Disclaimer: We do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians(That belongs to Uncle Rick God of Sass)
Part 1; Arc 1 - Growing Up Adena: Ch 2 - The Burn of Love
Aphrodite hummed to herself as she ran her brush through her golden locks. Her blue eyes glittered with excitement and her mirror reflected the shimmer of her red dress. Her loyal servant, Pasithea, had agreed to watch Adena and put her to bed for the night, allowing Aphrodite to go on her date with Ares.
Satisfied with her brush, Aphrodite reached across the table for her straightener. Her hands grasped only empty air. Tilting her head, she noticed that her straightener was nowhere in sight. With a small huff, she rose from her chair. Pacing throughout the room, she looked in every corner. After ten minutes of fruitlessly searching, she called out angrily. "Agalia! Where is my straightener?"
One of Aphrodite's attendants rushed into the room. Head bowed, she meekly walked in front of the livid love goddess.
"I'm sorry, my lady, but it seems it has been misplaced. Your attendants have been dutifully searching for your sacred straightener all day. Forgive us for our incompetency, my lady."
Aphrodite growled, but before she could reprimand Agalia again, Pasithea ran into the room.
"My lady, we have a problem. Young mistress Adena is nowhere to be seen."
Aphrodite froze for a moment. While Adena may have been immortal, it did not stop the worry coursing through her ichor. Without a word, she glided out of her makeup room. Before she could enter her child's room, a hand snaked around her waist. Gasping slightly, she found herself looking into the fiery eyes of her boyfriend. Ares' eyes scanned her body as he licked his lips in a predatory manner.
"Where are you going, my dear? I simply cannot wait any longer."
Aphrodite wrenched herself from his grasp. While she would normally find his advances seductive, her mothering instincts were still focused on the missing godling. Aphrodite noticed the confused look on the war god's face and drew in a sharp breath.
"Ares, darling. I'm afraid I will have to postpone our date. Adena has gone missing and as her guardian, it is my duty to find her."
Ares' face turned a brilliant shade of red and Aphrodite could see the sparks of anger in his eyes. He opened his mouth to retort when a small owl flew in through the hallway. Sending Ares a small glance of apology, Aphrodite followed the owl. She knew Athena would not summon her without due cause, so it must have been something important.
As she turned the corner to one of Athena's smaller book areas, she saw the glowering wisdom goddess standing outside the door. The owl let out a small chirp and suddenly the full force of Athena's anger was on Aphrodite. Aphrodite could not help but cringe as Athena stormed through the grass towards her.
Athena hissed, "Did you not teach your child basic manners? How dare she sneak into my sacred area and desecrate my domain! Go in there and retrieve your little she-demon."
Aphrodite breathed a small breath of relief. Adena was ok. Breaking away from the fury of Athena, she tiptoed into the cavernous building. Cream-colored book shelves rolled from wall to wall, zigzagging across her eyes. Aphrodite tried to see where her daughter was, but the faint smell of smoke caught her attention. Following the trail, she found herself in front of a small shelf. Aphrodite knew which books this dusty area held: a small collection of romance novels that Athena would never bring herself to touch. What Aphrodite was not prepared for was the smoke.
As she waved her hand and the smoke cleared, she let out a small shriek. There in the center sat three-year-old Adena holding fire in her hands. Upon closer inspection, the fire turned out to be a glowing object, her straightener.
Aphrodite hastily removed her straightener from Adena's hands, only to drop it on the ground with a curse. A bolt of pain shot through her finger. Upon close inspection, the skin on her porcelain hands was burned, exposing the golden ichor underneath. Shaking her throbbing fingers, she reached down to inspect Adena's hands. But to her surprise, the child's hands were completely unharmed. She craned her neck towards the straightener, which was now starting to burn a hole in the floor. Waving her hand, she forced it to cool down.
She then turned a stern gaze towards the toddler. The girl had finally noticed that her 'toy' had been taken away and was trying to retrieve the object. Aphrodite held the straightener above her head.
"Adena, why were you playing with this? This is dangerous and hot."
Adena blinked her brown eyes at Aphrodite before warbling, "Hot. I want Hot. Gimme my hot, gimme."
She starting bouncing and pulling on the love goddess' dress, trying to reach the device. Aphrodite shrieked when Adena starting grabbing the fabric with her tiny fingers, almost creating small tears. Suddenly struck with an idea, she vaporized the straightener to her room. Adena grew silent for a second before letting out the most heart wrenching wail. Panicking, Aphrodite pulled Adena in close to cover her mouth.
"Ssh, dear. It's okay. We'll find you something else to play with."
Adena pulled her head away from Aphrodite's dress. "More hot?"
Aphrodite shook her head. "No sweetie, no more hot. Actually, can you tell me why you had that?"
Adena nodded her head and squirmed around. Aphrodite put her down on the ground and the girl ran towards the shelf. Upon further inspection, Aphrodite noticed a small series of hearts burned into the wood. Below that, two jagged A's were connected by a larger heart.
Heart melting, Aphrodite picked up Adena, giving her a small kiss on the cheek. While she might have created a complicated situation, Aphrodite was sure the girl meant no harm. Suddenly, she wondered something.
"Where did you get my straightener?"
A mischievous look crossed the toddler's face. Adena then proceeded to make a seemingly innocent face, her eyes widening comically. "I don't know," she said, shrugging her shoulders in a childish way.
Aphrodite groaned. It was Hermes. She should have known the God of mischief would have played a role in this. She swore to Hades that the next time she got her hands on Hermes, he'd never mess with her or Adena again."I swear that Hermes will never steal anything for another 30 centuries when I'm done with him!"
However, it seemed that Adena had other plans. Her little pink lips began to tremble and her eyes began to water. She crossed her arms in a pout. "Not Unca Hermie, not Unca Hermie. I do it, I bad girl. Unca Hermie good. Not Unca Hermie!"
She began to scream this over and over again, crying and stomping her foot. Aphrodite was at a loss for words, not knowing how to handle this situation. She tried to pull Adena closer to her, but it only made her hysterics worse. Aphrodite looked around, trying to find someone to save her from this situation.
Luckily, help came. A blinding light flashed, revealing a tall man with salt and pepper hair. He turned the corner, not looking directly at the pair in the room.
"Hey, little Dee, did you get my present-"
Hermes broke off, noticing the angry look on Aphrodite's face. He gulped slowly, backing away until he bumped into the back wall. Before Aphrodite could advance on him, he turned towards the entrance.
"You know, I'll come back later. I think I hear George and Martha calling me. Bye."
Before he left, Aphrodite heard two small voices whisper.
"Of course he blames us for his issues."
"Oh hush, George."
Aphrodite sighed at the god's antics. She turned her attention back to Adena, who had finally stopped wailing. Instead, she had crawled back behind the bookshelf, trying to hide from Aphrodite's eyes. Every few seconds or so, she would peek out and then dart back into the shadows. The love goddess bent down to look into Adena's eyes. Aphrodite put her arms out to pull Adena out.
"Why did you lie to me Adena?"
Adena looked down bashfully, swaying side to side. She slowly toddled out from behind the bookshelf. "I did'n want Unca Hermie to get a time-out, Mommy. I bad girl, I play with hot. I in twouble. I no make Unca Hermie in twouble."
Aphrodite hugged her daughter. Even at three, it was rare to find a god or goddess who was willing to lie and risk themselves in order to protect the people they cared about. However, that didn't solve the issue of the burnt shelf. Aphrodite pulled Adena back so she could look at her in the eyes.
"I know what you did was sweet, but you can't just go around burning things, especially not things that belong to other goddesses', ok? I can give you play toys, but you have to ask for them nicely, not take them like Uncle Hermes."
Adena nodded her head. Aphrodite noticed that the girl's eyes were drooping with sleep. Holding back a yawn of her own, she picked the girl up and carried her out of the room. Before they had even exited the building, Adena was softly snoring on her shoulder. Not wanting to face Athena again, Aphrodite decided to go directly to the nursery room. Rather than summoning Pasithea, she put the girl in the crib herself.
Humming a sweet lullaby, she stroked Adena's hair. Once she was certain that Adena was fast asleep, she strolled out into the hallway. But before she could return to her own sleeping chambers, she was intercepted again by Ares.
"Aphrodite, I don't know why you bother with that one. She's a freak, just like that lame husband of yours. She's not even your child and she's ruining our lives."
Aphrodite whirled around, eyes blazing with fury. She was rarely angered, but there were some things that one simply did not say in front of her.
"Listen to me, Ares. I may like you and we may be romantically involved, but that does not give you the right to say anything that comes to your mind. I may not be Adena's biological mother, but I have raised her for three years and she is my child. Just because she isn't your blood like Daimos or Phobos, does not mean that you can talk about her in that way. I would advise you to remove yourself from my palace."
With that, Aphrodite slammed the door in Ares' astonished face. Aphrodite flung herself down onto the mattress as small tears began to slide down her face. The other gods didn't get how challenging it was to raise a child. Adena was no easy girl that was for sure. And how the nymphs would gossip. She knew that even some of her attendants would mock her for taking in an unknown child. But there was something about Adena that Aphrodite couldn't have let her go that day. Plus, she had made a promise to herself that she would be something more meaningful that just a goal marker for prideful gods and mortals. If raising a kind hearted goddess was how she would do it, then by the gods she would do her best. But until then, she would just have to endure, one measly mortal day at a time.
After all, it wasn't like anyone else knew the struggles of raising a godling.
Hey Guys, here's your weekly update. Sorry if there are any grammatical mistakes, this chapter hasn't been beta'd yet. Thanks for reading our story so far and I hope you feel inclined to leave a review. Hopefully we can make Hermes so busy, he always has an excuse for avoiding Aphrodite until she calms down. Tune into the next chapter to see more of Elektra and Camp Half-Blood.
Adena