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Take Me Never –By Kai Chapter 3: The unnamed feeling."Do you believe in love?" Ganymede asked Louise suddenly, ignoring the little nagging voice in his head accusing him of hiding from the real question.
"What type of love do you mean exactly?" Louise asked surprised by the question but sensing a deeper crisis behind it.
"Any type of love. Does it really exist, or do we just want to believe in it" Ganymede replied, improvising.
"Of course it exists. Have you never been in love? Nearly every child loves their parents, no matter what they go through together."
"Yea, I know that kind of love, but what about loving something that doesn't love you back. Or something that can't love you back?"
"Unrequited love Ganymede?" the red head teased playfully. A blush instantly coloured his cheeks.
"No, nothing like that. I'm just, I just need to figure a few things out before going home." Wait a minute! Did he just call Olympus home?
Things had gotten strange since Zeus took him. The first thing he'd noticed had been the time shift. Time in Olympus moved much slower than on earth. He felt like he'd been there for at least a month or two, when in earth time it had only been a couple of weeks.
Earth. Ganymede didn't think of it much anymore. He didn't wish every night to go back home. It was useless. His home was Olympus now, and truth be told it wasn't that bad to live there. No, it was amazing. It was the most beautiful, extravagant and frightening place he'd ever been. Everything was so amazing it all seemed unreal sometimes. At first everything had been frightening to Ganymede. Alien. Not any more. He felt more at ease with his surrounding than he has even on earth.
"Not all love is good you know." The Ganymede told his now silent companion. And didn't he know it…
When you're on earth it doesn't matter that you can't see the god you worship. You don't need to. All you need is an infinite trust that your god is there and listening to you. The loneliness is comforting in that fact that you know you really only have to please yourself. There isn't anyone to force you around, or tell you what your doing is wrong. You don't have to live up to any standards, or scrutiny.
Living with the gods in reality was exactly that. You felt like you were being scrutinised by the very being that brought you into existence. And if they had the power to create you then they had the power to destroy you.
"Maybe we create our own types of love. Every situation is different Ganymede, maybe they all need a different type of love." The red head said softly, sensing the turmoil within the older boy.
"Do you think love can be bad?" He asked the girl.
"Bad?" She said with a sly grin. "Bad as in…naughty?" wiggling her eyebrows at him. Unsuccessfully Ganymede tried to stop his cheeks turning bright red and instead he pounced on Louise, tickling the smaller girl into submersion.
Giggling and laughing neither of them noticed the arrival of a small black puppy. That came bounding up to them with it's tail wagging frantically in delight. Shocked to feel something wet against her face Louise looked up to see a little black puppy licking her cheek. Scrub that –a little three-headed black puppy licking her cheek!
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"Omigod!" Louise screeched, jumping up from the ground and backing away from the dog. Ganymede jumped up with her but ended up staring from Louise to the puppy, then back to Louise again with a blank expression on his face.
"What the hell is that thing!" The red haired girl demanded, pointing at the puppy as though it was the thing from the black lagoon. All the while the afore mentioned dog had eventually sat down on it's hind legs and, copying Ganymede, was staring at the two humans in probable amusement. Or confusion. It wasn't very easy to be sure couldn't be sure because it was a dog, and none of its heads had a readable expression. The common sense was finally tripped in Ganymede's brain and he went over to calm the distraught girl down, frantically wondering how to explain a triple headed dog to her. Once he'd explained that the dog wasn't harmless and that she had nothing to be afraid of Louise was finally persuaded to sit back down. The puppy seemed happy with this decision and bounded over to them, only to be scooped out of the way by Ganymede.
"I-is that…thing yours?" Louise asked edging away slightly as Ganymede stroked the three heads now comfortably asleep on his lap.
"Um, no. He's not mine…he's" Now what the hell was he suppose to say? 'He belongs to the God Hades. You might know of him –he's the god of the freaking underworld!' Oh wait! That's a thought…if one of the puppies are here…that means Hades is here. Glancing over at Louise Ganymede wondered whether to break the news to her seeing as he'd been too scared to do it before. He could see it in his mind now. 'Hey I'm really sorry but your kind of…well dead. And that tree over the lake you crossed was actually the path your spirit took to limbo, which is where we are now. And see this dog? Well he belongs to Hades whom I suspect is on his way here now to take you away. Nice talking to you though.'
Groaning aloud Ganymede wondered how the hell he got in these situations. It had all started with that bloody dream!
For a few nights Ganymede had been troubled by the same dream over and over again. But he could remember only tiny fragments in the morning. Never the less it unsettled him and by about the fourth morning he decided to go out and cool off. He'd been on Mt Ida when it happened. And the thing was friends and teachers had surrounded him –it wasn't like he was alone and unprotected. That, of course, was no worry to Zeus who, once seeing him from Mt Olympus, decided he was in love and swooped down in the form of an eagle flying away with him in the blink of an eye.
Needless to say –things hadn't exactly been normal since then.
Louise was now locked in a brutal staring competition with one of the three heads. Deciding to break it up Ganymede searched around for a way to explain to her she was dead.
"Louise…I um…there's something I think you might not know." Ganymede swallowed uncomfortably. This was not easy.
"Mm…and what's that" She asked airily.
"You, um your…"
"Chatting up the ladies Ganymede? Tch tch, what will Zeus think?" A low chuckle came from the man approaching the little group on the grass. Thanking every single god he knew Ganymede felt extremely relieved he wouldn't have to tell Louise what was going on. He didn't envy Hades on that note.
"G'morning Hades" Ganymede said standing up to meet the blue haired God.
"I'm afraid it isn't young Ganymede, I seemed to have lost a dog somewhere." He said with a friendly smile. Sneaking a look at Louise Ganymede had to admit she was a brave girl. Standing up she brushed her-self off, and boldly walked up to the two men. Ganymede noticed the only thing that gave away her fear was the slight trembling of her frame. But all things considered she was coping pretty well. It wasn't every day someone met a supposedly dead prince, a three headed dog then the god of the underworld.
Hades seemed to notice her for the first time and winking at Ganymede he took Louise by the arm. For a moment the red haired girl threw Ganymede a panicked look but he just smiled reassuringly at her. Hades stood talking to the girl privately for a few minutes in which Ganymede occupied himself playing with the dog. Returning Hades asked if Ganymede was ready to go. Looking around the lake Louise was nowhere to be seen, feeling a little sad at losing the first proper, or at least mortal, friend he'd had since coming to Mt Olympus Ganymede let Hades take him back to the palace. At least he'd figured out what to say when he got there.
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A/n: I liked writing this chapter actually, I really like writing mythology, maybe it's because I like the original stories so much. Meh who knows! . Review or email…or whatever it is you peoplefolks do to get my attention and tell me what you think. As usual idea's et cetera (don't you think etc looks weird written out like that? oO) are very welcome but flames will be ignored. Till next chapter! -Kai