Alessa was destined to do great things.

      At least that's what she grew up hearing.

      She didn't exactly believe it. Her parents had no reason to lie to her, but it just didn't seem quite right.

      But she knew who she was. Alessa, daughter of Aphrodite and Ares. It was ironic, being the child of the goddess of love and the god of war, but they were infamous lovers. Even though Aphrodite was married to someone else, Hephaestus.

      A part of Alessa felt bad for Hephaestus. He was a good man who deserved better. He was more than the hideous brute her mother saw in him. But the young goddess could never bring herself to speak to him out of guilt.

      It wasn't her fault her mother didn't love him. But it didn't make her feel any better, so she resorted to staying quiet and never speaking to him for centuries.

      But she occasionally gave him soft and kind smiles whenever he was around and eventually, he began to return them as well.

      Then there were the gods Alessa enjoyed hanging out the most that weren't her parents: Apollo, Artemis, and Hermes.

      She loved Apollo's music and was always eager to let him teach her new instruments and songs. She was perhaps the closest to him during all her years in Olympus.

      Artemis, Apollo's twin sister, was the complete opposite of him. As opposite as night and day, which wasn't a surprise since Artemis was the goddess of the moon and Apollo the god of the sun. But she admired Artemis' independence and learned archery skills from her.

      Hermes was chaotic and a prankster, but gods, did Alessa enjoy joining in on his pranks. He made sure she wouldn't get caught, of course, since she was already the golden girl on Olympus, but that just made her more eager to prank or just hang out with him.

      While there was a lot of fun going around, Alessa always got the creeps around Zeus. She heard hundreds, if not thousands stories about the king of all the gods. All the women he'd seduce and children he spawned, which resulted in his wife, Hera, to unleash her wrath upon his mistresses and demigod kids.

      Sometimes, she would notice the way he looked at her. A gaze that made her gold blood turn cold and her insides twist.

      At least Apollo and Artemis seemed to notice but never said anything, making sure she was never alone and there was someone with her if they couldn't be there. And Alessa didn't miss the way the goddess of the moon would narrow her eyes at her own father, a silent warning to stay away from the new goddess, and how Apollo would stand in front of her constantly, almost protectively.

      She felt grateful for them, because she would rather be damned than to end up among the growing list of women Zeus has taken advantage of.

      Alessa would not be a victim too.

      Overall, living with the Olympians wasn't so bad. She grew up with them and they taught her everything she knew. Although she felt almost comfortable, something just didn't feel exactly right. She didn't know what it was though.

      Until she began to tap into the feelings of mortals.

      In all honesty, Alessa hadn't meant to do it. She was just so curious about them and wasn't allowed to go to the mortal realm.

      So without leaving the confinement of her home, the young goddess began to reach out to them, to see how they were doing.

      It didn't take long for her to regret it.

      She felt their pain, anguish, and suffering. Their loved ones dying or getting tortured, kids starving on the streets. It shattered her heart and made her sob, just barely finding the courage to confront her parents.

      That's how her parents found Alessa, crying in the middle of her bedroom floor and was nearly blinded from the agony of the mortals. It didn't take long for her to tell them everything she saw and felt.

      "Don't waste your tears over them, they're not worth it." Aphrodite had told her, wiping away her daughter's tears with her thumbs gently but her vibrant eyes were serious.

     "But they are hurting," Alessa nearly pleaded with more tears threatening to fall, "men, women, and children, in pain and dying..."

      "So?" Ares scoffed as he looked down at her. "They're just mortals."

      Just mortals? Alessa thought to herself, every drop of ichor in her body turning cold. Was that all they were? Just mortals who were completely insignificant. Yes, they were gods, but mortals still had hearts and souls.

      They didn't deserve this. None of them did. Especially the children.

      That's when she made her decision.

      "I have to leave." Alessa told Hermes quietly the following day, both of them outside in the garden and neither of them looking at one another.

      "Leave? You can't just.."

      "I have to. I cannot stay here knowing that there are mortals who need help while the gods do nothing."

      "Ali, not all of these mortals are good." He told her and she nodded.

      "I know that. But there are good mortals. Good children. I would give up my immortality just to help them." She finally looked at him, taking his hand. "Please...I need your help getting out."

      Hermes looked at her, chewing on his bottom lip before sighing. "If he finds out that I helped you..."

      "He will not." Alessa said strongly. She would make sure Zeus never knew that she had help. She gripped onto Hermes' hand, her dark eyes meeting his. "I swear on the River Styx that Zeus will never find out that you helped me escape Olympus."

      Their clasped hands glowed a bright shade of gold before fading away, the oath sealed.

      No one can break an oath on the River Styx, not without facing dreadful consequences.

      They were both silent after a moment before Hermes finally spoke again. "You have a big heart, Alessa. Too big. Gods like us can't afford to have a big heart made of gold."

      The blonde kept her head up high, unyielding. "Sometimes having a big heart can help. And I will not stop until I help as many mortals as I can."

      He smiled slightly and chuckled under his breath. "You're too good to be an Olympian." He said before his smile turned almost sad. "I'll miss you."

      Alessa leaned forward and kissed his cheek, smiling softly. "And I will miss you. Someday, we will meet again."

      And that night, while Artemis' moon was shining brightly under the dark sky, the young goddess left Olympus and never returned.

      She didn't tell anyone else, not Artemis or Apollo, or even her parents. The less people who knew, the better. Alessa left and went into hiding in the mortal world, making sure to never be found.

      And that was where she spent the next three hundred years. Helping anyone who needed it, taking in mortal children and offering them protection. She supported them in any way she could, and had no problems unleashing hell on those who dared to harm her adopted children.

      Doing this, the blonde felt whole. She was doing the right thing, she was doing something that filled her and others with joy.

      Perhaps she really was destined to do great things.

      But not in the way anyone expected. In a way that helped mortals instead of the Olympians.

      And Alessa didn't regret it one bit.