Archive of Our Own

The early morning sun had not yet risen over the cabins of Camp Half-Blood, but in the realm of sleep, time was entirely meaningless. For Aurora, a daughter of Hypnos, the dreamscape was her second home. One moment she had been wandering through a mortal's dream about a neon-lit New York diner, complete with endless pancakes and questionable jazz music. The next, she stepped through an unseen boundary and everything changed. The bright lights vanished. The air became thick and warm, carrying the scent of burning olive oil, sea salt, and ancient stone baked beneath a Mediterranean sun. Aurora blinked. The dream around her solidified into a large stone chamber. Sunlight poured through an open archway overlooking a rugged coastline and distant mountains. Colorful woven tapestries hung from the walls, while bronze oil lamps flickered softly despite the daylight. Standing near the archway was a woman. She wore flowing Greek clothing draped elegantly around her frame. Aurora stared. Her first thought was: 'why in the gods name is she wearing a toga...?' i thought as i looked at the scene with a look of pure confusion.

The woman turned around slowly. Her dark, expressive eyes pooled with deep sorrow, mirroring centuries of isolation. She didn't look angry at the intrusion, just profoundly weary.

She spoke, her voice like a low, haunting melody. "Ποιος είσαι; Και πώς βρέθηκες εδώ;"

Aurora froze. Her modern, English-thinking brain stalled, gears grinding hard as her inherited divine traits scrambled to hit the linguistic reset button.

Ancient Greek. Not just modern Greek,

Not even the stuff Chiron occasionally forced campers to learn.

Actual ancient Greek.

"Wait. Hold on a second."

i rubbed my forehead with my hands as i tried to get my brain to work.

"Brain, please work with me here."

The words slowly untangled themselves.

'Who are you? And how did you get here?'

"Oh." i pointed at myself awkwardly.

"Right. Hi."

"Είμαι η Aurora και μόλις έφτασα...?" i said as i finally managed a sentence.

The grammar felt wrong.

Probably.

Maybe.

The woman blinked.

i gave her an akward thumbs-up.

'Yeah, that's definitely correct. Probably.' i thought,

A faint, ghostly crack appeared in the woman's stone-faced sorrow. "τόσο παράξενος χαιρετισμός..."

i stared at her in confusion probably with my mouth half open as i just slowly started translating what she had said to me,

'such a strange greeting...'

"oh! uh...probably i mean..? i guess not really.."

'man.. i really should've paid more attention to the language classes chiron made us do..'

The woman tilted her head.

"Τα ρούχα σου είναι επίσης περίεργα."

i stared at her before finally getting some words i understood as i looked down at my pyjama shirt and shorts covered in little clouds, and my fuzzy socks covered in little stars whilst in my hand was my most trusted vaporeon plushie.

"uh yeah... εντάξει δίκαιο" i said as i shrugged. at least it was comfortable...

A moment of silence passed.

i stood there as akward as an ambivert could be when she was being stared down by this gorgeus lady who was most definitly blessed by blessed by Lady Aphrodite.

"so..." i started wanting to get away from this akward situation.. "where am i exactly?" i asked

the lady just continued to stare at me in what looked like confusion... 'huh why would she be confused i spoke in engli-' i thought as i paused my thoughts. 'english... yeah wait i forgot. let me try again...'

"πού είμαι?" i asked as i mentally prayed to Hermes that i said it correctly.

The woman's gaze drifted toward the coastline beyond the archway, staring outside before answering, "στο δωμάτιό μου"

'in my chamber'

"uhu... very..πληροφοριακός" i said with a deadpan face as i stared at her.

The woman looked very confused by my answer, "uh, i meant.. Πού μένεις αυτή τη στιγμή?"

The woman hesitated, a sad? look crossing her face, 'im not good at reading emotions so im not sure..' i thought staring at her face, before her voice snapped me out of my thoughts. "αυτή τη στιγμή... στην Τροία"

'Τροία...Troy... oh wait holy shit...' i nearly choked on my own shock.

"Τροία?!"

The woman blinked.

"...Ναί?"

i stared at her like a deer in headlights.

Then pointed dramatically at the floor.

"As in Τροία, Τροία?"

The woman looked even more confused.

i dramatically dropped her hand.

"Never mind."

Maybe she was roleplaying, maybe this was some really elaborate historical dream.

Maybe—

Maybe I'm talking to an actual person from ancient Greece.

'Nope.'

i immediately shoved that thought into a mental box.

That was Future Aurora's problem.

Current Aurora preferred denial.

The woman studied her carefully.

"Δεν είσαι από εδώ."

You're not from here.

i shook my head,

"Όχι από κανένα βασίλειο που γνωρίζω."

'okay i understood half of that.. BUT HEY! my greeks getting better'

"Also no i think...?" i said in confusion as i shook my head again snapping out of my thoughts.

The woman frowned.

"Τότε πού?"

where?

i considered trying to explain New York, but i was too lazy to do that, so i immediately gave up.

"πολύ μακριά"

The woman accepted that answer surprisingly easily.

Perhaps dreams made impossible things easier to believe.

The conversation continued.

i told her stories (as best as i could in my broken greek) about my friends and their chaotic shennenigans.

The woman listened quietly.

The woman spoke of Troy, of palace halls, and a life that felt increasingly like a cage and how she missed her husband and wept over the fact that her daughter was growning up without her.

i didn't understand every detail. But i understood the pain she was going through somewhat,

And somehow, despite the centuries between them, they talked.

For what felt like hours.

The dream slowly began to unravel around the edges.

i noticed it first, The stone walls started flickering away and the sunlight dimmed.

The connection was ending.

"Oh."

i stood up.

"Νομίζω ότι ήρθε η ώρα να φύγω."

The woman looked genuinely disappointed.

The expression surprised me, i smiled gently at her as i spoke, "Maybe I'll κατά λάθος επιστρέφω"

The woman took a small step forward.

As the dream began dissolving into silver mist, she spoke.

"Περιμένετε."

i paused turning to look at her for maybe one last time,

"huh?"

For the first time since they had met, the woman looked uncertain.

"Δεν με ρώτησες ποτέ το όνομά μου."

'you never asked name'

i blinked. "Oh."

She laughed softly.

"right."

The dream was falling apart rapidly now, the chamber had almost completly faded.

i smiled.

"So what's το όνομά σου?"

The woman looked at her for a long moment.

Then answered.

"Ελένη."

Helen.

The name seemed to echo through the dreamscape.

I froze.

Because even with her terrible history grades—

She knew that name.

Helen of Sparta.

the one who started the Trojan War.

Before i could say anything else, the dream shattered into silver light.

And she woke up in her bunk at Camp Half-Blood as she lazlily sat up with one sentence repeating in her head.

'what the fuck'