"Our daughter?" the hesitantly uttered question left his lips before he could stop it.
" Yes…"
" Dark hair, blue eyes, just like her mother?" the God went on asking, playing with the ends of her raven tresses, an almost dreamy expression on his face.
"Does it even matter….?" she mechanically replied, still too troubled by those disturbing images to pay attention to anything else.
As seconds passed though without a verbal answer from his part, the Warrior Princess cast an inquiring eye at her patron God….He didn't look at all worried, on the contrary, an almost silly smile had lightened his face and it was more than obvious that his mind was somewhere else entirely…
" Ares?"
He didn't reply right away, too sunk in thought to hear her…There was no way in Tartarus he was ever going to confess such absurdity, but that future reality she had described….now that was worth any risk…any fight, any loss...
"Ares?" she repeated, louder this time, making sure she touched his shoulder in the process.
" Yeah?" he finally answered, a slight frown and a confused gaze letting her know that she had been right…
Another beat of silence went by.
" Did you hear a word I said? "
" Zeus, Olympus, baby….gotcha…." he summarized, clearing his throat and doing his best to put on a serious face, one to match the so called gravity of the situation.
" And?" she inquired, a bit scandalized by his uncalled for passiveness.
" I'm not opposed to the idea….An heir to carry on my name…my legacy….I have considered it…..And you'd make a fabulous mother….."
" I wasn't talking about the baby! "
" You weren't?!" he answered, and his confusion only seemed to deepen. By Hades, what was her problem ?!
" You died!" she stressed, her voice raising a notch, making sure he got the point this time. "Athena ran a blade through your heart!"
"Ooohhh!" he muttered- looking utterly unimpressed by the news- a click of his tongue followed by an arched eyebrow being his only reaction to her statement.
"That's it?! That's all you have to say about it?"
" What would you like me to say, Xe? It's just a vision…some two dinar mambo jambo crap, that makes no sense what so ever… ."
"That's precisely what I was trying to tell you all along! It was not just a vision….She knew things that …"
" Princess….." he interrupted, framing her face with his palms, his gaze drifting unwillingly down to her temptingly sexy mouth before he snapped out of that semi trance and continued his idea. "listen to me…! No one, and I mean no one can accurately predict the future…And I'm not talking about some brainwashed priestess here, I'm talking about the Fates themselves ok? The future constantly changes depending on the decisions we make- and that is one of the few things Gods and mortals have in common…We are the ones who make our own destiny…It is with these two hands…" he explained, lightly caressing her palms now " and with the power of this brilliant mind, that you will shape and reshape your future….No one else can do it for you." he concluded, hoping he had been convincing enough to force those unjustified fears out of her soul….
...Imagine his boundless surprise when in response, she shook her head violently and pushed his hands away. Before he even began to realize what was happening, she was already dressed and heading towards the door.
As if woken up from a terrible nightmare- just to plunge into the perilous clutches of something even more macabre- the War God stood there, frozen in both fear and disbelief for what felt like an endless moment. Just as her hand touched the handle though, he rushed by her side, and grabbed her by the arm, keeping her in place.
" Where are you going?"
" I can't do this anymore, Ares….." she murmured, unable to look him in the eye.
"Do what?" he inquired, his heart pounding frantically now- painfully hard…..He had never felt so scared of anything in his life…..
" This….the wars, the killing…I'll just end up hurting everyone I care about…That's what he said…Lyceus…- that my actions will only bring death and destruction in the lives of everyone I love….."
" Lyceus is dead, Princess!" he snapped, pulling her roughly against him and as far away from the door as possible, too shocked by her confession to think about any possible consequences. The result was a loud smack against his cheek, followed by a barely articulated apology. "I'm sorry….."
" Sweetheart…." he continued, tenderly taking her hand to his lips- the same one that had just collided with his face earlier- and kissing it affectionately before he gave it a light squeeze, and pressed it against his chest. " I know it still hurts and all but….nothing can change the fact that he's gone…Plus, he wouldn't have judged you…no matter what…"
" He wasn't being judgmental…It was more like…he was trying to warn me. And I felt him, Ares. It felt like…him…"
"That's only because he's still alive in your mind, darling…And it's natural. You loved him so much and you shared a very special connection….but it couldn't have been him…That was just Pythia messing with your head, taking advantage of your every weakness….and like it or not, Lyceus is your soft spot…" the War God specified, brushing a stray lock of hair out of her magnetizing blue eyes. " Let's not forget that she's Apollo's head priestess…and your army was camped right outside Delphi….Do I need to spell it out for you?"
" Goodbye, Ares…." she simply whispered- struggling to hold back the tears that were already stinging the back of her eyes, threatening to overflow- her lips brushing delicately against his for - what at least in her mind was- the last time...It was over.