Date: Mon, 24 Dec 2007 16:40:34 -0500
From: Ring Master <academygm@hotmail.com>
Subject: Orpheus Remixed

"Stefanos."

"Stefan."

"Stef."

The voice called to me, but I couldn't place it.  It wasn't Cade.  Cade
was...Cade was...

"Stefanos Kereanoi, snap out of it," the voice commanded.  Something stung
my face, bringing my mind crashing back into the world I so desperately
wanted out of.  Someone had smacked me.  I turned my head and glared at the
offender.

Hades was tall and decently built, with dark hair and olive skin.  A goatee
and sparkling eyes completed the new look he had adopted: gay and slightly
dangerous, but in an erotic way.  A good look for any god of the
underworld, or a dungeon master.  It was now twilight, and he and I were
the only ones at the rose arch.

"Why did you slap me?" I asked, rubbing my cheek.

He gave me an `are you completely stupid?' look and shook his head.  I took
a deep breath to start yelling, but he held up his hand and the air left
me.  "Stefan, you have to listen to me," he said.  "This is very
important."

I looked at him, unable to speak, so I nodded.  He was about to tell me
that I had to move on, that the world needed me.  Now was the time for
strength, not the time to fall apart.

"Don't fall apart now," he told me, verifying what I was expecting.
"Cade's not gone yet."

That got my full and complete attention.

"I stopped him before he went into the light.  I gave him what he needed to
go to the underworld instead.  He should be arriving at my house now.  His
father is protecting his body, so all you have to do is take it to his
soul, with a minor stop in between."

My breath returned to me.  "Don't get me wrong," I said, "I'll go through
whatever it takes to get Cade back...but I'm guessing that minor stop isn't
quite so minor.  What`s the catch?"

"Very astute," Hades said with a chuckle.  "Very well.  Cade's soul cannot
inhabit a dead body.  He will reanimate any body for only a few moments,
enough to get it running again, but if it doesn't work, he'll be expelled
back into spirit form.  His body was shot.  Animating it will only make it
die again moments later.  It'll be painful for him and a waste of time for
everyone.

"Somewhere in the underworld is Asclepius, the healer.  He's the best there
is, was, and ever will be.  He can bring Cade's body back into working
order so Cade's spirit can reclaim it.  Bring Cade's body and spirit to
him, and you'll have a living, breathing fiancée again."

I looked at him with a raised eyebrow.  He was trying to suppress a grin,
but doing poorly at it.  "What aren't you telling me?" I asked.

"Do you know why the living aren't allowed into the underworld, why
Cerberus protects the gates, really?" Hades hinted.

"To protect the natural order of things?" I guessed.  "If people just
wandered in and took their loved ones out, there'd be no one left."

Hades laughed.  "There'd be no one left is right.  No one left on Earth.
You know those stories of things that look like people, but feast on the
flesh and blood of real humans?  Well, those are souls that have gotten out
of the underworld somehow.  They eat flesh and drink blood.  It's really
quite tasty to them."

"And you want me to take Cade's body through them?" I asked, repulsed by
the idea of dead things snacking on my boyfriend.  That was my job.  "I
have a better idea," I told him.  "We grab Cade's body, pop over to your
place in the underworld, and Cade's spirit and I go out looking for
Asclepius.  When we find him, we bring him back to your home and he works
his magic there.  How's that sound?"

"Boring," Hades said with a pout.  "Where's your sense of adventure?"

"Left it on O'onerut's ship," I said.  "Maybe I'll get a new one some day,
but I'm kinda over adventuring for a while."

"Fine," Hades sighed.  "We'll do it your way, and my undead will stay
hungry.  No hottie boy bits to snack on."

"You're a little sick and twisted," I said to him.

"You baby-sit corpses for a few thousand years and see how sane you turn
out," he pointed out.

I chuckled, though a bit hesitantly.  He was still being a little too
creepy.  "Yeah.  Dad's SO staying with Cade's body down there.  Ready?"

Hades gave me an innocent look and then nodded.  I walked out to the
amphitheater where Cade was laid out like sleeping beauty.  Climbing onto
the stage, I leaned down and placed my lips to his.

"If that could only bring him back," Cade's dad said sadly.

"Nothing's that easy," I told him.  "It's going to be more work than just a
kiss."

"Excuse me?" he said.  "That sounded like you were just saying..."

"I'm bringing him back," I interrupted.  "Hades headed him off before he
could cross over, and his soul is in the classical underworld.  I need to
take his body down there so it can be healed and reunited with his soul."

"I'd forgotten why I liked Hades so much," my dad said.  "He definitely
delivers when you need him the most."

"You people are talking about bringing back the dead like it's nothing,"
Cade's dad said, almost in hysterics.

My dad put his arm over Cade's dad's shoulder.  "We know how amazing it
is," he told the man, "but we also know it won't happen unless we make it
happen.  If we stand here open-mouthed about what our powers can do,
nothing is going to be accomplished.  Stef, is there anything we can do?"

"Yeah," I said.  "Hades is being a little creepy and pervy.  Could you stay
with Cade's body at Hades' place to keep it safe?"

"Sure," dad said.  "Come on, Tristan.  You're about to see what few mortals
have ever seen."  His arm was still around Cade's dad's shoulders, but he
placed the other one on Cade's body, and the three of them vanished.  I
followed close behind.

And appeared in a wood-paneled, dimly-lit, smoke-filled bachelor pad.
There were even three guys playing poker on a green velvet card table.  "Oh
dear god, Hades, did Persephone let you live like this, or did you do this
after she died?" Dad asked.  I'd never seen his place while she was alive.
Actually, I never really formally knew Hades until the women all died.  I'd
never seen his home in any other state.

Dad set Cade's body on the pool table, then conjured a pillow and placed it
under Cade's head.  "Persephone would never have let me do this," Hades
said.  "But she was a bit of a shrew sometimes.  Got that from her mother.
Demeter was a royal bitch."

"True or not, let's not talk about the dead like that," Dad said.  "Now
where's Cade's spirit?"

One of the guys pointed at the front door without looking away from his
cards.  "If Cade's the name of the boy, he wandered outside muttering about
a gift for Stefanos.  Can't think of anything anyone would want from out
there, though."

"Who are these men?" Tristan asked my dad.

"They're the judges, Kings Minos, Rhadamanthys, and Aeacus," dad told him.
I could only ever remember Minos's name, but dad had a few thousand years
of practice.  "They determine which part of the underworld a soul is to
spend the rest of eternity in.

"And we thought we'd actually have some work again, till that boy told us
Hades wanted him to wait in the house for him," another of the men said.  I
had no clue which was which.  "No soul has come to us to be judged in over
a thousand years, since the current religions caught on.  They have their
own afterlives to go to, and ours just sits here unused."

"Seriously," the third one piped in.  "A lot of those people who get sent
to hell for not being an "ideal" Christian would probably spend eternity in
the Fields of Asphodel, which is a fair sight better than burning over a
fiery pit for the rest of eternity.  I could be wrong, though.  Maybe the
sulfurous depths of Hell are nice this time of year.  Never been there to
find out."

The front door opened and my heart took flight.  I ran over to Cade and
swept him up into my arms.  "Oh god oh god oh god, Cade.  I'm so glad to
see you.  I thought I lost you."  I was openly sobbing on him.

"You did, hun.  I'm a bit on the dead side," he replied.

"Bah, that's nothing a really good doctor can't fix," I said, sniffling.
"From what Hades tells me, the best one of all time is down here."

"If he's so great, and can cure being dead," Tristan asked, "why I he
dead?"

"Overstepped his bounds," dad told him.  "People die.  It's a part of the
life cycle.  We gods can each have one person we are allowed to snatch from
death until their life cycle has fully completed, but after that, we have
to let people die.  Asclepius wasn't a god and didn't have that luxury, and
he snatched hundreds from death.  So Zeus split his skull with a lightning
bolt and made sure that Asclepius's spirit never had access to his body
again, by incinerating it."

"He was treading on your territory and you killed him for it?" Tristan
asked, appalled.  "Isn't that a bit barbaric?"

"Not when it's decreed by God Himself," Hades said.  "He said that the
cycle of life and death was His creation, and was not up to the will of man
to counteract.  Man can heal man, and man can extend the life of man, but
man must die in the end.  We are saving Cade right now because we are
allowed to on your behalf, Stef, but at the end of his life span, he will
die."

That really put a damper on things for me.  I would live forever, but Cade
would still grow old and die.  I would still lose him, just not now.  "I
don't mind dying of old age," Cade said softly in my ear sensing my
discomfort.  Then his voice addressed the room.  "I just don't want to die
because some bigots wanted to make an example out of me.  You guys send
Victor and his friends to find out what happened?"

"Yeah," dad said.  "But it was less sending them to do it as it was eating
their dust as they tore out of there to catch the people responsible.
Victor's not one to sit back and let someone else do the job."  I'd
noticed, seeing as the man was never home with his pregnant boyfriend.
However, at that moment, I was thankful for Victor's dedication to his
work.

Cade stepped back from me and walked over to his dad and his own body.
"This is just freaky," he said.  His father slipped his arm around Cade's
waist and Cade tilted his head to rest on the man's shoulder.  "I never
thought I'd be looking down at my own corpse."

"It's not so bad," Tristan said.  "Now that you're standing here with me,
it's like this is just a dummy.  So this Asclepius is going to make your
body able to take your spirit back in again?"

Cade shrugged.  "You've heard more about the process than I have," he said.
"The light was open for me to go to, but Hades stopped me and said he could
bring me back to life if I didn't go in, so I didn't.  Then he gave me two
gold coins and directions to his house.  I have to say though, Charon's a
little creepy."

"I think it's the setting that does it to people," I told Cade.  "Anyway,
do you want to go find this Asclepius with me?  Our dads will watch your
body, maybe play some cards with the judges."

Hades laughed.  "I doubt that.  The cards they're playing with have over a
hundred-fifty-suits, and three-hundred-twenty-five numbers per suit, and
they're using sixty-two decks.  That's over three million cards.  For the
game they're playing, the rule book itself takes three days to read and
over fifty years of constant playing to really get.  They're also using
several house rules.  You'll probably be back with Asclepius before they're
done with this hand."

"Which house rules?" dad asked with a raised eyebrow.  "I invented Sirax,
the game they're playing, after all."

"Oh yeah, I forgot," Hades said.  "It's been so long.  They're using the
Ninth Circle Blitz and the Elysium Shuffle"

Dad shook his head.  "Wimps," he said.  "The Elysium Shuffle makes over
three hundred thousand cards wild.  Ares, Poseidon, Zeus and I would always
use Thunder Wave rules."

"You're kidding me," Hades said.  "I always thought those rules were a
running joke to make the game into a frenzied melee.  You're telling me you
guys actually used them?"

I walked up to Cade and kissed him on the cheek.  "Let's get out of here,"
I suggested softly to him.  "They'll be reliving old memories for the next
six hours.  We're going to have to find a guide outside."  He nodded to me
and took my hand.  We headed for the door and I gave a nod to Tristan, who
seemed to be the only one not engrossed in the gaming conversation.  He'd
fill them in if they ever came up for air.

We walked outside into what looked like a cavern.  The ambient light was
tinted crimson, but didn't seem to be coming from any real source.  "What
did you come out here to find earlier?" I asked him.

He hesitated.  "I'm not sure if I should tell you.  I didn't find it, and
it might depress you."

I slid over into his embrace.  "You can tell me.  The fact that I'm not
losing you after all makes up for any bad news you found."

His eyes looked sad.  "I was looking for Kelly," he said.  "I thought she
might be here."

"Say no more," I told him.  "I already knew she wasn't here.  Gods don't
die.  When O'onerut destroyed those gods, he eradicated every trace of
them.  Anything less and we'd come back.  Besides, this underworld is part
of the Earth realm.  O'onerut's power hit here, too.  Otherwise, I would
have been born with the power to raise the dead, and not the power to make
men have babies.  Simpler to bring the women back from the underworld than
it is to change human physiology."

"Oh," he said simply.  "Then you're not upset that I couldn't find Kelly?"

"Still hate O'onerut for destroying her, but not upset at you, no."  To
make sure he understood, I kissed him gently.  "The fact that you tried to
find her for me is very sweet and just makes me love you more."

He smiled at me and I could feel his love radiating from him.  "Shall we
find Asclepius?" I asked him.  "I'd really like you to have your body back
so we can finish our wedding, maybe on Olympus this time so we don't have
any more party crashers."

"Excellent idea, love," Cade said.  "Any idea where to start looking?"

"Shouldn't be too difficult," I remarked offhandedly.  "The underworld
can't be that big, can it?"

The laughter behind us made me pause.  Cade and I turned at once to see and
old man with a cloth wrapped around his head, covering his eyes, coming
toward us.  "Dear boy, the underworld is at once both bigger than the world
and smaller than the head of a pin.  If you know the ways, you can be
anywhere in moments.  If you fumble around blindly," at that word he
chuckled a bit, "you will wander forever within its depths."

"Can you teach us the ways?" Cade asked him.

"One needs only the strong desire to be somewhere or with someone, and one
can be there.  Only the segregated cannot travel such."  The man was giving
me a headache, but Cade was better with words.

"The segregated being those that have been sent by the judges to the
different sections of the underworld?" Cade asked.

"Young godling," the old man said, "your heart is wiser than your head."

"I wasn't the one who spoke to you," I said.  "That was Cade."

Cade placed his hand on my shoulder.  "He was talking about me.  I'm your
heart.  He said I was smarter than you."  The old man chuckled and nodded.

"The ghost minces no words.  He is delightful.  Ask and I shall lead you to
your destination," the old man offered.

"We need to speak with Asclepius, the healer," I told him.

The old man brushed off his toga.  "No," he said.

"What do you mean, no?" I asked.  I think I might have been shouting at
that point, because Cade placed his hand on my arm.

"Asclepius will unleash terror upon the mortal world in exchange for his
assistance.  You will have your love, but the price may be too high.  Those
who die will be fortunate.  The living ones will be in torment."

"How many people will he kill?" Cade asked.

"None," the old man said.  "He will cause no death and hurt no living
souls, but he will spread a horror unimaginable."

"Please, just take us to him," I pleaded.  "Just because you think he's
going to be evil, doesn't mean we'll let him.  We'll just be careful."

"Then it shall pass," the old man said.  "This way to the healer."  He
pressed a hand against the rock wall and it parted for him, revealing a
dark passage with a cold wind emanating from it.  The old man stepped
inside and we followed.  Cade placed his hand on the man's shoulder and I
held Cade's other hand.  When the wall closed behind us, we were plunged
into complete darkness.

"These are the ways?" Cade asked?

"Yes," the old man said simply.

"How do people use them?" I asked.  "I can't even see."

"You rely on your eyes," he told me.  His voice echoed strangely hollow off
the stone.  "One's eyes and ears are liabilities in the underworld until
one learns to interpret what is seen and heard correctly.  We are in a
world of illusions and lies."

A sudden light burst forth and blinded me.  I felt Cade jerk back as well.
"Why didn't you warn us it was going to get so bright?" I asked.

"The blind are poor judges of light and darkness," he replied with
annoyance in his voice, and Cade punched my arm.  The old man held his arm
out and pointed down the corridor.  "The one you seek is around that
corner.  I will have no part in the proceedings."

"How will we get back?" I asked him.

"Asclepius will know the way to the home of Hades.  He is allowed to roam
there as a part of his punishment."

The old man clutched his head suddenly and cried out.  He ripped the cloth
from his eyes and gripped both of my arms.  I stared into two empty
sockets, like pools of the darkest night.  Inside, I felt the cosmos unfurl
before me.  This old man had no eyes, but he could see infinity clearly.

"Who are you?" I asked him.

"Power comes," he said, his voice coming through both male and female, in
dissonance and harmony at the same time.  It made me want to weep and
cower, and also sit rapt in awe.  "The power wishes to rival the gods, but
the gods cannot stop it.  It can only be stopped by a mortal, a warrior
unmatched by any other."

"Is this what we will unleash by speaking to Asclepius?" I asked.

"The power builds already.  You did not start it and you will not finish
it.  Only the warrior can stop it.  What Asclepius does is nothing.  It is
no horror in comparison to the power that grows.  The power is nearly ready
to be borne into the world.  It was a cancer.  Stop it...please."  The end
was evocatively pleading.  Whatever was talking through the old man was
terrified of this power and what it saw happening.  I wouldn't have
believed it if I hadn't seen the universe in his lifeless sockets.

The old man put the cloth back over his eyes.  "Go now, please," he said
wearily.  "You only heard a plea for help.  I saw what was happening.  The
cost of Asclepius' help is trivial compared to that, and you'll need all
the help you can get.  Bring your lover back to life and prepare yourselves
for the worst."

"What's coming?" I asked.

"Madness and death," he said.  "Madness and death."  He faded away.

"Thousands of years and the man is still impressively flashy and
unhelpful," said a voice down the passage.  We walked down and came upon a
ledge overlooking a field of flowers far below us, which stretched as far
as the eye could see.  Above, the sky was a hazy blue.  On the field,
spirits passed each other, stopping to pick and eat flowers and
occasionally interacting with each other.  We were too far away to hear
them.  On the outcropping at the end of the cave sat a man in a toga, this
one whiter and cleaner than the old man's.  He was looking out over the
field with his knees pulled up to his chest.

"You are new," he said softly, distantly.  "I know the old gods, but you
are new to me.  Who are your parents?"

"Aphrodite was my mother.  She raised me with Hephaestus, but Ganymede is
my birth father."

He still didn't turn around.  "Was?" he asked.

"The female gods and mortals are dead, along with several male gods and
nearly all the Norse gods," I told him.  I wasn't sure why.  The man just
had a certain sadness and loneliness about him, like he was starved for
news and contact.  "I was born to keep mankind alive without women.  Now
I`m Hera`s replacement."

"So Zeus has a new male lover then?  I knew he wouldn't stop with
Ganymede."

"No, I'm her power replacement," I corrected.  "My love is Cade, who is
right next to me right now."

"Your love is dead," the man said.  "That is a ghost next to you."

"His body is at Hades's home, and he won't be a ghost when you reunite
them," I told him.

"Then you already know who I am," he said.

"Yeah, the old man with the blindfold told us Asclepius would be down this
way, and you're the only one here," I informed him.

He stood and turned around to face us.  He was taller than I was, and has a
neatly trimmed dark beard to go with his dark hair.  His face was a mix of
pain, loneliness, and joy.  "You know who I am because you were sent for
me," he said with a sigh, shaking his head, "but you don't recognize anyone
else, like the seer, Tireseas."

"Shit, that was Tireseas?" Cade asked.  "Then those loony ramblings of doom
were real?  Stef, maybe this is a bad idea bringing me back to life.  You
can visit me down here if I stay."

"Did he tell you bad things would happen if I helped you?" Asclepius asked.
He looked more annoyed than interested in the answer.  "Why is he always
telling people that I'm evil and I'm going to cause devastation."  He
turned his head upward and started yelling.  "All I ever tried to do was
help people!  You all treat me like a criminal and keep me secluded from
everyone just because I did what you refused to do!  You let people die!  I
was the one saving lives!  This is my reward?  Eternal solitude?"

"Were you trying to speak to all the gods just now?" I asked.

Asclepius looked at me confused.  "Yes, why?"

"I didn't hear you in my mind.  Only in my ears.  They have you blocked so
they can't hear you," I told him.

He let out a primal roar, then dropped to the ground, sobbing.  "All this
time," he said softly.  "All this time and they never let me know they
couldn't even hear me, that they shut me out completely.  They just left me
to rot for all eternity."

"The old man, Tireseas," Cade said, "told us that you're allowed to go to
Hades' house."

"To yell at his door and be ignored there, too," he replied, sulking.
"Since I got here, only you two and Tireseas ever talked to me, and I don't
think he even likes me.  He just feels bad for me.  You know the gods
struck him blind for something he did on accident, they turned him into a
woman and back again, and they killed him for speaking his visions, which
they gave to him?  I think he just feels a kinship between us."

"The gods haven't done that sort of thing in ages," I told him consolingly.
"I think you guys were some of the last.  Dad and Hades said that you broke
God's will, so they had to kill you."

"Whose will?" Asclepius asked.  "You're all gods, but you actually have one
called God?  Is he new?"

I shook my head.  "No, He's the creator of the gods, of the universe, of
life and death.  He is what the mortals now worship.  We were never more
then His assistants.  My family made a lot of mistakes and acted like
children for a long time, but they have grown up."

"Wait, you all have a master?" Asclepius asked.  "And it was his desire
that I be killed?  Death was his plan?  Can I meet him and ask him why?"

"Only Zeus is allowed to meet with Him, and only at His bidding," I said.
"He wants us to have free will, and taking orders from Him all the time
removes that free will.  He only gives Zeus orders when the natural balance
is threatened, like when you were reversing the natural process of death
indiscriminately."

"So you have no one's word to go on except Zeus' that this God even
exists." Asclepius surmised.  "And you all blindly follow commands issued
in his name.  Also, it was Zeus, in the name of this God, that killed me,
and no one else - and no one interfered because you all believe that the
word of this God is law.  Interesting.  Does anyone question whether Zeus
is making it all up and holding this over you all as a means to control
you?"

"My existence is enough for me to believe," I told him.  "I live because he
willed me to live."

"Fair enough in your case," Asclepius said.  "I'll have to talk to one of
the older gods for a more detailed reason of why they believe.  For my next
question, I ask this: if it's so wrong for me to raise the dead, why am I
being summoned to revive your mate?"

"Honestly?" I replied.

"Please," he said.  "I despise lies of any form, and seek the truth when
and where I can find it."

"I don't see any distinction between what they're punishing you for and
what we're doing," I stated.  "But I'm not going to call them on it,
because I want Cade back so badly.  If it were my call, I'd say to let you
come back and do what you do, but on a limited basis.  Eliminating death
goes against nature, but what would saving a few here and there hurt?"

"You don't agree with the ruling against me, and you believe in situational
rules as opposed to absolutes," Asclepius said.  He smiled.  "I think I
like you, godling."

He reached into his toga and pulled out two wineskins, along with tubes and
needles.  "I'm going to propose something, but you have to promise not to
tell the other gods until we have finished, or they won't allow it, and
I'll need two pints of your blood."

"And what makes you think I'll do something I know the other gods wouldn't
allow?" I asked him.

He laughed.  "Because it's a reward you'd never pass up."

***

We reached the home of Hades rather quickly after that.  Asclepius was, in
fact, able to reach it with no problem.  Tristan looked remarkably pleased
to see us.  Dad and Hades were still talking about cards, and now the
judges were a part of the conversation.  I think the five of them were
setting up a card game, but arguing over the rule set they would be using.

We made our way to the pool table where Cade's body lay.  "This looks like
a projectile wound," Asclepius noted.  "Where's the arrow?"

"New variety of projectile from when you were around," Cade told him.
"It's a small metal object propelled at a much higher velocity than
anything you've ever encountered."

"So there's an exit wound on the other side?" he asked.  He turned the body
over to examine, ripping the tuxedo jacket and shirt from around the holes
in the fabric.  "Messy," he noted.  "But it's pretty clean inside.  The
repairs shouldn't take long, and then we can transfuse him with blood and
spirit.  You're his father, correct?"  Tristan nodded.  "I'm going to need
to transfuse some of your blood into Cade.  You're the only mortal in the
room, and the only one with matching blood."

I walked up to Hades.  "Is there a more medically appropriate area we could
do this in?" I asked him.  He waved his hand dismissively at a wall and a
door appeared.  I opened it and walked into a fully equipped surgical
suite.  That would work.

"This way," I told those who weren't engrossed in the gaming talk.  Cade
carried his own body in and set him on the table inside.

"I think I'm going to need a new tux," he said, ripping the jacket and
shirt the rest of the way off.  His body was having its usual effect on me.
Even wounded and lifeless, my love was hot.  The gunshot wound was directly
between Cade's two Vaneel stripes.  A couple inches higher or lower, and he
wouldn't have even been hurt.

"Sit in this chair," he instructed Tristan.  When Tristan complied,
Asclepius rolled back Tristan's sleeve with skilled hands, then quickly
inserted the needle and tubing, drawing blood before any of us had time to
think about it.  I'd been to hospitals before.  No nurse was that skilled
and quick.  Asclepius was good.  In short order, the bag was filled, and
Asclepius had Tristan nursing a tiny puncture wound with a gauze pad.

"All of this is sterile, too," Asclepius mused, looking around the room.
"It seems your current medical knowledge has progressed beyond primitive
finally.  Now it's only slightly backwater.  There may be hope of the human
race catching up to me at some point."

"Do any of you have medical training?" he asked.  We all shook our heads
no.  "Alright," he said.  "Then you all might wish to leave the room.  I
was going to offer some prime medical knowledge, but without the
background, you'd all be lost.  To people who don't know the basics, this
is just gore that would empty your stomachs.  So, just leave me to this,
and I'll call in Cade's spirit when I'm ready to reunite him."

He smiled warmly at us.  "You've already done all that can be done on your
side.  I'll take care of the rest.  All you have to do now is rest and
wait.  In a few hours, you will be reunited as a family once again."

There was another door, and I looked in to see a waiting room with
recliners and refreshments, and no gods arguing over cards.  We could
actually relax in there.  I motioned to Cade and Tristan with my head that
they should come inside, and they calmed down when they saw the room.

Inside, Tristan sat in a recliner, and Cade and I shared a plush couch.  I
sat with my back against the arm of it, and Cade reclined into my arms.  It
was difficult to believe, with him sitting there solid in my arms, that
this was his ghost and not his body.  We were both in tuxedos still, and he
was beyond stunning.  I ran my fingers through his hair and he snuggled
into me.

I knew that we were making the right decision at that moment.  There was
nothing evil about our love.  It was pure and good.  Everything would work
out fine.

In about two hours, Asclepius called us back in.  The wounds on the body
were healed seamlessly.  "Cade, lie down inside your body.  When your
father's blood finishes replenishing your body, it will merge with your
spirit and you will live once again."  He complied, and I watched as the
bag became less and less full.  When the last drops of blood had passed
through, Cade's body sucked in a deep breath.

Cade was alive.

I bent down and kissed him, crying with joy.  Tristan was hugging
Asclepius, thanking him.  I shouted out with happiness.

The door to Hades' home opened and Dad and Hades walked in.  "We heard the
commotion," Dad said.  "Sounds like everything was a..."  He looked
carefully at Cade and Asclepius.  "What have you done?" he asked.

"We used my blood instead of Tristan's to bring back Cade," I said.  "He's
immortal now."

Dad shook his head.  "You should have asked permission for that, first,"
Dad said.  "But that's not the problem.  Asclepius is a god now."

I turned to Asclepius and finally felt the power coming off of him that I'd
been ignoring.  He shrugged his shoulders.  "You tricked us," I said to
him.

"No," he said.  "I had leftover supplies and chose to help myself to them.
Consider it payment for isolating me for all those years.  Now we're even."

"We can't control him now," Hades growled.  "Do you know what kind of
trouble he's going to cause?"

"What about talking to him and establishing rules and limits," I suggested.

"No need," Asclepius said.  "I'm going to be careful.  I have no desire to
bring about death and destruction, nor do I want to upset the balance.  I
just want to help people."

Hades closed his eyes and within moments, Zeus stood before us.  "You get
one chance, healer," Zeus told him.  "If you cross the line, we will
imprison you, and it won't just be isolation.  Just think of Prometheus.
He was just trying to help the humans, too."

I think I shuddered on Asclepius' behalf.  "Stefan," Zeus said calmly.
"Had you come to us before following through with Asclepius' plan, we would
have controlled him while he made Cade immortal, so we wouldn't be having
this conversation.  In fact, my wedding gift to the two of you was going to
be Ambrosia for Cade so he would be part of the family.  This is why it was
acceptable to bring him back.  He was slated to become one of us since your
acceptance of him as your mate.  You are the god of lasting love and
marriage.  Your heart is constant and permanent.  There would never be any
other after Cade, so Cade had to become immortal."

Zeus sighed.  "The result is the same, but the means left a lot to be
desired.  Now we have a god we don't trust in our midst.  Stefanos, in the
future, will you trust us and not go behind our backs?"

"Yes, sir," I replied, chagrined.  I felt like a colossal fool for
sidestepping the authority like that.  Then I looked to Cade, next to me.
He was immortal.  He was mine forever.

I was the luckiest fool ever.

***

"Ready, honey?" I asked Cade, who was fussing with his tie in the mirror.
We'd been married for two months now.  The ceremony had been on Olympus
this time, and went off without a hitch.  I had a husband.  I had the best
husband ever.  I giggled every night as I lay there with him in my arms
that I actually had him.

He was happy, too.  The gods had given him his dream job.  He was now the
first of the new Muses.  I was happy for him.  Now he was just as occupied
with god work as I was, and we both still had ample time to spend with each
other.  He was also making friends through his new position.  They were all
writers, but they had things in common with Cade that they were all
passionate about.  Cade Marriott, Muse of suspense and mystery.  It had a
nice ring to it.  Sorry, folks, we kept our own last names.  We agreed that
no one was going to be the "wife" in our marriage.

"Yeah, I think I'm ready," he said turning to face me.  He was in a crisp
white shirt with a black necktie.  His black pants were fitted to him and
made his behind perky and round.  I gripped said behind as we kissed and
ground my pelvis into his.

"You're so hot," I growled into his ear.

He licked mine in response.  "And you're making me hotter," he told me
softly, giving me a chill.  "Any hotter and I'll be in no shape to go out
in public.  So behave - for now."

I pulled back with a feigned pout that he could see right through.  "Ok,
fine. Do you want to drive, or shall I?"

"I need the practice," he told me, taking my hand.  Within moments, we
materialized in the hospital corridor.  Asclepius was standing there
waiting for us, a personalized lab coat for each of us in each hand.  He'd
shaved off the beard to fit in with the times, and looked every inch like a
doctor.  He was even in scrubs under his lab coat.

"I had these made for you," he told us with a smile.  "It was the least I
could do for releasing me from my prison."  We smiled back as we accepted
the gifts, putting the lab coats on over our business wear.  We looked like
doctors now, too.  It was kinda fun.

"Is Eros inside?" I asked.

Asclepius nodded.  "He said he didn't want to miss this.  He's in there
right now trying to convince Marlon to let him make them fall in love.
Marlon is still refusing.  Brent is still mad at him for not committing.
Just the way you left it."

"I'll be glad when this is over," I said.  "Those two are exhausting.
Marlon's still going to support the child, right?"

"To the bitter end," Asclepius said.  "Did you know that his father left
his mother to raise him and his sisters alone?  He says he's not going to
be like his father, no matter what.  He just doesn't want to be tied down
to Brent."

"A dad, but not a husband," Cade said.  "Fair enough.  I really can't blame
him for not wanting to get involved with someone who was supposed to only
be around a night.  I had several of those during those two years when I
thought Stef was dead and gone."

Asclepius shook his head.  "These are strange times.  People tolerate so
much and have completely different views on what's acceptable and what
isn't from the time when I was alive.  But that's not why we're here, is
it."  He opened the hospital room door and walked in.

There was no fighting this time, but there was a camera man.  Brent allowed
the man to film the first male birth for a cut of the profits.  It would be
on every news station in the country.  Brent just wanted to make sure his
baby was taken care of.  Marlon was pretending to care for Brent, but his
eyes kept wandering over to Eros, who was ignoring the man's lust.  Eros
made me hard instantly, as always, and I'm sure he had the same effect on
Cade.

"He could be your twin," Cade said in my ear.  And I thought I couldn't be
any deeper in love with Cade.

Brent lay on the bed with pajama pants on, but no shirt.  All of the focus
was on his stomach.  "I think you're just in time," he said.  "My son wants
out."  With that, he let out a yell and strain showed in his face.  I
watched as his belly button pulsed and stretched, and soon it began to
widen.  Asclepius reached down and easily plucked the baby from Brent's
open stomach.  The navel closed rapidly once the baby was out and snapped
the umbilical cord off at that point.

Asclepius cleared the baby's mouth and nose and it started to scream.  I
released the breath I'd been holding.  "You've made this process too easy,"
Asclepius said to me.  "You don't even need a doctor for this."  He was
cleaning off the baby and snipped the umbilical cord like it was second
nature as he spoke.  Within moments, he had a cleaned and bundled baby boy,
ready to present to the parents.

He handed the baby to Brent, who held him as tears rolled down his cheeks.
"My son," he said, almost choking on the words.  "My beautiful son."  He
looked up at the other father.  "Do you want to see him, Marlon?"

Marlon nodded and walked over.  He sat on the edge of the bed and looked
the baby in the face.  He smiled and cried at the same time.  "I'm a dad,"
he said.  His hand found it's way into Brent's.  "What's his name?"

"What do you think of Marlon?" Brent asked.  Marlon turned to Brent and
blinked.  Then he suddenly leaned down and kissed Brent full on the lips.

He turned to look at Eros after the kiss ended, but this time without lust
in his eyes.  "Do it," he said.  Eros nodded and walked over to Marlon.  He
placed his hand over Marlon's heart and his hand began to glow a soft pink
color.  As Marlon looked at Brent, his eyes filled with love.

Eros then walked back to where Cade and I were standing.  "What did you
just do?" Cade asked.

"Absolutely nothing," Eros said softly, just to us.

***

Fin

***

Oh ye's of little faith.  What would Christmas be without Stef rescuing
Cade?  (Side note: I'm sending this to the archivist on Christmas eve, and
he may have plans 'n stuff, so there's a chance it'll be a post-Christmas
miracle.  My fault for sending it so close to the holiday if this is true.)

This story marks the end of the trilogy, and the end of this portion of the
short story series.  The next part will deal with the mysterious power
Tireseus foretold.  Some stories, as with the first part, MAY involve
regular Godsend characters, others will not.  In 2008, we will see a suitor
for Hektor, a promotion for Victor, several people getting severly fucked
up, and, quite possibly, a return of the Blue Maiden.

I will be taking a week off to recover from the first section of stories,
so the next update should be on Jan 7th, 2008.

The blog update for this story has a bonus feature for those out there who
wondered about the biology of the changes Stef made.  Warning: it is not a
story, and is very technical...but it isn't a mountain of info, so it's
entirely readable.


The blog: http://geocities.com/waterbearer99/blog.html
My email, for those who wish to talk only to me: academygm@hotmail.com