Of Goddesses and Girlfriends and Forks
Couldn’t anything go Leo’s way?
He felt like he was being torn apart, his mind shattering into a million little pieces as he was stretched and pulled every which way. Just as he was sure this was his eternal punishment, it all stopped. Stopped, he might add, not so pleasantly. The vacant space in which he’d been floating just changed into a room, and he fell on the floor ungracefully.
It was a room. A very nice room, with white walls and carpet and couches and- well, white everything. Nothing in the room was a shade darker. It was the purest of colors, but it off-put him. Was this death? Had he misused his only way of living?
He let out a string of curses, turning to inspect the room further. He needed a weapon, some food, something. If he wasn’t dead, and he hoped he wasn’t, he would still need to survive. He walked towards one of the couches, looking at it suspiciously. He’d never been so skeptical of a couch before, but he pushed down on the seat cushion and ran his hand through the crack between them.
He sat down on the couch after a full minute of thorough investigation, and sighed, because these couches did not play around. This was probably the most comfortable thing he’d sat on in a while. He remained like that for a while until a voice that flowed and sent chills down his spine like freezing water spoke up.
“I see you’ve made yourself at home.”
He jumped up at that, reaching into his belt which he was thanking the gods he had on him, and pulling out something to defend himself with. It was a fork, which went to show how much his mind wasn’t working, and he held it up threateningly.
The woman in question stood right behind the couch. She was deathly pale, with dark irises that made her look like she lacked pupils. She wore a long dress that trailed behind her. It was, besides for him, the only splash of color in the white room. It was trimmed with black lace, and made up of reds and whites and grays.
It vaguely reminded him of the Queen of Hearts. But like, he thought to himself, a sexy queen of hearts. He was immediately reminded of Calypso when he thought that. Was she alright?
“I see you have a…” the lady trailed off, raising an eyebrow at the fork Leo was grasping, “weapon.”
“Yeah!” Leo said, swinging the fork in the air, “And I’m not afraid to use this utensil!”
“Uh-huh.” She looked thoroughly unimpressed, “You are just like I have heard. Pleased to meet you, Leo Valdez. I’m Atë.”
“You’re eighty?” He asked, squinting at her, “You don’t look your age.”
“No,” she said, clearly trying to keep her cool, “Atë. It is my name.”
“Oh…” he nodded understandingly, “Hey, wait, how do you know mine?”
“I know a lot about you.” She turned and walked away from Leo, and he stared after her for a bit before following along behind her.
“That’s kind of creepy.” He commented as her walked a good five feet behind Atë, looking wearily around at his surroundings, “Are you here to take me back?”
She stopped then, whirling back around to face Leo. “Take you where? I do not understand.”
“You know,” he prompted, but then continued at her unknowing look, “back to life. Camp Half-Blood. To stay with my friends…?” he trailed off with a questioning tone.
“What has died cannot be revived. That’s a rule of nature.”
“Yeah, but I had the thingy! The vial! The potion! You know.”
“I suppose I do,” she said, stepping towards the side of the room, looking over an array of colorless statues. “But I do not know if aiding you would be in my favor.”
She turned up her palms, “Eons I have been alone, dear boy, but now you come. You free me of my loneliness.”
“That’s great and all,” he tried to sound like he was not unhappy with this developing, “But I’ve kind of already got a goddess that was cursed to never leave one place waiting for me. So…”
“You think me a goddess?”
“Are you not one?”
“Oh, I am. I just haven’t been recognized as one in so long…” she sighed dreamily, blinking a few times.
“Right… So, about me getting home-“
“Home is where your heart is, no?” She inquired, placing a hand over her chest, “and your heart is here.”
“Well, I mean, technically,” he waved his hands around in an attempt to convey emotion, “but that’s not really what the saying meant…”
“Do you not wish to stay?”
He swallowed thickly. This could be the real end of his life. How would Atë get his blood stains out of her snow white carpet? “I’d love to-“ he started hesitantly, “but I need to be home. With my friends. With my… girlfriend.” Had Calypso ever openly said they were dating? He guessed not, but it was a safe assumption.
Atë’s face fell, and Leo felt bad. Sick to his stomach, really, somewhat out of pity and somewhat because he thought he was going to up and die right then.
“Very well.” She said, and Leo was surprised at how easily she caved, “but the road to life, Leo Valdez, is as hard as the one to death.”
He’d heard enough of these vague explanations to things. “What do I have to do?”
“You need to know who you are, before you can live,” she explained, tucking a stray piece of dark hair behind her ear.
“Why?”
“That is just how things work, I am afraid.”
“Of course it is,” he muttered, “What do I have to do to find out who I am? I mean, I think I already know. I’ve known myself my whole life.”
The goddess was not impressed by his humor. “Fate dictates everything. In order to change your own, you first need to know about your other fates.”
“Other fates?” he furrowed his brows in confusion.
“There’s a string of universes. Ten, to be precise. They succumb to you and your friends ideals and inner worries, stresses, hopes, dreams- I’m sure you get it.”
“So me and my friends each have a world? That’s awesome!”
“No, I’m afraid it’s not. See, one demigod’s inner struggle is always about what could have been, how things could have happened. In these worlds are lopped nightmares and fear and hatred as well as your love and dreams. It’s not a fantasy land in every one. It’s just…” She paused a moment, a sadness in her voice, “reality.”
“So, nine universes not including mine? I didn’t know I had nine friends.” He tapped his chin, “How do I get in and out of them?”
“I’ll help you for as much I can. I’ve been the home of heroes ever since my father entrapped me here. My Litae travel and bring me the dying saviors, and I’ll help them. Either if it’s to live once more, or pass on.”
So she was like Calypso. Except she was choosing who washed up in her home. That seemed a bit unfair, but he couldn’t argue. He supposed he was just waiting for someone to come and save her from her own hell.
“So I just look at them all? That’s it?”
“It is not that simple. You are to study each world, and find out whose personal universe it is based on its fundamental principles and how the other embodiments of you and your friends act.” Atë smoothed down the front of her dress, “It’s harder than it sounds. Some heroes, by the time they are out of those realities, have already passed a hundred years in their own time.”
He stood mutely. A hundred years? What if everyone he knew died before he could return?
“Are you up for it, Leo Valdez?”
He stared at this goddess, into her all-knowing eyes, for quite a while. He could pass on to the afterlife, put himself at rest and not worry anymore. But he thought of his friends, he seemed to be doing that a lot even in death, and then of Calypso. Who else would come back for her? It could be thousands of years, of her just waiting, and she would never know what became of him…
“Yes,” he finally said, admittedly slightly nervous, “I’m so up for this.”