Hello! Welcome to 'A Lament of the Sea'! If you're here from Of Water and Salt, I highly recommend you READ chapter 32 before reading this, otherwise the whole idea of this would be a major spoiler.

If you're a new reader, a bit of information before we begin. In line with the previous statement, this is a prequel to 'Of Water and Salt', a PJO/Marvel (MCU) fanfiction. While it isn't necessarily a requirement, reading 'Of Water and Salt' will provide some major context for this chapter and what will be going on for the duration of this work. I recommend reading up to at the very least, Chapter 32 for background information.

That being said, this work is primarily focusing on the PJO side of things with minimal references towards aspects of Marvel. Most of those references being done in this chapter. Everything else should be just straight PJO side.

All readers! Please read the AN at the end!

Welcome and Enjoy!


Lightning cracked in the heavens and thunder rumbled its drums across the sky. Rain poured and pooled around her and the wind howled in anger.

Hera looked speculatively to the broken godling before her. She could sense the strength and power of Apollyon fading as he laid in the dirtied mud and earthen debris. The dryad gazing at him in worry and concern but not moving to his aid.

She most likely knew that any effort to help would prove fruitless.

While outwardly she remained the ever impassive and stonewalled Queen of Olympus, his words rang within her core.

War. The Titans. The Gigantes.

The last time they had faced the monstrous spawn of the Earth Mother, the conflict had razed and altered the very landscapes of the Earth. It was really only a miracle no other of the Protogenos had sided with their elder sister.

Such an act would have altered the very stars themselves.

She was not always the peaceful yet stern Olympian Queen.

Once upon a time, even she had rode into battle alongside the immortal armies of Olympus.

That time had long since passed and she had taken a more peaceful if a bit malicious approach to dealing with her affairs. Her realm and all that entailed while capable of great happiness and prosperity, held a certain…vengeful yet protective violence to it if provoked.

Indeed, while she loathed her family and their antics, she was as protective as anyone could possibly get about them.

Her family was far from perfect, it was the most dysfunctional one out there in fact.

But it was hers.

And, intentional or not, the godling had provoked and ignited her instincts to protect and preserve her family from any threat.

Her thoughts turned to the Infinity Stones.

They could prove to be powerful weapons in the wars he was speaking of.

But he spoke of traitorous elements within the pantheon. Hera did not think it wise if they were to somehow end up in the clutches of their enemies.

No…It would be better if they remained unknown and untouched to the wider pantheon. If her father had found out that the Infinity Stone entrusted to the Immortal Realm still remained with the Immortal Realm, he would seek it out.

Hera was sure that the Time Lord being in possession of the Time Stone would not be a good thing.

Her thoughts turned back to the broken godling before her.

The Queen of Olympus had no reason not to believe him. Apollyon was dying. He ensured that the Tesseract remained within the possession of the mortals and he sought her out.

But whether she trusted him was another question entirely.

He had a solid, if risky, plan. Recover the Parthenos. Mend the divide between Roman and Greek.

Her intuition and foresight was more than enough to see where he was leading with this. They would need allies. Unlikely ones. Roman and Greek, since time immemorial, had always been at odds with each other and such civil wars between the aspects had left detrimental effects on the Immortal Realm.

But he was suggesting a complete consolidation of Olympian power. Such a thing hadn't ever been attempted before. At least, none that held any merit or were done in good faith.

Immortals did recruit among their children to serve them in their realms as lieutenants, aides, servants, soldiers…a plethora of agents and staff to assist them in anything and everything really. And legacies were usually the foremost among them.

Hera couldn't guess how many legacies roamed the world at this very moment.

The plan though could backfire immensely. If it did not carry out as he hoped it would, Roman and Greek would simply return to killing each other. There was a reason the divide existed and it was not because the Olympians desired to be separate entities.

She shook herself of those thoughts. It was not wise to dwell on such things. Not when there was war on the horizon and when it was apparent that it needed to be done regardless of the consequences it may entail.

A grand strategist nor one for the aspects of war, she was not but Hera knew that Olympus in its current state could maybe contend with the Titans.

But with the Gigantes as well? They would be destroyed.

She gazed back to the mortally wounded godling.

An encounter with the Master Bolt, be they immortal or not was always deadly.

Though at least, immortals had the tendency to be able to live to tell the tale, if they were not immediately killed in the aftermath.

"The ancient lands are forbidden. It would make sense that the lost monument would be found there." Among the best places to hide things was where no one was allowed to look.

The spiritual birthplaces of Olympus were sacred and held many secrets that were better left buried and forgotten.

It would be difficult, nay impossible to get a quest issued there because of it. She had often heard rumors of her niece's children making attempts for the statue. She also heard that none of them returned nor were heard from again.

She would need a warrior to go after it. Someone that she knew would do everything in their power to succeed. One that knew the implications of failure and one not beholden to the laws of Olympus. None that held an ambition that could compromise such an operation. None that were weighed by their inherent flaws of pride.

The answer to that question was simple.

The out-of-time dying godling before her. He was apparently capable of directly intervening and involving himself in the Mortal Realm without suffering the severe repercussions that entailed when immortals did so.

Had he not drawn the attention of the King of Olympus, he would very likely be unmarred and unbroken.

But he was just that. Dying and displaced from his time. She may have had no reason to not believe him but again, she also had no reason to trust him. He was a time-traveler. For all she knew, he was one of her father's agents sent forward or backward in time to ensure the downfall of Olympus.

He said he had an encounter with a sorceress and had proceeded to become entangled with the security of an Infinity Stone.

Her more rational mind deduced that there was more at work here.

It could not be coincidence that the only sorceresses she knew of being capable of achieving such a feat being the Goddess of Magic herself or her estranged daughter who happened to be in possession and among the chief protectors of the Time Stone.

It would also explain how he knew of the pillars of creation.

Apollyon did say that they were desperate.

Desperate times did call for desperate measures.

It seemed that this time would prove no different.

She would give him a chance.

And only a chance.

Hera would lose nothing to grant him this and would have everything to gain.

The Queen of Olympus voiced as much. "Very well." She lifted her nose and stepped forward, softly and elegantly, the mud, water and uprooted grasses and roots seemingly pushed away as she walked. Her magic keeping her dry and her gown untouched. She looked upon the broken and ruined body of Apollyon as he began to breathe his last few straining breaths, looking upwards towards the thundering clouds with vacant eyes, they began to slowly close. "If what you say is true, and I have everything to lose if I do not believe you, I will give you a single chance."

She lowered herself, kneeling over the form of the godling and raised a dainty hand, an orb of glittering gold forming upon her open palm. A temporary ward. She let it go and stood up and away.

It fell like a slowly falling star onto the body of Apollyon.

It seemingly fell into him. Through his broken armor and into his body. He gasped in a strained breath and bolted upright. Hera looked down at him. It was an odd reaction but he was alive.

And that was all that mattered.

"I have given you some time. Should you be an enemy of Olympus, you will die in some hours." The Queen of Olympus was not stupid. She would not be so easily lulled into thinking this being was not an enemy of the Olympians. If he attempted any trickery or if this was some cruel jest or lie, her ward would dissipate and he would die to his wounds. Of course, she was not ignorant as to his name. A destroyer, he apparently was.

And names held the weight and the intent of those that carried them.

Consequently, her ward would also keep her appraised of his location and health at all times. It had taken her a little more than moment to locate him when he had called upon her as he was hidden from her divine senses.

And it would not do for an agent of Olympus to disappear especially one that was delivering such a warning.

Her thoughts strayed to the Great Prophecy as she gazed upon a recuperating Apollyon.

Were these the wars and decisions that were foretold all those years ago?

Her heart clenched in fear at the thought.

She would need to be sure. If there were any children of her brothers out and alive, then they needed to be brought to safety and…educated.

No one in the Immortal Realm was above the use of subtle influence and indoctrination.

It was no mistake nor coincidence that the more powerful children of Olympus were brought unto the fold early on in their lives.

Of course, it could be dismissed as something as innocuous and simple as saving their lives, but there was an underlying sense of control in the way they were done so.

Children taught and brought up on the value of service to Olympus served to give the Olympians a supply of trained soldiers and agents that had the potential of accomplishing anything if given the chance.

Apollyon would be an excellent agent in going about the tasks that needed to be done. He had the foreknowledge and desire to do so and apparently a plan to bring all of Olympus into line. It would be a daunting task even for her as she was not well-liked amongst the wider pantheon but for someone that seemed well-versed in the politics and nuances of the Immortal Realm, it could be done.

And his acquiring of the Parthenos would help to cement his loyalty and to determine if his intent was genuine or not.

She continued her small words of both warning and promise, the thoughts being a mere flicker of a pause to them. "Should you be an ally however, and recover the Parthenos, I will have the Sun God heal you." It may take a little more than the God of Medicine and would perhaps entail the drafting of his twin sister's services as well but that was besides the point. "The armies of Olympus will be prepared with or without you."

Plans and schemes began clicking and molding in her mind at that very moment. Olympus would need a large pool of manpower to draw from. Legacies may be an easy general force of numbers but they were just that. Numbers.

What Olympus needed was the power to reinforce and cement those numbers.

Who could help her?

Such thoughts continued and cascaded across her mind as Hera watched the godling pull himself up once again, paying no heed to the nature spirit that was off to the side nor her scaley pet.

The Queen nodded. More in reassurance to herself and to justify her actions than in any sort of approval of her actions.

The daunting road ahead of her was enough to plant a seed of desire for ignorance in what was occurring.

But she did not think it to be wise.

And more for herself than for the godling before her, she spoke once again. Hopefully, they would ignite a hastiness underneath Apollyon but in actuality, it sounded more like a solemn declaration to herself. "The clock ticks, Apollyon."

And with those words, the Queen of Olympus departed in a pillar of heavenly light back to Olympus.


Hera appeared upon the threshold of her palace on the Mountain of Olympus. If the storms on the mortal plane were chaotic and devastating, then the one plaguing the Immortal City was even moreso. E

The King was not happy that someone had trespassed on his realm. Such offenses were dealt with swiftly and brutally and this time was no different.

Even in her palace, warded and protected as it was, she could feel the undercurrent of wrath and rage that her husband was radiating.

Luckily, he believed whoever had dared call upon such powers dead. She thanked the Master Bolt for its capability in that regard. Zeus would not investigate further should Apollyon be careful in his use of power.

She took a moment to compose herself before turning on her heel and exiting her palace. Olympus, despite the raging storm of lightning and thunder about it was as she remembered as it had been sometime since she was last there.

It was the last Council meeting that she had spent any notable amount of time up on the Mount.

It was brightly lit, by both firelight and the arcs of lightning that ran across the skies. The marble being of pure white and free of any sort of blemish. As she walked towards her destination, the Queen of Olympus observed the various immortals loitering about the many pavilions going about their business.

She wondered who Apollyon might have been among them.

Comparatively, they looked rather…fragile. Soft and not at all ready for whatever horrors that awaited them. Of course, there were warriors among them but she knew for a fact that there were none that had seen the desperation nor the horrors that facing the Gigantes entailed.

Who among those that were under Olympus would go to such lengths to ensure an Olympian victory?

To against a law that held the penalty of death and eternal damnation and use time magics?

Such questions washed through her mind as she deliberated who would be best suited to making those desperate and dangerous decisions.

None here among Olympus would do so. Not even the Council would consider such lengths. In the first Titanomachy, such manipulations had been the bane of the Olympian strategy. Titans and their armies countered the Olympians with expert precision.

It was not until Zeus had chosen to entirely forgo battle plans, any sort of planning or counsel and instead strike at the heart of Mount Othrys.

The half dozen progeny of Kronos made war against their predecessors on their very home.

And it was upon Mount Othrys, where their father and his allies had been laid low.

Lost in thought of reliving the slaughter and battle, Hera had not realized that she stood before the premises of her first and arguably her most important ally in the coming years.

Hera's eye twitched in both annoyance and at the offending color.

Hot pink and salmon should never have been allowed a place among the hallowed summit of their home.

The Queen of Olympus raised a dainty knuckle to the large white painted sculpted door and rapped on it once.

And then twice.

And then a third time.

Upon the third knock, the door swung open revealing a demure woman with warm raven locks and doe-like kaleidoscope eyes that seemed to shift in their color with every flicker of everlight.

"Notify your mistress that the Queen would speak with her." Hera's eyes narrowed in disdain at the woman who bowed and nodded, opened the door to the palace and ushered her into the one of many retreats for the Goddess of Love.

There was no grandiose reception as Hera entered into the decadent halls of the palace.

Perhaps, decadent was too harsh of a word. It was simple but lavish. What minimal ornamentation that was seen was rich and pristine, not a single spot of blemish or speck of dust could be seen and the interior white and salmon walls and polished floors shone with the glares of golden and ornate chandeliers.

The servant girl bowed once more and ushered her to a small parlor balcony above where she first entered. After bowing again, and pouring her fresh nectar infused tea, the girl departed to retrieve the Goddess of Love.

Hera had only spoken once to her and chose instead to indulge the girl. After all, she had done nothing yet to invoke her ire and had observed every courtesy short of immediately retrieving the Goddess.

And while the Queen of Olympus could have simply sent the Love Goddess an Iris Message, the last time she had done so -some decades ago- Hera had inadvertently caught her in the middle of one of her…trysts.

She did not want to be witness to such a spectacle again.

And so Hera simply sipped the tea in leisure as she waited.

While normally she would have been offended at the audacity, it allowed her a moment to check in on the godling that set her on this path.

Her eyes flaring gold and white as she did so. The ward within magnifying to provide a bird-eyed yet focused and tunneled view of her charge. He had just arrived at a mortal office building on the West Coast.

"Ah, Queen Hera!" A perky voice greeted, pulling her from her clairvoyance. Hera took a sideways glance back towards her…wayward niece. "My apologies, I was in the middle of…something." A giggle escaped the woman as she approached.

Wearing a silken night robe of deep glossed crimson and nothing else, Aphrodite strode with a confidence that made even the most stalwart of mortals gape in surprise and lust. She sat in the seat opposite of her and poured herself the tea before them and drinking as if she had gone a thousand years of thirst. Kaleidoscope eyes that shimmered with more intensity than the servant girl and a head of raven hair that did the same with every movement of her head.

Aphrodite knew better than to attempt to seduce her.

The first and last time it had happened, the Love Goddess had ended up with the Forge God for a husband.

It should have been disorienting with the constant shifting of colors but the it seemed to cascade into and meld into the various hues with such ease that each and every head of hair looked natural.

Her eye still twitched in annoyance at the display.

She never liked the bastard children of her husband, clear examples of his infidelity they were. Even moreso that they were ushered onto the Council, serving only to remind her every year of his adultery.

And Aphrodite was the chief example among them. The first, in a long line of illegitimate children turned immortal.

Hera supposed that Aphrodite being the first should have been a sign of things to come. Aphrodite and her domains exemplifying and manifesting Zeus' insatiable libido.

It was no wonder that meeting with the Goddess of Love was among her least favored of tasks whenever they came up, if at all.

She doubted the two would ever see each other, were not for their ironically intertwined realms.

Still, the Love Goddess paid respects where it was due. Nothing as overt or as grandiose as Apollyon had been. She was much more subtle and smaller gestures. Her head slightly inclined. Her body angled to face the Queen and unlike how she would typically act with incessant innuendos, teasing and shameless flirting when with others, she remained quiet.

But Hera was of the mind that Aphrodite knew that this was not a social call nor one that had any bearing when it came to familial relations.

Hera took one more sip of her tea before leveling a serious look to the Love Goddess.

"I have a task for you." Hera simply said. Aphrodite narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "Or rather have come to ask for a favor. One that I'm sure you will enjoy."

"Does this have anything to do with my father's," Her eyes glanced about the lightning arced skies about them. "episode?"

Hera shook her head and took another sip of her tea. "This is unrelated. Whatever brought his tantrum on is of no concern of mine."

"And what would the Queen of Olympus ask of the 'Harlot of Olympus'?" Aphrodite's lips upturned in a slight smirk. A jab from the previous time they had an encounter.

Hera's countenance didn't falter in the slightest. The insult was still true and the Queen of Olympus was above apologizing for speaking such words.

"What I am asking of you will not reach anyone's ears." Hera's serious look hardened further as she looked to Aphrodite. "Should others find out, not even the Council will be able to prevent me from ensuring you spend a lovely couple decades reforming in the Pit."

Whatever joviality or teasing the Love Goddess may have had evaporated in an instant.

Threats such as those were not idly made.

There was a certain precedence that among the Theoi none had ever had the displeasure of witnessing the horrors of that dark and horrid realm. Such a penalty was considered worse than death.

And none had a desire to be the first to experience the Abyss.

For Hera, infamous for her seriousness and never one to make idle jokes, to make a declaration was such that cemented the gravity of what was occurring. No one could cross her in the simplest of times. The only ones to do so were her siblings and even then such incidents rarely came to pass.

To go against or to defy the Hera was akin to standing against Olympus.

And such a thing was treasonous.

The Queen of Olympus would ensure that her plans would come to pass and if she had to risk the loyalty of the Goddess of Love, then so be it.

No price was too high to ensure their survival.

Sufficiently cowed into submission, Aphrodite tightened her robe about her and nodded slowly and deliberately.

Hera continued. "For the next two years, you are to ensure that the immortals of Olympus have increased…relations…with mortals." The thought and even the implication disgusted her to her core, being as they were anathema to her realms. Aphrodite's eyes widened ever so slightly in surprise. "I expect to see a marked increase in demigod births over the next year."

There was a small silence as Aphrodite digested the request…or rather order.

The Queen of Olympus was not ignorant to what may occur. Aphrodite's strength would increase exponentially from it. It was only Hera that had prevented her from running rampant before and the Queen had essentially given her permission to expand her influence as she saw fit.

"And if others question?" There was a notable gleam of excitement and hunger in her shifting eyes, betraying her otherwise unsure features.

After all, it was not unheard of for supposed allies to set each other up for failure. In fact, Hera was chief among the offenders that were behind such schemes.

"They will not." Hera said with a dismissing wave. "They will be too busy reveling in their pleasure to pay it much mind and my brothers do not care much for what other immortals are up to."

The only ones to be concerned about would be Artemis and perhaps, Hestia. But her elder sister would be easy to influence in the grand scheme of things and the Goddess of the Hunt would only raise a token investigation if it meant the numbers of her maidens were bolstered and if the Love Goddess had a mind to not explicitly attempt to target the Huntress.

And Hera would like to believe that Aphrodite would not be so dumb as to push the boundaries of her newfound freedom.

Another silence and Hera took a moment to peer into her ward once again. Apollyon was now on the ancient and sacred heartland of Rome. Good. So while it cemented that he wasn't lying, he still had to recover the Parthenos.

The ward shifted in its host. Weakening as time continued on and she noted that Apollyon's pace had quickened.

He has to be an immortal. Hera determined in her mind. There is no way that he could sense such a thing. It could have been an unconscious response but with all that she had seen thus far she doubted that he wasn't an immortal. Or at least a very weak one.

Anything lesser than such and the Master Bolt would have wiped them off the face of existence.

"Okay. I'll do it." Aphrodite spoke after sometime. That previous hesitance was only a glimmer now. In its place a heavy excitement could be seen through her lidded eyes. As if she was getting some sort of pleasure or ecstasy out of the mere thought of what was to come. "But I want guarantees of protection."

Hera nodded. "Get to work then." Hera spoke as she stood. "I have other places to be."

The Queen of Olympus swore she heard a conspiratorial giggle whisper from the lips of the Love Goddess as she saw herself out of the horrid palace that reeked of perfume.

But just as she crossed the threshold of the pink palace, Hera felt something.

The Queen of Olympus felt something shatter.

Hera's eyes widened in fear.

She only knew of one way for her ward to shatter.

"Oh no." Hera muttered as a sinking feeling of despair welled with her very being.

Apollyon had fallen.


'"For the greater good.", the phrase that always precedes the greatest evils."'

-Jakub Bozydar Wisniewski


Hello! This prequel has been in the works since the revision of 'Of Water and Salt' (circa 08/08/2021). If you are here from that story, I would like to say the Captain Marvel Arc was entirely for the purpose of setting up the foundation and encounter for Chapter 31 and that encounter was entirely planned from the beginning to set the way for this prequel.

In my mind, I was of the opinion that I needed to justify the changes to the canon story of Percy Jackson. And the best way to do that, in my opinion was an entirely separate story to be written that covers most of the notable changes from canon and their effects and why it happened the way it did.

That being said, while it was initially planned that the chapters for this prequel to be released strategically in line with the main story rather than any set schedule. I have determined that I will take my time with this while also making this one significantly shorter than Of Water and Salt. I don't see this being any longer than 25 chapters if that. For comparison, Of Water and Salt has around 10 times that amount planned and outlined for it.

Moving on, the characters in this story will be focusing more on the Immortals of Olympus and Percy rather than the demigods though expect them to make an appearance from time to time.

Finally, I will also be taking a break from writing. Starting from June 1st 2022 to August or September 2022 (depending on how I'm feeling), don't expect any updates.

If you have any questions feel free to find me on the Emerald Library Discord! You should be able to find me on a regular basis there! The link to that is on my profile.