Chapter Text
Zeus was confused. The last thing he remembered was allowing Hypnos to take him for a quick nap.
The last thing he remembered was his daughter Athena once again defeating her uncle in a new holy war. He didn't care much about that as he looked down at Earth from the higher heavens.
Athena was again with the reincarnation of his brother's son Pegasus. She rewarded him from the Bronze Pegasus Knight into the new Golden Sagittarius Knight. She should just give him his god Pegasus armor and be done with it, instead of making him regain his powers each time he was reincarnated and wait with her on Olympus until he was reborn.
The cycle was endless, and he had long since lost interest in its repetition. Between the two. Even if it always starts on earth. Just like her allowing herself to be kidnapped to be saved by him. He should really talk about her romantic life and ideas.
At the moment, however, he was not in the higher heavens he had left so many years ago. Not since his family had left him to fight Typhon and only returned after the monster had been defeated. At least they had helped him seal Gaea afterwards, and later he had to seal Pontus as well.
He had not yet forgiven them for leaving him, but he was glad to see them again.
But now everything was different.
He seemed to be in the middle of a city, surrounded by towering structures of glass and steel, it was the modern world.
This was not his world. It felt too unnatural, too foreign.
Nothing felt right. He could sense his relatives, but at the same time they were not the same. Their presence was familiar yet very distant, as if they had been diluted, mere fragments of what he saw or knew.
So much younger, so much weaker than those he knew. And they were already weak in his eyes back home.
Even Olympus, which he could feel above the Empire State Building, was different - diminished. But it was home, after all, as he made his way there.
Once inside the temple where he felt his powers the most, it looked like his temple, but with too many statues of himself.
"This doesn't feel right, this isn't Olympus, it feels like a cheap copy of it."
At once he unleashed his lightning and thunder. The sky darkened, roiling clouds gathering on the earth with unnatural speed. The heavens roared and thunder ripped through the sky. The mortals below screamed and ran for cover at the sudden display of Ran.
Olympus himself responded, trembling at his fury. He would begin slowly, studying this strange place and understanding what was wrong with it. He expanded his senses further, reaching beyond the skyline, feeling for the essence of the divine order of this world.
Already he could sense so many demigods walking the Earth, far more than should have existed. On his world, such descendants were rare - here, they were numerous. And the gods... yes, they were here too, but not as he remembered them.
Something was very wrong here. And it wasn't the Titans running free, whoever this version of himself was, he couldn't even do one job right.
Zeus narrowed his eyes.
If his kin had been changed, he would know why. And if anyone had dared to tamper with the cosmic order, they would suffer his wrath.
Thunder roared as his master's resolve solidified once more and Keraunos began to glow in a way his old master had never been able to.
This world would give him answers, one way or another.
Hera was angry, she was about to scream at Zeus, his anger and thunder were stronger than normally, so something did go wrong.
They gods already complained to her, to talk to Zeus about his anger, as the whole State and more are covered in his Thunder Clouds and Storms appeared more badly then his last fight with Poseidon.
“Zeus! What made you angry this time! You are confusing the Mortals and Scaring even the Gods again!”
“Hera… my Hera?” This wasn’t Zeus’s Voice, Hera turned to the Voice. And her gaze fixed on her husband, and immediately, a chill swept through her.
Something was terribly wrong.
This wasn't Zeus—at least not the Zeus she knew. The presence before her felt ancient, impossibly Ancient even. It was as if the air itself carried the weight of millennia.
This was wrong, because Zeus, despite his often formidable power, was younger than she. Even without her rebirth of her father's stomach, she had always been his elder.
He shouldn't, couldn't, exude the aura of something so primeval, older than even their parents.
“Hera, I need your help.”
It was as though she were staring into a funhouse mirror version of Zeus.
She recognized the figure, yet it felt like the reflection had been warped, distorted—like the 'Zeus' she saw was from a reality that wasn't hers.
To anyone else who laid eyes on him, it would appear to be the same man—the same god.
But appearances were trivial to beings who could alter their very forms at will.
No, it was the feeling that unsettled her. The fear, the unknown, the potential threat he posed to her and their family.
“Please, I am confused and not sure what is going on, I trust you to tell me about it.”
But then... Why did he look at her like that?
Her mind churned.
Why had Zeus— her Zeus—never looked at her that way? The eyes that met hers now were filled with a profound, unwavering compassion. It was a compassion that not only quelled her uncertainty, but demanded her attention just as he was giving her his full attention.
And Hera found herself willing to give it.
When did Zeus stop looking at her like this? She couldn't pinpoint the moment.
But the man before her—her husband, and yet not her husband—looked at her as though she was the very sun, moon, stars, and clouds in his sky.
And this alone, that alone. Was the reason why Hera was willing to hear him out.