A/N: This is the sequel of ARTEMIS' FOUL. :D I received requests (and threats...) to continue it and I separated this because I think it's a story that can still stand on its own :)

warnings for slight sexual content.

for Tinplan, ButterCupBabe, xX-Sinister Angel-Xx, Peachs, and others.

The best things about fantasies is the fleeting moment when you are between asleep and awake,

when you don't know the difference between reality and fantasy,

when for just that one moment you feel with your entire soul that the dream is reality,

and that it really happened

~anonymous

EMBRACING THE LIES

He skirted his way through his dark chamber, fingers and arms groping for anything to hold on and keep his rigidity intact. His head ached, and for a while he felt being plagued by the disaster of tiredness scurrying through his nerves after another day of driving on the invisible path in the skies. He tripped, grunted, swayed like an intoxicated fellow, and eventually let his body thud on the warm cotton sheets of his own bed. Apollo sighed relief, being able to breathe and lax his muscles freely. Yet no matter how heavy his eyes were, there was another set of weights that dragged his heart down and kept him awake in the middle of black emptiness.

Suddenly he felt a movement beside him, and Apollo absorbed the warmth of her skin against his. In the darkness he can trace her silhouette towering above him, and the touch of her fingers vibrated twice as much as his heart pumped. He smiled and let his own fingers drift from her forehead and followed the flow of her dark almond hair, each strand so smooth and flawless.

"What are you doing here...?" he smiled as he queried in a whisper, curling a lock of her hair on his forefinger and softy freeing it, "Aren't you supposed to drive the moon-"

He stopped as two of her fingers pressed on his warm lips, and he eventually felt the fiery chill frosting his spine. She hushed him softly and he succumbed to her wishes as she traced his lips which made him close his eyes. He opened them once more, revealing golden orbs in the pit of ebony surroundings when she paused to unravel her shoulders and pressed his abdomen in between her milky skinned legs, resting her hips above his stomach. His skin heated, and in the dark he pulled her arms swiftly to make her lean onto him as their lips met. His brows furrowed as much as his breaths became shallow, taking a grip on the back of her head while letting her tongue drive into his mouth. They shared an expensive kiss gushing with passion and with every bite on each other's lips caused a shot as deep as Tartarus.

Apollo's palms traveled through the division of her breasts, running his fingers on her waist, tracing every little detail of curve which had been blowing his head off. He never gave her a chance to escape, as much as she tried many times to part their faces; he was always pulling her close. Until he had become consumed with lust that he finally overturned her so that he can overpower her completely. He heard her breathe uneasily, but it had been the driving force which dragged his lips on the nape of her neck and he pinned her wrists which annoyed him. Their clothing separated, and as the tip of his tongue glided on her collar bone towards her navel, she protruded her chest in expectation of his mouth between her hips. But he was too indulged into owning her that he never wasted a second of playing with the blades of seduction, immediately wrapped her legs around his waist and she let out a gasp as he pushed within her.

Even a god can become so lost in such a pleasure of sin that he may forget the ethics of erotic love. Their sighs and moans filled his ears with every smooth movement. He rocked, and she gave encouragements of presses making his heart purge forth thundering beats yet his mind was cluttered with both joy and doubts.

My sister...

He closed his eyes at the thought, and wanted very badly to stop all the scandal going on at the moment and his mind drifted at their last conversation beneath the bright moonlight when the ocean tides were high and she had confessed into loving him which she is sorely regretting. He battled with the memory, and tried to shove them away whilst digging his fingernails onto the pillowcase. With every drive matched a break on his bones while his conscience wrapped around him but beginning to hear her moan faster and louder, even he himself had begun to feel the high peak accumulating on his muscles, readying to be released, shouting to be shoot out.

Stop this. She's your little sister...

A bead of tear began to form on the edge of his shut eyes. He reconciled the image of Artemis on his mind. Young, playful, attractive...and right now she is on the brink of the possibility of bearing a child with pure blood. His mind swelled with the desire to see his little self on her dainty huntress arms as the tiny creature coos while suckling on her breasts. This time his arms begin to tremble, and he had almost kept himself from ravishing her completely yet he was overwhelmed by how she tightened her legs and invited him to join her in chorus as both arrived to the ultimate obstruction. Apollo nearly screamed as loud as she did, and as he groaned he held her close that there was no gravity left between their chests. It may have lasted for a short while, but he felt the peace overcome him while the tear rolled from his eyes.

I'm sorry dear sister...but I...I love you too much to let go.

He planted a kiss on her neck and she sighed with complete satisfaction, bringing both into a daze of unconsciousness and letting their bodies flow into a short sleep. He left his weight on her, still with his arms winding on her body like a child desperate for a mother's touch. He then breathed peacefully as his mind slept with his lips still intact on her flesh.

"You've loved me too dearly that it is threatening my vow of maidenhood."

Apollo rewinded the last phrase that Artemis had told him on that past fateful night. He felt something trickling down to the tip of his nose from his eye and he weakly wiped it. His golden eyes reconciled reality from his dreams and he realized he was sleeping with his front pressed on the bed, making him difficult to breathe. His mind had cleared and his lips curled into a smile at the daylight which had signals him to start driving his chariot. Beside him a body moved, and he turned his head to see her one last time before leaving. There she was, her back facing him, and he can see the details of her long dark hair spread between the pillows and the sheets. His eyes feasted on the arch of her small waist and he ran her fingers once more on the strands of her hair. As his lips neared to kiss her cheek, she turned to face him still with her sleeping face.

The god withdrew with shock. His mouth was left parched and he swallowed thickly, feeling his chest heave, reminding him that he had forgotten to breathe. His vision marred with a blur of tears only to realize that the night that had passed was superficial, that he had only felt heaven in a dream where Artemis had committed herself to him in such a sweet sweaty night. He didn't even know the woman's name, and she was just another one of the whores who ambitioned on getting impregnated with a child's god to have an everlasting attention from divinity. Of course no god would be allowed to abandon a soul which he had caused to live, and right there his tiny speck of happiness burned, leaving him not even a trace of ash. It hurt him like hell that the best night of his life, as he thought so, was spent in the arms of a woman which only possessed his sister's physical attributes.

Despite the tears he began smiling to himself and making it appear as if he was overjoyed that it was not his sister whom he had planted a child, but even though how many times he was trying to convince himself to be relieved, he felt a pain much heavier than what Atlas is bearing. He merely covered the woman's body with the sheets and donned his own attire: buckling, pinning, tying, and such until he made his way out of his chamber with the laurel crown on his head and the same brightness of a handsome youth ready for adventure in the skies.

Again he wore the identity of a true sun god admired by men and adored by women, a smile full of enthusiasm and beauty, eyes reflecting the glimmer of gold...which he knew will immediately fade the moment everyone disappears and he is left with nothing but vast catharsis of longing for her which no millions of women may equal.

A/N: Reviews would be great :)

~AthenAres~