Chapter 71: DA : Chapter 71: Doubts of the Heart II
( Medusa POV)
Medusa calmly walked through the entrance of the Grand Temple, otherwise known as the Primordial Temple and location of the new council's throne room.
She calmly strolled through the large archway leading into the building, giving polite nods to some gods and titans moving about their ways.
'Honestly with every day this place gets busier and busier,' she thought as she narrowly avoided a nature goddess running off with a list for some new plants to be arranged in the second district.
She smiled though as thought on all the progress being made thanks to the ideas of the new council. From now on, even if only part-time, every god actively participated in a job or practice.
Most obviously sought jobs relatable to their domains and now thanks to having official Canadian citizenship, some gods were even going as far as setting up employment with mortals.
Heck, Rhea was already working on setting up an official tree farm to subtly start to spread out blessed trees to increase the health of her domain. Obviously there were some gods grumbling about it but truthfully most of them had plenty of free time on their hands and they could use an outlet rather than causing mischief.
Another ruling by the council had been gods needing to take responsibility for their children and their mortal lovers. Failure to do so could lead to fines, community service, and in case of abuse, possible arrest or Andromeda stripping the offending god's ability to have children.
Luckily no one had done anything demanding of more than a slap on the wrist and even some of the children from the orphanage have been adopted.
'Maybe I'll visit Leto and help around later today,' she mused as she turned down a hall leading to the main offices of the protogenoi.
However, as she turned she spotted Andromeda on her way to her office looking rather down trodden. That made Medusa frown and before she even thought about it, she'd already changed plans from meeting up with her master to speaking with one of her best friends. So, with a quickness to her step she followed up to the Love goddess, meeting her just before she closed the door to her office.
"Andy!" she called, making the goddess start in her direction.
"Medusa," Andy said softly with a forced smile. "Can I help you with anything?"
Medusa looked at her intently for a few minutes before saying softly, "Not really … but you look like you could use a friendly ear."
That made Andy's eyes widen but before she could try to deny anything Medusa pushed on.
"You're terrible at hiding your feelings Andy," she said before stepping closer. "What's wrong?"
Andromeda didn't reply immediately, instead leaning her head past Medusa to make sure no one else was in the hallways before suddenly grabbing Medusa's hand and pulling her in through the door with a startled squeak. Before she knew it Medusa was in the office and taking in the sights for the first time while Andy locked the door behind them.
"Huh … not what I expected," she muttered as she looked around.
Andromeda's office was a large library shaped as a tower made of white marble with the door in the bottom floor. She looked up and couldn't even see the ceiling with shelves upon shelves of tablets of all things.
Each one was roughly 6 by 6 inches with a glowing heart icon on the edge towards the inside much like the barcodes. Fluttering around the library were hundreds of small birds of Paradise, Andromeda's chosen animals, each moving around tablets.
Medusa watched the little birds work, noting the types of labels on some floors and shelves such as 'Mystic' or 'Mortal', than smaller divisions with gender, age divisions by generations, and country nationality.
"Like my system?" Andy asked her as she stepped up to look at her 'office' as well.
"I'm just impressed with how your mind works," Medusa replied.
She'd had it explained to her by Percy. These 'offices' were essentially physical representations of the mind of each primordial. With all the sheer input from their domains, regardless of how powerful and complex the minds of gods could be, they were bound to miss small details from time to time. That's why they created these offices to double check their domains and prioritize certain actions.
"Is that just because I'm a Love goddess?" Andy asked with a mock scowl. "Would it be better if there were nothing but clouds and pink balloons?"
"I didn't say anything?" Medusa replied innocently getting a small giggle from the goddess.
They remained in comfortable silence for a few minutes before Medusa sighed and asked again, "So Andy … what's bothering you?"
Andromeda didn't really reply other than letting her shoulders slump as her eyes became cloudy.
"It's … complicated," she mumbled as one of her birds landed on her shoulder and started to nip at her cheek affectionately getting a small smile out of the goddess.
"Andy …" Medusa whispered as she placed a reassuring hand on her free shoulder and squeezed softly.
Andromeda took a shuddering breath before finally relenting, looking at Medusa with watery eyes.
"I … I love him …"
"Who?" Medusa asked with a frown, trying to think of anyone she'd seen Andromeda look at in particular but nothing came to mind.
"…P…" Whoever it was Andy mumbled the name too low for Medusa to catch.
"Who?"
"Percy," Andy squeaked out before turning her face away while her bird squawked while nearly falling off from the sudden movement.
Medusa for her part looked at the goddess in confusion before going on. "Well duh, I would assume you love him, pretty much everyone does."
"No!" Andy snapped with more strength while looking back at Medusa. "I love him!"
It took Medusa a few seconds before it finally clicked, leaving her to blink owlishly before murmuring, "Oh … I see."
Andromeda hung her head in defeat after that before nodding slowly.
"And let me guess. You can't bring yourself to tell him, right?" she asked, getting another nod from Andy. "Are you scared that he might not return the feelings? Can't you like, check beforehand?"
"It's not that simple," Andy replied as she started to scratch her bird's head softly. "Primordials are different to all other beings. Our thoughts and actions are beyond prediction unless the emotions are incredibly strong or dead set for a very long time.
That's why there aren't any prophecies for us or for Nyx when she contacted Percy. The Fates aren't all knowing and they can't directly see what a primordial will decide and the repercussions of those decisions."
"So they could see Gaea's doom since she was planning her war for millennia," Medusa said with a thoughtful look as Andy nodded.
"Yeah and even then the prophecy didn't pan out since Gaea didn't fall to storm or fire. But the point is that I can't read his emotions either … at least, not if he isn't aware of them himself or hides them," she said as she walked towards one of the shelves as her bird fluttered away.
"I can say without a doubt that Percy, Rhea, and Hestia are all absolutely in love with each other since they don't hide it in any way but I can't tell if his love for me is more that of sibling love. And if I tried to check, he would feel it."
"And you can't ask him to let you search around a little?" Medusa asked as she followed after her. "I'm sure he wouldn't have a problem with it."
"Because it's a two-way street and he might feel my emotions too," she replied. "And then what if he finds out I love him but he doesn't return those feelings?" she asked with a slight quiver in her voice.
"But he might," Medusa persisted only for Andy to lower her head again.
"It … it isn't just love that I want," she mumbled.
"Well, what else is it? Andy, you need to tell me if you want me to help at all," Medusa persisted getting the goddess to look at her in the eyes.
They stared for a few minutes in tense silence before Andromeda took a shuddering breath and then went on to explain everything.
How her love had turned from sibling to romantic, how her domains had all focused on Percy, much to Andy's embarrassment about wanting kids with him which got a snort and a good luck from Medusa.
However, any teasing Medusa might have had planned flew out the window the moment Andy explained the effects of holding herself back were having for her. Still, it seemed to her that Andy needed something positive to think about so she tried to push the conversation along.
"You don't seriously think he would treat you any differently even if he didn't return your feelings right?" Medusa asked softly. "I mean, come on. It's Percy we're talking about here."
"Still …" Andromeda mumbled as she absently reached for a tablet and checked a screen displaying some guy with a blue heart icon.
Medusa watched silently as Andy tapped some icons and used her finger to write some things in before raising the tablet and letting one of her birds whisk it away.
She watched the bird fly off to one of the higher levels with it before spotting three entire floor that was labeled 'BLACK LISTED', with all the heart icons being solid back and even some looked cracked.
"The Black List," Andy commented as she noted where Medusa was looking. "Those are the people who have caused irreparable damage to my domains of Love and Procreation." At Medusa's silent look the goddess continued. "It's for those that have murdered the innocent … and those that have committed rape."
Medusa swallowed thickly as she tried in vain to even count the tablets. They were also divided and she could see similar markers to the regular floors but still, the sheer number.
"How many?" she asked softly.
"Tens … of thousands," she replied with a clearly disgusted growl in her voice. "And because of the Ancient Laws I can just will for all of them to spontaneously combust or something."
"You could go one by one and hunt them all down though," Medusa replied with a shrug before asking. "Are you already working on creating a guardian or vassals to safeguard your domains?"
At that Andromeda's eyes widened before she nodded shyly, which caused Medusa to narrow her eyes.
"Can I see what you have?" Medusa probed as Andy nervously tapped her fingers together.
"Okay just … don't tell anyone," she said softly as she started to walk to one of the walls as a set of stairs materialized leading to the second floor.
Medusa followed behind as she watched the goddess, wondering what it was that was making her so nervous now. She let her thoughts stew as they arrived and Medusa saw a new door appearing between some shelves but this one looked oddly science techy with even a damn scanned and number pad on the side.
She watched in amusement as Andromeda tapped a ridiculously long number code and then placed her hand on the scanner.
The door then slide open with a loud hiss, a fine mist billowing out making Medusa gawk at the goddess and said goddess glancing back at her with a giggle.
"Are you becoming a mad scientist or something?" Medusa asked as they walked into the currently dark room … which was odd considering Medusa should be able to see in absolute darkness.
"No but I heard Styx has a similar lab in her office and there were a few explosions when she was experimenting with her lava," Andromeda answered while Medusa snickered.
"Okay but what is it you have in here?" Medusa asked as she still couldn't see anything and they were well into the darkened room already.
"… Fine …" Andy finally relented before the lights suddenly sprang up making Medusa blink away the little lights in her eyes.
Once she readjusted her eyes widened to the size of dinner plates with her mouth hanging open.
"Yeah … I thought you might react like that," Andy sighed while Medusa remained silent.
In the large lab room, at the very center on a raised platform was a large pillar made of some unknown, lilac crystal. Surrounding the pillar were several monitors and screens, tables with notes, and even a table with vials of odd liquids and some tools commonly found in medical rooms.
However, what really had Medusa's attention was what was currently inside the pillar. There, floating in a light pink and translucent liquid was a naked girl that looked to be about 17.
She was slightly less than Andromeda's height, around 5'7 or so with a curvy, just shy of busty figure, long legs, and long flowing black hair. Her skin was tan and flawless, with her face having a small buttoned nose and high cheek bones on a heart shaped face.
Medusa looked at the girl intensely for over a minute before looking back to Andy, and then back to the girl. The resemblances were uncanny to the Love goddess but she wasn't the only one Medusa was finding similarities to.
In fact, as Medusa peered closer she could just make out a slight tip of fangs bumping out from the relaxed lips.
'Cute … looks just like when he …' Medusa's thoughts stopped as she went ramrod straight and slowly turned to look at the fidgeting goddess trying to look as innocent as possible.
"Andromeda … Xena … Jackson …" Medusa said slowly as Andy flinched with each one of her names called.
"…Y-yes?"
"Care to explain to me your … guardian … looks like you and Percy?" Medusa asked as she starred down the goddess, hands on her hips.
"I … I …" Andromeda stammered for a minute before taking a deep breath. "You know how creation for gods work right?"
"You concentrate your pure divine power and mentally build from the ground up, usually adding traits and influences from either your domain or with the permission of another god for other domains.
Poseidon created the horses and then to appease his brother from an argument, got permission to use the Sky domain before adding wings to create the Pegasus … otherwise Zeus would have shot every single one out of the sky," she recited with ease.
"Right … and if the creation has a god's blood?" she continued while looking more and more nervous by the minute.
"It makes the difference between the creature being mortal or immortal and adds a higher influence or affinity for certain domains … and could add abilities similar to their parents," she answered instantly.
"Okay, well," Andromeda paused for a moment as she collected herself while Medusa started tapping her foot. Then, in one quick breathe Andy answer.
"MyProcreationDomainwasalittlewildandIwantedtoconsiderhermydaughersoshehasmybloodandPercy's!"
"… What?" Medusa asked after trying and failing to decipher what the goddess said for a minute.
Andromeda wringed her hands for a bit before taking another breathe and answering in a calmer voice.
"Percy had already given me his blood with his permission to use the influence of Night but my Procreation Domain was acting up when I was shaping her," she said pointing to the slumbering girl. "So I might have changed her from being an avian of some sort to being mainly humanoid and since she also comes from my blood."
"She's your daughter … with Percy's," Medusa finished as Andy nodded slowly.
"…"
"… You do realize that if Rhea and Hestia find out your ass is grass right?"
A nod.
"Oh good … I call dibs on your wolf plushy."
"…"
"So care to explain why was it that you lost control of your domain for a moment that lead to this?" Medusa asked as she finally looked away from the goddess and back to the sleeping immortal.
She heard Andy sigh before explaining. "It wasn't intentional, it's just that when I found him to ask for his blood, he was visiting Leto's orphanage. He gave it to me no problem but then I stuck around and watched him playing with the kids and …"
There was a high pitched squeal getting Medusa to glance back at the excited goddess.
"I just … I couldn't stop picturing him with kids afterwards … and I was daydreaming about what kids between us would look like."
"Okay … so she satisfies one of your domains?" Medusa asked getting a nod from the goddess. "So what can she do? What's her purpose?"
That got a scowl from Andy so Medusa quickly backtracked a little.
"Not like that! I know, you just said that she's your daughter even if she didn't grow inside you. I just meant that you still must have given her a purpose if you've taken the time to slowly create her."
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