War

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The family of three returned to Ares' kingdom not long after, the previous events had been emotionally draining. They had killed all of the huntresses of Artemis, but the goddess wasn't among them.

Ares worried it had been a distraction, but to what gain? What could they possibly have against her? The people she cared about was right there with her and she doubted anyone would take a step near the underworld, so the rest of her family was safe as well.

For Aphrodite... that was another case, they weren't on speaking terms at the moment, but even if something did happen with the goddess of love, Ares would feel it, she always did.

Niklaus was awfully quiet, he had accompanied her and Damon, they had walked the vampire to his room and he watched as Ares gave him a kiss on the forehead while tugging him on his bed.

Klaus put a small smile on his face and messed with Damon' hair, muttering a quiet 'good night' before the couple left to their room.

"I'm just going to take a shower, love... be right back" Nik whispered, pulling a strand of Ares' red locks behind her ear, and looking at her with an unknown emotion on his stormy eyes, making Ares look up at him in concern, placing her hand on his and pulling it to her lips, kissing his palm.

Niklaus smiled at the affection, sighing deeply before he pulled her in a hug, his hand wrapped around the back of her neck while his forehead rested on the top of her head.

They stood there for some minutes, not moving, not talking, just appreciating each other's company. The hybrid reluctantly let go of her and went to the bathroom.

Ares could hear the water filling up the bathtub, her eyes looking fixedly at the strip of light that seemed to escape the empty space between the floor and the door.

She had sat on their bed, elbows supported on her knees, counting the seconds that he was inside the place. 5, 10, 15 minutes later and she still heard no movement, it seemed like he had entered the bathtub and then nothing.

It was driving her insane, she was waiting, not so patiently, for a reaction, the lack of it was worse because she didn't understand what he was feeling, she didn't know what she was supposed to do, would she be invading his privacy if she entered the bathroom to check on him? Possibly, did she care? Not at the moment.

So when she heard a muffled sob, she didn't hesitate to run inside the bathroom and enter the bathtub fully clothed. The goddess of war sat down behind him, pulling his head to lay on her chest instead of his knees.

His muffled sobs became louder, more evident, making a panicked expression cross the ginger's face as she rocked him lightly on her chest, like she'd do to a crying baby.

"Shh... Shh.. it's okay, baby... you're safe, you're okay" Ares whispered in his hair, her arms wrapped tightly around him, not daring to look down at his broken face.

"I hate him! I hate him!" Niklaus hissed through his sobs, hiding his face on the crook of her neck. His whole body was shaking, the goddess didn't know if it was from the crying, from anger or both.