Album Concepts - 3 - "I Alone"
Notes: Lyrics can be found here.
The gods mentioned in this story are not meant to represent any of the gods that may currently exist in the variety of prompt and roleplaying communities on Livejournal or elsewhere. They are gods inside of Athena's universe only, and their actions and personalities have no relation to, or effect upon, any other characters but Athena.
Chained to Fate
I was resting by a small river in the South of France, where we had been living for a decade or two. It must have been August. Victoria had been floating up and down the river, staring at the sky. I knew that could only mean bad things. She only looked to the sky when she was getting ready to argue with me about something.
Oh well. I rolled to my back and stared at the sky, too. There were no answers there. There hadn't been for a long time, and I'd always meant to ask her what she saw when her eyes went skyward.
While I'd been daydreaming about what used to be, she'd climbed out of the water and sat down next to me. Drops fell on my arm, raising goose pimples. “War's coming.”
I didn't turn. “It always does.”
She sighed. “Haven't we been at this long enough? The Germans are on the march, their leader pushes for Poland. You've been sitting here like a useless fishwife for twenty years. Ares doesn't keep himself out of it, why do you?”
“Because, unlike Ares, I learn from history. He's stubborn.” Now I turned, but the sun was behind her, making her face appear to be only shadows. I squinted. “Fishwives aren't exactly useless you know. You seem to enjoy their wares well enough.”
She turned her face from me. Her hair was already drying, and the warm air made it curl. The Romans had liked that, and she had liked the Romans. Her popularity had been at its height there, though the Americans certainly liked their Lady Luck. We'd spent the middle part of the last century in the New World, riding up and down the Mississippi River on great riverboats and following stagecoaches full of gold through what they were already calling the Old West. It had been a good fifty years, and there had been a good war in the middle of it to keep me going. Maybe we'd go back to America soon.
For now, though, there was Europe and its first blush of another war. I caught a flush at her cheeks, and knew it was from anger. The arguments between two people are like war on a smaller scale. It's why I've always enjoyed debates so much. With Victoria, though, they are never only debates. “You know what I meant. Why are we still here? You're the goddess of Warfare! I know you don't like the Germans -”
“The Germans I like just fine. It's their leader and his circle that gives me pause. Nazis. The Oracle says that word will be 'venom on the tongues of the people for generations to come.'” I shook my head and sat up. Arguments with Victoria are always easier when one is sitting up. “I'm the goddess of Wisdom in Warfare. Modern warfare doesn't agree with me; there's no beauty to it. Only brutality. That's Ares' domain. Sometimes it's easier to be unwise. You don't have to stay, you've gone away before.”
“Not during war time. Athena always has Nike during war time. You know that.” She turned back and pressed her still-wet palm to my shoulder. “I bring you victory.”
I nodded. Oh, there were times when we'd been apart over the years for small conflicts. But wars in this new century involved the whole world, one way or the other. They were too big for their own war makers. It would've been foolish for us to separate for this new breed of war, and there was no point in me protesting otherwise. I felt the next war, dreamed about it, could taste it on the wind. I needed her with me, because the alternative might mean she was against me. “You are my victory.”
I caught the hint of a smile in the shadows of her face. “I can't believe that line works on me.”
“Every time. Can we swim?” The air was getting to me, and some cool water would feel nice.
“In a minute.” She bit her lip. This was it, then. Her last push. “I haven't seen the Oracle in a long time. I don't know how this war will come out, but I do know you can't stay out of it, Athena. It's too big. I've heard your dreams while you toss and turn at night. You know it too. We've been weaving and making music for two decades. It's time to go back to war. You're a soldier first.”
“I'm a leader first.”
She smirked. “'A leader is just a soldier in the wrong place at the right time.'”
I didn't say anything. Just stood and held my hand down for her. She took it. She always takes it. That's the way we are. “Fine. Tomorrow we'll leave for Berlin.” It's so hard to win an argument against the goddess of Victory, height of her power or not. Besides, we'd known each other for too long; she knew she was right and she knew I only need to hear her say it to break myself out of the funk.
I poked her to stave off any I-told-you-so smirks. It almost worked. “But first I want a swim.”
Word Count: 872