#poor athena

Odysseus: Then who?

I absolutely think Athena would be way more in touch with mortals than this but yeah sure why not:

For Ody to go into labor with Athena around, I think he'd have to be otherwise alone. So maybe he snuck out of the palace because he was sick of constantly being hounded by the royal physicians. No doubt his mother would also constantly smother him and order the servants to do the same.

Athena joins him and they take a little walk together. Neither of them think anything's wrong until Odysseus stumbles over himself. Athena catches him, but they both smell... something in the air.

Ody looks down and boom, his water broke.

Athena thinks nothing of it. She summons a small axe to one hand and a chisel + mallet in the other, asking Odysseus which he'd prefer.

He looks at her like she's crazy and says he needs to get back to the palace ASAP. Athena is like "Oh of course. Mortals die of childbirth all the time. Well, they do tend to perish when their skulls are cracked open, so that makes sense."

She uses a bit of magic to get them there faster, masking herself from everyone but Odysseus' sight as the servants hurry him to his birthing suite. They get him settled on the provided bed and do all sorts of things to calm him down, like massaging his muscles and rubbing his skin with warm oil. Athena is like "Yup this checks out. Definitely don't want to be stressed when they crack your head open."

She even keeps quiet as a priest prays to Artemis for a safe birth for both the child and the dam despite Athena being right there. Because surely, at any moment now, Odysseus will ask his dear mentor to do the honor of delivering his child. After all, what mortal's hand could possibly be more steady or precise than her own?

Athena is honestly a little excited and a little nervous. She's never delivered a human's offspring before. But she doesn't trust the midwives or physician to do the cutting and/or splitting. What if they accidentally kill Odysseus?

As someone who's vanquished many foes in battle, she's confident that she can get Odysseus' head open just enough for the child to pass w/out killing her mentee. And right now, Odysseus is looking quite stressed and seems to be in a lot of pain. There's some blood coming from his lower area but hey, maybe that happened when Zeus bore her as well. Or maybe it's a human thing.

Athena startles at the first of Odysseus' screams. This isn't a low whine to indicate discomfort. It's not a battle cry, either. It's a sound of pure pain. As soon as he empties his lungs, the midwives & his mother + wife get him off the bed and seated on a strange chair with a large portion of the seat missing.

(Two notes- I think it's insane that it was common practice in ancient Greece for women start labor by laying down and THEN getting moved to a birthing chair because like... idk about you, if I began to experience the worst physical pain of my life I wouldn't want anyone manhandling me.

And two- I HC Odysseus' mother as an omega. So she'd definitely be there to coach her poor son through his labor. Also, despite childbirth being strictly regarded as an omega's ordeal, I do think Odysseus would want Penelope to be present. She's still a woman so there's not too much taboo crossing there. And having her familiar scent nearby is really comforting to him.)

At that point, it finally crosses Athena's mind that humans give birth very differently from how she was created. There is so much blood and other bodily fluids, it's wet and smells terrible, Odysseus is red in the face from his screaming and exhaustion, and it goes on. For. So. Long.

Hours. All night and into the morning, Odysseus is pushing and pushing and Athena is just watching from the corner of the room and wondering which other god cursed her poor mentee with this demon of a delivery. Because surely, this isn't normal, right?

At one point, Penelope put her hand on his shoulder to calm him down and Odysseus physically snapped at her and bit her hand.

Penelope doesn't pull her hand away, she doesn't even flinch, not until Odysseus lets go of his own volition. He seems to have gone downright mad. At another point in the birthing process, he screams at his midwives and even his own family to be quiet, even when no one is speaking. He yells at them not to touch him even when no one is.

Athena is horrified and bewildered by his behavior but literally everyone else in the room acts like it's completely normal. Like this is expected.

"Yes, Odysseus," his mother murmurs, having been on her feet for hours and yet not tired at all, "Let it all out. It'll be alright..."

"Stop telling me that!"

And his mother continues to hush and shush him, no fear or anger on her face. Only love and concern.

Athena wishes childbirth was as easy as making a neat split in Odysseus' skull and pulling the child out. Whatever in Hades this all is... it is beyond even her comprehension.

At long last, a tiny fleshy thing drops out of Odysseus and into a midwife's waiting arms. It's cleaned and dressed in white cloth, with the staff declaring it's a boy!

Odysseus slumps in the chair, at last being able to cradle his son. Penelope leans over his shoulder with a smile and all at once, his sanity seems to have returned to him. Odysseus smiles, exhausted but clearly very happy, as his alpha kisses him on the cheek.

Penelope says, "Well done, my beloved."

She's crying, as is Odysseus' mother. Tears of joy, no doubt. Odysseus seems to have shed every tear he could possibly have as he finally gets to recline and relax.

In all his life, he's never looked so fragile, so mortal.

Odysseus spots Athena in the corner of the room and asks to be left alone for a moment. He wants to pray, he says. It takes a great deal of convincing for his mother & wife to leave his side, Penelope seems intent on being removed only by force, but they don't want to argue with the poor omega who just spent 12+ hours giving birth. Odysseus assures her it'll just be for the shortest moment.

When it's just the three of them, (Ody, Athena, and Telemachus) he asks if she wants to hold the baby. Athena politely but swiftly declines, thinking the little thing in Odysseus' arms must be as soft as clay and just as easy to misshape.

Curious, Odysseus asks her what it was like to watch.

"It was... unlike anything I've ever seen."

Odysseus smiles softly. It seems he has no strength to laugh.

He asks her a question that catches her by surprise, "What was I like?"

"What do you mean?"

Odysseus truly doesn't remember long stretches of his birth. He asks again what he was like. Athena decides he doesn't yet need to know about how he snapped at everyone in the room. Now, she can see it was only a coping mechanism for someone in terrible, terrible pain and all the mortals understood that far before she did.

—

Athena stared at the younger version of herself, as she seemed to almost bounce around her with a liveliness she hadn't experienced in hundreds, if not thousands, of years.

"When did we get such cool armor? I really like the helmet!" The young goddess exclaimed, eyes sparkling with naive curiosity and wonder. Her wings were fluffed up with excitement, a wide, almost cocky smile on her face as she looked up at her much older counterpart. "Woah! And we get taller? That is so cool! Do we get to go back to Olympus?"

Athena struggled to find words, her hands shaking, breath caught in her throat at the sight of the seashell necklace.

"Do we get to go back to Olympus? Oh, does Pallas come with us?!"

Her helmet cast a shadow over her face as she looked away, expression unreadable, making the younger version of herself stop in her tracks.

"... What's wrong?" She asked, looking anxious suddenly at the silence of her older self. Slowly, Athena took her helmet off, letting it dematerialize in the air, revealing her scarred, tired face. Young Athena's eyes widened slightly at this, as she cautiously took a step closer. "What... What happened to us?"

Tears well up in Athena's saddened, exhausted gray and yellow eyes, staring into the bright blue of her younger counterpart. She dropped to her knees, stifling a sob with her hand, her armor suddenly feeling cold and suffocating against her skin. The young goddess took note of her burnt hands, the intricate markings on the left side of her face, the fatigue plaguing her being. Her eyes were full of pain, so much pain.

She took a few more steps forward, putting her unscarred hands on her older self's armored shoulders.

"Did... Did something happen? Did we do something? W-why aren't you answering me..." Young Athena shook her with desperation, growing more serious the longer she remained silent.

Suddenly, Athena pulled the young adult into her arms, trying to shield her from the grief, the pain, the overwhelming sorrow and self-blame that she couldn't escape from. Young Athena tensed as the soft cries, but hesitantly hugged her in return, lightly rubbing her back to try and comfort her.

"It's not your fault," Athena spoke suddenly, hugging herself tighter, "Nothing that happens is your fault. It was never your fault, do you understand me?" She sobbed, desperately trying to drill the words she never believed herself into her own head. Her younger self was silent for a few moments, reluctantly squeezing tighter, her voice breaking slightly.