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    “That does not look like the Olympus,” Sariel announced as she stood on the command deck of the Sunstrider, the cargo vessel that Larissa, Haiden, Flick, and the others had stolen out in Seosten space all those months earlier. “I thought we decided that the changes between our two realities happened after you got to Earth.”


    It had been a couple days since the alternate version of the Olympus had passed through the anomaly and ended up in this reality. A lot had been going on in the meantime, as the people of this world assured themselves that this wasn’t any sort of trick. The fact that they had intervened in the attempt by this world‘s version of Fossor to abduct Felicity Chambers helped with that, but the people of this place were still understandably careful.


    Flick, who was accompanying the Seosten woman along with Haiden, Tabbris, Vanessa, Tristan, Theia, and Avalon, nodded while they all looked toward their alternate-universe visitors. Namely, Zeus, Hera, Ares, and Artemis, Sariel’s identical counterpart. “Yeah, I’ve seen drawings, and that thing is pretty different. I mean, not bad, just… different.”


    Together, they all turned to look at the view screen to see the ship in question. The Olympus, or this version of it, was actually hovering several hundred kilometers away, but it was in full view on the screen. Unlike the original, which had consisted of a large orb surrounded by/connected to three long gunships that could separate off when needed, this one was shaped like an elongated teardrop. The ‘fat’ end of the drop was basically the same sort of orb as before, which appeared as though it had been stretched out into the new shape. It looked like a giant had pinched the original orb between two fingers and pried it out this way, like silly putty. There were no additional gunships attached to it, at least none that were visible. However, when the teardrop-shaped ship was seen from the front and examined closely enough, it would become apparent that the front fourth of the ship was actually a second vessel docked within it. This was the new Olympus’s gunship. A single one rather than the trio it had before in its original form, yet this one was more powerful than those three combined. When the two halves of the vessel separated, the ‘fat’ end of the teardrop, which was essentially the orb by itself, would act as a strategic command and defense ship, while the ‘sharp’ end became a much more maneuverable combat vessel.


    “Yes,” Hera announced after they had taken another look at the ship, “this is the fourth full refit of the actual Olympus. We’ve upgraded a lot over the years. We’ve had to, or we couldn’t be able to keep up with all the threats we face.”


    Ares made a grunting sound under his breath before shaking his head. “Yeah, and it sounds to me like you have even more problems than we do. Don’t tell me your version of the ol’ girl is still flying around just like it always was.”


    Taking a moment to stare at the man with an unreadable expression, Sariel finally exhaled as though putting something troubling out of her mind. “Actually, it’s been decommissioned. They put it in a museum. Our crew were scattered and… some switched sides, some went to new jobs, others…” She hesitated briefly before glancing back at the new ship through the viewscreen. “We all fell apart. Some of us more than the rest.”


    “And we hurt you, personally,” Zeus noted quietly. He could see that in her expression, in her reactions, and hear it in her voice. His eyes shifted to take in her children, two of them half-human and one full Seosten, before adding, “This reality’s version of us hurt your family.”


    There was a moment of hesitation before Sariel gave a single nod. “Yes, and we can get into all of that later. Now isn’t the time.” She put one hand on Vanessa’s shoulder and the other on top of Tabbris’s head, her gaze centered on the man himself. “You wanted us to come over and see the new Olympus and how you do things in your reality, right?”


    Zeus nodded once. “Yes, it may have been a busy couple of days since we arrived, but I think now is a good time for that visit. If you’re all ready?” He waited until the assembled group nodded before turning to a nearby open spot on the bridge. His hand waved as he summoned just a bit of power to create a portal over to the other ship, his ship. Exchanging a glance with his wife, the man gestured. “Who would you like to go first?” He knew they were all still a bit nervous about this whole situation, which was understandable given the history they had with the versions of Zeus and the others from this reality.


    In the end, Ares and Hera went through the portal to start, with Sariel and Artemis following together. The two of them were on the other side for a few long seconds before Sariel poked her head back through and nodded to Flick, Avalon, Theia, and her family.


    Having been given the go ahead, the group started through the portal for themselves. Zeus watched his alternate-reality daughter and felt another pang of mourning for the one he had lost. Hebe, tragically murdered before they could save her, dying right in his arms… The memory made him flinch. But he pushed it aside and went last through the portal.


    Now they were in one of the Olympus’s primary greeting rooms. It was mainly used to welcome new recruits before they would be shuffled off to their training decks. To that end, the room was shaped like an oval, with the ‘landing pad’ where the portals appeared in the center, a long desk where the person assigned to be the greeter would sit to one side, and doors on both ends. The door to the right led to the first of several examination rooms where newcomers would be given their tests to make certain they were healthy and prepared to be mixed with the rest of the training population before being shuffled along to receive things like their room assignments and schedules. Meanwhile, the door to the left led onto the main part of the ship proper, where the rest of the established crew worked and lived.


    Artemis had just finished explaining that much to the group, while the tall, green-haired young man who had been waiting behind the desk rose and stared that way. He had been warned about their arrival, of course, but this was still most of the Olympus’s crew’s first exposure to the people of this reality. Zeus was just happy to see who had been assigned as a greeter at this particular point. Still, Flick seemed to notice his attention and turned that way. The two locked eyes


    “Ah, Zagreus,” Zeus spoke up, wanting to pull the boy into the conversation before things became too awkward. “Come, meet our new friends here. This is Sariel, this world’s version of our Artemis, her daughter Tabbris, her husband Haiden Moon, their children Tristan and Vanessa, the humans Avalon Sinclaire and Flick Chambers, and the… daughter of this world’s version of myself and Hera, Theia.” He gestured from one side to the other, then back again. “All of you, this is Zagreus.”


    “A pleasure to meet you.” Zagreus himself, standing a full six foot, three inches when straightened up, gave a slight bow and smiled. His rather trim, almost anorexic-looking form seemed rather skeleton-like despite their every attempt to put some meat on his bones. “I’m sure my father will be incredibly interested in talking to all of you again when he gets the chance. He was pretty fascinated in that first meeting you had.”


    “Your father?” Avalon echoed, taking in his appearance with an uncertain frown. “Something tells me--”


    “Manakel.” That was Flick, the name escaping her almost as a gasp, like it had just popped out the moment she had the thought. “Manakel’s your father, isn’t he? That’s why I can feel, I mean why I can sense, I mean…” She trailed off, clearly uncertain of how to say what she meant.


    “That was his Seosten name,” Zagreus confirmed with a slight nod. “But he hasn’t gone by that in millennia. He only uses the name Hades now, same as the rest of the original crew.” After saying that, he made a face, literally blushing while kicking the floor. “Err, I don’t mean the whole crew uses the name Hades. That’d probably be a little weird, like calling for Hades to come to the bridge and everyone shows up, or an away team of Hades, Hades, Hades, Hades, and Hades. And can you imagine the duty rosters?” He proceeded to snicker so much at the idea he literally snorted before his face flushed with embarrassment.


    Clearing his throat with amusement, Zeus spoke up. “I believe they get the point, Zag.” To the newcomers, he added, “But yes, you’re right, his father is Hades. I know you have had some poor experiences with your version of him in the past--”


    “He tried to kill me, repeatedly,” Avalon put in flatly. “But then again, so did most of your people. Some of them succeeded at murdering my mother and the rest of her family.”


    “Yeah,” Flick agreed, “he did a lot of bad things. Guess that doesn’t mean this version is bad, it’s just… you know, sensitive. And…” It was her turn to hesitate, unsure if she should say the next part.


    “And we… killed him.” That was Sariel, stepping over beside the human girl. “It’s complicated, but Flick and I tricked him into allowing her to possess him while I was possessing her. And then we… I… made him kill himself.” Her voice cracked very slightly as she explained that part. “All of which means that Flick has… his power.”


    That, Zeus realized in that moment, was why the two of them had felt the need to explain all that. Clearly Flick and Zagreus had felt something when they looked at each other. There was some sort of connection there. Rather than allow any uncertainty about the source of that connection to remain, they, as the humans at least on his world would have said, ripped the bandage off.


    “Oh,” Zag murmured, staring that way. He looked the girl up and down before swallowing. “Uh, sorry my Alternate-Dad was such a dick to you guys. I mean, I can’t really--there’s not much I can…” He grimaced visibly before finishing with a simple, weak, “Sorry.”


    “You don’t have to apologize, Zagreus,” Hera assured him. “We are not the versions of ourselves that they knew. And the versions they’ve fought and… killed are not us.” She paused briefly before adding, “Not that that prevents the whole situation from being rather awkward.”


    A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    “Ain’t that the truth,” Ares agreed with a grunt. “But hey, we brought you guys over here to see how our training and credit system works, so why don’t we get to that?”


    Everyone agreed, before Flick looked at Zagreus and asked, “Why don’t you come with? I’d like to hear a bit about how your version of your dad is. We saw him for a few minutes when you guys first arrived, but we haven’t… you know, talked that much.” She paused before turning back to Zeus. “I mean, unless that’s a problem. You know, if he’s supposed to stay here?”


    Zeus gave him a slight shake of his head. “Normally, he would need to remain at his duty station. But, given I highly doubt we’re going to be picking up any new recruits while we’re on this tour, it should be fine.” He glanced toward the boy in question and felt another pang of loss about his own daughter. Hebe and Zagreus had grown up together, being only about a year apart in age. They had been as close as siblings, considering Hades had been Zeus’s friend for so long that he was basically part of the family. The myths had positioned Hades and Zeus as brothers, and they were that in truth for all intents and purposes. Losing Hebe had been almost as hard for Zagreus as it had been for her own parents. It had taken a long time to even start to move on from that, and they still weren’t all the way there.


    Even as he had that thought, Zeus recognized the moment that Zag’s gaze found Theia within the small assembled group. He had been warned ahead of time, of course. Anyone who had any chance of running into her had been told who she was. She looked so much like Hebe, and the pain of having lost her ran so deep, that a warning was absolutely necessary, lest someone react… painfully to seeing her.


    And yet, despite that warning, he could see and recognize the immediate rush of emotions that ran across the face of his nephew. Zag’s mouth opened to reflexively blurt Hebe’s name, only to catch himself at the last possible moment. A strangled noise escaped him, and he coughed before simply saying, “And you must be Theia.” There was a slight strain to his voice that even the visitors seemed to pick up.


    The girl in question herself blinked those big eyes at him a couple times as though realizing what had just happened. “Oh,” she announced, “you knew the version of me who grew up here.” Belatedly, she amended, “On this ship, I mean. Was she your friend?”


    Swallowing, Zag gave a short nod. “Yeah, we were… we were friends.” He glanced away as a flood of memories clearly passed through his mind before focusing on the group once more with a pained smile. “But, you don’t have to worry about that. We should do that tour thing, right Uncle Zeus. Err, Captain?”


    They began heading through the right side door to see more of the cadet area. On the way, Sariel stayed back a bit, her attention on Zeus and Hera. She kept her voice low. “This is hard for her too, you know. Growing up in this world, where you both rejected her, where you…” Her gaze was locked on Hera. “Where you hurt her, then finding out that there’s another reality where you embraced her despite her condition? It’s hard.”


    Flinching visibly, Hera nodded. “I cannot even imagine the… what this reality’s version of me could have been thinking. I… I’m glad that she’s not here anymore, that she can’t hurt you or my--I mean, her daughter. If she was still here, I’m afraid I would feel pressed to stop her myself.”


    That, of course, made Zeus think about the fact that his alternate reality self was apparently still around, though on some sort of home rest after suffering severe magical and psychological trauma. From what the people of this place had been able to tell him, their version of Puriel was barely aware of the world around him. His crime against Theia had apparently been more one of neglect and abandonment than the direct trauma Kushiel had inflicted. And yet, it did not assuage his guilt in any way.


    Still, there was nothing to be done about it now, so he pushed the thought aside and accompanied the rest of the group through the tour.


    On the way, it was Vanessa, the young half-Seosten girl, who asked the most questions. She wanted to know how their system worked, how they chose cadets, what the process for accepting them was, how their training program worked, what the bonding process was like, all of it. Zeus and Hera did most of the answering, though Artemis and Ares spoke up now and then.


    Essentially, they explained that cadets were drawn from volunteers among the human population. They had no ‘Bystander Effect,’ and the entire population of the planet was aware of the Seosten and what they did. Volunteers would first join one of several academies on Earth itself, usually around the age of thirteen or fourteen. These academies trained them both mentally and physically, and it was there that they would meet and interact with young Seosten. Over the two years they attended that academy, each human would gradually be paired with a Seosten whom they meshed with the best, and those two would be partners generally from that point on. They would learn to work together, to perform as pairs and as a single unit when the Seosten possessed their human partner.


    After those two years, the Seosten-Human pairs would graduate from the initial academy and be assigned to a ship for further training. Not all of them went to the Olympus, as there were other ships that the Seosten kept in Earth vicinity. Those who did come to the Olympus were the best of the best, those with the most promise, the highest scores in the various physical and mental aptitude tests. They were the elite students. When they came to the Olympus, each pair would meet with the aliens on board. Some came from the same academy as the human-Seosten pairs themselves, while others came from different places. The groups would interact for several months to find the best third to serve as a bondmate for the human for a Natural Bonding, and from that point on, the trio would train and work together. One Seosten, one human, and one other-species. The latter would train the human and their Seosten partner in how to utilize their own personal powers once the bonding had taken place.


    They were just passing through the second examination room, where cadets would have their blood drawn and set aside, when Flick abruptly stopped short in mid-step. Her gaze was focused on a corner of the lab which appeared to be empty. “Whoa.”


    “What?” Haiden, looking between the girl and that supposedly empty spot, asked, “Ghosts?”


    “Uhhh huh,” she confirmed, still staring. “There’s three of them. And uhh, one of them is Paschar.” As soon as she said that name, the girl blanched slightly before waving. “Sorry, yeah, hi. Uhh, I guess you… died?” Her head began nodding as she started to listen to the explanation, before holding up a hand. “Oh, uh, hang on. I can…” She focused for a moment, and Zeus felt the girl push power from herself into that corner of the room. Almost immediately, the ghost-figure of Eros, or as this group knew him, Paschar, appeared. He was a tall, blond Seosten with long hair and unnaturally bright green eyes.


    Looking down at himself, then up again, Eros shook his head in wonder. “You really do have Hades’ power. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were him in disguise.”


    “She’s not,” Avalon put in immediately, her voice dark and somewhat brittle as she stared intently at the ghost man. “She’s nothing like him.” After a brief hesitation, she added, “Our version of him.”


    Eros rubbed the back of his neck, a habit he had apparently retained even after over a hundred years of being a ghost. “Right, sorry, I guess our people really hurt you. I… really hurt you, didn’t I? The other me.”


    For a moment, it looked as though Avalon was going to say something. Or possibly a lot of somethings. But in the end, she simply shook her head. “We don’t have to get into that right now. You’re not him.”


    They continued on the tour, with Flick turning to Zeus. “So, ghosts still work here on the ship? It looked like they were doing some sort of experiment back there.”


    Artemis was the one who answered. “That’s right, Hades, Zag, or one of their Bonded help communicate with them, give them the energy they need to work, and help them move on when or if they’re ready to.”


    Her words made Tristan blink toward Zagreus. “Wait, you have that Necromancy power too?”


    “Not as strong as my father does,” the man replied before looking at Flick. “Or you.”


    “You’ll get stronger with time.” That was Hades himself, as the man entered the room from the other side, deeper into the training area. He gave his son a fond smile before adding, “Give it a few more years and you’ll have just as much power as I do. Or… we do, I could say.” That last bit was added with a look toward Flick, who was staring back at him. He gave a short bow. “Apologies for the intrusion and… the probable pain my appearance causes. I wanted to take the time to speak with you all some more while you are here on the ship, but I can leave if it’s too much.”


    Avalon, after exchanging a look with the others, shook her head. “No. You should stay.” With that, she straightened to her full height while adding, “There was something about you having… Bonded who have your power?”


    “Yes,” Hades confirmed. “We ahh, as I believe the captain and others have already said, we have Seosten-human pairs who come to this ship and choose a Natural Bondmate. Usually those are from other species, though there are occasions when either the initial Seosten partner is an Olympian offspring, or the partners simply meet with and become attached to a second Seosten here on the ship who is an Olympian or one of those offspring. Not that we have that many, but… it does happen.” Again, he gave a fond look toward his son before focusing once more. “In any case, whether a second Seosten or the initial partner, the human will bond with them if possible and become Olympian-bonded.”


    “We only have a relative handful of those,” Zeus noted. “Perhaps a hundred all told, many of whom are not serving on this ship right now. A couple dozen on board currently, in various stages of training or service. But, if you’d like to meet some of them, they may be able to help teach you how they learn to use their developing power.” His gaze shifted toward Sariel’s half-Seosten children. “I believe you have inherited your mother’s gifts?”


    Sariel put a hand on each of their shoulders. “They have. And if you do have Olympian-bonded who can help them learn to control and develop those gifts, it… would be nice to meet them.”


    “Then we shall make that happen,” Zeus agreed. He gestured. “Perhaps we’ll meet some of them ahead on the tour. I’m sure they’ll all be very interested in meeting all of you as well. From what I hear, the rumors of this place have been making the rounds.”


    They started to move again, though Flick stayed back and stared at Hades. “It’s still weird seeing you like this. I mean, I thought I’d be ready for it now after that bit in Vegas a couple days ago, but nope. It’s still weird. I… can sense your power, I don’t--I mean… it’s… I can feel it. Just like I can feel his.” She nodded toward Zag. “But stronger.”


    Meeting her gaze, Hades nodded once. “I can feel yours as well. His power--my power, that power. I can feel it inside you. It’s… an odd feeling.”


    “Trust me, it’s odd from this end too,” she informed him. “This whole thing is odd. You really let humans bond with you to get your power?”


    “When they can, when we have an appropriate match,” he confirmed quietly. “It is… rare that a human is capable of bonding properly with one of us. We’re still looking into what causes it to work properly, but from what we can tell, it’s quite random. That’s why we draw the blood of cadets and test it against our own, to see if a bonding is possible. If so, we investigate further and ask if they would like to try.”


    Sariel, who had stayed behind a bit as well, spoke up. “I’d like to see some of the research notes on that system. We don’t have the… we haven’t done that much investigation into bonding humans to Olympians in our world.”


    Zeus, standing by the door leading to the next room, agreed. “You’ll have access to anything you want to see. Hopefully one of our groups will see something the other did not and we’ll be able to help each other before we return to our own reality. And at the very least, we will make certain your version of Fossor is as dead as ours before we leave.


    “It is the least we can do, after the ghost of his sister saved our Hades from the ghosts who had been tormenting him for so long shortly after we arrived on our Earth, and helped us become the society we are today.”