Characters: Apollo!Baekhyun and OC
Genres: Angst, Fluff, Fantasy
AU: Greek mythology and reincarnation

 I wrote this oneshot for my gift exchange with @gangstyles. 🥰
Merry Christmas and happy holidays, everyone! 💖

- 460 B.C., Greek Empire -

Thousands of years ago, the twelve Olympians were the major deities of Greek society. These Gods and Goddesses were powerful beings, each of them possessing unique abilities and the power to cause miracles and disasters. Humans respected and feared them, praying to them for strength and wisdom.

At the time, the people of Greece believed the center of the world to be in Delphi, a town housing the sanctuary of Apollo, the God of the Sun. The citizens had built a majestic temple in his honor, throning on a mountaintop. It was the most beautiful part of town, a sight to behold and a place many humans wished to see in their lifetime.

However, the town’s impressive architecture wasn’t the only reason for its popularity. The most famous priestess of Greece resided in Delphi, known as the Oracle of Delphi. She was the only human able to communicate with Apollo, delivering prophecies to the people of Greece. Since it was a very honorable position, many women aspired to become the Oracle of Delphi one day, but few were suited for the role, and in the end, only one would be chosen by Apollo himself. This happened whenever the former Oracle had grown too old to fulfill her duties—it was an endless cycle.

One of the women interested in this duty was a young peasant from a neighboring town. Apollo was her favorite Olympian God because he represented everything she held dear. He was the God of the sun, music, knowledge, and healing. She admired him and his dazzling powers and therefore, it was her greatest wish to become the next Oracle. Many scoffed at the poor woman’s aspiration, believing that a mere peasant wasn’t suited for this, but she was determined and did not give up. When the current Oracle eventually retired from her duties, she traveled to Delphi just like countless other women, hoping to become Apollo’s next chosen.

She attended the ceremony inside Apollo’s imposing temple, a place so beautiful that she couldn’t stop admiring the intricate ornaments and tall columns rising up toward the sky. Wearing her most prized possession, a simple white garment with a sash tied around her waist, she prayed to be accepted by Apollo regardless of her low standing in society.

Against all odds, he selected her to become the next Oracle, allowing her to hear his voice. After she pledged her loyalty to him, he granted her the power to See, providing her with his guiding light to perceive what other humans couldn’t. From that moment on, she was able to see the future.

In the following years, her prophecies aided the people of Greece, preventing conflicts and foreseeing disasters. Countless leaders of ancient empires sought her out to hear her premonitions. Her unique ability saved many human lives. She became a well-respected citizen and her hard work and caring nature earned her Apollo’s admiration. Thus, she was the only human he ever allowed to lay eyes on him. He frequently visited her until a tender love blossomed between them. The Oracle was captivated by Apollo’s charming personality, his mischievous smirks, and his enthralling power to make the sun set and rise again every night and every morning. Their fates had become intertwined. Although she used to be a mere peasant, Apollo gifted her soul the ability to be reincarnated as if she was a Goddess herself.

Whenever she and Apollo died and were reborn, they searched for each other. This cycle continued until modern times when the Greek Empire was nothing but a chapter in history books and the existence of the Olympian Gods and Goddesses had faded into the shadows.  

- 2023, South Korea -

Many lifetimes later, the Oracle was reborn in South Korea, bearing the name Kim Hayoon. The young woman’s life had been difficult from the very beginning. She had never met her parents, growing up without a family in an orphanage. Starting from a young age, she had begun to remember bits and pieces of her former lives, reaching back to Ancient Greece. It had been a heavy burden to carry since her young self had struggled to make sense of the pictures in her head. As a child, she had often scared her teachers when she spoke of Greek customs and historic details a little girl couldn’t possibly know. As she had grown older, she had learned to hide this side of hers and realized that other humans could not remember their past lives nor did they realize that the Olympian Gods were real.

At the age of 24, Hayoon was well aware of her inherent role as the Oracle, but she had yet to regain the ability to See—her divine powers would be awakened after she was reunited with her love, Apollo. She missed the God of the Sun dearly and often watched the sunset because it reminded her of him. When the sun rose and set, she felt an undeniable connection to him, and she loved observing the play of colors in the sky, the way his powers dyed it a fiery red, a warm orange, and an ethereal blue as the sun reclaimed its spot high up in the sky. Apollo worked tirelessly every day, and he seemed so close yet unreachable. Years had passed without a sign of his reincarnation, and the worry in her kept growing. What if she wouldn’t find him in this lifetime? What if they wouldn’t meet?

Unfortunately, her current life hadn’t provided her with many opportunities to search for him. Since she had grown up in an orphanage, money had always been a problem. Hayoon could barely afford her monthly rent, much less a plane ticket to travel the world and search for Apollo. He could be anywhere, but she was stuck in South Korea, working a job as a waitress at a restaurant. Needless to say, her salary wasn’t sufficient to travel, not even when she worked overtime. Otherwise, she would have taken a plane to Greece and visited Delphi—the place where everything had begun. Maybe she would have found Apollo’s reincarnation there, or at least discovered a hint about his whereabouts. They had often reunited in Greece during previous lives.

Hayoon sighed in defeat and glanced at her wristwatch. It was almost 8 pm and her shift at the restaurant was far from over. She would work overtime tonight as well, thus missing the sunset again. It saddened her, but she had no choice if she wanted to pay her rent this month.

She rolled up the sleeves of her blouse before she picked up several plates, carrying them from the kitchen to the tables in the other room. Loud chattering filled the restaurant along with the delightful smell of food. Hayoon wasn’t particularly fond of her job because her boss was rather strict and often gave her more work than she could handle—they were in dire need of more employees but her boss refused to hire anyone else, so Hayoon was forced to shoulder the extra work.

When her shift finally ended, she was exhausted and left the restaurant, saying goodbye to the kitchen staff before she braved the terrible weather outside. It had begun to rain about an hour ago, so she pulled up the hood of her jacket and buried her cold hands in its pockets. Rain poured down on her without mercy, drenching her pants and making her shiver. Luckily, the bus stop wasn’t far away. It was late and the city was darker than usual, fog wafting through the streets and clinging to buildings.

Hayoon ran through the puddles, shielding her face with her hand but the rain was unforgiving, drenching her in seconds. She had no time to waste; if she missed this bus, the next option to reach her remote apartment building wouldn’t arrive until an hour later… Breathing heavily, she reached the stop at the same time the bus arrived and searched her purse for her public transport ticket. The doors opened and someone got off, opening an umbrella and moving on. Hayoon’s hands were clammy and trembling from the cold when she got ahold of the ticket. She was about to enter the bus, but the slippery card fell from her hands and landed in a puddle. It was washed away by the rain. Gasping in alarm, she chased after it but was too slow—the ticket vanished straight into a drain.

Hayoon didn’t hear the bus leaving—her attention was focused on the spot where her ticket had disappeared. Shock and horror befell her when she realized what this meant. Monthly tickets were expensive; she could barely afford one. Replacing this would be next to impossible. Desperation gripped her. As if her situation hadn’t been difficult enough already… This made everything worse.

For a being with an immortal soul, Hayoon felt rather pathetic. Without her gift to see the future, she was no different from a regular human and bound to all the restrictions that came with being a poor orphan. The frustration that had been building within her over many months and years came crashing down on her. She felt incredibly small and lonely in the jungle of buildings that was Seoul. The rainwater soaked her to the bones, but she couldn’t bring herself to seek shelter—what did it even matter now? The rest of the month would be a scramble to save enough money in order to pay for public transport and food items. She direly needed a day off, but she could forget about that now. Lowering her head, she looked at her wet sneakers, arms hugging her shivering self to retain a