A/n: Arghh…Headache…
Good thing one of my many gifts is ignoring the unpleasant physical crap…Such as headaches :D
…
(Zeus's office…General POV)
"Daaadddddddyyy?" called Aphrodite, entering Zeus's huge, extremely well-furnished room.
"What, Aphrodite? Wait, don't tell me- You got jealous because Ares likes Athena better, and now you're telling on them for stealing that bag of junk from your husband's collection, even though you helped them?" Hermes said, spinning around in Zeus's swivel chair (Yes Greek gods have swivel chairs).
"Oh, it's you," Aphrodite responded, biting her lip with distaste. "What are you doing in Daddy's chair? And why the hell did you turn it into a swivel chair? Where is Daddy, anyway?"
"I'm sitting in his chair, obviously, I like swivel chairs, and Master Zeus is out visiting Hades and Persephone. Any more questions?"
"How did you know about Ares and Athena?" Aphrodite asked.
Hermes pointed to the messenger hat on top of his head. "When you're the messenger of the gods, especially the Fates, you hear things."
"Hmph." Aphrodite conjured her own chair and sat in that. After a few minutes of silence, she took out her nail filer, softened away one tiny little invisible flaw, and shifted in her seat.
"Oh will you stop fidgeting? Honestly, you've learned nothing from all these years. You'd think spending a thousand or so years with the graceful Athena would do something to improve your patience, but I see that it is not so," Hermes snapped. He was the only one that could talk to her that way and still have the guts to keep going.
"When is Daddy going to be back?" Aphrodite asked, ignoring Hermes's insults. He shrugged.
"How should I know? Go ruin someone's love life or something if you're bored."
"Ah, screw you Hermes."
"You too."
…
(Athena's weaving room…General POV again)
Athena crossed one string of yarn to another, pulling it softly and jerking in moments of anger. Beside her in an untidy heap lay all of her failed tapestries, ripped or frayed or just plain horrible.
"Why are you so frustrated?" Ares asked, sitting beside her.
"I'm just… uninspired. And I swear this wool has been enchanted to hate me! It keeps knotting," Athena answered, taking the tapestry off of the loom and discarding it in the pile.
"Why don't you give weaving a break for a while? I still have that bag of junk in my room, and we need to make amends to Aphrodite anyway. C'mon." Ares pulled her to her feet and suddenly they were in Aphrodite's room.
"Ares, Athena, what a surprise. What do you want?" she asked, setting her cup of nectar on its platter.
"We, I mean I," Ares corrected, seeing Athena's glare at him, "wish to say sorry. Plus, we have yet give the mortals the bag of trash and honestly, things aren't getting any more entertaining. So, will you come with us?"
Aphrodite set her chin on her hand and pretended to think for a moment.
"Alright. I'll help thee. But," she paused for a moment, "no lovey-dovey crap. And I have to be able to see at least one of you at all times."
"Deal," Ares said, shaking her hand. "I'll meet you two on the shore of Crete. I need to fetch some stuff."
"Right, well, let's go!" Athena said after Ares was gone.
"I still don't like you."
"Great, 'cause I don't like you that much either. See you in Crete."
…
(The Greek island of Crete…Athena's POV)
"Ah, it feels so odd to be back on Earth," I sighed, letting the wind throw my dark hair around.
"Eek! Cold!" I turned and saw Aphrodite about calf-deep in the water, fighting with the wind to keep her skirts down. There was a rather large wave coming up behind her…
"Aphrodite, get out of the water if you want to keep your dress dry!" I called.
"I don't need advice from y- Ah!" I laughed as the wave swept over her, causing her to fall face first in the sand. "Crap! And I liked this dress! Ooh, I hate the mortal world!" she shouted.
"That's what you get when you don't listen!" I teased.
"Oh, shut up!"
"She's right, you know." Ares said, appearing beside me with the bag in his hand. "Come on, you two, we've got a mission to do!"
Aphrodite tried to get up, but another wave came and toppled her down. "Ares! Help me! I'm drowning!" she cried. I rolled my eyes.
"Goddesses don't drown," I said.
"I wasn't asking you, I was asking Ares. Now save me, dammit!"
After Aphrodite was finally on land again, we hiked to the nearest city.
"My feet hurt! Why couldn't we have teleported while we were still in our immortal forms?" Aphrodite whined.
"Because you need some exercise and I didn't think of it at the time," Ares answered.
"Where do you think we should leave the bag?" I asked. He shrugged.
"On someone's doorstep?" Aphrodite suggested.
"Nah, they would just throw it away."
"In a market stall?"
"We wouldn't be able to tell who found it."
"Well then where?" Aphrodite asked, frustrated with him.
"I'll know where when I see it!" Ares said. I rolled my eyes and said nothing.
"Halt! Who are you?" a guard asked when we approached the city gates.
"We're travelers. We came from Athens. She," Ares gestured to me, "is my girlfriend. She," he gestured to Aphrodite, "is our friend. We'd like to go in now, if you don't mind."
The guard gave us a look of disproval, but decided to let us in anyway.
"Jeez. Someone looks like they need to take a holiday," Ares commented.
"Not much we can do, though. Now, where do we dump the bag?" I asked. Ares looked around the busy market square and pointed to the mountains.
"There. At the foot of those mountains."
Aphrodite groaned. "More walking?!"
"Yep. C'mon."
We swerved through the marketplace, avoiding collisions, and trying not to anger anyone. Well, at least, Ares and I were.
"Watch where you're going, tramp!" Aphrodite shrieked when an old woman accidentally stepped on her foot. The woman glared at her but said nothing.
"Try to be nice, Aphrodite. You'll get us all in trouble with the way you're acting, and we don't want to be discovered," Ares said.
"Why not?" Aphrodite snapped. "What's so bad being discovered? I'm sick of being a mortal- I don't know how they do it!"
"If they discover that we're gods they'll spend all of their money building a temple to each of us with the date of our arrival, and take the sack as something to pray to!" I whispered to her.
"Athena's right," Ares agreed.
"You always think she's right. She could say that-that humans will eventually fly and you'd say that she's right! Besides, what's so bad about having another temple?"
"Well mainly it's the bag. It'd be useless if they never opened it, don't you think?" Ares asked.
"Fine. I'll try to be nice. But the next time someone steps on my foot, they're dead!"
I tried to keep myself from snickering. What could the goddess of love do, apart from turn them into a monster and ruin their love life? It was nothing seriously life-threatening…
The rest of the way to the mountain we said nothing, apart from Aphrodite muttering to herself about how horrible mortals were.
"We're here!" Ares announced.
"Wonderful. Now I can relax…" Aphrodite said, sitting on a rock. "So we're just going to leave it here?"
"Yep. I told you I'd know the spot when I saw it," Ares answered, setting the bag down on the ground.
"Okay, well, let's get out of here," I said, turning around.
"No. No more walking. I will just die if I walk one more step!"
"You're immortal. Now, c'mon, get up," I said. I tugged at her arm, but she wouldn't move.
"Let's just convert and teleport back," Ares suggested. "No one will see us."
"If you say so…" I willed myself to change into my immortal form, and suddenly stood a hundred feet under the mountain, rather than a thousand.
"I'm going to just stay here…" Aphrodite said. "I have no energy left in me."
"You have a complete spa treatment waiting for you at Olympus. Every one of your servants will be there attending to you, no one will bother you, and your husband won't come to your room that night," I said, attempting to lure her into turning immortal again. She immediately stood up, converted so fast that I could barely see it, and disappeared.
"Hey, what about me?" Ares asked.
"You have enough 'energy' to make it to your room."
"I know that, but I want to know what will happen tonight for me."
"Ask Apollo. Or the Fates. Or you can just wait."
"Fine," Ares sighed. He grabbed my hand and teleported us to his room.
"Why'd you bring me?" I asked, confused. Ares smirked.
"Because I'm pretty sure you'll be a part of what will happen tonight."
…
A/N: LONG CHAPTER. I like this one too… Well now you know something more about the bag of godly trash. So…Yeah. Review please. I'll give you a rather large cookie! Oh yeah, and just for kicks:
Disclaimer:
Me: Aphrodite, you do it.
Aphrodite: Why me?
Me: Because I want you to suffer.
Hermes: And I agree with Emmy. So, do the damn disclaimer already.
Me: *gives Hermes a high-five*
Aphrodite: Fine…Emmy does not own anything except our personalities…And the cookie she shall give you for reviewing…
Me: Thank you.
Aphrodite: Don't push your luck.