Haha you know that annoying moment when you go back and look at the previous chapters you've written and realize you made a lot of mistakes….I just noticed several of those in the last two chapters. For example calling Ares Zeus' brother was wrong. Ares is Zeus' son. Maybe updating when I'm sick is a bad idea. But yeah thank you for the reviews. They were interesting^^ Here's the new chapter. I know Ares role in my story is a bit…unorthodox since everyone's trying to prevent a war and he's the god of war but work with me. I promise it'll make sense later on this story is just progressing really slowly.

Oh yeah just out of curiosity has anyone seen the new Breaking Dawn movie? I'm debating on whether or not to go see it...I'm not really a fan of the books or the movies. This one looks semi-interesting though.


Chapter 5~

Ad Finem

Bella flipped to the next page in her book, her eyes barely skimming over the page before flicking to the clock on the wall. When was Angela coming home? A comfortable routine had developed between the two of them over the past several days. Every day after school Angela brought back a book for her to read, and in the evenings her time was spent mindlessly ogling the t.v. She needed to be informed on present day euphemisms, catch phrases, and idiosyncrasies. She wasn't thrilled about butchering her carefully mastered grammar just to learn modern day slang but it was a necessary evil. She had to blend in.

Thankfully because of the new advancements in technology it was easy. T.v. was her friend. Angela made sure to ingratiate every plotless inane television show she could find into her repertoire. It helped Bella understand how any other teenager her age would behave. It was a necessity-however if she had to watch one more fucking episode of Jersey Shore she was going to brutally murder something-or someone. That show was not informative just insanely cruel, and responsible for many deteriorating brain cells.

Brain cells she desperately needed in order to stay one step ahead of her pursuers. The severity of her situation still bothered her. Only recently had a cold gnawing feeling began to eat away at her stomach. She missed her powers and her sisters. She missed her father and the inferno steeds. She missed home. By throwing herself into studying and disciplining herself to think, act, and speak like a modern day teenager she was distancing herself from her grief. She could distract herself from her yearnings as long as she stayed busy and engrossed in studying.

That's what she had been doing with Angela the past two weeks.

In order to occupy herself she focused on menial tasks-analyzing books, dissecting television shows. She felt less ignorant now. She could identify foreign objects at a glance, and not everything she looked at was a mystery.

The concept of electricity and clean fuel energy no longer astounded her. The invention of cars and aerodynamic machines such as airplanes no longer awed her. The principles of stem cell research although outlandish and far fetched no longer wow-ed her. Bella was finally beginning to grasp the changes and the human race had gone through. Mortals as a whole had made large strides since her time.

Even society was different. Idealists weren't looked down upon for being weak or naïve anymore. Their words held purpose and value beyond being some deluded unrealistic dream. It wasn't simply "a mans world" anymore either. Women were considered equal to men, and treasured for more than just their looks and their baby making abilities.

The mortal world had improved at an exponential rate from the Dark Ages. Bella loved it, but what she wasn't very fond of was the very human logic that seemed to have crippled society. In this new era of technology there was no room for the divine. There was no room for gods and goddesses. Anything mystical, magical, and wonderful was a thing of the past.

Why?

Superiority. Desensitization. For some reason she couldn't fathom the people of this generation were immune to the paranormal. They didn't believe in anything they couldn't see. They didn't trust what they couldn't touch. There was no faith. No one believed in monsters, or gods, or demons anymore. No one believed in anything anymore. It was sad.

She wondered how long she would be able to function in this new age-in this era of mechanics. She wasn't used to depending on technology. In fact all the new machines although sleek and incredibly powerful were also incredibly stupid. Bella was used to crafting things with her hands. Her skills gravitated towards molding things, creating things, and calming beasts. Useless skills. In these modern times she wasn't meant to lift a finger. Angela made it look so easy-then again her half-sister made everything look easy. Although she was young Angela was also well rounded, and well educated.

This new fast paced time didn't bother her in the slightest. Glumly Bella glanced down at the book she was reading. According to Angela-She could just as easily learn this historical information by using the internet. A valid point-but that idea had no appeal to her. Computers looked depressingly complex and she wasn't particularly interested in the civil war-just another fruitless battle humans fought for their precious ideals.

The door swinging open caused her to pause in her ruminations.

"Bella!"

"Ange!" She called back just as enthusiastically dropping her book civil war book. The fallen goddess jumped to her feet trotting over to the door.

The familiar sight of Angela bogged down by bags made her flinch. "No no no no. I don't want to read anymore." She said petulantly crossing her arms. She knew the bags carried more novels for her to glance over. She was sick to death of reading though. Leisurely novels to read for pleasure were fine. Shoving books down her throat to study was not fine. It made her tired and irritable-not to mention light headed.

At some point all the words just starting running together.

"Oh stop whining." Angela smirked tossing a couple of bags at her. Not expecting the sudden weight Bella fell back, eyes bulging as the huge tomes collided with her chest.

"Dammit Angela." She groaned, glaring at the bag of books now cradled in her arms.

"Dammit Angela." Angela echoed her with a small amused grin stretching over her lips. "Bella a little reading never hurt." Her half sister reprimanded gently chuckling a bit.

Twitching Bella held up one monstrously large bag. "This is not a little reading." She said flatly. Angela's only response was to giggle and shake her head. Clearly Bella's reluctance to read the giant novels was amusing to her sister.

"C'mon Bella help me put these up."

Grumbling a bit she did what was asked of her. For the next five minutes the sisters worked side-by-side stacking books on the shelves. Angela was one of the most meticulous people Bella had ever met. The books were arranged alphabetically by genre. She was half tempted to put the new books in the wrong section but was sure Angela would stab her with fork if she did. Mess with her house and Angela was fine. Misplace a trinket-it was cool. Disrupt her organization and someone was going to die.

After the books were carefully arranged Bella glanced at Angela. Her expression turned curious. "How was your day at school Ange?"

For the first time since Angela arrived home Bella was able to see a glimmer of frustration in her face. "It was alright-not the worst day I've ever had, but not the best either."

"Could you be anymore vague?" Bella said wrinkling her nose.

Rolling her eyes Angela stuck her tongue out at her. "It kind of sucked. My friends-"

" Jessica, Mike and Lauren." She interrupted with a smile.

"All acted like it was a normal day, and for the most part it was. My boyfriend-"

"Ben." Bella interrupted again smirking at the annoyed glance sent her way.

"Even Ben seemed unaffected by the weirdness of the day-the oddest part of the day didn't stem from my friends or the school itself. The odd part of the day was all thanks to the self proclaimed pariahs of the school-"

Bella's eyes flashed and her smile grew evil. "The Cullens!" She called out and had to duck out of the way when Angela lunged at her. Her half sister growled at Bella's evasiveness and grappled with her. One arm encircled around Bella's neck putting her in a chokehold, and the other kept her pinned against the couch.

"As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted." Angela said, sending a baleful glare in her direction. "The Cullens made my day very odd."

From her uncomfortably inert position stuck under Angela's arm, Bella grunted. "Do tell."

"Well for the most part yunno how I said the Cullen's were strange but nice? With the exception of Rosalie who seems to want everyone to spontaneously keel over and die when she glares at them?"

Bella nodded slowly, and wriggled free from Angela's grasp-shoving her half sister away from her. Without even having the decency to flinch-Angela gracefully allowed herself to be pushed backwards and continued her story. "Well today was odd because one of the brothers, Edward Cullen, seemed to have an exceptionally hard time being in the same vicinity as me. He acted like I had garbage dump breath or something."

Bella snorted. "If that was the case Ben would have told you."

"Are you trying to imply something?"

"Nothing at all." Bella said innocently before dissolving into fake coughs. "Whore." She said between hacking coughs.

Angela sent her a withering glare. "Shut up."

Making quick placating gestures Bella tried to soothe the beast. "Alright Alright sorry. Didn't mean to insult your delicate sensibilities little sister," She murmured trying to keep her face blank-Against her will a small smile tugged at her lips. "Does that mean you're not getting any?"

Bella ducked again as a pillow hit the space where her face had been a couple of seconds ago. "Aren't you a pacifist? Why are you being violent and throwing inanimate objects at me?"

Angela chuckled. "Shut the hell up Izzy." Her sister said shaking her head.

Bella grinned at the affectionate nickname before returning to the subject they had been discussing. "But yeah I have no idea why Edward would be acting different around you. You've described all your friends and went into detail about the public school system. You only briefly talked about the Cullens."

Her half-sister shrugged helplessly. "There's not much to say. I don't know much about them. They are all extremely pale, extremely reclusive and extremely beautiful. Every Cullen child has the same golden eyes and they're all the children of Doctor Cullen."

"Odd…So are they human?" Bella questioned after a moment's silence.

"I don't know what they are. I never bothered to find out. They never seem to cause any trouble so I didn't concern myself with them. Edward's behavior just struck me as unusual that's all."

"So if he is acting weirdly for a reason, and if he is in fact dangerous-what are you going to do about it?" Bella asked quirking a brow at her half-sister. Angela was a demigoddess so she wasn't helpless. Fighting was not one of her fortes though. Her sibling was a firm believer in diplomacy even when a simple snap of the neck, or dive off a cliff would simplify things. Sometimes violence really was the answer.

A mysterious smile graced Angela's face. "I have my ways."

Just like a goddess to be cryptic.

What in the hell did that even mean?

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"Tell me if I'm wrong, but I do believe we're going in the wrong direction. I clearly remember saying of all the places mentioned-Switzerland, Greenland, Canada, Iceland, Norway, Finland, Russia, and Alaska that I would prefer to run this operation from Switzerland. Switzerland is in the other direction Athena."

Ares' cold calculating gaze flicked to her when he talked and she shrugged casually. Perhaps lying to the god of war wasn't an ideal plan but it had its own appeal at the time. "Ares you know we needed a place that was barren of people right? Not only did it need to be barren of people it needed to be cold and always touched by winter so Helios could not spy on Isabella. Alaska was the only acceptable place that met both of those conditions."

Ares despite wearing a human glamour, still looked intimidating and angry like always. His posture only tensed at her words and he focused all of his anger at her. Athena had to force herself not to edge away from the volatile god. "We said we were going to Switzerland while Helios was in the room. You toyed with the emotions of a grieving father and you sent him on a wild goose chase." He stated shaking his head in wonder. "You are one evil wench."

"Not evil-cautious. This is a battle Ares. The art of misdirection could save lives."

Ares rolled his eyes sitting back in his seat. "Don't justify yourself to me. I don't care how callous you are or how you're lying to people. Sugar coating your actions won't make them any less harmful in the end. " He mused lying back against the cushioned seat and closing his eyes.

Athena glared at his resting form.

Ares was always trying to get under someone's skin. Riding in a private jet with him for the next several hours was going to be annoying. They should have booked separate flights. After determining their course of action, and fooling the other gods Athena had immediately dragged Ares to Earth mindful of their increasingly small time window. Zeus was on the move. Isabella was in danger.

Everything was happening in a rush.

Her eyes slid to the window of the jet taking in the blurred scenery with a detached expression. It had only been a couple of hours but time was crawling by. All these centuries of meddling and she still had very little patience. The irony didn't escape her. Several Millenniums were supposed to make her timeless, guileless instead they just left her feeling disjointed and apathetic. All immortals went through this uncaring phase and now more than over she was feeling her age. Playing at mortality irked her but they had to do things the human way. They had a limited amount of time to travel to Alaska, purchase a house, and plant Ares in a mortal occupation. After furnishing Isabella's hiding place they had to go retrieve the fallen goddess from Angela's house and then the real fun would begin.

Ares was going to have to keep Isabella hidden and teach her how to be ambiguous in the human world. Not only that he was going to have to train her so she could survive against the supernatural skulking about-Werewolves, Vampires, witches, elementals, nymphs, shapeshifters, demi-gods, succubi, and any other monster with a hint of power. It was not going to be a pleasant experience but perhaps his tutelage would indebt Isabella to him so she would be unable to start a war. Nurturing her guilt, and her sense of obligation might benefit them all.

Athena's lips twitched upward into a smirk-the esteemed god of war lowering himself to play the part of babysitter-now that was funny.

She was going to have so many jokes at his expanse when this was over.

In the meantime Athena amused herself by gazing at the scenery or strategizing their next move. One thing that still bothered her about this mess was Ares involvement. The war god was unstable and unsuitable to train Isabella. They were trying to prevent a battle, and he was not exactly in advocate for peace. Unfortunately he was the only god reckless enough to actually want to train the fallen goddess-that left them at an impasse. In order to prevent a war she needed his complete and total cooperation. His prerogative was to keep his violent tendencies under control and set an example for Isabella. She needed to idolize him-trust him, and flourish under his teachings. In order for them to reach their goal he needed to go against his nature. Preventive plans needed to be made as well. In the event that he deviated from their plan she needed a back up-A fall back measure in case plan A failed. Overzealously she lost herself in plotting out future schemes and before she knew it the jet was landing.

Smoothly the mortal pilot descended, steering the plane to a complete and graceful stop. Athena's lips curled in distaste and she nudged the war god next to her. Asleep he almost looked peaceful. Too bad he was a complete jackass when he was awake.

"Ares." He didn't even twitch. Athena huffed and roughly shook him hoping to jar him awake. "Ares." She said more insistently.

With lightning quickness a hand shot out and wrapped around her neck. Two icy eyes stared back at her indicating the war god was no longer asleep. The behemoth hand wrapped around her jugular was a huge deterrent in speaking but Athena managed-barely, matching Ares' cold glare with one of her own. "We've arrived." She rasped.

Ares never looked away from her.

A battle of wills ensued. Goddess of wisdom staring down the god of war. Eventually the grip on her neck slackened and Ares released her. With an exasperated sigh she rubbed the side of her neck. "Now that you're done posturing," She said calmly getting to her feet. "Can we go? We do have more important things to be doing."

Like he hadn't just been considering crushing her windpipe-Ares shrugged carelessly. "Lead the way." Fluidly he got to his feet and at his full height, glamour or not he towered over her. Athena had to look up to glare at him.

"Gladly." She ground out, flicking imaginary dust off her shoulder.

Side by side they left the plane ignoring the mumbling of the pilots. Both were murmuring pleasantries asking them to use their airline again and hoping they would have a nice trip. Foolish mortals. This wasn't a vacation. Immediately upon climbing off the exit ramp they were chilled by the crisp Alaskan air. It was cold outside, as far as the eye could see there was only white. A long extremely cold and wet sea of white.

In other words hell froze over and there was only snow here now. Lots of snow.

Not compatible with the Isabella's heritage. Heliades' craved sun like addicts craved drugs. She would HATE this place.

"Where are we again?" Ares asked boredly.

Despite his apparent lack of interest, Athena held no doubt that he had examined every stray snowflake, and landmark within his field of vision. He was looking for a fight even here in the most remote of places.

"We're in Alaska."

A frown marred his perfect features. "Obviously. Where in Alaska?"

"Cordova, Alaska." She replied testily knowing the answer would do little to pacify him.

"Wonderful." He breathed his eyes doing another cursory sweep of the area. Athena ignored his paranoid tendencies and grabbed her bag. They needed to hail a cab and find some houses for sale-which also meant talking to some realtors. This whole situation was tedious and she found dragging the god of war around like a lost puppy to be in bad taste. Unfortunately she couldn't leave him to his own devices. Cooperation was key.

Together they made their way to the front of the airport. It wasn't a very large facility because Cordova wasn't a booming city in Alaska. It was a small decrepit town on the verge of financial ruin. Very few people lived here and the ones that did were perseverant with an almost Puritan resilience to nature. The people in Cordova were not Thoreau fanatics-they didn't lounge in the woods and live off mediocre farming tactics, but they weren't exactly city folk either. They were unique.

Not only were they unique they were delightfully sheltered from other aspects of the modern world. The use of technology here was minimal, and Athena was counting on that. It would take longer to locate Ares and Isabella since this barren place was so disconnected from the rest of the United States. Cordova was still stuck in a different decade. She was surprised there was even a transportation system other than sled dogs.

"Taxi!" She waved her hand waiting for a car to stop.

Ares stood sullenly behind her glaring at the passing cars. Eventually one did stop in front of her, and young man climbed out of the driver's side. Donned from head to toe in winter gear it was hard to guess his age but his face was moderately attractive. He had a quirky grin and perverted intent etched all over his face. He was thousands of years to young for her. She couldn't even play with him. He might have a mental breakdown, and crying wasn't exactly a turn on.

"Hello do you know of any neighborhoods where some houses are for sale?" She asked politely.

Blatantly staring at her, the young man's eyes caressed every inch of her body and never managed to make it to her face. Used to this kind of reaction she just exhaled a puff of air and snapped her fingers to get his attention. "My eyes are up here." She said dryily watching as his face turned a brilliant shade of red. She laughed at his boy-ish reaction and spoke much more warmly this time. "Me and my friend are looking for a house. Do you know where some good houses are for sale?" She asked again.

Properly humbled the boy met her gaze instead of eye-fucking her. "Down on Decatur there are some houses for sale."

"We'd like to check them out please." Athena said sweetly edging towards the door. "Can you take us there?"

A crooked smile stretched across the young human's face. "Of course. Happy to be of service." He nodded genteelly at her, than briefly dipped his head at Ares-acknowledging his presence. "Oh let me get your bags." He said sheepishly scurrying over to take their luggage. Athena smiled gently and handed him hers. Ares silently passed his over as well, regarding the boy impassively.

Unable to feel the war god's animosity the mortal shoved the luggage in the back of the car and left the door open for his passengers to get in the car. With some hesitance Athena slid in the back, and was swiftly followed by Ares. The war god slammed the door behind them startling the driver.

Anxiously from his seat the mortal glanced backwards. "My name is Nathan by the way, and I'll be driving you around for a bit. It will take fifteen minutes to get near Decatur."

"Thank you Nathan." She sent the boy a heartwarming smile and had to hold back a laugh when he ducked his head. This mortal was adorable. Uncomfortably, Nathan started the car, his facial expression strained. Clearly the effort it took to pay attention to the road-and not undress her with his eyes was exhausting.

Beside her Ares snorted, unamused by her games.

Athena swerved to glare at him, conveying just how much she cared about his opinion.

In response to her heated glare, he simply rolled his eyes mouthing a quick "Oh go suck a Cyclops-Lady wisdom."

Affronted, her mouth dropped open.

Ares you ornery childish bastard…

She formulated a silent reply mouthing an equally scathing comeback.

"Screw you too you peabrained dipwad. At least I'm not some dumb ass that keeps an affair going for 3000 years-and keeps getting caught by Hephaestus. Maybe if you would get laid like a normal guy you wouldn't be so tense and angry all the time, but no you have to keep fucking another man's wife. You're the biggest man hoe on Olympus next to Zeus ."

Oh if looks could kill. She would be very dead right now. Bringing up Ares' affair with Aphrodite was always dangerous.

Too bad she didn't care. She stood on equal ground with the god of war. If he wanted to instigate something she would more than happily oblige him. For the next ten minutes they engaged in a silent argument-insulting each other in the most offensive ways possible. Nathan sat in the front seat of the car completely oblivious to the tense exchange going on behind him.

By the time the car stopped they were both incredibly pissed off.

"We'll settle this later." She whispered under her breath.

Ares didn't even acknowledge her he simply got out of the car. Athena resisted the urge to yank him back and throttle him. They were allies-for now. Fighting him would be counterproductive. They were far too old to be arguing like children anyways. Sullenly she got out of the car, lightly pushing the door shut behind her.

Excitedly Nathan bounded around to talk to her. He reminded her of a puppy-cute, companionable, and a little bit too noisy. "We're here Miss. These are the closest houses for sale." He beamed, showing off his dimples.

"Wonderful." Athena replied with a grin before turning to glance at the neighborhood. The place was decent. The houses were all in a half circle, making a little crescent shape. Every house was built entirely from wood, and gave off a clean homey vibe. If she had to guess the inside probably looked bare. That worked in their favor because Ares would no doubt prefer a Spartan living space.

"Here are your bags." Nathan's voice appeared next to her again. In the span of a few seconds the mortal boy had retrieved their bags from the car and ran back over to them. He now stood awkwardly next to her. She was confused at the expectant expression on his face. What did the little rodent want?

She quirked a brow than realized something important-Nathan was a taxi driver. He required money to transport people around all day. Ugh. She would honestly consider flashing the boy before she considered paying him. Money just seemed so … trivial. Oh well-the pains of playing human. Heaving an aggravated sigh she grabbed one of her bags, popping it open and began to fish for her wallet.

After a second of digging she pulled out a twenty dollar bill and handed it to him. "For your trouble-keep the change. You earned it." She said kindly, letting her hand linger on his for a second longer than necessary.

He gulped, licking his lips. "T-t-thanks." He stuttered blushing painfully.

"No problem." She said withdrawing from his space before he spontaneously combusted. Hesitantly the entranced boy all but stumbled to the car sending frequent glances back in her direction.

"Will you get out of here?" Ares grunted.

Like a scared rabbit-Nathan meeped and darted to the other side of the vehicle. They both watched in mild amusement as he leapt in the driver's seat. Within seconds the engine purred to life and he was gone.

Ares crossed his arms. "Stupid brat." He muttered shaking his head. Athena smirked, agreeing with the war god's assessment of Nathan. She met his icy gaze with her own steele and a mutual understanding passed between them.

"Now what?"

"Now." She said tiredly glancing at the picket sign in front of the nearest house. "Now we call the realtors."

"Joy." Ares cheered flatly.

Athena rolled her eyes before gliding over to the sign. Her eyes traveled restlessly over the unfamiliar words. The sooner they called the realtors, the sooner they bought the house, the sooner she could leave. "Denali real estate huh." She mused out loud-addressing no one in particular. Ares remained unusually silent behind her as she took out her phone and dialed the number scratched out on the sign.

Ring.

Ring.

"Hello?" A low velvety voice greeted her.

"Hello. My name is Anita Jordan. I'm calling on behalf of my brother. Him and his niece are moving here and are interested in buying one of your houses."

"Ah it's a pleasure to meet you Ms. Anita." The smooth voice said politely. "My name is Eleazer Denali. My wife and I run Denali real estates. You mentioned being interested in one of our houses? Which one may I ask?"

"1311 Decatur Drive." Athena replied after glancing at the number engraved on the wooden house in front of her.

"Ah a lovely house-if you're serious about buying than may I suggest we have this discussion in person and we can go over some paperwork and discuss a downpayment."

"That would be wonderful." Athena grinned, relieved that this was going to go smoothly.

"I'm glad. Let me take down your number and I will call you when my wife and I are on our way. We'll see you shortly."

"Okay. Thank you for your time Mr. Denali."

"My pleasure."

Athena closed her phone with a click. "Well everything's in motion."

Ares didn't reply directly-his only response was to look up at the sky muttering darkly. "Adde Parvum parvo magnus acervus erit."

"Aristotle?"

Ares shook his head slowly, a frown disrupting his perfect features. "No..That was Ovid."

Huh. Perhaps Ares was not completely stupid.


Ad finem-means to the end or at the end of the page

Adde Parvum parvo magnus acervus erit-means add a little to a little and there will be a great heap.

Greek people~

I think the only thing I need to touch on is the section where I talked about Ares being with Aphrodite. I knew they had several kids together. I wasn't aware that Aphrodite was Hephaestus' wife until recently. That made me laugh because she had more kids with Ares than Hephaestus and Hephaestus knew she was cheating on him. That made things deliciously ironic. God of war shacking up with the goddess of love…Yes! XD

Also Ovid was a Roman poet that wrote several masterpieces but the only one I'm familiar with is Medea.

Anyways- So what do you all think? Stay tuned for more. Next chapter will be out soon. Finally get to start integrating the Denali's and the Cullens into the story next chapter.