In this story all of the Olympians were born before Kronos decided to swallow his children. Titans and Gods were all one big happy family until Kronos heard the prophecy foretelling his downfall. When Zeus went into hiding, the rest of the surviving gods went with him.

A man in all black paced before a starry throne muttering to himself and staring with pitch black eyes flecked with stars into the swirling pool of light at the center of the room. To any observer, though none had ever been here, the room was obviously a combination of an art gallery and throne room. Moving paintings depicting scene of such beauty no words can describe them hung of the walls, and living sculptures set high on pedestals stood between massive black columns lining the sides of the room. Soft, soothing music filled the air in a vain attempt to calm its creator. The artist, Chaos, ignored all of this as he stared into his masterpiece. The swirling light at the center of the room was the Universe, Chaos's crowning achievement. The Universe had begun as an attempt to show off to himself (after all who else was there?), but had since grown. After eons alone with his art, he had grown bored and decided to try something new. He had created his children as more of an experiment than anything else and placed them on a tiny planet in one corner of his Universe. His original plan to just watch them and see what they were capable of had, over time, changed into a father affectionately watching his family grow. A family that had now turned on itself for the second time.

The first time he had stood by and watched as Kronos and Gaia dethroned Ouranos and Kronos took control of the Earth from his father. Now Kronos was at it again. In his paranoia he had attempted to destroy his own children. Chaos paced back and forth across his throne room looking down on Earth. He had trusted his family to preserve and protect his creation and now their self-proclaimed ruler had betrayed that trust. Chaos, though he had sworn to himself to keep out of the affairs of his family, could not allow such an injustice to stand. He would not leave his masterpiece under the control of one such as Kronos. He decided he must act.

Chaos sat in his throne, a thoughtful expression on his face. Since he could not interfere directly, he would have to name a champion to act in his place. The only problem was he had been gone from the world so long (a side effect of his original experiment) even his own children thought him no more than a myth. Erebus, Eros, Gaia, Nyx, Tartarus…they had all forgotten him. Well, he was a creator, an artist, he would form a new child strong enough to defend his masterpiece. After some thinking on the problem for some time, a smile slowly crept across his face.

Aphrodite was seated at her vanity staring glumly into a mirror of polished silver. No matter what she tried she could not get her hair under control. The humidity on this damn island made it impossible. She hated Crete. She missed her palace on Othrys. She missed her servants, she missed the pampering, but most of all she missed her lovers. She was a goddess of love after all. How could Zeus and Rhea expect her to hide here alone? Well she might as well have been alone, the only ones here worth looking at were Ares and Apollo, and she had seduced them long ago. Not that they had put up much of a fight. She knew hiding was necessary, her half-brother Kronos would likely kill her with the rest of the gods if he ever found them, but she didn't have to like it.

After sneaking away from Othrys, Aphrodite and the other gods had built a small community in the mountains and hidden it, with the help of her half-sister Queen Rhea, from Kronos. They had been here now for six months. The small houses they now lived in were a far cry the splendor of their former mansions on Othrys. The only small comfort she found in this gods forsaken place was walking the beaches. Even if she had no one to share them with, she was a sucker for the romantic classics.

Giving up on her hair, she flashed down to the beach seeking comfort. Even with her feelings about the island, she had to admit to herself that beaches were beautiful, and the gentle sound of waves crashing into the shore always calmed her. In a way those waves could be considered her mother, and though she had no powers connected to the sea, it was always a comfort. Today she needed that comfort. She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see Artemis looking down at her. She looked as worried as Aphrodite felt, and with good reason. War was coming.

"Hey, how you holding up?" Artemis asked her.

Just last night the gods hiding on Crete had decided that Kronos's rule could not be tolerated to endure. Zeus had finally brought the rest of them around to his way of thinking and it was finally decided that they would wage war to overthrow the Titans. Zeus had left a few hours earlier with Hermes, Apollo, and Ares to begin recruiting an army, Hephaestus had begun making weapons and armor, and the rest had begun training for battle under the watchful eye of Athena.

"As well as can be expected I suppose. I'm no fighter, but Zeus's cause is just and if any of us hope to survive this we have to join him" she replied. "You know Kronos won't stop with his children. We're all in danger."

Artemis heaved a sigh and sat in the sand. Dirt was smudged across her youthful features. Her auburn hair was matted with sweat and pulled back behind her head. She had obviously been training with Athena. Her silver eyes drifted out across the waves and she smirked, "You sound like you're trying to convince yourself."

Despite herself, Aphrodite laughed, "That's because I am! You know as well as I that I'm no fighter. If any of us fall, it's going to be me."

Artemis shook her head, "That's why I came to talk to you. We can't afford to lose anyone, especially a powerful goddess like you. We're too outnumbered. You need to be able to defend yourself." She then reaching down, she pulled two silver hunting knives out of her boot and handed them to Aphrodite. "Come to the training arena tomorrow and I'll show you the basics," she finished with a smile.

Aphrodite took the blades and threw her arms around the younger goddess crushing her in a hug. "Thank you! But I have to warn you, you'll probably get annoyed and give up on me before long," Aphrodite told her.

Artemis laughed again, "We'll see. Meet me at noon tomorrow." With that she flashed out leaving behind a somewhat more hopeful goddess of love.

The next evening found a battered, bruised, and grumpy Aphrodite sitting on the beach. Athena had joined Artemis in her training and both goddess believed in learning through experience. She was sure she was the slowest learner either had ever trained, but fighting just wasn't her area of expertise! Despite her aches and pains, Aphrodite now felt comfortable enough with the knives to avoid accidentally cutting herself, and had reluctantly agreed to continue training with them until her teachers released her. Hence her grumpy mood.

Aphrodite suddenly felt a presence she didn't recognize off to her right. She jerked around drawing her knives, and tried see through the falling dark. A man was walking toward her through the surf. He wore all black robes cut in a fashion she did not recognize, and as a goddess of love and beauty she knew a thing or two about clothes. Using her powers she reached out toward the man attempting to sense his emotions, while she was a goddess of love, she could sense other emotions if she concentrated hard enough. She felt his love, anger, worry and uncertainty, but she felt no malice toward herself. As he approached her she slowly lowered her knives. She'd probably just stab herself on accident anyway. The man stopped in front of her, staring silently. "Who are you?" she asked him. He was a little over six feet tall, moderately handsome, and his eyes were the deepest black flecked with little specks of light. Grinning inwardly she thought she wouldn't mind adding him to her list of conquest.

"Hopefully a friend if you're willing to help me," the man replied pleasantly. "Please, let's sit and talk."

Aphrodite didn't know or trust this man yet, but she could sense he meant her no harm. Nodding she sat down facing him and waited for him to speak.

"You're Aphrodite are you not? Goddess of love and Beauty?" he asked simply. Without waiting for an answer he continued, "I'm a student of beauty myself, and artist, that's why I chose to appear to you. We share a common passion. I wish to help you in your war against Kronos."

Aphrodite's eye widened and her mind raced. How did he know they had decided to go to war? Sure Zeus was out there recruiting, but he had only been gone two days and she doubted he had told anyone but those they trusted most. Could he be a spy for the Titans? This time she asked more forcefully, "Who are you? No one should even know where we are much less we plan on going to war."

The man in black sighed and repeated himself with a small smile. "As I said, I'm a friend." Aphrodite reached out to sense his emotions again, all he felt when he looked at her was genuine curiosity, affection and not a small amount of humor. "If you keep doing that I'll begin to think you don't trust me," he said with a smirk. Aphrodite was shocked. No one even knew she had the power to sense emotions other than love and now this man knew when she was using it!

"That's because I don't," she said, her voice a bit shaky.

The man's brow drew down in worry, "I didn't mean to scare you. You're just the first person I've talked to in an eternity, literally, so I thought I'd have a bit of fun. I apologize. The answer to your question is a bit complicated though, and it would be easier to show you than to tell you. Will you permit me to take you somewhere? You have my word no harm will come to you."

Aphrodite tentatively reached out with her power again, and, ignoring the man's insufferable smirk, sensed his emotions. Digging through his emotions she found no reason to believe he was lying to her. This man was obviously powerful and said he wished to help them in their war. She couldn't let a potential ally slip away when they were already so woefully outmatched. "Ok," she finally said standing. "I'll go with you." The man's smile widened. He reached out to take her hand and they disappeared in a swirl of dark energy.