It was nighttime in Ogunquit, Maine. Flickering street lights and a sliver of a crescent moon where the only light in town. There was a light snowfall, something I hadn't gotten to slow down and experience in nearly a millennium.

The Josias River's sound flowing and some cars crunching their way through town were the only sounds to be heard. I breathed out heavily and pretended I could breathe fire.

True to my word, I repaired Ophelia's furnace and then left her with Agnes. I was out for an aimless stroll. The frigid air was akin to the worst of Khione's wrath.

Of course, Khione got off for supporting Gaea because she was a goddess. But Gigantes, no. Tartarus, the most violent and destructive place in the solar system, was the only place for the Gigantes.

I resisted the urge to beat something. The only thing nearby was a fishing shack that Lucy was in charge of, and even though I was having a crappy day, I didn't want to ravage Lucy's. I took a quivery breath and tried to relax.

The attack at Agnes's cabin was the first time in a while that I understood what the puny demigods were thinking. Ophelia had lost her brother in Polybotes's raid on Camp Jupiter. Granted, that was nine years ago, but to a mortal, nine years was a very long time.

I missed Gaea, as strange as it was to think that. She might've been a manipulative, gaslighting maniac, but she was my mother. A part of me will always love her for that.

I felt a powerful presence behind me. I turned around, expecting to see another cleft naiad ready to send me back to Tartarus. Instead, though, I saw something that freaked me out even more.

For the first time in a very lengthy time, I laid my eyes on Periboia's mom.

"Hey, Hera," I said.

Hera looked the same as ever. Same soft, welcoming brown eyes. Same stark black hair that always reminded me of Khaos. Some sort of unapproachable, regal beauty that monsters like me didn't get to earn.

"Porphyrion," she stated haughtily.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, leaning against the walls of Lucy's Fishing Shack.

"I could ask you the same thing." shot back Hera.

"Damasen and Iapetus, they let me out," I notified her. "I thought you'd have known that, being the Queen of Olympus."

"And our daughter?" asked Hera softly, not wanting to be eavesdropped by Zeus.

"Didn't want to leave."

"And you just left her there?!" asked Hera indignantly.

"Periboia is a big girl now. She can take care of herself. And she has her uncles to protect her."

Hera rolled her eyes. "You're impossible."

"That is why you fell in love with me," I said.

"I didn't fall in love with you!" bellowed Hera.

The light went on in Lucy's Fishing Shack. Someone, or multiple someones, started to rustle around in there. I know it's irrational, but part of me thought it was Zeus, somehow.

"Oh yeah, when what did you do?" I asked, placing my hands on my hips.

"I was angry, okay?" spat Hera. "There, are you happy? I was angry. Zeus had gone behind my back so many times. With Danae. Europa. Io. Semele. So when Brizo was born and Amphitrite wasn't the mom, and Zeus accused me of cheating...I went to the only source of comfort I knew."

I remembered the Brizo dispute well. Brizo was a daughter of Poseidon, born near the start of the Roman Empire. She was a prophet, sending sailors, mariners, and fishers prophetic dreams to warn them of storms and pirates. The controversy came from her mother. Or rather, the fact that no one knew who Brizo's mother was. Amphitrite had never shown any signs of being pregnant like with her other children. No other goddess came forward.

Who Brizo's mother was; that was a question that always nagged at Zeus. It eventually got into his head that Hera was somehow Brizo's mother. It turns out, Brizo's mother was a secondary sea goddess named Psamthe. But the damage was done. Hera had turned to me for sympathy, and she was now expecting with Periboia. I should've had the backbone to tell her no.

Perhaps in that way, Zeus and I were the same.

"We were never going to work." resumed Hera. "You, me, we don't win in the end."

"You mean I don't win." I growled, "You stay up on your cushy throne as Queen of Olympus, while I slum it down here with the humans."

Hera drew breath through her teeth, caught off guard, and began to blink back tears tightly. I wondered when was the last time someone talked to Hera like that "I'm sorry, Porphyrion. I really am."

"Please, just leave. Go back to your king of the cosmos and leave me alone."

Hera looked at me, trying to implore without words. A part of me wondered if I was on the wrong side of this. Zeus was a womanizer, and some of the instances where he initiated sexual encounters have been unsavory, to say the least. And Hera had to put up with all of it and stick with it for the sanctity of marriage. If Hera cheated as much as Zeus did, there was no way in Tartarus that he would put up with it. There was no way.

"Porphyrion, please, listen."

I reached out, and Hera recoiled sharply. It took her a second to see that I meant no harm. "I'm sorry, Hera. But it's a tough time to be one of the Gigantes right now. I just got stressed, and I lashed out."

Hera agreed but didn't say anything. We stood here, snow lightly dusting us, for what felt like an hour.

"Do you think, maybe, in another life, we'd get our happy ending?" I asked.

Hera scrunched her jet black eyebrows, "I don't know. I'd like to think so." Thunder rumbled in the distance, causing both Hera and I to flinch. "I...I think that's my cue to leave," she said, trying to grin.

I leaned Hera into a hug.

It wasn't an emotional or even rational judgment. It was an impulse. I wanted to protect Hera from Zeus, even if I wasn't powerful enough to do so. I could only hope that just for a moment, Hera considered herself safe and secure.

She blended away into the night, back to a husband who didn't appreciate her and a life I'm not sure she wanted. I saw a few heavily tattooed guys about my height give me weird looks across the street. I waved at them, and one in the middle gave me a sharp-toothed, yellowed grin.

I returned the smile and went into Lucy's shack.

It was empty, other than a concerned-looking Lucy sitting behind the cashier's desk, her feet propped up casually.

"That sounded like quite the argument, Porphyrion," said Lucy in a singsong teasing voice, not unlike my old fling Arke. But her story was one for another day.

"Old friend," I grunted absentmindedly fingering the reels Lucy had for sale. I surveyed the store for anything interesting. Perhaps some Ancient Greek artifacts or Olympian weaponry. I've had one demigoddess attack so far today; I didn't need another one.

My eyes settled on a picture with Lucy in it, but there was another human. He was human; his hair was as dark as Hera's. His smile was cavalier and lazy, but his eyes sparkled with love for life that most immortals lost in their mid to late 500s.

"Who is that?" I asked, picked up the framed photograph. I weighed it in my hands. It was heavier than expected.

Lucy tightened her lips, "Oh, I forgot I had that out there. That's Grimsley, my ex-husband."

"What caused the divorce?" I asked.

I silently picked up a fishing rod and swung it around a little bit. It wasn't my trusty spear, but it would make do in case she turned on me.

"He died," said Lucy. "Three months ago." I feel horrible saying this now, but I felt a spasm of relief wash over me when Lucy uttered three months ago. The Second Gigantomachy had already ruined the Cross family. At least something else destroyed Lucy's.

I put the fishing rod back on the rack and went over to the counter.

"Grimsley was my first love," said Lucy wistfully. "He was with me when I first realized what love was, you know?"

I nodded, even though I didn't know.

"You always think that person you have that magical awakening within your life forever, but sometimes it doesn't work out that way." lamented Lucy. "And I don't know if I can love again. You can't find that sort of awakening twice."

"Good gods…" was all I could say without feeling disingenuous.

"Welcome to Ogunquit." said Lucy bitterly, "Where everyone has ghosts, and no one is happy."

I thought of my brief fling with Hera. I thought about the marriage and love I almost shared with Arke if only Gaea hadn't messed that up.

"I'll fit right in, I think."

Then the storefront exploded. I summoned my spear instinctively and pointed it at the threat. I thought I would see Ophelia back for round two, but it was one of the tattooed guys from across the road, gazed and injured.

In hindsight, I definitely should've known those were Laistrygonians. I separated the ogre's head from his body with one flick of my spear, and they disintegrated into dust.

In the street, I saw the other two Laistrygonians brawling with a tanned blonde girl with grey eyes and a striking resemblance to Athena and a messy-haired surfer dude not at all dressed for Maine with Poseidon's eyes. I knew the duo well. I had to listen to Polybotes and Enceladus rant about them all the time.

Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase were here.