The Lost Goddess

Part Two


///Olympus///


Strife God of Mischief and Mayhem sat on a large black leather couch listening to his Husband, Cupid, God of Love argue with their son Bliss, God of Emotions. It had become a more common thing since the pair had decided to open a new Temple down in Los Angeles.

"Look Dad I'm telling you there is no way the new temple is going by Grandma's. Disasc is a world unto itself and we'd get overlooked."

"Bliss, who's the elder love god here?" Cupid asked, "Trust me on this." The Blond Love God was standing his ground on this.

Strife smirked and said, "How about you put it by Mischief?"

The two love gods looked at their dark family member with looks that were indescribable

"What?!" Strife laughed softly. Bliss was the image of his father with the exception of the short hair and his eyes where a darker green. Strife and everyone else in the Pantheon had let out a sigh of relief when Bliss had come out of his toddler stage favoring Cupid and not Psyche. In all honesty the boy looked nothing like that crazy bitch and that was a good thing, though it was also a major sore spot for Cupid's ex.

"You heard me. Why not put the new temple next to my place? Its not like Dez will..." Strife trailed off as he picked up on her frantic prayers. It sounded as she was in pain.

"What's wrong?" Cupid asked walking over to his lover, he sitting ramrod stiff, but his hands were fisted so tightly that the knuckles were whiter than normal.

"Dez." And with that Strife flashed out in a shower of silver and black sparks. When Strife appeared in the alley behind Mischief he saw what was causing his priestess` pain. An uncontrollable rage filled him. He recognized them as priests of Ares'. Strife put a godly shield up as he blasted the guy on top of Dez.

"What the Fuck!?" the other two screamed as the saw their pal turned to ash. They screamed even louder when they saw one extremely pissed of God of Mischief and Mayhem.

"Run." Eric and Carlos let go of Dez and ran out the alley.

Strife was tempted to kill them, but they hadn't been the ones raping his Priestess. Once he had closed the distance between them, Strife knelt down beside her. Dez opened her eyes, "Strife, you came," As she was reaching for him she passed out.

"Dez!" Seeing that she was bleeding he picked her up and called for Ace to meet him at his home. With Dez safely tucked in his arms he transported them to his home on Olympus. Bliss and Cupid were surprised when Strife appeared with Dez in his arms just seconds before Ace. Strife just nodded to Ace and carried Dez into the bedroom without a word to the other gods.

"Wasn't that Dez?" Bliss asked. He'd met her a few times, but he hadn't expected his stepfather to bring her home with him.

"Yeah. She looks pretty bad. I wonder what happened." Cupid answered. They sat and waited until Strife came out. He looked madder than Hades.

"Babe, what's wrong with Dez?" Cupid hung back. He wasn't sure Strife wanted anyone near him. Strife growled, "She was bein' raped, by Unc's Priests in the alley." He blasted a column nearby and watched it shatter.

"She gonna be okay?" Bliss asked.

"Ace ain't sure. He said we'd hav ta wait." Strife sighed and looked at Cupid. "She knew I'd come an get her."

"Of course she did, love. You and Dez have been tight for a long time." Cupid walked over and wrapped his lover in his arms. "She'll be fine."

At that moment Ace came out of the bedroom as Hera flashed in.

"Grandma? Is something wrong?" Cupid asked.

"No. Nothing is wrong child it's just I never thought she would actually make it up here. Dez is a special girl and I was waiting for the right moment to tell you."

"Tell us what?" Strife looked at his grandmother. Something told him whatever she had to say was big.

"Hera sighed, "Dez is your daughter."

"WHAT!!!!" All four of them exclaimed.
Everyone was staring at Hera with their mouths hanging open as if she had just turned into a Hydra and told everyone that Zeus wore frilly pink panties.. She sighed and looked at Strife and Cupid.

"Do you remember after the awakening when you two tried to have child and couldn't?"
Both nodded their heads. IT was true, both Strife and Cupid had wanted another child so badly. Hera continued, "Well you didn't entirely fail. One day Dez's spirit showed up right in front of me. It was like she knew that neither of you was strong enough to carry her to term. SO I put her soul into the womb of a woman who'd also been trying so hard for a child."

"Excuse me? Are you saying you took our daughter's soul and made her mortal? Why couldn't you have asked one of the others to be a surrogate for us?" Cupid asked. He couldn't believe his Grandmother had done this without even talking to them about it .

"I couldn't. The Fates appeared and said that Dez had to be mortal to be a god and that if she succeeded in returning home would she bring about the rebirth of all of Olympus."

"She's ours? Mine and Cupid's? Are you sure?" Strife looked at her expectantly.

"Positive. Strife, Dez is your daughter and out newest Goddess of Debauchery." She hugged them both and then flashed out along with Ace. The three stood there for a moment and then all of them let out a loud whoop.

Bliss watched as both of his dads hugged each other and Strife looked like he was going to cry.

"I can't believe it. Dez is our gurl." He looked towards the bedroom. "I should go check on her."

"Go. We'll wait here." Cupid pushed Strife towards the door. //Trust me. She'll understand.//

Strife sighed and walked into the room. Dez lay under the sheets. Her black hair looked like ink spilled across the red sheets. He just stared at her and started to see that she did looked like Cupid and himself.

Dez moaned and moved on the bed. "Strife." She didn't realize she was safe and sound.

"Dez." Strife moved to the bed and ran his hand across her check. At the contact her eyes opened and she whispered, "You came."

"O'course I came. I care about you."

Dez smiled and then took in where she was. "Where are we? Last time I checked my room didn't have chains on the walls."

"Ya are at my place. I brought you here away from those bastards." Strife ended coldly.

Dez sat up. "You killed them didn't you? Strife you didn't have to they..."

"Were raping my High Priestess and my Daughter." Strife blurted out.

"Your what?" Dez looked at strife. Her eyes for the moment the same shade of blue.

Strife pulled Dez close and explained what Hera had told him and the others not to long ago. She just sat and listened. When Strife finished he looked at his child. "Well?"

"That explains a lot. So what happens now?"

"Well ya can go back down or ya can stay up here with me. Us and be a family. It's your choice."

Dez sighed. It wasn't easy. She'd always been different and knew it for a long time. Now she had a chance to have a family. A real one. "I guess Nicola can replace me as High Priestess, Dad."

Strife smiled and hugged her. "Good. Do you wanna talk to the others or..."

"I think I want to meet my other Dad." Dez hadn't grown up with a dad and now she had two. It was going to be interesting.

//Cupid.//

//Yeah, babe?//

//Could you and Bliss come in? Dez wants to meet ya. Both.//

Both Cupid and Bliss flashed in. They both joined Strife on the bed.

"Hello, Dez." Cupid said.

"Hi," Dez smiled at her second father and then looked at Bliss. "I guess this makes us brother and sister, right?"

"Yep. I'm Bliss." He winked at her and smiled. It was strange, but Bliss instantly felt this bond with Desire. "So are you gonna be stayin' up here or...?"

"I'm stayin' with you guys. I want to get to know you all." Looking at Cupid she titled her head and then said, "I don't even know what to call you. I'm calling Strife Dad so what's left for me to call you?"

"How about Pops? I call my dad that and..." Cupid trailed off as he realized what he said. "Strife can I talk to you for a moment?"

"Sure. You two play nice now." Strife patted Dez's hand as he and his husband walked out of the room.

"So Bliss what's it like?" She asked.

"What? Being a god? It's cool I guess. It was wierd though when We all woke up and most people had stopped worshiping us."

"That didn't last though. Eventually people started to believe again. My mom had me dedicated when I was 6. She said I was such a prankster and that despite my name I was not gonna be any help to Aphrodite."

"Grandma 'Dite? She would have found something for you to do. Besides you were meant for the House of Love anyways. Hera said you are the Goddess of Debauchery and that means to the House of Love you go."

"Actually Dez is of both Houses." Hera said as she flashed into view. To Dez she said, "Hello child. I came to check up on you myself."

"Thank-you." Dez replied softly, she was too shocked by Hera's sudden appearance to say much else. The Queen of the Gods was formidable despite the smile on her face.

"What did you mean Dez was of both houses? I thought an Olympian was designated to one house only."

"Well you must consider what debauchery really is. Dez is a very special girl. She was born after the Awakening and lived her life for the most part as a mortal. Because of who her parents are she is aligned to both War and Love."

Dez sat there amazed and Bliss just said, "Granddad's gonna love this."

"Yes Ares will be quite amazed. I can just see his face now," Hera said.