AN: My word count is outrageous. According to my friend Turtlefoot, "It's contagious!"

"Session?" I repeated, looking from Artemis to Aphrodite and back. "What session?"

"Aphrodite and I have some 'disagreements' to work out." It was very subtle, but I caught the hint of fear in Artemis's voice.

"Don't forget Ares. He'll be there too. Wait, is that a couch over there? Artemis, you should know better than that. No comforts. You are prisoners after all," Aphrodite said reprovingly. She snapped and the couch disappeared, and with it the food. I looked on sadly as my stubbornness left my belly empty.

Artemis got up reluctantly and Aphrodite gripped her arm harder than necessary and led her out, sealing the door again.

"Well, this is just great." I muttered, looking around. Here I was, stuck in a dungeon with my mom being who-knows-what upstairs. I tried to open the door, but it didn't budge. It didn't electrocute me though, which caused the odd sensation of thinking that Aphrodite was a kinder jailor than Artemis.

For the first time, I was worried about my mom. I had no idea when she was going to get back and what condition she would be in. In the mean time, I was determined to find a way out of this heckhole.

After about an hour of fruitless efforts, I slumped down, defeated.

"Stupid Olympians and their mystical powers," I muttered as a paced around the room.

Trying to make myself angry enough to glow, I thought about all the bad things Artemis had done to me. After her explanations, however, it was a lot more difficult.

Finally, after I had given up pacing and was on the cold ground, I heard the door open.

I quickly got to my feet, which made black dots appear before my eyes. After several seconds of frenzied rubbing, they revealed Aphrodite removing what looked like a golden bracelet from Artemis's wrist.

She pushed Artemis into the room and locked the door. Then, Artemis turned around and I gasped.

"What are you looking at?" she snarled, taking a step towards me. I couldn't respond, so filled with horror and pity.

Artemis had dozens of gashes across her face and her arms. They weren't bleeding, per say. More like oozing. This weird golden fluid was dripping out. When she took that threatening step, I saw her wince and mutter something under her breath.

"What happened?" I asked, taking a step towards her.

"Nothing. Aphrodite just didn't like me summoning food or couches. It's not that bad really." she insisted, using the exact tone of voice I use when I'm trying to cover-up my pain.

She sat down on the ground, and I wondered why she didn't summon a chair or something to rest on.

"I would, if not for this lovely reminder of 'my place', as Aphrodite put it so kindly," Artemis said as she rolled up her sleeve. Burned onto her arm in angry black/purple lettering was the word "Dirt".

I wanted to kill Aphrodite for doing something like that. Even though it obviously hurt, Artemis didn't say anything. Instead, she started chanting something that I recognized as a healing charm.

Her scratches and bruises disappeared, but the burn remained.

"Why does she hate you so much?" I asked after Artemis had laid back down and relaxed her muscles.

"It's a long story." Artemis said.

I waited for her to continue, but she made no motion to do so.

"Well, we have time," I hinted, looking at her.

"Fine, I'll explain. But don't interrupt or I'll silence you."

After I had nodded my consent, she went on.

"As you've probably heard a lot recently, I am," she stopped and corrected herself. "was the first goddess to vow to remain maiden. And Aphrodite, as the goddess of love, has always nursed a grudge against me. Maybe she thinks I've denied her a customer. Whatever. I'm pretty sure she sent a couple men after me. Orion and Actaeon were the unfortunate souls. I destroyed them, naturally, but I couldn't accuse her because I had no proof. Then, when I made my Hunters swear to forsake love, she took it as a personal attack. Because, well, it was. Anyway, she has been waiting for an opportunity like this for centuries, and now she has it, and us."

"What opportunity is that?" I asked, not really following.

"My absence from Olympus of course!" she exclaimed like it was obvious. To a mind-reader maybe.

"Oh. Why is Ares joining in on the hate parade? And why is he all over Aphrodite? I thought she was married to that one guy, Hepatitis?"

She smiled and shook her head.

"Hephaestus. And Ares will do anything Aphrodite tells him to, especially if it means he gets to, umm, hang out with her. And yeah, she's married. It hasn't stopped her from cheating on Hephaestus for the last 3000 years or so. Do you see now why love is unnecessary? It only results in more pain. Look at Zeus and Hera for pronk's sake. Numbers don't count high enough to count the number of illegitimate children he's had. Then there's Hades, Mr. "I'll kidnap a child and take her from her mother because I have an obsession that borders on pedophilia". And even Apollo, my brother who I love, treats women terribly. See? Love causes nothing but pain."

What had begun as an attack on Aphrodite, quickly became a rant about love. With her arguments, I was almost ready to swear off men forever. But there was a niggling doubt in the back of my mind, that maybe, just maybe, she was wrong.

Her deep breathing told me that she was asleep (actually, her snoring did that), and so I laid down quietly. My stomach was aching, but I was learning to ignore it.

I drifted off to sleep, still thinking about the cases Artemis had brought up.

"Morning Emily." I heard Artemis say as she shook my shoulder. I groaned and rolled over. She sighed and pulled me onto my feet.

"Why do I have to wake up?" I mumbled, trying to lie down again.

"Sleeping too long isn't good for you. You've been asleep 15 hours. Maybe you should run around or some-"

"Hello, prisoners." a voice said from the doorway.

Somehow, Ares had managed to open the door silently and was leaning on the door frame, holding a golden sword in his hand.

Artemis flinched at the sight of it, and she stepped in front of me protectively.

"Scared Artemis?" Ares taunted, noticing her fear.

"Of the idiot with a stick? Of course not. Although, I am worried that you'll drop it on your foot again. That was a fun injury," she said, not giving him the satisfaction of knowing her terror.

Ares grin quickly dropped, and he motioned for me to step forward.

"Let's go, Artemis Junior," he said.

"What?" Now Artemis sounded scared. "Why her?"

"Because Aphrodite wanted her. Are you really going to protest?" he asked, smirking. Before I could move, I was dragged forward, against my will by invisible ropes, to stand beside Ares.

He casually put his arm around my shoulders. Or, it would be casual if he hadn't held the sword to my neck as he did it. Artemis stiffened and her eyes widened nervously.

When Artemis didn't say anything, he smiled.

"Didn't think so."

He closed the door and led me down the torch-lit hallway. We climbed a flight of stairs, and we were suddenly in a bright room with electric lights. After being in a dark room for days, my eyes were understandably sensitive.

When my eyes had thoroughly adjusted, I looked around.

We were in a small office, with two seats behind a large wooden desk. There were books on the walls, but the were written in a different language. Behind the chairs was a huge window overlooking a lake. Aphrodite was sitting in one of the chairs, and Ares walked over to occupy the other, after he pushed me into a small chair that I hadn't noticed before. As soon as my arms touched the armrest, golden ropes sprang up and prevented my brilliant escape plan. It was pretty much me running out of the room screaming, but still. It was a plan.

"Are you hungry, Emily?" Aphrodite asked. I didn't like the way she said my name, like I wasn't her arch-enemy's daughter.

I stayed silent. No way was I going to accept food from a sworn enemy. If Artemis could take the pain, then so could I.

"I'm not going to hurt you. Maybe your experiences with other Olympians have been unpleasant, but I'm different. I don't require fear to earn respect."

I remembered Thalia's terrified face and I rolled my eyes, still not willing to talk.

Aphrodite sighed and snapped. Instantly, the ropes binding me fell away and a small table appeared in front of my chair. There was a delicious looking Italian dish and a cool glass of iced tea.

My stomach leapt at the sight of food but I restrained myself. It was probably spiked with love potion or something.

"Silly mortal. I don't need love potion."

"Will you please get the flip out of my head?" I exclaimed before I quickly jerked my arms up to cover my mouth. Dag freaking nab it! I broke my unnecessary vow! Maybe I'm more like Artemis than I thought.

Aphrodite let a triumphant grin streak across her face before she controlled her expression.

"Sorry. It was the only way I could hear your opinion. If I didn't want to hear your thoughts, then I would pull Artemis in here." At the mention of my mom I froze, remembering how hurt she had been.

Ares grinned and snorted. Aphrodite elbowed him.

"Ares, please leave. I can't have a heart to heart discussion with you here. I'll see you later," she added something in ancient Greek (probably something dirty) in his ear.

He grumbled but left without further protest.

"Please eat. I don't want you to starve to death."

"I'm not hungry," I lied, clenching my stomach to keep it from growling (no, that doesn't work).

"Eat it. Now!" her eyes got all scary and dark, and so I picked up a fork quickly. I took a small bite and groaned. It tasted so good.

She softened and frowned.

"Sorry. I don't mean to get all scary like that. Sometimes I can't control my anger." she actually looked ashamed, and I kept eating.

"See? We can be friends. In any case, what do you know about Artemis?" she leant forward in her chair, and I could tell that this was the real reason she had called me in. Pretending to be tired, I leant back in my chair.

"I'm tired. Can we talk later?" I asked, knowing that she wouldn't say yes to that.

"I'm kinda pressed for time. I'll ask one more time. What do you know about Artemis? Any...weaknesses?"

I sat bolt upright and looked at her with an incredulous look on my face (or so I'm guessing).

"Do you really think I'm going to betray my mom to a two-faced, ugly, moronic, skanky, jerk like you?" I asked, using up several of the nicknames I had come up with earlier.

Her face froze, but her eyes were seriously scaring me. The soft brown had turned into a hard black, and then became literal black holes.

"Until you learn to treat a goddess such as myself with respect, you won't be eating or drinking." she spat, knowing how hungry I still was.

I smiled at her. "I'll give you respect when you earn it."

"ARES!" she screamed, literally hurting my ears.

He burst into the room, sword in hand, clearly expecting a fight. When he saw me still sitting in my seat, he visibly relaxed and looked at Aphrodite questioningly.

"What's up?"

"Take her back to her room. I don't want to look at her." Aphrodite said, actually covering her eyes. Drama queen.

Ares pulled me up and led me back down stairs. Instead of pushing me into the dungeon, he turned me to face him.

"I didn't hear what you said, but hear this. If you so much as make Aphrodite frown, I'll take it out on you. If that doesn't scare you maybe this will. I am the world-leading expert on torture. I can break bones that you didn't know existed. And I won't just do it to you. Artemis's life will be a living Hades if you don't drop the attitude. You've been warned." With that lovely parting statement, he pushed me into the room. Actually, it was more of a kick that made my knees pop out of joint. Yeah, that's more true.

"Emily?" I heard Artemis yell as he ran over to me. The shock of the day and Ares's final threat finally got to me and I passed out. Wow, what an unusual occurrence.

AN2: The reviews have been amazing! Thank you so much for showing that maybe I'm not such a mumbling crazy person. Now of only I could get the voices to stop... Anyway, sorry if you didn't like this chapter. It's hot and I'm grumpy. I'll update at 100 and it will be over 3,000 words if it happens within two days. And yes, that is a challenge. Thanks for reading and...merry Kwanza?