Chapter Text
Rhea have to blink as she processed what the Olympian council offered her and anyone she could bring. After the whole mess that was the Second Gigantomachy, and the near Third World War, a lot of Demigods died, Camp Half-Blood was reduced from hundreds of them to only a hundred or so, the same could be even said to Camp Jupiter. A few clear-sighted mortals who decided to help died as well, including her sweet mother and her new family.
Still, two wars in quick succession took its toll and even the Gods were Weary. It did not help when Apollo was turned human to do a few quests for Zeus. She never saw the Sun God that tired before.
On an unrelated happy note, somehow, Luke survived and seeing a mind healer, Luke has no say on his actions, the man was practically caged in his own mind. It took a lot of magic and help from Dionysus, Apollo and Hermes before Luke could get out of his own mind, then another time for physical therapy.
"Darling?" She snapped out of her thoughts and looked at her father with a lost look. Why are they offering a vacation? Surely they'll need all the hands they could have to rebuild.
She let herself be hugged by his Godly father, and her fatigue caught up as she practically collapsed to his arms. She laid her head on his chest as she was easily carried and placed on his lap as he sat down on his throne.
"I guess I would like that vacation," She mumbled tiredly and relaxing when she felt Apollo's familiar healing warmth.
"Can I bring others with me?" She asks, turning to her Lord Uncle who nods.
"Thalia, Nico, Leo, Wil and Luke," She says earning confused looks.
"I know for a fact Thalia wanted some vacation but too shy to ask Lady Artemis for one. I want Nico to be a child once again. Leo is not coping with his death and revival well. I want Wil away from here, even for a bit, since out of twenty siblings, only two survived and he's not doing well. Luke needs the sunshine and all that," She explains, finally managing to sit up properly even if she's seating on her father's lap.
"Hermes, summon them," Zeus orders and Hermes grinned as he flashed out and returned a few seconds after with the five of them.
She waved at them and let Zeus explain and she beamed when they readily agreed to go. Rhea relaxed on her father's embrace as they continued to talk, she's aware that her friends was accosted by their own parents and was content to stay in their embrace.
Rhea blinked awake and found herself in her room in Atlantis, she huffed and covered herself again only to groan when the door opened. She peeked only to see the amused smile of her older half-brother making her pout.
"Come on, sister, it's time for you to get ready," She smiles.
It was a flurry of activity once she left her room, she wore a simple dress that was a gift from her Mama, and even wore the crown her Papa gifted her, the jewelries was worn as well that as from her siblings. Entering the dining area, she happily went to her sit, beside her Mama as the youngest of the family.
"Dear, we heard about the vacation, before you head back to Olympus, wait for a while, I have a few gifts," She beamed and ate her fill, listening as they talk about things. She's quite content to simply listen, and she's happy that this family of hers respected that.
Near the exit of the palace, Rhea waited for her Mama who swam towards her, with her half-siblings following behind.
"I know you love dresses, so I bought and enchanted them. They are made to be comfortable when you decided to swim with your tail, the box holds all your jewelries, handpicked by your siblings," Amphitrite says makig her smile and accept the chest, before they were sucked in on the bag.
"You should wear your crown when meeting officials, people on that universe would recognize it immediately if they knew their history. The Tiara could be depicted as you being a royalty," Kym says making her giggle and bowed her head, letting her place a tiara.
"They use different currency there, and I remember they prefer gold and treasures. These are some part of our own collections," Rhodes says giving her another box that she carefully placed inside her bag.
"Sister, this earring was made to store things, I created them myself," Triton says making her grin and accepted the dangling earring, with a pearl as the stud before small shells created a dnagle with the blue sea turtle at the end.
"Thank you," She softly says, hugging them tightly and nuzzling. Once she pecked their cheeks with kisses, she accepted the offered hand of her father before they arrived back in Olympus.
"These are my gifts for you," She looked at her father who smiled and showed her a simple necklace with a trident.
Tugging the necklace, a trident materialized on her hand making her grin. The trident was huge but it was light in her hand. The top was the familiar three sharp prongs, below that was the design of her fins complete with its coloring, adorned with pearls and shells and the tip was made to be blunt but designed as a coiled snake hugging a pearl. She noticed that the body of the trident has pearls and shells scattered. Then she returned it back to a trident with a twirl of her wrist. She wore it easily on her neck then looked at a bracelet.
The bracelet has small sized sand dollars, surrounded by pearls, wearing it, she watched as it glowed and seemed to shrink to fit her wrist.
"The pearls were like those in your first quest. If you ever wished to return, simply smashed them and you'll be back here. It's enchanted like your sword and trident, they'll return to you no matter what. The sand dollar is designed the same as well," He explains making her smile and hugged her Papa tightly.
They entered Olympus and was not surprised they're the last to arrive. She bounded happily next to Luke who raised an eyebrow at her attire but shook his head, then again, they were dressed like the royals they are in a sense. She eyed her friends who wore new accessories, no doubt gifts from their godly parents.
They were told of what world they're heading for a vacation, a world where there's more Sea than land, a world where even Uncle Z agreed was her Papa's vacation spot before, the reason why it was vastly different from their world.
"Poseidon's presence there is stronger even than it is here, despite him existing and living mainly on this dimension. It caused an overabundance in magical energy in the world, making the people less mortal, or rather more durable than the mortals from here." Zeus says making them boggle at the thought of mortals being that durable.
"On top of that, the magic manifested itself in a form that surpasses even the power I can give people or my children can inherit. So much so, that I had to curse anyone who gains such power in order to stabilize their world, otherwise it would fall into the chaos of select mortals having a power close to that of a god without any of the divinity required." Her papa continued. Rhea have to blink at his sheepishness but nodded in understanding.
"What curse was it, Uncle?" Nico asks.
"What kind of power?" Thalia asks after.
"The mortals named it a ‘Devil’s Fruit’, because despite giving you full access to a specific sort of power, for example the Fire-Fire Fruit causes the consumer to be made of fire, and gives them control over fire, they lose the ability to swim - if they fall in the ocean, they’ll sink right to the bottom. This is in a world where there is so much water there are no continents, only islands, and most people decide to become either a marine or a pirate." Her Papa answered making them nod in astonishment.
"They are weak to anything that has the pure essence of the Sea, like an ore they named Seastone that can be forged into a weapon, or a daughter of the sea, like you, Rhea. Even the strongest of them would struggle in a fight against you, because they wouldn’t be able to lay a hand on you without feeling their energy drain immediately. And I was planning on giving blessings to the others so they could have a boost while staying there," He continued and they all turned to the rest whow as nodding in agreement.
"That won't touch my Lady's blessings?" Thalia asks and Artemis smiles.
"Do not worry, it would not," She says making Thalia relax.
"What should we worry about that world?" Luke asks worriedly, biting his lip in worry.
"The dangerous there are the people. It's a tough world, more tough for mortals than here. If you six were not Demigods, you might get squished on your first arrival. Their government is corrupt than ours, led by Celestial Dragons who fancy themselves as gods," Her Papa says, scoffing the last part makig them scowl. Everyone in the council scowled in distaste.
"As far as the world is aware, they are Gods as they control the military, the Marines there. They have slaves, they decide on the bounties, they decide who lives and dies, they are the worst of what Mortals could have been," Her Papa says making them grimace.
"Pirates rule the seas, some sail for freedom, some sail for dreams, some do it to pillage. Some sail to reach the last island, the Laugh Tale, or Raftel, as some calls it. There's a Revolutionary Army going on that is led by a man named Monkey D. Dragon, as far as I can tell, he's currently the Most Wanted Man in the world,"
"Uhm, what's in Raftel?" Leo asks, raising his hand.
"The last island is my abode," Papa says with amusement. Apollo and Hermes laughs, even Dionysus grinned at that.
"The island is designed to be like Olympus. I built temples for the others if they decide to visit. Zeus visited once," Her Papa mused and they turned to their Uncle who huffed.
"I still say we should have blasted those Celestial Dragons. They dare build their house and land so far into the sky!" He grumbled.
"Father is also the reason why there are Sky Islands," Athena shared making their eyes wide.
"Athena visited once and she managed to build her own island. It's called Ohara, the island of knowledge," Hermes says.
"Tsk, and those Gods burnt it down. It's a good thing I was present at that time or all those knowledge will go to waste," Athena sniffed and she could see the others realizing what it meant when they visit.
"By any chance, do you have Demigods there?" Wil asks, exasperated in his tone. They watched with deadpan as the council looked away from their stares, even Hera and Hestia did, and that was saying something.
"We want the list of your children, please." Rhea spoke and Hestia laughs and snapped her fingers, then rolled the parchment that appeared out of nowhere before letting it float towards Luke who kept it in his bag.
"Other things we should know about or any requests?" Thalia asks.
"Those people might take you as Gods yourselves, take it what you will," Hera says in amusement making them groan but nodded at the Queen who smiled softly.
"Enjoy your vacation, children, wreak havoc as much as you can, hm?" Mr. D says making them grin like the chaotic gremlins they are. With parting goodbyes from the others, they vanished from the throne room.
"This will hopefully heal them," Aphrodite mutters earning nods from the rest.