Chapter Text
No parade ran through the folded roads of Ares’s brain. There was no fanfare, no lyrics of the Muses, no shift in his demeanour on the day of his release. His return from exile was as simple as throwing the little he brought and the few things he had made into a knapsack and flying to Olympus. Getting to the gate, he got in line behind the countless flower and tree nymphs, minor river gods, and other spirits who were trying to get through the border. Usually, Ares could skip the line with his ID, but that had been confiscated upon leaving and would be given to him now.
Ares looked back at the person behind him, a satyr with long, braided hair, a flower crown, and a wispy red beard. “Olympus, huh?” he said, half-heartedly.
The satyr looked up. “Yeah.” There was no fear or recognition in their eyes. Ares’s hair was covering his ears. And besides, there wouldn’t be a god waiting for the OSA.
“Why are you going to the big city?”
“Ah, my dad lives here.” The satyr waved their hand. “But he got into some debt trouble, so I’m moving to get a job and help support him.”
Ares frowned sympathetically. “That sucks.”
“It does, but what can you do? The loan sharks here are rough. I honestly prefer the mortal realm because I don’t have to work, but my father can’t leave the city limits without getting slapped in cuffs.” Then, the satyr drew a line in the dirt with their hoof. “Sorry, that was immediately personal.”
“No, it’s fine.” Ares thought for a moment. “I, uh, you got a pen on you?”
The satyr shook their head, then scoffed, and gestured at the fact they were just wearing a t-shirt and had exposed furry goat legs.
“Right. No pockets. Well, look up the Protection Foundation, send an email to Nike. You’re not exactly the demographic, but, I’ll make sure it gets through.”
“The Protection Foundation? And what’ll it do?”
“Well, just– get you the funds.”
“Huh. Really?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, thanks. What are you going to Olympus for?”
Ares shrugged. “I live here, but I’ve been down for ten years. It’ll be good to see my kids again.”
“Oh, you got a lot?”
“Yeah. I only have a few still at home, though. My big ones are independent, so I see them for work, if at all. I’m happy for them all, though.”
The satyr nodded. They both stepped forward in the line, looking at the snake of people that lead up to the border.
A moment of connection, like cats brushing whiskers in the thickest fog, before disappearing again from each other's view. Neither of them even said goodbye when they were gestured to different kiosks.
Ares traded in his robes for his uniform, for his shiny buttons and the high collar, and set his cap firmly over his head. His hair had grown long, and when the wind kicked it up, it was almost like a ghostly set of wings. He had his phone, passport, and IDs returned to him, as well. He had nearly ten thousand unread notifications. The phone was slipped into his pocket and ignored.
He walked out into the marble street, looking at the passing cars and towering buildings. Olympus. Home, he supposed. Before he could take off, there was a familiar squawk, and a shape dropped down out of nowhere.
“General! General! I knew you were coming home today, so I was waiting on the roof! It’s so good to have you back! I missed you!” Eris said, standing on her tiptoes so her nose was equal to his chin.
Ares only raised an eyebrow, but there was a crinkle to the corner of his eyes and a secret smile for his right hand. However, Eris grew still, as if the wind stilled around this leaf and let it hang unmoved from its twig. She studied him like he was the subject of her doctorate thesis. Before he could speak, she laughed, a high, mocking laugh.
“Well, General, I know the face of a man on the warpath. I’ll leave you be.” Her eyes were hungry. “But let me know when I can help.”
“You know something I don’t?” Ares asked. His face betrayed nothing, but Eris always went with bad times. Were they the origin or merely the harbinger? Did the flies bring sickness or did they only land on the dying? The fact that Eris alone was here to meet him was an omen of the foulest kind.
“Something you haven’t decided on yet. But I’m ready! I’m waiting. It’s been too long since ichor was spilt on Olympus.” With those ominous words, she flitted away, their shadow vanishing against the sun, like a black stain being scrubbed out.
Before he could regret letting her go, he felt a buzz in his pocket. A new message, among the thousands, but it was from a contact named three purple hearts and was sent just a few seconds ago. It said, “ he/him rn. can u come 2 the apartment @ 1? No earlier .” He sent Aphroditus a thumbs-up. So, that all meant he had a few hours to kill before he went back to see his family. They were probably setting up a party. He smiled to himself.
What was he to do with three free hours, then? He considered just wandering around Olympus or going to see his mother, but he really didn’t want to see his father and mother before he saw Aphroditus and his kids. He could go see Persephone at college, but he didn’t know where he could find her at this hour.
That line of thinking tripped into an old question that he had left sleeping. Now, it rose again with a clatter in his brain. He rubbed his hand and turned in the direction of the old city library.
It was only a few minutes' walk. He could have flown, but he had gotten used to enjoying the time it took to go from place to place when he had had idle days to fill and scenery to enjoy. Now, he was reabsorbing the city life and bustle. It wouldn’t take him long to readjust, but this much noise could always be startling after so long.
He went in, brushed past the other sections into the non-fiction and history sections, and began skimming the spines.
After an hour and a half, he had books piled up around him at a table. He seemed to be building up a fortress of defence with these dense volumes. In some way, he was.
He had forgotten what healing magic meant. Now, relearning these lessons that he dully remembered from his childhood felt like some compounding force. The unformed matter of his and Persephone’s idle dreamings were being shaped. His intentions were crystalizing; raw claw compressing into stone-hard resolution.
This was what Eris had seen. He felt some innermost part of himself unlock. Something within himself had been holding back the fullness of his nature, and now, it was roaring out. He left the library changed.
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“ SURPRISE! ”
Faces popped out from behind every piece of furniture in the room as Ares held up his hands.
“Wow! Holy crap, what a welcome!”
“Dad!” Pragma said, rushing and swinging around on his leg.
“Damn, goblin, you’re really–” Ares took a heavy step, carrying along the koala. “Pulling my leg!”
Pragma giggled. “Nooo!”
“No? But you are!”
“No!”
“Pff,” Ares said, picking her up and bouncing her onto his hip. Then, he looked back up at Aphroditus, Eros, and– “Wow, everyone’s here! When did you all get to know each other?”
Aphroditus held open his arms, and Ares gave him as much of a hug as he could manage with a kid in his arm, and they kissed. Ares felt that familiar rush of euphoria that poured down him like warm water, electrifying his every nerve and muscle. Wars were fought for Love.
Aphroditus smiled as he pulled away, his perfect hair tousled by Ares’s hand. “It’s a long, embarrassing story that no one is going to tell.”
Ares shot a raised eyebrow at Persephone and Eros, who both snickered slightly, and Ares vowed to never know, for Aphroditus’s sake.
“You’re going down now,” Ares said, gently tossing Pragma onto the couch, who bounced once, before pulling herself up and grabbing onto her feet.
Ares turned to Eros and held open his arms, and Eros ran over, giving Ares a big hug. Ares squeezed his son, patting his back firmly, before letting him go. He frowned. “You seem taller.”
Eros laughed. “It’s the heels.”
“Oh, thank fuck.” Ares looked down at the high-heeled boots. He was glad that his son hadn’t outgrown him. “Persephone, you’re all moved in?”
Persephone nodded. Ares only then felt something about her. There was something wrong. He knew her aura enough to feel–... He didn’t know what it was. It was something like hate, something like guilt. He wouldn’t ask now. It might be about Aphroditus, and that would spoil the whole thing.
“It’s so good to have you all here.”
“It’s so good to have you back! I thought– well, I knew you’ve had too much home-cooked food lately, so I picked us up some food. I kept it warm in the oven, so it should still be good.”
“That’s fucking perfect.”
“Fucking!” Pragma said from the couch
Aphroditus looked vaguely stern for a second. “You’re too young for that word. Wait until you’re older.”
“Where are all the other kids?” Ares looked around
“Still at school, Mania’s down for a nap.”
“Good name,” Ares said.
Persephone blinked, and then seemed to realize. “Wait, most of these kids are… younger than ten, right? How would Pragma know you?”
Ares, Aphroditus, and Eros looked at each other, before Eros turned to her. “Gods are immortal anyway, but specifically, a lot of young gods age slower on Olympus. So, since you were in the mortal realm, you aged to physical maturity as fast as mortals, but if you’re raised on Olympus, that time can be much longer. I was growing out my awkward phase for two centuries.”
Ares smiled deviously. “And I got so many pictures.”
“Don’t you dare!”
Aphroditus laughed, but then waved his hands, and gestured around. “We’re talking too much, let me grab the food, then we can get the sweet goss, sound cute?”
“Great!” Ares said.
They all sat down around the table, Pragma first on Ares’s lap, and then going over to Eros halfway through the meal, as they ate greasy souvlakia until it ran down their faces. After clearing that away, Aphroditus brought out a big basket of loukoumades with bowls of honey, chocolate, and ground nuts to smear on the fried dough balls.
Ares was so grateful for the taste of shitty fast food, he was still smiling when Aphroditus asked him to help put Pragma to bed for her afternoon nap, too.
But, Aphroditus closed the door to the hallway, and when Pragma was fidgeting under her covers, Aphroditus didn’t wait for her to close her eyes, just shut the door and stood with Ares out in the lonely hall.
“What’s going on?” Ares asked.
Aphroditus sighed and shook his head. “Sorry, I just needed a moment alone with you.”
“Yeah? Me, too.”
“I really missed you.”
Ares responded by hugging him, pressing his face into Aphroditus’s hair, smelling the lilacs and roses that seemed to be blooming whenever Love was around. Aphroditus leaned into the curves of Ares’s body and seemed to shudder. Then, a slight sniffle.
Ares pulled back and lifted up his chin to see the glisten of tears in his beautiful, dark eyes, like cracks in an otherwise perfect jewel. Ares was about to explode. “What’s wrong, my love?”
“Eros committed an act of wrath. I didn’t have anything else to offer to ensure that– he – so I broke my promise to you. And, I wanted to– tell you now. To get it over with. Otherwise, I think I was going to cry in there, and I can’t do that...”
There was no question of who the ‘he’ was.
Zeus. Ares’s father.
Ares swallowed. Then, he hugged his boyfriend again, squeezing Aphroditus close to his chest. His heart broke a new crack with every sob. He was being torn asunder, completely decimated by his own rage and fear and his overwhelming need to make it all better for the one he loved.
“We’ll talk about it more later. Once we can be alone and– process this properly,” Ares said. He took his partner’s hand and squeezed it, and Aphroditus met his eyes, then nodded.
“Let me take a minute to–” Aphroditus ducked into the bathroom, and Ares waited as he splashed cold water onto his face. Fully regrouped, they both went back into the room and sat down.
“Everything good?”
Aphroditus smiled, perfectly composed. “Of course.”
They all sat down, and they could feel the changed energy. Whatever Eros and Persephone had been discussing did not seem important enough for them to pick it up again.
Eros coughed. “So, ten years! Any– fun stories?” He looked between Persephone and Ares. “Maybe you got some dirt on the old man?”
Persephone thought for a moment, sticking her bottom lip out. “Oh, there was this one time where a cow–”
Ares immediately slammed his fist down. “ That’s the one you want to start off with? It’s not like I wanted to streak for a mile and a half!”
Persephone started laughing, and Eros ducked forward. “No, no, let the woman speak! We need to hear this!”
Ares covered his face. “No, please, not like this! In front of my own son!”
“No, a murder! Father, I will avenge you–” Eros suddenly stopped, and looked horrified. “Wait. Sorry, that was insensitive.”
There was a moment before Ares realized what Eros was talking about, but then, he burst out laughing. He hit the table a few times.
“No, wait! I didn’t mean–!” Eros started laughing too.
Aphroditus cleared his throat, and his hair grew down to his shoulders and back. “This is so unlawful,” he said, forcing his voice to go deeper in a crude imitation of Zeus. “You’re both going to jail. Immediately. You, and you.” He pointed at Eros and then Ares.
Ares gaped through giggles. “Wait, wasn’t I the one who was murdered?”
“Doesn’t matter. Jail.”
At this point, they couldn’t talk through how hard they were laughing, and there were a few moments when Persephone would start trying to say something, but couldn’t get it out at all.
When they were gasping for air, they were finally able to sit back in their seats.
Aphroditus’ hair had gone back short, and he waved his hand lazily over the whole situation. “I don’t even understand how you were convicted in the first place,” he said.
War shrugged. “Well, Zeus took it to trial, people automatically assume Zeus wants it to get convicted. Because it was even on the plate, it gets convicted.”
Aphroditus frowned. “It was the first one, though, right?”
“It was the first trial for a god that went to court.”
“In history?” Persephone asked, astonished.
“In history,” Ares said.
Eros frowned. He leaned forward, his elbows on the table. “That doesn’t seem right. I know there’s a ton of shady shit in Olympus. Someone would have gotten–”
Ares loudly interjected, “But of course, none of it is going to get prosecuted. The gods make the laws. The nymphs dont have the resources to hire lawyers. And nymphs are the ones most often wronged, so if anything is going to happen, it has to be from a case where a god has a civil or legal issue with another god.”
Persephone tilted her head. “Wouldn’t the Furies do something if a god did something or other?”
“If it was on earth? No. On Olympus? Still probably no.” Aphroditus sighed, twirling his hair around his finger.
“That’s insane,” Persephone said.
Beauty pulled his finger away. The curls sprang back into place. “Well, we are the priviledged few.”
“I mean, I wasn’t really raised a god,” Persephone interjected.
He raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow. “Hm, I suppose you’re a bit more right. You know more nymphs than I do. What do you think?”
Persephone thought, pursing her lips and chewing on them for a moment. “There are differences between gods and nymphs. Gods are magically stronger, some of the time, often with a wider domain of influence. But, most of the other differences are superficial. I didn’t really know what being a god meant for most of my childhood. The nymphs were my friends and companions, and they certainly didn’t treat me as something special. Which, is lucky, I now realize.”
Ares nodded. “Demeter has always been vocal about the amount of corruption in Olympus.”
Persephone turned to him. “But you know it better than I do, don’t you?”
Ares crossed his hands in front of him. “I do. Zeus has a vice-grip over all Olympus operations, and almost everyone coming into new positions, and anyone ascending to godhood, like those twins, Castor and Polydeukes, are all of Zeus’s blood. His own children, indebted by blood and oath to him, are put in positions that will maintain his authority.”
Aphroditus nodded. “He has taken the opposite strategies of his line. Instead of imprisoning or smothering his sons, he has had so many that if one rises up, a swarm of hundreds will snuff him out.”
Eros coughed. “But, Dad, you say this as his son, correct?”
“Yeah.” Ares had the dignity to look ashamed. He turned his head, but from this angle, it only showed off his resemblance to the Thunderer. The eagle-nose and arrogant chin. “I won’t pretend that I have not been given massive opportunities that I would not have otherwise been given. But, I’m also a scapegoat. Everyone else falls in line, because who wants to be banished to the mortal realm for half the time? Who wants to receive such looks of scorn? No one else will stand between him and Hera except me.”
Aphroditus sighed. “Zeus plays favorites, often. He is easily corruptible. He is a nepotist, a narcissist, and a bit of a ditz. But he’s not evil in personal quality. Just– effect. I don’t even disagree with some of his regulations.”
Ares looked between Eros and Persephone, and then made a decision. “Most of us here have committed acts of wrath, in one way or another, that are considered unlawful. Aphroditus, you are the only one that harms hearts instead of bodies. You have not taken a mortal life, as we have.”
Eros and Persephone blinked, looking at each other in shock, and then at Ares. The sudden honesty left them raw as they considered this information they now had on one another.
“...Oh?” Aphroditus said. He leaned back, and seemed to anticipate.
“Perhaps you don’t have the perspective we do,” Ares said.
Aphroditus swept his hand across the air. He seemed nonchalant, as if presiding apathetically over a court. “But, gods are supremely powerful. Without control over what you can do, innocents will be hurt.”
Persephone shook her head. “That’s true, but for me– I was protecting the people I cared about.”
“I was rescuing a girl,” Eros said.
“I was protecting my daughter,” Ares concluded.
“And all of those are good and noble things, but anything can be justified from your own point of view. The people who died have just as much claim to life as you do.” Aphroditus sighed, and then, he began swirling, his image smoking, decaying, blooming, and her hair grew long again, flowing down her back. “I do not particularly care who lives and who dies. But, I will not let anyone delude themselves into thinking they are an instrument of the greater good if they are seeking revenge. Revenge– it is a mysterious, alluring thing, and it is neither good nor evil.”
There was a moment of silent as they chewed on her words.
“The issue with Zeus is not that he is regulating acts of wrath,” she went on, “but that his standards do not and never will apply to his favorites, to the people he likes, to the inner circle. Eros is being let off of the hook because I convinced Zeus. Not because it was right to do it or wrong to do it. Eros is not being prosecuted, not because he has promised to do better, but because Zeus’s whim decided it. Ares was prosecuted and sentenced, not because Ares was in the wrong or right, but because Zeus wanted to punish him. Zeus, too, is not motivated by right or wrong. Only what is best for him . That is what makes him dangerous.”
Ares nodded. “I couldn’t have put it better myself.”
Persephone had been chewing on a strand of hair, and she let it go. It was damp against her chin. “So, what’s the answer? Elect a new leader?”
Eros huffed. “I don’t think that would work, would it? The people you have to convince in order to let you run for the kingship are the people who benefit most from Zeus in power.”
“Because Zeus put them there,” Ares said darkly. Then, he seemed to be gathering his strength to say something. “At this point… I don’t think it is possible to change things from the inside.”
“How much needs to change?” Persephone asked.
“Everything. Nothing.” Ares raised his hands in defeat on that point. “But whatever changes need to happen won’t while Zeus is in power. This is the system he wants and it’s the system that will stay. Perhaps we all deserve punishment, but when it’s his decision alone, we’ll never know.”
“What do you want to do, then?” Eros asked, confused.
“I think it might be time for a new leader. Fresh ideas. A fresh perspective.”
“And that leader would be you?” Aphrodite said, raising an eyebrow.
“...Maybe. Yes. I don’t know .”
Eros’s jaw went slack as he watched his father’s face. “Wait, are you serious? Oh, shit, you’re actually serious.”
“Why?” Persephone asked.
“For the reasons that– I’m trying to tell you. Look, I don’t know everything. I don’t pretend to know everything. But this – what we’ve got isn’t working. And he needs to go if we want to change. But first, we need to act. If we just sit around and plan what we need for eternity, nothing will get done! So, we swoop in, knock all this– shit down. And then. We start thinking about the best thing to do.”
“Oh, my Gaia, you’re actually serious. You’re fully serious,” Eros said. “I need to– lay down–” He clutched at his chest as if he were about to have a heart attack.
“I am. Exile gives you a long time to think. I don’t have everything fully thought about. I only fully decided on it this morning because– well–” Ares had the decency to look embarrassed. “I don’t know how I didn’t connect the dots immediately. But you’re a fertility goddess.” He looked at Persephone, sitting across from him.
“Goodness,” Aphrodite said quietly.
“Fertility goddess? What– what does that mean?” Persephone asked.
“A fertility god or goddess is– a new wellspring of magic in a generation. Power is passed down and gets somewhat diluted as time goes by, but, there’s always a chance of a very magical and powerful god or goddess being born, to reinvigorate the bloodlines. You make everyone around you more powerful, and especially the people you love will become… more than they were,” Ares said.
His hair was running down his shoulders, and he wrapped a strand around his hand, as if he were bandaging himself. “I– you have made me– no, tempered me– I– I don’t know. I have already felt your effects, now that I know what they are. And, it has been– Fate . That we… met.”
Persephone was enraptured, looking at him with eyes like deep pools of water, unending, and ready to swallow him whole. He was opening up, cracking open his chest to admit this, in front of everyone. It was only in this, that he could be afraid anymore.
“Because it is only a matter of time that each ruler that came from Ouranous would be overthrown by the son with a fertility god’s aid. Ouranous was beaten by Kronos and Rhea. Kronos vanquished by Zeus and Metis. Hopefully– Zeus will step down with less collateral damage.” Ares swallowed. Then, he looked to the table for an answer.