Long Past Dawn

'There's one more thing it can do but I'll leave it to Artemis to show you.'

I play with the bracelet's chain and listen to the crash of the waves.

So much has happened I don't know what to do anymore. Sighing I call for Iferis, after a moment she comes out of my shadow. I'm slightly surprised but definitely less than I should be. I guess when Hades said she could do that I didn't really believe him.

Well, I guess that could be convenient. "What do you need?" Iferis asks as she butts my hand.

I hesitate for a moment, do I really want to meet her again? "Can you take me to Artemis?" Curiosity may have killed the cat but satisfaction brought it back.

Iferis nods, if horses can nod, before walking over to a large stone that I can climb on to get on her.

After I get on and settled Iferis takes off in a run. Somehow it reminds me of a plane taking off, but I've never been on one so I'm not sure how much I can compare it to.

As we fly faster and faster and climb higher and higher I start to wonder if it's too late to turn back. But I grit my teeth and hold on tighter to Iferis's mane, which is nothing more than soft purple flames with almost no heat to them.

Yet again I have to close my eyes as the wind batters against me and only open them when the familiar smell of pine fills the air and the wind calms down.

We're on Olympus. Green grass and flowers sprout between the white marble buildings and people who don't quite look human walk with animals and creatures I can't even begin to explain. Some look up when they feel our shadow pass over them and some even wave.

After a moment we land back outside the building that I now know as Artemis's palace. The white marble and silver hasn't changed.

"Thanks..." I murmur as I slide of Iferis's back.

As I walk up the steps and into the temple-like castle I note that there seem to be more people here today, and by people I mean the woman I see who run around and grab equipment and such. I wonder what's going on.

None of them seem to mind me much though Iferis does get a few glances.

I try to remember the way Hades took me last time but it's to no avail, I'm lost. I look around to see where we are but the white marble walls and the red carpet is the same as anywhere else.

I sigh in defeat and wonder just how big this place is. Been here less than five minutes and I'm already lost, good job Dawn.

l look around the grand halls and wonder what to do now. I glance over at Iferis hoping she might have some clue on how to get us out of this mess bust she only shakes her head.

Great. Who knew you could get lost in heaven. I roll my eyes, then again it's not much of a paradise to me.

I sigh and give up. "let's just see if we can retrace our steps."

Curiosity really killed the cat here, huh?

Iferis melts back into my shadow and I duck down a hall in the hope it leads us out, but instead, I'm slightly surprised to see a wooden door at the end of it. It's a dark wood with a nice grain on it and it looks pretty old.

Maybe it's a back door? I know it's stupid and probably a bad idea but I'm going for broke as I step closer and head to open the door.

As I go to turn the doorknob the door swings open on its own. Man, can the things in this place get any crazier? And there goes science out that door, ironically.

Since it's too late to turn back I advance further into the room. To my surprise, it's a bedroom, a large bed is against the opposite wall with red, green, gold and silver fabric dr.a.p.ed over the top to hide part of it from sight.

On another wall are multiple large bookshelves but instead of books scrolls sit in neat piles on them. I also notice a bow and a sheath of arrows left leaning against the side of the door.

The last, and to me slightly strangest fact, is that next to the bed at around shoulder height is a bowl of water, it's a very thin bowl sitting on a thin metal pillar that almost looks like a lamp post.

I'm so busy looking around the room that I don't even notice the sound of the door opening again and a familiar voice but this time with more surprise in it. "Dawn!"

Spinning around I find Artemis standing there and I come to the slow realization that this must be her room.

"What are you doing here?" Her surprise slowly turns to confusion and I also notice her hair is done up nicely into a bun that turns to a braid somehow.

I'm starting to wonder that too, but for now, I answer with, "I came for more answers."

Artemis gives a slightly forced smile, "I should have guessed."

"What do you want to know first?" She asks as she goes and sits on the bed, I stay standing.

"How am I supposed to choose what I want to know when I don't know what I don't know?" I say as I cross my arms slightly, somewhere along the way I accepted this woman as my biological mother but that doesn't mean I have to treat her like she is.

"Well then," She glances at my wrist where the bracelet is, "I'll tell you about the armor first."

"Armor?" I raise a brow and debate what type she's talking about.

She nods, "Just think the word, protect."

I do. After a moment I feel the familiar feeling as the bracelet almost melts into whatever but this time it flows over my skin, enveloping it in a warm embrace before setting into a set shape.

I look down in wonder to see a full set of armor covering me, the color of the metal is a silver color with hints of gold and copper in it, it has moons and stars engraved in it and though it seems as if it should feel heavy instead it feels lightweight. There's also a helmet to cover my head and after I lift a hand up to feel it I realize there are two wings on either side of the helmet.

Artemis nods as if it's what she expected. "Now think, defend."

Again I do and again the same sensation covers me. This time when I look down the armor has shifted and this time it's a dark copper color with undertones of black. A black heart is etched on the metal over where my heart is and this time when I go up to feel the helmet the wings have been replaced with long bending horns.

"Wow....." I say in disbelief, I'm not sure what l expected but it definitely wasn't this.

"One for me," Artemis says and after a pause, "And one for your father, so you remember where you have come from, and where you have to go."

"Who was he?" I ask as my mood darkens and as if the armor can tell it reverts back to being a stationary bracelet. "Who is my father."

"Your father?" Artemis echoes then sighs, "You do need to know I suppose, but it is a long story."

"I've got time," I say curtly.

Artemis nods before getting up and walking over to a basin of water, I follow behind her.

She touches the clear water and a ripple flows through it, as the ripple passes I gasp as I notice a picture has taken its place. The picture is of a woman in a toga with a bow aimed to the sky.

"It all started when I strayed from the place we had chosen to hunt," As Artemis speaks the image in the water starts to change to match the words she's saying, "that's when I met him, that's when I met your father."

I lift my eyebrow slightly as she continues, "But like me, he was another ... a new God from a new Patheon. It was as if we understood each other perfectly, I mistook it for something more than it was."

A dark look crosses her face, "And that can never happen."

I can take a guess at what happened, "but it did."

Artemis nods and I ask the question that I need to know most, "What's his name."

It's not a question, it's a demand to be told a truth that's been kept from me. Artemis says two words but yet they still shock me to the core, "Lucifer Morningstar."

The devil? How can the devil be my father? I want to scream and shout but I know that it won't help anything, "does he know?"

The words are barely a whisper and Artemis didn't seem to hear it so I say it louder but this time I can't hold back the shake of anger in it, "Does he know? I asked if he knew!?!"

Artemis shakes her head and I just want to slump into oblivion. "No... I never told him."

Great, so my own blood father, who is also the devil, doesn't know I exist. A feeling of floating overwhelms me and I don't know what o do anymore.

My hands shake and I clench them into tight fists at my side. "Then who were they?" My voice rises into a yell and I don't stop it, I feel choked and lied to, "Who were the people I called my parents for the last thirteen years when you weren't there?!"

"They..." Artemis starts, "She was pregnant but it was going to be a miscarriage, I figured..... I figured if I couldn't keep you with me then they could keep you safe, bring you up as their own... I thought that you would never need to know about us, this life..."

"So lying to me my whole life is protecting me?!" I shout at her for everything I've ever gone through, every lie ever told to me and all the difficulties I've been through.

I slam my fist down onto the marble throne beside us and crack lines run through it. Even though I don't want to I believe her, with this inhuman strength, these powers I have and some part of me deep down knows she's right, I just know she's right.

l- l can't do this... Iferis reforms out of my shadow and stretches out a wing to stop me from leaving and somehow somewhere deep inside me that breaks my heart. Out of everyone and everything I thought that maybe Iferis might understand me, but if she did she wouldn't stop me. I look over at Iferis and I know she can tell how much it breaks me that she isn't on my side right now but she only looks away before lowering her wing after a moment.

"Dawn..." Artemis starts, "I... I know you hate me for lying to you but I do want to be a part of your life... Please, just don't make this the last time I'll ever see you again." She doesn't move to stop me from leaving, she lets me go. All she asks in return is for me to grant her wish, but right now I'm not sure I can do that.

Without responding I walk out of the room and after a moment I hear Iferis's hooves on the marble following behind me down the hallway.

'It may hurt now but you need to know the truth...' Iferis says as we walk out.

I don't reply to her, deep down I still feel hurt that she would side with her instead of me.

I'm so wrapped up with my thoughts I don't stop walking until I hit something, or to be more specific someone.

I look up and am greeted by the familiar green eyes and blonde hair. He's the man we bumped into the first time Hades brought me here. I think his name was Apollo.

Apollo regards me with cool eyes and yet again he reminds me of the sun. "I didn't think you would come back."

Well, I didn't really want to but here we are. "Turns out that I needed to learn about a mistake."

I try to scurry past him and keep my head down. "You seem to have the wrong idea, so let me set you straight. People make mistakes, but those rules don't apply to gods. In other words, nothing a god does is a mistake. Including saving a life... or taking one."

I don't give an indication that I heard or listened to what he said as he lets me slide past him but deep inside me those words seem to resound a million times over.

Just as my foot touches the ground I hear him say one last thing, "And you, too, are a god."

***

The turmoil in my mind is too much, in less than two months my life has turned upside down and pretty much and direction or way that it shouldn't be.

Yet again Iferis tries to talk to me but I don't reply. And after a minute she just melts back into my shadow.

I know I'm pouting, I know I'm being imm.a.t.u.r.e but I don't care. I've grown up too fast and I don't like it. Hot tears prickle my eyes and I want to be mad at something, anything, but there's nothing besides me to be mad at.

I just want to go home. I just want my mom, even if she wasn't real.

Memories of her flash through my mind but I quickly push them away. She never liked to live in the past, she wouldn't like to see me like this.

I also think of Charlie. He used to teach me baseball after a few boys at school said I couldn't join in cause I was a girl and girls can't play baseball.

I smile slightly, I can throw a wicked curveball because of him.

The smile fades as I remember how I came up with him completely on my own. Charlie was never a real person, he was just someone I needed.

I look up to the sky, the darkness is just starting to set in and I can just make out the first star.

I turn away from the sky and stars and start to walk.

My next task is to find Lyra and apologize for earlier. I hurt her feelings and she's a good friend, a friend I don't want to lose.

As I start to walk up the path I notice someone walking towards me from further up. As the figure comes closer I recognize it as Wonder Woman.

I haven't seen her in a long time...

As she gets closer I'm about to call out to her but get cut off before I even open my mouth. "Follow me," She says as she grabs my hand and drags me up the path. Any other day I would have argued and ask where we're going but with the edge of urgency in her tone, I bite my tongue and follow.

We push through pathways and streets, as we go we gather the looks of a few people.

"Where are we going?" I ask Wonderwoman as she pulls me down another street, I've stopped recognizing where we are and am instead just going along with her.

"Back," Wonderwoman replies quickly before expanding, "Batman called, we need to head back now."

What... We're leaving? "Why?" My voice cracks slightly and I hope she didn't hear, but if she did she doesn't mention it.

"it's an emergency, I'll tell you more on the way." She says curtly as we go down another street.

The floating feeling only grows, as if nothing exists.

"... I haven't seen you lately, how has your training been going? Have you made friends? How are you?" Wonderwoman changes the subject, almost as if she can read my mind.

I'm tired, I'm just so tired... Of life, of lies, of everything. It just feels like I'm floating. "If I talk about it I'll cry, so it's a secret."

Wonderwoman almost stops for a moment and looks over her shoulder at me, something between empathy, pity, and almost sadness crosses her face. "Ok," We then start moving again, but this time she doesn't drag me as hard.

After a moment I start to realize where we are and where we're going. We're heading in the direction of the field we first landed in. Somehow the thought of leaving here now feels more real, just like this feeling of floating.

After we break through the last of the buildings that block most of the view to the field I can finally see it. The grass that comes up to my knees, Hippolyta, Lyra, Anastasia, Eulalia, and I assume the spot that my eyes seem to pass over is the invisible jet.

"Are you sure you have to go now?" Hippolyta asks when we get close enough to hear over the growing wind.

Wonderwoman simply nods before she keeps on going.

The wind rustles the hem of my clothes as it brings the smell of salt and the sea to me.

"No," I say as I jerk my hand out of Wonder Woman's grasp.

"I'm not going back," I can't go back, at least not now, not yet.

"What?" Wonderwoman says as she looks at me in surprise.

"I said," I repeat, "That I'm not going back."

"Dawn..." Wonderwoman says as she throws a glance at the invisible jet, which, is just as cool as the first time I saw it, though I've seen a lot of cool things recently.

"Let her stay," Hippolyta says as she steps forward. "We will train her until she is ready for the world of man again."

Wonderwoman sighs and mutters something about telling Batman.

"Go," I say, "Leave me here, I won't go. They need you right now, not me."

Wonderwoman hesitates for a moment and I know I'm close to winning, "You can't actually make me go. You know I belong here just as much as I do there."

Wonderwoman sighs, "I know that. That's why I don't want to leave you here."

"I won't go back," I say with as much determination in my voice as I can muster, "At least not yet. Right now, I don't belong there, and you know it."

The floating feeling threatens to engulf me and nothing seems real.

Wonderwoman sighs and I know I've won, she walks over and places her hand on my shoulder, "May Hera be with you..."

Oh, I see. In that moment I realize something. I'm not floating, I'm…. sinking. Wonderwoman and Hippolyta share a look before Wonderwoman turns and walks towards the jet.

Deep down a part of me knows that by making this choice I might be burning my bridges but I can't go back, not with these powers, or at least not yet. Lyra comes up behind me and places her hand on my shoulder, "You're one of us now."

I smile and turn away as the jet rises and starts to fly away back towards the life I've left behind. I don't say anything to Lyra but I know that because of me, because of this blood, I will never truly belong anywhere. Ironic with everyone being so welcoming.

I wonder what Lyra, Eulalia, and Anastasia would say if they really knew the truth about me. And I'm scared to think of what the answer might be. But I've made my choice, I won't go back yet, this is my life right now.

'You already have the right answers, you just need to figure out what the right question is.'

I shake my head slightly to clear it of her voice. She's dead and not coming back, and right now that's all that matters. I don't need the words of a ghost telling me what to do, no matter how much they meant to me when they were alive.

I will cover and hide the part of my heart that wants to cry and scream, it's time for me to be strong, it's time for me to give up on going back.

Jikan means time, and it's time for me to move on before ghosts of the past come back and don't let go.