Chapter 17 - "Is that so?"

                                    

                                          
Atarah had headed back to the camp with the others, but when they got closer she got away from the others, and had decided to set up her own camp elsewhere. She couldn't be near Neal, and because she had just revealed to them all that she was in love with the 'bad guy'. In their eyes, she was now a liability, and they'd be careful around her if she stayed.
                          
Atarah needed a way to spy on them, and to report back to Peter the same time. But, she couldn't think of any way to do that, so instead she decided to give the land more life so Peter had more time. She was sat with her legs crossed and placed her hands upon the ground and closed her eyes as she concentrated, and she soon felt the life leave her palms as it spread throughout the land. 
                          
After that, she had decided to try and contact her mother, and see if she could get any information about the mysterious brothers of hers. But, either her mother was ignoring her, or something was blocking her magic from reaching beyond this realm. Atarah let out a heavy breath as she leant back, and looked up at the sky. 
                          
"What are you doing on the floor, my dear?" A voice asked her, and she immediately recognised the voice as Zeus. 
                          
"Laying down, because I have no idea what to do!" She replied to the man, she had never really met him face to face. She had spoke with him once or twice though. 
                          
"Well, your mother is busy right now!" Zeus told her. "So, I came instead! As for what you should do, just do what you think you should! It's our choices that show us what we truly are, far more than our abilities, Atarah! You can betray the man you love and stay loyal to your friends - granted you'll have to live forever knowing you valued their friendship over his love for you, because we all know that Rumplestiltskin is gonna want to either kill him, or trap him forever. Or you can stay loyal to the man you love and betray your friends - granted you'll have to live with knowing you allowed Henry to die in exchange for love, along with your friends hating you. You can't do both!" 
                          
"How do I choose?" Atarah asked the God as she sat up, and faced him with a frown. 
                          
"Only you can answer that question!" Zeus told her. "I can't make it for you. But, do be sure to make it interesting for us all up in Olympus! It's very entertaining watching the chaos happening  down here. It's like a reality show - but better!" Atarah turned and glared at the God. "What? Can you blame us? Things in Olympus are pretty boring!" 
                          
"What is my mother doing?" She asked him. 
                          
"Well, I don't know!" He told her. "She never tells me where she goes!" 
                          
"Can you at least tell me what the others are doing on the island?" 
                          
"Well, your brother, Neal, Judas and Emma are in the place where the shadows reside. They plan on capturing Pan's shadow somehow - don't know how they're going to do that!" Zeus informed her. "As for Charming and Snow, they're going to find Tinkerbell. It seems Judas would rather go with the two pining men and the hero than the couple who're not speaking to one another!" 
                          
"Pan's shadow?" Atarah asked with a scoff. "Like they can capture his shadow? His shadow is...well, it's his shadow. How can they possibly hope to capture it?" 
                          
"Well, they've captured it!" Zeus told her. "You've missed a lot, they have found Tinkerbell and they've captured the shadow." Zeus was quiet for a while. "Are you sure Peter Pan is the one for you, Atarah?" 
                          
Atarah faced him with a frown and furrowed brows. "What do you mean 'the one for me'?" She questioned him sharply. "I love him and he loves me, Zeus! What more could we ask for exactly? Sure, the situation we're in now is complicated, but we'll get over it-" 
                          
"Once he takes your goddaughter's son's heart!" He replied. 
                          
"Don't you dare judge!" She told the man. "Aren't you the man that has his sister as his wife, and has cheated on said sister-wife with many women - including my mother! I also heard that you slept with your own mother as well - you don't get to judge!" 
                          
Zeus frowned. "I did not sleep with my own mother!" He protested. "That was a nasty and horrible lie made up by Hades - my horrible and evil brother. I would never sleep with my own mother - everyone should know that!" He told her. "And, I didn't mean it in a judging way, Atarah! You're many characters in one - and each of them has a significant other!" 
                          
"Is that so?" 
                          
"Well, it only makes sense that Peter is your counterpart for Jane - so he's Tarzan, in some form!" He told her. "You know, with the forest! That means you have five other significant others out there - and maybe Peter isn't truly the one for you! There are others out there!" 
                          
"But Peter's here now!" 
                          
"Still doesn't change the fact that he might not be the one!"
                          
Atarah frowned and scratched her head. "Hang on, how is that fair?" She asked. "I can't have more than one true love - it's not fair to me and my feelings or to others who only have one! I only want one true love - and that true love is Peter!" 
                          
"It might be!" Zeus told her. "I'm just telling you! Do you want soup?" He asked suddenly. "I'll make us some vegetable soup and we can talk about this. I like your mother a lot - a lot more than anyone else, and your her daughter. So, you're technically my step daughter really! I do like having powerful children, it makes me prideful!" 
                          
"But I'm not related to you!" She said in confusion. "In any way!" 
                          
"I don't care, you're still my daughter technically!" He told her. "And, I'm going to help you figure things out, because your mother actually likes Peter. She likes him because he loves you unconditionally, even if you've been apart for years, and because he will do anything to get what he wants and he almost always gets what he wants. I think your mother is rooting for you and him!" Atarah smiled softly at the thought. 
                          
"Okay!" She nodded. "Let's go get some vegetables for that soup!" She told him.