon and Everly in her arms. I took Everly and she showed Sage how to hold Manon, before sitting down on the bed in front of us.
"Hey, boy." Aliya said in greeting to Sage. "Welcome to our humble abode."
"How ya been, Aliya?" Sage asked, looking down at Manon. There was a smile on his face.
"I've been better, but I've also been worse." Aliya responded. "I still can't believe you two got married, though."
Sage looked up at her with a smile. She gave him a one armed hug, careful not to squash the baby in his arms.
"I always knew you two would end up together, though." Aliya said, with a wink towards me. I blushed slightly, but gave her a dirty look. "Ever since the beginning!" She sang.
"What are their names?" Sage asked me, ignoring Aliya's teasing.
"This is Everly." I said, jerking my chin down towards the child in my arms. "And you're holding Manon. Aliya helped me name them."
"They're wonderful names." Sage said.
"I was hoping you'd like their names. Would've been awkward, otherwise." I said with a laugh.
"Indeed, it would have been." Sage agreed. Aliya just laughed.
~Sage's POV~
I was a little bit upset that Eleos had never told me she was pregnant, that I was a father. But I understood why she hadn't told me, too. She was afraid of telling me, afraid of how I'd react and what it would mean for us. I would've been afraid, too, if the roles were reversed.
I had to go back to the farm all too soon, an hour or so after she flashed us out of my room. I didn't want to leave, but I knew I had to be there to protect my family. I'd originally wondered why we needed to bring the farthest reaches of the family to the farm, but Eleos had told me one day over IM that her enemy would most definitely go after distantly related people to get to any family at all, and thus, us.
Time Skip: 3 Months
~Sage's POV~
The first meeting Eleos attended after her going into hiding was just a random meeting. No one was supposed to know she'd be there until she actually gotten there.
I don't know how it all went so wrong, so fast.
The day started off normally enough, I guess. I ate breakfast with my mom, dad, and sister like I did every morning, and then I took a shower and got ready for the weekly meetings held on Olympus to discuss anything and everything.
I sat in my usual seat in the throne room, an audience seat towards the back. I'd taken to sitting there so no one would pay me any attention.
The only difference in this meeting than any other was that Eleos attended, sitting quietly with me in the back row, bringing little attention to herself. Eleos still wore her diadem, but no one ever payed attention to the back row.
Eleos and I sat hand in hand for the entire meeting.
Things started going downhill at the meeting's end. The twelve Olympians always stayed until everyone else had cleared out, and most everyone had cleared out, while we three spoke to Aphrodite.
"I'd better be getting back. The twins are a handful, and I have faith in Aliya, but she's been doing so much for me, lately." Eleos said softly.
"I'll miss you." I told her, hugging her close and kissing her forehead. "I love you."
"I'll miss you, too." She told me. "I love you, too." Aphrodite smiled softly at the statements, winking at me, and I couldn't help but grin softly.
Eleos had only managed to walk a couple feet away when they showed up.
The creatures from the temple where Mikayla had died. I was immediately seeing red, but they ignored everyone except for Eleos, everyone watching intently and standing frozen.
"Eleos, dear, what a pleasure we finally meet!" The female called. I vaguely remembered killing the other female, and the two males standing behind her, glaring at me, attested to that fact.
"Meeting you is no pleasure of mine." Eleos spat, fire raging in her eyes.
"Pleasure for us, that is." She clarified wickedly. "And it seems we did not need to kill off your entire court to find you. Shame, that would've been such fun."
"You cannot force me to battle you until they are gone, and you will never wipe out my court." Eleos told them angrily.
"Oh, but we don't need to force you to do anything if you'll do it willingly." The female sang happily. "Athena, if you'd be a dear?"
Athena came forward with a small bundle in her arms. It took me all of two seconds to realize what that bundle was. It took Eleos less time than that, stepping forward to grab Athena's arm, but missing as Athena flashed to their sides.
"You'd really do it, then?" Eleos asked, voice not hard or soft or anything else, but clear in the silent room. "You'd give your own grandchild over to someone who would do nothing but torture and kill her?"
Athena didn't have time to react to that, hell, I didn't have time to react to that, because one of the males had grabbed my child and disappeared. Athena stared blankly at Eleos, uncomprehending, while the female and remaining male laughed.
The female then turned to me. "We meet again, Tartarus." She drawled, and I had a bad feeling about whatever she was going to do or say next. My unease was proved absolutely correct at what she said next. "It'll be nice, taking your child's life for your taking our sister's life."
"You were going to kill her, and she died anyways, because you drove her in there, so I think that your stupid little life for a life counter is off!" I said angrily. It was their fault Mikayla was dead. If she hadn't have had to go so she wouldn't die, I might've been able to talk her out of it. I had finally had her back, for a few moments, but they showed up and got her killed.
"Strange, her giving her life for the girl you now call your wife." The female mocked. Eleos looked nervous, at that, but I was tuning out everything around me and focusing my rage on this creature.
"Mikayla was a wonderful, selfless, caring person, and she would do anything for those in need. Eleos and her are similar in that way." I ground out, glaring at her.
The female laughed. "Mikayla and Eleos are much more similar than you might think." She said. I kept glaring at her. "Come now, you can't seriously not have figured it out by now?"
She tutted, and turned to look at Eleos. "Why don't you show us all your true form? Why don't you show your husband who you truly are?"
"This is who I am." Eleos said, voice and emotions guarded.
"Get rid of the petty disguise, the enchantment, the facade you use to hide." The female said, waving a hand dismissively. "And while you're at it, change those eyes. They looked so much better on you when they were gray."
At the creature's last words, Eleos's form flickered. Eleos panicked, at that, and took a step back, but whatever the female had done to rid her of her disguise had worked.
"Don't you see?" The female called. "The girl you love has been standing in front of you the entire time, and not once did she think to tell you!"
Standing a few feet away from me was not Eleos. Was not my wife, the girl I'd come to love ever since she stepped into the throne room and demanded they stop torturing me. Standing in front of me was not the girl who'd had our children, the girl who was the mother of two of the three people I loved the most, the third being that mother herself.
Standing in front of me was the girl who'd been my best friend for six long years. The girl who'd come to me every night because nightmares kept her up, the girl who I'd hold while she cried. The girl I fell for, hard, the girl who's kind gray eyes I'd loved so much.
Standing in front of me, a few feet away, was Mikayla Leanne, the girl who was supposed to be dead.
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