This is mostly Angst.

1,300+ words.

broken!Zeus/Hera, along with mentions of Hera/Helios

Prompt 'Sing me a Song'

Teen

Hera left Zeus, to be happy with Helios. Zeus regrets the way he treated her, and wishes she'd sing him a song again.

Author's Note:

This was supposed to be something like Hera still loving Zeus, but I changed the ending, and made Zeus suffer, and Hera find happiness somewhere else, since there's been too many Hera stories where she's hung up on Zeus. This is another story where I wish she did leave him. Sorry for not updating in a while. The story that was supposed to have come after the Apollo/Hera story and it got delayed. I might post it before August ends, until then; it'll be stories as short as this one.

Sing Me A Song

"ZEUS!"

She is angry. And he cannot blame her for that anger, he'd forgotten their anniversary, this being the 5th time in 8 decades. Her anger is just, it is he who is not.

"Zeus."

She's pouting, her tone playful. She's been trying to convince him to take a break and travel away from Olympus for a change of scenery. He can almost feel how cunning she is, as she grows wiser and more bewitching.

"Dear~"

She's calling out to him with a serene smile. It had been when he'd presented her a bouquet of Magnolias & Daffodils, her favorite flowers. It had happened on her birthday.

"I love you Zeus..."

She's stunned, her voice sounding breathless, and looking more beautiful than I've ever seen her in all our years of marriage. It had been on the day of our 50th anniversary then; Hera preferred counting the anniversaries by every decade, instead of every year like the mortals did. She would say nonchalantly, "Time is endless for us gods, I see no reason why we should live our lives like the mortals do".

"Don't you love me back Zeus?"

She is upset, the sadness clear in her words, and that is because he has not told her that he loves her back. Because, he is still filled with rage at the fact that she dared to conspire against him with his own brother -of all gods & creatures in Olympus-, and even his children Apollo & Athena, both who weren't on such good terms with his wife, -the latter a bit more, where their relationship was sometimes bordering on hatred and a deep respect due to how impressed the other was with their wit and logic. Though he had noticed that Hera and Apollo had a more mother-and-son like bond now, though from where it had started, he cannot exactly tell.

"Zeus I'm sorry."

She regrets us, she is realizing that we should have never been, and maybe she is right in her own way. For I, have known all along that Hera had doubts about our relationship. And Hera being Hera could have had any god she wanted, and was bound to no one; my marriage to her, along with my love, were both rather forced upon her, and it is why she glances at Athena and Artemis with longing and envy. They belonged to no man, and had no duties to fulfill other than their own godly duties. And I think, I may have deprived her of that during our relationship.

Hera could've been a goddess of war, instead of Ares, she could've even been goddess of fire or even love. By marrying me, she had to become something people could look up to, something that would not bring me shame. But by doing so, I have tied her down to a fate unwanted, and by the way I have mistreated her throughout the years...I have mocked her duties more than my enemies have dared to do so. But that also might be because Hera commanded respect, whether it was by the way she carried herself, or in the way which she treated people, who did not hurt her or insult her as queen of Olympus, with a respect that demanded loyalty in return -which was usually freely given.

"I cannot take it anymore. What number IS she?! A Hundred & Seventy? Or even, Two Hundred & Seventy?!"

She is more furious than I've ever seen her. And as I have mentioned earlier, that anger is just. I have trampled on my wife's heart more than a mortal woman could have bared, and by doing so I have insulted her a both a goddess and my queen. As my wife, no amount of apologizes could ever truly justify my actions. For if they could, it would be like offering gold to a mother who has lost her son to war, after not seeing him for 10 years, an insult that only brings shame.

"It's over..."

She seems so weary, her will so very broken. I am the one who did that to her, I deserve her contempt, and I deserve her rage. But even though it is understandable, a part of me still screams that she is MINE, and no one else can have her. I hate that part of me, because it's what has been driving her away, killing her slowly like poison does to a living creature. It was a millennia of torture, which only I could subject her to, torture she did not need, but I gave it anyway.

And the words never seemed to end.

The day that Hera left me for him, Helios that is, those were the words that would forever echo in my ear. I never realized, how much I had really loved her, until I had to spend 6 years without her, the quietness was appreciated only for a mere year or so, and then it was just deafening. My words would always echo, my eyes would drift to where she would have sat beside me during our meals.

My-Our children began looking so sad after her departure, and even Athena, doesn't smile as much as she used to. Hephaestus doesn't even seem so bitter, but then again, I doubt Hera would have dared to leave the only son she birthed without me needing to sire him, alone without him knowing how much she loved him. He'd probably have forgiven her, but still he is more quiet and reserved now, though I do sometimes catch him making such beautiful items, like the ones she loved. I tell no one, but I know he asks Hermes to send them to her, and pleads him to tell no one. And because Hermes gets to see glimpses of his queen, his silence is golden.

Aphrodite avoids most of the rooms that were Hera's favorites, refusing to go in altogether, no matter how much we'd beg and plead with her.

It is quite hard not to imagine her yelling at me, laughing with me, kissing me, touching me...but she was gone. Leaving me with nothing, but bittersweet memories.

She'll always be gone, I'm sure of that. I had tried finding Helios myself, but it seemed, as if both of them had vanished off the Earth and off Olympus.

I had looked everywhere, but the only trace of Hera left, were the memories I had of her, and the belongings she'd left behind out of pity. And even those seemed to weaken in comparison with the fact I could no longer remember if her lips were a blood-red, or a soft shade of rose, I sometimes get confused with the memory of her having hair as dark as ebony, with the fact that her hair might have been as bright as blood.

By now, it's been close to a decade. A cold and lonely decade indeed.

I miss her so much.

But this was the price my vanity has cost me. I thought she'd always be there, that she would never leave, maybe I should've considered that possibility. But I didn't. My only mistake was to have tested those limits of hers, those limits that both Apollo and Athena would remind me subtly, had their breaking point. I'd ignored them all the time, and when I did heed their words, she did not feel like wasting time to listen to me.

I remember a song that she used to sing to me, whenever I had troubles sleeping or was bothered by the never-ending list of problems and the increase of wars everywhere.

"Till the end of time,

And until the world stops for us,

I will love you forever

And as much as the oceans remain vast and never little

That is the amount of love I have for you

I will sing for you

A song about us,

A song for our love

I will sing you a song,

About death and beyond

And until the day

I can no longer utter

'I love you...'

This song will do~"

Deep sobs would wretch themselves out from my throat, because I forever remained hoping. But she would not be here to hear me cry out. She was happy now, and who was I, despite my selfishness, to take away the only thing that would be able to make her smile again?

"Oh Hera. How I love you so~"

"Please, sing me for me again?" The question that always leaves my lips at night when I lie on my bed awake, and restless.

Oh Hera.

I really do miss you...

Note:

After this, I'll be posting shorter stories. And if I have the time,

I may start posting a new series of Hades/Hera stories, because honestly, they are my OTP.