The Gift of the Lethe

The Dam Breaks

Pallas watches over Hermes' shoulder as both Zeus and Athena turn toward them. Her father is standing beside her, his father one step behind Pallas. They'd wanted to stay with her while Hermes brought her here, rather than arriving separately. All three of the gods are close enough that she almost feels like she's an object that they're guarding, not a warrior in her own right.

Flickers of other sensations play across her senses as Athena's allies arrive, the rose scented seaspray that marks Aphrodite's presence, the warmth of Apollo's, and the grapes on her tongue that mark Dionysus' presence. Hermes walks into the throne room first, the rest of them close behind him. Zeus at first looks shocked at their presence, though the shock is quickly overtaken by the anger that spreads across his face.

"I see. All of you choose to act against me, your king?"

Poseidon speaks first. "You may have been our king, our leader, but we are part of a council, brother. You are supposed to listen to our counsel, yet you don't. What reason do we have for staying beneath your rule when you don't listen to us and threaten our own?"

Thunder rumbles as Zeus' anger grows, and it seems to be a cue. Hera and Ares walk into the room from the opposite side as the group Pallas is with, and she has to hold back a shocked laugh. Is this entire family dramatic? It certainly seems so.

As they walk across the room towards Zeus, they pass a familiar figure sitting off to the side, wreathed in flames from the hearth behind her. A hearth that normally stands in the center of the room, though it must have been moved now to make way for the battle they all know is about to ensue. Pallas catches the hints of an amphora jar tucked within the flames. The figure looks toward Pallas and she dips her head, honoring the hearth goddess.

Hestia smiles back at her before inclining her head back towards Zeus to direct Pallas's attention back to him. Hera and Ares are flanking his throne now, and Zeus stands, ozone filling the room. It blankets Pallas' skin with its smothering pressure, causing the scars on her stomach to itch with painful twinges. She can feel Zeus' gaze sweep across their group before settling on her.

"Well well, if it isn't the one who started it all."

Across the room, Athena's eyes widen in fear. Pallas gives her a reassuring glance before returning her gaze to Zeus. She look him right in the eye as she brushes her fingertips against the crosshatched etching in the top of her spear.

"Zeus."

"You dare stand before me, knowing the chaos your very presence has caused? Knowing you have turned my family against me?"

Pallas makes a point of looking around the room. "I don't think I forced anyone here into anything. I think you turned them against you with your own actions, not anything I did specifically."

"You deny your involvement? My favored, loyal daughter, who is standing here before me, against me." He motions to Athena, who freezes in place, pausing her careful steps backward toward the group. Zeus doesn't notice, too distracted by Pallas. "Turned by your own doing. And you say you had no role to play?"

Pallas wishes she could cross her arms, but she's too busy holding her spear. So she glares at him instead. "Athena is her own person, she is free to make her own choices and her own actions. This is her choice, and you can't begrudge her that. Oh, and you said I turned her? You killed me-"

Without Dionysus' help she definitely would have flinched saying that, but now it's just a twinge of discomfort. "-the person she loves with all her heart, and then you gave her the very thing that caused my death as if that would be a good apology. I don't know everything that's happened since then, but once I got back?

"She told you of the fates' role for me, and what did you do? Start threatening and trying to kill me, once again. She told you she wouldn't stand for it, but you continued. Did you really think she wouldn't snap? You turned her against yourself. You alone are to blame for all of this. No one else. You have to face the consequences of your actions like everyone else, I'm afraid."

Lightning crackles in his hands. "You dare."

He hurls it toward her and a few things happen at once. Two walls of water go up around her, courtesy of both Poseidon and Triton. She presses down on the aegis marking and it flares around her in a golden shield, the mantle itself settling on her shoulders. The other gods in her group move to shield her, encircling her and blocking Pallas from Zeus' sight.

This all happens in the blink of an eye, everything locking into place before the lightning can even touch the water. It steams away, clouding the room before a breeze banishes the haze from the room. By the time it is gone, a spear is in Athena's hand and she is among the group, staring her father down. There is a moment of silence before they surge forward, meeting their three opponents in the center of the room.

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So, what do you think of the start of the fight? Zeus really doesn't want to/think he should face the consequences, does he? Next chapter we'll be in the thick gif it, what do you think will happen? Tell me your thoughts!

Happy reading and I'll see you next chapter!

~ Goddess of Fate, signing out