Ares Long Lost Love

Zeus's Command

Ares spoke about that day, how Kimiko had invited her parents to stay with her while he was gone should the baby arrive during his absence. Zeus had come down and told about how he still had many people's prayers to answer. Ares had cast it aside trying to explain that the birth of his child was more important to him, this annoyed Zeus and he warned Ares that if he ignored the next prayer he would revoke his privilege to stay on earth. Kimiko had begged Ares to answer the prayer in fear of losing her husband, she had misunderstood what Zeus said. I blinked my eyes and paused him for a moment. "Wait, why would Zeus care about your prayers?"-"In Olympus we live off the mortals love and prayers, when their prayers go unanswered they can sometimes grow spiteful and denounce us. Zeus always feared of the day the mortals no longer loved us, any chance of his strength faltering scared him witless.."-"so... the reason you had to leave Kimiko... was because of Zeus? Then why are you angry at yourself, why not at Zeus?"-"Because i had a choice... There are millions of prayers every day, i could have chosen to appear at a small dispute instead of a battle. Gods show favor too you know."-"Of course, there are many grecian myths centered around the fact some gods favored mortals more than others. Still, was it in his right to force you into this?"-"He is our king whether we like it or not..."-"Um, I do have one other question in regards to that... in mythology Poseidon and Hades are Zeus's brothers. Could they ever argue against one of his orders?" Ares held his chin in thought then smiled at me chuckling. "You really do know your history Miss Angel... no wonder you were able to spot me at the bar."-"To be honest, it was a wild guess based off hope... I always dreamed of having a chance to talk to one of the grecian gods and asking them what it was like in greece."-"Well what about me? The first thing you asked me wasn't about greece, it was about my anger."-"Well... In high school when we spoke about the gods, i asked my teacher why you were always depicted as an angry tyrant of blood and death. You and Athena, your the gods of war and wisdom right?"-"Athena tends to be more wisdom than war, yet i will admit during the battle of troy i had to admire her work. I however am only about war, though i do try and be wise for some occasions"-"Right... well i couldn't accept the fact that athena was seen as wise and you were cast into the role of a bloodthirsty beast. I just felt there was something more and I was glad to be right."-"Granted before Kimiko i was definitely interested in wielding my sword and sharing wine with the other soldiers after the battle. It wasn't until Kimiko that i started to try and prevent as much death as possible."-"Ares... about your uncles."-"Hmm, well Poseidon and Hades don't really interfere with Zeus's orders or requests. They are busy taking care of the underworld and oceans."-"But had you asked them to intervene... do you think they could have over ruled him?"-"No, Zeus is the king... we trust his decisions no matter what, even if we dont like them sometimes."-"Like when Hades married Persephone and Demeter wanted Zeus to stop it..." He chuckled amused and i tilted my head wondering what was funny. "Demeter was absolutely outraged that Hades had taken Persephone away, in my honest opinion i thought she was suffocating the poor girl. Hades and Persephone are very happy together. It was cupid's fault in the first place that Hades fell in love with Persephone."-"Really?! So Hades wouldn't have married her at all?"-"Until the wedding i had assumed Hades was numb to love due to the fact he was constantly surrounded by death, but just like Kimiko softened my heart. Over time Hades became gentler to the dead entering his domain with the tender touch of Persephone."-"That is really interesting... oh im terribly sorry i've completely side tracked from your story."-"Your young, your curious.. I'm not surprised that you ask me questions like this." I smiled softly after finishing the notes about Zeus's rule. "Now um, you said that Kimiko misunderstood Zeus.. how is that?" Ares sipped his drink and smiled.

Ares had taken Kimiko's hand and smiled as she was pleading with both men. "Kimiko dear, he simply means that i will have to go back to staying at Olympus time to time. I wouldn't be forbidden to see my own wife." Zeus had nodded saying how Hera would have his ear for destroying a family, especially their own son. Kimiko was greatly relieved and noticed Ares turn his head out the door. "What is it?"-"A prayer...."-"is it close?"-"Sadly not.... seems there is some sort of big dispute occuring up north." Kimiko had lowered her eyes and gently rubbed her stomach. "h... how long will you be gone?" Ares ran his fingers through his hair and sighed sitting at the table. He was tapping his fingers and Kimiko knew this was when Ares was doing time math in his head, the longer his fingers tapped the longer he would be gone. The tapping seemed unending to her and her heart sank more and more at the thought of their child being born into the world without their father near. "Ares...." He let out a big sigh and stood up heading to his war closet. He placed his armor on muttering and cursing to himself and Kimiko watched helpless as ares continued strapping on his armor garments. "Ares please..." Ares kept ignoring her cries though, perhaps lost to the prayer and math in his head. Kimiko finally had tears welling in her eyes before she shouted. "Hachiman!" Ares blinked turning around and felt his heart ache. He walked over gently bringing her to his chest kissing her head trying to soothe her. "shh shh, my dearest blossom forgive me. The complexity of this prayer put me in a foul mood... You prayed to me my darling, what is your wish." Kimiko was sniffling as she looked up at her husband's face her eyes pleading with him. "My wish is that you'll stay.... if only i had prayed sooner." Ares cupped her cheek lovingly and gave a firm kiss upon her lips. "I swear to you, i will be back within three days. This dispute is a petty one but with enough complexity that I will have to try and reason the bickering forces out before they begin a massacre." Kimiko was confused, he never left before the battle actually broke out. "but... if there is no fighting then"-"I am doing as you told... to try and solve the problem without violence. I love you Kimiko." She smiled holding his hand to her cheek as she walked him out and felt his fingers slip through her own as he vanished before her eyes. The wind carrying her words of I love you too to his ears.

Ares arrived on the scene in Russia, a massive snow covered plain and before him tents for miles to be seen. He walked past the smaller ones and of bickering natives to the tent of the leader. He entered and revealed himself as the god of war he just prayed to for strategic planning and informed him that his opponent was doing the exact same as him by asking for his guidance. The army leader was thrilled to have the god on his side but Ares put out the amusement by informing him of his strategic plan. It took many hours and many more vodka shots to convince the leader to call his opponent to a meeting for terms of peace. His opponent was just as shocked, but upon arriving and seeing the great god himself sat down and humbly accepted to listen to the words of wisdom. Ares explained to them both about how this battle would result with no winner, that all would fall beneath the blinding snow and cover the pure white with red. That death was the only outcome he could foresee for both sides, of course the men began bickering and arguing like small children, but the one thing ares said caught my attention.

"Wait.. brothers?" Ares chuckled nodding his head. "That's right Miss angel, these two brothers had come across the same great grazing field during the summer thaw and had been bickering for months over who had the first rights for their own cattle." I blinked and scanned through my notes, from his description each army had about 400 people. Sure it was a small army, but for something this small? Ares set his drink down sighing. "In Russia during my time, it was more snow and wasteland than a rich feeding ground for animals. The winters are very harsh and many people die due to fatigue and hypothermia. The animals are lucky to last through the winter from the lack of grass or hay. Peasants sometimes sacrifice their own bread to the animals so that they can live and give milk." I was completely stunned, not only by the harsh terms of russia but from the fact that Ares managed to keep the war from breaking out by convincing the brothers to divide the land and to share each crop. That by working as a unit they would survive longer and with more luxury through the winter months. Ares had divulged that he had to stay around for an extra day to work out the proper standards between the brothers and was gifted with a small flower sack since they heard rumors he liked plants. It made him chuckle of course, or at least i thought it was.. His eyes were covered by his hand and he was trembling slightly. "Ares?"-"Miss Angel I will implore with you not to make me relive the moment of her death..." I swallowed hard, all this time I had gathered information about their life, but from how he trembled made me question whether or not her death should be told. "Ares.... when you arrived home, was it when the killer came?" Ares stood up and approached me, I was a little nervous I will admit but, he hugged me. His arms were clasped around me and held me tight as he trembled. "You are so young, with so much hope and light in this world. You remind me of her in so many ways that I would swear her soul rested within your form. I beg of you to not ask me to describe her death out of fear that I may lose the wonder and joy you seem to show in my presence where others have shown fear." I was baffled. This man was truly broken, I lifted my hand up gently patting his head causing him to move away and stare at me in awe. It was a similar motion Kimiko had performed when he had been upset. I cleared my throat recomposing myself and said to him as gently as I could. "Ares... the heartache you have endured, has it not lessened through our talk?"-"Well.... i will admit it has."-"If I may be blunt with you, I think all this time what you needed was someone willing to listen. Not just to the gruesome details, but to the life you shared. I'm sure i am the first one to recognize you, and from amongst your family sure they must have asked what she looked like upon finding her. I honestly believe... that if you were to tell me the story all the way to the end, you might finally get that full nights rest you have been denied for 8 centuries." He had sunk back into his chair, my hands had grabbed the portrait and I found myself moving over to place it in his hands clasping them upon her face. "You will always remember her, but tonight... I wish to remove the stain of your grief, and put out a story that will show the world how compassionate and loving you truly are.... to show them what Kimiko came to know and love." His eyes were watering, his fingers grazing her cheek as he let out a trembling sigh.

"It was dark...."