meraki.

Epilogue - This Love

200 YEARS LATER:

The water coming out of the sink was ice cold, as Artemis washed her hands and forcefully rubbed the bar soap over her fingers to get the smell of her previous customer off her skin.

Unfortunately for her, he belonged to the very large group of people that - going by the name of Unwashed - strongly believed that basic hygiene was a privilege that only rich people would've afforded, risking to endanger the planet and send it right back to the disastrous condition that had almost led it to its end.

His smell had been... very strong and Artemis had had to hide her disgust throughout the whole hour she had spent with him. She could've refused to work with him, after all she could've afforded it, being the best one in what she was doing and having the privilege to choose her own clients from a very long list.

But she always felt guilty whenever she refused someone, knowing that any money could've helped her boss. Especially in those times, where planet Earth and society were slowly starting to get back on their feet, after the dark, dark years in which they had risked their extinction due to their own stupidity and selfishness.

During the year 2100s, life conditions on Earth had slowly become unbearable and toxic, and at the end of the century, everything had reached its breaking point. Apollo and the rest of the Gods had spent the past century trying to help the spirits of nature, the satyrs and every God (minor or not)  trying to help them salvage what could be saved.

It had taken them almost a hundred years to get things back to a tolerable living condition, at least. And that's when Zeus had took it upon himself to try and get some sense into humanity's head.

Artemis hadn't really looked too deep into what her Father had done, because she hadn't wanted to see him at all - not after what he had done to her - but Apollo had told her that he sent her his regards, and that he could've been open to a reconciliation, since he had had enough fun with her.

Perhaps those were the aftermaths of seeing the Western society almost get wiped off the face of the Earth completely - that would've caused the Death of the Gods.

Anna also knew that many minor Gods had died, because people had stopped believing in them, or keeping their memories alive. She didn't have the courage to ask Apollo about Harry/Adonis, too scared to know the answers.

All she had to cling to, now, were the numerous voicemails he had sent her during the life he had spent as Harry Styles on Earth. A thousand voicemails to keep her company. A thousand voicemails that had proved to her that he was - or had been - in love with her.

She was no longer angry at him. It had been 300 years, after all. She had had all the time in the world to work through her anger, and get to a point where she didn't feel like seeking revenge for what he had done to her. Life as a human had also taught her that.

Her heart was still broken, however. There were still moments where she would stop whatever she was doing and fall to her knees and have a good cry, but the reasons had changed, the longer the time went on: at first it had always been a cry over what Adonis had done to her; then she had cried because despite everything she missed him; then she had cried because of his voicemails to her.

And she had regretted telling Apollo to hide her from his sight, back when she had left for Los Angeles. If she hadn't, things could've gone way differently. But it was too late now.

Too much time had passed, and Artemis had started to fear that Adonis might have forgotten her, or moved on. After all, he was the God of beauty and desire.

That was, unless he had died.

Finally feeling like her hands were clean, Artemis got out of her private bathroom in the facility the local government had assigned to her and her co-workers to be able to carry out their business in safety and respecting all the new laws for the environmental preservation - the same ones that Zeus had engraved in everyone's brains when he had decided to take matters into his hands.