I've always found I carry a soft spot for Hephaestus, and I love Athena, so I decided to write this just for fun. Please REVIEW!!! Thanks!
Introduction
Mount Olympus High School was recognized throughout Greece to be the most prestigious, elite private school that any financially fortunate parent could send their lucky child. It was equipped with the best facilities, boasted the most qualified and sought-after teachers, and the education it provided was strictly reserved for the unimaginably wealthy or blossoming intelligentsia. On any given day, one could walk the halls of Mount Olympus and cross paths with (and be snickered and whispered at by) the guaranteed Successors to Power in the nation of Greece. All the students at Mount Olympus could, and constantly did, brag about the privileged circumstances of their lives, whether it was a kingdom they would soon inherit (once they overthrew their father), or their "personal connections" with a particular God or Goddess (acquired with incessant obsequious behavior).
The Gods and Goddesses were the most select and influential group of students at Mount Olympus, and they ruled over the school, including the faculty and administration, as if it were Greece itself. They were the undisputed leaders, and to defy them or disrupt their reign was to commit a most dangerous and unforgivable offense. Simply failing to compliment the new hair accessory of a particularly vain Goddess could easily find you with a month's worth of detentions, a failing grade in a class, and almost always several weeks of social isolation.
The Gods, as they were commonly referred to, were comprised of eight students: Zeus, the head honcho and leader of the pack, whose word unquestionably went without argue; Hera, Zeus' girlfriend and oldest of the Goddesses; Athena, wise, but at times belligerent; The twins Aphrodite and Aphrodite, who shared the same name but none of the same personality traits; Hades, Zeus' older but considerably more emotional brother; Ares, foolish, hot-headed, and violent; and finally, the protagonist of this story and coincidentally the oddest of The Gods, Hephaestus.
Hephaestus was unlike the other Gods in that he was only one of them who was flawed in a way that was visibly detectable. That is to say, he was not an embodiment of physical perfection. Hephaestus walked with a limp, as his right leg was defectively twisted outward at the knee, rendering it useless and cursing the rest of him. It was silently wondered by every other student at Mount Olympus just what, exactly, had qualified him for his Godly status. Most had come to the conclusion that it was either because he was Ares' older brother or that he was the boyfriend of one of the Aphrodites, which was a mystery in and of itself. Despite all the girls at Mount Olympus who would sell their soul to date a God, any God, Hephaestus loved Aphrodite, perhaps the most anti-relationship, promiscuous female to attend that high school. Why Aphrodite allowed him to date her was not so confusing; who else would give her such free reign in regards to other male individuals?
Hephaestus lived his life day by day, and, also unlike any of the other Gods, he never took for granted the perks that came with his high standing. He smiled at the non-Gods who quickly gave him the right of way in the hall as he hobbled in his off-beat gait to his next class, and he thanked the near immediate hand that retrieved his dropped pencil, instead of snatching it away from non-divine fingers. It was because of this conduct that caused Hephaestus to be generally well-liked by the "mortals" of the school, but disrespected and not quite shunned by his fellow Gods (with the exception of Athena, his older sister).
Hephaestus took his greatest joy in two things: his girlfriend, and his Woods class. His girlfriend because he loved her, and his Woods class because his art loved him. No other artisan in Greece could compare with Hephaestus' talent for crafting, and his intricate, unique designs left all who beheld them in utter awe and fascination. Even, occasionally, Aphrodite, which gave him the utmost satisfaction. He spend the vast majority of his class time fashioning anything he thought might please her, and many of his most outstanding pieces were made in her honor. He also, from time to time, carved trinkets for his sister, whom he respected more than any other of The Gods. She had told him once, when they were younger, that the love and energy needed to make his leg work had been put into his hands at his leg's expense, but she thought it was worth the sacrifice.
So it happened that it was Athena who asked Hephaestus to fashion the most beautiful jewel he had in his collection into a pendant for her to wear to that year's prom (Mount Olympus proms were famous throughout the country for their lavish extravagance). She requested this of him because she trusted no one but her younger brother to produce an item that was truly up to the standards of a Goddess, and (though she wouldn't admit it to herself), she felt the desire to express the compassion she had toward her brother, whom she inwardly recognized as the only one scorned among The Gods. Which is why her anger was more injured feelings than it was anger when he refused.
"I've already promised that jewel to Aphrodite," he said, "Can you pick another?"
But Athena would not. No other jewel but the absolute one of her dreams would suffice, and being denied what she wanted, by Hephaestus no less, was an emotion a Goddess was not used to coping with. In fact, it frustrated Athena to such an extent that she forced herself to examine why she felt the way she did, and, in her conclusion, she made a firm decision that the one truly responsible for her lack of one perfect jewel was not her brother, but, indeed, her brother's dim-witted girlfriend. She therefore made a vow to do two things before the ceremonious dance took place: she would separate her brother and her fellow Goddess (and blame it on the mortals, however she chose to accomplish this), and she would acquire that jewel which rightly belonged to her.
And Hephaestus, in-love, in-fatuated, and lonely, was completely unaware.