Being Ares: Everything Starts Somewhere

Part 3

A Xena: Warrior Princess / Being Erica Crossover

By Arianwen P. F. Everett

"Ares, send me back! I was having fun with my friends!" Zeus whined, finally realizing that he was no longer in the tavern, his drink was gone, and his fellow lushes were no where to be found.

"Trust me, I'd do just that and let Apollo turn you into a mortal backdraft, but regrettably my own sanity is on the line, so just sit down and sober up. We're going to be here a while," Ares responded, rolling his eyes at his father's petulance. It was almost comical how he'd once desperately sought his father's guidance on how to be a man, when Zeus had never escaped his own childhood despite having existed for nearly four times as long as Ares had. Then again, he'd been a boy, and as Dr. Naadiah put it, it was 'natural'.

Before Zeus could formulate a reply, Hercules arrived, enraged that his despised brother had just absconded with their father. "Ares, he's my father too! You had no right to just grab him like that, and…"

"If we'd remained there any longer, Apollo would have tracked us down! We needed to get out of that tinderbox fast, so I brought Dad someplace safe. I knew you'd follow. You're too pig headed not to," Ares cut in, refusing to be lectured to by this mongrel sap. It was bad enough he had to protect the father who'd never even considered protecting him and try to forge enough of a connection to get some answers. Jerkules could stuff his pompous tirade where Apollo's beloved sun wouldn't shine; Ares had too much on his plate at the moment to placate the newly made god.

Hercules was brought up short. If Apollo really was after them as Ares had implied at the tavern, then getting Zeus out had been the correct strategy. Still, their now mortal father hadn't agreed to leave, yet Ares had ignored his desires as he and the other gods usually did with most of humanity. Coming to the conclusion that it was already done, and Ares intention had been to save their father, the hero decided to drop the argument and investigate just where Ares had taken them.

As his eyes scanned the room, Hercules knew they were inside a cavern of some type, and he also knew they weren't alone. "Who's she?"

Ares sighed and motioned for Dr. Naadiah to come out of the shadows where she'd secluded herself. Technically she knew the mortal Zeus couldn't see her, but still, she'd felt the need to hide. Being without her abilities, and trapped two millennia before she was even conceived was extremely alienating, even if she was under the protection of an Olympian god and not in any immediate danger.

Not wanting his father privy to this conversation, Ares put Zeus to sleep on the rock he'd taken to resting on since Ares had silenced him with his command to sit down and sober up. "She's from the future, a mortal friend who lost her ability to return to her own time when dad lost his powers. That's the other reason I so abruptly brought us here. Had Apollo shown up, Dad would have at least known to duck and weave while we dealt with the Shining One. Naadiah isn't a warrior. She would have been roasted in seconds under one of our brother's onslaught."

Hercules brow furrowed in confusion. That wasn't the answer he'd been expecting, and Ares wasn't usually so creative with his lies. "She's from the future…"

"Yep," Ares quipped, smirking at his disbelieving brother.

"And she's not a warrior, yet for some reason she's come back in time to hang around with the God of War? Why doesn't that add up?" Hercules queried, waiting to hear what his troublesome brother would come up with while keeping an eye on the seemingly innocent woman with the cropped black hair.

"You're asking me what goes on in your head?! Look, the short version is that she's under my protection until she either regains her ability to travel through time or one of her colleagues comes from the future to collect her. Either way, getting Dad back to Olympus is her best bet," Ares summarized, knowing his half brother would be unlikely to drop the subject. Still, it gave him a chance to practice being more forthcoming with someone he detested, so he let his words sit there and waited for his annoying sibling's response.

Hercules gave a put upon sigh and rubbed his face in exhaustion. Now that he was a god, he'd be dealing with his jerk of a brother for the rest of time. "Ares, if she harms one hair on our father's head…"

Ares fought to contain his amusement but lost the battle and burst out laughing. "Naadiah?! Harm Dad?! Even elderly, drunk, and mortal, our father could wipe the floor with her! The chick's a pacifist; she's no threat to anyone, least of all our father. If anything, our father is a threat to her, which is why I made her invisible to mortal eyes and put Dad to sleep. If he knew who she was, the moment he got his godhood back he'd hunt her down and interrogate her. As I once warned you, brother, time travel is forbidden, even to full gods. Imagine what our father would do to a mortal woman engaged in the practice."

"Alright, you've made your point. I won't alert Zeus to this.. Naadiah's presence, but she'd better be as trustworthy as you deem her to be," Hercules warned, watching the God of War for any sign of deceit. When he didn't find any, he moved to examine his sleeping father, who appeared for all the world to be just your run of the mill sleeping drunk, and yet had been ruler of the universe just this morning.

Glad that conversation was over, Ares turned towards the entrance of the cave and looked out upon the large lake outside that the falls flowed into, organizing his thoughts as he attempted to determine when he should wake Zeus up and begin his own interrogation.

"Penny for your thoughts," Dr. Naadiah opened, still able to read her patient's contemplative expression, even if she could no longer trace his thoughts.

"Dinar. The local currency at this time is the dinar, and seriously I'm at a loss. I know I need to speak with Dad, and his present, inebriated state has likely softened him up for the conversation, but I don't have a clue what to say to the man," Ares complained, trying to come up with a single question that would shed some light on why Zeus did the things he did? Why he married Hera? Why he treated his kids the way he did? And if that wasn't enough, he still had to link it back to his recent encounter with Xena's reincarnation, Annie Day, at the coffee shop. His mind was moving too fast and yet he still felt like he was falling behind. He needed tens of thousands of year worth of answers, and he didn't even have fully formed questions.

"What do you want to say?" Dr. Naadiah asked, attempting to help clarify her patient's mind, to get it to narrow on a few key ideas rather than the deluge of possibilities.

"I don't want to say anything. I want to grab some ambrosia, shove it down that worthless sot's throat, and then toss him into the Abyss of Tartarus before he has the where-with-all to react. By the time his godhood settled, he'd be too far down the hole to escape, and too immortal to die, leaving me free to deal with Mom. If I went that route, she'd be so tickled pink by my solution to both our woes, she'd pardon my earlier treachery. But that would change history far too much, and.. honestly, I know you're right. I need to say.. something.. whether I want to or not. If I don't, I'll never figure out why you sent me back here, to this particular regret, in order to deal with the two.. wrecks I once called parents, when my current problem is my relationship with Xena. Seriously, Doc, I'm not seeing any connection," Ares admittedly, his shoulder's sagging with this final admission.

Looking back, to ensure Hercules hadn't heard his tirade to his therapist, Ares found his half brother curiously watching the two of them but keeping his distance. Their father was once again awake, but still too stupefied from his recent binge to wonder why one of his sons was talking to himself.

"You believe this is all about Xena?" Dr. Naadiah queried, hoping to move her patient away from his concerns about the Warrior Princess. Yes, she was the lynchpin, but if Ares spent all of his time trying to tie his experiences here with his recent altercation with the woman warrior at the coffee shop, he'd remain so focused on the endpoint that he'd refuse to allow the journey to teach him what he need to know.

Throwing his hands up in the air, Ares turned swiftly on his therapist in frustration. "Of course it's about Xena! It's always about Xena! I was talking with her, then thinking about her, when you pulled me into your office and chose to send me back here, so somehow, someway, whatever your point is, it all comes back around to Xena, kind of like her chakram, bouncing off every angle of my immortal life just as she has for 2000 years!"

"Whoa! Wait. Wait. Wait. You're from the future as well, and this mortal friend of yours, this Naadiah, brought you 2000 years into the past?! She brought you, not the other way around, how is that possible?!" Hercules asked, having overheard his brother's rant despite his attempts to keep his voice low.

Ares sighed, hating to give away more information to his half brother, but if Hercules had agreed not to tell Zeus, there was little danger for his therapist in giving him a few more details. "Yes, Brother, I'm the Ares from 2000 years in the future, and Naadiah has the power to time travel. A handful of mortals can do that then, and Naadiah is obviously one of them.. or at least she was until Mom drained Dad's powers and took over Olympus. Now she's trapped with us."

"And how does Xena fit into all of this?" Hercules followed up more softly, now that he was getting a clearer picture about what was going on with his brother and this woman who he'd brought with them to the cave.

"Tartarus if I know," Ares quipped, the irony of Hercules' question not lost on him.

"Naadiah?" Hercules asked, for the first time addressing the future therapist directly.

"I'm sorry, Hercules, but I'm unable to tell you anything beyond what Ares has already revealed. Your brother has placed great trust in me and I won't say or do anything to violation that trust. Besides, I also promised your sister, Aphrodite, that I'd keep their confidentiality, and I wouldn't dare risk the good opinion, much less the wrath, of the Goddess of Love," Dr. Naadiah stated with a small smirk, letting history's greatest hero know that she had principals and was also acquainted with his sister. Hopefully, Hercules' apparent trust in Aphrodite would convince him to accept Naadiah's refusal to expose Ares' secrets.

"Naadiah.. I respect you discretion, I really do, but Ares.. Ares isn't nearly as principled as you appear to be, and Xena is a friend of mine. If she's somehow part of this.. please, anything you can tell me would be helpful," Hercules stammered, not exactly knowing how to ask someone so apparently honorable to betray their firmly held beliefs. Still, for Xena he had to try.

"If you truly respected my discretion, you would have dropped the subject, and as for Ares principles, in my experience he has plenty of them. They're just not the same as yours or mine, but they're no less real," the petite brunette politely defended, giving a nod of encouragement to her patient to let him know she had his back. She didn't need the ability to read his thoughts to feel the uncertainty that had radiated off him when Hercules had tried to wheedle details of his therapy from her. Yes, Ares trusted her, but she knew from previous regrets that he believed every mortal would always side with his brother over himself. Dr. Naadiah needed to reaffirm her commitment to him and his therapy, even over the great Hercules.

"Drop it, Little Brother, she ain't telling you anything and we have a counter insurgency to plan. So let's just wake the lush up and get back to work, shall we?" Ares broke in, getting his Doc off the hook. Hearing her stand up for him to his overly lauded brother was a balm for Ares' soul, and he nodded in satisfaction as he snapped his fingers in front of his slumbering father's face to release him from the sleep of Morpheus.

Hercules fought the remark in his throat and took a steadying breath to clear his head. Ares and this Naadiah were loyal to one another, that was clear, and pressuring the woman didn't seem the right course of action at this time. They had to get Zeus back to Olympus and deal with Hera before she tortured mankind even more savagely than before. "Alright. You've lived on Olympus for centuries, Ares. How do you suggest we take down your mother?"

"Firstly, let's get one thing straight; I will not allow her to be killed. When all is said and done, she goes into the Abyss of Tartarus, alive. I'd be just as screwed if Dad killed her as if she killed Dad. I'd see both of them dead if it weren't for the damned Furies, but that's not an option," Ares insisted, hating having to defend his bitch of a mother.

"Fine," Hercules stated in exasperation, as he helped Zeus sit up. During his dispute with Naadiah, Hercules had failed to notice the former king of the gods has tipped over on his boulder, ending up on his side, with his head hung down so his right cheek pressed against the dirt floor of the cave.

"Oh. Oh, my head," Zeus groaned, as he pressed his temples to try and make the pain stop.

"That's called a hangover. Suck it up and deal," Ares said, materializing a skin of water and handing it to his father without meeting his gaze.

"Ares, show some compassion," Hercules returned, helping Zeus to get the skin unstopped and into his mouth.

"Water?" Zeus questioned, looking at the skin he'd assumed would hold wine. At least that's what mortals generally used it for in his experience.

"Yes water. You need to sober up," Ares answered, annoyed at how entitled his father still was, even in such a retched state. When he'd been turned mortal, he'd quickly acknowledged what a loser he was and went from there. Zeus still acted like a king, even in rags. He sincerely wished to see his father spend three years brought low, as he'd once been, but the Fates had never been fair.

"Just take slow sips. That's it," Hercules coaxed, as his father slowly drained the skin. As much as he hated to admit it, Ares was right about their need to get their father functioning again. If they were to walk into Olympus a few hours from now, he'd need his wits about him. Hera and Apollo were dangerous and they both had much to loose if they failed in their takeover. They'd aim for him first, and Zeus needed to be fully alert in case he had to evade some of their fire that had bypassed his sons during the battle to come.

Ares waited impatiently as Zeus finished off his water and wiped his lips. "Thank you, Hercules."

Ares shook his head to disrupt the desire to throttle his mortal father. He'd been the one to think of the skin. He was the one who knew the root of a hangover was dehydration. That was knowledge that didn't even exist yet, and Jerkules got the credit, just because he'd coddled the old man like a small child. But his rage and jealousy needed to wait, so he pushed them down and plowed forward. "Alright, now that you're awake and on your way back to coherent thought, Hercules and I have come to an agreement. I fight beside the two of you and you spare Mom's life."

"Spare your mother's life? I have no desire to harm Hera. Oh, I'm angry that she took my godhood.. but why.. why would you believe I'd kill my own wife?!" Zeus queried incredulously as he valiantly fought the fog that threatened to smother his thoughts before they could form words. Mortal existence truly sucked.

"Ah, because she's trying to kill you! Because you threatened to cover the world with her ashes barely more than an hour ago! Because for nearly my entire life you two have done nothing but make each other, and everyone else on Olympus, miserable!" Ares railed, causing his father to grab his head and wince at the sound of his dark son's voice echoing off the cave walls.

"No. No. No. Hera is angry about my feelings for Alcmene, but she'd never try to kill me, not by her own hand. She loves me. That's why she fights so hard to keep me faithful. You don't understand, Ares. You've never been married. Your mother loves me, and I'd never end her life. We've been through too much together," Zeus vehemently explained, his words stopping and starting as he spat them out, confident in their veracity.

"I don't need to have been married to know that the way the two of you treat one another isn't love! Besides, if she's so head over heals for you, why did she send me to kill you?! She wanted you to suffer, but once she realized you were perfectly content to wallow the remainder of your mortal life away in a filthy tavern, pawing at some bimbo, she ordered you hunted down; not captured, killed, dead!" Ares rebutted, completely mystified as to how his father could be so delusional to think that his wife didn't want him six feet under. Dr. Naadiah had questioned whether he really knew what his father was thinking, but seriously, it was unfair to expect him to know the mind of a madman?

"Exactly! She sent someone to kill me, but she couldn't do it herself! See, she loves me, and she'll never stop loving me no matter what. That's the real power I hold over her. That's how you control a woman, my sons," Zeus replied triumphantly, grinning like an idiot before suddenly looking ill. Standing, Zeus rushed to the corner of the cave and emptied his stomach, his younger son rubbing his back as he wretched, while the older one struggled to decipher his father's ramblings.

Finally giving up on understanding, Ares sat down on the rock Zeus had vacated and placed his own head in his hands as he fought his bewilderment. "That's not love, Dad; that's just sick."

Ares felt a hand on his shoulder, and looked up to see Dr. Naadiah giving him a wane smile of encouragement. She knew how painful this all was for him, and she was lending her own strength.

Several minutes later, her hand released him, and as Ares looked up, he saw Zeus waddling over, only to crash back down onto the boulder right next to his son. "Listen, Ares, your mother and I have been together for more seasons than I can count. I would never kill her. She enrages me as much as I do her, but we're bonded for eternity. We're not good for each other, not at all, but as long as we've been together, I don't think that matters all that much."

Those words, 'We're not good for each other', burned Ares confusion away and left only heart-rending pain. Xena had once told him that he wasn't good for her, but now that his mind was scoured clean by the truth, he understood that it went both ways. Xena wasn't good for him.

Earlier he'd considered that perhaps Dr. Naadiah had sent him back to see the similarities between Xena and his mother, but that hadn't been the right framing. Xena wasn't Hera. He was, and he desperately sought her love the way his mother had his father's affection, with about as much success. Xena, saw his feelings as weapons to be use against him, to keep control over the God of War. Just as Zeus viewed Hera's obsession with him.

For two thousand years he'd misinterpreted Xena's words. He'd believed her to have meant that he tempted her to return to her old ways, to abandon her path of redemption, her way of the warrior, in order to seek bloodshed and power. But she'd long ago kicked that habit, and what could Ares as a newly minted mortal have egged her into? Nothing.

No, he was bad for her because he turned her into Zeus. He made her the kind of person that used someone's feelings, feelings so deep they'd give up an eternity of comfort for the brevity and misery of human existence, to achieve her ends. She promised one in a billion chances to keep him playing her game, all the while knowing that infinitesimal chance didn't exist, and if it ever had was so long gone it had petrified into dust before it had even been uttered as she tended his injured face. Xena didn't want to be like Zeus, so she blamed him for turning her into that, as if she had no choice in what she became when confronted by the depth of his love. He and Xena were definitely bad for each other, and they were repeating all the mistakes Zeus and Hera had made for over a hundred thousand years.

Genuine despair was the only name Ares could put to this new emotion. Even in his darkest days as a mortal farmer, he'd never known despair. Frustration, hopelessness, fear, anxiety, shame, humiliation, and depression had been regular companions, but absolute despair was new. In nearly 40,000 years it had never entered his life until now.

Not only did Xena not love him, she couldn't love him. She couldn't even respect him enough to call him a friend, because at the end of the day he was her tool, a means to an end. For so long he'd believed that she was the first person to view him as a person, even if it was only as a person who could be useful to her, but she never had. What she'd viewed was something that wanted to be recognized as a person, so she would occasionally do so for a concession. Heck, Ares gave Horace's loyalty to him more weight than Xena had ever given his love for her. Despite her protestations of indebtedness, Xena clearly didn't deem him worthy of that truth, instead stringing him along with one in a billion chances and promises to visit her grandparent's farm if he remained there and stayed out of trouble. She refused to completely sever him from her life because he could be useful down the road and Xena wasn't wasteful with material possessions that had always served her well. Look at how jealously she'd guarded her chakram.

And yet, like his mother, Ares couldn't stop loving. Perhaps Zeus was right and it was a habit rather than love, but it felt like love, wanting the best for someone, wanting to be seen as lovable in return. Whatever it was, it certainly wasn't healthy, and Ares literally began to cry softly, unaware of what was happening until Dr. Naadiah squatted down in front of him so that they were on eye level and took his hand in support.

As humiliation for his crying melded with despair, Ares swiftly tried to wipe the tears away, but Naadiah's movement had drawn Hercules' attention, and he stared at his brother in stunned silence. Ares was crying, and Naadiah hadn't made a peep, so it had to have been Zeus who'd instigated things. Grumbling at the need to put out one more fire in his Olympian family today, Hercules stalked over to his father's side. "What did you say to him?"

"I told him that Hera was in love with me, and that even if she sent someone to kill me, she'd never be able to do it herself. I swear, I don't know what set him off. Seriously, Ares, you really do need to get a hold of yourself; it's embarrassing," Zeus muttered the last part before standing up and taking a few steps around the cave to distance himself from the tearful God of War.

"Dad, you're not helping," Hercules groaned upon seeing Dr. Naadiah flinch as much as his half brother.

"Ares, listen to me. When I came out to my mother, she called me 'mentally deformed' for being a lesbian. She was wrong. She was the one with the problem, just as your father is the one who's embarrassing himself now," Dr. Naadiah insisted, seeing how deep her patient's current pain truly was.

Ares was hyper masculine to the core, and if she were reading the situation correctly he'd finally made the connection between his parents relationship and the one between Xena and himself. Two thousand years of devotion to someone who disregarded your feelings so thoroughly couldn't be anything but agonizing, and Zeus' judgement of his son's show of emotion was disgusting.

Yes this was a different time and culture, but toxic ideas like what the former king of the gods was spewing were the reason that societies of the past were often considered barbaric and backwards. For the second time that day, Dr. Naadiah had to force herself to remain as objective as was humanly possible. Though they were both unaware of Naadiah's existence, Ares parents were sorely testing her professional resolve. She desperately wanted to rip into the both of them, but she knew that that urge to violence never ended well. Tending to her patient's anguish was where her true path lay.

"Thanks, Doc. I guess some truths are harder to accept than others," Ares said quietly, still weary of being overheard as he licked his lips and tried to put on a stoic face. Even if Dr. Naadiah was right, he still felt foolish for letting his emotions run away with him so publicly.

"Yes, but we can't change how we react to those truths until we acknowledge them and understand where they have their origins," Dr. Naadiah explained, choosing her words carefully, as she knew she was being studied by Ares' brother.

Suddenly both of Zeus' sons looked towards the cave entrance simultaneously, a moment before Apollo's voice boomed through the darkened space. "Come out, come out, wherever you are!"

"Ares, I thought you said this place was safe!" Hercules accused, irritated that he'd dropped his guard around his manipulative brother just because he'd been crying.

"I thought it was! I don't know how he found us! He's usually dumber than dirt!" Ares replied, genuinely surprised that his idiot brother had manged to locate their hiding spot.

"Well, he did. Dad, you need to get back!" Hercules called out to Zeus who was now a bit more alert and retreating into the shadows at his younger son's command.

"If I go out there, will you protect Naadiah?" Ares questioned, requiring direct assurance that his brother would keep his therapist safe. He knew Hercules probably would anyway, protecting mortals was what the universe shaped him for, but Ares needed his brother to commit to her safety before he'd leave her in his care.

"Of course!" Hercules returned, a bit offended that Ares would believe he'd harm an innocent woman just because she was loyal to his brother. Still, he turned towards Naadiah and gave her a quick nod of reassurance.

"Thanks," Ares added quickly before disappearing from the cave and reappearing behind the sun god's hover board, only to toss a fireball at the thing.

Not at all surprised by the attack, Apollo swerved easily and came around to face the God of War. "Mom is pissed with you! Seriously, Bro, you really f-ed up this time! But then it worked out well for me, so I'm not complaining."

"Let me guess.. she sent you to kill Dad since I wasn't around to do it?" Ares stated with feigned boredom. He was definitely on high alert, but the Shining One's ego made him easy to predict and not that much of a challenge under most circumstances.

"Well, yeah! You want the Queen of the Gods to come down here to smoke a mortal herself? No way, Bro," Apollo retorted, as if the situation would have been obvious to anyone.

"You do realize what the Furies will do to you if you succeed, don't you?" Ares questioned, hoping to throw his brother off his game.

Apollo laughed off Ares suggestion that there would be consequences to carrying out their mother's wishes now that she ruled the Earth and Sky. "Nah Bro, Mom has the Furies under her thumb! They don't care who sits the throne, so they'll dance to her tune. Mom has my back, and she would have had yours if you hadn't betrayed her."

After looking at his earnest faced, golden brother, Ares burst out laughing. "Mom having.. anyone's.. back; that's just priceless! You kill Dad, you're her slave for all eternity! That's how she'll repay your loyalty. Trust me. Been there. Done that. Bought the T-Shirt."

Apollo brushed aside the warning before speaking again. He didn't have time for this. He needed to scorch Dad and then resume his search for Aphrodite and her clan. Somehow they'd all buggered off, before he could nab them and if Hera found out they were still unaccounted for, he'd be the new subject of her ire. "T-What?! Look, Bro, I don't know what's gotten into you, but let's just make this simple."

Apollo waved his hand and all of a sudden Minthe appeared, held aloft by the sun god's grip on the back of her simple gown. "Give me Dad or your and Dite's little playmate will become Hades' new playmate now that she's mortal. You know it's funny; Mom told me that she'd snagged this nothing-burger ahead of time in case Aphrodite or Hestia managed to prove a problem. Neither of us thought you'd be that problem."

"You harm one hair on her head, Brother, and I swear, I'll prove more than a problem; I'll prove your annihilation!" Ares seethed at the petrified look on his oldest friend's face.

Apollo chuckled at the bold threat. He held all the cards at this moment and Ares' defensiveness proved it. Deciding to press the God of War further, Apollo shifted Minthe onto his board in front of him and let one of his hands roam over her body, earning a whimper of revulsion and fear from the former Goddess of Mint. "Hear that, Girly, Ares values you so highly he's willing to kill his own brother and bring wrath of the Furies down upon his head, something he wouldn't even do for his own mother. So, I'm thinking you must have been pulling the wool over Hestia's eyes for centuries. Maybe you're not a virgin after all. Maybe I should find out just how good you really are."

"No, please. I am a virgin, I am! Please, Apollo, just let me go, please!" Minthe pleaded, too consumed with fear to do anything but weep and try to squirm away as much as she could from the groping hand.

Apollo didn't much care one way or another for the girl, and he had little intention of making good on his threat, but damn it if the rage on his brother's face wasn't gratifying. Truth was, he'd never seen how devoted his older brother was to the minor goddess until this moment, but their mother had been spot on as usual. All of a sudden, Apollo found himself flying through the air without his board beneath him, and his powers refused to soften his fall. As he climbed to his wobbly feet, he saw the goddess his mother had recently turned mortal trying to limp towards Ares on an obviously broken ankle, and his favorite board lying beside him in the grass, crackling and sparking in it's totally overloaded state.

Turning around to see who had hit him with an energy bolt while his back was turned, the sun god's eyes bugged when they beheld Athena stalking towards him with fury in her regal baring as she spat before grabbing him by the hair and slamming an greave-encased knee into his face. "No means no, Brother!"

As the now mortal young woman reached the God of War, she fell against him, sobbing into his vest, unable to put any weight on her shattered ankle, Letting Ares smooth her hair, she felt herself lifted into his arms and carried over to the newly arrived Goddess of Wisdom and Ares voice reverberate through the shoulder her head lay against. "It's going to be alright. As soon as Athena finishes taking out the trash, she'll heal your ankle, and we'll all figure out what to do next."

Minthe tried to give Ares a small smile, but her ankle throbbed in agony and she was now shivering as the adrenaline began leaving her system. She'd never been that strong a goddess, and she'd known pain as a child when she'd nearly died, but this mortal body was far more fragile, and Minthe was disgusted by it. She refuse to live this way, even if Athena fixed her ankle. She knew the herbs that would make her end swift and painless, and she was willing to use them if the alternative was decades in this unreliable skin. She prayed to the Fates that her old friend was right, that they'd soon resolve this and she'd return to the life she loved on Olympus, but if not, continued mortal existence wasn't an option. Heck, she'd never understood why it was even an option for those born that way. Mortals had no sense of dignity.

"Where's Father?" Athena questioned as she finally returned to her brother and the former goddess. Her other brother lay face down and unconscious in the muddy grass, his hands bound behind his back in chains of Hephaestus. She'd also applied a pair of leg shackles to prevent the Shining One from getting too far when he regained consciousness. If they won the battle to come and Hera was defeated, Apollo needed to be judged along side her. The Queen of the Gods had gone too far, but so had her golden haired son.

Then again, Zeus never listened to her when it came to her siblings' out-of-control behavior, so Apollo would likely just get off with a slap on the wrist for his treason. She hated it, but if she'd had her way,Ares would have ended up in the Abyss of Tartarus centuries past, and he'd never have grown to the point where he could see beyond his mother's manipulations. How he'd done it, or more accurately, was destined to do it, she still didn't understand. However, the note she'd found in the puzzle box along with the miraculous acid that had melted bars made of the most powerful metal known to man or the gods, had dredged up a long retired memory of a thirteen year old godling who'd saved a little girl's life and won Athena's respect after all but admitting he wasn't that thirteen year old but an Ares from far in the future. She had to wonder if the same was possible for Apollo, or if that was just wishful thinking.

"Jerkules is babysitting his ale-soaked ass just behind that waterfall," Ares replied as he gently placed Minthe on the soft Earth and Athena let her hands hover over the seriously busted ankle, using her healing powers to help the fragmented bits of bone find their way back together again. The former goddess buried her head back into Ares leather vest, stifling a groan of pain, refusing to give into it.

"Is it true he's a god now, Hercules I mean?" Athena further queried as her work on the now mortal Goddess of Min reached completion and Minthe sighed in relief from her suffering.

"Yep, and Dad's a lush who spent his first hour as a mortal cruising for his next conquest and brawling in a tavern," Ares answered, helping Minthe to her feet and using his power to clean her up some. She'd done the same for him at the farm, or would some day at any rate.

"So our father is pretty much as he's always been. It's just Hercules who's changed," Athena supplied, finally getting a better hold of the situation.

Ares grimaced at the idea that becoming a god had in any way changed his pompous brother. "No, the self righteous whiner is no less self righteous. Nicer shirt though. Come. See for yourself."

Dr. Naadiah Laska had spent over half an hour under the gaze of the great hero of legend, and she was getting weary of it. She'd casually mentioned that more water would assist in clearing the alcohol out of his father's bloodstream so that the older man could help them form a plan, but her understanding of the medical underpinnings of alcohol intoxication had just piqued the former demigod's curiosity once more. She understood he needed to see her to protect her from the battle raging outside, but Hercules was examining her like a scientist studying a specimen under a microscope. She wanted to complain, to ask him to move his eyes elsewhere, but she didn't wish to risk his response alerting the sobering up Zeus, who was now finishing his second water skin.

"Thank you, Hercules. I think the water is helping. My mind feels a little clearer already," Zeus offered before sitting back down on the rock he'd vacated when Ares had started crying. He no longer felt unsteady, and the ache in his head had quieted down considerably, but there was no doubt that he was still having difficulty thinking straight and he couldn't help but feel the grime and old sweat he seemed to be covered in. He missed being able to remain spotless through every situation, but until he regained his godhood with his boys, it was what it was.

"Good to hear, Father," Athena's voice broke through the cave as she, Ares, and Minthe arrived.

Letting go of the disempowered Goddess of Mint's arm, Ares stepped off to the side, motioning for his doctor to join him closer to the cave's entrance. "We dealt with Apollo, but Mom captured Minthe and turned her mortal. I'm guessing Dite was unable to find her in time, but on the bright side, Athena got my scroll and the acid. I can't wait for you to meet her, and don't worry, I'll make sure she understands you're already in a committed relationship. You really are her type though, strongly opinionated and pigheadedly loyal."

Naadiah smiled at Ares' indirect compliment, though she knew what he was doing. Out of necessity he'd quashed down his pain of his earlier revelation in order to deal with his pyromaniac brother, and now he was distracting himself to avoid touching it again. They still had much to accomplish on this regret, most importantly restoring Zeus to power, and so she put off pressing her patient for the time being. Ares would deal with his earlier anguish eventually, and despite knowing it was necessary she wasn't looking forward to.

"I'd be honored to meet your sister. I know how important her memory still is to you," Dr. Naadiah responded, taking measure of Ares features as she delicately reminded him that the Athena he was interacting with would remain amongst the dead when they both returned to 2002. There was no way around that, and Ares had enough misery on the horizon as he worked through his feelings towards Xena and his history with his parents, and he didn't need to be jumped by his continued grief over his big sister as well.

"Ares, who are you talking to?" Minthe asked, as she moved towards the God of War.

"Someone who I've thrown an invisibility shield around, a mortal. I don't trust Dad with her, even in this reduced state. Don't worry. She's on our side," Ares explained quickly, lest Zeus notice something.

"A mortal, helping us? Is it that Xena everyone says your obsessed with?" Minthe asked, innocently, wondering if the woman she'd heard so much about was in this cave with them right now.

"No, Minthe, it's not Xena, but I trust this person, and I ask that you trust me on this," Ares requested, subtly letting Minthe know that this invisible someone was non negotiable.

"Of course I trust you. I've always trusted you. I'll tell Athena not to bring her up to your father. He won't notice me talking with your sister the way he'd assume the two of you were plotting in secret," Minthe replied with an honest smile, her faith in her old friend unconditional and unquestioned.

"Thank you. I'd like that," Ares returned, always a bit surprised and touched when Minthe took his interests into account with no thought to repayment. She truly cared about him, and as he was learning this regret, that was an even rarer thing than he'd previously believed.

Several minutes later, Athena called Ares over and everyone gathered in a semicircle around Zeus, whom Athena had made sober with her healing power while Ares and Dr. Naadiah had spoken. The mortal king of the gods stood before the group, magically bathed and dressed by his daughter in his fine robes once more. Were it not for his father's mortality, this meeting would have been like any other he'd attended over the centuries. But Zeus was mortal and that meant vulnerable when they attacked Hera. Looking at his father, who'd automatically taken command, Ares sighed and joined the collection of gods and mortals. As if he'd been waiting on Ares' arrival, Zeus started speaking immediately. "Hera and her co-conspirators will be expecting us, and she knows Olympus as well as I do. It's no use trying to sneak in. We're going to take her head on."

Ares rolled his eyes at Dr. Naadiah, who stood to his left and offered up a small smile of encouragement. He hated teamwork, but then therapy required him to do a lot of what he hated. Still, Ares knew it was worth it, so he pretended to listen to Zeus as they hatched out the plan they'd pretty much followed the first time, a direct assault on the throne room, only this time the odds were far more favorable for Zeus, at least that was how it appeared, but Ares knew war always offered up a few surprises.

The first thing Ares noticed when he appeared with his allies on Olympus was the drab gray sky above them. The clouds were ominous, and there was barely a patch of bright blue to be seen. He knew this reflected the mood of the majority of residence and that would be helpful. Most gods were too weak and untrained to fight back, but they were still unhappy with this regime change which could work to their advantage.

As if to back up his previous assumption about the current mood on Olympus, Ares barely made it a few meters before Discord suddenly appeared and punched him hard in the chest several times. "You left me behind! I can't believe you left me her, with HER! You warned Bimbolina and that collection of freaks she calls a family, but you forgot about ME! How could you?!"

Ares sighed, hating to admit, even to himself, that he had been wrong. She had a valid point and a right to her anger. What made it worse was that now he also realized that he'd treated her much like Xena treated him and Zeus treated Hera. Oh, he'd genuinely cared about Discord and missed her after the Twilight. He wasn't completely without concern for his youngest sister, but he still led her on despite knowing how crazy she was for him. Until now, he'd never really felt guilty for that. Heck, with Strife's help she'd once framed him for attempting to kill Jerkules so that he'd end up in the Abyss of Tartarus and she could take his place as Goddess of War, but considering what he'd done at the press conference that had led him to therapy and all the crap Hera had pulled over the centuries to get Zeus' attention, he now understood that her motives likely went beyond gaining his temples and worshipers for herself. Taking her by the forearms to stop her intermittently pounding fists, Ares looked his younger sister and sometimes lover directly in the eye. "I'm sorry. I overlooked you. I'd forgotten how poorly Mom has always treated you, and I'm sorry for it."

For a moment, all of his allies stared at Ares like he'd just sprouted a few new heads. Ares never apologized to anyone, much less to to Discord of all people, but recognizing that they needed to keep moving, Zeus finally broke the silence, reminding them of what they were headed into. Yet before he signaled them to move on, the mortal King of the Gods turned towards Discord. "We need to be moving on before Hera can rally her forces. Daughter, if you wish to join us, you're free to do so and your loyalty will not be forgotten once I've reclaim my throne."

Finally seeing all those standing with the God of War, Discord took a step back and composed herself, her spine going ramrod straight with arrogance. She'd fallen apart in front of Athena, Hercules, Minthe, and her father. This was unacceptable and she had to regain control of the situation. "Yeah. Okay. I sure as Tartarus don't want to be taking orders from Mom for the rest of eternity, so yeah, I'll join you guys."

Ares smiled reassuringly at his younger sister, and the now larger group made their way down the staircase and into the throne room, finding Hera sitting comfortably with Hestia, Artemis, Aphrodite, Hephaestus, Cupid, Psyche, and a tearful little Bliss all chained together in a row at the bottom of the dais.

Nodding to the intruders, Hera smiled and opened her arms demonstratively, as if showing off her collection of captives. "Welcome. So good of you to join us."

Without preamble, Athena grabbed the still chained Apollo and wrenched him forwards and onto his knees. "Unchain them or face the consequences."

"Oh, but my sister, Hecate, worked so hard tracking them down after your treacherous brother helped them escape. It would be a shame to let them leave now," Hera returned, answering Ares question as to how the group was caught. His aunt had likely had every witch and shamaness in her sphere searching until they were located and captured.

What's more, Ares had to acknowledge that this was partially his fault. When he'd turned against her and gave Athena, Hestia, and Artemis the means to escape via the puzzle box, his mother would have known that Athena would join Zeus, Hestia would have taken her virgins and run off, and Artemis would have gone into hiding in the woods, as not to come into conflict with her twin who was clearly on their Mother's team. Really anyone on Olympus could have figured that out, and upon recognizing she was outnumbered, Hera would have altered her plans. She wasn't one to give in, nor was she stupid, and Ares knew that he'd been overconfident in his belief that knowing the future would give him an insurmountable advantage. His mother had always awed him with her adaptability. It was one of Hera's greatest strengths and Ares had foolishly ignored it, too preoccupied with learning whatever Dr. Naadiah had been trying to teach him about his relationship with Xena. Once again, his obsession with her had put the people he cared about in danger, just as it had put Aphrodite in danger with Caligula and gotten Dr. Naadiah attacked by Michael. One way or another that had to stop. He had no idea how to stop, but he had to, otherwise he was no good to himself or anyone else that mattered.

"Let them go, or Apollo dies. I mean it, Hera! If we combined our powers, my siblings and I, have enough power to kill him, and we will," Athena threatened, placing a hand on Apollo's head, which bowed in acceptance of his doom.

Knowing as well as his golden-haired brother that their older sister's threat wouldn't make a dent, Ares stepped forward preparing to open his heart, hoping he could at least distract Hera long enough for Athena or Hercules to come up with a better solution. "She doesn't care, Athena. She never did; all her children have ever been was one failed bid after another to win Zeus back. Mom, please, I know Dad has treated you like crap for millennia. You gave him everything you had and nothing could make him love you back or get him to stop abusing your love for him, and I know how that hurts, how maddeningly, soul-rendingly painful that is.. 'trying to reach him, but knowing in the end it will either be him or you'.. I've been there. Trust me, I've been there.. Still.. you need to face facts. Even if you take out all your hostages and we turn Sun Boy here to a pile of ash, you still loose. The best you can hope for is to save yourself. Let them go, give Dad back his godhood, and live to fight another day."

Hera's bright green eyes remained fixed on her dark son, and for a second something faltered in her. Ares truly did understand, but it didn't matter. She was well beyond the point where mere understanding meant a damn thing. If she surrendered, she would end up in the Abyss of Tartarus, or mortal and exiled. Death was a preferable fate, and if she died her treacherous son and daughter who now stood with Zeus' bastard and their pompous, older sister would pay the price. The Furies would make sure of that. Let Ares understanding be fodder for their head games, as Ares had just pointed out, he'd never brought her what she truly desired. Nothing the God of War had ever done had pleased Zeus so much that he'd given up his other women and returned to her out of gratitude for such a fine, healthy son. Ares had failed in that, and she'd rub his nose in his failures if this was to be her last stand.

Straightening her posture, Hera laughed as she descended the throne, moving slowly towards her son. "Do you really think your piddling.. crush on the Warrior Princess can compare to what your father and I have been through together?! So you framed her for murder, tricked her into taking Callisto's place in Tartarus, and set the Furies upon her.. games Boy, childish games, all for the attention of a mortal whore who anyone could see would never love you back! I realized it when you started talking about her so very often; you're just like your father."

"No, Mom, I'm like you! I've always been too much like you. If I weren't I would have seen what I was doing wasn't working after my first few attempts, but I kept going. On and on, I kept going beyond reason, getting more and more desperate and unhinged with each failure, just like you. And I'll likely spend the rest of eternity alone and unable to move forward with my life.. just..like..you!" Ares growled, finally seeing the whole picture in its grotesque entirety. At first he'd been filled with another dose of despair, but as Ares had pushed forward, word by word, he felt a far more familiar rage seep into him. He made so many mistakes with Xena, but as he would tell Hercules a few years from now, Hera had taught him everything he knew. He was her son through and through.

Hera's nostrils flared at the accusations being flung her way. She was the Queen of the Gods, not some hysterical mortal woman who couldn't control her temper. Everything she'd done had been for a purpose. Her dark pup had gone too far, and now she'd put him down for good.

"You betrayed me, Ares. There will be no eternity for you," Hera spat, harnessing her now greater power, and formed a fireball so hot and powerful that it would burn away her son's immortality and godhood upon impact.