RandomFrenchGirl: At least, you are positive!XD

X: You are gonna love this chapter and the next ones. Everything will go better for Delphina from now. She will still have some remaining trials but the happy ending is coming closer.

Guest1: Glad that you love the story.

Guest2: Updated!

7DeadlySins: Of course, there was angst. Have you not learn that from me?XD At least, I am glad you saw that they both calmed down. I am happy you loved Apollo's point of view (it is clear he would kill anybody trying to date Delphina before they get a chance!^^") For Delphina's powers, you will learn more about it in the next chapters. Odysseus will be back in the picture. Just not yet. Be patient. I am very touched by your comment about school. If other readers are reading this, I just want to tell you as someone autistic who luckily finished school two years ago that I can only imagine how difficult it must be to study in this particular situation. But don't give up! Stay stong, it will pass. You have my full support! ;)

Thank you for your comments!

Chapter 33: Nereus

It had been a while since Poseidon received a visit from Zeus in his own palace. As the master of Olympus, he rarely bothered to move if he had to see someone. No, he would summon them instead. If he just wanted company, well, his home was numerously populated. He didn't lack any children to converse with. He had his wife and his absence of reluctance to cheat. Poseidon would mostly see him when there was an audience of the twelve Olympians. That was all. It suited him very well since he was left alone in the rule of his own kingdom.

But here and now, Zeus presented himself in the underwater palace without any warning. Poseidon had no other choice to offer him a seat and give a piece of his time to discuss with the King of the Gods.

A servant had brought them drink and food. As soon she left, Poseidon took the lead. "It is very nice of you to come to visit me. But I suspect you have specific things that you want to talk with me in order to travel here."

"Very direct as usual, Brother." Zeus replied.

"You know me. I don't like losing my time."

"Of course. Well, I came here because we need to talk about a deity belonging to your domain: Delphina."

Poseidon growled in dissatisfaction. He took his drink, closed his eyes and deposited his glass on the table. After reflection, he opened his eyes and spoke. "I still don't know where she is. I can feel her presence in the sea, but she has been pretty well hidden in the last ten years."

"Your servants are still searching?"

"Look! I am just as worried as everyone else. Don't think the situation doesn't annoy me. The dolphins stopped obeying me and interacting with mankind. My wife would not cease to ask me if I got any news about her. Add all the Nereids who are searching as well and constantly reminding me of the situation. I don't need my brother to join the club as well!"

"Be calm, my brother. You are too quick to lose your temper. It is hard for me as well. I have to bear the changing moods of my son."

"If you want my honest opinion, you spoiled that boy too much. Giving him so many attributes and powers. Allowing him to take the center of the world as his sanctuary. And now, you are helping him in his love affairs!"

Everybody knew that Apollo was Zeus's favourite son. It might come from the fact that he had always preferred Leto among his uncountable lovers. A huge contrast with how he treated Ares, his only legitimate son. But it was pretty understandable. Apollo was gifted with so many qualities. Overall, he had always respected his father. Fine! They might have gotten serious conflicts in the past. Still, Apollo was someone Zeus could most of the time trust to give him support. After Uranus, Cronus and himself, it was such a relief to finally see the King of the Gods have a healthy relationship with his most powerful son. But also, a feeling of genuine love.

Zeus responded. "I want to see him happy. And that woman is the key to his happiness."

Poseidon retorted. "After all these years, after all these numerous lovers, I can't believe he always goes back to her. I will give him that. He is far more patient than you and I."

"I agree. He is more devoted than we will ever be. It makes me laugh to think that you had once proposed to Delphina. Do you sometimes imagine how it would have been if she had said yes?"

"Ho! I do. What I concluded is how lucky I am that she refused. Of course, she is gorgeous, compassionate and resourceful but she can be hot-tempered when she wants to. With Amphitrite, there is never big drama."

"For that, I envy you, Brother." Zeus replied, referring his difficult relationship with Hera, too proud to assume his own faults with his cheating behavior.

"And I dare to add, since your son fell in love at first sight, it would have probably put him in distress if she had been taken. Remember how the fool asked if he could ask her hand in marriage at three days old?"

"He was already so mature and yet, still naïve. I knew that Delphina would refuse and yet I let him. He tried to find love elsewhere but never succeeded but, in the end, it was clear she had always been the one. She only needed more time to fall in love with him."

"And now, she did. However, she is hiding in shame for her actions. Honestly, it is not even that worse in comparison to what most gods have done, including you and I."

"I agree. And her disappearance brought even more sufferings to my son. She needs to get her head back on her shoulders and return to her duties! If it was up to me, I would force her to marry Apollo. Problem resolved! But he thought it was too radical."

Poseidon smiled. He remembered when Zeus told him about his agreement with his son ten years ago. "And yet, he still came to you for an intervention. You were ready to obligate this marital union without caring about Delphina's opinion. Surprisingly, your son demanded something else."

"He wanted her back to Delphi. But her oath represented an obstacle. Well, we both found a hole to this. She said: I swear upon the Styx River that I will never come back to Delphi on my own will. The key word is 'own will'."

Poseidon laughed. "Your words were clear. You gave the order that as soon a piece of skin of Delphina will be exposed to the sun, then, the goddess would be obligated to resume her role as the patron of Delphi. Nobody can disobey you without facing grave consequences. You even allowed Apollo to grab her himself if she got exposed to his sunrays. The key word is 'if'."

The delicacy of the situation was exposed. Nobody knew where the goddess was. She had stopped responding to prayers, her dolphins had cut their interactions with mortals and the rumor said she had even lost her godly powers she had gained the day she had created the sea mammals.

Both gods didn't want to imagine the stress Apollo was going through.

Suddenly, a guard penetrated the room. Startled by the interruption, Poseidon gave his servant a scary glare. The subordinate trembled and bowed. "Forgive me, My Lord. But we just received a visit from Nereus. The news he reported were too important."

"What is it?"

"He has found Lady Delphina."

One hour sooner

As the old man of the sea, Nereus knew the sea better than anyone else, even Poseidon.

And yet, it took him ten years to finally localise the place where Delphina found refuge. He never imagined it would be so deep in the abyss. Well, since it was the last place he hadn't checked, she was better to be there.

A huge weight was lifted up from his shoulders of an adoptive father when he recognized her silhouette.

Nereus did well to have brough a lamp that could go underwater. Delphina lived completely in the darkness, trusting echolocation to orientate herself in the space. She lived in a cave, certainly feeding herself with the few fish passing here. Clearly not so many as he could see she had lost weight. Her skin was so pale, a sign she had been away from the sun for so long. Her hair was a mess, result from neglection.

He didn't miss her tail. So, the rumor was true. She got back her original blue fish-like tail. He guessed it wasn't intentional or else she would not have run away from everyone and lived in isolation for ten years. Her trauma and guilt had completely destroyed her mind. She was in mental distress. As her figure father, he had one duty: helping her.

The merman with his green fish-like tail, his muscled chest and his long white beard approached his protégée who was sat on a rock, deep in reflection. She covered her eyes as she was blinded by the first light she received in a decade. At least, she didn't try to escape.

"Delphina." He called softly. He couldn't hide his worry and love in his voice. Not knowing where she was had tormented restlessly. The same applied to all her relatives.

However, scolding her for the trouble she had caused would do no good. He needed to be delicate as his adoptive daughter had been morally broken to the lowest point. He had yet to understand what brought her there.

As he approached her, she finally whispered. "I'm… I'm a coward."

"Glad you didn't lose your ability to speak despite your long solitude. Well, after ten years, I think you are ready to talk. You need to."

He took a seat beside her. She was keeping her head low. Was she still ashamed of what she did to Troy? Or was she ashamed of the fact she had preferred to avoid everybody instead of facing her faults? Probably both.

"I messed up everything. I am guilty of all my crimes. Even my godly powers left me."

"Don't be ridiculous. You are still a goddess."

"How can you be so sure? The mortals have stopped to pray to me since that day."

The last statement shocked him. In reality, mortals were still praying to her but strangely they stopped receiving any answer. There were more people drowning than before. Less success in fishing than ever. Not a single dolphin had been spotted by a mortal to the point that some believed they had all died in response to the despair of their mistress. Others thought that she purposely ignored them considering what happened to Troy. They thought she had snapped in chagrin because of Achilles's death and that made her turn away against mankind.

None of those theories were true. In fact, it seemed that Delphina was now completely unable to hear mortal's prayers. Only one explanation: she had unconsciously rejected herself as a goddess. When a deity did that, they would automatically cut their link with humans. It was rare though. After all, when would you hear about a god giving up all the powers and the prestige of godhood? Such rarity explained why Delphina didn't suspect this phenomenon to be responsible of the absence of prayers in her ears. She certainly didn't even know it was possible.

He chose to not tell her anything. It would just worsen instead of helping her.

In order to repair her, it was necessary to go back to the roots. Nereus put a hand on her shoulder. "My dear child. I need you to open up. You have keeping too much to yourself."

"What do you want me to say?"

"Tell me how it all began. Why being the Goddess of Dolphins was so important for you?"

She turned to him, offering her most intense stare. She hesitated as the question disturbed her. She bit her lips. What to answer? "I…". She reflected, digging in her deepest memories. "Do you remember when I was young?"

"You were young for a long time. You need to be more specific."

"Do you remember how disappointed I was that you refused to let me call you Father?"

That issue again? "Yes. And we did talk about it. I may have raised you, but I am not your real father. Atlas is. You have to accept that."

"I know. But… I remember when you were invited to a social event and you could bring your family along. I wanted to come but you always said no. I am not a Nereid, you said. It would be inappropriate to bring a maiden to whom you had no right to claim paternity. In other words, you deliberately told me I wasn't your daughter."

"It was the truth."

"A strangling truth. I was stuck with a father who had been sentenced to hold the sky and a mother who had refused to take care of me and my twin. How do you think I envisioned my future at the time?"

To be honest, Nereus had rarely thought about it. He had just ensured that all their needs were met. Also, the subject of her biological parents had always been difficult to bring on the table with her around. He could only guess how she felt toward the whole thing.

"I will not apologize for that." The old man retorted. "No matter how much affection I have toward you, I could never steal the place of Atlas. I think you can understand me. After all, you have forbidden Asclepius to call you Mother for the same reasons."

"It is not the same. I asked him to call me 'Godmother'. It is a status, just different from the one belonging to Coronis."

"Are you telling me you would have felt better if I would have let you call me 'Godfather'?"

"I don't know. Maybe… Did you know how much I admire you?"

"I recall having heard you saying that many times in the past."

"Well… Now, you deserve more details."

She sighed then, she smiled to him. "When I was young and I looked upon you, I mostly saw you as a good man. A caring and loving adoptive father with a great sense of humor and a wise authority. The feeling of abandon still stunk but your presence was such a good remedy. I was lucky to fall between your hands. I will forever be grateful for what you did."

She pursued. "Then, I grew up. Being more educated and closer to the maturity of adulthood, I was more aware of who you are. Or mostly of how the others see you… I saw respect, admiration, love and trust. I sought why you inspired these emotions in the hearts of people. I compared you with the other gods and titans. I learnt it all. You have been neutral during the Titanomachy. You have given up your title as King of the Sea to Poseidon without any complaint, accepting the denouement of the events. You are still worshipped by the mortals though. Unlike the brother of Zeus, you are gentle, compassionate, generous and honest. You represent calmness after a storm. People seek you out when they need support because your sense of duty and loyalty know no limit."

"I can guess what you mean."

She laughed. "My words are not very subtle. Indeed, I wanted to be like you. I wanted people to see me as they saw you. When I saved those slaves by transforming them into dolphins… My children looked at me exactly like that."

She closed her eyes a moment as her soul relaxed in those memories. When she reopened them once again, the reality hit her as she spotted her old tail from her childhood she had avoided to see during the last decade in the obscurity. Thankfully, living in the water made it harder to cry. Yet, she still shook.

"I am being punished, right? I am not deemed worthy of those powers anymore."

"Your explanation would be logical if those powers had been first given to you while it is not the case… No, you developed them on your own."

"Then, why I cannot change anybody into a dolphin like before?! Why my tail is back to its original form?!"

"Only you know that. You need to remember how you first got these powers. Can you?"

"I… It has been so long."

"May I share my opinion with full honesty?" Nereus interrupted.

She looked at him and nodded in approval.

"What you admire in me is my wisdom. Every single god is born with that virtue. The trick is that power corrupts so easily. It requires strength to not fall in the pit of sins. My secret was to keep a low profile. Easy to not be tempted when you don't expose yourself to the temptation. You have seen my own daughters' behavior change after they became part of Poseidon's retinue."

"Your words remind me of a conversation I once got with Thetis."

"So, she told you. Nobody is perfect. In particular, immortals. But you, more than anyone else gave yourself the pressure to attain perfection and nothing less. I couldn't blame you. You have always been a breath of fresh air. You help people with no reward in mind. You rarely riposte if you are offended. You are always ready to fight for what you believe it is right."

"Stop!"

"Stop what?"

"Trying to uplift my own self-esteem. I committed too many serious mistakes."

"Delphina…"

"Families died because of me! An entire city has been destroyed! Innocents have been enslaved and others were forced to exile far away from their native land!"

"Even without your intervention, it would still have happened. I pretty sure the Greeks would have managed to find another way to trick the Trojans. There is nothing you could have done to prevent this tragedy."

"I still betrayed their trust. There wasn't one horse but two. The other one was my humility, my sense of justice, my compassion and my strength. But they all camouflaged what I really have: my pride, my anger, my weakness and my hypocrisy. I let this horse penetrate my heart carelessly and it hit me when it was too late. I wanted to be like you but I got the arrogance of my father and the cowardice of my mother."

Nereus sighed. He would like to add the word 'stubborn' to her list of defaults. He said. "So what? Did you really think that hiding in the abyss would resolve your problems? You have worried everybody! That's the only thing I am mad at you for! Now, grow up and face your issues like a true goddess!"

Nereus didn't raise his voice often. If she had been younger, she would have probably sobbed, but she could clearly see the necessity of such harshness in his words. "I'm sorry. You are right. I wanted to punish myself… But I have also punished everyone else."

She lifted her chin. "I was hiding for far too long. I have to rebuild myself. I cannot undo the past but if Fates would allow it, I can still control my future."

Nereus smiled. Then, he told her. "If the question is not indiscreet, what about Apollo? Have you thought about him, recently?"

'Every single day.' She would like to answer. Instead, she said. "You have no idea how many times in the last years I have wanted to go back to the surface just to run to him. To succumb to my desire to be with him and just forget all the rest, secured by the comfort of his presence… However, I hurt him in so many ways. He must be angry. I left him just when we had reconciled. He didn't despise me for my faults the same way I did for his. He had remained loyal to me even after I screamed so many hateful words at him. I clearly don't deserve him."

"So, now, you are the one not worthy of him?" He commented with irony. He shook his head in disagreement. "Honestly, let's agree about something. None of you deserve each other. Not that it matters. What is important is that you both need each other."

Her lips widened. "You are really wise."

"Talking about Apollo. I have to warn you about something."

He proceeded to tell her about the deal he made with his father in order to allow him to bring her back to Delphi. How he found a loophole in her oath.

To this, she responded. "Strangely, I'm not mad at him. Yet, I should be, right?"

"Well, it will only enter in effect once you expose yourself to the sun. In some way, he is still giving you a choice. On the other side, you cannot complain he is restricting you when you have been living in the darkness during the last decade."

The last sentence was both funny and depressive. "You are right. I have been too afraid to face the rest of the world but I have to come back to the light."

The thought frightened her though. She didn't even know if she would succeed to recuperate her godly powers, how her reputation will evolve or even how she will readapt to her old life.

Ten years… That was long. And yet, here in the abyss, she simply felt like she had plunged in a slumber. Like she had disconnected from real life to live in a dream. A dark dream.

Suddenly, arms surrounded her body. Nereus embraced her and deposited a kiss on her head. Such demonstration of affection surprised her but also appeased her. She needed this. "I love you, my dear." He said. "Just because I don't allow you to call me Father doesn't mean I don't care about you. Know that."

She nodded. "Thank you."

She savoured longer this parental tenderness. Her first real contact in a long time. She felt as if she had been brought near a fire after freezing to death in a snowstorm.

How crazy she had been to live in self-isolation.

She took her decision. "I need your help."

"Of course. What can I do for you?"

"I have to see Apollo… Can you organise for me a meeting with him?"

She owed him a serious talk.

Thank you for reading.

To Eranda who wrote: "She will probably go hide in shame somewhere deep in the ocean." I don't know how to feel between being happy since it means that the action makes sense or being worried since it means it was predictable!XD

Anyway, I have to be sorry! Apollo was supposed to appear in this story, but I couldn't take out the conversation between Poseidon and Zeus out of my head. I needed to write it! I really liked to expose an exterior point of view of this story. For me, it was interesting. I just hope it was still great to read.

The next chapter may suffer of my perfectionism, so it may take longer to write it, but I promise to do everything in my power to make it awesome!

I hope you enjoyed it.

See you soon!