God of War: Daughter of War

Flurry found that she, her father, and her uncle spent the rest of the week ignoring Olympus as they stayed in Sparta for the most part, simply focusing on improving things for their citizens, welcoming the crew that had brought them to Argos to deal with the loyalists, and integrating those former loyalists into the army. It wasn't that everyone was ignoring the realm of the gods and their seats up there, especially since Zeus would get annoyed with them and they'd rather not get on his bad side after bringing in Hermes to answer for his crimes, they just needed a break before someone snapped and Athena quickly allowed such a thing. Flurry noticed that the Goddess of Wisdom was distracted by something and would speak of other things if someone asked her what was going on, causing her to decide that the goddess would reveal what she knew in due time and decided not to pry at all, least it cause a rift to open between them and her, since Athena had helped her and her father many times in the past. There was a benefit to accepting the former loyalists and that was more food and supplies, which had been given to them by Hera and, according to Athena since they had asked her during a prayer session before leaving Argos, they were allowed to take their freely given supplies with them.

With that in mind Flurry surprised them by showing them to an area that had been under development, a farm area that would help feed the people of Sparta, since an influx would cut into their supplies, so by using some of the items they had gained from Hera she was sure they could further develop the various fields.

Kratos and Deimos spent most of the next couple of days training not only themselves, to make sure their skills remained intact, but also the soldiers of Sparta, whipping them and the newcomers into shape since they would be useful in dealing with the rest of Ares' remaining loyalists, a fact that would take years to do. Flurry also trained a number of them in how to use archery to their benefit, as this was a city of war and anything that helped in war was something they focused on, and she found that her father oversaw a few of her lessons as well, either helping from time to time or actually seeing what he might learn to further himself. Such a thing told the people that everyone had room to grow, that once you reach a certain point there is still more to learn about yourself and your skills, so while you could stop at a certain level that didn't mean it was the end, something that actually motivated the army to improve their skills to new heights. Even Deimos and Albis got involved in the training, since there was no telling what the future might have in store for them, and when they weren't learning from her she was seeing how they taught the soldiers how to use their own combat styles, which allowed them to improve the overall effectiveness of their grand army.

The major problem that the family faced was planning out how to go about dealing with the remaining locations that the loyalists were in control of, as there were too many and they knew it would take a long time to deal with them, while they all knew that splitting up was a bad idea, despite the time it would save.

"We have no idea what's waiting for us in each location, as while we're gods we also know that gods can be overwhelmed if the right conditions are met." Flurry remarked, especially since there was no telling how many more individuals like her father and uncle, the children of the gods, existed across all of Greece, and if they were trained to help their parents out, or trained to deal with 'traitors', it was possible that they might be in danger, "You have to remember that Hercules is not our biggest fan and that he might be interested in seeing us be punished for crimes that none of us have committed."

Hercules was incredibly upset that he was skipped over when it came time to decide who should take Ares down, not only in the sense of who should have gone after Pandora's Box, but also who should have faced the former God of War and who should have taken his empty throne. The reason she knew this was because the big buff idiot had come by Sparta the day before and voiced his displeasure to everyone that would listen to him, something that caused the people to frown at him while Flurry and her family simply humored him before eventually turning him away. Based on what they had seen so far it was entirely possible that he would do something drastic to weaken their standing in Olympus, all so he could bring them down and take the throne of the God of War from her father, or even the new throne of the God of Courage, since he clearly thought that Sparta had too much power. She had no idea where he was getting his information, because all of it was wrong, as while it was true that Sparta was gaining more respect with her father as the God of War, since he wasn't tearing everything apart like Ares had done, their overall power hadn't gone up since the three of them took their thrones, meaning Olympus and all of the other godly cities were still above them.

Of course the only ones that had suffered lately were Atlantis and and the island of Crete, but everything else was just as they had left it and Flurry wasn't taking any chances, as she wanted to make sure all of them went to each location to deal with the remaining loyalists, that way if they walked into another trap they could be ready for it.

"Fair. He has been seen outside the city several times, just watching us... likely on Zeus' orders, or because he has no love for us in his heart." Kratos said, not that he cared about Hercules, as they had been doing everything in their power to stay on Zeus' good side and he didn't want annoying the muscular warrior to be something that caused the King of the Gods to crack down on Sparta for some reason, though he turned his attention to the list they had been talking about, "We must determine a good approach on how to deal with the other locations... one that does not land us in the hot water with Zeus, Hera, or any other gods that might be looking to tear us down."

"How did it come to this?" Albis commented, as she was saddened by the fact that their somewhat peaceful life was, once again, in danger of being disrupted by the rest of the gods, just like what happened when Kratos first pledged to serve the old God of War, because she had been hopeful that once Kratos, Flurry, and Deimos took their places among the rest of the gods of Olympus that things would have become more peaceful for them, "We didn't do anything wrong... we did what Zeus asked and they attacked us like we were the real criminals."

Deimos opened his mouth to say something, as he didn't trust the rest of the gods, or those who were clearly on Zeus' side of the division that was slowly appearing in Olympus, though before he could actually say something he and the rest of his family heard, a knock on the wooden door of their mortal residence, only for them to find that Athena, looking like she hadn't gotten any sleep recently, had come to speak with them.

"Athena, what is it? What is wrong?" Kratos asked, as the Goddess of Wisdom rarely bothered them when she or the other gods had no need of their services, like when they dealt with the Persian fleet or when Poseidon needed him and Flurry to kill the Hydra and Athena delivered the message, so it was odd to see her here, in Sparta.

"I... would like to talk to all of you. May I come in?" Athena asked, as she knew that her authority as a goddess allowed her to travel wherever she wanted, without anyone batting a eye or wondering why she was there in the first place, despite the fact that many Spartans had seen her and likely wondered why she was here, but with Kratos' anger issues, which had been minimal thanks to Flurry's presence, she figured that asking permission was the best course.

Kratos considered it for a few moments before nodding his head, where Athena walked in as Deimos closed the door once she was inside their house, though Flurry offered her something to drink and the goddess thanked her as she took a cup of juice, even though everyone was interested in what she had to say to them.

"Athena, what is troubling you?" Kratos asked, because something major must have happened during their time in Sparta, enough to make her look like she had lost a lot of sleep and force her to come here, without calling to them by using one of her statues, as one was located in the city, which told him that it had to be major and that she only wanted to tell them whatever she had discovered.

"Kratos, Deimos, Flurry... I'm afraid that Zeus and Hera are planning on trying to frame you again in the future, using the same locations that the loyalists are stationed in." Athena replied, where Flurry noticed something interesting, there was a look of despair on Athena's face, meaning she must have heard this from Zeus himself, which she shouldn't have heard if what she was seeing was any indication of the situation, before she sighed as she stared down at her drink, "After seeing them label all of you as liars and criminals, I decided to speak with Zeus and Hera in an attempt to convince them to come and apologize for treating you so harshly, so we could restore order to Olympus. When I reached their chambers I heard them talking with Hermes and learned that they fully intended for all of you to take the fall for Argos' death and the vast damage it caused to Hera's precious city, and that they were planning on repeating the same thing as many times as they needed..."

"He wants to execute us, because of the Marked Warrior prophecy, but he can't outright attack us without evidence that we're insane, like Ares." Flurry said, which seemed like a reasonable conclusion to come to with the information they had been given, causing Athena to nod her head for a moment, showing them that she had hit the target without missing even a single beat, "Since we've been totally different from whatever Zeus was expecting, he and Hera are trying to make the rest of the Olympians see us as nothing more than dangerous warmongers that need to be eradicated... and, should that fail, either they'll stand down and let us live in peace... or we'll be in greater trouble than before."

"I can sort of understand why Hera dislikes us... one of us must have done something to offend her, especially after the whole statue incident, but I don't understand Hermes' involvement." Deimos stated, as that was the key piece that didn't make sense to him, all while he was surprised by how calm his brother was presenting himself right now, as he knew that Kratos' rage was boiling inside his body and he was doing everything in his power to keep himself from storming Olympus and killing the rulers of the gods in their own domain.

"I'm willing to bet that it's Ceryx. According to most of Greece's citizens he's more popular and more handsome that his own father," Flurry remarked, where Albis thought about their meeting with Ceryx, in Hermes' own temple, and realized that it made sense, because if Flurry hadn't dealt with Hermes' speed he would have escaped and, in his rage at losing the real culprit, Kratos would have taken his frustration out on Ceryx, likely killing him in the process, "in fact some have even dismissed Hermes and switched to worshiping his son in his stead... take that into consideration, that a god is losing their followers, and you have your motive: Zeus promised Hermes that his own son would be slain by our hand, if he agreed to help him and Hera frame us for Argos' murder. All three of us are a danger to Zeus' rule, as any of us could be the Marked Warrior of prophecy in Zeus' eye, and to save Olumpus he'd do anything to make sure he's got the rights to kill us without the other gods getting in the way."

"Sounds about right, really... I still can't believe that Zeus threw a chunk of my life's work, the many years I spent trying to stop this prophecy, aside like I was simply trash to them." Athena said, which revealed why she had lost a lot of sleep in the last week, the information she had discovered, which was essentially that Zeus and Hera seemed to be chasing the very prophecy they had been trying to stop for a long time, causing her to despair and fear for the future, though that was when she recalled Deimos' comment, "What's this about a 'statue incident'?"

"Oh, we were planning on making statues of Kratos, Flurry, and Deimos, and Hera insisted that we make Flurry human, as she had a problem with her more animal body," Albis answered, though like last time they talked about this incident Flurry just shrugged, showing that she was over it and that she really didn't care at this point, while Athena sat there like she had been smacked with a new piece of information that she hadn't known before, "it's just like how she and Zeus won't let any artisans make statues of Artemis and Apollo's animal bodies... they want the mortals to see the gods as humans, instead of seeing them for who they really are."

"I knew there was a reason behind why their real bodies were never used, but this... ugh, it makes me wonder how many other gods and goddesses they've pissed off." Athena remarked, because now she was starting to see that Olympus was, in it's own way, broken and the peace she had been fighting for, that she had been striving for, for all these years really didn't exist, rather it only existed for a specific amount of time before conflict returned, before she glanced at Kratos, who had remained silent during the entire conversation, "Kratos, I know you and your family likely have an idea on how to go about giving Zeus no reason to attack you guys or Sparta, but... well, how about we join forces and do our best to actually stop the prophecy from becoming a reality?"

Despite some of the things that Athena had done in the past, promises that had been broken that were likely Zeus' fault to help fulfill the dark visage he wanted others to see of him and his family, Kratos found himself agreeing to take Athena's aid in trying to stop the prophecy. The Goddess of Wisdom herself wanted to help them out, maybe even clear their name to the rest of the Olympians until someone was able to get Zeus and Hera to see that they needed help, and he would be a fool to turn someone with her intelligence and wisdom away at a time like this. With Athena on their side Kratos knew that she and Flurry would crank out all sorts of plans and ideas to show the gods that they weren't the warmongers that Zeus was trying to make them believe they were, that no one had to worry about a dark prophecy coming true, and he could see that his daughter was already ready to get to work. It even chipped away at the despair that had infected Athena after she discovered that the King and Queen of the Gods were working towards such a terrible future, giving her hope that the prophecy could be beaten, that they might have a chance to write a different ending for it.

It would take some time, that much he knew for sure, but he was sure that with all of their efforts they would be able to undo Zeus' damage and stop the prophecy, something that made Kratos smile a little as he looked forward to what the future held in store for him, his family, and their allies.