Chapter Text
Demeter, goddess of the Harvest, is no stranger to nightmares involving her children.
Most starred Persephone. Her youth, her kidnapping, her marriage to Hades. But those had calmed down in the modern day as she finally began getting somewhat over all of the anger that had filled her for so many years.
But there were other dreams she had, focusing more on her other children.
On their trials, their victories, their deaths.
Many of her dreams revolved around the wars and all the precious children she had lost, despite all of her efforts to dampen their scents and hide them away from monsters.
But tonight, it was different. It was… darker.
She was standing in the strawberry fields of Camp Half-Blood, with the full moon shining down on the silence.
At first, the goddess found herself confused at what she was supposed to be seeing. This was not one of her memories, like most of her dreams, but whenever she had a non-memory dream it was always meant to show or teach her something important.
But her confusion doesn’t last long, as the peaceful silence around her is swiftly shattered by a voice she would recognise anywhere.
“TRAVIS!!!”
It’s Katie, one of her older remaining demigod daughters, and if she were honest with herself, one of her more beloved.
But putting that thought aside, Demeter watches, suddenly unable to move, as Katie comes running into view. The girl looked obviously panicked by something, and when her mother followed her gaze to whatever she was so upset over, she quickly understood why.
Travis Stoll. Son of Hermes and the boy her daughter seemed to have feelings for, for some unknown reason. Being held up in the sky and flung around as if he were nothing more than a thin kite, left to the mercy of the winds. The mother and daughter watch in shared, silent horror as the boy was suddenly dropped out of the sky, just out of sight. But the sickening crunch that followed was more than enough to fill in the gaps.
Katie let out a sickening cry from deep in her chest, before taking off in a sprint in the direction of her fellow demigod.
She doesn’t make it far.
No.
Her daughter makes it barely 15 feet from where Demeter stands before something unseen causes her to trip, falling harshly to the ground, ripping open the skin on her knees, elbows, arms, and palms. She lets out a cry of pain that makes Demeter’s heart rate spike and attempt to rush to her side, but there seems to be something holding her feet rooted to the ground.
But then, after nearly a full minute of being forced to listen to her child crying in pain, whatever had been holding the goddess in place released her, finally allowing the mother to race to her child’s side. She kneels at Katie’s side, hands hovering as if she would be able to do anything. Katie had not reacted to her presence at all, so she had very little hope that she would be able to make contact and help her little girl.
But it would seem that allowing her to get close to Katie had not been mercy, but an added layer of punishment.
As she kneeled beside her daughter, her body seemed to lock up once again before the true horror truly began.
The goddess watched, unable to turn away or blink, as her daughter seemed to be… drained of her very life force. It was as if the very ground below her had begun to suck all the blood and life and spirit from her body. Within mere moments, her bright, vibrant daughter had gone from a lively, if scared, young girl to nothing more than wet tracing paper pulled tight over a skeleton.
When the horrifying process finally comes to an end, the girl is left utterly colourless, lying there in the grass with her hand stretched out. Katie isn’t supposed to be colourless. She is a daughter of Demeter for Chaos’ sake. Nature is supposed to be her domain and her shield. Now, however, it does all it can, cradling her in its grasp, like a mother does with her sleeping babe.
Demeter awakens with a gasp, staring at her ceiling while her breathing races and heart stutters. Her mind is running through the nightmare again and again, as if looking for anything she might have possibly missed.
But there is nothing that she missed, no small detail she had somehow looked over, no answers as to what the fuck that was and why she had been forced to endure it.
Knowing that she wasn’t getting back to sleep after the dream, Demeter brings her knees up to her chest and wraps her arms around them. Tears brim her eyes and her breathing is stuttering and shaking.
Why had she been shown that?
What was the point?!
But of course, no answer presented itself. They never did, in situations like this.
But now, Demeter’s mind was flooded with a panicked, screaming, whirlwind of thoughts and questions.
What could she do now?
How could she make sure her babies were okay, with the Ancient Laws in place, keeping her from doing anything more than tending to the plants connected to each precious soul and hiding away their scents so monsters didn’t give them a second glance?
Why not just go check on her children and make sure for herself that they were all okay?
…
Yeah.
Yeah. She could do that.
She would do that.
She would go check on her children.
Demeter appears in the centre of her cabin within a few moments, not even bothering to stand from her bed, and she wastes no time checking on the other children asleep in their bunks. They all seem to be deep with pleasant dreams, which brings her some small sense of joy after the night she’s had. The goddess spends several moments stepping from bunk to bunk, pressing a soft kiss to each small cheek or forehead.
Once her round is done, the goddess finds herself turning to Katie, asleep in her bed, curled up on her side with her pillow trapped in her arms like it were a plush toy.
Demeter stepped quietly to Katie’s bedside, kneeling down so she could be eye-level with her daughter. She began running gentle hands through the girl’s hair, for once not tied back in her classic twin braids, and pressing several long kisses to the girl’s cheeks, forehead, and hair.
Once her heart begins to somewhat settle, mostly because she can feel Katie’s breath against her skin, the goddess gets an idea. She knows she won’t be able to get back to sleep back in her chambers on Olympus, so why didn’t she just stay here for a while? She could definitely make it back to her room before any of the children awoke and discovered her breaking the ancient laws.
Without another thought, lest she talk herself out of it, Demeter shifts her form to be slightly smaller, to better fit in the small bunk. Once her form has settled, the goddess checks over her body to ensure no mistakes. Once she is satisfied with her work, Demeter shuffles her way into the bed, placing herself behind her daughter so that she can curl around her and protect her from the outside world.
Finally settled, Demeter smiles to herself as she gets comfortable. Once she is, with Katie pressed to her chest and a hand over her heart, letting her mother feel the steady beating of her heart and the rise and fall of her chest.
As she listened to the strong thump! Thump! Thump! of Katie’s heartbeat, the goddess found herself beginning to hum an old, ancient lullaby from her own memories. It’s meant for Katie, but has the effect of soothing everyone in the cabin, both mother and children.
As the song comes to an end, Demeter allows herself to fall back into a gentle, and hopefully nightmare free, slumber, with her daughter pressed to her chest and silent tears rolling softly down her cheeks as she takes in the steady sound of her baby’s heartbeat. It proved she was alive and well, and that Demeter had not lost yet another daughter of hers to the cold darkness of the Underworld.