Visit the past
"Where are we going again?" A seventeen year old Alexia asked.
She stood in the living room in front of her moms. They had gloomy looks and were talking to one another. Neither of them gave an answer to Alexia's question.
"Trust 'em kid. This won't be easy. Not for them and not for you." Rexhenor replied, putting a hand on the teenager's shoulder.
"Honey are you sure this is a good idea?" Nike asked concerned.
"No. But we can't keep this from her. She has a right to know." Athena answered.
"She has a right to know what?" Alexia interrupted, clearing her throat.
"You'll see. Just hold on to your mother." The wisdom goddess sighed.
Alexia held Nike's hand. The latter gave a little encouraging squeeze with a faint smile.
One moment the room filled with a bright light, the next it was empty. The little family stood in front of the gates of an old and deserted town.
"What is this place?" Alexia asked, seeing all the rubble.
"About 12 years ago there was a battle here. One that destroyed the entire town." Athena said as she started walking into town.
Nike was holding her hand and Rexhenor was walking next to Alexia.
"Your mother and I , your grandfather and his brother Hades fought against Poseidon and his allies. We won, but at the cost of this town." Nike continued.
"The general took Alpha squad and we headed into town to see if there were any survivors. Our artillery boys got them good as you can see." Rexhenor added.
As Alexia looked around she noticed not one house was left standing.
"Mom did you give that order?" The teen asked.
It was addressed to Athena, but the question could just as well have been addressed to Nike. The silence that followed filled Alexia with fear.
"I did. I ordered them to send a couple of waring shots. However I did not expect them to tear it apart and blow it to bits." The wisdom goddess stated.
"They chose to shoot their warning shots precise and deadly, all just within the range of the last ones destruction." The angel explained.
"So yes, I gave the order. No, I didn't want it to end like this. They were supposed to miss."
The daughter of Zeus muttered the last sentence with bitterness.
After a bit of walking they reached a house. Part of the top floor was visible and some of it's flooring was laying on the first floor in rubble.
"This is the place kid." Rexhenor said, putting a hand on Alexia's shoulder.
"What place?" The girl asked.
"The place where we found you." Athena said.
Alexia felt like someone hit her head with a frying pan. The world around her stopped. All she could see was the house. Rexhenor's touch on her shoulder seemed so far away.
Her whole life she had thought she was a daughter of the goddesses standing in front of her and now they tell her they found her?! Here in a town destroyed by her mother's artillery in a battle between her grandfather and his brothers. The same grandfather and brothers she had shared so many meals with and the same people she had sat and played with.
She felt herself stumbling backwards. She knew she was going to fall, but there was nothing she could do about it.
When she did in fact fall, Rexhenor was quick to catch her. Immediately both her mothers ran to her side. Nike's hand stroked her cheek and Athena's hand held her wrist.
"You alright kid?" Rexhenor asked.
Shakily Alexia nodded. Slowly the world around her started moving again. Sounds came back and touches filled her body with once more.
"But if you found me... Who were my real parents?" The teen asked, sitting up.
"That's what we wish to show you." Nike said.
"But only if you feel up for it." Nike added with a stern look to her immortal lover.
The angel already had a bad feeling about this. She told Athena that they should do this when Alexia was ready, not when they decided to. But her wife couldn't be reasoned with. Arguing that if they didn't tell her now, the girl might never know. The wisdom goddess didn't want to keep the girl from her real family any longer than she had to. Even if it would mean she'd reject the goddesses as her mothers.
"I-... I want to know." Alexia stated.
"Then you shall." Athena responded.
She helped her daughter to stand up and put a hand on her lower back.
All four of them walked inside together. Where the first time they entered they were met with a hideous sight, now they were met with a beautiful one.
The rubble was still there, but everywhere the floor was covered in thick, rich, green grass. No longer lay the pair underneath the rubble. Instead the stones each carried a name, a date of birth and a date of death. Through the hole in the ceiling and roof, the light shone directly onto the stones.
To the left the stairs were still in tact. As Alexia saw them a memory hit her.
They were walking down the stairs. Rexhenor goofing around to cheer up the little girl. Athena holding a little Alexia wrapped up in Aegis. Nike following close behind.
Alexia saw the rubble and sadness filled her. She pulled Aegis closer around her, feeling safe in its warm fabric.
"Do you know who they are?" Athena, the tall lady carrying her, asked.
Alexia looked at her. She didn't seem angry or mean. She seemed concerned. Like she cared for her. The steel grey eyes scared Alexia half an hour ago, but now she found they were comforting. They showed nothing but understanding. Or well... The need to understand.
"Babe-" She heard Nike say in a warning voice.
"They're my daddies." Alexia said before she could change her mind.
Everyone grew quiet. They all just stood there, looking at the pair beneath the rubble. No matter how much it hurt, none of them could look away.
Alexia broke from her trance. There was something she needed to do. Something the lady with the fiery hair told her to do. Something important.
She leaned into Athena so she could whisper in her ear. Something told her that if she would tell the woman her mission she'd help her complete it without question. Alexia trusted her, more than the other two for now.
After all she gave her the nice fabric that rested on her shoulders. It seemed like it was something she held very close to her, afraid she might lose it and yet she was willing to give it to her.
"Will you do something for me?" The little girl whispered in the goddess' ear.
Athena simply nodded, because words wouldn't matter now.
"End of the stairs to the left. Then take a left again, right into the hallway and then first room on the left. There is the fireplace. The lady with the flaming hair told me to wait there for my new family. Will you wait with me?" Alexia asked.
The wisdom goddess didn't even nod or acknowledge anything. She just started walking. Her eyes were set on the path she walked, stepping over rubble, shattered plates and glasses, wooden pieces of furniture that stuck out. Gracefully she evaded each thing sticking out or blocking her path.
"I used to have two fathers before you found me." Alexia stated.
"You remember." Athena said, her grey eyes clouding over.
"Only parts of it. I know we were on the stairs." The teen said, walking up to the stairs and putting her hand on the railing.
"Is there anything else you know?" Nike asked cautiously.
"They were killed in the war. They were trapped underneath those rocks." The girl said, pointing at the rocks.
"I remember telling mom to bring me somewhere, but I don't know where."
"We can fill that one in for you kiddo." Rexhenor said.
He disappeared down the hallway. Left, right and then left again. The fire place and couch were still there, everything the way they found it that very first time. The goddesses had made sure of that.
Vaguely Alexia could remember running around in the room and playing with her toys by the fire. It seemed so odd, as if it didn't happen to her in this lifetime, but another.
"Where exactly did you find me?" Alexia asked, as her eyes rolled over the pictures by the fireplace.
She recognized herself, but the men holding here were complete strangers to her. One of them shared her dirty blonde locks and bright blue eyes though.
"Up the stairs, a room to the right. You were hiding in what was left of a closet, with your back against the wall." Nike said, after a moment of quiet.
"Can you show me that as well?" The teen questioned.
Her mothers nodded and brought her to the room.
"Show me exactly how it happened." Alexia ordered.
Athena focused and soon enough her eyes lit up with a blue light. Around them blue figures entered the room. Alexia recognized them as Irakles and Anthousa, soldiers of Rexhenor's squad.
Blue Anthousa and Irakles found little Alexia in the closet.
"Lady Athena! Lady Athena, you should come see this!" Blue Irakles called out.
Little Alexia crawled back into the closet. Current Alexia had to move around the corner to actually see where she was going.
The memory showed her mothers and Rexhenor entering in a hurry.
"What is it private?" Athena asked.
Worry was written all over her face. Her grey eyes revealing the storm of thoughts in her head. Alexia was pretty certain that the only reason her mother was able to stay calm in that moment was because her wife had a hand on her shoulder.
The teen was aware of the effect her mothers had on each other. They were able to calm the other in the most dare situations. They kept the others mind calm and collected, so they could do what was right and not what was rushed.
Blue Irakles side stepped and Athena's eyes narrowed. To anyone watching it might've looked like disgust, but Alexia knew her mother better than that. She knew that look meant she was just being skeptical.
"Leave her alone. She's scared. There's nothing we can do for her." The wisdom goddess said, after a bit of thought.
She turned around and was ready to leave, but Nike stopped her. Part of Alexia was hurt that she almost left her there.
"We can't just leave her here." Nike reasoned.
Her expression was gentle and caring. That was the biggest difference between the two goddesses. Athena was always quick to say 'let her take care of her own'. She was often rather tough on the outside. Nike was the exact opposite. 'Let me help you for as long as you need.' Often she was easier to approach when Alexia had troubles of her own.
"What would you have me do?! Take her back to the camp full of the same people that blasted this place to bits?!" Memory Athena, practically yelled.
Memory Nike swallowed, but stood her ground.
"There has to be something we can do." She said.
The wisdom goddess sighed and started pacing. Alexia saw her younger self cower away from the sound of her mother's boots clacking against what was left of the wooden floor.
She seemed to have come up with something. She gave instructions to her soldiers and the victory goddess and each of them carried them out.
The memory flashed forward until both goddesses sat in front of little Alexia.
The teen saw how her mother reluctantly give her her aegis as was ordered by her other mother. She saw how they took their time to talk with her and put her at ease. How they cleansed her wound and took care of it. And how she finally left the room in Athena's arms.
The blue light faded. The blue glow in her mother's eyes had made room for her stormy grey eyes once more.
At first Alexia didn't know what to do or say. She could feel the tension in both her mothers. As if they were afraid to lose her now that they told her the truth. Nike had her arms wrapped around her wife's waist and leaned into her shoulder.
Without any other words the teen stepped forward and hugged her mothers as tight as she could.
"I love you." She said.