Disclaimer: I do not own Eros or any other Greek Gods.

~THE ONE HE COULD NOT CHARM~

Gloriosa & EROS

Eros casually walked through the heavens of Mt. Olympus, he headed down the white marble streets looking for something mischievous to do. He lifted his quiver higher onto his shoulder, away from his wings. His bow in his tightened grip, he was antsy to do some unsuitable matching. His mother Aphrodite was too busy clinging to Ares to notice her own sons craving for attention. So he continued down the streets, between the columned temples and homes, but then he paused a step when he thought he heard a low humming sound coming from someplace. He turned around and walked through the streets again, following the sound till he came across one of the courtyards that was rimmed with clouds.

Eros walked towards the clouds where he felt curiosity overwhelm him, as he reached out and parted the clouds and the humming was slightly louder. He looked around for the source of the beautiful sound, then he saw her. A woman, who's hair was like glowing embers, bend forward to pick a few assorted flowers from a bush. Then put the ones she picked into her growing bundle of beautiful flowers, she leaned forward to smell them. Eros grinned as he saw a man coming closer to her, not handsome looking but not really hideous. He slowly removed one of his golden arrows from his quiver, and took aim at the woman, then fired.

"This should be fun…," he laughed out.

Gloriosa gasped as she felt the sudden prick on her left shoulder, "Ouch!" she yelped.

"Are you alright milady?" a man's voice filled with concern drifted over her.

Gloriosa looked up from where she was hunched over, and inhaled before she smiled "Yes, I'm quite alright...Just a little nick 'tis all." She straightened up, and fixed her slightly ruffled yellow dress that had small purple flowers on it. She saw the man nod, before he continued down one of the many rows of different types of flowers, where a girl waited for him. She smiled at the couple, before turning around to look for the source that hit her shoulder.

Eros leaned forward, "Did I miss?" he wondered. He shook his head at himself, knowing that he had never missed a shot in his life. He was going to try again, he must have missed for that his arrows have always worked. Instead of pulling out a golden arrow, he decided to try one of iron arrows which he only used on special occasions. Pulling the iron crested arrow from a side compartment in his quiver, he put the arrow against his bow, and fired once again.

Gloriosa felt another prick, but this one was aimed at the small of her back. She gritted her teeth, because this one hit right on her spine. She whirled around to try and catch a glimpse of the attacker, but there was nothing but small shrubs and thin trees, not even a small boy could hide behind. But she did consider the crow, which was sitting on a branch high in a dead tree not far away from her. She eyed the bird for a moment, but she thought the better of it. She glanced up in the sky, looking at the mountains that surrounded her rather small village. One of those mountains which was said to hold the gods and the heavens. She looked at the largest of the many mountains before turning back to follow the path to her village.

Eros stared angrily at the woman as she headed down a path to who knows where. He stood up quickly, frustrated that this woman isn't even the slightest bit affected from his powerful arrows. "How can it be?" he asked himself, stepping back a few feet. He needed to know, he needed to know why his arrows are not working on a mere human. 'Is it possible that she is immune?' he thought, before shaking his head again at the ridiculous thought. He tightened the belt on his quiver and hooked his bow to it, then he ran at the clouds and flew into the air. His wings balanced as he shifted into a white falcon which was his bird form, to hide himself from the girl as he followed her.

Gloriosa heard a shriek of a bird, as she came out of her house. She looked up and saw a white falcon perching on a fence post a little ways away, looking right at her. Its head twisted this way and that, as if it was considering her for some reason. She watched the magnificent bird flap it's wings, like it was going to fly away when she got too close. But it didn't all it did was move then continued to watch her. She went on with her work for a bit, but she couldn't shake the eerie feeling that the bird was waiting for something. Since it didn't do anything out of fear of her when she went to get water from the well, all it did was stretch once in a while.

Eros continued to watch her till it was nearly dusk, doing nothing he thought was out of the ordinary. For some reason he didn't feel any anger towards her, now it just seems to amaze him that this human wasn't fazed by his arrows. He thought about showing himself right here and now, but it just didn't seem to be the right moment. He watched as a middle aged woman stepped out of the house, and called out "Gloriosa!." The mysterious woman he had been wondering about acknowledged the call, and headed back into the house. Eros took that moment to head back to Mt. Olympus. He flew back to the heavens, and all that night he thought about the woman named Gloriosa.

It was a few days later when she saw that falcon again, it was a bit unnerving to see the bird again. When she thought this whole time that the bird was finally gone. She didn't think nothing of it but it was acting a little weird, weirder then the first time she saw it. This time it looked like the bird was thinking about something, because it's eyes were narrowed in thought. She left the bird where it sat on the same perch as before, and headed down the path that led down to the gardens.

Eros watched her go down the path, before he followed her. For the last few days he watched her from the heavens, he learned of her love of flowers, she went to the gardens every day and picked out a bouquet of flowers to put into her house. She also loved to make things, she loved to bake foods for other people in the village.

He silently flew above her, and then hid in the greenest area of an oak tree. Making sure that he wouldn't be very noticeable with his white feathers.

Gloriosa walked down the first row, gently running her fingers over the flowers, admiring them as she went. She giggled as she saw a couple butterflies trying to sit on the a small daisy bush. She picked a few of the pink roses, closing her eyes and smelling them. She opened her eyes and noticed a few mothers with their kids, entering the garden and smiled. Suddenly out of nowhere she felt a presence behind her, she slowly turned around minding the thorny rose bushes. A very handsome man stood on one of the many stone benches in the garden, but this one just happened to be her favorite because of the oak tree behind it.

"Yes?" she asked, not knowing if he wanted anything to do with her.

The man hopped off the bench and grinned, as he walked towards her. "What are you?" he looked at her closely as he stood in front of her.

Gloriosa looked at him, "Excuse me?" she asked, looking over her shoulder and took noticed that they were alone. "Umm… do I know you?" she looked back at him, and noticed that he had a bow and quiver filled with a different assortment of arrows strapped to his back, he wore a white tunic, she noticed that the gold stitching at the hem was stitched into ancient Greek symbols.

The man grinned again, "Will this help?" he said, and suddenly a white mist had formed behind him, and then the mist solidified into the shape of large white wings.

"Eros?" she stumbled back a bit in shock, the back of her right hand went over her mouth to stifle her gasp, she watched as Eros reached out to steady her. "W-What do you want of me?" her voice quivered a bit.

Eros stood closer to her, "You're amazing…" he said in awe. "Do you know that?"

"No." Gloriosa said, as she shook her head. "You don't even know me."

"Ahh…but I do, You like flowers, love to cook…Gloriosa." he watched her.

Gloriosa thought back, then looked at him. "You…you were the bird…that flacon."

Knowing it wasn't a question he answered anyway, he nodded. "I was."

Gloriosa she looked at him as she felt a shiver run down her spine, "What do you want from me?" She didn't like the thought of someone knowing things about her. Yet she had no idea about him except the fact that he was a Greek god. 'What did I do to have him stalk me to a point like this?' she thought.

"How did you do it? I shot you with two of my arrows and-you were immune to them…I believe I'm in love."

Gloriosa thought for a moment, then said "You don't love me, You're infatuated with me…that's all."

Eros looked at her for a moment. "I really do love you," he insisted.

Gloriosa shook her head, "You love me for what I am able to do…not for who I am."

"I can grow to lov-"

"No you can't!" she yelled, "Eros you don't love me."

She looked at him, then she turned away from him and headed back towards the path. Where she knew it would lead back to her house, and her mother. She heard him called after her, but she wanted nothing to do with the Greek god. A god of love who doesn't know the meaning of the word love. She moved her ember colored hair of her face as she headed back to her home. She then caught the sound of flapping, and she knew then that he was following her. "You don't love me Eros!" she continued to look ahead. "You are not capable of loving someone!"

"If you don't believe me that I am in love with you…then let me tell you that I can make you immortal. You can live with me in the heavens. You can live forever…" he tried to pursue her.

She shook her head, "No, I want to be with some one I love…I want to live a normal life..with a normal family. I won't give up my family to be with you!" she said as she ran faster, and away from him. "Just. Leave. Me. Alone!" she yelled back at him.

Eros stopped in mid flight, he felt his wings dissipate and he dropped in a crouch. He watched her disappear deeper into the woods. He slowly stood, a sadness of longing filled him and he felt a sharp pang in his heart. He realized that he had lost something really important, and he wont be able to get it back. He turned around and looked up at the heavens, then glanced behind him to see if his beauty was there, but it was only a leaf in the wind. The made his wings appear, then he flew back to the place he called home.

For years Eros watched Gloriosa. He watched her with her friends, he watched her play with the kids in the village, watched her visit the gardens. He watched her get married, have plenty of children. The hardest part was watching her grow old. She was only married once, and they were truly in love. Sometimes he even caught her glancing up at the heavens, knowing she was thinking of him, Even though they weren't fond memories she still thought of him. Today she was turning 87, he had heard rumors of who the Fates would pluck the string from next. She was one of them, he understood what this meant. He got up from where he sat on the cloud, and he removed his bow and quiver and placed it onto the bench. Then he walk to the edge of the clouds and jumped, he felt his wings spring forth as he formed himself as a falcon, and he flew to her home. The one she always lived in. He heard the cries of mourning as he came close to the house, knowing now that she was gone from how the people called out her name. He flew to the window, to see her one last time. He saw her in the bed, her husband holding her, her children and friends surrounding the bed crying out in prayers for their mother and beloved friend. Eros looked at her once more, before he flew to the gardens the place she loved the most.

There he materialized into his normal form. He headed over to the oak tree, and kneeled down by the bench. He stuck out his hand, and let it glow. Earlier he made a request of Chloris (Flower goddess)to let him use some of her power, to make something for the person he knew he loved.

His hand glowed and a whitish-gold glittery substance poured from his hand, and onto the grass. The poured it along the front of the bench, then he stopped. He watched as the glittery substance formed vines around the bench, and bushes of a yellow with red flowers. He felt something wet fall onto his cheek, he looked up and noticed that there was no rain clouds in the night sky. But then he felt another drop on his other cheek, he rubbed his hand over the wet spot and he felt more liquid pool onto his fingertip. He then noticed that this had come from no cloud at all, he was crying.

He felt the familiar pang in his heart, he swore he felt something break inside. He heard voices in the distance, he plucked a few of the beautiful flowers. Then from a mist his wings appeared, and he flew back to Mt. Olympus.

The yellow and red represents Gloriosa's ember colored hair. The seeds on the outside of the flower represent a barrier, signifying not to get to close. The oil (poison) from this plant signifies her attitude, for that of its deadly toxins. Eros created this magnificent flower to symbolize his forever love to Gloriosa.

Another reason was for it was only for him, and the blood ties to Gloriosa would be immune to it's toxins. The Superba is the name of this flower, I chose it because it was to show that she was immune to Eros golden and iron arrows. To show that he was impressed. But on another note I just wanted to show that not every god, gets what he or she wants.

** Gloriosa Superba: (Fire lily) Although it's a beautiful flower this is a flower that is not to be messed with. Some of the side effects to this plant are; multi system organ failure, death, respiratory depression, confusion, seizures, coma, and is deadly if eaten. Be sure to wash your hands after handling this plant because the Gloriosa Superba can cause skin irritations.