His body was cold and still. No longer the strong, passionate man she knew. Breath caught in her throat but still it hadn't hit her. Her mind wouldn't let her except that he was….
She ran a finger down his cheek and traced his chin. She desperately wanted him to catch her hand in his large calloused ones and twine his fingers through hers. She wanted to feel the slight scruff on his chin abraisively rub the tender skin on her neck as he held her from behind and buried his face in the crook of her neck just to smell her wild scent.
Her finger traced his lips that she remembered forming her name in prayer and in a lovers husky whisper. He always praised her as the greatest huntress even when his own skill matched hers. Never before had she found someone who was so enjoyable to hunt with. Always before, she would have to keep in check her own skill so her partner wouldn't be outshone. With him, she could use all of her skills and power and he would match her step by step almost reading her mind as they worked in synch. She wouldn't let her mind remember the soft kisses that he would sprinkle on her face or the way when his lips met hers in the deepest of embraces it would always end when she felt him smile. "I can't help myself," he would always defend himself. "I am the luckiest man who ever graced the earth. I just can't believe my good fortune that blinded you the day you saw me. Elsewise, you'd never look at me twice, let alone let me kiss you."
He was so patient with her, he knew she was a virgin. Who didn't? He knew that she was scared of anything that resembled Aphrodite's work, even if she'd never admit she was scared of anything. He never rushed her. He always waited until she was ready for the next step. It took months and months of casual touches to finally relax enough to let him hug her. Let alone anything else. And she was finally ready to give everything to him. To tell him that she loved him and tell him that he no longer need to walk on tiptoes around her. She wanted him to rush her. She wanted him. She even went to Zeus, her father, to tell him that she was forsaking the status of virgin goddess. She would no longer be the protectoress of maidens as she would no longer be one.
Her finger traced down his neck and his strong chest that still held the color of sun-kissed skin but was somehow dimmer. It didn't have the glow of life anymore, leaving it slightly grey and emaciated even though the skin was still taunt over strong muscles. Another gasp of air threatened to escape her throat in a sob but she caught it before it left her mouth.
She wanted him to smile at her, that slow sweet smile that he saved only for her. The one that made his face glow because he was in love with a goddess. She wanted to smile back at him with the same smile that made her eyes sparkle as she blessed Eros and all of his deeds.
She wanted to take back all the blessing she wished on Eros. She wanted to damn him to the worst pit in Tartarus as her heart seized in her chest and made her want to die. Her body was betraying her. Her hand that was normally so steady as she pulled back an arrow on a bow, her hand was shaking and pale as it traced the contours of his body. She closed her eyes as she forced down another gasp of air that threatened to ruin all of her control. Her body shook for a moment and her hand slipped and met sticky, drying liquid. When she opened her eyes, her fingers were red.
This time she couldn't stop it. The sobs exploded from her and made her whole body shake with the uncontrollable power of her love. The tears flooded down her face and the cries that left her lips were hoarse and pained. Never before had she felt such pain. As a goddesss, pain was something of an anomaly, and nothing prepared her for this pain. She wanted to rip her own heart out as it was the source of all her pain, she felt it ripping apart in her chest and never again would it be the same.
She felt his presence before she heard or saw him. She always knew when he was around. Something in her always alerted her. "Oh, sister." His voice was barely audible even though he was right behind her.
Through her sobs she was able to gasp, "This…. This was… hic… your fault!"
"I had to, Artemis. You are a goddess of maidens. You can't betray who you are. You can't forsake your role. Even love can't be your excuse to abandon who you are. I had to. You loved him too much. You were in danger of ruining everything." Apollo's voice was as soft and slow as when he spoke to the skittish creatures of his sister's territory.
Her sobs increased and she buried her face into the cold skin of her lover's body.
"I am so sorry, Artemis. I had hoped you would never feel love. It's the strongest of emotions and can ruin lives so much easier than it glorifies them. I love you, 'Mis. Please, forgive me." Apollo's voice was breaking as he watched the pain he put his sister through. She knew his own heart was breaking just as hers was. She remembered when he came running to her with tears and pain when his first love ended in failure. Artemis knew that Apollo's mind was resting on painful memories of Daphne even as he tried to focus on the pain in front of him.
Artemis turned from his still body and barreled into her twins arms. She pounded furiously on his strong chest that was startling warm in comparison. Her tears and sobs left her with no strength, though, and soon just sagged in her brothers embrace. Apollo, with empathetic tears running down his own cheeks, hugged his normally strong sister tightly and whispered comforts into her ear.
"We'll put him in the sky, 'Mis," Apollo rubbed her back comfortingly, "So you can always look up into the sky and see him there. Always know that he is looking down at you. So the world can see what an amazing hunter he was. So they know he was good enough to trap the heart of a goddess."
Artemis nodded her approval and together the two used the power that resided in their divinity to raise his body from the ground and place him in the sky above. The two standing together; Dark and light, day and night, together elevating him to the celestials. He shined gloriously bright and clear in the dark sky.
Artemis left the circle of her brothers embrace to look up at the man she loved, now shining like one of the gods in the sky. Her heart still ached and made her whole body feel like she was in pain. Somehow, though, seeing him twinkling in the stars above instead of cold on the ground before her was better. Made her feel like he hadn't died in vain and that he might be comforted to know how he was treated in death. She reached up towards him one last time, knowing if he could he would have reached down and swept her up so they would be together.
"Good-bye my only love." She whispered into the dark and then turned to go back to Apollo's comfort. No matter what he had done, he was her twin, her other half, her opposite. She would forgive him.