chapter 24

The clouds in the sky  were dark with  traces of lightning flashing here and  there and  thunder roared each time there was a flash of lightning. The  atmosphere  was quite  gloomy with the air being still and lukewarm. The skies were a good indicator of  Zeus's mood at the current moment. As a  sky father his emotions are very well tied to  the weather and  one can easily determine his mood just by looking at the sky, of course clear skies don't always mean he's in  a good mood but cloudy skies always mean he's in  a bad mood.

"nice place, I didn't think you would have a whole house to yourself, mother"

Ares compliments as he looked around the very comfortable and  homely house that Hera had lead them to, it was a couple of meters away from the royal palace and on their way here they made sure they weren't followed. Themis who  was now  the one  helping Athena walk, guided the young Goddess to a chair in the table  that  was located at the  center of  the room. The house was not overly large and  seemed to have only two rooms,  it  was sparsely decorated with only the necessary furniture inside.

"I suppose, this is where I came to… calm myself down whenever Zeus would sleep with  another Goddess"

She  answered,  the  correct answer would have  been that,  the house was where she came to  calm herself whenever Zeus slept with another Goddess and then  when  she got mad he'd tell her to come here and calm down.  She took  a look at the house her eyes wondering  around as unpleasant memories flashed in her mind.

"I don't have much fond memories of this place"

Her voice was laced with  a trace of sadness that was undetectable to anyone but Themis. Hera took her seat as she and beckoned Ares to take a seat as well right beside Athena.

"Themis could you keep watch? I'll relay the details to you later"

Themis gave a nod before exiting the room, in all honesty it  was better she not get involved, if this meeting was about what she thought it was about she'd rather not get involved until at least she's sure which side to join. Joining a side prematurely can end badly for her. With a glance at Athena she  then  exited the house leaving the three to discuss whatever they wanted.

"so  is  there a reason you  called us here"

Athena asked with an abrasive tone, it's best she not try and  seem defensive or deceptive but instead be confident and show an air that suggested that she has nothing to hide  although  Ares doesn't seem well versed in hiding his emotions.

"well I'm curious about something, which one of you has the oracle…?

She marked a pause and didn't finished her sentence but instead let the words linger in the Air. Athena understood what she was doing and she won't fall for it, she kept quiet and  waited for her finish. Unfortunately Ares could  not.

"How did you know?"

He asked and  a groan escaped from  Athena and  a smile crept on Hera's face, Her information wasn't very reliable considering that things didn't turn out how they were supposed to  as such  she didn't know if Apollo actually did betray Olympus but she did know that Athena was lying since the confrontation with Hephaestus was supposed to happen in Delos but  since the  traitor isn't Hephaestus she figured the locations should be the same or at least hoped they were.

"so you do have it?"

"before we answer anything, what will you do if we don't have it?"

Athena asked, caution in her voice as she stared the God queen straight in the eyes. Hera is the wife of Zeus she is more likely to be on his side than anything else meaning they need to be careful before making it seem that they do Have the oracle, Ares's blunder a moment ago can be explained away as him playing along with her interrogation not mention it's possible they aren't talking about the same thing and thus can be framed as a misunderstanding.

"if you don't have then that's fine, I'll just be curious about why you two are suddenly getting along but if you do have it  I want to know when Zeus Dies"

The room was already pretty  quiet when with only their voices being the source of sound, however with that statement, an extra layer of silence was added thickening it to the point where one could cut it with a knife.

Athena stared at Hera with a cold intensity and the older Goddess kept the eye contact while maintaining a calm demeanor, Athena was trying to gage her intention but there were none that weren't already stated.

"What do you mean? Are you not married why  would you want him dead?"

Ares was the one who asked with some level of  confusion on his face however  Hera simply answered his question with a mocking laugh infact it seemed the question was so comical that she spent a full minute cackling from the top of her lungs. Both Athena and Ares looked at each other in confusion, His question wasn't funny in such a way, no it wasn't funny at all.

"Hah! I apologize but your question was funny to me. Let me answer with another question, if he's married to me why does he continue to sleep around with anyone he pleases?"

"isn't that how your relationship works"

Ares quickly  answered and received a deadpan Stare from his mother with Athena Heaving a sigh beside him.  Did he really believed that's how it was between her and Zeus or was he oblivious  to the fact that she wasn't happy with her husband cheating on her? She was sure everyone already knew why she stayed with Zeus.

"If that's what you want, then our goals align"

Athena spoke, deciding to move back on topic. Her head was supported by her palms with her elbow on the table, she was still rather quite tired and her desire to sleep was quite great.

"let me guess your mother?"

Athena nodded to Hera's question, Athena's mother was quite literally eaten by Zeus so it Makes sense why she'd want Zeus dead at least. Turning her head toward Ares she guessed that he probably just wanted to be king of Olympus or something.

"Then I guess we're in alliance, so do you have it?"

"Yes"

Ares answered and took a small crystal clear marble that lacked any form of shine, it looked like regular glass marble with nothing special about it. Hera grinned sinisterly as she laid eyes on the oracle, it was beautiful.

'it's been a while'

She spoke internally as she remembered the first time Zeus cheated on her, the grin on her face immediately disappeared as the memory ruined her mood.

"have you used it?"

"don't know how"

"Oh that should  be simple enough, just inject your divinity  and the future you want should be visible although be careful it–"

"AAHHHHHH"

Hera could not finish her sentence and was cut off by Ares's screams of agony, he had clutched his head as his eyes  glowed in various colors, they switched between each color of the rainbow, ichor began to leak from his nose and ears and his body  fell back onto the ground while screaming like a maniac.

" it comes naturally my foot"

Athena exclaimed remembering Chronos's words when they asked how the oracle was used, she could swear that Ares's skull swelled a bit becoming bigger than it normally was.

….

Ares awoke feeling as if an entire mountain was dropped on his shoulders, he felt weak, a headache pounding in his head almost like he was being slammed head first into a mithril wall. His eyes were blurred and he couldn't see clearly, he could feel a numbness on his wrists. After a few seconds the blurriness of his eyes cleared and the first thing he saw was the throne of Olympus a beautiful gold and silver throne crafted with perfection  a seat worth of a king.

 The throne had someone was seated on it already and they looked to be quite displeased and  disappointed. their entire body was radiating a deep blue lightning, his fury was clearly displayed by the roaring thunder and the distant sound of lightning striking the ground somewhere around Olympus.  Near Zeus's throne were a number of people he recognized  mostly his uncles, aunts and siblings but not his mother nor his sister Athena.

Ares felt his hands tied as well as his feet. He was surprisingly cold as well. He turned to look to his right and he saw Athena  silently seething as she stared daggers at Zeus, the amount of hate in her eyes was palpable almost made him doubt that she was Athena, she was being Held down by  one of the enforcers, Nike. To his left was his mother, her face a stark contrast to Athena a calm face that showed zero emotion almost as if she felt nothing. Ares could not  get a clear understanding of  what was happening before the scene suddenly shifted and now he was kneeling  on an elevated platform and head stuck out with his  bare neck was exposed.

Straining his eyes he saw Zeus standing over him  with a Scythe on his hand and  look of disappointment on his face.  Recognizing the Scythe fear struck his heart, he tried to ask what was happening but he could not speak his voice was somehow  not coming out,  he  struggled against the hand that held him  in place but that was Futile as it seemed whoever was holding him possessed greater strength than him.

Zeus raised the Scythe above his head, griping it tightly as he  prepared to  decapitate his son however before swinging down he  opened his mouth to speak, a single sentence.

"You  were always a disappointment"

Those words struck him deep, he felt an intense rage building up in his stomach but that was immediately snuffed out as the Scythe was swung and  complete darkness covered  Ares's vision  momentarily blinding him.

..

His  eyes  stopped glowing, a very loud  gasp escaped his mouth  as he jumped up from his fallen position and  grasped his neck, quickly  looking around to ascertain his location  he saw Hera and Athena looking at him as if there was something wrong with him. Seeing  where he was he  calmed himself a little bit.

"what did you see?"

Hera was  the first to speak, asking  him a question,  it was foolish of him to  suddenly use the oracle without listening to her and  bracing himself which caused the two of them  to endure a full five minutes of  Ares  screaming, however that wasn't important right now.

"wh–what did I see?"

Ares asked back  still a bit panicky, his eyes darted around the room a bit before settling back to Hera.  experiencing himself get his head chopped off was a little too much not  to mention it  was by a weapon that literally guaranteed death, with that Scythe there was  nothing that could save you from dying if  you got cut with it. Even a tiny  scratch was enough to make anyone drop dead.

"you're  afraid"

Athena pointed out as she looked at him in  surprise, the way his eyes shifted all over the room and the way his guard was suddenly up like he  was expecting to be attacked at any time.  this was certainly a first for her, Her brother was many things but a coward he  was not.

Ares simply cast a glance at her before looking at Hera, He felt incredibly unsafe right now and he didn't like that, The  fact that he was a mere couple of meters away from Zeus made him uneasy. He felt like if  he left Olympus he might be safe but  that would be  cowardly, running away was not in his nature or at least that's how he felt like.

"what I saw was my death  at the hands of Zeus and I don't wish to see it again"

With a deep intake if breath he calmed down hid nerves and fixed his chair before sitting down, he never thought that he feared death but it seems he was wrong. Dying by the hands of his own father, it was ironic or at least he thought it was.

"I see, but the oracle is supposed to show you the best possible future for you, does that mean the best future for you is one where you die?"

Hera asked out of curiosity, the Oracle is a device that can  show varying  different possible futures and if  one uses to look into their own future what they  will see is the best future that they can  have, was Ares so unlucky that the best future for him was death? No something was missing.

"was it done by Zeus or did you die by something else?"

"it's Zeus and it's not just me but the both of you too"

Ares answered and clarified, he felt a bit better and his hand had let go of his neck, he was feeling a bit more secure.

"So Zeus is an obstacle, we need something that  will deal with him maybe a weapon or something"

"well if we're looking for weapon, I know just the person to help with that"

Athena voiced with a surprising amount of vigor in her voice, she had been meaning to have a chat with him for a while now but she hasn't gotten the chance considering the circumstances. Hera however  frowned a bit she knew who Athena referring to and her relationship with him was strained at best, Ares on the other hand frowned deeply, meeting  Hephaestus twice in one day was not something he wanted. He rubbed the top of part of his right eye feeling the small scar, incidentally nobody has noticed he has a scar now.

.....

A/N: nobody has noticed he has a scar because nobody cares, lol.

Anyway, Bleach TYBW arc anyone excited? I certainly am.