Pallas Athena
A/N: Not too many people know the story of Pallas and Athena, but I assure you, it's true. I just added some twists of my own. I learned the outline of this Myth from Lady Ilyre.
"Athena, do you want to come play with me?" a girlish voice called out. I turned to see Pallas crouching by the river, her pale feet dangling over the edge and her long, dark hair hanging so low that it almost touched the surface of the water. I smiled at the sight of my best friend, but the day was hot and sticky and my only desire was to remain seated in the cool shade of the Cyprus I was leaning against. I waved to Pallas and smiled at her, and she beckoned to me to come join her. I shook my head. "Why not? Please, Athena? Please come play with me?"
"Play? Play what, Pallas?" I asked her, leaning by head back farther against the skinny tree and basking in the cool shade and the occasional refreshing breeze that would make even the spindly blades of lush-green grass quickly fading to rusty-orange shiver with pleasure. The sun beat down on Pallas's bare, bronzed shoulders and I watched, fascinated, as her thick, long curls shone in the sunlight. My own hair, a sort of subdued light blond, would never shine like that. Pallas was...beautiful. I watched as she laughed at the heat, at life, at her own existence. She plucked a tiny, sky-blue flower from the grass she was reclining on and brought it to her perfect, slightly sun-burned nose and sniffed it. Then, abruptly, she tossed the flower into the river and watched it be carried away by the churning current.
"Oh, Athena! How can you just sit there like that? Come to me, and we can have fun!" she called out to me gaily, not minding the heat. I looked up at the bright sun dubiously, cursing Helios, and then got to my feet with a subdued sigh. Pallas, with her sing-song voice and tinkling laugh, always managed to get me to come to her, no matter the weather conditions. I walked over the quickly dying grass slowly, my gray-eyes on my sandaled feet as they stepped forward one at a time and led me away from the shade. After a few steps I felt the merciless sun on the top of my head and wanted to run back to the shade, but resisted when I saw Pallas's bright smile, as illuminating as the sun above.
"Pallas, what can we play, what can we do, in such weather?" I asked her, exasperated, as I sat down beside her and let my own feet dangle down to skim the surface of the fast-moving river. I tucked my simple tunic around me to get more comfortable and watched incredulously as Pallas gracefully slipped into the river, laughing.
"Pallas!" I gasped. "Pallas, come back, you'll get swept away and..." I leaped into the river without a second thought, albeit not as gracefully as she had managed it, and, with long, measured strokes was soon at my friend's side. I grasped her around the waist and helped her back to the shore, getting dunked under the water only a few times along the way. We lay down on the shore side by side, silent, and watched the water rush by. "What were you thinking?" I asked her, quietly.
"I don't know," Pallas mused, sitting up and leaning against me. Her wet locks brushed against my bare skin and I shivered. She was drenched. "Well, at least we cooled off!" she exclaimed, always the optimistic one. We glanced at each other at the same time, gray eyes met bright-blue, and suddenly we both broke into peals of helpless laughter that lasted for a long time before we were able to control them.
She was right; I was much cooler now. Pallas got to her feet and wrung the water out of her knee-length, heavy, dark curls. I watched in fascination as her hair dried to fluffy perfection under the cruel sun and she flipped it behind her, the dark hair rippling down her back and reaching down to tickle the back of her knees. My hair reached down to my elbows because for me, long hair was as impractical as it was beautiful and I planned on being a Goddess of War when I was old enough. I did admire Pallas's hair though, and her beauty.
Pallas sat down next to me once more, her face a huge grin. I couldn't help but smile back at her as she put her arms behind her and let them take on her full weight. "So, what should we do now?" she chirped cheerfully, as though the river fiasco had been a simple warm-up. I looked at her incredulously.
"Pallas, it's insufferably hot out, we just got drenched, and you're asking what we should do next? Personally, I think we should find some shade and relax." Pallas only laughed at my concerns and stood up again, did a little twirling dance, and then dropped down beside me on her knees as though getting ready to pray.
"Oh please, Athena, will you join me in...Aha!" she exclaimed, a new idea making her lovely features light up. I was certainly suspicious of what new, playful idea had caught my friend's fancy because I knew I would be dragged into it as well, but I couldn't help feeling excited with her. "How about we play War again?" she proposed, stretching out her legs lazily. I stared at her in surprise. "You know! When we pretend to be soldiers and spar!"
"But Pallas, it's so hot," I pointed out feebly. She rolled her bright blue eyes at me and dismissed it as a weak excuse. She leaped to her feet and retrieved the helmet and sword we liked to play with from behind a berry-bush and put them on. She yelled a challenging war cry and beckoned for me to come to her. Sighing, I walked over to my friend and put on my own silver helmet and picked up my own heavy sword. We were very equally matched, so there was no chance of any serious harm or injuries.
"Alright. So...how about this? You can be the Greek and I'll be the Egyptian, and we're the captains of two armies that have completely wiped each other out. We're the only ones left from each of our individual armies and we're preparing to fight to the death. But, of course, the death will be whoever tires first and drops down pretending to be dead, alright?" she proposed excitedly. I really didn't want to do it, but I agreed anyway.
We started out slowly, jabbing at each other experimentally and crying out "Haha!"s. But soon we both got into it and started having real fun, our swords locking together for the briefest moment and then pulling apart violently and occasionally scratching the other. This was my favorite game, and though I was sweating heavily and was very hot, I barely noticed it, absorbed as I was in the duel. I didn't notice the little pebble that Pallas was about to trip on either until it was fatally too late.
Pallas let out a surprised little scream as she tripped forward, her sword plunging toward me. Her eyes were wide as she muttered a desperate, "No!" and watched helplessly as her sword buried itself deep inside my chest. I, surprised, fell forward as well and wasn't able to stop my own sword from sinking into her chest.
We landed next to each other, both in excruciating pain and clutching at our chests. Pallas was gasping for breath and I could see the life slowly draining out of her. I was blinking away tears and gasping myself. In one deft movement I tore the sword out of my body and forgot all about the wound in my chest, which was bleeding heavily. I crawled over to the dying Pallas and, cradling her head in my lap, knew that extracting the sword from her would only cause her pain she didn't have to endure, as death was already very near and unavoidable. I shed tears over her and tried to make her as comfortable as possible as death slowly gripped her and pulled her soul into the Underworld.
The last words I heard from Pallas were, "Athena...I'm so, so sorry...I didn't mean to..."
But somehow, I wasn't dying or even in danger of dying, and my wound was healing at a ridiculous pace. "No, Pallas, no. I'm the one who has to be sorry; I won't die, it's all right, you didn't hurt me..." I murmured to her as she died. Her head in my lap and her hand entwined in mine, she smiled weakly.
"I'm so glad," she whispered as her eyes went blank and her soul slipped away from me forever. I was crying openly and heavily and didn't notice when Hermes came and closed her eyes, and even stroked my hair affectionately once or twice. Pallas. She was gone, she was dead, I would never see her again, and I had killed her. My sword was in her body.
I gently took the sword out of her and threw it into the river in disgust. With my bare hands I dug a deep hole as a last desperate act of grief for my friend and, my face filthy and tear-streaked, prepared to put her beautiful body into it. But first I bathed quickly in the river so I wouldn't be dirty when I buried her and gently washed her body of the rapidly drying blood. Then I placed her in the pit. But I couldn't bear to shovel dirt on her, so I rolled a huge boulder on top of the grave instead and, with her sword, inscribed these words:
Here lies the body of Pallas, faithful friend and companion in life as in death and forever.
While I sat beside her grave in grief, I carved a statuette of my lost friend absently. When I was finished, I looked at it in surprise, feeling as though my hands had done all the work without my mind knowing. It was beautiful, and a wonderful likeness. Cradling it to my chest, I decided to call it the Palladium, after her.
I was sitting beside the grave, my knees hugged to my chest, when He came. "Athena, my daughter," He murmured to me, taking me in His arms and cradling me to Him. "It's time to go now. You're old enough to join us on Olympus. Do not fear, Pallas shall be remembered and respected forever as your friend."
Numb, I forgot to speak to Him respectfully. I pulled away and gathered up Pallas's sword and helmet to forever use as my own, and then whispered, "No, that's not enough, Father. From now on until eternity, I will be Pallas Athena in memory of her, wonderful, beautiful Pallas. And then no one will ever forget." Zeus nodded his assent.
"Pallas Athena, will you come with me to Olympus?" he asked me gently, taking me in his arms once more. They were warm and comforting after the grief I had endured.
I agreed. As he bore me to the top of the mountain, I asked, feebly, "Father, why did Pallas die and I stayed alive?" It was a question I had been pondering since I rolled the boulder over her eternal resting place.
"You are a Goddess, Athena, and Pallas was not," he replied simply in a melancholy tone. He seemed more grief-stricken for me and my loss than for Pallas.
"But that's not fair!" I cried in outrage, the tears flowing anew. "It's not fair! From now on I'll be Goddess of Justice," I announced, wiping away the tears with the back of my left hand as he put me down on my feet outside the palace of Olympus.
Smiling, Zeus hugged me tighter. "Good choice," he whispered appreciatively. "I'm sure you'll make a wonderful Goddess. Pallas will be proud."