Through hell and back
Anxiously Nike paced in front of the elevator door. She was waiting for the 'ding'. The angel wasn't alone. The other Olympians were there too.
She wasn't the only anxious one though. So too was Aphrodite. The goddess of love was playing with her nails.
Both waited for their lovers to get back from war. Hermes had just reported they were on their way up.
The two war gods had been on a mission of their own assigned to them by Zeus. It was the greatest mystery what they were doing, which sort of worried the other Olympians since Athena and Ares never work together unless it's serious.
In this moment no one cared though. They were coming back and that was what was important.
The 'ding'- sound made Nike stop in her tracks. She twisted as the doors slid open.
There she stood. Dirty and sweaty from being in the field. Ripped clothes, wounds all over her body and a backpack slung carelessly over her shoulder. Yet her eyes burned with passion and strength. She had a smirk plastered on her face as she stepped out.
"Athena..." The victory goddess breathed as she flung herself around her girlfriend's neck.
For a second the wisdom goddess winced as it kind of hurt, but she pushed the stings of pain away and hugged her angel tight.
"Hi angel." She said.
Nike could feel the tears of joy roll over her cheeks. They stood there for a moment, taking in each other's energy.
"It's good to see you both back in one piece. Well... Sort of..." Zeus said.
"What monster ripped you up so bad sister?" Artemis asked.
Athena let go of Nike and turned her face towards her younger sister.
"A whole lot of hydras and empousai." She replied.
"That many huh?" The hunter asked.
Athena just nodded.
After a short report they left for the temple and each of the gods went their own ways.
Athena and Nike disappeared to Athena's wing of the temple. They entered her room.
The wisdom goddess dropped her backpack onto the floor and sighed.
"It's good to be home." She said as she took a look around the room.
She turned around and looked her girlfriend in the eye. Nike walked over and grabbed a hold of her hands. After looking one another in the eye for a minute the angel and the goddess kissed.
It was right then and there Athena realised how much she missed her. She was about to pull Nike closer, but the victory goddess pushed her away.
Athena raised a brow at her.
"Shower first. You smell and after that were taking care of your wounds. You have ichor all over you." Nike says with a smile playing on her lips.
"I'm fine, besides you just hung around my neck and you didn't seem to mind." The grey eyed goddess retorted.
The angel rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, because I haven't seen you in months. I'm over it now though. I saw you again. Now you shower before I come near you again. You smell like the pits of Tartarus."
'Probably because that's where I come from.' Athena thought.
She just shook her head and smiled.
"Fine, I guess I'll get changed then." The goddess smirked.
Right then and there she started taking of her shirt. In the middle of the room. Once it was unbuttoned she took it of and let it drop to the floor. The same happend to her pants, underneath the gaze of the victory goddess.
Nike was pretty sure she drooled at one point as she stared at how a very much naked Athena walked into the bathroom and turned on the shower. She still looked as hot as she remembered.
One thing bothered Nike though. The bleeding scars all over Athena's body. There is no way a bunch of hydras and empousai did this. Athena is too skilled of a warrior for them to bother her.
No, something else was at play here. Something or someone else used her girlfriend as their personal toy.
Even thinking of it made her blood boil. They didn't have the right, whoever or whatever did this.
The shower stopped and Athena walked out of the bathroom moments later wrapped in a towel, drying her hair with another.
"Now will you come here?" She asked with a pout.
For a moment Nike forgot her anger. She walked over to the wisdom goddess and kissed her. The smell of vanilla hit her nose.
"Mhm... That's a lot better." The angel muttered.
Athena just smiled.
After getting dressed in some shorts and a sportsbra the goddess sat down on the bed. Nike sat down next to her and started taking care of her wounds.
Most of them were cuts. Some not so deep, others quite deep. Athena flinched more than was good for her while Nike cleaned them out.
"When did you get these?" Nike asked.
"Depends on which one you're talking about." Athena replied.
"All of them actually." The angel casually said.
"And how come you're back is full of them too? Didn't you have Aegis with you?"
"Of course I did..."
The wisdom goddess winced again. This time though it was because of the memory of what happend rather than a wound.
**********
"So now what?" Ares asked.
Him and Athena were standing on the edge of the pits of Tartarus. Zeus had wanted them to get in there and make sure the titans all still remained in their 'prisons'. Each titan had their own place scattered across Tartarus.
Athena looked over the edge. She swallowed hard. There was only one way to get in and only one way out afterwards.
Two Olympians in Tartarus. Lovely, a whole lot of monsters were brought there by their hands. They'd probably like some revenge and a curse put on them.
"We jump I guess?" The wisdom goddess said.
Ares too swallowed hard.
"Aren't there you know... Stairs or anything."
"The fall itself takes about nine days. If we take the stairs, we won't be home for the solstice, only just down there." Athena reminded him.
"Besides... How bad can it be if three demigods already were able to pass through."
The answer was very bad. Very very bad.
Athena sent a quick prayer to her father and Nike. Ares didn't pray, but the moment Athena pulled him with her as she jumped over the edge, he screamed like a little girl.
After their fall they were met with a huge wasteland. They got on the move. Athena knew where the titans remained, this wasn't the first time they had to check on them. The only problem is Tartarus changes all the time.
They walked around and were met with some monsters, but those were easily slayed. The pair also popped most of the bubbles where new sets of monsters were resurrecting.
Ares popped one such bubble and got gue all over himself. Athena kept herself from gagging. It was disgusting and smelled even worse.
"Get it off me! Get it off me!" Ares yelled.
They were lucky no one was around to hear it.
"Keep your voice down. Someone might hear. And how do you even expect me to do it?" Athena whisper yelled back.
"I don't know, you're the smart one. Figure it out." The god of violence replied.
He started jumping around and flapping his arms. It looked quite crazy and funny and Athena would've laughed if she wasn't in the deepest pit of the earth, or if it wasn't effective. Sadly it was and some of the gue coming off hit her right in the face.
She shuddered. Ares seemed happy he was reliesed of the gue. As soon as he saw Athena though, wiping it off her face and clothes he laughed.
The wisdom goddess shook her head. Before she could even tell him to shut up she was hit in the back and thrown a few feet further, face first into the ground. If she ever wanted to know the substance of the floor, she at least knew now.
She sat up holding her head. Dang that had hurt. Who had that much power? The answer was apparently Alecto.
Ares was fighting with the other two fury sisters, but Alecto seemed interested in Athena only.
The wisdom goddess had no time to get up as the fury scratched her across the face. That was it. Time to fight back. Athena took her spear from her back and blocked Alecto's next attempt at scarring her.
"What does a pretty Olympian goddess like yourself want in Tartarus Athena?"
The voice of the fury sounded like the psycho's voice in horror films, only raspier.
Athena ignored Alecto and focused on the fight she was in. She glanced at Ares, but he seemed fine.
After that all of the things happened in a blur. She wasn't sure if it happend because she hurt her head earlier or because Alecto wiped part of her memory. Somehow however the fury got the upperhand. She enjoyed hurting the wisdom goddess in any way she could.
Athena fell to her knees and moments later to the ground. She layed there on her stomach, not having the strength to get up. Alecto smirked as her eye fell on Aegis.
She took the piece of fabric away from the goddess, exposing her back. The fury let it glide through her claws. Something to know about Aegis. Whenever around someone's shoulders it is unbreakable, but the moments it is unused it's just like any other piece of fabric.
Right in front of Athena's eyes, Alecto ripped Aegis to shreds. Athena saw the pieces fall onto the ground. She knew very well that whatever came next was going to hurt a lot.
And she was correct. The fury dug her claws deep into the back of the goddess. Athena never expected she would yell out Ares' name when she would feel pain like this, but at this moment he was the only one able to help her.
The god of war turned his head towards his half-sister who was being tormented by Alecto.
"Stop that right now Alecto." He said.
Now Athena really thought she had a concussion. Did Ares just show he cared? Kind of? Was he hit over the head too?
"I am the only one who gets to hurt her and enjoy it!" The god added.
Athena rolled her eyes.
'Never mind, he's completely fine.' She thought to herself.
**********
"Babe will you turn around?" Nike asked.
It pulled Athena straight from her thoughts. She didn't feel like turning around. First of all it hurt, second she didn't want Nike to worry. She was fine.
Athena didn't move at all, which raised suspicion with Nike. She raised her brows.
"Baby please." The angel pleaded.
Still the wisdom goddess did not move. Nike took a hold of her shoulders. She looked deep into the grey eyes of the woman she loved.
"Let me help you Athena." She pleaded.
The angel had already seen Athena's back when she left for the shower. She had already seen how deep the cuts were when she got changed. Just as she saw the stains of ichor on the towel and in her clothes. She even had to wash it off her hands after hugging Athena earlier.
The victory goddess slowly turned her around. Athena winced and a small groan escaped her control.
The scars were deep and gold. Nike let her finger slide over one. Athena grabbed her girlfriend's hand from the back.
"Don't!"
She had to keep herself from screaming in pain.
"Sorry. I won't." The angel reassured her.
As gentle as she could she started cleaning the wound and put some of Apollo's healing cream on it. All of that was done is silence.
"Athena?" Nike asked when she was done.
The goddess responded with a hum.
"Where was Aegis?"
The wisdom goddess sighed. She got up with a flich and walked over to her backpack. She let her hands dig in it. When she had what she needed she walked back to the bed. She threw on the shredded pieces.
The angel gasped. No... It couldn't. That was not Aegis. It just wasn't possible. And it doesn't add up with the story she told the others.
"How on earth did they rip it?!" Nike exclaimed.
"Wait that means you didn't wear it! How did they get it? There is no way a bunch of hydras and empousai are able to hurt you like this Athena! What really happened?!"
Athena could see the worry overtake the woman she loved. She had to be honest with Nike... The only downside to that was that she would break an oath she swore on the Styx.
The wisdom goddess didn't care though. Nike was worth everything. No matter the consequences Athena could not see her angel tormenting herself over the truth like this.
She stepped in front of Nike and took her hands in hers. The daughter of Zeus took a deep breath.
"Zeus send us on a mission to check on the titans in their prisons. Which they were by the way, but while going down to Tartarus we ran into the furies. Tisiphone and Megaera were only interested in Ares. Alecto however had her fair share of fun with me. She took me by surprise and bested me. Once I was down she took Aegis from me, tore it up and scratched me across the back." Athena explained.
Tears rolled over Nike's cheeks. This couldn't be true, but she knew inside that Athena wouldn't lie about this.
The wisdom goddess brushed her girlfriend's tears away.
"Don't cry my love. There cannot be a war without casualties."
A faint smile laced her lips as she took the angels face in her hands.
"I'm home now. You have nothing to worry about anymore."
Nike couldn't help but scoff. Nothing to worry about?! Athena's back was almost as ripped up as Aegis was.
"B-but..." She started.
Athena shook her head and kissed the goddess of victory.
"It will heal in a couple of days and Aegis can be fixed. I'm fine. I promise."
Nike just nodded, knowing it wasn't worth arguing over.