Intertwined

Later on that night, after having spoken to my family about the things that had occurred in the past few days, I went to bed happier than I've ever been but some time during the night, I woke up scared out of my mind with no idea why. I sat up, taking a few deep breaths in order to calm down and then got up to go get a glass of water. For some reason, I felt really light, as though I'd lost a lot of weight in the course of a few hours.

"Are you Cordelia?" a deep voice rumbled. I jumped and looked up into the obsidian colored eyes of a god-like figure. I stood there frozen, just staring at this stranger in disbelief.

"Will you answer my question, girl? You're wasting my time."

I gulped.

"Yes, I'm Cordelia," I answered, nervously. "Who are you exactly and how did you get in my room, let alone my house?"

"Don't be daft, girl, you know exactly who I am," he responded, annoyed. I stared at him with wide eyes, really hoping he wasn't who I thought he was.

"Are you kidding me? Did your mother seriously ensure that I was never mentioned in the stories of the Gods? I'm Hades, you annoying girl."

I stared at him in wonder. Never once in my life did I ever dream I would meet Hades, not even when I died.

"My mother never left you out of the stories she told us. She thought you were just as important as the other Gods," I told him. I stared at Hades quizzically, wondering if perhaps the empty throne on Olympus belonged to him. It did seem to; it glittered as though encompassed in black diamonds and seemed to shake with the power of one of the three most powerful Gods in Greek mythology.

"Yes, child, the throne is mine. My younger brother has finally decided to let me come back and that's probably why you didn't see Dionysus there. However, there will be more time for you to discover everything about us after you've talked to Zeus."

I sighed – could everyone read my mind now-a-days?

Hades reached out to grab my arm but I moved out of his reach. "Come on, girl, we don't have time for this."

"No, I'm not going any where until you tell me why Zeus needs to talk to me so badly that he couldn't wait until a decent hour in the morning or why he had to send the God of the Underworld and Death to come get me instead of Hermes, the messenger God."

Hades stared at me for a few seconds, then proceeded to sigh exasperatedly. "Did you not just hear a single word of what you just said?"

I stared at him blankly and watched as he pointed at my bed. I looked at him for a few seconds then turned my head to look at my bed and stepped back in shock. There I was, just lying there peacefully with a smile on my face like all of this was normal while I was standing beside Hades, feeling as light as air.

"Is this a dream?" I asked him.

He shook his head sadly.

"Then what's going on?"

"I'm afraid you're dead, child," Hades stated unhappily.

Dead – I was dead? How in the hell did this happen?

"Come speak with Zeus and he will answer all your questions." I sighed sadly but allowed him to grab my arm and transport us to Mount Olympus.

***

I stared blankly at the 10 feet high, double doors as Hades lead me to them. "You're dead, child," kept running through my mind. I couldn't wrap my mind around it; my life was over. Crap, what is this going to do to Sal?

"Come on, girl, Zeus doesn't have all day either," Hades pointed out tiredly. I nodded and followed him into the throne room.

Zeus sat in his throne at the base of the 'U', staring dejectedly into space but looked up as we approached him. We stopped by the hearth and bowed. He raised his hand and appeared to wave us away but I watched Hades disappear in a cloud of black smoke without me.

"Come forward, Cordelia," Zeus said and gestured to Poseidon's throne. "Sit," he demanded. I nodded and did what he asked.

"Zeus – I mean, Lord Zeus – what's going on?"

"I'm afraid you've been killed by another God, my dear." I stared at him, positive he was joking. "This is no laughing matter, Cordelia!" he stated angrily, his voice thundering throughout the room.

"Then explain it me already! I didn't particularly enjoy having Hades be completely vague with me," I replied, frustrated. He sighed.

"You are aware of the many religions and beliefs in your world, correct?" I nodded, wondering what he was getting to.

"Well, they're all real. The Roman Gods are our – the Greek Gods' – counterparts. All of us coexist peacefully with a few disputes between us but they're always resolved quickly by the Goddess of Peace, Eirene. However, today, it seems the God of the Christian faith was a little worried about the shift in power the discovery of my brother's soul mate caused. Therefore, he decided he should do away with you in order to keep us Greek Gods and his power equal, which means, in turn, he went too far."

"Hades alerted me as soon as your body and soul were separated. I was forced to send Eirene to the Christian God's layer to keep him level headed and whatnot from now on, but it's still too late," Zeus finished, sighing dejectedly.

I stared at him sadly and leaned over, wrapping my transparent hands around his. "There wasn't much you could do, Zeus. You shouldn't be so hard on yourself. But can you tell me what I'm doing here instead of waiting in the Underworld, in line to be judged?"

"You're here because we have an offer to make you," a sweet, motherly voice answered as its owner, Hera, appeared in her throne next to Zeus.

"An offer?" I asked.

"We'd like to make you immortal, a goddess, if you'll let us," she told me.

"A goddess?" I whispered.

"Yes, a goddess. You'd be like Eirene, a goddess of peace, except you'd actually be more like an assistant. You'd be helping her whenever she needs it, though your area of focus would revolve more around Poseidon's domain."

"You're only doing this because Poseidon would never forgive you for letting me die, right?" I fixed my eyes on Zeus and stared at him until he looked up into my eyes.

"Yes," he muttered sadly.

"Okay, I accept," I told Hera. She nodded and snapped her fingers.

I gasped as a gold light wrapped itself around my body and pulled at every inch of it. I felt myself growing to Hera's height and felt unlimited strength accumulating within my muscles. My hair grew until it reached below my derrière then stopped, evenly thick pieces of hair gathered itself on both sides of my head, forming braids and meeting at the back of my head, magically clipping there. Ivory cloths appeared in front of me then proceeded to wrap around my body, forming a long flowing Grecian dress. Gold threads appeared, weaving themselves into my hair and formed a thin band under my bust, and my gold thong sandals appeared on my feet. The gold light disappeared, leaving me standing in front of Hera, Zeus, and now Hades as they each looked me over twice and smiled.

"Poseidon's going to be drooling for centuries," Hades muttered aloud. Hera and Zeus nodded in agreement. I blushed and twirled, astonished with the change.

***

I stood between Zeus and Poseidon's throne while God after God walked in and took their place in their thrones, chatting as though they hadn't seen each other in eons. Soon after my transformation, Zeus had called an emergency meeting for the Olympian Gods. The Olympian Gods consisted of Zeus, Poseidon, Hades – the three most powerful Gods within Greek mythology because they defeated their father and saved the Gods – Hera, Hephaestus, Hermes, Demeter, Artemis, Ares, Apollo, Aphrodite and Athena. Those are the ones with thrones in this hall. However, there's also Hestia, the Goddess of the Hearth and home – which means she guards the hearth and therefore sits by it. There's also Dionysus, Persephone and several more.

"Silence!" Zeus demanded. Every God and Goddess in the room stopped speaking. I noticed that Poseidon's throne remained empty and so did Zeus. He looked at me and pointed at the throne, indicating that I sit in it and so I did. This time, I actually fit in the throne.

"Where is Poseidon?" Zeus asked the silent and very watchful Gods.

"We don't know. The last time we saw him, he was leaving with Cordelia and her mother," Athena replied honestly.

"I didn't ask when the last time you saw him was, daughter. I wanted to know if any of you knew where he was at the moment. What, brother?" He asked Hades, who was looking at him with his mouth open as though he was going to speak.

Hades closed his eyes and seemed to concentrate on something for a few seconds, before his eyes snapped open and looked at me. "I believe he's in the Underworld, searching for Cordelia's soul and for me so that I can bring her back to life," he answered Zeus.

Well, that's going to prove quite difficult, I thought.

Zeus nodded, accepting Hades' answer. He looked around the room, at his brothers and sisters, his sons and daughters; his family and then turned his eyes on me as he began explaining what had happened to me. When he had finished, everyone sat in silence, processing what they had just heard. The one to break the silence was Ares.

"Then I believe it is time we go to war!" he bellowed, grinning devilishly. He definitely reminded me of Ivan.

"No, you buffoon!" Apollo interrupted him before he could say anything else. "A war would be disastrous. If we were to go to war with an equally as powerful God, we'd probably end up destroying everything." Everyone stared at Apollo, shocked by his prediction.

I jumped as the doors to the room were slammed open with extreme force. I shrunk down in Poseidon's throne as the god himself stormed into the room. "Where is she?! Where is Cora, dammit?" He yelled at Hades, at the room. Everyone but him looked at me, shocked.

"Dammit, Hades, where is she?" He stopped glaring at Hades long enough to slump down in front of him. "Where is she? I need her, Hades, I need her," Poseidon whispered, hiding his face in his hands.

My mouth fell open, my eyes watering as his words clicked into place in my brain. I stood up and rushed over to his side before he did anything to break both his and my heart. I knelt down and hugged him, my face against his shoulder.

"I'm right here, Poseidon. Right here," I whispered.