Serena watched as her mother, Grace the Goddess of Harmony, placed various stones on either side of a golden scale. She moved stones around, took them off, put more on, until it was perfectly balanced. Then she removed all the stones and tossed them aside into the nearby river. She then grabbed more stones from a pile and started all over.
"Mother," said Serena. "There is something I want to know."
"What is that?"
"I found out more about my death you always said to never question. Such as who caused it and why."
"Is that right?"
"Yes. Now I must ask, why did you never tell me about it?"
"Because you were better off not knowing. I would have preferred you to never have found out but I suppose Gloria's word outweighed mine on the matter," said Grace in a pleasant and honest tone.
"But I was murdered. By someone I consider a friend. How is it better for me to not know the truth of it?"
"I felt that had I told you the truth from the beginning you would have grown to be untrusting. You were born to relieve me of my duty of being the Goddess of Love. To do so requires you to be receptive and confiding. People cannot love what they cannot trust."
"And what of Hilbert and Hilda? They murdered me, your daughter, and you stayed silent," Serena's tone rose. "Yet you kept silent from the other Gods. Why?"
"Had I gone to Gloria or Victor, or even Them, then they would have simply killed the twin Gods of Prophecy and Omens. They were still young, so their death would have either ended them or brought back their old form. Neither were good outcomes. You were also due for your death."
"Due for my death?"
"You were young, not as young as the Gods of Music and Dance, but still young. Every God must know the feel of death and rebirth. Their actions were wrong but the benefits outweighed the wrong. It was better you experienced it silently as opposed to something grand. Like in war."
Serena didn't say anything and neither did her mother. Grace only weighed stones on the scale. Serena approached her mother.
"Which are which?" asked Serena. She knew what Grace was weighing them for and knew of the importance, but she was not there when Grace gathered the stones so she does not know what they represented specifically.
"Right is Kanto, left is Johto. They are at war and fighting near everyday."
"Who do the Gods want to win?"
"The Gods have no stakes, aside from Victor."
"Who has Victor sided with?"
"I do not know."
"Who will win?"
"I do not know."
Grace had two piles of stones stacked. Despite the piles looking even, the scale was lopsided. Grace removed a stone from the lighter side, from Johto's side. The scale moved a bit. She removed another, then another, and then another. She removed stones until the scale was even. There was a pile on the right but only one stone on the left.
"What does that mean, Mother?" asked Serena. Of the countless times she had watched her mother work, not once had she seen the scale act in such a way.
"It means Victor has joined a side," Grace almost always had a pleasant smile on her face during her work, but now it was gone and her expression was grave. "If Kanto is lucky, they will surrender soon."
Victor was surrounded by Johto's men though none of them knew he was Victor, the God of War and Strategy. He had disguised himself as a man named Chuck, a high-ranking member of Johto's military. Johto and Kanto were currently in a bloody fight. Men had been stabbed or shot by arrows or even bludgeoned and now their bodies were laid all over. Some men died having fallen over the already fallen. The stench of blood was inescapable. Victor thrusted his sword, which belonged to Chuck, into a Kanto soldier and pierced his heart. The man fell, Victor pulled the sword out, then turned to look for more men to kill.
The battle lasted not an hour and soon more of Kanto's men laid dead than Johto and the living commanders of Kanto's army issued a surrender amongst their troops. Kanto's soldiers were rounded up and either became prisoners or were executed. Victor, as Chuck, walked alongside another commander of Johto as they discussed future plans.
"What say you, Chuck, you think this war will be over before the month's end?"
"If things go as planned, I believe so. So long as we make no mistakes this war is as good as ours. We may even be in Saffron in no longer than a week," Victor replied as Chuck.
"It will be good to finally be home again. It's been so long since I have seen my wife. When we left she was nearly eight months pregnant. When we return my unborn child will be almost one."
"Hm. It is unfortunate you could not have been there for the birth and early growth of your child. But I am sure you'll see them quite soon."
"As do I. If only Kanto dogs will finally surrender. Prolonging a lost fight is disgraceful," the man spat.
"Agreed," said Victor as Chuck.
"Hilda! Hilbert!" shouted Nate and Rosa as they ran to their older siblings who still sat in a cage.
"What are you two doing here?" asked Hilda. She was glad to see them but remembered she had told them to always stay home.
"Gloria said we could come," said Nate. Gloria came walking from the direction the little twins ran from.
"I figured it would not hurt for them to come visit you two. Since they have yet to be given any godly responsibilities I imagined they must have been quite bored at home," she said.
"So you're the new Gods of Music and Dance, huh?" said Brendan. He sat on a log and rose to meet the twins. Nate and Rosa turned and stared up at Brendan. He was much taller than them. He was even taller than their siblings.
"Do not stay silent," said Hilda.
"Oh, yes! We are!" said Rosa.
"There is no need to shout," said Hilbert with a chuckle.
"Sorry!" shouted Nate. Brendan laughed. He crouched down to be near eye-level and held out his hands.
"Put your hands in mine. Both of your hands, in each of mine, like that," he said. He gripped both of Rosa's hands in his right and Nate in his left before standing back up and lifting both of the twins into the air as they screamed.
"Hey! Put them down!" said Hilda. She grabbed the bars as if to pry them open but Hilbert only laughed.
"Relax, Hilda. Brendan will not harm them."
"You better not," said Hilda. She watched as Brendan began to spin her siblings in the air. Of the six Gods in the clearing, Hilda was the only one not laughing.
"Hilbert! Hilda! Look at how strong he is!" shouted Nate.
"Yes, he is quite strong. He is the God of Strength after all. The strongest of all the Gods," said Hilbert. Brendan had stopped spinning. Nate and Rosa stared at him wide-eyed.
"Whoa, the strongest?" they both said. "Cool!"
Brendan laughed while setting them down.
"How have you two been?" asked Hilda. "Have you been eating enough? Sleeping enough? Bathing enough?"
Gloria chuckled as Hilda's younger siblings nodded. "I have made sure to take care of all of their needs, Hilda. You have no need to worry about them."
"I will have no need to worry once I am out of the cell. You know we are innocent."
"No, I do not know that. You know very well I cannot simply take your word."
Hilda scowled. "I hate this! You said it would only take a few days, but it has already been five."
"The war between Kanto and Johto is lasting longer than Victor had anticipated," Gloria said. Her words only caused Hilda to groan.
Saffron's mighty gate was broken and burnt and Johto soldiers pushed Kanto's troops back. Victory was so close for Johto the men could taste it. In the hours of fighting Victor, disguised as Chuck, lost the count of men he alone killed. Johto's forces managed to surround the Emperor of Kanto's palace which had a wall of Kanto soldiers forming a wall around the building. Any man who stepped up to Johto was quickly slaughtered until no one blocked the building's entrance from Johto who barged in.
The Emperor was a man named Giovanni. His most trusted guards were killed in front of him and he had a choice. Surrender or perish. He chose the former. The war was over. On the outskirts of Saffron, where Johto had camps set up, many of the men celebrated and drank. Once Victor got Chuck fairly drunk, he dropped his disguise to return to godhood, leaving a very confused drunk man behind.
Gloria, Brendan, and Hilbert were deep in conversation while Hilda laid on the cage floor to rest. A light brown fog appeared before them and from it stepped out Victor. He was in clean robes with his sword and shield on his side. He had a prideful smile.
"Hello, Victor," said Gloria. "I take it the war went as you expected?"
"While it did not go as quick as I would have liked, it did produce the desired results. But that is all said and done. We can begin the interrogation," said Victor. Hilbert turned and walked to his sleeping sister.
"She will be happy," he said before shaking Hilda awake with his foot on her side.
"Hm?" Hilda groaned while looking up.
"Victor is here," said her brother. She blinked then got to her feet as if she had not been asleep.
"Finally!" she said when she and Hilbert were at the bars. "Let us get this over with!"
"Patience, Hilda," said Gloria.
"I have been patient for almost a week!"
"Then you can be patient a bit longer. Now, Hilbert, Hilda. It has been ten days total since Wake's murder. Correct?"
"Yes," both Hilbert and Hilda said.
"In that time how many Gods have you two been in contact with."
"In terms of specific meetings or interactions, only six. Dawn, Nate, Rosa, Victor, Gloria, and Brendan. But we both were present at the God meeting," said Hilbert.
"When did you talk to Dawn?" asked Gloria.
"At the meeting. Hilda had some words with her," said Hilbert in a disapproving tone.
"I did not say anything of suspicion to her. You can even ask her and her mother," said Hilda.
"I plan to. What were the two of you doing the day of Wake's murder?"
"I was hunting early in the morning then Hilbert and I spent the time until evening answering any prayers or sacrifices made towards us. Oracles, hunters, and archers pray to us daily."
"Where were you in the morning, Hilbert?"
"I was with Nate and Rosa until Hilda was back with food."
"What did she bring back?" asked Victor.
"A deer," the twins said in unison.
"What did you two do in the evening?"
"Made sure Rosa and Nate bathed, then bathed ourselves, then went to sleep. We never left our home all day," said Hilbert.
"In the days or weeks leading up to the murder, did either of you ever speak with anyone of note? Anyone that might have seemed suspicious?" asked Gloria. The twins had to think for a while.
"No. Before the meeting we had not met with anyone in months. It was only us four in that time," said Hilda.
"You met with no one? Not even someone like Elio?"
"No. Anytime Elio needs to visit us I can see when he will arrive and what he will say. He only needs to set off for our home for me to see it then he leaves for others," said Hilbert.
"In that time he never had to pass any information that led you to come into contact with other Gods?"
"No. He only ever had general messages meant for several Gods. Nothing important."
The interrogation lasted hours. Question after question Hilbert and Hilda never gave an answer that Gloria or Victor found suspicious or that the twins weren't confident about. At some point, when it was dusk, Hilda's left eye was covered by a dark fog.
"How are you doing that?" asked Victor. He gripped his sword.
"Relax, it is involuntary. Unlike Hilbert I cannot control when I get my visions," said Hilda.
"The cage only blocks powers a God attempts to use. Anything a God has no control over is not affected," Gloria said to relaxed his grip but didn't entirely drop his hand. Hilda's other eye turned to her left as if to see into the fog. Hilda suddenly stiffened and her uncovered eye widened. She reached over and gripped Hilbert's shoulder.
"What is it?" said Hilbert. He also tensed up. From behind Gloria and Victor, was a dark fog, darker than what was just over Hilda's eye. From it appeared Elio who was out of breath. He looked to all the Gods.
"There have been two more murders!" he said.
Soon the five Gods plus Elio arrived at the murder site. The two dead Gods lied beside each other with their hands reaching for each other. Victor was the first to them and checked their bodies. There were no obvious wounds so the cause of death wasn't immediately clear. Hilbert and Hilda, who were allowed to be free, approached and got beside Victor. Hilbert picked up the girl and Hilda picked up the boy. They stood and Hilbert got closer to Victor.
"Find who did this," he said in a tone Victor had never heard before.
"I will," Victor promised. He, Elio, Gloria, and Brendan watched as Hilbert and Hilda carried their dead siblings into their shack. A fire began to burn in the shack that soon spread onto the walls and roof and the Gods watched as it turned into ash in a matter of seconds before that ash was blown away by a gust of wind. There was no trace of any shack aside from memory and Hilbert and Hilda were nowhere to be seen.