"Franklin!" Hera scowled as her son grabbed at her hair, "Behave yourself, please."
Whilst his wife was displeased with their son's grabbing and generally annoying behaviour, Zeus was having the time of his life, wriggling his fingers in front of his son's face, watching as Franklin practically crossed his eyes trying to focus on them.
"Excuse me! One side! Coming through!"
Zeus turned, watching as a blur shot towards them, with Hermes proudly brandishing a large bouquet of flowers to Hera…. Who just sneered at them.
"Flowers, are you- "
"- They're lovely Hermes." Zeus quickly interrupted, taking the flowers, "Orphius?"
"Yeah, he did the arrangement? Isn't that just nutty?!" Hermes glanced around, not seeming to notice that Hera was glaring at him, "Great party! I haven't seen this much love in a room since Narcissus discovered himself!"
As the pair were talking, Franklin (who had been dumped in his cot… Hera was never fond of carrying for longer then necessary) leaned over and tried to grab a lightning bolt from Zeus's belt.
"Hey, don't touch that!"
Just before Hera's hand could impact harshly with Franklin's smaller hand, Zeus grabbed her wrist and pulled her in close.
"Not in front of our guests…" he hissed, before forcing a smile on his face, "… he'll be fine. Let the kid have a little fun."
Franklin was completely unaware of the tension between his parents, chewing happily on the end of the lightning bolt, until it gave him a bit of a nasty shock. Grimacing in disgust at the slightly burnt taste in his mouth, Franklin threw the lightning bolt away as hard as he could.
Batting it away with her sword, Athena rolled her eyes as the lightning bolt destroyed a column, watching as it quickly reformed.
"Your son has good aim…" she muttered, as Zeus chuckled warmly.
"On behalf of my son, I would like to thank you all for your wonderful gifts!" As the Gods cheered, Zeus turned to Hera, "I notice that you don't have a gift for him?"
"I gave birth to him. That's the only gift that matters."
Not willing to get into another argument with his wife, Zeus gently took Franklin into his arms and rocked him back and forth, "You're so tiny…" he whispered, chuckling as Franklin cooed in delight, reaching up to try and grab his Dad's beard, before playing with the pendant attached to his nightshirt.
After a couple minutes of contented silence, Franklin eventually yawned.
"Alright my little boy… time for bed."
"Before I can meet him?"
Zeus spun around, beaming at the sight of the shadow in the doorway, "Hades!"
Hades, carrying a son of his own, headed into the area, ignoring how Hera glared at him. "Sorry I'm late. I had a slight… problem on earth."
"No, no, no!" Zeus beamed, "At least you made it! How are things in the underworld? How's the Prince of Darkness?"
"Grumpy, but what's new about that." Hades accepted the one-armed hug he was pulled into, before heading over to the cot, his son still in his arms, "Look who it is kiddo… a new friend for you."
His son cooed in his arms, curious eyes focused on Franklin, who seemed just as curious.
"Oh, look at that…" Zeus whispered, "… I think they like each other."
The rest of the Gods cooed as well, all except for Hera, who rolled her eyes, "Yes, yes… how cute. Now, doesn't Lord Hades have something better to do, other than frolic about at parties? A full-time job perhaps?"
"He can't work all the time dear, he'll end up working himself to death…" Zeus sighed, resisting the urge to laugh at his unintentional joke, "… let him have some- "
"- No, no." Hades held up his hand, "I really should be getting back."
As he started to back away from the crib, Franklin whined, tiny arms reaching out for his new friend.
"I think we should start planning some sleep-overs." Zeus mused, glancing over at Hades, who was trying to keep a hold of his own squirming child.
"Yeah… I think you're right."
Nobody noticed the dark expression flashing across Hera's face.
…..
If there was one goddess you didn't want to get steamed up, it was Hera… because she had an evil plan.
A son and an heir stood in the way of all her plans, and she knew it.
Heading to her own private headquarters, she bellowed up the stairs.
"Pain! Panic!"
Two goblins scurried down the stairs towards her, crashing into each other halfway down, with the larger one on the bottom.
"Pain.. ow!"
"And Panic!"
"Reporting for duty!" "Reporting for duty!"
Hera rolled her eyes, "The Fates." She demanded, "Where are they?"
"C-Council-room!"
"Darling…" crooned a female voice, "… hold that mortal's thread of life nice and tight."
With a snip of the scissors, the thread was cut, and a scream echoed throughout the room.
"Another one for Hades." Another female voice sighed, the thread disappearing with a snap of her fingers, before they all turned to face Hera, only bowing when Hera rose an eyebrow at them
"My apologies for being late." She began, knowing that none of them would dare to interrupt her, "Childbirth can be such a time-consuming thing. You… women know everything there is to know about the past, present and future. So, I need to know if my darling son- "The words looked like they were painful to say, "- is going to get in the way of my plans for global domination?"
The women all glanced at one another.
"Strictly speaking Your Grace…" one of them nervously spoke up, "… we're not supposed to reveal the future."
Noticing the dangerous look on her face, they quickly backtracked.
"Unless it's you, of course, my Queen!"
With another deep bow, the sole eye that the women used, rose up into the air, turning into a white, glowing orb.
"In 18 years precisely, the planets will align ever so nicely."
Hera resisted the urge to interrupt, not wanting to break their concentration.
"The time to act will be at hand. Unleash the Titans, your monstrous band! Then the once-proud Zeus will finally fall… And you, Hera, will rule all!"
Hera allowed a victorious smirk to spread across her face, only for it to fall at the women's next words.
"But a word of caution to this tale..."
"Excuse me?"
"…. Should Franklin fight, you will fail."
The three Fates all cackled and vanished into thin air, the white orb quickly following on behind, disappearing with a pop.
"What?!" Hera hissed in anger, the lit torches flaring up slightly due to her anger, before she quickly calmed down and took several deep breaths, storming over to some large, ornate doors, closely followed by her minions.
"Pain… Panic, I have a little riddle for you. How do you kill a God?"
Pain frowned, "I do not know…"
"You can't!" Panic announced, "They're immortal!"
Hera let a rare chuckle, grabbing a small vial of pink liquid and holding it up. "Bingo… which means we need to turn my little baby… mortal."
…
Less than a month later, night was falling across Mount Olympus.
Franklin and Matthew were cuddled up to one another, both clutching on each other's night-wear, unaware of the shadows creeping across the walls of the room.
Nobody should have been able to get in… not without a key.
In the next room over, Zeus and Hera were startled awake by a loud crash and the crying of babies.
"Franklin!" Zeus cried out, leaping out of bed and running over to his son's room, completely missing his wife's smirk behind him. He threw open the door, only to gasp in shock. "No! No!"
He ran over to the over-turned cradle, lifting a shaking Matthew into his arms, wincing at the blood coming from the babies eyes, before scanning the room for his own son.
Nothing.
"FRANKLIN! FRANKLIN!"
….
Hearing the heart-broken roars shatter the night, Pain and Panic winced and quickened their steps.
"I can't believe we did this!" Panic groaned, "Zeus is going to use us for target practice when he catches us!"
"Shut up and run!"
The baby started to cry as they slipped into a nearby alleyway, causing the pair to panic slightly.
"Let's just get this over with!" Panic exclaimed, as Pain pulled the potion vial out of his bag and shoved it into Franklin's mouth.
"Come on kid…" he muttered as Franklin gulped it down greedily, "… get it down, quickly now."
The glow of Franklin's skin started to fade with every drop that he drank, prompting Panic to quiver in excitement. "Can we kill him now?"
"No, no, no! He has to drink it all! Every last drop!"
"Who's there?!"
The pair freaked out, dropping the potion vial and the baby, before disappearing into the shadows… missing the fact that one drop was still left in the vial, hanging onto the glass for a few moments before it dropped to the ground, quickly absorbed by the dirt.
Watching from the shadows, they saw a kindly looking woman emerge from around the corner, torch landing on Franklin instantly.
"Oh!" she gasped, "Oh you poor thing!" she cooed, lifting Franklin into her arms, searching for anybody nearby.
In the shadows, Panic glanced at Pain. "Now?"
"Now."
Together, the pair transformed themselves into snakes and slithered closer to where their target was.
"You poor thing… you must have been abandoned." the woman sighed, "I've prayed for a child of my own you know. Never met the right man though." She then turned her attention to the necklace that hung around the baby's neck. "Franklin?"
It was then that she noticed the shadows of the snakes on the wall of the alleyway.
The woman screamed as Pain and Panic dived in for the kill, however, the baby in her arms simply squealed in delight, grabbing the snakes and smacking their heads against the ground. Within seconds, they were stunned. Tying the snakes together, he swirled them around for a couple of seconds, before throwing them off into the distance.
As the snakes disappeared into the night sky, Franklin glanced back at the shocked woman and giggled.
…..
When they landed in a tree, quickly shifting out of their snake forms, Panic started to… well, panic.
"What are we going to do?!" he exclaimed, "Hera is going to kill us when she finds out!"
"You mean if she finds out!"
"What do you mean, I- "Panic paused, realisation dawning in his mind, "… If…. If is good."
…..
It was tragic.
Zeus led the Gods on a frantic search for his new-born son, but just as he thought he was getting somewhere, Hades and his own son disappeared.
They were never found.
Franklin was… but he was mortal now. However, since he did not drink the last drop, he still retained his God-like strength and the fire powers inherited from his Father.
Zeus was not ashamed to admit that he was destroyed by the news, retreating to his room to weep.
When he started spending less and less time on Mount Olympus, nobody was surprised.
Hera loved it. But even though her horrid plan took place before Franklin's first tooth, the baby grew stronger every day.
Which wasn't always a good thing.