chapter 21

Ares dropped from the sky and landed on the ground with enough force to create a small shock wave, the was a sinister smile on his face as he suddenly barged  into Aphrodite's palace. He was in a very great mood right now or rather each time he has to use his divinity, once he stops using it the draw back is that it lessened his inhibitions and heightened his emotions, although this didn't mean he wasn't in the right state of mind it  just means he was more impulsive and less caring.

he was quite happy about the fact that Athena was more on board with his plan, he never would have guessed she'd be a traitor to Olympus. Thinking about it now Athena never did sugar coat her words when it came to their father.

[Flashback]

"So what now?"

She asked with a relaxed posture, clearly underestimating him. The way she spoke was a good indicator as well, almost as if she wasn't worried at all, there was hardly any tension in her gait. He frowned  displeased by her actions.

"You'll regret underestimating me"

He took a fighting stance and  was about to charge at her but was immediately stopped in his tracks by the words she spoke.

"instead of fighting why don't we work together"

"huh?"

"I'm not gonna ask why you suddenly became a traitor but I have my own personal reasons why I would turn traitor as well. I'm going to assume that you want to be king and I'm willing to help you with that as long as I get something in return"

Ares scoffed at her words, his goal wasn't to just be king in fact being king was simply a by product of his plans but he chose not to correct her but instead he asked her a question.

"What do you want?"

"What I want  is..."

His eyes bulged straight out of his sockets as he heard her words,  what he heard out her mouth was shocking to say the least.

"WHATT!!!"

"You're literally planning to overthrow our father, Zeus. its not that outrageous and besides with me on your side your chances of success increase by at least 10% so there's no need to refuse"

She was right that her help would be great however should she get what she wants and then turn against him he would be in quite the trouble but at that point he'll be pretty powerful  so there's no need to worry about that at least not yet.

"okay then fine you got yourself a deal"

He agreed, he then took note to be careful of her, the possibility that she might be lying is always there so no need to put too much stock in her words.

"what about you Chronos? any complaints?"

"I was looking forward to being entertained but alright, it seems you'll entertain me anyway, also I have a favor to ask"

"what is it?"

"well your Aunty Hestia, as the First born of Cronus she actually has something of mine. It was transferred to her when Cronus was defeated but since both her and her father didn't use it, I'd like it back so tell her to "bring it back" since she's not using it"

The two were quite shocked to hear Hestia's name being brought up randomly, though it wasn't out of character for Hestia to be acquainted with lots of people but what could she possibly have  that belonged to the Personification of Time? Of course this suddenly made Ares curious about Hestia a lot more, he was hoping she would be an ally in the future too.

"Okay but what is it?"

A curious question from  Athena

"she'll know  just tell her what I said, here"

That's all he said before throwing them a small marble which  Ares hurriedly caught with both hands and  tried his best to  be  careful with it. There was  an expectant expression on his face as he  got his hands on the oracle, unfortunately it's small size disappointed him.

"Is this it?"

"What? You wanted it to be a crystal ball? Lol"

Chronos responded and  let out a small chuckle before he began to fade away, indicating that he was leaving.

"wait how do you use it?!"

"It comes naturally, bye"

His voice and body slowly faded into nothingness, leaving the two gods standing there with no clear idea on how to activate the oracle.

"ugh"

Apollo groaned immediately bringing the two back to reality. It's been barely a couple of minutes yet he was already stirring awake, Athena was unimpressed and unsurprised of course, Ares can't knock out anyone properly. Looking at Apollo's body that was regaining consciousness Athena began.

"He most likely won't cooperate and we'll need him out of the way for a little bit until at least we both get what we want, got any ideas?"

Apollo  was definitely never going to  Cooperate with them  and  there's absolutely nothing they could use to bargain with, he was as stubborn as they come and his loyalty to their father was unquestionable, Athena had no hope of gaining his help so  the best way was to  eliminate him at least for  the time being.

" Oh! I have just the thing"

Ares took out a vial that was about half the size of his index finger, the vial had a black liquid within it. Seeing this Athena immediately frowned, she knew what that liquid  was  and she didn't like it.

"I see so that was your plan"

She said, it  looked like Ares wasn't as dumb as she previously thought, he  was  actually capable of  planning ahead.

"Yes, half of this should keep him weak, on the same level as a human and then we can simply  tie him to a Boulder and drop him in the ocean, as a god he doesn't really need to breathe"

Athena nodded and Ares proceed to pour the liquid onto Apollo's mouth, as this was going on Athena  began to think, since Apollo won't be going back to Olympus with them why not frame Apollo and have him take the fall while they  prepare things.

"Ares I have a plan, don't pour all of it in his Mouth leave a drop for me"

[Flash back end]

…..

Having barged into her Palace he inadvertently alerted the 3 nymphs who were seated in the living room having tea and were having a conversation and Sharing opinions about the various guests that had come to the palace. Their conversation mentioned Hephaestus and Hestia, and a few of them were worried that their Goddess had no real friends unfortunately that conversation was cut short as Ares suddenly Entered the room without warning.

"L—lord Ares what brings you to our lady's palace?"

"I've come to see Aphrodite, where is she?"

"lady Aphrodite is currently taking a bath and will welcome you at a later date if you could–"

"A bath? Excellent I've been wanting to soak as well"

Activating his divine sight  he was able to quickly see where her divine soul was and made his way towards that very back of the palace, towards the double doors.

The  nymphs gave  each other concerned looks,  they  couldn't really stop Ares since they didn't have the power to do that  Although  their lady looked to be in a foul mood today mean  they might possibly get blamed for letting Ares in without  notifying her.

….

Aphrodite laid on her back and floated on the water as she was deep in thought, she had calmed down for a bit and the feeling of hands all over her body had vanished for now and currently she was thinking about her future with Hephaestus

She doesn't hate being around him and he certainly doesn't hate being  around her, he has stated that he  is  attracted to  her,  she  is  also attracted to  him as well so  there's nothing stopping them or  rather there shouldn't be but  there is. She  suddenly felt a certain type of way, Hephaestus was different from her, he  was clean and  untainted.

"no this is ridiculous, I'm not dirty, there's nothing wrong with me, the life I lived was not wrong"

She tried to convince herself but she could not, while it maybe true that the life she lived was not wrong, it's also true that she values Hephaestus's opinion and him being cleaner than her made her want to be clean as well. Persephone's words triggered her not because they weren't the truth but because they made her seem far  removed from Hephaestus  almost as if she  wasn't meant to be with him, She wasn't aware but she felt this way because….

"Huh?"

She voiced as the doors to her bath suddenly opened causing her to suddenly cover her private part, an act that she's never done before.

"Ares what are you doing? Get out"

She commanded, this was a strange occurrence, she was sure she wouldn't have any guests today and even if she did the nymphs would inform her of any arriving guests, what on Olympus would possess Ares to suddenly enter her bath without warning.

"No need to be shy Aphrodite, we're both adults after all"

He answered as he quickly undid the hook of his cape, letting it fall, Aphrodite backed away as he slowly descended the stairs. He undid the belt of his kilt and it too fell to the floor revealing his somewhat impressive appendage.

"Did you not hear me? I said get out!"

She shouted at him but  he seemed to only get stimulated as seen by his appendage slowly rising. Her heart began to beat faster and faster, as a Goddess of love and beauty  strength isn't her forte as such if Ares truly won't be deterred by her words  she absolutely has no hope of overpowering him and using her  divinity might make things worse

.....

A/N: a bit shorter than usual, sorry for that.

got any memes or dark jokes?