Chapter Text
She'd found the book at the far back of the bookshelf in her room and realized it'd been the only one she hadn't read yet.
'That needs to be fixed.' She thought with a nod as she held the book close and opened the door to the library. She sat down at a table and after looking around the library, finding absolutely no one present, she opened the book with a content smile.
"What're you reading?" She shrieked and nearly fell off her chair at that. She looked up to find Thoth there. She sighed relieved.
"A novel." She answered.
"Title?"
"'He who knows all'." He furrowed his brows ever so slightly.
"I don't remember there being a book like that in here. What shelf?" She shook her head.
"This one's my own." She sounded pleased and that's what she was. "But if it's not okay to read it here, I'll move elsewhere." She quickly added.
"The library is for reading, is it not? Do as you wish." He turned and walked off.
"Thank you." She said with a smile before returning to her book.
He rarely saw anyone in the library, be it the Gods or the students Zeus had created. He stared at her from his desk, wondering what her book was about, but then leaned back with a shrug as he opened the next book and started reading.
---
The next day, much to his surprise, she was there again. In exactly the same spot, with the same book, and the same sheepish smile on her face.
"Still haven't finished it?" He asked disinterestedly.
She looked up in surprise.
"Of course not, Thoth-sensei. There's no way I could read that fast." She laughed. "And the dorms are always kind of rowdy, so reading isn't all that easy there." She added, her smile fading.
"That's Thoth-sama, for you." He sounded angry.
"Am I bothering you, Thoth-sama?" She corrected. "I'll move if-"
"Don't make me repeat what I said yesterday." He said with a glare before turning and moving back to his desk.
"Thank you."
She didn't seem to be affected by his threatening posture in the slightest. Not even his glare seemed to have any effect. He smirked to himself as he picked up the next book.
'This might be fun.'
"You're good at Classic Literature, aren't you?" One of her classmates, Apollon, asked her. She gave a nod.
"Well, I'm not terrible." She said with a laugh.
"Would you mind tutoring me for a while? You can ask me anything in return. I just don't want to fail this class." She smiled and nodded.
"Of course, but I don't need anything in return." His face lit up.
"Really?"
"Sure. Classmates should help each other for free."
---
"The library?" Apollon asked, a hint of terror in his voice.
"Yeah, it's quiet and we'll have all the books we need." She frowned. "Is there something wrong with the library?" He quickly shook his head.
"Anywhere is fine." He grimaced.
He unconsciously looked up from his book when the library door opened. She walked in, but to Thoth's surprise, Apollon was following her. She sat down in her usual spot and he sat opposite to her. Thoth could easily overhear their conversation.
"Thanks again for doing this. I really appreciate it." Apollon thanked her.
"I told you, don't worry about it. Now is there any part in particular you don't understand?"
'Tutoring, huh.' Thoth thought as he casually shifted to get a better view of the two. She was pointing things out to him and he was eagerly nodding and making notes. When they both shared a laugh about something he hadn't quite heard due to his own thinking, he stood up and moved over. He halted behind her and planted a hand on the table just beside the copy of Shakespeare that lay open before her.
"Ah, Thoth-sama." She said as she shifted slightly in order to see him. "Good afternoon." Thoth kept his eyes locked onto Apollon and just as she looked back to said God, Thoth threw a glare his way. He smirked contently when he saw how Apollon practically froze over.
"Is something wrong, Apollon?" She asked, slightly worried. "You look a little pale." Apollon quickly shook his head, stood up, bowed, and walked away.
"I just remembered I had something to do, please excuse me!" He'd barely finished that sentence before the door shut behind him.
"Odd..." She murmured. She arched her neck backwards to see that Thoth was still standing behind her, looking down at her.
"Finish the book yet?" He asked as he leaned back and moved to the other end of the table where he sat down. She shook her head.
"I'm almost halfway through." She softly closed Shakespeare and put it to the side before getting her own book out.
"It's getting really interesting." She said with a smile as she opened it. Then she looked back up at Thoth. "Would you mind if I-"
"You're pretty intent on making me repeat myself, aren't you?" He asked as he glared. She let out a laugh and nodded.
"Thank you."
She didn't even seem to notice his staring. He refrained from reading along upside down, as he'd have to wait ages for her to finish the page, and instead simply watched her. Watched her eyes carefully moving over the words, watched the subtle changes in her expression every now and then, watched how she flipped the page as quickly as possible, hungry to continue reading. Then she leaned back and looked to the window, taking a deep breath before turning back and closing the book.
"It's getting late. I should be heading back to my dorm." She said as she took the book and her bag and stood up.
"Good night, Thoth-sama." She said with a smile before moving to the door and disappearing into the hallway.
"Hmm."
'Today's Saturday...' She thought as she sat up and looked to her bedroom window. The sun was already pretty high up in the sky. She stretched out, got dressed, grabbed her book and headed towards the school building. She yawned again as she pushed open the door to the library. She'd only slept for a few hours tonight, so she was beyond tired. Still she couldn't resist wanting to continue reading the book that was probably the reason for her sleeplessness. She sat down at her usual place, flipped the book open and started reading.
When he closed the book he'd been reading and looked up, he found her sitting there again. This time, however, instead of intently reading the book, she seemed to have fallen asleep on top of it. He stood and moved over, watching as her back slowly rose and fell with each breath. He gently grabbed a part of her hair and lifted her head up, taking the book out from underneath her in the process. He put her back on the table, released her hair and watched as she shifted, but didn't wake up. He raised his shoulders and flipped to the first page where he began to read at the speed of lightning.
When he'd finished it roughly 10 minutes later, he put the book back down, making sure it was on the page she left it and retreated to his desk.
'What a worthless ending.' He thought displeased.
She hadn't gotten any chance to read that weekend. Contrarily, she did feel more refreshed thanks to the extra sleep she'd gotten. As the bell for lunch break rang, she stood up, only to be faced with Apollon's apologetic face.
"I get it now, Classic Literature. Thank you so much for helping me out." She blinked in surprise.
"I didn't really do much, but if it helped then you're very welcome." She said with a smile. He gave a nod, thanked her again, and then moved back to his friend group. She let out a deep breath and walked out of the classroom to go get some lunch.
---
She ran at full speed to the library, to safety, the book held close to her chest. Would she ever know the ending now? Would she know what happened to everyone? If they found happiness in the end? What if everything was just gone... She shook her head and focused on the path ahead.
He snapped the book closed when he heard running on the hallway and he fixed his eyes onto the door, which was quietly pushed open moments later. She walked in, looking around, but not noticing him despite locking eyes at least once. She looked stressed, panicking even. She sat down at the usual table and put down the book she'd been holding close to her chest. He stood and moved over.
"You should be in class." He said sternly, recalling how the bell had rung not too long ago. She looked up at him and he saw what appeared to be tears in the corners of her eyes. He recoiled ever so slightly.
"Someone threw it in the trash can..." She said, her voice cracking. He took another look at the book. It looked battered. The cover had ripped in several places and crumpled pages stuck out haphazardly here and there. She carefully opened it, he could see her hands were shaking. Pages were missing all over, but the final twenty pages weren't there at all. She just stared at them blankly, tears now finally falling freely. He let out a deep breath, sat opposite to her and rested his elbows on the table, folding his hands beneath his chin.
"Stop crying and listen." He said as he closed his eyes and recalled all the words.
She didn't quite understand what he meant. What was he going to say that could possibly cheer her up right now? Then when he started speaking, her jaw dropped. That's exactly where she'd left off. But how did he know? The pages weren't there anymore. There was no way he knew it by heart, right? But right now, she realized, she didn't need to know why. All she had to do was listen, just as he'd said. And so she did, allowing his voice to warp her to a whole other world.
When he finished, he opened his eyes and leaned back, seeing how she was looking down at the he table with a frown. When she realized nothing more would come, she quickly looked up.
"Thank you so much, Thoth-sama." She said with a smile. "I'm glad I got to hear the ending after all." That last part came out halfheartedly. The ending obviously wasn't what she'd expected it to be.
"Do you have any idea who trashed it?" She shook her head.
"But it's alright, it doesn't matter." She stood, taking the battered book into her hands. "I don't feel so well. Please excuse me." With that, she took off towards the door. It wasn't a lie, he could tell. She'd been so invested in that book, this was an understandable human reaction. He stared at the chair she'd left. This meant she wouldn't come around anymore. He couldn't help but feel slightly lonely at that thought.
She fell down onto her bed and looked up at the ceiling, a frown still locked in place. That wasn't how it was supposed to end. It was supposed to end happily, perfectly. That's what books were there for. To have the perfect endings that real life lacked. Then why were they all apart in the end? She recalled the words.
"The fortune teller who lived downstairs had orchestrated it all. To prevent a terrible future from happening, the group of friends and lovers had to disband and never meet again. Only then could the terrible future be avoided. They wouldn’t even know that they’d met at all."
---
'What's with that? That doesn't make any sense! What future? Would they start another world war together or something? What could be so bad that they could never meet again? Why didn't it specify that?!' She threw a pillow against the wall and sat up, staring at the book she'd put down on the nightstand.
"Did I miss something?" She asked in vain. Books couldn't answer after all. Not that there was any way to go over everything again. The book was too beaten up to ever be read again and she lacked the will to read it again. What use was it if it all led to such a stupid ending.
'Maybe they never should've met at all...' She thought as she lay down and closed her eyes.
'Human emotions are fragile.' He told himself the first day.
'Humans are fragile.' He told himself the second day.
'She's fragile.' He told himself the third day.
On the fourth day, he told himself nothing, and sat in the library until late at night in search of an answer. A storm raged outside, but he took little notice of it. That is, until a large flash of lightning revealed a figure moving past the window. He looked up, instantly recognizing it. He was at the window before he knew it and swiftly slid it open.
"What the hell are you doing?!" He shouted, his voice barely able to top the violent wind and rain. She didn't respond and he climbed through the window, grabbing her wrist as soon as it was in reach. He pinned her against the wall and took a good look at her. Her eyes were red, her cheeks tear-stained.
"What are you doing?" He repeated.
"Just going for a walk." She said, avoiding his eyes. He gripped her wrist tightly and pulled her along to the window before throwing her through. He climbed through as well and closed it behind him before taking off his coat and throwing it at her.
"You humans are so ridiculous." He said as he crouched down in front of her.
She grinned as she looked up.
"You're making it sound like you're not one of us." He remained silent and she quickly returned her eyes to the ground, suddenly feeling ashamed of herself.
"I had a dream a few days back." She said as she wrapped his coat closer around herself. "I disappeared and..." She swallowed down the lump in her throat. "and no one noticed." She grimaced as she looked back up. Thoth moved so quickly she barely even saw it, but before she knew it, he had both her wrists pinned to the ground and he was on top of her. Drops of rain that rolled down several locks of his hair fell onto her face as she stared up at him.
"I'd notice." Her eyes widened as he pressed his lips onto hers. She was surprised, but she found everything about herself more than willing to give into it. To believe that he'd notice.
He wasn't even sure what he was doing or what was driving him.
'For the God of knowledge to not know what he's doing...' He thought disapprovingly as he released her and leaned back, staring down at her. That warm smile had returned to her face. She worked herself to a sitting position, her legs still stuck under his weight.
"Thank you, Thoth-sama." After that she quickly held her hand up to her mouth before sneezing.
"Dry yourself off already." He said annoyed as he pulled the coat that was around her shoulders over her head.