Zeus POV
My wife's plan was simple: we pretend that Apollo and Hermes don't exist.
I quirked an eyebrow. "That's your big plan?"
"Please, it will drive them crazy if everyone pretends they're not there." Hera explained, rolling her eyes at me. After considering the plan for a while, I shrugged.
"Okay then, how will we tell the others about the plan?" I asked. This time, she shrugged.
"We'll just Iris message them." Hera replied.
"Alright. I'll IM the ones that sat on our side of the row and you IM the ones on Poseidon's side." I told her. She gave me a look.
"You're giving me that side because you don't want to IM our brother's, aren't you?" Hera asked me.
"What's your point?" I asked. She sighed.
"Nothing, Zeus. Just... go IM them." She waved her hand through the air, as if I'm a difficult person to deal with. Honestly, it's not like I'm trying to annoy her.
"By the way Zeus, I want you to contact Aphrodite." Hera commanded— I mean, said. I groaned a little. Aphrodite is not my favorite goddess to talk to because, whenever I do, we always get into the topic about my girlfriends. So, you can guess why I don't like talking to her.
The first immortal I messaged was my daughter, Hebe, the goddess of youth.
"Oh Iris, goddess of the Rainbow, please accept my offering." I said, tossing a coin into the fountain in my room made specifically for IMs. It's a bit degrading for me to talk to a lower goddess like this but I've learned that, if I didn't say the offering, Iris gets mad, like, almost as mad as Hera mad. She gets that mad. So, I quickly learned to suck up my pride and say it.
"Show me Hebe." I said. The image shimmered a little and I was suddenly looking into a pink room with toys scattered everywhere. Hebe sat on the floor, having a tea party with a baby doll, teddy bear and a Barbie.
"Okay, somebody is being a little too youthful." I thought. She picked up the Barbie doll and spoke in a high octave(which sounded suspiciously like Aphrodite).
"Mr. Whiskers, would you like some more hot chocolate?" Hebe asked as the Barbie doll. I cleared my throat.
"Er, Hebe? I hope I'm not interupting something." She turned around and smiled.
"Daddy!" Hebe squealed, jumping up. I'm pretty sure that if I had been in the room, I would've been crushed in a hug. So it's fortunate that I wasn't there because I am not the hugging type god.
"Your mom and I need some help with pulling a prank on your half-brothers," I explained, hoping that she was understanding. So far, she had this fascinated blank look. "Can you help?"
She hesitated before nodding.
"Great!" I said. "Here's the plan..."
After I had told her the plan(and she had eagerly said she couldn't wait until the game started) I said a quick good-bye and broke the connection. Right, one down and six to go.
I sighed.
This could take a while.
Hestia's POV
Today's game had went horribly.
I had thought that, since this was a family game, we'd all get along. Of course things didn't go that smoothly. As I had known, despite the fact I had refused to accept it, my family was just using the game to humiliate each other. I understand Hera's reasoning for the game but, I doubt this is what she had in mind. Then, there's my mom...
A mist screen suddenly appeared in front of me and I was face-to-face with my youngest brother, Zeus.
"Hello, Lady Hestia." He greeted formally. I smiled.
"Hello, Lord Zeus. It's very a rare pleasure to have you IM me." I said. To be honest though, it was very rare for anyone to Iris Message me. I tried not to feel hurt about this. My family didn't mean to neglect me. They simply had more important things to do, like running the world.
"I've IMed you to ask for a favor." He began, hesitating a little.
"Go on." I said, ushering for him to continue.
"I need you to pretend that Hermes and Apollo don't exist at the next game." Zeus said, waiting anxiously for my answer. I knit my eyebrows together in confusion.
"Now, why would you need me to do that?" I asked.
"You see, they annoyed Hera earlier—" Ah, so this is another revenge plot. "—So, to get back at them, we need everyone to pretend they don't exist."
I took a deep breath. My brother wasn't going to like my answer but, there's no way I can go through with this plan.
"I'm sorry, but... no. There's no way I can go through with this." I held my breath, waiting for his response. He just gave me a blank look for a while before a look of fury covered his face.
"What do you mean no?!" He demanded. "If you don't participate, then the plan is ruined! We need everyone for it to work."
I pursed my lips. "I'm sorry brother, but I won't help you pick on my nephews."
He growled.
"Hera!" He shouted. "Your sister is being difficult!"
I could hear Hera in the other room yelling at him, equally as frustrated. I waited for about a minute before she came storming over to the Iris Message.
"What does he mean, 'You're being difficult'?" Hera asked me, as levelly as she could. I shrugged.
"I don't want to be part of this prank." I replied. Hera sighed.
"Look, you either be part of the prank or don't come to the game at all." She told me. I only had to consider the answer to this question for a moment.
"Then I'm not going." I said. They both looked shocked.
"B-But, Hestia why?" Zeus asked.
"You already know why." I told him.
"But, sister, we want you there." Hera said. I felt my heart skip a little. My family... wants me? I shook my head. No, there's no way I was going back just to watch my family pick on each other. And I certainly wasn't going to help.
"I'm sorry, but I can't." I said. My brother and sister both looked genuinely sad about my response.
"I suppose I can't stop you." Zeus' shoulder's sagged. "I'll talk to you later."
He swiped his hand across the mist and the connection was broken.
Hermes' POV
I woke up this morning feeling great. Another day of Truth or Dare! This had to be one of Queen Hera's best ideas yet. I've already gotten a lot of money from the videos of Uncle Poseidon and dad. I had posted them on the internet(which I invented, I'm just that cool!) last night, and had watched as immortal after immortal purchased these direct-to-your-home computer copies.
I threw on my clothes as fast as I could and made sure to stuff my Caduceus in my pocket.
"Ugh, why so early?" I heard George ask. "I haven't even had my breakfast yet!"
"George," I could hear Martha chide him. "Don't pester Hermes."
"Sorry, George." I said. "The game starts this early. Deal with it."
Still, George continued to protest until I promised to stop by on the way to the game to get him a rat. He shut-up almost instantly. So, as you can imagine, I was running pretty late because I had to stop to give him that rat. When I got to the game, someone was waiting for me there.
"Hey, Apollo!" I grinned. "So, did our plan work?"
He shook his head, his face chalk white. "No, she was fine. But that's not the bad part!"
I groaned. "They figured out it was us, didn't they?"
"No! They're saying that I'm not here!"
"Um... what?" I asked. What he had said made no sense what-so-ever.
"Look," he said, grabbing my arm and dragging me inside.
"Oh! Hey, watch it." I complained. We walked inside and he let go of my arm. Then he marched up beside Artemis. To my surprise, he took a deep breath and screamed as loud as he could. This guy was crazy!
But, the bigger surprise was that she didn't even react!
"See!" Apollo said, gesturing to her. "They're all like this."
"All of them?" I asked. Apollo nodded. This has to be some kind of joke. I tapped my dad on the shoulder.
"Hey, dad? Do you know why everyone is ignoring Apollo?" I asked. He didn't respond. In fact, he didn't even look like he heard me.
I began to wave my hand in front of his face. "Um, hello!"
Still no response.
I started to feel panicked. I was just like Apollo! They couldn't see me. What was going on?!
"What if it's like that movie?" Apollo asked me. "Where that guy still existed but nobody could ever see him?"
My heart began to thump harder. "D-Don't be silly. That's just a mortal movie."
"Alright," my dad said. "Since Hestia did not wish to join us today and Apollo and Hermes are not present, we're going to have to continue with our game. We can't wait on them any longer."
My jaw dropped.
"But I am here!" I shouted. I was ignored. Or maybe I wasn't even heard.
"Since Hermes turn was next and he's not here, I guess it's your turn Ares." Zeus said. Ares, being my crazy half-brother, grinned maniacally.
"Nice!" He said.
"That's not fair!" I yelled, beginning to shake Ares by his shirt. "I am here!"
He looked right past me at Hephaestus. "Alright, cripple. Truth or Dare?"
"Truth." Hephaestus replied, not being dumb enough to say dare since it involved Ares.
"So... is it true that you said Eirene, the goddess of peace, is more beautiful than Aphrodite?" He asked. Ouch. I stopped strangling his shirt for a minute to watch Aphrotite's reaction. Oh, if looks could kill. I was suddenly glad they couldn't see me.
Hephaestus shifted uncomfortably. "Well, you know what they say... 'beauty is in the eye of the—'"
"YOU FREAK!" Aphrodite screeched, literarily jumping across the table to claw at his neck.
"Somebody, please help!" Hephaestus gasped, trying to get away from his crazy wife. Zeus and Athena both came to his rescue, pulling Aphodite off him, who was kicking and screaming. I just watched the display, flabbergasted. After a while, I turned to Apollo.
"I'm really glad they can't see me."