Diana had had many wishes in her life. One of them had come true, and she had paid dearly for it in the bargain. And now, another wish, one that she wanted more than all the rest put together - that Thor might follow MODOK as he fled, and find safer ground than this. But as always, Diana’s wishes were as dust, and instead, Thor came to stand at her side on this battlefield, exactly where she did not want him, and was terrified for him to be.
And Ares knew. Of course he did. His gaze flipped between Thor and Diana once more, and he gave a simple, short nod. “Ah,” he said lightly, and summoned his own sword, that which Diana lacked. His had always been larger anyway, flames and dark metal and death in his hands, and Diana thought to herself again that the Amazons were a pack of liars, because she damn well knew fear.
She did not even realize that her inner monologue had extended to cursing. “He will not run, will he? You do like them brave, I’ll give you that.”
And then Ares came for them, and Diana’s sole focus was drawing his attention, keeping him engaged with her. It was a fool’s errand, for in truth it seemed that Ares had very little interest in killing her. Most of his blows missed, but Diana was not left feeling confident in light of that, because most of hers did, too, and Ares was not focused on her. Her brother was infinitely crueler than Diana had the capacity to be, and he knew that her death was not what had put the terror in her big brown eyes.
No, that would be the Lug, and Ares did so love watching his sister cry. He could hardly be blamed for that; their own father had begat her intending that she should kill him. Of course Ares didn’t like her, and never had.