Title: Destiny’s Mission
Author: Shadowgrl
Fandom: Xena: Warrior Princess
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Yeah, right. Like I even know what happened after Season 2.Feedback would be cool. Email is agenie_13@hotmail.com
Strife, God of Mischief, pouted at himself in the mirror. Something wasgoing on and no one was telling him what it was. And no matter how much heeavesdropped, or burst in on people unexpectedly, he couldn’t seem to findout what was going on. It was maddening. How was he supposed to causemischief when he didn’t know where to go to make it happen? He didn’t evenhave a clue as to if the “thing”, whatever it was, was about a person or aplace or even an object. There had never been a secret this well kept onOlympus before, except for one, and like that one, this secret seemed to beanother one where everyone knew what was happening except Strife. He wasbeginning to think he wasn’t wanted.
Strife snickered to himself. He knew full well that he wasn’t wanted. It hadbeen drummed into him everyday of his life since he was born. Eris had notbeen ready to be a mother and Strife doubted he would have survived if Areshadn’t taken him in. And yet, once he’d passed his fifth century, Ares’attitude towards him had changed. No longer was he welcome to curl up inAres’ lap and fall asleep. He’d been told to build himself a temple onOlympus and move there. And as Strife approached his six hundredth year,Ares was no longer even sending him on missions. No, now he was loaningStrife and all his mischief making capabilities out to Cupid. It was as ifAres didn’t want him around anymore and was trying to find the cruelest waypossible to tell Strife that. After all, Ares knew Strife didn’t like Cupid.He never really had.
When he was younger Strife had thought he felt guilty for taking awayMischief from Cupid, but he quickly realized that couldn’t be right for afew reasons: mostly, he didn’t feel guilt and secondly, Cupid was a moron.He was creepy too. Always popping out of nowhere, following him around andacting like he knew everything. So for a long time Strife had avoided Cupidand now he was being farmed out to him. It just wasn’t fair.
But Strife was used to that. So when Ares told him to go help Cupid, Strifewent, did the job and got out of there as fast as he could. Ares alwayslooked surprised when he returned so quickly. He would then go back to beingthe gruff, nasty God of War he’d been around Strife lately, but he was neverable to hide the amusement and delight that would first appear in his eyeswhen Strife would pop in. That light was all that kept Strife going thesedays. He didn’t know why everyone was acting oddly around him, but it didn’tmatter. In his entire life Strife had only counted on one being; Ares. Hehad to find out why Ares was pretending to dislike him now. He had too.
Sighing, he paced his room. ‘Okay, let’s go over the clues’ he thought. ‘1:Everyone, and I do mean everyone, is acting weird. Gods I know hate me aresmiling at me. Real smiles not the “I’m about to stab you in the back”smiles. 2: Zeus and Hera called mom and Unc in for a meeting yesterday andwhen they came out Mom hugged me. 3: My energy has doubled in the last fewmonths. 4: Everyone is talking to me, they never talk to me, Hades, theyusually run the other way. Everyone is…’ Strife’s thoughts trailed off as hethought of something. Narrowing his eyes he thought back over the events ofthe last few months. Maybe he was just imagining it. Concentrating harder herealized he wasn’t. ‘Everyone is talking to me except Cupid. In fact, I’vebarely even seen him. Unc hasn’t sent me to him, he hasn’t annoyingly poppedin on me and I don’t remember seeing him at the party Apollo threw lastmonth. ‘
Strife stopped pacing, stopped mumbling under his breath, and pretty muchstopped breathing as he tried to wrap his mind around the fact that Cupid’sabsence bothered him. Tartarus, it was a relief not to have to constantly bewatching out for the winged pest. He was probably out working. Except… itwas winter. And now that he thought about it, Strife hadn’t felt Cupid’spower signature for a while. Cautiously sending out a tendril of power, hewas unable to detect even residual power traces from Cupid. That couldn’t beright. Even if he was taking a break from the Love thing, and personallyStrife thought he had gotten the better end of the deal with mischief, Cupidshould still have been using his powers for other things. This was odd andStrife didn’t like odd things that he hadn’t helped happen. But what to doabout it? He couldn’t just go strolling into Cupid’s temple to talk to him.It was standard knowledge on Olympus that Strife didn’t like Cupid. He’deven overheard Hermes teasing Cupid about it one day although, after Hermeshad picked himself out of the wall, he’d apologized and popped off. So hecouldn’t just show up. ‘And why are you worrying about it anyway? The guy’sa pest; he’s weird, and he’s seriously freaky. You should be glad he’s notspying on you or interfering with your work anymore. It’s a good thing. ‘
Abruptly shaking himself out of his thoughts, Strife decided to go to bed.He’d forget about Cupid and his odd habits and go back to trying to figureout the mystery tomorrow. Right now he wanted to sleep.
As Strife crawled into bed and drifted off the viewing screen went dark. Aconversation began.
“He suspects something.”
“He’s suspicious, he always suspects something.”
A faint smile. “That is true. His paranoia is almost legendary. Still, hewill not be stalled for long. He will come up with a plan and attempt toexecute it.”
“That cannot happen. He must be told.”
“He will not agree.”
“Not even to save a life?”
“To save the life of Ares or even Eris, yes. But to save another? And tosave this one in particular? Can we be sure?”
“If only there was a way to be sure.”
“There is not. The tapestry is clouded in this.”
“We have no choice but to tell him. And he will have no choice but to savehim.”
“It will be a battle. If it were just a one-time issue Strife would do it.But this bonds them forever. It will not be welcome. And the fact thatothers are acting as if he has already decided when, in fact, he knowsnothing of it, will hurt us. He will see that they value not him, but whathe can do. He may decide to rebel. And the choice must be made freely or itwill not take.”
“He will agree. He has felt the effects; he just does not know why they areappearing. He will understand the necessity.”
“It will cause other problems. This is not a popular choice for all the airof happiness they put on.”
“We cannot worry about them right now, sisters. The urgency is here and now.Other issues will be dealt with later.”
“We shall inform him in the morning. Let him sleep now.”
Strife was getting pissed. Really pissed. He hadn’t slept well; his dreamswere filled with dark temples, which normally would have been fine, exceptthat the temples were all empty. And they were clearly recognizable as themain temples on Olympus. Empty, dark, musty and dirty temples on Olympus.Which would just never happen. And he had been the only one there. No otherGods or Goddesses, even the Muses were gone. All that was left were thetemples, himself and a howling wind that blew lustily throughout Olympus.And a sense of sadness and loss. It had not been pleasant and even thoughthere had been nothing overtly terrifying about it, Strife had still wokenup panting hard and scared.
And people were still being nice to him!
He stalked around Olympus desperate to find out what was happening. He wasin a funk and people rapidly got out of his way. Suddenly, he went into lurkmode. He had seen something out of the corner of his eye that was justunusual enough to make him even more suspicious than normal. Eris.Aphrodite. Together. That never happened. And they appeared to be gettingalong.
This was the last straw! Between people seeming to be nice to him, Ares’attitude, his mom’s hug, the strange meetings, the dreams and the fact thathe was irritatingly unable to get Cupid’s disappearance off his mind, Strifesnapped. Deciding to take care of the easiest issue first, Strife stalkedtowards Cupid’s temple, growling softly under his breath.
Reaching Cupid’s temple Strife flung open the door. Angrily striding intothe front hall, he stopped and stared in shock. It was empty. Completelyempty. No statues, no wall hangings, no tables and no Cupid. Shaking hishead in surprise, Strife began to thoroughly search the rest of the temple.There was nothing. Anywhere. Every sign that the temple had once been livedin was gone. It was almost as if Cupid had been swept out and room had beenmade for a new God. Which was ridiculous. Cupid was the God of Love. Itwasn’t like one could say out with the old and in with the new here. But ifCupid wasn’t here, where could he be?
“He is waiting,” a soft voice said.
Strife whipped around, daggers at the ready, only to stop in surprise at theidentity of his visitors. Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos looked at him calmlyfrom their position outside the bedroom door. Strife had an insane desire torun, to pretend he’d never even been in Cupid’s temple, but he choked itdown. Unfortunately, he could not get rid of the feeling that his life wasabout to be turned upside down. He stuffed it back and asked, “Waiting forwhat? Couldn’t he have waited here?”
Clotho smiled and Strife immediately knew he should have listened to hisinstincts instead of actually being respectful and staying to listen to TheFates.
“Strife, we have something to tell you. It would please us if you would comewith us to see the Tapestry.”
Strife blinked. See the Tapestry. The Tapestry. By personal invitation ofthe Fates. Something was definitely wrong here. Strife was not supposed tosee the Tapestry. It was felt he could cause too much damage to it and,while a little upset at the unfairness of the edict, he had a lot of otherthings to do to cause mischief so he had never bothered trying to see it.And now he was being personally invited? He looked around the bedroom oncemore. A strange feeling was in his stomach, had been since he walked in andfound the place empty, and it was getting stronger. He paused for a momentand analyzed it.
Worry.
He was worried about Cupid. It was rather surprising. But if his temple wasempty and The Fates were involving themselves something must be going on.Something bad for the Fates were notorious for only involving themselves inbad things. And if they had searched him out then he, Strife, must be one ofthe people who could try to fix it. That didn’t happen very often. He wasusually the person who broke it and watched others try to make it better. Hewondered what it would be like to be on the other side for a change.
Sighing, and wondering when he got to be such a wimp that he was actuallycaring about what happened to the one God who drove him absolutely insanejust by looking at him, he nodded his head at Clotho. “Sure. I don’t haveanything better to do, after all.” Then his world was gone as, without eventouching him, Strife found himself dissolving and then reappearing in themiddle of the cave where the Fates wove the Tapestry.
He blinked his eyes as he readjusted his body. Shaking his head hisattention was caught by the Tapestry. It was quite large, taking up most ofthe cave and very tall. And the colors! Strife didn’t even have names formost of those colors. He knew with absolute certainty that he could spendyears looking at the Tapestry and never grow bored. But Lachesis steppedforward and drew Strife’s attention to her.
Lachesis gestured to the Tapestry. “Can you see your thread, Strife,” sheasked.
Strife looked. Gods could find their own threads but they could notinfluence them in any way. It took him a few moments, but he finally foundit. He saw a deep blue colored thread that came from a red colored one andthen intersected with a maroon one. The red must be Eris and the maroonAres. He followed it with his eyes and saw others intersecting with it, butthey always veered off. His thread was mostly a lone one. And then hecouldn’t see it anymore. Shrugging, he went back to the beginning and tracedit forward again. Again it disappeared. Frowning ferociously now, he steppedforward and placed his finger on his thread. It began to glow and pulse.Nodding in satisfaction, Strife once again attempted to follow his thread.Only to find that it was gone. It didn’t end abruptly and it didn’t fadeinto another thread, it simply vanished. One moment he had his finger on it,the next it was gone.
He looked at Lachesis in confusion. She smiled gently at him.
“Strife, as you have no doubt noticed, your thread is very odd. Not unique,but odd. There is only one other thread like it in the Tapestry. And thereis a story behind both threads. Would you like to hear it?”
Strife shot her a “Duh” look. Did he want to hear it? What, did he look likean idiot? Of course he wanted to hear it. Although he had a sneakingsuspicion that he was not going to like the way the story ended. No doubt itwas just more shit that would be dumped on him.
Atropos stepped forward. It was her job to cut the threads so it fell to herto tell the story. She was not looking forward to it. She had long felt thiswas a bad idea, but Zeus had overruled the Fates in his anger, and while heregretted it now, that would not help Cupid or Strife.
“You have noticed some differences in the way people treat you, yes?” shequestioned.
Strife nodded his head but remained silent. He had great respect forAtropos. Almost as much respect as he had for Ares.
“When you were born you were given the title God of Mischief. Do you knowwhy?”
“Yeah, ‘cause Cupid got in too much trouble with it. He caused too manypranks and didn’t ever think about the consequences. So they took awayMischief and gave it to me.”
“That is correct. However, there is a story behind that and this is what Iam to tell you. Understand now that you will have a choice to make at theend of the story. This choice must be made freely and will be in effect forall of eternity or the rest of your life, whichever comes first. It affectsnot only you, but also a multitude of other Gods and Goddesses along withall the mortals who are here now and who will be born in the future. And thechoice is yours to make alone. You cannot avoid it. If you choose not tohear the story you will have to make the choice based on nothing more thanyour own thoughts and feelings, but you will be forced to make it. Do youunderstand?”
Strife gaped. He cleared his throat a few times. “This is a lot more seriousthan I thought it was, isn’t it.”
Three grim faces answered him.
He nodded once, bleakly. “I can do serious. Alright, tell me your story andI will try and choose wisely.”
Atropos began….
“Once, a long time ago, there was a beautiful woman. She was the loveliestwoman in all the world but she was also unhappy. She was married to what sheperceived at the time to be a brute and was therefore cursed to bear nochildren for she would not risk passing her husband’s brutality down to herchildren. So she went about her day with a bright smile for she was proudand would let none see how heavy her pain was. But inside her was a rod ofsteel and even as she smiled and affected an air of stupidity, she plotted away to have a child. In truth, she gave no thought to her husband or even tothe child once it was born, all she thought of was a way to conceive thechild, ignoring that once born, a child is a lifetime responsibility.
Not wishing to fraternize with her husband, she knew another must father thechild, so she looked around her home and took stock of all the men. At lastshe decided on one who was handsome and, though he appeared fierce, could bequite gentle. He was also most unhappy, though not many knew of it. This manwas also one of the few the woman genuinely cared for. He also wanted achild, though he had long ceased dreaming of such happening to him. So sheapproached him and began her seduction, tempering it with friendship andtrue love, for she was not as selfish and manipulative as she appeared.
At last, the child was conceived and for a few days the two celebratedalone. Alas though, neither of them had given much thought to what wouldhappen when the news of the pregnancy became known. The woman’s husband wasbroken-hearted and she was as well for in those months she had come to beginto see past her husbands exterior into his heart and what she saw therepleased her. She tried to make amends as did the father of the child, butthere were no words sincere enough to heal his heart and he went andcomplained to his mother, asking for some sort of punishment to be visitedon them both.
His mother agreed and took council with her husband. Interrupted in a raremoment of love the two parents were furious at the actions of theirresponsible pair. Unfortunately this anger impaired their judgement, andthey were also influenced by Destiny, and instead of punishing only the tworesponsible, they vented their anger on the unborn child by placing a curseon its head.
What is one shall be divided in twain
And never shall know completeness
Where there is two
Mayhem and heartbreak will occur
Until placed together once more
By choices freely made
Together they must come
Knowing themselves completely
If separate, greet death
If together, greet life
The curse was fierce in its power and touched upon the mother with red fire,causing her agony of the body and heart. The child was born and all fearedfor the boy, as that was what he was, but there seemed no harm. Years wentby and the boy grew strong, healthy, and playful, adored by all. More hegrew and more and so did his love for fun and pranks. Until at last he wenttoo far and the curse came into effect. And now in its final stages thechoice must be made or death shall come. Not just to one but to all.”
Atropos finished her story and sadly looked at her hands. She seemed as ifshe would collapse from the strain of telling such a terrible story andStrife almost absent-mindedly conjured a chair for her to sit in. His mindwent round and round in circles. The story was creepy, there was no doubt ofthat, but it had to have something to do with Cupid. He struggled to figureout what it meant, what the correlation was, and then a terrible suspicionbegan to grow in his mind.
What is one shall be divided in twainAnd never know completeness
Cupid had been Love and Mischief but had Mischief taken away. Ever sincethen, Strife had heard stories of how much Cupid had changed.
Where there is twoMayhem and heartbreak will occur
Him and Cupid. Two Gods. He definitely caused a lot of mayhem and Cupid hadbeen in charge of the negative side of love for a long time now. Add Psychein there and there was the literal heartbreak.
Until placed together once more
By choices freely made
Cupid was missing and The Fates had come to look for him to make a choice. Afreely made choice.
Together they must come
Knowing themselves completely
Love and Mischief were never meant to be separated. It was just Cupid’s badtiming of his joke with Persephone and Strife’s own birth that had createdthe two separate God-hoods. But Atropos had said Destiny had played a handin the curse. Destiny was a part of The Fates, something they dealt with,but couldn’t control. Love and Mischief had to be rejoined again, somehow,and then they would be complete. But how could they be rejoined? They weretwo, not one.
If separate, greet death
If together, greet life
But if they didn’t join, all would die. Everyone. And now Strife understoodhis dream. All would die, but him. He would be alone. The only God left. Hewould have unimaginable power as all the mortals prayed to him. But he wouldbe alone and though his sense of guilt was very underdeveloped, he figuredsingle-handedly causing the death of every single God and Goddess on Olympuscould cause even him a few qualms here and there.
But he still didn’t understand how they could rejoin. He could give Mischiefback to Cupid but then he would be without a God-hood. He didn’t understandthis. Strife looked at the Fates. They were waiting for an answer, but theywould have to wait a little longer. He had some thinking to do and he wantedto see something first. “Take me to Cupid,” Strife said. “I want to see ifhe’s okay.”
Clotho stepped forward. “Strife, we need a decision.”
Strife smirked. “And you’ll get one. But it will be on my terms and it willnot be now. I want to see Cupid, then I have a few things to do, and thenI’ll think about this. Now. Cupid?” Strife stepped back, his usual sneer onhis face as he waited to be taken to Cupid. Lachesis sighed and gesturedwith her hand. A wall of the cave shimmered and disappeared, revealing acorridor. “He’s in the last room on the right. Strife, be careful. He’s,well, he’s not looking very well. He might not recognize you.”
Outwardly Strife just nodded and began to saunter down the hall but insidehe was nervous. Not recognize him? How could that be? Even Strife knew Cupidwas in love with him. Strife wasn’t too thrilled with it, he didn’t knowmuch about the emotion of love, and it made him nervous so he ridiculedCupid and hurt him as much as he could. But if Cupid might not know him,Strife, the God he loved, then something must be really wrong. He had to beextremely ill. He mentally reshuffled tasks around in his head. Apparentlythere wasn’t as much time as he’d thought to make a decision. He shoved backthe talk with his mom, put Hera at the top of the list and dropped Ares downunder her. Satisfied that he had a working game plan, Strife reached forwardand opened the door to Cupid’s room.
And stopped in shock.
Cupid was there. He was chained to the bed and from the convulsionshappening it was obvious why that had to be. Rushing forward, Strife clappeda hand over his mouth to hold in the bile. Despite his confusing feelingsfor Cupid, which mostly were revealed in anger and scorn, one thing he hadalways admired and envied of Cupid were his wings. Those long, full, purewhite wings that could lift Cupid up and take him wherever he chose to go.
At least, they had used to do that.
Now they were stumps, only a few feathers left and they were dull gray,almost black with something, Strife wasn’t sure what. His complexion,normally so golden tan, was paler than the whitest of whites and his mouthconstantly worked in silent screams. Gasping for breath, Strife backed awayin horror. What in Hades name was happening to Cupid! Why hadn’t anyone cometo him before Cupid had gotten so ill? So thin, he was so thin, his ribswere visible easily and his thick blond hair was missing clumps of it.
Feeling wetness on his face Strife wiped it away and looked curiously at hisfingers. They glistened in the light and he brought his hand to his mouth,tasting the wetness gingerly.
Salt.
Tears.
How long had it been since he’d cried?
Strife rearranged his list once more. Hera was dropped down to second, Aresto third and his mom knocked off entirely. First things first. It was timeto give Cupid a bath. Then he’d take him with him to see Hera and get to thebottom of this rejoining thing. Then back to the Fates, where heads wouldroll for the treatment of his helpless, and from the looks of it, insanecousin.
Strife was amazed at how Cupid reacted to his touch, but he wasn’t about towaste time trying to figure it out. Materializing a small bathtub filledwith hot water, he took another longer look at Cupid and added in extrabubbles, making sure the bubbles had lots of soap in them. Unchaining Cupid,who was now watching him with large, unfocused blue eyes, Strife attemptedto help Cupid sit up only to realize that Cupid could no longer supporthimself alone. So he picked Cupid up and carried him over to the tub wherehe was gently placed inside. Cupid just looked around with wide eyes andblew at the mountain of bubbles. Strife sighed.
Carefully, he began to wash his cousin, all the while his anger grew. Itshouldn’t have come to this. Cupid had been “waiting” as the Fates had putit, for over a month. Someone should have told him something, anything.Cupid should not be reduced to this. Sure Strife could be petty andvindictive and he probably wouldn’t have done anything right away, but hewould never have let Cupid get so far gone.
There were no words for this.
The bathing was difficult. Partly because Cupid appeared to be fascinated byboth the bubbles and Strife and also because he didn’t like it when hecouldn't see Strife which made washing what was left of his hair, wings andhis back very strenuous. Finally though Cupid was clean. Strife had to emptyand refill the tub twice. He hoped Cupid would never remember what he’d gonethrough these past few weeks for it would surely disgust him that he hadbeen so dirty and helpless.
After disengaging himself from Cupid’s affectionate hug, Strife materializedsome clothing for him. Rather more clothing that what he normally wore butin his condition he might be able to get ill and walking around with a kilton would not be ideal. Gently sending out a tendril of power, Strife snoopedand confirmed what he had suspected. Cupid was no longer God of Love. Hewasn’t mortal but he wasn’t a God either. He was in stasis until Strife madea decision.
And on that note, it was time to go see Hera and get to the bottom of thiscurse.
Taking Cupid’s hand in his Strife flashed the two of them off to Hera’stemple, ignoring the three women waiting in the cave for him to return andnot even bothering to concern himself about their reaction to Cupid goingwith him.
Hera sat quietly on her throne. She was expecting Strife and was mentallypreparing herself to deal with the troublesome young godling. While she hada secret soft spot for Strife she was not blind to his faults and was wellaware that he would be furious when he arrived. However, although othersthought he would be angry over being forced into making a decision, Heraknew he would really be angry that they had waited so long to tell him andhad let Cupid get so far gone. She sighed. She had wanted to tell Strifeearlier but Zeus had said no. He had given no good reason, indeed with theflippant way he had answered Hera’s request, she doubted he had really evenbeen listening. Strife was many things, but petty was not one of them. Tolet Cupid languish so long that no one knew if he would even come out ofthis sane, if Strife chose to save him, would be, to Strife, absolutelyintolerable. No, this would not be a pleasant conversation. And why did shehave to explain it alone? Hera snorted. Because her worthless, good only forseducing females, husband had gone on “vacation.” More like he was hidingfrom everyone, waiting for the current crisis to blow over so he could showup and take all the credit for it if it went well and dodge the blame if itdidn’t. Although Hera had no doubts that Strife would choose to save Cupid.
She paused as she felt the tingle that signaled another God on their way into see her. She knew it would be Strife. She prepared herself to see him.She was not prepared to see Strife holding a trembling Cupid by the hand.And she was definitely not prepared to see the state Cupid was in. Though hewas clean, and judging from the scent he was freshly cleaned, his wings werealmost non-existent, as was his hair, and his skin was so pale it lookedtransparent. And the vacant look in those big blue eyes said clearer thanany words that Cupid might be in front of them, but no one was home inside.And yet he seemed to know Strife.
For when Strife guided him to a chair and then started to stalk towardsHera, Cupid made it very plain that that would not be tolerated. Wincing,Hera thought the screams had probably been heard in Tartarus. Strife quicklybacktracked and picked Cupid up from the chair. Together the two of themadvanced towards Hera.
Ready for the usual type of conversation with her grandson, which was veryinformal and consisted of Strife trying to teach his Nana slang, Hera wascompletely shocked when Strife dropped to one knee, pulling Cupid down withhim.
He launched into a formal address. “I, Strife, God of Mischief, requestaudience with Hera, Queen of the Gods and Goddess of Marriage regarding thematter of Cupid, God of Love and the statement The Fates made to me. May Iapproach the throne?”
Reeling in shock at the formality coming from her leather-clad grandson,Hera noticed that though he requested permission to approach, his tone ofvoice said if permission wasn’t granted, it would be taken. Gatheringherself, she replied in kind, “I, Hera, grant Strife the right to approachthe throne. What is your petition?”
“I request an explanation of the reason Cupid was left to deteriorate for solong before I was approached. I request an explanation of the curse. And Ialso request an explanation of how what was one, is now two, but must be oneagain can happen as we are two.”
Hera blinked. That last request was a little confusing in the word usage,but she understood the gist of it. Strife wanted to know about the twobecoming one. She decided to save that for the very last. He might befeeling protective now, but when he heard about what he was expected to do…well, Hera wasn’t looking forward to his reaction.
“I have no reason for Cupid’s state other than the conditions of the cursemade it impossible for him to remain God of Love. His mind is deterioratingas he has been separated from half his soul. It was not advisable to have aninsane God of Love flying around. As his mind deteriorated, he was unable toperform basic functions. Thus his God-hood was stripped and his sanitydecreased farther so that he cannot even take care of himself.
You were not approached earlier as it was thought to give you more time tosettle personal issues and also by decree.
As for how the two of you become one, that could take a while to explain,but basically you must marry and produce a child.” Hera held her breathwaiting for the explosion.
She was disappointed. Slightly.
There was no explosion but she couldn’t help but smile as her insanegrandson patted gently at the dark form which had fallen to the floor in adead faint. “Fall down?” Cupid said, in a child-like voice. “Go boom,” hesaid. Giggling, he flopped down beside Strife and proceeded to make faces atthe prone figure.
After composing herself, Hera stepped down from her throne. Quickly shehurried over to Strife and knelt down. Cupid giggled up at her and shesmiled fondly at him while she gently pulled Strife into her arms. Settlingon the floor she wrapped one arm around Cupid and made sure Strife wassecure with the other one.
Then she exerted her power to wake Strife up. He was instantly awake andalert. His eyes focused on her, their position on the floor and then Cupidwho was now patting him on the head. Actually, being as his mind was that ofa child, but his body was that of a full grown God, his patting was morelike pounding, but Strife didn’t move to stop him. He just sighed andmuttered something about a nightmare.
“So, I’m gonna say that since nothing in my life ever works out the way Iwant it too that when I heard you say Cupid and I had to get married andhave a child you were telling the truth?” Strife asked Hera.
“Unfortunately, yes,” she replied.
“So then, the woman in the story was Dite and the guy she seduced was Unc.And Hep was the guy cheated on. And so you and Zeus are the ones who cursedCupid.”
Although there was no accusation in Strife’s tone, Hera winced. “Yes, weare. It was done in a fit of anger and we have gone over the event time andtime again. The Fates have told us that we could not have done anythingdifferent as we were prodded by Destiny to curse Cupid, but it does notabsolve the guilt we feel for this.”
“Well, I don’t see what you got to feel guilty for,” Strife said. He wasn’teager to talk about the marriage or the child so this was a good topic forhim.
Hera looked at him. “We feel guilty for causing this to happen to Cupid. Heshould not be suffering like this. It is our fault.”
“Well, actually, it ain’t,” Strife said.
“What?” Hera asked. She was definitely confused, but as that happened oftenaround Strife she was rather used to it.
“Well, you were ‘prodded by Destiny’ you said. Well, if Dite hadn’t seducedUnc then there wouldn’t have been anything to prod at. So, technically, noone is at fault. Destiny planted the desire for a brat in Dite, probablyinfluenced her choice and THEN, had a hand in your anger. So it ain’t noone’s fault. There’s gotta be a reason for this, but I have to say I don’tsee how a child of mine and Cupid’s is gonna be important to anyone, but usas the parents.” Strife looked beseechingly at Hera, silently willing her toexplain.
For her part, Hera was mentally going through Strife’s explanation matchingup the cause and effects. It made sense. In fact it made a lot of sense. Itdidn’t however, absolve her completely of her guilt. These were hergrandchildren that were being manipulated around. Not for the first time didHera wish that Destiny had a solid form so that she could blast it.
She looked at the children in her arms. Strife on her left and Cupid on herright. One of Cupid’s hands was holding one of Strife’s firmly and it didn’tlook like anything could get him to let go. The other hand was busy diggingaround in Strife’s many pockets he had attached to his leather jumpsuit.Strife seemed to be ignoring him and putting that deviously clever brain towork on a plan to thwart Destiny, but as Cupid’s hand emerged from hispocket with a knife and he gave a triumphant cry, Strife leaned in andsnatched it away from him. Cupid’s face crumpled and he drew in a breath,presumably to howl in anger, but Strife forestalled him with a strange cubeshaped thing with different color stickers on it. Cupid was immediatelyenthralled.
“It’s a future thing,” Strife said at Hera’s questioning look. “You’resupposed to make all the squares with the same color line up on one side.It’s almost impossible.” He looked at Cupid who was busy ripping thestickers off. “Or you could just do that, I guess.”
Hera smiled at Strife’s consternation. Then, seeing that Cupid was happilyinvolved in his task, she motioned for Strife to come with her. They quietlygot up from the floor and went a little ways from Cupid. Before Hera couldsay anything Strife broke in.
“This can’t be right. He’s got the mind of a child! I can’t possibly marryhim and have a child with him. That involves sex! I refuse to have sex witha five-year-old even if he is in the body of a God. It’s just wrong! Hades,he can’t even bathe himself. How am I expected to marry him?”
“Is that your only objection, Strife?” Hera asked softly.
“Well, no, not really. I mean, this is kinda sudden for me. Everyone elseknew about it though, right? I mean, it fits in with the way everyone hasbeen acting towards me lately, the way Unc keeps sending me to work withCupid and even with the way Cupid’s always following me around. They allknew about this, didn’t they?” Strife’s tone was mild, matter-of-fact, butit didn’t fool Hera for a second. This was when Strife was at his mostdangerous because this was when he was truly angry and not just irritated.
Mentally Hera cursed Zeus for leaving her to do this alone. Not that hewould be much help in dealing with Strife but even his presence would bewelcome at this point. She tried to explain. “Strife, everyone did not know.Only a few people know of the curse. The minor gods and goddesses knownothing about it. They’re so flighty I doubt they even know Cupid is missingmuch less the state he is in. I have no idea what Ares’ reasoning was, Ihave never understood him though I love him dearly. As for Cupid, again, Ido not know why he was always following you. However, he knew nothing of thecurse until you were old enough to marry. So he has only known of it for thelast one hundred years. It was his decision to not do anything until he wasforced too. However, no one anticipated that he would lose control of hisfacilities. His condition developed literally overnight and we have beenscrambling since that day to figure out why and also to put everything inorder so that we will be prepared.”
“You think I’m just gonna do it, don’t you? And maybe I would except Iunderstood that riddle. If I marry him, I’m always married to him. There’sno divorce. It’s us forever, even if we hate each other. What kind of a lifeis that? This is eternity we’re talking about here!”
“Strife, calm down!” Hera exclaimed. She looked sadly at her grandson.“Strife, I know you know what’s at stake here so I’m not going to botherwith that. I do however, want to know why you dislike Cupid so much. I havekept close watch on the both of you and I have never been able to figure outjust what he did that made you despise him so. And if you’re honest withyourself I think you will find that you don’t know why either.”
Strife sulkily looked at the ground. He already knew this was pointless. Hewould marry Cupid. He had to. He would not be the cause of Olympus’downfall. But he didn’t have to give in right away. As for Cupid, well, hewas annoying. He turned to look at his cousin. Cupid had pulled all thestickers off and was now re-attaching them to his arms. He appeared to behaving a blast. Then, one handful of stickers went on a collision coursewith Cupid’s mouth. Strife darted forward to stop him. He wasn’t sureexactly what response he had been expecting but Cupid’s startled “Strife!”and confused look was not even on the list.
Cupid looked at his surroundings. “Ah, I see it’s started then,” he saidsadly. “Strife, I am so sorry, I know I’m the last person in the world youwould want to live with and if it was just me I wouldn’t even bother to ask,but..” and then Cupid was gone. Or more specifically, adult and sane Cupidwas gone replaced by child Cupid who was not happy to have his hand divertedand proceeded to let Strife know it. Loudly.
Strife stared at his cousin in shock. He shook his head. “I need to think,”he told Hera. “I’ll be back in an hour for him.” With that, Strife flashedout. Momentarily blinded and startled by the flash Cupid stopped howling andblinked. When the light cleared however he registered Strife’sdisappearance. After looking around the room, he saw that Strife had notjust moved, but had left. Indignation formed on his face and he prepared foranother howling session only to find himself suddenly very sleepy. He fellasleep before he could do more than open his mouth. Hera breathed a sigh ofrelief that she had acted in time.
Strife paced in his temple. Normally this repetitive motion was soothing andhe would be able to manipulate his way through whatever was bothering him,but it wasn’t working this time. Hera’s question kept ringing through hismind. What was his problem with Cupid? He was an okay guy. It was just thatStrife really didn’t know how to relate to him. He was all light and strongand nice and well, Strife wasn’t. It made things awkward. And, Strife wentfor the rare moment of honesty, he was attracted to Cupid and he didn’t likeit. He liked it even less now that he knew he had to marry the guy. It justsmacked of a set-up. Like an arranged blind date only they had to getmarried and have a kid. And that was another thing. What type of kid couldthey be having that would be so important. He tried out a few titles to seeif they could be that important. Justice? Redemption? Revenge? Unity? Peace?He couldn’t think of any that were so desperately needed that the wheel forthem would be set in motion centuries ago. Strife shook his head. His hourwas almost up and he had to face the real reason he didn’t want to marryCupid.
Because Cupid had never asked.
Strife knew Cupid was in love with him. He’d known since he was old enoughto realize what love was. So, even before Cupid knew about the curse, Cupidhad loved him. But he had never said anything. He had just gone on with hislife, never even hinting that his feelings were less than cousinly. Therewere no stolen kisses for Strife to remember, no hugs that went just alittle beyond what was proper. No spying on him when he bathed. There hadbeen nothing. That was a little disappointing and insulting really. Whatwould it have taken for Cupid to reveal his feelings openly?
Now Strife would never know because Cupid would never have to say anything.It was all because of the curse.
Time was up.
Strife had to go pick up his child-fiancée. And that was just wrong. Howcould anyone expect him to mate with Cupid in this state? It was disgusting.Poor thing wouldn’t even know what was going on and Strife already felt likea child molester and Cupid wasn’t even in front of him. Sighing inresignation and sadness and a little bit of fear he flashed out. He had nochoice so he’d better get it over with.
Flashing in, he was not surprised to be see that the Fates were there. Itseemed everything was in place to hear his decision. As if there had everbeen any doubt in their minds. Strife allowed himself one last good pout atthe unfairness of this and then stepped up to the plate. Deciding to get inone of his few formal appearances while he was here he launched into aspeech being as formal as he could. “I, Strife, God of Mischief, dowillingly consent to do my duty to the Pantheon of Olympus. I consent to thebinding of myself and Cupid, God of Love.” Under his breath he muttered “ButI still don’t think its fair.” Of course no one heard him as they were allbreathing sighs of relief. “I still don’t understand how I’m supposed tomarry a kid though,” Strife knew he was whining but dammit this was a bigpoint he was trying to make here.
However, once again, Strife’s complaint was left unaddressed as the Fatestook Cupid away to “prepare” him for the wedding which would be celebratedimmediately. Strife was able to stop Hera from summoning all of Olympusthough and was able to keep the wedding quiet with just Ares, Eris, Dite,Hep, Hera and the Fates attending. Strife’s reputation was bad enough he didnot need everyone on Olympus knowing Cupid was the mental equivalent of achild at the time of their wedding.
He quickly got changed and waited up front with Ares and Eris for Cupid tobe brought back. Lost in his depression, Strife was unaware of the Fatesbringing Cupid back in. But it wasn’t just any Cupid. It was a Cupid who wasin full possession of his sanity. A Cupid who was warily approaching anoblivious Strife. At Hera’s gesture the others silently flashed out. Theywould return later when Cupid and Strife had worked things out and wereready to be married. Hera would know when that time came.
Strife felt a soft touch on his shoulder and came back to reality with athud. Attempting to put a good face on he grinned as he started to turn.“Time to go already huh?” he joked and then felt himself freeze in shock ashe saw Cupid.
“Hey, Strife,” Cupid grinned at him nervously. He remembered very little ofwhat had happened the past few weeks, but he had been told he had regressedin age until about five. He was sure that had not been something Strife hadexpected; especially since it was something not even the Fates had knownwould happen.
Strife gaped at Cupid. Finally realizing it was Cupid, adult and sane again;he nodded at his cousin. “Hey. So, um, I see you grew up. Again.”
Cupid gave his cousin a weak smile. “Yeah, seems so. I don’t know how longit will last though. Clotho said that I’m only back again because youannounced your intent out loud. She thinks someone is watching to see whathappens. To make sure we go through with it, but she wasn’t able to detectanyone around.”
Strife rolled his eyes. “There’s always something trying to screw me over,isn’t there? Well, you’re here now, so I guess that means the sooner we gethitched, the sooner you stay this way permanently. So let’s call Hera andget it done. I don’t want to celebrate my wedding night with a kid. That’sjust sick.”
“Yeah, I figured you’d say that. Believe me I don’t want you celebratingwith a kid either.”
“Yeah, it would be kinda disturbing for you too.”
“Actually, I just didn’t want to miss it. I’ve been looking forward to itfor a long time,” Cupid said softly. Then, knowing how mushy stuff like thattended to unnerve Strife; he quickly called for Hera to get the showstarted. He was eager to get to the wedding night. And the honeymoon.Although he was wondering which of them would be having the child that wasso important.
Strife blinked. Had Cupid actually said that? He had admitted that he hadwanted to marry Strife. It wasn’t the same as a proposal and it was nooutright declaration of love but Strife felt better about this anyway. Histwo main objections were gone. Cupid was sane again and he had said that hehad feelings for him. That was good enough for Strife. He was ready for thewedding too. And suddenly eager for the wedding night.
Luckily for everyone the wedding went off without a hitch. Privately Herawas glad, she honestly didn’t think Strife could take anything elseunexpected happening right now. She wondered which one of them would getpregnant. She hoped it was Cupid. Strife had dealt with enough and in such ashort period of time too.
As Cupid and Strife flashed out to start their honeymoon she was happy tosee that they looked accepting. Well, Strife looked accepting of his fate. Alittle wary, not sure if he should be happy or not about this development,but accepting of it all the same. Cupid however, looked ecstatic. And whyshouldn’t he? He had, after all, gotten the person he loved as a husband.Hera decided that the announcement of Strife and Cupid’s marriage would notbe made until they returned in a few weeks. They were only taking a shorthoneymoon as Cupid had been out of action for a while now and he had a lotto catch up on. Suddenly she couldn’t wait until they returned. She wantedto see the looks on everyone’s faces as they realized Strife and Cupid weremarried. By that time, one of them might even be pregnant and that wouldmake the announcement even better.
Now though, she needed a nap. It had definitely been a trying day for her.
Three Weeks Later:
Strife and Cupid materialized in Cupid’s temple. They were both tired, buthappy. It had been a fun honeymoon, but now it was time to get back to work.Both of them were behind in their duties and they still had to work on therest of the riddle/curse. That part being, of course, the child. So farneither one of them was showing signs of pregnancy. But the fun part wasabout to come. They had informed Hera the other day that they would bereturning and she had accordingly sent out invitations to a dinner whicheveryone was required to attend. There, Cupid and Strife would announcetheir marriage. Strife was really looking forward to the huge jolt of energyhe would receive. Cupid was just looking forward to finally being able toclaim Strife as his in public. He was also hoping that Strife would want todo a little claiming of his own.
After cleaning up a little they flashed into Hera’s temple. They were thefirst to arrive, but that was by plan. They were mixing up the seating alittle. Gods and Goddesses were not the only ones invited. It had taken somefast-talking, but Hercules was coming, not that he knew it yet. He was onlycoming because Cupid wanted Iolaus there and if he disappeared suddenlyHercules would freak. Xena and Gabrielle were coming because Strife had afondness for Xena and he liked to make Gabrielle miserable. Joxer was comingbecause both Strife and Cupid adored him and it would make Ares happy. Jettand Jace were coming as well as Auto. It was going to be a fun dinneralthough Hera had pointedly written a note to herself to remember to countthe silverware before and after dinner. Auto, though liked by most Gods, hada notorious reputation even on Olympus. He was liked but very few would turntheir backs on him.
Cupid gazed silently at Strife as his husband, Gods how he loved sayingthat, paced back and forth. Something was up but Cupid wasn’t sure what.Strife was so hard to figure out. Even though he knew a lot about Strifethere was more he didn’t know. And Strife wasn’t exactly forthcoming withthe information. But given the circumstances he figured that Strife wasbrooding about the same thing he was. The child.
The one who had yet to make an appearance. The wait was agonizing because itwas unknown. They knew the child was coming, but that was it. They didn’tknow who or when or even what role the child had to play. It was veryupsetting and Strife was getting more and more anxious about it.
But so far neither one of them had conceived.
A bell ringing caught his attention. The dinner was about to start. Cupidsmiled. He and Strife were entering separately; Strife wanted to surpriseeveryone with the announcement. He laughed that he might need the energy ifhe got pregnant. That had made Cupid smile. But most everything about Strifemade him smile.
Walking in, Cupid saw that Strife was already seated as were most of theother Gods and Goddesses. He silently took his seat, catching Strife’s winkas he did so.
Strife felt shivers run up and down his spine. This was it. Somehow, he knewthat the reason the child had not been conceived yet was because theofficial announcement had yet to be made. But they were about to do so.Which meant the child would likely be conceived tonight. He wondered whowould bear it. Cupid loved to bottom for Strife, he had found that out ontheir honeymoon. But he also liked to top and make Strife beg. Often, theywould make love several times so either one of them could wind up pregnant.He saw Cupid across the table. He looked impatient; he wanted to get theannouncement made, probably so they could leave. Strife had discovered thatCupid was insatiable. All the years of holding himself back from Strife werebursting out, now that he could touch him. Strife hadn’t been more than anarms length away from Cupid since the wedding. He’d gotten so used to Cupidtouching him that he felt bare now with Cupid sitting all the way across thetable from him. When he thought of Cupid’s touch, the way it made him feeland the probable outcome of tonight’s activities, Strife felt energy coarsethrough him. He shivered again and stood abruptly, interrupting Zeus’s usualboring welcome speech.
Without a word he flashed over to Cupid and grabbed him. Before flashing theboth of them off he said clearly, “Alright, here’s the deal. Cupid and I gotmarried and had our honeymoon. Now we’re gonna go continue it.” Then with anasty look at Zeus, one that said here’s your payback and it ain’t a bitch,it’s a Strife, he said, “Gramps Zeus can explain it all to you.” Then heflashed him and his hubby out, already feeling the surges of energy hisannouncement had caused burn through him.
Life was good.
3 Months Later:
“Push, love!”
“I am pushing you animal! Get away from me. I’m never letting you touch meagain. No, wait, get back here. I want you to see what you’ve done, youbeast! Why I ever fell in love with you, I’ll never know!”
“Um, I should be ignoring that, right,” the question was asked of Hera.
“Of course, dear, he doesn’t really mean it.”
“The fuck I don’t you old wind-bag! I meant every word of it. You’re nevergetting in the same bed as me! Ever! Again!”
“Um, yeah, I’m just gonna pretend he’s whispering sweet nothings in my ear.Or something.”
“Probably a good idea, dear. Keep pushing, you’re almost done.”
The glare this statement brought on could probably have rivaled the sun forheat. Finally with much pushing, cursing and screaming, the command for afinal push was given.
“It’s a girl!”
Panting, one from the agony of giving birth and the other from the agony ofhaving his hands crushed during said birth, looked at the little girl.
Ebony wings fluttered madly, blue eyes glared her displeasure and what couldonly be called a screech came forth from the child’s mouth.
“Oh, Cupie,” Strife breathed in awe. “Isn’t she beautiful.”
Cupid looked doubtfully at the red, squirming and shrieking mass that washis daughter. Finally he had to smile. “Yeah, she sure is.”
Then he flopped back on the bed. Giving birth was exhausting.
Two Weeks Later:
Zeus held the now silent infant carefully in both hands. Extending his armsout as if in offering his voice boomed through Olympus, down to Earth andbelow to Hades’ realm. “Behold I present Aldora*, the goddess of Mercy andJudgement.”
A stunned silence fell over the crowd. The daughter of Mischief and Love wasthe goddess of Mercy and Judgment? Mercy from Love’s side and Judgement fromWar’s. This would be a child to be respected. And possibly feared.
And with the visions of the future Strife and Cupid had received in thethree months Aldora was carried, they both knew she would be needed. Thefuture would be a dark place without her.
Aldora meanwhile just smiled at up at Zeus. Zeus quickly handed her to Hera.There was something in that smile he didn’t like.
Destiny continued on. The mission had been completed. Temperance would bebrought to Earth.
* Aldora means winged gift
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