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She lost? She lost?
The Peloponnesian War. One of the biggest war in ancient Greek history, a war between the opposites of Greece. Athens and Sparta, blue and red, war and arts.
Athena and Ares.
If you asked Athena about the Peloponnesian War she wouldn’t sugarcoat it. She’d tell you that Athens was doomed from the start. Sparta had them outnumbered in terms of powerful allies they’ve managed to assemble, even Delphi and Thebes decided to join the Spartans.
It meant the goddess of wisdom wasn’t just against her little brother Ares, but against all of her Olympic siblings, (excluding Hermes, he decided to stay out of it). Dionysus joined for a reason that only made sense to him, Apollo joined because Athena apparently offended him somehow, if Apollo is there then his twin, Artemis, would definitely be there as well. Yet somehow. Somehow against all odds; Athena snatched a stalemate from the jaws of defeat.
So that was that right? Athena was going to maintain the stalemate until Ares gives up and agree to some kind of peace treaty that he’ll gloss over, then everything will be fine and normal again. Maybe it’ll take a few years to quell any rebellions that’s risen and fix some cities that’s been destroyed. All and all everything was on track to going back to status quo and this will be just another war under Athena’s belt.
But then The Persian Empire came and consumed the rest of Athens’ army. She may have won the battle against Ares but she lost the war. Athena lost the war. She knew this would happen from the start, she knew that the most she could get was a stalemate but if Sparta got another ally it would’ve tipped the scale. The Parisian army flipped the scale and decimated it.
Nike stayed by her side, she refused to leave Athena even though she knew this war wasn’t going to end in her favor, even though Athena was down to her last stand. Red and yellow constellation greedily picked at the blue specks outside of the palace walls. The quiet, empty palace walls. The only noise Athena heard were her own labored breaths, the echoes of metal and screams, and the soft preening of Nike’s metallic wing.
“Leave.”
“Hm?” Nike stopped preening for a moment. Athena hasn’t talked in so long she almost forgot this was supposed to be a war strategy meeting and not one of their quiet hang sessions.
“Leave.” The owl eyed goddess repeated.
“You have a few more hours left until your defeat,” Nike countered, sure she had to leave when the side she’s watching was losing.
buutttt
technically she doesn’t need to leave until the losing party either surrenders or gets eradicated, sure she usually leaves when defeat is guaranteed but this is Athena they’re talking about, everything she does is interesting even at the end. Especially at the end.
Athena didn’t seem all to pleased with that nonchalant response.
“Would you just—JUST LEAVE. GO TO ARES, ANNOUNCE HIS VICTORY AND GET THIS OVER WITH” she snapped, shoving her finger into Nike’s chest. She shoved the saffron winged goddess right up to the window arch.
Sunset signals the end of the day and the end of Athens. Setting light beats down on Athena’s face and shadows Nike’s, her wings glimmered in the sunlight the colours of her feathers matched the golden hour sky, reddening at the edges.
Athena’s eyes seem paler than usual in the sun, though maybe she’s just been paler lately.
“This is normal Thea. No one wins every war they play in, not even you.” Athena doesn’t seem to acknowledge the words and marched back to her war table.
“You know I’ll be back soon enough.” Nike poked but The grey eyed goddess doesn’t respond further.
When Athena finally peeked back at the window arch, nothing was there but a single golden feather that drifted in the wind until it gingerly perched on Athena’s shoulder.
Ares is waiting outside for their last duel. Athena tied the honeyed feather to her own before the fight.
Father wasn’t happy.
After the war she reported back to him, but this time she’s missing those sunglow wings should be perched on her shoulder after every battle.
Athena was given her appropriate punishments for the failures, with minimal scars too! Though there were now a deep aches etched into her muscles; well that’s why she has a personal hot spring. It melts the pains of punishment.
Zeus dismissed her after Athena got what she deserved. She didn’t look at anyone as she walked down Olympus, she never did before she won’t start now. Even if the stares feel more heavy than usual, heavy with the weight of judgment, heavy with the weight pity. Ares is most likely in the healing wing cursing Athena probably boasting about winning the most important war in centuries at the same time.
Athena ordered her maidens to vacate the springs when she arrived, they usually join her to make the atmosphere more lively but right now she wants to have a private soak. Her attendances leave without a word to their goddess only a bow and the avoidance of their lady’s gaze. They’ve seen her low before, they know what the agenda is.
The spring’s at a shimmer just how Athena likes it, trade one pain for another then let them boil so the steam would float far far away from you.
Athena dipped her lightning scared body into the spring gingery so she wouldn’t pass out, that might be even more embarrassing than losing the war if someone found her in such a state. One leg, and the other, she feels the scars slowly snaking up her body as the water climbed up the crevices that the lightning scars created. Athena summoned two floating hot stones to rest her wings on while she rested at the edge of the pool.
Another pair of legs dipped into the spring next to Athena’s head, for reasons unknown to Athena the warmth from that registered more than the warmth of the spring.
“…”
“You just love these boiling baths don’t you?” Nike started, because Athena obviously won’t make the first step.
“…”
“Really I thought I was dipping my toes into the lava of Hephaestus’ forge for a moment. I’m surprised your father doesn’t use this as some kind of torture method, it’d probably be very efficient.”
“…”
Athena continues to look straight forward at the blank wall.
“I told you I’d be back didn’t I? You know that I don’t take promises lightly,” she chuckled, running her hand through Athena’s locks and rests on the small feathers on the back of her neck. “I mean how many time have we done this song and dance Thea?” She starts counting the small feathers.
“Aren’t you supposed to be with Ares.” Athena huffed like a jealous ex
“Ahem—” she guzzled down a lungful of air, “as the goddess of victory I am required to be on the side of the winning side ofanybattlebut-” she gulps another lungful, “but I am not required to baby them every step of the way after their victory.” She puffs her chest out proudly when she finished reciting her vow, badly Athena would’ve added if she was in the mood; which she was not.
“I lost the war” Athena retorted
“You lost one war out of thousands you dominated, plus you still technically won the last battle” hook.
“It was just one battle, that doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of anything.” Athena turned her face to Nike
“You are the best fighter that’s ever was!” Line.
“Yet somehow I still STILL failed Athens” her feathers puffed up against the hot stones
“Athens would’ve fell on. It’s. FACE. At the very first battle if you hadn’t been there to carry them. Despite being out numbered by the sheer amount of allies you still got a stalemate. You could’ve won Athena! You would’ve won, even if it was only by technicality, you would’ve won if the Persians didn’t randomly backed the Spartans.
”… I-“
Sinker.
The two goddesses breathed heavily with their feathers fully puffed up as they stared at each other. This is exactly what Nike lives for, proving someone wrong while her words yell GET LOVED IDIOT, it’s passionate, it’s breathless, it’s forward enough to get the point across but it’s subtle enough that Athena has to admit it to herself.
“I was named queen because I practically ruled Greece. Now I am just; nothing.” Athena relented.
“You’re still my queen.”
Nike guided Athena’s face to rest on her lap with her honey gold wings and covers the sides of her face like an oversized nest. Athena tried to resist but she can’t help but relax, she was in a soft warm nest with the only smell that brought her comfort.
“You had three whole Olympians against you and you did everything in your power to assist Athens while fighting your siblings. Then some bigger country swooped in and crushed a barely alive army. You couldn’t have done anything. You know full well you couldn’t have done anything.”
Shaking. Athena didn’t even noticed but she’s started shaking in her lower abdomen, her breathing stutters ever so often, still nothing comes through her eyes. Nothing ever does, no matter how many times she managed to end up in this situation; she makes sure that nothing will ever come through her eyes.
Despite Athena’s current state, Nike still cradles her hollowed cheeks to make Athena look in her eyes.
“Can’t you just accept that what you do impress me so much that I want to be with you?”
Doomed if you do, doomed if you don’t. If she agreed she’d be admitting she did good. If she disagrees she’ll just be denying truthful evidence. So she’ll just. Not. So she’s both agreeing and disagreeing, it’s a… there’s not a word for that yet but it doesn’t matter.
“Fine. But I meant it Athena, you can’t get rid of me even if you lose.” She scratches the undersides of Athena’s ears, right where she loved it.
“Mmh.” Athena complains like she’s annoyed but the clicking from her throat says otherwise.
“Besides. I give you a decade until you get Athens back. We just have to hope Greece survives Ares’ fumbling until then.”
Athena lets out a strong exhale before the dam breaks and she buries her head in Nike’s feathers so the victory goddess couldn’t hear her, Nike blows a raspberry and grapples the other goddess to drag her down to the hot spring
“HEY. HEY! NIKE”
Athena screeched as she chased Nike around their hot spring.