The Wife (Final)

And Hera snapped in disbelief, her emotions rushing out before she could hold them back. "Of course, I am bothered!" She shouted, and the music stopped, leaving haunting silence, and mortals froze in their places, their smiles hanging in stillness. "How could I not be? My damnable husband goes and changes his true form to an almost unrecognizable extent. You know, I, your wife, didn't realize it was actually you immediately, and as if this wasn't enough, you go on and act like you actually care." She pointed at Zeus accusingly, who looked on with a stony face. "For all I know, this may just be another one of your tricks to cover up your latest infidelity. Which mortal is it this time?" She leaned in, feeling the terrifying storm before her, yet she carried on vehemently. "Don't you ever get sick of their weak and broken cunts, Zeus?"

There was no regret in Hera's heart as the words left her mouth. Everything felt just too much, she couldn't hold back any longer even if she understood the terrifying storm before her was going to blast her with his bolt into Gaea's embrace. That was what she was expecting, that was what her Zeus would have done.

However, this Zeus didn't explode and blast her into the earth's core; instead, his lips thinned in sadness, the storm within him waning away in silence. "Oh Hera," he said, his voice as soft as possible, almost pitying. "This isn't about you."

Hera's heart began to pound, but not of anger or indignation, but of fear, raw fear. "Then why?" She breathed out. "Why are you doing this? Why did you change yourself to,"—she looked at his new appearance up and down—"to THIS!?"

Zeus looked her in the eyes, holding her gaze in certainty, sincerity. "Sometimes change just happens. There is no profound reason behind it, or maybe there is, I don't exactly know myself." He chuckled wryly. "But it is what it is. You either embrace the change or be left behind in pieces." He looked up at the sky, in the direction of Olympus. "And I think Olympus could use some change as well. What better way for that to begin than with me." He smiled, turning back to her. "So that's it. Here I am."

Hera gaped at Zeus, her expression as disbelieving as it could be. She said nothing in response to his words. In fact, she couldn't even if she wanted to try. She just summoned more nectar into her glass and began to gulp it down with terrified intensity, struggling to digest the surreal words that had left her husband's mouth.

Zeus looked frustrated at her lack of response, probably more affected by her volatile reaction, but there was not much surprise there, only weary resignation as his hands swept through his short hair, his eyes trailing away from her toward the frozen humans, standing still in suspended time. "Want to dance?" He asked abruptly, his grey eyes darkening with power, and the beautiful song resumed and humans began to move again, dancing and clapping and smiling, oblivious as ever. "It would be an injustice not to, especially for this song."

Hera was already numb to shock. "Do I have a choice?" She found herself asking, her voice silent and mute.

"Of course." Zeus said with such naturalness as if that was the most given thing in the world. He stood up and extended his hand toward her in invitation, which she accepted subconsciously, clasping his hand with a slight tremble.

"Yes, of course." Hera nodded repeatedly, following him onto the dance floor. "Of course."

Zeus looked at her with that new, grating look, filled with worried pity, cautious as he led her into the dancing crowds, as though she might just break down right there and then, which actually wasn't too far off from her current state, as much as Hera hated to admit. Still, she tried to gather herself, to maintain a modicum of composure.

The dancing mortals moved away subconsciously, even the married couple, as Hera and Zeus reached the very center. Then the music stopped playing for a second as Zeus turned to look at her. "Ready?" His hold on hers tightened, then loosened as the song began to play again, even louder than before.

Hera's answer spoke for itself, as she freed herself from his hold and began side-stepping from Zeus, her hands immediately on her hips, falling into the rhythm of the song, her steps echoing in sync, and Zeus followed her lead, his lips gaining a smile as he did so.

Beguine was a lively dance, one of harmony and spiritedness, meant for couples, with twirls and steps filled with sensuality and passion that only those that shared their hearts with each other could truly bring out.

Dancing with this Zeus strangely calmed her down, maybe it was the way that Zeus still seemed to know all of her habits, predicting her next moves, keeping up with her immaculately, or maybe it was the way his touches on her felt, the soothing and warm sensation, so foreign yet familiar, or it could have just been his eyes, looking at her with the burning love that was lost ages ago.

The song got louder and louder. Zeus grasped her hand abruptly, and pulled her upward. They began to climb through the fabric of space, as if on invisible staircase, still dancing their steps flawlessly. The ceiling of the tent disintegrated and the sound of the song erupted out like an volcanic explosion, reaching the heavens. The mortals were still dancing in the tent, though, unaffected and oblivious as ever.

Hera wondered what this Zeus was up to as they reached well up into the night sky, overlooking all of the city of Dallas, but just then the answer showed itself; Zeus's eyes completely darkened with countless points of light within them, almost like the entire night sky was compressed within them, but just brighter and more brilliant than the one around them, like in the Age where the Gods ruled the world.

There was a ripple in Zeus' starry eyes, spreading outward and impacting the sky around them. As the ripple swept across the sky like a wave, growing and rising, the night brightened in its advent. Lost stars began to shine once again, dazzling through the eternal darkness of the night. Millions upon millions of stars appeared in the night sky, the Milky Way unveiling itself in all of its glory throughout the expanse. Half of the world bathed in the brilliance of the Milky Way within mere moments.

Around the world, the Mist was beginning to stir and become thicker in an attempt to conceal this cosmic phenomenon from the mortals, but there was only so much that the Mist could do, especially for something of this magnitude, affecting half of the world. Zeus was walking on a thin rope, almost on the verge of breaking the ancient law of secrecy that forbade the Gods from revealing the existence of the extraordinary, tangible part of the world.

A single misstep, and a legion of Angels would descend upon Olympus. But it didn't stop either of them from continuing their dance amidst the sea of stars, forgetting everything but each other, their steps, bodies, souls in sync and rhythm as they danced and twirled their hearts out.

In the end, all Hera could ask Zeus was "Why?" her hand finding his, their faces bathed in starlight. Her eyes welled with tears, lost in memories of times long past.

"Why?" Zeus echoed her question, savouring its flavour for a moment. He held her hand tighter, his other hand drawing her closer, their faces mere inches apart. "Honestly, I just wanted to do something for you, no grand motivations," he confessed. His gaze followed the brilliantly burning stars in the night sky. There was power in it, not just Zeus's, but something more primordial and fundamental. "And I don't think Night really minds revealing some of her true glory to the world again."

Something inside Hera snapped, shattering into a million invisible shards, leaving her scarred all over. Tears streamed uncontrollably down her cheeks. "Who are you?" She whispered. "You're not Zeus." Her voice rang with absolute certainty.

"Oh, but I am," Zeus retorted, his tone matching hers, maddeningly so.

"Maybe," Hera didn't outright deny it, but the certainty never left her voice. "But you're certainly not the Zeus I know," she glanced aside, gently slipping out of his embrace. "The one I had loved and married."

Zeus winced slightly at her words. "Had , huh?" He chuckled wryly at her deliberate use of tense. "Well, you're right. I'm not the Zeus you know, not entirely, at least. It's all rather confusing, to be honest," he confessed, taking a thoughtful and emotional pause, locking eyes with hers. "The truth is, I've changed, and I don't think there's a way back. Even if there were, I wouldn't want to take it because I like who I am now."

At his confession, Hera scrutinised Zeus, taking in all of his changes and differences once again to process her emotions, to process all that had happened. She thought her heart would be chaotic, conflicting as the different versions of Zeus mangled together in a struggle for dominance, turning it into a battlefield of emotions, but all her heart felt was relief—relief so consuming that it reeled her into a state of shock. And the image of the old Zeus began to burn ragingly in her heart, so rapidly into a blaze like her heart just wanted to get rid of it immediately and forever more.

"So?" Zeus continued, his eyebrows pinched in question, tinged with the hint of alluring anticipation. He still maintained a distance from her, giving her all the space she needed.

The last embers of the old faded and all that remained before her was this new Zeus, the one who looked authoritative and kind, the one who seemed considerate and assertive, the one who seemed gentle yet bold. There were still too many unknowns about the Zeus standing in front of her, and she would unravel them, surely, but not now, not at this moment, under his simple yet profound question.

"I don't know," Hera's response was raw and truthful. "I need time." Her form began to brighten with power, distorting the fabric of space. "This is all too much."

Zeus seemed disappointed, but didn't stop her, even as she ran away from him, obviously, understandingly. Some part of her was still unable to accept the enormity of it all. She needed to talk to someone, someone she could pour her heart out to and process it all.

Hera reached into her family divinity, feeling the web of connections she shared with everyone who was related to her, from Gods to Demigods to even monsters. Among them, six connections stood out the most, stronger than any others by humongous margins. Five represented her husband and siblings, but it was the last one she focused on, putting her power into it to reach the other end of the connection.

The fabric of reality warped in the middle of her teleportation, hurling her towards the other side of the world, across continents and oceans in a fraction of a second. It was all nothing but chaos for a moment, then everything calmed down, stabilised to reveal her mother teaching a group of mortal children, against the backdrop of the wooden mansions and villas of Manila, mirroring the ways of America.

Rhea acknowledged Hera with a nod, continuing the lesson without missing a beat. Hera took a seat at the back, in the last row of the worn yet lively class, simply observing as her mother taught with an unwavering, encouraging smile.

When class was done and the students left, Hera hugged her mother, who patted her back placatingly as she began to pour out everything amidst tears and whispers.