Raven sighed as she rolled over in bed, the seemingly ever-present throb in her head lowered to a duller ache that she could ignore with some effort.
How long had it been since Phoebe jumped her and all but foisted a powerful domain on her, incomplete as the connection was at the moment, she wasn't sure. A few days she knew, but the exact number eluded her and between her sessions of meditation and mental sorting, it all just blended together. Add in that her mother was accelerating the localized time within to give Raven more leg room to learn made it even harder to honestly tell. It also didn't help that her mother's mindscape was that of a massive archival library fashioned into a tower with no windows.
There wasn't even the illusion of the passage of time here, only moments of the surroundings dimming or brightening. Given how Andromeda's mindscape was especially reactive to her mood, Raven couldn't really count on that to be an accurate measure. 'Still, at least I got a lot of progress done,' she thought as she shifted to laying on her back.
It had been an unexpected but welcome surprise for her to have what felt like a full day and night to herself after a grueling morning session that also felt like a whole day. Though, to be fair, it had been her own fault. She'd been the one begging for longer hours, forcing them to go harsher on her, to help her learn faster. She could see and feel just how worried her parents were about her and the whole domain thing. Her dad especially had been upset about it even if he didn't show it.
Hard to completely hide his emotions when it was one of her specialties though.
He didn't want her involved with the war as it was and only begrudgingly allowed her to participate where he knew he could cover her if necessary. He was overprotective of her and she honestly couldn't complain. She loved the attention and knew that it came from a place of love, not distrust or thinking her as some doll one rough touch away from breaking. She'd more than proven in various spars and training that she could hold her own if needed.
But she was his daughter, and that meant she could be just as stubborn about doing her part.
He didn't want her in the front lines fighting against the Olympians. Fine, but she could go in, work alongside his wolves and Shadows, and get the demigods that didn't want to be part of the fighting in the first place. And the moment that fighting stopped, she shifted into being the warm and protective presence for them. It had been a happy median that let her be involved and didn't weigh as much on her parents' minds.
But now the sudden jump into what would entail full godhood all but kicked her into the thick of it.
The Moon was a powerful domain and with humanity's renewed awareness of the mystic, that power could only grow. Millennia of beliefs from all walks of life and cultures centered around it and now, she would have to claim it as her own. The weight of what would happen to her once she fully connected honestly scared her, but she had to go through with it.
Her mom had told her about Phoebe's reasons and could agree, it had to be done. As much as her parents worried about her being involved in the war, she could worry for them too. She knew they were strong but that didn't mean that she didn't worry about them just as much. And even if not them, then all those whose could get crushed under Pontus' wrath if he did unleash his forces.
The last thing they wanted was something as potent as the Moon in his clutches, directly or otherwise.
That's why she was pushing herself so hard. She needed to be ready and even once she took the moon, it wouldn't be over there. The rush of prayers, of the power given to her through belief would only rise in volume and potency. And that wasn't even considering what all that power would do to her body. She could already feel the changes of her body at a fundamental level. The churning power almost overflowing within and looking for an escape. Before, she'd been a directionless wellspring of power connected and fed into by her parents and in a way, leashed by them.
And that leash would very well shatter the moment she shifted to a divine state.
She didn't have a divine form at the moment, no defined nature and ability beyond what she naturally inherited from her parents. But that was changing by the minute as her core started to shift and essentially evolve. She wasn't sure just what the final result would be, but she hoped it didn't make her too distinct from her parents after the fact. She knew she'd retain a lot of what made her their daughter, even if it wouldn't be obvious, but that was just it. She wanted it to be noticeable, to show that she was their daughter.
She'd originally dreamed of eventually being ascended to full godhood under one of them, probably her mother. It would have taken something she already had and made it more pronounced, more developed, and specific, but at the same time leaving her much the same as she started.
But with full godhood mostly separate from either of them—though she planned on aligning to her father afterwards—the changes could be literal night and day in difference. Now the potential for being different didn't scare her, not really, but given it was the moon, she had a fair idea of what some of those changes would be.
There was a reason both Artemis and Selene had silver hair—even if changed to a redhead and platinum blonde respectively in mortal form—along with the silver eyes. Raven knew that was coming and though she could will herself to appear any way in mortal form, she wasn't sure if she wanted to. To take what was about to be natural about herself and just hide it felt cheap, wrong in a way.
But at the same time, it would make her look so much like someone her father hated.
She knew that type of fear was utterly irrational. Artemis was dead and gone, and her father would never put any of those sentiments on her just because she became the new moon goddess and had strong similarities in appearance. And yet, she couldn't help but let her fears rear up at times when she was alone—her current situation with an aching mind and constant whispers in the back of her head didn't help—and almost drive herself into a frenzy of emotion.
Even the possibility of some distance coming between them because of that change almost made her panic.
She knew she was both extremely clingy and family oriented by nature. She craved and searched out for that closeness, always trying to be in contact and near if she could. And she had no problems saying she was a total daddy's girl. It was a constant source of amusement and fond teasing from her moms while Percy did nothing to discourage it, showing his hand at being a rather doting father himself. So the thought of losing any of that, even if only temporary, would nearly drive her to tears.
It was utterly irrational to think it would ever happen, but her emotions and the closest analogue for hormones in her immortal body was just all over the place. 'Maybe I should talk to mom about it when she gets back,' she wondered, idly glancing at a clock she had on the nightstand beside her bed. The time it showed was mostly irrelevant in here, but it gave Raven a reference for the passage of time when she bothered to track it.
A stirring of shadows in the corner drew her attention though.
A pitch-black wolf almost the size of a horse emerged, walking in a gentle gate towards her. She looked into the she-wolf's startlingly violet eyes—a rather unique change thanks to her father's blessing—that brimmed with intelligence. She came up to the bed and laid down beside it, resting her head right beside Raven.
"Hey Akira," Raven greeted, running her hands along Akira's snout. "I guess you noticed I was getting upset."
She snorted in response, nuzzling against Raven's hand. The young goddess giggled a little at the ticklish sensation, already feeling better with her familiar's presence. Her companion and in many ways, her most trusted friend. Raven knew she could trust the powerful she-wolf above everything. Akira was the only wolf that would take Raven's orders over even her father's and stay by her side even if it meant death.
"You know, you're just going to get bigger once I take you as one of my divine animals," Raven mused out loud, getting an excited grin that was all teeth from the massive wolf. "So much for the runt of the litter," the goddess added.