Doomed from the start

Songs

If she had to think back Hera would probably claim that her love for the arts started with a lullaby.

Specifically the lullaby her mother Rhea had sung after her birth the very moment this world had still been so strange to her and her older siblings so very frightening.

Her first thought she could remember had been: „ That's pretty. I like it."

After that she would follow her mother and tried to imitate her as best as she possibly could when Rhea was singing, dancing or telling stories.

Hera had actually spend a lot of days making sure she could recall everything perfectly.

She didn't like the thought that something that pretty, something she learned to love with such a passion could be forgotten.

It had always been pretty stories full of adventure and happiness.

But what captured her most was acting.

For her it was the fine art of turning fiction into reality, and something that could actually be useful later on.

After all it wouldn't do to be entirely useless with the family she was living in.

Turns out that practice makes perfect and the only thing Hera was ever good at is acting.

Only 5 short years after her birth she met her father for the first time. It didn't take her long to notice how her father was distant and cruel and liked to make punishments harsh.

It didn't take her nearly as long however to notice that her wild brothers weren't interested in her and her older sister despised her.

She was living in a harsh reality she couldn't deal with and what better way to escape it all?

But on some days it was harder to pretend that everything was just fine the way it was.

Some days the need for siblings who included her in their games, a father who loved her was to big.

On such days she would dream of a husband who loved her with all of his being and children who would love, adore and cling to her.

This was a perfect life she wanted, craved like nothing before and by Chaos in his ever-changing realm she was going to get it.

„Hera dear, can you come over for a moment?"

So why did it feel so wrong to hope?

„What is it mother?..oh is something wrong with you?"

„No no child. I am pregnant. You will be having a new sibling soon. I called you here because I would like to know if you would help me bring it into our world."

So of course she dared to hope as her mother told her about the new sibling and the responsibility Hera would have as an older sibling and entirely forgot about such important matters as a loving husband.

After all there would be someone who would need her and play with her.

She felt that she was already a better sibling than the others combined.

„Say, Hera, are you exited that you will have a new sibling?"

„Of course mother! I will help her and sing to her and play with her and love her with all my heart!"

„Her? What makes you think that it will be a girl?"

„Don't be silly mother! Of course it's going to be a girl. I feel it somehow in my bones. Besides you said that you want a daughter and that father said so too, so it's going to be a girl! Father always gets what he wants, doesn't he? I'm sure the little one is going to make us all happy!"

Spoilers: Demeter wouldn't bring them and most of all her nothing but heartache

In the days before the birth Rhea would sing and comb her hair again just like she did back then where Hera was the baby.

But the more her mothers figure changed, Hera still wasn't quite clear on where babes came from and everyone refused to tell her, her songs grew sadder and she stopped combing Hera's hair in favor of staring out of the window for hours staring at the sea.

However acting came easy for Hera so she pretended that everything was perfect, willfully turning a blind eye to the brewing storm.

The big smile on her face wouldn't even waver no matter how bad she felt.

Maybe if she smiled just long enough she could be happy again?

„Why do you insist on disappointing me woman? Have I not given you everything you could desire? Now how do YOU repay me?!"

Cronus was far more upset after Demeter's birth that Hera had expected.

Her father was screaming and pacing and even less likable than usual if that was even possible.

Hera herself who had helped her mother give birth was now huddled together with her little sibling in her arms behind her mother on the bed.

But that didn't shield her from her fathers wrath.

The only thing she could do was weather the storm and pray that it wouldn't harm her.

„It was your fault child! Hadn't you been born together with your sister I wouldn't have to endure this pain of being a father to weak things like YOU! HOW ARE YO EVEN A CHILD OF MINE? YOU ARE A DISGRACE!"

Hera did a great job in pretending not to flinch as her father directed his fury at her.

Turns out that Rhea had lied to her: Cronus only wanted sons. Preferably strong ones whom he could teach important things like hunting and how to rule a kingdom. Even if he wanted to rule everything the sun touched.

Acting, or the arts in general were for weak, good-for-nothing girls like her, her father used to tell her.

In these moments Hera just smiled and nodded and promised to change. That wasn't so bad.

Not in the same sense of bad that made Hera's heart clench horribly as her older twin, Hestia pretended not to notice as Hera cried her eyes out at night in her room for 3 days straight.

In the end it was Demeter who made the most important mistake.

Hera's little Toddler sister had crashed into a shelf and had sent her fathers favorite pottery flying and crashing into the ground.

Their father was already agitated and Demeter made it with all her destruction oh so much worse.

Cronus actually hit her and screamed at Rhea to stop pampering their children.

„You are to nice to them! Don't you understand my dear wife that this way you take away even the little worth they have?"

Her father calmed for a minute and took Demeter. After that Demeter didn't appear in their house anymore.

There was no doubting that her father liked Hestia the best.

It didn't come as a surprise to Hera after all Hestia was a boy stuck in a girls body according to her sister.

Hestia was great at hunting obedient and Hera simply knew that she couldn't compare to her siblings who all had talents her father could brag about at all times.

Hestia was of course the special one as she had the body of a girl but their father didn't hate her for it and besides that she could easily tell the intentions of the people around her and have them get along. Should that fail however could Hestia control flames but the moment Hestia was put under pressure her control of them was lost.

Hera was never able to be around fire anymore after her sister showed her that ability of hers.

„Dearest older sister Hestia can I ask you a question?"

Her speech had been awkward and stilted at best back then.

„Of course you can! But speak up girl, I can hardly hear you if you keep mumbling."

The red curls of her sister obscured her face and Hera fumbled with her hands intimidated.

„Please I don't mean to disrespect but can you tell me why you dress and keep your hair short like our brothers?"

Hestia shifted her weight and Hera felt that she had crossed a line somewhere.

„That's easy little one. You see I am a boy but mother simply gave me the wrong body. Now I have to work harder than our brothers to make sure that I won't be treated like one. Is that all? I have matters to attend you know."

Hera nodded and avoided eye-contact feeling foolish. But Hestia didn't walk away. Instead she motioned to the fire and the flames reached out to her.

Hera could only watch in mute horror as the flames followed her sisters hand and wrapped themselves around her right arm.

Tears poured out of her eyes at that searing burn and Hestia sneered.

„Oh but before I go, little one: take that as a reminder that you shouldn't question your superiors."

Hestia never apologized for that. From that day on Hera avoided her sister even as they came together as the Olympian Council the first time and Hestia claimed the hearth after claiming that she wanted to unite her family.

So what sense would trying make?

She couldn't compare to her siblings in no way so she didn't bother with it.

Her smile turned icy as she watched her siblings developing their talents over the course of years.

Poseidon – he had a temper even worse than her father if angered and Hera privately thought that the water followed him because it was afraid. As the time passed his water manipulation grew from making little swirls in water without touching it to creating giant walls of water promising doom.

Hades – funnily enough he was the one Hera got along with the best. Always nice and polite but hard to notice and they didn't share any interest so Hera stayed away as she didn't want to be a burden. There was also the fact that light refused to touch and burn him. Wherever her brother went the shade followed him and animals came to him to rest. It only grew more unsettling after her brother learned how to extinguish light in a room.

Demeter – she didn't know what talents Demeter had. Hera felt pain in her heart for some reason whenever she thought of Demeter and the things she could be able to do.

Hera – what could she do that could possibly compare to her siblings? On the days she could work up the nerve to think about that for a longer time without comparing herself to her siblings she would answer that she could read people and manage houses. Talking was hard for her that she had no trouble admitting but reading was easy. Hyperion for example feared her father and she could see in his eyes that whenever he came to them and knelled before her father that he plotted something. Would Hera be forced to guess she would say her fathers demise but that was impossible. Everybody she knew healed faster than the creatures around them that looked so much like them. Managing houses was the other thing. She simply had the urge to clean up whenever she saw her siblings clothes somewhere or the blood of her fathers hunts on the floor and the knowledge where to put things. It wouldn't do if something was to be lost forever.

She still liked pretty things and had the weirdest dreams by the time she bled for the first time.

The woman who looked after her said it made her a woman and men would come to make her their wife. She kept talking after that.

It wasn't all that interesting as it was about how to please a husband, how children are fathered and how to best care for them and Hera was really really grossed out.

This very moment she decided that the older people around her were stupid and the idea of having a husband and children became her nightmare.

So instead of focusing on how stupid the idea of deciding how a girl was a woman by bleeding was Hera followed her weird dreams deep into a cave in the middle of the forest.

It was a nice place.

Calm and away from her fathers hunts and her problems at home. However exploring and playing alone soon became boring and Hera took Amaltheia her favorite goat along to play.

It was fun for a few days but the stupid thing insisted on getting lost in the cave and Hera didn't find her after that.

These few days had been perfect and peaceful and absolutely everything Hera wished for.

At the dawn the next morning Hera and her siblings got summoned to stand before her father.

That was the moment things got both worse and better.

„Who of you dares to defy me? I have raised you and given you a place to belong and how do you thank me? By trying to usurp my throne you have made yourselves enemies and I shall punish you brats accordingly!"

Her fathers eyes were wild and crazed in a way that said he hadn't slept for days.

His words were booming around the room and Hera was the only one not flinching away from their mad father.

No he wasn't a father - she wasn't flinching away from the monster that was their progenitor. Hera refused to give him that satisfaction.

Of course Hera was scared, petrified to the bones that she probably wouldn't be able to move a muscle but she didn't let it show. She was a great actress after all and great actresses didn't forget their part the moment they were put under pressure.

Her father detested weakness and while her siblings were all strong and magnificent in their self-confidence and power and sheer strength they cowered.

This moment showed Hera's strength.

She knew it wasn't anything special but it was hers none the less and so she used it to quietly stare at her father and stand proudly with her chin raised.

Yes she was afraid but she was strong enough at least to stand proudly and face her fate.

Their fate glared out of her fathers eyes as they settled on her and Hera kept breathing normally as cool calm settled in her bones.

It was easy to see what awaited them now and Hera had known deep down in her bones it was coming for them as well from the day her father took Demeter.

„So my dear girl it has been you all along? I am impressed with your bravery to try and disappointed with your foolishness to believe you could. But it doesn't matter since you do not have the guts to say it. I shall make all of you suffer for it! Nobody takes me for a fool and not face the consequences!"

Hera smiled. She couldn't tell anymore if it was the usual one to hide her feeling but a real one.

There was no way she was defiant for a real one.

„But father you are mistaken. Hah. You said it yourself enough times I would not have the bravery required to even think about opposing you."

„DO YOU THINK THIS IS FUNNY FOOLISH GIRL?"

„Yes, very father."

Hera wasn't the defiant sibling anyone would tell you that but in this very moment the smile might have been genuine, Hera herself didn't know.

She was just tired of it all as she mentally prepared for what was to come.

In the end there was no way to kill her kind.

Hera knew as she had watched those creatures that looked like her try enough times.

But her father could do the next best thing.

He could control them and keep them from moving anywhere or talking to anyone and so he devoured them starting with Hera.

She didn't fight it, wouldn't with the knowledge that it was futile but sneered at her fathers methods. Had he tried to win their loyalty he wouldn't be having this problem.

But then again: Was there really another way for Cronus to keep the four of them under his constant watch?

Hera had been right: sweet, small Demeter looked up at her as she got dropped in the stomach.

There is one secret Hera will never tell: she actually didn't mind being trapped in her fathers stomach. It was there in this little space after all that she grew fond of her siblings as they couldn't exclude her and then had actually started to turn to her for stories and games and the like on their own accord. Poseidon was genuinely nice to her and Hera vowed to change her act in the future because for now she was to stuck in her ways to drop the act entirely.

But she had hope that she could do that in the future with the help of her siblings. Now that she was closer to her family after that experience she had no reason wanting to change that now did she?