Work Text:
Artemis pointed her bow at Dionysus. ‘What has he…’
‘Don’t shoot!’ Ariadne cried. ‘It’s not him, I swear, really not, it’s just…’ her words dissolved into sobs.
Dionysus gave her a concerned look. ‘She doesn’t tell me what’s wrong, although she keeps claiming it’s not my fault,’ he explained. ‘I thought, perhaps you can help her.’
Artemis lowered her bow. She gave Dionysus a venomous look before turning to Ariadne. ‘Darling, what is going on?’
‘He didn’t do anything wrong, that isn’t it, really, please don’t…’
‘I won’t shoot,’ (Yet, she mouthed to her brother), ‘but what is it then?’
Ariadne fell silent.
Dionysus, who had been supporting her with an arm around the waist, loosened his grip. Artemis put Ariadne’s arm around her shoulders. When the woman was steadily leaning on Artemis instead of Dionysus, he pulled his arm away.
‘You should leave for now.’
‘Yeah.’ He reached out his hand to touch Ariadne’s shoulder, but held back at the last second. ‘...bye.’
|
‘Ariadne.’ She looked at Artemis, who made them both sit down on the forest floor. ‘Listen. What did he do? You can tell me. I can get you to safety.’
Ariadne took a deep breath. ‘He really didn’t hurt me. It’s more… more like the opposite, if that’s possible.’
Artemis didn’t take her hand away from her bow. ‘...explain.’
Ariadne tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. ‘Eh…’ she blushed.
‘You can tell me everything.’
She took a deep, shaky breath. ‘Yesterday we got… more intimate than ever before.’
‘...Ah-ha.’
‘Which… I used to be repulsed by that. Every time Dio so much as tried to kiss me I could only remember being abused and left for dead. Not that he could have done that. You would have killed him the very next day.’ Ariadne winced at her own joke.
‘Theseus used to do what he wanted and then leave me, uncaring about how I felt. I must have began to think that was the way it should be. Yesterday I thought… get it over with. Take what you want and leave.’
‘... but he didn’t leave.’
‘He made it about me. About my pleasure and wants. And yes, this morning, he was still there. He hugged me and that was it. I broke down.’ She hugged her knees. ‘I felt so shocked anybody could actually want to make me feel good, that I…’ She sighed. ‘Is this a bad feeling, Artemis?’
‘No, I don’t think so.’ Artemis had been listening to the story with her eyebrows raised. She slowly got up.
‘I guess I can’t join the hunters now. Sorry.’
‘Well, no.’ Artemis began to grin. ‘Yet, something tells me you won’t grief about it.’
Ariadne wiped the remainders of the tears out of her face. ‘Poor Dionysus. I probably scared him.’
Artemis patted her shoulder. ‘I’ll take care of that.’
|
‘Ohmigods… I don’t know what I did, I genuinly don’t!’
Artemis held Dionysus against the ground with a wild grin. ‘You know exactly what you did.’
‘What…’
‘Little brother, I guess you can stay in my forest. You made her quite happy. So much that she didn’t even realise it.’
‘I…’
‘One last thing. Now that you’ve got her, you’re keeping her. If I so much as hear a peep that you hurt her…’
‘You’ve said this before.’
‘...you won’t like the consequences.’
‘Artemis…’ Dionysus made a haphazard attempt to push her away. ‘With… other lovers… I knew they were temporary. It was going to end with them, sooner or later. When I think about Ariadne, it feels different. Like I’d love it if she stayed forever.’
‘Hm. We’ll see.’ She let her brother go. A little cautious, he sat up.
With a wink, Artemis disappeared, just as Ariadne stepped into sight from behind a group of trees. And his sister accused Apollo of timing dramatic exits.
‘Hey…’
‘Ariadne. I don’t know what happened, but…’
She grabbed his shoulders and pulled him into a kiss. ‘I love you.’
‘You…’
‘I love you. That’s what was going on. It’s… still scary, but that’s okay.’
She didn’t expect him to start crying. At least she understood why, now.