ONE.
MNEMOSYNE

Olympus had never been a home to the Titaness Mnemosyne. She brought her daughters the Muses there, and she'd been granted sanctuary during the first war between her siblings and her nieces and nephews. Oh her sweet sisters and brothers, locked away for their wrongdoings. With Kronos in a million pieces in Tartarus, they held little power over the Olympians. She kept to herself on Olympus. Hiding away with her daughters as she couldn't bare to watch her family be torn apart.

Now, millennia after the first war had passed, it seemed to be happening again. Mnemosyne didn't hide on Olympus this time around. She decided to find a demigod who would leave a legacy people would write about centuries after death. It was too easy for it to be a son of Poseidon, a daughter of Zeus, or a son of Hades. Their legacies were as clear as day. No, Mnemosyne sought someone unlike the others.

She consulted with the god Apollo, who all too eagerly pointed her in the direction of a young demigoddess praying for the day she could return to her father. Apollo must have thought he was doing the demigoddess a favor. Mnemosyne knew that even with his kindness, he'd end up being the girl's demise. That god always knew how to drive people mad. She wondered how many of his lovers had killed themselves, and how many of his friends had done the same. And yet she turned her eyes on this demigoddess.

It struck her then. The reason why Apollo had chosen this girl. Not necessarily because she was deserving of a timeless legacy – though Mnemosyne admitted this girl deserved exactly that – but because of her mother. Her very own sister lived in that girl. And that girl was friends with Poseidon's mortal legacy, the one who would end up facing Kronos in the final fight. It scared her, if she were being honest.

Theia never proclaimed her wish for a demigod child of her own, and yet there was one. After Helios, Selene, and Eos, who were all three godly beings, there was a very mortal offspring of Theia.

Mnemosyne could see the elements of her sister flowing through this demigoddess' entire way of being. She could watch for hours on end how this child moved with the grace of light, and played tricks on two particularly annoying brothers with jewels. Truly her sister's child, she knew then. But Mnemosyne expressed her desire to go down there, to visit this odd summer camp where her sister's child seemed to be confined. Zeus forbade her. If she went, she would be banished from Olympus and never see her daughters the Muses ever again.

Apollo granted her the way out, he promised to appreciate her Muses more than he ever did before. That scared Mnemosyne a little, too, but this girl on the Earth was the first sign she'd seen that her sister wasn't as locked up as she originally thought. For a chance to reunite with one of her siblings... she couldn't pass it up. Even if it meant being barred from the gates of Olympus for all eternity.

"Chase! When's Jackass coming back, so I can beat him at sword catching again?" Mnemosyne knew how to be invisible to the mortal eye. She wanted to observe from close by before confronting her sister's child. "It's nearing summer, he can't be that desperate to stay away from sword catching."

"No. No, I told Chiron, and I'm telling you. We're not doing sword catching again."

"Right, I forgot. You prefer Clarisse throwing."

"You're a child, honestly."

Mnemosyne expected her sister's daughter to throw a punch, but instead the girl let out a loud, obnoxious laugh. "Right on, Chase! That's why you're the fearless leader of Athena's cabin, while I'm on my worst behavior in Hermes' cabin. Besides, we're young. We have such long lives to live."

The obvious shade thrown made Mnemosyne wince. Many Greek heroes didn't live past twenty. Some didn't even make it that far. Demigod children of Titans were no different. Though, in the first war with her siblings, the monsters left their children alone. Perhaps these days they could sense allegiances.

She found it strange being on Earth after so long on Olympus. Even stranger to be around the demigod children of gods she knew quite well. Apollo's bunch resembled each of his aspects. Demeter's children truly embodied the harvest. Aphrodite's... Mnemosyne preferred to stay away from the lady of the doves, and yet she could tell those daughters were not like their mother at all. Certainly, Aphrodite loved her status as the most beautiful, and yet, there had always been more fight to the goddess. Not most of her children, apparently.

She kept five paces behind the two demigoddesses exactly as she followed them around the camp. Chase left halfway through the walk around, and with that it was just Theia's daughter and Mnemosyne. They passed a poster board, and Mnemosyne quickly looked away. On Olympus she had heard many stories about Hermes' son Luke. How he had turned on the Olympians in favor of Kronos.

Except, Theia's daughter turned back around to march to the poster board. She fixated her eyes on the wanted poster for Luke. Mnemosyne could read that emotion extremely well. Many of the mortals who prayed to her had that same look. The wish to remember all the good in a person to forget all the bad they had done or were still doing.

The image on the poster morphed into something kinder. One where the traitor didn't wear a scar over his eye, and he was joined by the Chase girl and who Mnemosyne assumed was Zeus' daughter Thalia. Mnemosyne studied the illusion carefully as her niece did the same. In another life, this was perhaps how the trio pictured would be remembered. As everything kind. In another universe, nothing bad had happened to them.

Her niece didn't give a warning sign before tearing the poster down altogether. "Fuck you, Castellan."

Mnemosyne knew, as the Titan goddess of memory, everything about everyone as soon as she got in close contact with them. She hadn't meant to look inside her niece's head. It had just... happened. Flashes of two young girls teaming up together to take down their brother figure, Theia claiming her daughter and the young one sobbing her eyes out because she didn't belong anywhere at Camp Half-Blood, Luke Castellan providing the comfort needed.

She understood it would take a lot to be the guiding hand before her niece would accept another mentor.

She would need to be as normal as can be. As human as she could manage.

✾

The thing about being, or rather acting, human, it wasn't as easy as the humans made it out to be. Mnemosyne thought she had the looks down to a T – and she had! – but apparently humans didn't dress pretty for occasions you did not necessarily need to be dressed up for. On Olympus, everyone wore the prettiest clothing. Whether that be chitons, armor, or the fancy clothing in the human world, everyone looked their best.

She knew immediately she made some mistake when she visited her niece's dream sequence. From the judgy eyebrows to the irritated look when she tried to introduce herself. As she looked upon what her niece was wearing, she noticed her mistakes. Mnemosyne noticed how her niece's dark hair looked a mess, and the white shirt had a curious-looking stain on it. Not to mention how the pajama pants had obviously been cut up with a sword once or twice. In comparison to what she wore, it seemed she poked fun at her niece.

Mnemosyne opened her mouth again, only to get cut off. "I think you've got the wrong demigod, goddess. You might want to try cabin ten, they're the pesky pink princes and princesses."

"I can ensure you I have the right demigod, daughter of Theia." Mnemosyne had quite liked the soft pink colors on her dress.

"Mhm. Right. Because goddesses seek out me instead of PJ or Chase. Especially ones that look like that. Funny joke, though. I'll be sure to tell it to them when I wake up from this dream... unless you're here to make it into a nightmare?"

"You will never succeed at Camp Half-Blood in the shadows of Perseus and Annabeth, or even those who are yet to come. Your light is overshadowed by their force. Leaving behind a legacy is impossible for you to achieve as you seek for someone else to come along. While adoring your friends, you want to leave something behind to be remembered for centuries. Millennia, even."

"Who are you to think that you can lure me?"

"My name is Mnemosyne, your mother is my sister." Mnemosyne wondered if the promise of finding her mother would be of help. "We haven't spoken since the first Titan war, where I sought refuge on Olympus, while she joined our brothers."

This seemed to stump the girl for a moment. Mnemosyne could see how the wheels in her head began to twist. How it had come that it wouldn't be her mother visiting in her dreams. Her eyes void of disappointment. Almost as if she had never expected to meet her mother. A truly unfortunate event. Mnemosyne would pull heaven and earth apart if she knew where her sister resided.

Yet, entirely unexpected, the girl laughed. "You should do comedy, I'm sure you'd be a big hit with the crowds. Now, as I'm pretty polite, I'm gonna introduce myself." Mnemosyne highly doubted this girl was genuinely polite. "Josette Torres, but PJ and Chase call me Josie, so feel free to do so as well. People always fucking do whatever they want anyway." She said bitterly.

"Josie." Mnemosyne repeated.

"You're trying to take me away from PJ and Chase. They're my friends. PJ's almost like my brother."

"Others are in need of you. For you to leave behind the Greeks, you can do many great things. At the end of the war, there is happiness. You will reunite with your father, should that be something you want."

Josette Torres. Theia's one and only mortal daughter. The only mortal child of Theia, even. A fire burned behind those dark eyes, and Mnemosyne knew she could bring Josette to a path that would grant her a legacy. That path simply did not lie with the Greeks. She'd personally escort Josette to the other camp, the one that needed her.

"Dad's working, he'll need rest after work. Doesn't have time for me." Josette quickly said, averting her eyes from Mnemosyne's piercing eyes. The goddess frowned. Before coming down to earth, she'd looked into the mortal who Theia had a kid with. "It's whatever, he's busy, I'm not gonna bother him. It's not a home anyway."

Oh, how wrong Josette was! "You should go see him. How long has it been?"

"Don't fucking give me advice on my relationship with my dad. Probably married that Shelley, relieved Death isn't knocking on his door every time I come home. He doesn't give a fuck that I'm here all day, every day, never getting out."

For a fourteen-year-old Josette sure swore a lot, Mnemosyne noted. Some children were simply born with poison in their system. Some got it fed to them. Others had both been born with it as well as gotten it poured down their throats. Mnemosyne couldn't yet figure out which category Josette fell under.

In the soft light of the Hermes cabin, Josette looked every bit the fourteen-year-old she was supposed to be. Mnemosyne had followed her long enough the days leading up to this moment to know underneath the harsh shell, there was still a young girl from Cloudcroft. Even if the obvious prevented her from going back.

Mnemosyne politely smiled. "After a war, parents are always relieved to have their children home. You could leave behind a legacy in this world, and start anew with your father. But you cannot do any of that with Perseus and Annabeth. Rome is calling you."

"Now I know you're doing comedy as a side quest. There's just us Greek demigods, who have a whole lot of crap to deal with right now." Josette was getting angry that the goddess wouldn't leave her alone. "I don't need this. PJ's coming back soon, which means Clarisse'll be back soon, and we're gonna put Luke Castellan into the ground."

"No. There is no legacy if you remain with the Greeks. You will never be a hero to the gods, you will leave behind nothing. Only cowardice."

"Fuck off. You're wrong about me, I'm not a coward."

"It is hard not to think so if you refuse the offer of greatness." Mnemosyne retorted. She needed to provoke Josette into leaving Camp Half-Blood behind. "Your friends are on their own paths of greatness, yet you refuse to do the very same. It almost seems as though you do not care about the legacy you can leave behind. Am I correct? You'd rather remain content in a cabin that is not your own?"

Josette let out a cry, rushing to attack Mnemosyne, who stopped her with a mere wave of the hand. "I was wrong about you, it seems. Perhaps Apollo's visions have finally failed him."

"No, fine, I'll become great. But I need PJ and Chase." Josette argued.

"Mhm, that is not how this works, Josette. You will leave behind this life as you embark on a journey to Rome. We leave in the early hours of day. Long before your friends will wake."

Josette faltered, put off by the idea of not even saying goodbye. Mnemosyne hadn't known it would be so hard for the young demigod to leave everything behind. Gods did it all the time. Pack everything up, and go. To most gods it had become second nature.

"They shall think you've been send on a solo quest. One you shall not return from, even though they will be unaware of that fact. The Romans need you more than the Greeks do. They deserve to have the same opportunity at victory as everyone here. Do you not agree?"

"Will they think I died?"

"Eventually, yes." Mnemosyne nodded.

"This is the only way?"

"The only way." Mnemosyne confirmed.

"All roads lead to Rome, right? Maybe that is where I should've been all along." Josette fiddled with the hem of her shirt. "So is this my own odyssey? Only then... Roman? Embarking on a Roman odyssey?"

"Your journey has only just begun."

avery speaks!
wow it is here. the ending is a bit wonky but i wasn't sure how to end the chapter sooooooo