A/N: Another cliche reincarnation story! Fair warning, OC doesn't know its a Percy Jackson universe, just regular Greek mythology. It won't be for awhile since its quite... far away.
The very first second I had gotten reincarnated, I was born into the world and was promptly swallowed out of it.
Being eaten by some gigantic man, who I assumed was my father, was not on my bingo card of the reincarnation bingo.
Gross in hindsight, but I went down the hatch quite smoothly and efficiently. Of course there was a reason for that, due to the fact that it seemed as if this man had practice beforehand. Multiple practice.
Imagine my surprise when I arrived at a destination that seemed so out of place, somewhere that no other man or woman would enter, and bam- Six other people were there, huddled around like it was some sort of party in someone's digestive tract. A rather depressing, damp party.
I'm going to lose my shit, I thought with a cry. I literally died in my cushy 21st century life to be born into this highly fantastical world where serial vore people were out and about, and I wasn't even the first victim. If I was going to be consumed by a literal giant, I'd want to at least stake the claim on being the first one to be consumed. Now I was just a statistic, one of many.
I was still a baby so I couldn't quite communicate anything, I just wriggled around and hoped for some sort of easy explanation for the start of my reincarnation. If I was being logical though, my start in this new reincarnation life was over before it even started. If I wasn't going to die from being in a man's stomach, I was going to die from the lack of nutrients that a baby would need. To be fair, being swallowed completely by a giant man was illogical in the first place, much less being alive in it. Maybe I was some sort of super baby with crazy genes. Not that it mattered when my only sign of existence seemed to be inside a stomach.
One of the women standing around took pity on me, however, and lifted me up from the ground- or digestive tract. "Oh my, little one. It seems Father didn't give you a name beforehand. Shall we give you one instead?"
Woah, the audacity of the man to consume me and not even give me a name, especially since it seems implied that he had given names to them beforehand. How would he do that, I wondered. Did he give them their names and proceed to swallow them or were they swallowed after awhile and I was just the poor sod that was born post-madness that instantly got swallowed. In the first place, it seemed that all of the people inside here were my siblings. They were far more grown than I was, however, I thought to myself as my eyes glanced at all of the adult-looking folks.
I hoped they didn't give me a bad name. Being trapped in one's stomach made for a depressive mood quite easily.
"Does she have a need for a name?" One of the men lamented. "We're here for eternity, I see no point in such trivialities."
"Don't say that. Our brother has gotten stronger. I can sense him sometimes. He'll be back for us," The other woman said with certainty, interrupting him.
"Really, do you have such faith in him?"
Her face twitched slightly, before a sigh left her mouth. "It's better than simply standing and accepting this fate."
Guys, focus! I don't have a name yet! I shouted in my head, which materialized in the form of a few pitiful babyish whines. However, if we're going to be stuck here for eternity, then a fight would definitely be entertaining.
As if sensing my distress, the woman holding me rocked me slightly as she helplessly took her eyes away from the fallout battle between siblings- that were technically mine now.
"Ophelia," The woman holding me said, ignoring the bunch, as she gently raked her fingers through my bald baby head.
I definitely didn't feel like an Ophelia nor was I feeling this name, but I was too embarrassed to say anything to the only woman who seemed to actually care about me- not to mention I couldn't verbalize my complaints either as a baby, so I merely grasped at her finger. It was quite warm to the touch and I decided to pay her back somehow when I grew up, for the few amounts of warmth she offered me in such a situation as absurd as this one.
I know I said when I grew up, I didn't quite mean... in two days.
Not quite grown up, but I looked like I was already ready to go to school, learn some numbers, and it was only my second day of life. I didn't even have my first birthday yet. Jeez, I was going to go work at an office job by five, signing paperwork with some crayons and getting gold stickers for my hard work. If I were not a reincarnated baby with the knowledge of the entire school curriculum in my head, how would it have gone? I'd be on my death bed and I'd be celebrating the first time I counted up to ten.
"Is this... normal?" I gently prod at my sister, the one who had named me, as I glanced at my body. This was the first time I had spoken and it almost sounded gross, being able to speak fluently with a childish body. None of my siblings seemed to freak out so I wondered if they were accommodating for me and acting like I wasn't some freak of nature. It'd be fairly awkward to get in a scuffle with me when we were going to be stuck together for however long we lived.
"You're a bit later than most, but not to worry," She gently reassured me, as if that made me feel any better.
What the hell are we, I wondered in faint shock. But the fact that we were kicking should've clued me in on how quite... inhuman we were. I glanced over at my other siblings as well. Completely human-looking. Maybe their names would be some sort of alien name and we were actually from some sort of alien race in the galaxy, which would explain the pointedly lack of any children eating regulations.
It suddenly occurred to be that I've never been given any of their names. Now that I could finally speak, I decided to ask.
"What's your name, sister?" I questioned curiously.
"Well, have I never told you?" She replies, with a tilt of a head, and it's almost surprising how unworldly she looks inside someone's stomach. Every one of my siblings looked as if they were carved out of some sort of ancient Greek statue and I hoped that I looked somewhat like that. Really, how handsome was that mug on father that everyone here looked like they won the genetic lottery. I didn't have quite a good look as I was too busy being plopped into his stomach.
"None of you ever told me your names," I said, making it a point to glance at my other siblings. None of them bothers to amend that fact, bastards.
"Such things have gotten muddled after such long stretches of time," She offers. "Well, Opehlia, I am your sister, Hestia."
And then something in my just clicked. As if the braincells that went off work suddenly entered the office, turned on the lights, and suddenly decided that I wasn't someone with half a braincell on a good day.
Eaten by a giant man. Siblings all inside a stomach. One of them named Hestia.
Duh!
Thank you mythology class and Percy Jackson, I thought in my head. Being forced to read copious amounts of text paid off. But simultaneously, fuck.
The thought of being mingled in all that mythology stories seemed like such a chore and I almost wanted to end myself right here, right now. Next time, the next reincarnation I experience shall be one where I'm a trust fund kid and the only work I had to do with open my mouth to make someone else do work for me. I suppose being some sort of god or goddess is something similar like that, but as I glanced at my other siblings around me, coupled with the headache of their children, and I decidedly felt that their mess of a life would inevitably reach me somehow.
That's how the gods went. The mortals were mostly the ones fucked over, but between the gods, it was not quite a cakewalk either. One would say something, pissed off some other god, and they'll kill your favorite human or something. Not that I'll ever have a favorite human in this timeline, my favorite human was an actor in the 21st century that hasn't even been born- won't be for quite awhile. Somehow, a sense of sadness felt over me. There went staying up until late at night to catch up with his most recent television show.
I plopped down on the ground, not minding the fact it was apart of some man's stomach now. Knowing the entirety of the myth also reassured me to a certain degree, knowing we won't be stuck in here forever, and we'll be vomitted out. Actually, the thought of swimming out of the exit like some sort of water park in his vomit was quite unappealing.
"You can tell me your names as well if you want, but otherwise, no need," I grumbled as I rolled my eyes upwards to be able to glance at the remaining siblings. I knew their names, somewhat. Well, actually, I did know it but I couldn't quite put faces to the names so somewhere down the line, if they never told me, I'd be calling Hades by his brother, Poseidon's name.
"You're quite insolent," One of the women say. It's either Demeter or Hera, but I place my bets on Hera.
"We all share a common fate. We shouldn't fight amongst ourselves," Hestia says, clearing some of the animosity radiating off of her. She was somewhat of my adoptive mother at this point, when my choices available were father that has eaten me, and mother I had not seen at all. Well, Rhea did care about her children in the myths, I suppose.
Did that mean I was also a goddess?
As I lay on the ground, I excitedly wondered what I should pick my domain. I didn't want to step on another god or goddess' domain in the future, it'd be quite awkward to put some people out of a job. However, the thought of just taking everything from the other unborn gods seemed hilarious. Apollo, the god of absolutely... nothing. I laughed at the thought, a little giggle somewhat slipping.
"She's gone mad now."
I glanced over at the sibling who said that. Now you'd think this was an easier choice to decipher, Poseidon or Hades. I thought Hades would look a little more emo, but the only characteristics that were noticeably different were their hair. Now, I know that I said they were quite handsome, ironically mentioning them to be reminiscent of Greek statues, but the aesthetics of old Greek looks didn't quite align with me at all. Beards? I felt as if I were looking at my father- or... past father. The beards stretched almost all the way down and at that point, I could use their beards as blankets when dear old dad's stomach got too chilly.
I decided that if he were to characterize me as such, there was no disappointing the crowd. I did my best oracle gone rouge impression.
"Yes, dear brother. I've seen our future. It's filled with many pitfalls and disaster," I said with a grin and clapsed fingers.
"Future?"
"Our dear brother Zeus will free us, and with it, he'll bring absolute mayhem and chaos."
"You know of his name?"
I chuckled like I was straight out of some detective noir movie and I was some sort of super genius who was two steps ahead of the villain. "Dear brother Poseidon, there is nothing that can deceive my eyes, for it has seen past, present, and future."
"I am called Hades."
"It was a test, brother Hades."
Damn! How did I lose a fifty percent chance. I was so sure of it too!
"A test of what?"
I looked off into the distance. "A test of destiny."
Now, if you properly thought about it, it was proper bullshit. But the name of the destiny itself often amended everything in mythology. If not, Percy Jackson was surely a scam and I would like the money I spent on it back. I'll live all the way to the 21st century to shake Rick Riordan down for some spare change if I had to. It'd be quite interesting to see the gods reacting to the Percy Jackson series though, I thought it'd be quite a hoot to see some of the characterizations of the gods that might or might not be wrong.
Well, who knew if the gods would make it that far. They lingered in Percy Jackson, but I didn't know if the actual gods would actually just fade into nothingness unlike the fictional book when our existence was nothing but a fun lesson in myth class rather than coupled with actual belief.
It seemed to work, however, because one mention of the Fates and Hades seemed to not question it anymore. I suppose I technically managed to guess Poseidon without even knowing his name either, so there was some credibility behind my words.
They wouldn't think I was some sort of oracle, would they? I mean, that was Apollo's domain and at the thought of doing all the things he did in the myths pertaining to oracles, that just tired me out. My life goal in this universe was to do absolutely nothing until the age of internet came about.
"So, you say we'll be freed?" The other man- now I knew to be Poseidon, questioned.
"Yes, I've seen it," I said, closing my eyes. "We'll leave in a flood." Of vomit.
"I told you all," One of the other unnamed sisters said with a gleam in her eyes. "He would be back."
Chuckling, I nodded. "Right on, dear sister Demeter."
"I am Hera."
I placed a finger on my forehead and shook it, acting all mystique instead of the panicked thudding of my heart. "My, my, dear sister. My eye has been so foggy today."
I lost another fifty-fifty chance! My luck as a goddess was so undoubtedly dogshit, I wouldn't be gaining the domain of luck anytime soon.
It took about what would be approximately sixty years before the flood (of vomit) actually happened. According to my siblings, I spawned into life quite late into the game- probably because I shouldn't be here at all- because they had been waiting a few centuries more in father's stomach before I came along.
Now, sixty years. I had completely grown up. I had stopped aging at a certain point, but my development was actually completed on day twenty.
That's a long time. Especially if you consider the fact that I've got a human mentality and I truly wasn't built to be an immortal. The others were getting along quite swimmingly in such a damp place, especially considering they they were here for literal centuries longer. However, I truly couldn't handle it. I've gotten closer to them all, especially since they totally believed the spiel I went about Zeus coming here. Any doubts they could have had were erased by any mentions of the destiny and the fact that well, I was their siblings, believing your sibling wasn't that far-fetched. Well, maybe it was by god standards.
But it was quite fun to see them clamor to my 'prophecies' with wide, expectant eyes.
I dropped a few hints that would completely blow their minds in the future, like "I see the ocean in you" to Poseidon or nonsense like that, and I couldn't wait to reap the fruit of my labor. As a mortal, the gods looked absolutely all-consuming and even despite the human-like features and flaws of the gods that were unique to Greek gods, they were still quite godly. However, as their younger sibling, they were admittedly way lamer in perspective.
The fruits of my labor however, were years off. By the fortieth year, I was sick of this place and I almost wanted to simply die, take another shot at reincarnation.
It was quite a hassle, to think that after exiting the stomach, I would still have to be involved in some sort of war, but on second thought, being stuck in here was the worse punishment. I think being some sort of war-hardened goddess wouldn't be so bad either.
The most annoying thing about being a god is the immortal aspect however. I was suddenly stricken with the fact that I would forever be stuck in this universe and the thought of that was almost suffocating.
Of course, I immediately repressed that thought and went straight back to telling Hades about his future love life in the most mysterious and convoluted way possible to get my thoughts off of it. No doubt if I spared any more thought to it, I would bawl my eyes out and that would ruin my mystique image I made for myself with my siblings.
"I'm not quite sure about mystique," Hestia had told me however, as she was the only one privy to my less smirk and messenger of the Fates side.
"No, trust me, Hestia. When we get out of here, I'd be some sort of god to them!"
"But, you are a goddess?"
"That's not what I..." I had forgotten and used some sort of figure of speech. Sighing reluctantly, I shook my head. "Forget it."
And lo and behold though, the day to actually have one of my many 'prophecies' to come to truth finally came. The day started quite normally, with Hera braiding my hair just the way I liked it, as I prattled on about the universe. That would be considered morning, as for some reason gods did sleep, though it was hard to tell in such a place.
By the end of it, the only sign of being ejected was the slight rumble of his stomach and then a flood of liquid.
For vomit though, it was fairly odorless and not as chunky as I thought it'd be, I thought, as I was completely consumed by the flood.
"Aha!" I shouted, before being dunked in the rocky liquid waves again and I almost wanted to vomit myself, even though the vomit was fairly nothing. "I was right, you guys, I totally called i-" Glub glub.