Unknown: Age of Perseus

Passing Of The Torch

Antiope stood in the throne room of the palace with a goblet of wine in her hand as the wealthy people of Argos gosipped around her. She looked at Andromeda who sat on her throne beside her father and mother with a scowl on her face. Not much could be said for the last few years as they had seen very little of eachother. Recently though, Antiope began to miss her dear friend, but wasnt allowed to see the pricess much as she had other duties to attend to.

She watched her brother cross the room and give her a quick glance as he went to stand not too far off from the king. Next to Draco, Nisse stood silently with a mournful look on her face as she had never really recovered from her daughter's death two years ago. To be fair, Antiope hadn't recovered from Pheobe's death either. How it happened was a mystery, but when they had found her underneath the city it became apparent she had been killed.

Eurydite had refused to come to the palace anymore because she had no interest in the rulers anymore and she knew her mother would want to leave Argos. She had mentioned returning to the shores of the Acheron in the Epirus region where no one would bother her except Ares. Antiope had been upset about it at first, but it seemed like it was time her mother finally deserved peace, so she quickly let it go. It seemed that things were falling apart for her family and for the people as well.

The King rose from his throne as the people around the room stopped what they were doing and stood quiet. Antiope saw her brother stand up straighter as the King moved to make a speech. Lately all of Cepheus' speeches have been about the atrocities of the Gods and if he only knew the real story. He raised his golden cup of wine into the air as Andromeda sighed from her place in the background. She was tired of the talk about defying the gods just as much as Antiope.

"Today will be the beginning of the end for the Gods." The King said before pausing to look about the room. Antiope was considered a very close friend to the royal family and his eyes rested on her for a moment before moving on. "Long have we suffered because of them and no more will we suffer them. We have been slaves to them, feeding their immortality and giving them power over us." The room cheered as Antiope did nothing. She was the daughter of a God and the granddaughter to Hades, Zeus, and Hera, there was no defying family. In Lycus' case, he chose to be a thorn in their father's side, but otherwise he respected their grandfather Hades very much. "Today I send our legion to show the Gods we are no longer thankful!" It was a rousing speech to everyone else, but not to her.

Andromeda got up from her seat and came down the steps to where Antiope stood. She had a frown on her face saying she wasn't pleased with the events of the night and to be honest, Antiope wasn't either. Andromeda silently grabbed Antiope's arm and pulled her away from the room into a quiet place. The demigoddess protested as her wine almost fell out of her hand as Andromeda pulled her away.

When they came to a quiet room Antiope leaned up against the wall drinking her wine as the princess paced the room in her gold and white gown and paplos. Her golden circlet sparkling in the light of the fire lamps as she turned to and fro. Antiope seemed to be feeling a bit careless at the moment so she just stood there drinking. She figured if Andromeda had nothing to say, her wine said plenty and of course she was twenty now so it didn't matter.

"Are you going to pace all night or start ranting to me about how your parents are idiots?" Antiope said to her friend as she sipped her wine, but when Andromeda trudged up to her and took her wine out of her hands it was obvious. "Give that back." The pricess drank from the cup and then handed it back to the other woman who looked inside the cup to see all of her wine was gone. "You could've gotten your own."

"I didn't have time. I needed to get out of there before I did something I would regret." Andromeda said taking her circlet off and putting it on a small table in the corner of the room as she went to sit on the bench in the middle of the room and laid down on it. "How can they think that defying the Gods will work out for them?"

"Well, it hasn't worked for anyone before according to my mother." Antiope went to sit on the floor next to Andromeda's bench and rested the back of her head on it as she rested her elbows on her knees. She played with the cup in her hands as she spent time with her friend. "I know that they seem to think they are doing the right thing, but nothing good ever came from defying the Gods."

"You and I both know this. My mother is so absorbed in herself to see that there are other people more beautiful than herself and my father has an ego bigger than a Titan." The princess said complaining about what she saw in her parents. She wasn't wrong about the King and Queen. Antiope raised her eyebrows as she thought the same thing so many times. Lycus saw it as well, but he enjoyed his pride too much to say things about the rulers. "I'm so thankful to your mother for everything she has done for me."

"Me too. I don't think we would be friends if your parents did all of your upbringing. You were a brat as a child." The demigoddess said before Andromeda pinched her on the back of the neck. "Ouch!" Antiope rubbed the back of her neck and turned to look at the princess who had a grin on her face. "First you drink the rest of my wine and then you pinch me for telling the truth. I don't know if I can forgive you for the first one." Andromeda laughed at her best friend who had a pout on her face.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry. I just couldn't help myself." The princess said as she sat up to move to the floor and sit next to her friend. She put her head on Antiope's shoulder and then sighed. "They also want me to marry this Phineus of Crete."

"He sounds ugly." Andromeda giggled at Antiope's statement before the other woman started to laugh. "He probably looks like a horses ass." Both of them erupted in laughter at the thought of a man so ugly that flowers would wilt at the sight of him.

"I would not know, I have never met him." Andromeda said through the last of her giggles as Antiope leaned her head against hers. "I don't want to marry someone like my father."

"I wouldn't want to marry someone like my father either. He's a bit overprotective." Antiope said to her dearest friend as she thought of her father. He was a God, she didn't want to fall in love with a god. "I love being me."

"I love being me too, but sometimes I am mocked for it." Antiope understood that as well. Andromeda cared about the suffering just like she did and while the wealthy were concerned with power, both women were concerned about putting balance back into Argos.

"Nobody is perfect. The Gods aren't either, despite what everyone believes, but your parents seem to think they are. You know everyone else in the city would rather spit on the Gods even though its your parents who are responisble for the state of Argos." Antiope relayed the words of her mother to Andromeda and they both sighed knowing that it was true. When Andromeda became queen, Antiope vowed she would be there to help her turn Argos around.

"I hope it changes soon." They both sighed after the words came from Andromeda's mouth. Soon enough they both grew tired and were about to doze off when there was the clearing of a mans throat on the other side of the room. Antiope shot up and shook Andromeda to wake her as Lycus stood in front of the two women.

"So this is where you and the Princess ran off to?" He held out a hand to Andromeda and the princess took it as he pulled her up. Antiope got up on her own and smoothed out her cream colored gown.

"Lycus, please tell me you brought me wine?" She asked her brother who held on to Andromeda's hand and then let it go as he sook his head. "You are the worst."

"Antiope, you have a bad habit of drinking too much wine." While it wasn't a problem for their blood, it was a problem for others. He really didn't care for wine himself, but his sister on the other hand had a a taste for it and drank it like water.

"Too much is never enough." Antiope said as she decided to leave the room, but not before hugging Andromeda.

"She used to be timid, but ever since that time in Athens, she's made up her mind to be stronger." Andromeda said to Lycus as she watched her friend leave the room. Something had happened to Antiope to bring her to this tough outter shell and keep herself guarded.

"Our father happened. He came back and ever since she has been like this." Lycus told the princess with a bit of bitterness in his voice. "I came back too."

"I have never met your father." Andromeda said to the young man in front of her as he stood silently. "Who is he?"

"It's best if you didn't know, Princess." He said as he turned to leave the room and go back to the gathering in the throne room.

Lycus had a natural disposition to dislike his father. He supposed it was something that he and his brothers shared according to his mother and to be honest it was Hades who he respected. Ares had tried to talk with him a few times, but it was tense and awkward when they were in close proximity to eachother. It was always him who left and not Ares. He knew one day he would have it out with his father and he didn't know what would happen.

Antiope was destructive in her own nature and he supposed she got that from their father. However, it was clear that Antiope relied more on their parents than he did because he had always relied on himself. He had too. It was how he survived Egypt and it was how he was going to survive whatever would come. He would go with his mother to wherever she was going, but he wanted to stay where he was useful and despite his love for her, they remained distant. He supposed it was because he knew Melinoe as a mother than his own mother.

Antiope had ridden her horse out of the city and to where she and Andromeda would go stargaze on the plateau above Argos. She stood there with her arms wrapped around her while her chestnut stallion grazed behind her. She knew she had too much wine but it didn't stop her from feeling the way she did. As a child she had dreamed one day her father and brother would come back and they would all be a family, but within the timespan of a week it had all changed. She had been nearly taken by a man and she had learned the truth about her entire family. She had become attached to her father more than she ever thought she could be, but she missed him in her childhood.

"You are bothered by your mother leaving." She heard her father's voice as he came to stand next to her as she looked over the city. She turned to look at him with a sad look in her eyes and he looked back at her with a similar look. "She will come back and you can always go to her."

"It's not that." She told him as she looked back to the sea. The full moon was casting its light on the sea like it was daylight. "I've never been without her. Lycus knows how to live on his own and I suppose the reason he stays is because he knows that I will be on my own."

"Lycus stays for his own reasons. Inactivity doesn't suit him and we are alike in that way, but if he went with your mother, he would not be happy. He knows this well." Ares said this because there were things about his son that reminded him of himself and the relationship he had with his own father, Zeus. "You will be fine on your own because you are your mother's daughter. You will survive just like she did and you are also my daughter." He came closer to her and put his arm around her shoulders and kissed her on the side of her head and leaned his head against hers. "When have I not come to you when you needed me?"

"You've always come." She said to him as he lifted his head. "I'm just upset that when I was a child I had this picture in my mind about my family and now its not what I thought it was. I was foolish to think it would be like that." She heard him hun in agreement as he turned her to him and put his hands on her arms.

"You were a child and I was not there, you could dream however you wanted, but to think that things would be happy like you wished was naive." He looked her in the eyes with a furrowd brow trying to be as sincere as possible because it wasn't in his nature to be soft, but he tried just like he did with Eurydite. He always spoke truth, but the way he spoke the truth was harsh and unforgiving. "But I do not blame you for thinking that way, Antiope." He watched as her eyes began to water. It was obvious she had a little too much to drink, but she was a very emotional child herself. He pulled her into his arms because he had learned to be softer with her and Eurydite. "That's how you survived without me." He kissed the top of her head as she put her arms around him.

Eurydite had packed everything she needed for her ride to Ammoudia alone. She knew that Argos held nothing for her anymore and Nisse had decided to go with her. Ever since Pheobe had been found murdered the younger woman had drawn into herself. The light that had once been in her eyes had died away with her daughter's death. Draco had begged and pleaded for Eurydite to do something to bring their daughter back, but when they had found her down in the catacombs beneath Argos, she had seen that Thanatos had already brought the girl down into the Underworld. There was no way to bring the young girl back even with Hades' permission there was a price to pay. She had been glad that Draco had not been with her when they found the blond girl's body because it had been Ares who had brought Eurydite down there to look. She had not known about the subterrianian world below Argos.

"Our daughter had too much to drink again?" She asked Ares as he walked into her room. She always knew when he was around and when he wasn't although when she would be in Ammoudia he could stay with her for days if he wished.

"Yes. She doesn't handle your leaving well." Ares went to stand behind his wife and put his hands on her arms as she folded her clothes to fit in her saddle bags. "She thinks she won't be able to be on her own."

"She has her own path ahead of her and so do I. Her place is here with Andromeda, always has been." Eurydite told him as he began to kiss her neck on that spot that always made her light up with pleasure. "Quit distracting me." She hit him on the head and he stopped with a scowl on his face. If it were anyone else who hit him like that they would be on the floor broken by now. "I have things to do and when I'm done, then you can have your way with me." She walked out of his grasp and went to her vanity for her brushes.

"Why can't you let me have my way now and do everything else later?" He made to follow her as she went out the door of her room but she stopped and turned to face him with an angry look in her eyes.

"Because, I don't want to rush." She said harshly. God of War or not, she had him wrapped around her little finger and trained to obey her every command. Sort of. They gave to eachother as much as they took. "I want to be able to relax and savor, not rush and worry about getting things done last minute." He furrowed his brow trying to get her to give in, but she didn't cave.

"Fine. I'll wait even though you know how I feel about waiting." Ares gave in to her demands and kept his attitude in check. She smiled at him and kissed him on the cheek before walking down the steps to her daughter's room.

When Antiope woke up the next morning she rose from her bed to find her mother outside with a horse saddled and ready to go on a journey. Her mother was dressed in a traveling cloak with a simple grey chiton and she had left her hair down.

"She decided to leave this morning." Her father came up behind her without his armour and cape on. He had decided to stay and make sure Antiope would be fine. "You should go say goodbye." He put a hand on her arm and squeezed it before she went to her mother.

"Why are you leaving?" Antiope went up to her mother with tears in her eyes and an angry glint. The young woman's hair blew in the breeze and Eurydite saw herself staring back at her. "Are Lycus and I not important enough for you?"

"You both are, but you both have your own paths to take now and I can't stay in Argos any longer." Eurydite put her hands on her daughter's face and looked her in the eyes. "I'm leaving Argos because I need to. I have raised you for twenty years to be better than me, but you cant be better unless you learn to be better on your own." She wiped Antiope's tears away with her fingers. "I left some things for you and your brother. Ixion is his now and Epirus is yours until I come back." Eurydite drew her daughter into her arms for the last time in a while and held her closely. "I pass the torch on to you. You become what you are supposed to be." She kissed her daughters temple and let her go before she mounted the grey horse. "I love you so much."

"I love you too, Mama." Antiope said as her mother turned to leave towards where Nisse waited down the street on top of her beloved Anrion.

Ares watched his daughter break down into tears as the last of the old generation of Demigods left Argos. Before his eyes stood a new generation, one that he sired himself and loved. It was now his children's world to rule, whether they knew it or not.

Okay...now that Eurydite is somewhat gone, its the passing of an age.

Fact: Alcoholism ran rampant in Greek society because water was often soiled or too dirty to drink so many of the weathier peoples drank wine to stay healthy.