She had been listening to the soft call of Versalis for some time, just listening to it while she floated in her own world and tried to come to terms with herself and what she was, and what happened to her.
Part of her didn't want to come to terms with it, most of her, for that matter. She just wanted to stay there and cry over what had been done, her body curled into a ball near the perfection that was the world of the witches, and cry over what had been lost.
She hadn't been able to see it, it had ended with her, and yet she was in agony over the loss of something she had never known, that perfect world that Zeus had demanded of her, that he had abused her for.
The Gods had all been angry at her for wanting to destroy it, but her friends had understood, they had known what would come of it, and they had done their best to protect her from it. Kai had done his best for her.
He had been in her mind as she floated there, the tortured vampire as he slid the knife into her and knowing that in order to kill the thing, she would have to go with it and what were the odds that she would want to come back after that?
Had he known that she would be broken? Had he known that she would want to stay in the nothingness and hide there for eternity?
She didn't know, but it still hurt her to think about him. Others came to her mind as well, Dirdos, Daemon and Versalis. Hunter, Uzo and Letari… Cat, Jagum, Bast, and Jaia.
So many people that she loved, so many people who would be destroyed by her willingly refusing to return.
So, what was she to do? Stay there and wait until it all went away? Or stop being a coward and face it with her friends and those who loved her? Did she give in or keep on fighting?
It was a terrible choice; it was painful, and her eyes turned upwards to see the slow moving light.
It had been so fast in the beginning, desperately searching for her, and then it had begun to slow until it only barely moved from time to time, and it hurt just as much as her choice did.
He was waiting for her, she knew it, but he could also feel her desire to stay gone. She had to be hurting him as much as she was hurting, and she closed her eyes, sighing as she knew it was selfish to stay hidden and safe.
Not only that, but she could see the turmoil in Faerie with the longer she stayed there. It had not done that before, but she suspected it was because of her. Perhaps it was arrogant of her to think that, but also perhaps it was true.
She called his name silently, reaching her mind out to his and the bug came to life, flicking down to her and she looked at it, knowing the pain that would come with accepting his pleas to return.
But that was what was required of her.
She had been born to suffer, born to endure the worst, and she would not go down in history as the coward Goddess.
She was a warrior Goddess, and she was going to show them exactly what that meant. She was not a coward.
***
Her eyes opened slowly, and the first thing she noticed was that revolting green ceiling, the same revolting ceiling she saw most days when she woke, and she still hadn't chased Alaric down and demanded he have it changed.
She would do that; she would make him change it.
The sounds of sleeping forms around her alerted her to the fact that she wasn't alone. At least six others were on and around her as she slept.
Her eyes turned to the left and then the right, confusing her for one wild moment with her glances until she realized that one was Kai, and one was Jaia. She saw the differences immediately, but it had still thrown her for a loop for a moment.
Shifting slightly, she ignored the groaned protests, and she rested her head so close that her nose was almost touching Kai's, and then she blew gently on his lips.
His eyes snapped open in sudden alertness to the breeze and she smiled slightly, amused at how well he could tell such things.
He blinked at her, alarmed at her closeness, and then his face softened, and she nuzzled her face into his hand as he touched her face.
"Oh, mother thank you…" he breathed. His relief at her being alive warmed her and she bit her lip to keep from making a whimpering sound.
Ignoring the rest of them, he wrapped his arm tight around her middle and dragged her against him, someone growling a protest as he shoved them out of the way to get her free enough to wiggle closer and someone grunted as her foot came down in their gut.
"Stop moving, jerk…" a mumbled voice growled, and she lifted her head, realizing that there was more on her very cramped bed than she realized. Lifting her finger to her lips, she sat up and looked around.
Eight were on the bed, three on the floor, with one set of legs up on the bed.
Jaia was at her right, Kai on her left, with Uzo being the one who Kai had shoved. Her foot had ended up in Hunter's gut, and he had been lying on her legs. Uzo was lying across Jaia with his head on her thighs.
Jagum, Letari, and Vincent were on the floor with Vincent's legs up on the bed. Bast was curled in a ball at the end and Dirdos was asleep against the headboard, his legs stretching up over everyone and hanging over the edge. She had been right in the middle of the mass of Faerie figures.
Two she had not expected at all. Bast was a welcome surprise, but the others she was comfortable sleeping with.
Reaching out slowly, she extended her finger to Vincent's bare feet and Kai was watching her, his eyes huge at her wicked grin, and with one swift swipe, the man was swearing at top volume, jerking his feet away.
"Don't touch the fucking feet!" he bellowed, and Kai burst out laughing as the man in question sat up and found her, her hand still outstretched and smirking at him.
"Keep your feet off my bed then," she said, and her voice had them all turning around, jarred awake by the shout, but not really alert. "What are you even doing here?" she asked him.
"I was sleeping until you woke me up," he snarled, and she narrowed her eyes at him. Uzo landed on top of her in a body slam and she yelped, collapsing onto the bed with his face mashed up against hers, and that was all it took for them to pile on top of her with cries of delight and her screams as she was crushed under them.
Clutching at the mattress to try to crawl her way out, Vincent grabbed her arms and with one foot planted on the bed, he heaved, and she was free.
"Run while you're still humanoid and not a pancake," he cried, and they fled while the others fought to get free.