(MT. OLYMPUS)
"You have some never sitting on my throne! You're in my palace, show some respect!"
Seated on Zeus's special heavenly Dios thronous is a vast darkness in the form of an androgynous, naked, hairless entity.
"Which one are you?"
"WHAT!? You know damn well who I am! I am Zeus, ruler of Mt. Olympus, and the Greek Gods. Now get off my throne! Or else we will make you!"
Zeus is flanked on both sides. On his right are:
Ares: the god of war, violence, and bloodshed.
Apollo: the god of music, poetry, light, prophecy, healing, and the sun.
Artemis: goddess of the hunt, the moon, and the wilderness.
Hermes: messenger of the gods, known for his speed and cunning.
Demeter: goddess of agriculture, fertility, and the harvest.
On his left is:
Hera: queen of the gods, goddess of marriage, childbirth, and family.
Hades: god of the dead and the king of the underworld.
Poseidon: god of the sea, earthquakes, and storms.
Athena: goddess of wisdom, strategy, and warfare.
Hephaestus: god of fire, metalworking, and craftsmanship.
Aphrodite goddess of love, beauty, pleasure, and procreation.
"Well? What's it gonna be, Khaos?"
Khaos starts laughing uncontrollably. It takes a minute for the laughter to die down.
"You completely miss understood my question."
"How so?"
"I wanted to know if you were the pot or the kettle."
"You've lost me."
"You asked me to 'show some respect', but tell me, where was the respect when you went after my daughter? To me that's very disrespectful."
"You're talking about Lilith. I didn't know she was your daughter."
Khaos is suddenly in Zeus's face. "Bullshit. Every one of my children gives off an aura that only the Gods can detect. Identify them as my children.
You knew damn well who she was. Did you think you could get away with it? That I wouldn't notice? Is this some roundabout way of challenging me? What did you think would happen to you when you incited my wrath? Perhaps I should just end you right here, right now."
Khaos's calm icy tone sends a shiver down not only Zeus's spine, but the others as well. He knows even with everyone present this would be a one sided slaughter. Fighting a Primordial Deity was tantamount to suicide.
"What's wrong, Zeus? Where's all that bravado? All that gusto? All that pith and vigor you had earlier."
Khaos's overwhelming presence prevents Zeus from speaking. A rarity for him. Very few can silence him like this.
"Hm… I'm waiting."
"....."
"Since you won't answer me." Khaos grabs Zeus by the throat, the floor opens below his feet. Zeus just dangles there, helpless.
Ares, Hera, Hades, and Apollo being the closest instinctively move away from the opening. "I'll just drop your ass into The Void. How's that sound?"
Zeus still says nothing. Khaos slowly starts letting go. First his pinky, then ring finger, next the middle finger. Khaos now holds Zeus up with only a thumb and index finger.
"He did it for me," said Poseidon, stepping forward, "or to be more precise, he did it for my son, his nephew."
Khaos let's go. Zeus inadvertently lets out a small yip, the look of shock on his face as he falls is quickly replaced with relief when his feet touch the floor.
Back on the throne Khaos starts giving orders.
"Poseidon and Zeus you will remain, the rest of you are dismissed unless you're involved in all this.
"Poseidon, I order you to bring forth whomever else is involved that's not present."
"It shall be done."
"It's been literally ages since I've seen some of you. Please reintroduce yourselves as I question you. Aside from Zeus, Poseidon, and Morpheus that is. Let's start with you."
"I am Hypnos: the personification of sleep."
"What was your role in all this?"
"I was to put the otherworlder Kiyomaro, and Lilith to sleep and keep them that way."
"Go on."
"I was worried at first about how I was gonna achieve this. Luckily Kiyomaro was already asleep, and with Lilith distracted it made putting her to sleep an easy task."
"A lot easier than putting Zeus to sleep I'm sure."
"Indeed it was."
"You, go."
"Greetings Khaos, I am Titania, Goddess of Dreams and Imagination."
"What was your role?"
"My role was to create, connect, and maintain a duplicate world from which the otherworlders hailed from, with some minor tweaks."
"That sounds like an arduous task for one goddess to do alone."
"I had help from Morpheus and my followers."
"If I'm remembering correctly your followers are known as Dreamweavers."
"Correct."
"Is this everyone who's involved, Zeus?"
"Aside from the Dreamweavers, yes this is everyone."
"Good. Then join me for some food and drink."
With a wave of the hand Khaos brings forth a table, chairs, a variety of food and drink. "Take a seat everyone. Poseidon, tell me what has befallen your son."
"Here's what we know so far." Poseidon proceeds to explain everything.
After hearing Poseidon's story Khaos speaks.
"Zeus and Poseidon will remain seated. Morpheus and Titania will continue to maintain the dreamworld. Hypnos, only keep the otherworlders asleep until Zeus tells you to stop.
You three will provide aid to my daughter without her knowing it.
We cannot let Proteus's body remain in the possession of anyone other than our kind. I'll swap it out for a different undiscovered parasito. That should cover up your half-assed attempt at handling this unprecedented situation. Is that understood?"
All parties nod their heads.
"Good. Morpheus, Titania, and Hypnos you may take your leave."
Ensuring no one else was around Khaos continued speaking.
"Listen closely, you two for what I'm about to tell you needs to remain between us three."
"Hypothetically, what are the consequences if this gets out?" Asked Zeus.
"I will decimate the entirety of the Greek Gods. And I don't just mean your physical bodies, your souls as well, then I'll remove you entirely from everything ever documented about you."
Zeus and Poseidon share a look then agree to Khaos's terms.
****
(Throne Room)
Lilith blinks a couple of times, her vision and hearing slowly coming back to her.
"Um Lilith, are you okay?" Abby asked.
"W-What… happened?" She asked in a raspy voice.
"I found you collapsed next to Kiyomaro." Replied Asmodeus.
"Here I'll help you up." Abby holds out her hand.
Lilith recoils at Abby's extended hand. "No. Stay away from me."
"Huh?" Abby stares in confusion at her sister.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry." Lilith curls into the fetal position, muttering 'I'm sorry' over and over.
"Asmodeus, transport Princess Lilith to the infirmary. I'll examine her there." Ordered Belphegor.
"I'm going with her," said The Queen, "Do not tell me otherwise."
"Very well Your Majesty."
Asmodeus snaps his fingers sending Her Majesty, Lilith, and Belphegor to the infirmary.
"Abby, what of our father?"
"Wait one moment brother. Asmodeus, carry out my father's request. I shall inform everyone what he has said."
"Or I can just tell everyone myself. I mean I am The Emperor after all."
(Character Bio)
Name: Po, Age: ?, Species: Ancient Demon, Gender: Male.
Job: Emperor of The Netherlands, Class:?, Subclass: ?, Rank: ?.
Description: 240 cm, 145 kg, Well-Toned Physique, White Skin Tone.
Appearance: Extremely Long Jet-black Hair, One Grey Eye, One Golden Eye.
Clothing: White Velour Shirt, Gold Velour Pants.
Weapon:?
Prince Teru, Princess Shiori, Beelzebub, Asmodeus, Lucifer, Satan, Levitation, Mammon, Leo, Luna, Corym, and Alice, kneel before The Emperor. Except for Abby, who definitely remained standing.
"You're no longer The Emperor. You gave up that right long ago."
"Abaddon, you cannot speak to father like that." Chided Shiori.
"Shiori is right. You need to apologize."
"No brother, I will not apologize. This degenerate piece of shit…"
"That's enough Abaddon!" Shouts her mother, having returned from the infirmary after sensing Po's sudden appearance. "He is still your father."
Abby just snorts and rolls her eye's.
"How is Lilith faring?" The Emperor asked.
"She's resting right now. Belphegor gave her something to help calm her down. Now get your ass off of 𝘮𝘺 throne."
"And if I refuse."
"I'll remove you by force."
"Last time you got forceful with me Abaddon was conceived."
"Eww gross!" Abby has look of disgust on her face.
"I believe it was in this very room." Said The Queen.
"Right on this very throne." Replied The Emperor.
"Stop! I'm gonna throw up, if I have to keep listening to you two."
"I too do not wish to hear any more." Said Shiori.
"Nor do I want to hear how my little sister was conceived."
"Then you three can plug your ears." The Queen retorted.
"My Lord, shall I have the chefs start the preparations?" Asked Asmodeus.
"Yes, please do."
"What preparations?" Asked The Queen.
"We are having a small banquet. Just the family, The Seven and Abaddon's friends."
"You think you can just pop back in like nothing happened after being absent for so long and start giving orders."
"Of course I can. I'm The Emperor."
"No you cannot. This is my Empire now."
"And yet you remain a Queen instead of an Empress."
"Queen La-tif has a nicer ring to it."
"Queen La-tif. Empress La-tif. Queen La-tif. Empress La-tif. Queen La-tif. Empress La-tif."
Emperor Po repeats both names a few times while moving his hands up and down like a scale, weighing how each one sounds.
"Well whatever. Teru, Shiori, and Abaddon how about catching your dear old dad up on what you've been up to."
"I'm not telling you shit." Abby turns and heads for the door. Leaving her friends behind.
"I don't fully agree with Abaddon on this, but you should've spent more time with each of us. Especially with Lilith and Abaddon."
"Shiori is right. Abaddon and Lilith were far too young to remember you when you left. As a result it affected them on an emotional level."
"It appears my leaving has affected you two as well. That is why I want to have this banquet. To reconnect with everyone. And to announce my intentions moving forward."
****
"Princesses Abaddon, how have you been?"
"I've been better, Astaroth."
"Is there anything I can do for you, princess?
"Can you leave us? I'd like to sit with my sister in private."
"Very well. Just call for me if you need anything."
"Thank you, Astaroth." Abby sits by Lilith's bedside in relative silence.
"You knew right from the start didn't you sis? That none of us would agree to your idiotic nyotaimori idea. Which is why you had a backup plan already in place.
By presenting something you knew everyone would hate from the start, you were then able to offer up something less outlandish. Thus getting you what you really wanted in the end.
A shrewd negotiator through and through."
Abby falls silent, lost in thoughts of happier times.
"Did you know big sis that mother once showed me a Memory Peal that contained the memory of when you first held me as a baby. The pure joy on your face when you held me was infectious, causing everyone to smile at that wondrous sight.
I remember the first drawing you made of me. I was four, sitting on our brother's back with Shiori holding me. You were a magnificent artist. I was actually upset when you stopped. Y-you…"
Abby's voice cracks having gotten all choked up remembering the good times she had with Lilith.
"A-Abby."
"Finally awake." Abby turns away – quickly wiping her tears away. "I'd ask how you're feeling, but that's just dumb."
"How are you still alive?"
Abby tilts her in confusion. "What are you talking about?"
"Someone started a fire, burning all of the artwork I had of you. I was so consumed with rage that I lashed out at the first person who approached me, and beat them to death. That person was you Abby."
"Sounds like you had one hell of a nightmare."
"A nightmare on an endless loop."
"I'm surprised you believed it was real."
"Why won't I?" Asked Lilith.
"Well for one: I wouldn't start a fire. I'd tie you up."
"Kinky."
"Just shut up and listen, would you. After tying you up I would drag each piece of artwork in front of you, and destroy them one by one while you sat there watching.
The pieces I couldn't drag over I would drag you over to them and then destroy them in front of you."
"That would be…kinda hot."
"Huh?!"
"Just watching you get all hot and sweaty while destroying artwork of yourself."
Abby rolls her eye's.
"Oh good you're awake. How are you feeling?" Belphegor asked.
"Aroused. Abby said she wants to tie me up."
"I liked you better when you were unconscious." Abby gets up and storms off.
"I guess I should finish the job I started. Otherwise Abby really will destroy my artwork of her." Lilith gets up out of bed.
"Due be careful, princess. I still don't know what happened to you."
"Thanks for your concern, Belphegor."
"Before you go, might I make a suggestion?"
"I'm listening."