War Council

Dark woke before Hades and carefully slipped out of bed. She cast a small glance back to him, barely illuminated in the ember light and this time, she didn't ignore the strange wobble in her chest. His disheveled hair, the softness around his eyes that only came from deep sleep, the marbling of the tattoos on his pale skin. All of those things had her feeling warm-- not low in her gut where desire lived-- but high, in her chest, in her lungs. Like she was breathing fire. It was an unfamiliar pain.

She was not a cold, heartless thing, Hades had said. And she believed it. One half of a whole... One split of a shade. Were all these feelings just Angel bleeding through? The same way Dark could channel her anger into Angel when she was the one in control? Or were these feelings her own? If they were, she didn't hate it. Not anymore. Not after what she'd just spent hours doing. Sure, there had been bouts of raw passion, and unchecked fucking but there had also been gentleness. They had still been tangled up in each other long after the need had been sated. Long after the passion had turned to slow, lazy touching. As if they couldn't will themselves to separate. Those hours had been deeper, in the way that she couldn't tell where his body ended and hers began. That kind of closeness was foreign to her and it only made the absence of it burn stronger.

Dark forced herself to find her clothes and shrug them on because if she didn't, she'd find herself back in bed once more. And she needed a shower... everywhere. She bit down on a laugh, shaking her head. She embraced it, whatever it was she felt for Hades. Perhaps he had freed some part of her she hadn't understood. Soundlessly, she went across the hall to her room.

She needed a shower first and then food. Gods she was starving. Hours in bed doing anything but sleeping would do that to a person; gods were no different than humans in that aspect. Speaking of the time, Dark hurried into the bathroom to check the clock. The dial showed a little past one in the afternoon. If she hurried, she could eat and catch the afternoon war council. She needed to know where things stood before she told anyone about the cyclops.

Poseidon may have been an asshole but he was at least, right about playing that information close to the vest. If she overplayed the hand, they could lose the advantage. But if she underplayed it, the others might feel misled... betrayed. She sighed, kicking the hot water on full blast as she raced to peel off the dirty clothes. Diplomacy was not her thing for a reason. Angel was much better at appealing to people's feelings. And proving herself worthy. She was good at making people want to stand with her. Dark was simply good for a fight, she knew. Good for a sharp tongue and a strong right hook. Good for burning and drowning and breaking her enemies.

Cringing under the scalding water, she resigned herself to the reality: she was going to have to figure out how to handle other people... and fast. There was unfortunately no scenario where the entirety of the war would be fought by her alone.

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Dark scarfed the last bite of burger down as she jumped into an open seat in Hades' meeting room. It was fashioned much like an amphitheater with rows of stone bench seating surrounding a small dais in the center. Ares had moved war preparations into hell for a number of reasons, the main one being that the Titans were now living here. There was no reason to drag them all back to his home, where there surely wasn't enough room for everyone. He held private war meetings there still, the ones meant for only the top two tiers of gods alone and a handful of top tier Titans. And Dark still hadn't set foot in on one of those, much to her frustration.

She couldn't help searching the crowd for Athena even though she didn't have any idea what she would actually do once she found her.

"Well look what the cat finally dragged in," Iapetus smirked, as he rounded the row she sat in, "I missed you gorgeous. You're positively radiant, should I assume you and your lovers made up?"

"I didn't think you knew how to miss anyone other than yourself," Dark laughed, draining her glass of juice and blood, "But the compliments are always appreciated. And despite its rather public nature lately, I don't enjoy having my personal life on display." Thia and Circe waved from the front row as the Titans scooted into the seats to her right.

"Oh hey! Didn't expect to see you here," Zero threw his arms up in surprise as he and the other raisers scooted into the row on her left side, "Heard Hades and Poseidon had a big fight. No one seems to know why but my money's on you."

"Why do I get blamed for men fighting alI the time? I didn't ask anyone to fight over me, that's for sure. And I've never found the trait all that endearing either. Men are stupid. Mortal or god. It makes no difference," Dark scooted closer to the Titans, "Or Titan."

"We would never fight over you," Coeus grumbled saltily.

"I would," Iapetus raised his hand.

"Me too!" Cree chirped happily, from the end, "But only because you're like my sister."

"She is *not* your sister," Coeus corrected sharply.

"Cousin?" Cree laughed as Coeus scowled.

"Glad to see your stick is still firmly planted in your ass," Dark mumbled to herself loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Like I was saying," Zero cleared his throat, "Heard it was pretty heated. What'd you do this time?"

"For your information, I didn't even know they fought so how the hell should I know? Might not have even been about me," she scoffed, "But if I had to wager a guess, I'd say... it was because Poseidon kissed me. But let's not make that a big deal okay?"

"Oh my gods you're legitimately making your way through all the brothers, huh? Zeus next?" Aphrodite squealed from a row back and Dark spun around.

"Shhhhh will you keep your godsdamn voice down?!" Dark hissed, "And NO I'm not *planning* on anything. It was a moment. That's all. Jesus I thought the gods were all hedonistic and free spirited when it came to sex. Why the hell does everyone care so much about me?"

"BECAUSE," Aphrodite yelled and then quieted when other raisers turned towards them, "You're the baddest bitch on the block. All the best powers. You killed four whole gods by yourself and they weren't small fish either. All the strongest gods sniffing at your door because Tantalus and Hades were godsdamned hand-picked by Asteria-the-wicked-bitch-of-the-west herself. And they both love you. And then they both *do* you? C'mon that's goddess gold right there. I'm godsdamned jealous if I'm being honest! To be a fly on that fucking wall. And as if that's not bad bitch enough? The fucking *fates* giving you respect and fear? I mean damn if you were into women I'd want to sleep with you too. Actually, are you into women because... I'm totally in..."

Dark sighed, dropping her head into her palm, "I really hate emotions and I really hate people. But somehow I'm expected to deal with both... at the same time... I literally can't think of anything worse than this. Can we just drop it until a later date. A 'to be continued' type of thing?"

Aphrodite shrugged and winked, "Definitely picking this back up."

Dark smiled tightly and swiveled backwards, pretending to see who else had filtered in while they all waited for Ares to start, when all she really needed was a break in the conversation. Her eyes locked onto two familiar dark ones in the corner. Tantalus was half covered in shadows but she didn't miss the subtle tilt of his head in hello. They probably needed to have a talk too. Angel may have hated the man and Dark couldn't really blame her for that, but Dark had always seen something kindred in Tali. He was a survivor. Resilient and cold to everyone but her. And that mattered. Aphrodite was right. He was strong as hell in more ways than one and it was like a homing beacon for Dark.

"Alright everyone! Give me two minutes and we'll begin," Ares' voice boomed over the room as he walked in front of the projector screen.

"Hey, avoiding that cluster fuck of a conversation a minute ago, did you hear the news?" Hyperion whispered, "You probably didn't 'cause you were too busy finding yourself in the middle of a bunch of drama, again... but Coe and I are beginning a war training camp for the raisers and Titans. You're welcome to come... in fact,. you *need* to come. You'll need every advantage you can get going up against Asteria, as I'm sure you know. So... let's say two days from now you need to be geared up and ready. Long days, no breaks."

Dark nodded, "I'll make time for it. Not that any of you are going to be particularly happy about getting your asses kicked again. I can always make time for punching Coeus in the face though."

"Good," he nudged her shoulder, "Not about punching my brother. But the other stuff. I think Ares is supposed to bringing his arena equipment down here too so you should ask him about working on your powers. You'll need perfect control. No room for error when the fighting starts."

"Is that you talking or Coeus?" she laughed, "Because you can tell him I'd be more than happy to demonstrate my prowess again if he needs a reminder. One cheap shot with my hands in chains doesn't equal me being unprepared."

"I can hear you, you know?" Coeus drawled from two seats over, "And don't forget I was holding back."

"My ass you were. Next time, I'll make you eat the mat, big guy."

Coeus was quiet but Dark swore she heard the ghost of a laugh.

Ares cleared his throat and for the next few hours, everyone listened to his war plans. Apparently, Ares had already been working hard setting up battle squadrons and creating a cohesive hierarchy within the army's ranks. Titans were the top tier ground forces and all questions or concerns the hellraiser squadrons had, filtered up to the Titans. They could then pass up the information to the gods, Ares specifically, if there was any thing important to note.

Dark listened, completely mesmerized by how in depth the planning had become. They consisted heavily of training: listing out the training schedules for hellraisers and Titans with Hyperion and training schedules with the gods via himself and Hades. Zeus, it seemed, would be in more administrative position by keeping tabs on paperwork and purchase orders of new equipment and materials. He was the purse-strings of the war effort. So to speak. Dark hadn't seen Athena during the meeting and she assumed the goddess only graced the higher ranking meetings with her presence. She made a mental note to attend one very soon.

Ares tasked out specific jobs like who would make weapons with Hephaestus, who would ferry news from the oracles, who would compile ammunition and provide gun training to the other hellraisers, who would protect the borders and who would operate daily hell functions. As Dark looked around she realized there were a lot more raisers than when she first arrived back. Had Hades been collecting more?

Dark found herself in equal parts satisfied and worried as the meeting concluded. One one hand, hearing how much detail work had already been planned out, made her feel better about their chances in battle-- because while she certainly felt she could handle Asteria, she wasn't so sure about the rest of the army she'd helped raise. But on the other hand, she wasn't sure how well any of these plans would fair against a Cyclops army. That was the trump card Asteria planned to use. Ares would be expecting gods and raisers in battle and with the Titans on his side, that was a clear win to him. But what if the Cyclops were strong? What if they had powers? Dark needed to visit the oracles again. Maybe if she could talk to Dona, she'd have some insight on whether Asteria used them in the past. And if not, perhaps there was some suggestion she could make.

Apollo led the oracles, Dark knew that. But everyone counted Dona as a traitor from the first war and because she stayed so isolated in her basement sanctuary, Dark wasn't sure anyone had spent the appropriate amount of time picking her brain. She'd make sure to be the one to do it.

"Alright everyone, this week all these plans go into effect, if you are unsure about you role, confer with your superiors. And report to training on time! Dismissed!" Ares boomed and vanished in a flash of gold armor.

Dark was already up and moving over the Titans' legs before they could even get to their feet, "Sorry, sorry but I have somewhere to be. See you guys later."

"Where? Why can't we come too?" Iapteus pouted, rolling his lips out into a pathetic face.

"Gods, please don't make that face I think it makes me queasy," Dark laughed, "Where I'm going, you can't come. So I'll see you guys at training in a couple of days, yeah?"

"Please for the love of the gods stay out of trouble this time," Hyperion called to her back and her responding vulgar gesture had Coeus chuckling.

Dark had safely made it up and out through the swell of hellraiser bodies when someone grabbed her arm from behind. "Don't even think about it," Tantalus warmed the air around her neck, tickling the skin under her ear.

She stilled, letting him pull her into a small alcove nearby, "Don't even think about *what*?" Dark turned to face him, pushing away enough that they were both able to breathe comfortably.

"Leaving without me."