Chapter Text
Hera is not a big fan of being woken up early. It's not a good trait to have when you're the queen of the gods, and it especially isn't helping today when one of her attendants bursts through her door. She sat up on her bed and looked at the attendant like they had personally offended her, which they had.
"What is it?" The queen said, slightly harsher than she intended but she had just been unceremoniously woken up, so she gave herself a little grace.
"Sorry your majesty." The attendant said. "Lady Demeter is asking for you."
"Tell her I'll be there in a moment." Hera said, yawning.
"Of course ma'am." The attendant replied, closing the door.
A few minutes later Hera stepped outside her palace and started walking toward her sister's garden. Only to be half bumped into, half grabbed by Persephone. The god queen almost broke the girl's arm before she realized who it was.
"Sorry auntie." Persephone quickly said. "I didn't mean to ."
Hera was pretty tired of people apologizing to her and she'd only been awake for 10 minutes. "It's alright dear." She said. "Now what in the name of the Styx is going on?"
Persephone took a deep breath. "Something's wrong with Athena and we need an extra set of hands."
Hera felt her heart drop. She didn't particularly care for her husband's illegitimate children (Leto's little monsters especially) but against her better judgment she had developed a soft spot for Athena. Partly because she wasn't a bastard, despite Zeus's many attempts to say otherwise, partly because their first major interaction together was finding Athena bloody in her bed and it's very hard to hate someone after finding them like that. No one knew about this of course and Hera wasn't about to tell anyone about it.
She quickly composed herself and nodded. "Take me to her then."
Her niece nodded and both of them walked much faster than normal to Athena's room. Upon arriving, Hera noticed a large amount of attendants standing around the room, trying to get a look inside. She gave all of them harsh looks and they fled like ants before stepping into the room. Inside Demeter was pacing around before noticing the two of them.
"Oh good, you're here." She said, relieved.
"What is going on?" Hera asked, growing more concerned the longer she was left without an explanation.
"Thena's been poisoned." Persephone piped up.
Hera slowly looked over at her sister, who nodded, and felt ready to faint but wasn't about to do that in front of her niece.
"Hestia's with her now." Demeter explained. "Athena's pretty out of it right now, but she was asking for you a few minutes ago."
Hera was a bit shocked that her stepdaughter had asked for her but decided to ignore it. She walked past her sister and into the bedroom. Hestia was fiddling around with some medical equipment and Athena was lying in the middle of her bed, pale, eyes half open, and barely breathing. The sight almost made her cry, but she'd rather do that without her older sister in the room.
Hestia noticed her and smiled softly. "Do you want the good news or the bad news first?"
"Bad news I suppose." Hera said, anxiety at a height it hadn't been since the Titanomachy.
"The bad news is that I have no idea what poison she's ingested." Hestia said bluntly.
"What's the good news?" Hera asked.
"She's alive, barely, but still alive." Hestia explained, placing a hand on Athena's forehead.
Hera let out a shaky breath. "I see." She said. "What can I do?"
"Nothing medically. But if you can stay and watch her while I try to get some extra information that would be great." Hestia said.
Hera nodded and sat down in a chair next to the bed while her sister left. She looked at Athena's small body and gently brushed a few stray curls out of her face. The girl unconsciously leaned into the touch, Hera almost pulled her hand away, but went against it when she saw Athena relax slightly.
Now that she was settled she was able to get a good look at the younger goddess, specifically her wings. They looked better than the last time she saw them, one of them still looked like it'd been mauled by wolves, but it had stopped bleeding so Hera figured that was an improvement.
Hera gently smoothed down a few black and brown feathers to give her hands something to do instead of digging her nails into her skin from stress. Apparently, she wasn't as gentle as she thought because Athena's eyes fluttered open and she looked over at her, the younger goddess must've recovered slightly because she did the closest approximation to a bow she could while laying in bed.
"Lady Hera-" She attempted to start before she started violently coughing. Once the coughing stopped she continued. "Sorry about that. What is it you need?"
"I don't need you for anything dear." Hera said. "You've been poisoned and Hestia needed me to watch you for a few hours."
"Poisoned?" Athena whispered, low enough that Hera's pretty sure she isn't supposed to hear it. "It's probably nothing to worry about. I'll be fine." On cue she started coughing again, much more violently than before and then she started coughing up ichor.
Hera quickly summoned a handkerchief and wiped away the ichor once the coughing stopped. She gently rubbed the girl's back while she took a few shaky breaths.
"Sorry." The goddess of wisdom murmured. "I don't know what came over me."
The god queen wanted to say that the poison was what came over her and she should stop apologizing, but Hestia came back in before she was able to say anything.
"Hello dear." She said to Athena. "I'm glad you're awake. How're you feeling?"
"I'm alright." Athena said. "Just a little tired."
Hera knows she's lying and, while she wants to tell her sister everything, the girl was capable enough of telling her aunt what was going on, she didn't need to be coddled.
"That's to be expected." Hestia said. "Your body is just trying to get the poison out on its own and it's not doing a good job." She explained, summoning a bottle of a strange glowing liquid. "Drink this."
Athena took a few obedient sips before grimacing, presumably from the taste. Hera had to bite back a laugh because it reminded her of Metis someone she knew a long time ago, but she'd rather not have Athena think she was laughing at her. Hestia did a few minor examinations of the girl before looking over at her sister.
"Can I talk to you outside?" She said.
The god queen nodded and stood up. Before following her sister, she looked back at Athena, who had curled into herself. She resisted the urge to go and comfort her and went outside the room with Hestia.
"Have you figured out what's wrong?" Hera asked.
"Yes." Hestia started. "It took some digging but I did find a poison that matches her symptoms."
"What is it?" Hera asked, hoping it was something that could be easily fixed.
"It's Titan's Root." Hestia said.
If Hera's heart could drop more today it would've. Titan's Root was a failed experiment her and Metis a friend had done during the Titanomachy. It was supposed to be used for healing but somehow ended up being extremely deadly to immortals, it had been useful, just not in the way both of them wanted.
"That's not possible." Hera stated. "Zeus ordered all of the plants to be destroyed once the war ended, it was too dangerous."
"Well someone must've figured out how to replicate it and given it to Athena." Hestia explained.
Hera desperately needed to sit down. The day had barely started and she was already overwhelmed by everything going on.
"You can fix it right?" Hera asked, sounding too much like her child self for her comfort.
"I think so." Hestia said. "Metis wrote everything down back then so I just need to find those journals and figure out what the cure is."
"And if Zeus finds out about this?" Hera said. She doubts either herself or Athena would forgive themselves if her sister got hurt.
"He won't, don't worry." Hestia said, hugging her. "And if he does, I'm beating the shit out of him."
Hera let out a small chuckle. Her sister went back to her house and she went back into the room to find Athena trying to get out of bed. She was halfway out of the bed before she almost fell on the floor. The only reason she didn't was because she was grabbed by the god queen.
"Now what exactly are you doing, young lady?" Hera asked, light scolding in her tone.
"I'm sorry." Athena muttered. "I just have so much work to do."
Hera put the younger goddess back in bed and pulled the blanket over her. "You're sick, you don't have to do anything but rest."
Athena let out a slightly suppressed groan. "I have to. If father finds out-"
"Your father isn't here is he?" Hera interrupted. When Athena tensed slightly, she softened. "You're in my and Hestia's care right now, and right now I would like you to rest, please." She hoped it came across as less of an order and more of a polite request. Either way, the girl laid back down and rested her head against Hera's arm.
She's not sure if Athena's aware of the gesture or not, but she doesn't move until the girl falls asleep.