The first sight that came clear across Athena's vision was that of an opened door spilling in early daylight and the gentle breeze wafting through white silken curtains. She blinked once, twice, relishing the convalesce of her senses and the recognition she was somewhere in the palace's healing quarters—chirpings, bright walls, peach bougainvillea draped above the windows, chamomile vapor… and a lone figure sitting on a chair by the foot of the large bed she was lying in. She squinted her eyes and stared, subconsciously knowing who that was but the thought was yet slow to reach her cognition. Her breaths were beginning to run short.

A golden nest of hair, his lean, gentle aura reaching her despite being obscured by layers of shadow casted by pillars. He remained passive by the corner, elbows leaned against knees as he sat immobile. Athena swallowed before calling a name so long she missed and now which seemed too peculiar to mention—

"Apollo?"

His hair shimmered, face rising from the bowed head. Athena could not surmise how a single look from those blue pools of his eyes could singlehandedly crush the anger she bore for him.

"It's you…"

Apollo shrugged, half smiling, or one she could not fathom with the portion of himself hidden in pale shadows. The Queen's voice was weak, almost breaking, "Is it really you?"

He nodded but returned to evading her stare. Still dubious. Still tittering.

"How have you been…? Artemis, did she—did she take care of you well? Have you—"

"I'm sorry."

Athena watched him pinch his temples, as if to hide his expression. He could mask behind his hand but the pain in his voice was stark naked. He sounded weary, distraughtly worn off from a battle he alone was fighting, "I regret leaving without as much an apology, the last time we... disagreed."

The training fields. Indeed. He named her weak and reckless before their friends, even after scarring Ares in the face to make a point. But to Athena it had long been forgotten…

"I wasn't myself… I mean, I was, in flesh. But…" a rough sigh left his lips, "There's something amiss… I… I'm just so sorry."

Athena did not interrupt, to her personal surprise. They stayed quiet a while until she remembered that everything which concerns Apollo now does not only answer to their friendship but also challenges her position to the kingdom. She was his sister awhile ago, now she had to be his Queen.

"There are rumors, Apollo…" Athena stared at the ceiling, for a while hoping the coffers would open and suck her off to another dimension, "You might have just done things… Things that needs deliberation... things I don't think I could vindicate you from unless you surrender."

Clouds were beginning to dim the afternoon sunlight. At the edge of her peripheral vision, Athena saw him nod apologetically, but the silence that remained made her look at him again. This time he held something that reflected the color of her eyes.

"What is that…?"

Apollo's gaze remained at the rose of sparkling silver petals resting above his thumbs. He raised the flower to inhale, before smiling weakly. "Remember the last time we talked alone…? Before I… died…"

The last word went a weak scoff as he shook his head and stood, eyes never leaving the petal folds swirling in a blossom. He stepped closer towards her bedside table where an empty crystal vase sat still. Yes, she remembered that, drifting to the memory of the gardens in her seclusion while Ares was enjoying the horrendous celebration of their union. She remembered that silvery rose and its dust glitter over her fingers and Apollo finding her alone.** It had only occurred now that, indeed, was the last time they had a sane conversation, no matter how heartbreaking it was for him.

"I hated not being able to tell you—"

She watched the golden rays reflect his form, at his hand gently tucking the rose on the vessel and leaving it there in its wake. The flower turned out an eyesore in a healing room no matter how replete its beauty. Despite Apollo's back turned to Athena, the sincerity in his voice was clear, filled with devotion and regret—

"You looked so beautiful that night."

By the time he was finished, a tear had already streaked down Athena's jaw as she stared at mosaic of the high ceiling. His words were honey to the palate, but this time tinged with palpable sadness as if it was a sort of farewell instead of flattery. A hollowing pain began to drill underneath her lungs.

"Just stay, Apollo," she muttered, breaking, "Stop running... stop adding to your damages. Serve whichever sentence to befall you… but stay..."

Apollo sat by the side of her bed, and even when she felt his weight pull the mattress down, it had not stirred her from the distant gazing up high.

"When I said something was wrong with me… it's not but a fleeting, spur of the moment," said Apollo, "I meant… permanently wrong."

This time Athena turned her head to get a view of him, at his back as he sat by the margin of her lying place.

"I would stay, Athena… you know that. But I can't. Not today… not ever… with that I need you to promise primarily, take care of Artemis—she deserves the Universe and nothing less. And then never seek me again."

"Apollo—"

"Just. Say it."

"Stop…"

"I—will—hurt—you, Athena," Apollo's teeth chattered in smothered anger, making the Queen hold her breath.

"I saw it… I will hurt you. I deprive myself from sleep because all I see behind shut eyes is your blood on my hands. And it haunts me… severely…" he sniffled, raking his fingers across his scalp and remained bent in frustration and with an agonizing tone, "I've done things I shouldn't have, things that do not merit your mercy, things… Artemis does not deserve to live by. But I want you to know…" he twisted his head to side so to meet her glassy orbs. Athena could only feel singular tears pouring despite a numbness emanating from beneath her veins. Though only his eyes appeared above his shoulders, she could see the nostalgic smile ripping amid his sorrow.

"You will be my last thought before I lose myself entirely."

They stared at each other in a fragile moment, one relishing the final seconds of affection while the other was filled with perplexity.

Can't we fix it, Apollo…? Athena felt herself speak outside her consciousness. But it had suddenly felt like she was waking up again.

"Can't we fix it, Apollo…?"

Suddenly Athena was reopening her eyes as if waking up for the second time since she had seen Apollo by the window. But this time it was different. The sunlight was streaming through cloudless skies. Her neck felt stiff when she moved her head to catch fragments of her…dream. There was nothing amiss in the room, everything was indeed in place. Until a clutter of ceramics from the pantry snatched her attention.

"Apollo?"

In response, the movements ceased. Athena sure wished to prevent herself the disappointment when it was Eilithya who appeared by the entryway.

"Oh," the Queen's shoulder sagged, "I'm sorry, Ely. I only thought… uh…"

Eilithya had not given her the chance to recall. "Now, now, careful." She quickly walked to the Queen's bedside to tuck a couple of feather pillows behind her. Athena obliged like a child to her mother, albeit quizzically.

"Ely," Athena cleared her throat, "I remembered losing consciousness. How long have I been out? Has everything been fine since? Have you heard if Ares is about his way home? Or is he already here? He should be here anytime soon and I need to—" "A-aa-ah."

The Queen's face lit with surprise as Eilithya gently pushed her shoulders back down the pillows, wiggling a finger before her eyes. There was a glint in her expression that Athena could not fathom, a benign sort of giddiness. But at least controllable. "Is something wrong? Tell me."

"No, no," Elithya pulled the blankets, "Everything's perfect, Athena. From now on, you're not to face any battle, alright? Have enough rest. Add up to your weight; I mean how can you carry on the months looking like a twig for snapping?" She took the Queen's hand on both of hers before sitting by the bedside and piquing her Queen's curiosity. Athena searched the other's eyes, soft brown ones like earth. She heard her say with an endearing tone, "You are in a very, very special condition…"

They stared awhile longer with nothing but insipid silence.

Little by little the cluelessness in Athena's eyes began to fade into bewilderment which gradually turned into incomprehensible surprise. It had slipped her mind why Eilithya was one who had credibility to break this news. Everything went back to her, the occasional nausea, the sensitivities to scents and the idiosyncratic longing for her husband no matter his nastiness. She had been hearing these from the experienced others and not a time it had crossed her mind. The Queen felt herself flush with a throttled exhale.

Oh.

She looked down at her fingers curling on the sheets above her belly. And with the only response she could muster as heat spread across her cheeks—

"Oh."

Was she dreaming?

"I…"

Athena's mouth remained open. "I don't… know… I don't know what to say… I…"

"Nonsense," the goddess of childbirth shushed, "Nothing is as beautiful as this, Athena. Nothing matters now more than the gift of life in you. Promise me yes, take care of yourself. Tell that knuckleheaded husband of yours, he better look after you or else it's my footprint on his face."

Athena bit her lower lip gently, she must have looked stupid, for Eilithya was grinning brightly at her. Yet she herself could barely contain the sparks of joy. Cupping her warmed cheeks, Athena laughed out those of tinkling bells—it was an emotion she could neither quantify nor explain, like a conflict between floating in featherbeds or inhaling the rancid scent of bloodwashed victory.

She, of all the least expected, was carrying a child.

Eilithya squealed like a girl rewarded with cakes, while the Queen covered her lips above flushed cheeks. She began to wring her fingers while exhaling between the controlled laughter.

"Ely I—" she stammered continuously, even her expressions was amalgamated with delight and confusion, "I—I—am I supposed to act like this? Am I the only one who ever acted like this? Sh-shouldn't I be calm? I should just be calm, is it? I should just nod, is it? I mean, I mean… pregnancies aren't much of a celebration, how silly of me—"

"Shush! What are you, dear, a rock? Of course you should be on your toes dancing at the peak of this palace, you have every right to!" Eilithya stood, beaming, "You, of all, deserve this happiness,". Athena was pursing her lips then, only to break into a smile she had never thought she'd have. It was embarrassing. But worthwhile. It was strange to be in a state she had almost forever thought she'd never be in. All those looking after demigods from the loins of her father had once made her wonder what joy could be taken from bearing children of lust. And even when her vow was pardoned and she was made queen, bearing a child was expected of her. So extreme happiness wasn't necessary… but to Athena it was an unprecedented joy. And one she was entirely confused at how to handle.

They remained in the crux of bliss a while longer, before the Queen wiped the edges of her eyes in full gratitude and stirred to get off her lying place.

"You shouldn't be moving out this soon," Eilithya frowned as Athena's feet touched the carpeted floor, "In my opinion, you shouldn't be moving at all".

"Ely," The Queen smiled reassuringly, stood and held the other goddess by the hands, "It's not how it was anymore… trust me… I will be alright."

Though unconvinced, Eilithya shrugged in full confidence to her Queen's words.

"Where are you off to? At least I could alert the guards…"

"I need to see Asceplius."

"Oh, not another accident is it?"

"No," Athena chuckled and sighed anxiously, "He meant to awaken Hephaestus today."

Eilithya's gasp was astounding. "Oh my, yes, I do remember him saying so… that bull ought to keep his memories tight with him, otherwise I would beat him down to another coma until he fishes out our names." The Queen was shaking her head with a laughter while Eilithya moved around collecting medicine from the tables.

"Oh, strange…"

Athena turned to the other, apparently smitten by something out of place by the bedside desk. Eilithya's fingers brushed the soft silver petals of a rose on a once-empty vase, and Athena's smile was immediately wiped out.

"I think I might be the one needing a bit of memory-inducing moment…" The goddess of childbirth let the flower go, again shrugging before turning back to the pantry. "Must be the birds. Smart little creations, they are. One day they pluck a seed and now a flower, who knows tomorrow it could be a palm tree."

Athena kept staring at the rose, "Yes," she answered weakly, shivers ominously creeping under through her spine, "Who knows?"

Her skin prickled with the first groan that slipped from Hephaestus' lips. Athena could feel her breathing quicken but tried best to calm the excitement bubbling within her. Eilithya wanted her to be as calm as possible, but Hephaestus' eyelids half-opening was sending her emotions into an explosive disarray. She bit her lower lip, unable to contain her fingers from stroking the scar which split Hephaestus' right brow.

"Heph…" Athena's teeth chattered, "Heph, hey…"

Another groan and a few weak blinks could only spur on her euphoria. A million things were running across her mind—what to tell him, how to speak to him— she could not even search where to begin. She ran her hands across his untrimmed hair darkened to mahogany by the months he was forced to remain unconscious. While the rest of them laughed at his disproportions, Athena had always admired the mismatched colors of his eyes—blue and cognac now fully opened and looking straight at her. She sniffed, placing her hands on both sides of his face, forcing the smile to remain despite the trembling of her lips.

"Heph, can you… can you hear me?" Athena swallowed the lump on her throat, "It's me…"

She watched his irises expand then slowly shrink to its usual size. He opened his mouth.

"Aphrod…"

Hephaestus' voice trailed off. His throat felt stiff, his tongue was parched and jaws drilled with rust. When his eyes opened and the frail hands stroked his brows, there was none but a haze of his gritty senses. Someone was whispering his name, obscured by a strange ringing in his ears and a murky echoing of other unperceivable noises. Before him was an abstract of colors in tunnel vision, but he can trace the frame of her cheeks, the slender neck and milky complexion. He called her name, until it became clear and so did his realization of a mistake. Before him were dark locks of wild hair and not golden, pale skin instead of flushing ivory, and the storm grey discs that inflect light in the dark. The way she was stunned gave way she'd heard of his error.

"Uh…" he moved his neck, to get a clearer view of his Queen, "Athena…"

The Queen was blinking back tears when he continued in a weak, almost whispering voice:

"Did you just chop off my beard…?"

Athena couldn't suppress the burst of laughter as heat quickly spread behind her eyes. She nodded excitingly, biting down the happiness and the quivering of her lips. With the myriad things she wanted to say or do or ask, none resurfaced but pure joy which made her pink in the cheeks and carelessly snotty. Hephaestus was faintly smiling in return, basking in the warm welcome. Asceplius was by the door then and did not care to bother the emotional reunion and silently slipped out the room with a smile of his own.

"You're back…" Athena murmured mid-exhilaration, "Thank you for coming back…"

Hephaestus attempted to prop a hand to lift himself up but Athena instead piled the pillows behind him to elevate his massive frame. She handed him a chalice of warm water which he singlehandedly upended, asking for more until the linen above his broad chest was soaked with the droplets.

"Athena," Hephaestus called after handing the cup, "What… I don't think I could exactly recall—"

"Are you hungry?"

His jaw was left agape in the middle of his sentence as she stood swift and walked around towards a tray of grapes. She began plucking the fleshy plum beads. "You might want to test your taste buds, Heph. That long time you've been forced down with nothing but soup and herbs might have burned those guts."

"Well. Thank you but I was trying to ask—"

"Ah," the Queen turned back to him, "No talking yet, just eat. I'd have a full meal brought for you later. How is your head by the way?"

"Feels like half had been carrying the world," he pressed his right temple, flinching.

"Then you should rest it by the coming days yet,"

"You know I can't do that. There are tons of steel left that needs scraping. How long has it been?"

He noticed the faint bobbing on the Queen's neck as she sat still. Athena wet her lips and the silence she was answering him creased his brows.

"That long?" Hephaestus concluded. Athena had forgotten how smart he actually was. She closed her eyes.

"It doesn't matter—" "Cedalion better been taking care of the forge, I tell you. If he missed a single routine I swear…" Hephaestus' words found an end seeing Athena bow her head with a livid pained expression she was unable to hide. He suddenly felt a chill burgeoning from the pit of his stomach.

"What is it…?"

"Heph—"

"Is Cedalion alright?"

"He is, it's—"

"The others?"

"Yes…"

"Then what is it?"

Athena inhaled sharply, "I think it's not the time for you to be asking questions yet—"

"Is it the forge?"

"Hephaestus! Just keep quie—" "GODDAMNIT Athena! That forge is MY asylum! I deserve to know what in Tartarus has become of it, every chipped brick or broken tile, I—should—know!

There remained nothing but the fusion of shock and frustration in the way the Queen stared hard at him. Hephaestus, in the fit of his heightened emotion, immediately withdrew with a punch of sting in his head . Though this time she wasn't responsive to his pained groan. When both the boiling of their blood ceased, Athena was in the verge of conflicts.

"The forge is gone."

The blacksmith slowly returned his gaze to her, bewildered, confused.

"There is nothing there now but sand and silt. The mountain had consumed it. Ares sent a party to retrieve whatever could be salvaged, the morning itself when the palace fell," Athena went on, unmindful of the tears that began springing from Hephaestus' eyes. He wanted the truth then be it. That place had been his private paradise, a retreat from the rest of them to extract the artisan in him, and she herself had been schooled in the art of crafting within its sturdy walls. "Heph, I'm sorry."

She heard him sigh yet could not brave to see him in that state. Though there were more she could have asked about the Bolt as Poseidon had claimed, but she knew dropping an explosion only minutes after he had woken was already a breach.

"Alright…"

Hephaestus swallowed the sorrow and leaned against the pillows as if suddenly weakened, "Alright… tell me more then…"

You stubborn piece of meat. Athena smiled in a contrast of amusement and disbelief, "Are you sure? Wouldn't you want to wait out the headaches?"

"Pft… heal the headaches only to summon them back when 'it's time'? Wouldn't that be more torturous? Come on," he shrugged in exaggeration and began digging on the grapefruit, "What happened when I was out?"

Athena clicked her tongue, trying her best to tell him in a more casual manner that wouldn't bait her dramatic alter-ego.

"Well there was Poseidon… your uncle…"

"That is gross but go on…"

Athena laughed, the story went on like a grandmother does to putting a child to sleep. But instead of the patient drowsing, Hephaestus' reactions were more of an intensified regret and wishful longing to have been there during the torture and the battle. Athena could only roll her eyes. He does after all, share more sadistically twisted genes with her husband than herself, no matter their indifference to each other. Would that it have been more chaotic if Hephaestus' devices were present in the siege.

When Athena was finished, she swore she would have seen him crawl out of bed to strangle Poseidon from the lower floor. She was only thankful his clutches were kept in a safe distance. Hephaestus pinched the bridge of his nose before a yawn.

"That's it," Athena chuckled, standing to make her leave remembering to meet with the King anytime soon. "There is much more to discuss, but we can take some pauses and handle sorts without breaking your head for the meantime. Let me call back Asceplius for anymore medicine required."

"Asceplius?"

"Yes, Apollo's son," she forced a smile, shoving the skip of heartbeat barely saying the name, "He had been the one looking after you."

"And where is Apollo now?"

"With Poseidon, according to Eilithya. And now I have to see him myself," she sighed.

And then there was silence which wrecked them both, compelling Hephaestus to open his eyes from sleepiness only to lose it entirely. There was about every reason Athena had become dumbfounded and speechless.

Deep shadows emerged from every window and ventilation as the sunlight made a gradual shift from luminous to nighttime. Athena felt cold bullets of sweat, completely losing to mind what she was about to say to Hephaestus the moment darkness had began wrapping the room. She stepped into the window and out there a phenomenal sight made her skin crawl and widened her eyes. In a very clear view she sees the sun, its full brazen glory being overcame by the disc of the moon, casting miles of shadows from end to end as if no difference from the Underworld. From the palace balconies, gods and nymphs and each divine population looked out in a conflate of amazement and fear. Two remarkable bodies of the heaven, once never have thought to touch each other, were now hauntingly beautiful spheres united by whichever remarkable power. Its darkness was baronial. Only the fiery outline of the sun was left of it and Athena could not measure its phantom grandiosity.

She could not have felt herself blink only until the moon begun separating from its counterpart, a slow steady movement which made sunlight creep back into the every wall and pillar.

"What was that…?"

"Eclipse…" Athena whispered, unable to peel her eyes from the magnificent scare. It had been millennia since the last eclipse, when the titans were thrown into the hellholes of Tartarus. What could it be this time? An end to a beginning? A beginning to an end?

"Apollo, you say; he visited me that morning…"

"What?" The Queen snapped, looking back at Hephaestus' shut eyes and creased brows trying hard to remember something. She was beginning to lose the battle of swallowing down her anxiety, "Apollo was with… you…?"

"Yes, he was asking of a path… a path underneath… a lock, what… and he told me to… survive…" Hephaestus' face fell, "Athena—"

As if the higher heavens crumbled around them, Hephaestus' adrenaline burned with a mysterious shift to alarm. Athena's blood ran cold when immediately he sprung from his lying state, electrified with distress, he screamed—

"GET POSEIDON OUT OF THERE NOW!"

She stormed through the hallway, met by dense whispers and tension-filled gazes. As Asceplius laid eyes on her approach, he was washed with panic and immediately moved between the Queen and the door to Poseidon's quarters.

"Don't," the youth muttered, teeth chattering. Athena could see the sweat plastered above his brows.

"Please, my Queen, just… don't…"

No. Athena's lips remained taut despite the warning. This could not be. A fire ignited in her, the same which drove an instinctual magnet towards battles—she'd been through worse, she'd seen enough unspeakable horrors. Monsters. Mutilations. Hell. Athena balled her fists and shoved across Asceplius… she'd been through worse, and nothing anymore will ever horrify her—

But all could see how her pupils contracted at the abomination that was once her uncle.

It was not Poseidon, nor anything like she remembered she saw him. What laid there was a mush of bloodied meat and skeleton, of melted flesh that spilled to the sheets like ogre's porridge. Poseidon's bones peeked above the pieces of charred flesh which survived the liquefaction. His face was swept by scalding blood, leaving the grisly hallows on his eyes bare and his jaws wide open which gave enough cue how he suffered screaming. The putrid stench of fire and near-human decomposition clung in the air.

Yes she'd seen enough, but Poseidon was her family… and not even his most despicable sins would merit being burnt from inside-out

Athena's chest tightened as if clutched in the spikes of an iron belt, each sting forcing her deep pained breaths to quiver. There was a ringing on her ears which amplified by every beat of her damned heart. There was a thumping in her head that began to wreck from within and all she could do was remain numb.

When finally her lungs initiated to draw bits of the putrid air and before hot tears brimmed, a gloved hand shot from the side, quickly covered her eyes from the view and the next thing she remembered was her face pressed against an Ares' chest. Fingers curled through his wife's hair, his other arm steadying her trembling body, the King kept a rigid stance as Athena's afflicted scream undulated against his armor.

**Ch. 4

A/N: It's over the middle of January, but I still wish you Happy New Year! May 2021 be friendlier. Thank you for the reviews, I have replied them on the review sections itself. Tell me your thoughts. Most importantly, take care.