The Unknown God/Goddess

Reconciliation

August's P.O.V

The next morning, I woke up to the amazing smell of food. Was Pharsa cooking? No, Pharsa can't cook. Layla? Does she know how to cook? Ah, nevermind. 

The moment I opened the door to my room, so did Pharsa. We exchanged morning sleepy look before walking to the kitchen at the same time, wondering what Layla was cooking. But it wasn't Pharsa. 

Mine was cooking in a blank expression. It looks like all her emotions are in the food that she's making, leaving her nothing to feel. There was another thing that got me shocked. It was the fact that Mine only cooked for one person. I know she knows that we're here and that we were looking, but she's not looking at us. She ignored us. She finishes preparing the table and sat by herself and started eating. 

The fluffy pancakes and the aroma was enough to make me drool on her breakfast. I gulped, wishing I had the chance to eat that. Since when did Mine learn how to cook? Did she learn this just to get back at me? Pharsa tugs on my shirt, drawing my attention. 

"What is it?" I whispered. 

"I'm hungry and I'm going out." 

I look back at Mine but she was still ignoring us. So I just had to make a decision. 

"I'll come with you." 

After we were dressed, Pharsa and I went out for breakfast. It was a Sunday so there was no school, no cafeteria. Layla said she wanted to sleep more, so we let her. Pharsa plays with her food, unsatisfied. 

"Don't be picky." although that came from me, I'd do the same too if I wasn't the one paying for this. 

"How can't I when Mine's breakfast looked so delicious." 

I look at my food and yes, she was right. The egg was dry and hard and a little burnt. The hot dogs tasted cheaper than the money I bought it for. The bacon even tasted like plastic and the water tasted like sewer. I don't know where I got 'sewer' from and how I know it tasted like sewer but it did. It was disgusting, but I paid for this and her meal so I don't really want to waste it. 

"Let's go home." I forced myself to finish the bacon and Pharsa looked at me with pity and disgust at the same time. I wanted to vomit but I still have respect for this diner. 

"We should. You need to get an okay from Mine so we can eat what she's having," 

"Was that supposed to be an inspiration? Encouragement?" 

"I just want what she cooked." Pharsa pouted and pushed away the plate that was in front of her further in the center of the table. 

"Let's go," 

We walked home, feeling still hungry and somewhat sick from what we just ate. The cold winter breeze caressed my cheeks so gladly. I look at the sky. How am I going to apologize to Mine? I did promise but she made it clear that she wants to be alone and undisturbed. I think she just wants to get back at me, say goodbye to the human world and never come back. 

Am I ready to not see her for the rest of my life? I don't know who my mother is, and I'm going to completely lost my best friend that I always take advantage of. And to top that all off, I'm going to war. I shake my head. 

I shouldn't worry about things that aren't happening at the moment. I should focus on Mine at the moment. Ah, right. I forgot about Rafaela and mine's little cold shoulders. We haven't talked at all since the party. We saw each other, yesterday, but we didn't talk and we weren't face to face at that time. They were hiding the bushes. 

"What are you going to do?" Pharsa asks. 

"I don't even know where to start." 

So much is happening at the same time that I don't know which one is the priority. That's just an excuse. My priority is Mine because she'll go away soon. I will, for the first time, put Mine first before my own identity and before my own love interest. I'm sorry, Rafaela, but Mine and I's situation are more difficult than ours. 

"I know that look," she stated. I understand what she was saying so I didn't say anything. 

"For the record, I don't think Rafaela's all that good for you." 

"How can you say that? Any basis?" I wasn't trying to be harsh. 

At the moment, I think the same too. Humans tend to think in a shallow way. Thinking how they can change a person, and how they're enough to change another. Because that's the nature of humans, as they have short life spans. They get done everything in no time but that doesn't apply to us immortal beings. Although I appreciate Rafaela's initiative, I could've wished she respected my preference. 

"I know you're thinking the same thing." I sigh. 

"How come you already know me so much?" 

"I know how your body works. It was only a matter of time before I know how you think." 

"Ha, makes sense." 

"I do think the same thing, but Rafaela's ready to put herself in danger because of me." 

"Or is it because you're there that's why she's ready?" 

I stopped, blinked, processed what she said. 

"I, I hadn't thought about it like that." Pharsa pats my back twice before walking ahead of me. 

"You need to figure that out." 

"Okay," I whispered in one breath. 

We got home without any more conversation. I went directly to the front of Mine's room, knocked twice. I inhaled and exhaled. Mine opened the door, after I encouraged myself. Like she knew what I was doing and let me finish. That thought made my heart feel warm and fluffy. She still didn't loathe me for what I had done. 

"What is it?" her tone was cold and she locked away all her emotions. She looked me dead in the eyes, with no ounce of anything. 

I feel like I'm staring into a black abyss, devoid of any life. I felt cold, scared and a coward. To think that I was going to be the one that broke her smile. I, of all people, should be the one protecting her when she was the one there for me all this time. 

"I, I came to apologize." I stuttered, the pressure getting to me. 

"Because?" she asked so bluntly that I think I misheard it. 

"Be, uh, because, uh," she instantly closed the door on me. 

Crap. I couldn't even bring the words out of my mouth. I was so taken aback by her sudden change of attitude towards me that I was at a loss of words. The impact was stronger than I expected. My mind exploded over the little things and I cursed. 

"f**k. That was harder than I thought." 

"Quite miserable." Pharsa clicks her tongue and shakes her head as she walks away. 

"Why are you even here?" I follow behind her. 

"To hear your lame ass making a lame attempt in apologizing." she stated it like she knew it would happen, which was bad. 

She knew I was going to end up with this ending and she didn't even try to tell me about it. Here I am again, blaming another. I shake my head. I should stop that. 

Layla appears out of nowhere, still sleepy. 

"Good morning," she yawns and rubs her stomach, hungry. 

"Morning. Great sleep?" Pharsa asks, amazed at how laid back Layla was being. 

"No. I'd rather wake up in the evening."

Right. Vampires aren't necessarily forbidden to bathe under the sunlight. It's not that deadly, they just feel tired. But Layla's lucky. We aren't in the city and we're nearing winter. There would be almost no sunlight. This town already looks so dreary with its rare occurrence of the sun peeking. 

"You could." I tell her but she shakes her eyes and stretches to finally kick the sleepiness out of her body. 

Her little shirt lifts up as she stretches. Her flat stomach in view, as she closes her eyes, feeling the stretch more. 

"I can't possibly do that, Your Highness. I need to watch out and be your protector." she gestures to the both of us. 

"Speaking of, what's your assessment on our little interrupted spar?" Pharsa takes a seat on the sofa. 

I followed and sat opposite of her. Layla sits beside Pharsa and hums. 

"You both are too matched." 

"Huh? I don't think I'm the same level as August?" Layla shakes her head. 

"You're right, but you think quick and that's why you can counter all of those. You may not be in the offensive but you were doing pretty good as being passive."

Ah, I get it. She's right. I remember how Pharsa was so quick at dodging my attacks and blocking those that came as a surprise to her. What a marvelous observation. 

"It really is different when someone else is watching us." I commented. 

"Please, that's too much, Your Highness." 

"Come on, it's a thank you." 

"Oh, Your Highness," Layla turns to me in a very serious tone. 

"What is it?" 

I prepared myself for what she was going to say. 

"Can you not use both dark and light at the same time. I know it's too much for a commoner vampire like me to ask of you. Please, spare me." she bows her head to me and kept her body stiff. 

Other than infusing them both at the same time, which is dangerous, I guess using them both at the same time can also be dangerous. I should do that, since Mine doesn't know that too. I don't want her to see me so confused, and so defeated. 

"Raise your head, please." Layla looks at me. 

"I understand your concern. I wouldn't want my Princess to get hurt too." Pharsa tenses up and looks at Layla.

"What?" Pharsa asks, getting defensive all of a sudden. 

"Please," Layla says again. 

"I understand. You need not worry." 

"I can handle myself great, Layla!" Pharsa shouts while Layla stayed looking at me. Her resolution is commendable. 

"I'll happily grant your wish." 

"August!" Pharsa says. 

I stand up.

"Pharsa, someone wants you safe. You should appreciate it." and I turned around and walked away.

I stand just a few inches before my door. I see. Layla already looks at me so dangerously. My hands shake at the thought of that happening again. That killing intent. That dangerous look. I shake my head. I can do this. 

The next day, I tried again to talk to Mine but I ended with the same thing that happened the day before. The next day, I tried again. 

"Because I kept it from you?" 

"Do you even know what you should be sorry about?" her eyebrows settled a little low, showing a bit of irritation to my excuse. 

And then I tried thinking about it after that. Was that not it? Was it not because I didn't tell her? That I kept it a secret from her that us coming here before was also a secret from Olympus? Was there something else? What is it? Because I have no idea. After Layla had asked me that too, Pharsa has been keeping her distance from Layla. 

Pharsa was the same to me, she talked to me and ignored Layla's presence. Layla didn't give up and kept guarding her even in school. When Pharsa is in school, it was only me and Mine in the apartment but she doesn't seem to go out unless it's for breakfast. She keeps herself locked away from us. 

Rafaela hadn't come to see me too. She didn't come to ask how I was after the party, how I wasn't in school, how I was in general. Is she cutting our ties off? I hope not. 

I knocked again on Mine's room. The day after tomorrow, Mine will leave and not come back and I haven't made much progress yet. 

"Are you not tired of this?" she asks me, finally irritated. A sad smile escaped my lips. 

"I don't have the right to feel tired of this." she looked at me before slamming the door in my face. 

I stayed. 

"I missed what we had, Mine," I called her my special nickname for her. 

"But I broke you first, and I'm sorry for that." 

The next day, I tried again, but she didn't open the door. I stayed in front of her room the whole day and only stood up when Pharsa came home from school. She looked at me, feeling sorry. 

"Don't give me that look." I pat her head, messing her hair. I was hoping she would care about her hair more than my beat up expression. 

"She's going away tomorrow," she didn't care about her hair. 

"If it's not meant to be, it isn't." 

I went to my room and sighed. I remember our first day here. I was so excited that day and how I told Mine that I finally found someone. That day, if only I knew that day that we were going to end up like this, I wouldn't have done it in the first place. 

I woke up, not knowing when I fell asleep. Mine was making her own breakfast again. I walk past her and grabbed myself a glass of water. Feeling tired more than usual. 

"You finally gave up?" she sounded like she waited for this to happen. 

"I still have a few hours left." she didn't say anything after that. 

After she ate her breakfast, she walked to her room and shut again it was. I sighed. I washed the glass I used and knocked on her door. 

This time, she opened it, but with the same expression she held the first time I did this; nothing. 

"Until now, I couldn't figure it out. I'm afraid we won't be seeing each other after this anymore, so I'm going to go ahead and say this, not minding what you'll say after." 

Again, no reaction. 

"Mine, thank you for being there for me when I had no one else. Thank you for patiently handling my everything when I was so out of it the whole time. I didn't want to regret not saying this so I'm going to say it. I love you, Mine, and I hope you live out your best in Olympus." 

I'm not the type to easily say those magical words, but I didn't want to let her go without her knowing that. 

"I, I have to go." her reaction was broken this time and she refuses to look at me. 

She grabs her things and walked to the door. Pharsa and Layla got out of their room and walked with us to the door. Mine kept her back at us and heaved a sigh. 

"I-" 

"THERE YOU ARE," the familiar angry voice that I dread echoed. 

Ares was in front of us, smirking and with witches. 

"Restrain them!" Ares commanded the witches. 

"Urk, I can't m-move!" Pharsa says through gritted teeth. 

I look at the three of them and they all couldn't move. Layle's eyebrows was furrowed and clenched her fists. She got ready to fight but she couldn't move. 

"What, what's the meaning of this!" Mine shouts at the heretic Ares. 

"I had to pay her back first," Ares says smugly. 

I step up front and got ready to fight back. I put up a celestial barrier to avoid damaging the human world. 

"Ooh, you can put this up at such a young age. What a prodigy." 

"What do you want, Ares." I growled. 

"Boost me!" Ares commands again. 

I couldn't see what happened next as I was sent flying to the sky. All I know was that my stomach hurts. 

"August"! I hear Pharsa calling my name. 

"Stop this instance, Ares!" Mine shouts at the top of her lungs. 

"Oh, shush. If only father didn't say to keep you safe that day, I would've killed you myself too. f*****g Athena thinks she knows everything!" Ares jumps to where I was kicks me to the stomach again, forcing me to fall down harshly. 

I spit out saliva, the pressure getting to me. Ares steps back, laughed like a crazy god. 

"What's the matter? Too much for you?" I grit my teeth, struggled to stand. 

I hugged my stomach as I did so. I transformed to Austin and let out my wings, getting ready to pluck his teeth one by one. He was going to regret to ever lay a hand on me and for insulting Athena that way. 

"Ooh, getting serious." 

He attacks me again. That witch's boost must be to the max. I couldn't seem to fight back. I got sent off flying again. I use my wings to stop the force. 

"Austin! We're coming!" Pharsa shouts. 

"Your Highness!" 

"The King will kill you for hurting the Prince!" Mine shouts at Ares, hoping to knock some sense into him. 

Ares bursts out laughing. 

"I guess nothing's been said then," 

"What are you talking about?" Mine asks. 

"Shut up!" I shout and attacked first. 

I was angry. Mine can't know about this. Mine just can't. He was getting too ahead of himself that he underestimated me. I managed to land a blow on his head. He stumbled to the side and glared at me before giving me another kick to my side. I blocked it and stepped back. 

"The Prince isn't Zeus' offspring." 

I attacked again, feeling angrier. With each word that got out of his mouth, that was the same amount of punches I gave him. But the witch kept on healing him.

"What.. what are you saying?" Pharsa asks. 

I hadn't told Pharsa that. All Pharsa knows is I'm just half deity. She doesn't know that I know this already. I didn't tell her. The words Athena told me held much more deeper understanding than they thought it would. How could I rain down my identity to them when I don't even know who I was. 

"I told you to shut up!" 

I attacked him again. He blocks my kick and pushes me away. He was getting wary of my attacks. I couldn't land any more attacks on him as he demanded another boost from another witch. He kept healing and he kept boosting. How was I going to defeat him now? 

"What's the matter? Can't land a hit now?" he laughs and decides to attack first. 

I barely managed to block it off. The fire inside me was set aflame. It ignited itself and I felt power flow through me. I clench my fists, stopping what was trying to overcome me. 

"I told you to shut up." but I was too busy holding myself back that I couldn't follow through my threat. 

"You could easily defeat me, after all, you hold both dark and light." the truth sprung out of his mouth like water. 

"What..?" Mine forces her head to look at me. 

"Come on! Use the darkness that's forcing its way to get out of you. I can see it in your eyes. I can see it! Hurry!" 

But I didn't move. 

"Should I try attacking one of the three?" 

No. NO. 

"Hmm, who should I pick?" 

"Don't listen to him, Austin! Hold it in!" Phars shouts. 

"Your Highness, don't!" 

"What are you talking about? A deity can't wield darkness, except for Pharsa." 

"Ah! I'll attack Min-" 

I had lost control. A sword was already in my hand, infused with the darkest aura I could make at that moment. The sword was pointing already at his throat. 

"My Lord!" one of the witches cried out. 

Ares gulped and stopped his blabbering. 

"Austin.." I hear Pharsa's gloomy voice. 

I could very well imagine Mine's face right now; confused as I was the first time. 

"I told you to shut up, didn't I? This is the last warning. The next time I see you, I'll go for your head." I poke the pointed end of the sword on his throat, a single droplet of blood dripping. 

"Olympus won't be happy about this." he begrudgingly say. 

"The hell I care." 

I push him away and they immediately ran for their lives.