Misadventure
By: Ailu
Summary: In a Greece currently untouched by the evils of Soul Edge, the three Alexandra siblings have their first adventure.
A/N: I took a few liberties with the home of the Alexandras. It says officially in all their bios that they live in Athens and I assumed that that could also include Attica, which was the province that Athens ruled at the time. See, they lived there during the Ottoman Empire. At first I was confused as to why Sophitia and family still worshiped gods, but during my research I realized that, basically, nobody forced the Greeks to convert. Athens, however, became highly Christian when Greek became part of the Roman empire, so it was just easier to make the Alexandras live in a small town in Attica that still worshiped the gods.
Also, in case you don't know, Sophitia and Cassandra do have a brother named Lucius. Their mother's name is Nike and their father's name is Achelous. Look in Cassandra's bio in Soul Calibur II if you don't believe me.
Anyways, enjoy the fic! I know I enjoyed writing it.
"Life is either a daring adventure or nothing." –Helen Keller
The bakery was very busy on this particular day; nobody had time to look after the three Alexandra siblings, so they were then left to their own devices. Despite the unbearable heat of the day, Sophitia, the eldest at nine years, had insisted they go outside instead of staying inside to get in the way of their busily working parents. She was attempting to look after Cassandra, who was four—almost five! she constantly reminded everyone—and quite lively and daring. This made her very hard to keep tabs on, especially when you had to look after your not-yet-a-year-old baby brother. Lucius, the infant in question, was happily sucking on a rock in the nook of Sophie's arm.
Cassandra had taken to chasing a butterfly today. Sophitia had to admit its vibrant colors were beautiful, but she was already unbeleivably sweaty and warm and not exactly enthusiastic about making sure her sister would stay out of trouble. She'd gotten into far too many messes before, and Sophie had been scolded almost as much as her younger sister had been by their mother because she hadn't "looked after Cassie properly."
The area around them was beautiful and tranquil. The Alexandra parents had often sent the children to this field to go out on their own for her to play in. The bakery itself was located on a nice hill, a little seperated from the rest of the town (this fact did not affect the amount of customers in the least). The field was located directly behind it, before the land gave way to a foresty area where the children occassionaly ventured; a beautiful creek wound its way amongs the trees, making it a wonderful place to spend a summer day.
The butterfly was the reason they weren't wading in the creek now. Sophitia would much rather be cooling off there then in the almost-unbearabley hot meadow.
When the field wasn't hot, Sophie did enjoy being in it. The grass was tall—about an inch less than Cassie's height—and a beautifully bright shade of green. It swayed to and fro in the wind in a relaxing sort of way. While going through the meadow, one could find pretty flowers in a variety of colors dotting the landscape. Ocassionaly a bird or some other small animal would visit. It was a nice place, Sophie decided, unless you were trailing your little sister.
Sophie paused momentarily to readjust Lucius, who was slipping downwards on her arm. "Silly baby," she cooed, sticking out her tongue at her brother, who gurgled happily before reapplying himself to the rock. Sophie planted a kiss on his forehead and turned to see that Cassandra was still close by.
She was not to have any such luck, apparently. Cassie had run ahead—the butterfly had seemingly increased its speed (maybe it had realized it had a child on its tail)—and was too far away for Sophie's comfort.
"Cassie!" she called, "Come back over here!"
Cassandra turned to her sister and, without the slightest bit of hesitation, stuck her tongue out at Sophitia and continued her pursuit.
This made Sophitia a little indignant. She herself was rather obedient and Cassandra's firey nature was an enigma that she had given up on figuring out. It wasn't that she didn't like her sister—she never had any problem loving Cassandra—but sometimes it was hard to be patient with her.
Sophitia took a deep breath—she saw her mother doing that all the time; it seemed to help Nike and Sophie prayed it would help herself—and went after Cassandra as quickly as she could. Unfortunately, her pace wasn't very fast considering she had to drag a baby along with her. Sophitia wasn't the tallest nine-year-old, and Lucius was about a-third of her.
After a moment of debate, Sophie set Lucius down. "Stay," she commanded the baby, hoping he got the message. He continued to suck at the rock.
Now, unhindered, Sophitia ran. She was quite fast—she won all the races against her friends, anyways—and was soon very close to her sister. "Cassie!" she called, "come here!"
Cassandra looked back at Sophie and grimaced. She knew that she couldn't match her speed. Running wasn't her strong point, even against other four-year-olds. Glumly, she turned to get one last peek at the butterfly…
Only to find it was gone.
Tears began to well in her eyes. This butterfly had been so beautiful! She looked around frantically and her sister caught up to her.
Determined not to look like a baby in front of Sophitia, Cassie sniffed back the tears and wiped her eyes quickly while Sophie's back was turned.
Sophitia noticed this—her sister wasn't the most inconspicuous person in the world—and tried to decide on the best way to deal with this dilemma. "Cassie?" she ventured hesitantly. The younger girl whirled around to face her sister, dirt stains and tear streaks still obvious on her cheeks. "Cassie dear, you know the butterfly had to go away." Sophie had been lectured in a similar fashion when she was younger.
Cassandra frowned, looking annoyed that her sister had figured her out. She looked downwards stubbornly. "It has a home and family too," Sophitia said using the same words her mother had. Cassandra still wouldn't look up at her. "You wouldn't want to be seperated from Lucius and me to play with your friends forever, now would you?" Cassie's expression darkened; her eyebrows were drawn in a meanacing way. "Cassie…" Sophitia's tone was dangerous. Her patience was being tried.
"Cassie, look at me!" Cassie did so, her eyes dancing with fury. Sophitia stepped back, surprised.
"Maybe I wanna play with my friends f'rever! At least they wouldn' nag at me 'r be difficult!" Cassandra lashed out. She whirled around and stomped away, her body rigid with anger.
This confused Sophitia. Though she did have a short fuse, dangerous tones and dirty glares usually got her point across. This was very different. "Cassie!" she called, frustrated with herself and her sister. "Cassandra!"
As soon as she started after her sister, she realized she probably shouldn't stray too far from Lucius. Whirling back around, she discovered the baby wasn't where she left him.
Sophitia ground her teeth in frustration, her fingernails digging into her skin so deeply that they drew blood. Everything is going wrong!, she thought miserably. Her first priority should probably be Lucius; Cassandra could take care of herself, couldn't she? She turned in the direction of her sister, calling—desperately—one last time, "Cassie! Lucius is missing! Come back here, please!"
Cassandra didn't so much as pause to consider. Sophitia scowled. "Cassie, keep an eye out of him, okay? I can't find him!" she screamed before walking off in the other direction. Please don't let anything happen to either of them, she prayed silently. To who though? Who protected children? Hera? Sophie decided on Artemis in the end; she protected small animals, children shouldn't be much different.
Well, to whoever, please protect my brother and sister, Sophitia thought silently before beginning her hunt.
The search wasn't going too well about twenty minutes later. Sophitia found herself near one of the deeper parts of the creek, praying the baby wasn't attempting to swim in it. She wouldn't let herself dwell on the implications of that.
"He isn't drowned, silly," she told reassuringly. No, no definitely not.
"Sophie, 're you s'posed to talk to yourself?" Sophitia whirled around to find Cassie blinking up at her, apparently having forgotten all about the argument before. "Momma does it too, but it seems sort of strange…"
Sophie ran up and hugged her sister tightly. "I'm sorry Cassie. Very sorry," Sophitia told her sister. Even if I don't know exactly what I'm apologizing for…Oh well. That didn't matter. What did was that she had one of her siblings back… Now to find the other one.
"S okay, Sophie. I don't aemember zactly what I was mad at you 'bout though."
"Mmhmm," Sophita nodded into her sister's hair. "Have you seen Lucius?"
Sophitia groaned inwardly when her sister responded negatively. Where could he be? she wondered. He couldn't have gotten far. He was a baby! He probably hadn't even gotten this far. She frowned, standing up and beginning to look again. "Help me, Cassie?" she asked before reapplying herself to the ground.
Not long after her sister had uttered those words, Cassie prodded her shoulder, triumphantly holding a blonde baby boy. Sophitia had a smile so big Cassandra could have sworn it reached her eyes. She took Lucius from her sister and rocked him happily. "Bad, bad baby!" she scolded with no conviction in her voice. Lucius giggled at his sister's antics, reaching up and grasping a few locks of her hair. He pulled at them, smiling widely as he did so.
"Bad, bad baby!" Sophitia yelled with much, much more conviction in her voice. "That's not a nice thing to do to your sister, dear!" She removed the tiny hands from her hair, and gave the baby back to Cassandra. "Ouch."
Cassie occupied Lucius by playing peek-a-boo with him while her sister redid her hair so that nothing stuck out of her ponytail. The baby was fascinated by his sister's disappearances and reappearances and laughed every time she did it. Though Cassandra wasn't naturally as motherly as Sophitia, she still loved her baby brother and seeing him smile made her happy as well. She made a funny face—sticking out her tongue and crossing her eyes—at him the next time her face reappeared, causing Lucius to become absoultely giddy with joy. He reached out and touched Cassie's nose with both his tiny hands. Cassandra made a funny noise with her tongue, causing Lucius to giggle again.
He withdrew his hands and hicupped from the amounts of laughing he had been doing, looking very happy. Sophitia came over and scooped Lucius up in her arms, rocking him back and forth as she sang a lullaby her mother had taught her.
Cassie went over to the creek and put her feet in. It was pretty deep at this point: the water was probably a foot taller than she was. It might have been because of all the rain they had been getting recently. She didn't think it was usually this deep.
The water did feel good, considering how hot it was. She had hardly noticed the temperature during her pursuit of the butterfly or her fight with Sophie. She really had no reason to yell at her sister, she supposed. She was just very angry that her—she considered the butterfly hers—butterfly had flown away. Her sister had been saying things that were pure nonsense… The butterfly preferred Cassie over its friends; she knew it did.
Well, now it was gone. And a butterfly probably wasn't as important as her sister. Cassandra took her feet from the water and stood up. When she turned around to return to her sister, she lost her balance and fell head-first into the creek.
Sophitia heard the splash and turned in time to see her sister vanish in the water. Without thinking about it, she put Lucius down quickly and ran to the water, diving after her sister.
Sophitia was short for her age. She didn't bother denying it. Standing only three or four inches above her four-year-old sister at nine obviously sent her the message. In fact, Cassandra liked to gloat about it fairly frequently. Her friends teased her too. Sometimes she ever heard her parents talking about it, saying that they really hoped she would "experience her growth spurt" soon.
"It's not healthy for her to be so short," her father would say. Nike would nod in agreement, not bothering to deny the truth.
Sophitia had come from two very tall parents. Her height was indeed a mystery. She prayed consantly that she'd grow out of it. She remained optimistic about it.
Right now though, she was cursing her height. The water was indeed deeper than she was tall. Any regular-sized nine-year-old wouldn't have this problem, but she did. She had Cassandra tucked in one arm and was paddling as hard as she could upwards. She was blind, her eyes shut firmly against the water. It was all dark. Her oxygen was running out. She was scared. The minutes stretched into hours. She was scared. It was dark. She couldn't see. She couldn't breath. Time was running out. She was scared.
Please don't let us die, Poseidon.
Her prayers were answered, apparently. They surfaced.
Later, she couldn't recall how she dragged herself and her sister back onto the bank. The sudden amount of sunlight overwhelmed her, and she couldn't see a thing. Her arms and legs were tired, and she was dizzy. Despite all this, she managed, somehow.
Thank you, Artemis. Or Poseidon. Whoever saved us. Thanks.
They sat there for a while. Cassandra apparently had remained at least half-concious throughout the ordeal, but had panicked. Sophitia didn't blame her; she was on the verge of losing control when they had gotten up. She had her sister in her arms and she was rubbing Cassie's back soothingly. Her mother had done that to her too. Sophitia needed to thank her mother when they got home for the amount of her tricks she had used.
"Well," Cassie said, almost hesitantly. "I guess it isn' all tha' hot anymore."
Sophitia laughed. Lucius crawled over to them. "Hmph. Looks like this little troublemaker learned his lesson about wandering off, didn't you baby?" She set a very wet finger on his nose. He giggled and grabbed onto it, apparently fascinated by the water. "Well, you like it now, hm? Why not when you have to take a bath?"
Cassie smiled. They were both soaking from head to toe. Her clothes clung to her uncomfortably; she hadn't really realized it until now. The temperature definitely wasn't a problem. In fact, she was shivering. Being under the trees, they were in the shade. Maybe if they went out to the meadow…
"Sophie? C'n we go home?"
"Yes, Cassie. I think that's a very good idea," Sophitia responded. She rested her head on Cassandra's and didn't make any move to go any where for several moments. Cassie didn't really mind; it was very warm somehow, despite the cold.
"Alright," Sophitia finally said. "Let's go." Cassie got up. After Sophitia was on her feet, she grabbed Lucius. He seemed a bit put off by the how his usual warm, safe spot was soggy and cold. He looked like he was about to cry, so Sophie began to sing softly to him. Apparently, the baby's nerves were soothed by this and he relaxed.
They started out of the woods when Sophie heard it. She paused and turned in the direction of the noise.
Growling.
It was low, deep and sounded hungry. Of course, that last bit might just have been her fear enhancing her imagination. Sophitia really didn't want to be around to find out if it was true or not.
"Cassie. Stop." Her sister obeyed.
Sophitia's head was racing. She needed to decide what to do, but couldn't. If they ran, she knew, they would probably catch the… whatever-it-was's attention. If they stayed put, they were sitting ducks. There were lots of trees, she finally decided.
"Do you hear that?" Cassie nodded. "We're going to hide behind some trees. And keep hiding until it goes away, okay?"
Cassandra seemed to undertand. Sophitia had feared that her voice was so low that her sister wouldn't be able to hear her. She grabbed Cassie's arm and pulled her as quietly as she could manage a few feet into the woods, then behind a very large tree. She sat down and Cassie followed suit. Lucius seemed to understand that it wasn't the time for playing and kept silent.
They sat there for what seemed like an eternity, but it was probably only about five minutes. Cassandra's stomach seemed to have migrated up to her throat. Her heart was hammering against her chest. She was scared that maybe the thing—or things?—could hear it pounding. It certainly sounded loud to her. However, even over her heartbeat, she heard the growling draw closer.
Even though she more scared than she had ever been, her curiousity was too much for her. She gulped down her fear and turned to see what it was.
It was what seemed like a pack of about five or six stray dogs. They did seem quite a bit larger than the average dog. The Alexandras owned a dog. She was very nice, gentle, and a very good companion. Eos—that was her name—was actually larger than most of the dogs in town. She was about half the size of Cassandra. These dogs were quite a few inches larger than Eos was.
They had very thick, dark black fur. Their eyes were a disgusting yellow color with slit-shaped pupils. Their teeth were also overly-large, and stuck out of the mouths of even the ones who had their mouths closed, though most of them were growling maliciously.
Cassie turned back around. She really wished she hadn't looked.
Sophitia took Cassie's hand in her own. Apparently her sister had seen them too. Cassie squeezed on Sophie's hand like a lifeline, praying to anybody—anybody at all—that the dogs would go away. She hadn't been taught much about the gods yet, but right now she couldn't recall any of her lessons. Her mind wasn't working properly. She was just too scared. Cassie shut her eyes tightly, wishing to herself that it would all go away.
Of course, it didn't. And the dogs drew closer. Cassie realized that they could probably smell them. M-maybe they aren't as vicious as they look…?
Who was she fooling? Of course they were. Dogs with big, ferocious teeth and slits for pupils were not friendly. Tears came to her eyes, but she sniffed them back. They needed to keep quiet and still. Maybe the dogs would forget about their smell then…
Sophitia tugged on Cassie's hand and motioned with her elbow towards a bunch of the tree roots. Cassie stared at them dumbly, blind at what her sister was trying to tell her. They were sticking up out of the ground slightly, but there was nothing particularily special about them.
Sophitia crawled as soundlessly as she could manage over to them and took Cassie with her. Upon closer inspection, Cassandra realized that they formed a small hole under the tree. Sophitia climbed in, taking Lucius with her. Cassie followed her in relief. This hiding spot wouldn't be found. It was far too clever. She hadn't even realized it was there at first.
Inside, the hole was surprisingly spacious. Not large, of course, but there was enough room for Sophitia and Cassandra to sit against the walls and still have about an inch or two of space between them. Cassandra could have stood up if she had lowered her head a little. The sisters chose to sit together, of course, happy that the other was there. Sophie rubbed Lucius's back, attempting to sooth his nerves and keep him quiet.
The dogs seemed to be on top of them now. Cassie felt as if she was going to be sick. The dogs were up there, padding, sniffing, growling. She knew that they knew that they were in here. She hoped that they couldn't get in.
One stuck it's disgusting head down the hole where they entered. Cassandra screamed, but Sophitia quickly slapped her free hand over Cassie's mouth and backed them both against the wall. Luicus began to cry.
Sophitia's pulse was racing. The dog was clawing its way into the hole—apparently it was too thick to fit in through the opening. They were running out of time. She removed her hand from Cassie's mouth and began prodding the roof of the hole with her elbow. She found it easy enough to break through. Quickly, she handed Luicius to Cassandra and began to claw at the roof, digging her way upwards. There was only about three inches of dirt before they got out she figured.
With one last handful of sod, there was a hole. Quickly she worked on expanding the width. There was no way they'd fit through that small of an exit.
Cassandra was frozen. She kept glancing between the dog, who was very soon going to be upon them, and her sister attempting to make an escape. She knew her sister wouldn't make it in time. There had to be something to slow down the dog. Something…
Gathering her wits, she grabbed a handful of the dirt that Sophie had discarded and flung it at the dog. It gave a howl as it landed in its eyes. Clearly distressed and confused, it withdrew from the hole and began to writhe on the ground outside, desperately attempting to get the sod out of its eyes.
No more than twenty seconds after the dog backed up, Sophitia managed to create a whole wide enough for herself and Cassandra to fit through. Grabbing Luicus—Cassie had set him down to attack the dog—she hoisted herself out, then helped Cassandra through. They began a frantic sprint through the woods, knowing the dogs were behind them but not daring to turn to see.
Sophitia tried to help her sister along. She knew she was much faster than Cassandra. In one of these attempts, though, one of the dogs somehow managed to get a hold of the back of her skirt. Sophitia tried to run away with all the strength she possessed, holding Luicius—who was crying desperately—high above her head to keep him away from the dogs.
As soon has she heard the material rip and began to scurry away, she realized that one of the other dogs managed to get in front of her while she was still caught. Sophitia froze, still holding her arms erect, her minds racing. The rest of the dogs were situated in a circle around her.
She was trapped.
They were closing in on her. She could feel fur against her left arm. Soon it was all over her. One dog attempted to climb up to the baby by using Sophitia to rest its disgusting front paws against. Not willing to sacrifice her younger brother, Sophie kneed the dog in the stomach. It cried and withdrew, growling at the girl.
One of the dogs saw what had occurred and did what the other had: rested its paws against Sophitia. Instead of going for the baby, however, it bit Sophitia's upper arm deeply.
She screamed as tears sprung to her arms. She used her other leg to kick it off her. Her arms couldn't stand being held up any longer, especially with the addition of a wound, so she chose instead to hold Lucius to herself, shielding him with her arms.
Cassandra—clever girl—had not been idle, apparently. There was a small, rotten tree near them, and she reached up and snapped off one of the branches. The dogs all turned towards to noise, momentarily distracted. Cassie quickly flung the stick away from here with all the strength she possessed.
it seemed that the dogs had one-track minds. As soon as they saw the "mysterious object" go off into the distance, they darted after it. Sophitia sunk to her knees in exhaustion. Cassandra ran over to her, sobbing. Lucius was in tears, howling.
Cassie took Sophitia's left arm and looked where the dog had bitten. She frowned at it for a few minutes, looking contemplative. Finally, she ripped off a strip of fabric from her skirt and wrapped it around the wound. Cassie had seen her mother do this to the various members of the family very frequently and knew what pressure to tie it at without cutting off circulation, but to stop the bleeding. She also knew she needed to clean it out, but there wasn't any water anywhere.
"Good job," Sophitia remarked. Cassie smiled widely at her sister.
Sophie was panting heavily and very tired, but after resting for a moment, she decided they had better find somewhere safe. The dogs could very possibly return very soon. She got up and handed Luicus to Cassandra.
"Thank you Cassie," she said with a small smile. "But I think your stick will only distract them for a little while. We should get going."
As soon as she said that, she realized that she had no idea where they were.
They ended up just walking in one direction, deciding it was best to get out of the woods. Lucius had calmed down, and was now hiccuping, the occassional tear running down his face.
Their walk seemed to span on for hours. They didn't talk much—both sisters were exhausted. This area of the woods was rather depressing; many of the trees were dead and decaying. Even with the amount of lifeless trees, there still managed to be a canopy that blocked out most of the sun.
This atmosphere did nothing for the sisters' already low spirits. When they reached the end of the woods and felt the sun on their faces, they felt better instantly.
They ended up at a road. Sophitia knew she recognized it, but she was too tired to place it. She sat down at the edge of it, leaning against one of the trees on the very edge of the forest. Cassandra set herself down beside her sister, cooing at Lucius. The baby was finally content again, and he smiled when his sister stuck his tongue out at him.
"Do you know where we are Cassie? This road seems farmiliar, but I can't think of where we actually are." Sophitia turned to her sister.
Cassandra gave it a few moments of contemplation. She looked all around—the trees, the dirt of the road, the green prairie on the other side of the road, but Sophitia knew that she didn't recognize it. Maybe they had visited it before Cassie was born…
Eventually, Cassie shook her head in defeat. "Ah well," Sophitia said, closing her eyes and leaning against the tree. She was so tired…
"Sophie?" Cassandra sounded worried. "D'you hear tha'?"
Unfortunately, Sophitia did. There was the growling again. The dogs had followed them.
She grabbed Lucius from Cassandra and got up, pulling her sister with her. They ran with all the energy they had left.
For some reason, Sophitia chose the way that went uphill. It was stupid, of course… They were both tired and running uphill wasn't easy, but instinct told her to go that way. Something drew her there. She couldn't exactly explain it.
Sophitia spotted a building up ahead. It was small, sure, but it worked as an escape. When they reached it, they were hardly running; they just didn't have the energy. Despite this, Sophitia grabbed Cassandra with swiftness she didn't know she possessed and dragged her into the building. They both fell onto the floor in a heap, panting heavily.
When Sophitia had summoned the energy to look around, she realized they were in a temple. It was smaller and less grand than temples usually were. The floor was shining marble; there was a small fountain near the back wall. A statue of who Sophitia recognized to be Hephaestus stood opposite the fountain. The roof was held up by large columns, the columns connected by walls. The door facing the road had no doors. Sophie picked up Lucius and headed towards the fountain. Cassie got up and followed.
Looking at her reflection, Sophitia realized what a mess she was. Her hands and face were dirt-covered, most probably from digging out of the hole under the tree. Her white shirt and skirt were torn and covered in dirt. Blood soaked her left sleeve and had managed to splatter some other areas of the outfit. Her skirt was torn from where the dog had caught her. Even her blonde hair was full of sod and stuck up in odd places; hardly any of it was left in the ponytail.
Cassandra didn't look much better, but she didn't seem to care. She tore off more fabric from her outfit, this time from her sleeve, and took of Sophie's bandage. Sophitia sat patiently while she soaked the new strip of material and then proceeded to clean Sophie's bite.
It did hurt, so Sophitia occupied herself with fixing up Lucius—or, try to anyway; she only had use of one hand—who was a mess as well. He was dirt-covered and a bit of Sophitia's blood had gotten on to him, all though that seemed to be the extent of it, thank gods.
When Cassandra finished she tore off another strip of fabric and tied it around Sophitia's arm. Lucius didn't look much better, though Sophitia had managed to clean the dirt off his face. He had been giggling happily while Sophitia had attempted to do her job and now crawled over to his sister, taking her hand in his hands and then sucking on her ring finger.
"Silly baby," Sophitia cooed. Cassandra smiled and washed off her hands in the fountain.
After they had finished tidying themselves up, they went over to the statue of Hephaestus. Sophitia bowed down, but Cassandra, carring Lucius, remained standing, just staring.
Thank you for the shelt—
"Sophie?" Cassandra's questioning voice interrupted Sophitia's prayer.
"Yes?"
"I don't 'member this god. Who is 'e?"
Sophitia sat up and leaned against the wall, motioning for Cassie to come over and sit with her. Cassandra took her spot comfortably in Sophie's lap.
"Hephaestus is the god of the forge. Do you remember Aphrodite?" Sophitia felt the nod against her chin. "Hephaestus is her husband."
"He's sorta ugly t'be 'er 'usband, though, I'n't 'e?" Cassandra looked at the statue of Hephaestus in slight distaste.
"That's not very nice, Cassie. He wasn't very handsome on the outside, no, but he was very hard-working and generous. When he saw Aphrodite, he fell in love with her and asked Hera, his mother, to make her his wife. Zeus agreed as well. Aphrodite wasn't very happy about it, though. She didn't really have a choice in the matter, I guess." Cassandra nodded.
"I like Artemis," Cassie said after a pause. "She's my favorite C'n you tell me a story 'bout 'er?"
"Artemis? Really? Hephaestus is actually my favorite, I think," Sophitia responded, glancing up at the statue. Cassie's eyes went to the statue as well.
"I like Artemis a'cause she's really strong. Why d'you like 'ephaestus?" Cassie kept staring at the statue, as if expecting the reason to jump out at her after looking at it hard enough. Sophitia smiled and shook her head.
"He's very kind and skilled in his work, even if he is a bit ugly. That's not his fault either. Zeus threw him from Mount Olympus when he took Hera's side in a fight. After falling for a very long time, he hit the Earth very hard. That's why he's disfigured and lame."
"Oh," Cassandra responded. She still didn't seem to understand. Oh well, Sophitia thought. She is only four—er, almost five.
There was a long silence. Not even Lucius made a noise. Finally, Cassandra broke it. "We 'ad a sorta adventure t'day. Like the gods."
Sophitia laughed. "I guess so. I don't know if I want anymore adventures, though, if they're all like this one."
"Oh, but it was esiting! And we'll 'ave stories t'tell. None of the other kids c'n say they escaped from a 'ungry pack of dogs!" Cassandra's eyes were dancing with excitement. "I th'nk I'd love more adventures."
"Hmph. Well then I suppose I'll have to go too, to bail you out of trouble." Sophitia kissed Cassandra's head.
Cassandra seemed a bit put-off by this. "I c'n bail myself out!"
"Of course you will," Sophitia said, not sounding at all convinced.
"You're mean," Cassie responded, folding her arms. Sophie giggled. "I wouldn' get int' trouble in the first place!"
"I had to save you from the creek, silly girl."
"That was 'n accid'nt!" Lucius giggled at his sister's tone.
"And there won't be any accidents on your next adventure. I see." Cassandra ran out of retorts. She contented herself with pouting. "Oh, don't be a baby! I will have to go with you. So, you better not leave without me, okay?"
"Fi-i-i-ine," Cassandra responded, not sounding very enthusiastic.
Considering they didn't know where they were, they decided to stay the night at the temple. When night came, however, they found that they couldn't get Lucius to sleep. He was very fussy and discontent in the makeshift bed they'd made him out of the towels they'd found near the fountain.
"I don't think he's ever slept away from home before," Sophitia realized.
"Well, there's a firs' time for everything," Cassandra said, imitating their mother's response whenever they made a remark like that.
They tried very hard. Sophitia laid him on his stomach and rubbed his back, humming and singing softly to no avail. Lucius began to cry during the song. "What's wrong baby?" Sophitia asked him, picking him up and rocking him back and forth.
Her stomach growled in response. She realized how hungry she was. They hadn't eaten since lunch…
"I think Lucius is hungry," she told Cassandra.
"So'm I," Cassie responded, frowning.
"Me too. I didn't realize it with all the excitement…" Sophitia looked around. "I don't think there's anything to eat, though."
They ended up filling a small cup they found near the fountain with water and tipping it into Lucius's mouth, a little at a time. Sophitia hoped the water would fill him up.
Apparently, it did. After filling the cup and pouring it into his mouth about five or six times, the baby started to look drowsy. He was still a little fussy about them trying to get him to sleep away from home, but his attempts were less and less spirited. Eventually, with much rocking and singing and cooing, they got him to sleep in Sophie's arms.
"Good baby," Sophitia said tiredly, stifling a yawn. She set him down into the mess of towels.
"Well, now tha' we've fed the baby, what'll we eat?" Cassandra said. "I don't know if water will fill me up."
"I don't think there's anything else," Sophitia said, disappointed.
Cassie took the cup of water and set it in front of her. "Tha's a-kay. I 'ave 'n idea." She smiled, apparently thinking that whatever her idea was was immensly clever.
"This"—she indicated the cup—"is act'lly some of Momma's best bread." She quickly took a sip and smiled. Sophitia took the other cup that was near the fountain and filled it up, playing along with her sister.
"Well this is some of Papa's best fish!" She drank it swiftly.
Cassandra wouldn't be bested. She refilled her cup. "Well this 's one of Papa's sam'iches, topped with ol'ves 'nd cheese 'nd mustard 'nd all of the other won'erful things he puts on there!" She drank.
So it went. The sisters battled each other to see who would think of the best item of food. Cassie ended up proclaiming hers as rotten cheese to Sophitia's confusion. Giggly madly, she flung the water at her sister.
Eventually, they both ended up soaked. Sophitia went over and picked up another towel, then began to dry her sister off, still laughing. Cassandra didn't make it easy, constantly wiggling out of her sister's grasp. At one point, Sophie was chasing her sister around the temple, both of them still laughing. She tackled her and began to tickle her before attacking her with the towel.
Somehow they both managed to get dry. By the time Sophitia had finished drying her hair off, she was extremely tired. She leaned up against the fountain and Cassandra climbed into her lap. They fell asleep.
When Sophitia woke up, she realized she knew exactly where they were. When Cassandra was a baby—less than a year—they had come to this temple. Achelous and Nike wanted to pray to Hephaestus about something and Sophitia had been dazzled by it all; it was one of her first trips that took her more than a couple miles away from home.
She remembered most of it, she knew. She could find her way home.
Very carefully, she scooted out from behind her sister to avoid waking her. Despite her efforts, Cassie opened her eyes and blinked the tiredness away. "Cassie," Sophitia whispered, trying not to wake Lucius up. "I know the way home."
Cassandra took a few seconds to process the statement, but then looked up and smiled drowsily at her sister.
"C'mon, Cassie dear, once you wake up we'll get Lucius up and start for home. I'm sure Momma and Papa are pulling their hair out over us."
Once they were ready, Sophitia picked up Lucius, who was only half-awake. He blinked groggily up at Sophie and seemed to decide it was safe enough to go back to sleep.
Before leaving, Sophitia turned to the statue of Hephaestus once more and bowed her head low as she could manage with a baby in her arms.
Thank you for the shelter, Hephaestus. I hope we didn't cause too much chaos. One day, I promise, I will repay the debt.
A/N (cont'd): Thank you so much if you read this; it took quite a bit of effort on my part. I'm really nervous about Sophitia and Cassandra. I think I got their characterizations right (if they're OOC, tell me! Just keep in mind that they are nine and five, so they're not exactly the same), but they seem a tad too mature, I think. Sophitia would probably be more mature than an average nine-year-old being the oldest and just because of her nature, but Cassandra seems way older than five, I think.
Also, the dogs are not based on any particular breed or instance. I don't know what they are. I needed something scary like that… Dogs were very normal to have in ancient Greece, so I don't think it's that far-fetched that there would be strays.
This did take quite a bit of research on my part and I don't intend to let it go to waste. I have more than one sequel planned. One of the these will be a full-fledged fanfiction with multiple chapters detailing Sophitia's struggle when she first begins to hear the voices of the gods. However, it still needs quite a bit of planning.
So, I'll definitely be seeing you guys in the future. Till then!