Izuku stomped through one of the many thigh-high lakes near the tree of Gaia. For buried in the cliff on the other side of the lake, was the wraith's den.

It was like a horrifying face carved into the small mountain, blinding red light created a beacon from out the top, and crimson mist spilled out over the jagged stone teeth.

Ochako softly landed on the ground next to him, the familiar pink glow of her anti-gravity quirk wafting away from her body, Hermes then appeared on his other side in a flash of yellow sparks, both of them completely dry.

"So you two just let me wade through a lake when I could've avoided getting wet?" Izuku grumbled, shaking a bit of water from his sandals.

"You looked like you were having fun," Hermes shrugged.

"And you always get motion sickness when I float you," Ochako argued.

Izuku sighed, "Alright, fair enough," he said.

"So this is the wraith den?" Ochako asked.

"Oh no, it's just an extra creepy looking Tartarus vault," Hermes answered.

"I'm not gonna be snarked by someone with a haircut like that."

Hermes huffed as he flipped a hand through his messy, golden hair.

"What exactly happened to the wraith's?" Izuku asked as he took a few more steps towards the den.

"There are seven in total, four of them were called here by us to stop Typhon, but they all fell. The other three had their souls cruelly plucked from Hades, along with Persephone," Hermes explained.

(Zeus- I still don't know how he managed that, me and Hades were right there!)

(Prometheus- And both of you were too sloshed to notice.)

Izuku took a few more hesitant steps, staring into the red glow.

Ochako walked up next to him and leaned down a little so that they were on eye level, "You ok?"

"A bit nervous," Izuku quietly admitted.

"Don't be, Achilles may be a hero of legend, but he has nothing on you!" Ochako smiled.

Izuku smiled back, even the spine chilling beacon of red light wasn't a match for her smile. Even when they were kids she could always cheer him up with just a grin.

Izuku sniffled as he gingerly swung back and forth on the swing set, pulling his coat sleeves down to hide the small first degree burns on his arms.

(Zeus- Mmm.)

(Prometheus- What's wrong?)

(Zeus- Look I may be a bit of an asshole but child abuse bothers me.)

"Izu!" Was the last thing he heard before being tackled off the swing by Ochako, who had just turned ten a few days ago.

"Hi Ochako," he muttered.

"What's wrong?" Ochako asked.

Izuku mumbled something incoherent, he probably didn't want her to hear so she'd just drop the subject, but she had other plans.

Ochako stood back up, only to flop back down on him a second later, getting a small laugh out of the both of them.

"Are you ready to tell me now?"

"...Some kids said I couldn't be a hero because I'm quirkless," Izuku answered, a few tears prickling in his eyes.

"Well those kids are jerks!" Ochako said without missing a beat.

"Ochako!"

"What? It's true!" She shrugged, "Who cares what they say, I think you can be a hero!"

(Zeus- I don't get it, why do people care?)

(Prometheus- Care about what?)

(Zeus- The whole quirkless thing, why does that determine someone's value?)

(Prometheus- The thought process is the same as the one you have about mortals.)

(Zeus- No it's not! I'm a god, I'm better than mortals!)

(Prometheus- You think you're better than mortals, just like quirked people think that they are better than the quirkless.)

Izuku looked over to see Ochako smile, right now her opinion was all that really mattered to him. It all started with that smile.

That damn perfect smile.

"So, you better get going, he could show up any moment," Hermes said encouragingly, shoving him a few inches forward.

"Good luck!" Ochako cheered as he stepped to the edge of the breach.

Izuku gave a shaky thumbs up, before saying, "Don't need it," as he fell into the wraith's den.

"So how long will he be in there?" Ochako asked as she lightly bit down on her fingernail.

"Who knows, time moves differently in Tartarus. He could be in there for hours but come back in a few minutes, or the other way around," Hermes shrugged, before sitting on the ground cross-legged and facing her, "In the meantime we could talk about your obvious crush on my hero."

"I-I have no idea what you're talking about!" Ochako sputtered.

"Fine, I guess we'll just have to talk to Aphrodite when she's restored."

Hermes quietly and discreetly sniffed the air, he could smell something...off about Ochako but he couldn't quite place his finger on it.

It was almost like she wasn't all human.

Izuku screamed as he fell through Tartarus, pulling his wings out just in time to avoid going splat, but not in time to avoid face planting.

"Ugh, I really have to start working on my landings," Izuku groaned as he dusted himself off.

Phosphor squawked from above, flying circles around Izuku's body.

"Oh yeah laugh it up, buddy, at least I have teeth!" Izuku yelled.

The winged-boy walked up a flight of stairs towards a large building made of a light blue stone, lining the staircases were metal statues of a multi-headed snake creature.

As he reached the head of the stairs, he saw two things: One, a simple lever, for what he didn't know; and two, a large stone door that held an orange-colored mural of Achilles rearing back his arm to throw a spear.

With hesitation, Izuku pulled the lever and swiftly stepped back to let the doors swing open down the middle towards him.

The massive stone room actually seemed to be an arena, six doors other than the one he had just entered, and two giant white statues wearing golden clothing flanking every door.

Izuku turned around to see the two Achilles statues pointing their sword at him, as he studied the statues, a spear crashed into the ground next to him.

The green-haired boy spun around and watched as Achilles jumped in the air and tried to bring his sword down on him.

Izuku parried the sword, using his wings to propel him straight, he sliced through Achilles' side and landed just a few inches behind him.

Pulling his bow, Izuku fired two arrows past Achilles' head and into the abyss of stars around them.

Izuku switched his bow out for his axe as Achilles' began to furiously slash at him, all of which he narrowly dodged, except for the final one, which left a large gash down his right arm.

He held the axe by the bottom handle and swung it at Achilles' head, denting his helmet but not breaking through it.

Achilles' roared as he flipped back to his feet and charged Izuku, the wraith jumped up once more and Izuku prepared to parry the incoming sword strike. But it was a feint attack, and the fallen hero slammed his shin into the side of the winged-boy's head, stunning jim.

Over and over Achilles slashed and kicked Izuku's body, nothing deep or fatally wounding, but enough to keep Izuku on the ropes.

Achilles let out a ghastly chuckle as he stood over Izuku's kneeling body, who was stuck holding his wounds and trying to stop the bleeding. Achilles raised his swords to finish the job, when Izuku's anguished face turned into a victorious grin.

"Gotcha."

Three portals opened behind Achilles and from two of them flew the arrows that Izuku had fired off, one of them piercing Achilles armour and striking through the stomach, and the other slashing his neck.

"Phosphor now!" Izuku yelled. The bird obeyed and flew out of the third portal, stabbing his beak through Achilles' heel and ripping out several strands of muscle.

(Prometheus- Izuku had freed Achilles from his life of eternal battle, and the warrior gave him one last nod, signaling to Izuku that he was worthy to hold his blade.)

(Zeus- Oh, good night, sweet prince!)

Achilles disappeared into a red smoke, leaving only two things behind. Izuku bent over and gingerly picked them up from the ground, before rocketing away from the vault.

Izuku walked out of the den, on his shoulder was Phosphor, his beak still slightly bloodied. In his right hand he held the golden crest of Achilles, a circular disk with the image of a leg on it, and in his left, was the dented helmet that his mighty foe had worn.

"Now that's a Hades of an entrance," Hermes muttered.

Unable to contain his excitement anymore, Izuku dropped both items and ran over to Ochako, wrapping his arms around and lifting her up as he spun around in a circle, cheering, "I did it! I won!"

If it was possible for the human eye to dilate to the point where there wasn't any iris visible, you can bet that that's what would've happened to Ochako. Sure Izuku always returned the many, many hugs that she had given him during their friendship, but this was the first time he had actually initiated one.

"If you two are done with...that, we have to get over to Gaia to break that root," Hermes said sternly as he motioned for them to follow him.

Izuku flashed Ochako one last excited smile before the two ran off after Hermes.

(Prometheus- With the tears in hand, Izuku gently began to sprinkle them over the root blocking Aphrodite's vault.)

Izuku grunted as he chucked the crystalized tears at the root.

(Zeus- You call that gentle?)

After a few seconds of silence, the three heard a loud cry of sorrow cut through the air.

"Izuku!" Ochako scolded as she slapped his arm.

"What?!"

"Ugh, come on we need to find Aphrodite," Ochako huffed as she grabbed him by the wrist and began pulling him behind her.

(Zeus- Aphrodite really loved Adonis…)

(Prometheus- Yes, she really did.)

(Zeus- And I let that boar kill him.)

(Prometheus- ...You what?!)

(Zeus- Don't get me wrong or anything, I didn't lay a hand on him but...I didn't do anything to stop that boar either.)

"Oh Adonis my love! Why does my mind dwell on you?" Aphrodite wailed.

"Um, I may have had something to do with that," Izuku confessed as he stepped towards the tree.

"Oh, it's you."

Izuku sighed, "I'm really sorry Aphrodite, I thought the tears would be enough to move the root so I could—"

"I can move that root anytime I want!" the skies darkened as Aphrodite yelled. The goddess realized what was happening and calmed herself, causing the blue sky to return, "That is, since you poured the seafoam on my roots that is," she corrected.

"But I don't understand, why not move that root then?" Ochako asked.

"Oh, all of my deepest, most repressed and most horrible parts are locked away in that vault. My selfishness, my vanity, it's all gone. Now I can stand for what the name Aphrodite should've stood for all along: helping the needy," Aphrodite explained, shaking an apple down from her branches for a nearby deer.

"But those were you're best qualities!" Hermes interjected, "Don't you miss making fun of all the hideous sashes Hera wears to parties?"

"They all maid her look like a rotting vegetable," Aphrodite chuckled, but a second later her face fell, "But no, it was all a waste of time. Now if you'll excuse me."

Aphrodite turned her head from them, well she kinda turned her head away, bark isn't the most maleable substance after all, but it got the message across that the conversation was over.

Hermes grabbed Izuku by the scuff of his robes and yanked him away from the goddess, "You need to fix this and fast!" he commanded.

"I'm trying Hermes, but nothing's working," Izuku sighed.

"There has to be something that will make her want her old form back," Ochako mused.

"She's right, Aphrodite has started wars over her beauty, she has to still care about it deep down," Izuku nodded.

"That's it!"

"I don't think we have time to start a war, Hermes."

"No, the thing she started that war for: The apple of Discord, that has to remind her!" Hermes said.

"That could work, where is it?" Ochako asked.

"In her hidden palace, but Typhon hid the map somewhere in Adonia," Hermes answered.

"Well then let's go get it!" Izuku said.

"Well hurry up, without her I have no one to talk to about whatever it is you're wearing," Hermes frowned.

"You put me in these!"

"Just get me my best friend back!" Hermes grumbled as he disappeared.

(Zeus- I never knew Hermes and Aphrodite were so close.)

(Prometheus- They had a child together.)

(Zeus- Really? Boy or girl?)

(Prometheus- Neither.)

(Zeus- Ah, I see. Well how come I never met them?)

(Prometheus- Perhaps they feared what you would do to them?)

(Zeus- Oh come on, I'm not gonna kill someone over something as silly as that.)

(Prometheus- You threw your own son off of a mountain because you thought he was too ugly.)

(Zeus- What's your point?)

"So, do you wanna come with me to Adonia?" Izuku asked.

"Oh I thought you'd never ask, I've been dieing to go on one of these missions!" Ochako grabbed him by the wrist once more and began to drag him in a random direction.

He wished Hermes had told them where the hell Adonia was.

After finally getting directions from Hermes, and an hour of walking, the two came across the village of Adonia. The ancient architecture covered by moss and trees created an eerie, but somehow also peaceful atmosphere.

(Zeus- Ugh, Adonia, I hate this city, I can't stand the smell of this place! Oh and that god awful festival they hold for Adonis!)

(Prometheus- That festival is not for Adonis, it's to celebrate women's freedom of choice.)

(Zeus- Well they're making a shitty choice, drowning the town with that smell of cabbage.)

(Prometheus- And yet year after year, the women of Adonia let that smell waft from the rooftops. Maybe it's not the choice that matters, but the freedom to make it.)

(Zeus- blech.)

The two explored the village for about a minute before Izuku pulled Ochako behind a weathered house.

Only a few feet away, were three large boars: two of them had red fur and completely black eyes, as well as what looked like massive red glowing gashes across both sides of their bodies. The third had light gray skin and gray eyes, and instead of red coming off of the gashes, it was a pale purple color.

"Something tells me that those boars aren't gonna be friendly," Izuku whispered to her.

"So what do we do?" Ochako asked quietly.

Izuku answered her by simply pulling his sword from his hip.

He jumped out from behind the destroyed house and rushed forward, cutting through one of the boars with one slice. Izuku whistled once and Phosphor came screaming down into the fray, killing the second boar by slamming into its side to tip it over, stabbing into its chest with his beak and ripping out it's heart.

The final, much larger boar snorted as it tried to charge at Izuku, but just before it did, Ochako tapped its side with all five fingers. The boat still charged forward but it lost all control of itself and began to go higher and higher into the air.

Izuku grabbed his axe and jumped in that air twice, before snagging the flying boar on the blade and pulling it down to the ground again.

As Izuku and Ochako stared down at the dieing boar, he noticed that its left tusk was cut in half, his eyes wandered to his right and saw a golden statue of a man being impaled by a boar.

A boar with it's left tusk cut in half.

"Ochako? I think we just avenged Adonis."

There, in the same field of roses that Adonis had died, the boar that killed him took its last breath, and when it's body turned to black smoke, a map was left in its place. Ochako bent down, grabbed the map, and unfurled it for both of them to see, using Gaia as it's base, they could see a trail that led to a small drawing of a castle.

"This has to be it," Ochako said.

The two nodded to each other and rolled up the map, before giving one last look at Adonia and heading back to Gaia.

Izuku and Ochako peered into a cave, this is where the map had led them but there wasn't a palace in sight.

Izuku took one step into the cave and the ground gave way under him, causing both him and Ochako to fall down into the cave.

The second before he hit the ground, he felt a pair of arms wrap around him and his weight leave him. Izuku looked up at Ochako, the two awkwardly smiling as they hovered a few inches off of the cavern floor, she was carrying him bridal style and they both had the familiar pink glow of Ochako's quirk surrounding their bodies.

"Y-you can put me down now," Izuku stuttered, clearly embarrassed.

Although a part of him was kicking himself for saying that.

Ochako let go of both him and her quirk, allowing the two to drop the rest of the way down. Their breath was taken away as they gazed at the sight in front of them.

A huge hollow room in the cave, lit by torches lining the walls, housed an equally massive palace, the winding architecture leading to one massive tower in the center, covered by a cage-like roof.

"Well...we found her palace," Izuku whispered.

"This place is massive," Ochako said, her voice reverberating through the cave.

"Come on, we gotta grab the Apple of Discord and hurry back." It was not Izuku's turn to grab Ochako and lead her under part of the winding road up to the top.

They stopped, however, when they came across a larger than average chicken standing in a pond, it looked similar to the boar they had fought earlier, at least in it's color.

(Prometheus- Did you know that this rooster was once the great Alektrion?)

(Zeus- You mean Helios' asshole pet that would scream at the crack of dawn every day?)

(Prometheus- The very one.)

(Zeus- ...Come on Izuku, kick his beak in! That dumb bird is that last thing I want to hear after I've been partying with Dionysus all night!)

The chicken snapped its head towards them and let out a battle cry and it charged at Izuku. Due to his complete shock that a chicken was attacking him, Izuku allowed the bird to get a hit on him, leaving a light scratch on his left shoulder.

Izuku groaned in frustration, and with one quick flip and a kick to the side of the rooster's head, he killed it.

(Zeus- Huh, it's almost like he listened to me.)

"What a jerk, am I right?" Izuku asked as he turned to Ochako, only to find her blankly staring at him, a small grim visible on her face.

Izuku blinked in confusion before he looked down and realized that his robes had fallen down around his waist, the stupid chicken must've cut the on strap holding them up.

Now thoroughly embarrassed, he tried to put the strap back together but to no avail, eventually just settling to try and cover his chest.

Ochako, also blushing due to the situation, stepped up to him and produced a bobby pin from out of nowhere. She grabbed the two ends of the strap and pierced through the cloth on both sides, then bending the two prongs to keep the pin from falling out of the cloth.

"T-There, that should work until we can sow it up properly, right?"

"Y-Yeah. Let's go, the apple has to be at the top," Izuku nodded.

It took quite a bit of climbing, and some floating courtesy of Ochako, but they finally reached the top of the palace, where a glass case was waiting for them in the center.

"Careful," Izuku warned as they stepped closer.

Izuku stood right in front of the case, waited for a few seconds, then smashed the case open with his elbow, pulling out a golden apple with some Greek word inscribed on it.

"Huh, you'd think that Aphrodite would have one of her more treasured possessions more safe guarded," Izuku shrugged.

"Yeah, I picked up this thing for nothing," Ochako said, holding up a claymore with a single hand.

Izuku had to stop his nose from bleeding.

Shaking his head from those thoughts, he held the apple up to the light, the reflection of the dancing fire against the golden skin almost hypnotic.

"Well, we have the apple, now how are we gonna get out?" Ochako asked.

Almost in response, the two heard a metallic clink and they whirled around to see a visible upward stream of air flowing from a large grate in the ground.

Izuku and Ochako exchanged a glance before the former stepped onto the grate and brought out his wings, getting lifted a few feet before putting them away.

"I know how," Izuku answered.

Ochako placed the claymore in a sheathe she found, simply shrugging when Izuku saw her put the sheath around her shoulder. She then let Izuku pick her up bridal style, much like she had earlier, and he spread his wings out, letting the wind carry him high enough to where they could glide out of the hidden palace smoothly, mirroring how they had entered.

"Hey, Aphrodite," Izuku waved.

"What do you want?" She asked with a sniffle, still clearly feeling the effects of her tears.

"I have a gift for you."

"I have had quite enough of your 'gifts'!" Aphrodite yelled, before clearing her throat, "W-What I meant to say, is that I'm only her to give."

"But this is another apple for your collection." Izuku pulled the apple out from behind his back, holding it out to Aphrodite.

The goddess' eyes softened as she saw is, silently whispering, "It's so beautiful...I want it!"

(Prometheus- The Apple of Discord: made by Eros, the goddess of Discord, after you forgot to invite her to a party, and forged for the purpose of making the female gods squabble.)

(Zeus- Cat fight!)

(Prometheus- Remember when Athena pulled Hera's hair?)

(Zeus- I felt like I was laughing for a century!)

(Prometheus- Eros said that the apple would be awarded to the most beautiful goddess.)

(Zeus- And then some moron appointed that blowhard Paris the judge. Who did that anyway?)

(Prometheus- ... I'm looking at him.)

(Zeus- Harsh.)

(Prometheus- The three goddesses plead their cases: Hera offered Paris riches, and rule over Asia; Athena offered him glory in battle; but Aphrodite offered him true love, and what man could refuse that?)

(Zeus- Then the idiot chose Helen of all people and started the Trojan war.)

"I wanted that apple, I wanted that apple so bad that I started a war for it, oh I'm so horrible!" Aphrodite cried.

"No no no no, you're not. Aphrodite...how do I put this? You can't have one coin without the other: your beauty, your passion, and yeah, your vanity, and your jealousy, they've contributed so much to the world," Izuku said.

"Do you mean that?" Aphrodite asked.

"Of course I do! Aphrodite this isn't who you are, no matter how much you try to convince yourself it is. Now please, let me into your vault," Izuku pleaded.

"...If I let you in, you will hear all of my most petty and awful thoughts—"

"And I'll ignore them," Izuku cut her off.

"I've been told to change before: Aphrodite reign it in, Aphrodite you're too much work, Aphrodite you're too much! What if you see who I truly am, and hate me?"

"Whoever said that owes you an apology, what an asshole—"

(Zeus- I never meant it like that.)

"—Aphrodite, you're just enough, plus anybody who's that beautiful and has a perfect personality is just kind of annoying," Izuku finished.

Aphrodite gave a small, soft chuckle, "Alright, I'll move my roots for you. Thank you Izuku, you can find me at the Hall of the Gods."

The goddess of love's gaze turned upward and she began to angrily shake her branches, "Alright that's enough you dirty sky rats! Why don't you just go get a job?!" She disappeared in a flash of yellow light, leaving nothing but a few disgruntled birds in her place.

"That was really sweet," Ochako smiled as she walked up to Izuku, she and Hermes had been hiding in a bush so Izuku could talk to Aphrodite alone.

"It was nothing, anybody would've done the same," Izuku shrugged.

"Sure, now come on, the sooner we restore Aphrodite the better," Hermes said.

The three walked over to Gaia and stared at the mound of rock directly under it, a red light funneling out the top.

Izuku and Hermes climbed to the top of the mound and the latter clapped his hand on the former's back, "Well, once more unto the breach we go, hero. And by we, I mean you." Hermes pushed Izuku into the vault.

"You fuckin' bum!"

New chapter, it's about time I know, next chapter will conclude the Aphrodite portion of this story so be ready for that I guess. Discord links:

Epsi's Hoard: https/discord.gg/zQ6rDfuuA9

LoM: https/discord.gg/zCwn3FKW6d

That's it for now, Peace.