CHAPTER XI

AUTHORS NOTE: I am so incredibly sorry that I haven't updated in such a long time! I went on holiday and then I came back and got swamped with work so things got crazy. I'm going to try and update as regularly as I can now :)

BUT before you start reading, I saw this awesome picture the other day which I thought reminded me of my Ares and Athena quite a bit :)

art/Athena-x-Ares-343291655

Aphrodite stood at her window, hands clasped behind her back. She stared vacantly over the grounds of her palace. A fruit and vegetable garden was being tended to carefully by a group of beautiful servants. The horses in her stable neighed nonchalantly at the warm morning and birds fluttered past her window, singing their sweet songs to her. The sunlight streamed through her windows casting a rosy-gold light over her skin.

With those vacuous black eyes, she stared vacantly over the grounds of her palace. The way she did all too often now.

She was utterly consumed by her thoughts. Her servants and Graces hardly saw her anymore, and despite their growing concerns, none dared to approach her.

So far, her binding to Styx had no visible physical effects. Aphrodite was no less beautiful that she was before the binding, and quite possibly, she had become more beautiful and radiant since then. No, her appearance hadn't changed she was glad to know. But something deep within her was changing – morphing, darkening with each passing morning.

How was it possible? How was it possible that Athena had caught Ares' eye only now? After all these centuries Aphrodite had Ares eating out the palm of her hand, kissing and cherishing the ground she walked on. How was it possible that Aphrodite was losing?

There was none more beautiful than her, none more radiant and sensual. It was impossible that Athena – a mere toy soldier for Zeus – had caught the attention of Ares.

Aphrodite's thought process went on, going around in circles, winding up the dark creation deep within her. Aphrodite had thousands of gods, goddesses and humans willing to do her bidding without so much of a thought, but that concept did not enter her mind once as she stood at her window. No, she could only focus on the one she was losing, amongst the millions that she still had.

Aphrodite tried everything she could. She thought perhaps, that if she seduced Athena into becoming hers, Ares would be reminded of her power and sensuality, and would slip right into her grasp once more. That didn't work though. Athena was repulsed by her. By her of all people.

Aphrodite grimaced, her expression darkening.

Zeus' dirty, smutty, ungraceful toy soldier was repulsed by her – the gem of Olympus.

None could escape Aphrodite's influence. None could make anyone else escape from Aphrodite's influence.

Aphrodite looked down at her hand. She could see the veins that ran through her wrists were swollen and throbbing. She clasped her wrist with her other hand. She winced, an eye beginning to twitch.

It was starting again.

Aphrodite staggered to her bed and collapsed on it before she had time to stop herself. That sensation started again. Her muscles tensed, her veins felt like they were about to burst as her body convulsed. Shutting her eyes she tried to breathe deeply, even as she felt her chest close up and collapse. She stifled a cry through gritted teeth, panting like an animal. Foam brewed in the back of her throat as saliva dripped from her teeth and lips relentlessly. Only a few more seconds, she told herself, her body writhing ruthlessly.

And then it was over. As soon as it started it was over.

Aphrodite slowly sat up, wiping away at her mouth. She pushed herself up off the bed and walked to the window and stood there silently, her hands clasped behind her back.

With those vacuous black eyes, she stared vacantly over the grounds of her palace.

On the other side of Olympus, Athena sat on her balcony, contently sipping a cup of warm mint tea. She watched the eagles circle the sky, their wings lit with a soft golden light as the sun bathed them in its glow. She listened to her owls hoot softly within the temple, exhausted from a night of hunting.

Athena was feeling more like herself than ever right now. She had spent part of the night and most of the early morning doing training and battle exercises, but really it wasn't much fun without a sparring partner. Which made her, quite ashamedly she would admit, think of Ares.

The Psy-Syn had surprisingly not disrupted her way of living as much as she thought it would. She didn't need to see much of Ares unless it was completely necessary and Ares had managed to behave and keep his distance from her for quite some time. What was more was that now that the work load was split between the two, Athena had more time to herself to train, meditate, hunt, advise and more importantly – think. It came to Athena's attention that when she didn't have time to think to herself, she became a reckless mess.

Athena took the last sip of her mint tea and the leaves clung to the bottom of the cup.

She sighed a sigh of satisfaction. Yes, thinking. She finally had some time to think.

Athena rested her head in one hand and twirled her empty tea cup in the other.

In that moment she thought of Ares. She wondered how he was.

Ares climbed the hundreds of stairs leading up to the entrance of Hermes' temple. By the time he arrived at the huge arches that welcomed him, he was huffing, out of breath.

'My word,' he said aloud, stretching his back. A servant fluttered towards him, bowing before his feet.

'Great Ares,' she said, a messenger scroll rolled up under her arm, 'welcome to the temple of Hermes. May I take you to my master, sir?' Ares, still out of breath, nodded.

'Please do.' The servant rose and humbly escorted Ares into the temple.

Hermes' temple was placed high on a mountain, not too far from Zeus' Palace. Seldom did Hermes ever actually stay in his own temple, as he was always out running errands and delivering messages for Zeus, but whenever he was at his temple he never needed to worry about the lengthy set of stairs leading to it. His winged sandals took care of that.

'Master Hermes,' the servant dropped to the floor in a low bow as she arrived at the administration office of Hermes' temple. Hermes' sat, looking exhausted and swamped with messages and documents.

'A guest for you sir. The Great Ares.' She said and Ares entered the huge airy office. Huge columns created the parameter of the room, but one could view the rest of Olympus through the spaces the columns created between themselves. The sun cast a radiant and glorious glow over the open room, lighting every piece of parchment piled on every table.

Hermes looked up with a great amount of surprise.

'Ah, Ares, how are you?' he said, signalling Ares to come over.

'Couldn't be better,' Ares said, hardly implying it, 'how about you?'

'Could be better,' Hermes said, pushing aside a few scrolls, 'could get some sleep.'

'Well then let me not distract you from your work for too long,' Ares placed his hand on Hermes' shoulder, 'might I ask you a favour?'

'Of course,' Hermes turned to him.

'I want to travel to the underworld to chat to an old friend. I hear you have a pass that can open up a portal for me?'

'And old friend,' Hermes frowned, 'who do you want to talk to there?' Hermes, realising what he said, bit his lip. He may have just touched a sensitive spot.

'Oh…,' he said slowly, 'you mean Deimos and Phobos…'

'No,' Ares said, averting his gaze, 'and besides Zeus has prohibited my communication with them since the end of the Trojan War. The god I plan to see is Hades.'

Hermes furrowed his brow.

'You're probably aware of the recent beast attacks on Olympus and the circumstances surrounding them. The theory is that their being spawned, and the only one who is–'

'I'm aware of that yes,' Hermes nodded and turned away, 'but I'm afraid speaking to him might not be of any use. I tried it myself.'

'Under the orders of Zeus?'

'Yes.'

'I thought so,' Ares sighed, looking out over Olympus, 'Hades is almost hard-wired to ignore or do the exact opposite of anything Zeus says, does or – more importantly – asks for. That's why I'm going there on my own accord. I'm hoping he'll listen to reason.'

'Do you really think you can convince him to stop this?'

Ares looked down at Hermes and smiled. He wouldn't tell Hermes what he really thought would happen. Or what he really thought at all.

'You needn't be concerned Hermes. So can you open up that portal for me?'

'Well…' Hermes glanced around hesitantly. He was more concerned about whether or not Zeus would be happy about this. Ares was known for causing a lot of trouble when he acted on his own accord, but his trickery had been at a minimum over the last few weeks so…

Hermes rummaged through the mess of scrolls, tipping some over the edge of his desk.

'Ah…got it.' He said, drawing out from the scattered scrolls, a silver badge. Engraved on the front was a pair of wings, similar to the ones found on Hermes' sandals. Hermes tossed it up into the air and caught it again.

'My trusty Winged Pass,'

The Winged Pass is one of the few passes created by Hades to allow the god or goddess in possession of the pass, to open a portal to the underworld at any time and any place. The only passes known to have been handed out are the Queens Pass for Persephone, The Oceans Pass for Poseidon and the Lightning Pass for Zeus. The Lightning Pass was then converted into the Winged Pass so that Zeus wouldn't have to leave Olympus to deliver a message. That task would be set upon Hermes instead.

'Now before you go…' Hermes pulled a large book out from under the piles of other books, scrolls and parchment, 'I am going to have to record your venture in this book. Only people who own passes can pass through the worlds without being recorded or detected unfortunately, borrowing a pass from another person does not count.' Ares nodded slowly.

'Interesting…so you've been put in charge of all of the portals then?'

'Yes!' Hermes grinned, looking very impressed with himself, 'I have devices and trinkets that allow me to know when someone from Olympus enters and returns from the underworld. Unfortunately, that does not work the same vice versa. So when I am made aware of someone entering a portal, I log it here. It was a system Zeus put into place a while ago.'

'I see,' Ares said, peering into the book over Hermes' head, 'very interesting…very clever…wait. Flip back a few pages.'

'What? What have you seen?' Hermes turned back a page and then another until Ares caught his hand. Ares stared at the page and frowned.

'Aphrodite,' he muttered to himself, 'what was Aphrodite doing visiting the underworld?'

'I'm not sure actually. Gods and goddesses aren't obligated to divulge in their business down there.'

Ares stared at the page, hardly hearing Hermes at all.

What was Aphrodite doing in the underworld? What business did she have there?

Hermes scooted his chair back and Ares stepped away.

'Come on. Enough chit-chat. Let's get you to the underworld!'

Hades sat, much like Athena, enjoying a cup of tea. But this was a cup of black tea – pomegranate to be more specific – which he sipped on indulgently. He sighed, tossing one leg over the other and bouncing his foot up and down, humming to himself.

He hummed quietly, stopping only to take a sip before starting up again.

He stopped abruptly at one moment, and not to sip his tea. He put his tea cup down and rolled his eyes, pushing himself off of his thrown and disappearing into the air.

'I don't know whether I should gut Charon and Cerberus for allowing you all in here, or if I should just approach Zeus myself, and ask him why he keeps sending all of his lapdogs to my palace. None of you are dead. So what do you want?' Hades voice rang through the palace. Ares' hairs stood up on the back of his neck. He emerged from the darkness, exerting his confidence.

'Why do you have to be so hostile Hades? You and I…we've always been friends, haven't we?'

Silence.

'Aren't you going to show yourself to me?' Ares said grinning and pacing the room. Ares heard Hades sigh, and felt a cold gust of wind come over him.

'What do you want Ares? I was enjoying a bit of peace and quiet before you came…'

'Peace and quiet? Is that so? Well, we can't get any of that in Olympus anymore. Not after all of your tricks…sending your pets after us.' Ares heard an eerie and ephemeral chuckle.

'What makes you think I'm sending them after you all? Sometimes they just escape you know…'

'You can't be doing your job properly then, can you?' Another chilling and velvety chuckle.

'It's not my fault. It's Tartarus. He doesn't give them any leg room in there. Sometimes they just need to get out for a stretch. Don't tell me they've been causing you too much trouble have they?' Hades sounded awfully playful. Evidently he wasn't taking this seriously at all.

Ares laughed bitterly.

'Ha! That Basilisk was quite the beast wasn't it?' Ares glanced around the dark room. He could feel Hades moving along the walls, but he couldn't pinpoint him.

'Mm,' Hades' voice hummed, 'I think I should take up creature breeding as a hobby actually. Then I'll send them to Zeus and see whether or not he likes them. Did she do you and your men any harm?'

'A few of my men suffered under her attacks. It was Athena who saw the worst of it really.'

'That's a pity,' Hades made a 'tisk' noise, 'I hope she's alright, I quite like Athena.'

'Is that so?'

'Well…probably not as much as you like her.' For the first time Hades saw a look of surprise on Ares' face. Ares' broke out into a wide grin and couldn't help chuckling.

'You are quite informed aren't you Hades?' Ares wiggled his finger in the air.

'Really quite informed,'

Ares glanced at Hades' thrown slowly made his way to its base.

'You know I really can't be serious with you Hades.'

'Why's that?'

'You and I are too alike. And you have an impressive sense of humour.'

'You are too kind, Ares.' Hades said, and Ares laughed. He strode up the steps to Hades' thrown, taking two at a time. With a twirl he landed in the thrown, throwing his leg over the other and making himself comfortable. Noticing the fruit bowl resting on the arm of Hades' thrown, he picked up one of the pomegranates and inspected it, tossing it about.

'You and I have a common enemy Hades, that is why we are so alike,' Ares held the pomegranate in the air, addressing Hades' transient presence, 'may I? Or will I have to marry you?'

'Very witty. A common enemy you say?'

'Yes,' Ares broke open the pomegranate, scooping out a few juicy segments with his finger, 'and we're even more so alike in that our 'common enemy' who once cast us out as riff-raff uses us now as pawns in his game. I can't stand it. I can't stand it at all.'

'Your Daddy makes you cross sometimes. Boo-hoo. I don't see how that makes us alike.'

'I know. My hatred for him could never match the festering resentment within you that's just been brewing and rotting for millennia. You and you alone, truly know what it means to hate.'

A silence filled the air in which Ares slurped what was left of the pomegranate. His hand reached for the cup of tea Hades had left. Suddenly Hades' appeared before him, snatching the cup of tea before he had a chance to even touch it.

Hades' dark eyes fixed on Ares as he sipped the tea slowly. Ares looked up at him, almost regretting sitting in his thrown now.

'You know…if you want to cause a little bit of trouble, we can work together…or I could cover for you at least. You don't have to go at this alone.'

Hades continued to watch Ares as he slurped on the last of his tea.

He held out the empty tea cup and dropped it on Ares' lap.

'Tepid. Like your proposal,' Hades' knelt in toward Ares, making sure the distance between them was minimal, 'Ambition, is the word. You can't aspire to escape being one man's lapdog, by becoming another man's lapdog. "I could cover for you at least…" how sweet.'

'What exactly are you planning, Hades?' Ares said, staring into Hades' eyes, perplexed.

Hades' grabbed the collar of Ares' jacket and hoisted him up.

'To that question,' Hades said in a deadly low voice, 'I shall answer with another question. Tell me Ares, how far will you allow your ambition to take you?'