Part 8: Cupid sighed softly as he lazily flapped his wings. Laying on his stomach in the sun he idly contemplated the shields his son Bliss had proudly shown him not even an hour ago. It had taken him centuries of on and off training but he'd finally perfected them. And yet there was still this nagging feeling of unease about him.
Cupid knew he liked to think of himself as a tolerant God. After all he was the God of Love and if Love wasn't tolerant, then what was? But there was just something about his half-brothers that set his teeth on edge. But Bliss loved them. He considered them family. Which they were, of course, but Bliss actually treated them like family. Cupid couldn't bring himself to even contemplate treating the twins like he did Strife. As a brother.
Phobos and Deimos. Even their names made Cupid grit his teeth and they weren't even around. No, they were down in Sunnydale with Strife and Ares and far, far away from his precious Bliss. Not that Bliss appreciated his safety. No, he was moping because the three of them had been supposed to do something today and now that Strife had taken them Bliss was left all alone.
Cupid had tried to get him to join the Muses or Apollo or even Hep but Bliss had refused with the reasons of 'they're too fluttery', 'he always tries to look up my kilt' and 'it's too hot at the forge'. Of course, Cupid was still fuming after the kilt bit to pay much attention to Bliss's excuse for not visiting Hep. How dare Apollo try to seduce his son! Maybe a nice case of impotency would take care of that manipulative bastard.
But excuses or no excuses, Cupid understood what Bliss was saying. It was the twins or nothing and since the twins were gone, Bliss was left with nothing. Until they returned.
Then, no doubt, the three of them would be creating trouble all over again.
Sighing, Cupid turned his mind to the twins. What was it about them that made him so jittery? He wasn't normally like that. He conjured up a picture of Phobos in his mind. Even just the mental image made him shudder with…something, he had no desire to examine just what it was he was feeling. No whatever he felt for Phobos was best left unexplored. Of course, Phobos was infinitely more fascinating than Deimos, Cupid readily admitted that. In fact, it was mostly Deimos he had problems with. He had attitude and he was always pushing Phobos around. He'd actually thought he could take Strife's place, Cupid had laughed for days when he'd heard that. Even now his lips twitched at the sheer arrogance and complete lunacy. Of course, Deimos was insane. Both the twins were though Phobos was more normal. Odd though how when he'd mentioned that to his mom she had looked at him and said 'You think Phobos is the normal one?' He'd laughed and replied 'Well, it certainly isn't that freak Deimos. Compared to him Phobos is normal.' Then he'd felt bad because he'd heard a small whisper of a sound and saw Phobos leaving the Great Hall. He had obviously overheard Cupid's comment and had been upset by it. Feeling bad but not really knowing why, aside from his general niceness of course, Cupid had ignored both Phobos' flight and the glare from Aphrodite and turned his attention to yet another boring pronouncement from Zeus.
With a small sigh Cupid rolled over on his side. He didn't know why he was thinking about those two annoyances. They were…he froze as unbearable pain washed over him.
It was so strong he felt nauseous. His mother's voice hissed in his mind, telling him to go see what in Hades had just happened and left him in no doubt that Aphrodite had not been able to control the nausea.
Honing in on the pain he was able to categorize it as heartbreak. The way his luck was going he was not altogether surprised to find himself honing in on Sunnydale. Then, because his father had the sensitivity of a mallet, he was equally unsurprised to see that Ares was the cause of the heartbreak.
Quietly flashing in behind him and remaining invisible, Cupid took in the scene.
Ares stood in front of a young, blond girl. She was pretty but not Ares' type. She should have known better than to get a crush on him. He took a closer look though when he noticed that despite the waves of pain coming off her, her face was a complete mask. It was as he probed that he recognized her. The Slayer. Buffy Summers. The one who had gotten on the bad side of his mom and fallen in love with Angel; the vampire with a soul. He had no idea what she had done to piss his mom off so much but he knew Aphrodite had forgiven her long ago.
He focused in on what Ares was saying and found himself growling in rage.
"Absolutely appalling, of course. I don't know why you think of all the girls that you can flaunt convention like that. Falling in love. And with a vampire. Soul or no soul it makes no difference. Slayers don't love. They don't get to. It's all about the fight. Love is a distraction and when I created the Slayers I created them to be without love. You need to give up this silly dream and focus on what's really important. The fight. The battle. Love is for the weak and you are not weak."
Almost incoherent with rage at the way Ares was carelessly trampling not only the girl's heart but also his own Godhood, Cupid appeared. Without giving Ares any time to react he threw his father through the wall into the kitchen. Advancing on him, Cupid made his anger very clear.
"How dare you! How dare you forbid that girl to love? Love is not yours to control, Father, or did you forget that? Love is my area and she is just as entitled to fall in love as you are."
Ares gracefully got to his feet and glared at his son. "I do not love."
"That is your choice," Cupid stated in a cold voice. "You do not make the decision for others no matter if they are of your House."
"She is my Slayer. She works for me."
"So she does," Cupid agreed. "But she does not live for you."
"Excuse me a moment," Athena interrupted. "Do you mean to tell me that Ares is trying to forbid his Champion from loving?"
"I do," Cupid said.
By now everyone had come to gather in the kitchen, drawn by the noise and the emotions coming off the two. Buffy still stood silent and unmoving though as she tried to comprehend what she was being denied. Cupid's arrival had not even registered with her, her mind was focused only on one thing and that was Ares voice saying over and over again 'Slayers don't love. They don't get to.'
If there was no love then what was there worth fighting for?
Athena burst into laughter. Loud, joyous laughter that said plainer than any words that she felt Ares was an idiot. He glared at her and she ignored him. "Cupid, I think you need to set your father straight while I see to the poor girl." She easily moved through the kitchen and into the living room where she found Buffy standing, staring off into space, a blank look on her face.
"Gladly," Cupid growled. Grabbing his father he flashed them both out and back to his mom's temple on Olympus. Normally he would not have been able to even get Ares much less transport him but his mom had been watching and she lent her power to his. No doubt his mom was already prepared to give the God of War a dressing down he would never ever forget. He would have to come back to help fix the Slayer. Ares really needed to learn to take better care of his Warriors.
Buffy gradually felt able to take control of herself. She gently pulled herself away from the goddess she had been hyperventilating over and took stock of the situation. Willow and Xander were both looking at her worriedly, their eyes wide. Giles was muttering under his breath and thanks to her Slayer hearing she knew he was cursing Ares. Her god. Her god who had created her to do nothing but fight.
Well she might have been created to fight but that didn't mean it was all she could do. She was a human being and a girl and she could wield a stake with the best of them and no one was going to tell her what she could and couldn't feel.
"That's the spirit," a voice said from behind her. She twisted around and saw what was easily the most beautiful man she had ever seen or even imagined existed in her life. He shone; there was no other word for it. And when she got a look at his profile as he hugged Strife she had to hold back a gasp of awe. Wings. Big, white, fluffy wings. She knew who this was. Cupid, God of Love. But…what was he doing here? She could have sworn Strife said the Hellmouth was too dangerous for gods that weren't of the House of War to be here.
"I'm here for you," Cupid said. "You are right, I am Cupid, God of Love. And as such I came when I felt your pain at what Ares was saying." Cupid sat down on the couch next to Buffy. "He means well, he just never got the hang of the less savage emotions, ya know."
Buffy frowned. "Love can be savage," she whispered, remembering her time with Angelus.
A bronze hand tipped her chin up so she could meet sky-blue eyes. "So it can. But it can also be soft and warm and Ares doesn't do well with that. He had a chance once, with a man named Joxer, but he waited to long and Joxer was killed. His edict is nothing personal against you and it can't be enforced by him anyway. He knew that even when he was saying it, I think he was just shaken up. He'd just received word of, I think her name is Faith?
Buffy nodded. Faith was enough to shake anyone up but that excuse didn't mean she wouldn't be wary of her new god anyway.
She looked up. She had to ask the question. Whether it would get answered or not she didn't know but she had to ask in order to try and let go, to move on with her life.
"Were we?"
He knew immediately what she was asking. Cupid looked deep into her heart. He saw the innocence that lingered despite the pain and loss. He saw the love she felt for her family. He saw her future. So it was that he could answer her honestly. "No, you weren't. There is a bigger love for you, Buffy Summers. A much bigger and brighter love. One that will sneak up on you over the years until you can't even remember a time when you weren't in love with him. That is your true love."
She mulled those words over for awhile, glad the others had realized this was a private conversation and had all drifted off. A new love. One that would be incredible. She had wondered for months now, ever since he had left her, whether she and Angel had been soul-mates. She had thought, and he had thought, but then things had gone so terribly wrong. But her mother had told her that the first love was always the hottest, not because it was the best but because it was the first and therefore, new. She and Angel had burned but they had also died quickly. It would be best to let go, she had known that but had lacked the ability to let go of what she felt would be her only chance at love. But with this new reassurance she could begin to move on. Her new love sounded like it wouldn't come for years but that was okay. It would give her time to heal so that she could love with all her heart and not some of it.
"Thank you," she said. "It means a lot to me." And it did. The knowledge meant more than almost anything to her. With it she could begin to breathe freely again.
Cupid nodded and glared at Ares who had flashed back in the room looking a bit disheveled. No need to ask what he had been up to. Obviously an upset Ares and an upset Aphrodite combined to form a lusty duo. He devoutly hoped circumstances like this hadn't led to his own conception.
"Next time, don't interfere," Ares growled.
"Next time, don't be so pig-headed," Cupid retorted.
Thankfully, at least for Giles' living room which was doubtless not ready to be the scene of a God versus God conflict, Tara spoke up. "Ex-excuse me," she said. "But I think Graham has something to tell us."
Everyone swung around to see Graham standing there with some files in his hands. He looked exactly the same as always, which was pretty much stoic.
"Really? How can you tell?" Phobos asked her curiously, attracting Cupid's attention. Deimos shoved Phobos.
"Shut up, you're scaring her."
"I am not!" Phobos gasped, upset that his twin would think he would try and scare Tara; one of the few mortals he genuinely liked.
"Are so," Deimos muttered.
"Hey, God of Fear here. I think I would know if she was scared of me."
It looked like the two were going to do one of their famous twin face-offs, which Deimos nearly always won, until Cupid moved in.
"Break it up, you two. We don't have time for this." He pushed Deimos to the other side of the room but kept Phobos with him, one hand wrapped around the young gods' bicep.
"Graham, was it?" Cupid asked. "You have something for us?"
All eyes turned to Graham.
