Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Wonderful. Absolutely perfect. Just another bullshit thing for her to deal with.

The moment her watch’s alarm went off— signaling the end of her shift— she raced out of that damned McDonalds & straight to her car. She practically tore off her uniform cap, burying her head into her hands with a groan.

She was so done for. Those Gods would be so unbelievably pissed, and she knew damn well that they had already seen this happen from their pathetic hiding place up in the Sun.

If she got another punishment for this, she would just lose it. Permanently.

Her drive home was unbearably long, and so was the rest of her after work routine. She had never fought off sleep more intensely than she had that night.

Though as luck would have it, her insomnia decided to take a break specifically on the one day something went wrong.

As her eyelids drooped and eventually shut, she could partially feel her human shell reaching the Sun through dreams.

Once her eyes were snapped back open, she blinked herself completely awake and scoffed when she realized where she was.

“There you are, Juno. I was wondering when you would show up.” One of the Gods teased, almost mocking her.

Juno rolled her eyes. “How many times do I have to tell you that Juno is not my name?” She spat.

The God just laughed. “Yes, yes, I know June. But honestly, June is already close enough to Juno, no?”

“Yes, but I do not like that name. It’s not my name. My name is June, simple as that.”

“Whatever you say Juno.”

June looked as if she wanted to say something, to fight back, to argue, but she held her tongue, folding her arms across her chest.

“Anyways,” The God started, “I assume you know why I brought you up here?”

“Yes, I am fully aware. Tell me about your stupid little ‘conditions’, or whatever other things you plan to shove down my throat.”

A faint chuckle from the God. “Always straight to business, huh Thorne?”

June’s eye twitched, both in a way that represented how close she was to snapping, as well as a sudden sense of deja vu she felt— even though this had never happened before. She knew so.

“…my last name is not meant to be disclosed. To anyone.” She hissed, gritting her teeth as she spoke.

“We’re Gods, Juno. We know everything about you and every other living creature down on your little home planet.”

“I’m aware.” She spat. “…You’re taunting me.”

“Not the point. We’ve gotten sidetracked enough.” Declared the God, deliberately ignoring her little quip. “You should know. You’ve always been quite the goal-oriented person.”

“I am.” She replied bluntly.

“Good. Then let’s talk about this kid.”

June’s attention was fully pinned on this God now. She did want to learn about the kid who had suddenly gained the ability to speak a language only known between immortals.

“So, our sources say that xe goes by the name of… Apollo. Apollo Minor. Xey’re a college student— computer science major. Quite the intriguing specimen the more you look into xem. Anyways, that’s not what I care about.

What I do care about is making sure this ‘Apollo’ is completely wiped from the planet.” The God explained, the last sentence coming out quite bluntly.

June huffed out a breath of air. “So you want me to kill xem?” She confirmed.

“Yes. Anything you can do to make sure xey’re all taken care of by… tomorrow would be most efficient.”

“…fine.” June agreed, giving a short nod. “I’ll kill xem. But only because I myself want xem dead, not out of fear of your weak threats of punishment.”

“Hm. You really do take us for fools, don’t you Thorne? Stubborn as ever I can see. You must never change.”

“Maybe not. But why should I when I am perfectly content with the way I act? Even if nobody else finds me interesting.”

“With that attitude, you’ll just die alone.”

“…and why is that such a big deal? If you supposedly know everything about me, you should know I don’t plan for having partners in a way that’s any further than business. Simple as that.”

She turned away, no longer meeting the eyes of the God.

“Now, if that’s all you have to discuss, I’m going to blow a hole in that Apollo kid’s chest.”

“So aggressive.” The God commented. “But it was my order after all. Make your moves, Juno, and make them quick, you haven’t got much time.”

“Believe me, I’m aware.” She retorted curtly, her lips drawn back into a snarl as she was sent back to the home planet of the mortals.

Chapter Text

So she came up with a plan. She texted that Apollo kid— as xe had traded xir number with her earlier when she first revealed the fact it was the Gods’ language— and attempted to bring xem out to a park.

It was well past midnight now, considering her meetup in the Sun had taken far longer than she expected it to, though it actually assisted her plan once she thought it through a bit more. If it was so late out, there would be less people, if not none at all.

She quickly drove over to the spot, taking her seat on the closest park bench she could find and pretending to look upset.

Soon Apollo sat down next to her, seeming just as anxious as she was faking to be. The kid spoke in the same language, arguing that xe had no idea that xe were even doing it. She hardly believed it, but that was unimportant. That poor soul had already fallen into her trap, and now xir life was gone for good. All she had to do was drag it out, and wait for the perfect moment when xir guard would drop. Then she could just blow that kid’s goddamn brains out already.

She decided if she was here, she may as well speak the truth. Not like xe’d live to tell her tales. “I suppose I should tell you my name. Or at least, the one I’ve always been called my whole life. The people in my city would call me Juno. The reason? I did not know. They always did so, despite it being nowhere near my birth name. When I was younger, I made a terrible decision, and I insulted the Gods I was meant to worship. As a result, they brought me to their home and punished me. They cursed me with unforgivable knowledge and immortality.”

She began to go on a tangent, a tirade of all the things she had gone through because of one act of immaturity, the vendettas she held against the Sun and it’s residents, and the myth of Juno Fluglemire— the man who she got that damn nickname from in the first place.

Once she was done, she was unable to hold back her faint smirk as she dug through the pocket of her hoodie, pulling out her handy pistol. “And now that I’ve told you all this, I’d say you know far too much. I can’t keep you alive for the sake of myself. I don’t want my punishment to be any worse than it is now, hm?”

She pointed her gun in xir direction, not giving xem a chance to even scream before the bullet had struck xir chest.

She watched xem bleed out in front of her with a smile on her face, and she began to walk away. “I do appreciate how you could remind of my disgusting past, though. Thank you for that, Apollo.”

Once she was far enough away, she paused for a split second. “…oh for fuck’s sake, the kid never actually told me what xir name was. Great fuckin’ going Juno!” She told herself sarcastically. Oh well. Xe were dead, that’s all that mattered.

…she couldn’t help but feel as if she had been here before though. Like something was oddly familiar… as if she had been finishing the job of someone else before her.

…this is your mission now, Thorne. I was stupid enough to not be able to do it myself.