Hera's Olympus

1

Hera grips the satin fabric hiding her chest, feeling as if she were twisting her own heart, desperately wanting to heal its persistent pain. The Queen's voice is silent, but she is mourning her marriage, wishing there wasn't an irony to all of this. How could the Goddess of marriage be run down to such a degree? She was ashamed, but it wasn't her fault. Hera's tears stung and burned as they flowed over her sharp cheeks. She looks up and into the mirror in front of her, exposing what she saw as weakness. Anger sparks, and she fiercely wipes away her tears and shoves her heartbreak down, close to her soul. "I am Hera," she tells herself while fixing her hair and smoothing down the front of her robe, which was visibly creased. "I have been faithful to Zeus, but it's clear that he thinks of me as a child's toy." She slams her comb down onto the table and shakily rises. Hera lifts her head high and grabs the thick rolled parchment that she spent the entire morning writing. Hera's eyes narrowed into slits. "He'll regret treating me like the side piece."

Hera enters the Olympians Council room, where she knew the Olympians would be gathered today. No one is surprised by Hera's dramatic entrance, but note the strong aura surrounding their Queen. Zeus is skeptical of Hera's demeanor but is curious about the scroll in her tightly enclosed fist. Hera stops a few feet away from her husband. She glares at him while he assumes she would be "melodramatic" and cause an unnecessary scene like always.

Hera unravels her work, and there are silent chokes on air and muffled laughs when the Olympians soon begin to realize what this was now. She confronts him in front of everyone who knows Zeus is an unfaithful little shit. She lists off every woman and unsurprisingly, man, the children that are his, demigods included. The court of gods is filled with mixed emotions, and admire Hera for standing up for herself and voicing her discontent. "I do hope that the list ends here and does not continue after today." She looks upwards to Zeus, whose face is blank, but inwards, he is withering and his thoughts cornered by a snake. "I am ending this marriage. I should've done this a millennia ago, and I'm taking my children!"

Zeus finally speaks up, "What are you proposing? Are you giving up your title to me? How preposterous!"

Hera scoffs and looks over her shoulder, a sneer implanted on her face. "You think I'm no longer a Queen after this? Foolish boy." She spins herself towards him, her amethyst robes sweeping around like a hurricane. "I am more of a leader than you will ever be! I am Hera, Queen of the gods, and forever I will be!" She takes malicious steps towards Zeus, the man with whom she thought she could spend forever with. "You are a mistake."

Hera lets the paper slip away from her fingers and then glides across the white marble floors, gold light shining across her, appearing like glitter on her skin. There are murmurs from all around, confusion, wondering what this would mean for everyone else.

Ares suddenly walks after his mother, and everyone watches, unruffled by his decision. Hera was always loving towards Ares, treating him almost as an equal, unlike Zeus, who belittled him constantly and would sweep him under a rug if he could. Ares vowed always to protect his mother, cold towards anyone who disrespected her. He made it very clear to Zeus.

Hephaestus isn't sure what to do, but he was damn sure he wouldn't be staying permanently either with Zeus or Hera.

"Where are you going?" Zeus' voice boomed towards Ares first.

Ares looks over his shoulder, his narrow eyes are dismissive of Zeus. "I will not kneel to a god who acts like a child."

Zeus is fuming and then focuses his frustration on Hephaestus. "You?"

Hephaestus barks out a laugh. "Isn't it obvious? Has clarity not hit you?" He then turned angry, pointing his finger at Zeus. " You, Zeus, and Hera have both treated me like an oddity that couldn't be fixed, unworthy, and neglected of your love. What in the graces do you think I'm going to do!?" Hephaesteau grips his crystallized cane and leaves the room, going to his workshop.

Zeus desperately searches through the crowd, noticing Apollo and Artemis missing and Hestia looking at him in amusement.

Dionysius, from the corner of the room, then speaks, raising a cup of wine. "Oh, well, the Goddess Hera has spoken. May she have the most wonderful Olympus." He chuckles and takes a deep drink of his red wine.

"Olympus is mine!" Zeus yells, abruptly getting up from his throne, staring at Hera's seat, then immediately demolishing it, the sky darkening.

Athena finally speaks. "Why are you so surprised?"

Everyone in the room looks to Athena, the goddess who always brought order in a dispute, and the goddess who never seemed to look down on Zeus, but today was different. "You are admitting defeat and behaving adequately to Queen Hera's claims and Ares and Hephaestus. All who you have treated poorly and for what?" Athena leaves her question open in the air and proudly leaves the room as well.

Zeus can't believe his favorite child spoke to him that way, and not a moment later, thunder and lightning crash down, and the God of thunder shouts, "Leave!" The Olympians take the hint and move on.

Hera sees how the sky has changed, her former husband throwing a tantrum on top of Mount Olympus. How fitting, she thought with her eyes rolling. She notices Ares coming down the steps behind her and smiles. "I'm glad you will be joining me."

Ares smiles. The god of war at her command.

Hera gazes down at Greece, and slowly, her intricate mind comes to a decision. "We'll move from Olympus."

"Move?" Ares furrows his brows in confusion. "What do you mean, Hera?"

"Vanish from Zeus and live as a seemingly naive mortal, but don't forget that I am your queen." The Queen of all Gods.

"I would never." Ares then crowns his helmet over his dark curls, waiting for further instruction.

"Inform your siblings. I will be in Greece." Hera then walks away, aiming for the stables to claim one of the winged horses. She runs her slender hand down the face of an obsidian-colored horse, and it snorts, tossing its head up and down. "What a beautiful animal," Hera murmurs. She guides it out of its enclosure and takes it out into the sun. Hera waits for permission to mount the steed, and once given, she settles herself onto it. "You'll be as free as Pegasus now." Hera gently takes hold of the horse's smooth main and tightly grips it as it soon kicks off from the ground, kicking its winter hooves in triumph, wings like sails.

The Queen of the gods is then taken to Greece, where she settles herself onto the mortal plane, and that is where she remains.