Yes, after a long, long time; I'M HERE AGAIN! I mean the story's back again. :3 I know it's been too long, but this topic was still too interesting to not go on. Your words encouraged me to finish this unfinished chapter -which was waiting in stock for a quite long time, actually- and I decided to go on as long as I can. I hope you still have faith in the story. I love you all! And I'd love to see your reactions on this one.

So, see you after reading.

HA-HA we have a long way.

Anyway, have a good time reading it.

I'd suggest a cup of ice tea.

She hated men.

She was born after the Great Titan War, the war which her father took the crown and the capacity of ruling all over the immortal existence from Evil Titan Cronus along with his siblings. She knew well that it was a very long, painful and devastating war, and it definetly hadn't been easy to overthrow their father -her grandfather. Cronus was famous for eating his children mercilessly with the fear of losing his throne. She hated men, they would always see themselves on the top of their world. She knew that after the Great War, the Earth and the universe were shared between the Big Three -Zeus, Poseidon and Hades. Poseidon was the ruler of the seas, oceans, all of the water in the universe. Hades, also known as the Isolated Ruler, was the god of Underworld, that mighty yet very suffered place, he was the owner of all the richness under. Her father was crowned as the King of the Gods, the mighty Lord of Skies. All of the blue legacy of Ouranos, was forever belong to him. She disgusted men when even her own blood, three "most powerful of all" brothers didn't even consider their sisters while they were sharing the whole universe in three parts.

After Promethus created mankind, "men" had always been the dominant side in their world. She hated men when they were discussing if women were human or animal in Greece, in the Ancient Age. They were always the stronger ones -or at least they considered themselves stronger- and saying this out loud properly delighted them very much.. She hated men when they treated their women so badly, doing things unacceptable in every way.

But she had never considered in all her life that Hera was to be the right side.

When she was a little girl, all she knew about the wife of her father was that she had condemned her mother, Leto to exile and she had suffered so much of her long pregnancy until she found the island of Delos. She and her brother Apollo were delivered there, and their poor mother could finally be relieved that her beautiful twins were born healthly. Her immortal memory could remember the first time she opened her eyes to the new world, that their mother wrapped soft leaves around her and Apollo and held them as she wept within her heart. She could remember also the first time their father came to see them, not even looking once at the shocked expression on Leto's face and hugging his "beloved" children. She could remember their father's foreign scent she felt in his collar, and she had hugged him back with the innocence of a new-born immortal. Immortals would seem 2 years old for the first two month after they were born, and one year at 5 years old. She could remember that Zeus took them away from Mother, and brought them to Olympus. She was astonished at the breathtaking view of the sacred place. They had their own palaces, and she had enjoyed the loneliness inside her own domain, even in her little age.

The first time she saw the goddess was inside her sacred garden. She had lost her way to her palace and she had admired this beautiful garden so much that she wanted to take a round inside. She was shocked when she ran into a woman. The first thing that came into her mind was she was beautiful. She had a crown on the top of her head, and she was wearing an elegant white dress. Artemis had decided she was supposed to show respect to her, and she had bowed in front of her clumsily.

"Hello, dear Beautiful Madam, I wish you a good day. My name is Artemis, I am the goddess of moon and hunt. Nice to meet you." She had said this words so sweetly and innocently that the goddess couldn't resist a smile. She was always fond of children, it was the part of her creation. She held out her hand and Artemis took it. "Nice to meet you too, Artemis. You are a beautiful lady. My name is Hera, goddess of marriage and birth." She said, and Artemis winced.

Yes, Hera. She definetly knew that name. She could remember her mother's hateful and rageous words about this name. But the woman in front of her was smiling in a very beautiful way. She wasn't looking like a monster or an evil creature. She quickly bowed to her once again.

"I am sorry, Your Majesty, I didn't recognise you..." She murmured but Hera just sighed. "So you know my name? I can't imagine how you are told about me. Please rise, my dear goddess. You don't need to do that. " Then Artemis raised her head cautiously and saw her father's wife tensed at the sudden wind and looked up to the sky.

"Zeus is coming." She said, looking uncomfortable of his nearing presence. "I need to go now. You should leave now, too. I'll see you again."

And she had disappeared. Just like this. She could recall that after one moment, Zeus had appeared. He looked angry and puzzled, to see her in Hera's sacred garden. He had taken her out, and warned her not to enter this place without permission again. He had also explained that the Queen, his wife would be very angry if she saw her in the garden. She hadn't told him about the encounter, and pretended like she didn't know her when she and her brother were presented to her knowledge offically. She couldn't deny that she was fond of her, she looked like a good woman after all. But, despite this, her fury had still remained.

Artemis sighed. All through the existence, she had been a rebel. She had been rebelling against men, against pleasures, against rules. Her brother was definetly different from her, though. Even physically, they were not similar. Artemis had sensitive feelings inside but she could never show them to anyone or anything. She was a fighter, a huntress, and definetly a cruel and mean goddess who was capable of killing her foes mercilessly. But she wasn't a believer. Not like Apollo. She certainly didn't own a gentle, caring and even kind spirit like him. She didn't like art, and she didn't agree about the beauty of mystique poetry with him. But inside, she had always admired the way her twin took the things easier than they seemed. She longed to be like that, to be the apple of their mother's eye and to feel the pure love and happiness unconditionally. She was aware that Apollo never had had a "Hera hate" that nearly everyone had, and stayed closer to the goddess than she could ever be. Artemis had always hated her. Well, she had taken her mother's happiness from her, right? Gods, how sure she was just a few days ago. But now...

"My lady, my lady!" someone called from distant, and when she didn't hear him, he changed the title. "Artemis!"

Artemis turned the anxious voice's direction, and realised the little figure -who is also her brother's best friend- running to her clumsily, much to her surprise. She frowned as she raised from her sitting position, and greeted him.

"Hermes." she breathed, as the messenger god came closer. "What brings you here, my friend? Is there anything wrong with my brother?"

Hermes shook his head hastily, panting as he tried to fix his posture. "No, Apollo is okay, but he asked you to come and stay with Queen Hera. Ares's condition seems getting worse, so she is quite upset and nervous. He is asking you to come and, you know... support her."

Hermes rocked back and forth uncomfortably, he was aware that Artemis definetly wasn't fond of the Queen. Nearly none of their father's children from other women was. Athena loathed her, Dioynsus didn't even look at her face, Hercules...Maybe it was better not to talk of him. Only Apollo... Only his best friend, and favorite god even above his father, wasn't complaining about her doings and politics. He always seemed to watch their stepmother closely, and try to understand her character. For the others,her only charecteristic was bitterness and cruelty. But Apollo had never judged her for what she has done or what she were. Hermes himself also wasn't that fierce to her, he had protected his respect and distance to her as her messenger for all these centuries and never disobeyed. Still, the events of yesterday, was too overwhelming to judge.

"Maybe you don't have to go..." he blurted out, but Artemis shook her head.

"No. I will go. It's not a problem. I promise." Then she smiled. "Thank you for informing me." Then she flashed away in a second.

Hera opened her eyes with the feeling of something...kicking.

She frowned when she saw that she was still sitting on the bed, motionless. Then she frowned deeper when she realised that she was leaning against something. Her hand was clunched into one another, a strong, large and very familiar one. She looked up and saw she had been sleeping against Zeus's chest, holding his hand.

She sat up immediately with anxiousty, causing Zeus to stiffen slightly and wake up. She watched as her husband opened his eyes groggily and frowned as he tried to understand where he was. Just a moment later he saw Hera sitting in the bed.

"Hera?" he called, rubbing his eyes. "Gods, it's been morning. Have we fallen asleep here? My head hurts.."

"Well we both weren't on ourselves last night and I am sure that it was..oh."

Zeus frowned, feeling she tensed to something and cut her sentence down. He looked up to her, and saw she was holding her womb.

"What?" he asked, holding out a hand. "What's wrong?"

Then, all of a sudden, something that shocked Zeus happened -Hera laughed.

"Oh my gods," she murmured, still laughing, even giggling. "It's incredible to feel this again."

"Feel what?" Zeus asked again, getting worried. "Why are you laughing for no reason? Will you tell me?"

"She," Hera looked into his eyes, her hazel eyes shining like emeralds. "She kicked."

"She? What are you talking..."

Zeus couldn't finish his sentence, stopped by Hera's hand tugging his own. She put his hand on her womb and held it there.

"Wait." she said, quietly. "Listen."

Suddenly, Zeus felt a kick against his hand. He blinked. It was... So strange. He could also remember the first time Ares and Hebe kicked too, but it had been thousands of years. He could remember something like that with Eilithya too, but it was the times he started his affairs. The baby kicked again and they both laughed. Hera was smiling widely when Zeus raised his head to looked at her.

Years, decades, centuries, milleniums... No time possible in the whole Chaos, whole creation was enough to make her lose her beauty. Her black locks-as black as the own of the night- were falling to her shoulders and chest beautifully and the way her red, plump lips parted as she laughed breathtakingly... Her eyes were hazel, but shining like emerals, and they could change emotions very quickly, one moment bearing a great affection and happiness inside them and one moment later turning into a cold, mean and bitter soul. He used to adore the sparkle inside them when she was quiet happy, or angry; and when she shouted at him about how he was being so ignorant and inconsiderate, he would just walk and cup her face into his hands to kiss her. She would suddenly get silent, and if she wanted to go on they would spend the rest of the night together. Oh how her milky skin would cover his and her head landing in his chest as he fell asleep. His breath caugh when he felt the baby's kick against his palm once again. Hey, I'm here too, she seemed to say. Yes, he thought, yes you're here too. But you're also the reason why we're still together now. Why I cannot divorce her and marry Leto, mother of my twins. You're the reason why she laughs after a long time breathlessly and probably you're also the reason why she looks so beautiful right now and why I'm looking at her like this. How much time, he asked to himself. How many centuries have passed since the last moment she laughed with me? And her eyes shined like this? He frowned, trying to find his way into his blurry emotions. Tell me, stupid god, stupid king. Why does it matter now?

Hera was still smiling when she accidentally raised her head and encountered with his electric blue eyes. Her smile slowly faded, the blissful light in her eyes calmed down. Zeus watched as she turned to normal, her eyes avoiding from any emotion. She sighed and pulled her hand from his.

"Sorry." she murmured, not glancing at his eyes. "I'm just... My powers, they can make me like this sometimes. I can be out of control when it is about pregnancy or else... Just, don't care."

"But I do." Zeus said and Hera looked up to him. Zeus shook his head.

"Is it a she?"

"Yes." Hera said, after a moment of hesitating. "You know I can, kinda feel the gender from the beginning."

"You've never told me."

She sighed. "Why does it bother you, Zeus? Why, ha? Tell me a reason. You don't want this baby. You never did. Why do you care anything about me or my children?"

Zeus reached out to hold her face but suddenly stopped. He sighed and opened his mouth to answer.

"Open the door! I said open the damn door I have to see Lord Zeus and Lady Hera right now! Get out!"

Zeus and Hera otomoticly got away from each other as the door finally opened and a messenger god entered, breathing heavily.

He made a quick bow to them. "My Lord, My Queen." He looked at them. "Lord Hypnos is here. He wishes to see you. He said it was very important and he also said it was about Lord Ares's condition."

This captured both of their attention. Zeus looked at him.

"Let him come. You can go."

Soon, a messy-haired, tall and handsome god, a very familiar god for both of them, appeared. Hypnos, or by his other name, Sleep, was known as one of the most mysterious and outrageous primordals among the gods. If he was angry with you, he could put you in eternal sleep with all nasty dreams. If you were a mortal, you had no chance to stay alive. Putting people and gods to sleep wasn't the only dangerous thing he could do. His twin brother, Thanatos, was the primordal of death. Sometimes Hypnos would go ask for his help when he wanted someone destroyed, and he would usually help him. So, when you were put into eternal sleep, your pyhsical body would be surrounded by death creatures, eating you out. If you were mortal, you were death in an instant. If you were immortal, it was much worse. Your soul would get lost into Chaos or something.

"Lady Hera. Lord Zeus." he greeted them with a single nod. They both nodded, showing that they accepted his greeting.

"I'm listening to you, Hypnos." Zeus said. "I heard that you had something to say about my son's condition."

For a moment, Hera thought of the last time he called Ares his "son". It was probably when he looked like a 5 year-old, she considered.

"Yes. I do. And it's very important. Last night, Apollo had everyone running to get the ingredients he needed to tend the war god's wounds. It was impossible to not hear the rumors about how he fell. I was surprised when I heard he got into a coma like a mortal would do. I asked someone, and they said they didn't know what happened, and that he was found in this condition in the garden. So, I had an idea." He stopped, looking at their faces. Hera sighed impatiently.

"And what is it, Hypnos? Can you cure my son?"

"I don't know about that, Your Majesty. But I know, that maybe we can find out how he got into this position."

They both stood up with this.

"How?"

"I provide sleep into the living's mind. Comas are not sort of my thing, however. But there is a way I can get into his brain. If I can communicate with his sleep, I can reach to his mind and his memories. We can look at his memories, and find out who did this to him."

Zeus and Hera looked at each other. Then Zeus turned to the god in front of them.

"Can you really do this?"

"I don't know for sure. But it's a very big possibility out there. It won't hurt him much. And, looking from the big picture, it will provide more benefit than harm to him. So, what do you say?"

"Of course yes! Just start it as soon as you can." Hera said, her eyes shaking with sadness, worry and anger. "I want to find out whoever did this to him as soon as possible."

Hypnos nodded as he moved towards the bed Ares was lying unconsciously.

"Here we go." he said as he put his hand on his forehead.

Meanwhile, Ares was struggling with his life's regrets.

Being an immortal always brought you so many pain of so many regrets, of so many things you've done wrong and the impossibility of having a real redemption and getting released from your agony by death. Every god, every immortal had regrets and afterpains. But his ones... It was what hurt him most. He had never thought of them so intensely before, but now that he was in a coma and completely left alone with his mind, he couldn't help but remember them. Remembering, then drowning in them.

He had destroyed so many cities. He had caused so many people to get into war with each other and ignited all of their pointless rage and feeling of betrayal. He had broken many families, friendships, relationships just because he enjoyed seeing them fight with each other. Sometimes kill each other. He loved burning cities, sometimes just to breathe the smell of burnt human bodies in or watch the beautiful shapes an explosion made. He had killed so, so many people -more than he could ever count-, and he had broken many women's heart around the Earth. He had watched in delight as there was a family tragedy resulting in family members butchering each other.

But, interestingly, now that he was left alone with all that cruel,bloodthirsty side of him and his memories; his greatest regrets were never in them. What made him really suffer, was the memories of his family.

Some moments passed through his blurry mind. First, he remembered that little happy boy belonged in his loving family; and the horror he felt when he realised this was not the case at all. He remembered as he grew up, the light in his eyes disappeared forever. In a few months, he was in the shape of a young man, and his distance from his family expanded every day from then. He even hated his own mother. And then some more years, he started to have siblings. That part was hard too.

Scenes came and went away. He saw the big fight between Hebe and Hera when Zeus decided to marry her to Hercules. She shouted all of her anger to her mother's face, calling her unbelievable things and throwing stuff at her. She shouted how she hated her guts, and how she wished she wasn't her mother at all and instead one of her father's innocent -that was exactly how she said- mistresses was. Like Leto. Ares remembered seeing that fight, and he knew it was completely Zeus's decision and that Hera definetly tried to confront him for couple times; but he never went and stopped their fight. He watched as his sister hurt her, emotionally and mentally, and even if he knew Hera did probably fight for her and was right, he didn't interfere. He let them fight which caused their mother break for the millionth time.

He remembered also getting into fights with her. He remembered also shouting insults to her. One time, he even tried to slap her hard, but when he did, his mother didn't even fall down but instead throw a surge of energy to him and stick him to the wall hard. But when he looked at her, waiting to see anger and rage; he had only seen cold eyes with a hidden grief in them. She looked at him like she couldn't believe, like she couldn't understand; but she was looking at him with strong eyes, with cold and silent eyes, eyes that said: I could do it before you slapped me too. I could do much worse, I am enough powerful to throw you in Tartarus. But they also said the reason why she didn't do it. Even if you stopped loving me and seeing me as your mother and family, I never did. You are still my son and I will always love you.

No, he said in his mind. This is not right.

How many times had he hurt her like this? How many times had he and his sibling killed and murdered her inside while she had already so much pressure on her by her husband and other Olympians? This wasn't right, that she never hurt them like they did to her, never told words like that to them, never tried to break them inside like they did. And again, he felt so small. For some decades, their relationship was going well -not like mother and son but at least they didn't hate each other's guts and were each other's throats- but still, still seeing how unfair he had always been towards her... She was his greatest regret. Maybe along with his brother Hephaistos. He still remembered stealing Aphrodite from him, getting defeated to her beauty and impression; he knew he had to stay away from her but the moment he laid his lips on her, he knew this woman was going to be his and not his brothers. Not even when his brother was her husband. He didn't care. He had cheated on his brother's trust for centuries.

Suddenly, he saw a light.

First, it scared him. What was this thing? He started to get nervous, but a gentle voice echoed in the walls of his mind. Don't be afraid. I'm not your enemy. I'm just looking for a particular memory.

The light hurt, and he fought at first, being the fighter he was; but soon he felt too weak and that voice didn't seem so threathening.

He watched as the light found the memory of how he got into that position and searched inside. It was a night, and he was wandering around a dangerous forest on Earth. Suddenly, a man, a man he had never seen before bumped into him. He was quite handsome, his hair was dark and he had intense dark green eyes; but he had never seen him. He felt he was an immortal too, so he asked:

"May I help you?" in a rough voice. The man infront of him, laughed, his beautiful eyes shining.

"Oh yes you can. It's unbelievable -you look like her. Except your silly little eyes.." he made a disgusted face. "The first thing when I'm back, will be to start his death with ripping his blue eyes out."

Ares looked shocked. "Who do you think you are to dare to say things like that to me? What are you talking about? Don't you know I can make you ashes in a blink right now?" he asked, really frustrated. But the handsome man just shuggered.

"I'd like to stay to see your abilities, but unfortunately, I have to get back to my work now. You will lose consciousness in 30 seconds, so before you go, if you could deliver my message to your dear parents, I'd be thankful. Just tell them my name is Adferon, and we have unfinished bussiness with them. That will be enough."

Ares was really puzzled to move. "What the fuck you..."

"Oh, by the way, send Hera my special regards. You can kiss her cheek for me."

Ares was really enraged by now. He collected his power and started to glow. He took a deep breath and hit him, a hit that should have knocked him to the Underworld.

But when he thought he hit him, he felt he was jerked by a very, very intense energy. His body was burning, and he screamed in pain. It was worse than anything he had ever felt before. He saw the man again as he held a blade and drove it into his chest. He screamed in agony again, really trembling. He shook for one last time, and his world went dark.

He still remembered the man's voice in his ear.

"And don't forget to tell them I'm back."

Hypnos withdrew from Ares with shocked eyes. He mumbled slightly.

"I've never seen anything like it.. That power was insane.. He is like no immortal I've ever seen before. His name... I've never heard about him."

"Hypnos what's happening?" Hera said, and when he turned his head to him, he saw two worried face looking at him expectantly. Suddenly, he realised Artemis too, making Hera sit down on the couch, trying to comfort her. She should have come here when I was in trance, he thought. Still, only the things he was going to say mattered now.

"I know the man's name. But I don't think any of you heard about him. He was very powerful, indeed..." He looked at them. "Is there a chance you might have heard a name like Adferon?"

Waiting confusion in their eyes, he couldn't get what he wanted. He saw Artemis was confused, but Zeus and Hera had a very different expression on their faces. Fear. Horror. Disbelief.

"What is happening? Do you know this guy?"

"Yes, we do." Zeus answered as he looked at his son with a very confused face, trying to adjust to what Hypnos just said. "We really do."

"What is happening, Father?" Artemis asked. "Is he one of your old enemies?"

Zeus shook his head and looked at Hera, but Hera was looking at their son with such disbelief too. He took a deep breath, slightly shaking his head.

"He is the leading god of the Annihilation Forces we fought really hard and nearly came to edge of losing Olympus once -before you were born. He was the most dangerous immortal out there for centuries."

"I thought he was gone." Hera whispered, his voice defenseless and hopeless. Zeus took a deep breath, holding onto the edge of the couch.

"This is not all." He looked at Hera again, whose head was in her hands. He took a deep breath.

"He was also Hera's old lover."

-to be contiuned-

Yes, the character Adferon is completely OC. We'll see more of his background in the next chapters. And, I think I'm making many love triangles here! :D

Again, thank you for your good will in this story. You encouraged me to go on. :) See you all in the next chapter!

P.S. Did you drink your ice tea?

I certainly did!

P.S. Kidding. I didn't have any left in the house, so I'm drinking some cold milk before bed.

Let's make sure we're all drinking cold milk next time when I write a chapter and you read it.

Goodnight! :3