Machinations
Charon sat in a small room just outside the great hall of the Oracle of Delphi and fumed; his eyes solid red with irritation.
How much longer must I put up with the insults of this woman?
First, she had the gall to send for him as if he were one of her servants. Him, the Guardian of the Dead, an immortal created in a time beyond memory; summoned by a lowly crossbreed. Then, when he arrived, she'd kept him cooling his heels in the anteroom.
If he didn't need the support of her father so much he'd have stolen her ugly little soul by now and dragged her screaming down to the pits of Tartarus where she belonged. He smiled grimly at the thought of Serra writhing in the underworld. There would not be a place for her in Elysium when the Earth was finally rid of her. Charon would see to that.
When his goals were accomplished, he would be the Ruler of the Underworld and Luna would be his queen. She would inherit the cosmos and side by side, Darkness and Light, there would be nothing they could not accomplish. The realm of the Underworld would expand and eventually the Overworld would be his as well.
After all, Zeus hadn't done anything with it for a thousand years and it's people were ripe for the plucking. Perhaps, Charon mused, he would give it to Luna as a wedding gift. She was always overly fond of the little vermin running around there.
His irritation faded as he considered his bride-to-be. Luna was a gorgeous goddess, there was no mistaking that, and her inheritance was a powerful draw; but there was something more driving him when it came to her. He had tasted her blood and it called to him. It beckoned him across time itself.
He'd courted her fervently in the past but she'd rejected him. In his anger, he had sworn that if she would not have him than she would have no other. He waited patiently and bided his time; refining his plans until the moment was exactly right. When she was banished, when the high and mighty was brought low, it was his time to strike.
That long ago vow powered his rage and ultimately led to her death at the hands of those same humans she so admired. He'd watched through their eyes and laughed as they defiled and abused her. He'd intently viewed every moment of her torment, relished her screams, and reveled in the moment of her passing.
Her soul lived on, of course, and would power his bid for the throne of the Underworld. Her death helped him accomplish his goals where her life would not. But, as the days wore on, he'd begun to regret that action. He longed for her presence even though she was always against him. Her consciousness had defied him at every turn but it was that very challenge that inspired him.
He began to falter in his resolve without her. It showed in the way he lost the battle with those monsters. Lost a piece of her beloved soul that he still had not reclaimed. Irritation returned.
It was because she had it. Once released, it had gone straight to her.
When that fool of a wizard claimed Luna lived in a mortal form once more and was regaining her power; Charon couldn't believe it. In fact, he'd flogged the man to death for lying to him. But once he saw the rooftop and tasted the evidence, his spirits rose again. Here, at last, was his true chance to own her. Not just her body or her soul but her mind as well; for she was weakened by her semi-mortal state.
Now he just needed to get past her protectors.
He'd made several feints in her direction. The portal necklace had been an ingenious piece of work but he'd known better than to think she would go down in the first foray. The mimic taught him far more about her situation. There were four of those terrapin like beings, though the mimic had removed one from the running. But two of the remaining monsters actually believed they were her mates. He knew she felt in need of protection, but to sink so low as to deceive these creatures with promises of family?
The thought of Luna sharing herself with those things when she had rejected a superior immortal like himself was enough to inflame him once more. When he had her in his power, he would destroy those monsters in front of her, and show her what a real mate was all about.
Charon smiled evilly. This time he would not leave her debasement and punishment to others. This time he would enjoy it himself. And in the end, she would submit to him utterly; even if it took centuries.
Only then, when he owned her completely, could she rule by his side.
The sound of a discreet cough interrupted his reverie and he turned toward the noise in annoyance. Another monster faced him, this time a rat. One of Serra plethora of enslaved servants come to announce that she would finally see him.
Charon stood and straightened his robes. For now, he still needed this woman. Needed her to think she was in control. He had his role down. Today he would be the sycophant. He'd even brought one of the souls to show some "progress." Serra didn't want the things after all, only the information they contained.
He gestured silently to the rat to lead the way and fell in step behind him, oblivious to the servants and the surroundings.
If Serra only knew the power she was throwing away in her deal with him... He would make sure she understood, before the end.
His malevolent smile at that thought sent the mortal servants in the hall sprinting away in terror.
"I had forgotten," Luna said softly, watching the image of the girl that still floated in front of them, "and she has grown so much."
"Forgotten?" Donatello asked.
"How do you forget the reason you got kicked out of somewhere as cool as Olympus?" Michelangelo piped up.
Luna smiled. "I did not forget the reason, Mikey, I merely erased the details and her location from my mortal mind. I knew I was to be banished. I could not have Serra hunting me down in order to learn the girl's hiding place."
Leonardo nodded. It was a very Luna-like thing to have done.
"Did ya' know?" Raphael asked roughly, "Did ya' know who she was when ya' saved her?"
"I met her by accident, Raphael," Luna said. "It is a long story that I can no longer speak all of; but I will tell you what I remember, if you wish."
A chorus of "yes", "of course", and "would you?" assailed her from all sides and she laughed. She sank into the middle of the large sectional, as her family crowded close around her once more and prepared for a new tale.
Luna waved away the image of the girl and started with a blank 'canvas'.
"We have more in common than you think, dear ones," Luna began, "My family has always had an… affinity for the Earth. It was why my parents chose to balance the cosmos. My brother Phaeton was the heir to the Sun and my sister Diana, whom you met so violently, was heir to the Moon. We patrol the skies as you do the streets, making sure that certain events do not escalate out of control."
The mist swirled and parted to reveal the cosmos. It was the most breathtaking rendering of Earth's solar system imaginable. The sun at the center pulsed and flared and each planet, moon, comet, and star were rendered in minute detail. There were more heavenly bodies shown here than scientists on Earth had even speculated about. Masses of dark-matter masked additional planets and moons, clouds of dust flowed from distant galaxies, and unknown asteroids spun out at a tremendous distance from the blazing star at the center of it all.
Donatello's jaw dropped as he counted scores of new spacial discoveries without even leaving his seat.
"Is this current?" Don asked, amazed.
"Yer askin' Luna if somethin' she's showin' ya is accurate?" Raph drawled, "She's a goddess, Brainiac, what do ya' think?"
"I didn't ask if it was accurate, Raph," Don replied, with a withering stare, "I asked if it was current, i.e. today's solar system, and not one from oh, a thousand years ago."
Don stood up and waved his hand through the swirling cosmos. "Some of these planets, and the motion of those stars," he gesticulated wildly toward the opposite end of the solar system, "will change mathematical theorems that have been held as standards for centuries!"
"Let's not lose focus here, Don," Leo said quietly, "I'm sure Luna can show you the solar system again later, if need be."
Luna smiled gently at Don and nodded before continuing.
"It takes a great deal of focus and power to control the balance of the celestial heavens," Luna said. "So I found myself often apart from my siblings as they spent more and more time growing into their positions,"
Donatello resumed his seat reluctantly, as the scene faded back to Olympus and the shenanigans of a young Luna.
"Never being one to sit still, I busied myself around Olympus 'assisting' this god or that in their work and becoming what Zeus would later term the 'darling' of the cosmos," Luna said.
Leonardo smiled at how the adorable tiny Luna was driving Olympus to distraction.
"When my scampering began to wear a little too heavily on the King, he would invent a reason to send me to his brothers with messages or requests. Each designed to keep me out of Olympus for extended lengths of time," Luna said. "Poseidon and I never really saw eye to eye, but Hades seemed to appreciate my youthful enthusiasm and he began to teach me. He broadened my horizons and taught me to see beyond the narrow bounds of Olympus and the King."
"The beginnings of her corruption," Hades declared with a smile, joining them again from the other room. A few moments alone had allowed him to recover his equilibrium. Luna looked up at the dark god and smiled fondly.
"As I visited his domain more often, we became close. He was like my second father, and he began to take me on field trips to Earth," Luna said. "We weren't technically supposed to be there but since I was with Hades and not causing trouble on Olympus Zeus allowed it."
Many early Earth cultures rose and fell as time accelerated in front of their eyes, and the young Luna blossomed into an ever more beautiful goddess. She maintained her trips to Earth now, more often than not, traveling alone.
"As I watched the evolution of mortals and animals alike, I began to see patterns in the world. Some of good, others of misfortune. These I understood to be the way of the universe and as not all things being equal. I began to see the need for the gentle nudges my parents made to the cosmos, for the patterns of misfortune would have seen this planet consumed by it's own sun 'ere now had they not intervened.
But there was yet another force at work in the human world. Something that I could only define as evil. Those that created mischief and death to observe the pain and suffering of others. This I could not abide." Luna dropped her eyes sadly. "Many nations were destroyed by jealousy and hate, but as a child of Olympus I was bound to not intervene for this was Zeus' realm."
Hades took Luna's hand and patted the top of it gently.
"Luna is an unusual goddess," Hades said, intently eyeing her mates, "And unlike many of her peers, she has an incredible capacity for emotion. The pain of the world wore away at her spirit, and rather than see her consumed by it, I advised her to return to Olympus."
He released Luna's hand and dropped bonelessly into the recliner across from her swinging his feet sideways across the arm. April stared at him. She couldn't quite believe the Lord of the Underworld, a fearful king in Greek mythology was lounging about in the sewers with her, occupying a chair in the manner of a ten year old. But Luna's story was too interesting for her to be distracted by him for long.
"I must admit," Luna flushed, "to my shame, that for a time I stayed away from the Earth so as not to feel the sufferings of those upon it; but Olympus, though apart, was not immune to the spread of this evil force.
Many of my peers began to view the Earth as their playground and their mischief added to the misery of the people," Luna bit gently at her lower lip in and expression of pain.
"I went to the King and begged his intervention, not realising that envy and hatred had already made their way into his heart. Zeus struck back and it was then that my brother perished and everything changed."
Guilt and sorrow stabbed at her mates through the bond, prompting Raph to sit up straight and grab her chin, forcing her to meet his eyes.
"Yer brother's death was not yer fault, sweetheart," Raph said, as gently as he could. "Zeus killed him, an' from what ya' said before, he woulda done it whether ya' spoke up for the people of Earth or not."
"Your mate is correct, young one," Hades said soothingly in confirmation. "I fear my brother has come to envy your family and it's power. He has long been planning the breaking of it."
Luna shook her head silently, breaking Raph's grip, took a deep breath and continued.
"My family changed. My sister abandoned her duties as heir and took up control of the wild hunt. In this way, she fights back among mischief makers and those that would injure our family, but the strain of the hunt calls her own morality into question more often than not."
Luna sighed. "With my brother gone and no other to share the burden with, I became heir to all the cosmos has to offer. The Sun and the Moon will eventually answer to me, if I regain my position."
"And that," Leonardo spoke up suddenly, "probably scares the pants off Zeus. No wonder he demeans you and sets the other gods against you. He already fears the power of your parents separately, for you to inherit it all…"
"Means that one day she might challenge him," Hades said