Chapter Text
The room was designed for meetings of the council, twelve powerful God’s hand chosen by Zeus himself to represent all of Olympus and beyond. It had only been officially used a handful of times (unofficially, it was Zeus’ favorite place to bring and seduce Hera in between their many fights), all of which had barely lasted more than a few minutes at a time before it was empty again (the meetings, not Zeus’ conquests). The last time had been when they were trying to decide whether or not mortal lovers should be permitted to live on Olympus – this grand judgment coming around after Zeus had already brought Ganymede to be his personal cupbearer so the decree of ‘no’ didn’t apply to him.
The furniture had been rearranged since then. Before, it had been a large dodecagon table with silver chairs on every side, except for at the head where a golden chair sat just for Zeus. It was the biggest chair as well, with Hera also in a larger-than-the-rest seat right next to him, adorned with white lilies to perfectly frame her head when she was sat down. Now, the table was completely missing and a stage had been set up around half of the room, on top of which eleven of the chairs were settled to face the center of the room where a single chair had been left behind. It wasn’t even one of the silver chairs but rather a plain wooden one with uneven legs and a splintering back.
One by one, people began to arrive and take their places.
First was Hestia, Goddess of the hearth, home and family. She moved into the room and settled herself on one of the many silver chairs at random, partly because she knew it didn’t matter where she sat and partly because her mind was somewhat distracted by the thoughts of today. She tried to keep her composure but was secretly chewing the inside of her lower lip, nerves biting around her stomach as they had been for a full day and half now since this announcement had been made.
Next to arrive, Hermes and Apollo together. The God of messages, thieves and speed along with the God of music, healing and archery. The two were whispering sharply to one another as they stepped through the door, though they quickly put on cheerful smiles when they realized someone else had beaten them there. They moved to take their seats beside her and made a point of sticking to light hearted small talk for the moment.
Then came Demeter and Artemis; Goddess of the harvest, agriculture and fertility and Goddess of the hunt, wild animals and childbirth. They were also deep in conversation upon entering the room. However, they didn’t stop theirs, completely ignoring everyone else as they took the seats closest to the door they entered through beside Apollo. They openly discussed what was happening today as well as what it could mean for everyone else in the future.
No sooner had they sat down did Poseidon, God of the sea, earthquakes and horses, arrive, letting his trident clatter in time with his right step as he moved to sit two chairs across from his sister. As he sat, they briefly glanced at one another and two conflicting emotions fought in their silent gazes. While Hestia was full of nerves and anxious thought, there was little other than pure rage in his stormy gaze.
Athena came next, closely followed by Hephaestus and Aphrodite. The Goddess of the warriors, wisdom and handicraft strode to settle between her uncle and aunt, taking off her helmet and setting it in her lap respectfully as she waited. While the God of fire, artisans and metalworking and the Goddess of love, beauty and desire drifted to take the seats furthest the others, opposite Demeter and Artemis. None of them spoke, all wearing careful masks of professionalism and blank neutrality.
Finally, the God of the sky, thunder and lightning and the Goddess of women, marriage and family, Zeus and Hera made their elaborate entrance. They walked arm in arm through the main doors, albeit a little stiffly if you were looking close enough to notice, and made a dramatic display of marching straight down the very center of the room before parting so they could take their places, side by side once more, at the very head of the stage. Their seats were the main ones facing the single chair left over, and no sooner had they settled did Zeus turn to his brother, Poseidon, and give a very sharp nod of understanding.
“All are in attendance.” Zeus announced. “Let us begin. You may step forward… Ares.” He spat the name like a poison.
At his call, the final figure stepped into the room. Ares, God of war, courage and the spirit of battle, dressed in full bleeding red and glittering gold armor, moved out of the shadows to face the others. When they had last spoken, Zeus had insisted – against Hera’s pleas – that his son have chains wrapped around his wrist to signify his position today. At some point after he had left, Ares had broken the chains and now walked in freely, a single grip of the leftover iron between one fist. Zeus fumed silently but otherwise kept a cool and graceful posture. He would not let his arrogant son rile him.
There were no set rules of precedent for today’s events. It was the first time something like this had ever even occurred and so everything about it had been rushed and barely thought through in time. A few hours earlier, it had been agreed that Hermes, as the God of messages, would be the announcer of today, but when he made to stand, Hera did so first. She rose with her usual level of grace and took the small step forward to the edge of the stage before Hermes had even had a chance to fully lift from his seat. It was another slight defiance of Zeus’ will and had it been anyone else, he would have punished them without question. Unfortunately, as his wife and one of the more powerful members of Olympus, Zeus felt compelled to let her get away with it, leaving a flustered Hermes to remain seated, glancing nervously to Apollo and Artemis.
“Today, we have gathered for the trial and judgement of the God of courage and spirit of battle, my son by Zeus; Ares.” Hera announced, powerful voice echoing around the otherwise empty chamber. “Ares. You are being charged with the unlawful murder of Halirrhothius, demigod son of Poseidon. How do you plead?”
From the corner of her eye, Hera noticed Zeus’ grip on the arms of his chair tighten. It wasn’t surprising he saw through her words. She omitted Ares’ other title, purposely putting focus on the aspects of him that she knew the other God’s preferred, and lessening Poseidon’s son by reminding them all he was just a demigod. It might not do much, but Hera was going take every advantage she could today.
Ares stood beside the chair left for him, glancing down at it for a moment. He turned to look at the God’s before kicking it behind him with enough force for it to shatter against the wall next to the door. He then moved to stand in its place and unlike Athena, he opted not to remove his helmet.
“I refuse to dignify that with an answer.” He responded; his voice spoken with a thick gravel-like quality to it.
Hera closed her eyes and sighed deeply. She was doing what she could, but her son wasn’t going to make this easy for any of them.
“You arrogant bastard!” Poseidon shouted, standing and slamming his trident onto the ground, causing Olympus itself to shake violently.
“Brother. Control yourself.” Hestia hissed and the quaking ceased.
“I am many things, but a bastard is not one of them.” Ares grinned wolfishly, responding with a strange calmness considering his patients was usually the thing first to break.
“Enough!” Zeus roared, silencing Poseidon before he could respond. “I will not have this made a mockery. Ares. You are charged with murder. You either committed it, or you did not. Make a choice or I shall take any further refusal as admittance and banish you myself!”
There it was. There was that familiar loss of temper Ares usually showboated with. Even with his helmet in place, the raw anger in Ares’ eyes was clear to everyone. Hera recognized it well after years of experience and once again tried to step in to save her son before he made his grandest mistake yet.
“We shall simplify the question.” She said, still standing and thus, still gaining immediate attention. “Ares. Did you end the life of Halirrhothius?”
He stared at her and for a moment, Hera didn’t think he would respond. At which point, his fate would be out of her hands.
Thankfully, he saw sense and nodded his head once. “I did.”
There was another shake, not quite as grand as the previous one but still noticeable yet everyone ignored it. Hera kept her gaze on her son. “Tell us why.”
“Why?!” Poseidon stood. “Who gives a damn why?! He admitted his guilt. Punishment for it should be left to me as it is my blood owed its retribution!”
“If it was just a matter of if he did it or not, we wouldn’t be here today. Ares hardly hid during the act and many of us saw it as clearly as the sun chariots pulled across the sky,” Hera responded cooly. “The question remains if he should be punished for it, and in order to answer that, we must all know why he did it in the first place. Or was this entire event just for show to humiliate the family of Zeus?”
Once again, so careful with her words. As much loathing as Zeus had for his son, Ares was still his son, his direct family by blood. Connecting an insult to Ares as one to Zeus was a surefire way to silence all further arguments. No one, not even Zeus himself, would try to imply there was ever a justifiable reason to humiliate him.
Poseidon’s face nearly burned as red as Ares’ armor but eventually he sat down. “Fine.” He spat, looking to Ares once more. “Explain yourself.”
Hera could see the defiance rising in him once more and rushed to silence it. “Yes, my son. Please, tell us what happened.”
At his mother’s almost gentle plead, Ares relented.
“Fine. I heard my daughter calling for me…”