I didn't recognise the woman in front of me. But, even though I'm gay, I could tell she was beautiful. I had never seen anyone so beautiful. I wasn't attracted to her, but she was so dazzling I couldn't look away. It was like seeing a sunset, or the Aurora Borealis, or the Isles of the Blest.

She had tanned skin, long, golden hair, and blue eyes. She sort of looked like my boyfriend, but somehow even more radiant. She was wearing casual clothes: a pink cardigan over a white shirt and blue jeans. A large, pink sun hat with a red ribbon around it was on her head. She was just as beautiful as Aphrodite, but somehow… friendlier. Kinder. More gentle. She was familiar, too. I felt like I could approach her and tell her my entire life story. I felt like she would understand. Talking to her would be like talking to an old friend.

She was sitting on a grassy field, a mountain in the background. It was nice and sunny, with only a few clouds in the sky, even though I was sure it was Winter. For some reason, though, that didn't bother me too much. She had a picnic rug set out, and a picnic basket beside her. On the picnic rug was all different kinds of generic picnic food, like sandwiches, cookies, fruit juice, and so on. There was also a teapot, and a few teacups. The thought of tea was weirdly relaxing.

I was lying on the picnic rug. I sat up, shielding my eyes. Everything looked fine, but for some reason, I felt like something bad had happened, but I couldn't figure out what.

"Are you hungry?" the woman asked me, smiling. "You're allowed to eat."

I actually was kind of hungry, so I picked up one of the sandwiches. It was just your average cheese sandwich, but for some reason, eating it made me feel a lot better. It was like eating ambrosia.

The woman, still smiling at me, helped herself to a cup of tea.

"Herbal tea like this is really good for stress relief," she told me, "and lowering your blood pressure. Try some."

I nodded, pouring some red herbal tea into a teacup. I drank it; it was just the right temperature, and I found myself calming down, just a little.

"Feeling better?" the woman asked.

I nodded, my muscles un-tensing. Her presence was calming. I hadn't felt so relaxed in a long time.

"Yeah," I said. "Thanks."

The woman gave me another smile. "You're welcome, Nico. Feel free to help yourself to the cookies; they're all homemade. Please tell me what you think of them."

"Uh, sure," I said, picking up a chocolate chip cookie. I bit it into it, and almost smiled from how good it tasted. It made me think of being at Camp with Will, or sitting around a campfire with no one to get in my space. It made me feel… warm inside.

"Wow," I said, wiping crumbs off my face. "This is amazing."

"Ah, I'm glad you think so!" the woman clapped her hands. "I've been spending the past few weeks trying to figure out how to make the best chocolate chip cookies. My husband thinks I should add more sugar. What do you think?"

"They're… fine," I said. I stared at the half-eaten cookie in my hand. I scowled.

What happened? I thought. I can't remember…

The woman gave me a concerned glance. "Is something bothering you, Nico?"

"Yeah, it's just…" I looked around. "I feel like… something really bad happened, but I don't know what."

The woman gave me a sad smile. "Oh, Nico, we all feel that way sometimes. But it's not your fault. You did everything you could, and that's what matters." She looked away. "I bet others will try to tell you that your best isn't good enough... but in reality, your best is all you have, and if they can't accept that… then that's their problem."

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"Something bad did happen," the woman said, looking away. "And… when you remember what is, will you be able to forgive yourself? You've been through so much already. Sometimes you need to stop and smell the roses before picking yourself up again."

"Wait, I don't get it," I said, staring at her. "What happened?"

The woman chuckled to herself. "Well, a little while ago… I fell in love with a man. He was kind, with good intentions. He had a lot of faith in the world. Despite being forced to move to another country and leave his family behind, he was able to keep going. He was always actively volunteering, you know, giving away his time to others. He was one of the best people I'd ever met. It didn't take much for us to fall in love. And soon, I was pregnant with my first ever demigod child. But… during the pregnancy, I had a dream. The Oracle told me that our child was destined to lay down her life to destroy the remnants of Gaia's uprising.

"Of course, I didn't want our child to die. Especially not my first demigod child. No god wants their demigod child to die, Nico. But… no matter what, you can't run away from fate. The life of a demigod is a hard one, is it not? I tried to explain this to the father, but it only made him angry. He told me he would not let our child die. He swore it to me. Oh how I wanted to believe him, but… the Fates are not always kind to mortals, especially ones like him. No matter how much I tried to convince him, he was very stubborn on the matter.

He died to protect our child, of course. She meant everything to him. And she ran away. I felt pity. I had to do something to make sure all of his efforts weren't in vain. So I asked for the guidance of a demigod to protect our child. A mellow and powerful demigod who understands life and death better than others. A demigod who could lead our child to her fate. And then I thought of you, Nico di Angelo."

I stared at her, for a while. Then I remembered.

"You…" I trembled, "... you're Isabella's mother."

"I am," she said, with a tearful smile.

My hands were shaking. The grass around me began turning yellow.

"Who are you?!" I demanded. "Did Isabella ever…?"

"You know I am, don't you?" the woman asked.

I stared at her again. I'd seen her before, in a dream. She had butterfly wings, was a goddess… and (that idiot) Eros had mentioned her… she was right. I knew who she was.

"You're Psyche," I replied. "Goddess of the Soul."

Psyche was famous for the myth of falling in love with (sigh, that idiot) Eros. She was also famous for supposedly being even more beautiful than Aphrodite, who consequently tried to ruin her life because (ughh) Eros was her 'son'. Psyche ended up going on a quest to try and earn (bleh) Eros' love back. The quest ended with her being turned into a goddess, and she became Goddess of the Soul and human suffering.

Psyche nodded. "That's me."

I clenched my fists. "Isabella…" My eyes widened. "I can't feel her soul. When people die, I can feel their souls being taken to the Underworld, but I can't feel her soul at all. I'm not sure if she's alive or dead."

"She is gone," Psyche told me. "She sacrificed her soul to stop the monster uprising. But she didn't want the same to happen to you. Once she had the power she needed, she pushed you away… to protect you."

"Gone," I repeated. "But she can't be-"

"When I became a goddess, my mortality was erased," Psyche told me. "If mortality itself can be erased, so can the soul of a mortal. Do you understand?"

I didn't know what to say. I just sat there, trembling.

"I avoided having demigod children for thousands of years," Psyche told me. "I am the Goddess of human suffering. I knew that if I were to have a demigod child, they would most likely suffer just as much as I did. I couldn't do that to a human. Not to mention, I didn't think my husband would forgive me for my infidelity. But then I met Nathan Johnson, through mortal volunteering. I had never met a mortal like him before… and soon, we were in love."

I stood up. The grass was drying up. Dark clouds covered the sky. A cold, sharp breeze passed us. Bones were bursting out of the ground.

"It's not fair to you, either," Psyche said, sighing as she stared at the clouds. "I'm sorry, Nico. You've been through too much. You deserve better than this."

I stared at her. I had to admit... she was one of the very few gods to actually apologise about something.

"This is all I can do to make it up to you," Psyche told me, still hiding her face. "After all, my husband was mocking you about your sexuality… I gave him a scolding after that. But… in the end, you can't run away from fate. And you can't hide from your fears forever. At least, take a moment to stop and smell the roses before facing reality again."

"This place isn't real?" I asked.

"This is your psyche," Psyche told me. "It's controlled by your emotions."

"Oh," I said, staring at the decaying grass. I felt my eyes water. Thunder boomed from above, and rain began to fall down. We sat in silence for a few moments. The rain kept pouring, and the grass was dying. Then it began to slow.

"Are you ready?" Psyche asked.

I clenched my fists.

"Yeah," I uttered, my voice hoarse. "I'm ready."

"You'll be okay, Nico," Psyche said, smiling at me. "You're strong."

And then everything went white.