Chapter 2: Being a good brother

While Apollo was having a panic attack, the gods heard footsteps approaching. Nyx looked to the source of those sounds before smiling. The whole mountain of Olympus suddenly darkened.

Nyx: Oh my~ I did not think this mortal would even catch your attention, my husband, Erebus.

The man had no distinctive features. The best description would be a shadow imitating the form of a man.

Erebus: He can bring for your night, but the source of that power is linked with me. If I did not know better, I would mistake him for our newest child. As you said, he is very interesting. He has yet to be consumed by the chaos of his darkness.

They all looked at the mortal in question. For a better description, he looked like a white-haired Tosen from bleach minus the blindness. He was having trouble shaping the darkness he had summoned.

Mael: Damn it! Precision control is harder as the output grows. *Sigh* Let's try it one more time.

The gods kept observing as he practices his powers.

Erebus: Hm. Very interesting.

Erebus moved his arm toward the image of Mael. He then left followed by Nyx as she wanted to ask her husband the reason behind blessing the mortal. She did as such when they were out of Olympus and arrived in their realm.

Nyx: Why did you bless that mortal?

Erebus: You already know the reason.

Nyx: Humor me.

Erebus: He is bringing chaos to this world thus I wanted to reward him.

Nyx: Hm~ That is odd. I did not sense evil in him to bring chaos to the point that warranted your reward.

Erebus: My love, would you stop identifying Chaos with those impersonators with screwed loose in their heads? Lord of Chaos is what they call themselves. There are just a bunch of lunatics that took that name after mortals gave them such a name. True chaos is unpredictable yet all they do is repeat their last actions.

Nyx: Then, how will he bring true chaos to this world?

Erebus: Not will but is bringing chaos for the simple fact that he was not meant to exist. That fact alone means that he has thrown Destiny into a frenzy trying to figure out the cause of his existence.

Nyx: Oh~ to be able to throw the oldest of the endless into a frenzy, I can see why you would take a liking to that mortal. Let's just hope "HE" doesn't decide to erase that mortal.

Erebus: There are an infinite number of realities, and he is aware of every single instance of all those realities. Do you really think that mortal would still be alive if the "present" didn't wish it to be?

Nyx: Well, this means we will have some entertainment for the next millennia at least. I do hope he lives till an eon.

Erebus: We could ask my brother, Chronos but that would ruin the fun.

[AN: Chronos is the primordial god of time, not the TITAN KRONOS]

Nyx: If you gave him a gift, I might as well do the same.

Erebus: Oh? What will you give him?

Nyx: Tell me your reward first.

Erebus: *Scoff* Fine keep your secret. We will just have to guess each other's gift to the mortal.

The primordial couple watched as the mortal kept training.

---

For fifty years, nothing interesting happened. Diana and Mael lived on Themyscira. They trained to hone their skill, but they still missed the outside world. Mael had forgotten a lot of his past life since he had spent thousands of years on Themyscira but living in the outside world awakened some of his forgotten memory, they were mostly that of the luxury of the modern world.

One day something happened. Diana got pregnant. Mael was shocked as all those years he thought he was sterile. He instinctively knew he could create demons with the powers of darkness but after all those years of… well you know, battle of the hips, he thought that he was either sterile or Diana was infertile. There was a simple way of seeing which one it was, but he loved Diana too much to cheat on her and he would go full demon on the first guy that would dare go for Diana. What Mael did not know was that Diana would not be able to have a child before leaving the island as it would interfere with her destiny.

During the nine months of Diana's pregnancy, Mael did not leave Diana's side. It had gotten to the point that Diana would sometime kick him out due to his overprotectiveness. At the end of the nine months, both Diana and Mael's wishes were granted.

Each of them did not want the child's gender to be the same as their partner. Mael knew that if he had a daughter, he would spoil her to the core. After thousands of years of longing for a child, he was self-aware enough to know that he would be an extra overprotective father.

Diana did not want their child to be a boy as there was still the risk of that child being exiled from the island. No matter the gender, she would love her child, but she knew that if the child was to be exiled, one of them would go with the child. Mael would go before she utters a single word of objection. She knew he cared for her too much to let her throw away her home.

On the day of Diana's delivery, everyone expected one baby, but they got two. One baby girl, Donna who was the oldest, and her little brother, Zeldris. Contrary to her fear, the Amazon loved Zeldris too much to exile him.

Five years went by fast, and the couple was told by everyone that they should let Mael in charge of Zeldris while Diana should be in charge of Donna. When they asked for the reason, it was Hippolyta who answered their question.

Hippolyta: Why? It is because they have started to catch on that you would let them do anything. Mael, when Donna asked you to give her your SunShine, you almost said yes immediately. Luckily Diana was there to refuse at your behest.

Diana: Ha! You can't say no to your little girl. *Chuckles*

Hippolyta: And you Diana, when Zeldris wanted to avoid training, you said he could stop for the week and he would have for it, not to Mael who increased his training after finding out about it.

Mael: You were saying? *Smirk*

Once this was decided, the couple thought it would be good to return to the world of man. They could show their children the world, they told them when they tucked them to bed. In 2001, they went to Washington, DC. It barely took a week before Diana became famous again. People recognize her as Wonder Woman and she becomes the city's Hero.

Her new identity given by the government was Diana Prince. She was a single mother who lost her husband to cancer and decided to move to Washington, Dc along with her daughter, Donna Prince. Mael's new Identity was Estarossa King, a single father who lost his wife during childbirth. He raised his son while traveling but decided to settle in Washington, DC.

Donna looked like a Diana to a tee. She had Mael's eye and light caramel skin. It was discovered during their fourth birthday that she had inherited, Mael's ARK powers along with the strength and talent of an amazon.

Zeldris looked like Mael with black hair but he had Diana's eyes. It was discovered during their fourth birthday that he had inherited, Mael's power of darkness along with the strength and talent of an amazon.

Whether that was all they inherited from their mother was up to the future to decide. Although Diana went to become a hero, Mael chose to become the babysitter of their children. He did not see the point to fight people that were weaker than him. He still did heroic deeds but unlike Diana's deeds, his remained unnoticed or rather remained unlinked to him.

He would activate his [Commandment of Love] or [Commandment of Piety] whenever there was a robbery or other crime. If the criminal did not have hate in their heart, they would follow Mael's order to turn themselves in when they turned their back on him even if it was unknowingly.

In the cases, the crime was too great to let it happen, Mael would his [arrow of light]. He had gained enough control over the years to turn any ARK attack invisible. If the crimes had no witness, he would just use his [Breath of Bless] and order the criminal to turn themselves in.

A year went by quickly, and Diana had gotten two archnemeses. The first was their mutual friend who had gotten into an accident and had her D.N.A permanently changed. She became close to a feral beast. She now called herself Cheetah.

The other was a guy who pretended to be the god of war, Ares, at the very least that was what Mael thought. Since if he was the god of war, he would not have been defeated by Diana. What Mael had forgotten to factor in was that he had given Diana access to Sunshine. She got a passive boost without even activating it.

This gave her an edge over Ares since he could not use any more power than he had used in their fight. Any more would have gotten the attention of the other gods. It had already gotten to the point where the other Greek gods would have noticed it but a certain overpowered couple intervened as they did not want their favorite show to be tainted by the Olympians.

At one point, Ares had enough of losing and decided to unleash more power. Diana was having a normal day. She and Mael had decided to spend the whole day with their children. Mael made breakfast while Diana went to wake up the kids. They ate together before going to an amusement park. After four hours of fun, they decided to sightsee Washington, DC.

During the first year, they were busy adjusting to the place as well as trying to blend in to sightsee the city as much as they wanted. After two hours, they decided to take a break and go to a local restaurant. Mael and Diana enjoyed the food but not as much as they enjoyed seeing the smile on Donna and Zeldris' faces during the whole day.

As they were leaving the restaurant, Mael suddenly grabbed his wife and kids in an ARK and sent it flying before something smashed through the building facing them and rammed into him. This sent him flying across the city.

He had jumped when he was being rammed thus, he would not hit anyone as he was leaving the city. He knew that the thing that had rammed him would follow since it was Ares. Mael knew his goal was him today, he did not know the reason behind it but the fact that Diana was sent flying, but Ares did not even look in her direction proved it.

Mael landed on the edge of the city. He waited for a minute before Ares appeared in front of him.

Mael: This is the part where you tell me the reason behind your attack before I beat you.

Ares: HAHAHA! You are a funny mortal. I can not lose to you. That Wonder Woman as you call it is in a special circumstance but sadly for you, you are not. I figure the best way to teach her not to cross me ever again is to kill the one she loves. She will have those children of her as a reminder of what she can lose.

Mael: *Chuckle* I see, you want to kill me then how about a little game?

Ares: No game will save your life-

Mael: The game is each one of us will hit the other who will take the hit. If the other survives it is his turn to hit and none is allowed to run away.

Ares was mad that a mortal interrupted him, but his anger vanished when that mortal told him about a game he loved. He loved it for the simple reason that he had created that game. Ares was not stupid. He knew Mael was a strong mortal, but he was a mortal, nonetheless.

He had seen Mael along with the other Greek gods. He even knew about Mael's so-called [Commandment of Truth]. That would not affect him as he was a god, but he knew such a thing had a catch. It was likely to affect even its user, with this Ares thought that Mael could not run away.

Ares: Very well, as gracious as I am I will allow you the first hit-UARGH

Mael had punched Ares in the stomach. It had caved his body upon impact. Ares was now on the ground clenching his stomach.

Mael: Let me teach you a few rules.

Ares: *Huf**Huf*

Ares looks up to see Mael with anger in his eyes.

Mael: Rule #1: Never threaten my family.

Ares stood up; he was enraged.

Ares: A mortal looked down on me. Not even a demigod like that bitch but a MORTAL!!

Ares was angry no matter how weak he was compared to his peak; this did not manage to confront his ego. He was strong during times of War. Right now, they were more peace than there was war. The tension of war did not count.

He also had to lower his strength so as not to catch the attention of the other gods. Let's not forgot that he had been caught off guard. This still did nothing to salvage his damaged pride. He conjured a sword and struck Mael with all the strength the weaker version of his body could muster.

The strick carried so much force that it destroyed part of the forest that was behind Mael. It was no longer visible, only tree trunks that were cut. Diana managed to arrive there with her kids. Mael and Diana had agreed that one of them must always be with their kids if the other is fighting someone.

After seeing the things, they saw in World War II, they knew that some people would go low enough if their greed demanded it. When they came to the site, they saw a cloud of dust covering Ares and Mael. As the dust settled down, they saw that Ares had injured Mael. Yes, one drop of blood was leaking out of the small cut on his left arm.

Mael raised his right arm. His right hand was close except for his index which was pointing up. Near that index, a gigantic ball of fire akin to a sun manifested itself. It had a mix of yellow, orange, and red lights. Everyone, that was present, could see flames swirling in and out of the now miniature Sun.

Mael: Rule #2: Never plan or cause my family harm.

Mael's eyes were covered by shadow due to the intense and oppressing light of the miniature Sun. He took a deep breath and exhaled before opening his blue eyes that now had a tint of red.

Mael: [Deadliest Sun- Huh?! I guess this was too much for you.

Mael was about to attack Ares when he saw that Ares had become a statue. He ran away and saw that Diana was behind him along with her kids, but he had no time to think as the curse turned him into stone instantly.

Mael and Diana decided to throw the statue into the sea after laughing at Ares's frozen expression. They went about their day but what they did not know was that they were not the only ones to laugh at Ares. Erebus and Nyx had decided to remove the cloak they had put on Mael as it was limiting the possibility of their entertainment.

Hephaestus happened to be mad that his wife was talking about her lover and decided to see if his brother was having a bad day in the hopes of cheering himself up. He saw that Ares had been brought to his knees by a mortal. Being in his weaker form did not matter to Hephaestus.

Hephaestus might hate his little brother, but he was still his brother nonetheless, he would not tell his shame to anyone. He just coincidently happens to call Hermes to exchange greetings and then did some stretch as the mortals call it with his left hand.

Hermes happened to look where Hephaestus left hand was stretching and caught the image of Ares being brought to his knees by a blow from a mortal. Hephaestus told Hermes not to tell anyone. He closed his eyes for a second and saw that Hermes was gone.

Hephaestus had done what he could. He confronted himself that he did not "tell" anyone of his brother's shame. It barely took a moment before all the Greek gods in Olympus knew what was happening and came to see it for themselves.

Hephaestus being the good brother that he was decided to stay and defend his brother's state by explaining things in detail by showing his memory. Again, he did not "tell" anyone of his brother's shame.

The Greek Gods laughed when they saw it. They laughed, even more, when they saw that Ares had turned into stone, though some were curious as to why it affected Ares.

Athena: It should not have affected him, but it did.

Zeus: *Chuckles* It should be because of Nyx or Erebus. They must have blessed him. Anyway, let's leave that mortal be, Erebus and Nyx have their plans for him. It is better to let them have him. Hermes, go bring your brother back.

Zeus' reason for letting Mael alone was not as he had stated. He wanted to avoid his wife finding out that Mael's wife was his daughter. The less attention they paid to him the better. Hephaestus decided to make a piece of art. It was a statue of Ares, identical to how he had been turned into stone. Hephaestus decided to show it to the banquet that was happening that night.

Everyone laughed at the statue but what everyone but two was ignorant of was that Hephaestus was a good brother. He could not bring himself to even make a statue "telling" his brother's shame. He then decided to bring the genuine article. Ares cursed as oud as his mind could, but no one could hear him.