When Ares had chosen to leave for a world journey, Aphrodite and his children had tearfully said goodbye.
Hephaistos had been there too, although he given his older brother a warm grip of the hand, rather than shedding tears.
The rest of his family had also come to say goodbye.
"Take care of yourself", Artemis had said, while giving him a firm hug.
Ares had laughed: "I'll do my best."
"Don't get caught by giants and locked in a jar", Hermes had grinned.
"Oh shut up, squirt!", the war god had snorted and lightly slapped the Messenger's shoulder.
Hera had given her son an awkward hug; after the Trojan War things were more tense between them than usual.
Zeus had been more affectionate, giving his son a firm embrace and a kiss to the forehead (an extremely rare gesture of fatherly love from the King of the Gods).
"I suppose you will be gone for a few Olympian decades?"
"Yes, father. Seeing the world and getting to know new people takes a while."
"Goodbye then, my son. Take care of yourself, as Artemis said. Don't forget to write. We want to know how you are doing and how it is, where you're staying."
"Unless the place I get to doesn't have a writing system, sure!"
With that, Ares had spurred on his horses and left Olympos.
First he had gone to Thrace to say goodbye to his twin and his friends.
Enyo had tearfully begged him to stay or at least take her along, same as Eris.
But Ares had insisted, that he needed some alone time (although it had hurt him to leave his twin behind).
"I need someone to do my duties", he had told her. "You're the only one who can, Enyo. Your domain is the same as mine. You guys just take care of my home, okay?"
Then he had left.
...
At first he toured around Hellas. It couldn't hurt to see what was going on and maybe check how the survivors of the Trojan War were doing.
Many of the Trojan women had died or worse, were living a miserable life as concubines.
Aineias, the son of Aphrodite, had gathered a few survivors and was now sailing the seas.
To his great delight, most of the Achaeans had met a bitter end: Agamemnon had been killed by his wife and her lover, Ajax the Lesser was dead, so were many others. And the best thing was, that his old enemy Diomedes had gone through some shit, only to come home to a nasty surprise.
Now the hero who had once wounded him and Aphrodite, was wandering the lands and seas in search of a place to live.
Ares couldn't resist the temptation and descended onto the earth.
...
Diomedes was done with everything.
He had almost drowned in a massive thunderstorm, then been washed ashore on the coast of Libya, only to nearly be sacrificed to Ares. Then he had landed in Attica, where the local king had mistaken him and his crew for pirates and had attacked them. And when he had finally come home to Argos, he had found his wife not only unfaithful to him, but also ready to kill him.
Now he had nowhere to go.
This moment he was walking through a forest, when he spotted a small river. Tired from the long march, he sat down, let his feet dangle in the water and sighed contentedly at the sensation.
"Feels nice, doesn't it?"
He jumped at the sound of the voice and hastily grabbed his spear.
But it was just a little girl sitting on a branch of a nearby tree, dangling a leg.
Except it wasn't.
Diomedes still had his enhanced sight and knew a god, when he saw one.
The girl twirled her auburn hair and eyed him with twisted curiosity.
"You look like life wasn't kind to you, sir", she noted.
He shrugged. "Is life kind to anyone?"
"To some", she replied. "You look like someone glorious. A hero. Isn't that a kindness of life?"
"I'm not so certain anymore."
The child giggled.
"You seem pretty happy", he remarked.
"Likely happier than you", the other teased. "Then again, heroes almost never get to live happily ever after, huh?"
Diomedes resisted the temptation to roll his eyes.
"Your disguise isn't very subtle, Lord Ares Polydakros¹."
The other snickered and leapt off the branch. When his feet touched the ground, he had turned from a little girl to what was basically a human form of his divine shape.
It made the Argive shudder. He almost averted his eyes, but managed to steel his nerves and hold the other's burning gaze (though his body refused to stop trembling).
"So Glaukópis² let you keep your enhanced sight", Ares noted. "Interesting. Not that it's of much use to you now."
"Have you come to gloat?"
"Yes, actually. After your stunt back at Ilion³, it is really satisfying to see you this humbled. And I don't even need to have revenge, because Aphrodite already had hers. Betrayal is a nasty thing, isn't it?"
The god's grin was twisted and way too broad. Obviously he was revelling in the other's discomfort and misfortune.
Diomedes refused to dignify the god's remark anyhow.
"But don't feel bad", Ares chuckled, "It could be much worse. Most of the Achaeans drowned, Agamemnon was murdered and that psychopathic brat Neoptolemos was slain by Apollon's priests for some blasphemy a few days ago. Also, Menélaos, my half-sister Helene and Odysseus are all stuck far away from home. Compared to that, you got off easy!"
His smirk vanished. "You should be grateful, son of Tydeus. Considering the shit ton of murder attempts you escaped, you're actually really, really lucky."
Diomedes bit his lip.
So he isn't going to kill me, then.
"No", Ares answered his thought. "I'm not."
Diomedes took a deep breath and forced himself to stop trembling, before putting his spear down.
"You can't blame me for being afraid of you", he told the god bluntly.
The Man-Slayer laughed: "I don't. Only a fool wouldn't fear war."
"What do you want then – apart from gloating, obviously."
"Give you a piece of my mind", the war god replied bluntly. "Remember how my granddaughter Kallirhoë saved you from being sacrificed to me by my son? You could at least have thanked her."
Diomedes blinked in confusion. "But I left her a letter?"
"Kallirhoë couldn't read, Diomedes."
Oh. Oh shit.
"The Libyans don't have a writing system", Ares explained, "And even if they did, she was mentally disabled. It would have been extremely hard for her to learn how to read, if at all. Not that it matters now; she's dead. Hanged herself, because you broke her heart."
Shit times two.
"Of course killing you sounds tempting", the god went on. "But luckily for you, my family has other plans for you. Don't think Athena has forgot you. After all, you and Odysseus have always been her favourites. So before I leave, one last piece of advice: take the next ship to Italy, find the last surviving Trojans, lead by Aphrodite's son Aineias and return the Palladion to them. Only then will your misfortune end, for even though you had Athena's approval, that doesn't change the fact that you robbed it."
For a few seconds Diomedes considered, if this was a trap. But it sounded logical enough, so he memorised it anyways.
Ares stood up and unfolded a pair of huge red wings. Then he took to the air and was gone, leaving behind only a single red feather.
Diomedes knew better than to consider this a sign of goodwill.
...
Ares, having gained just a bit of closure, continued his tour.
He had seen what he had wanted to see. Now it was time to leave Hellas and explore the rest of the world.
He hadn't been to Aigyptos in quite a while. He had a few friends there, who would be delighted to see him.
...
"ARES! EYYY!", Sekhmet roared in delight.
"EYYY, SEKHMET! SO GOOD TO SEE YA!", Ares yelled back and they engulfed each other in a bone-crushing hug.
"IT'S BEEN SO LONG, MOTHERFUCKER! HOW ARE YOU DOING?"
"DOIN' GREAT, YOU BOSS ASS BITCH! AND YOU?"
"GREAT! THE OTHERS ARE TOO!"
"AWESOME!"
A dignified cough interrupted them.
"Can you two please stop yelling?", Thoth asked. "It's headache-inducing. Apart from that, welcome, Ares. What brings you here?"
"I'm travelling the world!", Ares beamed at the ibis-headed god. "Just started my journey and I wanted to see old friends, before I discover the rest. My presence won't be needed in the next centuries, so why not get away from it all and do something new?"
"That's fair", Thoth agreed. "Sadly, none of us can leave Ta Meri⁴ right now; the earthly world is quite a mess."
Ares frowned: "Yeah, back in Europa too."
1) Polydakros: "Of Many Tears/Of Much Weeping", an epithet of Ares, referring to the woe and grief, which war brings.
2) Glaukópis: "Bright-Eyed/Owl-Eyed", an epithet of Athena, because of her bright eyes, which depending on the source are either grey or blue (in my version they're blue).
3) Ilion = Troy
4) Ta Meri: "Beloved Land", one of the ancient Egyptian terms for ... well, ancient Egypt, as the word Egypt is Greek in origin. The Egyptians also called their country Kemet, "Black (Land)", referring to the fertile soil along the river Nile, which was very dark because of the yearly inundations. The desert parts of Egypt were referred to as "Ta Desheret", which means "Red Land" and was the domain of the goddess Sekhmet and the god Set (and some other deities associated with the desert.