Hi guys! I'm sorry for not updating for a while, but I was in France without an internet connection and, honestly, without any time to write. I'd planned on uploading a chapter the day before I left, but I really wasn't happy with it... That was the chapter with the Aphrodite thing but it just didn't fit into the story, not right now at least. Maybe in the case I ever rewrite the story, I might use it.

Howeverrrr some of you read my mind, especially those that suggested I have Eros tell Emma things! Because that was exactly what I planned.

To be honest I've had a bit of a writer's block lately but I really wanted to put something online. Hope you're happy with it. :)


She looked so calm. She accepted her fate. Towering over her was my father, his fists raised in a display of excessive power while the dark sky contracted and thunder rumbled above Olympus. Lightning could hit Emma any second, killing her in an instant. I looked around me. Right across from me, Apollo was nervously biting his lower lip. Athena was partly hidden behind Zeus's body, but I could see her discomfort at Zeus's disagreement with her. Everyone else looked on indifferently, besides Aphrodite, who seemed almost excited (but why was she really?) - at her side, Hephaestus gazed at the scene in the middle of the platform, occasionally shooting Aphrodite sulky glances.

I tried to get up from my throne, to stop my father from killing her. I couldn't. I looked down at my wrists; there were no metal cuffs to hold me back. I tried to stand up again, but it was as if I couldn't even move. I stared at Hephaestus. This had to be his doing, just like when he had caught me and Aphrodite in that invisible net.

'Cripple! Let me go or I swear I will break each and every bone in your body and burn you in your own fi-' But he did not even look up. No one did. They weren't just ignoring me, they simply couldn't hear me or see me. There was nothing I could do but helplessly watch Zeus thrust a lightning bolt into Emma's heart and see her fall to her death.

I awoke with a jolt. Sweat was beading on my forehead. I rubbed my eyes and slowly opened them, squinting against the bright sunlight (well, at least Apollo had got over himself…the arrogant bastard). As I sat upright, panting a bit, I tried to figure out what had just happened. While I was by no means clairvoyant, I knew better than to trust my dreams to be merely dreams.


Although I slept dreamlessly, my eyes were red and puffy when I woke up. I rubbed them, only making it worse. I kicked the sheets away (god, this bed was so comfortable) and stretched, slowly opening my eyes as I did so.

In the corner of the room was a short, skinny guy, probably around fifteen years old. I recognized him instantly, but not because of the fact I'd seen him at the dinner party. His flapping white wings gave him away. Eros. I backed away against the headrest of my bed. What if he was here to shoot me? Would that hurt? Would it necessarily be a bad thing?

I held my hand up to shield my eyes from the bright sunlight. I hadn't even bothered to close the curtains last night, expecting the day to be just as dark as the night, but for some reason the sun was up.

Eros stood up from his chair. I pushed myself into the headrest, even though that was useless, but he raised a hand.

'Don't worry, I didn't even bring my arrows. My mom wants me to shoot some lead into you, though, and I'm pretty sure my dad wouldn't vote against a golden one.'

I took a deep breath and relaxed a bit. 'Aren't you supposed to obey them?'

He looked away. He appeared almost disappointed and guilty, as if I had busted him on this. 'Yeah, um, I used to all the time, but since I'll never grow beyond puberty I guess I have the right to be rebellious sometimes.'

I laughed. Eros seemed like a genuinely sweet guy. I could almost relate to him. Even with such bad parents, he didn't seem very messed-up.

He looked serious then, wise beyond his physical years. 'I want you to be able to make your own choice.'

'So why'd you come here?' I asked him softly after a moment of quiet. 'If you're not gonna do anything?'

He fiddled with a feather of his left wing, his glance averted from me. 'It's just… It hurts me to see you and my dad fighting, because I know you two love each other and that… It just really hurts me.' He looked up and I saw it then. Eros did look hurt, wounded and sick even. I'd had no idea that gods could experience this kind of physical effect from humans' actions.

He kept on talking, so fast that I could barely follow what he was saying. 'And I know you have every reason to not want to be with him right now so I can't really do anything about it but I wish so much that I could so I could make my mom proud for once and my dad would be happy for once so…' He trailed off, deeply inhaling a lot of fresh air. I stared at him. I guess I had seen Ares nervous once, maybe twice, but never had I seen a god look so incredibly uneasy. With his centuries, no, millennia of life experience I might have expected Eros to be this age-old guy trapped in a kid's body, but he really just was a teenager.

Eros stared out the window for a little while, obviously collecting his thoughts. 'Can I just tell you some things? About him? It's the least I can do to try to fix this.'

I bit my lower lip. 'Can you? And are you really supposed to?'

He shook his head, more to himself, it seemed, than to me. 'I don't know! I'm a god of love, what else am I supposed to do?' He looked so lost and small that I couldn't help but want to hug him. Even his wings were folded, weakened.

'I'll listen,' I said, more to comfort him than because I thought he would change my mind.

He perked up - his wings went along with him- and beamed at me. 'Okay! Great!' he said cheerily and settled back into his chair, assuming a typical storyteller position. I smiled. He really didn't seem a day older than fifteen.

'So. I'm not saying that I accept the things that my dad does. But you gotta understand that he's not just dirty bloody war. I mean, I've seen him in battle and it's not pretty, but he's more than that, you know?' Without waiting for any response from my side, he continued. 'So first of all, this is a really long time ago and I only know it from stories, but I heard that he really made Grandpa proud by defeating the Titans, which is a pretty big deal. And then there were the Gigantes and… well, a lot of other things, but what I'm trying to say is that he has always been the defender of Olympus, and he's always been protecting us all. Your people, too, 'cause civil order and police and all are his thing.' He was, again, talking insanely fast, but this time it was from sheer happiness. I didn't think I'd ever met someone as enthusiastic as Eros.

'That's great and all, but -'

'I'm not done! You said you'd listen.' I nodded. This kid was, in a way, younger than me but still I couldn't deny his authority.

'Uh, and do you know my half-sisters? They've been dead since forever but I think you mortals still know them - the Amazons?' I nodded again in confirmation. 'He's their father. He hasn't always been a good dad to me because I'm so different,' - another stare out the window - 'but he really loves all his children and I think it's really important you know that.'

Eros was quiet for a while, keeping his glance away from me while obviously over-thinking what he was telling me. I figured he probably didn't have many people to talk to. Olympus seemed like a place where everyone was constantly fighting over something but no one ever took the time to care for one another. I wondered whether I was right about that.

Eros took a deep breath and smiled warmly, happily. 'I went to high school a few times. Before, well, everything. And I always wanted to do archery but I'd be too unnaturally good at that, so I had to pick something else. With every new school I wanted to do something new, 'cause I get bored pretty quickly… Anyway, I always had to learn before I could actually play, but my dad helped me practice all the time, even when he didn't know how to do things himself. So I got to spend more time with him than I'd had in ages because he was always so busy.'

I hugged my knees. I wasn't sure if I was surprised at this story. It was a new side of Ares, a fatherly side that I had, of course, never seen before, but it just fit Noah so well. 'Even when you left Greece?' I asked.

He looked at me in disbelief, his mouth slightly agape. 'Are you serious? That was when it started. Then we all got our new names, I hated my Roman name, and all of a sudden Dad was second in charge of everything and I hardly ever even saw him. Do you know anything about Roman mythology at all?'

I was about to answer that I hardly knew a thing, besides the fact that Ares was called Mars among the Romans, when the doors broke open and Apollo pounded into the room. He grabbed Eros from his chair and set him on the ground with more force than I had yet seen from him.

'Eros, go,' he barked. Clearly afraid, Eros took one look at me and then stalked out of the room.

Apollo went to stand in front of my bed. 'Didn't make much progress, did you?'

I grabbed my knees tighter. 'What do you mean?' Apollo's voice was seething, and I had no idea why. Last night at his palace he'd already been a bit threatening, but that was nothing compared to how scary he looked now, making me feel so tiny and vulnerable.

'I foresaw you leaving Olympus, just giving up, betraying me. Betraying all of us.' He took a step closer. I released my knees and got off the bed, trying to put as much distance as I could between us.

'I didn't do anything!' I protested.

He closed in. 'But you will. I'm never wrong. You want to leave, don't you?'

I swallowed. That was true. I hadn't even thought of leaving - I wouldn't know how - but more than anything I wanted to be away from here.

Apollo's lips curled up into a smile. He still looked so innocent. So fake. 'I knew it,' he said triumphantly.

So he read minds? I could've expected that. I felt my throat contracting and tears starting to fall from my eyes. 'I don't want anything to do with any of you. Let me go,' I cried.

In less than a second my back was against the wall. He slammed his fist into the wall, his body pushing hard against mine. He grabbed my wrists, rendering me completely nailed down and still. 'You will never go.'

I tried to push him away, but of course I was no match for him. 'But, I -' I sobbed, not even able to form coherent sentences now. I had betrayed him? Fine, I might be 'just a mortal' but what was this then? I struggled, but after a while I felt so defeated I closed my eyes to block his shine out. His grip softened. I didn't even have the energy to try fighting myself loose now.