Ever since Percy had been sent to Tartarus, the Olympians have taken to having monthly meetings, discussing their children's latest activities, happenings around the world, and monster appearances around the world. Sometimes the seven, Nico, Thalia, and ,occasionally, Grover would attend these meetings and offer their input or observe silently.
This meeting's topic was, not surprisingly, Percy. No matter what, at every meeting they would always discuss their hero in Tartarus. The gods were constantly searching for signs of his doings or making sure he was still alive. Hades kept a close eye on new souls that entered his realm, searching for a familiar face.
The demigods could do little to contribute to the search of Percy's current status and would instead cling onto the hope that their hero would return to them. Jason, along with Piper, continued to search every inch of the library for any scrap of information that might be able to help Percy. Nowadays, Jason's hair was wild and dirty. His eyes were sunken and had dark crescent moons framing them. He was extremely thin and only ate when Piper forced him to. His friends were worried about what would happen when he ran out of books to scout for a scrap of useful information.
Thalia and Nico constantly shadowtraveled to the underworld and got as close to the entrance of the pit as they dared to search for Percy. They went there every day, hoping beyond belief to see the familiar jet black hair and sea green eyes appear over the edge. They would stay there for hours on end, waiting for what might never come. They would even speak to the pit, offering words of comfort or just talking about everyday life, clinging onto the hope that Percy could hear them or possibly respond. As the days went on, their hope started to dwindle, but they continued to come down to the pit every day without fail.
Out of all of Percy's friends, Grover was suffering the worst. His empathy link with Percy caused him to experience every feeling, every torture that Percy was going through. He didn't feel the pain to the same extent, but he was still in constant agony. After the gods realized what the empathy link meant, they all kept close eyes on Grover's health. Empathy links bind two people together. So if Percy dies, Grover dies. As long as Grover was still alive, there was still hope.
Hestia was also a source of hope for Percy. She was the only one who could enter his mind and speak with Percy. Hestia rarely left her fire and almost always had her eyes closed with a look of concentration set on her face. Even during meetings, she hardly moved from her position. Every once in a while she would give the Olympians updates on what's happening with Percy but otherwise she didn't speak. There were times, however, where her face would become panicked and desperate. It was times like these when the gods would hold their breathe, stopping whatever they were doing and instead focusing on Hestia's silent struggle. When her face would relax into relief, the gods would release their breathe and continue on, throwing worried glances at Hestia ever once in a while.
During meetings, Percy's friends would constantly steal glances at Hestia, looking for any hint of what Percy may be going through. Aside from the occasional shifts in facial expressions, nothing seemed to be wrong. So at one meeting when Hestia suddenly yelled out in pain, everyone stopped what they were doing and stared fearfully at her.
The entire Olympian consol along with Thalia, Nico, and Grover were gathered in the throne room discussing the latest monster attacks, but when they heard Hestia's cry they fell dead silent. They watched in horror as Hestia fell foreword onto her hands and clenched her mouth tightly. Earlier on in the meeting, Hestia had been murmuring frantically under her breathe and the gods had been keeping a close eye on her, but they weren't prepared for this.
Hestia was on all fours in front of her hearth and tears of pain leaked from her eyes and raced sown her cheeks. Her mouth was open in a silent scream as she stared eyes glazed over with pain at the floor. The hearth behind her died down until only a few glowing red coals remained.
Thalia suddenly gasped as Grover let out a soft moan and crumpled to the ground. Thalia dives for Grover and just managed to catch him before his head connected with the ground. Thalia shifted so that Grover's head was resting in her lap and she immediately began searching for signs of life, whether it be a pulse or a flicker of the eyes. Thalia glanced desperately at Nico, silently asking the question everyone wanted to ask that had an answer no one wanted to hear.
Nico's face became concentrated and his eyebrows knit together as he tried to focus on Grover's soul. Just when Nico's expression turned to one of panic, just when Thalia felt tears begin to fill her eyes, Grover's eyes flickered slightly. Thalia released a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding. Sweat was soaking through Grover's shirt and rolling off his face, slicking his hair back. His face was scrunched up in pain and his eyes were moving wildly beneath his eye lids. The gods were frozen in place, trying to watch both Grover and Hestia simultaneously.
Everything was silent. Thalia barely even breathed as she and the gods gazed fearfully at Grover and Hestia, watching for anything that could give them clues as to what was happening to their hero. Just as suddenly as it started, the silence was erupted by two ear splitting screams. Thalia immediately moved to cover her ears to try and block the horrible sound and out of the corner of her eye she saw Nico collapse to the ground with his hands pressed into the sides of his head, but it was no use. The screams slipped right through her fingers and penetrated her ear drums. The pain was worse than anything she had ever felt before, and it wasn't just physical pain, it was emotional too.
Hestia's scream combined with Grover's created a mental knife that stabbed into her brain, twisting and burying itself deeper and deeper inside her head. When Grover screamed, he must have been feeling so much distress that he used Panic, Pan's scream. That alone would have crippled her. But Panic combined with Hestia's scream very well almost killed her. Hestia's scream, being a god, wasn't a normal scream. When she screamed, all of the feelings of hope, happiness, and comfort seemed to drain out of Thalia's body, leaving behind a mind filled with terror and despair.
When the screams finally died away, Thalia cautiously removed her hands from her ears. Her hands were painted red with blood and she could feel more of it running down the side of her face. Thalia lifted her gaze from her hands to find the gods with various expressions pain stamped on their faces. The gods, being gods, weren't affected physically but that didn't stop them from feeling the emotional pain. Poseidon was kneeling in front of his throne, mouth gaping, tears pouring down his face. His face was set in a constant state of horror and sorrow as he kneel lifelessly in front of his throne, the only sign of life being the gentle rise and fall of his chest. Nico was curled into a small ball on the smooth floor with his hands still planted firmly to the sides of his head. She watched as he slowly took his hands away and relaxed his body so that he was laying on the ground in a more natural position. When he pushed himself into a sitting position, he left a bloody hand print imprinted on the floor.
The screams continued to bounce off the walls of the throne room, slowly fading into oblivion. A movement by the hearth stole her attention away from Poseidon and Nico towards Hestia, who was struggling to sit up and letting out small pained groans. Hearing Hestia's groans, both Poseidon and Apollo managed to snap out of their stupors and rushed to assist Hestia. Thalia watched as they gently lifted Hestia and settled her in a more comfortable position next to the dying hearth. Once she was settled Apollo immediately set to work, healing everything he could find.
As Apollo tended to Hestia, Thalia returned her attention to Grover, who's head was still cradled in her lap. Her once hopeful face melted away when she saw that he was barely even moving except for a slight rise and fall of his chest. Grover's face was scrunched up in a silent scream of agony and his eyes moved frantically underneath his eye lids. Nico crawled over and sat next to Thalia, his gaze flickering from Grover to his father constantly.
"It's Percy." At the sound of Hestia's raspy voice Thalia snapped her head around so fast that she could feel her bones and muscles protesting at the sudden movement. Hestia's face was pale and her eyes were puffy from the tears that were still coursing down her cheeks in a steady stream. Poseidon was supporting her and the hearth at her feet seemed to become dimmer and dimmer by the second. To Thalia, it seemed that the dimmer the coals got, the smaller Hestia appeared. Hestia looked like she might break apart at the slightest touch, nothing like the childlike, joyous goddess she used to be.
Thalia and Nico unconsciously reached for each others hand, trying to draw strength from the other. They clutched each other like a lifeline as they stared with fearful expressions at Hestia who was staring right back at them with a tortured look in her eyes. Hestia's mouth open and closed, as if she was struggling to find the words to speak. When she finally could speak, the words she spoke chilled Thalia to the bone. "Percy. He-he's gone."