AU where I have one big family of big three kids started by Momma Bear Thalia who never becomes a tree
"Thalia, go get your jacket from the car," said Beryl Grace, her breath stinking of alcohol.
"But—"
"Listen to me, girl! Go!"
The black haired girl nodded, jogging off in the other direction.
Beryl picked up Jason, the two year old desperately making grabby hands at Thalia who was sneaking up from behind. The mother of two laid him down on the steps of Jack London's Wolf House, turning away without so much as a tear as quickly as she had come. Thalia rushed forwards and picked up Jason, sneaking around her mother who was dabbing fake tears into her face.
The two year old was completely silent, not saying a word as his chubby face already looked solemn and regal.
She broke out into a sprint, Beryl's shouts ignored. A half drunk bottle of rum hit her on the back of her head but she kept on running, stumbling through her tears as Jason pulled her incredibly tightly.
"It's okay. We're doing okay. C'mon now." She didn't know if she was talking to herself or to Jason, or even if it was out loud or in her mind.
She didn't stop until she was in a small glade, her back slumped as he hugged her little brother tight.
She fell asleep.
She woke up in the dark of night to somebody trying to pry Jason from her slumped form. She promptly kicked the intruder in the crotch, shielding her baby brother with her body. "What the fuck do you want? Who even are you?"
"Such underhanded tactics would not work on me. Painful, yes, but not excruciatingly so," said a majestic female voice. "I am Hera."
"I get you probably are mad at me that dad couldn't keep us thing in his pants but is that an excuse to kidnap Jason?" She said, wary but angry.
"Jason is…different," said Hera. "His presence with you could cause a civil war potentially."
"Would keeping him with me directly translate to his death?" Asked Thalia. "Because I think I'll take my chances. You can't just take my only remaining family from me."
Hera's regal and steely expression melted like butter. "I will not, then. You have my approval, Thalia Grace. As a goddess of family and as the Queen of Olympus. You are not overly impertinent, I suppose, for one of Zeus' bastards."
"Great," said Thalia. "Anyway I can disassociate myself from him?"
Hera laughed, a warm, melodic sound. "It will get you places. Your baby brother is the son of Jupiter, not Zeus. The gods have separate aspects. There are camps for the children of these aspects, a Roman one nearby and a Greek one in New York."
"Where are there less monsters?"
"The eastern side of the country," said Hera. "I don't think you will go to the camps, though, right?"
"Agreed. Maybe I'll snag another demigod or two along the way, but ain't no way in the pits of Tartarus I'm going there anytime soon."
"Indeed. I will give you this, how do you say, instruction manual. How to survive in the wilderness. Things you need to know about mythology."
Thalia grinned and gave the queen a one armed hug. "Thanks, lady Hera."
Hera was surprised, but not unpleasantly so. "It is of no consequence. Thank you yourself, Thalia Grace."
The goddess vanished in a flash of light, leaving only a dagger, pamphlet, and bag of supplies.
"Welp," said Thalia, "on to a new-ish adventure. Damn, that sounded better in my head."
Jason chortled and sent a jolt of electricity through her. She smiled down at him but didn't complain.
Four years later
New Jersey
"Thals, I found five monsters attacking a boy!" Said Jason urgently.
"What?! Where?" She half screamed.
"By the oak tree in the park," he replied, his azure eyes contrasting against the tanned skin.
She rushed over to see a seven year old boy beating an empousa half to death, while a dracanae groaned and moaned in the ground next to three piles of golden dust.
She quickly dispatched both of the remaining monsters.
"Whoah, slow down there, kid, you alright?" She said, propping up the boy. He had black hair and sea green eyes that were both bright and dark at once, swirling like an emerald and charcoal hurricane.
"'Lright," he mumbled. "Snake lady said she wanted to suck my blood. What type of weirdo does that?"
Thalia let her worry out in a tinkling laugh like a bubbling spring of clear water.
Jason and the new boy joined her until all three were howling across the Jersey shores for now particular reason.
"What's your name, kid? Where are your parents?" She asked, handing him a starburst which he took eagerly.
"Percy Jackson. Dad's lost at sea, M-Mom died two hours ago. Fell off the kitchen counter and Smelly Gabe said he wouldn't call the fire truck. And then they came when I called and when they left the monsters came and killed Gabe and most of his friends but I killed one of them because it tried to kill Eddy and then I ran and I don't kn—" he kept on chattering like a chipmunk caught stealing.
Thalia grabbed his hand gently and pulled him into a hug.
"Hey, you're rambling, Percy. My name is Thalia. The boy with the golden knife is Jason. Do you want this dagger?" She asked, popping to distract him. He took it and fondled it carefully, methodically sticking it into his little belt.
A flash behind them alerted her of a honey presence, and Thalia and Percy both stepped in front of her protectively. It would have been cute, if it wasn't depressing.
"Children…I am truly sorry to see you in such a state," came the regal voice of Hera, her resplendent regalia shining under the warmth of Hemera. "Let's get you some clothes and food," she said.
Thalia smiled, genuinely happy to see her. "Is Percy a son of Poseidon?"
"Yes, he is," said Hera. "Fortunately or no."
"We'll go," she said. "Percy needs to get the talk."
_
"Okay. I get it. Flying is cool," said Percy. "But can you do this?" Finished the eleven year old demigod, water solidifying into ice as he held a sword he wrestled from the Minotaur in one hand and a carbon copy made of ice in the other.
"But can you do this?" Said Jason, a mini tornado in his hand. Percy smirked and did exactly the same.
"Okay you two, we're going to be doing lightning training. Stop bickering, please," said Thalia in exasperation at their antics which had been going on for some time. Beside her, Hera watched in amusement, refusing to stop them but Aldon not encouraging them.
The two boys groaned and relented. Storm clouds gathered above, beginning with Jason calling down a lightning strike which incinerated a nearby (and uninhabited, no dryad) tree. Percy did exactly the same, humidifying a path to the blackened stump as a not quite as powerful strike hit it, Turning it into ash.
"Now for storms," said Hera in unconcealed glee.
Jason again went first, a small gale gathering around his floating body mass, gathering in power and crackling with blue electricity.
Percy immediately followed, his much more powerful, crackling with yellow electricity and water. He landed with a dramatic mini earthquake, severely winded like his slightly less enduring younger brother.
Hera clapped slowly, her face beaming with pride. "Magnificent, you two. Jason, you need to work on your power. Percy, the earthquake and floating was unnecessary. Try to avoid it as you were as winded as Jason."
The four sat down, Hera clapping her hands and summoning a picnic spread.
Thunder briefly rumbled in the east, near Manhattan, where dark clouds gathered. Thalia mumbled a quiet 'oh shut it, pops,' that made Hera smile in amusement. Her decision four years ago to be a sort of weekly mother figure to them had been one of the best in her immortal life. She visited weekly without fail, treating them to each of their choices on cycle. For example, it was Percy's turn this week. He chose PBJs with blue jelly, blue starburst, blue starlight coke, blue lemonade, blueberry's, blue cookies, and blue cheese danishes for lunch. Everyone enjoyed it, especially the last two items.
Thalia's hair had grown out and she wore it in a braided crown. She could have pulled off a punk look with a few adjustments. She had a leather jacket with a Green Day t-shirt and baggy cargo pants.
Jason looked and acted very Roman sometimes. He had a short military cut, azure eyes, and a small scar form stealing and attempting to eat a stapler. He wore a brown leather aviator jacket and olive cargo pants, paired with brown timberlands and a simple white tee.
Percy matched Jason except for shirt and jacket, with a black Yosemite shirt and a black denim jacket. His dark green eyes were extremely expressive.
Jason's well worn gladius coin and Thalia's mace can spear had been taken from defeated monsters.
Percy's sword, which he had wrestled from the minotaur mid fight, seemed to have a mind and history to its own. He had found it as a hairpin but it shifted into a cap and then a click pen. It was perfectly balanced for him and positively glowed with power. After earning it, he had been imagined with strange dreams about it and Heracles himself. He had later learned more about it from Hera. It had belonged to the Forgotten Fifth Hesperide, and been given to and then taken by Heracles, who betrayed the girl, who was then kicked out of the Garden forever without her immortality or status as a nymph/titaness.
About forty to sixty monsters a day kept the three demigods busy, although once, in Nevada, they were 'rescued' by a praetor who attempted to physically force them to New Rome. After giving a cohort the beating of their lives and being publicly rescued by a seething Juno, they had made a point never to go to California and to avoid its adjacent states.
It was a hard, but good, lifestyle.