Chapter Text
The Goddess of Wisdom and War: Athena.
Always equipped with her spear and shield, the Aegis, she is accompanied by the Owl—a symbol of her wisdom—and Nike, the Goddess of Victory.
To many, she is known as the Undefeated Goddess.
A culmination of love between the King of the Gods, Zeus, and the Goddess of Wisdom, Metis, Athena's birth was one of ... turbulent circumstances.
"Oh, great Zeus, do you truly intend to allow Metis to have her child? Yes, if the infant is born a girl, all shall be well, but are you really willing to risk the consequences of the child being born a boy? With your power and Metis's intellect combined ..."
It had been a warning. One that Zeus had been quick to take to heart, for soon after he had swallowed Metis and their unborn child in but a single gulp.
Such a solution, however, of course only lasted for so long.
"Argh, Hephaestus ... Son, my head feels as though it's splitting in two! Come, take your axe and cleave it!"
Thus, from the O' Mighty King's head, Metis's child sprung forth into the world with the cry of a warrior; not as a boy, but a girl.
From then on, Athena went to perform radiant exploits, each one more grand than the last. From turning mortals into heroes to slaying beasts the likes of which no one has ever seen, the Goddess accomplished all of it and so much more.
But alas, for as 'perfect' of a being she may be, there had always been one thing that seemed forever out of her reach.
Many Years Ago | Ancient Greece, Mount Olympus
"Gods, Athena, when are you gonna get it?"
Poseidon leaned further into the cushions of his seat and sighed. "I don't see you as a woman!" he snapped. "It's already been five hundred years!"
The Goddess before him didn't budge, stubborn as ever, and the God found himself looking away from her in turn. "You need to learn to give up ..." he muttered, lifting his goblet of wine to his lips.
Brow twitching at that last comment, Athena huffed at her fellow immortal and folded her arms over her chest. "You promised me, Poseidon," she shot back with narrowed eyes. "If I managed to earn the title of the 'Greatest God in Olympus', you would ..." She paused, hesitating as a coat of pink grazed her cheeks. "You, ahem, said you would ..."
Poseidon groaned and threw his head back. "I'd what?" he asked, patience worn thin.
Steeling her nerves, Athena took a deep breath and revealed, "You said you would marry me!"
Poseidon choked, the action reducing him to a coughing mess whilst Athena watched, unblinking.
A few well-placed hits against his chest later, Poseidon finally found his voice again. "You ..." Cough. "You really remember that?" he asked.
Athena had the audacity to roll her eyes. "Of course I do," she answered easily. "Why would I not?"
Then, before Poseidon could respond, the Goddess summoned a piece of parchment with a wave of her hand. "This is the year-end tax adjustment for the Olympian Council," she explained upon seeing the Ocean God's quizzical look, sounding only slightly smug. "Temples, worshippers, tributes, sacrifices ... I get first place when you round them all up!"
With a cheeky grin, Athena practically sauntered over to the Sea King sitting before her to place the paper in his hands, wanting him to see for himself what she had accomplished.
"So it would appear ..." she began, pointing to her name on the list to draw Poseidon's attention to it, "I have surpassed Zeus himself."
Poseidon didn't respond, nor did he even look up at her (not that he would need to; he could feel Athena's smug look from miles away), too focused on the list in his hands to care much for anything else. With wide eyes, he looked over it once, twice, but true to Athena's word, her name sat at the very top—and right above Zeus.
This ... this brat. One of Poseidon's eyes twitched. I'd heard she'd been doing well recently, but surpassing him? How ...?
"Oh, don't pout." Athena poked Poseidon's cheek with a roll of her eyes, successfully pulling the God back to the real world. "Would swearing on the River Styx to be a good wife make you feel any better?" she teased.
Poseidon gave no reply.
The playful smile on Athena's face fell.
"Look." With a quiet sigh, the Goddess sat down beside Poseidon and gently took one of his hands in between her own. "There is no reason for you to worry, understand? Whatever arrangements necessary, I will take care of myself—"
"Athena." Poseidon stood up and tore his hand away as if her touch had burned him. "My answer is still the same: I can't accept your feelings."
(He wouldn't—couldn't meet her eyes.)
"I'm sorry."
Athena stared.
Poseidon began to walk away. "Let's pretend this never happened."
Athena watched as he left, as he simply walked away, mouth dry and chest heavy with ... something. Something that she couldn't quite name.
(He couldn't even look you in the eyes when he rejected you, a voice that sounded too much like Ares tsked. Once a coward, always a coward.)
Athena inhaled sharply, and that 'something' in her snapped.
"Poseidon!" He was already summoning his chariot by the time she caught up to him. "Poseidon, wait!"
Her demand fell to deaf ears. With his back still turned to her, Poseidon boarded his chariot and took the reigns in one hand, tugging it only once to settle the hippocampi attached to it.
Athena grit her teeth. "Poseidon!" To her relief, the blue-haired God seemed to halt and turn his head slightly, granting her his ear at last. "I will respect your answer, but only if you at least tell me why. You owe me that much."
Silence.
And then, ever so slowly, Poseidon found the courage to turn and meet the cloudless skies glaring at him from below.
"Please, Poseidon."
She was down on one knee before him, the Goddess that had braved his waters and practically tore down his doors just to speak to him. The act was obviously meant to be a sign of respect, but he could tell that there was more to it, even from where he sat on his throne. He saw it in the beads of water that trailed down her skin, the droplets that fell from her even fairer hair, and the barely noticeable tremors that racked her shoulders:
She was exhausted.
And yet here she was, holding herself up with her spear—knuckles white from how tight her hold was alone—and voice just as sure as it was when she condemned the Gods she had met on the battlefield of Troy.
(Comparing how the Goddess had looked then to how she looked now, Poseidon couldn't help but wonder if perhaps the image before him was a figment of his imagination.)
Oblivious to the fact that the Sea King had been stunned into silence, Athena continued.
"I am more than aware of what the mortal did to your son, and I do not blame you for your anger, but ..."
A shaky breath. Something in the Goddess seemed to crumble, and she lifted her gaze from the floor to meet Poseidon's eyes from behind her curtain of hair at last.
Poseidon's breath caught itself in his throat.
"Please." Her eyes were blue, pale enough to be mistaken for silver, and they shone with unshed tears. "Anything you ask of me—anything at all—I will comply so long as you grant him mercy and let him go home."
"... Yeah."
(It was moments like this when it felt like it was only yesterday when a young Goddess, left alone to rot away in the cruelest of realms simply for being born, knelt before him to beg for forgiveness on a human's behalf.)
Poseidon chuckled at himself. "You really did become one of the greats, just like you said you would," he admitted. "But that 'promise'?" He snorted. "That was just something I made for some naïve Goddess that showed up on my doorstep one day. Why would I keep it, much less take it seriously?"
Shaking his head and tutting mockingly, Poseidon turned away to snap the reigns of his horses. "Want me to be even more honest?" he asked, looking back to Athena with a cruel smile tugging at his lips. "Who in their right mind would want to marry you, anyway?"
Athena flinched stepped back, blinking wildly and looking as if the question had struck surprised her. "... Excuse me?"
Poseidon threw his head back and laughed. "Don't be stupid, Athena!" he sneered. "Someone who wears armor all year round, swinging around a spear and shield, acting all righteous all the time ... That's not attractive at all!"
Athena's short, pointed ears were pressed against the sides of her head. "What?" she grit out.
Poseidon smirked at her. "If you still don't get it," he began, looking the Goddess up and down, "why don't you take a look in the mirror with Aphrodite?"
The outraged expression that washed over Athena's face was enough to make Poseidon laugh again, and the Goddess flushed. "You're comparing me to a Goddess who's only personality trait is ... having large breasts?!" she questioned.
Poseidon shrugged and finally started his descent to his kingdom below. "Better than no 'breasts'!" he called back.
"YOU—!" Athena stopped, took a deep breath to compose herself, and then ran over to the edge Poseidon had disappeared behind. "POSEIDON!" she snarled. "YOU BASTARD! STOP RUNNING AND FACE ME, DAMN IT!"
It was pointless, she knew.
And yet ...
"... You ... out of anyone else ..." The Goddess fell to her knees. "After everything, how could you just ...?"
Clouds darkened. Thunder rumbled.
"Did any of it ... mean anything to you at all ...?" she whispered.
With only a single tear from her eye, the Heavens, too, began to weep.
It was only when the lightning—a tragically beautiful blue—began its dance across the sky did the hooded figure watching from afar begin to speak.
"It's Athena's lightning," they hummed with a tilt of their head. "It amazes me every time, how much it resembles yours—when you were in your prime, at least." They laughed softly.
The God sitting atop the golden throne behind them kept quiet, unmoving even as thunder roared from above.
The hooded figure smiled slyly. "I will admit, despite the many years that have passed, I still can not help but pray that your decision to let her remain here was not a mistake ..."
Slowly, the figure began to turn.
"Lord Zeus."
Still as a statue, the God was, up until those words were uttered. Letting his eyes fall to the parchment that had been carried to him by the winds, he stared down at its contents—at the name written at the very top—with a silent fury few had lived to speak of.
The lightning outside cackled, the sound so familiar and yet somehow mocking, and it seemed to be just what the King needed to tip him over the edge. With his own lightning beginning to spark forth from his fingers, the O' Mighty King crumbled the paper within his fist and turned it to ashes with a burst of golden bolts.
In the shadows of their cloak, the figure hid a knowing grin.
(How amusing it was, a King's pride.)
The Present | Seoul, Korea
"So this is a uniform ..." With a thoughtful hum, Athena tugged at the lapels of the blazer she'd just slipped on. "It's a lot more comfortable than I thought it'd be ..." she noted.
Releasing the lapels, the Goddess stepped closer to the mirror and tilted her head, examining her reflection with a glimmer of wonder in her eyes. "What do you think, Nike?" she asked after a moment. "It doesn't look awkward or anything, does it?"
"Nonsense, Lady Athena!" A spark of pink light shot up from the bedside table. "You look gorgeous in anything!" it stated.
Athena chuckled just as the 'spark', a fairy-like being with pink hair and white wings, flew to her shoulder. "Thank you, Nike," she said.
The smaller Goddess, Nike, beamed and puffed her chest out. "Of course, Lady Athena," she replied. "But are you sure about this, though?" She caught her Mistress's eyes in the mirror and frowned. "Wouldn't the skirt be more preferable so that the humans don't mistake you for a—"
Athena cut her companion off with a short laugh. "I don't care about that as much as I used to, Nike—not anymore," she assured, before adding: "Besides, I find the male uniform a lot easier to move around in than the female one."
Nike eyed her and pursed her lips. "... If you say so, My Lady," she conceded.
Smiling, Athena held her hand out expectantly, cueing Nike to drop her student ID into it. When she did, the Goddess made sure to thank her before grabbing her bag from where it sat on her bed and walking out of the room.
"Well, I suppose it's time for me to head out, then." With her hand on the doorknob, Athena turned to Nike and offered her a grin. "You and Iolo try not to have too much fun while I'm away, okay?"
Nike huffed, looking far more serious than her Mistress currently did. "Only if you promise to be careful out there, Lady Athena!" she replied, placing her hands on her hips.
Athena quirked an amused brow. "I'm attending a human school, Nike," she responded, hoping that the reminder would ease her smaller companion's worries.
Nike narrowed her gaze and flew closer to better look the War Goddess in the eyes. "Promise me!" she pushed.
Having done this song and dance plenty times before, Athena gave in with a sigh and shake of her head. "Very well," she said. "I promise."
Nike nodded, pleased. "Good." She backed up, returning her Mistress's personal space to her. "Have a good day observing those dumb mortals, Lady Athena!" She waved.
Laughing at the fairy-like Goddess's choice of words, Athena nodded and waved back. "I'll see you and Iolo at dinner, Nike."
And with that, the Goddess of Wisdom was finally out the door.
The wide smile Nike had sent the Goddess off with melted away in an instant.
"Oi, bird." Nike looked over to the Cryptid dozing away on the couch and tsked before flying over to hover above him. "Look at you, sleeping at a time like this!" she snapped. "Our Mistress just left to attend some ... some school with lowly mortals! As if any of them are worthy enough to be in her presence!"
At the Goddess's volume, the 'bird'—Iolo—groaned and turned in his beanbag to lay on his side. "Just give it a rest, will ya?" He yawned. "Our boss has had a weird fascination with mortals long before we started working for her. Just let her indulge for a bit, yeah?"
Nike scoffed and looked away. "Well I know that," she admitted with reluctance. "I just don't see why she can't do that without using her vacation time!"
"Who cares?" Iolo yawned again, already beginning to drift off once more. "As long as she's enjoying herself, right?"
She heard him the moment she stepped outside.
"I'm leaving! By, mom! Bye, dad!"
Athena perked up with a quiet gasp. My neighbor! she thought. He must be attending the same school as me! I should ask him if he'd like to walk there together! She started making some last minute adjustments to her appearance, wanting to make a good first impression. That's what a 'normal' high school student would do, right?
Taking a deep breath to steel her nerves (and to reel in all of the excitement threatening to spill out onto her expression), Athena opened her house's gate and stepped out with a closed-eyed smile.
"Hello!" she greeted, waving. "My name is Athena! Would you like to walk to school with m—"
She opened her eyes.
The world stopped.
With her words all but dead on her tongue, Athena found herself staring into the ocean's depths for the first time in two thousand years.
"O-oh, hello!" Her neighbor, a boy with sun-kissed skin and achingly familiar blue hair, smiled at her. "I'm Adrian." He tilted his head, eyes never once leaving hers, and—
"It's nice to meet you, Athena."