(I Wish For Control)

Apollo POV

As soon as Ares leaves, I feel guilty.

"I shouldn't have let him go." I say, for what is probably the hundredth time.

We are sitting on my bedroom floor, contemplating the worst.

"Well," Lola says. "I would believe that he told you his reasons for leaving."

"He did." I frown. "But what about you? Why did Korri choose to stay?"

"You tell, I tell."

"Well," I say. "He told me not to tell- wait. He didn't say I couldn't tell you. But what if you don't keep your end?"

"Well," she grins. "I was thinking we'd write it on a piece of paper. In lemon juice. It'll have it so we can't snoop on each other, and we make sure we don't get cheated on."

"What if you lie?"

"We each have a fifty-fifty chance of getting clean, or dirty."

"Alright."

She runs into the kitchen bringing back a lemon, and a tiny bowl.

She looks at me and pulls out her dagger.

"You could've killed him any time." I whisper, and she nods.

"And he never knew." She breathes, and cuts the plump lemon, it's fluid flowing into the bowl. "I like having that kind of control. The kind that allows me to end anything within a split second." Her eyes get sad. "I doubt you have feelings like that, being part of the Divine."

I actually do.

I wish for control.

Doesn't everyone?

I pull out my quill, and Lola gives me a weird look.

"How do you think I became as great as I am if I didn't always have parchment and a quill on hand?"

"You aren't as great as you say, and you know it. You're just too cocky to admit it."

I roll my eyes, and write a summary of his reasons:

Korri

I hand her the paper.

She scribbles something on it and hands me my quill back.

"How did you...?" I ask, examining my damaged quill.

She'd somehow managed to bust off the tip, and it's split.

She shrugs, and gets to her feet. "Come on, we can put it in the oven."

I kinda feel appalled by the idea, but follow her anyway.

"I think Ares might have stashed the little electric oven we had when I lived here..." I mumble to myself, as I dig through the cupboards.

And I gotta admit, he's sorted the hell out of this house.

I'm pretty sure he's out done me in organization.

I eventually find it, it is in the shed deep into the woods.

"So," Lola frowns. "Ares has something against modern stoves and ovens?"

"Um," I shrug. "I- He's more... He's um, he's always been traditional in how most things are done."

"Like cooking?"

"The making of cuisine if we're going on the base genre."

"I didn't need the technical term."

Lola sets the paper in the little, beat up, sky blue electric oven, and we sit in silence.

"We're gonna have to get along if I'm staying." Lola mumbles.

"Uh huh."

"That also means we're gonna have to talk."

"Sure."

"You have to say more than one word."

I glare at her. "I did say more than one word-"

"There you go! That's an improvement."

I sigh. "I really hate your attitude."

"Screw what you think."

I run a hand through my thick blond hair. "Do we have to stay-"

"You don't." Lola frowns. "I owe Ares this. Then I'll kill him. I owe him this. Taking care of my sister for him while he's gone."

Her face flickers in confusion, but she quickly covers it up again.

She opens the little oven's door and pulls out the parchment.

I have to admit. I'm kinda surprised it hadn't burned up in there.

She sets the paper on the table between us, and raises her eyebrows.

I stare at the paper.

I gape at her, after reading the word over a hundred times in my head.

In a pretty, sloppy writing it says,

Mars. Period.

"What?" I breathe. "Okay, three things. One, What duh...? Two, you have surprisingly beautiful handwriting. Three, what is that supposed to mean?"

"That," she whispers. "Was exactly what I was gonna say. And- wait what?" she sighs. "I'll never understand you. But it means the exact same thing you put on your end." She looks at me.

"So," I sigh. "Korri apparently... likes Mars the same way he likes her?"

"Yeah." She looks at me. "Wanna explain his side?"

"I thought she said something that just ticked him over the edge I suppose," I admit, pushing the paper toward her. "What about on your end?"

"Korri just said something similar."

I chuckle. "It's kinda funny to think that they like each other both ways without even knowing it." I frown. "But you said that you'd tell me-"

"I'm getting to that." She hisses. "She said that our family is messed up. That's what she said, but I still took the blooming red cheeks from when I mentioned Ares, pretty good confirmation for what she forgot to add to that."

"So you're making up shit."

"No." She rolls her eyes. "I gave you an educated guess."

"Not much of a difference."

She stands, and smiles. "It... it was kinda nice, talking to you, before you got grumpy."

I stand too, and hold out my hand. "I haven't slept much to be honest."

She shakes my hand. "Eh."

You're actually surprisingly beautiful.

I follow her to her room—which is by far the most disorganized thing I will ever see—and she pauses. "I think," she breathes, "I think that it's... it's kinda sad. You know? Like, they think that the other one will hate them if they know, but they won't. And it's a whole paradox.

"You make things too elaborate."

She cracks a smile. "Well, if we're gonna go that route... you use way too many words then are necessary."

"I am the god of poetry." I say, kinda offended. "It's my job."

"I think if I talk to you any longer, I'll die."

"I cannot believe I am saying this, but I agree with you."

"Hey, lesson learned," Lola giggles. "I should never ask Korri for advice on guys and stuff."

"Like how?"

I'd think my brother learned something from me-

Oh wait, all my love-lives sucked. Everyone in them died.

So he's thriving right now. Kinda.

"For starters," Lola says, leaning on the door frame facing me. "He's a twit, and a terrible liar. Like, eww."

"So, you think good liars are hot?"

"Never ask me that question again."

"If I were Ares, I'd say, 'thanks a lot. You saved me from that humiliation.'" I sigh. "That's my best impression of him."

Lola giggles. "If I were Korri, and I just figured out Ares ditched, I think she'd say, 'No. He couldn't've left. He just couldn't. Nope. And I'm going after him, and if I get back alive I'll kill him.' and she'd storm off into the forest or somethin'." she sighs. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I kinda miss him."

"Now you have a crush on him?" I joke.

"No." She snaps, turning hard again, and slams the door in my face.

Leaving me alone in the house with only the deafening silence to give me company.