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softquietsteadylove · 18 days ago

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Okay I have two heracles prompts bc I am obsessed and you’ve created an idea monster!!! (I love them so much, mama bear Thena is soooo good and you write it flawlessly) first one is this: what if there’s terrible weather (a storm or blizzard or something idk whatever makes sense lol) and as usual heracles is stressing them out bc they can’t find him! turns out he’s curled up in a corner somewhere trying to brave the weather, so obviously mama Thena and papa Gil have to bring him home with them to save him from the elements. Cue: fam snug time

The storm was like nothing Athens had felt before.

It was a hurricane, although those born and raised called it a cyclone, and attributed it to the gods' displeasure. But now the gods were there in Athens, and could clarify, no: this was not their divine wrath.

Sailors pulled their ships in, the whole city headed to its highest point to avoid flooding. Although they mostly left the citizens to their own devices, Sersi and Phastos did quietly fortify what structures they could, sealing cracks subtly and turning the occasional limestone into a more water resistant granite, just for the storm.

Ajak counted heads. "Is this everyone?"

"For the most part," Ikaris grumbled as he unloaded some of the more stubborn Athenians who hadn't wanted to take the advice of evacuating their homes. "You told us not to do too much."

He had clearly been kidnapping people from their homes to bring them here.

"The orphanage is the furthest structure in town, and they're all here now," Sersi added, gesturing to the women who were tending to the children and their fright. "I think we can seal the doors."

"Wait."

Ajak frowned as Thena - most unusually - raised her voice. The Goddess of War was visibly searching for something, her eyes narrowed. "What is it?"

The blonde lioness huffed, pacing the room in her search. "He's not here."

"Who?"

"That stray?" Ikaris asked, and was swiftly punched right in the jaw for it. He snarled at his passing teammate. "If he didn't come with the others then maybe he was already swept out to sea."

"Ikaris!" Sersi hissed at him.

"Heracles?" Thena even called out, which was above and beyond for her. Plenty turned and looked, bewildered by the Goddess of War mingling in their presence. But she continued stomping through the great hall, her head swivelling. "Heracles!"

"You don't see him either?" Gilgamesh frowned. He was also counting heads, his finger poised and physically pinpointing people as he went. "I saw the rest of the kids come in but I thought maybe he had run straight to you."

Thena's brows were so knotted they weren't likely to come undone until the storm passed. "I had hoped the same of you."

Both Eternals sighed heavily, their chests tight; that meant he was out there in the storm.

"You two are seriously going out there for that kid?" Phastos felt the need to ask, but wisely stepped out of their way as the two Fighters approached the open entryway.

"Don't do anything rash," Ajak advised, which really meant that they were not to bend the natural order of things too drastically. And that included defying the laws of nature for one life, even if it was that of a child.

But Thena looked at Sersi over her shoulder, "seal the walls behind us. If we find him we'll go back to the Domo."

"If you're certain," Sersi replied, and received a nod with such sureness only the Goddess of War could manage it. So, the Elemental Eternal raised her hands to the pillars of the Parthenon. Its open steps shifted and a wall of gnarled coral stood in its place. there was enough to let in air but not so much that the rain could make it past the threshold.

Thena stepped into the rain and wind, already having to squint her eyes against it. "Where could he have gone?"

Gilgamesh held his hand up against the elements, standing by her side. "He couldn't have gotten far."

They set out, doing their best to look around the darkened streets, already rushing with water. It wasn't so much that every road was a river, but they had to wonder what it looked like further downhill. How accurate could Ikaris' snide remark have been?

"We'll find him," Gilgamesh promised, practically having to shout over the force of the winds around them.

Thena's dress and robes whipped in the wind behind her. It took mere seconds for them both to be soaked to the bone, the white clinging to her skin. But she stalked forward, hunting for her prey, or in this case, a cub.

"Heracles!" she belted aloud. Despite it being louder than her usual low, roiling tone, the storm swallowed it up. The clouds blanketed the city with their own rumbling, far louder than one or even two voices.

"Come on out, bud!" Gilgamesh also attempted to shout into the ether. "We'll get you somewhere safe!"

It felt as if they were going fishing for a minnow in the great reefs. It was simply too daunting, too overwhelming to consider searching the whole city.

Gilgamesh turned to Thena. "You should go to the Domo, see if you can see a sign of life or something."

She made a face, which ended up being a weary kind of smile. Because of course he was offering to brave the storm in her place. But she declined his chivalrous offer. "I have to see him with my own eyes."

Gil chuckled, grasping her hand and winding their fingers together. "Don't let go of me. I can't be looking for both of you in this."

Thena squeezed back, communicating through touch that she had no intention of straying from him.

"Heracles!" Gilgamesh called out again. "Wait."

She heard it too. It wasn't the child for whom they were searching, but it was a clear whining--a whimpering. She looked at him. "It's a dog."

Humans liked dogs. And Heracles was always trying to defend the honour of anything that would let him, from a field mouse to complete stranger.

Thena took off running. The rain felt like needles in her skin, heavy and sharp and freezing cold. "Heracles, where are you?!"

"Here!"

It was a tiny little squeak from a whelp of a voice. But she turned a corner, ducking between buildings, away from the main roads. Although the wind became worse, the building facades offered somewhat of a shield against the rain. She shuffled between them, no longer concerned with the water pouring down on her from the roofs and gutters. "Where?"

He needn't have answered. She turned a corner and there he was, huddled under a roof with a mangy stray trembling in his arms. They were both positively sodden and shaking, even seated on the ground where a shallow river was flowing around them.

Thena sighed. The ache in her chest lightened, although his appearance left a different kind of problem to address. She plodded over to him, equally sodden, splashing with every stop.

The boy had his biggest, saddest eyes at the ready for her. "I'm-m s-s-sorry, Th-Th-Th-"

She spared him the attempt, crouching down to him. The dog crouched out of her way as she picked him up and held him against her. He was cold to the touch, but the longer she held him, the more she could feel that warm core that all humans possessed. She rubbed his back regardless of the soaked tunic he wore. "I am here."

He clung to her. "Everyone l-l-left h-him. I t-t-tried to get ins-side with him, b-but all the houses-"

They were all sealed to some extent in preparation for the great rains, leaving two strays outside just trying to get somewhere safe. Thena looked down at the mutt.

The dog yelped as she kicked in the door to the house lending them part of its roof. The animal quickly darted inside away from the thunder and rain.

"He will be fine," she murmured as she turned with Heracles bundled against her. "You are coming with us."

"It's c-c-cold, m-m-m-"

"I know," she sufficed to say. She was also cold, and wet, and wished to be inside. But she tucked the child's head under her chin. "Endure just a little longer."

"Thank all the stars in the sky you two are okay!"

Heracles' trembling lessened somewhat as Gilgamesh wrapped his arms around them both. He was also wet, and also cold, but still warmer than both of them combined. The weight of his mere presence was assuring, like a heavy blanket, or a roof overhead.

Thena closed her eyes, letting both life forms warm her frozen core. She hated the rain, she didn't like being cold, and she had sworn she would never go so out of her way for a human. To protect one's life, certainly. But to search the streets for a little boy's comfort and general well being? That was something she would have left to Ajak or Sersi under any other circumstances.

Gil pressed his lips to her cheek, "are you?--okay, I mean."

"I am," she affirmed for him, relishing his closeness. They parted just enough for Heracles to breathe again, repositioning his face against Thena's shoulder. "He must be warmed."

"Let's go."

For however long it felt it took them to search for him, the walk back with Heracles in hand felt endless. Thena kept her eyes closed, curled around the small form she was carrying as much as she could manage. Gilgamesh walked in front of her, shielding her when the wind felt brave enough to face them head on. He acted as her eyes.

"Almost there," he announced, not that she had any frame of reference.

But she looked down. She had wrapped the sodden cape of her dress around herself and the boy in some form of attempt for warmth. She pulled it away from his face. "Just a little more."

His hair was now the colour of wheat at the end of its life, it was so wet. But the head nodded, choosing not to emerge to look at her. For that, she could not blame him.

Only once aboard the Domo did Heracles emerge. They were all exhausted, watching as the door to the ship closed behind them. The wind and rain drifted away, leaving only the sound of their breathing and the water dripping off them. "Where are we?"

Thena smiled. Humans were never supposed to see the Domo for themselves. To think them gods and deities was one thing, but to truly understand their alien origins was another. There were already hieroglyphics of the Domo in a few of the tombs in Egypt, they didn't need more evidence.

But she walked with Heracles still in hand from the hull of the ship and towards her quarters. "This is how we came to Athens."

The boy offered no notes. He merely took it all in, bewildered and exhausted. He looked at Gilgamesh behind them over her shoulder. "I thought the gods were always in Athens."

"Uh," Gilgamesh tried to think of how he would keep from dispelling the kid's idea of the world. But he patted his head, immediately noting that they all needed towels. "This is how we...came down from the stars."

"Oh," Heracles nodded, completely willing to accept the answer as it was. He wilted against Thena again. "Are you angry?"

"No," she said more softly than even she expected. But in truth, she wasn't, no matter how agitated she had been upon discovering his absence back in the great hall. She adjusted him on her hip. "I am relieved you are safe. That is all."

The Goddess of War had spoken, and that was that.

Heracles found himself set down upon a bed. It was large enough for a grown up but small enough that it didn't seem befitting of a goddess. But he accept the cloth Gilgamesh tossed over his head and rustled his hair with. "Hey!"

Gilgamesh soaked up the child's laughter. "Get dry, pipsqueak. Can't go to bed all damp."

Although, with a mere touch, the Domo was able to warm their room and suck out any excess moisture it detected. Perhaps returning to the comforts of their mothership more often would be in order.

Thena inhaled as Gilgamesh draped a towel around her shoulders, between her hair and her chilled skin. She leaned into him. She preferred him lukewarm and damp to not having him at all.

He pressed a kiss to her cheek, "he's okay. We all are."

"Hm," she acknowledged. She remained close to him, laughing as he angled her behind his form and purring as he unclipped the gold lining her toga, allowing it to drag away from her body. "You thought of everything."

"Told you, can't go to bed like this," he whispered to her as he pulled a dry shirt of his on over her head, even pulling out her hair and braiding it over her shoulder.

She inhaled. The scent of him and the Domo fogged over her senses and made the storm seem like a distant memory. She languished in the feeling of it, pressing her lips to his. He was happy to oblige.

"Now this is all wet too!"

Thena made a face as Gil pulled back. The child was back to being an agitation.

He left her with a final kiss. "You two get warm, I'll find some more towels and change into dry clothes."

"Hm," she offered as a means of telling him he better not dawdle in his mission.

He gave her a grin; he wouldn't dare. He took the towel form Heracles, who was thoroughly mussed but indeed dryer than he had been. "Go on, kid, get all warmed up. I'll be back."

Thena took the liberty of bundling him up in most of the blankets, cocooning him and his dampness in warmth and away from her. Although, once he was properly swaddled, she brought the ball close to her as she laid on her side.

Heracles fussed in his cocoon of blankets. "I want more room."

Thena ruffled his hair, her eyes already closed, head already on her pillow. "Gilgamesh will need room once he returns."

"Hmph," Heracles sufficed, but he did find a position comfortable for himself. Her arm laid over him and he let the warmth of the bed and the scent of the room lull him to sleep. "Will Papa be here when I wake up?"

Thena looked down at the boy. He had always been an orphan, as far as she knew. He had no concept of what having a family was like. Not that she knew what having a family was supposed to be like for a child his age. But perhaps this was a comfort all humans craved, familial or not. She pressed her hand to his hair. "Yes, he will."

#Thenamesh Heracles AU #thank you so much for the ask!!!!#I hope you like it #I might have gotten a little carried away with this one #but Athens I mean surely it's gotten its fair share of terrible storms #and of course Heracles is out in it #Thena 'I am not this kid's mom' Goddess of War #trudging through the wind and rain for this little boy #also don't worry #the dog is fine and they go back for it and he loves Heracles and they all name him Odysseus #Thena elects to name him Canis which is basically asking to name the dog 'Dog'#they have some nice family snuggling time #Gil does come back with more towels and clean dry clothes #he slips into bed behind Thena as the biggest of spoons #he tells her it's a little cramped with all three of them #it was already tight with just the two of them #she says sh the baby's sleeping #Heracles has so little knowledge of the outside world #he has Mama Thena and Papa Gil and that lady named Ajak is mad at them for breaking someone's door #and he saw Mama and Papa kissing but he doesn't know if that's weird or not #it's okay kid #the rest of the Eternals don't know either

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