Lightning flashed in the skied above Olympus, lighting up the city of the greek gods and most prominently, the temple of Hera the rested on one of its highest peaks. The goddess of marriage and family had a glass of wine in her hand and was in the process if pouring herself more alcohol when the doors to her chambers burst open.
"Mother!" Strife cried, arms open as if to recieve a hug before she pouted and her face took on a look of pettiness. "I'm back. I do have to say, Hell's wedding was a dull affair. I didn't even get to watch as he killed the amazon you're so set on seeing dead."
"Truly, who would have ever believed that Hell would die to the same man who killed him the first time?" Hera asked, her tone dripping with sarcasm.
"Though I must say, what the amazon did with Hades was priceless." She smirked, poking at the queen's side.
"Please Strife, there's always a price for everything we do." The queen sipped her wine. "And you won't get my goat, singing the amazon's praises."
"But what a song it is?" Strife laughed. "Why I dare say I'm beginning to like my newest baby sister."
"I wouldn't get too attached." Hera said with a knowing look. "For there's now a price on the head of that baby she's sworn to protect."
"Her dear brother is with her now though." Strife said. "Apparently she and dear Nathaniel have reconciled. I dare say there isn't a god alive who would tangle with them both."
"Perhapse no god can hold their own." Hera said. "You certainly proved that true dear daughter, but what of a pair of siblings closer than even them?"
Strife's eyes widdened.
"You didn't!" She exclaimed.
Hera's only response was a small smirk that bloomed on her lips and the raising of her wine.
"If the amazon means to stay her course, she might survive under her brother's care, but the girl, eventually she will be left vulnerable, and that will mean her end."
"Care to make a wager then?" Strife asked, pouring her own glass.
"I struck a bargain tonight, daughter, for something that means much, much more than the life of one of your father's bastard offspring. But I struck it anyway, with two of them. So I wouldn't bet against me."
Lightning struck through the night sky over Mount Olympus, but the clouds eventually cleared, revealing a glowing full moon hovering in the sky.
Far away, in the forrests that surrounded the town of Coloma, Michigan, a bird with glowing eyes perched on the branches of a tree.
"The trees are heavy, auntie."
On the ground, a pair of foxes feasted when one of them rose from it's food. It's eyes, one a dull amber colour, began to glow with silver light.
"I realise this is a busy time for you..."
Elsewhere in the forrest, a deer stared into the woods with the moon glowing behind it, casting it's shadow long on the ground.
"But we need to talk."
From the ground, the roots and leave from countless trees gathered and intertwined. They eventually took the form of a woman with green skin. She wore a dress the colour of tree bark and her hair was seemed to be made of leaves and grass.
"About?" She asked the animal.
"A change of the guard we must discuss, Demeter."
"Then let's. Please. What's on your mind, Artemis?"
Standing in a clearing, a woman made of silver light, with stag horns growing on top of her head, walked towards the woman made of earth and life.
"Harvest..." Artemis said. "Zeus' empty seat, it's going to be filled."
"It needs to be." Demeter agreed. "The heavens without a ruler can only bring chaos."
"Again."
"And we don't want that." Demeter acquiesced
"No we don't." Artemis agreed.
"WHat is it we want instead?"
"My brother had informed me of a disturbing prophecy..." Artemis reached up into a tree, picking a fruit from its branches. "One that had us beaten by our own blood."
"That's not a prophecy." Demeter said. "It's an inevitability."
"There's no room for improvisation in you, is there?"
"Dear Moon, there's birth and there's death, and in between, it's all improvisation."
In an doctor's office in Virginia, Zola filled out an information sheet as she sat with Hermes and Diana and waited for her appointment.
"Look Hermes, I'll be fine." She said.
"Here?" He asked, unconvinced. "Really?"
"Really." She assured. "You wanted me to see a doctor? So, I'm seeing one."
A number flashed on a screen, signaling that Zola's turn had come to see a doctor. As she got up to enter the office, she saw Hermes following behind her.
"What do you think you're doing?" She asked the messenger god.
"Not letting you out of my sight." The god pointed out.
"Oh yes you are." Zola waved him him off and followd a nurse, leaving Hermes behind.
"Hermes." Diana said, ushering him outside.
"I don't feel good about this Diana." He said. As the two left the building, they saw Nathaniel and Lennox sitting on a bench outside.
"Given the stage of her pregnancy, we all insisted that Zola see a doctor."
"Too bad we didn' figure she'd insist on seein' 'er own." He laughed.
Nathaniel laughed.
"Really? You didn't figure out that after getting involved with gods and monsters, not to mention spending her almost her whole prognancy in Hell, that the mortal girl might want some normalcy?"
"Well when you put if like that mate, it sounds normal." Lennox said.
"Nathaniel is right." Diana said. "She's just trying to exert a little control on a life that's spun out of it. The least we can do is support her."
"But you 'ave friend, access to better medical-"
"I do have friends, true... and one of them is seeing the doctor she's chosen to right now."
"Zola is carrying Zeus' baby." Hermes pointed out.
"Hah!" Lennox scoffed. "What if in the ultrasound, it;s discovered the little nipper's got a tail? Or wing?"
Nathaniel joined in
"Considering all the crazy things Zeus has screwed, It wouldn't be too surprising to find out the child is different in appearance."
Hermes and Diana glared at the two men. Lennox looked suitably cowed under Diana's glare, while Nathaniel just smiled nonchalantly.
"I'm just sayin'." He muttered.
"And I don't feel good about it." Hermes reiterated.
As the four sat and waited for Zola, the sky began to darken, but not with stormclouds. As they looked up in confusion, Lennox wondered.
"Wha'ssis, an eclipse?"
"There wasn't a forecast of-"
"No, Diana look. The moon isn't passing over the sun..."
"They're joined." Natheniel said. "Oh this is going to be good."
"I have a bad feeling about this." Hermes said.
An ornate, three-wheeled motorcycle rode across the dirt road, kicking up mud as it went. It pulled up in front of the four, holding two people. The one at the front, driving the vehicle, was a woman with glowing silver skin and eyes. She was wearing what looked like black leather pants and vest with fur lining the collar. She was also barefooted. The second was a man with black skin. Not brown or dark skin, but black like ink with orange light pouring from his eyes and mouth. He was dressed in dark tan pants and a black shirt with a brown jacket. Like the woman, he was also barefooted.
"If you feel very bad now messenger, just imagine what it'll be like if you don't give us what we want."
"Or imagine feeling nothing." Artemis added. "That is what it's like to be dead, no?"
"Actually death can be quite liberating." Nathaniel spoke up. "Real eye opener when it comes to priorities."
"Apollo." Hermes acknowledged the god of the sun.
"Artemis." Diana likewise addressed the goddess of the moon."
"Hermes." Apollo returned.
"Wonder Woman." Artemis smirked.
"Apollo, Artemis." Natheniel nodded to the two twin gods, who seemed surprised at his presence.
"Nathaniel." Apollo nodded back.
"God Killer." Artemis said.
"Nathaniel?" Diana looked questioningly at his casual recognition of the two gods.
"Diana." He replied, a small smile forming on his face before he turned to the one man who had not yet been introduced.
"Lennox." Nathaniel nodded to the stone man, who smiled in return.
"Natey." He returned.
"Sun and Moon." Hermes stepped forwards. "I'm surprised you would take an interest inone of Zeus' dalliances, seeing as you're born from the same."
"Messenger, I have no interest in the girl or the child she carries, but they are a means to an end."
"Pity if you mean them to be yours."
"Careful Moon." Apollo cautioned. "We want no violence here if we can help it."
"At least someone in this family has some sense." Nathaniel muttered, though everyone heard him. "What is it Hera has promised you in exchange for the girl Apollo? Surely there's little that she still has that she could tempt you wi-"
A sudden realisation hit him, and his face morphed into one of shock.
"She didn't..."
Apollo nodded.
"She has made a deal cousin. I intend to see it fulfiled."
"So... It's come to this then."
Apollo took a step forwards.
"It has. We must be united Nathaniel, you yourself showed me what is to come. If we do not stand together, we will be destroyed. Zeus' absence had thrown the divine into chaos, it must be amended."
"Nathaniel." Diana interupted. "What is he talking about?"
"A forgotten story and a prophecy for the future Diana." Nathaniel said. "Apollo is right, Olympus must be united, and to do so a new king must be crowned. You saw what happened when Hell and the Sea warred with Hera for the heavens."
Diana looked surprised, but Hermes' stance shifted to include Nathaniel in the range of his attacks.
"You side with them? They would see Zola and her child killed for the sins of the child's father. I had thought that you would be the last to take out your anger on an innocent."
Nathaniel's eyes blazed.
"Do not test me Messenger. I do not make it a point of sticking my nose into things that have nothing to do with me. You're lucky I have stayed with you as long as I have."
"And will you turn against us now brother?" Diana asked. "Against me?"
"Never Diana, but there are things that you do not understand and that I do not have the time to explain at the moment."
Nathaniel's eyes flashed from their normal green into a red colour with a black enneagram at its center.
"Amazon." Artemis said, drawing the two's attention. "You've been through much and your behaviour has been stunning actually."
"As our cousin said, you've made fools of my uncles and our queen." Apollo took off his jacket, leaving it on the motorcycle as Artemis cracked her knuckles. "That's not possible any longer. You've had your fun. It's time for you to step down."
Diana pulled her coat off, showing her costume under it and putting on her tiara. She, Hermes and Lennox stood together, even as Nathaniel met his sister's eyes with his own unnatural red eyes. Suddenly, Nathaniel's eyes widdened and Diana's glazed over for an instant. In the second it took for her eyes to sharpen again he struck. Lennox was flung into a far wall, persued by Nathaniel and leaving Diana and Hermes to deal with Apollo and Artemis.
"Even your own family stands against you, though it seems he cannot bear to harm you directly." Apollo said, waving in the direction Nathaniel had disappeared to while following Lennox.
"He leaves you with us instead." Artemis said. "Perhaps it would have been kinder to deal with you himself."
"There does not need to be violence Moon." Apollo tried to calm his sister and Diana. "Just step down and let us have the girl."
"Really? Step down?" Diana asked. "I've never felt more like stepping up."
"Step them." Apollo's hand glowed with orange power, the power of the sun. "Into your grave."
He blasted towards Diana, who managed to block it with her braclets. As the power was disperced, she jumped through the air and landed in front of Apollo. She lashed out as soon as she landed, striking the god of the sun across the face. He recovered quickly however, moving to engage his half-sister.
"I promised to protect that girl, Apollo." She said.
"And I promised to deliver her." He countered.
"I won't break mine." She managed to catch his wrist as he punched, landing and elbow strike to his chin. The sun god was not moved however, and he freed himself from Diana's grip in order to punch her in the face as she had done to him.
"Then I'll break you." He said, punching her in the stomach and sending her flying back.
Meanwhile, Hermes was facing down Artemis, or at least he was trying to. As he lashed out in a kick the goddess of the moon easily avoided it by leaning back.
"What is your interest in this, Messenger?" She asked.
Hermes tried to sweep her legs from under her, only for Artemis to leap back in a backflip to avoid it.
"Certainly not this mortal. So what is it about her child? Is it the one spoken of in the prophecy? The child of Zeus that will murder for a throne?"
Artemis reached up to the crescent pendant hanging around her neck, which glowed silvery blue as she pulled it from her collar.
"If it is, how is it different from you or your brother?" Hermes asked.
Artemis threw the crescent, which glowed and separated into three of itself, all of which impacted and pierced Hermes.
"About time, I expected the goddess of huntresses would make quicker work of a mere messenger."
Artemis turned to find Nathaniel standing behind her, holding Lennox under one arm and Zola under another. The male demigod was knocked unconscious while the woman was struggling, beating on Nathaniel's abdoman and legs with her hands. She even took a few shots at his crotch, but Nathaniel took no notice other than to laugh.
"My body's so strong I can bend steel with my bear hands little girl, do you really think that that is going to work?"
"Worth a shot." Zola grumbled before she resumed hitting him.
"And I admire the attempt. I am sorry it had to happen like this."
"Shup up. What have you done to Diana?"
"We're about to see, so hush now, otherwise I'll need to knock you out."
Diana was on the ground, covered in mud and dirt as Apollo stood over her.
"Tell me, since you seem insistant on dying, how long have you been alive?"
"Twenty-three-" Diana began to say, before a headache overcame her. "hundred? No that can't be right. But it... is? Is it?"
The world began to glitch around her and Apollo, Diana watched as cracks appeared in the air around her, spreading and branching. One of the cracks met another, and as they completed they broke. Like a shattered mirror Diana saw into the space beyond the world she lived in.
Darkness was all around. She could see it through the crack, there were tendrils reaching out, trying to get in. one of them, formed of pure darkness pushed against the hole. The cracks in the world broadened, and the air began the shatter like so much glass. Diana could barely move, but she knew that this darkness was something to fear. It was massive, all consuming. She felt the tendril as it tried to break its way into her world.
"W-what is this?" She asked out loud, trying to figure out why the world had been torn assunder.
'Liessssssss' A voice slithered its way through from the void, even if it's body seemingly couldn't. 'Heeeee Liessssss. Heeee iSSSSSS YooooouuuuRRRRR DooooooM. youR Fearrrrsssss Arrrrrre Hissssss Truuuuthhhhh. Heeeee ReJeCts HiMsElF. We SeT tHiNgS rIgHt.'
The tendril finally punctured the world, reaching out. It was reaching for her. She pulled away, but bumped into another of the cracks. The tenticle slithered ever closer, coming for her. Diana lashed out as it reached her, but she only found her arm encased in the black ooze as if she had hit a liquid rather than a solid mass.
Her eyes flashed. Her vision filled with nightmares as she saw things. Things that she couldn't... no, wouldn't believe.
Her brother slaughtered thousands, rampaging across the world. Unlike now, his hair was black and his face was an exact replica of the Hades who had sired him. The only difference was their clothing, and the green irises that told her she was looking at Nathaniel.
Her brother stood atop a mountain of bodies, topped by a throne of bones. All around him. Her team laid defeated and dead. Superman's cape was clenched in his hand, alongside Flash's mask. Hawkgirl's mace hung at his hip while green lanturn's ring was around his finger. Martian Manhunter's chest piece was gripped in his other hand and under her brother's feet, the dead body of batman was sprawled out and covered in blood.
At the foot of the pile of bodies. Another version of Diana and Hippolta stood. The two of them were beaten and broken, watching in hopelessness as her brother laughed at the slaughter all around him. Chains appeared in his hands and as he pulled them, the amazons of Themyscira were pulled into sight. Bound in their hundreds, leashed and collared as slaves. This Nathaniel seemed to revel in their capture but even as they were forced to present themselves as slaves, there was only a beaten acceptance she could feel from her sisters as he pulled them forwards.
"How pathetic." The brutal mockery of her brother laughed. "Is this is not your natural state? This what your kind was born for, and yet in a vain attempt at self-deceit you chose to try your hand at civilisation."
He laughed again, pulling hard on the leash that bound her people and sending the amazons of Themyscira to their knees as the other Diana and Hippolyta watched.
"Even then, you couldn't escape your true selves. You are vainglory and your vile ideas of purity you have birthed me. I am your truth amazons. I am proof that you cannot rule yourselves. That you must have a master to save you from your own barbarity."
"Please brother." The other Diana cried. She tried to rush forwards, but she was caught. Not by any guards. No, she was kept back from her own brother by her sisters. Several of the amazons made to restrain her, looking on at her brother with a form of broken subservience and, to her horror, a lustful desire born from no true love.
"Ah, my darling sister." Nathaniel grinned and motioned for her to be released. the other Diana was brought before her brother's throne, where he had reclined and pulled one of the restrained amazons to rest at his feet. Both Dianas were shocked and disgusted to find Menalippe clinging to her brother's leg in adoration, dressed not in the robes of a high-priestess, as she should have been given her role on Themyscira, or even the rags of a prisoner. Instead, she was dressed in the sheer garments that denoted her as something similar to a king's concubine.
"I told you I'd return. I told you that I would come back and that my vengence would be great and terrible."
"You have done nothing but prove them right." Diana said, trying to reason with her brother. "With this, you do little other than convince what few of us remain that all the evils of man cannot be escaped."
"'Us' dear Diana? You still claim to be one of them, after all that they did to us? To me?"
"Terrible things were inflicted onto you brother, but that is no right to inflict them yourself on the innocent."
"Innocent!?" The other Nathaniel screamed, making many of the Amazons flinch, and some collapse as they begged forgivness from him brokenly. "There are no innocents! Not anymore, not for a long time. Any one of these creatures could have come forward. Any of them could have stepped up and said 'No'. 'No, we won't behave as animals', 'we will not succumb to our worst selves'. But did any of them? No. They were all to happy to descend into the horrors that they so happily condemed mankind for. If they have the gall, the sheer arrogance to decry me for doing things to them that match no even a millionth of what they did to me, then all they prove is that they are hypocrites of the highest order."
Diana cried and grabbed her Lasso. The golden lariat glowed and the images that she saw shattered like glass. Diana fell to her knees, gasping for breath and trying to find the dark tendril. She couldn't see it, or the cracks that had appeared in the world around her.
"Hmm. Then I suppose I forgive you your arrogance. So shall we call you opposition to me a youthful indiscretion or a tragic lesson?"
"W-what?" Diana asked, getting shakily to her feet. She looked around, finding the world once again right. Artemis stood over Hermes, his caduceus covered in the his own blood as the moon goddess held it. Nathaniel was next to them, holding Lennox and Zola under his arm as the girl shouted for her, Lennox and Hermes.
"Did- Did you see it?" Diana asked the sun god, trying to shake the confused feeling that had settled in her stomach.
Apollo stopped for a moment.
"See what?" He asked. "Perhaps I was too hard on you little sister."
Diana shook her head, clearing it of the dark fog that had blanketed it during the nightmarish vision.
"I-I won't let you take her." She said.
"You don't have a choice." Apollo told her. "I have a destiny, and a prophecy, to forestall. There's a storm coming over the horizon, one even the godkiller acknowledges. To head off the coming doom requires us to stand together and it is one that I plan to face down with our people at the fullest of our strength."
He backhanded Diana, into the dirt.
"Know, we are gods, and we won't be destroyed by ourselves."
"But what about by us?" Diana asked as Nathaniel and Artemis came to flank the sun god. "Me?"
Apollo raised his hand, only for it to be caught by Nathaniel.
"You want my help? You want the girl? You leave her alone."
Apollo freed his hand from Nathaniel's grip and nodded.
"Very well. Moon, we have what we came for, let's ride."
Nathaniel dropped Lennox and followed after the two, placing Zola on the motorcycle before climbing on himself with the twins.
A trail of fire was left behind as the four shot up into the sky, leaving the earth behind and allowing the light of the sun to illuminate the world once more with its full light. The moon retreated from the eclipse bathing Diana, Lennox and Hermes in its rays.
"Diana." Hermes weakly said.
"I'll live." Diana said.
She looked up at the sky, watching where Apollo, Artemis, Nathaniel and Zola had disappeared.
"All according to plan." She said with a smirk before it turned into a grimace. "I hope I haven't made a mistake trusting you brother."
"What?" Hermes asked.
"You think Nathaniel would side against me Hermes?" Diana asked. "After everything my brother and I have been through, he would never betray me like this, nor allow anyone to harm me as Apollo did."
"You let him take Zola?" Hermes growled.
"It was a calculated risk." Diana defended. "While she is with him, Nathaniel has promised me he will protect her as if she were me, and you know just how protective he is."
Hermes rubbed his neck, still remembering Nathaniel's protectiveness and how he showed it.
"But to allow Apollo and Artemis to abscond with her. Do you know where they are going?"
"I do." She said. "And I also know how we will get there."
She picked up Hermes' Caduceus and handed it to the messenger god.
"And according to Nathaniel, there are only two ways this ends, both of which will ensure Zola's safety and that of her child."
She picked up Lennox's unconscious body and hoisted it over her shoulder, beckoning for the bird god to follow her.
The top of Mount Olympus was a magnificent sight. It raised high in the sky and overlooked all of Earth at the same time. The sky was dark and filled with stars that shone and the moon hung always full, bringing light to the darkness in the absence of the sun.
Sitting at the top of the mountain, high above the world and above the ancient city that had stood for millenium, was the throne of the king. Once, Zeus had sat that throne for thousands of years, but the old king of the heavens had gone and shuffled himself off unto death, leaving his seat wanting for a new king to take up residence.
"Welcome to heaven Zola." Hera said, standing amongst the thrones of the other gods, on a plateau just bellow the throne, made to symbolise the power of Zeus over his fellow gods.
"Am... am I dead?" She asked, looking around at the symbol of majesty and mythology the had been brought to.
"Not yet." Strife sipped a cup of wine, barely paying any attention to Zola as she instead glared daggers at Nathaniel, who stood with Apollo and Artemis.
"Nor for a long, long time to come." Hera grabbed Zola's chin and snarled at the woman carrying her husband's latest bastard child. "By the time I'm finished with you, death will seem as a precious gift."
"He- whoever he was- he didn't tell me he was married." Zola tried to reason.
"Would that have made a difference?" Hera asked, eyes narrowing.
"...Probably not." Zola admitted.
"HA!" Strife barked in laughter. "You have to admire her audacity, mother."
"I don't have to do anything." Hera snarled.
"Yes Hera, you do." Apollo stepped forwards, the power of the sun glowing in his hands. "I've given you the vessel of your hatred and my father's seed. Now give me his throne, my queen."
"Your queen?" Hera raised an eyebrow, but did not move to stop the god of the sun.
"Dear source beyond." Nathaniel, who had so far remained silent, breathed. "She actually did it. She really gave up Zeus' throne for one of his dalliances."
"Indeed." Artemis said. "You told him yourself, godkiller. We must be united, and to start that unification, my brother knows that we must be gathered under a new king."
"But for Hera to trade her own shot at the throne, all for her and the child?" Nathaniel asked as Hera and Apollo stepped closer together. "There's more going on here..."
His eyes widened as a realisation struck him.
"She thinks-" He was cut off as Artemis glared at him, silencing him quickly.
"She does." Artemis confirmed, without him really saying it.
"She's mad." Nathaniel almost laughed, but kept himself controlled and kept his eyes on Hera and Zola. "He remembers the deal though?"
"My brother is truth as well as the sun godkiller. He does not lie so easily as the likes of you, and he does not break bargains once struck."
"Good."
Strife looked shocked as she regarded her mother who had just given up Zeus' throne to Apollo.
"Father's throne- in exchange for his mistress and their whelp?" She asked. "Mother, far be it for me to interfere with-"
"Then be far from me Strife." Her coldly told her daughter. "I'm quite comfortable with this bargain."
The queen stepped forwards, raising her arm.
"Apollo, bastard son." She gestured to the throne at the top of Mount Olympus. "The throne is yours. I won't stand in your way"
"Well then..."
The gathered gods and mortals looked up to the throne, seeing that appearing before it, Wonder Woman and Hermes stood ready for battle. Wonder Woman held in her hands her golden lasso, while Hermes' Caduceus had transformed into a glowing sword.
"I will." Diana declared, steadying herself for the upcoming confrontation. Her eyes roamed over the assembled beings with whom she might do battle before coming to stop on Nathaniel.
"Diana." Nathaniel nodded to his sister, his eyes again flashing to their red colour and black pattern.
"Brother, is Zola safe?"
"As safe as one can be at a hight of infinity." He shrugged.
"Wonder Woman, Hermes." Apollo stepped forwards, a sharp dull grey suit with and orange shirt and tie working surprisingly well for the sun god with his black skin and glowing eyes and mouth. "You fight now against us? Our only hope for survival."
"He's not wrong." Nathaniel said. "We're here for Zola, and now she belongs to Hera."
He turned to the twin gods of sun and moon.
"Apollo, take the throne. We had a deal if you recall."
The sun god nodded, though Artemis seemed to be somewhat put out by the loss of combat.
"We did indeed cousin."
"A deal, Nathaniel?" Diana asked. "I thought we had our deal."
"We do Diana." Nathaniel assured her. "But forgive me for trying to have a fallback plan."
Next chapter should be up soon after this.