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As Shelby opened her eyes, feeling the opening of eyelids again after so long, she let out a small exhale.
You, of anyone here, Shelby, had the greatest right to fight for your fate. It may be a shame the games ended earlier for you, but the Gods can be kind. Fate can be kind, if you choose it so.
Tyche’s voice sounded out still in her ears. It was funny — Shelby could have sworn she had heard that voice before, when she visited a small town with her father, the name of it something resembling a phoenix?
The name Irene was stuck in her head, but she shook it off.
Grains itched her leg, the smell of wheat strong in the summer air, slightly humid.
I’m dead.
Really, really dead.
It was difficult to believe at first. Desperate to be sure, Shelby ran a hand over her chest, checking her pulse, her breathing, but as expected, there was none.
She looked out to the fields, wheat and grain endless, small dips of hills and mounds in the horizon, but no sign of a person or building.
It took some blinking for her eyes to fully adjust. “Huh.” Shelby muttered to herself, looking down to the loose white dress that she had been clothed in. “Hello?” She called out to the field, unsure of what to do.
A voice, Tyche, replied. “Check your hand, Champion.”
Shelby’s hand suddenly felt weighted. She raised it, and unclenched her fingers, seeing a gold cold catch the light to the afternoon sun.
“What’s this for?” She asked, mostly to herself, red hair becoming frizzier, messier, with the rising winds from the East.
“It’s your fate.”
“My fate?” The Champion frowned in confusion. “I’ve had my fate. I died.”
“Can a person not have more? Is fate so simple that it can be counted on one hand?”
The question silenced Shelby, as she stared at the coin. She threaded it though her fingers, playing with it just slightly. “You want me to toss it.” The woman guessed easily, understanding the games of the Gods more than she should.
“Do I?” Tyche asked her, the voice finding amusement in her statement. “Or do you?”
“Why—“ Shelby sighed, growing upset at the ambiguity of the Goddess’s words. “Why are you speaking in riddles?”
“Am I?”
“Yes, you are. And after I spent weeks fighting people for you, I don’t appreciate it much.”
“Of course not.”
Shelby didn’t say anything after, biting her lip while she toyed with the coin.
“Can I ask something?” She risked a question, looking to the sky as if looking for Tyche.
“You can try.”
Shelby swallowed, biting her tongue. “My friend, Drift. Apollo’s Champion—“
“Ah, yes.” Tyche interrupted her with a smiling voice. “Your friend has passed. I believe she is with her God now.”
The redhead nodded in understanding. “I understand. Um, you don’t think there’s a possibility that we… I don’t know, might be placed together, in the underworld?” A laugh littered the end of her question, slightly uncomfortable.
“Is that what you want?”
“Well,” she looked down the wheat in front of her, “I’d like to live again. But I understand that… may not be an option anymore.”
“No,” Tyche agreed, “it isn’t.”
“Then, being with Drift, or any of my friends… that would be nice.” It would be nice. To have a house by a river, quiet, a garden, maybe, with Sunday dinners and early mornings.
“Perhaps that is your fate, then.”
“But I’m dead already. How could I meet my fate after I die?”
“How can you die when you were never really alive? Maybe whatever life you lived didn’t qualify for a fate, it was so choiceless. Maybe you lived more, dead.”
Shelby let her eyes close, the feeling foreign after wearing her bandana for so long. The wind tickled her face. “If I have a fate, surely it is not— good.”
“No?”
“The Gods are not kind, are you?” She opened her eyes again. “That’s why we were there in the first place.”
“True. But are we always cruel? Surely not. Surely, fate can be kind.”
“You keep saying that.”
“I speak the truth.”
Shelby looked out to the fields wistfully, wanting nothing more than to see Drift’s face arrive in the far horizon and wave to her. Or Cleo’s horns, Scott’s pale hair. Anything. “So I’ve heard.”
Tyche didn’t reply.
The Champion’s eyes drifted back to her right hand. It felt heavy and wrong, the coin burning vaguely into her hand.
Another toss up.
Another choice of fate.
“So you want me to choose my fate.” Shelby stated, eyes lost in the details of the gold coin. “To toss it and see.”
“Perhaps. You have a choice here, Shelby. I hope you take it. I like being kind.”
She nibbled on her lip, raising her hand higher to inspect the gold closer. For the first time, she felt it looked ugly. The edges were poorly made, unsmooth, and the design on it, one she recognised from a neighbouring town to her own, had been dirtied. For the first time in her life, Shelby wanted nothing more than to throw it away, to never think of it again.
A toss up.
So, what, she was to throw it in the air, let it land on the back of her palm, and let this stupid metal determine her death?
It felt cruel. Silly. The action she was so used to in the Pantheon suddenly made her want to burn alive.
It would probably be easier, she thought. If I throw it, and let the coin choose.
She could feel the eyes of Tyche on her back, staring.
But I want to choose.
I would like to choose my fate.
“No.” Shelby said, her chin raised up. She slowly bent down to the wheat, placing the top of the coin on the earth, and stood back up. “I refuse. I don’t want to toss the coin anymore.”
“You don’t?”
“No.” She shook her head. “I would like to choose my fate, please.”
A drop of rain hit her nose, and Shelby suddenly realised it had began to pour, the golden sky turned to a grey cloud.
“Thank you, Shelby.” Tyche said, before a gust of wind came, and took Shelby away.
<->
She didn’t expect to wake so quick.
Shelby didn’t expect to wake at all, really.
She was drifting through the wind, sailing across clouds, maybe even her consciousness.
Now, she could feel her toes on grass, the tickling of shards on her foot's sole.
The redhead opened her eyes, and—
Wow.
Ahead of her was possibly the largest river she had ever seen. It was wide, with conifers surrounding both sides of it, a deep, dark green and brown colour, contrasing with the light blues of the water. Rocks and boulders were scattered about by the sides of the river, a bit of sand, but a wooden bridge was far to the left.
It may have been the prettiest landscape she had ever seen.
"Woah!" Shelby gasped, and took a step forward to the water, testing the ground beneath her to see if it was real. It was. The grass did not crumble beneath her.
She moved to go to the river, to feel the cold water splash her skin, but a yell behind Shelby stole her attention first.
"Shelby! Is that you?"
Drift?
The Champion spun around quickly, and her mouth fell open in surprise.
Not only was Drift standing a bit away from her, but behind the girl, was one of the prettiest houses Shelby had ever seen. It reminded her of her house back in the Pantheon, just larger and exactly how she would've made it if she could, as if it were taken straight from her dreams.
A cream beige covered the walls, with a variation of red bricks and dark brown decorating the roofs. The doorway was on the left side, surrounded by plants, with a little cobblestone path leading up to it. A balcony sat above the doorway, with large windows next to it, and a little patio on the right side, extending into a garden.
"Drift!" Something bloomed inside Shelby's chest, something like the sun, and the two girls walked, then ran up to each other, meeting in the middle of the grass between the river and the house.
Drift's arms immediately wrapped around Shelby, her head sneaking into the crook of the redhead's neck, the hug so tight Shelby thought she might suffocate. Shelby's arms, on the other hand, circled Drift's neck, her chin resting lightly on top of the Champion's soft hair.
"Drift? What are you doing here?" She asked in disbelief, eyes wide and shaking in happiness. Shelby thought they would never see each other again.
"I don't know! I was speaking with Apollo when he said that I was entertaining for him to watch, and that I should be rewarded, or something? And then I ended up here." Drift told her quickly, laughing all the way. Shelby laughed, too.
"How long have you been here?" The redhead pulled out of the hug, her hands peeling off Drift's neck, but now resting on her cheeks instead. "I heard you died."
"I— yeah." Drift sighed and looked to the ground. "Pearl killed me off. But, you… did you die, too?"
"A bit after you did, apparently." She admitted shyly. "Pyro."
Drift's face contorted in annoyance. "Pyro. Seriously? Weren't you two friends?"
"Yeah, he…" Shelby shook her head. "I don't know. It was silly, I was resting by the beach, ready to die, and they teleported me to the arena! Half-dead!"
"No! Seriously?"
"Yes! I mean, I guess it was good, since I died surrounded by Cleo, Scott, and everyone. But, I don't know." The reminder of her death made Shelby want to cry, watching the faces of everyone she cared about fall as they watched her bleed out, unable to do anything. "They aren't in a good place, Drift."
"No, I can't imagine they are." She muttered sadly. "Um, I got here just a few minutes before you. There's bedrooms in the house, four of them."
"Four?" Shelby frowned. "Do you think… they'll all come here? Our friends?"
"I don't know. I hope so, but…" She shook her head. "Well, I saved us a room, anyway. There's a big bed."
"Thank you." Shelby rubbed her thumb over Drift's cheek, making the other woman smile. "Do you know why we're here?"
"No, not at all. I thought I would end up in the Fields, or somewhere."
"Me, too. But I, um, was talking with Tyche, after I died, and she said I had a choice for my fate, that I could choose it, and let the Gods be kind." The words felt weird and uncomfortable in Shelby's mouth, like they didn't quite make sense.
Drift tilted her head. "Huh. Maybe…"
"Maybe?"
"Maybe this is, like, a half-wish. We can't exactly choose what we want, but we get something we want, nonetheless." A small smile, grateful, appeared on Drift's face, moving slowly like she was processing her own words.
"A reward." Shelby whispered. Drift's eyes were so pretty, so brown, big, her eyelashes just perfect, and lips the colour of Shelby's favourite roses.
"Yeah." Drift replied, softly, her voice gentle and satisfied. "Just you and me."
"Until the others come." She smiled.
"Hopefully, that'll be in a while."
"My fingers are crossed."
The two stared at each other, Drift's arms around Shelby's waist, and Shelby's hands resting on Drift's face.
"Shelby?" Apollo's Champion asked quietly. "There's something I want to do."
"Tell me." Shelby already knew what it was. She knew she wanted it, too.
"I want to kiss you."
A grin broke out on the redhead's face. She didn't say anything back, just moved forward, placed her lips on Drift's, and kissed.