#queen teca

It hurt you that your heart was capable of harboring so much hatred against someone who was once your best friend, but that was years ago and what she did to you, the pain she had caused you, far exceeded any nice memory you could have of her.

You used to be like her, a goddess, destined for great things and staying out of disputes between gods and mortals. You got along with Micte and respected Mictlán, but you never did anything to join their cause and thought that keeping your distance would protect you from the wrath of the gods. But you were wrong.

Shortly after Micte and Mictlán's wedding, you and your friend had a heated argument that ended with her taking out her anger on you and you locked up in a mortal body, with no way back home.

You begged her to release you, even promised to help if she asked, but her greed and thirst for power didn't let the goddess return what she had taken from you. Micte was always in competition with her husband, of course she wasn't going to give you back your divine essence, not when it made her stronger.

So she left, leaving you alone and lost in a world you didn't belong to or know. You would have died in the woods if it wasn't for her finding you.

The young queen of Teca, a beauty in every right, tough, brave, strong, but also compassionate, kind, and good-natured. She had found you when you were about to succumb to the fragility of your new mortal status, and she had brought you back to her kingdom.

She and her king had taken care of you, given you food, clothing, and a place to belong, a new home. The queen spent a lot of time with you while you recovered, and by the time you were able to walk again, you were inseparable.

You became the councilor of the kingdom and in time, something more to her. You adored her three children as if they were your own and the king never complained about having to share the love of his wife with you, on the contrary, he seemed to encourage it and was always creating situations that allowed you to be alone with her.

He was adorable and you considered him a good friend. Even if his eyes said there was another story to tell.

Then Maya arrived, brought by a messenger from the gods, and your world was turned upside down again. You understood the king's eagerness to allow his wife to take you as a concubine, you were a cushion, a shield so that the queen's wrath would not fall completely on him when she found out that he had cheated on her.

And with the goddess of death no less. Knowing that the baby was Micte's daughter was a blow to you, that the queen accepted her and took her as her own almost destroyed you. You were about to run away from there, away from all traces of your past, you couldn't even bear to be in the same room as Maya.

But then the girl fell ill, the doctors couldn’t do anything, and the sadness in the parents' eyes was too much for you. You took the small bundle with trembling hands and used what little remnant of your divinity you had left to restore her to health.

It was the first time you took her, and you knew that, like the queen, you couldn't hate her. Your only option was to love that girl, and you did so for years.

Of course, you knew about Micte's visits on Maya's every birthday, so you always made excuses so you didn't have to run into her. But then that damn prophecy had to appear.

To say that Zatz appearance at Maya's birthday scared you would be an understatement. You were completely terrified, you knew what Mictlan was capable of, what he could do to your little girl and you knew that you weren't even going to be able to protect her.

And then things changed so quickly. The princes died, the princess left in search of her three warriors, the queen became pregnant, the months passed and one day... one day she came back.

Maya, your beautiful girl, brought with her the cause of all your ills, the one responsible for your mortal punishment. Micte at least had the decency to look apologetic when she recognized you, but she didn't do anything else.

She didn't explain, she didn't apologize, and she didn't offer to return your divine essence to you (later she would tell you that she couldn't risk weakening further as if you were being selfish in asking her for what she had stolen from you).

It was all the proof you needed to know that your hatred of her was still justified. You didn't expect the queen to invite her to dinner. It felt like a stab to the heart, but you didn't blame her, she only saw the other mother of her daughter (as if you weren't), she had no idea that she was the same monster that had condemned you.

You refused the invitation to have dinner with them and walked away, ignoring Micte's look or the queen's call, you had to get out of there. Especially after seeing how your queen looked at the goddess, how there was a mutual understanding, a magic that you didn't possess. She looked at her like she once looked at you.

"You’re leaving?" the king's voice came softly behind you

"You know I have to" you answered "I can't stay...not while she's here"

He looked at you with a sad smile and nodded solemnly before helping you gather your things. You were grateful that he didn't ask anymore, that he didn't try to stop you. You assumed he understood what it was like to see the person you loved fall in love with someone else.

"Is that how you felt when I arrived?" you asked

"No" he said sincerely "I knew that instead of losing her, I was gaining you, my best friend...but now"

"Now we're both going to lose her"

The king nodded slowly in resignation. He too had seen the look, the one that tells the story of two souls intertwining.

"I wish you a good trip" he told you as a farewell

"May fate be on your side in this coming war" you answered with a sad smile and left.

You hadn't even finished descending the last step when you felt the unmistakable divine breeze of a goddess appearing to a mortal and the voices of the queen and princess calling you in the distance. You didn't turn around and kept walking.

"Y/N!" Micte called you "wait, please. You can't leave"

"You are nobody to tell me what I can or cannot do" you murmured, but you knew that she had heard you. The goddess sighed and stepped in front of you to cut you off.

"I know you're upset, I know I hurt you and I'm sorry, but you can't leave, they need you"

"No" you simply said

Micte took you by the shoulders when you tried to walk past her and in silence she was grateful that Maya and the queen had almost reached you, something told her that she was going to need reinforcements.

"A war is coming, you can't just leave us now" she tried again

"A war that you caused" you said coldly "and now you try to drag us into it"

"I made a mistake" she frowned "but I'm trying to fix it"

"Well good luck with that"

"Y/N"

You closed your eyes when your queen's voice reached your ears and you had to use all the willpower you had not to look at her. You knew that if you did, you would fall again, and you were not going to give Micte that satisfaction.

"What are you doing?" Maya asked "You can't leave now, we need all the help we can get"

"I am not a warrior" you said "And I have nothing that can serve you"

"You are a goddess" Maya said "mom told us everything at dinner. We need you"

You looked curiously at the goddess in front of you. For a moment, you felt your heart melt. Had she told them everything? she had really done that for you? However, when she looked down guiltily you knew she hadn't, she hadn't told them everything. Only what would not make her daughter hate her again.

Your gaze hardened again and you finally turned to the demigoddess and the queen, both of them backing away a bit in fear of the fire in your eyes.

"Really?" you asked dangerously "And she also told you why I was trapped in this way? She told you how she ripped my essence from me and laughed while she left me to my fate in the forest? I doubt she did it"

Maya and the queen gasped and looked past you, at the goddess who now looked like a scolded child. You wished you could feel sorry for her, but you couldn't.

"You called me a friend once, Micte" you said "but you didn’t hesitate to steal my life out of ambition. You condemned me to a life in a strange and cruel world, you abandoned me, you made fun of me, you destroyed my temple, the three jaguars that I called my sons are dead because of you...and now, you come back, you snatch the title of mother from the mouth of Maya, you steal the heart of my queen...and you pretend that I smile at you, that I receive you with open arms and tell you that nothing happened?”

You could hear Maya and the queen beginning to object, but you only cared about the tears falling down the goddess's cheeks. They didn't bring you any happiness or comfort, but at least they proved that she could still feel something.

"I have no business in your war" you said "You can call on past joys, the love I once had for this place and its royal family...but it won't do you any good. My heart hardens with every word that comes out of me... you feel it, don’t you? And you know why... because you took everything from me"