Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2006 16:52:58 -0500
From: Ring Master <academygm@hotmail.com>
Subject: Godsend Chapter 13

Disclaimers: This is a work of fiction.  Any similarities to real people are
coincidental.  If you are under the legal age in your area to read erotic
literature, please stop reading this and go somewhere age appropriate.  If
you are offended by homosexual material, please stop reading this and go
somewhere your bigoted little mind can handle.  If you're looking for pure
sex, and plot/character development only get in your way, this story is
definitely not for you.  The rest of you, please enjoy chapter thirteen of
this tale.

Author's Correction: It seems I made an error in the previous chapter.  When
Min and Stef were saying goodbye to their fallen gods, Stef wished them well
in Tartarus.  Seeing as Tartarus is closer to the Christian idea of Hell, it
should actually be the Elysian Fields, or Elysium.  Thanks to Jay for
pointing out the mix up.

-----------------------
Godsend
Chapter 13: Reunions

There was a cool, soft breeze coming through my window, playing with the
curtains.  Crickets chirped in the darkness outside, and the scent of the
flower garden made everything seem right.

"This is your world," Min said.  "There is much for me to learn of my old
home.  I wish for the opportunity to do so when this is over."

"I'll go tell mom you're here," I said.  "She'll get the guest room ready,
and..."

"I apologize," Min said, lifting the ball from my hand, "but K'lemut and I
must begin work immediately."  He embraced me, then.  "Be strong, Stefan.
The situation may become dire, but remember who and what you are.  Take your
strength from that and you can overcome impossible odds."

"I will, Min," I said.  "Take care, and good luck with your project.  I have
hope now that we can get through this."

"No," Min said.  "It is important that you ask your parents for enough water
from the river Lethe to forget the last hour.  If you do not remember your
escape and that there is hope, the O'onerut will not be able to suspect it."

I hated the thought of forgetting, but I knew it was necessary to wipe my
memory of the meeting with K'lemut.  I nodded and then Min was gone.  "Thank
you!" I yelled out, then remembered that it was the middle of the night.

I heard a glass break and the slap of bare feet running on hardwood floors.
My light flashed on almost immediately as the door to my room flew open,
blinding me briefly.  In the door stood a very disheveled goddess of love.
The hair was in disarray and there were bags under her eyes.  The look on
her face was a mixture of disbelief, relief, and joy.  This was not
Aphrodite, goddess of love, this was Mom - frazzled and freaked out mom.

"Hi mom," I managed to say before being strangled in the tightest hug of my
life.  "Air," I managed to squeak out, and she let up a bit.

"How did you escape?" She asked.  "Are you ok?"

"I'm alive and in one piece," I said, "but there is something very important
I need to ask."

"Let me call everybody in and we can..."

"Mom!" I interrupted.  "This is urgent!"  She stopped and her pose shifted
from excitement to full attention.  "I need enough water from the river
Lethe to wipe the last hour from my mind.  O'onerut cannot know what I know
or we will all die."

She was about to say something as a reflex, but she snapped back into
rationality quickly.  "I understand," she said.  "You're...different," she
added, looking at me with a tilted head.  "You've matured."

"God I hope not," I said with a smile.  "I plan on regressing when this is
over.  Seven was a fun year, if I recall."

Mom gave me a warm smile and vanished quickly in a glittering pink puff of
smoke.  She appeared shortly after with a glass of water and a teaspoon.  At
that point, my father walked into the room.  "Honey, what's going...Stefan!"
He dashed over to me at his top speed.

"Air, dad."

Mom chuckled.  Dad relented.  "Are you ok?  Did he hurt you?  How did you
escape?"

"Honey," Mom said.  "He said he needs to forget the last hour or so if we're
to have any hope of beating O'onerut.  I'm inclined to believe him.  A
spoonful of Lethe water?"

Dad looked at her like she was crazy, then realization set in.  "Yes, a
spoonful will wipe out about an hour.  I wish the only way to protect a
secret wasn't to forget it."

My mother handed me the spoonful of water and I downed it.  Then I jumped
back away from them.  "Mom?  Dad?  How did I get here?  Where's Min?"

"Calm down, son," Dad said.  "You just took a spoonful of Lethe water to
forget the last hour.  You didn't tell us how you escaped, and said that you
learned something that you needed to forget so O'onerut couldn't learn it."

"Did you say Min?" Mom asked.

"Yeah," I said.  "O'onerut took him when he went after the Egyptian gods.
He wanted to claim Min for his own, but Min turned himself into a Vaneel to
escape.  Oh God, Mom," I said, my eyes watering.  "What he's doing to those
people to make them Vaneel - it's horrible."

She gave me a warm hug to comfort me.  "It's ok," she said.  "You're safe
now.  You can tell us about that later, if you want.  Where's Min now?"

"I...I don't know," I said, sitting with a thud on my bed.  "I was following
him through secret passages, and then I was here.  He was taking me
somewhere important, since O'onerut gave me access to all of the rooms.  I
guess it was really important, since I had to forget it, wasn't it?"

"You seemed to think so," Mom said.  "But everything will be fine, now.
You're home and we're together again.  I'm going to go tell the rest of the
family.  Would you like to call Kelly?  I'm sure she will be glad to know
her best friend is home safe.  You`ve been gone so long, we were all in a
bit of a panic."

"What are you talking about?" I asked.  "I've only been gone half a day."

"Son," Dad said.  "This may be hard to take."

"What, Dad?" I asked, bracing myself.

"It's been two years.  O'onerut's been on a rampage the whole time.  He
claimed you had escaped and that he wanted you returned to him.  Since none
of us honestly knew where you were, he left us alone, just so that, if you
did show up, he would be able to learn of your whereabouts."

I fell backwards onto the bed.  My head was swimming.  "Two years?" I asked.
  "Are my friends in college?  Has O'onerut advanced a lot?"

"Kelly, Cade, and Mike all went to the local college so they'd be around
when you returned," Dad said.  "Kelly had a strong feeling that you would
come back after lying low for a while.  She wouldn't have left town anyway,
though, since she's in advanced Goddess training.

"Cade would follow you to the ends of the earth, but you know that.  He came
out of the closet last year, but he has turned down every gay guy in the
state it seems.  He tells them all that he's in love with someone already.
He's been miserable, and I don't think he would have made it this long if it
weren't for Mike.

"Mike came out as well, but he isn't holding onto memories like Cade.  He's
been dating a lot, but hasn't had a boyfriend yet.  He's young still, but I
don't think he actually wants one."

"He does," I said to my dad.  "He loves me.  He's bonded himself to me, and
I can feel that bond.  It's one sided, though.  I don't love him."

"That explains things a bit," Dad said, sighing.  He looked up at the
posters on the wall.  "You have the same problem as your mother.  Males fall
in love with you, because male love is your aspect.  It's like an aura
around you."

"Great," I said, "I have a gay aura."  Pausing, I let that sink in.  Cade
was wasting away, pining after me, and Mike was taking care of him.  Mike
also loved me, but he knew what Cade and I had and knew he couldn't compete.
  Kelly was at least doing what she was supposed to be doing with her life.
"What about the situation with our people?" I asked.

"I can answer that," Angie said from the door.  She had blossomed even more
over the past two years than she had before I left.  It really sunk in when
I saw her, looking almost completely adult, that I had really lost two
years.  She sat on the corner of my bed and opened up the laptop she had
been carrying under her arm.  This businesswoman was the next goddess of
love?  "By the way, welcome home, Stef."  She clicked a couple of files and
showed me the screen.  "I made lists of the gods of both pantheons.  Their
color denotes their status.  They're either in black text for alive, blue
text for missing, or red text, for dead."  The entire Norse pantheon was
green and red, while the Greek pantheon was still mostly black.  "As you can
see, the Norse gods, having no ties to you, were eliminated one by one,
though a few may still be at large.  Our family, though, is still mostly
intact.  O'onerut isn't hunting us as of yet.  He is, however, popping in
and reading our minds periodically.  He seems to know that you will return,
though he doesn't know when.  He said something about a toy of his and
potency degradation."

I was more confused now than ever about my escape.  I was also unprepared
for a running body tackle, which is what came next.  "Hektor, you've grown!"
I gasped out under his weight.  Behind him, my grandparents walked into the
room with my mother.  "The whole family's here," I said.  "I was afraid."

"Honey, you should have known everyone was fine when you saw your father and
me," Mom said.  "If one of our incarnations is alive, all of them are alive.
  If one is killed, we all die."

"I forgot," I admitted.  "Things have been so tense lately..."

"I know," she said.  "It'll all be ok now."

"Don't lie to him, Mom," Angie said.  "He's my brother and I love him and
all, but let's not fill his head with false hopes."

"I know," I told her softly.  "I know things are bad and getting worse.  Mom
was just trying to make me feel better.  I think I share in her feeling that
we'll win.  I don't know why.  Maybe her optimism is getting to me, but I
truly feel O'onerut will lose."

Angie looked up to me, here eyes watering.  "I really want to believe that.
I really do.  But...I don't know.  I just don't see it ending well for us."

"Stef will save us," Hektor told her.  "That's his destiny.  That's why God
made him."  I suddenly felt very ill.

My destiny.

I was destined to save mankind.  Nothing and no one said that I was meant to
save the gods.  They could all die and I'd still be able to fulfill my
purpose.  "Could I be alone?" I asked.  "I need to make a call and then
think for a bit."

"Sure, honey," Mom said warmly.  I think she caught my sudden mood swing and
knew the reason.  I just realized that I was meant to save total strangers,
but might not be able to do a thing for my loved ones.  My heart sank as
they left the room.

I picked up the phone from the cradle on my nightstand and dialed.  "Hello?"
asked a sleepy voice.

"Kel," I said.  "It's me."

There was a pause, then a hopeful, "Stef?"

"Yeah," I said, "I just got home."  There was sobbing on the other side.
"Stop, Kel, you're going to make me start, too," I told her.

"Shut up," she chuckled.  "Ok, give me the rundown on the escape."

"Don't know.  Apparently I learned something so important I had to wipe it
from my memory with Lethe water.  My escape either had something to do with
it, or just fell within the erased time.  Whatever happened, only a half a
day has passed for me since I left."

"You serious?" she asked.

"Completely.  I hear you`re doing a lot better than Cade and Mike."

"Yeah, gods are more resilient than humans.  Mike seems to be coping
decently, but Cade..."

"I know," I said.  "I should probably call him tonight."

"No," Kelly said.  "He'll have a breakdown if you do.  I'll call him and
ease him into the idea of you being home.  In the mean time, you get some
sleep.  You sound like you've been through hell."  I hadn't realized how
tired and raspy my voice sounded until she pointed it out to me.

"All right, Kel," I told her.  "See you in the morning?"

"First thing," she said.  "Bye."

"Bye, Kel," I said, ending the connection.

I closed my eyes for a moment, thinking that I'd have a really busy day
awaiting me in the morning.  When I opened them, the sun was shining through
the window.  For a moment, I was confused.  I wondered if I had mysteriously
lost even more time.  How many more years had slipped by?  I wiped the sleep
crud from my eyes and understood.  It was morning.  What day of the week was
it?  What was the date?  Was I going to have to go back to high school while
all of my friends went to college?

I shook my head.  I'd have to find out one thing at a time and work from
there.  I looked at my clothes.  A little rumpled, but still ok.  I headed
downstairs to the sounds of dishes clanking and people chattering.  When I
reached the dining area, I saw my family with three other people at the
table.

Then I understood who they were.  Kelly, it seemed, had accepted her beauty.
  He hair was now curled and halfway down her back.  She had actual makeup
on, and clothing that made her figure stand out - way out.  She was
stunning.  She asked for things and passed them with poise and dignity, and
I could tell she had finally found comfort in her own skin.

Mike had let his hair grow out a bit and it seemed as if he'd traded his
weights for a jogging regimen.  He was still tall, and still had plenty of
muscle tone, but it was leaner than I remembered.  He looked like a stud.
He smiled and laughed with my father as he told some story or another.  The
smile was kind and genuine.  Mike was actually happy.

Cade, on the other hand, broke my heart.  He hadn't changed much physically,
but instead of an assured teenager, I saw a broken and lost man.  His
confidence was gone, replaced by a timid shyness.  He was also a bit on
edge.  His gaze was darting to the clock and to the food, back to the clock,
then to someone at the table, then back to the clock, and so on.  I felt
guilty about turning him into this, even though I hadn't even tried.  It was
time to try and fix that.

"Morning everyone," I said.  I knew I was grinning, but I couldn't help it.
Everyone I loved was here and most of them doing very well.

Kelly jumped out of her chair and didn't waste a second running to me.  She
was giggling the whole way and threw her arms around me.  "Promise me you
won't disappear for another two years," she said.

I held up my hand in an oath.  "I promise," I said in a dignified manner.
Then we both started laughing.

When we calmed down, Mike stepped up.  He punched me in the arm.  "Next time
call me when you get back," he said with a grin.

I punched his arm, but it may have hurt my hand more than his arm.  "Next
time leave a forwarding number where I land," I told him back.  We both had
a laugh and he gave me a rib-crushing hug.

I looked over at Cade, who still hadn't turned around to look at me.
"Cade?" I asked softly.  He didn't respond.  "You'll never know if I'm real
or not if you don't at least look."

"I have to use the restroom," he said, his voice trembling.  He got up from
the table and walked past me, his head down the whole way.

"Cade!" Mike said, but I put a hand on Mike's arm to stop him.

I waited a few moments, then I followed.  "I'll talk to him," I said.  "I
think we should have started with a private meeting anyway."  I walked out
of the dining area, and Ben, standing in the hallway, pointed toward the
nearest bathroom.  I knocked on the door.  "Cade?" I asked.  "Can I come
in?"  There was no answer.  I gently turned the handle and it opened.

Cade looked up from where he was sitting on the closed toilet seat.  Tears
stained his cheeks and I realized he had been crying since before I even
walked into the dining room.  His eyes grew wide when he saw me, but he
didn't move.  He just sat there, transfixed, like a deer in headlights.
"Cade," I said.  "I'm here."

The shock broke and I finally registered to him.  "Stef?" he asked.  I
nodded with a bit of a warm smile.  He stood and ran to me.  He held me,
sobbing, his arms over my shoulders, his face buried in my neck.

"I'm home, Cade," I told him.  "I'm really home."

***

"So the last time we talked was just yesterday to you?" Cade asked me.  He
had eventually stopped crying and had let me go.  I thought he must have
remembered that I was still straight.  He was now sitting on the toilet
again, and I was sitting on the floor with my back against the door.

"Weird, isn't it?" I said.

"I was so freaked out about you being all different after all this time, and
it's only tomorrow to you," Cade said sardonically.  He sighed.  "I guess I
must be a total mess to you."

I shook my head.  Then I nodded and smiled.  "Yeah, a bit," I said.  The
roll of toilet paper bounced off of my head, having been set in motion by
Cade's right hand, just as a pitcher would throw a fast ball.  I laughed,
and Cade joined me.  "I'm glad you're smiling again."

"Yeah, well, after O'onerut took you, and the Vaneel took Jacob and Darren,
I didn't have much to smile about," he said.

"They took Darren," I repeated softly.

"About a month after you left," Cade replied.  "People saw that the Vaneel
only took the fighters, so they stopped fighting.  After a few weeks, the
Vaneel switched to killing people who cowered, until someone stood up to
them to stop the killing, then they took that person.  People went from
fighting to protect themselves to fighting to protect their loved ones.
Either way, they're still gone."

"Those people," I said.  "They're not in their bodies any more.  Their minds
are destroyed after their bodies are changed."

Cade nodded.  "We figured as much.  They only took the fighters, so we
figured they were becoming a part of O'onerut's army.  When we tried to
communicate, we got no response.  The mind was completely alien when they
scanned the brain of a captured Vaneel."

"That's because it's the brain of the insect on their head," I told him.  "I
saw people get changed.  It was horrible.  I saw Jacob..."  I couldn't go on.
  My eyes began to sting, and I knew the tears were on their way.

"Oh, Stef," Cade said, coming to me.  He sat down against the door next to
me and put his arm around my shoulder.  I let go, crying onto Cade's chest
as I curled next to him.

"All those people," I sobbed.  "All screaming in pain.  They were going
crazy from the pain.  Most of their minds were already dead before the
insects got to them."

"We'll beat him," Cade said with a fiery passion I wasn`t expecting.  "We'll
think of something and we'll get rid of him forever."

"No you won't," I said firmly.  "You're going to stay in your home or dorm
or wherever you live, and you're going to keep yourself safe while the gods
sort this out.  I'm not losing you to him."

"I...I didn't know you cared that much," he said.

"You and Kelly," I said, looking up at him, "you mean as much to me as my
family does.  Hell you two are family as far as I'm concerned."

Cade sighed.  "I was afraid you were going to say that," he said.  I opened
my mouth to reply but he shook his head.  "Don't say it," he told me.
"We've had this conversation before and it always depresses me.  I know how
you feel.  I know it would take something drastic for you to change yourself
on purpose, and I know I'm not willing to force it on you."

I sat up and placed my forehead on his shoulder.  "I'm sorry," I said.  "You
don't deserve this.

He lifted my chin and looked into my eyes.  "If you apologize for being
yourself one more time, I'll hit you with a rolled up newspaper."

"Arf," I barked with a smile.  He sat back and laughed.

"The hell are you two doing in there?" I heard Mike ask from the other side
of the door.

I stood up and Cade followed suit.  Unlocking the door, I said, "we're
playing bad doggie."

Mike walked in with Kelly right behind him.  "You both are freaks, you know
that?" Mike said, pinching the bridge of his nose with his thumb and
forefinger.  Cade and I both smiled and nodded in unison.

"You have a headache, Mike?" Cade asked.

"Getting one," he said.  "I thought we'd have more time to reconnect before
it started back up again, but we don't."  When I was about to open my mouth
to ask him what he was talking about, he raised his hand to stop me.
"O'onerut is on TV.  He says he knows you're back and he demands your
presence on the city hall steps.  He has a cage full of people and he says
he`ll kill one an hour until you come to him."

"How could he know?" I asked.  "I just got back."

Kelly shook her head.  "No one needs to tell him anything.  He delves into
at least one of our minds each day.  He doesn't even make himself known.  He
just stops outside our houses and probes us from there.  Once we knew you
were back, he was going to know within the day."

"I should have expected as much from him," I growled.  "Fine.  Kelly, call
city hall and tell them to let O'onerut know I'm on my way and not to kill
anyone.  You're staying here because he wants the gods dead and out of the
way.  Cade and Mike...wait.  I was going to tell you to get in the car, but if
you get captured and turned into Vaneel, it'll kill me.  You stay here with
Kelly, too.  I'll drive myself."

"No, man," Mike started, but I interrupted.

"Mike, stop," I told him.  "He knows where I am and where my house is.  He
could just come and take me any time he wanted.  What he's doing, he's doing
for the cameras, not to get me back.  You going with me won't protect me,
and it only puts you in danger.  The same goes for you stopping me.
O'onerut has the upper hand right now and he knows it.  The less muscle he
needs to flex to prove it, the better."  Mike crossed his arms and slumped
against the wall.  Let him pout if it kept him safe and alive, I thought.

Someone had brought my car back home, as I thought they probably would have.
  Ben held out my keys as I walked toward the front door.  I thanked him
quickly and left.

***

The media circus was in full swing outside City Hall.  As I pulled up, all
cameras turned to me.  I stepped out of the car and walked to the bottom of
the steps.  O'onerut stood at the top, his expression gloating.  I felt him
inside my head.

"Excellent play drinking the Lethe water and forgetting your escape, and
what happened to Min and my belongings.  You are a crafty young godling," he
told me.

"You could have come to my house and kidnapped me," I yelled up to him.
"Why the big publicity stunt?"

"I want your people to know the truth about you, Stefanos Kereanoi," he
said.  "They need to know about your secret desires."  I was now deeply
confused.  As far as I knew, I didn't have any secret desires.  "Yes, this
boy here only has physical desire for women."  O'onerut paused, then looked
at the crowd with disgust.  "Wait, that is normal here?  What kind of a
backwater society do you people live in?"

"So you came here to shame me in the face of my society and you didn't
bother checking to see if I was being shameful or not?" I asked.  I feigned
boredom.  "Can I go home now?"

O'onerut glared at me, red in the face.  "I will not be made a fool of!  If
it is your desire for women that keeps you from me, then I shall eliminate
the temptation.  Stay there."  He vanished.  Then there was a bright flash
in the sky and a quick tremor in the earth.

He returned.  "Ladies and Gentlemen of the press, and of the world, hear my
words.  I have fired a beam from the home of your gods through the earth.
It passed through the other side, and from there it is slowly spreading
outward.  Every woman that the resultant wave passes through will turn to
ash and be blown away on the winds.  Men will be unharmed.  The energy wave
will eventually converge on Olympus and then into the home of the gods
themselves.  No woman will be safe.  All will die.  Any woman who wishes to
escape this fate and become Vaneel, pray to me for my mercy, and I will send
a Vaneel to collect you.  Until the wave has ended, the Vaneel will cease
collecting humans against their will, as a sign of my benevolence.

"To be clear on my reasons, I will state in front of you all that this boy
before you has angered me, and I am doing this both to punish him and to
force him to submit to me.  Until I say otherwise, I will leave him to you."
  He vanished again, probably to his ship.  I couldn't really think of
anything past that.

I felt a tap on my shoulder.  I turned to see an officer next to me.
"Stefanos Kereanoi," he said, "you are under arrest for crimes against
humanity."

----------------------------------

Author's note:  There you have it, dear readers.  The gauntlet has been
thrown by O'onerut, and now he awaits an answer.  Tune in next time for the
next chapter of Godsend.  I'd really like to have the next one done in a
week, but I have a lot to do in the real world.  So I'll say my deadline is
Wednesday, Nov. 29th, two weeks from now, with the option of shortening it
by a week if I am able.  There will be no in-between, so if it doesn't show
up on the 22nd, I'll be using the full second week.  Taa Luvs.

I can be reached at academygm@hotmail.com .