The massive bronze machines stumbled and slid into the gaping maw of the earth, the crunch of metal beneath stone deafening. And yet for every three felled, another five surged forward, heedless of the blasts of fire and lightning from above, spiteful of the inhuman beings struggling against their alien might.
He curled his fingers around the bolt of lightning, eyes never leaving the small group lazily ascending the mountain. Behind him, the ragged pantheon struggled to regain some composure; his wife's eyes burned with guilty rage, her gaze boring into him, and yet he refused to turn. Beside him, his beloved daughter shifted her weight from one foot to another, adjusting her grip on the golden spear in her left hand, gray eyes weary.
"What of Kratos? Herakles?" He dropped his eyes and shook his head slowly. She straightened abruptly, jaw tightening.
"I will go-"
"You will not." She fell silent, eyes pleading. He ignored the desperate gaze, finally turning from the window to look at his crumbling family. Weary, uneasy gazes met his, but none faltered.
"What now, brother? Ever do they advance. Their strengths are as our own, and yet they continue to gain ground." He closed his eyes.
"It is as Poseidon says, father," Apollo murmured, fingers clutching his bow in a white-knuckled grip. Beside him, Artemis made a similar sight; indeed, no god had relinquished their weapons since that morning.
"I know." He exhaled shakily, jaw tightening as he turned away from them again.
"Hermes." The youthful god moved to his side, muscles tensed as if to flee.
"Where is Ares?" A wave of tense movement rippled through the pantheon; darting, accusing glances, guiltily averted eyes, clenched fists. Athena swept forward.
"We must face them without him – as if he would have done us any good in this battle!"
"Such faith, sister. I am relieved to be unburdened of my fears – what need, indeed, would you have of me, Father?" The pantheon again shifted as one, but not one gaze offered welcome. Ares absently pushed the half-crushed door aside with a flick of power, cocky sneer firmly affixed to his face. Zeus met his gaze with angry defiance, but did not speak. Athena was not possessed of such restraint.
"You come to us now, from your cowardly den beneath the earth, when all hope is lost? You seek to enamor yourself with us, to stand a hero on the brink of disaster? You are worse than a coward!" Apollo's gaze flicked between the war gods, a shock of cold bolting down his spine. Ares did not rise to the bait; his expression did not waver, and his easy stance did not shift. He did not care. Now Hera spoke, rising to stand beside her husband, eyes dark with anger.
"Why then do you rejoin us, son of mine?" Now his expression flickered, and now fear rose to seize the god of light's heart.
"Call me coward, traitor, scum – but do not claim me as your son, when you and all others despise me with a depth unknown to any other being." His eyes lit upon Hephaestus, and inexplicably softened.
"I am nothing if not reliable," he drawled, stepping away from his family.
"I am a coward and a traitor both – but I feel no remorse for my choice. No, I wish only that I could have ended this sooner." He nodded to the scarred smith god and turned away, absently summoning his sword as he strode toward the doors. As he strode out, in came the invaders, no hesitance or fear in their step or visage. The nearest rested a gold-clad hand on Ares's shoulder, eyes asking a thousand questions, though he voiced only one.
"We are finished here, then?" The war god let his head fall back, exhaling.
"It is time for this, the throne of a god's hubris, to fall. Give my regards to Hades...and exercise some little mercy. They can no more help what they are than I."
Athena's eyes were wide with shock, her lips parted in a hastily swallowed retort, but still Ares strode away, and for all her great power, she could not let him go without striking him once more.
"Does our shared blood mean nothing to you? Have you no honor in heart or mind?" The eleven invaders formed a loose chain before the door, approaching impassively, leaving it to them to fight or surrender. Ares halted just outside the door, letting his eyes fall shut as the cries of both sides filled his ears.
"Ours was a bond of hate, not blood – and if ever I could have loved, it was for you, sister, the only one I could not defeat."
The wheel turned and a new power rose; a great wave of wrath and land hunger, and a veiled lust of vengeance. Wolves dances amidst the clouds eagles had once ruled without sight of enemies beside. Wild dogs roamed the earthly battlefields and now and again an owl's corpse might be found where no owl would have flown. Mighty Rome devoured all before her, and her beloved celestial general watched with unblinking eyes, his mind turned wistfully from battle to the ease of his past life – now drowned in the blood he'd denied.
A/N: -singsong- Half-$$'d oneshot is half-$$'d.
Urg. The premise here is that Ares becomes Mars by betraying the Olympians to the new Roman pantheon, despite a hinted presumably unrequited love for Athena that would normally -in my world- have kept him loyal.
Am I the only one who feels like Ares gets a bad rap regardless of what he does? I mean, come on guys. He's the personification of slaughter - give him a break! Even his parents hate him. ...But then, maybe it's just me.
It's currently 1 in the morning, this took me maybe half an hour to get out there. Still sucks. XD R&R, please?
Roc -ever an Ares fan- out.