AN: Happy New Year, friends!
- - -
Empty eyes stared up at her from the ground. A motionless face. A lifeless face.
Diana could hardly make out his features now. Her vision was blurred from the welling tears.
Thor…
The ache in her chest was sharp and visceral. A dozen red-hot daggers stabbing all at once.
A sob broke from Diana’s throat, choked and ragged. It was a struggle to even breathe.
Diana desperately wanted to cradle him, hold him close, but his body had turned so cold. And she wouldn’t dare move her hands to his mortal wound. Where Ares had run him through…
Ares…
The sobbing ceased. So did the tears. Suddenly, Diana was still, serene even as the battle continued to rage around her.
Ares…
Slowly, the ache in her heart swelled into a blistering heat. And that grew into a fire, rising and rising until the inferno was surging through her veins.
She had only known Thor for days. Such a meager span of time for them both… yet he had given his life for her. He, the invading barbarian god. Not at all like what her mother had claimed men to be. Thor had been good. He had been brave. He had been loving. And now…
Ares took him away.
Ares…
“ARES!” Diana rose to her feet, sword gripped tight in her steel grip. Every sense sharp, every nerve hot, every inch of her skin blazing. Her veins ran with wrath.
Diana whirled towards the sound of battle. Spotted her target quickly. That vile Olympian in his dark armor and horned helm. The disgraced God of War was beset on all sides by Amazons, checking strikes by Nubia and her band of warriors. Her sisters had the numbers but not the advantage, Diana saw. Ares answered each strike in kind, fast and ferocious. His speed and skill were inhuman, even in his weakened state.
The sight should have given Diana pause. Instead, she only felt the heat of rage. Every inch of her flesh cried out for the same thing. She charged forth, screaming.
Thor deserved justice. Her sisters deserved justice.
Diana would settle for blood.
But the stab meant for his throat was struck away. Even a disgraced God of War was not so easily felled. Ares turned to face her and mocking laughter flowed from the dark of his helm.
“Princess!” He greeted, blocking another flurry of strikes from Nubia and the rest. He caught one Amazon by the throat and hurled her into a burning heap of rubble. “Such sweet rage I taste from you! How good did that savage fuck you that you miss him so dearly?”
Diana answered Ares with another scream and another thrust meant for his throat. He blocked that blow just as easily, knocking the blade from her hands. Yet Diana’s legs kept charging. Her vision was filled with hate. Rage drove her body forward, straight into Ares’ gut. She didn’t need her sword. She would disembowel him with her own hands!
As her body surged with strength and fury, her arms coiled around the Olympian’s waist. Her legs kept pumping even as his weight fell over her shoulder. Diana heard Nubia crying out behind her but the woman’s voice stretched further and further away.
Then came the impact. Diana’s tackle must have carried them into a wall - and her sheer strength took them through to the other side. The marble crumbled like sand, crashing around them in thick clouds of dust. So thick that when she finally found her bearings, she could hardly see at all. But she could still feel. She could feel the monster sprawled pinned beneath her.
The Princess let out a howl of rage and rained down blow after blow with her bare fists. Upon his helm, upon his breastplate, making small dents in the metal. A dozen strikes and more, all while she screamed in agony.
…Until Ares’ gauntlet took her by the throat. A quick, sharp shove sent her hurtling back. Pain rocked through her as she struck the floor, cracking the smooth stone.
She was not down for long. Diana spun back to her feet, adjusting her eyes to the dust, taking in her surroundings. It was the throne room, she quickly realized. She had tackled Ares straight into the royal palace.
Across the hall of polished marble, the dark shape of the God of War rose. The shape of death. The shape of evil. His cruel laughter echoed off the high walls. And Diana felt fury again.
“Princess!” Nubia called out. The Amazon captain and her warriors came pouring in through the hole Diana had left. “Do not let him goad you!”
“Yes. Be calm, young Amazon.” Ares chuckled mockingly, prowling forth into the light. He drew his dark blade from the floor. “Do not fight with fury. Do not fight with anger. You wouldn’t want to make me bleed, would you? Like the way I made your Odinson bleed?”
“Do not speak his name!” Diana shrieked. Her world became a blur again. Only her target was clear. No sword, no spear, armed with only her fists and her rage. She would gouge out the bastard’s eyes!
She struck at him with speed and savagery, battering his helmed head about. Vengeance behind every blow. Her fury lasted only a moment - just long enough for Diana to realize Ares was only toying with her.
Ares’ sword came fast and lethal - only a split-second block with her bracer kept Diana alive. She would have lost her head. Instead, the powerful swing sent the Princess reeling back. Ares did not let up, lashing out with his blade again. All Diana could do was fling herself out of the way.
Ares followed. The Olympian howled like a beast, cleaving through the air, each swing a deathblow. Diana blocked what she could, dodged what she couldn’t. Nubia and the others tried to help. Spears pelted Ares as he gave chase, but they snapped and splintered upon his armor. No matter how much they tried to draw his focus, Ares kept his eyes on Diana alone.
Soon he had her trapped, her back against one of the throne room pillars. Diana’s mind raced, her eyes too. Desperate for an escape. Over his shoulder, she spotted a bit of hope.
A chunk of marble hurtled forth and smashed upon the Olympian’s back. The brute didn’t so much as flinch. As the white dust poured down his shoulders, Ares loomed like the giant he had been.
“Such spirit. Such skill.” He shook his head. “And you waste it all on some barbarian exile god. This they call the wisdom of the Amazons.”
“Better a barbarian than a petty, envious worm!” Diana hissed.
Ares went still.
“Better?” His voice was ice.
“A thousand times.” Diana did not look away. She wanted him to know her defiance.
From the dark of his helm, the god’s hateful eyes burned stronger than Diana had ever seen. He raised his sword.
“Then allow me to escort you to the barbarian’s esteemed company!”
Diana’s heart sank. She waited for the sword to fall. Yet in the blink of an eye, there came a rush of arrows. They rained over Ares, whistling sweetly as they plinked against his dark armor. Many splintered just like Nubia’s spears, but some struck true, slipping through the tiny gaps in the plate. The sound of Ares’ pain had Diana’s heart leaping back into her throat.
The Princess scrambled away. Her eyes danced about, looking for her saviors. There! Gathered across the throne room! More of her sisters, dozens and dozens of them! And leading them…
“Mother!” Diana cried out. For a brief moment, her anger and sorrow were forgotten.
“Touch my daughter, God of War, and we will water the gardens of Themyscira with your blood!” Queen Hippolyta stood tall, defiant, alive.
Mother is alive!
Ares turned to face them, angrily snapping the arrows poking from his armor. But the Queen and her archers were already nocking arrows for another volley. The sound of bowstrings pulled taut filled the hall.
The Olympian let out a snarl.
“The whole family is here. Good. Queen and Princess can die together.”
Queen Hippolyta raised one hand. Her regal face etched with a mother’s fury.
“Amazons. Loose!”
Death whistled through the air. An entire vanguard on the field of battle would have met their end. Ares, blood of Zeus, charged to meet it.
Diana dove behind a pillar, searching the ground for a weapon, any weapon. She could hear dozens of her sisters shouting, orders and battle cries… and Ares cursing them amidst it all.
Great Hera… grant us the strength to put this animal down.
- - -
Uru swept through Midgardian sky,
Bringing with it the storm’s eye.
It flew with purpose, straight and true,
Over mountains grey and oceans blue,
Into the realm kept from mortal men,
Where it found its master’s hand again.
- - -
Lightning cracked. The roar of thunder followed, booming overhead. So loud and so close it rumbled even through the thick stone walls of the royal palace. Even through Ares’ armor. He could feel the tremble in his bones.
The God of War scowled. Had Lord Poseidon come to intervene?
Another volley of arrows came to interrupt, pelting over his helm and shoulders. All splintered like twigs, dropping around his feet. Little, pathetic broken things. Just like the Amazons that sent them.
Ares had an answer for them. He picked a piece of debris from the ground, the head of what had once been a statue. The visage of his sister Athena stared back at him, cracked and ruined. He hurled it at the Queen’s line, laughing as the Amazons scattered. His sister’s head burst upon landing, flinging bits of marble in all directions.
These Amazons would die today. Every one of them, Ares decided. His uncle could not save them. No one on Olympus could.
Ares spotted the Queen, coughing as she picked herself up off the polished floor. Wise and brave Hippolyta. The woman locked eyes with him, fearless. He wanted them lifeless.
The God of War marched. A spear came whistling through the air, meant for his head. He reached out and caught it, snapping it in his hand like a twig. The Queen held her ground.
“You should have fled, little Queen.”
“Amazons do not flee.”
“Heh.” Ares glanced around the ruins of the royal palace. All the fire and rubble. The corpses of those who did not flee. “They die well enough.”
Another crack of thunder. Even stronger now. Ares felt his teeth rattling. There was a change in the air. A hum, deep and powerful. Ares ignored it. He brought up his dark blade. The Queen had nowhere to run.
“You can join the fallen in Tartarus.”
Then… pain. All down his back. Every bone, every muscle, every sense rocked into a frenzy. Instantly, his vision went black - the ground raced up to meet him. Pain. His whole world was pain. He couldn’t even breathe. The air had been forced from his lungs.
His head rang like a bell but Ares still found the strength to stir. Slowly, slowly, fighting against his aching body, he pushed himself up. His legs wobbled as he got to his feet.
Another crack of thunder rattled his teeth. The copper tinge of blood settled in his mouth.
“Who…” He groaned, lurching for balance. Through the pain burned rage. “WHO?”
Heavy footsteps answered the reeling God of War, thumping closer, closer. Ares narrowed his eyes, forcing them to focus ahead. A shape came forth from the dust clouds. Tall. Powerfully built.
A man dressed in gleaming armor. Sporting a winged helm. Wearing a familiar face.
“I.” The challenger boomed. “Odinson. Prince of Asgard. God of Thunder.”
Ares stared. He shook his head. He… had to be seeing things. The Amazons must have conjured an illusion somehow. He did not believe it. He could not believe it. When Ares killed men, they stayed dead.
Yet there stood Thor. Alive. And under his winged helm, the Asgardian prince was set with that damned foolish resolve. The Odinson held out his open hand then, just in time for a dark, silver blur to meet it.
A hammer it was, short and smooth and etched upon its faces with foreign runes. The surfaces cracked with brilliant blue sparks, tiny bolts of lightning dancing all over. Even from across the grand, ruined hall, Ares could feel the hum of its power.
That weapon is ancient.
Ares could not find words for his tongue. What could he say? Even the Amazons had ceased their attacks to stare.
I killed him. I ran him through. Ares told himself over and over again, yet the sight before him did not change.
Whispers broke the silence. Murmurs from the Amazons. Then a cry of joy - their Princess. Ares scowled at the sound. He drew up his sword, seeking strength in his simmering rage. It was no matter to him, this turn of odds. Pain was nothing. The Asgardian would die a second time.
Thunder split the sky and the God of War stormed forth.
- - -
He lives.
The truth rang through Diana’s head. The sight shined clear before her eyes. The sound of his voice had her heart fluttering weightless.
Thor lives.
The shock was strong, so strong that Diana couldn’t even speak. Her joy was a wordless cry, resounding off the high walls of the throne room. She wanted to shout her lungs out. She wanted to race over and throw her arms around him. She wanted to shower kisses all over Thor’s face, her sisters, her mother, even Ares, all be damned.
But joy had not left her witless. There was still a battle to be won.
Ares charged. And Thor met him. Blue bolts erupted from every clash of steel. Hammer meeting sword again and again. Two gods locked in battle.
This was no performance. And the Amazons were not an idle audience.
“Attack!” Diana cried to her sisters. “Attack! Attack Ares!”
“Don’t give him time to rest!” Nubia was of a mind with her, hurling a spear at the Olympian’s back. There was a dent in the dark steel, right where Thor’s hammer had first struck him. Diana hoped it still ached there.
The rest of the Amazons followed. All joined the fight. Queen, Princess, warriors, even scholars, painters, carpenters, Amazons that preferred peace to battle, all fighting for their home. Sending arrows, spears, bits of rubble from their own palace, anything they could find.
Ares would learn today. The Daughters of Themyscira would not be broken.
- - -
It felt right to wield Mjolnir again. Just as it did to feel the power in his bones. The ageless, infinite strength of his godly blood bestowed upon him once more.
After all these long years, the Odinson was exile no longer.
Thor would celebrate later. The Olympian snarling in his face had earned a taste of Uru steel. Mjolnir agreed.
Like we haven’t missed a step, old friend.
“I ran you through. I killed you!” Ares barked, making a stab for Thor’s face… only to go staggering as the blow was deflected.
“You did. And Odin Allfather deemed me worthy again.”
Ares snorted in disgust. He thrust his sword high, hoping to take the Asgardian under his chin. Thor merely had to step back. The dark blade pierced nothing but air.
Thor took satisfaction in the labored breaths coming from that horned helm. The Olympian was lurching more and more with every traded strike. He was struggling. Tiring. And it was clear now that nobody had ever hit the god so hard before.
“The fool king of Asgard… rewards defeat?” Ares huffed. An Amazon spear scraped the back of his helm, making him stagger. Another splintered across his back. The Olympian let out a pained grunt.
“No.” Thor held eyes with the rogue god. “He honors sacrifice.”
“He will… honor you again… soon enough.” Ares’ breathing had become as ragged as his swings. He took another stab at Thor’s gut. Easily swept aside. A poor showing from the God of War.
When Diana entered the fray, it was clear to Thor that the battle was all but over. He let the Princess get her strikes in anyway. He held back and simply watched.
Diana was beauty incarnate even in the rage of battle. Her movements were fluid, quick and elegant and precise. Perfection was seeing the flow of her hair, all that brilliant black sweeping behind her. It was seeing the taut muscles of her shoulders, her thighs, rippling so wonderfully under flawless bronzed skin. It was seeing the fire in her eyes as she fought to defend her home.
The woman I died for.
Thor allowed the bout to go on a moment longer. Then he hurled Mjolnir straight into Ares’ chest. The Olympian let out a wheeze as the hammer took him to the ground. Flat on his back, Ares thrashed and groaned and cursed but could not rise. Mjolnir kept him pinned.
Thor called it back to his hand. He stood over Ares.
“You have already lost, God of War. Can you not see it? Yield.”
The other Amazons came forward slowly, surrounding them. A blonde woman, tall and beautiful, stepped forth with a spear in hand. She wore a golden headdress, simple yet elegant, and her dirtied white dress was set with a golden bustier. Thor did not recognize her, but from her noble, majestic bearing, he could only assume she was Amazon Queen.
Diana’s mother. Hippolyta.
“Yield.” The Queen repeated, holding the blade of her spear to the defeated Olympian’s throat. “Yield and you may keep what little dignity you have left.”
“Yield.” Ares spat like the word was vile. His red eyes burned with hate from the darkness of his helm. “Yield to the Amazon traitors and some savage, foreign god. I would rather suffer Tartarus until the end of time than surrender to you.”
The Amazons groused with curses and jeers. They called for blood. The Queen said nothing. Thor simply sighed.
He raised Mjolnir high. Above, through the massive holes left in the hall’s high ceiling, lightning cracked across the darkened sky. The storm clouds had gathered at Thor’s will. He savored the thrum through his flesh and bones. It had been far, far too long.
“You should have stayed on Olympus.” He told the God of War.
Then he brought his hammer down and called forth thunder.
- - -
The lightning came down with weight and power. A column of brilliant blue cracking right down atop Ares like a fist from the heavens. The monster howled, thrashed as the bolts racked over his body. He thrashed and thrashed and thrashed and the lightning kept coming. The jagged bands rolled over him until his armor started to smoke.
Then it stopped. Thor lowered his hammer and the power of the storm came to an end.
Diana held her breath as she took in the sight.
Ares lay defeated. Nothing more than a smoking, groaning lump on her palace floor.
Thor was alive. Her mother was alive. The Amazons had won.
No one spoke. Not so much as a sound. As if they all could not believe it and the tiniest noise would shatter the illusion.
It was Nubia who broke the silence. The captain raised her spear and let out a simple, powerful cry.
“Victory!”
The ruins of the throne room erupted. Raised spears, raised swords, raised shields. Sisters embracing with relief, with jubilation. Diana was laughing, laughing until her sides ached and tears welled in her eyes. Hera, it was so loud she couldn’t even think.
She looked to Thor, her brave, beloved Thor. Like he knew her thoughts he met her eyes. His were alight with life, with love, and with purpose. Diana cherished the sight.
Then her eyes flickered aside… and met her mother’s.
Suddenly, Diana was breathless again.
As Queen Hippolyta looked between her daughter and the strange man in shining armor, Diana could see her mother’s eyes flash with relief. With realization. And a silent demand for answers.