Ceres and Desist
A/N: Hi guys, I'm back- so sorry for the looong hiatus! I just graduated from uni three days ago, but I'm not done for a while! I'm starting grad school this fall and I got a job as a research assistant! Whooo! So I guess that means I'll still have my summers off, huh?
ALSO! I can't believe we hit the 100 faves milestone! ^_^ I want to thank everyone who has joined this crazy trip, and as promised let me know what you would like me to write about! Remember don't ask for Orpheus, he'll be around soon enough. It can be a one-shot, heck it could even be a chapter to include in this fic. Lmk what you would like to see and if i get a lot of ideas I'll make a poll and see what the readers would most like.
Just a brief reminder this chapter takes place two weeks after Tomb Sweet Tomb, and hopefully my timeline is back on schedule.
Trigger Warning: Mild cannibalism. You've read the myths- y'all know what's up.
Disclaimer: Chapter 1
"For it is not an enemy who taunts me— then I could bear it.
It is not an adversary who deals insolently with me— then I could hide from him.
But it is you, a man, my equal, my companion, my familiar friend."
- Psalms 55:12-13
Athena found throughout the millennia of living and working at the Olympus mountaintop that not once had there ever been a break in routine. The Trojan War had threatened this balance once, but considering that peace had lasted since the end of the Titanomachy; it was certainly due for one. However, after the debacle with Hades not even three months ago now, Olympus remained strong. Never breaking stride, no matter how many scandals rocked the mount.
And scandals? What better place to have them then at the work place?
Gods would shuffle in from every corner of Greece and parts of Persia to the main office building the way a mortal would for a job. Home of the gods they called it, a meeting place to discuss and control the order of the cosmos for the sake of the people who worshipped them.
Well, it also had some sumptuous additions including to, but not limited to the one hundred lane bowling alley, a fully staffed kitchen ran by Hestia herself, valet parking, the most pristine 'watering hole' that Poseidon had ever seen which was really the largest salt water pool in the cosmos, temples- or 'cubicles' for each god, and the best venue to book any event from a wedding to a birthday party to a declaration of war, or any sort of Bacchanal type event this exclusive country club of the gods could offer.
This home office had its many quirks, but what Athena loved the most about it was being able to sneak into Ares' conference war room in his own private little temple upon the mount and take a peek into what her dumber, shorter counterpart was strategizing, or really just to pester him as siblings were wont to do.
"Can you imagine that, Ibid?" The goddess of wisdom chortled to her feathered companion who sat pleasantly on her shoulder. "Ares strategizing? Why that's downright oxymoronic, isn't it?"
Ibid hooted into the curve of Athena's neck like the way an owl would to laugh.
"Well, let's not waste the trip then," Athena mused. "And I can get you a little nectar to sip on for the meeting today," the goddess teased her owl by booping his beak with her finger.
Greeting the various minor gods she found on her way to the council room, Athena nodded her head towards each one that crossed her path until Hermes zipped over her head.
"Hail, brother, what news today?" Ever the gossipmonger, Athena watched the fleet-footed god circle around back to where she waited. Once he was on route it was hard to stop and backtrack.
"Oh you're going to love this," Hermes twittered, twirling his caduceus gleefully as a secret threatened to spill from his characteristically loose lips. "Keep this on the DL but Tantalus has made a special banquet for us today and from what I hear, he's serving it with fava beans and a nice chianti- his words, babe, not mine," he winked knowingly.
"How exciting, I cannot wait to drink in the aroma," Athena softly grinned. Oh how she loved a good sacrifice, and gods especially had a predilection for the smell of mortal offerings. It was a delightful, enticing aroma that gods never tired of and craved to no end. And to have their food was especially a rarer treat.
"No, no, no, 'Thena, you really don't know, do you? It's all anyone out here can gab about." Hermes zipped off in a blink only to return with Bacchus and Apollo, with Hephaestus in tow. "Cats, 'Thena here doesn't know about the meal Tantalus is serving us today."
"What?" Bacchus blinked up at her, with a stupefied cry. "He's bringing chianti- that stuff's imported. You know what I'd pay to get some wine from India right now?"
"Ignore our drunk of a brother," Apollo mused. "We're talking about the main course here."
"Oh prithee, brother, pray tell, what's happening?"
"Let's just say you're going to want to refrain from eating any meat today," Apollo elbowed his sister with a grin.
"Not eat any meat?" Athena raised an amused eyebrow. "Why? Is Ares the main course today?" She quipped, referring to the bovine form he took on occasion, earning chuckles from the gathered gods.
"Close," Hephaestus rumbled.
"Think more along the lines of our gramps," Hermes lowered his shades, an action he rarely ever did, only on the sauciest of matters.
It was this clue that made Athena take in a sharp intake of breath. "He didn't," she shook her head in mild disbelief, but the slow shakes she received from her three brothers and the glazed look of contemplation from Bacchus said otherwise. "By thunder, does Zeus know? What am I saying? Of course he doesn't- we would've heard him."
"Another smiting then," Hephaestus gruffed with a frown. "Wasn't it a lizard a month ago?"
"A wizard?" Bacchus turned his ruddy face to Hephaestus in confusion.
"Please, Tantalus is kin, he wouldn't dare," Apollo scoffed. "You all remember how father handled Eris at Thetis' wedding a couples decades ago."
"Don't know about that," Hephaestus murmured, pushing himself forward. He tried to catch Athena's gaze, but the goddess sharply upturned her nose away from him. "Pop's been testy since the coup. He might make him an example."
"I just hope we can keep the chianti," Bacchus added, earning an unsurprised groan from each of his gathered siblings.
"And to think I wasn't going to say anything to you," Hermes laughed, filling the awkwardness their inebriated brother created. "Aren't you usually up to date with these sorts of matters? Mortals are kinda your alley, babe."
"I've been busy," Athena grunted. "Having an ignorant adversary can create some unexpected shortcomings. It's like fighting an infant who was given armies to lead- oh wait that wasn't a metaphor," she sharply added.
"Here he comes now," Apollo dryly noted.
"There goes my morning," Athena grumbled.
"Hey, guys, what're we talking about?" Ares marched toward them with his usual bravado as he forced himself into the center by pushing past a dazed Bacchus.
Athena rolled her eyes at her closest brother. "Well, if you weren't busy polishing your spear you'd know all about what's going on."
Each of the assembled gods began to sordidly snicker, even Hermes but he hid the grin behind his hand all while the goddess of wisdom blankly turned to stare at each of them until her gaze met Ibid's equally confused one.
Ares was howling the loudest by far, and it wasn't until after several knowing elbows in her breastplate armor from Ares and Bacchus that the goddess understood her slip.
"Oh get your heads out of the gutter, you all know that's not what I meant," Athena grimaced.
"If you say so," Apollo chuckled.
"How's the war going on between you two, anyway?" Hephaestus perked up from behind them.
"Marvelous, actually, my opponent is as incompetent as sailors crossing siren infested waters."
"Well, my opponent is too busy reciting poetry all the time, so it's been a breeze!" Ares shot back with a huff, crossing his arms, and puffing out his chest, proud and haughty.
"I've told you before it's called philosophy," Athena deadpanned. "If your Spartans had even a thread of the ethics embroiled in the most enlightening of subjects, they would've avoided that tight little corner. What was it called again, Ares? Thermopylae?"
"We did that for you guys!" Ares bristled, clenching his fists in rage.
"There they go again," Hermes sighed.
"Five drachmas says Athena dropkicks him off Olympus again," Hephaestus laughed.
"You're on," Apollo boredly deadpanned.
"We lost our best guys just so your namby-pamby war council could get their ships in gear!"
"Oh please, Athens won the war in the end, so what does it matter?"
"Why you," Ares reached for his sword and Athena likewise followed.
"Cats, let's cool it, mkay?" Hermes sighed. "We got a meeting in five, and you two are the headline for today," the fleet-footed god tsked.
"She started it," Ares whined, accusingly pointing at his sister as she stuck her tongue out at him.
"And I'm finishing it," Athena thwacked the top of her brother's helmet with the butt of her sword, slamming his helmet firmly down his face.
"hEy! I'm stuck!" Ares screamed, earning more raucous laughter from his siblings at his plight. Except for Bacchus, who continued to stare at his empty glass, contemplating his place in the universe and what ungodly force allowed his glass to be emptied.
"I got him," Hermes sighed. Boy, these two never stopped.
"Like I always-" Athena felt her tongue freeze mid-word as the small hairs on the back of her neck began to prickle. Her striking gray eyes, never known to miss a single detail, darted away from her brothers to somewhere far behind the crowd.
Athena quickly shook off her nerves and set her lips back into her serene half smile. "- Say- it's never about brute force, it's strategy. Isn't that right, Ares?" She coyly looked over at her brother as Hermes attempted to unscrew Ares' helmet off his head.
Despite her quick recovery, Hephaestus didn't fail to notice the distracted look that overtook Athena. Her shining eyes were hard to disguise, even in an open courtyard in the clouds filled with the shining gods of Olympus. Following where her eyes darted to for that minuscule of a second, the smithing god looked past and over the heads of the gathered gaggle of major and minor gods of the Greek Pantheon.
Everyone, save for the king and queen of Olympus, was gathered outside of the council room, enjoying ambrosia finger foods and nectar spiced with wine, chatting and catching up with their fellow gods. But now, each head seemed to copy Athena, swiveling their attentions to grab quick side glances at the latest arrival on Olympus.
Was Hades…?
But as the crowds began to part and shift, Hephaestus could only watch, completely stupefied as not Hades- but a goddess who looked nothing like her usual self made her way through the throng.
No one breathed so much as a greeting towards her, so ignorant to her ragged state of mind and dress, as she quietly marched forward. The layers of cloth that made up her peplos were tattered and frayed with broken heads of wheat and barley attached to the fringes like thistles. Her once elegant crown of leaves were dry and limp, no longer the viridescent shade of green, but a yellowed, shriveled heap.
Demeter passed by the children of Zeus with a quiet strength in her bones, not stumbling, nor making eye contact with anyone, but the feeling was mutual as she passed them.
With the goddess of agriculture disappearing into the council room, the whispers began to replace the shuffle of Demeter's steps.
"I GOT IT!" Ares triumphantly announced, lifting the helmet high above his head.
"You're welcome," Hermes chuckled.
"Good for you, you can take your own helmet off," Athena jeered.
"What's up with Demeter?" Hephaestus suddenly interjected.
Save for Bacchus, everyone became rigid with their faces adopting a passive and expressionless look. Hephaestus stared at each of his sibling, puzzled at their reaction.
What did they know that he didn't?
"Look at me gossiping like an old hen," Hermes nervously chuckled. "I need to go tell Big Z, everyone's here," the fleet-footed god excused himself, flying off before any more questions arose.
"Well, I'm in need of a drink," Athena announced.
"Finally!" Bacchus merrily exclaimed.
"Bacchus, your glass is full again."
"It won't be by the time we get to the bar!"
"Hey, big guy, everybody's here," Hermes announced to Zeus and Hera, as they sat in their thrones in the nearly empty council room. His voice echoed in the large enclosure as he zipped to float by Zeus' side, waiting for further instruction.
"Wonderful! Start rolling 'em in, Hermes," Zeus began to rise, ready to welcome the gods in.
"Darling, you still have to sign these," Hera reminded him before he could get up.
"Hold on Hermes, not just yet," Zeus released a frustrated groan as he reluctantly picked up the feathered pen that sat untouched by his powerful hand.
Hermes could only silently chuckle as he watched Hera lift scroll after scroll up to his boss as he signed each one he neglected to sign. Funny how many scrolls piled up after weeks of procrastinating.
"Hera, dear, you're the only reason this place stays afloat," Zeus chuckled.
"Oh darling don't tease me," Hera rose and pecked him on the cheek before she began to gather up and roll together the open scrolls she had sprawled across the table. "Iris, take these to my filing cabinets," she ordered the translucent goddess who had wings as shining and bright as the colors of the rainbow.
"No pro-"
Before Iris could even make a peep, the sound of someone clearing their throat filled the stillness of the council room. Both Zeus and Hera gazed upwards and found Demeter standing behind her seat, far on the opposite side of the vast round table.
"Zeus, I demand an audience with you."
Hermes flinched at the familiarity of the voice, but there was something terribly wrong there, something hollow. When his rose-colored sunglasses captured the image of Demeter where she stood so rigid and undaunted across the table it was now that the god saw what had Hephaestus so worried.
The Demeter he knew, that darling sweetheart, that overprotective mama bear with a heart of gold that made every inch of her glow and radiate warmth almost as much as Hestia, was replaced by a cruel imitation of her. This couldn't be the Demeter he knew- the one who used to leave apples in his mail bag before he left, the one who used to scold him for every time he had almost snuck Kore off the island when they were children.
Now her skin no longer resembled the soft green meadows of Enna during the Spring. Her skin had paled into a sickly sage and her pleasant pear shape appeared to be thinner and gaunt along with her once rounded cheeks. Even her once stately peplos was in tatters and by far the most pitiful garment he'd seen; and on a goddess no less.
His heart hurt for her, but another feeling began to prickle away at him as well as a fine sheen of sweat. He could hear his heart in his ears as his eyes darted behind his sunglasses to stare at Zeus.
What's the game plan, babe?
"The meeting's starting now, Demeter. Can it wait till after?" Zeus thundered.
"No, it can't," the goddess of agriculture snapped with impatient clicks of her tongue.
Hera sat all the straighter in her throne before she rigidly rose. "Hermes, close the doors."
"You got it, babe."
"But Hera-" Zeus began to voice his concern.
"We can hear our sister out," Hera said in a leveled tone, but even Zeus wasn't dense enough to hear the concern in her tone.
"Hermes, stay here would you?" Zeus barked.
The messenger god flinched at Zeus' order, but he tried to make himself look innocent. "Whatever you say, boss man."
With the doors firmly shut, Zeus waited with a bemused glare at Demeter in her forlorn state. He waited for her to say something, but the almost defeated stance she was set in along with her sudden silence caught the king of the gods off-guard. Her body began to tremble again and the goddess absentmindedly lifted a fold of her tattered peplos to dab at her eyes.
"Is something wrong?"
"Zeus," Hera harshly whispered.
Hermes watched as a vein popped across Demeter's temple. The raged goddess marched around the table as bramble bushes and spindly weeds burst underneath her footsteps until she stood toe to chest with Zeus.
"Wrong?!" She seethed under her breath as Hermes cowered behind Zeus.
"Uh sir, I know this is a little late in hearing this, but probably don't start by stating the obvious," Hermes whispered in his boss' ear.
"Quiet, "Zeus huffed.
"Demeter, dear, please," Hera rose and reached out to take her sister's hands in hers. "Tell us what happened to you! You look-"
"Stop," Demeter quietly exclaimed. "I know you mean well, but I did not come all this way to speak about me, nor to report on the state of the earth."
"What do you mean? Has Spring not started yet?!" Zeus demanded.
Hermes suddenly released a surprised yelp as something shocked him, pushing him farther away from where he originally floated by Zeus' side. Even from where he was sent spiraling, Hermes could see the air around his king beginning to ripple with power as the god's aura began to shine all the brighter as his anger rose.
"Spring is not my season," Demeter snapped.
"But it is your duty to oversee the changing of the seasons," Zeus lightly intoned, trying to remove some of the harshness in his words.
"And what is my greatest duty of all, Zeus?"
Hermes watched as Hera froze at the icy words Demeter directed to her husband. The queen of the god's eyes shifted towards her husband and even began to lift her hand to touch his shoulder, but Zeus simply squeezed her hand in return before she pulled it away.
So Hera knew too.
Taking his silence as his answer, Demeter began to square up as every tear that had racked her body began to recede from her eyes and her skin began to illuminate once more. "Where is our daughter?!" Demeter cried.
Both Hermes and Hera flinched at her choice of words, but she was not wrong for saying them.
"Persephone is missing." Zeus exclaimed in a sudden shift of tone that even Hermes couldn't deny the confusion that hung on every wrinkle in his boss' face.
Was Zeus really just realizing that this was what had the goddess so upset?
"Don't call her that- you know I hate that name!"
"How could she be missing? Are you sure she hasn't flown the coop?"
Demeter reared back as if she'd been slapped. "I have searched for weeks across all of Sicily. I just began to make my way across the Peloponnese to search here too, but that's when I realized… A month, Zeus," her eyes began to soften once more, and for a moment so did Zeus'.
"A whole month I haven't seen my little girl, and no one knows where or how- no one even knows she is missing! I knew I had to come to you and plead with you- both of you," Demeter's hand held onto Hera's as her voice became flooded with raw emotions, her throat beginning to tighten, forcing her to shout out her intention. "Please, help me search for her- return her to me and I promise you will never lose me as an ally. Zeus, she was the greatest gift you ever gave me!"
At her words Hera slowly rescinded her hand from Demeter's grasp without any resistance.
Zeus watched as his wife and queen lifted her gaze up to his own, her mouth firm, but pained. Her heavenly eyes now began to burn and brim with both jealousy and restraint as she quietly stepped away and slipped through the council room doors.
Zeus knew what her silence failed to say. Though the couple was known for their thunderous tiffs, she was still his most faithful ally. All their time together after millennia allowed him to know her in a way no one ever could, and she in return. However, there was always a line Hera did not cross. She knew everything that her husband had done one way or another, and that line, dear reader, was allowing him to follow through with his own decisions.
"Demeter," Zeus lifted his hand and patiently waited for her to take it.
There was no hesitation as the plump green hand slipped into his as he walked with her. Already the trail of brambles bushes she made began to curl and dry up with her absence.
Demeter looked to Zeus with hope filling her teary eyes. After everything would he finally come through?
"Today, during the meeting when it is your turn to speak you may ask if anyone has seen her."
Demeter's face stilled. Her small mouth fell open as she sucked in a breath, stunned. "That's it-"
"But if no one claims to have seen her, then I'm afraid that's all we can do," Zeus adamantly thundered.
"But- but when Hercules disappeared you ordered all the gods to search-"
"Hermes, let them in," Zeus commanded over Demeter's words.
"You can't do this to me-"
"Don't fret Demeter, dear. Rest, eat, you'll need your strength," he began to guide her back to her seat like one would a wizened old woman.
"Oh and Hermes," the king of the gods whispered to his main confidante. "Not a word."
When Hermes burst out of the council doors, Athena along with her siblings and the rest of the glowing assembly began to flock towards the council room, congesting the entrance as each god tried to get to their seat first.
Athena with her great strength and prowess would have easily made it to the front of the crowd, but it was her respect and civility towards others that made her not push against the sea of brightly shining gods. Choosing instead to politely move with the crowd and greeting those she had yet to chat with. However, one look at Ares' face where he stood beside her proved to be her own Achilles' heel as the god grinned in triumph pushing past the unsuspecting gods like a toddler with a spoon set loose in the playground for the first time.
Oh that little bugger.
Not wanting to be left in the dust, Athena pushed her way forward, muttering polite: "Excuse me, coming through. Pardon me."
Athena graciously snaked her way through the crowd of unperturbed gods until she made it to her seat on the right hand of Zeus, but someone was already taking up residency in her spot.
"Ares, that is my seat," Athena snapped, pointing towards her spot while her brother innocently sat at the edge of the seat with his hands folded over in front of him.
"I don't see a name here, do you?"
"You're so childish, you know I always sit next to father and I wish to speak with him. Now go sit next to Aphrodite or something!"
That proved to be a sour point with her brother who began to deeply frown, his gaze passing over to said goddess who sat next to her smithing husband. "Then you should'a gotten here sooner, slowpoke," Ares laughed.
"I was trying not to be rude!"
"Ares! Athena!" Zeus voice boomed. "Quit your squabbling and sit down already!"
"Yes, father," the two war gods muttered, but Athena received more brunt of the shame because she was rarely ever called out by her father.
Quietly, Athena sat on Ares' right hand side, but not before cleanly slicing off the end of the long plume of his Spartan helmet. That'll teach him, Athena harrumphed before she situated herself on the other side of Apollo who sat with his twin.
The twin gods of the celestial bodies were currently engaged in a rather heated discussion on their latest records and by the looks of it, neither one was pleased that the other had already beaten it since they had last seen each other- an hour earlier.
Not that Athena was interested by any means. Though Ares and her were one of the most competitive sibling duos in the Pantheon, the twins outshone them by far on their never-ending competitions whether it be rain, moon, or shine. The thrill of the hunt never ceased in their games, and for what it was worth, their games didn't hinder their relationship- in fact it strengthened it. Which was why it was common to see the moon in the middle of the day- for the the pair were as inseparable as siblings- as twins could be.
"Greetings, Apollo," Athena nodded towards her sister. "Sister Artemis."
"Athena," the sun god likewise followed suit.
"Well, howdy!" Artemis waved, before getting up from her seat and giving her a warm embrace. "Come here, don't be a stranger. Haven't seen you for a spell!"
Ibid began to excitedly flap his wings at the presence of the goddess of the wilds and hooted at her to get her attention.
"Hey little fella," Artemis cooed, stroking the cerulean owl with gentle fingers along his chest. "Where've you been hiding?"
"My apologies," Athena sheepishly smiled. "Much has transpired on earth that has kept me from visiting your hunting grounds."
"Oh, well I heard from my baby brother-"
"I'm nine minutes younger than you. How does that make me-"
Artemis shushed her twin with a mild backhand to his shoulder. "You hush, I helped deliver you and that makes you my baby bro." Artemis made her way back to her seat, but leaned her body against the table to talk to the goddess of wisdom. "Well, anyway he told me he saw you in Sicily not too long ago."
"Did he now?" Athena pointedly asked, staring down at Apollo who stiffened underneath both of his sisters' gazes. Their green and gray eyes zeroing in on him like a target on the range, but for Athena a question began to weigh itself in her mind.
"That was a month ago," Apollo's voice rose to an unusual falsetto. "I was probably doing my job."
"You better hope so, hun. We'd be out of a job if you weren't," Artemis chortled. "So what were you up to there, Athena? Heard a lot was going on down there since Demeter left. You know anything about that? Sure heard some rumors flying 'round before this shindig started."
Athena began to match Apollo in demeanor as her lips set into a firm line. "… I- I can't seem to recall, maybe-"
"GOOD MORNING EVERYONE!" Zeus' voice boomed across the council room, silencing any and all conversation across the expansive round table as gods and goddesses turned their attention to the king of the gods himself. "So glad to see all of you out and about here today!"
Athena and Apollo both breathed a sigh of relief at the interruption, but the two of them shared quick glances at the other that only confirmed what the other was thinking.
You know what's going on, don't you?"
"The month has come and gone, and now we are gathered to share the latest news from this past month," Hera rose alongside her husband, lifting a glass of sparkling nectar.
Athena watched from the corner of her eye as Demeter began to rise from her seat, the crown of leaves upon her head as it began to transfigure from that wilting yellow to a bright verdant sheen. "You were there that day, weren't you?"
"Yes," Apollo admitted in an even tone.
"First we would like to turn-"
"But first!" Zeus thundered over Hera's voice. "Let the feast commence!" He clapped his mighty hands together, turning everyone's attention away from the goddess of agriculture who now stood there stunned along with the queen of the gods who could barely register what had just occurred as the cherubim burst through the doors with serving plates in hand.
Hermes gasped. "Wait, sir-"
"Darling, I was in the middle-"
"Then why didn't you try to rescue her like I did?!" Athena hissed through clenched teeth.
"My son, Tantalus has been generous enough to create a bountiful feast in our honor. My boy, rise, let the gods applaud you!"
"Uh, babe, about the feast," Hermes whispered loudly into Zeus' ear, but the king of the gods paid him no mind, or he couldn't hear him at all due to how loud his own applause was.
"That's my boy!"
Raucous clapping echoed in the council room as Tantalus, the only mortal on the whole mount, lifted one hand from where he stood far back near the doors in a half-hearted salute. His twitchy, thin body already turned away as one foot trembled on the threshold of the door.
"I was indisposed," Apollo dryly noted.
Athena rolled her eyes.
However, the goddess of wisdom did not have long to ponder on Apollo when a plate ladened with a savory aroma was served before her by one of the many heavenly spirits of cherubim. Athena began to inhale the food in a rapturous moment of delight as she began to savor what she was about to devour like a general overlooking a map of the battlefield before the battle commenced. And yet, something made the goddess prickle her nose in mild disgust as she began to pick up another scent she had not distinguished before. Something particularly rancid that made her share a sideways glance at Ibid.
"Zeus' beard..." Athena gasped, her vision shifting to the gathered assembly. Hephaestus was the first one to catch her gaze from where he sat next to his wife, Aphrodite, across from her. Them, the twins, Ares, her father and his wife, every god and goddess shared the same horrified expression as all of them were served simultaneously. Even Hermes who never sat in a seat, choosing instead to always stand by Zeus had refrained from taking the offered plate.
"Holy Hera, you guys weren't kidding," Ares stared dumbfounded at the food placed in front of him. "He look like anyone we know?"
"Father," Athena harshly whispered, rising to her feet to stand by Zeus' side as he stared down at the food with the same mixture of horror and disgust that she gave.
Seemingly unaware to her presence, Athena tried to get her father's attention by placing her hand on his shoulder. "Father, what are your orders?"
"Why was I not made aware of this?" Zeus lowly thundered as both Hermes and Athena began to quake with fear.
"Father, I tried to sit next to you and save face, but Ares-"
"Sir, I've been trying to get a word in-"
The words of Athena and Hermes discordantly meshed together in a undecipherable mesh as they tried to speak over the other, but Zeus lifted up his hand to silence them.
"I will deal with this." Zeus muttered, his brow beginning to furrow as the clouds around the room began to rumble ominously. "Alone."
Athena felt her face burn with embarrassment. "Father, I only wanted-"
But the look she received from her father silenced the tongue of the goddess of wisdom in an instant. Still rigid with shame and shock, Athena slinked back to her seat as the room began to grow eerily quiet as each member of the council began to take notice of what they had been served.
Apollo began to gag. "Ugh, is this- is this Pelops?"
Ares watched his sister sorrowfully sink in her seat, and felt the slightest upwell of pity for her. He knew what it was like to be thrown under the chariot with their pops, she just wasn't used to it with her being the apple of Zeus' eye. "Hey," he patted his sister's shoulder. "Don't let him get to you-"
Before Ares could finish his sentence, the god of war felt his hand get slapped away.
"I don't need anyone's pity- least of all yours," Athena snapped.
Ares grimaced, but said nothing to argue with her.
Wordlessly, Athena tried to make sense of it all. Her aura burned a cobalt blue as her anger centered both on Ares and the mortal king of Lydia for this abominable act. She couldn't be angry at her father. No, he was a wise king. He wouldn't be in his position for this long if he wasn't. He was strong, mighty, and maintained peace in the cosmos. It was her own miscalculations that brought about her father's grievance against her- nothing more. Ares just had to ruin how things were usually done!
But that was when Hephaestus' maroon eyes began to scream at her. He had been staring at her long before he got her attention, and as her gray eyes drifted to where his eyes were motioning to, time itself began to still. Horror and disgust pulled at her divine features as she felt her drink begin to rise in her throat-
With so many gods around her, so many running their gums or stuffing their face like Bacchus was currently doing on her left, no one even noticed the still figure in her seat, who stared despondent and indifferent towards the infinity.
Demeter allowed her empty eyes to flit across the entire room, taking careful note of each god in attendance from the shining twins of Artemis and Apollo down to the mighty Zeus until her eyes settled on the empty seat to her right. She stared indifferent but somewhat comforted that Hades would not be making an appearance after all the stunts he pulled. She had long hated having to sit two feet from him at every single meeting for the past millennia. Just being near that god was enough to drive her mad, but on top of that, she had to constantly put up with all the snarky comments he would make every time Zeus or any god he had a distaste for- which was practically everyone- spoke.
Good riddance, Demeter thought. It was high time Zeus finally did something useful. She didn't think she would have the strength to put up with the kind of offhand remark Hades would make when she announced her daughter was missing.
However, Demeter could already hear Hades now. His judgmental, indifferent tone permeating her thoughts as smooth as oil while her heart once again began to swell. Somebody forgot to lock the gate again.
Demeter sighed, barely acknowledging the plate of food that was set in front of her. The smell of the meat flitted to her nose and the goddess' stomach began to grumble. She had passed so many mortal homes on her travels and had not dared to ask for hospitality after the stunt she pulled the night after her daughter went missing. Each night she denied herself the comfort of a hearth and a warm meal, instead opting to have a little something to fill her. However all she allowed herself to eat were the wheat she would grow, picking off the heads of the grain, forsaking any and all fruit for the memories it would stir of her daughter.
Memories. That's all she had to grasp onto. How they tormented her just as much as the disappearance of her daughter.
"Can I go with you?" Her daughter's soft voice broke through her thoughts.
In her memory, she turned to face her daughter who stood at the clearing near the forest of their sanctuary. "Whatever for? I thought you liked the woods? The fields, all of the earth I made for you!"
"Of course I do!" her daughter practically shouted, but she quieted, her voice becoming softer than summer rain after her own outburst. "… But maybe," her daughter scoffed. "Never mind. You're going to be late."
"Oh dear, don't be upset, I'm the jealous one," she had smiled and pulled her daughter into an embrace, but only now did she realize Kore didn't return the gesture. "Get to be here all by yourself without all the hustle and bustle- practically makes my leaves spin."
"I guess you're right…" Her voice small and lacking any of the confidence she had before as the flowers around their feet began to wither away.
When did Kore become so unhappy?
Demeter mulled over these thoughts as she fiddled with the pomegranate roasted carrots on her plate, rolling them away from the shoulder the way a toddler would to avoid eating. And yet her hand somehow made its way around the protruding bone of the finely seared meat.
Demeter's eyes lifted to her former lover as Hermes tried to speak to the undaunted king.
Just the sight of him made irritation prickle away at her skin like the unforgiving sun on a hot summer's day. How dare him, how dare he ignore her- even skipping the announcements altogether as if he was trying to silence her! Wasn't it enough that he ignored their daughter's existence for millennia?! Even going as far as never legitimizing her role in the cosmos?
Demeter absentmindedly tore into the shoulder, her teeth hungrily tearing away, swallowing a bite without even tasting it.
It's not like they were going to announce anything else special! There hadn't been any major births or weddings this past month, so she was due for the biggest headline since Hercules' almost ascension!
As she lifted the shoulder to her mouth for another bite, Demeter froze. Her gaze suddenly darted around the gathered table to see every pair of eyes that had previously ignored her, zeroing in on her like the roasting goat on a spit. Even the proud Zeus was utterly aghast along with every single face at the table, the rainbow of colors all twisted and marred in the same horrified expression akin to a Greek mask of tragedy filled with disgust as gasps began to issue forth from several of their mouths.
"What on Gaia's green earth is everyone gawking at?!" Demeter snapped, rising to her feet with the shoulder still in her hand. But as she shook the shoulder, the smell of it began to waft to Demeter's nose and that same rancid smell overtook her senses as she came to a startling realization.
"Oh Fates…" Demeter dropped the shoulder in horror, her hands beginning to tremble as she suddenly felt bile in her stomach rising. "What have I done?!"
Demeter quickly put a hand over her mouth, but Hermes was ready and offered her a pail as she emptied the nearly empty contents of her stomach.
"Deep breaths, sugar," Hestia had appeared from out of the blue and began to rub her hands along Demeter's back. "Hermes, go fetch me a glass of nectar- just nectar."
Hera too was by Demeter's side in an instant, and together, Hestia and her led their sister back to her seat as tears began to flow freely from her face.
The pantheon began to whisper and their voices reached Zeus' ears from both his left and his right, echoing around the chamber, clambering around discordant and dissonant.
"How could Zeus allow this atrocity to pass?"
"Gods, does he notice anything before it's too late?"
"What else is slipping under his nose?"
But amid Demeter's sobs and the whispers of the pantheon a bolt of lightning shook the mount to its core, and the mortal king that had been lingering near the doors was gone, but not for long.
For as soon as the bolt was thrown, the giant Argus be-speckled with one hundred eyes seen on every exposed surface of his sunset skin, burst through the doors, lifting the king of Lydia by his chiton rather like a mother cat with her kit. "You rang?"
"Bring him here!" Zeus roared as the clouds began to stew in colors of furious mauve, the winds beginning to pick up in strength that the robes and tresses of the pantheon began to ripple and become disheveled.
Argus simply tossed the mortal king atop the table, but as he hit its smooth surface, he felt himself begin to slide through until his head was the only part of him visible.
Tantalus sputtered. His feet dangled through the clouds, maddeningly kicking at the emptiness beneath him in an attempt to find something to stand upon and give his throat a bit of a reprieve as the table closed around his neck. "Mer- mercy, f-father!"
"You have lost the right to address me as such!" Zeus lifted another lightning bolt, pointing it menacingly at the stuttering mortal. "Have I not been a most gracious host?! You have sat at my court for three- no four decades. Eating our foods and drink like you were one of us and this is how you repay us?!"
With one last push of his strength that was unusually spry for a man of his age, Tantalus felt himself rise to the point where the tops of his shoulders were now visible. Twisting and writhing, he tried to lift himself as high as he could go, but it would seem the table had tightened its grip after his previous actions. "Guess you aren't as omniscient as you thought," Tantalus spat.
Zeus felt his hackles rise at the king's insolence. A familiar instinct overtook the king of the heavens as he reared back the bolt he held in his hand and let it fly straight towards the mortal king without an inkling of hesitation.
Shouts and and cries of shock and horror rippled as the bolt soared before her. The speed at which Zeus hurled the bolt was too fast even for her divine eyes to miss as the power and kinetic energy rippled around the room. Lightning struck its intended target and the light became too blinding to see.
He didn't even have time to scream.
When the dust cleared and the blinding light disappeared in a wink, Tantalus' unrecognizable blackened skeleton was all that was left. Every Olympian stared in horror and terror at the rashness of the display before them as they felt the remnants of the lightning bolt remain in the air around them. The fizzling of lightning visible at the end of Athena's hair and Ibid's feathers. No one said a word, not even herself, who could only keep her hand over her mouth in shock.
Her father was never one to cross, and his executions- no matter the occasion were always dealt with swiftly. He was known and respected for his ability to pardon those who had offended the gods, but Demeter partaking of the egregious meal was the last straw. Even now the goddess of grain was wiping away at her tears as Hestia attempted to make her take a sip of the nectar.
"Hermes, take his soul down to Tartarus," Zeus slinked back into his throne with a dissatisfied sigh.
Hera gave Hestia a hesitant look, but the latter nodded and solely took over comforting Demeter as she continued to rock herself back and forth in the goddess' embrace.
"About that, babe," Hermes shook his head. "I lost my jurisdiction after the H-man fired me."
Zeus paused in his thoughts as his hand rested upon his brow in deep thought. "Apollo, take his soul then."
"But- but father-"
"Darling," Hera returned to her husband's side at the head of the table. "Someone's at the gates."
Zeus felt himself bristle and sit back at attentions as he too began to hear the clanging coming far at the front of the mount. It sounded like someone was running a blade against each of the pickets of the gate, creating a macabre symphony of tolling bells.
"Right on cue. The kid's getting better," Hermes proudly nodded.
"Let him pass, but don't allow that boy to stay longer than he has to," Zeus lowly ordered. Already the pantheon was not taking the news lightly that death was literally at their doorstep, but no one wanted to argue after Zeus' latest display of power.
On cue, Hermes flitted to the gates and unsurprisingly found Thanatos. The lanky godling had boredly been clanging the small dagger which was actually just a letter opener, but no one wanted to let him know that. Still dangerous, but Hades decided if Nyx wanted to blame him for any injuries that could happen, at least poking his or Hypnos's eye was the best aftermath possible.
"Hey, sorry I gotta crash like this, but it looks like some bozo bit it at your party," Thanatos yawned, his lengthy scroll messily sprawled out all along the steps leading up to Olympus proper. "Oh Hermes! Long time no see, huh?!" Thanatos slid his blindfold back over his eyes.
"Hey, kiddo," Hermes chuckled at the teen's joke. Unlocking the door, the winged messenger allowed him to pass in. "Sorry in advance, but the big man isn't too keen on the idea of letting you in here."
"That's okay, my mom already warned me about them," Thanatos shrugged. Unfurling his massive wings as dark as night, the godling followed Hermes like an oversized shadow until the two of them were outside the council room doors.
Before Hermes could open the door to the council room, the messenger god hesitated. "Wait a sec'… How is she? How's Persy doing with old flame head?"
"Haven't even met her yet," Thanatos shrugged. "I was at the wedding, but the stars are just so not in our favor with her being super busy, and me doing my job full-time now, but she's good. Heard she's starting new programs and annexing a new territory or whatever. She's been working with him a lot more recently and from what P and P tell me they've never seen Hades so calm before. Kinda freaks me out when I see him every week with that sappy look in his eyes, but y'know."
Hermes felt a relieved grin pass over his face. "Oh thank the Fates. That makes me feel just a tad better about this mess now," Hermes flung open the gates, revealing the bony godling with shoulder-length white hair.
Thanatos entered with his giant wings trailing the cool clouds beneath his feet. Already he could feel every pair of eyes trained directly on him despite the blindfold. All of their energies and powers together in one room put his senses on overdrive like the way one would experience after consuming a spoonful of cinnamon. Not only that, but the feeling of embarrassment welled up inside of him as he passed further into the one place he had been strictly forbidden from since he was born.
Fear, his mother had warned him, was more powerful than any enemy the gods could ever face and their greatest fear of all was him.
"Don't be alarmed. Thanatos is simply taking away the trash," Zeus dryly said, his gaze never leaving the godling as he flew to the center of the table. "Now then where were we-"
"IT IS MY TURN TO SPEAK!" Demeter heavily breathed, rising to the table despite the protests she received from Hestia.
"Demeter, the floor will be yours when it is your turn. Ares, Athena, what news do you bring of the civil war in Pelop-"
"NO!" Demeter roared with the ferocity of a woman who had reached the end of her rope and had somehow managed to hold the very end of the last thread. "After the pain and humiliation I have suffered today alone, it is MY turn to speak."
Zeus began to rise in his seat, but Hera kept him stationary with a single look.
"You must forgive me all, but as you can see I am at the lowest point I have ever been in my entire existence. Even the time I spent locked away in my father's innards doesn't hold a candle to the place I am in now," Demeter kept her face stony and strong, so unlike the goddess that had wailed as she passed from city state to city state. "My darling daughter, my flower, my precious Kore who never left my side in every season since the end of the Titanomachy is missing. I don't know where she has gone- or if she has been taken. I don't even know if she is in Greece! I just need her in my arms once more. Help me find her. All of you- any of you and I will be forever in your debt for all time."
"Zeus, say something," Hera whispered into her husband's ear, but he remained stone-faced.
Demeter waited. Her face shining and full of hope after what felt like an eternity, but the council room remained eerily silent. "Has anyone seen- Apollo surely on your chariot you had seen a glimpse of her! Maybe you Artemis… Or- or Hermes you hear all the gossip and you are one of her best friends, surely…" But just like Apollo, the messenger god said not a word. "Athena, you, her mentor, her teacher, surely you have an idea…"
The gaze of the goddess of wisdom was just as passive as always, but Demeter began to feel an ache in her body that someone- no- everyone was hiding something.
Amid Demeter's speech, Thanatos had collected Tantalus' soul. The silvery, murky tint of the nearly translucent shade was barely visible in the sunlight, but the godling had grabbed hold of the writhing spirit and threw him into his pouch. However, the pleading and sorrow in Demeter's voice was enough to pin the godling where he stood as his heart began to hurt for her. He'd never met a lady who sounded so sad- not even Niobe after she lost her fifty children to Apollo and Artemis's arrows.
Wait a second, Thanatos stared down at Tantalus in his pouch, and came to a startling realization. Holy hell, wasn't Niobe the daughter of Tantalus? It's a small underworld after all, Thanatos inwardly shrugged.
"Excuse me ma'am, but who's Kore? Which girl?"
The feeling of rage began to multiply around him, but Thanatos had no idea why.
"Hermes, he's done here. See him out," Athena shouted.
"No, no," Demeter cut in. "The boy asked a good question. She goes by many names. Melanthe by her godmother, but others have given her the ill-fitting name of Persephone," Demeter darkly eyed Athena.
"Oh wait you're her mom? Then that makes you my boss' mother-in-"
"You've seen her?!" Demeter gasped.
"I mean I saw her once at the wedding, but that was like a month ago now? Hang on let me do my math…"
Demeter felt a rush of hope. The night of her disappearance. "You were at the wedding?! How was she- where did she go afterwards?!"
"… She never left?" Thanatos stared at her in befuddlement.
Now it was Demeter's turn to be confused. "What?"
"Thanatos, you have worn out your welcome," Zeus thundered, but Demeter jumped on top of the table and set herself in front of the godling, blocking him out of Zeus' sight.
"Not to me he hasn't." Demeter reached out a cautious hand to the godling, but reared back at the slightest touch of his skin, so frigid, she felt like she had been burned. "Now why didn't she leave?"
"Zeus, either you tell her this instant or I will," Hera exclaimed.
"I mean why would she? The underworld is her home now."
Demeter went rigid as she felt the table underneath her begin to sway like a boat caught adrift in a storm. "Who's wedding did she attend?" The goddess seethed through clenched teeth.
"Her own?"
Though she had a suspicion that this was the case from what Thanatos had said previously, this revelation sent her heart leaping into her throat. Horror, rage, and fear pulled away at the last semblance of composure the goddess had as an unearthly scream issued forth from her mouth. "No!" Demeter began to shout. "But- but how?! You-" She rounded upon Zeus and Hera, her accusatory finger flipping between the couple. "Both of you knew, but said nothing to me! And with HADES?! The god who just released the Titans we had locked away?! How many of you knew?!"
The gathered gods were as petrified as the victims of Medusa.
Hermes lifted his hand first, then Poseidon, then Apollo after his twin smacked him, then Cupid, then Bacchus, but Trivia grabbed the inebriated god's hand and put it back down.
Ares, who was arguably the most confused of the bunch, lifted his hand as well, "I thought everyone knew."
Demeter's entire mindset was shaking as each hand lifted. Memories from the competition swirled in her thoughts. The sight of Hades confronting her daughter after she nearly won, the intensity of his gaze on hers and the likewise stubborn, undaunted gaze that Persephone gave the god when the two of them were pitted against each other.
"Hades, may the best god win," her daughter had said, her still face, cold and pitiless as the god held her hand in his.
"Oh I fully intend to, sweetness," Hades leered, his eyes never leaving hers even after she snatched her hand away.
That was where it all began- that was when her nightmare came true, and she thought nothing of it. Why didn't she notice? Why was this even happening? Her sweet daughter didn't deserve that life! But everyone, everyone she had considered her friends, her family, they had lied to her!
"YOU DID THIS!" Demeter rounded upon a bemused Aphrodite.
"Mhm, yeah, I hear where you're coming from, Demeter," Aphrodite nodded, but her face began to squeamishly shrink. "But I'm the goddess of love, not miracles," she clarified.
"Then this is your son's fault!"
"Oh you did not just drag my son into this," Aphrodite snapped. "You want to blame someone, blame the people who kept their lips sealed."
Demeter continued to simmer, but she knew Aphrodite had a point. "My own family knew, and didn't say a word?! Didn't try to stop this?! Didn't tell me after a month of wandering. Do all of you think so lowly of me?!"
"Lady Demeter," Athena rose to her feet. "I tried to stop this from happening, I warned Persephone, but she wouldn't listen. I was there that day when the earth split open and Hades snatched her away before I could reach her."
"WHAT?! Is this true?" She turned to Thanatos who had been trying to slip away unnoticed, but mothers always seemed to have that sixth sense of catching a child before they could bolt.
"… yeah."
"And how is she- tell me is she safe?! Is she miserable without me?"
Thanatos didn't know why the hell he was being dragged into this. The last thing he wanted was to throw his boss under the chariot, but maybe if he was honest that would help. "I mean from what I hear she's fine- not getting any sleep, but she's fine."
Ares couldn't help but snort, earning a swift punch from Athena who sent him flying out of his seat.
"But that's not all," Athena continued. "I sent Hercules to rescue her, but she refused his help- my help… And I could do nothing else."
"Why on earth did she refuse?! Did Hades even give her the option?"
"I have no way of knowing, but it was all I could do."
Demeter bristled at Athena's cold reply. "You are the goddess of strategy, surely you could've come up with a scheme to bring her back."
"Are you implying I didn't do enough?"
"I guess you aren't as bright as they make you out to be," Demeter snapped.
"Demeter, please, will you desist?!" Zeus thundered.
"YOU. LET HADES. MARRY. MY. DAUGHTER?!" Demeter shouted. "Was my input ever important in this?! Did Kore even consent to this?! She never even met him until recently!"
"Demeter, Hades may be what he is, but his kingdom is vast and great. One day every mortal will be his subject and now your daughter will be their queen too. He owns everything underneath the earth and is by far the richest of all the gods, surely he is not a terrible match-"
"Bull-," Demeter hissed. "That land is desolate, ruthless, and lifeless- just as much as its king. I'd rather she married a poor shepherd than be entangled with Hades. Or do I need to remind you he tried to kill you- your son and force the rest of us into submission. You could've stopped him long ago, but you enjoy your wine, your women, and the luxuries far too much to care. I suspect you gave him my daughter as both a way to appease him and punish her for the chaos and damages she caused during the competition."
For once Demeter didn't feel like crying, not even to dissolve in angry tears, but vengeance was alight in her veins and a bloodlust she had ignored for centuries. She had reached her limit, and still a majority of the council was not listening to her. But how could she make them understand this was not a mild inconvenience- no, her very heart was trapped in the land of the dead.
"Ramble all you want, but what's done is done," Zeus declared. "Persephone already expressed interest in the underworld after Athena's guidance and as a wedding gift I personally gave her Elysium to rule."
Wedding gift or dowry?
Demeter said nothing, not even looked at Zeus as he spoke, instead her attention turned to Hera. "And to think I thought you had forgiven me."
"Demeter-"
"But I am done with you all. Let my words be heard all across Greece," she roared as a giant flower began to erupt in the center of the table. "Until my daughter is returned to me, I will not tend to the earth, nor will you see my face here ever again. If no one wishes to help me, I will seek those who will."
Without another word, the flower swallowed Demeter whole and then the flower with her, revealing a terrified Thanatos. "Can I go now?"
And then the chaos began.
"Bro, are you insane?!" Poseidon shouted. "At least force Hades to let Demeter into his realm to see her."
"The harvest is over, and the fields are empty. The mortals won't last to next summer," Artemis shouted.
"And the vineyards, they won't flourish!" Bacchus echoed.
"Just annul the marriage! And a couple other ones…" Ares added.
Athena could only sit back and watch as chaos shook the council room. She watched Eris across the room, looking like a child at a fair the way her grin was spread wide with delight.
She wanted to take no part in the shouting, the unruliness of the council like her own parliament in Athens. At least the latter could see reason, but that was always the problem when there was a king- in the end it was him who had the final say and not the democracy as a whole.
"We need a new king," Apollo whispered beside her.
The goddess of wisdom felt her heart quicken its pace at his words, but her face remained as passive as ever. She felt ashamed that she agreed with his sentiment, but it was time to face the facts. "And appoint yourself, hm?"
"I didn't say that."
"Well, I'd take Bacchus at this point for at least something would get done," Athena admitted. "But a new king… No, we need to establish a democracy, but are you prepared for a war, Apollo?"
"Not a war- a confrontation," the sun god promised. "Look at the council, do you see anyone satisfied with his rulings? We'd have allies, and no one would dissent to your view of governing."
"But we still wouldn't have the earth. We'd need to get her back, or the whole earth dies."
"Then bring her back."
Athena couldn't help but laugh. "Of course how easy I am already busy with winning my own war, brother. I cannot rescue someone who refuses my hand."
"Then what if we get her attention?"
Let me tell you this chapter was interesting to write bc of all the different perspectives I had to cram in all at one meeting, so I apologize if you didn't like the 'popcorn' style of view points in this, but I felt it was necessary to get kind of the board meeting feel with so many personalities at an office type place.
Lot of fun with this, but we'll be back downstairs next chapter.
Lol there was two deleted scenes one was supposed to cut to Persy and Hades, but it got cut b/c it broke the tension, and another one with Ares and Athena, but who knows I might use them for later. Expect a 2-parter coming up!
Till then my dear readers!