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Apollo » Victor W. Fitzgerald, pseud. J. Gatsby ([info]_apollo) wrote in [info]myth_swim,
@ 2009-09-25 23:20:00


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Entry tags:apollo, artemis, complete

Apollo and Artemis: A Brother/Sister Fight for the Ages
Who: Apollo and Artemis
What: Apollo is not particularly happy about the prospects of Orion sullying his sister's honor and tricks her into killing him. She takes revenge in an epic brother/sister fight.
When: Long before the battles of Troy, when the sky was not so bright with constellations
Where: Crete
Rating: PG-13/R; death, blood
Status: Complete


The great Olympian god of prophecy and oracles stood, arms crossed, staring into the waves off the isle of Crete. Many thoughts went through his mind as the sea breeze blew past, images haunting him.

He'd left his Coronis, daughter of Phlegyas, King of the Lapiths, on Thrace -- the joy of the news that she was with his child had been immense. He'd brought her new flowers each day, written poems and songs for her, doted on her, placing his hand over her abdomen to see if he could feel the child kick. He was blinded by his infatuation with her, had even flung a curse upon crows so furious that it scorched the bird's feathers, making them black as night.

Night. The moon. His sister. The huntress.

Thoughts of her brought the god only thoughts of him.

The hunter. The most handsome of the earth-born. The mighty giant.

Apollo had never felt that way, not that strongly. The mad rage that blinded him was inconceivable. His brow was stormy, fists clenched tightly, knuckles white as he thought on it, images of that hunter with his sister on Crete, of all the things he might do to her. She was his sister! He had to protect her, to protect her honor.

He loved her more than anything, loved not his sister's body but some concept of honor precariously and (he knew well) only temporarily supported by the minute fragile membrane of her maidenhead as a miniature replica of all the whole vast globy earth may be poised on the nose of a trained seal.

He'd suspected something since before she'd told him, had seen the way the hunter looked at her, had heard them speaking to one another, could tell when there was more than what met his eye. He was, after all experienced in such things. He knew what was on the hunter's mind. And his sister, apparently, was quite taken with him.

But no man would come near the Huntress, not even the great Orion!

He composed himself, sunny and warm, no hint of storm in his piercing blue eyes. He grabbed his bow and arrow, taking careful aim, getting a feel for it. He'd sent word to his sister, and she should be arriving soon...


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[info]_artemis
2009-09-27 04:01 am UTC (link)
The sun was bright on the beaches of Crete, where the Huntress lounged eyes closed on the sand. Day was not her domain, and usually the huntress preferred to keep to the trees and the underbrush during a full moon, but now it felt nice. Drying out her knotted locks in her brothers rays.

Her brother. The insufferable hot head! Anger pulled the huntress from her rest, she sat up, eyes falling on the man who sat beside her. He sat still only in his loin cloth, water still clinging to his skin from their swim. He sat silently skipping smooth rocks on the oceans surf. He was beautiful, but the moon goddess knew that is not what drew her to him. He was a magnificent hunter, sharp in wit, and true in heart. When they had first met Artemis had disguised herself as a simple mortal girl to test him. He did not look down on her because she was a woman, did not pout when she hunted better then him as so many men had. He was joyous in her kill, accepting of her curtique. Now they had been hunting together for many years, now he was nearly her match.

Artemis had thought about it for a long time before she decided to ask her brother, to share with him that she had found love. But he had been the child he always was, why had she expected him to act diffrenly, to be happy for her? The goddesses silver eyes turned stormy as she thought of their fight. As if her honor and pride could be contained in some simple part of her body! And yet he could take as many women as he pleased!

Her thoughts where cut short as her keen ears caught the sound of tiny hurried wings just as the messenger arived. Her brother wanted to see her. Well she certaintanly didn’t want to see him!

“My huntress,” the deep soft voice of the hunter next to her reasiond “Go to him, work it out. He is only protecting you. I would be the same way if I had a sister like you. I do not like seeing you like this, troubled, arrived. It does not suit you.” His dark eyes shinning in the reflection of the ocean “And it puts you off your hunt to be so distracted.”

She eventually agreed, “Fine, I will go listen to the child.” And as she started to leave the hunter caught her hand, and brought her hand to his lips where he planted a simple kiss. The first she had ever allowed him. He voice was kinder with her next words. “I will see you at your home tonight Orion, and we shall have a great hunt.” She gave him a smile before vanishing to her brothers side.

“you called.” She said simply, yet her voice was edged with anger. Despite what the hunter had said. She could not forgive him for treating her so, yet.

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[info]_apollo
2009-09-27 04:31 am UTC (link)
Apollo could hear it in her tone, could hear it before he looked at her, and when he did, he frowned. He took one of his arrows between his fingers, digits going over its head. He placed his trusted bow down, for just a moment.

"Sister, we need to talk," he said, blue eyes reflecting his turbulent feelings, subtly scanning over her. She'd been with him -- he could tell. He felt the adrenaline surge in him, could feel his heart race, his blood pressure rise. He had to stop himself from breaking his arrow. He tried to collect himself, to calm himself before speaking again, lest he do or say something foolish.

"About him." The emphasis was there. The tone was all that was needed. He held himself to two words, and how, he did not know. He wanted to scream, wanted to let out all manner of obscenities. That hunter would not come near her, had better not lay a hand on her, or by Styx, he would strike him down! He took a breath, then another, inhaling and exhaling, counting between the breaths, determined not to lose his temper.

He did not know how to explain it, did not know what drew him to such anger, such rage at the idea of a man, any man, coming near his sister, but it stirred something inside of him he'd never known. He could have torn the man limb from limb, could have made him suffer, have killed him and ended the suffering--nothing would be enough to punish any man who came close to her.

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[info]_artemis
2009-09-27 04:44 am UTC (link)
Artemis crossed her arms over her chest, if only to give her hands something to hold on to so she did not strike out at his stupid golden face. She watched him twist the arrow in his hands, his pulse beat wildly in his neck, and his blue eyes darken as he looked at her. She knew what he was going to say before the words even left his mouth.

“No.” She said flatly, some how able to control the level even as her anger rose “I will not speak to you about Orion again.” She purposefully drew out the hunters name knowing the affect it would have on her brother. “You are not my keeper little brother, I shall do what I want with whom ever I want.” He voice leaving its cool tone for just a moment as her anger flared.

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[info]_apollo
2009-09-27 04:58 am UTC (link)
"Little brother or no, I will not have him violating your honor, sister," he replied, the last words said escaping his lips as a near growl, even though his volume was steady. The name itself had infuriated him, had lit his fuse. The arrow burst into flames in his hand, disintegrating in a flash.

He crossed his own arms, meeting her confrontational stand, trying to keep calm, but failing. This was not working. Why had he though this would be a good idea?

He had to protect her! He had to protect her honor. Who knew better than he the way the minds of men worked? He would not have some lecher coming near her.

"He's not even a god," he said, seething. "He will die, and then, what will you be left with?" he asked, trying to turn the conversation in a different direction, trying to get her to see it in another light.

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[info]_artemis
2009-09-27 05:15 am UTC (link)
“As if you have ever cared for any of the girls who you stole their virginity from! As if you cared what became of them on their wedding nights when their husbands found then used! You have no right to speak of a woman’s honor!” Artemis composer had broken, her anger could not be controlled and it rolled off of her like a mighty wave.

But it was not all anger, it was also hurt. The huntress had come to her brother for support, for solace and he had offered her no sanctuary, no semblance of peace. And that had hurt Artemis more then she would have ever said. She had always thought of Apollo as the only one she could count on, and yet he had proved her wrong.

“As if you can speak of mortals in that tone! As if you have not clamed to love many of them!” She hissed “To make them bear your children only so you can flit off to the next best thing.” She knew she was being hurtful, but Artemis never missed her mark. Even when it came to just words. Beside she wanted to hurt him, so he would know what it felt like when he had hurt her. “And so what if he dies?” honestly Artemis had not often though on Orion’s mortality, not that she was going to let Apollo know that! “He does not have to.” She pointed out “I could deify him.”

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[info]_apollo
2009-09-27 05:27 am UTC (link)
"It is different! You are a woman!" he said, the words escaping him in anger, his voice no longer calm, no cool, nor collected, but he wasn't yelling. His words were, rather, coming out in growls, a combination response to her hurtful words, words that came at him like daggers, and the prospect of her rolling around in the dirt with that giant!

"How strong you are, how mightily you hunt and fight, it all matters not!" he spat. "The minute you take him to bed, you will have contradicted your earlier desire to remain a virgin -- it makes all that you have said, all that you have stood for, seem trivial. It is as if you were just waiting for the right man to come along to open up your legs for him," he said, bluntly. He would never have spoken to her this way, always kept it to innuendo around his sister, but she needed, he felt, to hear this, needed to know how it really was.

"I love you, sister, and I don't want them to speak of you as they speak of the love goddess," he said.

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[info]_artemis
2009-09-27 05:50 am UTC (link)
Artemis physically recoiled from his words as if he had struck her, and for a long moment the huntress said nothing. Just her breath escaped her. His words had struck her like a blade to the stomach. She tried to hide their affect from him, but it was to late, she knew he saw. And this only made her buck, like wolf cough in a trap, Artemis would bite off her own leg to escape.

“You know nothing” her voice cold as ice “It is men like you who ruin it for women, all that I fight for. Men are no greater then women. All you men are alike, you see women as nothing more then an empty hole that needs to be filled. Not as a person, not as someone with needs and desires and dreams of their own. You have no idea why I asked my father to protect my virginity! it was something to protect my honor, but not as you think. I did not wish to be married off like so many of his others daughters, to have my path chosen for me. So many women, broken because of the cruelties of men. I wanted it so I could pick my own path, make my own choices. If the mortals say anything of me it will not be that I am a whore it will be that I was strong enough to make my existence my own. To chose what and who I want when I want them.” She paused “I love him, and I know it is not my body that he craves, it is my mind, my skill. He respects me as a women deserves to be respected, looks as me as an equal not less just because of the sex I happened to be born into.”

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[info]_apollo
2009-09-27 06:38 am UTC (link)
Apollo quirked a brow, some degree of sibling satisfaction at the fact that he appeared to have hit a nerve. It was juvenile, true, but there was, nonetheless, a bit of it that crept in, lifted his spirits, somewhat. His tone was unchanged, however.

"I know more than you care to give me credit for. I am giving you the facts, sister, not evaluating them, not telling you that men or women are superior. I am telling it like it is," he said, "recounting it as it looks. Men are the regents of the realms, and women are their consorts -- that is how it is going to be for a very, very long time. You taking a lover or not is not going to change that." He could only shake his head at what she said about him.

"That's what they all say, what they all pretend," he said. "You are blinded by desire -- you're not thinking clearly," he concluded. "You're not yourself."

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[info]_artemis
2009-09-27 09:55 pm UTC (link)
Artemis didn’t know what to say, but her hands twitched. She knew what she wanted to do; she wanted to hit him until he was no longer able to talk, no longer able to play the stupid little lyre. Her whole body quivered with the need. But somehow she as able to stand her ground, not to lunge forward; she didn’t want to give him the satisfaction. Artemis stood their silent, for a long time. She could feel the darkness of night creeping up over the day, could feel her moon banishing the sun from the sky. And though it happened every day like clock work she took pleaser in it.

“Apparently you know nothing about me, and I know nothing about you.” She said coolly “So I think it would be better if we went our separate ways.”

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[info]_apollo
2009-09-27 10:09 pm UTC (link)
The sun seemed to fade for a minute, then get brighter, subtle changes in it reflective of the turbulence the god was feeling inside. Arms crossed, he turned to the horizon, looking where the water met the sky, the sun approaching it. And there it was.

His plan had come together -- he could see it now. All he needed to do was--

He sighed, tossing his hands up. "Don't be that way. Look, Artemis, I'm just worried about you. You're my sister, and I only want what's best for you," exasperation was in his voice, all over his features. He looked at her carefully, his blue eyes going to her bow. Then, there was another expression, one of challenge.

"You know what?" he asked, rhetorically, the challenge coming into his voice. "I won't say another word about it, if you can hit that spec on the horizon with an arrow," he said, pointing. It was typical, cocky Apollo-speak, the sort of thing he was known for, challenging others to matches in archery. It was his skill, and if she could match him in it...

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[info]_artemis
2009-09-27 10:38 pm UTC (link)
Artemis blinked; she could hardly believe her ears. She walked next to him and looked at where he pointed. Watched the speck on the horizon. She doubted even Apollo could hit it, she had always been better with a bow then her brother. And it was juvenile, but Artemis could not let a challenge against her skill with a bow stand.

She met her brother’s look, challenge rising in her. Her pride clenching her tightly. “You are a fool,” she said tightly, taking up her silver bow and a, arrow from her quiver. She strung her arrow and began to aim up her shot, not thinking about why Apollo changed his attitude so quickly. If she had thought about it she might have second guessed his motives, but she didn’t. She was too trusting of her brother. And after a moment she let her arrow go, watched the silver shaft pierce through the air and cut down to the earth, her aim was deadly accurate.

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[info]_apollo
2009-09-27 11:25 pm UTC (link)
"Am I?" He watched her carefully, a smirk slowly spreading across his lips, arms crossed, as the oranges and yellows, violets and reds started to plume across the sky, sun setting. His eyes followed the arrow, watched it fly in a magnificent arc. Perfect.

She was too trusting. But this was what was best for her. She didn't know it now, couldn't appreciate it, but he was, in his almost chauvinistic sort of way, sure of it.

"Great shot." And he never said that, never used the word great. It was usually good, sometimes fairly decent, occasionally nice, but never great -- never, ever great. He was much too cocky for it, and it was that attitude that had gotten him more trouble than it was worth before. Not that he would learn from it, of course.

His eyes returned to hers, and he nodded, wryly. "Great." And to think, he hadn't even had to do the dirty work himself.

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[info]_artemis
2009-09-28 02:10 am UTC (link)
Artemis turned towards her brother, a smile broadly painting across her pale face. but one look at his wry smile made her falter, he smile disappear. And then the word ‘great’ snapped her attention back to the horizon. He had no reason to be so smiling, so pleased with him self. she looked back to him, what was he playing at.

“What have you done?!” she half demanded, half asked. but in the pit of her stomach she knew./ Apollo had played her like a fool.

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[info]_apollo
2009-09-28 03:13 am UTC (link)
Phoebus Apollo raised a blond brow, gathering his bow. "I did nothing," he said, quite satisfied. It was impossible for him not to be smug, not to be pleased with himself. It was the sort of thing that escaped him, no matter how hard he tried to conceal it, though, admittedly, he never made particularly great efforts in this. He looked at her, then to the horizon again, where the sun had nearly set, the speck where she'd sent her deadly silver arrow.

"You took care of everything yourself."

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[info]_artemis
2009-09-28 03:33 am UTC (link)
Artemis couldn’t even respond to her brother, and in a flash she was at the coast next to where her arrow had fallen. at first she saw nothing, but then the crashing waves delivered her their captive, her kill. Her beloved Orion. Artemis fell to her knees. Utter devastation consuming her core. She pulled him into her lap, her silver bow stuck deeply into his chest. Why had he been swimming? She had sent him home!

She held him close knowing there was no longer the spark of life within him. Her breath ragged as she buried his face in his hair. Her chest heaving as she tried to control herself, but it was too much and the flood gates broke and Artemis dissolved into sobs for the only time in her existence Artemis cried. The feeling consumed her. It would also be the last time she cried.

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[info]_apollo
2009-09-28 03:51 am UTC (link)
Life had left him, Apollo could see as he ventured closer to look -- that was to be expected. What he had not expected, however, was to see her, like that, holding him, crying. Crying. Artemis did not cry. In all their years of existence, he could not recall her having shed a single tear. The shining god had long since grown indifferent to such displays, had seen them all over and over again, but this was different. Perhaps it was because she was one of the few he'd never seen cry, perhaps it was because she was his twin, half of him, perhaps it was for some other reason that was beyond his understanding. For the first time in centuries, he felt something akin to sorrow for her, like he was able to empathize, however limited his empathy might be. He almost wanted to comfort her, wanted to tell her it was going to be alright, that this was for the best. (Why couldn't she see that?) But this was overshadowed by his brotherly instinct, that perhaps misguided idea in his head that he was her protector, that high, noble pedestal on which he held her honored virginity.

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[info]_artemis
2009-09-28 04:05 am UTC (link)
Artemis clutched Orion, she had been stupid to trust Apollo. After this she would never fully or completely trust him again. “I’m so sorry.” she whispered into the dead mans ears, prying to Hermes to send him her message. It was not right, and it was not fair. she pressed his lips to his cheek which was growing cold quickly not that the sun had set, it would be the only kiss a man ever received from the huntress.

Artemis looked up into the inky black sky; she knew what she was going to do. She would place him in the sky, to glow brightly forever over the mortals. So no one would ever forget him. Artemis closed her eyes and turning into her true goddess form she lifted him to the sky, a beckon of light, he shown brightly in the darkness.

She shrunk back down, and looked at her brother, now her tears where gone and the only thing that pulsed through her was cold deadly fury. “You will regret this day.” she promised “You will rue it.”

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[info]_apollo
2009-09-28 09:20 pm UTC (link)
Apollo watched the display, his brows going up as he saw her expression. Oh, crap. He wasn't the sort to give in to any sort of intimidation -- Apollo was normally quick to speak, consequences be damned, typically unruffled, unfazed by any words or looks or actions. But this was quite different.

He retreated, though it was only slight, a subtle move back, where he would typically have stood his ground. And yet, his cockiness could not help but surface.

"Rue? You should be thanking me!" he spat, pompously, in that typical, brotherly sort of way.

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[info]_artemis
2009-09-29 03:50 am UTC (link)
Artemis noticed him slink back, just slightly, but it was enough. And like earlier when Apollo had taken so much pleasure in her reaction she now took in his. Because he should be afraid. She advanced on him closing the space between then in just a few purposeful steps. If she had been Poseidon the ground would have shook, if she had been Zeus the sky would have crackled with lighting to show her displeasure. But for her anger the only thing that reacted was the forest, ever animal fell silent, not even the smallest cricket moved his legs to chirp lest to offend the Wilderness Goddess.

“Oh, Apollo, I Will think you grandly for what you have done.” Her voice was low but grated with hatred. Artemis was not a gentle goddess, her stories where filled with her wrath and her anger but hardly any of her blessing, and she would make him pay. She just needed to figure out how to hurt one so heartless.

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[info]_apollo
2009-09-29 04:25 am UTC (link)
The stark juxtaposition of her words and her tone made him raise a blond brow, arrogance in full force, recovered from his initial retreat, even despite his recognition of the silence of the forest. No one ever said Phoebus Apollo didn't have a foolish streak, after all.

Instead, he stood defiantly, almost heartlessly, with little regard for the consequences of his actions, unable to look past his own desires, his own thoughts, his own view, to what she might be feeling. No, if she wanted to threaten him, in typical testosterone-charged fashion he would reply. All it would take was three words.

"I welcome it."

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[info]_artemis
2009-09-29 04:39 am UTC (link)
Artemis emitted a deep growl, one akin to the beast she often hunted. “Sure you would.” Her words almost indistinguishable from her low growl. “because you never think of any one besides yourself.”

Artemis pulled a new arrow from her quiver, one tipped special with a fever that would consume a human’s life painfully and slowly. She admired the gleaming silver shaft a moment before stringing it. Wordlessly she turned towards Thrace and let the arrows sing silently through the air knowing it would hit her target without a question, she looked at her brother over her sholder.

“Perhaps you should go to her, try helpless ly to rid her body of the feaver. But it will not help. Because you, Apollon, do not deserve nice things. You do not deserve a woman as loving as her wen you still morn over the tree, when you flirt with the cubbearer. Dose she know the only reason you chose her was because she has the same coloring as young Hebe? Does she know that you think only of the princess while you write her sappy poetry?. That when you close your eyes you pretend that she is someone else. Want to talk about, what is fair, what is right, what omneone else needs? What is fair is that she and her child are subject no more to your lies Apollon!. I’m even you could see that Oh Delphic Apollon!” Artemis spit out his name like a foul taste in her mouth.

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[info]_apollo
2009-09-30 03:49 am UTC (link)
He glared at her though his sky blue eyes, his chariot appearing at a wave of his hand, fiery horses neighing, four in number -- Pyrios, Aeos, Aethon, and Phlegon. Beams of light peaked over the horizon even at dusk's hour, a solar flare, a flare of emotion. He would not even dignify her words. Lies, all of them, lies.He mounted the chariot and held the reigns.

"Lies. Don't talk of lies to me, when what you speak is lies. Get your facts straight, Aedous parthenus," he spat, venomously, last words chosen carefully, epithet purposeful. And with a tug of the reigns, he raced across the sky, leaving the chaste queen of beasts behind.

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[info]_artemis
2009-10-01 04:29 am UTC (link)
Artemis watched her brother fly off anger burning in her eyes, she knew he would hurt and yet she still not fill mollified. Once her brother was long gone she finally let her legs give out and the moon goddess fell to the sand. The Goddess felt tired and worn like she could never remembered feeling before; she could not even bring herself to stand again for a long time.

A shining silver doe wandered over to the Goddess and nosed her blond hair with her soft nose, Artemis reached out and ran her hand over her constant companion before nuzzling her face into its soft fur as it lay next to her, a last small tear escaping the Goddesses’ eye. “Oh, Hind,” she said softly “I shall never love another man again.” She promised the Deer, and in response the doe grunted liglty before resting her head in the Huntres’ lap where the two stayed untill morning began to break on the horizion. And the sun began to rise Artemis left to her woods and took shelter deep within the depth of a cave to rid herself of any reminder of her brother. The huntress would not hunt until untill the next full moon.

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