"Thor, put down. Now!" I heard Thor chuckle at my command.

"We will be there soon enough," he comforted. My eyes squeezed tighter. I was pretty sure I was going to see my lunch again, when my feet finally stood on something solid. I slowly opened my eyes to close them again as another wave of dizziness hit me. Thor seemed to notice that I still held him tightly in my grasp and questioned, "Are you alright, Athena?"

"Everything is spinning," I answered, "and my name is Cora." When I made the decision to open my eyes again, I was greeted with one of the most beautiful sights I had ever seen. Large gold palaces glistened in the light, and a multitude of jewels sparkled in artwork decorating the streets. Tall men and women gracefully floated around the streets in fine clothing. "Wow," I gasped.

"Come on, Athena. Let's get you ready," Thor told me as he began to lead me forward.

"Ready for what?" Thor didn't answer me; he kept pushing me towards a building. We stopped just in the entryway of the building as Thor pulled an elegant woman closer to us.

"Tell Hemrod to deliver the news that Athena has returned," he told the woman who immediately ran off with a surprised expression.

"Thor, what is going on here?" He didn't have time to answer me before I was engulfed in a hug.

"Oh, Athena, is it really you?" All I could see was a full head of blonde hair, but the feminine voice sounded familiar.

"Sif," Thor chuckled, "don't suffocate her before she gets to see her family." Sif's arms released their hold on me. I took a step back to fully take in her appearance. Sif was dressed in an elaborate with her long blonde almost white hair placed in braids that crowned her head. Her blue eyes shined with excitement but soon faded as she looked at my face.

"Athena?" Thor whispered something into Sif's ear at her disappointed tone. He joy died at what he said, but she kept a smile on her face. "Come on, Athena. Let's get you into one of your old dresses," Sif told me as she lead me down a hallway into a room.

"It's Cora actually," I corrected her. Sif looked over her shoulder with an odd expression in her eyes.

"Very well," she murmured as you ushered me into a room. "I have one of your old dresses around here somewhere," she murmured more to herself than me as she looked through a little dresser. "Ah here it is." Sif pulled out a royal blue classic Greek dress with open sleeves and gold embellishments.

"It's beautiful," I commented as I ran my hand over the soft fabric.

"You wore it at my and Thor's wedding." I looked at Sif to see her with a soft smile on her face. She shook her head and looked at me. "Come on. Let's get this on you." I quickly undressed, and Sif helped me carefully get into it. "There we go, just as beautiful when you first wore it."

"I guess I'll take your word for it," I told her. I couldn't even imagine wearing something this beautiful before.

"Would you let me do your hair?" Sif asked shyly.

"Sure," I told her. I sat down on the bed as Sif ordered someone in the hallway to go something.

"I always loved your hair, Athena. It's always so soft and beautiful," Sif rambled before freezing. "Cora, I mean." She carefully brushed it and pinned it back out of my face minus my side bangs. Once she was done, the person arrived with a small basket of little blue flowers, and Sif weaved them through my curls. "There. Now you are perfect," Sif announced.

"Thank you, Sif," I replied sheepishly.

"There is no need to thank me." She smiled softly at me before she hugged me and dragging me back to the entryway where Thor was standing.

"Why, you look stunning, Athena," Thor complimented once he saw me, "that dress looks familiar."

"She wore it at our wedding, Sweetheart," Sif reminded him. Thor nodded once, kissed her lips, and grabbed my hand.

"Ready?"

"Are we flying again," I asked cautiously.

"Yes, it is the fastest way," Thor answered. I could feel all the blood leave my face.

"Oh, wait just a moment," Sif instructed as she raced back down the hallway. She reappeared a few minutes later with a royal blue cloak in her hand. "It can get a little chilly traveling through the air," she explained as she fastened the cloak around my neck. I clasped her hand in mine as I thanked her. "Any time. Come and visit me, and I'll answer any questions you have. Or if you just need a break for little while." I nodded my head once before wrapping my arms as best as I could around Thor's waist.

"Alright, go ahead," I grumbled as I closed my eyes.

"It will only be a moment or two," Thor tried to comfort. I once again felt myself being lifted up into the air. The air rushing through my ears was the only sound I could hear for a few moments. When my feet touched the ground again, I could hear nothing but silence. I slowly opened my eyes to see hundreds of smiling faces with all their eyes staring at me.

"Welcome home, Athena," the shouted all together. I had no idea who these people were so I huddled closer to Thor. No one seemed to notice my fear as the crowd became a mass of conversations. A tall man with long white hair and a beard approached Thor and I. His face was free of wrinkles, but his eyes showed his true age. A smile grew on his face when he spotted me before he pulled me into a hug which I struggled to get out of. However, the man was much stronger than I had expected.

"My daughter has finally returned," he announced in a booming voice.

"Um, Zeus," Thor interrupted. Zeus's sky blue eyes fell from me to Thor.

"Thank you, Thor, for finding my daughter and returning her home."

"Sir, there is something I should tell you," Thor once again started to explain. Zeus finally released me and gave Thor his attention. I moved as far away as possible from Zeus, not sure how I should be reacting.

"Athena, why don't you go greet some of your friends," Zeus suggested. I shook my head as I gaze out at the sea of people. If I left Thor side, I was sure it would swallow me up.

"Zeus, please," Thor pleaded. Zeus stared at me for another second before looking at Thor.

"Very well. Go on."

"When I found Athena, she did not remember me. It seems that she has lost her memory." Zeus's face fell.

"What do you mean she has lost her memory?"

"Exactly as I told you, Sir. She has lost her memory and does not remember her life before she lived on Earth."

"My poor Athena," Zeus murmured. "How did you get her to come with you?"

"She has a single memory of me." Zeus now looked directly at me.

"Do you remember me?"

"I'm afraid not," I answered in a quiet voice.

"I am you father," he stated with a sad tone. I eyed him trying to conjure any memories I might have, but alas I had nothing. However, I did not doubt him. One look at his eyes, the same as my eyes, told me the truth. My eyes suddenly welled up with tears which surprised me, and it took me a moment to figure out why. I had finally found the family that I had been missing. I had never thought that I need them, but when confronted with the truth, I did. I tried to covertly wipe away the tears before turning to Thor.

"Thank you," I whispered as I also gave him a hug.

"You are not going to deny that he is your father?" he asked jokingly.

"No, somehow I just know that it is the truth."

"I will check on you tomorrow," Thor told me and started to turn away when I placed a hand on his arm.

"Stay? Please?" Thor nodded.

"Would you like to meet your friends and family?" Zeus asked. I cautiously nodded my head. Zeus wrapped his arm around my waist and lead me forward into the crowd. I reached out to grab Thor's hand to drag him along with us. The first woman we approached had her blonde hair piled on top of her hair and was dressed in pink dress similar to mine. She didn't seem to notice us until Zeus spoke. "Hera," he called. She spun around and took me in.

"Oh, Athena, I'm so happy you're home," she told me as I was pulled into another hug. I awkwardly stood there as this strange woman hugged me. When she finally let go of me, I took a huge step back. Her expression showed her confusion at my actions. "Have I done something wrong, my daughter?"

"You're my mother," I stated, my voice flat with no emotion. I was trying to process this new information, while trying to understand why I had a didn't not feel the same way I had with Zeus. Hera now turned her attention towards Zeus.

"It seems that our daughter has lost her memory," Zeus explained. Hera looked shock but composed herself.

"Well, we are very glad you are back." I nodded my head and gave her one more glance as Zeus steered me into another direction. Word of my memory loss spread like wildfire. My mind was practical swimming from the names of the people I had been introduced to : Hebe, Poseidon, Dionysus, Isis, Hephaestus. All these names meant nothing to me except gods and goddesses from history books. There seemed to be thousands of people gathered in this one place. We had been meeting people for what seemed like hours, and I was getting frustrated with all the unfamiliar faces. I was trying to remember them as hard as I could, but I still came up blank.

"Ah, and here is Aphrodite," Zeus's booming voice drew me out of my thoughts. The woman in front of me gave me a dazzling smile. She was absolutely gorgeous with her golden blonde hair to her waist, her bright blue eyes, and her alabaster skin.

"It's so nice to see you back home," she greeted with a handshake, her voice ringing like bells.

"Thank you," I replied not making a comment about the "back home" thing. For some reason, I felt that she hated me.

"Oh and just call me Venus. Aphrodite is such a mouthful," she told me with a wave of her hand. I nodded as we stood in awkward silence as Zeus and Thor had wandered off somewhere.

"Attie! Attie," I heard someone call. For a moment, I thought it was Thor, but I realized that it was a different voice. I turned around to the crowd slowly parting as someone came running. Soon, I could see a man in classic Greek armor. He had jet black hair and crystal blue eyes that seemed familiar. He finally stopped right in front of me and breathed, "Athena." It suddenly clicked why he looked familiar; he had been in my dream.

"Ares?" A big smile grew on his face before he started to swing me around in a circle.

"You remember," he shouted. I couldn't help but laugh at his actions. Ares finally slowed down and placed me back on my feet. Our foreheads were touching as we tried to catch our breath. "You remember," Ares breathed again.

"No," I told him and his face fell, "but, I remember you." A soft smile returned.

"I heard the news from Thor. He said you lost your memory, but you had some memories. I was afraid you had forgotten me," he confessed.

"Nope, I didn't forget you." His smile grew wider. He looked around at the crowd, and then looked back at me.

"How about we get out of here?"

"Please," I begged. Ares grabbed my hand and dragged me through the enormous crowd to a Pegasus. "A Pegasus?" I questioned.

"It's yours," he told me as I stroked down the Pegasus's nose.

"What?"

"She is yours. I've only been taking care of her until you returned."

"Really?" Ares laughed as I continued to stroke the Pegasus down her nose.

"Why does this surprise you so?" I turned to face Ares, biting my lip.

"I'm scared of heights," I admitted.

"Very well." Ares smirked before moving hoisted himself up before dragging me up with ease, and we were off. My arms tightened around Ares's waist as I buried my face into his back.

"Ares, put us down," I yelled. Ares ignored me and continued onto our destination. A few minutes later, we landed.

"I need you to release me if you wish to get off," Ares whispered as I still held onto him. I quickly removed my arms and sat up straight. We were in the middle of a meadow surrounded by trees. Ares hopped down and lowered me down as well before the Pegasus wandered off in the woods.

"Is she going to be alright," I whispered.

"She'll be fine. Nothing in these woods would harm her," he comforted. I looked at my surroundings. The trees seemed alive and were whispering something I couldn't understand. The wind blew softly and mad the grass sway.

"Where are we?"

"We're in a forest. I don't remember the exact name, but we use to come here all the time together. It was our little hideout," Ares explained. Flower petals came floating on the wind. They circled me before floating away. "The nymphs have welcomed you back."

"Nymphs?"

"The nature spirits. They are know by many names, but we have always called them nymphs." I gave a quick nod before laying on my back to look at the clouds. Ares slowly joined me and grabbed my hand.

"Are you alright?" he questioned, concerned.

"I'm fine just over-whelmed. I don't remember anybody really and there is apparently a lot of people that I know."

"You will do fine," he whispered to me. A few minutes pasted in comfortable silence as I just felt the sun on my skin. "Athena, may I ask you a few questions?" I turned on my side to look at him.

"Go ahead. And please don't call me Athena. At least not yet."

"Why?"

"Cora is the only name I've known. Or you can call me Attie. Everybody has called me Attie because of my middle name." Ares now turned towards me.

"How do you know that I'm Ares?" I closed my eyes and took a deep breath before answering with my eyes closed.

"I had this dream which I guess now is a memory. It begins with me sitting at a temple watching the people in the market. I then turn to see a little boy. We sit there for a few minutes before he places this slobbery kiss on my cheek. We ran off and dueled with wooden swords, and the little boy won. Then we just laid down and watched the clouds pass by. We started talking and we made a vow to never get married. I knew you were Ares because I recognized your eyes." The silence was deafening. I didn't know what Ares reaction was, so I slowly opened my eyes to look at his face.

His blue eyes bore straight into my soul, and I found it hard to breathe. His expression was serious, but it was filled with love and pain at the same time. I felt like I couldn't move, but, honestly, I didn't want to. Our heads had a magnetic pull towards one another until our foreheads touched.

"Is that the only memory you have of me?"

"Well, there is one where you and Thor blindfold me for a birthday surprise. You know that you are really mean to me in my memories." We both chuckled before falling silent. Ares closed his eyes and took a deep breath, before his eyes stared into mine. I didn't know what was going to happen, but I couldn't find myself being close enough to him.

"Hey, Lovebirds, there you are," a voice rang from above. We broke apart and looked up to see a figure up in the sky.

"Hermes, that's not funny," Ares shouted at the figure. Hermes floated down to flutter near the ground.

"Well, hello there, Athena," he greeted me.

"Hello, Hermes. And it's Cora, actually." The man before me had a head full of curly, blonde hair along with blue eyes that had a mischievous glint. He flashed me a smile that I couldn't help but return.

"What were you two doing in the woods all alone? People might get ideas about that," Hermes teased. Ares came up behind him to slap him on the back of the head.

"I was getting a little overwhelmed with everything, so Ares was sweet enough to take me here so that I could take a break." Hermes turned to Ares. I couldn't see what he was doing, but it must have irritated Ares because his face was quickly turning red.

"Enough," he commanded.

"Hermes, behave," I chided to see Hermes face me with an innocent smile.

"Who? Me?"

"Oh, yes, you." Hermes snapped his fingers and shook his head in defeat.

"You got me."

"Now, why don't you tell us the reason you are here?" Ares questioned.

"You mean I can't drop in on some old friends to say hello?" By Ares's face, I guessed that Hermes didn't do that very often. "Fine, Zeus wanted Athena back home. He thought she might have wandered off and got lost."

"I guess we should be heading back then," I told Ares. He nodded and grabbed my hand and lead me through the woods with Hermes following close behind. "Are we looking for Isis?" I questioned.

"No, we aren't that far away from the city," Ares answered.

"Then why did we take the Pegasus?" Ares flashed me a smile.

"I thought it would be more fun."

"And we wouldn't want to ruin your beautiful dress," Hermes added. Both men snorted at Hermes's comment. I raised an eyebrow at them, but neither one commented. The trees were thinning out until the city came fully into view. Ares had let go of my hand and stood to talk to a man coming our way with Hermes. Knowing that I would have no clue what they were talking about, I decided to wander down the streets. My feet led me right up to a large temple-like building. "Athena," I heard Hermes call.

"I'm right here." Ares and Hermes came running around a corner.

"How did you get here, 'Thena?" Hermes asked. He seemed genuinely confused at my actions.

"I don't know. My feet led me here." Hermes and Ares shared a delighted look.

"This is your house. Well Ares's and your's house," Hermes explained.

"Don't forget Apollo and Artemis," Ares added while throwing a glare at Hermes.

"So we all live here?"

"Yes, come on. I'll take you to your room so you can get ready for bed."

"Bye, Hermes," I said before I followed Ares into the house. It had a common room with four hallways splitting off from it. It looked exactly like the pictures of how the temple would look like in ancient Greece. Art was everywhere and it seemed to add to the beauty of the home. I followed Ares closely in order to keep from getting lost. He led me down one hallway to a dark wood door that had owls carved into it.

"This is your room. Goodnight, sweet dreams," Ares told me, pulling me into his arms.

"Goodnight, Ares." I lifted myself onto my tiptoes to place a kiss on his cheek before turning around to face the door. Ares's arms tightened around me and seemed to refuse to let go.

"Good night, indeed," he whispered into my ear after placing a kiss on the side of my forehead. Ares's arms released me before disappearing out of sight. I took a deep breath before entering the room of my old life.

The room was draped in blue silk fabric that hung from the ceiling and gave it an Arabian theme. Owl decorations were scattered around the room of different materials. A bay window on the far wall gave me a magnificent view of the city. A desk was placed on my left filled with scrolls that looked like they belonged in a museum. The bed was close by the window that you still see the city while laying down. I quickly undressed and crawled under the blankets before falling asleep.