Want Another One?

[mythicalgirl]

This one is from February 19, 2003 at 1:43 PM.  Obviously influenced by the classical studies and mythology classes I was taking at the time.  If I remember correctly in my mythology class we had to take one of the characters from Greek Mythology and make a new myth for them.  I wrote a (very) short story.  No, I don't remember what kind of grade I got but since I aced the class it couldn't have been too bad!

Behind the cut for f-list mercy.



Hera's Heart

            Hera sat at her mirror, holding her heart in her hands and promised herself that she would not cry. She was a powerful goddess, descendent of the Great Goddess herself and she would not let some pathetic male humiliate her. The fact that the male in question was her husband, Zeus, King of the Gods made no difference. 

            “I don’t care how almighty powerful he is, I won’t do it” she whispered to herself realizing what an empty promise that was as the tears begin to fall from her eyes.

            “How could I be so stupid?” she thought. “I knew what kind of man he was before I married him. Why did I ever think he would change, that it would be different?”

            Hera stared at the heart she held in her hands and remembered the happier days of her youth. She had never been the most carefree goddess of course, knowing since birth that Fate had great things in store for her. After all, she was the newest personification of the Great Goddess. As Rhea brought her forth, Hera planned how she would become Queen of the Gods and rule as her grandmother Gaea had. Then came the moment her father swallowed her whole and things went a little off track. It wasn’t until she was reborn from her father’s belly that she realized just how far of track.

            The new world was different.  Her younger brothers were now older having been reborn in reverse order. Zeus, the youngest of all was now the eldest god. Fierce and powerful he was quickly usurping all authority in heaven. It was clear to Hera that the old ways were no more and she would have to adjust her plans if she was to ever attain her goals. To that end, she studied her brother’s behavior, learned what made him tick. In the end, Hera knew she would have all she ever wanted for what made Zeus tick was his libido. While she wasn’t as well versed in the arts of lust as Aphrodite or Eros, Hera was goddess of marriage, quite beautiful, and had the added advantage of already being in love with her brother. Appealing to Zeus’s baser nature wouldn’t be a problem and she was sure that once married to her, he would love her as well.  His lusts would be sated and his whoring days would be over. 

            “How wrong I was.” Hera thought as she squeezed her heart “Does the leopard change its spots? In my pride I thought that being a goddess of marriage ensured my husbands fidelity. Not so. Even now his passions are enflamed once again by someone other than his wife. I am insulted, humiliated. Oh, what am I to do?”

            As Hera sat silently bemoaning her very existence she began to hear soft whispers of the Furies in the air around her. 

            “Punish him,” a voice whispered. 

“Destroy him,” came from another, sibilant voice.

            “Use your power.  Take back what is yours,” said another.

            “I cannot!” Hera exclaimed. “While I would dearly love to avenge the wrong he has done me I have no desire to be imprisoned in Tartarus.  To attempt to punish my husband would be suicide” she told the voices. “Anyway, it is not in my nature to do so. I am the goddess of marriage, the union of two hearts everlasting. I can not punish him even though he has broken that union, leaving my heart bruised and battered.”

            “Then punish the others,” said the first voice.

            “What others,” whispered Hera afraid she knew the answer?

            “His victims,” came the first voice.

            “His lovers,” came the second.

            “His children,” came the third.

            “Don’t you think I would if I were able” exclaimed Hera? “I have told you, it is not in my nature to do these things.”

            “Then you must rid yourself of the part of you that makes you weak” said the voices, tumbling over each other with their words. “You are nearly there already, just get rid of it.”

            “Get rid of what” Hera asked.

            “Your heart!” cried the voices in unison.

            “It is your weakness,” said one.

            “It will be your downfall,” said another.

            “Throw it away and you will know power,” said the third.

            Hera stared at the heart she held tightly in her hands, her vision blurry from the tears that still fell from her eyes. Her heart, the part of her that knew compassion, love and kindness sat limply in her palms, waiting to be returned to its rightful place beneath her bosom. Without it, she could exact her punishment on anyone who wronged her ever again and though she could not punish her husband directly, she could cause him pain through those he loved. 

            Hera suddenly threw her heart out the window, watching it land in Ocean far to the west.  She turned to her mirror and stared at her reflection as a cold smile slowly spread across her face, never reaching her eyes.

“Who needs a heart anyway?” she whispered then began to laugh, the tears gone never to return again.