Honestly speaking–and Ariadnê did have trouble speaking lies– Hestia would not have been the first on her list to tell the truth. She would have preferred going to Aphroditê or Amphitritê for the simple reason that she saw both of them as another better mother figure.
(She also needed to know what her chances of being back at Apollôn's side. If she had to go through another three and half years of hatred, confusion, and tension between the two of them, she was going to go mad and finally make due on her threats to kill a god.)
Yet as she stood before this younger version of her aunt at the height of her power, Ariadnê could no do nothing more than to fall to her knees and weep. She would usually not show such weakness but— the last she had seen of her aunt was when she confessed her feelings to Apollôn.
The god of light had her wrapped in his arms while they both bore smiles that could have lit up a thousand suns. Hestia had been the first to congratulate them before ominously telling Ariadnê that she would see her and the others soon enough.
(Did she know that this was going to happen? Why didn't she warn us? Why?)
Words seemingly failed them all as the other eleven knelt at Ariadnê's side.
"Rise, heroes," Hestia softly commanded. "I have been waiting for many moons and many suns for you."
What?
None of them forgot just whom they stood before. While Hestia may have been the most kindhearted goddess... she was still a goddess. One of the first. She was a warrior long before she was a child.
They rose on wary feet. This was the goddess of the hearth... the goddess of the sacrificial flame...
None of them were fireproof.
Hestia smiled knowingly at them as she sat upon a marble throne in the shape of a flame. The goddess waved for them to sit down in the other seats.
"Fear not, I have shielded us from peeking eyes. I know you may be confused," she stated. Her gaze was kind as she seemed to look each of them in the eye all at once. "I know you all may be scared and confused, but fear not, the Moirai have brought you all back for a reason." She looked to the sky, sighing almost sadly.
"There were dark times on the horizon for you." They all shifted uncomfortably, but she smiled encouragingly. "Well, I am not Apollôn, but I believe with you all here now, we can make for a better future, yes?"
They could only stare. Everything felt so surreal. Ariadnê looked at the others; feeling familiar bitterness and wrath swell within her as Chase drew attention to herself.
She felt vindication at the way that Hestia jerked away from her.
The blonde had always needed attention like a newborn babe whether it had been Luke or Kheirôn or Percy himself. It had to be on her, or something wasn't right. After all, she was Athênê's favored child, why wouldn't you pay attention to her?
Gods, Ariadnê never hated anyone more.
Wait.
It had taken a long while, but Ariadnê had eventually gotten used to the idea of her brother having female friends in his life. She had made peace with the fact that even if he tended to be slightly oblivious of his actions, it did not mean that he loved her any less. And yes, it did hurt when he put other people before her, but she had gotten used to the idea that Chase had rapidly moved up the list of the most important females in Percy's life and so long as she made her brother happy, Ariadnê wouldn't kill her. She was fine with it. She even did a formal acknowledgement of a truce between them.
And they were children. They were still kids. It was not their fault that neither of them had been raised in a healthy household. (Or raised by someone that was not turning them into human weapons because that's what Kheirôn was doing.)
So why did she feel like shoving Stormsurge through the girl's rib cage and smiling as she bled out?
"You said that you had been waiting for us," the blonde questioned. "How did you know?"
Ariadnê turned to look back at Hestia. Absently fiddling with her dagger charm, she wondered if she was going to have to fight the goddess or die trying.
(This wasn't her aunt. Her aunt was powerful, yes. Powerful with immeasurable power, but she was also weak. This–this was a goddess. The personification of the sacrificial flame. She was at the height of her power and they... they were mere ants in face of her divinity.)
Hestia smiled; flames in her eyes soothing to a gentle molton brown. The feelings that threatened to drown Ariadnê instead flowed out of her.
"I saw it in a dream," the lady of the hearth stated. "We gods do not dream as you mortals do. I've watched your lives play out in a span of minutes. I've seen you all gain and lose friends. I watched my father curse you twins. I've seen you all fall in love."
Tears formed in her eyes as she took a deep breath. "And while a few good things may have come if you had been left to your future... the bad had outweighed it all. You, forbidden wisdom, would have faced one of Koryphagenês' greatest future enemies. And you, daughter of Ennosigaios, would sink to the bottom of the sea, dying and unable to heal from attacks wrought by Phoebus' lovers that escaped the doors of death."
Will looked between Ariadnê and Annabeth with horror before the two girls realized that those names... those epithets stood for their respective divine parents. They tensed and it wasn't long before the others caught on to that fact also.
Hestia smiled sadly, "A fight none too similar to the fight at your labyrinth with half-bloods fighting against half-bloods. The youngest of the herald had been battered and bruised which led to the elder two awakening gifts that their father would have rather not have those above the surface to know. Latôia's hunters turning from predators to prey. Three falling into the dungeon of the damned. Drakaina Delphynê emerged from its hidden depths within the sludge of Matêr Pantôn, cutting off Phoebus' and Pythia's access to the oracle. And the Blood of Olympos awakened a force that even the gods could not beat."
Horrified silence echoed around them. Percy had wrapped his sister into his arms while Connor held onto her hand for dear life. Travis had pulled Connor into his lap while Chris was almost vibrating out of his skin in worry as he crouched down in front of him, hands wrapped around his wrist—feeling his pulse.
Nico and Will were staring at Ariadnê in horror. If they were in their correct time, the essence of Apollôn would make it impossible for her to not heal. That was without even mentioning how she was more alive in every way when she was in the sea.
Will had cuddled into Thalia's side while Annabeth had molded herself into the older girl. If the hunters were gone, did that include Thalia? Annabeth couldn't afford to lose her twice in one lifetime especially not so soon after Luke.
Rachel didn't understand not being able to access the oracle. Even now, in the past, she was filled with disbelief. She had been seeing visions of the future for so long that she was almost convinced that she was going insane. The feeling of the oracle overtaking her, and spewing prophecies had become as familiar as sleeping.
Clarisse sat with one hand clasped in Chris' while she leaned her head back enough to touch Ariadnê. She couldn't lose another friend. She couldn't lose camp. Demigods fighting against each other again. Was this the work of the being the gods couldn't defeat? Was this another situation with Luke?
"There was light at the end of the day, but even more horrors lied in the wake," here she shook her head and the tears began to stream down her face. Katie was torn in between leaving the huddle to comfort the goddess and just sitting in disbelief because after all of that? It somehow got worse. "The Fates decided to take a risk. The future they were churning was becoming worse and worse with each thread. They pleaded their case to their father and mother. The personifications of time and inevitability respectively. The two almost didn't allow this to happen. You all handled the Great Prophecy so well."
Well? Ariadnê wanted to scoff in disbelief. She remembered the moment when the severity of prophecy first settled in her bones.
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The blazing heat that flowed through her veins made it so that she ran hotter than normal, but that still didn't change the fact that she was freezing. The semi-permanent scowl that she wore on her face could have scared Kronos himself if he saw it.
Ariadnê eyed her brother as he argued with Thalia as Grover tried to play peacemaker. She should have just gone straight to camp, but nooo... she had to be the dutiful sister and help her brother with his mission.
And now look where that got them... Chase, like the idiot she was, thought she was invincible and ended up falling off the cliff with the weird monster teacher thing.
(She really needed to start paying attention to Clarisse's rants or just read the Stolls' little guidebook. 'How to Survive the Monsters and the Gods Above Us.' Subtitled, "So You're A Demigod Now".)
And yet nothing seemed to irritate her more than the girl they had just saved abandoning her little brother for these freaks. Ariadnê had to move to stand by herself because her anger mixed with the power of The Destroyer was just a disaster waiting to happen.
Realistically, Ariadnê wouldn't have had a problem with the hunters. She probably would have given them the same amount of attention that her brother was. Unfortunately for them, she had already met the twin brother of their patroness. Anyone connected to that rat bastard was clearly not worth her time. And honestly–and Ariadnê had trouble speaking even the smallest of lies– after meeting the goddess, Ariadnê had been fully convinced that there was just something fundamentally wrong with the god of light.
Ariadnê did not understand how Hermês put up with that self-righteous asshole.
(She wanted to punch him in the face after a few minutes of knowing him so she did not understand how he managed not to for millennia.)
Not to mention that Zoe girl had looked down her nose at her for refusing Artemis' offer... well she easily took the number two spot on who she wanted to punch in the face. Chase and Apollôn were battling it out for number one.
"Men always disappoint you." She had stated, sneering at her brother.
"You have to have expectations for people in general to be disappointed," she shot back. Percy may not have been the best brother, but he was still her brother and a damned good one at that. She wasn't going to let some bitter betty try to tear him down.
So, no, Ariadnê was not having a good time and her heart felt as cold as the air did.
And just to make matters worse, she felt the foreign essence heat up under her skin the same time the Maserati pulled up. Maybe Chase wasn't an idiot and had the right idea. Ariadnê felt like throwing herself off a cliff also.
She contemplated calling Hermês to take her back to camp or if it were worth it for her to go back to the school and call her mother. Anything to keep from being around Apollôn more than she had to, but Percy slipped an arm around her shoulders and Grover pushed her forward. She gritted her teeth and glared when she was next to Apollôn before finally climbing onto the bus. She chose a seat that was away from the hunters before she was tempted to stab one of them in the eye and another that kept her way from the god before she actually stabbed him in the eye.
"But how does it work?" the boy (Nico, her mind supplied) had asked. "I thought the sun was a big fiery ball of gas!"
Apollôn chuckled and ruffled Nico's hair. "That rumor probably got started because Artemis used to call me a big fiery ball of gas."
"But did she lie," Ariadnê had muttered as she glared out the window.
Apollôn must have heard her. It was the only reasonable explanation for subjecting them to Thalia's driving while he sat on his phone! She wished she could speak swan or that Apollôn had chosen to drive the chariot that was pulled by horses. She couldn't even fully panic because of the healing essence keeping it dulled. She was going to haunt the fuck out of him if she died.
Yet somehow, they made it to camp.
She got off the bus quickly and dived deep into the water to ease her nerves. She emerged hours later to see the Stolls leading Nico around. She sneered when she passed the various hunters that walked around the camp as if they owned it. She was slightly confused when she noticed how hostile they were to Apollôn's children. Cabin 7 adored the ground the girls' walked on and they treated them like shit. Ariadnê may not like their bastard father, but his kids were cool.
Ariadnê was practically glowing as she stormed over to the girl that was one insult away from making Will Solace cry. The kid was probably the best damn healer at camp, and she really admired his dedication to learning archery even if he sucked at it. She and Percy stopped after their first lesson. Percy had shot Kheirôn in the tail even though he had been standing behind them. She had somehow managed to just break the bow altogether. (Though with Apollôn's essence running through her veins she was almost as good as his kids.)
Besides, she had nothing else to do.
Clarisse was gone on some secret mission for Kheirôn, and as much as she loved Silena, she was not in the mood to hear pity talk for Chase being missing. Percy was going to be doing enough moping for everyone when she eventually went back to their cabin.
But before she could break up the argument by breaking the hunters' face, Silena ran past her crying. Will looked away from the hunter in front of him who looked so offended by the audacity of it all that she also turned to look. Unfortunately for her, she just so happened to make eye contact with Ariadnê. Ariadnê who immediately glared death into her soul and the full force of the sea in her heart.
The huntress left the kid alone and Ariadnê chased after her friend.
Capture the Flag had been interesting.
While Percy and Thalia did whatever the hell they planned to do, Ariadnê guarded the flag. She had plans. Those miserable hunters made her best friend cry. She was just going to return the favor.
The shock on their faces when they realized that she could keep up with them despite their centuries of experience was the best thing that she saw all day. When they fell into her trap, that shock turned into vicious hatred. Miranda, who was one of the most powerful of Aunt Dêmêtêr 's children, made the very forest their enemy. Travis and Connor spun circles around them as they stole their arrows and threw out whatever little goodies they snagged from the Arês and Hêphaistos cabin. That's not even to mention the little terrors that Hermês' cabin came up with on their own.
And her dear Silena showed them the true power of Aphroditê when the group in front of them fell to the ground screaming from the power of lust that Silena ignited in them. While Silena couldn't charm speak or even change her appearance for long periods of time like her siblings (which really came in handy for undercover missions), she did have her mother's control over love and lust.
(Ariadnê did feel bad for the girls because she had read what Styx did to immortal beings in regards to oath breaking. She was pretty sure that they were being tortured as Silena kept them on the brink of breaking said oath.)
It had taken Ariadnê and Clarisse getting to the Aphroditê cabin for them to weaponize their gifts. They made everyone remember the reason why their mother was one of the twelve Olympioi.
(And they made everyone realize just why Poseidôn had been called the Earthshaker. When Ariadnê learned of the other's horror stories before they got to camp... what did Chase say? 'If you're not a child of Aphroditê, you're probably not a real powerful force so the monsters might ignore you.' She wished the girl was more realistic. The real monsters weren't the creatures from Tartarus, but mortals themselves.
A cabin filled with kids too beautiful for their own good forced to grow up quickly because assholes were so busy sexualizing and preying on them to remember that they were children.
She and Clarisse followed Gleeson out into the world and made it a priority to get Aphroditê's kids to safety. And if any of their offenders looked more blue and bruised after they left, well the three of them have a specific motto: Admit Nothing. Deny Everything. Demand Proof. Launch Counter Accusations.)
Before any of the hunters realized it, Ariadnê had blades made of water pressed against all their necks. She rolled her eyes when she heard Thalia and Percy fighting with each other even as she rested comfortably against the flag.
Then the Oracle walked into the middle of the forest and everything went from bad to worse.
Percy snuck out of the camp and she denied all points of bitterness in her at how quickly he ran to Chase's aid. Yet, when she needed him last summer, Hermês was the one to save her from dying.
(Not that she could necessarily blame him as she was trying to push him away and realistically there was nothing he could have done to save her.)
From worse to gruesome.
She saw it in her dreams when Bianca stopped the skeletons. She saw it when the girl died in the junkyard. She saw (and nearly died) when Percy was being crushed by the sky itself. It was to the surprise of absolutely no one when she awakened Silena and the two of them also snuck out of camp.
Everything came to head during the winter solstice.
Her eyes fluttered around all the gods before them. Her heart clenched when Thalia became a huntress and she pushed down that sting of betrayal. She ignored the invisible shackles that closed around her as the weight of the Great Prophecy settled into her bones. She turned away and looked at the form of her uncle. She picked out the similarities between him and Nico. Between him and Bianca and she just knew.
A child of the elder gods shall reach sixteen against all odds.
Bianca? Dead.
Thalia? Immortal.
Nico? Ten.
Percy and Ariadnê? To be determined.
One of them could die and it wouldn't even matter. They were all pawns in the grand scheme of things.
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Hestia wiped away her tears as she straightened in her seat. "The Twins of the Sea then heard the Second Great Prophecy. The two of you had instinctively known the truth. I don't know if that was what ultimately convinced them, but they allowed the Moirai to manipulate the curse. They whispered the truth through the strings of time and spoke to me. I accepted their knowledge. I shall offer my aid when you need me. Unfortunately, I cannot linger too long. My family watches me closely and I will not bring their attention to you all until you are ready."
Waving her hand, materials of all kinds appeared in front of them. Even things that were created in the future. Toothpaste and shampoo. Pants and underwear. Pads and tampons. Ariadnê can even see her wand curler and hair straightener. Clarisse's bag of weapons. Will's book of remedies. Katie's recipe book. The Stolls' bag of goodies. Chase's architect book and Daedalus' laptop. Nico's Mythomagic cards and those pomegranate seeds he liked to carry around. Rachel's paints. Thalia's hunter materials. Chris' favorite tortoise plushie. Ariadnê's nectar and ambrosia lollipops that she made. (The Apollôn cabin loved them, and the Hermês cabin sold them so long as she got a cut of the profit).
The Cabins' Guide to Understanding Your Gifts that each cabin had made so that their future siblings could understand how to use their powers. Silena had forced every cabin to make one after she and her siblings learned to utilize their gifts. (It goes without saying that Cabin 7 and 11 had the biggest books. Apollôn was the god of many things while there were too many children in the Hermês' cabin. The Stolls hadn't wanted anyone to feel left out just because they weren't children of the messenger.) There were materials to start building.
"This entire grove is protected. I am the only goddess that will be able to enter and leave at will. I am the only goddess that will be able to see or hear you. Anyone else will need my or your permission to enter. Build quickly and live long, my heroes. May the gods be with you."
And suddenly Hestia was gone as if she was never here. As if she didn't just pour all this information on them and settled the weight of the world on their shoulders. Again.
Ariadnê wanted to sleep for a month and never wake up again. She wiped the tear tracks from her eyes and removed herself from the pile of demigods. Sticking a lollipop in her mouth, she turned to the others with her eyes narrowed in determination.
"Let's do this."