Chapter Text
Everyone knows the Greek gods. Immortal beings who walked the mortal realm, assisting heroes and siring hundreds of demigods.
But that wasn't the case for every universe. Some never knew the joy of their children and some only know the grief that follows.
The war with the titans ended when the six children of Kronos slain their father upon the battlefield.
But The Crooked One had the last laugh.
"I curse you, my ungrateful children, I curse you to never sire living children. May you only feel pain and sorrow. May your seed never take and may your wombs remain barren. I curse you, my children, to only feel the suffering in which you've bestowed upon me. May you never bear whole and hale children. With this I swear upon the Styx." The Crooked One said upon his defeat. Quickly, Demeter raised her golden sickle and beheaded her father.
This brought an end to the Titanomachy. The Kronides took to Mount Olympus to begin a new dynasty. The world was split between the three sons of Kronos. Zeus took the sky and the burden of the crown, Poseidon took the sea and Oceanus' place as king, and Hades took the underworld, to govern the dead.
As time passed, the final words of their father all but vanished into the back of their minds. By the time the Olympians began yearning for children, having watched the mortals grow their own families for centuries, the final curse of Kronos was but a faint memory to them.
Zeus took to wife the oceanid Metis, the daughter of Oceanus and Tethys, shortly after his rise in station. Metis was with child shortly after the wedding and this is where the tragedy begins. Shortly after the quickening, Metis took to her chambers and wouldn't leave. She grew paranoid and pained until finally the birth of her child begun.
The labor was long and painful for both parents. Metis's screams could be heard throughout Greece as she fought against the childbed. The king wasn't much better. Shortly after his wife's labor began, Zeus was struck with a deafening headache. Such a painful one it was that he begged his brothers to split his skull.
This continued until, at long last, the babe was born. A girl they named Athena. The babe was born sickly pale, with bones hollow like a bird and as fragile as glass. The birth did little to stop the pain of her parents however, as the newborn princess struggled to breathe, she grasped at the power of her parents to sustain herself.
Metis, still weak from the long and torturous birth, knew her girl was to fade if they didn't do anything. Metis had remembered the titan's final words and in an act of maternal love and protection, bestowed her own domain of wisdom upon her infant daughter, knowing this would effectively switch their fates.
Metis was correct. As the newborn goddess finally settled into her aunt's arms, her mother slowly faded into mist, returning to the sea she once called home.
Zeus, having finally been able to stand, entered the birth chamber to find his wife faded back to the sea, the sheets still stained with ichor, and his daughter, the last piece of her mother, sleeping against Hera's chest.
The grief that followed cloaked Olympus in a cloud of black for years following. The Kronides finally understood their fathers finally words. In order to have children they would suffer greatly and lose a part of themselves in the end.
Athena, then the only child of the gods, grew under the watchful eye of her father and his siblings. The fates are cruel, as she grew, Athena looked more and more like Metis eventually becoming near identical to her mother, adding another layer to her father's grief.
Athena had her mother's same windswept blonde curls and storm grey eyes. She was fostered under the waves for a time; threats were still present as Olympus was still in its early years and her father wanted to ensure her safety. While under the waves she gained another domain, the domain of weaving. The added domain strengthens her as it allowed her to draw her power form more than one source.
Her birth, though having lasting consequences, sparked the want in the other Kronides.
Poseidon had married Amphitrite, daughter of Nereus, around the same time Zeus wed Metis. Through many painful attempts, they produced a living son and daughter. Triton was born first, draining his father of his power, and was swiftly given a domain as messenger of the sea. He was born with skin so cool it turned a shade of blue and would only breathe under water causing his father to keep him safe in his domain under the waves. Kymopoleia was born after 2 stillbirths, born during a deadly storm, the storm in which she drew her power from, gaining herself the domain of sea storms.
Poseidon attempted to have more children, yet his efforts were in painful vain. Most of his babes died in the womb and those that didn't were born with monstrous traits, though they were no less loved.
Eventually, Zeus took to wife his sister Hera. With Athena, whom she had taken to calling hers since her infancy, safe under the waves, Olympus was dreadfully quiet and as the goddess of motherhood, Hera longed for a child of her own. Through much persuading, she managed to convince her husband to have another child and before long she was pregnant.
Throughout her pregnancy, Hera raged. She raged in a way her siblings hadn't seen since the Titanomachy. Her skin burned to the touch and every time the child within her kicked, her ribs broke and she raged the full force of her father's curse.
Hera, much like Metis before her, took to her chambers until the end of her term so as to not scare her newly returned daughter. When her labors began, the entirety of Greece knew. A dozen wars were started over the course of her labors as Hera fought her own battle on the childbed.
Much like during Athena's birth, Zeus felt the consequences. Rather than the deafening headache he gained during his daughter's birth, Zeus felt his bones snap and mend over and over again during his son's birth.
Finally, after a long and strenuous birth, the babe greeted the world with a loud scream. The babe was named Ares. He was immediately handed to his mother, who attempted to bestow a domain on him but none of the ones they had set aside would hold. That wasn't the only consequence of his birth, however. Hera bleed during the birth and the bleeding wouldn't stop after her son was born.
Demeter, who was present for all her family's births, quickly removed the babe from his mother and quickly bundled him in the blankets his older sister was wrapped in before, then pressed into Athena's arms. Athena had been sent to gather news and instead gained a babe in her arms.
Looking down at her baby brother, who much like her at her birth, was slowly struggling to breathe as he raged much like his mother did. Athena wiped the golden ichor off the babe's feverish brow and managed to split one of her own domains. Fully grown as she was, she had gained the domain of war and split it to preserve her brother.
That's how her father found her, sitting against the wall still holding the babe still covered in ichor. The process of splitting her domain had drained Athena and shortly after her father took the babe she slipped into a deep sleep, only to wake three days later much to the concern of everyone present.
The bleeding was able to be stopped and the fear of losing Hera like they did Metis slowly dissipated from the Kronides. Once she regained her strength, Hera took hold of her son and bestowed him the domain of bloodshed, tying in with the domain of war. Hera was bedridden after the birth for a year regaining her strength only to fall pregnant once again three years after Ares' birth
This pregnancy was calm compared to her previous one, even to that of Metis', which should have been the first concern. However, the Kronides thought it to be a sign that their fathers curse was lifting. Though they were cautious still, they relaxed, thinking that nothing bad would happen.
Oh, how wrong they were.
When Hera's labors began, the pain was much worse than it was during Ares's birth. The birth took three full days and nights until the babe arrived.
The newborn god, Hephaestus, was given the domain of the forge at his birth. His birth, though long, was kinder to his mother through her recovery. The day following his birth, Hera regained enough strength to move slowly about her chambers. While sitting next to an open window with her son in her arms, Hera's strength failed her. Her hands, still bearing the scars of her first son, loosened their hold on the babe and he fell out the window, down Mount Olympus.
Hera's screams and sobs alerted her siblings to what had happened and the Kronides began searching for the babe. It was Hestia, the eldest of the Kronides, who found him at the bottom of the mountain. As she climbed back up the mountain, clutching the babe to her chest, she slowly fed part of her own domains, the domain of fire, into the babe, in hopes of saving his parents the grief of losing a child.
For centuries, Hestia watched the tiny mortals through their hearth's as they grew and had even tinier mortals. She had watched the grieving mothers sob for the little lives that death called too soon, she had seen fathers rage as they watched the life slowly drain out of their little blessings. She had watched her own siblings go through the grief of losing a child and in that moment, climbing back up to Olympus with a sickly newborn godling pressed close to her chest, decided that she would not attempt to have a child of her own. Instead, she would simple be content watching the mortals as they went about their lives and would welcome any new child her siblings bore into the family.
(this would be a decision two of her nieces would follow her into)
The fall down the mountain had not been kind to Hephaestus. His left leg remained unmoving and even though the other wounds he sustained healed, they left large scars. Though that did not mean he was ant less loved by his parents and family as a whole.
As they grew, Ares could be seen walking through Olympus, helping his brother learn how to walk with either their mother or older sister following closely behind, though it was usually both of them, arms linked as they gossiped about the latest scandal on Olympus. Throughout the years, through multiple more attempts to have children, the trios' little siblings would join them, with their cousins in tow half the time, as they walked around Olympus in groups, causing chaos.
The next child to be born to the Kronides was Persephone. Given the name Kore at her birth, she was the daughter of Demeter and Zeus. She was born after an agreement between the two and Hera. Demeter would carry a child both in want of one of her own and for her siblings.
The pregnancy left Demeter chilled. So much so it effected the mortals down below, causing the season to change. Like her predecessors, Demeter took to her chambers until the babe came. And when the babe finally did, the entirety of Olympus knew. As her labors began, her domains were plunged into madness. Crops died, snow fell, and mortals were left to deal with the brunt of it. Olympus wasn't spared either and was plunged into an unexpected winter.
At long last, the babe arrived. She was named Kore by her parents and kept within her mother's arms for the first months of her life. Kore was given the domain of spring.
The consequences of her birth left both of her parents weak. Demeter, weak from the birth and giving a part of her own domain, and Zeus, weak from his own part of the curse. He was left as chilled as Demeter was and bedridden for the remainder of the year. the babe herself was born as fragile as the flowers in her mother's garden but was thankfully spared the breathing issues her older siblings and cousins had endured.
Kore didn't remain fragile for long, however, and as she grew, she went from toddling after her siblings as they walked Olympus to running from them, laughing, after she pulled one prank or another.
With her birth leaving both her parents bedridden for the months following her birth, the Kronides decided to hold off on having any more children for a few decades to gather their strength and available domains. The youngest three of Zeus children were all born within a decade of each other and with the curse, their births left their parents far weaker than ever before.
And they did just that. The next children to be born to the Kronides were twins. Artemis and Apollo were born to Zeus and the titaness Leto. Zeus had long since come to the conclusion that if Hera bore any more children, there was a very high chance that she'd die in the process. And so, he began seeking out other women to produce children with. Except he made one fatal mistake, he didn't tell Hera.
As a goddess of childbirth, Hera knew almost immediately that the child Leto carried was her husband's. In a fit of rage due to the deception, Hera banished Leto from Olympus and her husband from her company.
When Leto went into labor, she did so upon the island of delos. Her daughter was born quickly, Artemis, she was named, but her son, Apollo, would leave her body. 9 days she labored until finally her son was born. Instantly, Apollo took his sisters hand and together they ran into the wilderness, half blind and stumbling, while their mother remained unconscious.
Zeus felt everything for those 9 days. He felt the birth of his daughter, the agony Leto was subject to for those 9 days, the birth of his son, and the ultimate departure of his children. The curse was a double-edged sword. Yes, the pain was unbearable but at least the pain meant their children were alive. The pain ceased in Zeus' body 3 days after the birth and he sobbed. More of their family was lost.
Hera, now realizing what she had done, took it upon herself to care for Leto as she recovered from the birth and realized the grief that laid in her heart. Eventually the island of Delos was given to Leto as a sanctuary for her to grieve away from prying eyes.
Three years after their birth, the twins appeared on Olympus. They had claimed domains of their own in those three years, the first three days after their birth. During the three years they wandered the wilderness, they both gained the domain of hunting Artemis gained the domain of animals and Apollo gained the domain of healing. Over the years the twins would gain many more domains.
The next years remained peaceful. Until Maia, daughter of Atlas, somehow got a hold of some of Zeus' ichor. This resulted in a child.
Hermes was born after five long days of labor. Zeus was unaware of the imminent child and thus was unprepared for the pain that surged through his body. When the pain finally ceased, he sent his children to find their new, dead sibling.
But the child was not dead. Three weeks later, Hermes was found by Apollo after Hermes stole his cattle. Hermes was born relatively healthy, thankfully, but his mother was not. Maia, after the long birth, was catatonic, not speaking of moving, until finally she gasped and turned into mist, becoming a constellation in the sky, her sisters following over the years.
The last child born to the Kronides was Dionysus. Born to Zeus and the mortal princess Semele after the Kronides turned to mortals in their efforts to have children. Their attempts to do so resulted in monstrous children or babes who didn't get to see the sunrise, or worse were born silent.
This time was different however, though everyone on Olympus held their breath. Semele seemed to thrive while pregnant, hosting parties and celebrations for the most mundane things. That was until the quickening.
Shortly after she felt the first kick, Semele was pulled into madness. She was locked in her chambers until the babe arrived. And the babe did. Through unconventional means. As she approached her seventh month, Semele began burning. Her skin began crack and tear until she was nothing but ash. Zeus, upon the supposed death of another one of his children, arrived in her chambers to give a blessing only to find that the babe still held onto their flickering life.
Without much planning, Zeus cut open his thigh and stitched the babe inside until he finished growing.
The babe remained there for the following two months until Zeus felt the familiar pains begin. The babe was born feverish but whole and human. The babe, Dionysus, was kept in the care of Hera until his father gained his strength back. Despite being a demigod, Dionysus was no less loved and was kept on Olympus.
Eventually he ascended, joining his divine family as immortals.
The stillbirths and monstrous children still contained, for some more than others, Hades only tried to sire a child twice, both times ending with silent babes. Chaos herself, The Mother, saw the grief this curse brought the gods and began searching for a solution. And she found it.
What would the gods of the other world, a world in which demigods roamed in abundance but weren't cherished and cared for properly, care if a few of their forgotten children went missing.
And so, she set about her journey to take the children and give them the life they deserve.