Chapter 9: Nine: I Think I've Got Beef With Zeus And Poseidon
I know I\'m a fan of myths but I never read anything about Zeus being this clingy. It\'s freaking annoying.
"So, what did you mean earlier?" Zeus whispered in my ear as we walked down the long hall. "I know you don\'t just say stuff like that but how sure are you about what you said. I need this to be legit, not that I\'m interested in other women but um it would not hurt to give it a try though."
Prometheus had already been condemned to his fate for all of eternity and my head was in a mix. There is this big headache causing everything to spin, I don\'t think I\'ve had a moments rest from my rebirth to the Prometheus issue.
Now all I just wanted to do was find some nice comfortable bed to lie in, exploring olympus could wait for now at least. I still don\'t get how Hades\' body is so sensitive to light. It would get heavier whenever I was exposed to string light, I guess he was pretty much a shut-in.
"Umm, Zeus." I don\'t know if it was right to just outright call him by his name but I had a feeling it wouldn\'t hurt to. "I need to rest."
Zeus made an odd face I identified as disappointment. "Big bro Hades, is it because we dragged you out of that hell? You\'ve been away for so long we were worried, I was actually. Poseidon, not so much."
"You know I\'m right here Zeus?" Poseidon cleared his throat. "We know you are still recovering from that time, we all are but staying alone won\'t do you any good."
What\'s this about recovering from something? Was Hades in a fight earlier? What kind of fight would cause the god of the underworld to be recovering, even the other gods too? Could it be the fight with the Titan Kronos? That could be the only case.
I sighed and looked away.
I was walking with gods, hehe. And I have brothers too. In my old life on earth I had lost my family and siblings at a young age, there was a bombing of sorts leading me to grow up in an orphanage. That\'s why I fell in love with the myths--
"I am so glad you changed your mind Zeus, whatever Hades told you I don\'t know but its good that humanity stays." Poseidon sounded excited at least.
But why...
Zeus looked at him and I thought he wanted to say something bur he didn\'t.
Is it just ke or does it feel like they had a fight? I wouldn\'t know myself because I never had siblings before but I have seen some of my colleagues give each other the stare. Oh shit! Not I have to break the ice water.
"So Poseidon, why do you want humanity preserved. It\'s not like it has any benefit to you." I asked in the most strict tone I could muster as Hades.
Poseidon\'s face had a glow I had not seem earlier, it made me wonder if I perhaps did something. "I want humanity to ride my waves, admire my oceans. It\'s not like the gods themselves have plenty of time for it."
So that\'s it, he did it for the ocean? But humans haven\'t even invented boats yet, I think the first human inventor should be born right about now or so.
But what do I do about these two brothers? Did they ever have a fight in the stories? And I have to get back to the black book but I feel like I have to sort this out. The longer I stay here, the more I risk exposing myself.
Somehow I feel like I am the protagonist of this story, like my actions defines what happens in this world.
"So um-- how have you guys been doing all this time?" Oh! Did I just called the gods --GUYS?-- Damn! Was i too casual? Why are they hesitating here? Have I been found out?
Things come to worst and I\'ll just simply say I lost my memory or something.
Zeus stopped causing me to stop too, they were both staring at me. Id not for how well composed the body of Hades was, I swear they would have caught me shaking in my boots.
They looked at me with an expression I could not discern, I just realized I was never good at reading others before. Maybe that\'s why my wife and daughter left me, I don\'t know but I\'m an emotionally detached person. I\'m used to it— hurting people, it left me alone. My colleagues, family and friends.
Zeus gritted his teeth visibly. "You\'re different Hades, I don\'t know if you really care or you just wajt to toy with my feelings. If you did care why did you abandon us for all these years!?"
"Right! We sent you texts but you ignored it all. You never said "hi" or "hello", not even an apology for what happened last time. You know how close we were to you and you had to just leave us like that!?"
Oh! I thing I just figured something out— they are not pissed with each other. It\'s me they are so pissed with, what do I do?
I\'ve never been good with apologizing, my whole life they treated me unfair and then people expect me to be the one to apologize. Even now I would not apologize to the gods themselves if they confronted me.
That\'s my pride!
It\'s the code I live by!
The tension was getting hotter between us, it was a standoff between the biggest gods on Olympus and I was the center of conflict.
I turned around and started to walk away. "If it\'s too much of a bother then I will take my leave here." What was I doing?
Oh I get it. I was pissed too that they wanted to dictate my life with their problems, I\'m going to be the main character of my own story so screw them all.
"If you really do want to make it up for me, for us—" Zues started to a sweet tone.
I stopped and smiled within me.
Here it comes, the begging.
"—fight me!!" Zeus boomed.
What the fuck!!
Poseidon nodded. "Here on Olympus, power is absolute supremacy."
Zeus grabbed the thin air and caused it to sizzle. "If you win we make up..."
"And if you win?" I asked boldly.
"Your status as god of the underworld and one of the big three will be revoked with immediate effect." Zeus responded. "So do you accept?"
SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! SHIT!
Why is it always violence with the Olympian gods? And why the fuck would I want to fight Zeus? I knew I should have been reborn as Zeus instead, that way I would have been able to do whatever I wanted without caution. And even have a massive harem list to boot.
I gulped down, there was no such thing as refusal in a duel so unfortunately for the scholar who had been reborn— "Yes I accept your duel, Zeus!"
FUCK— I am so dead!