Author's note: Ok, so this prologue is going to be beyond confusing, but that's partially the idea. (Heck, they're Goddesses. What would they be if they weren't confusing?) The chapters after this take place mostly in the 'Real world' again, so this will be the only chapter which is confusing to this extent. Some quick explanations to make the reading a little easier:
Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos are the three fates.
Clotho is in charge of the actual weaving, and is sort of in charge of the past. She nearly changes into Alecto, who is a fury (the unceasing Fury) but doesn't. She turns into Spēs, the Goddess of Hope. She returns to her Clotho form.
Lachesis begins as Saraswati, the Hindu Goddess of Wisdom and Knowledge. She then changes into her Lachesis form.
Atropos begins as herself, then changes into Dārza Māte, the Goddess of Practical Aspects (or Practicality, for the purposes of this chapter), and then returns to her Atropos form.
Basically, I imagine all Goddesses as reflecting personalities and different aspects of each other, so when one goddess starts feeling practical, she turns into Dārza Māte, or when one starts trying to find the wisest course to take, she turns into Saraswati.
As always, I don't own Cowboy Bebop. Nor do I own the names of these Goddesses – although I have created my own mythology around them (sort of).
Fata
Prologue
The temperature dropped to subzero Celsius and there was a surge in the energy. The energy felt electrical, uncomfortable, fluctuating. The air was full of dissatisfaction and it was only a matter of time before something erupted. This was the domain of the three Goddesses, their current domain. They shifted as and when they wanted. They changed into other Goddesses as and when they wanted to. They were something else altogether, a force to be reckoned with; a force to withstand; a force to be admired.
Atropos spoke first, Greek Goddess of the Future. Her skin was a pleasant golden, her face sculpted into beautiful sorrow. "And now, they're both dying." Her voice trembled piteously. She was always the most optimistic, and as a result, the disappointment was always the hardest for her to bear. The oldest of the three – so called – but who knew? Who was the one to decide that she was the oldest? "And that leaves Faye – by herself."
Clotho spoke next, Greek Goddess of the Past. She was the youngest – supposedly – and always spoke next. Her fingers were playing with each other in a nervous habit that she sometimes developed. "What do we do? It's just not working." She was beginning to grow angry. She always turned angry first, too, and this time was no different. Her nails were growing longer and sharper; her facial features were changing slightly. Her nose became stronger and straighter, a truly Roman nose. Her forehead elongated and became regal. She was slowly turning into Alecto, the Greek Unceasing Fury, and if she wasn't stopped, somebody would pay for it; some human, that is. Several probably, so the last sister intervened.
Supposedly the middle in age, but sometimes, she was the youngest or the oldest. She hadn't realised it but she herself had turned into Saraswati, the Hindu Goddess of Knowledge. Her skin had darkened into a deep, beautiful brown. Her eyes had turned large; her hair was black and fell to her waist. She was wearing a simple white sari. "We need to do something."
The other two turned towards her. Clotho was still Clotho, fortunately. Atropos spoke again, her voice still trembling. "But what do we do? What can we do? We're bound by rules, too." Her voice held despair but Saraswati wasn't phased. The Saraswati in her was in full control and carefully thinking things through.
"There's always something we can do." Saraswati turned towards her. Clotho had changed into Spēs, the Roman Goddess of Hope. Her eyes sparkled like the eyes of a child did, and her lips curled upwards. Yes, she was hope. "We just need to think about it carefully. How do we make it go according to plan?"
Saraswati tapped her fingers together, something she did when there was a plan swirling in her head. The other two watched with abated breath, knowing but not knowing what the result would be. She spoke slowly and cautiously. "What if...we...started it all over again, this time." She turned towards the other two, excited now, and the atmosphere changed accordingly, warming up and colours began to swirl around the room, creating a dizzying effect.
Atropos spoke, her voice regaining its optimism. "They're still alive. They're not dead yet. Which means..."
Spēs spoke, her fingers running through her thick, brown hair. "We can unravel the tapestry. Only Julia's dead yet – we can still start this story again, right?"
"Of course we can." Atropos had regained any optimism she had ever lost. "We just need to be a little creative."
"We'll have to." Was the grim response from Saraswati.
"How do we undo Julia's death?" Atropos had transformed into Dārza Māte, the Latvian Goddess of Practical Aspects. Her face had turned heart shaped, a rich, light brown hair tumbling to her shoulders. It was time to get down to business, decide what was to be done to avert a possible disaster. "It's easy to prevent Vicious and Spike from dying but what do we do about Julia? And how do we reconcile Vicious and Spike?" She snorted. "Humans find it difficult to let go off their emotions."
Spēs returned back to her Clotho form, with little optimism or despair in her voice. This was her domain and she felt in control. There was no need for optimism; she knew just what she could do and what she would do. "I could elongate her thread – weave ends to it. Make her life last longer, but what would that accomplish? How would that change the outcome?"
Saraswati spoke again, tapping her finger together in a familiar fashion. "We change something. Otherwise, we could end up in the same place again. We have to change the parameters somehow, change the circumstances." She spoke decisively. "What do we change then?"
Dārza Māte thought out loud, slowly, tentatively but also logically. "We have to change something towards the start – the start of the ridiculous Spike and Vicious feud, I mean. If we change something later, it'll possibly be pointless."
Saraswati continued her train of thoughts. "And if we changed something too early, the alterations could be huge."
"Whitney." Clotho's voice held decision but no evidence of remorse. "We kill Whitney. We shorten his thread so that he dies around that time."
"That would alter things." Saraswati agreed, but a little doubtfully. "That would change things for Faye, but would it change things for Vicious and Spike?"
"It's destiny." Clotho suddenly seemed older than the other two. Maybe she had become older than them? She spoke sombrely. "It's their destiny. We've known it. We know it. We've been unfortunate so far, but how much longer need we be?"
Dārza Māte nodded, agreeing. "Who else will have a big impact to begin with? Mao? That's too unpredictable. Shin? Lin? Too unlikely to have a large effect. Whitney is our best hope – our only hope. He has to die."
Saraswati nodded finally, giving the final consent. "So we have to kill Whitney." She turned to Clotho. "Bring the tapestry."
She brought the tapestry. It was beyond what any words could describe. There were threads for everyone who was alive, and who had been alive. There were threads for those who could become alive. Each thread was a separate, individual colour, many beyond the visual scale. The threads were moving as if it were alive, changing, shifting, slowly altering to reflect the choices the humans made. Clotho placed this tapestry between her sisters.
They separated a thread from amongst the numerous, a thread that was an off-white shade. Dārza Māte returned to her Atropos form and she transformed her hand into a dagger. Saraswati had returned to her Lachesis form and she measured the thread out to the very precise point. "This is when Vicious decided to give Julia the ultimatum." She announced to the others.
"I shall cut it just before it." Atropos said, in her low, throaty voice. There was no need though. The three sisters were the one, the same and all others at the same time. They knew everything and yet, knew as little as the humans did themselves. Nevertheless, they often spoke their thoughts out loud. Atropos moved her dagger-hand towards the thread, and the atmosphere seemed to still. It seemed to await some occurrence, the way the three sisters were, and once the thread was cut, the atmosphere began to buzz with the same emotions that the three sisters were feeling.
Clotho reached her hands out towards the tapestry, drawing a sparkling blue thread towards her. Her fingers seemed to barely touch the thread, but it grew longer, all the same. She left the end undone. More often than not, the humans chose their own endings. It was only very rarely that the Fates interfered. Whitney was the first they had interfered with in a while, since they had chosen to kill Faye's family. But both actions had been necessary and so, they had been done.
Lachesis took the tapestry, holding it in the space between her hands, looking at it closely as the threads resettled amongst each other and continued pulsating. "So it begins again." She said, as the tapestry seemed to shimmer into nonexistence before their eyes. The colours in the room had mellowed down now, awaiting events, just as the three sisters were. "We now wait to see what happens." She sat down again, and the room began to shimmer with images beyond counting, of all that was taking place, all that had taken place and all that could take place.
And so it began again.
Author's note: I'm sorry this was so confusing, as I imagine it must have been. It was confusing for me to write too, but this was predominantly intentional. These are Goddesses after all – how in the world could we understand them? But from the next chapter, the majority of the actions will take place amongst humans and in the normal world.
I also have a feeling that this will end up eventually as a Roswell cross-over, which wasn't really my intention to begin with, but we'll see where this leads. I can tell you that any Roswell-ness won't take place for the next several chapters, for sure.
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