"What are you doing here?" Athena frowned once Ares knelt before her.
"Walking around—appreciating the beauty of the celebration." The god of war answered as he took her hand and carefully traced the cut he gave her.
The moan and the sounds of sex grew louder and wilder, causing Athena to cringe at such an appalling act.
"Goodness!" She bitterly exclaimed, closing her eyes as the image of the nymph and satyr's lovemaking was still latching into her brain. "I cannot stand by this sacrilege!"
"Sacrilege? What a strong word for such an act. The only crime they have committed was love." Ares debated, raising a stern brow.
Athena satirically laughed, "Is that why you covet Hephaestus's wife?"
The god growled, pinching Athena's healing wound as he hoped to cause pain to her. Somehow, the goddess felt nothing, continuing to giggle at his principle.
"Did some cat get your tongue?"
"No wonder several mortals despised you—praising more of your enemies than you who tried to be the protagonist in every tale entwined to your name."
There was a pause, a stare between dominant deities who had been both allies and foes in many wars that had come before. Athena went to him, closing a half inch between his and her nose. Intimidation was like a bell ringing at that moment, not even blinking to see who would fail first. Silver and amber were breaking each other, wanting to let out the vulnerability of one's soul.
"There were many truths in this world, Ares. There is their truth, my truth, and the truth that is not tainted and compromised. And I know where my story lies."
"I know—a pure hatred to the seed of life. You despised sex. Why? I remember; the ever-virgin and sacred Athena must diligently preserve her chaste virtue."
The goddess hardened, teeth clamped behind her mouth, eyes fully pierced to her opponent as a sprouting rage about to let loose. But her dignity thrived, controlling the boiling emotion. "Oh, I do, my dear Ares. But no—never have I despised sex. I only despised how many had lost their senses, losing the purpose of lovemaking as they now used it for their unceasing pleasure. I am disturbed by the leniency of the act."
Ares was losing the argument as usual—and he never liked it. Somehow, this time, he was raising his assurance—
Bizarrely breaking the status quo that was unthought of.
All of sudden, Ares harshly raised Athena onto her feet and turned her around to face the view she loathed. With his strength, he successfully locked her—completely depriving her of escape.
"Look. Just stare at the lovers, Athena." He growled, letting the anger surge in his veins.
"What are you doing Ar—" Cut off, the god immediately covered her mouth before she could say anything.
"Hush! I command you to look at them."
Athena's eyes widened. Her silver orbs, out of one's will, were darted to the nymph and satyr—now saturated completely by their lust and full passion. Their pale skin was now all red, with sweat running down from forehead to foot, and their repetitive thrusting along with their heated wails—the goddess was heavily breathing under Ares's hold, desperate to look away.
With every hard pound and wet noise from the lovers, Athena's hands clawed deeper and deeper into Ares's arms, wanting to get away.
Never mind the pain, never mind the open wounds with haunting little bleeds—he rejoiced from her misery. From her anguish, a juvenile act, the god of war slowly avenged those days of humiliation under Athena's commands.
The favorite of Zeus was on the brink of madness with the disgraceful proceedings of the lovers.
"Let go of me!" Athena struggled.
"No. Absorbed all the vigor, Athena." He heartlessly ordered, toughening his hold on her so that she could all see the lovemaking of the nymph and satyr at the center of the garden. "Let the magic of love come into you—perhaps giving it a chance to let you experience such beauteous sensation you might feel between your thighs." He laughed—laughing like a deranged daimon from the pits of Tartarus.
"How dare you!" A rush of strength made its way into her bloodstream, a certainty for her to push Ares away and slap him hard across the face.
There was this warmth growing on Athena's cheeks from his vile jest. Oh, how she loathed him. Oh, how wonderous it would be to kill him—yet it was not part of any choice as a moral deity. Her dignity and poise should not crumble from his puerile behavior. A daggering look she bestowed upon him, maddened from the torment he had caused her.
Ares continued laughing at her embarrassment, clearly not threatened by her.
"Look at you—goddess of wisdom, flushed from the sight of sex. Wait, I remember—I forgot for a second that you vowed an eternity of celiba—"
"Quiet! Get out of my sight!"
"Hate the taste of defeat?"
"Defeat? There is no war, Ares. What you did is an empty-headed antic. Quit it now." Her voice raised.
There was silence. Ares stared into her silver eyes—all set to break the walls that covered her façade very well.
The odes were true to describe her beauty, especially her distinct silver eyes that were said to contain the purest of intention—the benevolent might. But somewhere deep was hidden, something mysterious that even they, deities, could not decipher what lingered in her thoughts.
Did Athena know about the gamble everyone was doing behind her back as they tried to crack the rumors of her son and her eternal virginity? Perhaps she knew. Yet, how can she stay calm and collected for all those years? Ares wanted to know, to drag her vulnerability out—an easy way to dispose of her before he could change the balance of Olympus.
"Say that lie again, Ares. Again, let me remind you that I do not despise the lovemaking between couples. I despised how it became a play, a public display for all to see—a tool for vulgarity. Sex is sacred, sex is a wonderful thing—but after so many years, sex was losing its sacredness." Athena added while quietly begging for her soul not to shatter before him.
Shatter—quite a strong word for her. Was she breaking out of her character? Why was she suddenly felt both brave and crippling all of a sudden? There was something on the winds, something on the waves, and the world around them was changing its course.
Ares was just inches away from her—staring with his usual angry and disapproving eyes hidden behind those predominantly strong brows.
Tears? Was she about to cry? He wondered why. The god was feeling both joyous and pity. What was happening to her? And why was he suddenly feeling compassion towards her?
"Are—are you crying?" He asked once he noticed those lovely silvers slowly drowning from the pooling waters of sorrows.
As he was about to raise a hand and try to wipe the beading tears, Athena shoved him off and walked away without saying anything.
Aside from being angry with her nemesis, Athena also resented herself—fuming from the twisted emotion that she never expected, even in her wildest dreams.
"Fate had played dirty." She panted with her head lowered while trying to reach her room.