What If during the Twilight Ares had a wife. What would that mean for Xena and co.
Chapter 1: Of Heirs and Marriages
Zeus was dead. Hera was missing. All of Olympus was in an uproar, his brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles all arguing. That was where Ares was right now, seated on his throne, made out of the skin and bones of the mortals he had slain in battle, in between Athena and Poseidon. The current argument was over who was to be Zeus' successor on the golden throne of Olympus, under normal circumstances a fight would have still ensued, but this time the successor was unknown. There were two groups each arguing for their chosen deity. The first was for himself and the second was for Athena. What had initially started as a debate over the terms of a binding marriage had lead to a full blown screaming match between to two parties. Usually Ares would have been amused by the change in events but now they were really starting to piss him off.
Rising to his feet Ares let out a mighty roar of frustration "All of you just shut up!" When the assembled gods all shrank back or at least stopped talking, momentarily. "Please lady fate, continue."
Clotho stepped forward and began to read from a scroll she held in her hands, Zeus' last will and testament. "I, Zeus as the ruling leader of the Olympian Gods and god of the sky do hereby proclaim that my heir shall be..." The assembled gods all leaned forward expectantly and held their breath in unison. "Athena, goddess of wisdom, warfare and weaving..." The fate was interrupted by a loud cheer echoing from Athena's supporters and a cry of victory from the goddess herself.
"Yes!" Athena screamed in victory.
Ares slumped further in his chair as his sister leapt to her feet. It wasn't that he was shocked, quite the opposite, he had expected that from his father, he had always liked Athena best.
"...and Ares, god of war..." Ares looked up at that, surprise etched onto his handsome face.
"What?" Athena screamed, as shocked looks appeared on the faces of the other gods and whispers started up.
The fate smirked slightly as she read the last words on the parchment "are to be joined in marriage and rule together as both my heirs and King and Queen of Olympus." the fate concluded as she rolled up the parchment, placed a separate scroll on a column and she and her sisters disappeared back to their cave.
"No!" Athena shouted as she fell back onto her throne, continuing to mutter to herself, as she placed her head in her hands. Ares however adopted a thoughtful pose as he tried to comprehend what type of herb his father was smoking when he wrote his will. He and Athena? The idea was preposterous, he and his sister barely got along as it was. It wasn't like his relationship with Aphrodite they got along like peaches and cream. Ares was broken from his reverie as Apollo walked up to the column and picked up the scroll. Ares drew his dagger from his belt and flicked it at Apollo, his aim was impeccable and Apollo quickly dropped the scroll back onto the column. Apollo grabbed the hilt of the dagger and pulled it out of his forearm, a sliver of golden ichor slipped out of the wound before Apollo lifted his other hand to heal it.
"Nobody touches that scroll except me." Ares spoke darkly as he stood up from his throne and walked to the column. Everyone else wisely kept quiet as Ares spoke, all except one.
"Oh you'd like that wouldn't you," Athena muttered angrily as she stood up, her horror gone and replaced with a fiery hate. "well you can forget it I am Zeus' heir and I am Queen now, so you can take that scroll and stick it up your..."
"Everyone look!" Discord yelled as she looked in the scrying bowl. Other minor gods such as Hebe and Deimos surrounding her.
"What is it Discord?" Ares spoke confused as to what could be so important as to disturb the meeting.
The minor gods shrunk back as the ten major gods crowded around the bowl. They looked curiously looked into the bowl and they saw a pristine, lush forest and in a small clearing was the warrior princess, Xena, her companion Gabrielle and Hercules. The gods looked on in horror as they saw Hercules hand Xena a large, curved and white object which they recognised as one of Cronos' ribs.
"This is all your fault Ares!" Athena screamed as she whipped away from the scene to confront her brother. "if you had just done away with Xena when you had the chance none of this would have happened!"
"Don't you dare try and pin this mess on me sister, this has Hercules' handiwork written all over it. You and I both know that if he hadn't chosen his friend over his family then we wouldn't be in this predicament in the first place." Ares glared at his sister, already sick of hearing about his supposed shortcomings as both a god and a man.
The silence that came after Ares had spoken was becoming a bit awkward until Poseidon broke it with what he thought was a funny joke. "So when's the wedding, you two." he chortled and one by one the other gods, aside from Athena and Ares, started laughing. Athena went bright red and ducked her head, hiding her lovely face from view. Ares took that moment to contemplate marriage with his sister. It wasn't as if he didn't find his sister attractive, quite the opposite actually he found her to be one of the most beautiful goddesses he'd ever met, but it was her pride in maintaining a distance with all men, apart from their father, that had created a strain in their relationship as well as the competition for top war god that had taken place for centuries. But she was also intelligent, a great tactician and an excellent fighter. All in all Ares figured that out of all the sister's he could have to marry, Athena wasn't so bad.
Meanwhile in the Mortal Realm
Hercules was watching as Xena and Gabrielle crowded around the new baby, Eve. She was a beautiful baby, Hercules had to admit, she had her mother's hair and ice blue eyes and a cute button nose Hercules assumed she got from her other parent of sorts Callisto. The fate of Xena's newborn daughter was what had him worried at the moment, which was precisely why he had given Xena the rib he had acquired with Hera's help. The continuous rolling thunder concerned Hercules, he knew enough of the gods to know that Olympus was in an uproar over the deaths of their King and Queen and that he would eventually become a target of their collected wrath which would most likely end in a speedy trial for which he would be found guilty of maliciously murdering Zeus and they would most likely find a way to pin Hera's disappearance on him as well, despite his best intentions things were not looking good for the son of Zeus.
Like Hercules, Xena was also worried for the fate of her newborn child, as she had just discovered the gods of Olympus were determined to exterminate her life and Ares had made her a frightening offer that if she were to give him a child then he would save them from the combined wrath of the Olympians. The very thought of such a proposal made Xena feel sick to her stomach, she was certain that Ares would not only make a terrible father but that he was up to one of his old tricks and was only making the offer to trick her into lying with him and he would not keep true to his word, therefore trusting Ares was akin to death.
"Hercules." Xena called.
Hercules looked up from his musings and walked over to where Xena was sitting, still holding Eve in her arms.
"What is it Xena?"Hercules asked wondering what could tear a new mother from the joys of newfound motherhood.
"I'm concerned Hercules, about the gods, what are we going to do? I know that you have given me a rib of Cronos but there is only so much we can do. I can't take on more than one at a time and why haven't we been attacked by the other gods yet?"
"I don't know Xena all I can think of is that you have them spooked and they are biding their time, assembling their forces and planning their next move. That would be my best guess. As for when they're going to attack I have no idea, but I promise you Xena I would rather die than help them kill your child."
"Thank you Hercules." Xena whispered gratefully, as she rocked the baby to sleep and she looked to an uncertain future.
High on Mount Olympus the goddess Athena was sitting in her private quarters dressed in a beautiful virgin white wedding dress, with golden trimming, and a white veil obscuring her face from view. Finally a golden crown, adorned with fabulous gems, sat on top of her lustrous auburn ringlets. Tears of sorrow were following freely down her face, as she cried for her lost life. Today she was to marry her brother Ares and chain herself to him, forever. Aphrodite, Artemis and Discord, all dressed in gold, were attempting to comfort their sister as they prepared her for the ceremony that was to take place in a few minutes. Athena was having trouble just contemplating how her father could destroy her life like this, it wasn't her fault that the laws of Olympus did not allow a divorce and that her legitimacy as heir of Olympus was under debate due to her birthday being the same as her brother's and the fact that her mother Metis was still very much alive inside of her father, at least until he was killed. Athena continued to sob as Discord lifted the veil to reveal her tearstained face, Athena looked up at her with red eyes and did nothing as her sister gently wiped the tears from her face.
"Are you alright Athena?" Discord asked concerned, her dark eyes, so like Ares' searching her sister's face worriedly.
"Do I look like I'm alright Eris?" Athena asked anger slowly overcoming the despair she had been feeling moments ago. "do I look like I want to marry your stupid brother?"
"I never suggested that you wanted to marry Ares, Athena. I, that is, we are concerned for you. We don't want you to let this marriage destroy who you are."
"What are you talking about Eris, of course this marriage is going to destroy who I am. I have prided myself on being a virgin goddess for centuries and now I am expected to spread my legs for Ares, whom I do not love and give it all up because our father was too much of a snivelling coward to just name one of us as his heir." Athena concluded as her eyes filled with fresh tears and she lowered her head into her hands and continued to sob.
Discord shared a look with Aphrodite and Artemis as she shook her head and they left their heartbroken sister to deal with her grief.
Meanwhile Ares and the other gods where waiting in the main hall for Athena to arrive. Ares turned at three bright sparkles of light as Artemis, Aphrodite and Discord arrived in the main hall. Discord turned and walked up to Ares, she whispered something into his ear and then disappeared again to be with Athena.
Athena looked up as Discord appeared back in her room, a rag in her hand. Athena lifted her head as she sister whipped her face clean and reapplied her makeup.
"Are you ready?" Discord asked tentatively "Ares is waiting."
"I'm ready," Athena sniffed and then stood up smoothing her dress down once she stood. "let's go."
The two goddesses disappeared and then reappeared in the main hall. Athena walked the small distance to the altar. Ares reached out a hand and took his sister's, he squeezed her hand slightly as she shot him a nervous glance and he reassuringly stroked her cheek. She smiled slightly as they both turned to look at Hestia, as she began the ceremony.
"Hear me gods and goddesses, today we are here to bind Ares, god of war and Athena, goddess of wisdom, warfare and weaving, in marriage. Gods first."
"With this hand I will lift your sorrows, your cup will never empty for I will be your wine, with this candle I will light your way in darkness with this ring I ask you to be mine*." Ares spoke confidently as he looked into his sister's clear sky blue eyes and lifted her left hand to place a stunning golden wedding band encrusted with rubies onto her finger.
"Now you." Hestia spoke looking at her niece.
"With this hand I will lift you sorrows, your cup will never empty for I will be your wine, with this candle I will light your way in darkness, with this ring I ask you to be mine." Athena spoke her voice cracking on the last syllable, as she placed a similar looking ring, encrusted with sapphires instead of rubies, onto his finger.
"Ares, you may now kiss your bride."
Ares leaned in and lifted the veil, revealing her face, cupped her face in his hands and kissed her gently on the lips. Hestia muttered an incantation as she bound their union forever. Athena broke the kiss as she looked up at her brother now husband from beneath her long lashes. Ares tangled his fingers into her hair, marvelling at the softness. Athena gave him a confused look before turning to face the crowd which had exploded into applause at their kiss. Ares just smiled at her, which only confused her more, and turned to shake hands with Apollo. Off to one side Hermes and Strife were speaking quietly to themselves as the newlyweds acceppted congradulations from the other gods.
"Aunty 'Ena sure looks great huh Hermes." Strife spoke his blue eyes taking in the wedding party as the gods continued to mill around Ares and Athena.
"Yes, she does, but more to the point Strife this will be a great opportunity for the House of War wont it?"
"Wadda ya mean Herm?"
"Well now that both Athena and Ares are King and Queen, the House of War is surely to get their way with petitions including those how best to deal with Xena."
"Too right Herm too right." Strife muttered as he and Hermes made their way to the mortal realm to begin telling the high priests and priestesses of the new King and Queen of Olympus.
A/N: So that concludes chappie 1 yay plz read and review peeps ty