The Fury of War

by DJPet

What if Ares, the Greek God of War, quit? Like just left? For years he was hated, mocked and generally disliked by everyone save for a few people. One day, he finally snapped and left Olympus. Evil stirs in Tartarus however. A being Ares slayed long ago begins to awaken. Will he be convinced to return and face it? (Reimagines 2 tales from PJ's: Greek Gods in the first 2 chapters)

1. The First Trial

I.

The First Trial (Ares)

Ares sat alone in his private quarters on Olympus. As expected from a God of War, it was essentially a fully stocked armory. Rows of swords and spears lined each wall along with shields and a vast selection of more modern weapons like knives and guns. There were also posters of metal bands like Iron Maiden, Megadeth and Judas Priest hanging across the walls. Boxes of spare ammunition and grenades filled up one corner near his closet which was filled with copies of the same outfit. A red undershirt, leather coat and black jeans. There was an old pair of bell bottom jeans in there too. His brother, Hephestus, had insulted them at one point and the ensuing chainsaw battle that followed would go down in Olympian legend. Ares won the duel after giving Hephestus such a close shave, he thought his beard would never grow back. A wall display of sunglasses was also nearby his desk/work table. Sure, he could change his form at will but honestly preferred his selected choice of attire. It gave him a 50s rebellious youth kind of look...although one time he was compared to the character Danny Zuko from Grease by Apollo and Ares responded by smashing Apollo's guitar over his head. He was not liked very much by the other major gods Olympus. Ares clenched his fist just thinking about them. He was blamed for pretty much ANY kind of problem. How was it his fault that half the time Zeus and Hera were at each other's throats? How was it his fault that Zeus couldn't stop fathering children with everyone but his own wife? All of it, ALL OF IT was apparently his fault. He was born angry according to Zeus. Not true Ares thought. Zeus and Hera were constantly yelling at each other rather than take care of him. As a result, he became bitter, resentful and angry which only increased over the years. Ares constantly told himself "The ones that made me, ruined me as well." Then there were the rumors. People liked to spread the rumor that Ares killed small animals for fun when he was young which was completely untrue. Half the time he sat there alone, listening to his parents yell at each other. It also didn't help that the mortals constantly portrayed him as a bloodthirsty monster in their various forms of media. Ares was familiar with that one game God of War but hated being compared to the depiction of himself in it, so much so that whenever someone did, he would threaten to rip that person's arm off and beat them with it. He wouldn't just attack Athens for no reason like that guy...even if he threatened to do so once every 100-ish years. Another story that was commonly told incorrectly was the time he was imprisoned by the giants Ephialtes and Otus. It was told that Ares was forced to fight the giants by the other gods in an effort to rid Olympus of him when in reality he was the only one who saw them coming and confronted them. Yes yes, he was captured and placed in a jar for 13 months. That DID happen. The gods eventually found out and sent Hermes who saved him right before he would have died. They felt awful about leaving him in that jar for that long...even Athena.

Ares picked up a nearby knife and hurled it at the wall where a target was placed. The knife buried itself in the wall up to the hilt through a picture of Zeus. Other pictures were hanging up near Zeus's, those being Hera and Athena.

"Zeus..." he growled. His voice was hoarse with lack of use. How long had he been sitting in here? 3, 4 hours? A day? It didn't really matter. Normally, when on Olympus he was either in his fortress on Olympus, on his throne watching mortals kill each other or in the gym (or his personal dojo) working on his already godly physique because it helped him relieve his pent up feelings. Sometimes he would practice javelin throwing or his jump shot on the basketball court. He could sink 3's all day if he wanted to. Ares got up and removed the knife from the wall, the hole it made sealing itself immediately. He looked at the pictures of Zeus and Hera. His parents. How he HATED the both of them. Hera showed a bit more restraint in her hate for him, possibly due to the fact that either A.) her other son was Hephestus or B.) Ares had saved her from imprisonment once. Despite that, Hera was still quick to call Ares a disappointment. Even after he sent her a Mother Day's card every year. At least he wasn't thrown off of Olympus as soon as he was born like Hephestus was so there was that. Ares tossed the knife in the air where it spun end over end a few times before he caught it by the handle and drove it into the wall again, this time through Athena's head. His eyes burned red hot with anger as he looked at her smug face but subsided just as fast at it had come. He didn't really have the desire to kill anyone in his family. He threatened to. Like ALL the time, but never did it. Mainly because the paperwork would be a nightmare. Ares was a very direct god when it came to other things however. What he said he was going to do, he'd do it without hesitation rather than resort to "metaphorical nonsense" even if his intentions weren't always the best. For example, during the early days of America, he instigated the Boston Massacre which was one of the starting points of the Revolutionary War. He was tired of the scenery in Great Britain and wanted to move west to this "New World" so he mentioned, in passing, "Hey guys, watch me piss off these British soldiers!" and then did it. He was also the one that fired the famous Shot Heard Round the World thus starting the battle of Lexington. Sure, he was punished because of this (something regarding opera but he couldn't quite remember or at least, didn't want to) but ended up helping the Colonists win the war in the end by persuading the French to assist...although his ORIGINAL intention was to get them to fight with England again.

Ares looked around his room, taking in the scenery. It was lit by an array of torches which he could light and extinguish with a snap of his fingers. His giant fortress was originally in the mountains of Thrace which is where he routinely stayed. Since moving to America, his fortress was now integrated onto Olympus. He used his Olympian apartment (standard issue for all Olympian gods) as a spare armory and snack storage. Multiple rooms filled with weapons (much like his bedroom), armor, weapons mortals sacrificed to him and spoils of war. There were also rooms for the minor war gods that guarded his fortress from invaders. Enyo, Eris, Phobos, Deimos, Bia and many others lived there, each with their own respected quarters. Ares thought back to the ancient times. He wasn't loved back then either. The only place that liked him was Sparta, a place which he frequently visited with his sons. He often helped the women of Sparta hone their fighting skills. Just thinking about Sparta reminded him of his favorite demigod son from that time, King Leonidas I. Gods were normally aloof parents but Ares made an exception for him. He was very involved in Leonidas's life, helping him train warriors and advising him on how to lead Sparta to glory. He did so for almost 60 years. Unfortunately Leonidas perished along with many others at the Battle of Thermopylae, which Ares believed was his greatest regret. He had wanted to help but Zeus had ordered him not to interfere. He normally went against Zeus's orders but this time he had faith in his son's ability to hold off the Persians and followed the orders his father gave him. He soon found out that his son was betrayed and ended up dying anyway. The scream of grief and fury that left his body that day was legendary. Athena sometimes brought this up when he angered her greatly and that caused him to lose his temper. One example of this was during Olympian game night during a game of Axis and Allies. Ares (US) was against Athena (Japan), which was commonplace whenever they played wargames. The game started out as usual, Athena was winning but in a rare twist, Ares started to retaliate. The game was so intense that the others stopped in order to watch Ares's amazing comeback providing commentary and statements about Ares's tactics. The most shocking part was how Ares remained calm and ignored the comments of the others (save for Aphrodite's) as his turns passed while Athena became more and more agitated. Some of them even thought Ares had assumed his Roman form of Mars who was less reckless. Ares finished his final turn by capturing Rome, just barely getting him a Standard Victory which was controlling 9 cities. Everyone else didn't realize Ares had won until he wagged his finger in front of Athena as she started to attack San Francisco and counted his conquered cities on the board and the room went completely silent. Athena only had 8 and was intending to make San Francisco her final one which Ares had left undefended. Ares had pumped his fists in celebration, got a high five from Hermes and even got a small nod of approval from Zeus. Athena, however, decided to be a sore loser that evening and told Ares he succeeded where Leonidas had failed. It took the combined effort of Hermes and Aphrodite to hold Ares back as he was threatening to cave her skull in for even mentioning Leonidas.

Ares shook his head violently when his mind landed on Leonidas. Not now he thought. He often dreamed about that battle, watching his son die, calling for his aid that never came. He often woke up in a cold sweat when it happened. Aphrodite was not there to calm him either. Ares knew that if he continued to dwell on Leonidas, his fortress would have a bunch of new cracks running up the walls as well as a few Ares-sized holes. He relieved some of this anger by repeatedly stabbing the picture of Athena on the wall, who was usually the first to ridicule him. However, there was one time he felt he did deserve ridicule from his fellows. He was tricked by a young demi-god named Luke Castellan (and indirectly, Kronos) a few years ago into almost starting a war between his father and uncles but ultimately was thwarted (and...most embarrassingly...wounded) by Percy Jackson. He hadn't lived that down for a few months. Ares smirked when he thought of Jackson. Initially he hated the little punk for wounding him at his own game but once he saw that he was romantically involved with one of Athena's children, a girl named...Annabeth...yes, that was her name, that softened him a bit. The girl had even helped rebuild Ares fortress on Olympus, of course he had to remove the "Athens Rules, Sparta Sucks!" graffiti almost immediately. Still, the fact that Athena's daughter was dating a son of Poseidon, another of her rivals, angered her slightly which made Ares happy. Ares himself didn't care who his children dated, as long as he saw that they were happy. Ares removed his knife from the wall again and placed it on the nearby table and sat on his bed. His mind traveled back to a time where he dueled a different son of Poseidon, a man named...Hilary?...no, that wasn't it….Harry?...No, it was a Greek name...Athenian...typical. Ares snapped his fingers and said, to the empty room,

"Halirrhothius! That little scumbag." The torches went out. Ares sighed in exasperation.

"Lousy, piece of-" He snapped again and the torches lit.

He recalled that day with little difficulty. Back then, he wasn't in his 1950s biker look. He wore a sleeveless gold muscle currias with a ripped red cape attached to his back. A blood red chiton sat underneath the currias and it's length covered his groin. The helmet he wore bore a frightening visage and was topped with a mohawk of red horse hair. Sometimes, Ares would cause it to be engulfed in flames. He also wore full foot and leg protection rather than just sandals and greaves. He had been on Olympus, minding his own business, when he suddenly heard a young woman's voice calling his name. Ares stopped what he was doing, in this case sharpening his spear, to listen. He must have misheard and went back to his task. A few seconds later, he heard the voice again, just saying his name,

"Ares...Ares…" Thinking it was a mortal who needed his help in killing something, Ares responded,

"Who dares call the mighty Ares?!" his voice shook his empty room. The voice that was calling to him, which sounded terrified said

"Father?! It's Alcippe! Hurry, Halirrhothius is trying to-" Ares heard the sound of banging on wood which drowned out the rest of Alcippe's words. Ares tried to remember who this woman was. The name Aglauros stuck out in his mind. Ares recalled who this woman was, she must be this girl's mother. Another memory floated to his mind, it was the first time he saw Alcippe. He remembered seeing the young child reach her tiny arms toward him. Ares addressed Alcippe with concern in his voice,

"He what? What's he doing? Speak up girl"

"He won't leave me alone! Father, please help me! I think he intends to-" again a loud smashing interrupted Alcippe and Ares heard a male voice say something like

"There you are! Come here girl and I will show you what a man feels like!" Ares's eyes widened with shock and anger. He knew what this man was trying to do. He dropped his spear on his bed and fled from Olympus. Ares appeared outside a white marble building and heard faint scuffling noises coming from deep within. This must be where Alcippe called him from. He dashed inside, his footsteps echoing throughout the empty rooms. Eventually, he came upon discarded clothing. Upon closer inspection, he saw that there was a tunic and pants, both of which lie in a heap near a completely destroyed door. The voices he heard were much more distinct, a man laughing and a woman crying. Ares barged into the room and his helmet ignited in flames. Upon seeing a man pressing his naked daughter against the wall near the foot of the medium sized statue of himself, Ares roared,

"BOY. JUST WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?!" The man looked over at the sound of Ares's voice and his expression turned from evil glee to outright horror. He extricated himself from the crying woman, who fell to the ground, her arms reaching out towards Ares. Ares was again transported to the time where he met Alcippe and his rage intensified tenfold. The man, who must be Halirrhothius, said

"L-Lord Ares! It's uh...it's not what you think, I was just...GAK!" Ares had crossed the room in 2 strides and grabbed him by the throat, squeezing his fingers together with murderous intent. Ares drew Halirrhothius's face level with him as Halirrhothius grasped desperately at his fingers and shouted

"Not what I think?! NOT WHAT I THINK?! Want to know what I think?! I think that you were forcing yourself onto this woman! I'm betting either Zeus or Poseidon is your father. Do you know who this woman is, boy?!" Halirrhothius continued to claw at Ares's hand but managed to choke,

"No." Ares looked directly into Halirrhothius's eyes which were wide with fear. His face began to turn blue. His eyebrows started to sizzle from the fire surrounding Ares's helmet. Through gritted teeth, he said

"My. Daughter." Halirrhothius barely had time to gasp in horror before Ares reached over with his other hand and tore his head off. Halirrhothius's arms stopped grasping at Ares's hand and went limp. His eyes rolled back and his mouth remained open in a silent scream. Alcippe looked on in horror, she was still naked but too scared to approach her father. Ares threw the body of Halirrhothius aside, dropped his head on the floor and crushed it with his foot while snarling loudly. He lifted his foot, now dripping with blood and crushed flesh, and scraped it off on the floor muttering obscenities. After his boot was somewhat clean, he looked towards Alcippe. The flames around his helmet extinguished and he lifted it to the top of his head. He picked up Alcippe's sleeveless dress which was on the floor near the smashed head of Halirrhothius and gave it to her. She took it with shaking hands, tear tracks glistening down her face. Ares gave her a soft pat on the back, wiped the tears from her face and some of the dirt off her shoulders and said,

"It's alright. Dad got him. Call me again if more scum like this decide to attack you. Warriors stick together. Oh, and say 'hi' to your mother for me" he teleported back to Olympus. He didn't exactly return to a warm welcome. As soon as Ares stepped foot on Olympus, his uncle Poseidon was in his face looking furious.

"What did you just do?!" he yelled, spraying Ares with spit.

"Excuse me?" Ares responded

"Did you, or did you not just murder my son?!" Ares raised his eyebrows, NOW Poseidon cares about his children?

"Gee Fish Face, that narrows it down. You have a lot of those" he said.

"Halirrhothius! You just ripped his head off!" Poseidon roared.

"Oh, you mean the guy I found assaulting a young woman? That guy? Then yes. Yes I did" Ares folded his arms in defiance. To Ares's great dismay, Poseidon didn't stop yelling

"You killed my son!"

"Your son assaulted an innocent girl! He must've learned that from you!" Both kept shouting at each other before Zeus came over, much to Ares's chagrin.

"What in the name of Olympus is going on here brother? What did the boy do this time?" Ares bared his teeth in a snarl. He HATED when Zeus called him "boy."

"He killed my son! I demand he be put on trial!"

"Only because the little creep-" Ares began to explain but Zeus cut him off.

"Why is it always you boy? Why do you consistently find new ways to anger your mother and myself?"

"Dunno, could it be the fact that I was never shown any-" Ares began but was cut off by Zeus...again.

"It was a rhetorical question. I'm going to put you on trial anyway. That way everyone else can see what a colossal failure you are and that I can show them how much I hate you boy"

Later, Ares found himself in front of the other 11 Olympians on an outcropping of rock on a sunny day in Athens...again, typical. It's ALWAYS Athena. She was Zeus's favorite. She could do no wrong in his eyes but if Ares had done ANY of the dark deeds she had done, he would have been thrown into Tartarus without question. Speaking of Athena, there she sat in her throne to the left of Zeus looking down at Ares with her grey eyes. Ares thought he saw her lip twitch into a gloating smirk every so often. Ares wanted to punch her in the face with all his might but resisted, he had to keep his cool lest he get in even bigger trouble. The amount of dirt that he had on Athena would be able to fertilize Demeter's entire garden. Twice. Ares filed that information away to use at a later date. He looked around at the other gods. Poseidon was staring daggers at him, his own mother, Hera, looked at him with disgust, Dionysus looked bored, Apollo sat tuning a lyre, Demeter and Artemis faces were unreadable, Hermes was busy reading a message and Hephestus was tinkering with his leg. The only one that looked somewhat worried was Aphrodite and she looked ready to hurl Poseidon into the stratosphere. Seeing her looking so concerned about him softened Ares a little. If anyone on Olympus could calm him down, it was Aphrodite. Zeus suddenly spoke,

"I call this court to order! Ares, my son," Zeus scowled slightly when he said the word "son"

"You stand accused of murdering my nephew Halirrhothius in cold blood. Is this correct?"

Ares didn't answer, he was busy taking in the gorgeous view. He thought about taking Aphrodite here for an afternoon after this nonsense was over.

"Is this correct?" Zeus repeated, thunder booming over his head, "Answer me boy." Ares's gaze snapped to Zeus's and he answered in a mocking tone

"Yes father.I did. It was easy. Like ripping apart a tapestry." Ares stared at Athena and mimed ripping a tapestry, then wiggled his fingers like a spiders' legs and pretended to be scared of them. Athena's face contorted in rage. She opened her mouth to retort, but was stopped by Poseidon, who shouted

"SEE?! He admits it! Toss him off Olympus!" Most of the other Gods nodded in agreement. Athena met Ares's gaze and gave him a 'bad move' kind of look. That almost set Ares anger ablaze. He'd gotten that look before. Ares opened his mouth to insult Athena but saw Aphrodite rigorously shake her head out of the corner of his eye. Ares closed his mouth. Zeus smiled smugly, lightning flashing in his eyes,

"Well now, I think that settles that. What say you boy?" Ares shrugged then put up his hands in mock surrender,

"Ya got me Pops." Zeus's fist clenched. Ares also knew how to push Zeus's buttons as well.

"Hold on a second however, I never actually explained why I ripped that man's head off did I? And I do get a chance to explain myself do I not?" he asked. Ares folded his arms which were still bare and flexed his muscles a little bit. Aphrodite bit the bottom part of her lip as she looked at him. Zeus, annoyed, motioned for Ares to continue.

"Where to begin, where to begin. There I was, in my quarters, you know, minding my own business," Ares emphasized that last part which garnered no reaction, but he continued

"When suddenly I hear this voice call out to me asking for help. It said that Halirrhothius was not leaving her alone. That he was trying to force himself on her. You should know what that's like huh Pops? How bout you uncle?" Both Poseidon and Zeus's brows furrowed in anger. Ares continued,

"So I arrived at the girl's side right? I see that the scumbag is just, just having a grand old time in his opinion. Meanwhile, the girl is reaching toward her savior which is me. So I walk over, grab him by the neck and rip his head off. There. Happy? Hang on. Did I mention that the girl was my daughter? Alcippe. Her mother is Aglaurus. You know her don't you Hermes? Anyway, I killed the man raping my daughter so I was essentially defending my daughters honor. Which is just cause isn't it father? After all, you are also the god of honor and justice as well right?" It was a longshot and he knew it but Ares took it anyway. His mood lightened when he saw that Zeus looked shocked...which was odd because he was the god of lightning. Athena also shared his confusion. Ares wondered if she was surprised at his sudden stroke of wisdom. The other gods started looking at one another wondering what to do with this information. The only one who looked remotely happy was Aphrodite, who smiled warmly at him. Ares glanced at Hephestus, who was busy looking at everyone else, and returned her smile. He still felt a deep sense of dread. What if they all ruled against him? He knew Aphrodite was on his side but that was only one vote. To help himself calm down, he called his spear to him and began to practice with it, hoping no one noticed the mounting fear bubbling to the surface of his godly form. After a short conference between the Olympians, Zeus called for order and looked at his fellows,

"All those for conviction." No one raised their hands which caught Ares by complete surprise causing him to drop his spear. He expected Athena to oppose him as she had done many times before. Even Poseidon was on his side. Guess he didn't care about that little creep after all.

"All those for acquittal" Aphrodite said putting up her hand as well as the rest of the Olympians. Ares was still dumbfounded by the fact that no one voted for his conviction that it took him a moment to register that he was free to go but managed to say,

"Uh...well...Thanks I guess." Zeus looked angry but said, in a voice shaking with rage

"Very well. Ares, you are acquitted of this crime now get out of my sight before I change my mind." Ares gave him a mock bow, gave his mother (as well as Athena) an appreciative nod and returned to his quarters on Olympus, after all he wasn't done sharpening his spear yet.

Ares pulled his mind back to the present. He laid back on his bed, his head swimming with other memories. Flashes of events stuck out more than others. Being wounded twice at Troy, being trapped in that jar by those giants and the fight between his Greek and Roman personality to name a few. A few happier memories flashed past as well. He saw himself and Thanatos picking off mortals for committing war crimes, watching as Athena was mocked for playing a flute by her fellow Olympians and throwing it off Olympus like a little child and many, MANY memories with Aphrodite. He was rocked from these recollections by a knock at the door. He sat up, frowning and said,

"Who is it?" A soft female voice responded, muffled a bit by the door

"Someone you want to see very much." Ares recognized the voice and smiled but decided to have a little fun,

"OH BOY! I can't believe it, it's Scarlett Johansen! Oh damn… I misplaced my autograph book..." The female voice laughed sarcastically

"Ha ha. Just open the door sweetie" Ares, still smiling, got up, dusted off his clothes, adjusted his hair and put on a pair of sunglasses. He walked over to his door, accidentally knocking down a rack of shields in his haste to answer it. He opened the door and there stood his favorite lover, as well as person in all of Olympus, Aphrodite.