Chapter Text
Let’s open our wings and fly away together
The way back to the cave took a long time. First, they watched the sunset. Gahyeon wanted nothing more than a shower and for her friends to be okay, but these gods had been without day for years , so Gahyeon was willing to wait for them. They went back to the cave because it was where their supplies were. Carrying ten unconscious people with twelve awake people was not easy. They managed, with great help from Deimos’ dogs.
At the moment, Gahyeon was sitting between Jiu and Handong, her roommates’ arms around her. The others were scattered across the room, resting and catching up. Asclepius and Hebe were asleep after having tended to the wounded. From the unconscious people, only Yoohyeon was yet to awake. Siyeon and her Hunters had been the first to come back to consciousness, on the way back for some of them, and they had helped organize everything back at the cave before crashing in a corner of the room, close to each other. Siyeon was still awake, sitting right next to Jiu. She had not been severely injured from Nyx throwing her around, but her arms were bandaged to protect cuts. Hemera was sitting by Yoohyeon, waiting for her to awake. Aura was sleeping, huddled against Selene, who was running her hand through the goddess’ hair, and Morpheus, who had all three of them wrapped in his wings’ blanket. Gahyeon was very jealous of the wings' blanket. It seemed so soft and so warm . The girl shivered, and Handong held her tighter. Nike was resting close to them, her wings also wrapped around herself. Psyche, Chione, and Iris had gone into the tunnels, to check on the statues, and see if maybe they had turned back to gods. Deimos and Sua were sitting close to each other, with Dami curled asleep right beside them. Sua had lost the red halo she had around her during the battle. Deimos said she recovered her memories as Eris after the battle. It made sense, for a goddess of war, Gahyeon supposed. Sua didn’t seem different from before. Just exhausted.
The first to notice that Yoohyeon was awake, and coming back to the main room of the cave, was Selene, quickly waking Aura. The goddess jumped to her feet and ran to hug Yoohyeon. As soon as she saw her friend, Gahyeon jumped to her feet as well, and as soon as Aura let go of her, she wrapped her arms tightly against Yoohyeon.
“I’m okay,” Yoohyeon whispered in her ear. Gahyeon held her for a few more moments before reluctantly letting her go. Heejin was the next one to wrap Yoohyeon into a hug. Yoohyeon laughed at that and declared again that she was fine.
With Yoohyeon and everyone else awake, it was time for the girls to leave Olympus. They promised to come back, once they were rested and fed and cleaned.
“Actually,” Jiu said, just before they left, “can you guys eat normal human food?”
“We don’t need to,” Morpheus answered, a tired smile on his face, “but we can if we so desire.”
Jiu nodded. “So, how about we all go to a restaurant together? In like two or three days, when everyone’s better?”
Everyone welcomed the proposition with warm cheers and the girls went back to Earth.
Jiu spent the next two days mostly sleeping and journaling. She had a lot of things to process. She went out with her friends, as well, and went to the school’s library once, to just sit and watch the fire. She had managed to convince Seola to switch shifts, and would only have to work again in three days.
Sua spent most of her time with the fencing club. She went out with them and drank and danced and fell asleep back in Exy’s apartment, with the rest of the club. She woke up last, and ate almost her weight in pancakes, and laughed at every stupid joke the others made.
Siyeon didn’t sleep much more than usual. She had been out for most of the battle, and didn’t really feel tired. She did eat a lot, though. She went out with her Hunters, and then with the archery club,
Handong slept, and ate, and spent a lot of time staring at her tarot deck, the one with the Greek gods. She hung out with Vivi and the rest of their friends, and she did a reading for each of them, and of course Vivi picked the Moon. Vivi tried to do a reading for her, and Handong picked the Magician, who was represented on the card, by Hecate. She laughed.
Yoohyeon spent her time with Alexa and Suyeon, and Heejin when she wasn’t with the Hunters and Siyeon. They had a sleepover the first time, and Heejin refused to let go of her. They explained what happened to the other two and got lots of hugs that night, and maybe Yoohyeon broke down a little.
Dami spent most of her time being frustrated at her arm. It was in a cast. It hurt, and she couldn’t do much. She skipped on fencing club meetings, and Yubin stayed with her, and tried her best to cheer her up. They went out for food and drinks, and it did make Dami feel better.
Gahyeon went to the gardening club meeting and demanded hugs from the other members. She deserved them, after what she’d been through. Of course, her friends were more than happy to oblige. She got a visit from Macaria too, and a hug from her as well.
Two nights after the end of the battle, they all meet in a small restaurant, the 22 of them. There was just enough room in there for all of them to sit, and the food was good, and they laughed, and the gods all seemed happier and lighter than two days before. The seven ex-goddesses ended up piled up in Jiu’s apartment for a sleepover. They were all glad it was over, and they could go back to a mostly mundane way of life. They still had to find Thanatos and free the statues, but that could wait a few days.