A snap of her fingers was all it took for Aphrodite to swiftly change the location and to magically make her grandiose, flowery entrance at the Halls of War- where she was more than certain she was going to find her brother, casually slumped into his weird looking throne, sipping pensively a glass of wine- the only thing he appeared to be doing right those past few days….

She was still terribly angry with him- there was no point in pretending otherwise- but after that hot, almost orgasmic sex scene she had witnessed between him and his beautiful Chosen, she just couldn't miss the rare occasion of tantalizing him about such utterly epic failure. Furious or not, she just had to rub his nose in it … there was no way she was going to let such unique opportunity pass her by!

And yet, as she briefly took in her surroundings, she quickly noticed that she had been only partially right…Her brother was indeed there, and casually sprawled across his throne as if he didn't have a care in the world- just like she had so precisely anticipated it- but as she took a few steps his way, she immediately observed that the forever present goblet of wine- which appeared to be glued to his hand most of the time – was missing and those alluring amber pitch eyes of his- that she loved so much- were closed. He looked almost…tired – and let's just keep in mind that Gods and fatigue didn't really have anything in common.

"You know….mortals swear that counting sheep helps them fall asleep faster….." she couldn't help herself, barely stifling a laugh….Xena must have done a fabulous job in giving him a well deserved headache.

A heart-stopping, unexpected glare, pinned her to the centre of the room the instant he finally acknowledged her presence.

" On the other hand, we both know that with one exception, mortals are retarded, don't we now ..?"

" Isn't that a bit too harsh, Bro …? What about your prized generals ? All those legendary warriors you have been bragging about across the eons…." she bantered, giving him a casual once-over. He was unusually tense…

"Dead – all of them. You can draw your own conclusions from that…."

Just as she was parting her lips to bluntly contradict such ridiculous lack of logic though, he abruptly decided to continue his idea…

" Speaking of mortals….have you talked to Xe ? I do believe you were supposed to cleanse her aura or whatever it is that you do…" he harshly scolded- already knowing the answer to that question - a huge, dark cloud of doom hovering about him, and for a second there , the Love Goddess forgot all about her mischievous initial intentions.

" Are you by any chance implying that you have been spying on us, Bro' ?!" she playfully replied, giving him a sly grin- expertly trying to joke her way out of that uncomfortable situation- but just as she was reaching the few steps leading to his throne, surprising even herself with those unnatural, athletic abilities, she instinctively jumped back the moment a fireball collided violently with the marble floor, mere inches in front of her, leaving a considerably deep hole behind.

" Hey! Watch it! " she whined, casting a horrified glance at her brand new dress. "Like what's with these mood swings of yours lately ?! Gesshhhh !I should be the upset one, remember?!"

" Well….if my memory doesn't fail me, dusty pink was supposed to be your all time favourite, wasn't it ? I was just trying to help… " the War God ironically spat, barely resisting the urge to blow the entire place up, for that matter.

" Of course you did …" she muttered- her expression darkening enough as to match his- making sure to also roll her eyes in the process at his forever childish behaviour- aware of just how much he hated the gesture. " Happy now? You totally ruined my hair, Ar! " she complained, a hopeless expression engraved on her visage, as a full size mirror appeared in front of her. "Do you know how long it took me to find the perfect hairdo this morning?!"

" Oh, I don't know….this is a hard one. Two minutes ? Three ….? " the handsome Olympian retorted, looking down at her scornfully, his mood only altering even more with each passing second. He was way too edgy with the whole situation with his Princess to be able to focus on anything else, really….

"Forever!" she raised her voice at him. "It took me FOREVER!"

"Forever is a long time ..."

"You got that right!" she sighed, using her powers to fix the problem, and, it's safe to say it actually looked better than before. A wave of her hand, and the dust vanished along with the mirror and with that ugly hole from the floor. As a bonus, the air smelt like freshly cut roses too, much to the War God's despair…

"So I see…" the War God stated, staring implyingly at the Roman imperial bun his sister had chosen to wear for the rest of the day, and biting hard on his lower lip in a supernatural effort to keep the many insults he had in mind for her, all to himself….He was sooooo furious, he would have slaughtered an entire city! It was a barely repressed anger that he could now distinctly feel pulsating uncomfortably at the sides of his neck, throbbing inside his veins, making him feel as agitated as a stormy ocean. The funny thing was that the ditsy Love Goddess was definitely not the cause of his bottled up fury and neither was his Princess. Tartarus, he couldn't even blame Amytis for his current state of mind, though, at the end of the day, everything was connected to her somehow...The real tragedy though was that he was the only person truly responsible for all that mess, so there was nothing to be done really, but pay the price for his recklessness...

" Anyway …..to answer your question, I did talk to the Warrior Babe …" the blonde Goddess cunningly captured his attention again.

"Her name is Xena…" he rudely corrected, making a soft, dark velvet couch appear next to his throne, for her to sit down, but without actually inviting her to do so.

" Oh puhlease !…..Do you ever call her by her name ?!" she huffed , completely ignoring the hideous piece of furniture he had courteously materialized for her and taking a sit on the armrest of his throne instead, as if that shockingly violent outburst hadn't even happened just moments before.

" Of course I do! " he grimly said in his self defence- a lost battle , really.

" When you're angry with her, maybe….which is close to never…" Aphrodite concluded, clicking her tongue.

He didn't agree with her statement but he didn't bother denying it either, just as he didn't voice a protest when her fingers began roaming unhurriedly through his short, dark hair.

"You were saying….."

"I'm pretty sure you have been eavesdropping, so..uh... why don't you tell me first just how much did you actually overhear?! she bluntly asked, more than familiarised with her brother's techniques…

" Not much, to be honest. I closed the portal just as you started that gut-wrenching monologue about the "icky thinghies from the Corinthian Museum…" he said, making an effort to imitate her. " I didn't really have the stomach to listen to the rest of it…."

" Interesting…" she remarked, stiffening a bit as his hand rested casually on her thigh.

" Anyways...It was supposed to be a longer conversation. We were interrupted moments before I actually got the chance to read her aura. Still... In spite of that tiny inconvenience, she did mention some pretty unexpected details …." she made sure to remark, her gaze glued to his face, eager to see his reaction . He instantly arched his left brow at those last words and that was all the information she needed…..

" She's prettty certain you're in love with Amytis " she uttered, barely above a whisper, as if afraid to actually articulate it- and the very next moment, that blank, emotionless façade he had been stubbornly struggling to project, crumbled as if it had never been there, leaving an incredibly alarmed, almost desperate expression behind. " She's really hurt, Ar….It was as clear as day. As for your feelings for her...she doesn't know what to believe any more..."

" What exactly did she say ? " he lowly inquired, definitely intrigued by his sister's statement- his troubled eyes resting on her lips for a few seconds, as if anxiously waiting for the words that were about to come out….

"She wanted to know more about your relationship with that Bitch, and it was not curiosity ...It was more like she was unconsciously searching for an explanation...an excuse for your betrayal- cause that's what it felt for her. "

" Did she actually utter that word?"

"She didn't have to ...It was an easy guess..."

"Anything else ?" he inquired, rubbing his temples with the tips of his fingers...

"Well...at certain point she did say that …..uh…." she started, but stopped in mid sentence, silently wondering whether actually telling him everything that her friend had confessed to her wouldn't actually do more harm than good….

"Just spit it out already, Dite! ." he exploded, unconsciously gripping her leg now.

" …..that between the two of you , there's only business…nothing else…"

Two marble pillars were blown to smithereens the minute she ended her line, and her brother's murderous gaze certainly didn't help her relax much…..

"Gods damn it!" he growled, boiling with frustration.

" I'm sure she didn't mean it, Ar '! It's an easy fix…..You only need time, patience and a lot of tact….."

" Patience ? My sanity is hanging by a thread , Dite! She's driving me crazy! "

Her following words came out completely on impulse.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say this looks strikingly similar to sexual frustration. "

The harshness in her brother's stare silenced her for a few seconds. "Not that it's any of my business...Just sayin'...A good fuck can work wonders..." she added, cracking a compassionate smile the moment he realised she knew all about their previous encounter.

"Well this is embarrassing…" he muttered, breaking their gaze and focusing on examining the intricate patterns at the base of a still standing marble column, instead.

"What ? That she has you wrapped around her little finger? It's actually quite cute …" she rushed to correct that awfully wrong pattern of thinking.….Make no mistake, Bro-the fact that you stopped when she asked you to, spoke volumes to her about your feelings….It's at least a first step in the right direction…and at the end of the day , that has to count for something, right?"

" Definitely . I'm gonna be the laughingstock of all Olympus…" he murmured to himself, as if her words hadn't even reached his ears….

"Don't worry, Stud. I won't tell a soul, I promise ...As long as I can tease you about it " she laughed, patting him on the back as she got up, ready to leave. " Love's complicated, Ar…" she whispered affectionately into his ear. " She's complicated….don't expect this to be easy. It wouldn't be worth the effort if it were …" she encouraged, that haunting hint of sadness in her voice still present.

"Sis …" he suddenly stated , grabbing her by the wrist right before she vanished from the place. "Thanks..."

In response, she just just bent down and placed the sweetest featherlike kiss on the tip of his nose.

" Complicated indeed…." he repeated musingly, stroking his beard as he stared absently at the pink glitter she had left behind.

XXX

At about the same time, a very confident Warrior Princess entered her tent wearing a very mysterious smile on her lips. Fresh drops of blood were still trickling down her blade as she headed for the bed, staining here and there that gorgeous Persian rug covering the ground in dark crimson claret...