The goddess of wisdom, watched with a heavy heart as Ares deflected from Zeus, to Poseidon, to encourage his uncle to go to war. As much as Athena never saw eye to eye with Ares, he was still her brother, and she still loved him, she didn’t want to have to fight him, but she had a feeling it was going to come down to that.
The war...didn’t have to happen, it shouldn’t happen, but Zeus agreed, Athena would stand with her father no matter what. It was all because they wanted the mortals to believe in them again. Humans studied them, some still worshipped them, was that not enough?
Athena did not understand.
Zeus had asked her to do one thing, recruit for him, see what Gods and Goddesses she could convince to stay with Zeus. So far the others hadn’t made a decision, and Athena respected that, she wouldn’t push, that would only turn them to Poseidon’s side.
Athena was sure that one god would be on their side...Hephaestus, he would not turn away from them, considering what happened between him, and Ares, even if Aphrodite stayed with Zeus, the black smith would not leave them.
The previous evening, Athena had spent a little time in a restaurant, she had dinner by herself and a few drinks, and spent some time waving off advances from drunken men. There was someone who caught the goddesses’ attention, two men entered the restaurant, clearly on a date.
The older man was such a gentleman, but that was not the one Athena was drawn to, it was the slightly younger man with the dark hair and dark eyes, and the warm smile. The goddess watched the two men for a few moments, they were clearly smitten with each other, Eros would love seeing this.
The younger man was a god...half god.
A demigod? So they really did exist.
Athena thought that...the gods and goddesses weren’t supposed to sleep with the humans. They could talk to them of course, that was inevitable, but sleeping with them was forbidden. Athena grew uncomfortable, who was breaking those rules?
She’d never broken the rules, she didn’t want to...then again she hadn’t been attracted enough to anyone to even try, most men only wanted one thing, Athena would rather have a relationship than a one night stand...but no she couldn’t think about that...she had other things to worry about.
The goddess listened to a bit of their conversation, then ducked out of the restaurant, she didn’t want to eavesdrop on their entire date, just long enough to get a name.
Oliver.
She would have to let Zeus know, but in the morning...his nights were reserved for Hera.
Come morning, Athena left her apartment early, all of the gods and goddesses had a place to call home, Athena didn’t want to spend all her time on Olympus. It was easy for her to track down Zeus, he, Poseidon and Hades all gave off distinct auras.
“Athena, I know you are following me.” Zeus said, her father turned to look at her. “Do you require something? I’ve already given you a task...recruit.” he said.
Athena stood a little straighter. “But leave Hades alone, it would be unwise to attempt to bring him to our side.” he warned her. Hades? She hadn’t even thought about attempting to convince him, he didn’t like his brothers, she knew it was unwise.
“Or is there something else you need to discuss with me?”
“For your information father, I have not been inactive, I have been recruiting others or at least attempting to, the Gods and Goddesses are unsure of who they want to side with.” Athena shrugged slightly as she approached Zeus. “I know of one who will not deflect, Hephaestus, he does not like Ares, he will stand with you, though he will make weapons for both sides, as that is his job, but if it comes down to war, he will stand with us.”
The goddess looked down at the ground for a moment, then back up to her father. “I discovered something last night. A demigod.” she said, he didn’t look surprised.
“You...know they exist? I just thought that with the rule…” Athena sighed, throwing her arms up.
“I guess it can’t be helped.” she laughed softly.
“Not everyone agrees with your rules, I just wanted to let you know that they exist, and if they find out about us...they are going to get dragged into a war they have no part in, if any of them are yours...leave them alone, do not needlessly get them killed.”
Blue eyes were locked with brown for several moments, before Athena took a step back. “Oh, by the way, the child...well he wasn’t really a child, the man’s name was Oliver.”
The goddess dismissed herself from her father’s presence, and stopped dead in her tracks, seeing a face she had not seen in a long time, Persephone, who was walking away, from where Hades sat upon a bench, the young goddess was enraged by something, the grass around her feet was withering with every step she took. Athena was curious...but thought it best if she steered clear for now.
Though Hades was still seated upon the park bench, probably trying his best to ignore Persephone’s presence, the last time she came home...she had been...obsessive about Hades, speaking so highly of her dear love.
Athena decided to speak to her uncle, not to recruit him, but just to talk.
“Hello uncle. I am not here to recruit you.” she said tentatively sitting on the bench beside him, she cast a quick look around, Zeus was nowhere to be seen.
“You do realize your wife is here, correct, she is clearly unhappy with something.” she mused looking over her shoulder to the retreating form of Persephone. “You might want to talk to her, before she destroys all of Central Park, and draws attention to herself.”