One shots

Olympian Siblings Oneshot 4: AU-Third War Part 2: Aftermath

So the same warnings as the first part apply, and you should definitely read the first part to understand this. As always, I don't own the characters. Rick Riordan and the Ancient Greeks do.

Sometimes Ares still woke up expecting the sky on his back. He still flinched at the sight of the sky below. He knew Athena did the same.

Athena. The sister he used to argue with the mosh had become his closest friend. He supposed that was what happened when forced to hold the sky for over a year.

So much had changed since Hyperion's attack on Olympus. First (and in Ares' mind, the most troublesome as of now) Athena was jumpy around men, and practically trusted none but Ares, their brothers, their father and their uncles. Second, Kronos had risen again, and defeated Olympus. He took out the demigods first and then the gods themselves. The children were thankfully safe in Elysium where Iaptus ruled over the Underworld in Hades and Persephone's places.

Finally, Ares and Athena had faded and rejoined their family in Chaos. All except four. Aphrodite, kept alive by the Titans as she was technically a daughter of Uranus or Ouranus, however you'd like to call him. Eros, Aphrodite's beloved son and assistant. Deimos and Phobos, Aphrodite's other two sons. The three younger gods were kept alive only as a mean of keeping Aphrodite in line.

Ares missed his sons and his beloved goddess terribly. He missed them as much as he missed his beloved demigod children, all safe in Elysium away from him. He missed them as much as he had missed Harmonia before he had faded and rejoined her.

Ares heard a soft knock on his bedroom door, rushed and anxious. He knew it was Athena. She was the only one who ever came so late at night, when Nyx and Erebus walked across the cursed sky to paint it dark for the mortals as Hypnos and Morpheus put the humans to sleep.

Ares got out of bed from where he had been staring at the ceiling and opened the door. His sister's tear-streaked face greeted him.

She flung herself at Ares, a soft sob escaping her lips.

"Chaos, Athena, what happened?" He whispered, wrapping his arms around her waist as she shuddered and sobbed.

He didn't really need to ask. He already knew. They hardly needed words to communicate anymore. It was simply easier to speak rather than clue in their family afterwards.

Athena had been tormented by memories since before they faded. Nightmares plagued her, centered around the war against Kronos after the losses of the demigods, reminders of her own assault from Hyperion (Ares shuddered thinking of how close the Titan had been to breaking her oath), and the constant memory their shared time under the sky.

She buried her face into his shoulder, her hair curtaining her tears.

Ares rubbed her back. "What was it about this time, Olive?"

She shook her head. "It was awful."

Ares rubbed her back again. "What was it about?" He repeated patiently.

"Hyperion."

That was all Athena needed to say for Ares' temper to flare. It was all Ares needed to hear for Athena to find herself wrapped in a tighter hug, her brother's gentle touch against her back and waist.

"How long will it take for us to go back to normal?" Athena whispered.

"I don't know.

.....................................

Athena screamed and thrashed. She watched Ares struggle under the weight of the sky. She watched him struggle alone. She was chained to the corner of the peak, away from the point where the sky and the earth would meet.