Being Ares: Everything Starts Somewhere
Part 4
A Xena: Warrior Princess / Being Erica Crossover
By Arianwen P. F. Everett
Ares looked his mother in the eyes as she continued rolling the fireball, and he huffed in perverse amusement. "At least do me the courtesy of not throwing it at my back this time around, Mom! Can you give me that at least?"
Not understanding why her son would assume she intended to strike him from behind, but not really caring either, she smirked at her headstrong boy for the last time. "If you insist."
Suddenly there was a shooting pain in Hera's shoulder and she reached around to find one of her daughter's golden arrows sticking out from it. She'd assumed the girl would have run away to the woods to avoid the conflict, but now the Queen of the Gods saw that she'd chosen a side.
"Let my brother go!" Artemis raged in anger at the sight of Apollo on his knees, being threatened by Athena. She understood why her half sister was willing to kill him, but she and her sadistic twin were bound in a way no other Olympians were. She might dislike Apollo's cruelty, but his fate and hers had always been intertwined. Still, the way she saw it, Hera was the one putting Apollo in jeopardy. She'd been offered a chance to surrender and refused to take it. Athena would have no choice but to respond. By shooting her mother, Artemis hoped to signal to Zeus's allies that she would be on their side so long as her twin remained mostly unscathed.
After removing the arrow, Hera took up the fireball once more, this time aiming for the huntress, only to be tackled by her son for the brief moment her head had been turned towards Artemis. "Ares get off of me!"
"Athena, free the hostages and guard the mortals! Discord, keep hold of Apollo! Jerkules, don't just stand there, help me before Mom gets loose!" the God of War commanded even as he struck his mother over and over in the face as he'd done to Apollo at a meeting 2000 years in the future, enjoying the catharsis of violence no less. Still, his mother was a far better fighter and leagues and bounds more powerful than the sun god, and as much as Ares hated to admit it, he'd need the former demigod's help in subduing his mother well enough to get her into the Abyss. By giving Discord charge of Apollo, he kept her occupied and prevented Artemis from just grabbing her twin and disappearing when they might still need her help. He could live with the Shining One receiving a 'Get Out of Tartarus Free' card if Artemis was on their side. And there was no god he trusted more with their family's safety than Athena. She died trying to protect them and their way of life, regardless of what she thought of each member individually. She was tenacious in that regard, and though she hadn't yet been formally introduced to Dr. Naadiah, she'd accepted her continued presence due to her trust in the Ares from the future whom she was so proud of. His Doc was keeping her word and staying out of harm's way, and so he could focus on the fight.
As he'd predicted she'd eventually do, Hera managed to break free with a burst of power once the shock of the tackle and the beating had worn off, and Ares was thrown hard across the room as his mother leapt to her feet, looking as fresh and regal as ever. She truly was the image of poise in battle, and Ares had always envied that, though now it was a serious problem. Zeus had given his mongrel half brother great power, but the man had lived among mortals for far too long to understand how to use it yet. The fact that he'd managed to get Hera into the Abyss the first time had been due more to Hera's own arrogance and self righteousness than the temporary god's abilities. Ares wasn't willing to bet the battle on Hercules accomplishing the same feat again. This time Hera knew she had the weaker hand, especially once Athena had freed the hostages from their chains, so the Queen of the Gods couldn't afford the same attitude of superiority. That meant, that getting her into the Abyss alive this time would be much harder.
Unfortunately for Hera, Hercules was close enough to strike and he'd managed to lift a pillar and used it to deflect Hera's energy bursts. By the time Ares regained his wind enough to rejoin the fight, his mother was leveling a series of kicks to the former demigod's chest, and Ares lunged at her, grabbing her before she could land another and throwing her to the ground, before firing off a fireball of his own that she swiftly rolled away from. However, they were getting closer to the balcony that protruded over the Abyss, which was where they needed to be. It was treacherous ground they all fought on, but their combined forces were inching in the right direction.
As Hera prepared another burst of energy, she was thrown back ten feet by a force field slamming into her whole body like an anvil. Ares didn't need to look up to know that Athena had been responsible, and his heart sang in spite of the dire circumstances.
The only warrior who had even half of Athena's flare in controlling a battle was Xena, yet for the first time in over two thousand years, the thought of her didn't bring the same comfort that it had for centuries. Yes, he'd mourned her terribly, but the essence of her, the promise of seeing her again someday, had granted him only bliss for centuries. It was an odd paradox to be sure, but mortals had an expression 'absence makes the heart grow fonder' and Xena's absence after her final death in Japa had been both a sword, piercing his heart, and a nearly narcotic-like high that drove away the sharp pain. Now, when he thought of his beloved, he knew for certain that there was no future for them, not even a one in a billion chance to hang his dreams upon, and his weary soul couldn't rejoice in the thought of her anymore.
Suddenly Ares felt a bolt of power hit him, and he fell to his knees. He needed to focus. Hera was too good not to, so he threw his own bolt back before even standing again. This one connected with her right thigh, but just barely, and she threw off the momentary pain with ease.
Thankfully his big sister was there to go on the offensive, swiping at Hera with her sword, driving his mother out onto the balcony. When Hera finally got in a power push of her own, Athena sailed all the way across the throne room, landing but a few feet from Dr. Naadiah, who rushed to help her up. Athena, pulled her arm away, refusing such forward assistance from a mortal she barely knew, but after a cursory examination to remind herself of the woman's total lack of menace, the Goddess of War rushed into battle again.
Unfortunately none of them had noticed that Athena's movements had sparked Discord's curiosity. Babysitting a chained Apollo left her eye to wander, and now she realized that the group had been tailed by an unknown mortal since their arrival. Dragging Apollo across the marble flooring, his leg shackles barely permitting him balance as his leather clad little sister pulled him behind her like a toddler with a toy, Discord came to stand five steps below Dr. Naadiah and looked her up and down curiously.
"Who's she?" Apollo asked, earning a knee to the face from the soon-to-be Goddess of Retribution.
"Mortals aren't supposed to be here," Discord began, refusing to ask the same question the sleaze ball Apollo had just asked to begin her interrogation.
"Your brothers brought me," Dr. Naadiah answered simply, trying to remain calm. From what she'd witnessed on Ares prior regrets, this young goddess was impetuous, rushing into danger without thinking things through before acting. She also had a sadistic streak that she channeled into her sex life, which didn't bode well for Naadiah if her answers weren't sufficient.
"Who are you talking with, Daughter?" Zeus asked, now taking note of his youngest legitimate child's apparently one way conversation. The fact that Apollo had seen the person Discord was speaking with suggested that there was in fact someone there, someone mortal Ares and Hercules had brought with them but hid from mortal eyes and ears, and Zeus wanted to know who this woman was and why the two sons who were currently fighting for his life and godhood had risked bringing this particular person to the home of the gods. As he'd reminded Hercules just this morning, knowledge was power, and even in mortal form Zeus could not abide his children having power over him.
"Some mortal chick, early to mid thirties, short black hair, bluish-gray eyes, only a few inches taller than me, so not that tall," Discord described for her father, having never really held a conversation with him before. She'd always been an afterthought to her parents, the product of angry sex and mutual disgust with themselves after the fact. As such, she'd been foisted on other gods since the day of her birth and had rarely been directly addressed in nearly ten thousand years of life. This much attention was unheard of, and Discord wanted to savor it.
"No curves to speak of," Apollo chimed in mockingly, only to be flattened by a wave of power on his back, leaving him pinned to the floor, flat on his face.
"Dad asked me, not you. He doesn't want your opinion!" Discord growled as she put her boot on Apollo's neck and pressed down hard.
"Ah this is Dad, remember. She's mortal and female, so he definitely wanted to know," the sun god defended himself with slight amusement as he wriggled on the ground like a worm, trying to get out from under the leather-clad goddess' boot and back to his knees again.
"Let me see her," Zeus commanded, not so much interested in the woman's physical appearance, but why both of his sons not only felt the need to bring her to Olympus in the middle of a civil war, but also to hide her from view. Whoever she was, she had to be of interest to him if those two, who never agreed on anything, had colluded to keep her presence a secret.
Sighing in irritation at Apollo's widening smirk, Discord did as she was commanded, exposing the ordinary mortal woman to everyone's eyes before kicking the smug sun god in the side of the head for stealing her moment with their father. "There, you see, nothing special."
"I'll be the judge of that. So, who exactly am I addressing myself to?" Zeus questioned, as he strode down two more steps in order to be only one above the newly revealed mortal woman.
Dr. Naadiah took a deep breath as her mind raced for an acceptable answer. Even mortal, Zeus wasn't without power, namely the emotional control he clearly held over his children. From what she'd heard when the man had explained his relationship with Hera to his son, the former king of the gods was obsessed with that kind of power and used it to maintain his place in the universe. The loss of his status as a god would make him more likely to have her harmed if he didn't like what he heard, yet Dr. Naadiah couldn't tell him. Ares was her patient, and he'd made it abundantly clear since his first regret that if Zeus found out about his son's therapy, he'd torture information about the future out of Naadiah, and then kill her for breaking his rules forbidding time travel. Still, she had to say something or the mortal King of the Gods might just decide she was being uncooperative and start the torture early. Deciding that the only course of action was to stall, she licked her parched lips and began. "My name is Naadiah. I'm a friend of your son, Ares."
Zeus chuckled lightly. "Ares is the god of war. War has no friends. So, I'll ask you one more time, who are you?"
"War may not have friends, but Ares does. Besides, Minthe here has been Ares' friend for thousands of years. Why shouldn't he have more than one friend?" Dr. Naadiah queried back rhetorically, giving Zeus only what he already knew and affirming the difference between Ares and the concept of war.
"Because.. Naadiah.. the Fates didn't weave Ares' life thread to cultivate friendships, at least not amongst mortal kind. Minthe he's known since childhood, but she's a goddess, and still I've always been a tad weary of that attachment. Had it interfered in his work, I would have forbidden the friendship. Your world depends far too much on his.. work for him to be allowed to grow too close with anyone. If I'd realized how deeply Ares feelings went for this Xena, I'd have paid her a visit long before now, but rest assured I will be speaking with the woman about the hold she has on my son as soon as my powers are restored. She can not be allowed to continue distracting him on this level. The universe needs a focused and functional god of war," Zeus proclaimed with no less authority for his current mortal state, and Naadiah could tell he meant every word of the decree. In his eyes, Ares was the worst of his godhood, nothing more than dead bodies and burned cities. Who'd want to build a personal relationship with that?
However, Zeus' lack of intimacy with her patient, gave Naadiah the angle she needed. If Ares' father wanted to engage in a lengthy discussion of metaphysics, she was up for the challenge. In college, in her own therapy, and in her personal life and meditations, she'd studied the connection between one's identity and purpose in existing extensively, and the conversation should bide her time, at least until Ares was in a position to come to her aid. "I don't doubt the universe does, and I understand that Ares alone was made for his job, but that shouldn't preclude him from having friendships, having a life, outside of work. I know for a fact that Ares doesn't work every moment of every day."
"And how exactly do you know that? What has my son told you about his life?" Zeus quickly turned the tables around on Naadiah rather than get drawn into a discussion she was clearly hoping would forestall his questioning. Whatever his sons were up to, it involved this slip of a mortal, and though she appeared to be more clever than most of her race, he hadn't survived all these ions by becoming easily distracted, at least not by words. That was one of Athena's weaknesses.
Before Naadiah could respond, a ball of energy whizzed between herself and the mortal King of the Gods. Looking up, Naadiah saw that Athena and Hercules had Hera on the ropes, pushing her farther and farther out onto the balcony. Ares, on the other hand had broken off and was rushing towards them at full speed. When he reached his father, he grabbed Zeus by the throat and raised him off the ground, letting the older man feel his own helplessness before he spoke again. "She is none of your business, Dad! I'm helping you get your godhood back! I'm helping you get your throne back! She's my friend and she is not part of the deal! Do you understand?!"
As Zeus struggled to breath against the weight of his body, Ares sadistically shook him slightly to make it even harder. He wanted Zeus to appreciate just how low mortality was to fall, so he'd understand the monumental nature of the gift he was having returned to him. Xena had returned his own godhood three times, but in each case it was for her own benefit. Back when it served her, she'd permitted him to wallow in humanity without a second thought. And yet he'd still managed to delude himself into believing he'd mattered to her, even if it hadn't been nearly as much as she'd mattered to him. Unable to stand his father or himself in that moment, Ares tossed the old man aside, like a rag doll and turned back towards the fight. Battle he knew, and now that he'd saved Dr. Naadiah further interrogation, he was freed to kick ass with the perfect clarity a good fight provided.
Hera kept striking, kicking, throwing energy bolt after energy bolt, but her stepchildren were too powerful united. As Athena sent another ball of energy at her, Hera barely ducked in time, only to be struck by her own son's fist, pounding on her relentlessly. This time she had no more reserves and struggled to remain conscious, yet Ares continued, rage pouring out of him, and Hera seethed at the impudence.
He was supposed to have been her greatest creation, a flawless son of Zeus that was more like her than her husband, proving who was really the more deserving of the throne. Now he was beating her, fueled by his hatred of himself for being so much like her. Enraged, Hera summoned up one last push of power to hurl him and her stepchildren backwards to give herself distance from them. She needed to flee, to replenish her strength, but there was nowhere to go, and down into the Abyss wasn't an option.
Regaining her footing, she threw up an energy field at the threshold of the balcony over the Abyss, forcing her treasonous family to fight their way through. This was a bit of magic she'd learned from her sister, Hecate, and it would keep them busy for at least an hour. She'd always scorned her sister's obsession with magic, but right now it was the only thing keeping the Queen of the Gods from being trapped for all eternity with the titans and so many of Zeus' other fallen enemies, so she had to admit that perhaps Hecate had been onto something.
"Magic! Now what?!" Athena spat, as she pounded on the wall of energy her stepmother had erected. At least Hera was trapped, but she was also renewing her considerable power that was currently augmented by her husband's as as well.
"We'll get through, somehow," Hercules affirmed, patting his sister's shoulder in comradery. Athena was one heck of a fighter and he was glad she was on his side. Then again, he had always gotten along with her since the'd met when he was still a cadet at Chiron's Academy, which was probably why he saw so little of her. The gods he saw the most of were the ones he was in greatest conflict with or were prone to screw ups that threatened mortals, no matter how intentionally.
"Perhaps our dear brother has some magical acid from the future to disintegrate the barrier," Athena quipped, teasing Ares and making him smile despite himself. She had already concluded that he was melting down, that his speech to his mother about their similarities had come on the heels of a devastating realization about the futility of his relationship with the Warrior Princess, and Athena needed to keep him with them in the fight. At least twice already he'd lost focus and Hera had nearly gotten an advantage. Now she was recharging behind her magical wall, and they couldn't afford a single misstep. Once they broke through this barrier, it was the Abyss of Tartarus or bust. They were so close, but one false move could end them up in the Abyss rather than the Queen of the Gods.
"Sorry to disappoint, Sis. Besides magic is magic. Nitric acid is chemistry," Ares replied, wanting to show off to Athena. For so many centuries he'd shunned the plodding science behind technological innovations in war, preferring the exciting, kinetic energy of a wild battlefield. He was kept up to date by his godhood, but he preferred action to invention. In his book, the sword, spear, and bow were good enough. The rest was just mortal self indulgence. But as the centuries passed, mortals indulged their curiosity more and more, and advancement followed advancement. By 2002 he was awash in them, but he still longed for all the blood and passion of swords, spears, and bows.
"Artemis, we're going to need you for this. Help us and we'll do everything we can to limit the fallout to your idiot twin," Ares barked at his sister, who was still in the throne room, merely watching events unfold. That was the hunter in her, watch and wait for the right moment. No future, no past, just one moment followed by another.
"Like I'd believe you, Ares," the Goddess of the Hunt shot back, rolling her eyes at her duplicitous brother.
"What about me? Do you believe me? I promise to protect Apollo from the consequences of his recent actions in your mother's coup. I can't claim many won't hold it against him, but so long as he stops fighting us right this minute, there will be no formal punishment, no Abyss, no exile, no mortality, nothing. You have my word if you lend us your power," Athena offered loudly, ensuring that not only did Artemis hear her, but so did Apollo and Zeus. Her father might not be happy with the idea, but with she, Artemis, Ares, and those that followed them all advocating for leniency, Zeus would be outnumbered, and he wouldn't push too hard for formal sanction, having just regained his throne.
After a moment's consideration, Artemis stalked over to her brother and kicked him in the gut. "Surrender. Unilaterally. Now!"
Apollo managed to raise a hand and looked across the room to the Goddess of Wisdom. "I'm done. While I'd prefer Mom in charge, I'm done fighting. I surrender. I swear on the River Styx, I surrender."
"Discord, we'll need you as well! Bring golden boy with you!" Ares yelled over his shoulder, knowing that while her powers weren't all that great, his younger sister always sought relevance. Now that he understood the wrong he'd done her by stringing her along all those centuries, he needed to make amends and letting her take part in this was something he could offer.
Happy to join in on the action, Discord dragged Apollo by his chains all the way across the marble throne room, completely heedless to the fact that he wasn't able to keep up. Ares needed her to fight Mom. It was almost too good to be true and the young goddess wouldn't pass up this opportunity for anything.
"Alright now, everyone focus your power and the center of wall. It relies on Hera's strength to exist, so the more we weaken her, the more we weaken it and the sooner it will crash," Athena commanded, as she and her siblings raised their hands to the force field and began sending streams of raw energy at the wall that separated them from the balcony and Hera.
At first, it was slow going, and Ares began to worry that their power wasn't enough. Then Hephaestus appeared beside him and joined in, as did Cupid, and Aphrodite, all sending their own power at the wall. Finally, Hestia joined the party, and the wall shattered in mere moments of her assault. Ares had been shocked to say the least. He'd always known she was powerful, but not this powerful, not by a long shot. She'd never sought to dominate anyone, yet from what he saw in that moment where she joined her family in bringing down Hera's magic, she could have easily ruled Olympus for millennia. She was far more powerful than his mother, maybe even Zeus' equal in his prime. Yet she had eschewed any real show of force, at least during his lifetime. Seriously, this made no sense to Ares, and as she retreated, silently taking Apollo's chains from an equally stunned Discord so the petite goddess could fully join the fight, he had to wonder at her motivations.
"Let's go," Hercules stated firmly as he moved on Hera, not nearly as affected by the spectacle the Goddess of the Hearth's raw power as the rest of his family had been. Then again, he was new to godhood, and likely didn't realize he was supposed to be gobsmacked in this moment.
"Right," Athena returned as she prepared an energy bolt for her stepmother. She and Hera had never been friends, but once they'd been allies. Unlike Hercules, she'd never begrudge the fact that Athena wasn't her child, probably because the Goddess of Wisdom had been born before Zeus had married Hera. It was only once she became a wife and a queen, that Zeus' infidelity became an issue, only then did she believe her lover's actions reflected on herself.
Now completely restored, the wall having served its purpose, Hera began returning bolt after bolt with ease. It was amazing the power being sole ruler imbued. For centuries she and Zeus had shared leadership of their people. He'd always been more powerful, but she'd given him a run for his dinar, and stability had been maintained. Now Zeus was mortal, having sacrificed his power to save a mortal whore from eternal damnation, and she was beyond anything she'd ever dreamed of being.
Still, against her entire family she was still outnumbered and outgunned, and she knew there was only one way out. Hera looked far across the hall to her husband, wanting one final look at the man she'd loved for over a hundred millennia, before she reached deep inside of herself. Ignoring the bolts Ares and Athena were lobbing at her, she let the power of Olympus flow through her, let it build, let it expand unchecked till it burned her, and still she pressed on.
Seeing his mother begin to glow a cold blue, Ares suddenly realized what was about to happen. Grabbing Athena, Discord, Artemis and Hercules with his power, he dragged them backward, putting up his own barrier at the balcony threshold, much to the angry protests of his siblings "Mom is overloading; we have to get out of here or we all die!"
Discord immediately disappeared, not needing to be told twice, and Artemis merely grabbed her brother's chains from Hestia and took him back down to her favorite spot in the woods to await what would likely be Olympus being torn to shreds. Ares then turned to the rest of his family and ordered them to leave, and to their credit they did, all except for Hercules, who was rushing towards Zeus, and himself trying to make it to Dr. Naadiah and Minthe.
Yet even at godly speed, Ares knew it was unlikely either of them could grab their mortals and escape in time. His mother was now completely consumed, her untethered power just hovering as a blob of light, sending out shockwaves that prevented anyone else from teleporting away, on the verge of overloading.
Ares looked Dr. Naadiah and Minthe in the eye, trying to apologize for what was about to happen to them. Once again, his obsession with Xena would bring about the destruction of those that mattered most. As the power reached its zenith, Ares threw himself over his Doc and his best friend since childhood and took whatever small, selfish comfort he could in the fact that he was dying as a warrior, and he wouldn't do so alone. Through all of this they'd become his unit, and they'd go down as brothers and sisters, sacrificing all for what they each believed in.
Then there was blinding light, followed by utter darkness. Ares expected that to be it. As far as they knew, gods had no afterlife or reincarnation. He'd lived as a god and died as a god, and that should be that. But it wasn't because he was still here, still thinking. Still conscious, and a moment later, a faint light began to grow out of the darkness. Ares looked down and saw he still had a body, or perhaps it was just an approximation of a body, but whatever was going on, he moved the thing one step at a time towards the light.
Then his eyes opened on Minthe's tearful, but smiling face, and he knew he wasn't dead. He'd been knocked out but not killed. Even more miraculous, he was still on Olympus, only the balcony had been obliterated by Hera's implosion. Somehow, against all odds, they'd survived. "What happened? What's going on?"
A hand reached down and Dr. Naadiah helped her patient to his feet before stating simply. "We're alive."
"I kinda gathered that, but the explosion should have destroyed all of this, and us," Ares stated, gesturing around the throne room in disbelief.
"Hestia saved us. It was.. impressive," Minthe added, smiling proudly at her friend and mentor. She'd never even guessed at the level of power the older goddess obviously possessed, but she was certainly glad to have been spared death.
"I'll bet. So, Auntie, I've gotta ask, how long have you been packing that kind of juice, and why, why would you hide it! I mean, you could have been Queen of the Gods long ago!" Ares expounded, knowing with absolute certainty that Zeus would never have chosen his mother if Hestia's true wattage had ever been taken into account. Grant under that scenario, Ares would never have been born and there would be another God or Goddess of War in his place, but that didn't change the fact that Hestia's choice to appear only modestly able for a goddess of her generation had altered so much of their people's history. And for the life of him.. literally.. Ares
didn't have a clue as to why she'd done it.
"I never wanted to be Queen. All I've ever wanted was a simple life, keeping everything tidy and pleasant for our family. Your mother was the same way before your father began pursing her, but she was weak and chose to give into her baser desires. Then the war with father began and I certainly didn't want to have to fight titans or anyone else for that matter. I never liked fighting, so I just let everyone assume I wasn't all that powerful. Gods challenge you, or try to seduce you, or court your allegiance when they think you have abilities they want to hitch their wagon to. It's kind of like why your brother, Hercules, doesn't carry weapons. He doesn't want to make himself any more of a target. With our people, appearing unassuming and insignificant produces the same outcome," Hestia clarified, shrugging as if her reasoning should have been self explanatory.
While Ares could concede her assessment of life on Olympus, he still didn't understand. Surely if she was powerful enough to shield herself, two other gods, and three mortals from an implosion like what Hera had brought down then no god would have challenged her, and any allegiances would have been exclusively at her whim. As for seduction, he'd never been able to comprehend why she saw that as a bad thing. Sex was fun, and being desirable was gratifying. Hestia's pride in her own self denial had always baffled him.
However, the mention of his half brother brought Ares back to why they'd all teamed up in the first place. "Where's Zeus?"
"You were out for the last twenty minutes. Your father regained his powers during that time, so he left and took your brother with him," Hestia informed, knowing just how callous and par for the course that was. Her brother had always been that way, which was one of the reasons why she'd never wanted to be his queen. She'd stayed behind to see her nephew back to consciousness because it was what family was supposed to do.
"Did you regain your powers, too?" Ares asked Minthe, who nodded happily and freshened Ares outfit, which had borne the evidence of the battle he'd recently been through. In truth, Ares did feel better in a clean set of leathers, so he offered a return smile in gratitude.
When he turned to Dr. Naadiah, making the same inquiry with his eyes, she took the hint and made her way to the doorway that led to the private quarters of some of the gods. Taking a deep breath to prepare herself for any result, Ares' therapist stepped through and vanished, causing her anxious patient to sag with relief.
"Where did she go?" Hestia asked, having witnessed the mortal woman's leaving on her own.
"Back to her own time, Auntie. Naadiah.. Dr. Naadiah was from the future. She kind of got trapped here when Mom took Dad's power, which is why Hercules and I had to keep her hidden from Dad. You know how he feels about time travel," Ares explained, completely lacking any self consciousness around these two women. He loved and trusted both. They were part of the family he'd built for himself in the future, and he wanted them to know about such a monumental shift in his life.
"So you're an Ares from the future?" Hestia asked tentatively, trying to wrap her mind around what she was hearing.
"Yes, Auntie, a little over 2000 years in the future," Ares clarified, wanting to prepare her for the day he'd enter therapy. After all, she'd still be in his life then and it would be good for him to have her support through the highly productive emotional roller coaster Dr. Naadiah had him riding.
Suddenly Hestia's emotions flipped on a dinar and she started pummeling Ares' vest as Discord had when he'd first returned to Olympus. "Are you crazy, Boy?! Did you completely loose your mind sometime in the next 2000 years?! You're messing with time travel, and whats worse, you're permitting your mortal followers to do so?! What in Gaia's name could have possessed you?!"
Ares suppressed a snort at his Aunt's wording. Ever since their go around with Micheal a few months back, Ares had begun to speculate that this therapy was Gaia's enterprise. He'd figured out centuries ago that when Dahok had entered the world, first through Hope and then through the corpse of Hercules' best friend, his cumulative destruction, most notably in the death of the Sumerian gods and the Druids, had destabilized the balance between chaos and destruction that Gaia relied on to keep the world in proper order, the balance she'd struck when she'd used both Mithra and Dahok's energy to bring life into the universe to begin with. Once that was done, and Dahok was defeated and sent back to his realm, Mithra had a path to power and Gaia had been powerless to stop him. She couldn't fix the problem herself without his energy, and she couldn't contain his energy once released.
But Gaia wasn't a quitter. She'd been a nobody once upon a time, but she'd managed to capture and imprison the two most powerful primordial gods in separate realms she'd created for that purpose, and then used their discarded power to design the world to suite her tastes. Because of that unequivocal defeat of two enemies far superior to her in both power and experience, Ares had always felt particularly proud to be her great grandson. Her victory had been any War God's dream.
No way was she now just going to just lie down and take Mithra killing her offspring who refused to serve his ends and enslaving the rest. That wasn't Gaia. At heart she was a fighter, if not a warrior, and just like she did in her first campaign, Gaia had bidden her time and waited for Mithra to become overconfident in his dominion over the world. Then Ares, Dr. Naadiah, Dr. Arthur, and all those involved in Micheal's take down struck, forcing Micheal, Mithra's primary vessel on Earth, to flee for his life. Now both Dahok and Mithra were right where Gaia had always wanted them, their power fueling life, but with those same living things choosing their own path, and Ares was even more impressed with his great grandmother's strategic mind. Maybe that was why she chose, him, the God of War, to become the first god in therapy. He was the only living deity who could truly appreciate her master stroke for what it was, and Ares seriously had to give her props if that was the case.
Realizing his Aunt, whom he now knew was far and away more powerful than him, was waiting for an answer, Ares formulated one as quickly as he could. "Dr. Naadiah isn't one of my followers. She sends me back in time so that I can learn from my regrets. She works in multiple timelines, like Chronos once did, so nothing I've done here will cause any real damage. Besides, everything worked out well, didn't it? Mom's vapor by her own will, so no involvement with the Furies, Dad has his throne back, and outside of the damage to our balcony and viewing system, nothing major has been changed. And even that could turn out to be a blessing in disguise. I know Hephaestus has been itching to redesign the viewing wall, add a better sound system, maybe up the graphics quality a bit. I trust he'll come up with something great. So you see, no harm done, Auntie."
"You've just witnessed how powerful I truly am, Boy! Do you really think it wise to patronize me at this moment?! You know very well that time travel is forbidden for a reason!" Hestia hissed back, clearly more angered than placated by her nephew's attempts to calm her.
"Yeah, Dad's reason, which really just means that he doesn't want to be forced to work so hard that he has no time to nail every mortal who catches is fancy! Boo hoo. I'm on the clock 24/7, so are you, so are most gods! Look, you're right, I was being a tad disrespectful. It's a bad habit, and where it concerns the people I care about, I'm working on it. But Dr. Naadiah isn't playing around. She's been doing this work for years with mortals and now with me, and her mentor was doing it for decades before her. They take their work very seriously," Ares responded, willing to concede that Hestia had a point about his tone and choice of words, but refusing to give ground where it concerned his therapist or his therapy.
"And you're willing to bet your entire existence on it; because you know that's what you're doing, don't you?!" Hestia questioned, never breaking eye contact with her problematic nephew for a millisecond. He needed to be reminded of the risks he was taking with this Dr. Naadiah and her work.
"Considering what my existence was before I met Dr. Naadiah, without a doubt. Yes, I am. Auntie, this therapy.. it's changed me. It's not always been pleasant. Heck, it's mostly not been pleasant come to think of it, but I know I'm getting better, becoming more complete as I relive each regret. All my life Mom and Dad tried to break me into smaller and smaller pieces to ensure I never put myself back together again and challenged their dominion over this world. And as excruciating as it is to admit.. Xena did that as well, and 2000 years hence her reincarnated soul is still doing it. For so long I didn't understand that. Oh I knew very well that she was messing with my head, I even accused her of it to her face once, but at the end of the day I kept letting her and I had no clue as to why. Now, because of what I did here, in this time, over the past two days, I do. I see where it all comes from, and I've seen where it leads if I don't do better in the future," Ares explained, gesturing to the obliterated balcony where Hera had chosen to destroy herself in hopes of taking her husband and the failures she called her children and stepchildren with her rather than loose again and never have another chance to win her husband's non-existent love.
Ares still loved Xena absolutely, but he now understood that if he didn't find a way to live without her, or at least to deal with her without compromising himself in the process, sooner or later he'd end up like Hera. After all, as this regret had made crystal clear, he was his mother's son. Xena was bad for him, and he had to find his way in the world without her at the center of his.
Hestia sighed, not knowing how to respond. On one hand she saw how important this therapy was to her nephew, and he was right, he was changing for the better. He was so in control of himself here, not jerked around by his own chaotic emotions or his godhood, but there was far more to this than just Ares mental health. "Ares, it's still wrong, this changing the past. You're making decisions for me, for the rest of our family, and we don't even get a say. I get that your parents were cruel to you, and that Xena is cruel to you, but your making choices without our consent, that's cruel to us. The only power I've ever wanted was the power to make my own choices, but if you and this Dr. Naadiah decided tomorrow that that just didn't work for you, my whole future could be rewritten merely by your spending a few days in the past. How can you expect me to just accept that and to be okay with it?!"
"Auntie, these therapists don't work that way. They hold free will in absurdly high esteem, so much so that it's against their rules, their process, to even attempt to alter other people's choices for themselves. Indeed, towards the end of my very first session with Dr. Naadiah, she insisted in no uncertain terms that this therapy was about me, and that even altering a minor decision that Mom once made was off limits. My regrets are my own, so I'm allowed to chose a different path each time I go back, but if I attempt to live other people's lives for them, this amazing opportunity I've been granted could easily be taken away. Dr. Naadiah has proven that she's willing to die and spend an eternity in a Hell, a realm far worse than Tartarus, rather than budge an inch in this regard. Trust me, free will isn't something these people play around with," Ares detailed, needing his Aunt to understand that her ability to direct her own life would always remain hers, regardless of his regrets.
"Maybe when it comes to their own kind that's true, but we're not people to them, we're gods. Heck, even your brother, Hercules, holds us to a double standard whenever he has to choose between our interests and those of his mother's race. You know how hypocritical mortals can be in that regard," Hestia returned, understanding the general principal these therapists believed in, but having far too much experience with the human perspective over the centuries to trust in their own adherence to it. They had an uncanny ability to find an exception to every rule they proclaimed to live by.
"Oh, I do, more than you know. However, these mortal therapists are different. In my time mortals live lives more akin to the gods than the mortals you know. For instance, that acid I hid in the puzzle box I gave Athena to melt the bars of our dungeon, that was a mortal invention I found an alternative use for. And I can't walk into a war room these days without seeing a collection of screens similar to what we have.. had.. on the balcony to watch mankind. In Dr. Naadiah's time they watch each other, while we still watch them. And yeah, it's takes a little getting used to, but the point is, mankind will make great strides in the next two thousand years, and as their lives grow closer to our own they've seemed to develop greater empathy for us. These therapists even more than most. Mortals have learned to do for themselves, rather than curse us for not being their willing slaves.. well except for Jerkules, but he's an immortal, so he doesn't count," Ares commented, knowing his half brother was too set in his ways to ever empathize with his Olympian relatives.
"I see I'm not going to change your mind on this, but please, please, please be careful. I want to believe you, I do, but I've lived too long and seen too much. I sincerely hope you and your Dr. Naadiah prove me wrong," Hestia stated with finality, shaking her head at how much she put up with when it came to her family. Her mother, Rhea had been the same way. She just hoped she never ended up like her. There was far too much to do around Olympus to rest for a moment, much less sleep for eternity.
"We'll be as careful as possible, I promise," Ares replied, placing an arm around her shoulder and giving his aunt a quick half hug, the most affection Hestia ever allowed. The goddess loved her family dearly, but she didn't like to be touched. Ares wasn't all that touchy-feely himself, but Hestia definitely took the taco when it came to being standoffish.
"Well, now that that's settled, there's a lot of cleaning up to do. Come along, Minthe, we need to collect the rest of our circle and get to work," Hestia declared, as she started moving towards her wing of the great palace, She was always behind schedule and now they had to make up for the past days' events as well. Still, domestic labor was her passion and Hestia looked forward to the challenge, as did her younger cohorts. The emotional fallout from Hera's self termination and the rebellion that had preceded it would be huge, but then that was why Hestia and her crew were so important. They'd make things nice and tidy once more, so the gods could focus on recovery.
As Ares watched his aunt and dear friend stroll into the distance, he felt a small balm to his broken heart. He had them at least, even if he'd never have Xena's love. The excitement of the day was fading and with it came thoughts of the woman he'd foolishly loved for thousands of years. His mind was never far away from his.. the… Warrior Princess, and as Dr. Naadiah began drawing him back to 2002, Ares couldn't help but wonder how he'd survive without those thoughts that used to buoy him through the tough times. Trying to get his emotions under control, Ares shut his eyes to the undiluted sorrow so deep that he felt like it might build to an implosive force, as his mothers power had recently done, and let the centuries slip past him as he returned to his own time.
When he knew he'd arrived back in 2002, Ares's eyes popped open due to the slight breeze in the air and smell of the Los Angeles streets. Obviously Dr. Naadiah had returned him to this bike outside the coffee shop rather than her office, and Ares was fine with that. While he trusted her immensely, Ares didn't want to break down in front of his Doc. She didn't deserve to be saddled with a heartbroken god, who didn't trust his own rampaging emotions enough to be indoors, much less around a vulnerable mortal. Now that she had her full pallet of powers back, she'd know when he was ready, and she was obviously giving him some room to regain his equilibrium.
Tipping his head upwards to see the stars, Ares took several deep, cleansing breaths hoping to calm himself a bit.
However, unlike previous times he was overwhelmed by heartache, Ares found he couldn't refocus quickly and began to worry that he'd end up sitting in front of the coffee shop for so long that Annie Day would come back out to read him the riot act about loitering across the street from a domestic violence shelter late into the night, but he couldn't be confident in his powers when so overwhelmed by wave after wave of despair. Regardless of lifetime, all Xena had for him was contempt, and though he know he shouldn't still want her, he did, more than ever. As sick as it all was, he craved those old, soggy crumbs of attention that he used to live off of, a snort of laughter when he said something irreverent that amused her, or an eye roll when she found his ideas absurd, and it took every ounce of strength he possessed to fill his mind with memories of Hera's final moments and repeat over and over to himself 'She's bad for you. She's bad for you. She's bad…"
Ares was half way through another round of his self-preserving mantra, when a short, low pitch series of beeps, undetectable to mortal ears, broke through his desperate thoughts. It took a moment to identify the sound, and why his godhood had deemed it enough of a motivator to pull him out of his previous meltdown he couldn't say. Then the penny dropped, and Ares leapt off his bike and started racing towards the women's shelter faster than a mortal ever could. But once again in that day that had spanned over 2000 years, he was too late and an explosion rang through the streets of Los Angeles, as a plume of fire, smoke, and large chunks of debris replaced the shelter and several structures surrounding it.
Out of nowhere Ares was reminded of the A-bomb mushroom clouds that had given him such joy to watch, knowing the dependents of those that had taken his love from him, convincing her to refuse resurrection on their behalf, were being incinerated and irradiated on a scale the world had never before seen. He'd truly felt like a righteously vengeful god that day, a wondrous feeling he hadn't known for centuries, and every scream of agony, misery, and horror had sounded like sweet music to his immortal ears. He'd felt empowered and sated in a way he'd never felt before, and he'd bathed in the sensation, remaining in the destruction for hours after each bomb fell.
But this time the cloud of common flame and smoke didn't carry away the lives of Japanese civilians, but one Annie Day and the women and children she'd been protecting that night, including Jessica Santiago and her two sons who were likely the intended targets of the detonation. Instinctively he'd run to save his Xena, and once again, he'd failed. Deep down he knew, as he searched against hope for Annie Day's essence, that he'd find it nowhere in this world. She'd been inside and she'd been torn to shreds or quickly burned up, likely without piecing together what was happening. Xena was gone, again, and with that contract that was also so much ash, he might never see her again. Another, even greater wave of emotional agony washed over him, and this time when the blackness of unconsciousness came, Ares welcomed it.
