No More Olympus

Chapter 7

"And it should be on our left, right... now!" Athena announced, using the map on her phone to track down Aphrodite's address.
Ares stopped the truck, and the two peered through the left side window.
After several more hours of driving in silence, the two had finally made it to California. Ares made a point to scoff at the state seal on the highway sign, which depicted the goddess Athena sitting next to a bear.
Athena rolled her eyes and made a mental note to look into likeness misappropriation law when she got home.
Eventually, they made it to Los Angeles and found themselves facing a collection of stores all crammed into a tiny building in the middle of town. It was the type of place that you would completely overlook unless you were directly looking for it.
"There is no way she is here," Ares commented, "This place is a dump."
"And your gym is the Taj Mahal?" Athena asked dryly.
"You must have typed the address wrong," Ares objected.
"I know how to use Google Maps," Athena defended, "This is the address. We're just not looking hard enough."
"Let me see," Ares demanded, reaching to pull the phone out of Athena's hand.
"I'm not giving you my phone," Athena refused.
"Give it to me," he repeated.
"No," She refused.
Ares quickly undid his seatbelt and reached out to take Athena's phone from her.
"Get off me," Athena spat, holding her phone out the passenger side window so it would be out of her brother's reach.
"Just stop being a child and give me the phone!" Ares demanded, climbing over her to reach the device.
"Stop being a child trying to take it from me," Athena argued, pushing against his face with her hand.
Ares struggled to push against his sister's hand, waving his arms frantically in an attempt to weaken her grip.
"Yeah," Athena mocked, "Struggle, what are gonna do now?"
Ares then took the opportunity to lick her hand.
"Oh my god, Ew!" Athena exclaimed, pulling her hand away, "What is wrong with you? Why do you have so much spit?"
"You know a lot of women like a lot of saliva," Ares explained,
Athena went to shudder, but when she looked up, she noticed a couple exiting a door from the building next to them.
"It becomes useful when you-" Ares continued.
"Shut up," Athena interrupted.
"Oh, come on," Ares sneered, "Calm down. We are both adults here."
"No, it's not that," Athena explained, "It'll never be that. Look over there."
Ares turned his head to look at the couple Athena was referencing.
"Doesn't that look familiar?" she asked.
"What, do you know those people?" he asked.
"No, not the people, the expressions," Athena explained, "Look at how giggly they are, the dull look in their eyes, how sweaty their hair is, the way they're walking wrong."
"Marijuana will do that to you," Ares shrugged.
"It's not pot," Athena said, "That looks exactly like what Aphrodite's... guests would look like when they left home the next morning."
"Are you sure?" Ares asked, "There are a lot of drugs that make people act like that."
"We lived right next to each other back on Olympus," Athena explained, "I ran into her guests on my way to breakfast, believe me, I know that look."
Ares sighed as he stared at the door.
"You know I remember seeing that look in your eyes regularly," Athena commented, "You were especially giggly."
"I was never 'giggly,'" Ares denied.
Athena stared at him.
"If I agree to go inside will this be the end of this conversation?" he asked.
"No promises," Athena responded.
The two stepped out of the truck, leaving it parked on the side of the street as they cautiously approached the single glass door between the investment office and the frozen yogurt restaurant.
"This can't be it," Ares insisted as the two entered the building,
Athena took notice of the sign on the wall.
"Ares, check it out," Athena said, "Second-floor 'Seashells'."
Ares immediately recognized the significance of this title,
Aphrodite loved seashells. If she wasn't in her temple on Olympus entertaining guests or off on her Olympian duties assigned by Zeus, she could be found on a beach near the city of Pafos on the island of Cyprus, the place of her birth, usually tanning, swimming or collecting the hundreds of seashells that she would polish and display throughout her home. Them finding a business with this title at this address meant that Aphrodite was almost definitely here.
"First-floor Los Angeles Crematorium," Ares read aloud,
"If we have time," Athena shrugged, walking up the stairs to 'Seashells' with Ares shortly behind her.
Immediately upon opening the door decorated in ivory white letters, the two were confronted by a smell, the scent of roses, chocolate, various spices and a somewhat foul odour Athena couldn't recognize filled their lungs as they walked toward the front desk.
"Hello there," said the young woman at the front desk, dressed in all white with flawless makeup and hair, "Welcome to Seashells, where ultimate pleasure is what we offer. How may I help you today?"
"Oh," Athena began, regaining her composure, "We're looking for someone, does a woman named Aphrodite work here?"
"Oh yes," The woman smiled suggestively, "In fact, she's the owner, but she's with a customer right now, but I'll put you on her schedule. Can I get a name?"
"No, no, no," Athena interrupted, frantically trying to stop her from typing into the computer right next to her, "It's not that kind of visit. We just need to speak with her."
"Can I ask what this is about?" the woman asked.
"It's personal," Athena avoided, "Just tell her... Athena is here to see her, and it's kind of an emergency."
"Okay, I'll go get her right now," The woman offered, moving out from behind the desk and walking down the hall.
"What the hell is this place?" Athena asked Ares after making sure everyone else was out of earshot.
"I'm not sure," Ares shrugged, "But it reminds me of her old bedroom."
"Smells like an STD in here," Athena commented, her nose recoiling as the smell burned her nostrils.
"No," Ares corrected, "That's something else."
"I'm scared to ask what it is," Athena commented.
Ares paused and stared at her for a moment.
"You are not ready," He said, refusing to answer the question.
"I'll take your word for it," she sighed.
"Never thought I would see you two in here!" said a very melodic-sounding voice from behind them.
The two turned to face the voice with smiles that quickly and awkwardly disappeared when they saw her in person.
She had her honey-blond hair done up with an expensive-looking golden pin with a rose made from jewels sticking out at the end.
The pin was all she was wearing.
Athena looked up toward the ceiling. Ares didn't even attempt to avert his eyes.
"Hi, Aphrodite," Athena greeted, keeping her eyes locked to the ceiling.
"What's with you, Gray?" Aphrodite, the goddess of love, asked, "It's been more than two thousand years. Aren't you happy to see me?"
"It's not that we're not happy to see you," Athena explained, "It's just that we may be seeing too much of you."
Aphrodite looked down at herself.
"Prudes," she sneered.
Almost immediately, clothes began to appear out of nowhere with a brilliant golden glow. Covering her in her old familiar dress made from pink silk that slowly faded to indigo the closer you got to her feet, covered with small jewelled armour pieces forged by Hephaestus and marked with the omega symbol signalling her allegiance to Olympus. Her hair fell to her shoulders as the pin disappeared with the transformation and a circlet appeared on her forehead.
Finally, a large silver and gold belt wrapped itself around her stomach.
"Is that better?" Aphrodite asked with a hint of annoyance in her voice.
Athena looked down at her now-clothed body.
As you would expect from an immortal, Aphrodite had not aged a day.
The beauty that had driven the entire land of Greece insane, the beauty that could make both straight women and gay men question their sexuality, the beauty that was her greatest weapon, had remained frozen in time. Her skin was perfect porcelain. Her eyes were pearls, both of these attached to a body that moved as smoothly as a stream of water flowing down a hill.
'It's not that much better,' Athena thought to herself.
Of all of the sets of armour that she and the smithing God had made for the Olympians. It was always Athena's opinion that Aphrodite's dress was the most insufficient, having bare arms, legs and an unreasonably low neckline that went down beneath her belt, it looked more like it was designed to be removed as quickly as possible rather than to protect in battle. She was in no position to complain, however. The clothes had been made in according togoddess'sesses wishes, and she seemed more than happy with the gift provided by her then-husband.
"It's good enough," Athena shrugged as Aphrodite pulled her into a hug that caught her off guard.
"Damn it," Aphrodite remarked, pulling away but still keeping a hand on Athena's shoulder, "You're still taller than me."
Aphrodite was by far the most confident Olympian, showing absolutely no hint of any body image issues whatsoever, that was, at least except for her height. She was the shortest Olympian and had been regularly teased for it. Those who mocked her, however, had a strange habit of waking up the following day in the middle of the Olympus grand courtyard utterly naked with the word 'ilíthios' written on their butt in charcoal-stained honey for all gods to see, all with no memory of the night before or how they got there.
"That wasn't really going ever to change," Athena shrugged, keeping up an awkward smile.
"So, how are you, Gray?" Aphrodite asked, bringing back up Athena's old nickname, "How's exile treating you? Did you gain weight?"
"It's barely over five pounds! I-," Athena stopped herself and took a deep breath, "Whatever, I clearly haven't been doing as well as you have. I mean, look at this place."
"I know, right," Aphrodite bragged, "It took me a while, but I finally got myself a place that reminds me of my old place on Olympus."
"It certainly does that," Athena agreed.
Ares awkwardly cleared his throat.
"Ares," Aphrodite greeted, her voice filled with venom as she spoke his name.
"Aphrodite," Ares greeted back, "You look good."
"Of course I do," Aphrodite responded, "You look..."
Aphrodite paused for a moment to analyze the God of War. Athena noticed she had a hard time keeping her gaze away from his massive arm and chest muscles.
"...Fine," Aphrodite said unconvincingly.
Athena stood awkwardly as the two stared at each other; she began to feel like a third wheel.
It would be an understatement to say the two had a history,
Aphrodite was born an orphan and raised in the city of Pafos. She was forced to grow up begging for scraps to survive until several years into her life she discovered her godly powers including beyond superhuman beauty and the ability to control and enamour the minds and hearts of both men and women. She used this to quickly rise to power in the city. Controlling the city leaders from behind the scenes. She eventually found her way to Sparta and continued her king manipulation shenanigans there. These actions grabbed the attention of Zeus who deemed her powers strong enough to be worthy of a seat on the Olympian Council. Shortly after the matter of her title was settled, some believed she was a war god given her ability to inspire conflict between men, but after some debate, it was settled that she was nothing more than an exceptionally powerful love goddess considering that she lacked some of the other traits that made a war god such as above-average strength or any natural skill in combat.
Many theories bounced around concerning Aphrodite's parentage, which was a question she herself was curious about. Some believed she was a direct descendent of the sky primordial Ouranos, or even perhaps a descendant of Zeus himself. There was also a universal agreement that she bore a striking resemblance to the Titaness Dione who had not been heard from for some time before she popped up.
Regardless of how she got there, once she had made it to Olympus, she began to cause problems, given that most other goddesses were already married or sworn virgins. The existence of an eligible bachelorette, especially one as beautiful and evidently available as Aphrodite, drove the many male gods crazy. Constantly fighting between themselves over Aphrodite.
To avoid war, Zeus took it upon himself to marry Aphrodite to his son Hephaestus who the consensus agreed was the ugliest of the gods, hoping that in one way or another, the two would balance each other out. It also didn't hurt that he owed his son a favour at the time.
Neither god had an interest in the other, though, Hephaestus always kept himself locked away in his forge, and Aphrodite decided to have an affair with Ares to keep herself entertained. That is until Hephaestus found out about the affair by catching the two in the act and leaving Aphrodite on the spot, publicly embarrassing the two.
This sudden exposure stained Aphrodite's relationship with Ares as well. The two would occasionally rendezvous when they were in the mood. Still, the two never were able to lock each other down in any meaningful way, slowly growing further and further apart until the fall of Olympus, where they were separated until this very moment.
Athena cleared her throat, bringing both gods out of their trances.
"Aphrodite, as much as we're enjoying the reunion, we need to talk," she explained.
"Yeah, no shit," Aphrodite said, her mood still clearly soured by the mere presence of Ares, "Follow me. I need to show you something."
She led the two down the hallway toward her office.
Sure she would regret it, but a slave to her own curiosity Athena peeked into one of the open hallway doors to see what was inside.
There she saw a woman fast asleep, wearing a bathrobe, a green face mask and a pair of cucumber slices on her eyes with her hair floating in some foamy water.
"Oh, it's a spa," Athena sighed in release, putting her hands on her knees, "Thank god."
"Of course, it's a spa," Aphrodite chuckled, "What else would it be?
"I thought it was..." Athena hesitated, standing back up, "Never mind."
Aphrodite shrugged, "We don't have time now, but next time you come in is on me. We can finally do something about your pores."
"What's wrong with my pores?" Athena asked as they continued down the hall, touching her face self-consciously,
Ares shrugged.

The three gods quickly shuffled into Aphrodite's office.
"Wait, you know the box has been opened?" Athena questioned as Aphrodite locked the door behind them.
"How do you two know the box has been opened?" Aphrodite asked, turning the question back on them.
"The Gorgon sisters attacked us in a park in Alabama," Ares explained, "They're dead now."
"And how did you two find each other?" Aphrodite asked.
"The world's worst coincidence," Athena sighed before quickly explaining how she reunited with Ares.
"Well, the fates can be very inconsiderate bitches," Aphrodite remarked, "With you, two reunited, I'm surprised you haven't had one of your spats and made the news."
"We do not have spats," Ares guffawed.
"Really?" Aphrodite chuckled, "The craters at the base of Olympus said otherwise."
Ares and Athena both fell silent.
"Back to the topic of the box," Athena shifted.
"Yes, of course," Aphrodite reminded herself, walking over to the closet next to her desk and grabbing the handle, "The day before yesterday, a client came into work. Asked for me specifically, so we meet in one of the rooms and he suddenly attacks me, and then well..."
She hesitated for a moment before opening the closet door,
The body of an abnormally large man flopped out of the closet. It was apparent to Athena that the man was dead.
"What is this?" Athena demanded, fearing the worst in the back of her mind.
"Turn him over," Aphrodite ordered Ares.
Ares complied, using his strength to flip the body onto his back easily.
Blood was dripping down the man's hoodie from a large gash around his neck. Aside from his abnormal size, there was nothing strange about him. His hood was covering the top half of his face.
Aphrodite carefully leaned down and pulled the hood off his head.
Only then did Athena understand as a single giant eye looked up at her.
"A Cyclops," Ares remarked, saying aloud what they were all thinking.
"Not just any Cyclops," Aphrodite explained, "I know this one, his name was Ganadis. I promised him that Eros would make that little twerp Psyche fall in love with him until the little winged romantic fell in love with her himself. Ganadis was not exactly happy, I guess grudges only multiply when you're locked in the box for thousands of years."
"Was this you?" Athena asked, pointing to the gash on the body's neck.
"Of course," Aphrodite confirmed, pulling her dagger from its place on her hip. A blade that had been given to her by Ares as a 'romantic' gift. It was a gift she seemed to be quite fond of despite their history.
"Nice clean-cut," Ares remarked, seemingly impressed.
"You just remember that," Aphrodite said, holding her chin high and sliding her knife back into its sheath.
"It's no coincidence that this Cyclops was sent for you," Athena thought aloud, "Just like it was no mistake the gorgons were sent after me. Whoever is sending them knows about us."
"I don't think he was trying to kill me," Aphrodite thought back, "He was trying to knock me out, choke me unconscious. But jokes on him I've been choked by better."
"The gorgons had Athena at their mercy for a moment," Ares began, "Any half-competent warrior knows that blades are the fastest way to kill someone up close like that, but she was looking to petrify you, which being a god you would eventually heal out of."
"Then who sent them?" Aphrodite asked, "Whoever they are, they knew to send monsters which had personal vendettas against us. They knew petrifying a god of war was the only way to make her come along quietly short of killing her, and they knew to send monsters with tracking abilities. So the question is, who in Tartarus is this guy?"
"I think his name is Wallace King," Athena said, "He's some archeologist working in Greece. I think he opened the box and sent the monsters."
"Well, do we know where he is?" Aphrodite asked.
"No," Athena sighed, "We need to consider our next move."
"I don't know about you guys," Aphrodite smiled, putting her hands together, "But I'm starving, and I can't think on an empty stomach."
"We don't really have time-," Athena began to object.
"I could eat," Ares interrupted.
"Wonderful!" Aphrodite cheered, "Let me get changed, and we'll go."
In the blink of an eye, her armour disappeared, and her hair tied itself back up as her hairpin reappeared.
Athena immediately spun around to preserve any shred of Aphrodite's remaining modesty.
Ares remained still.
"Aphrodite!" Athena shouted, annoyed that this awkward situation had happened twice.
"What?" she asked, once again oblivious.
"At least ask us to leave next time," Athena requested.