“You are sure...” she said with concern.
Zeus nodded gently.
“There have been rumors, and sure enough, I received word that he was in a fight and...”
“He’s fighting again?” she asked, unable to keep her face impassive.
Her brother had two vices in his immortal life; sex and violence. Together, they made him powerful, and with the world in a constant state of chaos and repressed desire, there was no shortage in the amount of her brother’s favorite drugs.
But too much of anything is a problem, even for beings such as them.
Zeus ran his hand over his mouth, nodding his head.
Mars loved to be a part of the violence himself. She was not the only one who relished tossing around gladiators in the arena in her yesteryear.
“Who was it?” she asked quietly.
“Rumor has it, it was one of the Fates,” Zeus breathed, showing... emotion. Concern.
Athena wasn’t sure she knew how to process such things, for the man she remembered did not show his emotions so freely.
“If Pegasus hadn’t been there to collect him, I don’t even want to think about whatcouldhave happened.”
“And what do you expect me to do about this... sudden turn of events?” she asked.
Zeus appraised her with sympathetic eyes.
“If anyone can figure out how tohealhim, I have faith you can.”
Athena’s mouth fell open.
“I am not a witch, Zeus, I—”
“You are the smartest woman I know, and you are capable of great things, baby bird. I have faith in you.”
“Can this... can this happen to me, to you, to—”
“I do not think so. I think there is more to the story. You know your brother, he is just as possessive of his secrets as you are of your life,” Zeus said as a knock on the door broke their conversation.
Zeus stood.
“Ah, that must be Rolling Stone,” he said as he made his way to her. She did not move, though she wished she could.
Losing his power...
The thought made her feel weak, vulnerable.
Just what had her brother gotten himself into?
Zeus stood before her, in all his towering, fatherly glory, his eyes pleading with her.
“There is no one better suited to handle him, than you.”
His words were heavy on her shoulders. For her father clearly did not know how much Mars trulyhatedher.
Claiming she was daddy’s favorite and all.
Though if that were true, he wouldn’t have avoided me nearly my entire life.
