Sonia strode purposefully across the hospital campus. In one hand, she had a full cup of coffee. In the other, she adjusted the strap to her bag on her shoulder. A folder with papers seemingly busting from every corner was tucked under her arm, and she had her phone balanced on her shoulder with her ear pressed against it as she spoke to her daughter.
"I know, priya, I will be home soon. Put Mama on the phone, alright?" Sonia waited as her young daughter obeyed, listening to the shuffling as the phone exchanged hands. Her wife greeted her in an exasperated tone, and Sonia smiled.
"Sixteen hours?"
"Surgery went long," Sonia explained. Something caught her attention as she spoke, and her pace slowed slightly. She looked up to see Athena and Aries, watching from the street. She was familiar with her apparent Ouranos and Thea, now. They had come to her first in her dreams, then found her in person at the hospital where she worked. Aries was in the form of a woman, then, but when she saw them together now, seemingly stalking her, Athena seemed just a regular woman with a goat at her side.
For the first couple of weeks, they tried relentlessly to convince her of her supposed destiny to save the world, but it was childish nonsense, of course, and she didn't have the time to play into whatever kind of crazy game they were playing. Maybe they needed help, but when she offered to have them speak to someone in psychiatrics, they refused.
It was shortly after their first meeting when Sonia encountered her first gigante, though it wasn't at all what she imagined a gigante to be. Quite the opposite, in fact. She was as average as a human could look, which is why Sonia hadn't noticed her in the first place. She didn't notice the woman follow her into the hospital. She didn't question her pager that alerted her to an incoming flight on the roof. And she was there on the helicopter pad when Sonia arrived, alone.
All the medical shows in the world should have prepared her for some bizzare attack from a crazed patient, but this woman was not a patient. It was only then that Sonia realized she was one of the supposed gigantes that Athena and Aries warned her about, because the woman was far from human.
She was far quicker and stronger than possibly for any human. And if that wasn't enough to convince Sonia, she was certainly convinced when Athena and Aries appeared quickly, coming to her defense and saving her life. The battle between them was brief, and once the gigante woman fell, defeated, Athena quickly moved to her side, and the woman faded, then vanished.
Maybe she was going crazy, but even she couldn't bring herself to speak to the psychologists in the hospital. Her life - her career, her family - were all on the line. But she couldn't ignore what she saw with her own eyes. The fear she felt in her heart. She found herself believing them - her Ouranos and her Thea - but still, she could not accept this quest that was thrust upon her. She wouldn't leave her family behind. She couldn't leave her career. Her patients depended on her. Her coworkers depended on her. The entire hospital depended on her.
She couldn't join Aries, or the other eleven who were somewhere in the world. And ever since then, Athena and Aries seemed to follow her around, watching her closely, waiting for her to change her mind.
But she wouldn't.
She offered an apologetic look in their direction, then turned her attention back to her conversation with her wife, still on the other end of her phone call.
"I'm on my way home now," Sonia said. She sipped at her coffee, then quickened her pace. "Just give me a couple hours of sleep."
She laughed. "Sonia, I've got this. I'm not incapable of handling our daughter." But she sighed. "I don't know how many more times I can watch that movie, though. What is it? With the ocean girl?"
Sonia grinned. "Moana?"
"Hey, don't they have any Indian Disney movies by now?"
Sonia laughed lightly. "Main tumse pyar karthee hoon. I'll see you soon."
"I love you, too."
She carefully took the phone in her hand, making sure to keep the folder tight between her arm and torso, and ended the call. She slipped the phone into her bag, then took another sip of her coffee as she continued to walk through the city. She was well aware of Athena and Aries following her, now, and she slowed to allow them to catch up to her, walking at her side.
"No means no," Sonia said. "Maybe it means something else on Mount Olympus or wherever you gods hang out, but here on Earth, it means leave me alone."
I'm just a collection of dust and gas, Aries said. But it sure is fun to pretend to be human once in a while.
Athena did not regard either of them when she spoke. "What do I have to do to get a yes from you?"
Sonia considered this for a moment. "I don't suppose there's anything you could do or say to get a yes from me," she said. She frowned. "I'm sorry. But there are eleven others who can do this. Surely you won't miss one person."
"There are many more gigantes throughout the world," Athena said. "Even with your Ouranos, twenty-four of you would hardly be a match for them."
And if the gigantes succeed, Olympus will be overthrown, Aries said.
"I don't see the problem, there," Sonia said. "We're talking about some ancient Greek mythology."
"Whether you believe in it or not is irrelevant," Athena said. "If Gaia succeeds, the world as you know it will change drastically."
"But Gaia is the mother of all life," Sonia pointed out. "I mean, she's the very reason you gods exist, anyway."
"Gaia has grown mad with revenge," Athena said. "Though she may be the mother of all things, she still has the power to destroy the world and, in turn, the entire universe. It is she who gave life to the gods and goddesses that helped to create the world and the universe. Without them, this world will cease to exist."
"What's your plan, exactly?" Sonia asked. "Say we succeed in defeating these gigantes. What's stopping her from creating more? That's how the story goes, isn't it? A mortal defeated the first wave of gigante, and from their blood rose a new generation. Those creatures that walk around here looking human, right? Couldn't Gaia just create more?"
"Gaia herself will need to be defeated," Athena explained. "Only then will the cycle cease for good."
"And you think us mortals can defeat a god?"
"Yes," Athena said. "If we could, it would have been done by now."
Sonia sighed through her nose. "And defeating Gaia won't screw up the world?"
"As long as we remain, her children, the world will continue on as if nothing ever happened."
"Sounds so simple," Sonia said dryly. "You know, if you ignore the fact that I will be putting my life on the line and fighting these crazy non-human god-created creatures."
That's what I'm here for, Aries said proudly. We're here to aid and protect you at all costs.
"Regardless," Sonia said. "My answer remains the same. I simply cannot abandon my life here to go chasing some murderous creatures and then defeat the mother of all things. Like I said, there is nothing you can do to convince me otherwise." She glanced at Athena apologetically. "I'm sorry."
Athena nodded, but did not meet her gaze. "I understand," she said.
Sonia hesitated, feeling a pang of guilt in her chest. "Truly," she said. She glanced at them once more, but they were gone.
*****
Her daughter greeted her excitedly when Sonia stepped into her home. She picked her up and pressed her lips against her cheek, then turned her attention to her wife and pressed her lips against hers.
"You are the most beautiful woman in the world," she said. "And I say this as lovingly as I can; you look like hell."
Sonia smiled. "Just a couple of hours sleep," she said.
"We don't want to see you until the morning. Right, Prisha?"
Prisha frowned. "But in the morning, Mama will watch Moana with us?"
Sonia grinned as she watched her wife visibly bite her lip in annoyance.
"Yes," Shilpa said. She glanced at Sonia. "I'm sure Mama will want to watch it a hundred times with you."
Sonia kissed her wife and daughter once more. She dropped her bag by the door, took her shoes off one by one, then headed into the bedroom, her daughter on her heels.
"Mama," Prisha started. She climbed onto the bed beside where her mother sat. "Where is Aries?"
Sonia glanced at her. "You were playing with Aries today?"
Prisha grinned and nodded excitedly. "Yes! We play all the time!"
"Does she talk to you?"
Prisha's head cocked to the side slightly. "No, Mama, she's a goat!" She paused. "Does she talk to you?"
"Sometimes."
Prisha's grin returned. "Sometimes I have dreams about her," Prisha said. "And Athena. Athena talks to me, sometimes."
Sonia hesitated. Would a goddess really stoop so low as to try to use her daughter to convince her?
Prisha frowned as she continued. "Is it true? That she needs your help to save the world?"
"You needn't worry about it," Sonia said.
"Mama," Prisha continued. "I think you should help them."
"And why do you think that?"
"You said you like to help people," Prisha said. "That's why you're a doctor, right?"
"Yes."
"And if people need your help, don't you want to help them?"
Sonia met her daughter's gaze. "Yes, I do," she said softly. "But to help them, it might take me far away. And people here need my help, too. I can't leave them." She smiled. "And I can't leave you, either. I would miss you very much."
Prisha looked down at her feet. "I would miss you too, Mama," she said. "I think it would be okay if you left to help other people. I think people here would be okay. They would know you were helping other people. People that need help even more, right?" She met her mother's gaze. "And you'll come back after, right?"
"Yes," Sonia said. "Of course."
Prisha smiled. "So, you're gonna help more people?"
Sonia hesitated. "I will think about it."