1Thousands of years ago, there was a woman who was said to be so beautiful that she had many suitors of all genders, constantly being offered gifts. Many believed she was the goddess Aphrodite who had come down on Earth to grace the mortals with her presence and beauty. Others believed that her beauty had even surpassed the goddess' and told stories of how this woman must have been created by the goddess herself to be a gift to the mortals.
Though no matter what anyone tried in hopes of becoming the woman's suitor, she repeatedly turned them down. The woman was quite polite about it, saying she was simply uninterested and apologising about causing them any trouble or heartbreak right away. She always smiled afterwards, telling the suitor that she knew that they would find the person they were meant to be with one day, if not soon. The woman would resume reading shortly afterwards, waiting until the suitor left, telling them goodbye and apologising once more.
The woman never seemed to age, watching as her suitors grew old and died off, constantly being replaced by the next generation. She seemed quite distraught about this, however, always asking where they had gone, looking a bit sad by the news. The woman had taken time to learn of all her suitors names and families, always giving them her condolences right before the sun set for the evening. She would visit the grave and set down a rose before heading back to her home.
One day, the woman had a child. Her suitors seemed angered by this, constantly asking her when she had chosen a suitor and who that suitor was. She would give them a soft smile, looking down at the child that was currently sleeping and give her reply, stating that she was not sure. After a few years, the woman had a second child. Like her and her first son, this child never seemed to age. When asked of the identity of the father, she now replied that they had not wanted anyone to know of their identity.
Eventually, the people of the town began seeing the woman spending more time with a person they had never seen before. They could never tell the identity of the suitor for they never were able to catch up to the two, and the suitor never turned long enough to look at their face or see any distinguishing features. The woman continued to age at an incredibly slow rate while the suitor aged at a normal rate.
The suitor died off one day, leaving the woman incredibly distraught. Many others attempted to make her happy, giving her multiple gifts in hopes of seeing her smile even slightly. Eventually, the woman was so saddened by the death of her beloved that she never spoke. She would visit the grave every day, putting roses down and going home to her sons in tears. The woman's beauty began to fade away as her teal eyes lost their shimmer and now looked more of a dull grey. She became paler over time due to barely ever leaving her house during the day. No one had seen her smile in the longest of time.
The woman finally came to terms with her beloved's death after decades of mourning. She began to recover, her eyes shimmering with kindness and love as she raised her sons, always smiling around them. Yet again, the woman had regained a crowd of people, telling her of her beauty and giving her gifts.
Then, the woman was found dead. One of her old suitors had killed her in his rage and thirst for power. He took her children and left the town, leaving the woman's corpse sprawled across the floor, her white chiton covered with blood and dirt and a spear through her chest. Her eyes were bloodshot with dried tears running down her face.
Her death was the first of many, eventually resulting in the downfall of one of teh most revered ancient civilisation.
Ancient Greece.
{I originally intended to write a oneshot of my OTP but I ended up writing this instead.
Oh well ¯\_(ツ)_/¯}