I am so sorry I took so very long to update. I started school a few weeks ago and barely had time to write anything. And I've been trying to finish my other story so that I can concentrate more on this one….I've been totally thrown astray with this change in categories, from books to misc. Anyways I hope you like it and please let me know what you think. : )

When I regained my wits, I came to Brennus' home. The door was unlocked and I let myself in. I believed I knew everything about Brennus that was important, but in our time together there was never anger or rage only passion and…love. The scene that awaited me when I entered his home was one I would have never associated such rage with Brennus. Never my Brennus.

Countless of objects were thrown astray, lying on the marble floor like broken bodies in a battle field. Broken chair, torn pillows, shattered clay, were only but a few of the many damaged objects. His home appeared as a tavern after the brawl in which a drunken lot had gone berserk.

"Brennus." I called to him, but he did not answer. There was only the silence of an exhausting night.

I searched for him throughout the house. I finally came upon him in the cooking quarters. He sat on a chair, nearly a score of empty bottles of wine and ale stood on the table before him. He had taken off his tunic, for it laid a sodden pile on the floor. All I could see of him was his powerful back. I stood leaning against the room division with my arms crossed on my chest. He gave the illusion of comfort, and he did naught to acknowledge me; as if he was still alone. But I knew that the very instance that had entered his home he knew he was not alone. He had a strange awareness of everything, even when he slept.

"Think you that mayhaps you've had enough ale and wine?" My voice was soft as if I were discussing naught but the storm.

"Nay, 'tis never enough." His voice carried not a hint of drunken slur. It sounded incredibly devoid of emotions, much like the deafening calm before a storm. We remained silent for what felt like an eternity. I did not know what to say to him, and it was he who broke the deafening silence.

"Who is he? Your lover?" He asked me, his voice still alarmingly calm. He still did not turn to me; and all I saw of him was his massive back, and his sodden hair that fell over his shoulders.

"He is a…friend." I hesitated for I did not know what to make of Hermes despite the fact that he said he would help me.

"A friend?" He stood then and came to stand in front of me. I had never been more aware of how massive he was. He was nearly a head and a half taller than I and thrice as wide as I. I had never been more aware of how frail I was.

He leaned into me, his face mere inches from my own. His breath caressed my cheeks bringing both fear and thrill within me. The fine hair in the back of my neck rose as if warning me of the dangers, yet I stood my ground. The look in his green eyes was not the kind look of my lover. It was too close to the demented look of Ares. Much too close.

"Yes." I simply said.

"Yet you embrace as lovers, his hands upon your body, yours upon his face." His snarled, looking like a caged tiger from lands afar. I turned my face from him, all to avoid the violence contained insid him, just waiting to be unleashed. He was not the Brennus I fell in love with. His large hand came under my chin, forcing me to face him again. My eyes widened as again I capture the look in his eyes and the snarl on his lips.

"Tell me Liah, Do you make love to him as passionately as you do with me? Do you speak with him of love which you cannot speak to me?!" His other hand held my upper arm in an unbreakable force. His fingers became tighter with every word.

"He is beautiful, and gentle, and kind, I could never be that which he is, 'tis not in my nature. Is that why? IS IT?!"

"Brennus, Brennus! You are bruising me." He still would not release his hold on me. In a swift move I closed my fist and landed a blow on his cheek with as much force as I could. I managed to strike him with enough force to turn his face. When he turned his face again to me he appeared much calmer. He released me then. He turned from me and sat on the chair again his back to me, and pouring more ale in his tankard.

This was a side of Brennus I had never seen. Still I sought to comfort him, for even still, I loved him. There was an incredibly violent side to the man before me. Yet still I love him.

"He is a friend who will help me find the women who survived the battle. He is nothing more than a friend, Brennus, Nothing more." I crossed the distance between us and places my arms around his neck, my chest against his back. I placed a kiss over his beating pulse. It's beat abnormally fast under my lips.

"Still he seeks to take you from me." His words were a mere whisper easily silence by the gentle wind, or the sound of a closing door. But this close to him, I could not miss it.

"No…I…I love you Brennus. Only you." I whispered in his ear.

"So do I. You must remember that." He turned his face enough to look at me. I failed to comprehend the meaning to his words then.

***

Voices entered my dreams until they had awakened me. I opened my eyes to find that Brennus no longer slept besides me. Yet the warmth remained where his body had lain. It was the darkest time of the night and the sun had still not risen over the horizon. For a brief second I believed that perhaps the voices I had heard had been only in my mind. Then I heard them again. I heard Brennus low muffled voice and I heard the voice of a woman. A voice I had never heard before.

I heard as if a soft song of breeze whispered in my ears to rise from the bed and go below. I did exactly that. I rose from the bed; I did not bother to strap my sandals on my feet and around my ankles, for something inside of me told me that silence was essential. I covered my tunic by wearing Brennus robe over it and exited the room, closing the door with care behind me. The hall was dark as if all slept.

As I came closer to the steps I realized that Brennus' voice sounded a bit different, deeper…it was still his, but the difference was there. I stood my back to the wall adjacent to the steps. As I hid like a spy upon royal court, I heard the voices clearly.

"…You've been away for some time, and while that's not rare in you…being away because of one human woman is-" The women said.

"He told you?" Brennus asked.

"He did not have to. Despite what you believe, I am always aware of what you're doing my son."

Son? He said his mother had died when he was a child. He never spoke of any other maternal figure in his life.

"Apollo's seer foresaw this which we would never have believed of you-"

"What, mother, do you not believe that I am capable of being gentle with a woman, Do you believe all I know is War?" My body felt strangely cold then, as if suddenly freezing water was dropped over my head. My heart was tight against my breast, as if a mighty fist trapped it beneath its grip. I closed my eyes, preparing myself to hear the truths, even when my heart wanted me to run far away and cover my ears, as a spoilt child. My heart did not wish to hear what my ears told me, but my mind wanted desperately to understand the truth.

"No, Ares. But you never made a secret of your disdain of love."

..ARES….ARES. I placed my hand over my mouth to keep a sob from escaping my lips. Yet that did not stop my body from raking at the truth the river of salty tears spilling down my face. I slid down the wall because my knees would not hold me any longer.

"What game is it you play with the girl, Ares? We've sent Hermes to see your doings and all he sees is you seducing the girl."

"Tell that worthless messenger of Zeus to stay away from her. If he so much as lays his eyes upon her, I will make sure his blood adorns the walls of Olympus."

"What will happen when she sees the truth? What then, my son? She'll never see you as the hero in this tragedy you act upon a human stage."

.NO. I wanted to weep and wail at the truths that I now saw. That man that I loved was not real. He was the god that had robbed me of everything. He was everything I despised with the very core of my being.

"She'll never know-" Ares replied.

"She will, Ares. She does. The seer foresaw that too." Her voice held sympathy in her voice. She knew I had been listening to them.

I wiped the tears from my eyes and with enormous effort I stood from the ground. Preparing myself in second for the hardest battle I would ever fight. I stood at the very top step. I saw that he no longer appeared as Brennus. He was Ares tonight. And for that I was incredibly glad, for seeing him as Brennus would only cloud my devastated heart.

I descended down the remaining steps and they both stood, as if waiting on a queen.

To my surprise Hera looked much like Ares, she had the same flame colored hair and ivory skin. But there was a kindness in her eyes that I doubt Ares could truly hold. The kindness in her eyes reminded me of Brennus. I closed my eyes, feeling as exhausted as Atlas with the weight of the world upon his shoulder.

"Liah-" He simply said and I opened my eyes again. The heart can choose to make us blind. At this very moment knowing that he was the god of war, I did not know how I did not see through his disguise. I wanted to believe that a beautiful man loved me, I wanted to believe that finally I had something, someone of my own. What a fool I had been.

I stood in front of him. I reached out and touched his cheek with the tip of my fingers. I closed my eyes. There was no difference between the feel of his skin and the feel of Brennus'. There was no difference between the silk of their hair. With my eyes closed I said goodbye to the memory of Brennus. I loved him. I would mourn my love for him. I would mourn the tragedy of it all. I would pretend that my lover had perished. I would mourn my Brennus.

I opened my eyes to find Ares' eyes upon my face. He was beautiful, he was a immortal, he was a deity. He was everything Brennus was not. And I hated him for it. I lowered my hand and formed a fist and then strike him across the face as hard as I could. I hit him again. And again. And the god of war just stood there. He let me release my anger on him without so much as blinking an eye.

"You love me." How could he have the audacity to state that.

"No, Ares. I loved him. HIM! You are not him!" Even as I denied it, tears clouded my eyesight again.

"But I am." His words were simple as if he spoke of truths; as the sun shines gold and the grass is emerald.

"Nay you are not. He's kind, and warm, and human. You are not him, You are but a heartless god whose pastime is ruining the lives of humans…I despise you." I said the last words with incredible force. I did not want him to doubt how I felt.

He reached out as if to touch me and I flinched away from his touch. But that did not stop him. He placed an arm around my waist and the other around my neck. He held me against his body as I struggled. His warm, strong body held me as I found with all my strength against him, clawing his back, his arms, beating him. Hating him.

I yelled against him, my broken voice a mixture of anger and grief. "RELEASE ME,YOU FILTHY LYING RAT, RELEASE ME THIS VERY INSTANT…PLEASE BRENNUS…ARES…RELEASE ME!"

"Release her Ares." Hera spoke, I had nearly forgotten about her. Her voice was firm and left no space for arguments.

He did indeed release me, but with my desperate attempts to get away from him, I fell to the floor on my hands and knees. Kneeling before these damned gods. As the cool ground touched my skin, I feltincredibly distant from what was happening. As it was a old dream, or a play I wantched upon a stage. The pain in my heart was there, but it was held back by some great unknown force and I was thankful for it.

"Keep him away from me, I beg of you, keep him away from…me." My voice sounded incredibly frail to my ears. I would hate myself that my voice broke at the very last word.

The kind goddess lowered herself before me, and helped me rise from my knees.

"I am so sorry child." She spoke as if she understood the chaos in my heart.

"Keep him away from me." I whispered one last time, before I stood on my own again without her assistance. In a tremendous effort I gathered my strength and stood proudly before them, as the warrior-priest I had once been.

I walked towards the door, desperate to exit this home that only brought me grief-tainted memories of an ill-fated love.

I walked backwards, not willing to take my eyes off Ares. I did not want him to attack me, or to bind me here. He took a step forward, coming towards me, but his mother was just as quick and she held him back with a simple gesture of her arm in front of him, blocking his path.

I opened the door that seemed to weight as much as the chariots of Thebes and when I saw the lonely night outside these walls, I tuned back to look at him one last time. He stood magnificent as the god he was, the god that stole all from me. I felt my eyes as wide as a child and I felt cold and frail. I looked back between the night and the god of war held back by the mother goddess. Many times I looked back and forth, lost in my scattered thoughts. I ran out to the night, my bare feet hitting hard against the wet cobblestones.

As I ran through the night, a certain numbness sheltered me from all the chaos in my heart. I knew that it would only be a matter of time before it left. I had to find shelter to weather this devastating storm.

Thanks for reading. Let me know what you think : )