She had adorned herself in armor that had never been worn before. Not even on the battlefields of Troy did she wear anything but her finest silks and gowns. For all intents and purposes, the armor had been made by Hephaestus' hand simply for a ceremonial value, but had been on display in her closet ever since he gave it to her. The smith god frowned at her choice to wear it now, for when he made it, it was under the expectation that she would never truly ride into battle. In fact, the closer she rode in towards him, the more the stress came over his face as he could see how useless it truly was for combat.
The upper half, or chest plate if one could call it that, ended just below her breasts but kept them in perfect form. The epaulettes elaborately decorated her shoulders with beautiful marble wings, crafted in an upward position to emulate a dove taking off to the air. Starting on the left shoulder curving down onto her breast was the carving of a mortal woman, mourning the loss of her love who, on the right hand side, was in love with Aphrodite and laying down gifts at her temple. Below this design was her exposed stomach, just as she requested, which led the eye down to the battle skirt below. Underneath the metal skirt were several layers of white, pink, sapphire, rouge and whatever colors she had demanded from him. The metal parts of the skirt each were decorated with a marble design of an animal of beauty: a dove, a unicorn, a leopard, a Pegasus, and so on. The rest was decorated with intimate details and every piece of it was covered by some design and carving. But the faults of her armor did not stop there.
The worst of it all had been her helmet: the first design had been beautiful, but too heavy, she complained. The second was too tight, the third too boring. By the fourth round, Hephaestus had chosen to use one of the weakest but lightest materials of the immortal world: it was affectionately called Uranus' tears, for it was a light celestial metal carefully bonded with rain. Completely useless as protection, it had been used by the titans for the final layer of decoration and nothing more. So it had been light weight enough to sit on her head and sturdy enough to hold the second pair of marble wings that were fully extended just behind her ears. At her forehead, the helm dipped down a bit where a dove sat kissing its beau. Finally, Hephaestus noticed as she descended onto the field, she was wearing one of her best sandals; they were made of dyed minotaur skin with white ribbon lacing ties up to her knee. He sighed loudly, wondering what exactly she had thought would happen when she arrived and he started walking to meet her, however the closer she came, the sooner he was beginning to see she wasn't slowing down. His eyebrows furrowed as he waved an arm to see if she would slow for him, but suddenly he realized this wasn't Aphrodite simply joining the battle.
Her face was stained with the tears of her pain while her red eyes told the story of her rage. She had a sneer plastered across her lips as she gripped tightly a sword in her right hand and her left held the reigns of the flying horse. Her hair was blowing fiercely against the wind and she slammed her legs into the side of the poor Pegasus, demanding more speed than its best. She looked terrible, like a fearsome, beserking Amazon, coming to annihilate them all and yet her beauty was more potent and powerful than ever before. The smith god's mouth opened slightly as he felt a fear overcome him and the desire to be near her despite it. As she neared the battle, her screaming became apparent and cut through the air of the field like nothing else. Not even Zeus' terrible thunderous roars could deafen her screams and slowly but surely, everyone in the battle began to turn towards her. The Pegasus struck the ground with a potent blow, causing the earth around the pair to explode from the impact but his momentum was not tarnished; he continued flapping his wings and running through the field, easily blowing by the smith god and heading straight towards Asteria. Athena's eyes snapped to attention as she dodged an incoming attack and she turned to Ares, who had already lead the celestial titan into Aphrodite's path. He backed up, leaving her to the mercy of his love and just as the titan turned to see where the terrible noise was coming from, the sword sliced through her neck in an easy stroke; she was finished.
Ares blinked, staring at the body only for a second before a grin spread quickly across his face. He raised his sword into the air and let out a boastful war cry, too proud of Aphrodite to question her.
"Primordial…" Athena whispered under her breath as she was granted a reprieve from Perses, who collapsed to his knees at the sight of his headless wife. Hephaestus, silenced and amazed by Aphrodite's prowess, was still able to hear the goddess and turned to her, giving her a questioning look. Athena snapped her fingers, as if everything suddenly fell into place and she tried to summon him back to battle. "She's primordial!"
"What?" Hephaestus asked, but it was too late; Athena was already rallying behind her and summoning everyone else to follow her lead, which was no easy feat. Aphrodite had raged through onto Selene and Helios, who had been dominating Artemis and Apollo in the past few hours. Apollo collapsed into his sister's arms as a thick arrow pierced his shoulder, but Aphrodite flew between the pairs of siblings. Her sword swung across the titans' chests, sliced them on their collarbones and causing their armor to fall from their bare chests. Helios grabbed it, pulling it against his chest while Selene let it fall, refusing to let it bother her while the blood ran down her breasts. When the huntress dared to hiss at the desperate twins, it caught Aphrodite's attention who stopped instantly on the Pegasus. Helios put an arm out, trying to guard his sister but she refused his aid and stepped forward, glaring at the goddess.
Aphrodite slid off of the beast and turned, her eyes intensely staring down the huntress with a burning sense of passion. Artemis even grabbed Apollo's hand, squeezing it tightly as she felt a sting of fear for anyone in Aphrodite's path. Screaming as she burst into a run, Aphrodite raised her sword into the sky and with a great cry, Helios jumped in front of her blow, taking it straight through the chest. Aphrodite leaned into the hilt, pushing the sword further down into him as her face tightened and showed no recognition of what she was doing.
"STOP!" Selene screamed in horror as she wrapped her arms around her brother, wrapping her hands around the blade as her brother was gasping for air. As the titan's hands were sliced from the movement, Aphrodite suddenly paused as her pupils shrunk and she felt a pull back into reality. She glanced between Helios and Selene, trying to reconcile exactly what was happening when Apollo pushed her from them.
"What are you doing!" he yelled, horrified at the violence by her hand. Aphrodite suddenly pulled another blade from her belt, raising it high above her head with a screech as her eyes had returned to their reddened, crazed state and she swung her arm down towards Apollo, but the clang of blades brought her back to reality once again as Artemis had blocked her attempt. Artemis stared at her, slightly horrified and confused as to what exactly was going on, but Aphrodite's eyes gave her no indication of clarity; she stared at the huntress for a few seconds before turning off and leaving as quickly as she had come. She left the four to pick up the pieces of the exchange and she ran to the field where Zeus and Gaia were still locked in their vicious cycle of battle. Hades began to run towards Aphrodite to stop her, but Athena yelled out, motioning for him to get out of the way and he listened, backing up for the goddess that didn't even acknowledge his existence as she ran passed.
Theia had been adequately distracted by Demeter and Poseidon for quite some time, but there was very little they could have done to keep her from noticing Aphrodite. She threw out her arm, dipping the ground beneath the crazed goddess to slow her down but she only jumped over it, her eyes never once moving from Gaia's sight. Theia moved to run at the crazed goddess but Demeter intervened, using her shoulder to slam into the titan and the two tumbled to the ground. Poseidon raised his arms, creating water from the ground to pool from underneath them, keeping them occupied with each other rather than Aphrodite. When Athena caught up to Hades, he began to join her in running after the goddess, but they could only watch the event as it unfolded, much too far away to join her.
"What is going on?" Hades yelled to the goddess at his side, briefly glancing to her to see she heard him. She curtly nodded, awarding him the knowledge she heard, but kept her eyes locked on Aphrodite ahead.
"The primordials are a race all their own," the war goddess loudly replied, calmly and informative. "No other immortals dare challenge them, because their might is different than our own. We have always assumed Aphrodite was made of Ouranus, from his body, making her a titan of sorts – but the sea is not her mother. Cutting him was the first real act of love and that is when she came to be. Aphrodite can match them in battle because she is love."
"What?" Hades replied immediately but Athena did not respond. He understood her perfectly, but the information was just too strange to quickly accept. When he looked ahead, all that was in the goddess' wake was a trail of dust and dirt, flying up as she stormed into Zeus and Gaia's duel. "So she wasn't dying …"
"She was hurting," Athena completed with an affirmative tone, nodding curtly once again. "She could feel love dying all around her and it hurt her. Just like Gaia was never dying from the mortals, just pained."
Hades barely had the time to let it all sink in before Aphrodite reached the battlefield between Gaia and Zeus. The crazed goddess divided the two by slamming her sword into the ground between them and the ground around her exploded into a volcano of dirt and mud. Zeus was knocked back, guarding his eyes with his forearm and Gaia disappeared completely, melting in the ground around her. When the dust began to settle, Aphrodite was simply standing there, her sword still deep into the ground and heaving heavily. Zeus frowned, looking around for his opponent and he stepped towards Aphrodite.
"What are you doing?" he asked fairly calm, ignoring his shock at her strength and sudden ferocity in the battle. The need to protect those he loved was not always potent in Zeus; he preferred the prowess of Hera over the weakness of Hestia, for in battle he had no time to be concerned for those that couldn't defend themselves. It had always been in their best interest and his own to leave them on Olympus, ready to feed and nurture the hurt than try to fight and distract him. Therefore seeing the goddess of love, whose activity in battles had always been limited, in gear and with weapon in hand, he felt the need to send her back home. "You shouldn't be here."
Her hand squeezed around the hilt of the sword as her eyes dug into the ground. She scowled at the ground, biting back any response to him as she stared deeply into the earth, awaiting something besides him. Zeus' eyebrows furrowed as he was mixed with anger and confusion, but as he reached out to grab the goddess, he was pulled from behind. Gaia emerged from behind him and coiled her arms around his chest, grinning as she pulled his face next to hers. Aphrodite spun around quickly and as she went to grab her sword, she found it firm and unmovable. Gaia laughed as she slapped her hand over Zeus' mouth and he tried to yell out, but it was suddenly filled with dirt. He closed his eyes, trying to push it out but she was too forceful; as Aphrodite struggled with the sword, Zeus pushed back against the primordial goddess and the two tumbled back together. It gave him enough of a reprieve to call forth a bolt from the sky and he held his breath, awaiting its sting.
He landed on Gaia who pulled him into the ground with her and though no one else could see it, she had saved both of them from the bolt. The ground took the brunt of the attack and she pushed him from her embrace when the dust settled. He stumbled forward, spitting and coughing out the remnants of the dirt she had shoved down him and she braced herself for more – however, she was distracted by the approaching goddess to her left.
Gaia turned, looking at the empty-handed woman and she hesitated, confused as to what she thought she could accomplish. As Zeus tried to shout, Gaia's right hand flicked its wrist and a wave of earth sent him crashing to the ground. He was still trying to recover from nearly choking on dirt so when the wind was knocked out of him, he paused to recollect him. It was too late to send a bolt – Aphrodite was inches before the earth goddess and without risking her well-being, he could only hope Gaia would have pity on her. Gaia's lips flickered between smirking and frowning, hesitating to take action against the goddess before her who was empty handed and silent; her face, however, was a flurry of rage and pain, as the corner of her eyes were still puffy from her painful state of being. When finally Gaia moved to speak, Aphrodite suddenly broke into action and lunged at her, causing the earthen goddess to gasp in shock as she tried to back away. She felt hands enclose around her and briefly jerked her arms to fight it, but she was too fast: Aphrodite had wrapped her arms around her and tightened her grip, enclosing the gap between them and embracing Gaia into a strong, tight and warm hug. She jerked again, trying to test the strength of her grip but she was unable to melt into the ground or pull away; even Gaia herself could not articulate whether she was physically unable to escape or mentally. Aphrodite's presence was a powerful, warm feeling that caused the earthen goddess to look up to the sky, suddenly missing her husband after many long centuries.
"I'm sorry."
Gaia was dumbstruck; she blinked a few times, her empty hands open and her mouth slightly ajar. She couldn't think clearly as she felt Aphrodite's warm and inviting presence overlapping her judgment. She looked up to the sky, as for the first time in centuries she felt the desire for her husband's presence again; she shook her head, trying to rid her of that nonsense and amidst that and the strangeness of the moment, she became extremely ineloquent.
"..What?" was the only word she could muster.
"I'm sorry," Aphrodite repeated in all earnest; it was no trick and no lie. The goddess meant it completely and Gaia could feel it. Her mouth twisted into a frowned and she closed her eyes, feeling the tears welling up within her. She shook her head, trying to fight the apology for it was surfacing all the emotions she had been filtering into rage. She whispered a no, trying to fight it but Aphrodite then squeezed harder, holding her still in the tight embrace. When she couldn't move or do anything but succumb her emotions, she let out a painful cry, like a moan that increased in volume as it felt better to become louder. The tears leaked out her eyes and rapidly fell down her cheeks as the intensity of her voice grew, until the entire battlefield was still from her cry. Even Perses and Ares were drawn to the deafening sound of Gaia, feeling the raw emotion miles from her presence. Gaia's knees gave out beneath her and though Aphrodite kept her standing, the pair slowly kneeled to the ground; Gaia leaned into the goddess, finally bringing her arms up to wrap around her and hold her back. The love goddess looked up to the sky, her own eyes beginning to glaze from the pain and she brought a hand up behind Gaia's head.
"I'm so sorry," she whispered again as she pulled her head back and kissed Gaia's forehead. "No one will ever hurt you like that again."
