Chapter 2- The Best Birthday?
The sun was shining bright over the immortal city of Olympus, Helios must have been ecstatic about something. All the sunshine really brought out the best of the city. With it rows of white marble houses, each one being different than the last. Its breath taking statues, glorious gardens and awe-inspiring temples. Unique palaces designed for each of the Olympians that were as magnificent as the gods themselves. All of that paled in compression to the throne room of Olympus. Which was the center piece of the city and being as large as all of the gods palaces combined. Surrounded by various statues, supported by intricately designed columns, walls with beautiful carvings and of course the gargantuan thrones of the six known children of Kronos. It has become a symbol of power and greatness for the gods of Olympus.
Today seemed like any other day on Olympus. Some of the minor gods/goddess, nymphs and other creatures where mingling in the city. While others went off to find something of interest in the mortal world below. Still others went off on their own to relish in their solitude. That left the mighty Olympians of the council, who would spend much of their time in the throne room watching and managing the events of the mortal world. However unknown to most of the members of the council today was different, it was birthday of the hidden seventh child of Kronos and Rhea.
Hestia was deep in thought sitting atop her flaming throne, which was conveniently located next to the hearth. Over the past few days she and Rhea had worked on finalizing the plans for their beloved Percy. They wanted everything to be perfect for his first and possibly last birthday, for a while at least. Everything had come together pretty well, being an all-powerful titan and goddess tends to make gathering party supplies and such incredibly easy. There was only one real thing left to do. Get her brothers and sisters to come to the party, which was scheduled for seven-thirty that night. She had two hours. Also hoping on withholding the whole they have another little sibling thing, because is looking forward to seeing the shocked looks on her siblings faces.
A large blast of lightning shook Hestia from her thoughts as she glances towards the two now empty largest thrones. One being pure white marble, beautifully carved and fanning out like the tail of peacock in the back. The other one appeared to be made of clouds of various types, with occasional flashes of lightning visible. It seems the King and Queen of Olympus have left the building, probably to go work on the whole lack of an heir situation. Hestia knew this was her chance to persuade her remaining siblings.
"Gods I hate when he does that" grumbled Hades a look of disgust on his face.
"HA-HA I agree brother, it seems our brother has been watching too many of those mortal plays of late." Poseidon chuckled back at his brother.
Causing all of them to break down and laugh.
In between giggles, Demeter spoke "Our little brother does seem to have picked up a flare for dramatics hasn't he?"
"Ha it's more than just a flare" said Hades "He seems to be the perfect candidate for god of theater and dramatics!"
Causing a second round of laughter to fill the throne room.
With tears in Poseidon's eyes turned to face his siblings "Sisters, brother this has been a most enlightening and enjoyable conversation however I must return to my Kingdom for the evening,"
"I as well should get to the underworld, for the dead always find their way into some sort of trouble when I'm gone for extended periods of time" sighed Hades as his face returned to its normal stoic appearance.
"We should really do this more often my brothers and sister" Demeter earnestly said "I feel we have been working so hard on repairing the mortal world. That we haven't had enough us time lately. Heck! I haven't even had a chance to eat a bowl of cereal for the past day and a half." Demeter suddenly looking depressed and on the verge of crying.
Hestia knew this was her chance "Brothers, sister! Before you leave I have a request for you all."
This caught the attention of the other three, for Hestia rarely ever requests anything of anyone.
"Of course we will hear out this request of yours sister dearest. Before giving our response." Responded Hades, with the others nodding their heads in agreement.
Widely smiling Hestia continued "Lucky for you all, this isn't much of a request. It's more of a surprise for all three of you. All you have to do is come with me."
The three siblings all give their older sister a questioning look.
Hades eyes narrowed as he met Hestia's gaze "Sister what kind of surprise is this exactly. You know I don't like surprises."
Hestia frowned slightly before her heartwarming smile returned "Brother dearest when have I ever lead you astray. Trust me when I say this is a surprise I know all of you will love. Plus when was the last time I asked any of you for anything, this would mean the world to me."
"That is very true sister, I for one I'm excited to see what would mean so much to you." Beamed a grinning Poseidon.
"Me too!" Demeter agreed.
Hades sighed, not because he was opposed to the situation but because he knew everything his sister was right. Not that he would let his siblings know but deep down he was very curious at where Hestia was leading them.
"Fine. Fine I'll come, but just this once Hestia." Grumbled Hades.
"PERFECT!" Hestia screeched and began to jump up and down like an excited child, which fit because she was currently in her eight year old form.
"Now its six-thirty now, I expect all of you to meet at my palace gates now later than seven-fifteen." Giving all three of them a commanding glare. Before smirking and flashing away in a burst of flames.
The remaining children of Kronos looked at each other before shrugging and teleporting off to relax until it was time to meet.
Hestia's palace was a humble structure, for Olympian standards at least. It was still pretty massive but it wasn't overly large like some of the other palaces. Ergo Zeus's palace that could of probably house most of Olympus. On the outside her palace was fairly simple, a tower here, a dome over there. The most attractive feature of it being the color of it, a mixture of all the colors scene in fire. It was breathtaking.
That was the thoughts going through the heads of Poseidon, Hades and Demeter who all just flashed to the outside gate of their older sister's palace.
"Wow, I can't believe that I've never bothered to come see Hestia's palace before" spoke Demeter, a tinge of regret evident in her voice.
Before either of the brothers could comment, a voice came from behind them "Yes I also can't believe none of my siblings have come to visit me before."
The three siblings turned slowly around to see an eight year old with her hands on her hips and foot tapping on the ground staring disapprovingly at them. Immediately causing them to turn their gaze towards the ground as their faces reddened.
"Would someone care to explain why none of my beloved siblings have come to visit before today?" Questioned an irritated Hestia
"Well…ahh…you see…sister dearest…." Poseidon started
"ummm….we have been…uhh very busy…" continued Demeter
Hades face palmed before looking up to meet his elder sister's disapproving eyes "Look sis we are sorry. We promise we will not make the same mistake again."
Followed up by giving his two younger siblings a slap on the back of the head. Causing them to briefly glare at their older brother. Before nodding their heads in agreement and giving Hestia apologetic smiles.
Hearing this Hestia pulled a complete one eighty and grinned like a fool "Good! You are all already forgiven. However I plan on holding you three to your promise!" Sending a brief glare in their direction.
"Now, chop-chop grab hands kids while I teleport us to the surprise" commanded a smirking Hestia.
On the island of Crete the Queen of the titans, Rhea, was pacing back in forth in front of the entrance to the cave that has become her home over the past year. There was an anxious look on her face as she nervously paced back in forth.
Many thoughts were running through her mind. Like how would her other children respond to seeing her and Perseus. Or how would this change the life they are living now. More importantly what was she going to do to get revenge on her children who have neglected to visit her in the past year? Rhea was not in a patient mood at the moment either. After spending all day distracting her birthday boy by playing his favorite games, hide and seek and tag for hours on end. She was at her wits end for any kind of nonsense.
A tiny flash of light at the edge of the forest that surrounds the mouth of the cave knocked Rhea out her little thinking session. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness where the flash came from she saw four figures standing, conversing. Three of them, two males and a female, had their backs to her. With the hint of a smile on her face she walked towards the four.
"So Hestia this is your surprise? Some forest on the island of Crete I believe." Questioned an irritated looking Hades
"Is this all?" a curious Poseidon chimed in.
"I'm sure it isn't brothers, right Hestia?" Demeter said.
Hestia rolled her eyes before looking up to see her mother silently approaching the three oblivious and curious immortals.
"Well my very impatient siblings, the first half of said surprise happens to be approximately…right behind you."
The three gulped as the realization of where they were and who was probably behind them sunk in. With eyes wide with fear they slowly turned around to meet the very disapproving gaze of the mother they haven't bothered to visit in quite some time.
On the outside Rhea was trying to look as upset as possible. She wore a scowl that made Hades infamous scowls look like smiles and her eyes narrowed as they pulsed with power. However on the inside she was elated to see three of her children at the same time, but she had to get back at them for not visiting.
Instinctively Hades, Poseidon and Demeter shrunk down into their teenage forms as they began to find a fascination in the ground below them.
Rhea sent a mischievous wink in Hestia's direction, before she cleared her throat rather aggressively and began rapidly tapping her foot.
Poseidon was the first swallow his fear as he nervously ran his hand through has raven black hair before meeting their mother's intimidating glare. "Ha-ha fancy seeing you here mother. Are you…uhh… here for Hestia's surprise as well?" Poseidon managed to say, trying and failing to hide his nervousness.
However Rhea was not swayed and continued to glare down at her children, minus Hestia. Demeter instead of speaking hide scampered behind Poseidon.
Causing Hades to mentally face palm, as the realization of his younger brother and sister incompetence to handle the situation. Leaving it to him to handle….like usual. He stepped forward and lifted his head to look at his mother.
"Hello mother, I'm sure I speak for all of us." Turning to send a deathly glare at his cowardly brother and sister. "When I say that we are unmeasurably sorry for never coming to visit. We love you so much mom and plan on making it up to you." Hades said hopefully.
Silenced followed Hades proclamation.
That was until it was broken by a high pitched laugh that caused the three siblings to jump back in surprise as they focused in on the culprit. Their now not angry mother. Who, was followed shortly with girlish giggling from Hestia.
"OH….MY….GODS… the look on your faces is hilarious." Rhea managed to get out between laughs.
Poseidon's face scrunched in confusion "Wait…so you aren't upset with us mother?"
The laughter stopped as Rhea's face transformed into a serious one, "I'm hurt that didn't make any attempt to contact me….but you all should know I will never stop loving you and glad you came tonight. You are already forgiven." Stated Rhea as her face lite up in a warm, motherly smile.
"BUT don't you dare do this to me ever again! Or you will have Tartarus to pay!" yelled Rhea, who flashed them a dangerous glare, quickly returning to her heartwarming smile. "Now where are my hugs?" exclaimed Rhea.
A wide smile graced the face of Hades, Demeter and Poseidon as they rushed forward to embrace their beloved mother. With a smirking Hestia following up the rear to finish of the small family reunion.
After a few moments Demeter positioned her head on Rhea's stomach, looking up to see that her mother had tears flowing down her face. Just like she did. "Mother, I love you so much. Never again will we forget about the most kind, caring and lovely mother in the world. This is this is the best surprise in a long time." Demeter happily said.
The group of teary eyed immortals broke apart after a few more moments, all sniffling and wiping the tears of joy from their cheeks.
"Actually dearest I'm only half of the surprise." A mischievously smirking Rhea said.
Causing Hades, Demeter and Poseidon raise their eyebrows as they looked questioningly at their mother. While Hestia stifled a giggle.
"What do you..." Hades started before being interrupted by a loud crash coming from the cave entrance behind Rhea.
Next thing everyone knows there is a small child butt naked running full speed out of the cave laughing manically the whole time. Followed by two very wet looking lions. Followed by a large quantity of bubbles to start to pour out of the cave entrance.
All of their jaws hit the ground.
Rhea was the first to recover. "PERSEUS THERON, what do you think you are doing little mister!"
Perseus's abruptly stopped, causing the lions to fly past into and into a bush. His eyes widened to the size of dinner plates as he came to realize his mother was right there. Staring into his godly soul.
Rhea marched over glaring at her wet and nude little boy the entire time, "Now Perseus….since this is your birthday I'm not going to yell and you are not going to get in trouble. You are however going to have to clean this up….Lastly …WHAT IN GODS NAME DID YOU DO!" Rhea angrily addressed her youngest son.
Perseus glanced bashfully at the ground, "Well you see mommy….I.I was just minding my own business…playing in the tub with my rubber ducky and boat… the water started to go down and I wasn't ready for bath time to be over. Sooo I went to pull the lever that lets in more spring water, buttt it kinda broke and the bubbly soap fell in... And one thing lead to another and now we are here."
Perseus than looked up giving his mother a deadly cute poopy dog eye stare.
"Well I guess no serious harm has been done" Rhea sighed, but here face suddenly morphed into one of extreme happiness, "Now Perseus I'd like you to introduce you to some people." She smirked as she moved to the side allowing Perseus to see the group of people previous blocked by his mother's vision.
"Perseus meet your older brothers Hades and Poseidon and older sister Demeter. Hades, Poseidon, Demeter meet Perseus your youngest brother."
Hades, Poseidon, Demeter and Perseus jaws hit the ground and their eyes practically popped out of their sockets.
"Oh my gods! Oh my gods! Oh my gods! I finally get to meet you guys!" squealed a Perseus who was rapidly jumping up in down.
Poseidon, Hades and Demeter were in shock, they had another brother. A very hyperactive brother by the look of it. The next thing they know they are all brought down to the ground at the little runts attempt to hug them. Luckily for Rhea flashed some clothes on to Perseus before he ran full speed at his dumbfounded siblings.
"B-brother?" Hades asked to know one in particular.
"Baby Brother?" questioned Poseidon.
While Demeter just blankly stared back in forth from her mother to her newfound brother.
Perseus decided to sit on Hades lap after he accidentally tackled them all to the ground.
"Brothers, sister I'm so happy I can finally meet you!" exclaimed Perseus, "I have so many questions! Like brother Poseidon how do you stay under water for so long? Do you hold your breath the whole time? I tried that once but my lungs started to hurt so I had to stop. And Hades what is the underworld like, is it really as gloomy and terrible as all the books describe? Oh oh Demeter what's your favorite cereal?
All three of the siblings just sat in shock and blinked rapidly at the little boy with pitch black hair sitting on Hades lap.
Rhea and Hestia were chuckling off to the side, loving how the situation has progressed.
Rhea turned to her eldest daughter "Well I guess we should go help them, or we will be here all night I fear."
"ha-ha very true mother, this went off even better than I had hoped I must say" responded Hestia
"Yes, yes it did my dear." Said Rhea as she looked back toward her other children and smiled as she saw all four of them laughing and smiling. Interacting like a true family for the first time in a long time.
The night continued like so. After dragging Perseus off of Hades; followed by Poseidon doing Perseus a solid and using his powers to get tide of all the water and bubbles that flooded the house. Everyone relocate inside to party.
After getting over the fact that they had a new brother Poseidon, Hades and Demeter took to him rather well. Percy, as they preferred to call him really new how to lighten the mood with his innocent and adorable personality. Hades that his new brother would be a breath of fresh air for the immortal world, he wasn't raised in their father's stomach and wasn't hardened by war. Poseidon just loved he had another little brother, especially one he could mess around with and play pranks on Hades and Zeus eventually with. Demeter was ecstatic because she like Hestia love children and plans on helping raise her baby bro to the best of her ability, after all who would make sure he ate his cereal.
Now that they were inside the hearth heated cave everyone began to relax, eat some cake, joke around and swap tell stories for Percy.
"Ha-ha so Percy we have told you all about us but why not you tell us al little about yourself dear?" Demeter asked.
Percy's face lit up in joy, he loved to talk to people. "Okay sis! Let's see I'm one year old now, I love coloring, playing tag, reading, learning, the night, running, sissy Hestia, mama and now you guys too."
That last sentence brought huge smiles and eyes twinkling with joy to everyone's faces. It made them feel good that someone cared so much about them, that someone loved that loved them not because that they were gods or he was trying to gain something out of it. He loved them because they were his family and that's all that mattered to him.
Rhea looked around at the immortals around her. Her Family. Thinking to herself how wonderful a night it had been. Alas it's already way past Perseus bedtime…better get this over with now before I'm too tired too.
"Perseus!" yelled Rhea, "I think you know what time it is."
Fear shot onto Perseus face, "No, no mama I can't go to bed now. I'm having too much fun!" Pouted Perseus, "Plus what if I never see them again…"
Tears started to well up in his eyes, but before he could cry out. Rhea spoke," I promise you that you will see them again."
Perseus just nodded his head and started to walk off towards his room.
"Hestia dear, could you please go tuck him in?" asked Rhea
"I'd be happy to mother" smiled Hestia, who continued to skip down the hall towards Perseus's room.
Rhea turned to face her other three children, "Now you three will come by to see him again right?"
All three of them responding "Of course mother!"
"A few questions first though mother?" asked Hades
Rhea just nodded and looked expectantly at her children. They all shared a look with watch other before returning their gaze to Rhea.
Poseidon started, "So has he shown off any godly powers yet?"
"Nothing particularly godly yet, besides the fact he requires little to no sleep and is always hyper" sighed Rhea.
The three chuckled at that before being silenced by a glare from Rhea.
Loud thunder boomed in the distance, the winds began to pick up dramatically. Everyone shared worrying looks with each other.
"Sorry mother, sounds like that is our call to go." Demeter said sadly.
"God what could thunder-head possibly want at this hour." Grumbled Hades.
"Oh-oh please don't tell Zeus about your brother yet, Hestia and I fear the time is not right" pleaded Rhea.
Putting his hand on his mother's shoulder meeting her worried brown eyes with his bright understanding sea green ones, "its okay mother we understand. Once we sort out Zeus's little hissy fit we will make time to come back and discuss everything more."
"Thank you all" whispered Rhea as she brought the three of them into a hug before they flashed off to Olympus.
Sitting down on the nearest couch, Rhea was exhausted after such a long day and still not being at full power since the birth was beginning to take a toll. Which has been worrying her greatly but at the moment those thoughts were pushed to the back of her godly brain. Today was perfect all her children were happy. Perseus was able to bring everyone together, like a real family. Just the thought of it made Rhea so happy she wanted to cry, after her family being broken apart for so long it is finally coming together. She just hoped it would last.
Hopefully Zeus called this meeting for something mundane. Rhea was worried though, she still kept in contact with some of the other titans and word on the street was something was brewing in the pit. Several somethings to be exact but Rhea hoped she was wrong. Her family could not be broken up again so soon.
A.N: This chapter was rather difficult to write for me, not to proud of it but hopefully its good. Also this story isn't going to be 100% accurate to Greek history and all that yada yada. Just kind of going with the flow of what feels right. Also i will be putting updates on how the story will be coming along time wise on my profile page thingy if anyone is curious.
Have a good day,
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