XVI.
Watching From Afar (Enyo)
Enyo continued to scream for Ares as he walked through the portal. She wriggled free of Hermes, Poseidon and Athena and ran at the portal Ares had just walked through but it closed the moment she was about to jump. Instead she skidded across the floor a few feet before nearly crashing into a table of the poisoned food.
"NO!" she screamed again. She was about to lose her big brother. Forever. Enyo turned to face Zeus with a look of absolute loathing, fury and sheer anger etched on her face. Her expression was so frightening that Zeus had recoiled a bIt upon seeing it.
"YOU! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!" she roared and ran full speed at her father. She wanted to wrap her hands around his neck and choke the life out of him for mistreating Ares for millenia. Before she was able to get to Zeus, Athena, who had just been healed by Apollo (Athena hadn't eaten as much as the others it seemed), barred her. That was fine. Athena was next on her kill list anyway. Enyo wrapped her hands around Athena's neck instead. Athena gently removed Enyo's hands from her throat and held her steady. Enyo's rage abated slightly when she saw Athena's face. For the first time in Enyo's memory, Athena looked miserable. Athena calmly led her to Apollo, who healed her pretty quickly.
"I thought you said this would take hours?" Enyo snarled angrily at him.
"You and Athena didn't eat or drink as much. You guys arrived last," he said. Apollo also looked pretty downtrodden at what Ares just did. Enyo turned to face Zeus again. She hadn't forgotten about her anger towards him.
"I DIDN'T FORGET ABOUT YOU OLD MAN! YOU BLASTED HIM OUT OF THE SKY. YOU THREATENED TO HOLD HIM OVER CHAOS! THIS ENTIRE MESS IS YOUR FAULT!" she screamed and lunged at Zeus. Again Athena held her back.
"GET THE HELL OFF ME WISE ASS!" Enyo yelled. Athena shook her head and gestured to Hestia's fire. Most of Ephialtes's body had burned away by now.
"Hes...Hestia….Show us Ares…" Athena said weakly. An image of Ares appeared in the fire. He was currently looking at the monument to Leonidas before a couple of snakes attacked him. Enyo turned to Aphrodite, who had walked over and knelt beside the fire, looking at Ares with tears in her eyes. Once or twice, she had even reached out her hand toward him in the fire. Enyo joined her and she clung to Enyo's leg and began to cry silently. She hadn't been healed by Apollo yet so every minute or so, Aphrodite wretched. The others started to gather around the fire to watch Ares. Apollo started to heal Aphrodite. Athena had placed herself between Enyo and Zeus. She still had that miserable look on her face that Enyo had never seen before.
"What are you so miserable about? Aren't you happy that he's about to die?" Enyo snarled at her.
"Enyo...he's my brother too," Athena answered.
"AND YET, YOU HAVE BEEN AT ODDS WITH HIM FOR YEARS! YOU NEARLY KILLED HIM ONCE? REMEMBER?!" Enyo shouted at her. Nothing would be able to calm her down at this point. Plus she had sworn on the River Styx that she would not follow Ares into battle this time. Ares meanwhile was currently having a chat with Ekhidnades. She even thought she heard Ares say "Enyo cares about me…." Athena interrupted her moment of happiness however.
"It was never my intention to kill him. Diomedes did. I stopped him from doing so," Athena answered. Enyo growled in response. Bullshit. There was no way that was true. What was currently true was that Enyo was about to watch her favorite person in the entire world be killed by his old enemy while she could do nothing to help. She didn't even have Eris here to comfort her afterward. Not that it would help. The killing spree that she was about to go on after Ares died would be absolutely legendary. First she would rip Ekhidnades limb from limb, wait for him to reform and then do it again. Then she would find every single one of Zeus's children and ki-
"GET HIM!" Aphrodite suddenly screamed as the image of Ares called a floating sword towards him. Enyo watched as it missed Ekhidnades's head and fly right at Ares's chest. Ares managed to parry it but got punched in the face rather hard. Enyo yelled her displeasure again and turned to face Athena. Athena seemed to be reading her mind.
"No Enyo. We promised," Athena said. Enyo snarled again and turned back to the image of her brother. She heard Ares yell "I WILL SHOW YOU WAR" before he and Ekhidnades began to duel.
Enyo and the others began to watch Ares and Ekhidnades do battle across the fields of Thermopylae. The good news was that most of the others had stopped retching as frequently as they used to. The even better news was that Ares was managing to hold his own against Ekhidnades for a time. Once or twice, Ares had been grazed by Ekhidnades's sword and Enyo felt Aphrodite flinch and tighten her grip on her leg.
"War is my domain!" Ares yelled and engaged Ekhidnades again. Enyo smiled to herself as she watched him do battle...that moment of happiness was also short lived as she noticed that Ares was beginning to become reckless. Constantly overextending his strikes and overstepping. This culminated with Ekhidnades finally grazing Ares's bare skin with his sword. She watched in horror as he yelled in pain and dropped his sword.
"NO! GET YOUR SWORD!" Enyo yelled at him. It was futile. He couldn't hear her but he still was able to block the following punch with his shield, rolled under the next punch and retrieved his sword.
"YES!" Athena suddenly yelled. Enyo looked over in confusion. She still wasn't able to deal with the fact that Athena was actually rooting for Ares. The gods all cheered when Ares parried another sword strike and retaliated with a shield bash to the giant's face. Unfortunately, Enyo saw that Ares was in terrible condition and she screamed when Ekhidnades was able to get more sword strikes under Ares's armor. Ares fell to his knees, wincing.
"Get up big brother...Get up. Get up. GET UP!" Enyo shouted at the fire. Zeus looked like he was saying something similar along with Hera. This was too much for Enyo. Now they cared about him? To her knowledge, only 2 people in this room ever really cared about Ares. Herself and the other goddess who was now on her feet but holding onto Enyo's shoulder rather tightly. Together they watched Ares, who was still in noticeable pain, get to his feet.
"IT IS OVER WAR GOD. DROP YOUR WEAPON!" Ekhidnades shouted at him.
"MOLON LABE!" Ares and Enyo shouted. Aphrodite looked at Enyo in confusion.
"Does...Doesn't that mean…"
"Come and take it. Yes. It was what Leonidas said to Xerxes before the Persians attacked," Enyo answered. Then something happened that nearly made her double over in absolute misery. Ekhidnades had disarmed Ares and was punching him in the face over and over. Between each blow, Ekhidnades righted Ares before delivering another punch to his face.
"NO...NO! ARES! DO SOMETHING! ANYTHING!" Enyo yelled as Ekhidnades shouted his own displeasure at Ares's resilience. Then something worse happened. After Ares shouted that Spartans never surrendered, a lesson he had taught Enyo thousands of years ago, Ekhidnades grabbed Ares's fallen blade. She saw the look of absolute glee etched on the giant's face as he wretched the blade backwards as if he was about to impale Ares. Enyo screamed in horror as the giant did what she feared. Ares was impaled by his own blade. It even came out of his back. Enyo didn't even hear Ares's own yell because she was too busy yelling herself
"NOOOOO!" She fell to her knees again continuing to scream. It was over. She was never going to see Ares again. Aphrodite was also screaming in absolute misery as well. In her fury, Enyo turned to Athena and Zeus. Athena had one of her hands on her chest and she was uttering one word over and over,
"Brother…" Meanwhile Zeus was supporting Hera who was yelling curse words at Ekhidnades while Zeus himself was also saying one word over and over.
"Son…" That sparked Enyo's rage. Zeus never cared about Ares. NEVER. How dare he do so now. Hadn't he wanted to hold Ares over Chaos not a few months ago? While Athena continued to stare at the fire where Ares now lay on the ground trembling with a gaping hole in his stomach, Enyo rushed Zeus with tears in her eyes and anger on her face. This was still all his fault. If he had just listened to reason, Ares wouldn't have left the first time. Zeus didn't even flinch as Enyo began to strike his body with her bare hands while screaming with rage. The punches did nothing. Enyo was a minor goddess once again and she was currently punching the most powerful Olympian. So nothing was really happening. Zeus barely noticed her as he watched Ekhidnades raise his sword to the sky. Enyo looked over in horror and her rage built even more. Ares was about to die. Again Enyo screamed "NO!" as she watched Ekhidnades swing his sword downward...only for it to be blocked by a shield with the Greek letter Lambda on it. The other gods stopped looking so miserable when they heard the sound of metal on metal and looked towards the fire. Poseidon spoke first.
"What the? Are those...are those Spartans?" he asked the room at large.
"Wh-what?" Enyo managed to say. Sure enough, she saw an army of 300 Spartans currently holding Ekhidnades at bay while Ares was given some medical attention. Enyo stopped her futile assault on Zeus and made her way back to her original spot near the fire. Enyo's heart began to race when she recognized the Spartan that had helped Ares to his feet. She gasped. Athena did too. Aphrodite didn't. She looked at Enyo for clarification.
"It's him. It's Leonidas," Enyo said. The others all made exclamations as well. Ares's favorite son had arrived to help him fight against Ekhidnades. Enyo smiled to herself as she heard Leonidas yell
"SPARTANS, TO BATTLE!" Enyo and the other gods joined Ares and the Spartans as they shouted war cries and charged toward Ekhidnades.
They all watched as Ares and the Spartans absolutely massacred Ekhidnades's new army of vipers. The resurrected Spartans were still no match for Ekhidnades on their own however and about 100 of them had already been reduced to piles of bone and dust upon the battlefield. Enyo cheered along with the others as they watched the battle rage on. Eventually something happened that nearly made Enyo break her own promise. Leonidas pointed to the sea where there was an all too familiar boat in the water. Enyo fell to her knees as she saw the resurrected form of her own pride and joy standing on the bow of the ship. Artemis turned to Enyo.
"Is that...is that?"
"Lysander…" Enyo said in a shaky voice. Enyo made her choice. She had to fight alongside her son, she simply had to. Athena however noticed her determination and gently put her hand on Enyo's shoulder. Enyo flinched.
"No Enyo. We promised," Athena said.
"THAT'S MY SON! HE WAS TAKEN FROM ME!" Enyo shouted. Aphrodite put her own hand on Enyo's other shoulder. Enyo looked toward her for support but Aphrodite shook her head. They didn't understand how much she loved Lysander. She blamed herself for his death for years. He had called for aid and she didn't give it to him. Enyo tried to move but Aphrodtie and Athena held fast.
"Enyo," Athena said gently and shook her head. Enyo reluctantly nodded and went back to watching the battle. The ship Lysander arrived on had sunk but that didn't matter to Enyo. Even though Lysander was half skeleton, she still viewed him as entirely flesh and blood. He would not fail her this time. Enyo was sure of it. Lysander would help his uncle and cousin kill the absolute shit out of this poison spewing bastard. Enyo pumped her fist whenever Lysander killed a viper and said variations of "That's my boy." Soon enough, she watched Ares sneak his way behind Ekhidnades and open up a portal to somewhere. Zeus gasped.
"What?" a few of the gods asked him.
"Chaos…" Zeus answered. Enyo nearly screamed again. Was Ares really about to kill himself again?! For real this time? But no...he wasn't that stupid.
"I didn't even know he could do that…" Hera told Zeus. "I thought only you or Hades could open a portal that deep into Tartarus,"
"That's correct. Hades must also be watching and giving his own aid to Ares," Zeus said, wiping his mouth as he had retched again. Good news was that the rest of the gods had stopped blowing chunks as well. There were only 3 combatants left on the battlefield now. Ares, Leonidas and Lysander. Leonidas threw his spear at the giant, who had been too busy to stop the spear from lodging deep into his shoulder. Athena rubbed her own shoulder when this happened. Athena's wound she had received from the False Ares had healed pretty much instantly after being freed by the Real Ares. Lysander threw his own sword at Ekhidnades...but Enyo saw that it was going to go wide. She decided to channel Athena and guided the blade into Ekhidnades's other shoulder. The gods cheered in celebration as both Leonidas and Lysander delivered mighty kicks to the giant's chest before Ares himself walked forward.
"Another falls to the might of Sparta. Don't fret, I'm told ceasing to exist is painless. This one is for Enyo," she heard Ares say and kicked Ekhidnades into the portal. As Ares watched Ekhidnades, Lysander looked right at Enyo as if he could actually see her. Enyo nearly lost control entirely when Lysander spoke to her.
"Take care of him for me will you? You will never fail me. Se agapo mama." I love you mom. Enyo felt a lump in her throat as Lysander began to crumble to dust in front of her eyes.
"I love you too son," she whispered, so softly that only Aphrodite could hear her. Aphrodite looked at her in confusion but thankfully didn't press the subject. It was the first time Enyo had heard her son speak in thousands of years. She was so proud of him. Plus he had apparently known about Enyo's reaction to his death. Not like it was a silent reaction to be honest. It had taken quite some time (i.e. a lot of quality time with Eris) for her to be fully over it and it still haunted her even now. But that didn't really matter right now. Ekhidnades was gone. Consumed by Chaos never to return again. He had challenged the Fury of War and lost. The Olympians began to cheer before they saw Ares fall to the ground.
"NO!" Enyo yelled. She wouldn't allow herself to believe that Ares was still about to die after everything that just happened. "SOMEBODY DO SOMETHING!"
"I don't think we can...he told us not to follow him." Hermes said bravely. Enyo began to make her way over to him with her hands at throat strangling level when she heard the door to the Hall burst open. Thanatos, Eris and a few other minor gods were standing there. Eris ran over to Enyo. Thanatos was rubbing his shoulder as if he and a few of the others had been throwing themselves against it for the past hour. It looked like the magical seal on the door had broken upon Ephialtes' and Ekhidnades' deaths
"What happened? We haven't heard from you in...who's that...IS THAT ARES?!" Eris said looking into Hestia's fire where the image of Ares lying on the ground was still visible. Thanatos noticed too and his face fell. Wait...Thanatos was here. Ares's buddy. He hadn't told Thanatos not to follow him. Just the other 11 Olympians (plus Enyo).
"THANATOS!" Enyo suddenly shouted. Thanatos jumped.
"By Olympus, I'm right here. Care to tell me what happened? Hades was saying something about helping Ares kill Ekhidnades. Portal to Chaos or something. Where is he by the way? Did Ares win?"
"SHUT UP! GET HIM. HE'S IN THERMOPYLAE! GO NOW! HE COULD BE DYING!" Enyo shouted over Eris's head. Eris was trying to get Enyo to calm down. Thanatos continued to look confused. He looked to the other Olympians for clarification.
"Uh…" was all he managed before Aphrodite launched herself at him and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and shook him violently.
"RETRIEVE. HIM. RIGHT NOW. BRING HIM BACK TO ME" Aphrodite snarled in his face. Thanatos looked at Athena.
"Thanatos...please. He's injured pretty badly. Bring him back here and Apollo will help him,"
"This actually looks like a Paeon job. I'll go alert him," Apollo said and left the hall. Thanatos still stood there in absolute confusion.
"But how…"
"GO!" the entire Hall shouted at him. Thanatos looked at Aphrodites hands which were still grasping his shirt collar and made a face that said "do you mind?". Aphrodite let go and Thanatos took flight immediately. Within minutes they saw him in Hestia's fire kneeling next to Ares. With difficulty, Thanatos managed to lift Ares into a fireman's carry and take flight again.
Thanatos arrived back on Olympus with Ares draped over his shoulders still very much unconscious. Enyo and Aphrodite rushed over.
"Lucky I got him in time. That sword wound is nasty. Where am I taking him? He's pretty much on death's door and I would know considering I am Death..." Thanatos said as Aphrodite began to kiss Ares's face over and over. Enyo didn't have time for his stupid jokes.
"To me," a voice said. Enyo turned to see Apollo and someone else. Apollo's companion was a man wearing blue scrubs and a white lab coat made his way over to them. He had the appearance of a 30 year old mortal man with glasses and a stethoscope around his neck. It was Paeon. The god's physician. His voice was gentle but stern. It even had a slight British accent.
"Oh dear…" Paeon said, examining Ares with his hands and stethoscope and making notes on his clipboard that he had just summoned from nowhere. Enyo nearly went to strangle him but Apollo held her at bay.
"Is...is he going to be alright?" Enyo asked in a shaky voice. "I...I can't lose him," Paeon looked over at her.
"I'm not sure entirely, I'll need to take him to my office right away though. No time to waste. I'll have to work fast. These wounds are far more serious than the one Diomedes gave him during the Trojan war" Paeon said and summoned a stretcher from nowhere. Thanatos gently lowered Ares's body onto it. Enyo heard Ares grunt which she took as a good sign. He was still alive...but only just according to Paeon. Paeon began to walk away and Aphrodite attempted to follow him along with Enyo. Eris held Enyo back and Apollo grabbed Aphrodite.
"Easy sweetie, you got to let him work alone. Ares...Ares should be fine," Eris said to Enyo and then kissed her cheek. Aphrodite heard but still didn't go quietly.
"IF YOU HURT HIM PAEON, I'LL...I'LL…" she began before collapsing on the ground. Thanatos helped her to her feet. Aphrodite was saying "I can't lose him either" over and over. Enyo looked at Eris again and she squeezed her hand as if to comfort her.
"Everything is going to be alright Enyo. Stay strong. Believe" Paeon reassured her.
This was about to be the most stressful few hours of her entire life. Ares had managed to kill Ekhidnades once and for all but he was now fighting another battle. The actual battle for his life.