Disclaimer: I own nothing, except for the plot

Title: Sincerely Untrue

"My lady Hera, please, wait!"

"Iris," Hera sighed and stopped walking, watching as her faithful companion reach her. "I take it that you had no problem finding me." She spoke with a raised eyebrow, as if Iris had done anything wrong.

"I was worried for you. I-"

"I meant what I said. I will not go back and no, you cannot change my mind. Are there any questions left?" In all the years, she spent serving her mistress, she had never seen her so... calm and collected and yet so crude and confused.

"My lady, I-"

"Iris," Hera shook her head and looked away, "do me a favor and leave. I desire to be alone right now, without any company."

"I cannot possibly leave you alone!"

"Yes, you can! Because I said so!"

Iris bit her lip, her rainbow-colored eyes watching her mistress with uncertainty. She felt the deep desire within her to reach out her hand, in hope that she would be able to reach her. She also felt the desire to comfort her, but no matter how much and how many times, she would take Hera in her arms, it would not change anything. At the end of the day, she was still Hera, calm and collected and yet so utterly lost. No words, no action and no hug could change her character.

"How long have you...-?"

When a long time passed, since she posed that question, Iris was almost led to believe that she shall never receive the answer to her question, yet her mistress surprised her by bestowing her with one.

"I have thought about this, but I never thought why, or when, or how..."

She had never noticed that.

Her Queen was indeed someone, who mastered the skills of masquerade with perfection.

She wondered whether there would be someone worthy of unmasking her, or least wise enough to look past something so skin deep that she herself would get lost into.

"I..." She knew it was probably in vain, nevertheless, the Goddess of Messenger reached out her hand, reaching for something that seemed out of reach and yet, without looking into her mistress' eyes, she knew that she would not have wanted it. At least she guessed, with Hera, one can never know for sure. "I am sorry."

Hera, with her back long turned to Iris, her eyes up to the sky, nodded.

"Tell everyone else that I have no desire to grand them audience and better yet, I want no one to search for me, you included."

"But-"

"When I will need something, I will call for you, until then..." Hera waited for the next words as well. She contemplated. "... spend more time with your husband, the one, who was not a mistake. Love him."

With that, Iris watched her mistress disappear before her eyes, so agonizingly slowly that it broke her heart.

"Father, where are you going?"

"As you can see, I am leaving."

"But why? Why do you not stay? Where are you going to?"

"I am going back to Eleanor," he replied, while walking down the path. Athena, still hot on his heels, almost stumbled upon his words.

"You are running away?" she asked.

"I am not running away, I am going back."

"Why are you doing this?" Athena asked softly. If she had been wiser, she would have been able to detect the bitterness that was hidden behind his mask of pretense.

"What do you want, Athena?" Zeus sighed, stopping in his tracks.

Athena, who could finally halt, watched her him, whilst searching for an answer herself.

"No this," she replied.

"What an enlightening answer." Zeus mocked her. Athena winced at his harsh voice. She, who has always been the most beloved and doted upon daughter of Zeus, was not used to this hostile, cold treatment of her father. She almost went back on her words, just to please him, succumbing to his wills. But she refused to let things sweep under the carpet like he wanted her to do.

"You could have stayed, should have. You should not have ignored what had happened."

"And what might that possibly be? Nothing had happened back there. It might be wise of you to stop seeing things that are not there."

"No, that's not true," Athena disagreed. "Instead of turning away, maybe it is time to face things and see them for what they are."

Zeus smiled at her.

"What? Just because they are different, does it have to mean that they are not one and the same?" So, for the first time did the the Goddess of Wisdom recognize the bitterness in him, finally seeing the bigger picture of her father. It was not just his look, it was in his smile, in the voice that was laced with regret and resignation. But it was especially the way he was now looking at her, with so much pity that it made her go cold, her body shivering under his gaze and she felt her her own heart go heavier, as her body got emptier.

"I..." she wondered what was there left to say. "...I am sure, you can still go back. She will still be there, you could still apologize."

"No, I doubt that," he said, looking past her, in his blue eyes that shone like clear, brilliant sky, a faraway look. "It is too late and I am too far to go back. You know her, she is not the waiting type."

"Zephyr has done a great job, do you not think so?" Hestia asked, admiring the Wind God's work.

"I believe that the rumors circulating around him lately are more worthy of attention." Hermes smirked antagonistically.

"You are unbelievable," Hestia shook her head with a giggle. "Do you still hold a grudge over what happened?"

"Oh Hestia, I don't know what you are talking about."

"Don't you?" She asked with a heartwarming smile.

"My dear Hestia, you are reading far more into this than what is there," Hermes explained calmly in a matter of fact voice, never losing his mask. But he probably never noticed how rigid he became suddenly.

"Really? And it does not concern the beautiful goddess whom he married a few centuries ago, with whom you were according to rumors heavily involved with? You know, whose rumors of her beautiful rainbow colored eyes does not even do justice?"

"Indeed, you are reading too much into this. You, out of everyone, should know how gloating I am, when it comes to matters like this. No one is spared, not even-"

He stopped in his mid-sentence, his head turning around and if Hestia could have seen his eyes, then she might have noticed the frantic look in his usually mischievous eyes.

"What is it?" she asked worriedly.

"I..." But there was no need for her to look into her eyes, not when she already heard all of it in his voice.

"Hermes?"

"Iris..." he whispered and now, it was Hestia's time to turn rigid.

"She is here?!" It was unusual, considering that during a time like this, she would be besides Hera, like she ought to, talking slow walks through Hera's most prized garden. But this could not be the case. If Hera would be present, then Hestia would have felt it. Almost like how Hermes felt that Iris was near and how he was able to detect her form, shaking and shivering and hidden in a deep corner that they would usually not even have taken notice from.

"Iris," he whispered her name again, this time, even the said Goddess heard him.

"Hermes," she sounded surprised to see him near, for a moment having forgotten the despair her aura was just laced with.

"What happened?" he had asked, although Hestia doubted that he cared to hear her answer, for even before hearing what she had to say, he was already by her side. She wondered whether he was aware of his own actions, of how he put his arm around her shoulder or how he pressed her, in comparison to his, small form towards his chest. She also wondered whether he knew how comforting and just so out of character he was acting. It was a far cry from the typical, gloating, as he just put recently, persona he put on display.

"Are you fine?" he asked her.

"No, I mean yes, I am fine. Everything is fine," she declared and tried to reign in her breath. She tried to sit up, looking as regal and collected as usual. Hermes let her go, but never too far out of his reach.

"You don't look like you are doing fine."

"No, really, I am fine," she insisted. "Maybe I am just under shock."

Hestia wondered what kind of shock she must have been put under. She had not even noticed them approaching, until Hermes touched her. She even flinched from his touch, until she finally noticed who it was and it was just until then that she calmed down.

"What was it?" he asked in a gentle tone.

Iris stayed silent, looking down towards the heavenly ground. Hermes realized that he should not have questioned her. It seemed to throw her back into whatever she had just been. Worried that this would happen, he pushed her back into his arms again.

"Hey, it's going to be okay," he whispered soothingly to her, stroking her back gently in the notion that he knew would calm her down.

"Iris?" It was the first time that Hestia had spoken. "Can you tell us what happened?"

Iris breath hitched. It seemed as though Hestia's voice had awoken something in her.

She slowly pushed Hermes away, silently looking at him to signalize him that she was okay. She turned back to Hestia.

"I am sorry to make all of you worry over me," she threw a glance at Hermes, but quickly averted her eyes back to Hestia. "I assure you, it was nothing. It was probably nothing. I-"

"Where is Hera?" Hestia asked innocently, but the flinch she earned was noticed by eyes that were far from innocent.

"She... I think she would return soon. I hope."

Her answers were too flustered, too jumpy and much to unusual for Iris that Hestia had a hard time believing them. She sighed and sat down next to her.

"Iris, you know that you can tell me anything, right?" she spoke in a tone that was irresistibly filled with a motherly voice, of which she knew that most of the youngsters from the second generation could not resist. She just forgot sometimes that Iris was not one of them, instead, like an instinct, she withdrew from her, pushing herself closer to Hermes.

"Hestia-"

"I don't think that this has anything to do with you, Hestia. It is in no way your concern. You will find out soon or later."

"So it does concern my sister... then I take my brother is involved as well..."

"Please..." Iris kept shaking her head.

"Hestia, just leave it," Hermes rarely spoke so harshly to her, but she was not surprised, after all, considering for whose sake it was. But that did not mean that she would leave it be as he had expected from her. Just like him, she had someone to protect and she would disregard every feeling and relationship for this sake. Thus, they continued to glare at each other, leaving Iris sitting rather uncomfortably among the tension.

"Iris," the both of them looked rather caught off-guard, as they were approached by another person, even more so when it turned out to be busy Goddess of Wisdom, Athena.

"Athena," Iris stood up, as though she had been waiting the entire time for the Goddess. She went towards her.

"Have you-"

"I found him," Athena responded curtly. "But he rejected me. Considering how you look, you got one as well."

Iris looked away in shame.

"Athena, what is going on?"

Hermes was getting more and more confused by the minute and the more confused he got, the angrier he became at the whole mess. He did not like the fact that Iris seemed to be so shaken by whatever was going on. The worst thing was that she was withholding any information, leaving him in the dark as to what to do, how to comfort her.

"You owe me an explanation!" Hermes demanded.

"I owe you nothing, boy." Athena could rarely stand how insolent her brother was, worse, accepting that this was her brother.

"Like H-"

"Athena, please," Hestia began, stopping Hermes from causing more damage. "We just want to understand the situation more, so that we could perhaps solve the problem. It worries us as much as it does you, especially seeing you like this."

Hestia, being so motherly, was always the voice of reason, logical and wise and pushing every button that was necessary to persuade Athena. And she almost had her.

"Hestia-"

"No-" Iris gripped Athena's arm. "No, I promised her, I would not do that!" she whispered harshly at Athena.

"What did she tell you?" Athena began to suspect that there was more behind her story than her own. Something must have transpired while she was with Zeus, Hera must have said something. Iris was acting illogically.

"I..." she glanced towards the other two witnesses. "I promised..."

"Where is Hera?"

"Don't even try, Hestia already did." Athena looked at Hermes, then she looked back at Iris.

She had let go of her arm. At the moment, she seemed to be lost in her own thoughts, contemplating on her further movements.

Iris knew that Hera would not want anyone to know what had happened, especially not the exact things. She was sure of that. She had spent too much time with her not to know how proud she was and how her pride would suffer greatly from that and Iris would hate for her mistress to experience such humiliation. After all, she was a woman as well, so she could understand how she felt, especially as a wife. She admired and loved Hera too much, but in any way, soon they would all know of her disappearance. Hestia and Hermes already noticed that something was wrong and that it involved their Queen and King. Hermes, being the gossip lover that he was, would never let this stay hidden.

She eyed Athena, like her, she wanted to know what happened with Zeus. What did he say? How did he react? Did he regret it? For the sake of her mistress, she wished that this was the case, but also knowing him, she knew that it was too improbable. He was too volatile, too unpredictable in his emotions for her to say for sure.

"Please, just leave this matter be. She did not want you to …."

"Well then, what did she want?" They all wondered that. Iris hesitated.

"Just leave this matter be, she… she wanted to be alone for a while. To think about all of this." Well, at least this was what she believed.

"Alone…?" Athena questioned.

"Where can we find her?" Hermes asked.

"She wants to be alone?" Hestia also joined their crew.

"Please," Iris begged.

"Where has she went?"

"What else did she tell you?"

"You have to be more precise, Iris!" Athena demanded forcefully.

"I-" She was usually headstrong, but this time, still an aftermath from the shock, she was overwhelmed with everything. They continued to throw questions after questions at her, each forcefully, in their own way, demanding answers from her. "No! Just damn it! Just no! Why can you not understand it?!"

It was like something had broken and now Iris went berserk, pushing each back in their corner.

"She said leave it be! So just leave it be!" she continued to shout at each of them. She looked furiously at them, each too stunned to say anything and before they did again, Iris decided to leave.

Ironically, being the Goddess of Rainbows, she left behind a trail of rainbowy glitters, shining with different colors behind, even when everything went out south.