In her father's stomach, there lay five, imprisoned since birth to prevent a maybe, a possibility foreseen and cursed by their grandmother's vengeful words at her own son, their sire. Hestia, Hades, Demeter, Poseidon, and Hera.

Living in darkness, in the prison made naturally with unnatural prisoners trapped within, that was all her world, all her life, but then, the last child, the strongest of them all, he freed them and rid the world of their evil sire, and they were all in the light, and Demeter, middle, charmless Demeter, not plain but not special, she found that life was rather unfair sometimes as her sisters were showered with affection while she stayed in the background.

She may be the middle child, the one that's always supposed to be forgotten – because she's just a girl, isn't it? – but that doesn't mean that she's stupid. She saw how everyone stared so much at her sisters, the calm and serene Hestia, and the fiery, beautiful Hera, and never poor Demeter, the only thing remarkable about her being her lack of similarities with her sisters and her empty beauty at first glance.

Well, Zeus was quick enough to snatch Hera up as his own, claiming her like a prize like he did to the throne and crow to the world to show off his lovely wife. Demeter laid back and let it happen, thinking the prettiest one of them all deserved it. She didn't deserve the lack of attention, or the unfaithful husband, but she is a good queen.

And then, she watched when Hades sunk deep into the earth, not caring about anything except himself, and she wished she could be as off and uncaring as him, because it was her fault that she cared too much, and always ended up letting a metaphorical dagger pierce her immortal heart over and over again.

-But that's a lesson learnt later, with centuries under her girdle and countless scars from broken hearts, not when she's a brand-new maiden with immortal life and youth and beauty and there's an entire new world uncultivated-

X-x-X

Bright, sunny Apollo, and tempestuous Poseidon, both seek out the hand of the same daughter of Kronos as their bride.

It's not her, of course. She's one of the witnesses to the proposal at her older and younger sister, who looks rather surprised at the attention she's being given. Watching through locks of her golden hair, her head bowed like a grain crop, she can't help but be jealous.

-Does anyone really remember her?-

X-x-X

Hestia doesn't want war over something as petty as pride, and she vows to be a virgin forever. To her, that seems like a waste, because Hera won't be unfaithful to her unfaithful husband, so two daughters of Kronos and Rhea will never bear the children of mortals, bless the world with the heroes.

Demeter would have sworn that half the men turned to her with lust and ambition in their eyes, which was a bad thing because all they wanted was to use her for their own gain, but at the time, she was too happy at the attention to care.

X-x-X

For someone who'd just been rejected by his 'love', the lord of the oceans was rather persistent in his courting her. Well, she thought it courting, and thought it sweet indeed back when she was truly an innocent maiden, but all the ocean-eyed man had been looking for was someone to have a fling with, someone who wasn't his wife.

-Was he married when he was pursuing her? She doesn't remember-

X-x-X

Children, she bore him, and gave part of her heart which she never does anymore, and he left, moving onto new conquests.

And that was all she really was to him, a conquest, a trophy.

Devastated, she threw herself at the man who showed the first slightest interest, although his interests were not slight at all, her brother Zeus. She hadn't quite learned her lesson before from one brother, but she did then after two, her only consolation being her precious Persephone whom she vowed to keep away from such creatures that men were.

Her last brother struck at her with treachery then, tearing from her heart pieces and Persephone. She wandered the earth, punishing innocents for the selfish, greedy deeds of another, and wept some more when she learned of her daughter's fate, of walking the Over and Underworlds. Her poor, poor, daughter, with such a husband that would never be faithful…

That kind of devotion just wasn't in the bloods that flowed in their veins, she knew. Perhaps the taint had escaped her sisters, and the trainer of heroes, but it affected all of the godly sons, the fire always burning eternally within them, never letting them be satisfied with just one spouse, and perhaps her, too, she had that taint, for she still craved the attention and love, wanting something to fill in the empty void and chunks of her ripped and broken heart that just wouldn't mend no matter what. She hid such devastated feelings, choosing to instead hold her head up, no longer the innocent maiden but a proud, caring mother – and who can claim such amongst gods? – who searches for someone that can make her happy, back when she was young and thought herself to be in eternal love with the ocean's playful, ever-changing waves around herself.

X-x-X

No one ever would know, but the ocean god does the same, because like his unforgettable charms, the woman with the Titan Lord's blood within her is just too memorable for her own good, and he can't forget her for anything, not that hidden, secret allure only she has.

X-x-X

And when her daughter, one of her strongest from this modern generation that fought both for and against them when their sire rose from slashed and cut-up pieces asked for her blessing for the marriage with the Hermes boy, it wasn't the boy Demeter was thinking of when she told them to be faithful to each other.

X-x-X

"She's too much like me," she explained, wondering why she was having a private conversation with her brother after so long.

A single eyebrow over sea-green eyes rose in silent questioning, and Demeter had to hold onto her self-control. "You wouldn't understand."

"Wouldn't I?" his voice was soft, like playful waves, such that are never truly the ocean's properties.

"You would," she gave in. "But I don't want to go through it now."

He didn't press her. "You already gave them their blessings."

Demeter laughed then, a dry, emotionless one. "She would have wanted to be with him either way."

Crack-ish pairing... Yeah, I'm weird...

I have no idea what this is. Maybe I'll write something for the Travis/Katie hint there one day... but in the meantime...