A Change For The Better

In the dark silence of the night within the palace walls, wisps of enchanting and sparkly cerulean blue sand flew with ghostly grace towards the golden main doors of the palace. There, its owner waited for them patiently.

Feeling the aura of his own magic nearing him, Morpheus held out his hand and watched quietly as the sand gathered by itself on his palm. When the entire amount finally came to rest, the God of Dreams began to gaze at it in concentration as he felt the soft silkiness of the dream crystals and admired the beautiful shimmer it radiated in the pale light of the moon.

The crystals looked bright and lively, sparkling with so much beauty. Seeing that already made Morpheus knew that everything that was planned had turned out well.

"Thank Mount Olympus…." he murmured in relief under his breath.

Now with the knowledge that what was hoped was successfully achieved, Morpheus then placed his other hand atop the one with the handful of his sand and focused his energy on it. In no more than a few seconds later, the sand seeped out through the small gaps in his enclosed hands and found its own way back to the pouch that was hidden in the sash of his peplos. When he unravelled his hands once he felt no trace of sand left on his skin, the translucent white butterfly that was Orion's soul rested quietly on his palm.

Now, Morpheus was to wait for his uncle Thanatos, who was to appear to bring back Orion's butterfly to its rightful place in the Asphodel Plains, down below in the Underworld.

But he did not wait long until a voice finally spoke.

"How did it go?"

Morpheus' violet-blue eyes widened at the familiarity of the voice that meant pure power and authority and felt his heart race slightly. He had expected only his uncle to come; not the God-King of the Underworld himself.

But without wasting a second, Morpheus gathered his courage to turn around to meet Hades, who was standing on courtyard just in front of the steps. Morpheus walked down the steps to be on the same ground level as the King and bowed in respect. When he rose to full height once again, he could not tear his gaze away from the fathomless blackness of Hades' eyes.

"It went well, Lord Hades," he replied in a level voice. "The Sands of Dreams had come back to me bringing good news. It seems now that Lady Artemis may experience a new change for the better."

At hearing the news, relief could be seen in Hades' pitch black eyes, even while he simply nodded his head.

"Indeed, that is good news," Hades said in a neutral voice. "But let us hope now that Artemis would finally find the road of recovery to a better life and stay on its path for the long years to come, shall we?"

Without hesitance, Morpheus nodded his head in agreement. "Yes, Lord Hades."

And then, Hades extended an open hand out expectantly. Before Morpheus could even ask about what he was doing, he replied, "Thanatos has other matters to attend to. And seeing that it was I who had let Orion's soul out of the Underworld, I can only see it fit that I be the one who brings him back to the Asphodel Plains."

Knowing that what the King said was absolutely true and more than reasonable, Morpheus found no reason to not comply. Besides, who was he to deny the great Hades unless he really wanted to have a bad time? Instantly, he too began to extend the hand that held the butterfly towards Hades and waited for it to do what it has to do. Immediately, the butterfly flew away from his palm and landed in a soft flutter onto Hades' open hand.

When the butterfly was finally in his possession, Hades retracted his hand as he gazed at the butterfly. Then he turned to Morpheus and said in a solemn yet somewhat grateful voice, "I thank you for your assistance, Morpheus. Without your power of dreams, this all may not have been possible."

Feeling a sense of pride that he had received a word of thanks from the great God-King of the Underworld, Morpheus bowed his head graciously. "I am just glad to be of help, Lord Hades," he said.

With a final bow of his head, Hades finally advised Morpheus to return to his chambers and also reminded him to not utter even a single word of this event to anyone except Hermes, the only other who knew. Morpheus could sense the hidden threat of consequences if he disobeyed and immediately agreed to keep mum and not even say anything. With a final bow to the King, Morpheus turned around and returned back to the palace, leaving Hades to stand on his own in the courtyard.

But Hades did not teleport himself back to his abode immediately after that. Instead, he walked over to where the golden gates of Mount Olympus stood, standing near the edge of the great mountain's peak and looking out at the night sky.

He never did get many chances to come up to the above world at night due to his bind to the Underworld, so he always appreciated and cherished the moment where he could see the stars that graced the dark and beautiful night sky. Being a supposed deity of darkness, Hades knew of how some mortals and even some deities associated the darkness of night with evil. But how wrong they were. If they had just taken the time and effort to admire the beauty that the night beheld, then only can they know that it wasn't really evil at all.

As he continued to gaze at the night sky and feel the ethereal presence of Orion's soul butterfly on his hand, he began to remember that the night was partly Artemis' doing. If it wasn't for the silver moon of which she was the goddess of, there wouldn't be light in the night that would be enough to illuminate the world slightly and yet also have an enough amount of darkness to allow every living being on earth to sleep with more ease. And if it wasn't for the radiating pale light of the moon, the infinite amount of shining stars in the sky would not be able to be seen so much.

For the beauty that she helped to bring forth into the world and for her strength and resilience despite the harsh obstacles she had to face, Hades saw fit that Artemis deserved something.

But suddenly, he was suddenly distracted by a soft glowing light that came from his own hand. He looked down and saw something amazing taking place.

In his hand, the translucent butterfly still rested calmly on his palm with its wings fluttering ever so slightly. However, the butterfly was starting to go through a change. The soft white glow that radiated as its aura was suddenly turning brighter and its translucency was changing into a more solidified image.

Hades could not believe his eyes. Never before had he seen such a change. He had ruled the Underworld for over several hundred years and the occurrence of a soul going through change was extremely rare to practically unheard of.

But at this very moment, he was proven wrong. And what's more, Orion had managed to amaze him once again by turning from a ghostly white soul butterfly of the Asphodel Plains into a beautiful gold one that belonged in the blissful Elysian Fields.

At that moment, Hades came upon the realization that Orion truly was a man of good will and heart. Many of those characteristics were hard to find, especially as souls who are to pass on to the afterlife. Some are the probability of being one, but it would have been hidden too deep in the core of their very psyche, never to be unleashed.

But Orion did just that, and Hades decided that such a soul was too precious to be in his kingdom when his body was forever implanted into the night sky as the stars that made up his very own constellation.

Hades brought the butterfly closer to his face, gazing at how bright it was in its new golden form. The change it had went through just seconds ago had left a deep awed and amazed impression on Hades that he still sounded so taken aback when he whispered to it, "For bringing happiness and implanting hope into the heart of my niece, I shall allow you freedom in the stars."

And just like that, Hades extended his hand out and watched as the butterfly took off from his palm and began to flutter towards its constellation.

He remained silent as he watched the golden butterfly that shined like a golden star in the night slowly disappear when it had found its place on the heart of its constellation. But the minute it vanished out of sight, the stars that made up 'Orion the Hunter' suddenly shone and twinkled even more that Hades could almost feel the luminous light shining upon his face.

The sight and the feeling from seeing it were so beautiful that Hades couldn't help but smile.

He gazed at the newly bright constellation for a little while more before he finally conjured up his powers to bring himself back to the Underworld and disappeared from sight as silently as when he first came.

Sleep did not come to him that night, no matter how hard he tried. Apollo spent fruitless hours tossing and turning in his bed, waiting for the moment where Hypnos would grant him sleep, but it had not come.

Very soon, he gave up trying to fall into slumber and saw no choice but to remain awake. But being in his room was making him feel slightly tense and he hated how suffocating the tenseness was. Not wanting to spend his time in his room, Apollo decided to venture out into mortal world and maybe roam around to just clear his head. After slipping out of bed and putting on a sleeveless tunic to wear with the wrap of dark blue cloth around his waist that was what he wore to bed, he conjured his powers and teleported himself to wherever he would appear.

When Apollo opened his eyes, he found himself in a clearing that was surrounded by a heavy barricade of tall and mighty trees. In the middle of the clearing, he could see, by what he could make out in the moonlight, a large patch of dirt and it was the only part of this huge clearing that was visibly disturbed.

When realization finally dawned upon him, he felt his heart sank, but could not muster up enough courage to immediately leave the very same clearing where he had summoned Gaia and where she had sent him Scorpius to act upon his lies.

Slowly, he began to walk towards the patch of dirt, remembering very well that it was the very same spot where Scorpius was unleashed from that vine cocoon of his. Being barefoot, he could feel the soft sharpness of the grass and small pebbles on his soles. Where cloth did not cover his skin, he could feel the soft and cooling night breeze kissing his flesh and his hair billowing slightly in the wind.

Above him, the night was decorated with multitudes of shining stars and the sole silver moon. Apollo tilted his head upwards to gaze at the beautiful night, but once again, his eyes unconsciously started to search for Orion.

He found him instantly, but began to realize that the stars in his constellation seemed so much brighter now than how he saw they were just a few hours ago. The stars twinkled with so much energy now, as though they had just received new life like a fresh breath of air. They certainly stood out from the other stars in the sky, making his constellation very easy to be noticed.

Seeing how bright and active the constellation was made the sinking feeling in his heart feel worse.

"How is it like up there?" Apollo suddenly asked towards the heavens. "Being among beauty as you watch all that happens on the mortal lands at night? Does it feel nice?"

There was no reply, but of course he wouldn't have expected one. But he continued on.

"It must be nice to be so far away from the problems here," Apollo said in deep thought. "Up among the beautiful stars of the beautiful night sky, pain does not seem to touch you from there. You look so at peace, I've noticed."

He kept quiet for a while and watched the constellation's stars twinkle even more. He wanted to think of that as some sort of answer from the demigod himself, but knew that though it was his body that made up the stars, his soul was not there.

"I wish I could experience the same peace as you do," Apollo murmured wistfully. "Right now, and for the past five years, I have felt nothing but pain. I thought that time would dull it away and make it disappear, but I was wrong. It still continues to strike viciously at my heart and I cannot do anything but suffer. How I wish I could alleviate my suffering somehow, but I know that I cannot. I know that I must suffer the consequences of my cruel actions that had torn you away from my sister."

At the very thought of Artemis, his heart started to throb painfully in his chest for the umpteenth time. Instantly, he began to feel his very soul being engulfed in pain and grief.

"My sister continues to refuse to speak to me. She refuses to be within distance with me. She refuses to look at me in the eye. Last time, I had been so foolish to think that she would only scorn me for a short while, but I now know that our separation may be certain and permanent. There is nothing I can possibly do to make amends for what I had done to both you and her, because I know that all she wants is to have you back by her side. How I wish I could do that just so she could find it in her heart to forgive me. How I wish I could reverse time and stop myself from committing such a heinous deed and just find the will to accept you. That way, I could still be with her."

All of a sudden, while he kept his eyes fixed upon Orion, Apollo fell to his knees, unable to hold himself up any longer with the burdening weight of pain and guilt in his heart. Tears began to pool in his eyes, clouding his vision of Orion. When he blinked, few escaped and streamed down his cheeks, but he did not lift his hands to wipe them away.

He felt his throat tighten and found difficulty in breathing. He inhaled lungfuls of fresh night air through his nostrils to keep himself replenished, but found himself getting breathless easily with the continuing tears and crying.

In a sad and heavy voice, he cried, "I am willing to bear with the painful consequences of what I had to my sister and to you…. But I do not know how much longer I can do that…. With each passing day that my sister refuses to acknowledge me…. and treat me as though I am nothing to her, I feel the cracks in my heart become worse and…. I do not know how long it will take until it shatters completely…."

With another shaking breath as he inhaled and exhaled, he continued on. "You did not know how much it had pained me immensely when she had proclaimed that I was no longer a brother to her…. The words that were spoken from her lips were the most painful words I have ever heard…. At that point, I wondered why I deserved such cruelty, only to quickly realize that it was my own cruelty that had ended your life and broke the heart of my sister…."

Apollo could feel his entire kneeling form trembling and shaking from his crying and finally hung his head down in shame. He shut his eyes to try to keep in the tears that was building up inside and could feel his eyes burning from the heat. He leaned his torso forward to plant the palm of his hands on the dirt in front of him and heaved heavily to try and breathe properly.

Slowly, he lifted his head up a bit to look at Orion once again. He could see that the stars were still twinkling brightly and actively, as though that indeed the soul of the man who became the constellation was really there, trying to give some sort of response. Whatever that response was, Apollo wanted to hear it so much.

But knowing that he couldn't, he decided instead to finally get everything out of his chest, hoping that the giant demigod himself would somehow hear it.

"I am so sorry…" he whispered painfully through a tear-choked voice. "I am so sorry… I was foolish to have let my jealousy of you get the better of me… I was wrong… You were not full of vile intentions towards my sister… I know now that indeed you loved her as much as she loved you… I was stupid to have not realized that from the beginning… So very stupid…"

He felt the burden of his heart pulling him down and he hung his head once again, shutting his eyes to torment himself with the stinging burning sensation. He needed it. He needed pain to punish himself further. Even the most smallest of pains counted. He'd like to think of it that with every pain he experienced, it would be enough to finally satisfy his sister.

"I'm so sorry…" he continued to cry quietly. "I'm so sorry…"

Pain and grief was the two strongest emotions I felt.

We were twins and have been very close from the beginning. To signify our closeness, there was a sort of invisible bond that held me and Apollo together. This bond, when triggered, allowed both of us to feel each other's feelings and also alert one of us whenever the other was in danger or in distress.

The bond had been strong from before. But after what had happened, it seemed to be slowly diminishing. It was dying because I had chosen to annul to the bond between us from that time. Due to the anger I felt towards Apollo and the fact that I didn't want to refer to him as my twin and my brother and simply wanted to forget everything about him, cracks started to tarnish the spiritual bond, threatening to completely shatter at any moment.

However, the bond, despite how weak it slowly became, was still there, trying hard to hold me to Apollo. I could feel it pulling at me at times but I restrained and scorned it, not caring that it was still going on because he refused to forget me and he did not want to give me up.

Five years passed and I could practically feel the deep cracks that had tarnished the bond. But nonetheless, it still tried to bring me to him, solely because of him.

But finally, after so many years of strain, the bond was beginning to repair itself. I could feel it growing stronger and stronger with each passing minute, due to the fact that I was finally willingly thinking about Apollo. Slowly, as the cracks on the bond started to slowly fade, I could really feel him. The feeling of him was so strong that it was as though I never decided to break the bond in the first place.

But the impact from the first feel was huge, because I could feel the pain, grief and sadness that ached in his heart. It had been so long since I had interacted with him that I could not remember a time where he had been in so much distress such as now. The pain, grief and sadness practically had taken over his entire heart; those were all he could feel, and all I could feel of him.

Finally allowing myself to feel concern for him, I decided to make my way to him and see what was going on. I found myself in Crete, slightly cringing at the memories I've had on this island, and found him in a clearing deep within a forest, thankfully far away from the coasts.

I stood at the edge of the clearing, hidden in the trees and silently watching.

I couldn't see him at first when I first got here, completely stealthy and silent and still wearing only my sky blue nightdress and walking barefoot. But thanks to the bright light of my moon, my eyes caught sight of him kneeling, with his back to me, just right at the centre of the clearing on a large patch of dirt, and his whole body shaking and trembling.

I didn't know why his body jerking with such movements at first. But when I heard the familiar sounds of sobbing in the still night air, I realized then that he was crying.

But I did not make a move immediately, intending to listen and watch.

And I listened to many words and watched many things.

I had been standing there like a looming ghost for quite some time, and I had heard everything that he had said to the stars; every word that was uttered from his lips, I could hear crystal clear.

But still, I hesitated coming closer.

Heavy decisions ran through my mind. Part of me wanted to hold on to the anger that burned in my heart for him. I still wanted to hate him for tricking me into killing my one true love. I wanted to scorn him completely and never refer to him as my twin brother again. Such a crime deserved such a punishment. And such a mistake was one of those most difficult to accept apologies and allow forgiveness.

But before I could decide to let things continue as they are now and turn and walk away from the scene unnoticed, Orion's voice suddenly appeared in my thoughts, speaking to me the words he spoke in my dreams just a while ago; the words I considered were his wishes for me before he truly moved on.

Forgive your brother. Not only for me but also for yourself. He still loves you, and I know that deep inside, past all the hate and grief that has clouded your heart, that you still love him as well. You may not know, but he needs you now as much as you need him. I do not want you to lose someone who you have long cherished in your heart. For all we know, he could still be cherishing you in his.

And with those words in mind, I took a deep breath, calmed my heart, turned around and stepped out of hiding, walking quietly towards the crying god.

My footsteps on the grass were so very soft that it was completely silent. I thanked Mount Olympus for that, because I didn't want to see his sad eyes right now and I needed to think about what to say to him. I had to consider my words, since this would be the very first time in five years that I would speak a word to him.

The closer I got to him, the better I could hear Apollo's cries. It was such a pitiful sound and would make anyone feel sorry for him. But it wasn't until I stood directly behind him that my heart started to slowly break, because it was then I discovered he was also crying my name.

"Artemis..." I heard him whisper in a heavy voice choked with tears. "Artemis…"

At that precise moment, I could take it no longer.

Hearing my name spoken sadly through his lips was what caused me to reach out a hand and grasp his shoulder with no hesitation. It wasn't until my hand had been fully planted on his shoulder that I realized that this was the first time I made physical contact with him in a long time.

All of a sudden, his crying halted and his head shot up. I could almost feel his breathing, which had been heavy and hectic, turning slow and the racing of his heart as he slowly turned his head behind.

The first things I saw were his eyes that were red and full of tears. Then I noticed his cheeks that were completely stained with the trails of his tears and his lips that were quivering like how his body had been trembling. But then I focused my gaze on his eyes once again, as they were now widening at the sight of me.

Apollo suddenly shifted on his knees to turn around and face me completely, making my hand let go of his shoulder then. When he finally faced me, with his eyes still holding onto mine, he remained kneeling while I continued to stand.

"Artemis?" he whispered in a voice that sounded as though he could not believe that I was standing just right in front of him.

Hearing his voice made my heart go into a frenzy. It had been too long since I had heard his voice so directly. The only other times was only hearing faint traces of it when he was conversing with someone else and I could hear his voice within earshot before I finally moved to make the distance between us further.

Taking a deep breath to calm myself, I replied softly, "Apollo."

I will admit I was kind of surprised at hearing my own voice holding no resentment or venom as it had the very last time I had spoken to him, though it actually counted more as shouting and screaming. It was as though I was merely whispering to him in the dead of night so that we wouldn't wake anyone up.

We didn't speak for a few seconds after that. We merely stayed there – him standing and me kneeling – and just looked at each other.

But suddenly, after a while, Apollo did something that he had never done to me before.

He grabbed both my hands urgently yet gently and held them together in his, with his thumbs feeling my knuckles. Then, he brought them to his forehead, and a new wave of tears washed over him and he started crying once again.

"Artemis… I'm sorry… I'm so sorry… I was a fool… A stupid, jealous fool… I'm so sorry…You didn't deserve that… You didn't deserve any of the pain…" he sobbed uncontrollably. He paused for a short while to plant a kiss on my hands, and then cried softly in a chant, "I'm so sorry… I'm so sorry… I'm so sorry…"

I had wanted to remain strong and be able to do this well. But hearing his many cries of how sorry he was completely shattered my strength and willpower. Slowly, I got down on my own knees so that my face would level with his.

Apollo looked up from my hands at me, his eyes now completely teary once again. It took on a look of desperation when I easily wriggled my hands out of his. I knew that he was worried that it was a sign that things were not going to end up well.

But then, I heard his breath hitch when I had slowly and gently wrapped my arms around his neck.

With my face buried in his shoulder, I whispered in a voice loud enough for him to hear, "I forgive you."

I realized only now that he didn't actually beg for my forgiveness and I suspected that it was because he thought I was already too angry at him to ever forgive him and that he was unworthy of it. But I gave him my forgiveness not because he deserved it, but because I wanted to.

It was then I realized that Orion was absolutely right. In truth, I still loved Apollo dearly. And now, I finally realized the truth that I wanted him to be my brother again. All I needed was time for it to be unleashed from my shadowed pained heart so that I could realize it.

Suddenly, Apollo's own arms wrapped around me and he started crying once again. As I felt the shaking and trembling of his body against mine, I began to feel tears welling up in my eyes slowly streaming down my cheeks. In a voice that threatened to break because of tears, I cried softly, "Just please promise me that you'll never do such a thing to me again…. Please promise…"

I felt his arms tighten slightly, but still holding me gently. In a heavy voice, he whispered back, "I promise, Artemis… I promise… I promise…"

Somehow, I had a feeling that this time, Apollo would really stay true and keep his promise.

Last time, I cried because I was heartbroken of Orion's death. Now, I cried because I was happy that I got the old Apollo back.

We stayed that way for a while, just crying, saying nothing and clutching to each other tightly. Apollo buried his face in my hair while I pressed my cheek to the crook of his neck, my eyes shut with tears burning them. I could feel his tears wetting my hair, but I didn't mind. I just continued to hold him, making up for all those times that I had scorned him and distanced myself from him. How I have missed his touch. How I have missed his embrace that, even now, still made me feel like I was being cared, protected, cherished and loved.

While I was still holding him, I heard him whisper softly and affectionately, "I love you, sister."

How long have I not heard those words from him? It was as though I had heard a tune that I remembered from a long, long time ago. It brought back memories of our happy times and the closeness between us. It was so good to remember those sweet memories again. It only made the tears in my eyes fall even more.

"I love you too, brother," I replied without much thought in a soft whisper.

Right there right now, it was the moment where Apollo and I finally reunited.