Bitter Sweet

Joxer tapped his fingers irritably on the side of huge chair he was sitting on, the sudden noise echoing in the silent hall. An apologetic look came over his face as the God next to him jumped slightly at the sudden noise jolting the baby in his lap, which made it howl.

“Sorry”

Joxer blushed slightly as Hephaestus attempted to settle down the overtired baby, soothing his cries by kissing his hands and gently moving him up and down. With a thought the chairs arm became material and the walls of the room vibrated slightly as if in agreement as Joxer tapped silently. He stared at them and settled down; for the time being this was seen as the safest place to be for anyone Godly.

The mortals were still banned from entering the Halls of Imagination but everyone else Joxer welcomed coming in. When he wasn’t able to visit Strife or Athena he sat in the Halls. A couple of times Melpomene and her son had joined him but Hephaestus was his most frequent visitor, the other God able to come and go as he pleased, as he always had.

Just as the others Gods did, Hephaestus and Aphrodite time-shared their son during the day so that both got to spend time with him in turn. Though they could have got a nanny neither wanted their son too far away from them and often, Joxer found, their other Godly children ‘checked in’ from time to time.

It had been nearly a week since the birth of Damian and the demise of Nemesis and no one was any closer to figuring out where the creature that had attacked them was. Or, more importantly, what was controlling it.

Most of the Pantheon was spread out all over Olympus as they tried to keep the infant Gods separate and protected. Only Persphone remained in the underworld with Hades and their son, something Demeter had been incensed about until she saw how many canine, as well as Godly, guardians the baby had. Hades had not been best pleased when she’d declared her need to help protect her grandson and after delegating her work, had temporarily moved into their home.

Some of the Gods had brought up trusted mortals to protect their children, Athena had brought up close to ten of her best soldiers to protect her son. The demigods had clubbed together to protect the children and keep an eye out for the creature and the Gods had been looking for an early warning system to use if the creature attacked again.

None could comprehend how the creature had struck on Olympus, killed an ex-Goddess, terrified her son and crippled the mind of a young Goddess. Joxer had watched as Ares paced up and down his temple for close to an hour, growing more and more frustrated at not being able to fathom out the mystery. The last few days had been restless for all of them and whilst Joxer knew most of the Gods were suffering from tiredness and worry, Ares was suffering from acute Insomnia.

Joxer found it hard enough to sleep at night between the practice contractions he was now prone to, the uncomfortable level of heat he seemed to generate and his worry over the situation; but Ares got an hour or less a night and jumped out of bed at the slightest idea or new worry. Joxer could see the strain was taking its toll, now more then ever, with Eris and Strife holed up safe in their temples unable to work. He’d been raking in all the Gods and Goddesses he could find to help, not only had Joxer now met all of Ares Godly children, including the madcap twins, but several more of Ares relatives he wasn’t sure were completely on the side of sanity.

He glanced at Hephaestus as he realized the God has spoken to him.

“Sorry, what?” He blushed deeply “I’m more then slightly forgetful at the moment, keep going off into my own thoughts.”

Hephaestus smiled slightly though the strain of the last weeks events was also showing on him too.

“I thought you might be, take a look.”

He gestured to the walls of the room. No longer grey and boring but splashed in multitudes of colour as if each was a separate thought.

As Joxer stared at them they all melded coalescing into black. He raised an eyebrow,

“Nice, Guess it pretty much reflects my mood.” He sighed as he focussed on the other God.

Hephaestus looked on in agreement as he rocked Alexi gently “I think most of the Pantheon feel like that, there’s only a few bright sparks.” He patted the babys back gently “I know everyone’s on edge since this happen. The boys are the only thing keeping Cupid and Strife getting too depressed, apart from each other. Bliss is taking it better then we expected but I really don’t think he understands.”

Joxer nodded, “When I went to see Strife yesterday Bliss kept asking why his mother couldn’t be made well again and why Nemesis couldn’t come back like Strife did. He’s too young to really understand what’s going on and telling him what happened to Nemesis, to explain why she can’t come back, would scar him.”

He rubbed his back as the baby got in a kidney shot and stood up on shaky leg “Nature call” he murmured as a small cubical appeared next to him.

“Gotta love this place” he smiled slightly as he went in. He kept talking to Hephaestus long having gotten over the embarrassment of peeing the same room as the other God.

“How’s Anteros doing?”

Hephaestus blinked in response to the disembodied voice. “Not so good, we’re spending as much time with him as possible but Psyches condition’s hit him hard and he blames himself for leaving them. He talks to her all the time trying to coax her out of the coma that thing put her in, but at the moment she’s barely even able to keep herself alive. None of us had a clue that he cared for her like that, for Nemesis either. He was distraught when Hades told him her soul wasn’t in the underworld and that he thought the creature had consumed it. I think if it wasn’t for Evander or if someone tried to take him away, I know he’d go after that creature himself, suicide or not. It’s only because of Psyche and Evander that we can guilt him into staying put.”

Joxer walked out of the cubical, the object disappearing as he did, he could see the trouble weighing heavy on his friends’ mind as he feigned checking over Alexi’s power blocking bangle. He felt sickened whenever anyone mentioned Nemesis’s soul being consumed. To him your soul was the one thing that was always yours, to be denied any kind of afterlife and merely be recycled as ‘food’ appalled him. Not to mention the trauma Anteros and the others were going through.

He locked eyes with Hephaestus and winced as the baby got in another painful kick, “Damn Kidney shot.”

Hephaestus raised an eyebrow “Maybe she’s trying to tell you something. “ he rubbed Alexis’ back as the baby fussed “Whenever anyone gets too depressed in our temple Alexi starts to scream and fuss until we focus on him, then he seems to be a lot happier. Takes our mind of it, makes us less depressed. The baby is probably the same as Alexi, they both share the same Godhood, I expect your daughter wants you to get too stop being down too.”

Joxer frowned and placed his hand on his belly feeling the baby kick hard, over the last few days she had been kicking a lot harder and a lot more often then normal. When his body had started to swell up, mainly his ankles and hands, Acelepious had told him that he had to stay in bed or at least stay sitting to make sure neither he or the baby got sick.

Hercules and Gabrielle had both been banned from seeing him although Ares had often brought Xena and Iolaus to chat to him, at least that way he stayed on top of things. He knew Gabrielle was fully healed now and though the other Gods didn’t forgive her for her staff thrust to him, she was at least grudgingly accepted for trying to save Alexi.

Hercules was now sporting an interesting looking scar above one eye and had only just got his energy levels back completely. He was more tolerated by the other Gods, even Ares and Hera who disliked him intently, they all had to admit when he worked with them he was a great asset and he’s protected Alexi as best he could.

He turned toward Hephaestus as he tried to get comfy, the baby was pressed down hard against him, almost uncomfortably so, he opened his mouth to say something and then closed it again unsure how to sort all of his thoughts and make conversation.

Hephaestus created a crib for Alexi to lie in and the God of the Forge laid him gently down before moving slightly stiffly, back to his seat. He caught the look of confusion on Joxers face and nodded at him.

“You know Joxer, you don’t actually have to say something. You shouldn’t feel like you have to make small talk with me.”

As Joxer opened his mouth to protest Hephaestus held up a hand, “I told you before Joxer one of the main reasons I spend time with you is because you both listen as well as talk. Neither of us need to force out conversation when we’re together we can just enjoy being in each others company without talking.”

Joxer smiled slightly “I never thought of it like that.” He admitted, he felt strange pains cross his abdomen and he stilled as Hephaestus continued talking, the other God not noticing. In his crib Alexi whimpered slightly and figeted.

“There was a meeting with all the higher-up Gods yesterday, Zeus told us about the Fates. Everyone’s pretty much panicking about what it means and up in arms about this destiny layout they have for us. Not to mention wanting to know where this eighth symbol is.”

Joxer took in a deep breath as the pain subsided, “Ares told me about that, he’s trying to fight against their idea of sending all the demigods down, he wants to keep Evander up here with him, or with Anteros even.”

Hephaestus nodded, “Zeus said it was pretty much impossible which pissed Ares off no end but Athena, surprisingly enough, thinks she can find a way around it. I think she likes the idea of Ares owing her one or else motherhood has softened her.”

Alexi cried loudly as he awoke with a jolt from his nap, his little limbs pumped furiously and Hephaestus moved quickly over to the crib, he picked up the baby and rubbed his back to soothe him. Joxer clenched his fists around the chair arms as the pain hit again, it felt worse then the contractions he’d come to expect, a white-hot blinding pain shooting across his kidneys and down his back. He bit his lip and slight whimper escaped his lips.

Hephaestus caught the sound and focussed on his friend, he watched as pain and confusion settled over Joxers face and then spoke as his fists unclenched “Practice contractions?”

Joxer shook his head, he pushed hard with his hands to stand onto his feet “No, these are different, they feel wrong.” He admitted, “I think maybe I should go and lie d-!”

A choked scream cut off his words and the pain lashed through his belly again, Joxer dropped to his knees, his hands wrapped around his belly, almost completely doubled over. In the same instant all of the windows in the Halls of Imagination blew out, the glass vanishing as they did. The walls rippled and the Halls shuddered as Joxer screamed again.


Hephaestus knelt by his side calling for Apollo and Acelepious, he held Alexi as he screamed and kicked vigorously and held Joxer with his other arm and supported the pained God.