At War
By JoeyRZ
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Sequel/Series: Sequel to “Ordinary Days”
Notes: This is for the Joxerotica 2005 Challenge. This is July's entry - ruling goddess: Hera.
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The silence in the Great Hall of Olympus was all consuming. Not a sound was heard as all the gods in attendance listened to Ares’ announcement that the whole of Olympus was under attack by one of their own. Joxer expected a sudden uproar amongst the gods, yet the silence continued... an eerie stillness that spoke of the severity of their current situation. Looking around the hall he noticed that all the gods were waiting, anxiously, for Ares to say something... something more... to explain further or burst out laughing, making this all out to be one large, elaborate joke.

The silence persisted as Ares continued to explain what happened early that morning.

~*~*~*~*~

“Athena escaped!”

Those two words shook them at the very center of their beings. It didn’t take Ares more than one minute to get them up, ready and inside the dungeons.

The dungeon laid in ruins around them, half the building was gone, including the cell Athena had been kept in. Rock and gravel crunched underneath their boots as they approached the three figures on the floor underneath what remained of the structure’s ceiling. Hera’s normally pristine dresses were covered in dirt and dust from where she sat, her face pale as she cradled the immobile form of Zeus. Apollo was kneeling next to them, one hand over Zeus’ chest, the other holding his slack fingers tightly. Zeus looked as if he wasn’t completely there and Joxer half expected Apollo’s hand to go right through the King of the Gods at any moment.

The air crackled slightly and Joxer felt his hair stand on end as he literally saw energy flowing from Apollo’s body into Zeus’, white tendrils of pure light connecting the two gods. 

Joxer snapped out of his stupor as Ares violently pulled Apollo away from Zeus, breaking the flow. He was about to shout out, not really understanding Ares’ actions until he saw Apollo sag back into his brother’s arms, ashen faced and worn out. 

“Are you stupid?” Concern clouded Ares’ angry words.

Apollo didn’t manage to lift his head completely, only managing to tilt it slightly and looked up at his brother. “He needs it... he was almost... gone,” Apollo managed to gasp in between desperate gulps of breath.

After quickly settling Apollo against a somewhat sturdy wall, Ares went to his parent’s side, reaching out to Zeus with a determined face. It was when Hera weakly pushed Ares away from Zeus, that Joxer realized what Ares intended to do.

“No, Ares. I need you strong,” she gasped, still holding onto Zeus’ fragile form. 

“He needs more.”

“Not from you. I won’t let you,” her voice was fierce, leaving no place for argument. “Get the others.”

~*~*~*~*~

Looking slightly behind him, Joxer saw Hera sitting, once again in immaculate robes, on her throne. Her regal pose was marred only by the paleness of her face. She had refused to take any energy that could go to Zeus and Apollo, who needed, as Ares had pointed out to him repeatedly, to be in top shape for what was to come. Pulling his gaze from Hera’s hand, which was softly stroking the arm of Zeus’ throne, he trained his gaze once again on his lover.

“We don’t know yet if Athena... Dahok, managed to break out of the cell himself, or if he somehow convinced Zeus to let him out, using Athena against Zeus. However it happened, he got out and almost killed Zeus as he drained almost all of his energy out of him. So now we have to deal with Dahok, a strong demon on his own, who’s possessed Athena’s body *and* has Zeus’ energy coursing through him. We’ve declared war.”

The sudden roar of voices, all competing to be heard one over the other, filled the hall as the gods reacted to Ares’ statement. One of the Muses’ shrill voice was heard above all others.

“Who are you to declare war in our name?”

The uproar continued as the gods began to loudly agree with her question, Ares adding his own voice to the chaos as he tried to silence them.

A green flame exploded above their heads, shutting them up and bringing their attention to Hera, who was standing weakly in front of her throne. Ares and Joxer moved quickly to her side, reaching out to steady her but stopped short at her raised hand.

“Ares is Zeus’ and my son and as such, the only true Prince of Olympus. In Zeus’ absence and with my blessing, he now rules as King of the Gods for whatever amount of time we see fit. You are all advised to treat him as such, with the respect he deserves and to accept any decision he makes as royal ordinance.”

Allowing herself to finally lean against Ares’ strong frame for support, Hera walked a bit more forward. 

“Now, the Muses have volunteered themselves for babysitting duty, alongside all pregnant goddesses, of all under aged godlings. You are to remain inside your temple until Ares, Joxer or I say otherwise.”

Joxer’s eyes bugged out as Hera placed him equally with Ares and herself, and managed to notice several of the Muses glare angrily at Melpomene.

“Ares will continue with all the preparations while I go sit with my husband as Apollo cares for him.”

Hera patted Ares’ arm fondly as she turned to walk off the raised dais, stepping off with the help of Hephaestus, who was, under Ares’ orders, assigned as Hera’s bodyguard. 

After making sure his mother left alright Ares turned once more toward the crowd of gods. 

“The remaining of the Twelve are to stay here with me, as well as Eris, Demeter and Hecate. The rest are to go to your temples and warn your priests of what is going on.” The gods slowly left the Great Hall leaving the space felt oddly large. 

“Demeter, I need you to go to all of Athena’s temples and shut them down. The priests are to be scattered amongst everyone’s temples and no one is to be allowed in to pray or give tribute. Any priest that looks as if they may have been infected by Dahok is to be locked up. Dahok’s evil is like a plague and we can’t let it spread.”

Demeter nodded and left, as silent as she’d been since learning her brother had almost died.

“Hermes, I need you to go warn the other pantheons. This might not be just us. The Celts, Norse and Egyptian gods might have dealt with Dahok before or might be next in his list. Again, we can’t let his influence spread. Any help they can give us, be it weapons, reinforcements or knowledge is more than welcome.

“Hecate and Eris, you two work together well, so I’m entrusting this to you. I need you to try to track Athena. Don’t get close, don’t let yourselves be sensed or seen. We don’t know how strong Dahok’s senses are right now, so steer very clear.”

As Hermes, Hecate and Eris left, Ares looked around to the five remaining gods and frowned.

“What is it, Ares,” Hades asked.

Joxer followed Ares gazed and mentally ticked off the gods in his head. With Aphrodite, Hestia and Artemis, that left everyone accounted for... except for-

“Where the fuck is Poseidon?!”