Summary: Fate rules our lives. We live and die by it. And now a Foolish Mortal falls for a Fate, will Fate change? Or will it all be the same in the end….Short story

A/N: Hello! This is a short story that I split into three parts, because it got too long for my liking. I had a lot of trouble editing this, so if anything looks weird or doesn’t make sense, please tell me! Thank you for reading!

Parcae

Part 1: My Fate and How I Died

Do you know what the most beautiful sound in the world is? It’s a sound that can calm the hearts of the most furious, most excited, and most frustrated. It can cause entire armies at war to stop, look at the sky, and listen carefully for the beautiful resonance. The greatest composer would cower at that sound and a musician would fumble at that noise.

It is the sound of her tears.

I may be wrong. Perhaps it was only beautiful to me and to no one else. But I doubt that. I heard it only once. I remember looking up and seeing her face. It was pouring rain and I was laying in a puddle of water and most likely my own blood.

The sound of the rain on water was deafening to my submerged ears, but I could still hear it. Her face was crumpled and red with grief. The tears, completely elusive before, now sprang free from unknown depths. The sound was beautiful and pure.

Even now, in this place where memories are obscured and smudged, I can still hear it. In a moment of adrenaline, I lifted my head so I could hear the sound better. I don’t really know if I heard it clearer.

After that I died rather quickly.

-

I guess I should start from the beginning.

To start with; my personality. I guess I was the uncaring sort of person. I didn’t care about school, I didn’t care about my family, and I didn’t care about any one around me. I just didn’t care. People used to say that I was depressed. But doesn’t depression include sadness? I didn’t feel sad; just ambivalent.

I met her when I first began in this stage. I was barely a teenager and I thought I was far too mature for my own good. I was wandering around the park. It was dark and past my curfew, but I didn’t really care.

I saw her sitting on a bench. Her hair was long and messy, like she just woke up from a very long nap. Her eyes were lowered, but I could tell she was awake. Her hands moved at a rapid speed. I couldn’t make out what they were doing. In the end, I decided to ignore her.

My mom was mad at my tardiness, but I brushed her off. She yelled at me. The same words she would use just about everyday. Until the day she couldn’t say anything at all.

“What do you think you are doing? You need to have more responsibility! You are going to be in so much trouble that you will never want to do this again!”

Then after a minute or two the words would change, “Do you know how worried I was? Imagine if you got hurt! What would I do then?”

A guilt trip scheme, but at that time I didn’t really care. You can see; this was how I acted towards everything.

Even when my mom was killed in a car crash.

I remember staring at her coffin at the funeral. It was closed because her body was so mangled they couldn’t put it back together again. I don’t remember how long I stood there, just staring. My younger sister came up next to me and stood there too.

My younger sister gave me an odd look. She was only six years old. She had cried and cried when my father told her that her mother was gone. Her large childlike eyes pierced me.

“Are you sad?”

I didn’t even flinch or jerk. I calmly turned my head and met her eyes. I don’t think I even said anything. I just kind of moved away from her. Was I sad? No, not at that time. I walked over to a chair and sat down.

I could feel the emotion just below the surface. I felt that if I moved just a little bit then it would all come bubbling to the top. I pushed it down more, so I couldn’t feel anything. Nothing at all.

Being completely numb is not really healthy, but I was stupid. Of course I did have some emotion, I was not a robot. But it was very shallow and light. A speck of liking, a tinge of hatred, and little else. It became very easy to live.

My sister grew up harshly. Our father, broken by my mother’s death, became viciously depressed. I ignored the little girl and my father watched her dangerously. Any movement from her became a reason for a beating.

I can almost imagine her train of thought at that time. Be with my violent father? Or be with my ghost of a sibling? She chose me and so stuck to me like a magnet. I continued to ignore her and let her follow me around.

Occasionally, she would try to talk to me, trying to coax some emotion or reaction. She was mostly disappointed. She lived on a tentative edge for five years. One side was violence and brutality. The other side was loneness and depression. It was only a matter of time before she just left.

I never saw her again.

Her last words to me were, “I am going,” She paused and glanced around. Her hair was long and wavy. It curled around her face, framing her falling tears, “I hope you will be okay,” And then she was gone.

She left me nothing and I gave her nothing. And I didn’t care at all.

But then something strange happened. My father began to go even more crazy and so started the sequence of suicide. I remember staring at his large sad face as he left me. A person cannot live normally after such things happen to them.

The part of me that I had pushed away, the part of me that had feelings began forcing its way to the surface. I refused to accept it and so it separated and became a whole other substance.

I could feel emotions now, but I simply lacked the capability to show them. My ambivalent feeling still over rode everything else, but was still seriously weakened. I needed to get away from that place.

So I went to the park. I didn’t know what else to do. I felt anxiety and loss in me, but my body was amazingly calm. I sat down on the grass on a small hill. It was wet from an earlier rainfall. The coldness felt good and I sat down and rolled on my stomach. I felt the coldness against my cheek.

It was very cold by the time night came. My fingers were numb and I body kept shivering, but I didn’t move. I probably would have just let myself die there that night, but I saw her again. She was a little out of my vision, so I had to move my head to see her.

Her hair was cropped short. It looked better that way, even thought it was still tangled. She was sitting and moving her hands in a strange way. I stared at her for a very long time. Eventually she stood up and she spotted me looking at her.

Carefully she walked over to me and peered at me from above. I could no longer look at her so I spoke instead, “What?” My voice was flat, but I could feel a sudden nervousness under her presence.

Her voice was soft, “Are you sad?”

I carefully turned over and met her gaze. And I knew. I knew. That what she said wasn’t a coincidence. She knew exactly what she said. And she knew exactly why she said it to me.

“What is your name?” I asked. I had never known it. I don’t think anyone ever known it.

“Clotho,” She answered simply.

“That is a weird name,” I muttered to her.

“They also call me Nona,” I also thought that was strange, but she held a hand out to me, “You are cold. Come with me.”

I really didn’t want to go with this strange person, but my weak and cold hands moved on their own accord. Nona’s hands felt odd. Like they were vibrating very quickly. Like they actually weren’t there.

She led me very far away, up and down alleys and through side roads. By the end, I was completely lost. She then headed up some stairs and into an apartment. It was a pretty nice apartment too.

If I could have, I would have looked at her with a surprised expression. Nona looked to be only eighteen or nineteen. Barley my age and I have never had a job. I couldn’t see how a person so young could own something so large.

A person from the back room came forward. It was a young girl, a little younger than my sister when she left. The girl came forward and gave Nona a curious look, but said nothing to her.

“My name is Euterpe,” Her voice was light and pure. It had a very strange accent and every syllable she pronounced had a nice tone to it. Euterpe looked at Nona strangely again.

Nona placed a hand on the girl and steered her out of the room. I was left standing in the hallway. Their voices were too hushed to hear. I walked into another room that I suspected was the living room.

A piano with a flute set on top of it stare back at me. I was never good at music, but I sat at the piano anyway. I stared at the white keys and pressed a couple of them. Nona came back into the room and was at my side.

“Are you tired?” She seemed to only be able to speak in simple sentences.

I was confused, “Why?” It is a simple response. I didn’t know what question I was asking. Why am I here? Why does it matter? Why do you care? My face was blank.

“You are. Come with me. I will show you to a bed,” She grasped my hands that were resting forgotten on the keys. I was shocked again by her strange touch that I didn’t realize she was leading me to another room.

I stared at the bed dumbly. She gave me a slight pat on the back, “I will be here in the morning.”

Then she was gone and the room was dark.

I mulled over her words and I wondered why she felt the need to say them. But that part of me with emotion suddenly felt at ease. My shoulders relaxed even though I didn’t realize that they were stiff. I sat on the bed and thought it all over again.

-

I had a very odd dream. I dreamt that I was very old, but I didn’t look old. Nor did I feel old. I just was old, perhaps only in mind. I stared out the window at the world and felt like I was waiting for something.

I woke up and looked at the ceiling. It wasn’t my bedroom and, for a moment, I was confused. Then a blissful singing voice reached my ears and I nearly smiled. I went to the source of the voice and found it was in the kitchen.

Euterpe was sitting on a stool. Her back was very straight and her chin was raised high. Her voice rang clear and strong. I almost had the urge to sing myself. I noticed Nona sitting on a chair a little ways from her.

Her head was bent and she rocked calmly to the music. Her hands moved rapidly and for a second I thought I saw something there. They sat like that for a very long time until Euterpe voice simply faded away.

Nona looked up at me and smiled. She fed me some food and that was that. It became the routine of every morning. It was always the same. No matter how early or how later I woke up it would always be the same. I once even woke at two in the morning and I walked into the kitchen. They were both there. Sitting in the same positions. Euterpe singing and Nona doing what ever it was that she did.

The days went by smoothly. We hardly ever talked. Euterpe never said a word to me after the first day. I had the feeling she didn’t like me. Nona would speak, but only in her simple sentences. They never asked me to leave or why I was even there. I had the feeling that they already knew.

During the day I either went outside or stayed in the apartment. I found I could amuse myself by playing simple games. Counting tiles in the kitchen. Tracing cracks on the concrete. Seeing how far I could run before I would collapse.

I got lost many times, but every time, around dark, Nona would appear from nowhere and lead me back. I eventually got tired of my games and began observing the world around me.

My favorite subject was Nona, herself. In particular; her hands. Most of the day she would sit in a chair and just move her hands in that strange way. I found it fascinating. They way they moved so rapidly that they were blurred in motion.

I also began looking at her face. She usually had her head down so you could only see the tangled mess of short hair, but at the right angle you could see it perfectly. Her eyes would stare straight ahead and flicked in many directions. Some times up, down, left or right. Her mouth would quiver too, like she was reading aloud a book at a very fast pace.

One day she caught me staring at her. Her hands stilled slightly and she looked back at me. She didn’t say anything so I decided to.

“What are you doing?” my dull voice didn’t sound very interested.

She didn’t say anything. Just smiled faintly and looked away.

I really wanted to know, “I will tell you about me, if you tell me about you,” I could almost sense the desperation in my voice, but I am sure it was absent.

Nona smiled and nodded in my direction, “I will,” She waited for me to go first. I didn’t think that was what I said, but I went ahead anyway.

“My mother died in a car crash. My sister ran away. My father committed suicide,” I paused it sounded too brief for my liking. My flat voice continued, “I basically ignored them all because I didn’t care. I was numb. I am still numb.”

Her voice sliced in, “You are not numb,” I met her gaze. I knew she was telling the truth, but I don’t know why.

Nona sensed I won’t say anything else so she talked, “My name is Clotho, or Nona, and it was given to me a very long time ago. I have existed since time itself. I have two other sisters who are the same, yet different. I don’t age, in fact, I have no age. And every day I spin the threads of human life.”

None of her words made sense to me. I wondered if she was being metaphorical or if she was actually telling the truth. I stared at her. My emotions confused and curious. My face was blank.

She gave me a strange look. Like I should already know the answer to my unspoken question, “I am one of the Moirae. I am one of the Parcae. I am Fate.”

I thought she is crazy. When I was little I used to be obsessed with Greek mythology, but lost interest. From what I remember of the Fates they were completely mythological and unreal.

Nona looks down, “I spin the thread of human lives. When a child is born I make a thread for them. I weave in the destiny of their lives and every possible future they could have. The threads go to my sister Lachesis, or Decima, and she will measure them. That person’s future is sealed. Then it goes to my sister Atropos, or Morta, and she cuts them at the due time.”

It was insane, but I found myself believing her. I looked at her blurred hands and realised that they were spinning and weaving so quickly that I couldn’t see the thread. I knew that thousands and thousands of children were born each day and all because her hands could move so quickly.

“You wove my thread?” It was a question that slipped out and I found that I really wanted to know the answer.

Nona smiled in a bittersweet expression, “Yes,” She knew I would be coming. She knew when I would probably die.

She then changed the subject that I am taken aback, “Euterpe is a muse. They are also ageless. She is the muse of lyrical music. I find her singing soothing, so she came and lived with me,” She went silent.

The air was stilled and I knew the conversation was over. I sat back in my chair and Nona went back to work. As I sat there I found something rising in me. A warm, bubbly feeling. I nearly frowned.

The part of me that was emotional welcomed the new feeling and absorbed it. The part of me that was numb rejected it completely. It was like having one hand in the freezer and the other in the oven. A very uncomfortable feeling.

Some more days passed. One night I could not sleep so I went to the park. It was colder than before and I shivered without a coat. I sat down on the grass and looked around me. I had no idea how long it was since I had been there last.

I figure approached me and I thought it was Nona. But it was someone else. She looked to be middle aged and her eyes shine brightly in the darkness. I saw that her hands were blurred in motion.

“A Fate?” I ask simply.

She looms above me, “Lachesis, Decima,” That is all she says, but her invisible words continue to berate me and I spoke again.

“Why are you here?” I hated the sound of my voice when I asked questions. No feeling, no curiosity.

Lachesis doesn’t speak and then seated herself down next to me, “You will hurt my sister. And for that I will never like you.”

I tried to look confused, but it didn’t work. I had the feeling she understood anyway. She stood up and walked away. She whispered two words in final parting.

“Foolish Mortal,” I found it fitting, but I couldn’t tell why.

I stay seated for a very long time. I wondered why Lachesis came, why she bothered speaking to me, and why she left so suddenly. Nona came and interrupted my thoughts. She bent down and looked at me.

“She came,” I had never liked her simple sentences, but right then I found them more comforting, “What did Lachesis do?”

The words came before I even realized it, “She warned me,” My voice was flat and I desperately wanted to know what I meant.

Nona didn’t ask any more of me and simply took my hand and lead me home. As we walked a familiar feeling crept up on me. My body temperature rose as I tied to submerge the feeling. But a side of me wanted it so badly.

The problem is, which side was it?

-

I woke up in my bed and I looked over and saw that Nona was there. She was sitting in a chair by the window. The side of her face pressed against the glass. She appeared to be sleeping.

It was odd that I never saw her sleep before. I had begun to think that she simply didn’t need sleep. I looked at her hands and saw that they were still moving, even in sleep. I got up from the bed and walked towards her figure.

I didn’t know what made me do it. I just simply did. I reached out a hand tentivaly and tried to touch the threads that I couldn’t see. It was painful. Millions of memories and thoughts pressed into my head. Sharp pains tormented me and if I could, I would have screamed.

My bodies reflexes was to pull away and I fell backwards onto the floor. Nona’s eyes opened and stared at me curiously. I felt bad, like I had done something wrong. But she wouldn’t be able to tell from my stoic face.

She looked down at her hands and then back at me, “Please don’t do that again. It will probably kill you,” She smiled though, “I am sorry for hurting you.”

“Why are you here?” I wanted to hold back the words, but my dull voice won over.

Nona looked out the window, “I know I shouldn’t fear Lachesis. She is my sister. She has no ability to intentional hurt you,” Her eyes gazed out the window and then I understood.

She was worried about me.

A feeling bubbled up and I barely managed it down. I focused on her moving hands in an attempt to ignore my feelings. She noticed this and missinterrprets as curiosity, “I can’t really control it. It’s like there is some great force compelling me to weave the threads,” Her mouth formed a half smile, “It’s like putting together a puzzle without knowing what the picture is.”

I thought back to the memories that I saw in the threads she was weaving. And I found that, in some strange way, they all were connected. That even if one event was changed, everything would change.

“Lachesis or Morta can’t control when a person should die,” Nona smiled wistfully, “They just measure and cut.”

“Why did you create my thread?” A stupid question. Since she had just told me she couldn’t really control how she weaved the threads.

She looks at me deeply. I probably would have looked uneasy under that look. But I didn’t. She sighs, “Sometimes a Fate can influence the outcomes of threads,” She looked away then, “I am the youngest Fate. I feel emotions more promiently then my sisters. I have been alone for some time now, even with Euterpe.”

I didn’t understand what she meant by that. But I never inquired and we sat there in the still silence.

I probably should have asked.

-

As days passed I tried more and more to talk to Euterpe. Whom I found was usually called Terpe by Nona. But the muse eluded me most of the time. I could tell she didn’t like me at all.

One day Nona announced that she was leaving for the day to visit her sister Atropos, Morta. If there was one Fate I was most scared of it had to be Atropos. But I took the opportunity of her absence to talk to Euterpe.

The muse was in her room, silently humming to herself. I found it hard to speak, it always felt painful to interrupt such beautiful music. When she stopped, I quickly spoke, “Could I call you Terpe?” It was a dumb question and it sounded even worse coming from my flat voice.

Euterpe’s eyes flashed at me. She did not speak, but simply stood up and walked out of the room. It was worse than a normal rejection.

I tried to put concern into my voice, but it didn’t work, “Why do you not like me?” I nearly winced at my words. I tried again, “What have I done?”

I couldn’t tell if the muse was insulted by my flat questions. She turned and looked at me, “Nona has told me of the future. Of your future. I ignore you because of what you will do. And to whom you will do it to. I hope you leave soon,” She quickly turned and retreated from the room.

I stood there, shocked and a little bit angry, “Foolish Mortal,” I murmured blandly to myself. Euterpe’s words were very similar to Lachesis. The thought worried me greatly.

I suddenly didn’t want to stay in this house anymore. The stakes were too high. Two immortal beings had warned me of being here. Being with her. So I did the only thing I could think of.

I left.

As I ran down endless streets I found I was suddenly emotionless again. It was like a massive weight was lifted and my feet ran quicker. I had no idea where I was or how far away I was. I was completely empty inside.

My feet were only mortal and grew tired. I turned into an alley and was surprised to find small houses. A little farther was open fields. I was heading out of the city. I have never been this far, but I had no fear.

My legs gained unexpected strength and took off. I ran past the houses and into the open area of farmland. It was dark and the only thing lit was the city behind me. I decided to sit down and sleep.

I didn’t know how long it was, but I woke up and it was barely light out. I felt an immediate presence that made me shiver. I turned and saw a figure beside me. She was an old woman with wispy grey hair. Her back was hunched and her eyes were layered in wrinkles.

Her hands were vibrating.

It was completely ironic that I ran so far from a Fate only to meet another. The old woman smiled down at me, her teeth looked terrible.

“Such an odd child you are.”

I should have felt insulted at being called a child. But, of course, I was temporarily numb at that time, “Atropos, Morta,” I mutter blandly.

The Fate smiled and nodded, “The Fate of death. But I didn’t expect to meet you yet,” She sat down next to me. One of her hands stopped vibrating and held up something. It was a single thread.

My heart grew cold and struggled to beat. My breath grew short and my blood burned in my veins. I felt absolute fear. And, for the fist time in my life, I felt tears leak out of my eyes.

I touched a hand to my face in awe. And suddenly the pain stopped. I looked at the Fate, her hands were back to normal. My thread of life was no longer there. And overwhelming wave of relief flooded my system. It was then that I realized that I was having feelings again.

But I still couldn’t show them.

“Call me Morta. And tell me, why are you here?” Her voice was gentle.

“You should already know that. You are a fate,” My voice sounds more flat than ever and now I felt the pain of it.

Morta sighed, the air coming from somewhere deep inside of her. It instantly chilled my fingers, “Of course I know. But you need to say it.”

Did I really? I tried to find something to say, but only one thing came to mind, “I am running away because I am afraid,” I certainly didn’t sound scared, but inside I felt it. Now that I said it, I felt it more closely. Closer than ever before.

“Because two beings told you of a bad future?”

“Yes,” There was probably more to it than that, but I didn’t want to say anything else. I was interrupted anyway by another presence. Her presence.

Nona sat down next to me and Morta. She looked tired, more tired than I have ever seen her. She put her head between her knees and her muffled voice leaked out, “Does that mean you don’t want to come back with me?”

The question hurt me, but for reasons unknown to myself. Why did she sound so sad? What caused it? And why did that hurt me? The questions berated me, but my face was expressionless.

“I will go back with you,” If I had been normal, I probably would have sounded nervous. I stared at the ground, my voice a bland whisper, “I have no where else to go.”

I didn’t like admitting it, but I was completely dependent on her. I had no family, friends, or any other home. She was my family, my friend, my home. And something strong had tied me to her.

Nona didn’t say anything, nor had any expression on her face. I was confused as she grabbed my hand a slowly led me home. I looked back briefly at Morta. Her face was at first surprised then slowly formed into a piercing glare.

I had no idea why she would not like me, but I guessed it was for the same reason that Euterpe was angry at me. We walked in silence for most of the way and when we reached the door I went forward to grab the knob, when I was yanked back.

I almost gasped in surprise, when I was turned around to face Nona. She smiled at me. I have never seen her smile so brightly, and I nearly took a step back. She then abruptly threw her arms around me and hugged me tightly.

No one had ever embraced me.

I could barely think. I think I was having a heart attack, because I could hardly hear what she was saying through my wild beating. When she pulled back slightly, it lighten up a bit so a gentle fluttering.

Nona smiled again up at me, “You are blushing,” Her arms were still around my neck.

Was I? First I cried today and now I was blushing? Never before have had I showed so many feelings in one day. I touched my face, but it is quite impossible to feel a blush with your hand.

Nona was pulling my hand and towed me into the house, “Come one. I’m exhausted, lets go to bed,” For some reason, what she said set off another heart attack. But, to my immense relief, she brought me to my own room and left for her own.

-

I sat in the dark for a very long time until I fell asleep. I had another weird dream. I was sitting in the kitchen with Euterpe and she was scowling at me. She had been yelling at me, but I couldn’t hear her because I kept feeling Nona’s arms around me. Finally she stood up and screamed at me.

“Can’t you see it yet!? Can’t you see what you have done!?” She was crying and sobbing the words out, “You have begun to fall and you can’t even realized it…”

“Foolish Mortal,” I finished for her.

I woke up in the early hours of morning and found I didn’t want to get out of bed. The feeling remained until the afternoon when Nona came into my room. She looked at me curiously and ordered me out of the bed.

She practically pulled me from the house and on to the streets. We walked for awhile, but we both didn’t talk. It was a comfortable silence. Nona led me to the park, I wondered why I always seemed to end up there again and again.

She looked surprised at the surroundings and I wondered if she was thinking the same thing. She walked me to a bench and we sat down. She then turned to me and a question popped from her mouth.

“Did you have a bad dream last night?”

“…Yes,” For some reason I was nervous about discussing it with her. But my body was devoid of feeling again. I didn’t know if I was upset of pleased with that. I decided I might as well tell her, “I dreamt Euterpe told me that I am falling.”

“Falling?” She expected me to explain it more, but I had no idea what to say. She waited for my response and then went a different route.

“Can you show me?” Her voice was shy and I suppose she knew what was coming next.

Too bad I didn’t see it coming.

All of a sudden my hand was in her short hair and my thumb was lightly brushing her ear. My face had crossed all personal boundaries and my lips were firmly pressed on hers.

Now that I think about it, I wished it had been more romantic.

Considering how little time I had left.

But it was my first kiss and I didn’t know any better. I don’t know when I pulled away, but I was out of breath. And my body was warmer than it had been in years. Nona smiled at me, the same on she had on her face last night. I smiled back. I smiled.

I could feel it all again. The muscles in my face and body that gave away silent communication slowly work their way back into shape. I felt so happy that I laughed for the first time since I was a young child.

“I like it when you laugh,” Nona’s hand was on my face, tracing my smile. It started to rain, but that didn’t seem to affect my attitude at all. But it affected Nona. And it started to pour.

Then everything seemed to slow. Nona’s smile faded and her eyes had horror written on them. She quickly stood up and pulled me with her, “We have to go, we have to go now.”

I was afraid too and I looked afraid as well. We were running across the street and a car’s blurry lights spotted me. I screamed and Nona pulled me quickly. She kept saying, “No, no!”

We were across the street and the adrenaline was pulsing threw me that I sat down and started to shake. It was still pouring and my hands were submerged in a puddle of water. Nona was beside me, screaming in a language I didn’t know.

Two figures appeared in the distance. Lachesis and Morta slowly came towards us. Nona ran at them, screaming, but Lachesis was too quick. She gripped her sister and held her tight. Nona could not move.

Morta came towards me. A thread grasped in her hand. I went cold and it hurt to breathe, “That car was supposed to kill you, but that is no matter. The car was more of an excuse anyway. The true power to kill is in my hand,” Her other hand held scissors.

She cut the thread.

I couldn’t scream. I remembered looking down at my chest and seeing a stain of red appearing. I fell backwards into the puddle. Nona fought with Lachesis and managed to be released.

I saw her face before me, vaguely. And I heard the sweet noise. Her tears. Even through the watered puddle, I heard it. I wanted to speak, but it was too late. I was dead. What I would have given to say those words to her. So simple, but it was the only thing I could think of.

I love you.