About this chapter: I was researching on the hunters and Zoë and I came across the myth of Kallisto. While it doesn't do Artemis any favours, I thought it was great to develop Zoë's storyline so I've adapted it a little bit and this chapter revolves around it.
Also, IMPORTANT: While I've managed to keep it general and I didn't go into details there are mentions of sexual assault in this chapter so reader's discretion is advised.
Disclaimer: See chapter 1.
It was honestly painful to write this but I'm happy with the result and I hope you guys think the same. Please review, fav and follow!
Cheers for reading!
Chapter 2. "Remember."
The sorority between the Hunters was something so strange for Zoë that she couldn't quite comprehend it, yet it made her feel at home almost instantly.
It was so surreal, being amongst a family who actually supported one another. Her seemingly eternity with the Hesperides, it had made her comfortable with a hostile and cold existence. Now, with the Hunters, a whole new world was opening up right before her eyes.
So, yes, she had had to endure some cold shoulders from those who became hunters a few centuries before her but that was natural, and couldn't concern her. Npt when they had made it clear to her that they would have her back in times of danger, even at the cost of their own lives.
Just like that, Zoë had been introduced to a sisterhood. A real sisterhood. Soon enough, the Hesperides had become little more than blurred nightmares in her mind.
Something she realized quite early during her time under Lady Artemis' service was that the bond the sisters had created came not only from their strength and resilience, but also because they were all survivors.
The stories they had were all different, yet the same in the pivotal moments. They had all been casted aside by a world that was harsh to many. They had all stumbled across the world, looking for a purpose. They had all been saved when Lady Artemis took them in.
Zoë had been with the Hunt for a few decades when Artemis began to allow her to join the small group of privileged maidens who accompanied her on her missions. It was then that she made her first friends: Phoebe, a ginger daughter of Apollo with incredible tracking skills, and Kallisto, the lieutenant of the Hunters and a great strategist.
The story that concerns us began one sunny day when Zoë and Phoebe were running through the grass field they had set camp on in the search of a source of water where they could also bathe. The air was warm and the sun rays were joyous as they welcomed Spring after yet another hard Winter. They sky had not a cloud, its blue so deep it seemed to have been painted by the Gods.
The former Guardian glanced at her ginger friend beside her, barely comprehending what she was blabbing about. Then, she couldn't help but smile. She would endure all the incessant talking if it meant she got to stay there, surrounded by supporting women.
"My friend, I know that you have stopped listening a while ago," Phoebe then taunted her, her musical voice light with a glee that never seemed to simmer down.
"I apologize, Phoebe. I was reminiscing," Zoë replied before smirking and shoving Phoebe away playfully. "Besides, you were probably telling me a story I have heard dozens of times before."
Phoebe's echoed through the vacant and otherwise peaceful fields. "Why am I friends with such a cold person?"
"I am cold and thoughtful, while you are cheerful and childish." Zoë shrugged, smiling when Phoebe snorted. "It only makes sense for immortals so unlike one another to be the best of friends."
Phoebe smiled brightly at her but then, a new sound made them focus on a figure a few yards before them.
It seemed as if someone had already found the source of water.
A girl was sobbing heavily, her shoulders shaking so drastically it was a mystery how she hadn't exhausted herself. She was on her knees, the skirts of her tunic soaked by the small waves of the lake right before her. Her hands, tanned and small, cradled her head desperately.
The hunters froze on their spot, dread growing in their hearts. They recognized the dirty blonde hair. They recognized the tall frame and the olive skin tone. However, they struggled in uniting the image they had of Kallisto with the girl before them.
Kallisto used to be a greek slave, joining the Hunters after the fall of Troy. She escaped the city in the midst of the slaughter and found the Hunters in the woods right outside the city. Soon enough, she became close friends with Artemis and was honoured with her rise as lieutenant of the Hunt.
Zoë and Phoebe looked up to Kallisto. She was their rock, perpetually calm and determined in spite of the odds. She was downright terrifying when she had to be, her glare able to scare off even the most arrogant of men. To her friends, though, she was loyal, lively and had a heart of gold.
To see Kallisto so broken was a picture neither Zoë nor Phoebe ever wanted to see again.
After a long second in which they could nothing but stare in horror, Zoë slowly advanced towards their friend and lieutenant, Phoebe hot on her heels.
"Kallisto?" Zoë asked as she neared the sobbing girl but she raised a hand, ordering them to stop. Then, their leader stood up, though her back remained to her friends.
"Do not take another step." Kallisto ordered, her voice harsh with swallowed anguish. Still, she managed to stand tall, even as the sobs continued to rock her body.
Zoë and Phoebe exchanged a concerned and slightly bewildered look before the latter raised her hands in surrender. "Kallisto, we are staying where we are, we promise... but please, tell us what is wrong."
"I will tell you what is wrong."
Kallisto stiffened noticeably at that voice, proceeding to bury her face in her hands defeatedly. Her sobs were now louder, as if the lieutenant of the Hunters had finally lost any self-control she had left.
Behind her, Phoebe and Zoë turned slowly, their eyes widening as they laid on Lady Artemis.
If it wasn't for her silvery-yellow eyes and her potent, godly aura, one could perfectly mistake their Lady for Phoebe's older sister. Her long, auburn hair was braided and fell down her back. She wore a silver, shimmering, hooded, hunting dress like the other girls, though it somehow seemed more ethereal. Her quiver hung across her back and her bow was clutched in her fist. Her silver circlet shimmered against the sunlight as the goddess pulled down her hood.
Zoë and Phoebe knelt at once, Artemis barely restrained anger a warning for them to be as polite as they could manage.
The Goddess of Maidenhood walked between the duo silently and Zoë hung her head lower as Artemis' skirts brushed her legs. "Greetings, my lady."
"Stop with the false courtesy, Zoë, Daughter of Atlas." Artemis's voice had lowered to a whisper, her eyes set on her broken best friend who still refused to turn around. "Kallisto, you will only worsen your faith if you continue to hide the truth to me. Turn around, now."
"We don't understand, My Lady. Kallisto, what is happening?" Phoebe asked as she and Zoë stood again. Her voice trailed off as their lieutenant took a deep breath.
Then, Kallisto turned around, showing her barely protruding belly to her three closest friends.
The lieutenant gazed at Artemis with ferocity, her tears no longer acknowledged as they continued to roll down her cheeks. "My lady, King Zeus cornered me a few months ago while I was bathing in a lake. This is his son I am carrying."
Phoebe and Zoë exchanged a look, their fists subconsciously clenching as they processed Kallisto's story.
They knew what being 'cornered' meant, for they had all experienced it at least once.
It was the way the world worked, a world in which men were educated under the belief they could have anything they wanted, including women. Zoë, just like the rest of the women, had been taught that they were to accept men's advances and be grateful if it wasn't the end of them. For the way of the world also meant that survival, for women, was a gift and not something that should be granted effortlessly.
Because the way the world worked meant she would have few allies in this, at best, it wasn't until Zoë began to live with women -swearing off men- that she began to understand how wrong that conception was.
There was something she understood with clarity, though. As Kallisto had been raped by Zeus, there was no way Artemis would punish anyone but Kallisto herself, even if she was her best friend.
Another male may have been subject to the Goddess' rage. Never the King of the Gods.
Zoë wanted to fight that injustice, she wanted to stand between Artemis and Kallisto and scream that this wasn't fair. She wanted to grab Kallisto and Phoebe and run to safety.
She knew she couldn't do anything but watch.
At last, Zoë could only manage to cover her mouth with shock, her eyes welling up with frantic tears. Beside her, Phoebe's hands gripped the edge of her tunic tightly, as if that was the only thing she could to stop herself from defending her friend.
If Artemis noticed her followers' reactions, she didn't comment on it. She walked forward until she stood before a shivering Kallisto, proceeding to reach down and rip the cloak Kallisto had been wearing to conceal her now obvious pregnancy off her shoulders. The goddess handed it to her lieutenant harshly before turning to retreat back to the camp.
"You three, follow me. There are matters to be discussed," were the Lady's orders.
The three hunters could only stare at each other with great fear before following their goddess silently.
The uncertainty was great, and the path before them was bleak and foggy.
That didn't stop them from feeling as if the world was about to end.
oOo
"When did this happen?"
They had made it to Artemis' tent, ignoring for the most part the looks sent their way by the other, curious hunters.
The goddess sat on her throne, her eyes pensive as she played with one of her hunting knives. Kallisto stood before her, flanked by Zoë on her right and Phoebe on her left. Zoë and Phoebe kept their arms crossed in a protective stance while Kallisto kept her hands clasped together before her, her back straightened proudly even if her eyes betrayed the grief and fear coursing through her body.
Zoë looked apprehensively at her lieutenant, bewildered as the usually blunt and courageous greek swallowed nervously. However, she was beginning to understand. Not the shift in her friend's demeanor, but rather the dynamic between what she thought had been a solid friendship.
It wasn't too hard to fathom, though, and Zoë was surprised at her own foolishness. She imagined this was the sort of friendship anyone could hope to have with a goddess, after all. A cracked, tender one in which one was treasured for one second, and punished in the next.
Kallisto took a hesitant step forward, so Zoë was able to see Phoebe a few feet beside her. The two exchanged a look filled with dread before tuning into the meeting in time to see Kallisto kneel before their leader.
"My lady, Lord Zeus approached me disguised as your ladyship. He- he managed to steer me away from my hunters before cornering me. Once he was…done, once he was done I-he showed himself in his true form. A few weeks later, I discovered I was carrying his baby," Kallisto explained, her voice quivering for the first time when Artemis didn't react visibly to the lieutenant's story. She too had been foolish in believing their friendship was something other than what it actually was. "I apologize, my lady! I did not mean for this to happen! I tried to refuse, I tried to push him off me but - but he would have none of it! I did not want to hide the truth from you but I feared your reaction to my broken vow, please, please have mercy!"
Artemis regarded her best friend in contemplation before rising from her throne, slowly walking towards Kallisto. As she reached her, she rested her hands on her friend's shivering shoulders. "What happened is not your fault, my dear. My father, Lord Zeus, gets what he wants, it has always been that way. Neither me nor anyone else can hope to stand against it. You know that as well as I do."
Behind the pair, Zoë and Phoebe released a breath they did not know they were holding. They already saw their friend forgiven and safe and immense relief filled their hearts.
Then, Artemis continued.
The Goddess of Maidens narrowed her eyes, her expression growing colder as rage noticeably filled her again. She stepped away from her best friend and opened her mouth as she sat on her throne. "However, you did hide this from me. Your vows clearly state that you must be loyal to me. You broke those vows by being dishonest towards me, your Lady and your best friend. As your friend, your clear distrust of me hurts me deeply. As your commander, it makes me realize you are not the best candidate for the position as Lieutenant of my hunters."
Zoë stepped forward, her hands held up in a pleading manner. "My lady, please-."
"Enough. I will not hear anything from you," Artemis cut her off, her eyes still on her now fallen lieutenant. "Is there anything you would like to say in your favour, Kallisto?"
"It's okay, Zoë. I saw this coming," Kallisto glanced back at the hunter with a small smile before sobering up as she glanced at the Goddess, the one she had given everything for. Her eyes hardened with the resolve to spend the rest of her time on Earth with calmness and courage. She took a deep breath and glared at the Goddess, her voice almost a spat as she thought of how the Gods had forsaken her, messing with her life at will, leaving her to die once they were done. "What's your decision, my lady?"
Artemis cocked her head thoughtfully. "I can't let this go unpunished. I will allow you to have your son but I will advise you to run as fast as you can on your paws for if we catch you, Kallisto, make no mistake. You will not live to tell the tale."
Phoebe stepped back in fear. "Paws?"
For an answer, Artemis snapped her fingers, immediately transforming her former best friend, her former lieutenant, into a big brown bear. Behind them, Zoë and Phoebe tried to run to the aid of their friend but Artemis held a hand in a threatening gesture, warning them not to take another step. The Goddess then stood up and glared at the bear. "Run. Now."
The bear whimpered but complied, barely looking at either of her friends as she rushed away from the tent and into the night.
Artemis stared after her friend with grief before scowling as she looked at the two remaining hunters, whose eyes were still on the entrance their friend had escaped through. "Prepare our supplies. Tomorrow at sunset, the three of us are leaving to track her down."
Zoë turned towards the Goddess immediately, her expression betraying the outrage she didn't dare to convey in her words. "My lady, we are Kallisto's friends. You surely cannot expect us-."
"I can expect because I am your commander and you have sworn an oath to me. I do expect because you are her closest friends, you spent every day with her, and yet you failed to see what was so obvious," Artemis snapped in return. She gestured in a dismissive manner at the two hunters. "Prepare our supplies."
Zoë and Phoebe looked at each other with barely concealed anger before bowing their heads stiffly and disappearing into the night as well.
oOo
They avoided it for as long as they could but the end had to come.
All things must come to an end.
Zoë and Phoebe tried to slow themselves down, giving Kallisto the opportunity to escape. Months passed, in which Zoë and Phoebe advanced as slowly as possible through endless forests, mostly involved in grieving silences or angry periods in which they practiced their fencing skills to make their anger evaporate before Artemis joined them again.
They tried everything in their power to slow themselves down but they were perfectly aware they had nowhere else to go, so they couldn't risk offending the hunting goddess. They continued moving and, since they were immortals and excellent hunters, while Kallisto was now a bear that left very obvious footprints all over the ground, only ten months passed before they caught her.
The end of the story that concerns us came on one night when the starry sky provided with silver, beautiful light in an otherwise lugubre forest. Near the edge of that forest, Zoë and Phoebe stood side by side, their bows aimed reluctantly at the bear and the cub hidden protectively behind its mother's legs.
As sudden as all her arrivals were, Artemis materialized herself between her two hunters. She gazed silently at the bears before her with disdain and carefully hidden pain. Then, she nodded at her hunters. "You know what to do."
Zoë shook her head, desperate tears rolling down her cheeks as she glanced at the goddess pleadingly. Her bow was still aimed at her friend and her child but the hold in her bowstring was weak at best and her arrow was about to drop from her fingers. "My lady, I beg of you-"
"I have been listening to Kallisto's prayers," Artemis interrupted, her voice a whisper. "Which is why I ask this of you. Kallisto, tell her of your prayers."
Artemis snapped her fingers and Kallisto turned back into a human, her face pale as tears rolled down her cheeks. She looked at Zoë and Phoebe with a grim smile, her child shivering behind her legs. "I have missed you Zoë, Phoebe. Lady Artemis is right. I cannot continue this life, being hunted down by you, unable to rest. My son Arkas does not deserve this kind of life and I cannot give her one different, even if that means our death. I love you two so much and I forgive you. It is okay. Please, please, end our torture."
Zoë returned her plea with wide eyes, tears rolling down her cheeks, anguish clutching at her throat the more she studied her friend. She took in her dishevelled, dirty hair, the bags under her eyes, and her shivers as she knelt down, hugging her son behind her back.
She didn't have to ask whether Artemis was telling the truth. She could see Kallisto had given up and honestly, she couldn't blame her.
To live her life on the run, with death breathing down your neck, how was that fair? How was that life?
She remembered the laughing girl who would practice archery with her and Phoebe, the girl who cheered whenever she managed to best Phoebe, cursing when she lost against the ginger. She remembered how carefree they used to be, their naivety clear as they thought life would be this happy for the rest of eternity.
And that's why I could not do this. She could not harm her friend, her family! What she could do was protect her, even if it meant her death.
What she could do was throw her bow to the ground and glare at Artemis bravely. "Kill me with them, I care nothing about it. I will not hurt my friends."
Phoebe threw her bow to the ground too and smiled at Kallisto before reaching and grabbing Zoë's hand in solidarity. The two then glared at their lady in defiance, preparing themselves for their end.
Surprisingly, the Goddess of Maidenhood smirked in response before snapping her fingers again. Zoë and Phoebe flinched, expecting to be pulverized for their insubordinance.
Surprisingly, nothing happened to them.
Behind them, Kallisto and Arkas were no longer there and, right above where the two prisoners had been, the sky was honoured with the appearance of two new constellations.
Zoë looked up tearfully, opening her mouth in shock, "What have you done!?"
Artemis was calm, a sufficient smile on her lips as she gazed up at the sky. "I wanted to test you, Zoë. I have been studying you, and I have noticed you have what it takes for the task I have pending for you. When you refused to kill your friend, even at the cost of your own death, you confirmed that you have the loyalty needed to do your new job."
Zoë looked at her lady with a frown. "What. Task."
"The task of taking over Kallisto's duties," Artemis replied, "As of now, you will be called Zoë Nightshade, lieutenant of the Hunters of Artemis."
That night, long after Artemis left them and Phoebe fell asleep, Zoë stood from the spot she was guarding her camp from.
She wandered over to the treeline, and took silent awe of the array of wonderful stars before her. As her gaze focused on the newest constellation, which had the shape of a mother bear and her cub, she sighed with anguish.
Then, Zoë Nightshade frowned with determination. "I will honour your memory every day, Kallisto. I will use my position to defend all women unable to defend themselves. I will use my position to save all the women I can, in honour of you, the one I could not save. I will remember you every day until I die. I will remember. I swear it on the River Styx."