14. Moving in

"Hades…Hades…!" Ares yelled the name of the King of Olympus.

In a flash, the God was in the cold room of his throne but he was not alone, all the others gods were with him, impatiently looking around…fearing for what the future could bring.

"It's precisely with you I wanted to talk, nephew. The Fates have spoken with me…Is it true?"

Ares didn't answer. He had just promised Xena that Adam won't be used in this chaos.

"Is it?" Hades insisted.

"It must be." Apollo flatly added.

"You don't want to mess with me right now." Ares warned the God of the Sun.

"Or what?"

"Or…"

"Stop it." Hades intervened before things got out of hand. That was the last thing they needed, really.

"I want to talk to you too uncle, but not with all this audience."

"Ares we voted and we made our decision. We must leave Olympus for the time being. Dahak can come and leave as he pleases. He has the Dagger of Helios as you said. We can't risk losing one of our kind."

"And where was I when you voted?" Ares's anger began to grow. What was this, a game of hide and seek…? "I still think that my fortress is not the place for you folks."

"But it's the only place with enough protection to keep us all safe."

"Now the question is why on earth am I the only one who has one? ...That's just stupid. We can't hide under some rock and wait for…"

"For now, until we find that necessary weapon, it is, if not we are risking ourselves."

"Can I have a moment uncle?"

Hades nodded and dismissed them all. Within seconds they were the only ones in the room.

"Now talk."

"I would be forever thankful not to mention Adam anymore in front of everyone. My son is off limit."

"I know you want to protect him…he is your son after all, but he is the key and our only chance…"

"What makes you think he's the key, why him? He's just a little boy…How could he help?"

"You are right, here's just a boy, but a boy made from love…and you Ares are the God of War. You weren't build to love, that's why he's special."

"That's bullshit. Look… I will do whatever necessary to fight Dahak but as I said…my son is out of the equation."

"Ok…but with a condition. You must receive us all in Macedonia."

"And just how do you expect for us all to leave under the same roof? My place is not Olympus…and Xena and Eve are there too and they are staying. Half of these gods tried to kill my daughter in the past…I don't think that's such a brilliant idea, not to mention that I disagree completely with this nonsense of hiding. We must confront Dahak, now, while he doesn't have all his powers, while he is still weak."

"I do believe that but not before we have all the means to do it. Dahak's powers are great as it is, he killed Discord, and I don't want to lose one more god."

"Me neither uncle but…"

"Why did you look for me?" Hades changed the subject.

Ares couldn't answer when a black smoke rose in the room to reveal the petite dark girl who was none other than the Dark One himself.

"Well…well…well…"

"Well…how is it to be in a woman's body…Quite the experience huh?" Ares sarcastically asked.

"So you know who I really am…For now, alright to answer your question…It gave me access to this place so what can I ask more…I've always dreamt of Olympus." he paced calmly around the table before speaking again. The tension was huge in that room.

"So…you made plans…Interesting…but you can't hide forever you know."

The dagger flew unexpected directly at Hades's throat but luckily Ares's very sharp instincts caught the blade in his hand before the flesh could be touched and throw it back at his enemy before vanishing and taking Hades with him.

"Where are we?" Hades asked when they came out of the ether.

"My fortress."

"Thank you Ares…"

"I can't say gladly."

"Ahh for this too but I was referring at you saving my life."

"That blade wasn't the Dagger of Helios. He would not be that stupid as to simply give it to me."

"Then why risk it?"

"To buy us those seconds to escape. He hates me terribly and I think he'll try to kill us with the first chance he gets."

"I can't stay here without them. We are family Ares. Please grant us all your permission. I will talk to them. The time we will spend here…you won't have one single problem with us…I will personally see to that."

The God of War thought about it for some good minutes until he agreed.

"No words about Adam right?"

"But some of them already know."

"But some don't …Let's keep it that way. Deal?"

The king of the Gods nodded.

In a matter of minutes the God of War had granted permission for all the important gods around the table with the exception of the God of the See who was perfectly safe in his vast realm of oceans and sea.

All of them under one roof….It still wasn't appealing to him but it kinda gave him no choice. He hoped though that Xena would agree.

God after god they made their appearance in his throne room where he was with Hades. After all of them arrived, Ares mentally closed the shield and Hades addressed them.

"Ares allowed us all to stay here for the time being. Before we came here Dahak made an appearance up on Olympus…"

All the gods gasped in horror and looked afraid at their king. "He's still there, but we will take our home back once we have all the resources to fight him. Now our time here I hope that would flow without problems with his Chosen and his children alright?"

They all nodded but Ares knew them better…they were family after all as Hades said. He would need to keep his eyes wide open for them, just in case.

"Thank you." Hestia said to Ares.

"Yeah…well…I have my conditions too." Hades looked at Ares surprised. He did think that the condition was his son but…

"As you know this…I like to think of this place as my house…my home…so don't invade it too much."

"What are you implying?... to stay in our rooms?" Artemis asked laughing but hearing Ares's answer she stopped.

"In a few words yes."

"You can't keep us prisoners." she complained further.

"Just be thankful that you are here and alive too...all of you. Now I thought at where I could keep you and I found a room for each one of you."

"Luckily we have that." Artemis added sarcastically.

He made a gesture to be followed.

Ares showed them all their room and he let the last for his favorite sister.

"Ar…"

"Sis you were so uncharacteristically quiet."

"I hope that my room is big enough…We are two after all." she said, looking at her husband who was chuckling softly behind her.

Ares opened the door just to reveal the same size of the room as the previous ones.

"You are kidding right? How am I supposed to sleep in here…? It's so small and not to mention dark." she changed it in seconds in pink.

"Now it is definitely yours." Ares added.

"Wait…Ar…can't you not move me along your side of the fortress. I would have more…"

"No. It would not be fair to the others would it? Sorry Sis…but you will have to stay here."

She frowned at him but he only vanished with a smile on his face, letting her behind. She was such a child sometimes.

xxx

All this time, morning came about, the sun shinned on the sky. Eve had just woken up and seeing her brother's bed empty she opened the doors to her room just to see a fully awake mother watching over her little brother.

"Mommy…" Xena put her finger to her mouth to shush Eve. The little girl came near the bed careful to not make too much noise. Xena took her daughter in her arms and Eve's arms came tightly around her mother's neck.

"Why is Adam here…?"

"He had a nightmare."

"Mom I'm hungry…"

Xena smiled at her, kissing her head lightly.

"Wait here! I'll be back soon!" Eve nodded and took a place next to Adam, stretching in bed while waiting for her mother's return.

"No…"

Eve shifted lightly at her brother's voice, thinking that he is awake but when her gaze lingered on him she saw his eyes closed.

"Adam."

"No…"

"Adam…"

She shook him…He started to cry and she shook harder.

"Adam?"

The frightened boy finally opened his eyes. "It was only a dream."

"Where is mommy?" he asked afraid, getting out of bed.

"Just stay here…She…"

"No…I want mommy…" he started to weep.

"Don't be a baby." But he run off and opened the doors…Eve went after him worried. She had never seen her brother so restless and afraid.

"Wait for me…"

They turned left, right…and then right and…was it left again or right…?

"Ohh…" Eve sighed. "Now we are lost. I told you to stay put…I am so hungry."

"Eve… look. Mommy is in all these pictures."

The boy forgot about his dream for those moments, being mesmerized by what he was seeing.

"Wow…that's so cool."

"It is." The voice did not belong to either of them so they turned around and looked the stranger in the eye.

"Who are you?" Eve asked taking her little brother's hand in hers, her heart beating faster by the minute.