It had been 4,000 years since he had seen her.
4,000 years of regret. Pain. Anguish. Guilt. Loneliness.
They all riddled his mind in that prison cell during the dark, seemingly endless nights of Tartarus.
He knew he should hate her. He knew he had no right to still even think about her.
She betrayed him for those insufferable gods, single handedly stripped him of his rightful throne on Othrys, and broke his heart.
He never dared to show it to anyone, but he was more devastated than he could possibly say when he found out she had helped those wretched gods.
If anything, he should wish for her to be locked away in that cursed dungeon instead and rot.
Yet the last image he had of her beautiful eyes never left his mind whenever he closed his eyes.
No matter how hard he tried, she plagued his every thought, even after all these years.
It was funny. A prophecy about seven puny, pathetic mortal teenagers he had analyzed so thoroughly…but the current location of his wife was still a mystery.
There was a part of him, in the deepest crevices of his cold blackened heart, that desperately wanted to kiss her soft skin again and for her to forgive him.
He had never meant to hurt her. All she had to do was support him as he got rid of those nuisances, was that too much to ask of his wife?
The way she'd speak so highly of those brats and their descendants always infuriated him.
How could she love such irritating, ungrateful pests, and yet…scorn the very man who made her queen? The only man who truly loved her and gave her a purpose in this world?
He gripped the banister of the ship's lounge deck tightly in frustration, squeezing his eyes tightly shut as a flood of tears tried to rush out.
He realized that no matter how hard he tried, the titan could not escape his own pathetic feelings of love for that woman. Nor could he ever escape the terrifying vulnerability he felt when it came to her, even after everything that had happened between them.
She was his ultimate weakness, a walking Achilles heel, and he prayed to the Fates that those irritating Olympians would never be smart enough to figure that out and use it against him.
He took out a golden engagement ring, with pink diamonds and Greek inscriptions engraved on it that were similar to the ones that rested on his own index finger.
We will rule this world again…I will see to it.
Gaia loved the springtime.
It was the one time of the year where the world seemed to be more alive again.
She sipped her tea gingerly as the soft wind blew against her long gray hair.
Her relaxing afternoon was suddenly interrupted when a man spoke behind her, "Hello, mother."
Gaia sighed heavily, as she knew visits from her titan son didn't ever lead to anything good, "Well, It's about time you visited me again. It has already been 2 years since our last meeting. How are you, dear?"
The titan of time wasted no time on pleasantries and quickly responded, "I have heard rumors from my men that you have spoken to Rhea recently. Is this true?"
Gaia's eyes widened at the mention of her former daughter in law's name coming out of his mouth. It was certainly suspicious, given that he hadn't spoken about her in years. As a matter of fact, it was one of the few things he never wanted to speak about to others.
She had been so careful with her monthly visits to her daughter in law's new residence…down to modifying the way she looked to not seem noticeable. However, there was always a part of her that knew her son would find out one way or another eventually.
Cronus growled as he looked up at the Earth goddess with anger, as her continuing silence towards him confirmed his accusation, "Where is she, Mother?!"
The older woman rolled her eyes, "Dear, I still don't understand what this whole fuss is about. You haven't talked about her in years, why now all of a sudden do you care to know of her whereabouts?"
Cronus gritted his teeth, "If I distinctly remember, right before I was sent to prison I asked you this same question, and you deliberately refused to give me an answer. Now I will ask this again for the last time, where is my WIFE?"
Gaia shook her head, astonished he remembered that from so many years ago and still was so hellbent on settling this, "Unfortunately I can't help you anymore than I could back then, dearest. I'm afraid her location is unknown to me" she continued, "maybe it's best to just…leave her alone, dear. You two didn't exactly leave on the best terms the last time."
Cronus, growing impatient with his mother's attempts at stalling him, angrily slammed his hands on the glass table in front of her, "I'm not in the mood for your games, mother. You really expect me to believe that pathetic excuse?!"
Gaia narrowed her eyes at him as she got up from her chair to pour more tea into her cup, "Now, dear, why would I play games with you? That doesn't help either of us, now does it?"
She sipped her tea as the angry titan started to grow even more agitated by his mother's lack of interest in giving him any aid, "You know, this conversation could have ended by now if you just told me where she is already, Mother. I really don't understand WHY you insist upon doing this."
Gaia sighed as she sprinkled some cinnamon on her tiny tea cake, "Dearest, even if I told you, it wouldn't help any more than not knowing."
Cronus raised an eyebrow at this unsure of what she meant, "What do you mean by that?"
Gaia nibbled on her cakes as she explained, "She's somewhere you are not able to get into."
The titan put a hand to his chin trying to process the riddle his mother had just thrown at him, "Gods damn it Mother, stop with the riddles and just give me a name already!"
Gaia then gave him a quick glare, and a boom of thunder was heard from overhead, "Mind your temper, dear."
Cronus groaned, "Ugh…this is wasting too much time. If you won't tell me then I will just have to find her myself" and with that he stormed out of the garden with an angry huff, violently slamming the garden door on the way out.
The Earth goddess sighed and shook her head when he finally left.
What could he possibly want with Rhea?
Author's Note: So, I'm modifying some family bloodlines because Greek mythology has a lot of …weird, incestuous relationship dynamics in the original mythos so ,for the sake of being more appropriate, I'm making Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, and Hestia the siblings of the Cronus/Rhea line and making Hera and Demeter daughters of Mnemosyne. Rhea is a daughter of Pontus and Thalassa, and thus the reason why Poseidon is a sea god.
"What do you mean he is OUT of Tartarus?!"the light blonde haired titaness yelled out in shock.
Her hair was tied up in a loose bun with two strands of hair resting on both sides of her face. The light purple chiton dress she wore flowed gently behind her as she walked frantically towards the group of gods from the entrance doors.
When she walked towards the meeting table she sat down on the couch taking a deep breath in as she attempted to process the news she had just heard.
Zeus frowned seeing his own mother in such a state of distress, "I'm deeply sorry mother, but… unfortunately this was the work of the Fates themselves. There is little we can do."
Rhea turned away as she responded, knowing she was on the verge of tears while saying it, "How could you all let this happen…do you know the kind of power that vile man has? Not only that, but sending these poor, innocent teenagers against him is nothing short of a death sentence!"
The 7 teenagers exchanged guilty glances with each other as the titaness said this, all of them feeling bad for worrying her so much.
Theresa attempted to comfort the titaness, "Lady Rhea…I know you are worried about us and you have every right to be…but the gods have been training and protecting us the best they can. Some of the gods have even given us personal advice on our individual abilities as well! For example, Persephone has been giving me private lessons on my psychic abilities."
Hera nodded her head as she put a comforting hand on Rhea's shoulder, "We are doing everything in our power to make sure they are safe, Rhea, but...as you may know better than all of us, Cronus is quite unpredictable" she looked down as memories of Cronus's attempts at getting the best of them came into her mind, "there have been many times where even I have been caught unprepared at some of these dangerous circumstances he has caused in the past few months."
Herry spoke up while crossing his arms in a firm stance, "Yeah, it's almost like a weekly thing at this point, Lady Rhea, so we're pretty used to it."
Odie piped up as he typed away on his computer playing the latest version of Harpy Slayers, "It's getting to the point where I seriously wonder if that guy has a life sometimes."
Herry and Odie's statements did nothing to ease Rhea's worries, causing her to nervously pace even more around the Olympus lounge area, "Weekly?! Oh gods…"
Persephone noticed Rhea's increasing discomfort and went over to sit beside her. She gently reassured the anxious titaness, "Try to relax, Rhea. You have nothing to worry about. They are all perfectly capable of defending themselves."
Hades added to his wife's statement, wanting nothing more than to see his mother in a much happier mood, "Yes, and I will see to it personally that the brute is thrown in the deepest depths of Tartarus when I get my hands on him, I assure you Mother dearest."
Zeus chimed in with his brother, "Indeed. It won't be long before he ends up where he belongs, Mother. We just need to be patient."
Rhea looked at Hades and Zeus with a look of hope in her eyes, "You boys always know what to say to make me feel better…thank you."
She then pulled them both in for a hug and gently kissed their cheeks. Zeus groaned in embarrassment as everyone giggled at the sight of this motherly affection towards them.
Hades on the other hand was too embarrassed to speak properly, "M-Mother! Is this really necessary?"
The titaness playfully responded with a smile as she pulled away from them, "Always."
Atalanta and Archie both curiously were inspecting Rhea's lions for the past couple of minutes, admiring their unique features.
Atalanta put a hand to her chin as she tried to inspect their fur, "Wow…these are some pretty cool looking lions you got here, Lady Rhea. Can we pet them?"
Archie added, while carefully attempting to touch the lion with one of his hands, "Yeah, they don't bite do th-", before Archie could finish one of the lions mauled him with friendly licks and nuzzles.
Rhea chuckled as the purple haired teenager got endless licks from the creature beside him.
Seeing Archie was not able to get the lion to stop, she beckoned for the lion to come to her, "Percy! Come here."
The lion ran up to Rhea excitedly and nuzzled her hands by her waist lovingly. She bent down and petted the lion's mane in return, "Sorry. My lions get easily excited."
Archie sat up, full of slobber from the lion, while Atlanta giggled at the sight of him.