Athena was worried. This shouldn't have happened to her. She had sworn of men for all eternity, after all.
"Man, I knew that vow was going to come back and bite me in the ass!" she grumbled.
Her owl observed her but wisely kept his views to himself.
She had fallen in love. Damn it! She was Athena; she had no business being in love. She stood for all woman-kind. She was known as Athena the Virgin, despite what Hephaestus had tried to do to her last year. Gods that guy was ugly. She pitied Aphrodite who had to married to him fro all eternity.
Wait! Aphrodite! Goddess of love! This is all her fault; therefore it's up to her to sort it out.
It was true that they didn't get on, was this revenge over her part in the Trojan War? Well, maybe. They were on opposite sides. But that was only because that ponce Paris had chosen Aphrodite over Hera and herself and named her the most beautiful. Aphrodite owed her. Plus, Athena had some dirt on her. Aphrodite had been fooling around with Ares again. If Hephaestus found out about that…
Aphrodite was fuming. Hippolytus was going to get what was coming to him. No one chose Artemis over her. She was furious because he reviled her and her cult, choosing to worship and dedicate his life to Artemis the Goddess of Pure Love.
Her son, Eros, burst through the doors looking divinely happy.
"What's happened to you? Have you been hanging out with Bacchus again?"
"Who's a genius?! Guess who did the impossible?"
"Who did you hit this time?"
"I broke the shell of Athena. She's in love."
Aphrodite couldn't believe it; this was nothing short of a miracle. Athena was a tougher nut to crack than Hades. Oh that had been a nasty episode, trying to get him to fall for Persephone. "So, who's she fallen for?"
"Apollo."
"Apollo? Are you crazy? Artemis'll kill her. Hmm, this could work to our advantage. Could be interesting to see the showdown."
"APHRODITE!!!" All of the gods on Olympus heard Athena's screech.
Aphrodite quailed. Athena was scary. She'd recently turned Aracne into a spider because she had beaten her in a weaving competition.
The doors of Aphrodite's house flew open. Athena stood there, absolutely enraged. She was holding her sword.
"Eros, run!" Eros obeyed his mother and vanished. Boy they were in trouble. He hadn't seen her this angry since the Golden Apple fiasco. Poor Paris, what a choice he'd had.
He looked around as the other gods gathered outside Aphrodite's house, listening closely to the shouting match coming from his mother and Athena.
"What did you do?" Hera shouted at him.
"I caused a little mayhem with my arrows. Sorry Apollo."
"Wait, you did this to me? You made me fall for her?! Oh you are so dead!"
Eros took off quickly as Apollo grabbed Artemis' bow and arrows and set off after him.
"Aphrodite! I demand you fix this! This can't happen! What if the mortals found out?! I'd never live it down. And I know I won't live it down with the gods either."
"I can't fix it. It's Eros, you need to talk to him."
Athena seemed to calm down a little. She smiled evilly. "You see, Aphrodite, I happen to know something, about you, as it happens. Would you like me to have a little chat with your husband about, say Ares, and what you get up to with him?"
"You really take after your Uncle Hades, don't you? Alright, I'll see what I can do. Just don't give me away. Please."
"Thank you. Oh, by the way, dad wants to see you. Something to do with not meddling with mortals."
"He can't talk and neither can you! You're always helping those dashing heroes. And Zeus sows his seed in every pretty nymph and princess he can find."
"Don't you dare talk like that about my father!" she was angry again.
When Athena emerged from the dreadfully pale pink villa belonging to Aphrodite she saw Eros zooming down the street, with Apollo hot on his heels firing arrows at him. As they drew near Athena caught Eros by the scruff of his neck and lifted him from the ground. Apollo screeched to a halt beside her.
"Eros, my boy!" she said jovially. "Come have some nectar with me, we need to talk."
"So sorry, Athena, can't. Mother wants me for something."
"My dear boy, that wasn't an offer… that was an order. Come on. See you later Apollo. Oh and tell you're muses to come and have drinkies with me tonight. It's been ages since we had a little chat."
"Anything for you. Good luck with the boy." He smirked and flew off.
Athena smiled and wandered up the other way still carrying the boy, who was struggling to escape, but having no luck; Athena was immensely strong.
She dumped him in a chair and he felt eyes staring at him. It was her owl, Lydian. He never liked that owl, it knew more than it should do and it was Athena's favourite spy.
"Now, Eros, I have a problem, I was wondering if you could help." She had snuck up on him and set a tray of nectar on a table between them. Eros had a funny feeling she would throw it at him at some point.
"What seems to be the problem?" he said as innocently as he could, trying desperately to hide the fear from her.
"YOU ARE MY PROBLEM!!!!"
That was the trouble with Athena, she was so unpredictable. There was going to be hell to pay. Great.
