The Council of the Goddesses

"My Ladies of Light, with all due respect-"

"I do believe that would be all of it." A lithe voice of spurn gold spoke, radiating with amusement and perhaps a bit of scorn in its narrow changes.

The Joker would have had a mind to glare at the Goddess of Diamonds, dressed in her diamond powdered robe. The lady in gold looked at him expectantly and he almost rolled his eyes. "With all respect," he started again, giving the Goddess a look which she returned with an amused giggle. "A soul quickly grows weary of living too long." He continued once again, seriously, his red eyes looking at the four goddesses in the room each one more beautiful than the other. They at least had the courtesy to regard him with curiosity for a good moment. Then, an icy voice made its way through the quiet and ripped at it under the disguise of a gentle breeze. He could almost feel it scraping and caressing his cheek, all in one.

"Have you grown tired of your immortality, Joker?" the Goddess on the far end of the room, the single one dressed in pants and heavy robes, asked. She wore fur boots and seemed very misplaced among the others with her braided white hair and heavy clothing. Her voice was sweet, almost gentle, but also seemed to hold a threat the Joker was not about to answer less she grew spiteful of him. He had not even been the one they were speaking of. Seeming to push his wishes and words under the rug, the Clubian Goddess released him from her gaze.

For a moment silence was the only sound as the different Goddesses looked at each other.

The Goddess of Hearts had the decency to look a tad guilty as she wrung her small hands in the lap of her thin summer dress. She might have not been the one the Joker had called out but she knew she was the reason he had started with this. It had been a capricious whim of hers when she had first done it, just as it had been a capricious whim from all of them to make him a Joker. Gilbert had been a King, there was no mistaking that, but with favouritism from the Goddesses came a price which must be paid. He had been loved, by his family, by his people and by the Goddess of Hearts. Soon, the others had also gotten in on it and decided he had been perfect for a little role they had in mind. They needed someone to give power to that would stay true to the realm, power to sustain it if it ever was to fall apart or they were to ever go in conflict. Gilbert had seemed the perfect piece for that. Upon their meeting they had given him the name of 'Joker' for the jokes and smart remarks he had made. It had been for amusement but it had stuck and so the Goddess had gotten their Joker.

Gilbert had soon found that he was visible to people and could interact with them, thankfully. He had been happy with it but as he lived people died…it saddened him, as it would anyone. Goddesses never really had much regard for that, but the Goddess of Hearts seemed to have gotten a few new favourites. The King of Hearts that followed in his footsteps, his little brother, Ludwig Belschmidt, then the Joker of Hearts who in a past life had been the Queen of Hearts and the Queen of Gilbert's heart if he was to be sincere, Feliciano Vargas. The last to complete her set had been the Queen of Hearts, Kiku Honda and once her set was complete she did not want to let it go. She weaved a spell so after their deaths they would be reincarnated. Each and every time they would come back with the same appearance and would take up their duty as Queen, King and Jack, while in their absence trustworthy people would be picked to temporarily rule. It was a silly game of favourites that kept the Goddess happy.

Seeing this, the rest had taken after her. The Goddess of Winter had chosen her King and weaved the same spell. The Goddess of Diamonds had used it on her own King and, finally, the Goddess of Spades had weaved it upon her Jack. Each seemed set on finding her perfect set but that took trial and failure and most were quickly getting impatient…and the Joker was not as funny when he was not joking.

"Has your soul grown weary?" a soft silk voice said and they all turned their eyes to the Goddess gowned in purple with blue roses in her hair. A very capricious Goddess who seemed to see things even they could not as she moved pebbled among the table in the middle and rippled through invisible water that came alive to her touch. A most dangerous Goddess weaved of magic and, if one was to disregard the roses in her hair and her gentle mannerism, darkness.

"No, my Lady." The Joker answered her in a soft voice, sighing softly. A most pretentious Goddess…

"Then why should they?" And she threw a few pebbles she had been holding onto the big table in the room. It was a strange table that seemed to change shapes and be whatever was needed for them as they sat on their chairs around it. It held more interest for some than others and the Goddesses always stood differently. They seemed to always do things differently. While the Spadian had never really leaned over as if she knew what was happening, the Goddess of Diamonds was always leaning over with curiosity, just as the Goddess of Hearts watched the world on the table, the world their people lived in, with caught curiosity and gentle brown eyes, which sometimes turned red and fiery. The Goddess of Clubs seemed uninterested most of the time but sharper than any of them. Gilbert knew all of them well. He had had years to do so.

"Humans are different from me. I'm the Joker."

"Is your pride hurt?" the golden voice teased while its owner played with an imperial topaz.

Gilbert had a mind to ignore her as he continued. "Humans are brittle. Last time Feli and Kiku were born years apart from Ludwig." He pointed out and noticed the lady clad in red worry her ruby red lips.

"A minor mistake." The icy voice cut through simply.

"How do you know that was not her intention?" The Goddess of Diamonds had always loved his jests, but never his seriousness when it came down to it. She never saw him as more than a toy in truth, he believed. And from what he heard she was gaining a similar status in his own mind.

"Because our Lady of Summer never thought to make her perfect set without Feli and Ludwig falling for one another." The words rang true and a glare went toward him as their subject of discussion cringed. She knew it was true as well. Her reason for putting them together was because they had loved each other so much in their past lives. Each time they would fall in love and each time she would watch them with endearment and adoration…last time had gone wrong.

"It's one set." The Spadian Goddess spoke, moving a few pebbles on her part of the table. She seemed as if she was not even part of the discussion as she looked into them. The Joker could almost see how she looked for her own choices. Who to put next on the throne? A knight? A commoner? An artist? Should she follow the example of others and if she did which would she follow? Let the people and her heart choose like the Lady of Summer? Follow the Diamonds in picking her favourite or go with logic as the Goddess of Clubs had done? It was infuriating to be ignored in a theme you were discussing.

"There are no other full sets." He pointed out and by then the one clad in Diamonds was playing with a few things on her playtable. She had yet to find someone to fill the rest of the sets as well. The single one who seemed calm and patient about it was the Goddess of Clubs but she wished to do the same as the others.

All were trying to preserve something which should have long been dead. Humans did not come back to life or get reincarnated a moment later, they were put in a circle and after years, sometimes centuries, they came back on earth differently, sometimes they weren't even humans anymore but animals. As the Goddesses of the Earth they had a right to do as they wished but they were messing with the order they had first set. It was his duty to tell them to stop but who would listen? Even the sweet Goddess of Hearts wanted to preserve her favourites and would not relent.

"There will be soon enough." The confidence in the voice of the Spadian Goddess sent an unpleasant shiver down his spine. Gilbert was about to contradict her once again, to put forth why it was a bad idea but he was cut off by ice.

"It will happen." It said. "And we have made our decisions."

And he knew in that moment that it would not change. They knew everything he wanted to say and everything that had been and would be said but they would continue regardless. His breath was merely an annoying breeze. He grinded his teeth but said nothing.

"You may be excused." A voice as sweet as honey told him and he did not bother looking at the Goddess of Hearts…there wasn't anything else he could do.

The room seemed to dissolve in front of him and the last sound that remained with him were pebbles rolling on stone and wood with a giggle of gold in the air.