Things were so different now that the Castellan founders awoke. They moved and they moved quickly. Despite their previous protests, they frequently went on bouts to concentration camps freeing as many jews as they could.

[Travis had even held the pleasure of punching Hitler in the face.]

Chiron had been getting pretty worried when children kept appearing outside of camp. The gods reassured him that everything was okay. And considering that Nico had been a person non grata in the Underworld as they got some semblance of control back, he had taken to tracking down Hekate as the titaness seemingly disappeared from the face of earth with any hints of her children.

Clarisse and Chris stayed at Castellan whipping Hades' kids and the ones that refused to go to Camp Half-Blood or where spirited away to Camp Jupiter into shape. Because they didn't want them to think that they were prisoners in the kingdom, but they wanted them to have a fighting chance against monsters tracking them down.

Hermes' own children were keeping an eye out on Mt. Tam while the gods did their best to keep them from looking too closely. They didn't need to know what else was hidden over there.

Thalia had gone back traveling with Artemis. Though the goddess had given her control over a small cluster of hunters in charge of recruitment. (If she couldn't prevent Zoë's death then she'd make sure she was leaving the huntress's legacy in good hands.)

If Hermes was being honest, he saw Annabeth and Will more than anyone else. Zeus had taken the daughter of Athena on her advice of arming their temples. He had gotten the shock of his life when he went too close to Demeter's temple and vines shot out at him. His aunt had cackled in happiness. She listened excitedly as Annabeth, Athena, and Hephaestus detailed the defense mechanisms that had been added and where the prisoners that got eaten by her vines would disappear to.

Hermes was staying so far from that.

Will had been following his father and immortal siblings around. He was a natural born healer and was determined to pick up the trade as best as he could. And he happily took on lessons in his father's other domains when he had the chance.

[Apollon and Artemis had nearly fallen over themselves when they saw how bad he was at archery. Good enough to fool most people, but not the gods of the sport. The first time they trained him the kid had come back in from the fields as if he had gone toe to toe with Typhon himself.]

Percy and Katie had taken charge of going against their half blood cousins and siblings fighting the war. Percy handled the ones that were undersea more often than not, setting them out with his half sisters where the kids couldn't do anything, but be peaceful. And if they tried to make any ruckus, Triton was usually there to calm them.

Poseidon then had the bright idea to have the kids doing so many tasks underwater that they didn't even have time to complain. The most action they saw were in training or when their territory battles. And some didn't even get to see that.

After all, the prophecy of the sea was still lingering.

Not that the sea deities had wanted to admit that. But Percy and Krokus weren't too fond of the angry roaring in their ears as the ocean seemingly rejected the fact that Ariadne was out of its reach. And waving his hand angrily at the ocean floor had done nothing for Poseidon except get it to keep all their bigger game out of his clutches for dinner.

The god had ended eating from Charlie's Cafeteria on more than one occasion.

Katie had in turn taken to browbeating her siblings into working in the different restaurants. There were also the ones that she was turning into little alchemists alongside Apollon's children inside the massive greenhouse that they built in Castellan. Her little bloodthirsty wheat bunnies were taking over the planet. Earth Day had never been more celebrated.

[The Underground kingdom was becoming almost as big as Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter combined.]

Apollon had taken Rachel around to introduce her to the different forms of oracles. After all, she wouldn't be able to handle Pythia's essence anytime soon. With Hekate's iron clad curse alongside whatever other little goodies she cooked up over the oracle, there was also the fact that if Rachel took on the oracle then what would her younger self get?

The spirit of Pythia did tell her that it would be awhile before she hosted the oracle again.

And that left Ariadne.

Hermes peeked inside of the room she had been granted during her stay. She was throwing a ball against the wall in boredom while Apollon sat with her again reciting some of his favored poems.

[No one had jumped on the task of helping Ariadne than he. Even when her sharp tongue loosened over her cruel words… Apollon looked as if she was merely reciting declarations of love. It unnerved Ariadne as much as it amused her. Even her scathing remarks of past threats and previous shared hatred hadn't been enough to dampen Apollon's spirits.]

Her shortened hair was tied messily into two buns. Apollon and Aphrodite and Dionysus had been so worried for her mental health that they previously took anyway anything that could be harmful to her.

But then images began to slip through the cracks of her mind and she started to bodily throw herself at imagined threats so she was given a wooden sword. Once said cracks started to seal up more and she was able to sleep peacefully, they had made to take the weapon from her but Ares had been the one to point out that taking a weapon from her was like taking a comfort blanket.

When she woke up and realized where she was and what was happening, she had locked herself in the room and refused to come out. Even now she was stubbornly refusing to meet with the other demigods and being treated with kiddie gloves.

She was a warrior. She was strong. She was not broken.

The only person that had spoken to her with even an equal amount of avoidance was her brother. When she first awoke and was cleared for visitors, Percy was the first to know. And the resulting argument had shaken the earth. There had been a lot of shouting between the two as they both chaffed about the need for protection.

Even Aphrodite's soothing assurances that their worries came from places of love didn't matter.

Neither twin gave an inch.

And the Olympians had been shocked to see that the supposedly strong bond between the twins had cracks held by duct tape and spite. The argument was like a never ending circle until they managed to dig deep into the abandonment feelings they both had regarding their parents.

[Poseidon loved them openly and freely and equally when he was given the chance while Sally Jackson preferred one twin over the other. And Poseidon had not been spared scrutiny either because even he had his moments of preferring Percy.]

Their words were loud and sharp and downright cruel.

The gods had wanted to step in at numerous intervals as they yelled themselves hoarse, but Ares stayed their hands. He wouldn't let them interfere until the two ran out of words to stay and just clung to each other and cried. He had been the one to convince Ariadne to stay and realize that she was not a prisoner.

She still refused to interact with anyone. Even when Percy came to visit her she kept her back to him content to let him fill the air with his own voice. She was better and more willing to listen. To understand that she couldn't take their problems on by herself.

(The first time she cuddled into his side as forgiveness danced in the air between them had everyone breathing a sigh of relief. Healing was not a linear progress, but the sea twins loved each other as strongly as the archer twins. It was good for everyone's sake that the two got along.)

It's the little things between them all as the decades slide over as smooth as molasses.

Hermes truly believed that they could learn a lot from the godlings. It was fascinating watching as they broke themselves and piece themselves together into something greater than before.

Dionysus had once commented that he could understand where they were coming from and yet—being immortal for so long made him more indifferent to the things around him. He had no need to grow better in a lifestyle that was so stagnant. But these godlings... these fate-blessed godlings reminded him of a part he long forgotten.

The Moirai had sent them back to change the future, but he wondered if their goal was not to change the events… but was it to change the players? Would they continue down the same path as they had once before or would the godlings make them better versions of themselves?

He thought of his sons. One whose soul was touched by death and the other whose souls lingered in madness. He thought about the lover who would fall victim to Pythia's madness. He thought of the lover who would bore him not one but two sons right after the other. He thought of the faceless children that bore his features in the cabins and barracks at two different camps.

[ We'd want to know you. To learn from you. We understand that you wouldn't be able to just drop everything for us at any given time. But I like to believe that a lot of our issues wouldn't have come to pass if you all just showed us how much you claim to love us.]

Hermes turned from the doorway, not noticing how two different pairs of blue eyes looked after in bemusement, and then he descended to the mortal plane.