Being Ares: Everything Starts Somewhere

Part 2

A Xena: Warrior Princess / Being Erica Crossover

By Arianwen P. F. Everett

Ares sat on his throne of skulls in the Halls of War and sighed as he waited for his mother and Apollo to arrive. He knew they'd be here soon, or at least they'd come around this time in the original timeline, so he had little to do but wait and review his plans. Placing a hand into his vest pocket once more, he assured himself that the puzzle box he'd built and placed there was secure and then took a sip of wine to calm his nerves. On his viewing mirror, one of his smaller wars in Macedonia was raging, but that was the least of his worries. Still, it set the stage for when his mother and idiot brother arrived. Things needed to appear normal, even if they were anything but.

"So, how are things going?" a voice called out from across his temple, and his posture eased slightly. Then she drew closer and Ares nearly burst out laughing. There, barely ten feet away was none other than Dr. Naadiah, dressed as one of his temple priestesses.

Seriously, of all the things she'd done since they'd met last year, this was too weird for him. "No offense, Doc, but that is definitely not your look."

Staring down at the skimpy red outfit that she wore, which was pretty much just an embellished bra and miniskirt, Dr. Naadiah raised an unimpressed eyebrow. "Is it anyone's look?"

"Hey, I like scantily clad women; sue me. At this point in time being the God of War means something. They literally compete to serve in my temple, and I'm highly selective," Ares preened, knowing that however long Dr. Naadiah was around his mother or this golden brother wouldn't show up. She wouldn't be so sloppy as to let that happen.

Dr. Naadiah rolled her eyes at her patient's macho posturing, but ultimately put the issue aside for now. "I'm sure you are. So, the regret…"

"Well, the people I was worried might get caught in the crossfire are safely squared away, and I have a plan to liberate Athena a few hours after I place her in the dungeon, so all in all, it's going well," Ares summarized, pulling the puzzle box from his vest before tossing it to his therapist, eager to brag.

"And this is?" Dr. Naadiah asked, examining the brightly colored lacquer-finished box that reminded her of a rectangular rubics cube, and appeared to have no seem or openings to speak of.

"It's an old Olympian toy, a puzzle box of sorts. Back during the War of the Titans we would make these and leave each other objects and messages inside. As it's tied to our powers, only the person the box is intended for can open it and even then it takes several tries to figure out the right pattern of taps on each side to make it give up its treasure. That one was created for my 'overly confident' elder sister," Ares explained as Dr. Naadiah held the box up to the light streaming through the small windows and watched as the colors shown to their best effect.

"And what sort of treasure does this one contain?" Dr. Naadiah queried, sensing Ares was eager to share this part of his plan. This was strategy; this was what he knew best. This was where he felt comfortable, and for a few moments, his therapist would indulge him.

"A two ounce, flint glass bottle of highly concentrated nitric acid and a note telling my sister how to use it to melt the bars of a cage made from Hephaestus' metal," Ares replied gleefully as if he were a naughty child playing a prank.

"Clever. So, where does your teaming up with Zeus and Hercules fit in?" Dr. Naadiah asked, attempting to steer Ares away from strategy and towards two of the relationships that he needed to work on if he were to learn from this regret. She knew Ares didn't like dealing with either man and was putting off discussing it as long as he could, but that wouldn't help him here. Each held a piece of a puzzle, along with other family members Ares wasn't too keen on. Avoiding them wasn't going to get the job done, and it was Dr. Naadiah's job to keep the God of War on track.

"That can't happen until mom kidnaps Alcmene from the underworld and Zeus gives up his powers. Otherwise, he could just end the coup by killing Mom. He has no incentive to spare her life, and killing her not only frees him from their marriage but turns me and her other children into slaves, lest he hand us over to the Furies," Ares explained, trying to keep the hurt out of his voice. No matter how much he'd tried to make peace with Zeus and Hera's complete disregard for his survival or well being, a tiny piece of him still wished the Fates had granted him parents who could have loved him and who'd cared about his safety and sanity the way most fathers and mothers did. He hated that part of himself, even if Dr. Naadiah had claimed in his first therapy session that its existence was 'natural', as if being natural did him any good.

"So you believe that your father would seek to kill your mother the way she tried to have you kill him originally?" Dr. Naadiah asked, knowing the answer but needing to get Ares considering this aspect of his family dynamic.

"Of course! They hate each other, and neither gives a damn about the consequences to their own children. So yeah, Dad would happily kill Mom, which I can't allow due to the whole enslavement thing. Seriously, if the Furies didn't exist or hadn't held gods to the same rules they held mankind, my solution to this regret would have been to use Mom's coup to get them to kill each other and free myself from the both of them,"Ares commented in disgust. Dr. Naadiah clearly didn't understand just how truly abysmal Zeus and Hera had been as parents if she could asked that last question. Maybe this regret would shed some light on that matter for her.

Dr. Naadiah considered Ares response and his unspoken belief that she didn't understand the situation. However, that wasn't the case. She fully acknowledged the brutality the King and Queen of the Gods had demonstrated towards their children, be they a product of the marriage itself, like Ares, or an extramarital relationship, like Hercules. But as Naadiah had learned in her own therapy with Dr. Arthur, sometimes children misinterpreted their parents' motivations.

Taking a deep breath before diving into an unpleasant part of her own parents' history that she'd only been made aware of in therapy, Dr Naadiah finally responded. "Almost three years after my mother passed away, my brothers and I spent Christmas at our Aunt Denise's home. It was the first time we'd all gotten together since Mom's funeral. Anyway, after dinner we were all sitting around and my brother Nathan brought up the fact that he'd found out that our parents had another child two years before his own birth, a baby girl, and that they'd given her up for adoption. He'd found the paperwork in our mother's files when he was going through everything and confirmed the birth with an online records search. Needless to say, I was floored by the information. It seemed so out of character for my parents. I mean, I already knew that my mother had cheated on my father when I was in middle school, so I just took it as an article of faith that the baby they'd given up had been the result of an earlier affair."

"But it wasn't," Ares surmised, not knowing where his Doc was going with this, but sensing that what came next was painful for her and that she needed a moment to ground herself.

"No, she wasn't. As I would later learn, my mother had been raped at work by the abusive ex-boyfriend of a co-worker. My parents had prayed for the baby to be my father's but her blood type quickly proved that she wasn't, so they decided to give the her up for adoption, tell their friends and neighbors that she had been stillborn, and put the whole thing behind them," Dr. Naadiah confessed, allowing herself to feel the twinge of sorrow that always accompanied the memory.

Her mother had always been so disappointed by her refusal to adopt what she'd referred to as a 'pleasing and graceful manner', and Naadiah's coming out had seemed the final battle in that war, only to have her mother die two weeks later. Naadiah had spent years wondering whether the reason for her hurtful reaction, when in most other aspects she'd been supportive and downright proud of Naadiah, had been a belief that she'd given the wrong daughter up for adoption, that had she kept her first born she'd have the heterosexual little princess that she'd always dreamed of. Dr. Arthur had disabused Naadiah of that notion, but the reality had been far worse, that her mother had been raped and that the man who'd committed the crime had plea bargained down to four years in prison, and a few years after his early release, went on to rape two more women.

"I'm sorry, Doc," Ares offered, not knowing what else to say. As the God of War, he was a creature of action, but here and now there was nothing he could do to make the truth more palatable for his therapist, so he just rose from his throne and placed a hand on Dr. Naadiah's shoulder, offering her his support.

"Thank you, Ares. However I didn't tell you my mother's story merely to evoke sympathy. As I had to learn, sometimes our parents lives are a black box, so when we discover something we don't quite understand we fill in the blank as best we can from what we do know about them. I knew my mother later went on to have an affair, so I let myself believe she'd betrayed my father earlier in their marriage as well. As it turned out, I didn't have a clue," Dr. Naadiah supplied, letting Ares read into that statement.

"So you're saying that I'm reading Zeus and Hera wrong based on my own experiences with them?" Ares surmised, considering the possibility in earnest. Dr. Naadiah had a point. His parents had never allowed him to get close, so for all he knew they'd hid plenty of secrets from him.

"Not necessarily, but considering the stakes, don't you think you should find out?" Dr. Naadiah asked, ensuring Ares would have to make the the choice to question his parents on his own.

The penny dropped and Ares smiled triumphantly, finally getting it. "By asking them, talking with them explicitly rather than assuming I know what they're thinking and barreling ahead from there."

Dr. Naadiah clapped happily, proud her patient had recognized the interconnection with his previous lessons. "Excellent deduction, Ares, well done!"

"Thank you, Doc.. and I promise I'll give it a shot, but I can't make any promises. My parents have never been willing to reveal much about themselves to me, and I knew them for thirty-seven thousand years," Ares stated as he came down off the high of his recent epiphany. There was little chance his parents would ever open up, but he knew attempting to get them to was the correct way to handle this situation.

"And maybe they won't here either, but even if they refuse to answer any of your questions, you can still learn something from that," Dr. Naadiah encouraged, hoping that her patient would understand that his success or failure in finding out where his parents' motivations lay was less important than his willingness to learn and work with what they did choose to communicate.

"What a lightening bolt to the belly feels like? Sorry Doc, but I'm already well aware of that sensation. Been there, done that," Ares commented, making his therapist shake her head in amusement.

Still, Dr. Naadiah knew she'd made her point and that it was time to return to the 21st century, including her comfortable clothes. Looking down at her temple priestesses uniform once more, Dr. Naadiah rolled her eyes, and a moment later was back in her office, in her lavender duster, blouse, and slacks. Chucking to herself, Naadiah seated herself back behind her desk before addressing the universe or whoever might be listening. "Thank the gods for feminism."

Once his Doc was gone, Ares returned to his throne, only to hear the crackling whoosh of Hera's arrival. "How has your day been, mother?"

"Don't get smart, Ares! You know very well that your Father has gone too far this time, making his mongrel bastard a full god and bringing him to stay in our home!" the Queen of the Gods growled in barely contained fury.

"Try to look on the bright side. If he's up here, he's not down there interfering in our fun," Ares replied as he had once before. Hera was on a rampage, and if he'd learned anything from therapy, it was that timing played a big role. Now wasn't the time to try and have a heart to heart with his mother. He couldn't remember a time when such a thing would be possible, but it certainly wasn't this moment.

As if in response to her son's thoughts, Hera's eyes glowed and turned red before returning to their normally vivid green. "This isn't a joke! Your father has dozens of living bastards. If he can elevate Hercules to godhood and permit him to pollute our home, who's to say he won't bring the rest?! No, this has gone on long enough. It's time to act."

"Act? Act how? Dad's too powerful to act, else I would have acted long ago, so would you," Ares stated with feigned frankness.

"Let's just say I have a plan to ensure your father never sires another one of his mutts again.. but I need your help to see it through," Hera explained, eager to reel in her bloodthirsty son.

"And why should I stick my neck out just so you can keep your husband's balls in your purse," Ares questioned, knowing the irreverent role he was expected to play, and earning another flash of well controlled anger from his mother in the process.

"You misunderstand me, Ares. When I'm through with your father, he'll be nothing more than a shriveled up husk of a mortal, destined to die alone and unloved among those.. creatures he esteems so highly. He can keep his 'balls', for all the good they'll do him. Think of how much 'fun' you can have then, my son," Hera cooed as she revealed her plans, or at least the part that she wanted Ares to know about.

"Oh nice.. tell me more," Ares purred, as he nodded in approval. His mother sure knew how to pitch a plan, not that it would save her in the end. His mind filled with the memory of her fireball hitting him in the back, the shock and then the blackness that followed. She deserved what was to come.

Ares tried to be gentle with his aunt as he chained her, but Hestia would have none of it. "Some warrior! Chaining up an old, defenseless woman! You want to imprison me on the orders of your bitch of a mother, take off these shackles and do it like a real god!"

"Now Auntie, don't stress yourself. Those chains are for your protection, so you don't try to escape between here and the dungeons forcing me to take you down 'like a real god', as you call it. This way, it's just a simple stroll and nobody gets hurt," Ares tried to argue, hating every minute of it. Since the Twilight, he'd grown quite fond of Hestia and had even taken to thinking of her as the mother Hera had refused to be. She was powerful, but not cruel, and Ares valued that.

Unfortunately, it was too soon to show his true colors in this rebellion, so he played his part as respectfully as he could without causing suspicion. Hera wasn't powerful enough to kill Hestia outright, nor did she see her virgin sister-in-law as a major threat. Her arrest was more about her gift of persuasion, that is, the fact that nearly everyone on Olympus liked her and that she had the ear and the regard of many of the gods that Hera did consider a serious problem. If Hera had thrown every god she had beef with in the dungeons, she'd have nobody left to rule over.

That fact, more than anything, had kept Zeus in power for as long as he'd been. As with Minthe, most gods were too weak to have a say. Had Hera won, they would have stayed away from Olympus as much as possible, but they'd never have challenged her. The ones who could challenge her, or could unify the weaker gods into a challenge, were the ones Hera was locking away. The gods and goddesses that didn't care one way or the other who sat the throne, like Demeter, Hermes, or Hades, were just left out of things all together. Ares had to admit, it was an efficient strategy, but then again he was her son. Some of his gifts had to come from her.

In an odd way, his arrest of Artemis and Athena had been easier. Artemis was never a challenge for him, but in the years since her death, he'd come to respect her more in hindsight. So rather than fight her into submission as he'd done the last time, Ares merely used her assumption that he was there to make a deal to zap her with chains while her back was turned and then haul her away, no beat down included.

Athena had been tougher, but not for her fighting abilities. He'd used the same trick on her as on Artemis, but Artemis hadn't looked at him with betrayal in her eyes. Every step towards the dungeons had broken his heart, but he'd put one foot in front of the other regardless. He'd give her the means to free herself before he left her in that cage, and he could only hope she would see past this earlier betrayal to his ultimate objective. Yet, it had been she who had taught him that deception and manipulation were an unpleasant, if integral, part of warfare. If any of the gods could forgive him here, it would be her.

Now, as he was finishing up his mother's dirty work, he couldn't help but breath easier, that was until Hestia spoke again. "This is going to break Minthe's heart, you know. Have you thought about that?"

"So? What' she to me?" Ares curtly replied, pretending the idea of Minthe finding out didn't bother him. He cared what she thought about him. She was his oldest friend after all; her opinion mattered, and Hestia was right. If Minthe found out before Hera was at the bottom of the Abyss of Tartarus, she would be heartbroken.

"Right. What is she to you?" Hestia chuckled, knowing full well that her attempt to guilt the God of War had worked. Truth was she knew more than she let on. As the Oldest of the Olympians, there was little that surprised her, and Minthe and Ares had been linked since childhood. Indeed, when Minthe had first requested to study under her, Hestia had been hesitant. Male and female gods that connected as deeply as the God of War and the Goddess of Mint rarely remained friends, and Hestia was a virgin goddess. She'd assumed that in the fullness of time, Minthe would give her virginity to the dark god, and maybe he'd even marry her. Then Hestia would have wasted centuries of training on a girl who the Fates had destined to walk the path of a wife and mother, not a pure, sacred vessel. She'd made that mistake before, with Hera, and look where it had led them.

However, as the centuries had past, Minthe and Ares had maintained their friendship, neither seeking more from one another than the occasional joke in the hallway or each other's company at an otherwise dull banquet, and Hestia had absorbed the gentle goddess into her circle. But that friendship still meant the world to both the God of War and her protege, and Hestia could use that against him now.

Ares fought the urge to defend himself. Dr. Naadiah had taught him to be more open with his family, but right now they were in a state of war, and Hestia believed he was her enemy. That was Ares' turf, and he fundamentally understood that anything he said to Hestia would be used to undermine him, so he clammed up and carefully pulled her along towards the dungeons. Besides, he had far too much to do today. Originally, when he showed up at his mother's rooms to report his success in arresting his relatives, Hera gave him more work, and Ares intended to do the same this time, albeit with an eye towards sabotage, another of Athena's lessons in those early days.

The next morning, Ares checked in on five of his warlords and generals before heading out to find Demeter for the purpose of calling in a debt. This was a big marker, but a sign of good faith would go a long way with his mongrel brother, so Ares arranged for Demeter to brew up a sudden downpour to drop on the village Apollo would be torching around noon to give Hera time to drain away Zeus' godhood. Ares would wait till the transfer had taken place and then boom, as Apollo was about to explain what had just taken place on Olympus to their do-good half brother, the clouds would unleash a torrent to put out the fires the Shining One had started.

Hera wouldn't know it had been him who'd arranged it until she summoned Demeter, and by that time Ares would be on the run with his mortal father and miserable half brother. That would be the time for discussing things with Dad, when he could no longer zap Ares for asking and was dealing with new, mortal emotions he was ill prepared for but Ares had known for three years after the Twilight had left so many gods dead. There he'd have the advantage. Ares wasn't looking forward to that conversation, but Dr. Naadiah believed that he needed it, so he'd bite the bullet and open himself up enough to listen.

As go-time approached, Ares waited in his rooms as Hera had instructed. On his view screen he watched Apollo arrive to scout the village on his hover board, observing the mortals from a distance and planning the strategy that would antagonize Hercules the most. Hera would give him the signal when she wanted him to start burning the place, so until that occurred both brothers could only watch and wait.

"So, you ready?" Dr. Naadiah asked, coming out of a darker corner of Ares' study, dressed in the traditional garb of a Greek woman of this time. He'd seen her in a similar get up on previous regrets, but it still struck him as weird. He hadn't known anyone who regularly dressed like this in a long time, and her body language and speech was far too 21st century. The anachronisms were jarring.

"Yep, just waiting for Mom to give the word for Apollo to start raining fireballs on the village you see on the screen. If I remember correctly, he'll start with the schoolhouse in order to put the lives of children at risk. Like most mortals, Jerkules is a sucker for protecting children. I mean, I get that your people have an instinct to shield your own offspring from suffering. Heck, most Olympians share that sentiment as well, but beyond that I've never gotten your kind's obsession with the younger members of your species. If anything, other humans' children are competition, or even the future killers of your own." Ares commented, not worrying what Dr. Naadiah thought of this statement. He liked that about her, how she didn't automatically judge the differences between gods and mortals. It was refreshing.

"That's an interesting perspective. I guess every fervent jihadist or hot headed gang banger was once a child," Dr. Naadiah considered, not liking the thought all that much. Still, Ares had a unique point of view and the better she understood him the better she'd be at helping him, even if she didn't agree with much of what he believed, or as Dr. Arthur had taught her in doctor training 'You are not your patient.'

"Exactly. Heck, I was once a child myself," Ares joked, knowing his Doc wasn't here to discuss philosophy.

"Zeus and Hera's child. How are you handling that, the upcoming conflict I mean," Dr. Naadiah pressed, giving Ares a lead on the basic direction she intended for this conversation.

"Everything's in place on my end. When Hera drains Dad's godhood, all of Greece, including Mount Olympus, will experience a mild earthquake. You can't transfer that much raw power without some physical repercussions and this will be a massive shift in the natural order. Anyway, once Zeus is mortal, he'll head to a tavern at the base of Olympus, which oddly enough was exactly the same thing I did the first time I lost my godhood, and get thoroughly drunk. He even gets himself into a bar fight, leaving him in the arms of a blonde tavern maid, pissing Mom off to no end. That's when Hera ordered me to kill Dad. However, by that time I'll already be on Earth, waiting for Apollo, who Mom will likely send in my place after Demeter rats me out for my defection," Ares detailed, explaining how things would shortly unfold.

"Thanks for the play by play, but we've been doing this long enough for you to know I was talking about your upcoming interactions with your parents. How are you planning on addressing that?" Dr. Naadiah questioned more directly. Ares had a habit of loosing himself in his godhood when he was uncomfortable with the demands of therapy, and Dr. Naadiah wanted him to understand that she had caught on to this tendency and would no longer allow it to direct their conversation for long.

"I don't know what you want me to say. When Dad's mortal, he can't harm me, so bringing up his thoughts and feelings about the current situation with Mom will be a simple matter of getting Jerkules out of my hair long enough for the two of us to talk. Mom is a different matter. She never looses her powers, so attempting to pry anything out of her comes with the risk of ending up blacked out on the floor of the throne room, assuming she doesn't just dump my unconscious body into the Abyss for betraying her. She was always more powerful than me, and for most of my life I loved her for it. She was my mom," Ares sighed, as he was once again consumed by shame. Therapy did that to him from time to time, as he was forced to acknowledged just how pathetic and messed up his life had been. He was beginning to think it was the underlying cause of his making the commitment to therapy that set him on this journey, an unconscious understanding that Xena had repeatedly rejected him because she couldn't love a hot mess like himself, but that if he learned to make better choices, he'd be less of a risk to love.

But all that aside, he was truly stumped on how he was going to get his mother to talk to him beyond the play by play as Dr. Naadiah had referred to it. When it came to her children, Hera had always been all business with the threat of violence backing up her demands. It was the style he'd adopted for dealing with most warlords and battle commanders, and he couldn't deny that it worked well. He didn't know what anything else would look like, at least not with her, but so far this therapy had granted him hope that if he put in the effort his life could change for the better, and he would find a way to talk to his mother if such were possible. If not, he'd attempt to learn from whatever she threw his way and have faith that a future regret might give him a better opportunity to hash things out with her. After all, many of his regrets involved Hera, and he barely knew her beyond her power. One way or another that needed to change.

Feeling her patient's humiliation at his admission that he'd loved Hera for her power, Dr. Naadiah decided to throw him a lifeline. "It's what you could get from her, Ares. Demonstrations of her power forced your mother to deal with you, and the part of you that wanted her love accepted that as the best you were ever going to get. That's not your fault, and perfectly normal, but it does make it harder…"

Suddenly the ground beneath them shivered, and Dr. Naadiah could only assume this was the power transfer between Zeus and Hera that Ares had warned her about. Reaching into the great well that always seemed to be filled with the memories of her patients that she needed access to in order to help them, Dr. Naadiah found.. nothing. She was just Naadiah, unable to grasp new information beyond her own. Her mind was as it had been before she'd become a therapist. As her thoughts raced, she noticed the God of War looking at her questioningly, and she opened her mouth and closed it several times before speaking again. "Hold on, I need to try something."

Turning on her heels, Naadiah walked towards the archway of Ares study, and passed through onto the balcony. She was supposed to have ended up in her office, but she was on Ares balcony. Something was gravely wrong.

Picking up on his therapist's mounting distress, Ares followed her. "Doc, are you alright? That was just Hera taking Dad's powers. I warned you.."

"Ares, my own 'powers' for lack of a better term, aren't working. I can't see beyond my own thoughts, and I can't get back to my office in 2002. I think I'm trapped," Dr. Naadiah squeaked out, fear attempting to keep hold of her as she breathed deeply, refusing to submit to it. Ares had put his faith in her for months, and he'd proven willing to protect her after Micheal's attack. Therapy was a team effort, at first between doctor and patient, and eventually in phase two, between doctor, patient, and the rest of one's group. Together they'd figure this out and return to the start of the 21st century, and if they couldn't find a way back on their own, Dr. Arthur would come for them. Naadiah forced herself to remember that she wasn't alone, that deepest of fears that had plagued her most of her life was only an illusion. She, Naadiah Laska, wasn't alone, and she'd make it through this. She might be in the middle of a civil war between gods, 2000 years before her birth, but in this moment she lived and was safe. That was all anyone ever had.

"Okay. Okay. We'll figure this out. We can figure this out. Damn, I need to stash you somewhere and quickly, lest Mom, Apollo, or one of her other co-conspirators finds out about you," Ares replied, now in crisis mode. Wars rarely went smoothly, there were always unpredictable variables, so his capacity for adaptability was top tier.

"Stash me somewhere? Ares, I'm still your therapist," Dr. Naadiah responded vehemently. She understood the risks, but they had made a commitment to this therapy. When she'd been in doctor training, she'd not had powers, yet she'd managed to help several people in her life. She didn't doubt that she could still be useful to Ares as he navigated his relationship with his parents, siblings, and other family members.

"You're also mortal, which means expendable, especially to my mother and Apollo. You saw how little he regarded Aphrodite and Minthe a few weeks ago at that meeting, and they're goddesses. You'd be kindling for his next bonfire if he got a hold of you. And Mom.. Mom is definitely worse. No, I need to keep you safe, which means putting distance between us," Ares insisted, needing his willful therapist to see the very real dangers his family members could pose if they discovered her existence and importance to him.

"Risk is part of my job. You're completely on the nose regarding my vulnerability, but the universe chose me to be your therapist and you made a commitment to that therapy. We're in this together," Dr. Naadiah expounded, believing every word with her whole heart. Therapy could, on occasion, be dangerous and she and Dr. Arthur had discussed Ares' therapy in great detail before he was brought to her office that first time. While this specific situation had never come up, the idea of torture or outright murder by other gods unhappy with Ares' therapy had, and yet she'd wholeheartedly committed to Ares as a patient, even comprehending that it could cost her her life. After all, If she hadn't backed down in the face of Micheal's violence, she wasn't going to back down from Apollo's or Hera's cruelty either. Everything that had a beginning had an end, if these Olympians became hers, so be it.

While Ares couldn't read her thoughts the way she normally could read his during a session, he didn't need that ability. He knew mortal determination, and it was all but radiating of his therapist. He knew that if he sent her someplace safe against her will, she'd just attempt to escape and track him down, likely getting herself killed along the way. She couldn't possibly know the depths of his mother and brother's depravity when it came to mortals, but she would face it head on one way or another. Sighing, Ares conceded that it was better to keep her close, where he could at least attempt to watch out for her, than to leave her exposed to this brutal time period she'd not been born to and failed to understand. "Alright, but we stick together, and you need to stay out of harm's way and follow my lead. No being a hero. That's the only way I'll agree to this."

"Alright. This is your time, and your world. I won't interfere or get into any sort of trouble. I promise," Dr. Naadiah swore, letting Ares know she wouldn't act rashly or put either of them in danger if she could help it. Naadiah certainly didn't want to die anytime soon, and she knew that protecting her might put her patient at risk, so she would do her best to remain inconspicuous.

"Fine, but just to minimize problems, I'll make you invisible to mortal eyes. The place my father wandered into after he was deposited on Earth was a dive, even by this age's standards, so your being invisible will ensure the pathetic drunks my father chose to pal around with won't target you when he starts that bar fight. Gods will still be able to see you, but there's nothing I can do about that. At least Dad won't know you're there while he's mortal, and hopefully, once he gets his godhood back you'll be able to return to the 21st century without any direct confrontation," Ares explained before snapping his fingers to make his words a reality.

"Thank you, Ares. I trust you to look out for me, just as you've trusted me to look out for you these past few months," Dr. Naadiah professed, giving the God of War a reassuring smile, before turning to the mirror Ares had switched views on. As a few thatch roofs began to catch fire, with Apollo throwing fireballs as he zipped along on his hover board, a loud crack of thunder sounded and the sky opened up, dumping buckets of water on the partially burning village.

Out of nowhere, a flash of blue light overwhelmed Dr. Naadiah's field of vision, and once her eyes had cleared she was standing outside a lone building in the shadow of Mount Olympus. Beside her stood the God of War, looking her over to ensure she was adjusting well. When she didn't react negatively to the suddenness of the transport, Ares moved towards the building, gesturing for her to follow, which she did, careful not to trip or turn her ankle. She was a child of the city, and while a few of her patients had more rural backgrounds that had required she learn to walk on dirt and grass, she'd at least been able to wear pants and water-resistant, orthotic shoes. The ground around the primitive tavern was moist, and her untreated, animal hide boots were soaking in some of the water, making walking around the side of the structure a bit more difficult.

As they pushed through the simple, wooden door, Dr. Naadiah's eyes adjusted to the dim light, and she could see what Ares meant by a dive. "I was expecting something more along the lines of Xena's mother's place."

"That was an inn, so it had to be a bit more family friendly. This is, effectively, a drinking hole for those who make their living at the base of Olympus, so it doesn't need to put on airs. Anyway, that's the bar fly my father will be hitting on when he starts the brawl," Ares commented, as they moved deeper into the tavern and Ares motioned for Naadiah to take a seat on a lone chair near the table the curly haired, blonde sat, chatting up a bald man. The chair looked as if it was rarely in use and even had a thin layer of dust on it. So, after brushing off the dust, Dr. Naadiah planted herself and watched as Ares sat at the bar, his gaze moving with practiced efficiency over the entire scene, as if he were observing a battlefield, bit by bit, noting each individual altercation, until they coalesced into a whole picture for him to consider and judge. It was a fascinating insight into to how Ares did his job, and Dr. Naadiah filed the information away for future reference.

Approximately fifteen minutes after their arrival, the tavern door swung open and in strode an older man whose confident body language stood in stark contrast to his shabby attire and well conditioned body.

She'd briefly seen Zeus before, on Ares first regret, but now was the first time she'd gotten a chance to examine him. Before, when he was hounding his son about his admission of loving Xena, he'd seemed jovial, even as he firmly laid down the law as to the place of mortal women in the life of one of the most powerful of Olympian gods. Now there was curiosity and paternalistic pride in every gesture, as if he was viewing his kid's astounding science project for the first time rather than a room full of drunks. The fact that it should have been the other way around, that discovering your son's first brush with love should have had more personal impact than evaluating potential drinking buddies and one night stands, mid day, at a hole-in-the-wall bar, wasn't lost on Naadiah. Then again, she'd worked with other patients whose parents had possessed seemingly mixed up priorities, so she fought her own instinct to judge and set her mind to the task of observing the God of War's response to seeing his now mortal father.

"Hi fellas! Is this the local health club?!" Zeus asked, before laughing at his own joke and hitting on the bar fly Ares had pointed out earlier. The god-turned-mortal reeked toxic masculinity, even more so than his son, and Dr. Naadiah's difficulty in remaining objective reared its head again. When he elbowed a man in the face just for attempting to stop him from grabbing the bar fly, Naadiah was half poised to join in and was forced to remind herself that violence only fed violence. Zeus might act like a boar, whether he was in god or mortal form, but she knew better.

As the fight really took off in earnest, Naadiah felt a force field surround her and looked up to see her patient directing the men beating on his father as if he were a orchestra conductor working with his people on a symphony, and called out across the room. "I thought you were on your father's side this time?!"

"I am, but so long as he survives and is still capable of talking later, I'm cool! He doesn't need a completely intact skeleton for that, and I like the idea of making him suffer first!" Ares shouted back, as Zeus let out a loud grunt before throwing back several attackers at once.

When the fight wound down, Zeus was helped back to his feet by his new girlfriend and ordered another two drinks, which was when Ares allowed himself to be viewed by all, including Zeus.

"Ares, my boy! Come, come have a drink with your old man!" Zeus called out to his dark son, his words slightly slurring, but not so much as to indicate he was completely drunk yet.

Sighing, Ares threw a few dinars down onto the bar and tried to steer his father towards the door. "Sorry Dad, but I have too refined a pallet for this swill. Now come on, we need to get moving; Mom wants you dead and I'm not gonna give her the satisfaction!"

"Satisfying your mother has gotten harder and harder these past few centuries, I'll admit. That woman is insatiable; sometimes I think it's the only thing that's kept us together so long," Zeus grumbled, taking a final swig of his drink, while resisting his son's attempt to move him.

"Okay, I really didn't need to hear that. Now, come on Dad; we really have to go. When mom figures out I'm not willing to kill my own father, she'll likely send Apollo or one of her other accomplices, and I want to get you out of here before that happens," Ares responded, this time using a bit more force to move his father a few steps.

"Now you just wait a moment! I'm a grown god.. man and I won't be treated like a child! I want to stay, and I'm going to stay! If Apollo shows up, he can have a drink with us too. Problem solved," Zeus stated resolutely before letting out a loud belch.

"Mom isn't sending Apollo to drink with you; she's sending him to kill you! Now, let's go! What am I arguing with you for! You're mortal now; you don't get a choice here!" Ares growled as he roughly grabbed Zeus' arm.

Before he could zap himself, his father, and his therapist to the hiding spot he'd selected, a fist suddenly connected with his jaw, and Ares stumbled back. He didn't even need to look up; he knew that punch well enough. "Nice to see you too, brother."

"Hercules! You've come to drink with us! See Ares; this mortal thing doesn't need to change us. We can still all be a family. Bar keep, more ale for me and my sons!" Zeus called out, only to have Hercules replace Ares tight grip on his arm with a gentler, coaxing one.

"As much as my brother's methods leave much to be desired, he's right that you have to go," Hercules stated, letting Ares know that while he understood his intentions to get their father away from a fixed location, manhandling the elderly wouldn't be tolerated on his watch.

"No! Now both of you need to stop this nonsense! I'm your father and I say I'm staying, and that's final!" Zeus replied petulantly, grabbing the drink the bar keep had nervously placed before him and downing half of it in a single gulp. The men and women present now looked at Zeus with new eyes. Ares sudden appearance out of thin air had convinced them that he was a god, and if he was addressing the older man as 'father', they knew just who they'd been drinking, flirting, and brawling with less than twenty minutes ago. Half of them were probably certain they were bound for Tartarus any second now and were attempting to make peace with Hades before their life thread was cut.

"Did you hear that, Brother? Dad says he's staying and that's final!" Ares mocked, knowing his half brother would have as little success in getting Zeus to leave the tavern as he'd had before the punch.

"Ares," Hercules warned, gently taking Zeus' mug away from him, while attempting to grab hold of the slippery old man who'd somehow managed to free himself from his younger son's grasp.

Seeing his brother's difficulty triggered the God of War's to needle him further. The pompous, martyr for the little guy deserved it. "You know this would make for a great joke.. Zeus, Ares, and Hercules walk into a bar…"

Hercules huffed in frustration before trying to continue in a calm manner. While Ares might be irritating him, he'd heard enough to understand that his half brother was trying to protect their father from his mother's goons, and Hercules wouldn't deny him that. For once they were on the same side, and he didn't want to burn any more bridges than were necessary, despite his sibling's childish attitude at the moment. "Ares, this is not a joke! We need…"

Before Hercules could finish his scolding, Ares had grabbed Zeus' forearm and transported them and Dr. Naadiah to the cave he'd planned to hide out in. They didn't have time to argue or Apollo would arrive and Ares feared for his therapist's safety. Now that he was a god, Hercules could follow Ares as soon as he'd vanished, but he'd be on Ares' turf when he arrived. That would limit any explanation he need to make in regards to his Doc. He'd been forced to reveal his being in therapy to Hercules in 2001 in order to get his half brother's help in saving his therapist from Micheal, but this time Ares would control the flow of information.

The cave was the same one he, Morgan, and that sexy pirate whose name now eluded him, had hid out in when Dahok had ordered him hunted down by his followers, although that wouldn't happen for several months. The entrance was concealed by a waterfall which made it easy to overlook, even by a god who didn't know it was there, and more importantly it was where the clue scroll he'd placed in the puzzle box along with the bottle of nitric acid should draw Athena to once she escaped.

Explaining Dr. Naadiah to her and getting her to keep silent afterwards was likely to be the hardest part all this, but if he were right, and she did remember how proud she'd been of him when he'd saved Minthe's life and she'd figured out that he was a future version of her brother, then she could be trusted with the safety of the person who was helping her younger brother to become someone she could be proud of. If Athena didn't remember, or their relationship was already so damaged that she no longer trusted that memory, she'd never find her way to the cave, so there would be need for an explanation of any kind.

Still, Ares desperately hoped that Athena would trust her memory and come to the cave to help them defeat Hera, for if she did then there was a chance that one day, on another regret, Ares might be able to convince her to stand down during the Twilight. Then like Minthe, his big sister would almost certainly be alive in 2002, and together they'd fight to protect their people as they once did during their family's war with the titans.