HOME | DD

Description

This has not been beta read so sorry for any mistakes.

Ukraine (Katyusha) = Hestia (goddess of the home and hearth)

Switzerland(Vash) = Trainer of heroes, or Phil as he is known in the movie

These are thoughts

~HETALIA~

Soft, puffy clouds flouted by Heracles's line of vision. Soft shades of pink and blue were streaked across the sky, slightly discolored when the bright orange rays of the sun hit them. Heracles stared up at the unending sky, ignoring the linger twinges that remained in his heart.

That boy is a menace!

He rolled over and curled up, closing his eyes.

Keep that freak away from here!

Heracles groaned and sat up. He shook his head as if trying to shake off the shouts, but it didn't work. So many times before Heracles had heard insults hurled at him. This time was no different. His parents always said to just ignore it, that the townspeople were wrong.

But Heracles was beginning to believe that they were right. He was a freak. Over and over he tried to fit in but he just couldn't.

Did he really belong here? In the cottage with his parents near the forest? Or in the town?

Heracles frowned and looked down at the grass, brushing through it with his fingers. He certainly didn't feel like he belonged. Even when he was a kid there was always this nagging feeling that he was meant to be somewhere else. It just didn't make any sense. This was where his family was, where he had been raised. It wasn't like he had some great destiny waiting for him, Heracles was the son of a carpenter. Abandoned by his birth parents only to have luck smile upon him that one time when Tino and Berwald found him. They had never spoken much about him being placed in their home, only mentioning that they did not know the identity of his birth parents.

So Heracles was an unwanted child. A freak who didn't fit in. Someone who would never find a place to belong.

Heracles sighed and threw his arms over his eyes and murmured, "This sucks."

~HETALIA~

At home the fireplace created a soft glow of light that permeated the darkness. Tino and Berwald were still probably awake, waiting for Heracles to come back home. There was a bitter feeling of guilt welling up inside him when he realized the trouble he must have caused his parents today. Rapidly Heracles completed the steps that brought him home and opened up the door.

Tino was sitting in front of their small altar to the goddess Hestia, quietly cleaning up a few petals that had dropped from the flowers Heracles had placed on it that morning. Berwald had been pacing by the fireplace, but looked up when Heracles opened the door. Tino noted Berwald's footsteps halting and looked up, letting out a surprised cry and running towards Heracles with his arms wide open.

"Heracles!" Tino cried, wrapping him in a hug, "Berwald told me all about what happened! Are you okay? Those stupid townspeople, they're wrong! There's nothing wrong with you, you're perfect the way you are!" Tino babbled as he continued to crush Heracles in his embrace. Heracles allowed his head to drop on top of his father's, inhaling the comforting smell of freshly baked bread and firewood smoke that clung to Tino. (He had long ago passed Tino in height difference and was almost as tall as Berwald now)

"Sit down, let me get you something warm to drink. It's getting cold outside, soon it will be fall and I'm going to need you and Berwald to chop more firewood for me," Tino continued to talk as he pulled Heracles towards a chair. However Heracles noted a slight wavering tone in Tino's voice, and before he could question it Berwald put a comforting hand on Tino's shoulder. Tino stopped talking and looked down at the floor, his face crumpling slightly.

"Son, 'it d'wn," Berwald said.

Heracles sat.

"There's s'mthin me and y'er dad have been meanin' to speak to y'er about. Ya already know we arn't y'er birth parents. But we nev'r told y'er the complete story..." Berwald said.

They filled him in on the full events that had transpired that night. How they had found him at the base of the mountain, alone except for two snakes that had tried to kill him. Apparently he had always been very strong, even when he was just a newborn baby.

"And this was around your neck when we found you," Tino had gone out earlier and returned with a small package tied up in soft leather. When he unwrapped it, a large golden medallion glinted at Heracles. Impressed upon the gold was another round circle with little squiggles wrapped in strange shapes inside of it.

"What is it?" Heracles asked.

"We didn't know at first, but when Berwald mentioned it to one of the priests he said that it was the symbol of the gods."

Heracles took the medallion and turned it around in his hands. It wasn't cool like he had expected but warm to the touch.

"The symbol of the gods," Heracles mumbled.

"After today's incident we..." Tino took a deep breath, "we think that maybe you should go to Alfred's temple to speak with them about your gift."

"We'r w'rried ab't you son. We don't want ya to feel like yer al'ne fer the rest of yer life," Berwald said.

"But I'm not alone, I have both of you."

"We won't be here forever Heracles, and you need other people besides your parents to be with you," Tino said, trying to sound slightly upbeat. But his voice cracked at the end and Tino tried to blink back tears.

"Alfred's temple is a long way off though. I don't know if I feel like walking that entire distance," Heracles joked.

"It isn't that far," Tino smiled, "but we'll make sure you have enough supplies to take with you before you leave."

After that his parents had bustled around the house, trying to talk of meaningless things as they gathered up supplies for Heracles's journey. But a heavy mood weighed over the house that night, and when Heracles left in the morning he tried not to feel guilty at the sad expressions in his parents faces. But it was almost with a odd sense of relief that he began his journey to Alfred's temple.

~HETALIA~

"I KNOW EVERY MILE WILL BE WORTH MY WHILE~ I WOULD GO MOST ANYWHERE TO FIND WHERE I BELLOOOONNGGG!" Feliks and Antonio bellowed out together.

"What the fuck was that you morons?" Lovino gritted his teeth and stuffed his fingers in his ears attempting to drown out the noise.

"Well this is, like a musical right? I WOULD, LIKE, GO THE DISTANCE!"

"We should be singing Lovi!" Antonio smiled.

"Who said it was a musical?" Yao grumbled. He was slowly scooting back a few feet, trying to put distance between him and the other two loud Muses.

"Eh? Do we not get to sing?" Antonio's smile dropped.

"No, you idiot!"

"But what about our big musical number that happens with Kiku? I was looking forward to that!"

"No musical numbers!" Lovino shouted. Antonio and Feliks immediately started sulking, while Toris looked slightly relieved. Yao on the other hand looked like his was quietly pondering.

"I don't know, aru. Our ratings might go up if we did sing a quick song..." He said slowly. Lovino gaped at him.

"Surely you can't be serious!"

"This story is to serious! We, like, need to lighten it up a bit! I'm bored!" Feliks groaned.

"Excuse fucking you, I don't remember the story of Heracles exactly being a happy one!" Lovino snapped.

"Wait, I thought we were telling the family friendly version, not the other one!" Toris looked frantically at everyone. "I don't like how the other one ends!"

"Family friendly!" Feliks insisted.

"No, we're going to do the other one!"

"Family friendly!"

"Other one!"

"FAMILY FRIENDLY!"

"OTHER ONE!"

"Both of you shut up! We'll decide which one we're doing at the end, aru!"

Noisy grumbling filled the area at Yao's words but nobody disagreed.

~HETALIA~

Stupid weather. Stupid rain. Stupid Alfred's temple being millions of paces away.

Heracles tried not to be disrespectful to the gods in his thoughts but it was difficult. He had been walking for about four days, taking a ride with anyone kind enough to give him a lift for free. Alfred wasn't the primary god of his hometown, and even though there were small shrines dedicated to the king of the gods scattered around (as to not disrespect Alfred) both Heracles and his parents had agreed going to the larger one would be the best idea. Heracles hoped Alfred would be slightly more benevolent to Heracles's requests since he had made such a long journey to get there.

Unfortunately the weather had been pretty bad since the second day Heracles had left home. Scattered rain showers had plagued him all along the way, making Heracles slightly worried that the gods were displeased with him in some way.

He knew he was getting closer though and that gave Heracles the strength to carry on even though night had fallen. A sign a couple paces back had signaled that he was almost there. All Heracles had to do now was climb to the top of the largest hill he had ever seen.

Heracles let out an aggrieved sigh and started his climb.

It took him almost an hour to reach the top, but it had been worth the climb. While marble was not his forte, being the son of a carpenter had given Heracles an appreciation for architecture, or at least the work that went into it. Huge marble columns reached towards the sky, holding up the glimmering roof of the temple. A large archway led him into the main room of worship, letting moonlight spill into the temple. The floor he walked on was a mosaic of tiny polished stones that were designed in swirling patterns with small thunderbolt shapes worked in to represent Alfred's primary symbol of power. Heracles slowly walked in, taking in everything. At the end of the long room was a looming statue of Alfred sitting on a throne. The face of the god was serious and stern, making Heracles slightly nervous.

Heracles knelt, holding his medallion in his hands as he prayed aloud, "Oh mighty Alfred, please hear my prayers. I need to know...just who am I? Where do I belong?"

Heracles wasn't exactly sure if he needed to add anything after that or do anything else. His mind wasn't exactly on talking to the god at the moment, the floor was cold and his knees were already starting to hurt after kneeling on it for only one minute.

How do the priests do this for hours? Heracles thought, and, um, when exactly am I going to receive an answer? Will a thunderbolt suddenly come down and write something on the ground?

Heracles meant that to be a joke but was badly startled when a thunderbolt suddenly zoomed into the room, hitting the statue dead on. He jerked and frantically began to crawl away backwards as the torches on either side of the statue spontaneously lit. Heracles's eyes shut at the sudden light, but he opened them quickly and was further shocked to see the statue was moving.

The statue was moving.

THE STATUE WAS MOVING...AND NOW IT WAS TALKING.

"Heracles! Hey kiddo!"

Heracles couldn't help but shout as two giant hands reached down and picked him up. He attempted to get out, realizing that it was possible the statue was trying to kill him but the hands clamped down and held him tight.

"Hey now, that isn't any way to greet your daddy-o!" The statue shouted.

What?

"What?" Heracles managed to say.

"Heh, bet you didn't know that you had a hero for a father now did you! It's me, Alfred the hero!" The statue, or rather the king of the gods Alfred, boomed. "Surprise!"

"Um," Heracles stammered.

"Look at you though! Look how you've grown! You've got Artie's eyes, and my eyebrows! Lucky you, you would not have wanted those caterpillars," Alfred smiled down at Heracles.

"Uh...I don't quite understand," Heracles said.

"Well I thought your mortal parents would have given you this talk by now, but when a man and woman love each other very much, or in our case two men who are gods because mortal men don't have the ability to give birth. I told Artie it would be funny if we gifted that upon them but nooooo, he said it was too late in humanity's evolution and would just mess things up. He's no fun really but I love him anyways...um, where was I going with this again...oh, yes! Two people, man and woman in the case of humans-"

"No! Wait, it isn't that," Heracles was now really confused and also slightly embarrassed, "I mean, you are my real father?" He asked hesitantly.

"Yup! I am your father and Artie is technically your mommy. He gave birth to you and all."

"So that makes me a-"

"A god! Yes it does! Kind of...but hey, you asked for answers and there you go! You're old enough now to know!" Alfred smiled.

Heracles stopped for a moment to take it in. He was a god. The child of the king and queen of the gods. That was...a lot to take in. "But then why did you leave me?" Heracles asked quietly. Had he really been unwanted in the end?

As if he had read Heracles's thoughts Alfred's smile dimmed and a soft and sad expression took over his face. "We didn't leave you. We would have never left you. Me and Artie loved you Heracles with all our hearts. But someone stole you from us and made you mortal, kind of, and only gods can live on Mount Olympus."

"Kind of?" Heracles asked, confused.

"Well, as you've figured out there is some power left in you."

"My super strength," Heracles whispered.

"Yes, which I have seen that you consider to be a curse. But Heracles, it's actually super amazing! That means you can still come home! If you harness that power and become a hero your full godness will be restored and you can come back to us!" Alfred's beaming smiled was back.

"How does that work?"

"I'm not quite sure. Artie explained it further to me before I came to talk to you but all I heard was blah blah blah hero blah blah become a god again blah," Alfred said.

"Ok...but then how do I become a hero?"

Alfred suddenly dumped Heracles into just one of his hands and used the other to shuffled around in his robes, "Now where did I put it? Artie wrote a list but where-ah! Here it is!" Alfred pulled out a scrap of paper that looked tiny in his huge hands. "Now let's see, first you must go see Vash, the trainer of heroes. Um, just a warning he's a little...crazy, but he's good!"

"This sounds like a lot of work. Isn't there just something you can do to bring back my full godhood?" Heracles asked. Alfred shook his head and Heracles sighed, slumping slightly before straightening back up, "Alright so find Vash, got it."

"Yup! Oh, and I should probably also," Alfred stopped talking and let out a shrill whistle. Heracles winced and placed his hands over his ears at the loud sound, missing the other noise that answered Alfred's whistle. From the sky what looked like a falling star came towards them, but when it came closer Heracles saw it wasn't a star, but instead a- "Cat with wings?" Heracles said.

"You probably don't remember Corporal Cat, but you two go way back!" Alfred laughed. Corporal Cat landed near Heracles, and approached him excitedly. Heracles had never seen a cat that large before, it was almost as tall as Heracles; he could probably ride on Corporal Cat's back. Corporal Cat happily butted heads with Heracles. Heracles smiled and raised his hand to scratch behind the cat's ears, and a loud purring noise filled the air.

"Hello there Corporal Cat," Heracles said.

"So there you go! I have given you everything you need to start your journey! Good luck Heracles!" Alfred said. Heracles got onto Corporal Cat's back, and the cat flew up into the air ready to leave.

"Thank you," Heracles hesitated for a moment before saying, "father." Alfred's beaming smile showed that he had said the right thing.

"Goodbye, son," He waved his hand, creating a blast of air that forced Heracles and Corporal Cat outside, "Oops! Sorry about that!" he called. Heracles waved back, and then was gone.

Alfred settled back down into his chair, preparing to leave the statue and head back to Mount Olympus. Except there was something niggling at his mind, "Was there something else I was supposed to tell him? Hmmm, nah," he shrugged and zapped himself back home, leaving the once serious and stern face of the statue smiling with one of its hands cupping the side of its face.

The scrap of paper he had been given fluttered to the ground, only two reminders on its surface. The first read 'Heracles must go to Vash' which Alfred had made sure to tell his son. The second, which Alfred had forgotten said 'And whatever you do git don't forget to tell him to stay away from Sadiq. Feliciano said he's been acting strangely these past couple years and I don't want our son near that weirdo.'

The forgotten piece of paper laid there until morning when it was swept up by the priests of the temple (after they freaked out about the statue's change in facial expression) its warning forgotten.

Description

This has not been beta read so sorry for any mistakes.

Ukraine (Katyusha) = Hestia (goddess of the home and hearth)

Switzerland(Vash) = Trainer of heroes, or Phil as he is known in the movie

These are thoughts

~HETALIA~

Soft, puffy clouds flouted by Heracles's line of vision. Soft shades of pink and blue were streaked across the sky, slightly discolored when the bright orange rays of the sun hit them. Heracles stared up at the unending sky, ignoring the linger twinges that remained in his heart.

That boy is a menace!

He rolled over and curled up, closing his eyes.

Keep that freak away from here!

Heracles groaned and sat up. He shook his head as if trying to shake off the shouts, but it didn't work. So many times before Heracles had heard insults hurled at him. This time was no different. His parents always said to just ignore it, that the townspeople were wrong.

But Heracles was beginning to believe that they were right. He was a freak. Over and over he tried to fit in but he just couldn't.

Did he really belong here? In the cottage with his parents near the forest? Or in the town?

Heracles frowned and looked down at the grass, brushing through it with his fingers. He certainly didn't feel like he belonged. Even when he was a kid there was always this nagging feeling that he was meant to be somewhere else. It just didn't make any sense. This was where his family was, where he had been raised. It wasn't like he had some great destiny waiting for him, Heracles was the son of a carpenter. Abandoned by his birth parents only to have luck smile upon him that one time when Tino and Berwald found him. They had never spoken much about him being placed in their home, only mentioning that they did not know the identity of his birth parents.

So Heracles was an unwanted child. A freak who didn't fit in. Someone who would never find a place to belong.

Heracles sighed and threw his arms over his eyes and murmured, "This sucks."

~HETALIA~

At home the fireplace created a soft glow of light that permeated the darkness. Tino and Berwald were still probably awake, waiting for Heracles to come back home. There was a bitter feeling of guilt welling up inside him when he realized the trouble he must have caused his parents today. Rapidly Heracles completed the steps that brought him home and opened up the door.

Tino was sitting in front of their small altar to the goddess Hestia, quietly cleaning up a few petals that had dropped from the flowers Heracles had placed on it that morning. Berwald had been pacing by the fireplace, but looked up when Heracles opened the door. Tino noted Berwald's footsteps halting and looked up, letting out a surprised cry and running towards Heracles with his arms wide open.

"Heracles!" Tino cried, wrapping him in a hug, "Berwald told me all about what happened! Are you okay? Those stupid townspeople, they're wrong! There's nothing wrong with you, you're perfect the way you are!" Tino babbled as he continued to crush Heracles in his embrace. Heracles allowed his head to drop on top of his father's, inhaling the comforting smell of freshly baked bread and firewood smoke that clung to Tino. (He had long ago passed Tino in height difference and was almost as tall as Berwald now)

"Sit down, let me get you something warm to drink. It's getting cold outside, soon it will be fall and I'm going to need you and Berwald to chop more firewood for me," Tino continued to talk as he pulled Heracles towards a chair. However Heracles noted a slight wavering tone in Tino's voice, and before he could question it Berwald put a comforting hand on Tino's shoulder. Tino stopped talking and looked down at the floor, his face crumpling slightly.

"Son, 'it d'wn," Berwald said.

Heracles sat.

"There's s'mthin me and y'er dad have been meanin' to speak to y'er about. Ya already know we arn't y'er birth parents. But we nev'r told y'er the complete story..." Berwald said.

They filled him in on the full events that had transpired that night. How they had found him at the base of the mountain, alone except for two snakes that had tried to kill him. Apparently he had always been very strong, even when he was just a newborn baby.

"And this was around your neck when we found you," Tino had gone out earlier and returned with a small package tied up in soft leather. When he unwrapped it, a large golden medallion glinted at Heracles. Impressed upon the gold was another round circle with little squiggles wrapped in strange shapes inside of it.

"What is it?" Heracles asked.

"We didn't know at first, but when Berwald mentioned it to one of the priests he said that it was the symbol of the gods."

Heracles took the medallion and turned it around in his hands. It wasn't cool like he had expected but warm to the touch.

"The symbol of the gods," Heracles mumbled.

"After today's incident we..." Tino took a deep breath, "we think that maybe you should go to Alfred's temple to speak with them about your gift."

"We'r w'rried ab't you son. We don't want ya to feel like yer al'ne fer the rest of yer life," Berwald said.

"But I'm not alone, I have both of you."

"We won't be here forever Heracles, and you need other people besides your parents to be with you," Tino said, trying to sound slightly upbeat. But his voice cracked at the end and Tino tried to blink back tears.

"Alfred's temple is a long way off though. I don't know if I feel like walking that entire distance," Heracles joked.

"It isn't that far," Tino smiled, "but we'll make sure you have enough supplies to take with you before you leave."

After that his parents had bustled around the house, trying to talk of meaningless things as they gathered up supplies for Heracles's journey. But a heavy mood weighed over the house that night, and when Heracles left in the morning he tried not to feel guilty at the sad expressions in his parents faces. But it was almost with a odd sense of relief that he began his journey to Alfred's temple.

~HETALIA~

"I KNOW EVERY MILE WILL BE WORTH MY WHILE~ I WOULD GO MOST ANYWHERE TO FIND WHERE I BELLOOOONNGGG!" Feliks and Antonio bellowed out together.

"What the fuck was that you morons?" Lovino gritted his teeth and stuffed his fingers in his ears attempting to drown out the noise.

"Well this is, like a musical right? I WOULD, LIKE, GO THE DISTANCE!"

"We should be singing Lovi!" Antonio smiled.

"Who said it was a musical?" Yao grumbled. He was slowly scooting back a few feet, trying to put distance between him and the other two loud Muses.

"Eh? Do we not get to sing?" Antonio's smile dropped.

"No, you idiot!"

"But what about our big musical number that happens with Kiku? I was looking forward to that!"

"No musical numbers!" Lovino shouted. Antonio and Feliks immediately started sulking, while Toris looked slightly relieved. Yao on the other hand looked like his was quietly pondering.

"I don't know, aru. Our ratings might go up if we did sing a quick song..." He said slowly. Lovino gaped at him.

"Surely you can't be serious!"

"This story is to serious! We, like, need to lighten it up a bit! I'm bored!" Feliks groaned.

"Excuse fucking you, I don't remember the story of Heracles exactly being a happy one!" Lovino snapped.

"Wait, I thought we were telling the family friendly version, not the other one!" Toris looked frantically at everyone. "I don't like how the other one ends!"

"Family friendly!" Feliks insisted.

"No, we're going to do the other one!"

"Family friendly!"

"Other one!"

"FAMILY FRIENDLY!"

"OTHER ONE!"

"Both of you shut up! We'll decide which one we're doing at the end, aru!"

Noisy grumbling filled the area at Yao's words but nobody disagreed.

~HETALIA~

Stupid weather. Stupid rain. Stupid Alfred's temple being millions of paces away.

Heracles tried not to be disrespectful to the gods in his thoughts but it was difficult. He had been walking for about four days, taking a ride with anyone kind enough to give him a lift for free. Alfred wasn't the primary god of his hometown, and even though there were small shrines dedicated to the king of the gods scattered around (as to not disrespect Alfred) both Heracles and his parents had agreed going to the larger one would be the best idea. Heracles hoped Alfred would be slightly more benevolent to Heracles's requests since he had made such a long journey to get there.

Unfortunately the weather had been pretty bad since the second day Heracles had left home. Scattered rain showers had plagued him all along the way, making Heracles slightly worried that the gods were displeased with him in some way.

He knew he was getting closer though and that gave Heracles the strength to carry on even though night had fallen. A sign a couple paces back had signaled that he was almost there. All Heracles had to do now was climb to the top of the largest hill he had ever seen.

Heracles let out an aggrieved sigh and started his climb.

It took him almost an hour to reach the top, but it had been worth the climb. While marble was not his forte, being the son of a carpenter had given Heracles an appreciation for architecture, or at least the work that went into it. Huge marble columns reached towards the sky, holding up the glimmering roof of the temple. A large archway led him into the main room of worship, letting moonlight spill into the temple. The floor he walked on was a mosaic of tiny polished stones that were designed in swirling patterns with small thunderbolt shapes worked in to represent Alfred's primary symbol of power. Heracles slowly walked in, taking in everything. At the end of the long room was a looming statue of Alfred sitting on a throne. The face of the god was serious and stern, making Heracles slightly nervous.

Heracles knelt, holding his medallion in his hands as he prayed aloud, "Oh mighty Alfred, please hear my prayers. I need to know...just who am I? Where do I belong?"

Heracles wasn't exactly sure if he needed to add anything after that or do anything else. His mind wasn't exactly on talking to the god at the moment, the floor was cold and his knees were already starting to hurt after kneeling on it for only one minute.

How do the priests do this for hours? Heracles thought, and, um, when exactly am I going to receive an answer? Will a thunderbolt suddenly come down and write something on the ground?

Heracles meant that to be a joke but was badly startled when a thunderbolt suddenly zoomed into the room, hitting the statue dead on. He jerked and frantically began to crawl away backwards as the torches on either side of the statue spontaneously lit. Heracles's eyes shut at the sudden light, but he opened them quickly and was further shocked to see the statue was moving.

The statue was moving.

THE STATUE WAS MOVING...AND NOW IT WAS TALKING.

"Heracles! Hey kiddo!"

Heracles couldn't help but shout as two giant hands reached down and picked him up. He attempted to get out, realizing that it was possible the statue was trying to kill him but the hands clamped down and held him tight.

"Hey now, that isn't any way to greet your daddy-o!" The statue shouted.

What?

"What?" Heracles managed to say.

"Heh, bet you didn't know that you had a hero for a father now did you! It's me, Alfred the hero!" The statue, or rather the king of the gods Alfred, boomed. "Surprise!"

"Um," Heracles stammered.

"Look at you though! Look how you've grown! You've got Artie's eyes, and my eyebrows! Lucky you, you would not have wanted those caterpillars," Alfred smiled down at Heracles.

"Uh...I don't quite understand," Heracles said.

"Well I thought your mortal parents would have given you this talk by now, but when a man and woman love each other very much, or in our case two men who are gods because mortal men don't have the ability to give birth. I told Artie it would be funny if we gifted that upon them but nooooo, he said it was too late in humanity's evolution and would just mess things up. He's no fun really but I love him anyways...um, where was I going with this again...oh, yes! Two people, man and woman in the case of humans-"

"No! Wait, it isn't that," Heracles was now really confused and also slightly embarrassed, "I mean, you are my real father?" He asked hesitantly.

"Yup! I am your father and Artie is technically your mommy. He gave birth to you and all."

"So that makes me a-"

"A god! Yes it does! Kind of...but hey, you asked for answers and there you go! You're old enough now to know!" Alfred smiled.

Heracles stopped for a moment to take it in. He was a god. The child of the king and queen of the gods. That was...a lot to take in. "But then why did you leave me?" Heracles asked quietly. Had he really been unwanted in the end?

As if he had read Heracles's thoughts Alfred's smile dimmed and a soft and sad expression took over his face. "We didn't leave you. We would have never left you. Me and Artie loved you Heracles with all our hearts. But someone stole you from us and made you mortal, kind of, and only gods can live on Mount Olympus."

"Kind of?" Heracles asked, confused.

"Well, as you've figured out there is some power left in you."

"My super strength," Heracles whispered.

"Yes, which I have seen that you consider to be a curse. But Heracles, it's actually super amazing! That means you can still come home! If you harness that power and become a hero your full godness will be restored and you can come back to us!" Alfred's beaming smiled was back.

"How does that work?"

"I'm not quite sure. Artie explained it further to me before I came to talk to you but all I heard was blah blah blah hero blah blah become a god again blah," Alfred said.

"Ok...but then how do I become a hero?"

Alfred suddenly dumped Heracles into just one of his hands and used the other to shuffled around in his robes, "Now where did I put it? Artie wrote a list but where-ah! Here it is!" Alfred pulled out a scrap of paper that looked tiny in his huge hands. "Now let's see, first you must go see Vash, the trainer of heroes. Um, just a warning he's a little...crazy, but he's good!"

"This sounds like a lot of work. Isn't there just something you can do to bring back my full godhood?" Heracles asked. Alfred shook his head and Heracles sighed, slumping slightly before straightening back up, "Alright so find Vash, got it."

"Yup! Oh, and I should probably also," Alfred stopped talking and let out a shrill whistle. Heracles winced and placed his hands over his ears at the loud sound, missing the other noise that answered Alfred's whistle. From the sky what looked like a falling star came towards them, but when it came closer Heracles saw it wasn't a star, but instead a- "Cat with wings?" Heracles said.

"You probably don't remember Corporal Cat, but you two go way back!" Alfred laughed. Corporal Cat landed near Heracles, and approached him excitedly. Heracles had never seen a cat that large before, it was almost as tall as Heracles; he could probably ride on Corporal Cat's back. Corporal Cat happily butted heads with Heracles. Heracles smiled and raised his hand to scratch behind the cat's ears, and a loud purring noise filled the air.

"Hello there Corporal Cat," Heracles said.

"So there you go! I have given you everything you need to start your journey! Good luck Heracles!" Alfred said. Heracles got onto Corporal Cat's back, and the cat flew up into the air ready to leave.

"Thank you," Heracles hesitated for a moment before saying, "father." Alfred's beaming smile showed that he had said the right thing.

"Goodbye, son," He waved his hand, creating a blast of air that forced Heracles and Corporal Cat outside, "Oops! Sorry about that!" he called. Heracles waved back, and then was gone.

Alfred settled back down into his chair, preparing to leave the statue and head back to Mount Olympus. Except there was something niggling at his mind, "Was there something else I was supposed to tell him? Hmmm, nah," he shrugged and zapped himself back home, leaving the once serious and stern face of the statue smiling with one of its hands cupping the side of its face.

The scrap of paper he had been given fluttered to the ground, only two reminders on its surface. The first read 'Heracles must go to Vash' which Alfred had made sure to tell his son. The second, which Alfred had forgotten said 'And whatever you do git don't forget to tell him to stay away from Sadiq. Feliciano said he's been acting strangely these past couple years and I don't want our son near that weirdo.'

The forgotten piece of paper laid there until morning when it was swept up by the priests of the temple (after they freaked out about the statue's change in facial expression) its warning forgotten.