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The sky overhead roiled with thunder clouds, the air humid and heavy. Light faded behind walls of thick grey, shadowing the beach in darkness. Waves churned in response to the coming storm, a warning and a threat. The shore was a deadly place to be standing, and that was exactly where Poseidon stood.
Static rippled through the air, making the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. A moment passed in tense silence, before a crack like thunder and a flash as bright as lightning burst from the sky. As the light dissipated, the King of the Gods was left standing in its wake.
“Zeus,” Poseidon sneered, the waters to his right frothing and churning. “Are you here to punish me?”
“You admit it - you are deserving of punishment.” Zeus replied, speaking casually as though to an acquaintance and not the king of the sea and his own brother. Poseidon might have believed the nonchalance, were it not for the thunder rumbling in the distance. It would grow louder before long.
“I admit to nothing. I only know that punishment will come from your cruel hand whether I am guilty or not.” That was a low blow, and Poseidon knew it. But rage had been growing steadily within him for far too long. All of Zeus’ promises for change, every good intention he had spewed to Poseidon in a council hall after a year in servitude to a mortal, had felt like lies. Gods could not change. Zeus could not change. Every promise he had uttered as he pardoned Poseidon had yet to come true, and Poseidon grew as unruly as the ever-changing sea.
“Not guilty.” Zeus repeated, tight-lipped and stiff-shouldered. “Is that what you think? Your actions are akin to a petulant child, tantruming when he does not get his way. You challenge me at every turn, upend any progress I attempt to make, and still think you have committed no crimes?”
Poseidon’s gaze narrowed, that familiar, all-encompassing heat rising in his throat. It would spill out. Sooner or later, the sea god would explode and nothing but rage would live in him for a time. He fought it - gods, he fought it, for even in his growing anger Poseidon knew that challenging the king would not go well for him - but it would happen sooner or later.
He would hold it off as long as he could. But if Zeus struck first, there would be no holding back the tempest.
“You promised to listen, yet when I raise my voice, you silence me,” Poseidon hissed. “You’re a liar.”
“And you’re a damned fool!” Zeus cried. Thunder accentuated his words, that calm, cool mask sliding from his face. Beneath was the anger of a boy, playing at king. There was no logic in Zeus’ eyes then, no reason. He mirrored the fury that Poseidon felt. “Did you think everything would change in an instant? Did you think change meant always getting your way? Did you think it meant I forgave you for your transgressions and trusted the words that came out of your mouth? I have made a promise to you, but I have not granted you the right to do as you please!”
A scowl tugged at Poseidon’s mouth, the earth trembling beneath his feet. He ached to open the sand beneath Zeus’ feet and swallow him down into darkness. He refrained.
“All excuses. You have no intention of keeping the promises you made. You agreed to listen to hard truths-”
“And I have! Just because they are not the ones that come from your mouth does not mean-”
“Picking and choosing what you wish to hear is no better than what happened before!”
“I have listened to far more than what I want to hear, and I-”
“Liar! You’re a gods damned liar, Zeus-”
“Careful.”
“You’re a liar, and that’s what got us into this mess in the first place-”
“Poseidon!”
“You deserved every moment of your time in that chair!”
Everything happened so quickly after that.
Poseidon felt the blast coming before he saw it. All the air around him seemed to dissipate, energy crackling against his skin. He dove to the left, a split second before lightning tore the beach behind him in two. Sand exploded everywhere, sparks singed his skin and caught in his hair. The sky rumbled so loudly he could not hear the roar of the ocean as it rose up to meet the king of the gods in an angry swell a half a moment later.
Zeus disappeared into the water, his body invisible through such dark waves. Poseidon climbed back to his feet, smirking and smoking as his chiton smouldered. Somewhere inside, Zeus was sloshed around like a leaf in the wind, without direction, drowning . Rage swelled inside him like the churning of the sea, but with it came relief. Zeus had struck first. Poseidon could unleash his might without fear now.
A figure burst from the waves, rising high into the sky. Sopping wet, sure, but unfortunately still breathing. Zeus scowled at Poseidon from his place in the clouds, hovering there like a bird. Wind buffeted him, but he stayed steady.
“Is that the best you can do?” Zeus cried. “A meager puddle? I thought you hated me, brother! I thought you wanted to take my place! If that’s what you desire so much, you’ll have to try harder!”
The sky exploded with lightning the moment the seas surged Poseidon upward to meet his brother in combat. Everything grew unbearably hot, shielded only from the blast by a wall of water that surrounded him. It absorbed the power, separating him from the water now running with electrical current. The sea responded to every thought, every need, keeping him shielded.
The winds did the same for Zeus.
As Poseidon lunged forward, driven by a massive swell of water, his trident appeared in his hands. Heavy, difficult for the average person to manuever, but not him. It responded to every call, his muscles strong enough to wield it. He lunged forward to drive it through his brother’s chest, but missed as the winds carried Zeus high into the sky. Thunder roared, wind slammed against his face, the sea churned. It was madness.
It was catharsis.
Poseidon sunk back down onto the shore, the water parting to give him room. The god stood on the wet sand, tracking Zeus with his eyes. Lightning formed in Zeus’ palm, the sky illuminated by his power.
The sea lunged like the tail of a serpent and batted Zeus to the side. Poseidon could not hear the shout of frustration, but he dreamed of it anyway. Zeus darted away like an annoying fly, the sky rumbling with thunder. More lightning flew from his palm, decimating the beach where Poseidon had been standing only a moment before, but another tendril of water rose to bat his brother out of the air.
More lightning. More unruly waves. More singed skin from narrow misses. More angered shouts dispersed to the wind.
It wasn’t enough, and clearly Zeus sensed it too.
He landed on the beach before Poseidon, lightning crackling in his hand. His chest heaved, expression furious, eyes stormy as the skies above. Zeus raised his other hand, and within it formed a golden sword.
“Enough,” Zeus hissed, audible even over the buffeting of wind. “We settle this here, on the beach.”
Poseidon shifted his grip on his trident and grinned like a madman sensing blood. “Gladly.”
They met in a clash of metal, violent and desperate. The sky and sea matched their temperament, storming ferociously. The perfect backdrop to a messy battle.
Poseidon swung, and Zeus danced out of the way. Zeus drove his sword forward and Poseidon parried. Each clash of their weapons, a clap of thunder. Each swipe a swell of water.
Zeus drew first blood, slicing across Poseidon’s bicep. He roared with anger and lunged forward, catching the king of the gods on the hip. Ichor flowed, but neither withdrew. Another gash to his own cheek. A trident prong to Zeus’ forearm. A bruised rib, a hobbled knee, a beating that grew more gnarly with each passing moment, with no clear winner in sight.
Poseidon ripped Zeus’ sword from his palms by catching the blade between two prongs. It clattered to the sand, forgotten and useless to the king now. Poseidon grinned, whirling back towards his brother…
And caught four knuckles to the side of his jaw.
The force of the strike was powerful, but the surprise was even more so. Zeus punched again, and again, forcing Poseidon backwards. He tasted ichor on his tongue, eyes rolling momentarily back into his head. Zeus wrenched his trident from his hands and threw it into the swell of the ocean.
Poseidon managed to deflect a fourth strike with his forearm, retaliating with an uppercut to Zeus’ chin. The king of the gods reeled backwards, ichor dribbling from the corner of his mouth. He howled and charged back forward, throwing his weight into Poseidon with enough power to knock them both to the sand.
They rolled, punching and kicking, landing blows against ears or bellies or even the groin. Zeus groaned something fierce at that, and Poseidon let out a burst of laughter before the king returned the strike with a well-aimed jab to the diaphragm, knocking breath from his lungs.
Ichor coated everything. Poseidon’s palms were slick with gold, some of it dripping into his eyes, blinding him. Zeus gasped for breath with every strike, growing more sloppy by the moment. Zeus tried to rise, but Poseidon kicked outwards with his foot and caught Zeus in the knee. He stumbled, and responded by driving his elbow deep into an already bruised section of the sea god’s ribs. Poseidon cried out and drove his fist upwards.
They had nothing left to give. One last strike, and Zeus rolled over onto his back at Poseidon’s side and struggled to catch his breath, every inhale a wheeze, every exhale a groan. Poseidon tried to move his legs, but found them so tired, he was essentially immobilized. He could not open his hand all the way, nor his left eye.
The sea stopped churning. The sky stopped rumbling.
“Are y-you satisfied… by this punishment..?” Poseidon choked out, spitting ichor to the side.
“Hm,” Zeus grunted, twitching at Poseidon’s side. “Have you worked out your frustration?”
A laugh bubbled in Poseidon’s chest then, rumbling out despite his body’s protests not to let it. “Y-Yeah. I think so.”
“Good,” Zeus rasped. “Very good.”
~
The sun was shining the next time Zeus opened his eyes.
Everything ached. His face hurt in particular, but every other part seemed to want a chance to make him suffer. His chiton seemed mostly dry, and ichor had stopped flowing, but pain would be his friend for a little while longer.
Gods, what had they done? Poseidon’s petulance could not go unchecked any longer, certainly. And Zeus had struggled to trust his brother, to take what he said seriously, that much had also been true. Tensions had been brewing for a while, a stand-off sure to happen one way or another. But like this? This was worse than anything else Zeus could have done.
And yet, for some reason, he did not feel angry anymore. He did not even feel particularly justified. He just felt tired.
Maybe that meant something - though Zeus had no desire to decipher it now.
“Gods almighty, I feel horrible,” Poseidon groaned to his right. “I have to know you feel equally as miserable.”
Zeus snorted, sitting up despite his protesting ribs. “I feel like a giant took their club to every inch of me.”
Poseidon sighed in satisfaction, cracking one eye open to look up at him. “Good. Now we’re both ugly and miserable.”
“Not to mention stupid,” Zeus murmured.
“That as well.”
Zeus worried his lip between his teeth. More needed to be said… But how to say it?
“Poseidon, I-”
“Stop talking,” The sea god commanded, sitting up with a wince. “What’s done is done. We move forward now.”
Zeus swallowed. “I could not agree more.”
He did not feel good, necessarily. But Zeus did feel better - like a heavy weight had been lifted off of his chest, like a cloud had dispersed. There was much to work through with Poseidon, a foundation of trust that had been shattered still needing much repair. But that creeping anger did not seem to exist, for now. Perhaps a little scrap was all they needed. Perhaps coming to blows had prevented further conflict.
The real problem would be explaining to Hestia why they were littered with bruises and reeking of each other’s domains.