"I'm not sure what to tell you."
"He drinks blood?"
"Correction – he tends to consume blood during battle, without actually meaning to."
"That looked pretty deliberate to me!" Hephaestus dropped his head back on the couch and stared at the ceiling.
"Hades, help me."
"I'm not sure I can. Rei, please, find a spot and sit down." The small child giggled and did as told, climbing into Hera's lap and settling there, leaning back into her arms. The goddess rested her chin on her granddaughter's head, staring into space. Hephaestus sighed and murmured, "This isn't a new event; granted, he never collapsed after battle, but this was his first contact with his broken half – that may very well be what caused him to..."
"Rip someone's throat out and drink their blood?"
"Apollo, you're obsessing." The light god collapsed into the armchair across from his uncle, glaring at him.
"I just want an explanation. I imagine I'm not the only one! Hephaestus, we didn't grow up with Ares! Even when we did live with him for any amount of time on Olympus, he was usually out in battle, and those few times he hung around he was causing trouble – don't deny it." Hephaestus closed his mouth and shook his head.
"You're right, of course, but Apollo, I don't actually know anymore about Ares's past behaviors than you. None of us do. He wasn't close to us before Rome took over. After I found out I was Fallen, any closeness we once had evaporated." He shook his hair out of his face and stared up the stairs, wondering if Ares was awake yet. As if in answer to his question, Rei suddenly wriggled free of Hera and clambered up the stairs, giggling the entire time. Seconds later, Ares appeared with her in his arms, tugging one of her pigtails.
"You are a rather loud child, minx. That will never hold up if you intend to follow either your mother's or my own footsteps." The child merely buried her face in his chest, cuddling her beloved father like a teddy bear. He snorted at her reaction and joined Hephaestus on the couch, adjusting himself so that Athena could lean against him while Rei sat in his lap. Zeus eyed his son critically, taking in the dark shadows under his eyes and the slight grayness of his skin.
"You didn't sleep well." The personification of slaughter grimaced and ran his fingers through Athena's hair.
"I did not. I had...some problems, I suppose." Before he could elaborate or Apollo could ask about what had happened in the wasteland, their surroundings twisted and snapped, leaving them on Olympus when they had previously been on Earth. Rei let out a startled yelp and squirmed away from her father, running to Lucian, who caught her and lifted her to his hip.
"That's the Fates' call. We can't...we aren't allowed to be in their presence yet." He stepped back, eyes glittering with anger and fear as Rei buried her face in his chest, shaking.
"We'll go back now; we can return in a week, and no one will have to face any repercussions for us being here." Hera stared at her youngest, confusion darkening her eyes.
"Repercussions? Why would there be repercussions-"
"They will see you now." The gathered pantheon turned almost as one. Thanatos stood in front of the marble slab that passed as a door to the Fates abode on Olympus, arms wrapped tightly around himself, eyeing the ground sullenly.
"I'll take them back to the Time Lord; you...deal with this."
One of the few things that humanity had gotten right was the gods' fear of the Fates; they certainly weren't willing to cross them. No, they didn't technically control prophecy, but their control of the life cycle alone was more powerful than most of the other gods' abilities combined. Of late, however, Zeus had noticed more and more that Ares didn't view the Fates with fear at all – he viewed them with scorn, at best. Now he observed his son's disgust unimpeded by other events as the three crones waved them to stand in front of a panel of white glass.
"It is time you knew the truth of the bloody reign the past's mists have tainted so easily in your narrow minds." Ares hissed under his breath, stepping a bit away from his family. Clotho's eyes snapped to the irritated god.
"You would have this deceit continue, lord of blood." Ares snorted.
"Continue to be cryptic, or do something shocking, hag, and simply tell us why we're here." Lachesis hissed at his tone, even as Atropos touched her shoulder lightly, nodding towards the glass.
"They will see." The middle Fate nodded sharply and touched a gloved hand to the glass, dragging her nails down its surface.
"You will see the events that shaped this future, and the lies that have clouded your change so far. Olympus has long hidden its new lord's secrets." Ares's choked gasp was drowned out by the roar of wind as the white suddenly drained away, replaced by an image Athena had long thought she'd forgotten; Athens being attacked by the Spartans. It was barely there a full second before other images rushed across the 'screen', finally halting in the Underworld, where a teenaged Hephaestus knelt over his seemingly dead brother, trying desperately to wake him as Hades drew nearer. Ares's eyes snapped open, and he gently pushed his brother back, sitting up stiffly, wincing as wounds he hadn't yet gathered twinged.
"I am fine – you just knocked me out. Calm down." Hades joined his nephews, examining Ares only briefly, before informing Hephaestus quietly that he was Fallen, and had somehow inherited his mother's curse, something that had, before then, been deemed impossible. The screen rippled, and they were in the midst of the Titanomachy; Ares was cutting through the Titan army indiscriminately, a glimpse at what slaughter would later become. He paused, glancing down and by chance meeting Athena's eyes, seconds after she'd killed Pallas. They stared at each other, before breaking away, re-entering the fray with little thought as to what had passed between them.
Images continued to race across the screen; Demeter's anguish at Persephone's kidnap. Artemis's fury at her brother's part in Orion's death. Hera and Zeus's steadily collapsing marriage. Ares and Aphrodite's affair. They froze again on Troy, watching Ares destroying thousands of humans without thought, flanked by Enyalius and Enyo, while Phobos, Deimos, and Eris wreaked havoc ahead of him. Blood spattered Ares tore through opponents with elation, even pausing more than once to taste the blood of his fallen foes, before moving on to instill more terror in the battle-weary humans.
A brief battle between Ares and Athena was almost instantly halted by Zeus, who ordered all gods to return to Olympus, away from the mortal war. The images raced again, now halting on Delphi, where Ares stood unnoticed behind a pair of Spartans waiting for their king. As the humans left, the Oracle called to the god, eyeing him warily.
"You will gain nothing in attacking Athens." The god tilted his head at her, smirking ever so slightly.
"You assume I want to gain something."
"You deny your true self. You wouldn't dare move against Athena." A barely noticeable motion, and the Oracle cried out, hand flying to her cheek, where a thin cut had appeared.
"You would be shocked at what I would dare." The Oracle's eyes followed the god out, shadowed with horror.
They returned to Athens, parts of the city burning, most of it in chaos as the Spartans moved constantly closer, emboldened by the god of war's backing. Ares stood on an outcropping, flanked this time by Enyo and Eris, watching his three sons tear through the city. Poseidon materialized beside him, eyeing the temple.
"Your lust will get you killed one day, Uncle. You are lucky Athena wouldn't dare attack you." Poseidon glared at his nephew, who stared over the city impassively.
"Something, I assume, you would have no problems with."
"I'm not particularly afraid of you, Poseidon. Go play, but when I burn the temple, I hope you will have left the premises. I would hate to harm an ally so useful as you." The sea god stared at him in something akin to horror for a moment, before disappearing. The sacking continued for minutes, hours in real time, when Nike appeared over the city, furious. Ares looked up at her, amused, before summoning his sons to his side.
"I would normally discourage it, but if you want..." Phobos and Deimos needed no more prompting; a battle ensued above the city, while Enyalius opted to return to the humans. Athena's arrival was a relief to the Athenians, soon turned to terror when Ares willingly engaged his sister, and brutally so. Athena felt cold wash through her as she remembered the battle – Ares had never before shown such skill, and had never before shown such willingness to harm her.
Their previous rivalry exploded into hate, a furious battle that would have ended in death, only stopped when Cratus, Zelos, and Bia appeared to save their sister and tell Zeus what had occurred. Months were shown on Olympus, with Ares nowhere in sight. It finally came to Rome's attacks, and the Roman pantheon's final engagement with the Olympians, ending on Olympus.
Mars and Minerva hadn't bothered with anyone other than Athena, who fought them alone, much to Zeus's dismay. She had been disarmed and backed into a corner, far from the rest of the pantheon, unable to send for Nike or any of her siblings, when Mars had suddenly been yanked back, thrown hard into the far wall. Minerva suddenly found herself engaged by a previously absent Ares, who easily defeated her and drove both Romans back towards the main battle, followed instantly by Athena, who took on Mars upon reaching the throne room. Both Greek gods were surrounded by their family and driven back.
The glass went black, cracked, and disintegrated. For a moment, it seemed as if they were in a vacuum, shattered by the sound of the marble slab behind them crumbling as Ares strode out of the room. The Fates stared after him, white eyes swirling with various emotions, chief among them being fear.
"The reign of slaughter begins again."
A/N: Well looky here - more Ares-centric scribbles. Specifically, this is a 'verse I created when I first started experimenting with Ares/Athena. This doesn't have much plot, but I might do little drabbles within the 'verse. Who knows. I just felt like posting this. ...I like writing badass violent Ares. ...XD
Quick explanation on the vague premise of this 'verse; the pantheons have been operating as celebrities of a sort in the modern age. One day, some creepy doppelgangers slaughter some of the most ancient gods, and throw the divine community into chaos. A group of mysterious children (from Rei's age to late teens) appear amidst the pantheons, including Rei and Lucian, who are revealed by the 'Time Lord' (a mortal blessed by Chronos, I HATE that title with a burning passion) who brought them from the future to be the children of Ares and Athena, and Zeus and Hera, respectively. In the future, the doppelgangers have all but won; the original six Olympians are in a frozen state, and the second generation Olympians, as it were, are losing the war. Persephone opens Tartarus and uses the resulting power from the Titans to send Lucian and Rei forward in time to alter the course of history in hopes of turning the tide again.