Disclaimer: I own nothing, except for the plot

Title: Sincerely Untrue

Famous couples.

Through time, history has given us many of them. Each with a different story, each with a different ending. Some of them are real, some of them may be real and some of them are only fictions, but just as beautiful.

For example, even though fictional, we have of course Romeo and Juliet, two young teenagers, star-crossed lovers, as they are often described, who fell in love with each other, despite the fact that they are both coming from feuding houses. The tragic story ended in mutual death, the only place where they were capable of being together and the only thing, ending the long rivalry between their families.

Or the story of Orpheus and Eurydice, a love which went past the borders of mortality and out of reach of death's hand.

However, there are also couples, whose love and history was so touching and outrageously unbelievable that they went down into history.

Such as the probably most infamous couple in the English History of the man, the King, who had torn his kingdom apart just for the union with the one woman he claimed to love, to be legally accepted. It was a shame that the long desired marriage ended in bloodshed.

Those are only a small facet of what couples history has presented us. But, if we were to talk about couples, there is one that must not be forgotten to be mentioned.

After all, they were one of the first ones in history to show that it does not always end in a happy ending, and that marriage is not the end of the journey, but rather the beginning. Their journey was one filled with heartbreak, bitterness and a fine line between hating and loving. And frankly, Zeus and Hera are with no doubt also one of the most twisted couples. It was not the fact that he cheated on her again and again, with a continuity that seemed to be boundless; this was only a fact that made him appear less sympathetic. No, it was rather the fact that his wife, the Queen Goddess Hera, could not find it to leave the straying husband of hers, but instead even staying faithful to him.

But every story has yet to reach its peak, just as every woman has her limit. In this case, both are tied together.

Iris was strolling with her mistress around her garden. The beauty the garden displayed, the vivacity, the serene green, never ceased to amaze her and enchant her. She knew for one thing that it was Hera's pride, one which she always tended and cared for. She had to admit that she had at time wondered whether there was a special reason for the Queen's diligent care.

"Iris, I want to ask you something."

"Of course, anything that pleases you." Iris replied with a lack of hesitance that made Hera smile.

"You do not have to answer this, this was what I meant."

"But answer it, I will. After all, it is my duty to serve to your pleasure, whether it is delivering your messages or whatever you expect of me."

"The naivety you hold behind your determined eyes amaze me, Iris." Hera caressed her cheek. Iris' loyalty warmed her heart in a way, which she had missed being warmed by. It is almost sad how nowadays this was her only solace and the only source of some kind of happiness.

"Your majesty-"

"It is fine," she said and turned around. She bent down, her hands lifting up a small velvety white rose, with red edges at the blooms. However, as pretty as it looked, the both of them knew that it was slowly withering.

"What was your biggest mistake?" she asked her companion.

"Excuse me?"

"Iris, tell me, have you had done something, which ignites an unbelievable regret inside you?

"Milady, I do not understand your question." Actually, it was rather that she did not understand the meaning of her question.

"Maybe you are," she whispered. "Let me rephrase my question: Have you ever made a choice, knowing that you are going to regret it?"

"No, I have not." Hera chuckled again, when she heard the fierce and assured reply of her handmaiden.

"Are you sure, my dear Iris?"

"Milady, I do not have the impression that whatever I might answer, it would not matter, as there is something specific that you want to hear."

"Excuse me for insistence it is merely hard for me to believe that there is truly nothing for you to regret. Everyone has something, some smaller, some more enjoyable than others. But being something, it surely is."

"You are probably right," Iris agreed slowly. "However, it would never appear in that manner to me." Iris bit her lip, remembering that key moment, that certain crucial second, when doubt had overcome her and she had started to glance at the path she would forsake. She smiled bitter-sweetly at the memory. A sense of nostalgia overwhelmed her, which she pushed away quickly.

"Sometimes," Iris began, "or rather, they do not appear as regret or some kind of mistake to us. When we have chosen our path, we have chosen it. There is no turning around and when I did, I knew what I was doing. I had thought a lot about my decision and in the end, and I guess it is in general, we make that decision based on our hope that it would turn out the way we ... had hoped it would."

"And even when it does not, we would not consider it as such." Hera caressed the withering bloom.

"Not instantly, nor completely..."

"It takes some time."

"Iris, what would you do, when it turns out that it had truly been a mistake, perhaps not today, or tomorrow, or in soon time, perhaps never, but ... what if?"

"I would be inconsolable." Iris chuckled bitterly.

"Are you that assured, when it comes to your choice? Do yo not even regret it?"

"No," Iris replied, although with hesitance that had nod been there, when Hera first asked her.

"Not even when it comes to that foolish youngster?"

"Your Majesty, I love my husband." Iris defended herself.

"Of course, my dear, I never doubted that. It is merely that..." Hera trailed off, having lost herself in the process of what she wanted to say to Iris and what she was thinking to herself.

"My Queen?" Iris voiced out, unsure what the pause might mean. Indeed, it seems that it had some effect on the Queen, as she woke up from her pondering thoughts, much like a trance like state. She blinked a few times.

"Mhm..., I am sorry," she breathed out with a quiet giggle. Then, she looked at Iris with interested eyes. "In comparison to Zephyr, he had never deserved you."

Iris probably should have encountered something, anything to her mistress' words. But instead of trying to find an answer, she merely smiled, knowing that she had never been able to find anything to say, when it came to that matter, nor would she now. Thus, the only thing she could do was to turn up the corners of her mouth. But it was not a smile either...

Suddenly, Iris felt a swift change of atmosphere.

The air began to feel heavier, humid, yet dry and she swore, she could feel the wind around her become more electrified. It was that triggering thought that made her mind click.

"Hera-!"

"I know." Usually, being the Goddess of rainbow and former messenger of the Gods, she was the first one to depict the sudden change in the air, caused by the aura of another arriving God. But she should not be surprised, after all, it was her husband, right now storming towards them that they were talking about.

Indeed, it was Zeus, with all of his fury and lightnings thundering around him, as he strolled with a firm walk towards them. Judging from his appearance and the way his face was crunched, Iris knew that something was off and even more when he was approaching them. Fearing more for her mistress' well-being,0 she stepped forwards, preferring to shield her with her body. However, maybe out of pride, or even care, Hera knew she could not reconcile this thought with her conscience and thus, she held up her hand, placing it softly on Iris' shoulder, gently pushing her away.

Iris, too confused by her action, did not notice how her other sovereign had already approached them.

"What did you do?!"

Hera was unaffected by his state of emotion, as well as the danger he was emitting. Instead, she looked right through him, making out the line of Athena right behind her husband. Apparently, she had had a hard time keeping up with the fast steps of her husband, as she seemed to gasping a little. It brought a smile upon her face, to see that even the almighty beloved daughter of Zeus to be fallible as well.

"I am talking to you!" he demanded again at his wife, noticing that she paid no attention to him, which further added fuel to his anger.

Hera snapped her eyes, her gaze leaving his daughter and back to him again. Indeed, by his appearance she could tell that he was angry. His hands were balled into fists, his body was tense, intently so, he wore a grim expression and more so his eyes - those beautiful cerulean eyes he must had inherited from their grandfather, the God of the Sky - were narrowed with a ferocious look that was especially reserved for her. By looking like that, one could almost distinguish the small thin lines of age on him, signalizing her of his careless neglect of himself.

She wondered what it was this time that she had done to reap his anger. Frustration spread inside her. She was frustrated about the way he was treating her, frustrated about the situation in general and she was frustrated at herself, how above the frustration, it was the resignation that she felt the most when it comes to the situation. In the back of her mind, she wondered again, how it had come to this, how that it could be her that was waiting for her husband to humiliate her again. How could this person be her?

"Well? What is it? Me and Iris had been in a conversation, before you so nicely interrupted us," she closed her eyes, so that he could perceive neither her concern for him nor her own insecurity, but the snappy tone in which she spoke to him.

He had to admit that for a moment, he was fazed by the look in her eyes. They were unlike her, but luckily she had looked away soon enough that it would not bother him anymore when he continued shouting at his wife.

"What did you do to her?"

"Her?" Hera feigned ignorance, as she repeated her husband's words. She wrapped one arm around her waist, the other leaning on that very arm, whilst tapping her finger on her chin, as if she was truly contemplating on who it could be that he was referring to.

"You know very well what I am talking about, woman!" he continued raising his voice at her. However, still nonchalant, she looked at him with big wide brown eyes as him. If he were any other man, he would have believed that butter wouldn't melt in her mouth.

"Sadly, I -" Furious, and at ends with his patience, he grabbed her elbow, yanking her towards him. His grip grew tighter by the second, yet both did not relent. Instead, they stood face to face, both eyes burning with intense fire and pure and unmasked resentment.

"What did you do to her?" She rolled her eyes.

"Nothing that she did not deserve," she mumbled in stubborn annoyance.

"Hera," and although his grip was inflicting her more and more pain, perhaps even more than she could endure, she kept her facade. "I will not repeat it."

"Oh my, that is a sentence I have not heard for a long time. A century ago, or maybe two? I am not quite sure, yet it not as though I care..." she smirked, when she saw the fire unfold behind his eyes before her, like the most beautiful scenery, as natural as flowers blossoming on the first day of spring, it was more beautiful to watch than any of Apollo's favorites among his blessed painting and she definitely understood more of this than those silly little pictures those silly mortals seems to be fascinated by.

"How dare you-"

"Calm down, like I said, I did not do anything. I merely warned her- Ah!" Zeus gripped her wrist tightly in his hands, squeezing them with a forceful might that would have made any person bow down in pain.

"Let go of me!" she demanded, as calm as possible, even though all of them heard her quivering tone.

"We all know that you warning are not just warnings. So what. Did. You. Do?!"

"And we all know that you actually do not care much about that or that pretty little girl that you are exploiting, all in the name of your ego, no?" Hera mockingly added fuel to the fire. "Now, let go of me!" Hera repeated, staring fearlessly into his furiously blazing eyes. Not once, not even when he tightened his grip, did she cringe away from his stare. Finally, after what felt like a lifetime for the two bystanders, he let go of her.

"How dare you!" He threw her arm away. It was a warning for her to not cross the line, as neither of them wanted to know what the outcome would be.

"I dare," she hissed the words slowly, her other hand covering her painfully throbbing wrist, but still putting on the front as though she cared little for the pain and even more about taunting him, showing him how little she cared for him, "because I can. It was so slowly that even her husband would be able to comprehend them.

"Who do you think you are? You are nothing without me!" he continued shouting at her.

"You? Who are you kidding? You are just a little lost child, hiding behind your many conquests in hope that they can cover up your insecurities!"

"You will speak to me with respect!"

"In the same you are giving me the respect I deserved?" she huffed. "Well, then I hope you do not raise your hopes too far. You do not want to make that experience, heaven knows you are not capable of coping with that. Believe me, I must know."

"I am your husband! I am your sovereign."

"I am as much of a Queen to this land, as you are King here."

"Without me, you are nothing."

"And there you go repeating yourself again."

"Do not push it, Hera!"

"Oh, but I will never dare, my dear sovereign for you are the only one whom I strive to please and please I love to do so much." Hera pushed it even more by curtsying in front of him. "Are those the same words that your beloved measly pathetic mistresses whisper in your ear? But they do not even need to, do they? For their wondrous beauty is enough to entice such a kind of promise and their conquer is enough of a price to give you the seemingly satisfactions of ... indeed, of what?"

Hera continued taunting him. She knew him well enough to know when and how to push her buttons. Sadly, she never knew when it was time for her to step down, for her own sake.

"Sometimes I wonder why I married you. I was a fool," Zeus muttered and in order to cover her hurt, Hera encountered him with an even snarkier remark and somewhere, also in hope that it would hurt him as much as it hurt her.

"Yes dear, but then I was in love and did not care."

"You-" Zeus began to hiss menacingly. "I had warned you." This time, he was gripping her arm. But there was something more. This time, Hera could feel a burning sensation on her skin, frizzling and scorching, as he tried to mark her with fear. But she refused to submit. Instead, whatever ounce of fear she felt, turned into anger. With the very same arm that he was inflicting pain upon, she grabbed his upper arm, pushing all the pain that she felt back into his, hoping that whilst her nail dug into his arm, probably piercing his skin.

She smirked, when she saw the same indifference, the same lack of vulnerability she hoped to display, on his face.

"But that is not what you are thinking, is it? Why do you not enlighten us, mighty Zeus? Since even I am doubting sometimes, for this explanation seems to be so mundane and foolish that it is hardly believable and yet... there is nothing to wonder, is there? Because it fits perfectly, at least from my point of view. You are nothing, but an insecure boy, who is nothing but mundane and foolish a- Ah!"

And there was it. Hera turned her head back towards him, but she was not truly facing him. She did not see him. No, her mind was too preoccupied. Slowly, Hera raised her hand. It was not trembling, or maybe a little bit? It was cool, or cold, depending on how or from where you see it.

The loud sting of clash that finally ripped the tension apart.

It was the sound that everyone had been dreading to come, for what they had waited so anxiously for, as they knew there had been no chance that she would get off from her words so easily.

Her fingertips had touched her soft cheek, gently. Fragile. So very fragile.

Similar to the fragility of the situation.

What followed after that was silence.

She stroked it for a few times, with her fingertips. It felt good, when she did that. It soothed the burn. At least, when it burned her skin. The rest was a different matter.

Thereafter, came Hera's laughter. Her usual deep voice, once the most beautiful sound and lighter than any bell, now in a fit of laughter. Loud, shrilling and just so broken that it penetrated your heart and caused goosebumps from your whole skin to arise.

Iris covered her mouth. It was not because she was shocked that Zeus had slapped his wife. Then, she was shocked that she could not move. The only thing was that covered the silence for her was the rattling in her head, the whispers so much like her voice that repeated time and time again what had happened.

Zeus had slapped Hera.

He slapped her. Easy and done.

He had slapped her.

Slap.

SLAP.

It was as though the sound of how her mistress had been hurt was continuously playing over and over again in her head. Yet it was the sound of her hysterical laughter that woke her up from her daze. It was that weird and shrieking cry for help that made her finally realize what had happened.

What really made her shiver and almost break down was the heartbreak of her mistress, the laughter that was so hollow and eerie that broke her own heart.

For some reason, Iris violet eyes did not rest on her mistress and surely not on her husband. Instead, it moved towards Athena. Strong unyielding and wise beyond what had ever been Athena. But somehow, when casting her violet eyes on that female warrior goddess she could not help but realize how true Hera's words are.

No one is infallible.

Not even Athena. Her expression was proof enough. After having spent so many years alongside her mistress, the inapproachable, aloof and always well-reserved lady that was Hera, she had learned that her mistress was far from all that. One had to read just a little more between the lines and after having excelled in that skill, she could clearly deduce that Athena was in the same state of mind as Iris herself. But who could blame her? Zeus may have been a lot of things, a cheater, a bastard, a spineless lover, a cheater. An adulterer.

But never had he struck his wife.

Well, until now.

There was this hollow twinkle in her eyes, a twinkle that usually indicated her of having won something. She was the winner, the one who got what she deserved and yet, or maybe it was due to that, that her eyes were so hollow.

"You won," she smirked, or smiled? She turned her back to him.

He wondered why is it then that he felt lost.

Athena watched her father leave. Never in her live had she ever witnessed a scene like that, nor had she ever imagined that such a thing could happen. She was not prepared for that and so, she was clueless as to what she was supposed to do. She berated herself, for not being prepared. But poor Athena, how could she, when in the end it comes to two unpredictable and unsteady characters as her father and his Queen wife.

Iris watched as her mistress disappeared among the big peacefully green plants that she tended for so lovingly. She should have went after her, taken care of her like Hera had done for her so many times. She had wanted to. But her feets were glued to the ground, unable to move, much like her body was too struck obey her and therefore, the only thing she was capable of doing was watching both parties depart from the crime scene.

Her beautifully rainbow eyes sought out Athena's. Both women were incapable of preventing whatever that was happening. Both of them had just witnessed what had transpired before them and neither of them had done something. Both of them were too abandoned by words to speak out their shock.

A/N: Hey there, I guess it has been quite a long time, since I updated. Well, here I am, almost done with my finales and also, done with the very first chapter of of this new version of Sincerely Untrue! At first, I had just wanted to rewrite a few things, exchange words for some other and correct mistake and put a little more depth to what I considered superficial, but in the end, this is what came out. A complete new time line, with different events and paths, even attitudes.

I think the next chapter is going to be a surprise for everyone, who is in for HeraxHades love scenes, but well... it's going to be surprise.

I hope you guys enjoyed this new version of mine. I was actually quite satisfied with the first chapter of the old version, but somehow, I like this one even better, more drama, more violence, more sad. Tell me what you think :)

Until then.