III
For some strange reason, the Olympians had decided to let December 24th be the family reunion. It makes sense since Christmas is right after and everyone would be at Olympus (Zeus's mansion).
And so today, December 24th, the whole family is gathered in the living room, the adults chatting, greeting each other, the children playing, punching each other… Yes, extremely noisy.
However, the Olympian family isn't actually very big.
There was Zeus, chatting with his brother Poseidon with a very annoyed expression, who had an arm around his wife, Amphitrite, a pretty woman with black hair and blue-grey eyes. Her personality was cold, kind of like a royalty, and is extremely proud, letting her get along well with Hera, who has a similar personality. She was currently chatting with Hera and Persephone.
Hades was talking with Hestia in hushed tones, obviously discussing about that.
Demeter was lecturing Triton about cereal, who was talking to Ares about a video game, who was trying to bully his brother Hephaestus into talking, who was sitting there, tinkering on something in his hand, ignoring Ares, and solely wishing that Aphrodite was here.
Hermes was sticking pencils up an asleep (or you could say drunk) Dionysus's nostrils, while planning his next prank.
Athena and Hebe were chatting pleasantly about the physics of science, which switched to something in math, then literature, then economics, then laws…
Apollo was losing miserably against Artemis in chess.
"Dinner is ready!" Iris announced cheerfully, arriving at the doorway.
"YES!" most of the kids shot up and raced to the dining room with the exception of Dionysus, Hebe, and Athena. The adults also made their way to the dining room.
Dinner was noisy, with the extra chatter and clanging of plates and utensils. More than once Dionysus face-planted into his food, drunk, and more than 5 times, the children started a food fight. By the end of the 3 hour long dinner, the adults were so tired they could fall asleep right there and the children are so hyped up that even Dionysus stopped drinking and tried to stay awake, going to the bathroom frequently to flush out the alcohol in his system; Hephaestus started talking, and Athena and Hebe had lost their usually cool mask. It was chaos, just like every year, and not to mention that Triton was living up his name of the most annoying family member (now won 9 years in a row. He was re-voted again just this morning).
They gathered once again in the living room. It was only 9.
Adults settled themselves on coaches and sofas while kids sat or sprawled on the carpeted floor.
A few awkward minutes passed.
"Tag, you're it!" Hermes shouted out Dionysus, who was relaxing on the floor. Dionysus shot up, his eyes wild and tagged the nearest person- Hebe.
"Why me?" the usually quiet girl wailed before chasing after Apollo. Everybody scattered.
After half an hour, the children were once again in the living room, panting and gasping for breath, chuckling occasionally.
"Now what?" Artemis asked.
"Hide and Seek!" Hermes shrieked and everyone scattered again, searching for places to hide, except for Athena, who wasn't exactly paying attention to her surroundings at that moment.
"Whaaah?" Athena sat up, looking around confused. But her fast clicking mind soon put together the pieces. Sound of laughing+ all the children disappearing= Hide and Seek.
Much to her own surprise, Athena began counting.
Hide and Seek ended quite quickly considering the fact that Athena was extremely smart and had calculated all the likely places her siblings and cousin were hiding. Then, Ares and Triton, being the sore losers they are, started taunting Athena, angering her and currently, both of them are sitting beside their parents, trying to stop the blood flowing out of their noses.
Athena was watching them out of the corner of her eye while reading a book, feeling extremely proud of herself.
The other kids are in the biggest guest room, playing blind mice.
Θνητός αθάτοι
The room was completely silent, save for a few giggles now and then and the shuffles of movement.
Artemis stood in the middle of the room, eyes closed, breath held as she listened for any clues of the location of her siblings. Artemis hates to admit it, since it's childish, but she enjoys playing Blind Mice. Her ears are the keenest and clearest in the whole family. She had gone hunting many times before and always came home successful. Her ears always manage to pick up the smallest shuffles and intakes of breath.
Suddenly, coming from her right was a low hiss, hardly audible. "Ow!" Hermes hissed. "Dionysus, you're stepping on my feet!"
Artemis mentally grinned but pretended not to hear. 'Aha…'
There was another grunt as Dionysus moved himself and the slight sound of shuffling feet. The bed creaked behind her and somebody accidently knocked a remote control off the TV counter.
Artemis really grinned this time. 'That's everyone.'
Suddenly, she lunged towards where Hermes and Dionysus were hiding. The two boys screamed and scurried out of reach. Apparently Dionysus knocked over Apollo because there was a loud thud and someone yelled, "OW!" then let out a string of curse words.
Somebody snorted behind Artemis, causing the girl to freeze. She mentally planned out the room in her head.
'Door on the left,' she thought. 'Apollo, Dionysus, and Hermes at right corner. That leaves Hebe…'
Artemis spun around with almost inhuman speed and leapt towards the bed where Hebe was hiding in the darkness.
There was a yelp and Artemis's hand brushed Hebe's shoulder. Triumphant, Artemis opened her eyes, seeing a slightly embarrassed-looking Hebe.
"What?" asked Artemis.
"I just think I'm so stupid," Hebe explained, smiling embarrassedly. "Hiding on the bed, I mean."
The other girl just shrugged. "It's fine; who cares? You're it!"
Hebe started on the left corner, nearest to the door and began counting.
"One, two three…"
Suddenly, Hera's voice called from downstairs. "Children! It's getting late! Get washed up and go to bed!"
Sighing, Apollo switched on the light switch. Squinting against the sudden brightness, he asked, "What time is it?"
"Check your watch, idiot," his twin sister replied.
"Right." Apollo checked it and was shocked. "Dude! It's 12!"
"Seriously?" Hermes asked.
"I still want to play," Dionysus was about to say when he was cut off by a large yawn. "I'm not tired," he tried again, but another yawn cut him off.
Hebe shrugged. "We don't have much of a choice. You know how mom is when she's mad. She's like the insane version of Demeter."
"Do you mean the more insane version of Demeter?" Artemis asked innocently.
Hebe stared at Artemis, shock and disbelief evident on her face. "How did you know that?"
The kids laughed. Then, Athena shouted, "And Iris made midnight snacks so if you want any, come down right now!"
The children ran for their lives.
Θνητός αθάτοι
After the children had went to bed, the adults gathered once again in the living room. Hades and Hestia had called them here.
Suppressing yawns, everyone sat down as Hades began to speak.
"Hestia has done some research and investigation and had found a possibility of where Melinoe had disappeared to."
"Why should we be listening to this when it's about your daughter, Hades?" Poseidon asked, crossing his arms.
"Because," the eldest Olympian brother said coldly, "it might be the same for Kymopoleia."
Poseidon and Amphitrite's eyes widened.
Kymopoleia was their daughter, two years younger than Triton, a slim, pretty girl with black hair and light gray eyes. Her personality had always been distant and cold, even to her parents, and often spends nights at her friend's house.
Then, one night, 5 years ago, when she was nine, she went out to buy groceries and never came back. Disappeared, just like that.
Two years later, Melinoe, Hades and Persephone's daughter also disappeared. Vanished off the face of the Earth.
"Hestia came up with only one possibility," Hades continued. "One word, Firestorm."
The whole room went completely silent with shock and horror. Hades grimaced at the tenseness of the room.
"A-are you sure, Hades?" Poseidon asked shakily, pale beyond imagine.
Because everyone knows Firestorm. Well, not everyone but people with a lot of knowledge of things like these kind of things does. And the Olympians are one of these people.
Firestorm was a terrorist organization, one of the biggest and most powerful ones in the world. They smuggled drugs, weapons, etc, grew to be so big basically every country has a Firestorm Institute. But worst of all, they trained to become professional killers, assassins that fought and protected their organization.
"Firestorm…" Demeter murmured.
"Wait a second, do you mean they were killed off by Firestorm or they were captured?" Persephone asked.
"We don't know," Hestia stood up. "Though I would assume they were captured. Both Melinoe and Kymopoleia had showed a great liking of the Martial Arts and were talented at it. Firestorm might've had their eyes on them to make them an assassin."
"So my daughter's going to become a killer?" Amphitrite was horrified.
Hestia shrugged. "Likely. But if my research deems correct, they could also become Scientists or Technicians. If Athena were to be captured, I'm sure she'd be interested in that category."
"Interested?" Hera asked disbelievingly. "Interested? You speak of this like it's going to college or something!"
Hestia didn't say anything.
"Calm down, Hera," Demeter said sadly.
"Anyways," Hades said. "I think we should go rest. It's been a long day and the news wasn't exactly pleasant. Get some sleep, everybody."
Persephone was the first to stand up. "Hell knows I'm not going to be able to sleep tonight," she murmured sadly before leaving for the guest room she's staying in with her husband.
One by one, the group of adults dispersed, until only one person remained.
Hestia looked out the window at the full moon. "Please stay alive," she prayed silently before going to rest as well.
Θνητός αθάτοι
Athena sprinted quietly back to her room, her heart thumping against her chest. She had heard the adults' conversation.
Firestorm…
When she was younger, Athena had always been fascinated by Firestorm. Not fascinated as in 'I'd-love-to-join' fascination but more like 'I-want-to-learn-all-about-it' fascination.
However, she knows little to nothing about Firestorm.
But despite her lack of knowledge (which frustrates her greatly) of the terrorist organization, she knows one thing.
When Firestorm takes something from you, you're never getting it back.