We've been around for so long...

I don't think any of us remembers really how we came to be. So many different versions, any one of them could be true. We don't remember who brought us here, and we don't know how long this is all going to last. It could be forever, it could be until tomorrow. That's one thing that we and mortals have in common, I guess.

But no matter how often things change, no matter how much time passes...one thing always remains the same.

Our destiny.

Our purpose.

It's the one thing we know. The only thing we have. Our purpose is to watch over this place, Earth, and it's people. Some may think we don't care, but we do. Sometimes we care so much that it hurts. We can't save everyone, we can't cure disease or stop world hunger. To do so would upset the balance, and it's on such a delicate scale as it is...

Everything. We feel everything. Their hopes and dreams, triumphs and failures.

Some have twisted beyond control, becoming black and tainted. We weep for those children we have lost to the madness. The ones who hurt so much but for some reason can't die just yet. I can't speak for the others, since I don't know if they have exactly what I do but...

There is this bond between me and them.

It's a string that wraps around my very soul and connects me to theirs. It's how I can tell when some thing's wrong, or when someone desperately needs my help. It completes me. So much so that when Zeus strips us of our powers, to punish us for something we've done wrong...

The gaping hole that's there once I'm mortal...

Makes me never repeat what I've done again.

It's not easy, doing what we do. Sometimes it hurts so much, watching them hurt. I just want to hold them all, caress their souls and hide them from all that troubles them. Watching them destroy themselves, watching them kill. The sickness and filth of it all.

But there's also a bright side.

Watching the smiles. Feeling a child take it's first breath in this world. Witnessing their first love. Their first accomplishment. The joy they show in the smallest things like affection. The way they laugh. Each laugh is different, effects them differently. I truly love each and every one of them.

That is why I cannot stand Him.

That is why I hate what He did.

I don't understand. I don't want to understand. He turned his back on his people. An entire planet. It died due to him leaving, I just know it. A planet needs someone to give life to it. Someone to nurture it. That was his destiny. His purpose. And he rejected it. Said he didn't want it that he never asked for it. Said he had his own dreams and hopes and that Mortals didn't concern him. He left. And without him it became unstable. Blew up into billions of little pieces.

Oh, Rao...

I hate it when Kal says his name. Hate it hate it hate it.

Some times I hate him so much that I want to scream. When he's not around, I barely give him a second thought. But when he visits...

I want to kill.

He follows Kal around like a lost puppy. It infuriates him, I know it does. That despite all efforts, the bond is still there. Still nagging him. He doesn't feel complete unless he's near his Child. He wants to feel complete, but he doesn't want the responsibility.

Thinks he's helping Kal with his little visits; that Kal needs him just as much as he needs Kal.

He's wrong though.

Kal doesn't know anything about him. Oh sure, he'll say his name sometimes in excitement or distress but does he give it any thought? No. It's something that's done unconsciously. The name doesn't have meaning. Kal doesn't pray to him, doesn't give him sacrifices.

Doesn't need him.

So I kind of get why Zeus didn't want to tell Superman. Because if he had, then Kal's eyes...those beautiful blue eyes...would have lit up in wonder and awe and joy...and he would think something along the lines of 'wow...Rao...my God...' and Rao doesn't deserve that. Doesn't deserve his gratitude or prayers.

Rao left.

He rejected his destiny.

All those people on Krypton...all their souls...they were crying in anguish, the day that they died. Wondering what was happening, because that wasn't what was fated to be.

He changed everything.

Abandoned everything.

How can a God do that?

Truth is, I don't like to think about why he left. Because if I start thinking about why...then I'll start to understand. And once I start to understand, I might, just might feel sorry for him. Or worse, I might start to wish that I could do it too, which frightens me.

Because there's a lot of things that I don't know.

I don't know how we came to be.

I don't know why bad things happen to good people.

I don't know why there seems to be so much more hatred than love.

But perhaps the biggest thing I do not know...

Is how to do anything else. It feels right, looking over Earth and it's creatures. Protecting it. Loving it. I feel whole.

This is my destiny. My purpose.

I don't understand why Rao did what he did.

I don't understand how Rao did what he did.

And I don't want to.

But I do understand one thing.

I understand that I have been here for as long as I can remember, and I'm going to stay here for as long as it lasts.

It might be forever, it might be until tomorrow.

I don't know.

But I know that I want to be here when it ends.

()

In my head this was Aphrodite talking, but this can be whoever you want it to be. I'm sorry if the first person point of view bothered anyone, but that's just how the chapter came out to me.

...did anyone guess who it was?

Anyone? XD