@rheaeaseandflow asked: How would the Big 6 (or Big 5 technically lol) feel about Rhea and Cronus reconciling after their father is freed from Tartarus?
very interesting question! i think there's three sort of camps that the five of the six i write would fall into. one) the "this is weird but i'm ultimately just happy if she's happy" crew, two) the "i am angry with this but i honestly don't care any more" group, and three) the "this is a complete betrayal" crowd, and i think who falls where will be... surprising.
one) this is where demeter and hades fall. i think demeter is a little more forgiving than the rest of her siblings, actually, and of all of them feels the least ill will towards their father. it's not zero ill will, of course, but it's lesser. she also is much closer with rhea than some of the others, i believe, and would therefore be much more inclined to just say "follow your heart, even if it's back to dad!" hades is in a similar boat. he thinks it's weird, and he hopes she doesn't expect him to reconcile the same way, but he's not here to tell her what she can and cannot do, and would ultimately be happy for her to have done that healing.
two) this is where hera falls. the thought of cronus ever coming to a family function boils her blood, and she thinks her mother's choices are reckless and foolish (though, that's how hera feels about a lot of things). but she ultimately wouldn't care enough to intervene or say anything beyond a sarcastic "really?" before moving on with her life. a part of her understands that the heart wants what it wants, and that forgiveness is a virtue she could stand to learn a little more of, so she gets it. she's mad, but she gets it.
three) this is where both zeus and poseidon fall, but in different ways and for different reasons. for poseidon, it's a little more straightforward. his feelings about his childhood are incredibly complex, and his anger is intense. he loathes cronus for the damage he's done, and poseidon cannot stand the thought of him. i think it would feel more like a betrayal on rhea's part because they've been working so hard to reconcile themselves, so to see his mother reunite with the man who is really to blame for his suffering would be painful.
zeus, though, is complicated. i mean, i think he's the one who gives cronus the pardon and allows him to be free in the first place, so he very much so has at least the wisdom and sense to engage in some pardoning on his own. but that does not mean he likes his father or wants to be around him. zeus' interactions with cronus were generally more personal (in terms of conversation, anyway) and more violent than the rest of his siblings. zeus is left with a lot of scars, both emotional and physical, on account of his father, and i think in his fight with cronus, really got to see the cruelty cronus was capable of. rhea reconciling with him would not be a betrayal to zeus because he hates cronus though - it would be because zeus' thoughts would turn to "what was i even fighting for? what was the point of all i did, all i endured? could all of this have been avoided?" and that line of questioning is so hurtful he can't help but feel a little betrayed by his mother for even making him doubt.
this is not to say, of course, that these opinions could not or would not change, some quite quickly, in coming to understand the circumstances of this reconciliation. but there would definitely be a lot of complex emotions.
