Author's Note: So my main goal with posting this story here is to keep a few chapters ahead of the publishing. It gives me time to go back and fix a few things before putting it up or rushing back to change something that affects a later chapter. But lately (as I'm sure you've noticed), the chapters have become very long, so it's getting more difficult to keep a few ahead. :) Perhaps I should just post them all at once, hmm? Hehe. Anyway, I hope you guys don't mind long winded chapters but they're only growing from here!
Zeus really hadn't moved much since his fight with Hera. In his room, he was now in a desk chair leaning over a map of the planet that was in desperate need of an update. Certain continents were finished, such as Europe and Africa, but the gods were still amazed at the western half of the planet and how vastly it had expanded. That was where the map needed help and Zeus, rather than delegating such a task, simply sat and stared at it. The main problem was that he simply wasn't concerned with it at the moment – he was still trying to revisit their fight and figure out exactly what went wrong. Two thousands years ago, he would've shrugged off her rage and moved on but that was also because he always knew exactly why she was angry. Anywhere from the conception to a few months after a demigod's birth he would hear his name yelled down the hallway or feel all the gods vanish from the room as she approached. This time, however, it had nothing to do with his infidelity but apparently his fidelity. Frustrated, he swiped his arm across the desk and all of the items vanished through his arm into puffs of smoke only to reappear a few seconds later. His blue eyes glared at the items as they each appeared at random and he pushed his chair away from the desk, turning to the door to see his brother Poseidon. His eyes widened in surprise before narrowed again, his grumpy mood taking over.
"What?" he grumbled loudly as he crossed his arms, looking dangerously like a pouting child. Poseidon couldn't help but grin as he leaned against the doorframe and shrugged his shoulders.
"You seem troubled," he put kindly. Zeus leaned back in the chair that groaned as it leaned with him and he ran his fingers through his short, shrugging it off slightly. The relationship between the three brothers was difficult to describe: they were close and yet extremely distant. They constantly were aware of each other's feelings and moods, yet rarely discussed them or tried to fix any bad mood. They all had similar issues with controlling their rage that varied between each one but they always found the rage of the other one hilarious (only when Zeus had to fix whatever mistakes or damage his brothers created did he not find their rage amusing). Therefore it was no surprise that Poseidon was grinning at his brother who refused, immediately, to explain his mood.
"No more than usual," the thunder god joked in a private manner, as he was directly referring to his wife as opposed to anyone else. Raising his eyebrows high on his forehead, he decided changing the subject was the best choice for the moment. "I'm surprised you're still here."
"Ohh, Amphitrite is mad at me again," the sea god replied almost sounding bored with the information. Zeus was unable to hold back his annoyance and rolled his eyes, causing Poseidon to lean forward a bit more curious. "I flipped a navy boat over on the coast of the Philippines but when she sunk a cruise ship, I yelled at her. I'm better off up here for a few days."
"Hmph," Zeus scoffed, only mildly interested in the reason why. Poseidon and his wife fought constantly, something that was evident in the tumultuous oceans and angry waves. The source of the argument was always something menial, not worth the lives of mortals yet the pair didn't seem to care. Poseidon coolly shrugged off Zeus' disinterest and finally invited himself into the room, walking over to his brother's bed as he plopped onto it roughly.
"I take it you and Hera are at it again," he suddenly blurted out, causing Zeus to snap to his attention. Furrowing his eyebrows, Poseidon lifted his hands as if to give up, but let out a loud laugh instead. "Everyone knows, brother. Neither of you are subtle about it."
"She's impossible," Zeus sighed loudly, finally giving into admitting the situation since it was apparent anyway. Lifting his hand to his forehead, he rubbed his temple to soothe the headache she caused him before shaking his head. "I don't understand how you deal with it. You and Amphitrite fight much more than we do."
"I don't know about that," Poseidon muttered on instinct and though it had been clearly loud enough to be heard, Zeus decided to ignore it. Heaving a loud sigh, the sea god shrugged his shoulders as he leaned back on the bed. "You just have to remember that you love each other and you're bound together for eternity anyway, so deal with it." The laugh that erupted from Poseidon was deafening and near immediate after his comment, making it sound like the funniest joke of all time. He leaned back and cocked his head back slightly to let his laugh fill the ceiling as well. Zeus only cracked a small smile but it simply wasn't that funny.
"What lame joke did he crack this time?" Hades interrupted loud enough to be heard and for Poseidon to cease his laughter. Both of the brothers looked to the eldest of the three who had a small grin on his face. Poseidon huffed in offense while Zeus grinned as well and beckoned his brother in.
"I thought you would have left by now," Zeus mentioned almost as a side comment; not quite an apology for leaving him out, but close to questioning why indeed he was still around. Hades had rarely hung around Olympus enough to have conversations. The Lord of the Underworld walked in upon the beckons and as his brother flicked a wrist, a chair was created for him. He took it instantly as he glanced to his right and saw the door to the room close. Lifting an eyebrow, he shook his head with a small sigh.
"Persephone is pregnant," he moped.
Poseidon and Zeus looked to each other for a second, both exchanging knowing glances before turning to their brother for more information. Surely that wasn't enough to warrant his lingering but when Hades didn't add anymore, Poseidon burst into a laugh and Zeus lifted a hand to cover his face for a moment.
"What?" Hades asked with a slight confused look, trying not to be offended.
"You make that sound bad, brother," Zeus groaned, trying his best to hide his smile, as Poseidon's laugh was infectious.
"No, not bad. Just – uh," Hades looked up to the ceiling and waved a hand in the air, trying to come up with the words to describe it. "Different." Unfortunately for Hades, his inability to describe his problem with his situation caused Poseidon to laugh even louder and the sea god plummeted backwards onto the bed, filling the room with his magnanimous laughter. Zeus was unable to withstand the pressure anymore and his lips cracked as he started to laugh at his brother's lack of situation – at least in comparison to the two of them. Hades took in a deep breath, momentarily regretting joining the conversation but as the laughter beat against his ears, he too was unable to hold out and he cracked a smile, laughing under his breath at his own expense. The chorus of laughter started to die down with Poseidon first since his side was starting to hurt and he clutched it, pressing it down as he sat up and shook his head, looking to Hades.
"You should be happy!" he boomed as he reached his hand out and slapped his brother's shoulder, giving him a rough sort of congratulations. Hades winced slightly, leaning away from his brother as he took in a deep breath.
"I guess," he shrugged, still not entirely on board with the idea. "But it's another god in the Underworld that I could do without. And what if she's like Demeter?"
The pair immediately recognized the problem Hades was encountering: Demeter was an over possessive, overbearing and powerful mother. Everyone had seen it first hand when Persephone was born and especially when the two married. Zeus nodded empathetically and Poseidon grimaced at the idea of Persephone repeating her mother's actions. As the trio became silent, Poseidon looked awkwardly between the two before pointing a thumb at Zeus.
"He and Hera are fighting again," he announced, causing Zeus to glare at him and Hades to nod.
"Yeah, I heard," he tossed aside quietly.
"What?" Zeus boomed suddenly, now getting more annoyed that the word actually had spread that quickly. "What does she do, announce our problems down the halls?"
"No, but she doesn't hide it very well either," Hades muttered quietly, keeping his comments to a minimum. He wasn't the most talkative out of his three brothers and was the least likely to start problems, despite much of what people had come to think of him. Much of his annoyance with his siblings and family had come from the way they saw him and treated him; he belonged on Olympus just as much as anyone else (if not more) and became enraged at his mistreatment. Thankfully, since they had all awaken from the Sleep, it seemed no one had judged his presence on Olympus or questioned his traveling up so often and thus he had been remarkably calm and happy lately.
"So what is it this time? Who's pregnant?" Poseidon asked with a hint of childish curiosity, as if comparing notes.
"No one," Zeus loudly groaned as he leaned his head back and into the chair once more. Lifting his hands up to his face, he pressed his palms into his eyes and sighed loudly. "And we're still having problems!"
"I'm telling you, brother, let her mess around too. It'll solve all your problems," Poseidon replied with a shrug, completely ignoring the fact that Zeus did not admit to sleeping with anyone. The thunder god peeked at him from underneath his palms and narrowed his eyes.
"No," he said with deadly seriousness, like a warning to Poseidon to never bring it up again or try to implement that system himself.
"Are you kidding?" Hades asked with a raised eyebrow. "We are talking about Hera, right?"
"It works for Amphi and I," Poseidon tossed as a side fact, defending his idea. The idea sat in the air awkwardly for a moment as Hades and Zeus seemed to absorb the information before both realized exactly what he had said at the same time. Their eyes turned towards him and nearly simultaneously, they blurted out, "What?"
"What?" Poseidon asked defensively, jumping between looking at each other. It was difficult for the sea god to remember that while all three of them had been awake all this time, neither of the other two moved from their sleeping wives. Poseidon had the fortunate (or unfortunate, as he would say) pleasure of having his wife around all this time. Over the years he had come to realize many of their fights would subside if he had stopped cheating on her – or more advantageously for her, they agreed to mutually cheat on each other. Though in reality their fights had not changed in frequency but rather topic, neither of them were willing to end the agreement and had carried it one since. "Don't give me those looks. It's ridiculous to assume you can have affairs and she can't."
"Of course she can't!" Zeus' voice boomed loudly in contrast to his brother's, throwing his arms up in the air as if this was the most ridiculous thing he had ever heard. "She's the one that bears the children! Or now whoever else's!"
"Eh," Poseidon shrugged, finding the topic of his own arrangement becoming boring. Neither of their opinions were going to change anything about their relationship, so hearing their complaints was a moot point. He leaned forward, placing an elbow on his thigh for support. "Listen, ever since we agreed on this, I've been more in love with her then ever before and she to me. Can you two say the same?"
"Of course," Hades growled first though Zeus had been silenced. The oldest brother shook his head and leaned back in the chair, still in shock over the information. Reaching a hand up to scratch his jaw line, he looked down to the ground while continually shaking his head. "I've never understood why you guys cheated on them anyway."
"Says the guy scared of his pregnant wife," Poseidon taunted with a grin, glancing to Zeus for support who simply glared at him. Awkwardly smiling, he looked back to Hades who also glared at him.
"I'm not scared of her," he asserted in an annoyed tone, finding the very idea of that rather ridiculous.
"How do you do it?" Zeus interrupted suddenly as he broke out of his thoughts, glancing to Hades with an earnest look on his face. Hades blinked a few times, glancing between the two brothers as he realized he didn't have an exact answer for that. Opening his mouth, he tried to start something but no words arrived. He sighed instead, bringing a hand to the back of his neck as he thought back a few thousand years.
"Well, it's not like I didn't try," he admitted immediately, remembering the few instances in which he attempted after they were married. "But she was sharp and caught me. I guess she reacted a little differently than either Hera or Amphitrite ... she was so... hurt. The pain in her eyes was too unbearable; if staying faithful to her meant I would never have to hear or see that again, it was well worth it."
Poseidon had to immediately resist the urge to make a joke over the small speech and only did so when Zeus hummed a response and nodded. The sea god glanced between the two, taking all of the effort in his body to suppress the grin that attempting to sneak upon his lips. To him, it sounded naïve and like a new lover, not Hades, their brother and Lord of the dead. Waiting for someone else to make the first move, the three sat in silence awaiting someone else to speak first and it was Zeus who glanced over to the desk and sighed.
"If only Hera were as easy," he wished aloud as he tapped his fingers on the desk. Before either of the two could respond, there was a knock on the door and even before Zeus could welcome him in, Hermes opened the door in a rush.
"Artemis is under attack," he blurted out in a single, winded breath.
"What!" Zeus roared instinctively, standing to his feet and pushing passed his other brothers to get to the messenger. It was no surprise that Zeus had become overly protective of the three goddesses who pledged virginity, specifically his own daughters who pledged to remain so for eternity. He had not, however, been overly concerned with their prowess in battle as he was particularly proud of both Athena and Artemis' ability to handle themselves. But the last line of the prophecy had been haunting Zeus ever since he heard it, affecting both his relationship with Hera and his ideas of immortality. If the gods were subjected to a sense of death beyond the Sleep, then the danger for Artemis had increased ten fold. Pushing Hermes out of the open door, he roared the names of three gods to join him: Athena, Apollo and Ares.