Holding out for a hero

"You look lovely," Hephaestos complemented her where he stood leaned against the door frame, his arms crossed and his sand-coloured hair wet from a wash or perhaps a swim. "What's with the dress-up?"
"I'm invited to a wedding."
"Business or pleasure?" Hephaestos asked.
"In this case they are more or less interchangeable," Aphrodite tittered.
"So who's getting married?"
"Leto's sister Asteria and the god Phanes."
"Haven't they been hanging like forever?"

"Yes, but it's first now they have decided to marry for real. And don't worry for not getting invited. They only want a small ceremony. Actually I'm the only Olympian going. Save for Artemis and Apollo, who are family after all."
"Fine by me," Hephaestos shrugged. I'm not really that found of weddings after all."

Aphrodite opened her mouth to reply, before deciding against it. There was no use having this old discussion one more time. Hephaestos' unwillingness to mingle and party other than with those he knew really well was something she had tried to handle earlier in their relation. These days she considered it inevitable that he was unchangeable. He simply didn't see the value in spending a lot of time trying to have fun among strangers. He was more fascinated with building and mending things – or being with those few people he really cared about. Like her. For a short moment she delighted in that knowledge before she returned her attention to her hairdo. Essentially Aphrodite could have a nymph fixing it, but she enjoyed doing things like this on her own. It gave her some restful time with herself, some moments to think things over. Usually she didn't want anyone else around when she prepared her own appearance, but Hephaestos was after all Hephaestos, and he had been in her bed this night. While he had left before she woke up, he was now back for some social quality time, something Aphrodite rejoiced in, because only a few years back that would have been an impossibility.

"Besides I need to finish my blueprints for the new steering system for ships before the Dodekatheon Council next Friday. Poseidon said he was very excited about that one and I really want to have it ready in time."
"Trust you to put duty above all," she teased him mildly.
"No, not above all," he smiled back.
"Than what..."
"You, my dear!"
"Aw thanks love!" Feigning interest she went on: "Tell me more about that invention!"

As Hephaestos started to describe the invention, Aphrodite began threading pearls upon a thin thread of aluminum, before she wound it up in her hair. Those were far better than regular textile threads because they stayed in place and they didn't snap. She had been delighted when she had found those small threads in Heph's work shop. No matter how many ideas that flew through his marvelous mind, threading pearls upon aluminum threads to adorn your hair with, that simply hadn't crossed his mind. Too girlish perhaps. At the same time he was a master at making beautiful and original jewelry and over their years together he had filled several jewelry boxes of hers with those.

After a few moments of chit-chatting Hephaestos excused himself and returned to his never ending work and Aphrodite added the last touch to her dress while thinking it all over. She felt – displeased. There was something definitely lacking in her life and she knew what it was – the passion was deficient. Hephaestos was lovely in his way, considerate and caring – when he didn't lose himself in work, of course. But it simply didn't flame between them, no matter that people called him the God of Fire. He failed to turn her on more than mildly and she was seldom sated when they had made love. She found herself more and more often thinking of other men. Like Apollo, Poseidon... or Ares.

***

"Ares!" surprised Aphrodite faced the elegantly dressed god who was suddenly standing in front of her the moment she stepped off the temporarily raised open air dance floor in the garden of Asteria's pantheon. The sun, which was filtering through the tree-crowns, was painting undulating patterns of shadows and light across his face, adding a mystery touch to it, making it hard to read his expression.

"You look surprised?" smiling he raised a brow at her, putting on all the usual charm.
"Yeah well, I thought I was the only Olympian here beside the twins of Leto."
"Yes, you're quite correct – on the bridal side. I'm here as the groom's invité."
"Phanes? How...?"
"...well do we know each other? Well, my dear Goddess of Love, we go way back. But I don't intend to bore you with that gory and bloody war talk now. I can see you care for another dance!"
"Am I that transparent?"
"Only for those who know you as well as I do," he smirked.

Ares held out his hand and Aphrodite took it smilingly, letting him lead her out onto the dancefloor with a gallant and suave gesture. Soon he had placed his accustomed hand at the small of her back and knowingly begun to spin around with her on the floor to the up-beat music of some of Apollo's cousins. These two gods were a far cry from the awesomeness of Apollo himself; all the same it was a pleasure to swirl around to their catchy tunes.

As if Ares was reading her mind, he commented the music:
"Nerthos and Navalis might be able, but they're a not up to the standards of our Olympian musicians, don't you think so too?"
"Yes," she breathed, looking into the war god's dark eyes. "I mean 'No' they aren't. They lack something. That little 'something special' which Apollo has."
"Indeed. They might be technically talented, not a tune wrong. But the passion is fairly absent. There's no magic to their music. There's just aptitude. Great aptitude of course, but without that edge which makes Apollo so wonderful to listen to."

Aphrodite realized Ares was right. The more she listened to the sons of newly wed bride, the more she understood what her dancing partner meant. Yes, Nerthos and Navalis never did miss a tune and their melodies were up-beat and likable, but there was very little of Apollo's spark there, very little of the sensitive soul she could hear in the music of the Olympian. While they swirled around, the goddess realized that it was the same with her love life. Hephaestos was a skilled lover; he knew how to do his things to please her. But there was never that little extra like with Ares. It never sparkled as it did with the God of War. Staring into his profound, dark eyes, Aphrodite knew she wanted this man. She was not over him, far from it. Question was if she would ever be. But at the moment she didn't care. Ares was there and when the dance was over and he escorted her off the floor, she knew how this night was going to end. And she wanted it very much. Very very much.

***

"...and it's coming here," the godlet staggered where he stood shivering in front of the mighty throne of Zeus. However it was not the imposing figure of the King of the Gods who was scaring the seemingly so able Cimmerian fighter. It was the beast he was telling about. Some kind of oversized Giant which had emerged from Fate knows where and was now prowling down from the north, rapidly passing through the Slavonia as the minor god spoke, destroying everything in its wake.
"And it destroyed the pantheon of Germania?" Zeus asked as he rested his chin in his left hand, elbow posed on the armrest of the throne as he regarded the redheaded and burly god.
"Yes, yes! Killed my lord Wotan and his kids. At least two of them. Seigmund and Seiglinde. Just like that, snatched them out of the sky! Broke their spines like sticks, threw them to the ground like trash, trampled them to pulp with huge, clawed feet. The sound of their bones crushing was appalling! I don't know about Erdo though, she's a shrewd bitch and she might've gotten away, but I wouldn't count on that, since..."

"Delano!" Zeus held up a hand, to stop the animated tirade of the warrior. "Tell us instead all you know about this Typhon! How does it fight, what do you consider its strong point and it's weak points?"
"It fights," Delano inhaled fretfully. "It destroys everything it comes across. Kills gods, beasts and mortals alike. Even cattle, mind you! Stops for nothing. Strengths, uh, Typhon seems all powerful. Weak points... I dunno."

"Can you show us instead?" Athena interrupted as Delano started babble again and Zeus nodded his head, that was probably the best choice. The King of the Gods stood up from his throne and walked over to the part of the great assembly hall where a scrying pool was sunken into the floor. When all the gathered deities followed in his wake, Aphrodite could feel tension and alarm among them. She had no idea who this Wotan had been and what kind of resistance he might have been able to put up against this approaching monster. But she knew that Delano, who had fled from the destroyed pantheon, was no wimp. Even though his fright he carried himself like a true warrior and a seasoned fighter. Aphrodite understood that he had been among those who had put up a fight against this Typhon. When he had seen that they were losing, he had done the only reasonable he could think of, he had gone south to alert the King of the Gods to ask the Olympians to stop the monster before any greater harm could be done.  

"Can you use a sight pool, Delano?" Zeus asked while the deities gathered around the circular pool of water, which reflected the divine lights in dazzling patterns in the roof and against the yonder walls.
"Yes I can," came the proud reply. Without hesitation the stranger god waved his hand over the still water. Almost immediately the surface started to move and distort, and soon images were forming. A horrendous being came in view. A huge, malformed monster, about 20 feet high, attacking fighting gods in foreign armor.  The beast bore down on those poor gods mercilessly, stroke out against them and swatted down at least one of them like a fly.

"The man in the middle with the blue, winged helmet and the long spear is Wotan," Delano said.
"He fights a bit like Athena," Apollo observed.
"Yes, he used to be my acolyte," the goddess of wisdom replied. "I trained him for about 50 years three centuries ago. He was good, yet never focused enough."
"I remember him," Ares added. "I defeated Wotan a few times in the arena before he returned to his home ground. He did get better with time, but he was never up to those I'd put in the front line. Regardless of that this beast isn't a skilled fighter. It just relies upon its greater size and strength, not to mention fearsome appearance – which has taken it this far, so why change a winning formula? A bit trickery and it should be possible to defend. Don't you think so, Athena?"

Now the view shifted and they all beheld a close up of Typhon crushing a goddess in armor against the ground, nailing her and squeezing the air out of her lungs before crushing her ribcage. It looked like a terribly painful way to go!
"That was Seiglinde," Delano's voice sounded ash-like. "She was the better of the children of Wotan."
"Tell me..." Athena begun. "No, you don't have to," she said as Seigmund also fell. Now Wotan was alone together with a lithe man with a bow and arrows. Typhon plucked the armor clad god out of the sky and simply snapped his neck, throwing him to the ground like a spoiled kid would handle a discarded toy. The man with the bow laid an arrow on the string and fired off but the arrow didn't even pierce the thick, scaled skin of the monster, who just chose to ignore him. Turning its back upon him, it continued its warpath.

"So how do we defeat this being?" Artemis asked, no doubt considering the propensity of her own arrows.
"Not one by one, that's for sure," Athena replied. While the war gods started conferring, Aphrodite wondered again what she was doing here. She had very little to contribute with, that was true, but she couldn't get herself together and leave. This monster scared her, and she needed to hear the reassuring voices of the war gods to feel a bit better. At the same time she wanted to run and hide somewhere deep down underground in the factory of Hephaestos. She also wanted Athena to tell her that it was going to be okay and she wanted Zeus to go out and blast the creature to ash.

Suddenly she heard Athena raise her voice:
"Apollo, listen, we can do this! We just have to work together."
"But the way Typhon killed those gods..."
"Is because it met them one by one," Athena said. "We just have to come against it together and strike it down in unison."
"How can we acquire that?" Artemis asked. She seemed a bit less scared than Apollo.
"I'm not sure I can contribute much..." Hermes said.
"Can we get Poseidon here on time?" Hera asked. "I'm sure his strength would add a great deal."
"I've already called for him," Zeus informed. "I hope he'll be here soon. Athena, what do you have in mind?"

"Listen," Athena said. "Aphrodite, Hermes, Eos, do you think you're up to partake?"
"No way!" Eos held up her hands as she backed off. "Not me, don't even think..."
"Depends," Hermes said. "I've never been much of a fighter.
"I know," Athena replied. "That's not what I have in mind either. I'm more thinking of subterfuge."
"I'm in!" Aphrodite heard herself say. She had no idea why she volunteered. That beast sure had scared her bowels upside down and she definitely didn't want to end up like that poor Wotan. Still, she hated the thought of being a coward, and whilst Athena looked upon her like that, challenging, she couldn't back down. Instead she locked eyes with the Goddess of War and made a stern face as Athena nodded slightly.
"Good, we'll have to make do with you and Hermes, although I'd really preferred three of you..."

"I can do it," the god Delano said at that moment.
"To avenge Wotan?" Athena asked.
"Yes," Delano's reply was stern.
"Now most of the time I don't want those sentiments in battle, but since you're just going to act as bait, I'll let it pass for this time. Now listen carefully..."

***

The wind had almost risen to a gale and rain and sleet was tormenting the Thessalian landscape. When Aphrodite looked down, Mount Olympos appeared deserted, as if its habitants had hidden or fled. It sure frightened her, even if she knew it was part of Athena's plan. Alone together with Hermes and Delano in the sky, she was awaiting the advent of the monster Typhon, trying not to show how scared she was or how much the bad weather Zeus had created was affecting her. She hated getting wet and she couldn't shield, because she was supposed to be fully visible when the beast came along. Pulling her brown leather jacket closer around her neck, she listened to it creak, it was warming her adequately.

"You think it'll take long now?" she asked Hermes and he shook his head silently and made a face.
"How in the world did Athena manage to talk me into this?"
"She appears to have a certain persuasive skill," Delano said and he too pulled his hood tighter against the sleet.
"Trust me, she does," Hermes replied.
"We must do what we have to," Aphrodite replied. "Or had you rather run and hid for real?"
"Like where? Egypt?" Hermes derided. "No, it's the very thought of running, to be seen as a coward that puts me off."
"Who cares?" Aphrodite replied. "Who'll witness to tell?"
"I just hope Athena knows what she's doing," the messenger mulled.

"Here it comes now," they heard Delano's anxious voice at the same time. On that cue the two Olympians turned and beheld the most frightening being at least Aphrodite had ever laid her lavender eyes upon. If possibly it looked more fearsome in real life than it had done in the sight pool. More tangible. What worse was, they had to get the monster's attention!

Hesitating but a second, Aphrodite rose her hands in the air and let out a catcall. A mocking outcry that sure would be enough to catch the attention of the huge freak. Just a moment later Hermes followed with a ululating sound and then Delano joined in as well. In that instance, the beast, which had been set upon the seemingly abandoned Mount Olympos, now turned to face the new commotion. As it beheld the teasing gods hovering just about its eye sight, it first appeared confused, then the ugly face contorted in anger and it lashed out with a hand, striving to hit Hermes, who was the closet. But Hermes ducked easily to the side and booed at Typhon. Then he spun around and started off in the south-eastern direction, and with a growl the big beast turned and set off after the messenger of Olympos.

Hermes sped up, however not too fast; Typhon must be able to follow. Which it sure did whilst bellowing out loudly. Aphrodite thought the beast resembled an angered bull, and she understood why Delano and the now dead gods of Wotan had named the freak Typhon. Hermes sped out over the sea and just as expected, that didn't halt the monster, which started trampling in the water with almost as full speed as over land. Aphrodite was glad they had cleared the area of mortals, or the death toll would be even higher.
"Hang back," Delano told her, when she started to follow. "We cannot risk distracting the beast, it must follow Hermes now. Right into the trap."

Nodding her head, Aphrodite halted in her advance. However she couldn't help feeling a little bit sorry for Hermes. Now he was fleeing and she knew how much he hated to do just that. He hated to appear as a coward, even if he knew it was just and act, a part of Athena's plan. Everyone knew, but the beast which was not going to live to tell, not if the Olympians had anything to say about it.

Ahead of Hermes was a bank of mist, and the god dived right into that. Typhon seemed to hesitate for a second and then it too dashed inside, creating waves as it went, luckily the area had also been secured and cleared of the mortal's ships. When the monster disappeared Aphrodite changed to infrared sight, enabling her to see what was happening inside of that mist. Now, she beheld the hidden gods, and she hoped the beast couldn't do the same. She found Zeus, Ares and Athena and a bit away she spotted the twins Apollo and Artemis too. She also knew Poseidon was hidden in the water below and that Hera and Helios were skulking further on, stealthing behind two huge rocks.

As Typhon bore into the clouds, Hermes dived down in the water. Disoriented in the mist, the beast turned, tried to regain its bearing and find out where its prey went. That was when Zeus and Athena attacked. Hermes had lured the beast past the King and his daughter and they were now able to attack from behind, lash out with electric current and try to fry the beast. But just as expected, the monster was a little bit more durable and withstood the voltage the duo was throwing at it. Still it wasn't without effect. As electricity gushed trough he monster, it halted and swayed, then it lashed out with one big arm, nearly hitting at Zeus, who somersaulted backwards and dived down quickly in the last moment. Meanwhile Apollo and Artemis had lunged ahead and were now firing off a volley of arrows at the monster. Just as with Wotan's sole surviving offspring, the arrows were unable to pierce the scaled skin of the beast. However that had been accounted for. Small explosives had been attached to the arrowheads and as they bore themselves into the monster, these went off, causing actual harm to the beast.

While Zeus and Athena continued to barrage the beast with electricity, Ares, Hera and Helios attacked as well, the first diving in from behind and bore his huge war axe right in the back of the neck of the beast, no doubt aiming for the spinal cord. But the monster somehow sensed the War God's attack in spite of Hera and Helios attacking it with fire at the same time. Typhon spun around, lashed out and managed to hit Ares with one of its large fists. Thus Ares was slammed out of the sky.

"No!" Aphrodite called out. "Ares!"

Without thinking she threw herself ahead and ignoring Delano's call for her to abort, she lashed herself right into the bedlam, fearing that no one else had seen the war god fall and that he was as bad off as the poor Wotan had been. However Ares was a bit more robust than Wotan, he had merely been rendered unconscious and Athena had seen his demise and caught him. Now she met Aphrodite and with a quick eye behind her she handed Ares' unconscious form over the Love Goddess.
"Take him and get the chaos out of here!" Athena ordered. "But not to Olympos, we cannot have the monster going there. I'll send Apollo down to that little islet, to heal him," she pointed ahead to a black rock jetty protruding from the waters. "Stealth, Aphrie! Get Ares there, I've got to return to the battle."

Aphrodite did as told, she held on to the man who meant so much to her and dived down to that barren rock, hardly seeing Athena taking off in the opposite direction. Quickly she landed on the rock surface, and knelt down, carefully placing the unconscious Ares on a patch of grass. A thin film of wetness covered the grass as well as the rock, but she chose to not care. Biting her lips she regarded Ares' fallen form, he suddenly looked so vulnerable, and that didn't become him at all.
"Oh, Ares..." she whispered as she knelt in front of him, gently reaching out and brushing a few locks of dark hair away from his handsome face. He looked... restful. "Ares," she repeated, feeling her voice choke upon tears. "Ares, please wake up... I love you!"

Now she had said it. Aloud. To herself! She knew it was true at the moment. Truer than anything else. Ever. So what was she going to do with that knowledge?

Drying away tears from her cheeks she lifted her face from the War God and gazed up in the sky, where the gods were still fighting that huge beast, thunder rolling through the sky and lightning and flames flashing. Where was Apollo? Wasn't he going to come and see to his brother?

"Aphrodite?" she turned around, yes, there he was. The god of healing as well as of music and several other disciplines. Apollo sure had looked better than with his hair soaked and in disorder, smudges in his face and his clothes slightly scored, apparently they had caught fire in a moment of the battle. Regardless of that she had never been so glad to see him as now.
"A.. Ares is..." she stammered.
"I know." Apollo replied as he squatted by his brother. "Don't worry, I'll take care of him," His blue eyes flickered slightly over to her and he sent her a reassuring smile before he turned solemn again, concentrating upon Ares. His right hand was touched Ares' forehead slightly and a faint and flickering bluish light was seen.

"It's just a minor concussion," he said after a few seconds. "He'll be all right soon."
"How's it going? The fight, I mean."
"They're wearing it out." Once again Apollo faced her. "It's a die-hard old bastard, but as Athena said, all together we can do it." Then he turned back to the war god again. "Okay little brother, get your lazy ass up now and come along and help us out here!"

At that time Ares' dark eyes fluttered open and he stared Apollo right in the face.
"Uh... what happened to you, boy? You look dreadful."
"Typhon happened to me," Apollo replied. "And is still happening. We need you out there again."
"Oh yeah," Ares tried to sit up, holding his hand to the back of his head. "I'll be right away, first.... Uh... Someone must've dropped Crete upon my head."
"No, just Typhon's knuckles."
"Two can play that game," Ares made a face, and then he turned, seeing Aphrodite for the first time. "Oh, hi! What're you doing around? Weren't you supposed to..."
"Athena saved your sorry ass. Then I took it from there," she huffed, looking at the War God. For some reason his slightly berating voice annoyed her. Why wasn't she considered 'good enough' to be around and involved in a fight like this.
"Aphrodite, you were..."

"Ares, come along now," Apollo cut his brother off. "We're needed..." his voice became cut off by a tremendous growl and they all looked up, seeing the huge form waver, the divine bombardment was finally taking its toll. Then Zeus was hurling another spear of lightning, hitting the solar plexus of the monster and now Typhon staggered and fell.
"Poseidon, now!" they could hear Zeus call out. As a response a huge cascade of water erupted out of the Aegean, and flushed over the monster. Then, as the liquid retracted, it finally tumbled Typhon and while Aphrodite, Ares and Apollo looked on a huge maelstrom was created, sucking the beast below the surface. A gurgling, slurping sound drowned the monster's terrible screaming as it became pulled down in the water and finally disappearing.

The maelstrom gurgled and swirled a bit more and in a way it reminded Aphrodite of a huge version of those self-emptying bathtubs Hephaestos was experimenting with, where you just pulled a plug in the bottom and the water gushed out and down in the drain. Then the water surface became still and for a few seconds nothing happened but the falling rain.

Then they heard Athena call out:
"Yay! We did it!" Her victorious call was soon followed by several answers, including Poseidon who came up out of the water, carrying his trident and with a smug look upon his face.
"You drowned it thoroughly?" Zeus asked.
"Yes, it's fish food now," the God of the Sea laughed. But his confirmation came too soon, suddenly there was a huge growl and the water was cascading again as the huge beast rose anew.

"Poseidon! Watch it!" Athena called out as the freak reached for its nearest foe, but Zeus was faster. He flew around his brother in arms and sent off another thunderbolt, hitting the beast right in its ugly face, while Hera dived in to pull Poseidon into safety. That became the final stroke that fell their foe, it tumbled backwards and once more it disappeared down in the waters. Nonetheless this time nobody dared to cheer but they all hovered or stood, staring intensely for several minutes at the spot where the monster had disappeared. Finally Zeus declared:
"I cannot sense its presence anymore. It has to be dead now. Olympos is victorious again!"

***

"Anyone's been holding out for a hero?" Thalia called out from the stage, catching the audience's attention. Most heads turned when Erato and Terpsichore begun to bang their drums in a steady and mesmerizing beat. The Muse repeated her question: "Anyone's been holding out for a hero? Don't worry, because we have a whole bunch of them here tonight. And this is their anthem!"

Then Thalia clapped her hands and Euterpe, the youngest of the Muses, handed her a lyre. Immediately they began a song describing what had happened earlier that day, when Typhon had been defeated. No matter how many times she had heard these ladies doing their thing, Aphrodite couldn't help being surprised at the speed with which they could create their masterpieces. It was almost as if they had begun writing their lyrics while the battle was still ongoing. A bit too hasty perhaps, Aphrodite never believed in celebrate before the victory was truly home. Then again, Mnemosyne's many daughters were heroes in their own kind, ladies of the music!

"Dance?" Her own hero was there before she knew it, and Aphrodite melted into Ares' arms with a smile. This time she really felt the spark, the spark of passion as she pressed herself against the war god's firm chest.