AN: I'm going to take my time with this because quite frankly, I'm trying to learn from all of my mistakes with Restoration and while I feel like I did decent with that, I'm trying to keep all the feedback y'all give me and input it into this so this becomes better. So like I said before, the wait for chapters and the tempo at which they get published will vary from time to time but no less than two per month. Hopefully, y'all will stick around with me still.
With that being said, here's chapter five.
Ogygia
Calypso was tending to her garden of Moonlace when she felt two godly presences appear on the beach in front of her home. She disregarded their presence as anything irregular and simply thought that Zeus sent them to check on her like they do every now and then. Dusting herself off, she patted the fresh batch of Moonlace that she planted and went to go greet her visitors, and as she walked along the path, she noticed how most of the trees stopped rustling with the wind and how the very active birds that were on the island stopped chirping. She brushed past the tree-line and was immediately standing a few feet away from her two visitors, letting out a soft gasp and letting her eyes go wide as her two visitors turned to look at her.
Perseus looked up from fixing the end of his sleeves and Zoë stopped grinding the heels of her boots into the sand. Both looked up and were greeted with the sight of Calypso.
The Titaness still looked more or less the same since either of the pair last saw her. Her caramel hair was still in its usual over-the-shoulder braid and her face displayed a myriad of emotions, confusion, and elation being the most visible in her eyes. She was still wearing a Greek-style white sleeveless dress with the hem of her skirt covered with specks of dirt. "Perseus." she said breathlessly when she saw him.
"Calypso." Perseus said apathetically, greeting her in Zoë's stead as well as he rubbed soothing touches with his thumb on the back of her hand that he was holding, feeling her firmly squeeze his hand every now and then.
"Zoë?" Calypso greeted in shock and confusion at her half-sister.
Zoë nodded silently and looked to her husband. He exhaled while rubbing at the bridge of his nose with his free hand and motioned towards Calypso's home. "Perhaps we should take this inside?" he suggested kindly.
The Titaness looked at the pair and nodded, gesturing with a hand to follow her as she spun on her heel and walked to her place of imprisonment.
A silent conversation passed between Perseus and Zoë as they looked at each other while following Calypso.
They stepped into Calypso's cave and Zoë observed how Calypso moved around her place of residence, receiving items that were handed to her by the servants that were given to her at the beginning of her exile.
The Titaness sat down on a chair she transformed from a rock with her legs crossed and hands in her lap. She looked at the two with a strange look, giving her half-sister an up and down glance, taking in the rather different look of Zoë.
Zoë snapped her fingers and a loveseat appeared next to them. She took a seat, but instead of sitting next to her, Perseus sat on the armrest with an arm stabilizing himself and his other arm resting around his wife's shoulders.
"You… you seem different." Calypso started with hesitation, noting how Zoë had the powers of a goddess with her clear display of it. Calypso might not have seen Zoë in a very long time but she clearly remembered her half-sister being a Hesperide and if what the other Olympians told her when their visits were more of an actual conversation back then were true, she was a huntress later on.
She raised an eyebrow, "Well, a lot of things could attribute to me being different." she said as she grasped the hand that was resting on top of her right shoulder. Perseus ran his thumb across her knuckles in an affectionate manner while looking at Calypso.
Calypso eyed the wedding bands around their ring fingers and looked back at them. "I could tell. I don't suppose you're only here for me to congratulate you?"
Perseus lost the smirk on his face and shook his head, "I'm afraid not."
Calypso nodded in understanding and adjusted her seat, "Very well. Ask what you need to know." she told them confidently as she had nothing to hide and wanted to know the reason behind their visit.
"The Crooked One rises again with his forces." Perseus began.
"And you want to know if any of them tried to reach me? You and the others put up the enchantments on the island preventing such a thing, do you not remember?" Calypso reminded with a slight glare. "You doubt your abilities?" she added.
He shrugged off her glare, "I certainly do remember that but I think it's better to ask instead of assume. Especially when it comes to allies of his. I wouldn't want to make a mistake after all." finding it fitting to remind her of the reason she was exiled in the first place.
"And you think that my father would try to recruit me into their war against you because I allied with them in the beginning?" Calypso asked with some skepticism.
"Yes." he bluntly stated with indifference and Zoë held in a snort at his directness.
Calypso sighed and looked away, "No. I have not heard from any of them." she mentioned quietly.
"Trust me when I say that I don't take any pleasure in doing this." Perseus informed.
"I know." came Calypso's reply
Perseus nodded at her answer. Done with his questioning, he titled his head downwards to look at Zoë, his wife absentmindedly staring and twirling the glowing pendant in her hands.
Calypso looked to her half-sister, "How are you, sister?"
"Happy." Zoë said before a small smile appeared on her face as Perseus kissed the top of her head.
Calypso nodded and took a deep breath, "I am sorry for the things I said last time."
Zoë's eyes landed on calypso before she nodded, "So am I."
Perseus walked around and sat on the seat next to his wife, his left arm squeezing her waist in comfort.
"When the others came to check in on me, I heard whispers about what had happened." Calypso told them in a somber tone during the lull in conversation. "Some said you faded while some also said that you left."
Percy tried to act surprised but instead, looked more unbothered than anything.
Zoë looked up from the pendant and at her, "What of you? There will be a time where everyone has to pick a side." she asked.
Calypso looked out at the sea with a longing look and sighed heavily, "I won't ever apologize for supporting my father, but if need be, you have my support." she admitted with a heavy heart. "I only ask that a discussion take place regarding my exile in exchange if it ever comes to you needing my support.." she requested.
"Not neutrality?" Perseus said questioningly.
Calypso gave them both a small smile, "That also works."
Perseus gave a quick tilt of his head to the side, "I might have an alternative solution then."
Half an hour before
Thalia stepped through the door with a glare and turned around, expecting that her father's centurions were following her but was shocked when the door slammed shut and briefly heard a Roman curse before the door vanished.
Thalia stared dumbly at the spot where the door was and spun around when she heard a noise behind her.
"Oh this is just great." Thalia muttered sarcastically. Her eyes jumped from left to right as she stood still for several minutes with her spear and Aegis raised. She lowered her weapons briefly and dug around the pockets of her jacket, pulling out a keychain with a glowing Amethyst after some rummaging.
She stared at the crystal with hesitance and shoved the crystal into one of the pockets of her jeans, shaking her head, "No. I can still do this." she muttered to herself and continued her journey deeper.
Now
Thalia lost track of how long she was walking and could've sworn that she passed the same corner five times now. She had destroyed a few of the monsters and creatures that got in her way and had a relatively lighter path even though she might have been a bit lost.
A door appeared at the end of a corridor she was in with loud mechanical noises emitting from the other side. Thalia popped her spear out and walked towards the door, her hand hovering over the knob.
"Here goes nothing." she muttered to herself and pushed open the door, immediately coming face to face with a god currently in the process of tinkering with something. Hephaestus turned his head towards the source of the sound and stopped what he was doing. His eyes and mouth were wide open as he stared at the demigod that they were all ordered to be on the lookout for and bring back to Olympus.
Thalia stared back at him wide-eyed and her head turned back to the door, contemplating if she could make a run back to the door and find an alternate way when the doorway vanished.
"Oh, that's not good." she muttered to herself.
"You're not supposed to be here?" Hephaestus said in confusion, waving his hammer in her direction which made her take a step back and popped Aegis out in case. He closed his eyes momentarily and looked confused. "Why are you so different from before?" he questioned with a strange look as the demigod before him emitted a different aura of power.
Thalia blinked and looked for a way out. "New soap?" she replied as she started taking steps back.
Hephaestus continued to stare at her, "Why do you feel like-"
"Thalia? Is that you?" and Thalia and Hephaestus turned their heads to face the group of questers that arrived at Hephaestus' workshop. Annabeth, Grover, and Korin were shocked that she looked alive and well, especially in the labyrinth of all places, while Tyson's attention was directed to the workshop they were currently in.
"Ohhhh fuckkkkk." she mumbled underneath her breath while maintaining an uneasy smile. "Heyyy guyss!" Thalia said as she tried to keep her composure.
Korin stepped forward with an uneasy and apprehensive look, "How did you end up in the Labyrinth? What happened after Othrys?" he questioned in a rush. His eyes jumped from Thalia to Hephaestus, the latter feeling perturbed while remaining silent as he tried to make sense of the former.
"Tough to explain." Thalia simply said with a shrug, wishing for a large distraction then and there to end the impending conversation.
Annabeth looked partly concerned and curious, "We have some time for you to tell us." she offered and took a step forward.
"Well, we don't have that much remember?" Grover reminded the group.
Hephaestus finally took his eyes off of Thalia and moved to the questers, "What are you four here for exactly?" walking around his workbench and leaning on his good leg, facing the demigods.
"We're looking for Daedalus." Annabeth replied respectfully. "We were hoping you could help us which is why we were brought to you." gesturing to the mechanical spider that sat in the corner, its optics blinking every few seconds.
Hephaestus went to pick up the spider with one hand and examined it. Nodding his head, "It's an older one meant for guiding. Of course, had to keep these off of Olympus since your mother threw a fit once she found out I let some of these roam around freely." he held it in his hand and turned back to them. "What makes you think that I can help you find Daedalus?" he asked with a slight scowl on his scarred face.
"Because you're Hephaestus and you probably have something in your workshop that can help locate him." Thalia remarked dryly with a roll of her eyes.
"Don't think you can talk like that when you have questions to answer." Hephaestus replied gruffly.
"Lord Hephaestus, I'm sure you realize that quests are time-sensitive so if you could please assist us." Annabeth reasoned when it seemed like the god was on a shorter temper.
Hephaestus huffed and turned back around to his workbench, "I'll only help if you do something for me." crossing his arms across his chest and leaning back against a table while replying to the daughter of Athena.
"What would that be?" Korin asked with a hesitant look.
"Someone has been using my forge at Mount Saint-Helens. I want you to find out who and get them out." Hephaestus informed with a deeper scowl.
"So you have freeloaders and you want them to get rid of them?" Thalia asked in slight bewilderment. "Don't you have like a million other forges? Why can't you just use another one?" leaning on her spear as she continued her questions.
"It's my favorite forge." he curtly replied, making Thalia and Korin both snort in laughter.
"You're not coming with us?" Annabeth looked to Thalia, whose eyebrows raised.
Thalia looked behind her and back at the group, "Well, yeah. I'm coming with but this is your quest. I'm still wondering how I ended up here in the first place." the lie rolling off of her tongue easily.
"You don't remember?" Hephaestus asked with narrowed eyes.
Thalia shrugged and approached the questers, waving her hand dismissively, "I'm sure it'll come back to me eventually."
Annabeth, Korin, and Grover shared a look and Annabeth looked back to the god, "You'll help us after we investigate your forge?" repeating his words back to him.
He nodded, "You have my word that I'll assist you in locating Daedalus."
"Alright, let's get a move on then." Korin suggested.
Hephaestus tapped the mechanical spider on the head a few times and set it back onto the ground, "This will take you to my forge at Mount Saint-Helens." and gave Thalia a strange look as she and the questers went to leave the workshop but stopped them, "But be wary of the mountain and what lies beneath it." he warned.
Grover gulped and looked at him, "What's that?"
"Typhon."
"You really can't tell us what happened to you?" Annabeth asked once more as Korin and her walked behind Thalia. Grover and Tyson were long gone as they split off from the group a while back when Grover caught wind of Pan's trail again, taking Tyson with him.
Thalia glanced upwards and rolled her eyes, "For the last time Annabeth, I can't tell you if I don't know myself!" repeating the lie to the daughter of Athena for the fourth time as she kept insisting that Thalia knew more than she let on.
Korin rubbed at the bridge of his nose, "Annabeth, just leave it, would you? I don't think we'll get much out of her."
Annabeth huffed and crossed her arms, "Whatever, waterboy."
Thalia looked back at the two with an eyebrow raised, "What's up with you two?"
"Nothing." the two said in unison, a look of discomfort and awkwardness appeared on both of them as they each took a step away from each other once they noticed their close proximity.
"Uh-huh." Thalia responded, not convinced in the slightest. She popped Aegis and her spear out a moment later without any prior warning when she heard barking up ahead near the exit of the corridor the three of them were in, alarming Korin and Annabeth, who pulled their own weapons in response a second later.
"Where's that barking coming from?" Korin asked quietly.
Thalia gestured her head towards the end, "Guess we'll find out." raising Aegis defensively and tightening her grip on her spear as she took slow steps forward just as the barking turned louder with a few growls mixed in. "I think you two should stay here while I check it out." she suggested.
"What!? No way, Thalia." Annabeth exclaimed.
"Don't say that I didn't warn you." Thalia muttered quietly.
As Thalia moved forward, two pairs of armored hands reached out and clamped themselves over the mouths of the two demigods with her. Muffled cries reached her and she quickly turned around with the intent of attacking whatever or whoever snuck up on them only to stop when she saw Darius and Hadrian restraining Korin and Annabeth and promptly knocked them out. Aurelius and Magnus emerged from the darkened parts of the tunnel with stern looks on their faces with the former giving nods to Darius and Hadrian. The two centurions nodded back and each heaved a demigod over their shoulders to move them to a safe spot away from the zone while they regained consciousness.
She looked at her father's four centurions, taking in their bloodied armor, and was just about to say something when Aurelius held up a hand stopping her. "Why did you not wait for us to locate you?" Aurelius asked in a no-nonsense tone with a frown forming on his face. "What do you think would have happened had we not found you before you did something reckless? With two barely-trained demigods as companions, might I add?"
Thalia concealed her shock and lowered her weapons, "Uncle, I can-"
"No. This is one of those times where you listen." Aurelius interrupted. "Should you have been split off from the group, you were to find a safe spot where we would have tracked and retrieved you. Why did you wander off alone instead?" he questioned heavily.
Magnus stepped next to him and placed a hand on his shoulder, "A better question would be why you didn't follow the Faun and Cyclops as they split off to locate the god of the wild which was our sole reason for being in this death trap." he stated in a gentler tone. "You know you're lucky that it was Vulcan that you ran into. Should it have been anyone in league with the traitor that sits on the throne right now, it would have been worse. Your father and Lady Zoë would have torn through Olympus with everyone by their side to get you back, your father's plans be damned."
Thalia looked at them suspiciously, "How did you even-" stopping her question and giving a small shake of her head as the two in front of her both raised their eyebrows, "Nevermind. Look I know that okay? I thought that I could handle it and I know what we were here for but I'm following my gut right now and it's telling me that checking out the forge is more important, so just stop with the fucking lecture!" she hissed out when she finally got a chance to speak.
"Watch it." Aurelius warned quietly.
Darius and Hadrian returned with their backs facing them to ensure that nothing caught them from behind in the dimly-lit corridor. "Let us hear her out, yeah? Most that can possibly happen is we clear some stronghold containing the Crooked One's forces. Lord Virtus would be pleased by it." Darius suggested calmly, speaking partly in defense of Thalia and to ease rising tensions.
Aurelius glared at Thalia fiercely with the demigod glaring back. Magnus looked between the two of them and muttered underneath his breath. "You need to calm down, brother. You will do us no good if you do not have a clear mind. There is no time being wasted if we were to check the forge." seeing Thalia's smug grin, he frowned at her, "Don't think that we will not be talking about you, little one. There could have been far worse consequences if you were to be separated from us. We will be informing your father and we will be making sure that this does not happen again." the grin fell off of Thalia's face as his words registered.
Aurelius shook his head and exhaled, "Let's just get a move on then." brushing past Thalia to take point while Magnus gave both of them a disappointing sigh.
Hadrian placed a hand on Thalia's shoulder in an act of comfort, "We were just worried about you. We know you're capable but this is more for our sake of mind. Don't take it too personally, little one."
She gave a grumble and a half-shrug and went to move forward.
Aurelius approached a dense rock formation and held his fist up to stop movement. Climbing up slightly, he crouched while observing the forge and its activity.
"That's not good." he muttered, catching the attention of his brothers.
"Agreed." Magnus backed up as he caught sight of a group of older Telekhines working on the forging of a scythe that reeked of one Titan. "Guess the kid was right after all." giving a side-glance to Aurelius.
"Told you something was wrong." Thalia mumbled.
"That's HIS scythe, is it not?" Hadrian quietly asked just as a patrol of Telekhines passed under them and received nods from his brothers. Magnus, Hadrian, and Darius all looked to Aurelius for orders.
"What do you want us to do about this? Destroy it?" Darius asked seriously.
Aurelius gave a small shake of his head, "No. The monsters are not a problem for any of us, but what concerns me is that we don't know the state of the prison. We report back to Lord Virtus immediately and continue our objective of finding the god of the wild."
Thalia gave him an incredulous look as he gave out orders, "We're just going to leave here and do nothing?" she asked and the sky rumbled a bit but no one paid much mind to it.
"We aren't doing nothing. We report back to your father and let him deal with this. This entire place is volatile and any uncontrolled burst of power will bring this mountain down and place everyone in the vicinity in danger." Aurelius retorted hotly.
A series of barks stopped whatever reply was going to leave Thalia's mouth and brought their attention to whatever that had the monsters up in a frenzy all of a sudden.
A few of the Telekhines that were forging the parts of the scythe lifted the long curved blade and the leather-wrapped handle in triumph.
The Romans let out a curse. "That's it. We leave now." Aurelius ordered and looked to make sure Thalia was going to follow but didn't see her next to any of them. Magnus slapped Aurelius on the shoulder-plate and pointed down below them, bringing notice to the fact that Thalia was bolting straight for the Telekhines with lightning crackling all over her body and the sky rumbling loudly. "Damn it!" and the four of them rushed down as fast as they could with weapons drawn.
The patrolling group of Telekhines let out a series of barks as they spotted Thalia, alerting the entire forge. Lava was thrown and had her halting in her tracks just as she felt the heat wash over her. The four centurions entered the fray, dispatching any Telekhines that came close as they made their way towards Thalia.
Thalia ran around a vat of lava and shot her spear forward, the air hissing as a bolt of lightning was directed at the Telekhines holding the parts of the scythe. The bolt made its impact, lighting up the inside of the forge a bright blue and sending the parts scattering in opposite directions.
The Telekhines that the five of them were fighting suddenly stopped and looked up. High-pitched barks filled the mountain and whatever light that seeped through the outside and into the inside was blocked out as dark storm clouds appeared with rumbling loud enough to echo through the entire forge.
Thalia looked confused and caught sight of the confused looks that Aurelius, Magnus, Hadrian, and Darius were giving her as the Telekhines attempted to run away with some being cut down by the five of them when she caught wind of the growing scent of ozone that surpassed her own.
Her eyes widened and the four Romans dashed towards her the moment they smelled it when a bolt of massive proportions crashed straight down into the mountain, sending chunks of rock and debris everywhere and tipping over vats of lava and water.
The last thing Thalia could remember were the shields that covered her and the darkness that took them all away.
AN: As far as the books go, I don't think Zoë and Calypso have ever met (?) during any time but they do in this fic hence the previous conversation in the last chapter between Perseus and Zoë.
Thalia's entire attitude in this chapter will be explained next chapter but some of y'all are probably smart enough to know why.
