TWILIGHT'S MOURNING
by Joe Thomas
Disclaimers: Although Aphrodite belongs to Greek Myth, the character is owned by Universal Studios and Renaissance Pictures. I'm only borrowing her for some boredom alleviation.
Spoilers: This fic takes place closely following the 5th season finale "Motherhood" and contains spoilers for that episode.
Note: I'm writing this work as a stand alone, however I could be persuaded to continue. Depending on how much feedback I get at thealy2@mindspring.com. All flames will be immediately deleted
Olympus stood silent...almost.
Aphrodite moved quietly through the grand palace which once held court to the most powerful beings to walk to the earth, even though she knew no one was there to hear. The feeling of dread washed over her. Xena, Eve and Gabrielle had left candle marks ago, leaving the few remaining Olympic gods to pick up the pieces.
She thought of Cupid and his wife and son. Thankfully they were content to face the end with composure, never raising a hand against Xena's daughter.
Few of the other gods had agreed with Cupid: Hermes, Triton, Hestia, Demeter, Proteus even Lachrymose had decided to accept their fate. She took small comfort in the knowledge, at least she wasn't the last surviving God of Olympus.
Sure, she had almost been happy to see Discord and Deimos go, she did feel a little sad when Hades was killed. For Hephaestus, she felt numb, she stopped feeling anything for him when he announced Xena's and Gabrielle's deaths with pride, knowing how close she and the bard were. She wondered what had become of Apollo, the coward was probably hiding under a rock someplace, he had disappeared almost immediately after Hera did.
As she turned the corner, although she had braced herself, nothing had prepared her for the sight before her. Two female figures lay sprawled on the blood-stained marble floor. No matter how much rivalry had passed between her and her sisters, she still loved them and couldn't help feel the tremendous pain of seeing them slain.
The numbness she felt quickly gave way for tears. She looked at her fallen sisters and screamed her grief; some say the cry was heard as far away as the eastern border of Chin. She fell to her knees, clasped her hands over her mouth and wept.
Not caring about decorum, she crawled to the first; who had two of her own arrows still sticking in her.
"Artie." She sobbed.
She summoned up two pallets. Deciding to move the bodies herself, rather than using her powers, she lay the moon goddess' body flat on the first one, carefully removed the arrows from her body, gently kissed her forehead, and closed her unseeing eyes.
Her vision blurred as she moved to the other figure and proceeded to move the body of Athena next to her sister and repeat the procedure on the second pallet.
Aphrodite sat on the floor, between her sisters, crying. Hoping they could hear her thoughts, as she started speaking them aloud.
"I'm sorry, guys. I wish it didn't have to be this way. I would give anything if it didn't have to be this way. I asked you...begged you to meet with Gabrielle, if you had... you might still be around to argue which of us looks better naked." a brief glimmer of a smile touched Aphrodite's face. "If you had met with her, you would understand why I chose her ov..er..you... I'm so sorry." She hid her face in her hands and wept, "What have I wrought to my sisters?" she spoke into her hands, "I killed them. I shouldn't have brought Xena here, It's my fault."
Unable to continue any form of coherent thought, she stood and slowly walked to the "tapestry of time" as Zeus had called it. Through tear-blurred vision, she looked at the images floating around the abyss. Finding her first memory of her and her sisters. Memories of them arguing about who had the better looking temples or who had the most worshipers.
To outward appearances, her and her sisters weren't that close, but there were times when they had gone to the bard's academy and watched the students audition. Other times they had practiced cosmetic techniques on each other. She remembered seeing Athena's fascination with a young Ilainus and giving a little push to get them together. Often she had gone along with Artemis for her amazon's "raids" to ensure cooperation from the "victims"
She remembered the constant cycle of bickering and reconciliation, even going as far as all three attempting to bribe Hercules' friend Iolaus in an attempt to prove who was the most beautiful. Afterwards all three spent the week having a good laugh at his overactive libido. There were many happy memories of spending nights on Olympus just engaging in goddess "girl talk"
She turned away from the abyss and headed back toward her fallen sisters, her eyes never leaving the floor. She felt she had done right, but it didn't make the pain or the guilt any more bearable. She dreaded the thought that they died thinking she hated them. She gathered as much composure as she could muster, lovingly gathered Artemis' bow and Athena's sword and moved to the grand hall. She needed to compose two letters before she summoned Hermes.
She had two burials to plan.