Ash, only ash and ruins. The village was swept off the map, a peaceful hamlet between a lake and sentinel forest gone in a blink. Everything was a monochrome of the darkest grey. Ares walked slowly, eyes sweeping side to side at what's left of the village reduced to a pile of moist black dust – charred wood, smoldered stones and iron, all the leftover of a wild inferno.

Worst was the putrid smell… of burnt flesh.

He had his fair shares of lazy strolls through carnage enough to locate a corpse, and a faint aversion filled his gut at the sight of small bodies among the dead. This place had become a crematorium within a night. Vultures perched the mounds of dismembered carcass and jutting bones, squawking as he passed. Once more it reminded him how brittle life was.

He felt Hermes descend behind him.

"How does it look from up there?" asked the King.

"Just… terrible…" Hermes muttered, "Fire started here, just here, not some forest spark. There's no sign of fire in the woods."

"It's a bloody massive ruin, Hermes. How can this happen without an alarm to Olympus?"

"Uh, it looked like…" Hermes balled fists and spread his fingers awkwardly, "…pwoof!"

"An explosion."

"Yep."

The King sighed, jaws rigid. He swept his cape to the side to squat, taking a handful of the moist ash and drew it to inhale. Little by little his face became suspicious and the fresh scar beneath his eye itched.

"What is it?"

He looked over his shoulder, at the Queen walking towards them pulling back the hood of her thick grey robe, her pale whiteness greatly contrasting the desolate backdrop. She had gone to the measly group of survivors in a small temple nearby, not more than two dozen, saved by dousing on the lake once their clothes caught fire and now nursing deep burnt flesh oozing with pus and mortal blood. She fed them bound their wounds in the guise of an elderly woman.

"Chimera?" Athena asked. It took a while for Ares to answer. He held the blackened soil to her but the Queen stared at something else on his hand – the line of gold on his fourth finger, delicately glimmering. Warmth spread beneath her skin. They wore their wedding bands only once, first and last, during the day they made the worst vows of their immortal lives. The months that came after made her forget such jewelry even existed. Seeing his ring made her belly flip… Was he truly serious?

"Hydrogen," Ares responded with gravel in voice, "and helium. Lots of helium."

He watched the details of her face slowly crumpling in disbelief, at her eyes made glassy and the way she stopped a breath before calling the Messenger. "Hermes."

"Queen," Hermes immediately turned to her after raising a severed hand and quickly dropping it, shocked at discovery.

Athena looked away. "Would you care to know where Apollo was last night?"

Hermes nodded with raised brows. When an awful silence settled, Ares made him move to his work with a single hard command. "NOW."

"King Demophon responds slow to this disaster," came Athena once Hermes scrambled and left them alone, "I ought to send him a nightmare as punishment." She laughed softly only to ease the burden of sharing space with Ares once more.

He scoffed before releasing the dirt from his hand. "What are you to do with Apollo?"

"We," the Queen cut, looking past the ghostly lake overfloating with debris, "What are 'we' to do… you're the King. You share as much decision to the matter."

Ares found himself chewing on the wall of his mouth. Why had she suddenly become… admiring? He had received too much flattery before from cowering Kings, generals, and carnal supplicants to know the intents of overpraising. But coming from her, it was near to making him blush. He cleared his throat and shrugged.

"Go through the process still, summon him for inquest," the Queen continued.

"And… if found guilty?"

"Be treated guilty," she sighed, "Suffer punishment worthy of his crime, the usual. Hercules… Prometheus… Sisyphus... we've many examples. You were brought for inquest once, I recall?"

Ares nodded. Aeropagus. One of the darkest days of his morbid life. Though he was acquitted for the murder, he only made new enemies.

"But he is… 'dear' to you?" he sneered at her and Athena winced. Deep from the woods she could hear the galloping of a rescue party sent from the near Capital. Good. This marks their leave before suffocation snaps and an unwanted misconstrue comes chasing between them again, and gods know who breaks one's face at the end of heated conversations.

Athena walked towards her husband, feeling the titter of his subconscious beneath armor. She held his face, subtly thrilled with the soft scratch of his dark stubble. "No one is excused from consequences. That is Justice."

Ares exhaled, undone, as she walked past him, towards the gold flecked mist descending to take them home.

Damn enchantress. Bloody. Damn. Enchantress.

The blade dipped across and his skin split open, retching a generous slide of golden blood from wrist to arm and pooling on the floor. As it cooled off the surface, it began to harden into obsidian black. Apollo's deep breaths shivered with magnified pain. He swallowed heavily, throat aching with repressed screams as his veins swelled against flesh and bone.

The god was scooped up in ash and soot, reeking of Tartarus itself. He let the ichor flow mercilessly albeit the torment, biting down on a ripped cloth and breathing like a rabid beast. Tears brimmed and streaked his dirtied face.

When the gold had ceased replaced by his own red blood he wailed, defeated.

"No no no please…" Apollo heaved, grabbing more of the cloths he ripped and pressing them irately on the deep wounds. The cloth greedily sipped on crimson and he sniffled wearily on the verge of caving in from fending off anguish for hours.

He struck himself failing at his own device. Being a god of medicine and healing, this was a great humiliation. When a snake bites into flesh and venom spills through the veins, he knew the instant trick was to bleed a bit more so the poison takes off. But he was at the brink of draining and yet the cursed gold regenerates twice as fast.

Apollo knew well beforehand since he rose from Death, he was distant from his body. His spirit had become alien to him, peculiar, demented even. There was a small hollow of strange power he could feel shrouded in the depths of his soul and day by day it kept growing. But as it grew, it was turning foul, lewd and vulgar… cradling a stalwart ungodliness and slowly corrupting his being. He was easily angered and temperament became unusual.

And last night it had taken a strong leap when he began to hear a dreadful whisper coming from his mind. It was a language he could not perceive and yet he could understand as if they were one at thoughts.

It begun showing him bits of unsurmountable power while it fed on his anger for Athena, seducing him, slowly taking possession of him…

Yield to your power… it is a blessing from your forefathers…

The voice was deep, barely audible in mixed incense of hushes.

It begs to be free… unchain it, golden one, chosen one… unsheathe it, child… my blood, my kin…

Apollo shivered, holding himself, finding himself in the muck on the Earth. It was dark and dry. And his head throbbed, pain splitting his skull like a spiked mace against rock. The voice laughed mockingly… until it slowly mentioned the Queen's name did he snap –

A radiating scorch, a blast of heat.

He screamed and out erupted thick wild flames chasing the circumference of his surroundings. The rupture of power was wonderful, it whipped him in vicious pleasure he's never felt before… he supped on the glory, watched the winged flames rocket to the sky and dance around him. Everywhere it burned deep red and amber and almost livid purple. But while it died down then he realized he had drowned a mortal's village in flames. And when he sought for the voice that drew him into the horrible cause, there was none anymore but the slow humming of victory that equaled his terror.

"Apollo…?"

He was pulled back to the present, looked up at traumatized eyes that reflected his, at a face sauntering shock and the cracking voice that called his name. Artemis stood by the entrance to his chamber, gawking over the state of calamity his room had become – torn down curtains and wide gashes on the mattress, an amalgam of soil and cement swept across the floor, and black dirt, lots of it. It smelt of fire…

And Apollo, her dearest half, love of her life, a half naked gallery of wounds beneath his ruined bed bathed in red and flecks of gold turning black. He had been bleeding himself from the poisonous Ichor and from the bitter look on his face, she knew it was but frustration.

Her brother lowered the knife from his grip. "Go away…" he muttered before a sniffle, eyes narrowing above reddened rims.

Artemis moved to enter, "Stop that – "

"GO AWAY!"

The door thundered shut before Artemis' face, crippling her knees and she fell to the floor. Her breath fell short and the radiance of an evil force lingered before vanishing in thin air. The Huntress gathered herself, her concern mutilated by the vileness she had witnessed of her brother.

"Artemis? You alright?"

She shifted, met by Hermes' amber irises stuffed with curiosity. She forced a weak smile and nodded. "Going somewhere?"

"Uh, there?"

She stiffened. "What for?"

"The Queen inquires Apollo's whereabouts last night."

"Oh," Artemis looked back at the door, her heart pounding against ribs at the sight he might just catch within. Chaos. Ichor. Anything but good news. "He's uh… asleep. I've just taken a peek. Should he wake up I'd ask him myself and deliver the answer to the Queen."

The goddess watched Hermes' lips form a circle as he nodded. "Are you alright?"

Artemis nodded faintly, silently begging for Hermes to leave but the other had just found it as interesting why she wouldn't budge away from the entrance to Apollo's chamber. She was dressed up for hunt – heavily eye-lined, striped blonde and brunette hair clamped in braids and ponytail, fit leather armor above silver infringed pteruges, arm bands, archer gloves, thigh laces and light boots. And he wonders why was she delaying.

"Hermes,"

"Hm?"

The goddess tugged him by the arm and began leading him away. "I should have mentioned this hawk I've just came upon one day, really magnif! Might you want to see it?"

She filled him with stories, pressing him forward without giving chance to question or turn. Before they disappeared along the curve, she looked back at the distant door, in a while seeing half Apollo's face staring from the small gap he parted.

Athena's sigh was condensed with frustration. A few mornings after the fiery debacle left her mind fleeting over questions only heaped over by more questions – Apollo and his sudden disappearances, Hades' rumored betrayal, the mind-boggling riddles. In the flummox of it all, she decided to sit in front of the weaving loom and pass a few hours with warps and wefts. It felt a millennium ago since the last she played with threads, missing the touch of silk and cashmere, the smell of dust.

Yet time was consumed and all she ever accomplished was less half a foot of the fabric. She frowned at a single misplaced color and too visible warps, and decided to undo it all and muttering how she'd lost the artisan in her.

A long hoot aired above. Athena glared at Ibid practically glaring back, a fat winged creature, white like freshly fallen snow. She fought the urge to skewer the owl.

"You leave me a long time for the mating season and come back plumper than a pillow," she spoke, untangling the threads, "Might one day mistake you for a chicken, mate. How does owl curry sound like?"

The bird screeched, small feathers at his back spiking; he spread his wings in all its white glory splendor. Athena laughed apologetically and cooed Ibid with a soft rub at his shiny beak, softening his golden eyes. "I missed you too… now hush, you feathered bag of fat. Let me get this done with."

She opened the casket of threads rolled on cones, its colors ranging all hues. Her finger ran across each to locate the shade of green for she will be needing much of them to draw her imagination on textile – a lone olive tree at the edge of a cliff, its branches platinum and leaves of pure emerald. It wasn't much the muddle of colors and there was no legend behind her intent but she had just found it of sudden interest. In the tangle of threads she felt a metallic surface, thin and circular, a halo. She pulled off the material and her own wedding band appeared between her fingers.

Her heart leapt to the throat. It wasn't long after she had seen Ares' ring and now her own band had waved hello. When she tucked it in her own finger it felt absurd, so foreign it made her bite her lower lip for long.

Ibid scuffled and flapped his wings gently, catching a pleasant scent. His mistress looked behind only to bask at such beauty.

Aphrodite was ever more abloom. She wore her hair down, a straight silken curtain of gold tucked behind each ear and flowing past bare shoulders. A shy smile and nod – "Queen."

Athena reciprocated the greeting with a call of the other goddess' name, but her eyes were unable to stop cascading from pretty collarbone down to the small swell on her belly. She averted her gaze quickly when Aphrodite cleared her throat. "May I…? Just a word…"

"Of course," the Queen sighed, showing the empty chair across her but Aphrodite gently refused.

"How are you feeling?" Athena asked as she leaned on her chair.

"I'm alright,"

"How far along are you…?"

"Uh," Aphrodite slowly embraced herself, faint red spilling around soft cheeks, "Almost a year's quarter, my best guess…"

"Your 'best' guess…?" half-smiling, Athena felt a bubble of twisted amusement. Her tone had struck a cord in the other, swiftly cutting through the best she could. "I'm not seeking for a quarrel, Athena, I just wanted to ask an agreement with you."

"But I wasn't…" the Queen's face fell, but at once she shrugged, "Agreement? What of?" Don't say it. Don't. You. Dare. Say. It.

"Ares."

Tartarus.

"Mhmm… what of him?"

"How is he…?"

"Still alive, unfortunately…"

Aphrodite laughed meekly, the sound of tinkling bells. Her thick curled lashes lowered whilst her delicate fingers played the tips of her hair. "You could hide the truth behind smugness but you know as well as I do… it won't work."

Furrowed brows came as reply. The Queen's face was pure question mark.

"Athena. I know what you're trying to do: convincing Ares to be good. To be faithful... that faithfulness is good for him."

"…and?"

"Look where it took you… everyone speaks – you suffer his violence and I know it's of this one pressing reason: you suffocate him. You cage him. Ares is a broken man who needs to choose freely, love freely."

By the end of the sentence, Athena's mouth was parched and heat began to torture her. "What in the underworld are you truly trying to say to me?"

"Just a word of advise, my Queen. That if - if he needs to see someone else... let him. He lived in freedom all his life so give it. You are a woman of principle, I understand, but oft we should give way for nature's intents. You say you need him in one piece and in a sound mind and I know it can help –…"

"You're one galactic bitch you are..." Athena's jaw hung, speaking out before giving ample thought.

Aphrodite's brows rose, "Excuse me…?"

"Allow me to pretend I have not just heard the grossest shit in heaven, earth, and the bowels of hell but really, woman, you have to stoop this low?"

Ibid flapped in place, the only thing they heard in that repulsive pause. Until Aphrodite smiled, "The sting of a grieving mother. I forgive you. But we don't really go far from each other, you and I. I've suffered as much humiliation as you did in a forced marriage with things we deem monstrous."

"You… suffered?" Athena leaned forward, "Well… d-did you ever sleep with one eye open, fearing you'd wake up to your home in a catastrophe? Or live up to a bruise, a broken bone? Have you ever lost a child before you even knew it existed because that 'monstrous thing' got rid of it? Did you? No? I thought so."

"I – " "I asked father that you be Ares' queen. I pleaded." Athena stood, glassy silver eyes dressed to kill, "Now I understand why he refused. You have the beauty of a fox, but the wits of a goose – Olympus will not stand a day with you on my stead. You do NOT KNOW suffering because you evade it and the only thing you could offer are spread legs. You were humiliated because of running from a worm into the pit of a viper, but I suffered because I STAYED."

Aphrodite laughed amid tears of insult brimming, "You'd stay to what end? Aren't you one who patronizes feminine strength and independence? How your disciples shame themselves learning of such martyrdom for a man."

"I'd stay until YOU, your lover and consorts, your bastard children and the rest of every living, breathing thing under our rule… are safe. You can fornicate your way after," words dripped between the Queen's gritted teeth, "But now let me have this straight – woman to woman, goddess to goddess… Queen to subject."

Aphrodite's lips twitched, marked by the sparkle of her gloss. She tried to hide the ire that suddenly burgeoned under her skin but wasn't doing good enough. And Athena went on, "You're more than a wonder, my dear, you could be dressed in a sack and still sprout lust and envy among who lay eyes on you. But we are at war, blood is on our gates and the last thing I need to hear from you is a proposal to share our bed. Do not, I say again, do not rouse Ares' base stupidity. His brain is too small for wisdom and I need every bit of space it can carry. Do you understand?"

Athena almost saw the daggers that aimed at her from the turquoise pools. Even in rancor Aphrodite was so beautiful, and the Queen considered it enough to make Ares forget his duties. His head had always been inside his groin and the memory of nights ago made her stomach lurch.

"Now if you'd excuse me, I need to be somewhere else," Athena sniffled, wanting to disappear quick as lightning. She passed by Aphrodite as Ibid leapt to spread wings in pursuit.

"You defend him as you do a lover," Aphrodite's voice caught up with a weak but sincere smile, "What changed?"

The Queen braked, drilling answers from labyrinths but all she had was honesty in somber tones – "I did set him free, Aphrodite. But the fact you come asking this of me only meant he had not taken a bite of that freedom. It would be worth intending to keep it that way." Up ahead she resumed her leave.

A deep snicker made Aphrodite's skin crawl. She concealed rolling her eyes before staring at the reflection of a very frequent visitor walking nearer. The scent of ocean filled her nose, of sand, salt and plankton. She stood from the mirror to the edge of her window and the figure followed by. When his cold moist fingers grazed her arm, she squirmed to the touch and put distance. "I tire. Some other time, Poseidon."

He gently bit on an earlobe, unfazed. "Of course. So much for a rejected scheme." His laughter was solid mockery. "To even think the grey eyed bitch would entertain your thought. I even wonder why your tongue remains intact after such foolish proposition."

"Hm, be thankful my tongue remains. Or you'd badly miss it."

"There she is," the god purred, "…that lascivious confidence, how I miss it. You've been off tangent lately, have you not?"

"Just… leave," she hissed and shook him off but to no avail. Poseidon's hold on her wound tighter.

"You squeeze yourself between sharp rocks while I pave for you a red carpet," Poseidon teased but she could feel the hairline distance between calm and threatening.

"Your plan is going to tread a dangerous path. You could have us both killed!"

"Why would I? It is promised fate – 'A king shall arise from water' coming from Athena's trusted puppet. I will see it done," he breathed furiously against her nape, "Zeus was a cunt to bestow the throne to that vermin son of his. I always knew it was a mistake. Nothing noble fits a murderer, not a throne, not a crown…" he spun Aphrodite so she could face the wrath etched on his eyes, "…and not you. Oh he never deserved such perfection. Why do you yearn him still when he shrugs upon Hephaestus' demand that he give back all the cripple's gifts so you could be free to love him?"

Aphrodite's heart sank when he rubbed the memory in her – a giant net, the jeers and taunts. And Hephaestus, that defected hemorrhoid clamoring for justice… as if her execration wasn't enough, he sold her to Ares in exchange of all his pretty crafts for her. But the war god hadn't budged, merely turned away and went missing with all his glory… only to come prostrating himself back after Poseidon offered to 'buy' her – like a common whore. It was a clear daylight slap that Ares would never have thought of tying down with her, and she herself was never empty of lovers but he still overflowed her thoughts: rough hands, savage kisses, ironhard body pummeling her hips… just the imaginations of it had her already moist between the legs.

Her thoughts melted away with the grudge in Poseidon's voice, forcing her to remain eyes at him. "I practically own you. My child swelling in your belly says so."

At this she snapped, successfully pulling herself away from his grasp. "I tell you now and again, it is not yours!"

"Not the slightest possibility? Not that I wasn't aware I was your morning glory and Ares was your afternoon delight – "

She struck his face to the side, her own already contorted with tears, making him grin – "Ah, a woman's mind. You offer them the world and they seek a muddy swine pen."

"Really?" Aphrodite sniffled before an effortful scoff, "What world would I gain by spying on the monarchs for you?"

In an instant the challenge in her eyes was replaced by astonishment, like bleak dark clouds pierced by blinding light at his confident answer. "Queenship."

He sensed her sudden retardation, smelled the ambition struggling beneath hesitance. "Doesn't that make your heart race a little quicker, your breath a little shallower? To wear the only missing piece you never had…?"

"But… Ampithrite?" Aphrodite asked weakly in a voice embraced with fear.

Poseidon was all smirks. "Now isn't that question a start to discussing terms?"

A / N : Hi, all. Utterly overwhelmed with your well wishes. We're getting through. Thank you so much. Currently uploading this in a bus so I'll get back to your reviews later. Please do take care always. :)