Luke stared at Percy in the dim light shining through cabin windows and mixing with the moonlight (no storm, yay!) and the relatively distant hearth—with Aunt Hestia watching them closely, of course—for several seconds. "I'm sorry, what?"

The time-traveler blinked. He thought Luke would jump at the chance to save Thalia. Had he misread something? Or maybe Luke had actually misheard?

"I'm going on a quest to the Sea of Monsters to find the golden fleece… You know, Jason and the Argonauts? All of that? I know where the golden fleece is. In… my dream," he emphasized the word, so Luke would hopefully pick up on the fact that he meant the other timeline, "it could save Thalia, because her spirit is in the tree right now."

Luke didn't react for several seconds. When he finally did, though, he was obviously calming himself down. Percy frowned at the reaction, waiting for the boy to speak.

"So, you've known all this time that Thalia is, according to you, alive, and you didn't bother to tell me? Or Annabeth?"

Wait…

"I didn't?" He could have sworn he had… Ugh, he really missed his eidetic memory.

"No!" Luke yelled.

"Di Immortales, I'm sorry!" Percy said, mentally kicking himself. "I honestly thought I had. I mean, I was always going to go after the fleece for her. I swear I thought I'd told you."

Luke took several more breaths and turned away. After a moment, though, he let out one long breath. "Is there anything else we may want to know?" He didn't turn around.

Percy rubbed the back of his head. "I mean, probably a lot. But half of it wouldn't be safe to talk about right now and the other half is… a mess. It's not like I have a list to go over. I've been doing my best but I'm kind of winging it. Despite… everything, I'm still just twelve-years-old right now, with a normal, demigod brain. I'm trying to keep you informed, I am, but there's a lot, Luke."

The other boy sighed again. "Fine. I get it." He wasn't happy about it, but he was being honest as far as Percy could tell without tapping into his emotions. He'd already done that enough, thank you. "And you want me to come help you find the fleece?" Luke finally turned around, still miffed but also determined and a bit resigned.

Percy nodded. "It's on Polyphemus' island."

"Polyphemus. As in the Cyclops from the Odyssey?"

A pause. "Yes?"

Luke let out a string of curse words. Then he took another breath. "Anything else about this quest I should know?"

Percy wracked his brain. "Um, anything from the Odyssey or other Greco-Roman works is fair game for us to run into… and maybe more."

"This just keeps getting better," Luke muttered to himself. "Okay, fine. Who is our other quest partner and when do we leave?"

"I wanted to leave tomorrow morning," Percy said, then bit the inside of his cheek. "And… do you really think Annabeth would let us go on this mission without her?"

"What?!" Luke practically shrieked, stalking up to Percy.

He held his hands up, placating. "She went in my dream, and she was fine."

"She's twelve!"

"So am I!"

"That's not the same and you know it!"

"We were both thirteen in the… in my dream. No extra… knowledge—" read 'future memories', Luke should get that, he hoped— "involved. And that was the second quest we went on."

Luke's face was getting red.

"Luke, you can't protect her forever," Percy said quietly. "She wants—needs, even—to go out for herself. And she's up to the challenge."

"She's my little sister," Luke whispered, voice harsh, but he sounded more desperate than anything.

"Even if you could protect her forever, do you think she would like that?" Percy asked. "Do you think she would ever be happy in a life like that?"

Luke closed his eyes, that same sad resignation coming over him.

"I hate this," he finally said.

Percy sighed. "Yeah, I know. I do too. More than you realize. I've watched too many children go off and never come back. It's wrong. But right now, it's necessary. And she will come back. If I have to sacrifice myself to get her back here alive, I will."

"Do you swear it on the Styx?" Luke asked.

Percy blinked, but then his mouth firmed. "Yes."

Thunder rumbled, and that seemed to be the last hold out for Luke.

"I'll hold you to that," he muttered.

"Do you want to go and tell her about the quest with me?" Percy asked.

Luke thought about that, then nodded. "Yeah."

Together, they stalked across the camp towards the Athena cabin, neither one talking. When they got there, Luke pounded on the cabin door. Meghan, one of Annabeth's older sisters, opened the door, looking annoyed, until she saw who was there.

"Luke?" she asked, surprised. "What's wrong?"

"Is Annabeth here?" he asked tightly.

"Luke!" Annabeth asked, practically shoving past Meghan. "What… Percy?" She paused when she saw both of them, looking between them in confusion.

"I've been given a quest," Percy said before Luke could. "Do you want to go?"

Gray eyes lit up in excitement. "Yes!" she said, almost breathlessly. "Absolutely! I've been waiting for this!"

"You don't even know where we're going," Luke said through gritted teeth.

That didn't seem to phase Annabeth. She just looked even happier. "You're coming too! This is great!"

"We're um… going to the Sea of Monsters to find the golden fleece to help with camp's wards," Percy said.

Annabeth froze. Behind her, Percy could see several of her brothers and sisters listening in. "The same golden fleece Jason went after?" The time-traveler nodded, trying not to think of the blond-haired Roman by the same name. "How do you even know the golden fleece is there?"

"Prophetic dream."

Annabeth's eyebrows rose on her forehead. "What?"

"Annabeth, we need to discuss this privately," Luke said, gesturing away from the cabin.

Every child of Athena blinked, and their eyes narrowed. Including Annabeth. It was a little disconcerting, but also highly amusing.

"Very well," she said, stepping out. "I'll be right back," she told her (obviously disappointed) brothers and sisters before closing the door. Luke had already turned to walk away from the cabin, towards Hestia's fire. The two twelve-year-olds followed behind.

"What's going on?" Annabeth asked when they finally stopped, suspicious.

"The fleece can bring back Thalia," Luke said.

Blood drained from her face. "What?" she whispered, voice croaking.

"Thalia's spirit is in the tree," Percy said. "The fleece can heal more or less anything that isn't a chopped limb. It can bring her back."

"Your… dream told you this?" she asked shakily.

Percy tipped his hand back and forth in front of him. "Kind of. It's… a bit more than that, but… remember when I told you you'd be the first to know about me barring extenuating circumstances?" She nodded. "Luke brought up some extenuating circumstances. He knows. But I think it's about time I told you. Just… not here. Or now. I'll tell you on the quest.

"Just know that yes, we can bring Thalia back."

Annabeth stared at him for several seconds before turning to Luke, silently asking him if Percy was crazy.

"It's true," Luke said.

"Di Immortales," Annabeth whispered.

"For now, we need to rest," Percy said.

"You expect me to sleep after that?" Annabeth asked, incredulous.

Percy sighed. "We leave tomorrow morning, and if we want to be on top of our game, yes."

If anything, Annabeth looked even more incredulous, and mildly offended. "You've given me just tonight to plan?"

"I just barely got this quest," Percy said.

Annabeth closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Fine," she said. "Sea of Monsters. I'm going to guess anything to do with water could get in our way."

"More or less," Percy said, sheepishly. "But I can take care of most of the water stuff."

"I'm still preparing," Annabeth said.

The time-traveler smiled softly. "I wouldn't expect differently."

She didn't seem to notice his expression, too preoccupied with her plans. "What about a boat?"

"Chiron said he'd find one for us," Percy said. "I don't know anything else."

Annabeth nodded, eyes still fixed on the ground as she thought. "I'll have to talk to him. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Around eight," Percy said.

She blinked. "Isn't that too late?"

He shrugged. "Seven then. If we wake up earlier, we can work on getting any supplies we need."

Annabeth nodded. "Good idea."

Then, with that, she turned and just walked away. Didn't even say goodnight. Percy just chuckled and shook his head fondly. Then he turned to Luke, who was watching him with a narrowed gaze.

"What?" Percy asked.

Luke's eyes narrowed more. "I don't care who you are or how powerful you are. If you hurt her, I'll find a way to kill you."

Percy blinked, then laughed. Which, apparently, Luke was not expecting.

"You know, that's one of the best things you've ever said to me," the time-traveler said. It was a relief to know someone else was in Annabeth's corner this time around. Not that she didn't have friends, or her brothers and sisters, or even her mother to some extent, and she certainly had Percy, but… Luke had hurt her in the other life. She didn't need to go through that in this one. And when was more support bad? He went to walk away, but something else occurred to him.

"Oh, if Bianca asks who she should take on her quest, I recommend Clarisse from the Ares cabin and Grover."

"Because of your dreams?" Luke asked.

Percy just shrugged. "I'll see you tomorrow."

With that, he walked off towards his own cabin, leaving a very confused and thoughtful son of Hermes behind him.

"Percy," the demigod paused as he walked past Hestia's hearth, still amused. At her call, he looked over at her.

"Yes, Aunt Hestia?"

She shook her head fondly. "Thank you. I love how you constantly acknowledge our connection."

"It makes your family domain very happy?" he asked, one eyebrow raised. Glancing back, he saw Luke still watching them from well outside his hearing range. He wondered if he should do something about that, but almost immediately decided not to worry. It was Aunt Hestia.

The goddess laughed. "I'm not sure if I would have put it quite like that, but you're not wrong." Percy turned back to her, grinning. He knew it was more of the part of their being that needed something to anchor them to life. Losing that—either the connection or what that connection leads to—was what caused a god to fade, so strengthening that was a good way to make them feel alive.

Demigods too, although that wasn't the only thing that tied them to life, so it wasn't as necessary, but either Percy hadn't realized about that connection the first time around, or he'd brought that back with the mindset, because he could definitely feel that now.

"Come, sit with me," she gestured beside her. Percy grinned again and walked over to sit by the fire.

"What did you want to discuss?" he asked.

She shook her head again. "You're so polite with me, but were downright rude to my youngest brother and sister. How is it that I, of all gods, earned your respect?"

He frowned. "Is that really what you wanted to talk about?" he asked.

"Humor me?" she returned. "I've set up a barrier."

Percy chewed on that for a little, then decided 'why not'.

"You know of the great prophecy—the one already fulfilled now?"

"The one you had to fulfill your first time?" she asked. He nodded. "Yes, I do."

"'A single choice shall end his days, Olympus to preserve or raze'," he muttered, eyes going distant, drawn to the flicker of the fire in front of him. "I was given so many choices that could have qualified. Everyone was convinced I was the child of the prophecy… and I was, to an extent. But in the end, I don't think it was my choice. I think it was… well…" he paused, eyes darting to Luke, who was still watching them.

Hestia wasn't stupid by any means. She glanced between Percy and Luke for several seconds before her eyebrows rose in recognition. "Oh. He… initially?"

Percy nodded, looking down. "Joined your father? Yes. Through lies and trickery, of course."

The goddess sighed and slumped. "Father always was good at that."

"The Crooked One," Percy muttered. "As for the rest of the prophecy, the half-blood of the eldest gods was definitely me. We fought on my sixteenth birthday—fought for Olympus. And for many days before that too. One of those days, I ran into… the Titan who helped Athena create humans."

Hestia's eyebrows rose, and she glanced at the flames again. Prometheus had been the one to give humans fire, after all.

"He gave me Pandora's Pithos. Told me to open the pot when I was ready to 'give up hope'."

His aunt looked flabbergasted. "But… he loved humanity—his creations. Giving up to my father…"

Percy nodded. "I think he got tired of seeing humanity so plagued—so hurt. I think he gave the pithos to me because he'd finally given up hope himself."

"Prometheus…" she muttered.

Percy blinked, taken aback at her saying his name.

"To lose hope…" she shook her head, pained. The demigod wasn't quite sure what was going through her mind, but he wouldn't doubt she and the Titan had more history than the tales said.

"The Pithos kept showing up during those battles, tempting me. Eventually, though, I gave it to you. Because hope survives best at the hearth."

It was her turn to look surprised. "Me? But so many consider me the least of the Olympians."

He shook his head, smiling softly. "No, but maybe the last of the Olympians. You hold the hearth—the reason to fight. Without you, what would we have to come home to once the fighting is over?" She suddenly looked so touched Percy had to look away again. "You helped me out so much in that battle, helping me understand Luke… and the prophecy. I think, by that point, you'd figured most of it out."

"You flatter me," she said softly.

"You deserve it," he replied. Then he met her gaze again. "I look up to you because I think I relate to you the most. You don't want power or prestige… you're just happy fulfilling your domains. That has its own strength. I'm not entirely sure the rest of the gods understand that. Or they've forgotten."

"You might be surprised," she said.

He shrugged. "Maybe. But either way, your type of strength is the one I wish I could have. You don't actively go out of your way to hurt others to try and lift yourself above them… and you care. Of all of the Olympians, I think you understand humans the most.

"I know others try, and maybe our messenger comes close, but… you respect life in a way none of the others can, I think."

She'd looked away, staring at the fire for several seconds. "I have just as many stains on my past as the others do. I fought in wars myself."

Percy shrugged. "Maybe I'm short-sighted, then. Or maybe you're better than you think you are. Or maybe you've just learned from your mistakes. I don't know. But you've always been good to me and mine, and fair when you can be. Of course I'll respect that."

She didn't speak for a long time, but Percy didn't think this was the time to push, so he just sat back, watching the fire and, occasionally, Luke. Eventually, the other demigod turned and walked off into the night. Percy wondered what Luke thought—what was going through his head. And still the silence wore on.

"Who was the first demigod to talk to me, in your time?" she asked.

"The first time?" he asked, then chuckled a little. "Funnily enough, Nico Di Angelo. Why do you ask?"

"I don't need to be noticed all the time," she said. "You are right about that. But… I would like to be noticed some time."

He nodded. "You said something similar the first time… or implied it. Well, both, I suppose."

"You are such an unusual child, you know," she whispered. "Giving respect to those who don't necessarily need attention, and refusing respect to those who do. Being so honest…"

He sighed. "Those shouldn't be unusual, in my opinion."

She shook her head, a fond smile back in place, though this one seemed deeper somehow. Then she held out her hand. In it, he saw a glass jar, fixed on top with some orange fabric. Inside, floated a ball of smoldering coal, about the size of a quarter.

"Aunt?" he asked, confused.

"When you're on your quest, I can't directly interfere."

He blinked. "Yes, I know." He knew that all too well. He could sometimes get around that with his domains, but other gods? Not so much.

"Luke and your other friend, Annabeth… do they know everything? About you?"

Percy blinked. "Well, no." Although he'd definitely have to tell Annabeth about his time travel, as he planned, and Luke knew some of it, but had just said he'd want more info on what was to come and—"

Oh.

Oh.

He already knew that wouldn't be a fun conversation, but how many gods could listen in and hear anything he said? Everything he'd worked to conceal—everything that could possibly give him an advantage—could be leaked. Gods didn't always listen to humans, but that didn't mean they couldn't.

His expression must have shown his thought, because she nodded. "I've been putting up barriers for you, and the others haven't gotten desperate enough to break through them yet, but I won't be able to do that once you leave. Your father might, but I doubt it. He'll want to save any leverage he has for something more… desperate than a conversation.

"This," she held the jar up a little higher, "will help you."

He blinked at her, touched. This was yet another reason why he looked up to her. She'd already thought of potential problems and come up with solutions for them before anyone else had remotely looked that far.

But…

"Nothing comes without a price," he said slowly.

She shot him a sad look that instantly made him feel guilty. "Percy, I thought you knew me better than that."

"Sorry," he muttered, "It's just…"

She sighed. "Fair enough. If anyone asks, you talked to me. You keep talking to me. You're helping my family. I'll support you in that. Always."

He shot her a smile, relieved and grateful. "Thanks, Aunt Hestia."

She nodded, all traces of sadness gone. "Just tap the lid three times. It will give you three shields, and none of them can keep everyone out. If a god wants to hear, depending on their power, you could have anywhere from five minutes to half-an hour."

"But bet on it being closer to five," he said, sighing. "Okay. So while there's a chance Olympus won't find out about my secret, there's a good chance they will." Joy.

"Yes, and the closer you are to the jar, the stronger the shield will be."

"So," he muttered, "while there's a chance Olympus won't find out about my secret, it's not unlikely that they will."

Again, Hestia nodded again, albeit sadly. "It's the best I can do."

Percy shook his head. "No, it's more than I would have had, and you didn't have to even do this much. I appreciate it, Aunt. I do. Thank you." He bowed his head towards her. "If there's anything I can do for you, please let me know."

"That's a dangerous offer," she said softly.

He smiled. "I trust you."

She shook her head again. "You are too trusting."

"Maybe," he shrugged. "Or maybe I just have you pegged."

With that he winked and rose to his feet, cradling the jar in his hands. "Is there anything else you need, Aunt?"

"No, you can go pack," she said.

He grinned. "Goodnight, Aunt."

She watched him leave, an unreadable expression on her face he didn't seem to notice, or if he did, he didn't care about.

"Goodnight, Nephew. I hope you have chosen well."

xXx

He didn't sleep well that night. Everything started fine, he packed carefully, making sure he had the vitamins and the barrier jar, both wrapped carefully to prevent them breaking, as well as the horn his father gave him. Once he finished with that, he got to sleep fairly quickly, but while he had no prophetic dreams, he was plagued with images of his friends and family.

Annabeth, old and tired, kept showing up, asking why they had to be part of a Greek tragedy (something they'd discussed frequently but had never come up with a satisfactory answer to). He saw their daughters, angry at him for letting their mother die (that had never openly happened, although he'd suspected…). Grover looking at him strangely, asking him why he thought they would be close (because he doesn't know Grover nearly so well this time around). Jason, with a hole in his chest, yelling at Percy and asking why he hadn't been there to help him (he hadn't had that one for a while). Leo and Calypso glaring at him before leaving him behind, no matter how he tried to catch up to them. Rachel looking at him so sadly before drying into a mummy. Piper, Hazel, and Frank watching him with a sort of wary fear they only reserved for gods. Nico's ghost as an old man following him around, warning him he can't tell Percy about the souls that have gone on anymore.

His mother on her death bed, dying to cancer. Paul had already gone a couple of years before due to a car crash, so it was just him and Estelle. His mother smiled up at him, never anything but the loving, amazing person she always was, and then she was gone. In real life, Estelle and him had sort of clung to each other all night before he'd been called to Olympus. In his dream, she screamed at him, blaming him for their mother's death, saying nothing he hadn't already thought of himself. It still hurt.

He saw campers who had come later, all trusting him as they set off on their own quests, never to return, and all blaming him for those deaths. Too many deaths.

He woke far too many times inside his cabin for him to have gotten much real sleep. The last time had been some time around five. Too tired to try to do much of anything else, he'd crawled out of bed and sort of half-walked, half-stumbled to the lake, flopping into it and letting the water soothe him. Muttering for the naiads to please wake him in an hour or so, he let himself finally drift into a decent, restful sleep.

xXx

Sick. Hope you enjoy. Going to rest. Luv

A special thanks to my beta readers, discord helpers, and tier 3 and 4 readers: Berix, The Shadow Slayer, Asterius Daemon, Quathis, Harlequin, Speedster, Snow, Starlightluv, Squirps, and The Chronomancer! Also, all of my discord peeps and my readers here! Thank you! (If I've missed anyone, PLEASE let me know!

Discord: discord. gg/xDDz3gqWfy (No spaces)