Chapter 6: Zeus Receive a Letter from Hades
On Mount Olympus there were many Gods and Goddess going on about their immortal lives. They were happy with how the day was going. But the King of the Gods was not in a good mood. He was going to have a little chat with the "terror twins" as he called them. Also he was having problems with Hermes. The mighty Zeus felt a hint of guilt for keeping his favorite immortal son away from the boy that he loves. But as king of mortals and gods he has to show that he still has power of the other gods.
The throne room doors opened to view two teen male gods. Zeus looked at boys and saw the boys looking at him waiting. Deimos had nothing of Aphrodite in him. Zeus had always told Hera that he was looking at Ares as a young godling. But Phobos had a lot of Aphrodite in him. The only two things that he had of his father were his hands and his personality. Other than that he was all his mother. The boys bowed to their grandfather with respect. "You wanted to see us great grandfather Zeus?" The boys said.
Zeus stood up from his throne and went to the boys. As he walked up to the boys they took their eyes off Zeus and looked down the hall. Zeus knew to every well whom the boys were looking at. Ares would not let the twins out of his view even if his father wanted to talk to them. This angered Zeus more and he took a hold of the twins by the arms and pulled them into the throne room. With the other hand slammed the doors shut.
The War God did not like this one bit. His father had no right to hold his son's like that. No one touches his twins like that! Not even his own father! As Ares' began to walk to the throne room a goddess took a hold of his arm.
"It will not be wise to upset father more than he is already. The twins will be fine Ares." A gray-eyed goddess said to him. Ares pulled his arm away as quick as he could from his half-sister, Athena. His fire eyes looked upon Athena's calm gray ones; he did not want to deal with her right now.
"Do not touch me Athena! I am still mad at you for finding a weakness in my army. This is going to take me forever to fix. And I know how much he hates my boys. You say that they will be fine, but you never had father's hatred upon you." Ares said looking down upon his sister Athena who nodded her head at her brother. She had to agree with her brother. She had never had the hatred of her father upon her. He was upset with her for disobeying him during that little insist with the Trojans. But that was a story all of it's own.
She looked at her brother and let go of his right arm. "Let me talk to father. I can calm him down so he's not to hard on the boys." Athena said walking to the throne room doors. She opened the doors and saw that the boys were in front of her father. "Father may I have a word?" Athena asked walking in and bowing to her father. The twins turned from Zeus and bowed to Athena.
"Good evening Aunt Athena how are you." Deimos and Phobos said together bowing to her. Athena smiled at her favorite nephews. She never told anyone that the eldest children of Ares and Aphrodite were her favorite from their brothers and sisters. Also she would never say to her brother.
"I am fine boys. How are you?" Athena asked them.
"We are good my Lady." The boys said together. Athena remembered them very well when they were younger. They were never apart from each other. They were good brothers that would always be there for each other.
Zeus looked to Athena taking his eyes off the twins. "What is that you want to talk about my dear daughter?" Zeus asked Athena. Athena took her eyes off the twins and swept her gray eyes upon her father's stormy blue eyes.
"Father, I know that you are mighty, but I must advice you not to be too hard on the twins. I feel that the boys will listen to you my great father." Athena said looking into her father's eyes. The twins were looking from Athena to Zeus to see who would speak next.
Zeus was looking at Athena with a serious expansion upon his face. He was about to say something to Athena. Then Hermes came flying into the room with a letter in his right hand. Zeus looked up from Athena and gave Hermes a sad smile. The god had not been his happy go lucky self. The king of the gods had felt that the punishment was maybe too hard, but to go back on his word would make the other gods think that he was going soft.
Hermes looked at his father with sad brown eyes and looked down at the marble floor. He will not look at his father or the three others in the room. "I have a letter for you father. It's from the Underworld, but it is not from Lord Hades." Hermes said flying up to his father's face and gave him the letter. He bowed his head to his father. "I have a few more letters to give out then I will be back on Mount Olympus, by the time Apollo's duty will be done." Hermes said to Zeus. Zeus gave a nod to Hermes who took off out of the throne room. Zeus did not see the single tear that came down from Hermes' eyes. Athena felt bad for her brother. She knew that this was hard for him to stay away from that mortal that he fell in love.
"Athena." Zeus said trying to get his daughter's attention. Athena looked away from her where her brother was and looked upon her father. She walked up to her father and looked at him. He looked at her wanting advice from her. "Do you think that I am too hard on Hermes?" Zeus asked his daughter.
Athena wanted to tell her father that it was cruel what he was doing to Hermes. But she knew it was good for her brother. "I feel that he will learn from this father. He must understand that his duty as a god comes first, then his sexual feelings comes later." Athena said to her father. The twins were still standing there waiting for Zeus to say anything to the both of them.
"Grandfather Zeus may we go back to father?" Phobos asked Zeus. Deimos stood a little closer to his brother. He was the oldest of the pair and always wanted to make sure no harm comes to Phobos. He will never say this to anyone but Zeus was the only one he feared more than his own father. He knows that his father would never hurt him or Phobos, but he could not say that about Zeus. He wanted to hold his brother's hand, but he did not want his brother to think that he was scared. Many people would think that he had the hot's for his brother, but that was not true. He could not live his immortal life without his brother. They just shared a close bond and nothing more then that. Oh yeah and they sleep in the same bed. But do not judge the sons of Ares. It will be the last thing you will ever do. Just to give a fair warning. Do not say I did not warn you. Now back to the story.
Zeus looked up and took his right hand off his throne arm and motions the boys to come forward. "Remember what I told you boys. If I hear from her mother that you are making fun of your brother, Eros I will punishment you two do you understand me?" Zeus asked the twins. The boys nodded their heads at Zeus.
"Grandfather Zeus may we now go back to our father?" Phobos asked again. Deimos took a hold of his brother hand looking at Zeus. Zeus gave the boys a look. But he did not say anything to them. He gave Athena the letter and looked back to the boys. He looked at the boys and nodded his head and with a wave of his right hand telling the boys that they could go. They bowed to Zeus and Athena and turned to walk to the door where their father was.
Ares looked at the boys opening his arms for his sons. Now Ares did show them love and affectation to his twins. They were his pride and joy. Even when one of the twins got sick he would go into their bedroom just to make sure that there was nothing wrong. Whispering words of "I love you", "get well my little warrior", or the most hardest thing for the boys to hear from their father was this "daddy will protect my baby." To the twins this had always embarrassed them so much. They were happy that their father did not show his affectionate side to them that much. The boys did have a reputation to keep. As I like to call them, The Phobia Twins. If you know the myths about them then you will know why I call them that. Sorry back to the story.
"Daughter what should I do about this?" Zeus asked the Goddess of Wisdom. Athena looked at the letter to read what the letter said.
Dear Mighty Lord Zeus,
I, Melinoe, chthonic nymph have important information for you. Your brother, Lord Hades has gone on a little break from the dead, and has left me in charge of the Underworld. If you wish for me to come to the meetings then I will take Hades place until he returns.
I will be waiting for your return letter my Lord Zeus. I hope that I can make my Lord Hades proud of me that I was able to do my duty for the Underworld.
Yours deadly truly
Melinoe
"Father this does not sound right. Lord Hades would not leave her in control of the Underworld. But I am not sure I can give advice on this father. The only thing I can say is to watch Melinoe closely in the meetings." Athena said giving the letter back to her father.
"I will write a letter to Melinoe that she can come to the meetings I wonder why my brother would not allow the young dragon or Thanatos to watch the Underworld?" Zeus asked Athena.
Athena looked into her father's eyes to answer his question. "I am not sure father. Maybe Uncle did not think that Castor could not take care of the Underworld. And maybe Thanatos is too busy with his duties to watch the Underworld. I must take my leave father. I will be at my temple in Athens." Athena said taking a bow to Zeus and walks away.
Zeus smiled a little at Athena. Looked down at the note and began to write a replay back to Melinoe.
Dear Melinoe,
I am writing to you from the letter that you send me. I have done some great thinking about what you have written me. As you well know that Lord Hades is only allowed to come to Mount Olympus on the winter solstice, the darkest time of the year. But with the advice of Lady Athena, I have come to agreement to allow you in my brother place to come to the meetings. I will see you, Melinoe at the end of next mouth.
I will also talk to you about why my brother, your Lord Hades did not tell me that he was going on vacation. I hope the dead are treating you well. If you need any help remember that Thanatos will able to help you child. I am surprised that Hades gave you this great chance to prove yourself.
Yours truly,
Zeus, King of the Gods
Zeus felt there was something wrong about this, but put the idea in the back of his mind. Hades did need a break from his duty. But Zeus wishes Hades had said something to him before going off. His brother was going to hear it when he got back. But if only Zeus knew the true story of what happen to his older brother.
"But why do I still have a sickening feeling that something is not right? Maybe Melinoe may give me the answer that I need to stop warring about this." Zeus said folding up the note. He was going to give it to Hermes tomorrow. All he had to do was wait until next month. Then he will know once and for all if he has anything to worry about.
