CHAPTER X

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Athena's eyes flew open as the first rays of sunlight spilled into Ares' room through a window, concealed by its dark curtains. She looked at the sheets beside her – they were undisturbed. So Ares hadn't tried to pull a fast one on her.

Shuffling about in the sheets, Athena managed to get herself into a half seated position, clutching her torso. She was still curious about what had actually happened to her. What was that beast? If it was a Basilisk, was it some sort of hybrid? And if it was, who was tampering with the balance of creatures in Olympus.

Athena looked around the room. It was still relatively dark and the meagre rays of sunlight weren't enough to light up the room just yet. The fire that had kept the air balmy during the night was dead now, only ash left in the hearth. Athena peaked under the covers. Her bandages were hard and crusty – whatever had oozed its way out of her wounds having dried up in the cloth. She needed to leave now; she had wasted too much time in Ares' palace anyway, due to her carelessness.

Steadily, she pulled a sheet over herself to conceal her bare body – even though Ares had probably seen it already – and slowly got to her feet. Just then, the door creaked open slowly. Ares appeared and immediately frowned at the sight of Athena standing. Athena sighed, rolling her eyes and sat back down.

'I guess there's no point in arguing with you, is there?' Athena slowly pulled the sheets over herself again. Ares approached, hands stuffed in his pockets, inspecting Athena.

'I'll pin you down if you have to,' he said sternly. Athena scoffed.

'As if you wouldn't do that anyway,' Ares couldn't help but smirk, 'you know, I'm feeling much better. Thank you for your hospitality, I'm debt to you for that, but I really should be leaving soon, so if you could provide me with my dress –'

Before Athena could finish Ares sat down on the bed, just missing her legs by a few inches, placing his arms on either side of her again, leaving very little space between them.

'Let me see your wounds,' he said, gently starting to pull the sheet away from Athena. Athena pushed his hand away, clutching at the sheet tightly.

'I beg your pardon…'

'Cover yourself up,' Ares said taking hold of the sheet again, 'if you're so sensitive about your body.' Athena wrapped her arms around her breasts.

Ares pulled away the sheet, stopping just at her hips. He tenderly prodded the bandages, inspecting them very carefully.

'So tell me,' Athena said, watching Ares, 'did you get a long look?' Ares looked up at her and raised a brow, clearly clueless of what she meant.

'Don't give me that innocent look. Of my body when you stripped me down and put me in your bed? Because that is the last glance you'll get for the next few centuries.'

'How dare you,' Ares said, seemingly offended, 'I am a gentleman and would never. I had my servants tend to you and clean you up, and anyway, when I did bandage you up you were covered. Besides,' Ares looked up at Athena with his fiery eyes, 'I wouldn't need to go through all of that trouble to get you naked Athena.' Athena flushed and pushed Ares' face away. He chuckled, stray hairs falling before his face.

'You are a brute.' Athena frowned disapprovingly and Ares continued to laugh, his voice deep and husky.

'But honestly,' Ares pulled off the pin that held Athena's bandages together, 'you were in quite a state. That was the last thing on my mind.'

He slowly started to tug at the bandages, being careful not to inflict too much paint on Athena.

'So you bandaged me up yourself?'

'Yes, after Apollo attended to you at Artemis' palace I brought you here and continued to tend to your wounds where Apollo left off.' Athena watched Ares. She hadn't truly seen him this way before. Out of battle, out of the mind-set of bloodlust and war, but instead just as a man, tending to the details that his extravagant life seemed to not have room for. For the first time she had seen his hands, not clasped around the hilt of a sword or the throat of his enemy, but instead slowly and tenderly working away at something that seemed so meaningless.

'That is incredibly kind of you Ares,' Athena said, and Ares paused only for a moment, but continued, 'it's almost unlike you.'

'Well-well, we have you charging into battle without so much of a thought, and we have me, thoughtfully coming to tend to your wounds,' Ares looked up at Athena, 'I guess neither of us have been ourselves lately.'

Both averted their eyes from the other.

'You say I was in a state, what state was I in? And have you any news where that Basilisk may have come from?'

'We aren't entirely sure what type of Basilisk it was or where it came from, but those who were at the scene were pretty convinced it was a new type of Basilisk, or at least, one bred for the incident. When we first arrived it was causing havoc across the forests and last night when I returned to the scene to question some of the inhabitants of the forest, none of them recall seeing the Basilisk approach from any fixed place.'

'In other words it was possibly spawned there.'

'Most likely. Before you arrived the Basilisk had fired those fangs a few times at my men. That's when I instructed them to chain the beast down so its underbelly would not be exposed. Then you came charging in…'

'I know. Forgive me. And then what happened?'

'One of the fangs fired straight into your abdomen. By the time I had slayed the beast and found you on the ground you were… a mess. A mangle of blood, venom and skin really. From what I observed the venom enters the body through the fang and essentially, breaks down the vessel from the inside out. Any venom that lands outside of the body eats its way in. You were extremely fortunate that Apollo was visiting Artemis for the day otherwise you may have deteriorated into a pile of guts right there at her temple. He basically put you back together again, but there were many other injured men and creatures that needed to be tended to. So he sent you off with me.'

'In other words, that thing's venom…tore me to bits?'

'Slowly, yes,'

'And you carried me to Artemis' temple?'

'Yes,' Ares looked up at Athena, 'why is this so hard to believe for you?'

'I do believe you,' Athena winced as Ares peeled the bandage slowly, 'it's just that…it must have been a disturbing scene…for you –'

'I'm a big boy and I've seen far worse,' Athena sat forward and Ares leaned in to peel the bandage from her back, 'I guess the only difference is when I see a lost cause, I make no effort to save them, but even though you were a lost cause, I tried to save you.'

As Ares pulled the bandages Athena felt her skin tearing and her wound starting to open up. She grimaced and instinctively pressed her face into Ares' shoulder, trying to not make a sound despite the immense discomfort she was feeling.

'It's a bad wound,' Ares said, his lips close to her ears, 'I won't judge you if you whimper.' Athena smiled to herself.

Suddenly something very bizarre entered Ares' mind. Here he was in his room – his intimate quarters even – concealed from hungry, prying eyes with the woman he had been relentlessly fantasizing about of late. She was in his bed, subdued, naked and totally in debt to him. His lips were mere inches away from her neck, and only a few inches further away from her lips. They were so close he could smell the lingering scent of the sweet oils his servants had so delicately washed her in on her skin. And yet…he could not bring himself – to do anything.

Ares couldn't bring himself to kiss her, to caress her, not even to hold her. He knew, at least, that he wanted to. How could he not? In their time apart, that was all Ares could think about when he had a moment to think at all.

Was it because of the incredibly vulnerable position Athena was in? She didn't really have the energy or power to physically fight him off, so it wouldn't be much fun.

Maybe seeing Athena as a pile of mangled flesh did disturb him a little and lower his libido. But that couldn't really be it, because looking at her now with her bright red scars on her milky white skin, bare all over couldn't heat Ares' blood anymore.

So then why? Why is it that even when Ares removed the old bandage and collected new ones, knowing Athena would be much more energetic once her wound had been cleaned and wrapped up again, could he still not bring himself to even think about touching her the way he had always wanted to.

Ares, after letting Athena get a good look at it, cleaned Athena's wound thoroughly. Athena's body tensed so hard, she was winded by the time he started to administer the bandaging. Slowly he worked his way around her torso, making sure that the bandage was tight enough to stop any flows of blood that might have started streaming from the reopened wound.

Ares tried to focus on the bandages as opposed to the muddled thoughts in his head. Athena felt it – whatever was troubling him. Whatever was making him so quiet, and stopping him from gloating. Whatever was making his brows furrow – and his eyes so distant.

As Ares started to clip the pins onto the bandages to keep them in place, he felt Athena lean forward and gently nudge her head against his chin.

'You are insufferable Ares. Utterly unbearable to me. And yet…I can't help but admire you deeply for doing something I thought was totally beyond your comprehension.' Ares paused for a moment. He pressed his face against her hair.

'And what's that?' he asked, almost inaudibly.

'Caring,' Athena said. Ares sighed deeply. He tucked his hand beneath Athena's hair and curled his fingers around the back of her neck.

And he still didn't kiss her. He didn't push himself on her. His fingers caressing the nape of her neck – without the least bit of resistance from her – and he still couldn't bring himself to do anything.

Athena pulled his hand from her neck and pressed her finger against his forehead. Ares stared at her finger curiously.

'And it needs to stop,' Athena frowned, 'it disturbs me.'

Ares smiled, but before he had a chance to respond there was a loud knock on the door.

A messenger fervently relayed a message from Apollo and Artemis to Ares at the door. Athena tried to hear the conversation from the bed.

'Is something wrong?' Athena said, unsettled, 'Has another Basilisk appeared?'

'No,' Ares answered, pulling on his military jacket, 'Apollo wanted to heal and get all the creatures to safety in the forest and he told me that he'd report back when the forest was ready for more survey. I'm going down there just to see if there is evidence of a portal opening, or signs of another dangerous creature nearby. You stay here and get some more rest.'

Athena decided not to argue this time, and before saying anything, nodded and slipped back into the bed. Truthfully, once Ares was out of the room, Athena would be out of the bed.

Athena sprung out of the sheets the moment she was sure Ares was long gone. So from what she knew, her clothes were destroyed, along with her armour – and subsequently her steed – and she had no means of getting back to her temple appropriately, unless she walked all the way there naked.

Eyes searching the room, Athena sought out Ares' closet. A pair of oak doors caught her attention, and upon opening them she found the very thing she was looking for. An assortment of trousers and shirts lay dumped or hanging in the closet and boots lay strewn across the floor. She pulled out a pair of trousers and a shirt and pulled them on.

Ares' shirt hung loose on Athena no matter how many knots she tried to tie to synch it and his trousers of course slipped off of her hips the moment she moved. It took quite some rummaging to find a belt, but she managed to find one that would stop the trousers from bunching around her ankles when she moved.

Athena snuck out of Ares' room, his boots knocking about her ankles as she went.

'How is she?' Apollo asked, watching his servants pack his carriage over Ares' shoulder.

'She should be fine. I fixed her up this morning. She is considerably weakened – though she might disagree.' Ares said, looking out over the forest.

A team of servants and men, along with a few creatures who had lost the homes in the attack worked to repair the area, removing debris, moving severed trees and being very careful to not to go anywhere near the decapitated Basilisk carcass.

'This is a very bizarre incident,' Apollo commented, 'you say you found no signs of a disrupted portal anywhere?'

'No, my men and I scoured the area and there were no signs of portal activity. None at all.' Apollo noticed the distant expression with which Ares stared at the forest. His mind was definitely elsewhere.

'Which is bad for us,' Ares seemed to regain focus, looking at Apollo, 'that means something sinister brought about this attack. The Basilisk was most likely spawned.'

'Who knows?' Apollo shrugged, forcing a smile, 'Perhaps it was just born in this forest, lying dormant until now.'

'Apollo,' Ares gave Apollo a meaningful look, 'look at it. It is enormous. If there was a Basilisk lying dormant somewhere in the forest someone would have noticed. Your optimism is appreciated but will get us nowhere if we ignore the possibility that this is something rather threatening.'

'I suppose you're right,' Apollo sighed, 'do you think it's connected to the Chimera attacks?'

'Most likely,'

'Well there's only one person to blame for that really, isn't there?'

'I suppose,' Ares sighed a heavy, rattling sigh, 'and if Zeus doesn't send me to confront his brother, I'll have to do it sometime anyway.'

Apollo suddenly felt a pair of arms wrap themselves around his waist. Artemis rested her head against his back and looked out at her forest with a sombre expression. Apollo encircled her arms with his own.

'Do you have to leave so soon?' Artemis asked.

'I told you my dear, I have business to attend to at my temple; I would stay if I could.' Artemis closed her eyes, and opened them again. She hoped she would open her eyes to a forest, repaired and flourishing.

'How will I fix this?' She said, more to herself than anyone else. Apollo, of course, heard her.

'We'll find a way, my huntress, you mustn't worry yourself.'

Apollo looked at Ares. It was usually at this moment when he would salute the too and wander off into the forest. He was easily put off by Artemis and Apollo's doting, Apollo had noticed. But here he stood, apparently completely oblivious to the presence of either one of them.

'Are you alright Ares?' Apollo asked, inspecting Ares' face, 'you seem rather lost in thought.'

'Yes, I'm alright,' Ares ran his hand through his hair, 'I should really stop doing that.' he nodded at the two, bid them farewell and made his way down to the damaged forest opening.

He inspected the Basilisk carcass. Every laceration on its body was recently made, as recent as the previous days fight. Ares found no scars on its body, no signs of being attacked before he was first sent to slay it.

Ares unsheathed his sword and ran the blades tip against the skin of the carcass, creating a small scratch. So it was relatively easily to put a scar on this beast, or at least some sort of scratch or marking, but nowhere on this beast's body did it have any old scars or cuts that had healed.

Ares came to the conclusion that the beast had to be spawned. It had no old scars meaning it came into contact with no other beings before Ares was sent after it, and even the journey through the forest would have put some sort of scar on its skin. It was a big beast; if it were slithering through the trees its skin would have been somehow grazed or disturbed by the stumps and bark. But even then, there were no signs of an entry or a trail from which the Basilisk may have come. No disturbed soil, so it couldn't have moved underground and Ares was sure it couldn't fly, so what other explanation was there?

Spawning is the act of transporting a large beast from one location to another through a form of teleportation. It is usually performed for extremely dangerous creatures that could cause harm to others during land-based transportation, so instead they are spawned. Spawning can only be performed by a god with great knowledge and control over the beast.

And who knew more about beasts than the god stuck with them day in, day out?

Ares sighed again, running his hands through his hair.

Zeus would definitely make him visit the underworld after hearing about this. Ares was so tired of playing the part of Zeus' 'warrior of service'. Ares was made for the battlefield, for blood and glory and victory; he wasn't made to be a lapdog. But he had to behave, just for a little longer. Just to see what happens…

Ares rode back home, exhausted.

'What do you mean you think she fled!' Ares was fuming, standing at the gates of his stable. A servant stood a few feet away from him, head bowed, quivering.

'You mean you didn't notice her ride off into the horizon with one of my steeds!'

'No sir,' his servant swallowed, 'I thought she was in your room…I thought…'

'I thought, I thought…' Ares growled through gritted teeth, 'that's all I ever hear from you incompetent imbeciles…she…she should have stayed to rest a little longer…' feeling his Master's frustration mount, the servant stepped back a few feet.

'Never mind then!' Ares threw his hands into the air and marched off into his Palace, leaving the servant trotting timidly behind him.

Entering his intimate quarters, Ares slammed the door behind him. He rubbed his hand across his tired face. He stared at his empty bed through the gaps of his fingers and sighed.

Athena wasn't the neatest of houseguests. In her flight she left Ares' sheets strewn about the bed and the floor. Not entirely sure what to do with himself, Ares lifted the sheets and dumped them on the bed, staring at them for a while, before walking away.

'And she stole my clothes,' he noticed his closet partially opened. He couldn't help but smile, imagining Athena running around in his clothes. Oh how ridiculous she must have looked.

Ares poured himself a seething hot bath, submerging himself into the scorching water. He tried to clear his mind the way he did before a battle. Oh how easy it was when you were about to slay an entire army, but maybe not so easy now.

It still concerned him. Why couldn't he kiss or hold, or just touch Athena the way he usually did? He wasn't going to hurt her or anything – it'd be no fun if her wounds opened up.

Ares climbed out of the tub and dried himself off, still with that vacant look in his eyes that everyone seemed to notice. He moved out of the bathroom and into his bedroom, opening the curtains to allow some more light in before he lit a fire for the evening.

Sunset, shimmering and slowly disappearing as the night-time stars started to appear.

Ares tried to watch the sun sink into the earth, and watch that only. He tried to think of that only, but he could not, because he was starting to understand. He was starting to understand why his body had not been overrun by that delicious and insatiable heat he knew so well, but instead by a warmth that sat in the pit of his stomach, and left the rest of his body very cold and tender.

In that moment, Ares cared. He cared deeply for Athena. He was outside himself, distant, vacant, purely because he wasn't thinking about himself. He was thinking about her. So how could he explore another's body, when he was unaware of his own? Every moan, every whimper, every whisper would be out of his control. He would be totally out of control.

Ares watched the sun disappear out of view as the night sky spilled in.

So this is what it feels like. Being vulnerable.