"Give me Love" by Ed Sheeran
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September 30th, 2020
"So, you're engaged to be married?" asked Hermes in astonishment, his hazel eyes quite wide.
This was the third time the god had asked such a question and Apollo was running out of responses. He had known his brother for many millennia, and yet, he had never known the immortal to be more surprised then he was at this moment. Hermes was somehow manipulating his features to hold wide eyes and yet furrowed brows. His shaggy dirty blonde hair seemed to look even more outrageous than usual given his surprise. Or, -the more likely reason – Hermes hadn't bothered to look at himself in a mirror to fix himself in quite a long time. Apollo sighed after a long pause. "Yes, Hermes, I am technically, betrothed."
Was this the fourth or fifth time he answered such a question? Apollo was uncertain. Hermes merely stared at him as if he were unable to grasp the concept that Apollo was truly betrothed. "Wait, wait, wait..." the young-looking god trailed off. His dirty blonde hair was slightly falling into his eyes as he worked to push it back. "So, all this time you were making a pass at my goddaughter, you've been engaged!?"
Was that slight anger across his features? Apollo winced sheepishly. Hermes had a right to be upset, Apollo had been hopelessly in love with the already-married Elle Darrow for years, even before she met her betrothed, Jack Frost.
But it was not as though Apollo had a choice in not telling anyone of his engagement. He himself did not remember these last nearly eighteen years! His deceitful twin made sure of this by successfully stealing his memory of the prophecy from the fates. His rather annoying sister did not wish for Apollo to be fluttering around the child's life as she grew, deeming the experience of the much older Apollo watching over the girl as 'inappropriate.' Therefore, Artemis deemed Apollo was only to be allowed to regain his memory of the prophecy a month before the girl turned eighteen.
That was today, and Apollo only now suddenly remembered he was an engaged man. Also, -in the privacy of his own head – he realized Artemis deserved quite a throttling for her diabolical ways of stealing his memory seventeen-years ago.
"If it helps rectify the situation any, Artemis confiscated my memory of the child's entire prophecy with me," said Apollo rather angrily, his chiseled jaw clenching.
"And what does that mean...?"
"It means I did not wish for our moronic brother to follow after a young child for eighteen-full years if he need not do it because this prophecy is invalid," Artemis sniffed, arriving out of nowhere. She came gliding forward before settling herself cross-legged on the couch beside Hermes. She was dressed in a royal blue tunic with matching metal trousers underneath. Her hunting attire while her ink-black hair was tied back in a low braid. "More than likely, this girl means nothing," Artemis went on, examining her dagger she held. Very rarely was it that Apollo did not see his sister wielding some sort of weapon. Today, was no exception.
Apollo leaned forward, quite the steely gaze upon his face as he watched his sometimes demonic-in-nature sister. "There will be a moment in your future where you will regret your lies for eighteen years, mark my words."
"I am quaking in my robes," Artemis replied evenly, causing Hermes to chuckle. As Apollo shot their younger brother a quick glance, he found the curly-haired god was merely shrugging.
"She has good timing with her comebacks, brother," he explained.
"Damn you both to the underworld," snarled Apollo, standing to pace.
"Do not do such a thing, my son. I pity any soul who be damned to the underworld with Hades during his recent spat with Persephone," Zeus announced. The king of the gods was dressed in his royal body armor. Solid golden layers protected his torso as well as his legs, thick golden gladiator sandals covered his feet. Zeus overlooked the three Olympian siblings. Two sat upon their thrones at the royal council table while Apollo still paced back and forth. The king of the gods frowned, no doubt sensing the tension in the room. "What is troubling you, Apollon?"
"My dear monster of a twin deceived me!" Apollo spat angrily. "She hid from me the child that was prophesied to be my betrothed!"
Zeus raised his eyebrows gently, casting the sitting Artemis a look. "Is this accurate, my daughter?"
"Indeed, my lord, and I hold good reason."
"You did not," Apollo seethed. "You are nothing but a spoiled harpy who still holds resentment you are all alone, destined for eternal misery-"
"WHOSE FAULT IS THAT, APOLLO!?!" Artemis screeched, her usual fairy-like voice taking a snide tone. It echoed throughout the throne room, causing even Hermes to flinch. "Answer, brother dearest! Whose fault is it that I killed my closest companion, Orion...?"
"ENOUGH," Zeus bellowed. A large cackle of thunder roared in the distance upon his mighty yell. While Hermes looked concerned over the anger Artemis and Apollo now held, their father was indifferent. The mighty king transferred himself to sitting upon his throne, breathing in deeply through his nose. He did not need to breath, showing this action solely expressed his disdain for the fighting siblings. "If I must go through one more moment of my immortality listening to the fights of you two, I might very well banish the both of you from my kingdom and even Olympus."
Apollo nearly scoffed. Even being king, he knew his father could never get away with banishing he or Artemis. The king of the gods was all talk a grand majority of the time. Although, he did have a rather foul temper...
Apollo shook off the thought, speaking quietly yet quickly in their ancient Greek tongue. "Father, Artemis stole seventeen years I could have shared with my intended bride."
His huntress sister merely released a steely chuckle at this. "Yes, because such a simple thing as time matters when we are immortal beings."
"THAT IS NOT THE POINT!"
"There is no reason for you to be cross, brother," Artemis replied calmly, her voice toying. "I stole your memory only to allow you to regain it upon the girl's eighteenth year of life. Which is now, where, you have regained it. I seen no point in dwelling over seventeen missed years."
"You had no right to steal me away for seventeen years of that girl's life," Apollo growled.
"This meeting is adjourned," Zeus announced stiffly, causing the three other immortals in the room to stare at him. In Apollo's mind, they had only begun to scratch the surface of Artemis' deceit. The king of the gods had no right to wave away his anger!
"Father, her treachery-"
"Cannot be held against her when our hands have been dipped in situations far more deceitful than this, my son," Zeus answered without even glancing Apollo's direction. He was far too busy translating an Arabic scroll in his hands to pay the situation the true attention it deserved.
"Yet again, she gets away with her actions," Apollo drawled, his electric blue eyes narrowing. "And to think that many mortal tales feel Athena is your favorite," he said coldly, knowing the comment would surely annoy his father. Zeus never enjoyed when mortals contemplated who was or was not his favorite child among the Olympians. It deeply aggravated him.
Now, the king of the gods lowered the blue gaze that mirrored his sons from the mighty golden scroll in his hands. Zeus's gaze became transfixed upon Apollo, his lip curling. "You can stand and complain of your twins' actions, or, you can go forth and spend time with the young maiden who is your betrothed," he said through clenched teeth. "I dare say she is now a much more interesting individual becoming eighteen than she was at the age of an infant," Zeus said through very gritted teeth, his temper obviously being pressed.
Apollo did not back down as he watched his father with a very heated expression. Father and son said nothing as they watched each other with very cold gazes, both silently daring the other to further speak.
"Let's go find your fiancé, buddy," Hermes announced, appearing at Apollo's side before vanishing with him.
"I nor want or need your assistance in anything, Hermes," Apollo snarled upon arrival. He paced the edge of the cliff they were now near, his eyes scanning the horizon. "Unless my betrothed resides here in Yuma, I daresay bringing me to this specific part in Arizona is rather foolish." To any immortal, this was two brothers arguing in their native tongue. To any passing mortal, they were invisible. They were gods. More powerful then men, even stronger than the vast majority of angels and demons.
Hermes merely clicked his tongue in agitation before his mouth began speaking fast in more ancient Greek. "Cheer up, brother. This is your favorite place on earth-"
"Simply because tis the sunniest place in North America does not make it my favorite!"
"Well I couldn't exactly take you to Egypt!" Hermes snapped in frustration. "You've angered enough of the Egyptian gods for the past millennia. I don't feel they would be happy you were to trespass in the cities they still roam..."
Apollo said nothing. His eyes closed as he allowed the rays of sun to rise. Twas no coincidence that this star was the center of the solar system for Earth. Twas the same for every realm; every last one needed a burning star to ensure life to creatures, human or animal. If no for Apollo, there would be no sun. Ever since he defeated Helios many millennia ago, Apollo has been the sole god of sun. He alone is to make sure the sun rises and sets every day and every night. If he did not do such a thing for Earth, Midgard would be enclosed in darkness, forever killing off humanity in the process. It took the god a moment to register his brother was still running his mouth nonstop. "I understand your anger Apollo, but think this through. What if Ara has a point? What if pursuing a mortal who may or may not be a reincarnated deity is a horrid plan?"
"She is Hestia reborn," Apollo insisted with a menacing gaze. "Teaming up with my idiotic twin does not put you in a good light with me, brother."
Hermes released a chuckle of laughter, no doubt using his words as a pun given Apollo was making the sun rise. He sobered upon realizing Apollo was in no mood for gaming. "Think this through, Apollon. If this girl is a reincarnated soul of someone you have done wrong-"
"I have never done wrong to anyone who did not deserve it!" Apollo thundered.
"And I have never been with a woman," Hermes mocked, glowering with his hazel eyes. "Refer to human tales or don't. Fact of the matter is you have many enemies, and, a good majority are female. Some have been long dead, and some have probably been resurrected or reincarnated at this point."
Apollo said nothing to contradict this. No doubt many female enemies that had been mortal were not only long dead, but also to the point they could have been reincarnated or brought back to life upon other means by now. Apollo did not want to believe his twin and now Hermes to be accurate, but he also did not wish to give up the hope of finding love. "The child born, Aurora, is Caucasian," Apollo admitted bitterly. He did not need to elaborate. Judging Hermes wide eyes, he understood the reference to the child's skin color.
"She is not Hestia," he said calmly.
"Aurora holds green eyes!"
"And? It's not exactly an extinct eye color."
Apollo glared. "She is Hestia reincarnated."
That was that. Apollo vanished from the hilltop, no longer needing to converse with his brother. He and Artemis were fools. The Fates enjoyed toying with deities but they did not toy with Apollo. They were too wise to evoke the wrath of the god of light. He alone could make it so Hermes never again brought the sisters up from the underworld. They could live for eternity with Hades and his temperamental wife, never seeing -or rather, since they were blind, 'feel'- the warmth of the sun again. The three fates knew this; this is why they had never tested Apollo. Therefore, their prophecy and to be accurate. The child that was Aurora was meant to be his blushing bride.
Now all Apollo had to do was claim her.
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