TITLE: Secrets 3 - panta rhei
SERIES: Shifting Tides (part 4.3)
AUTHOR: Scorpio
ARCHIVE: To anyone who archived the other stories in this series. [ Hollow, Mourning Glory, Three Kings, Secrets 1, Secrets 2 ]

FANDOM: Herc/Xenaverse
PAIRING: Cupid/Strife
RATING: R (adult themes - see warning)
CATEGORY: Mpreg, Angst, Darkfic

DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the characters. They belong to various myths, legends and Ren Pics/Flat Earth Prod.

WARNING * WARNING * WARNING * WARNING
This series deals with an Mpreg that resulted in a Miscarriage due to gross negligence and cruelty. The story-tone is very dark and angsty and the subject matter is one that is extremely sensitive. Please don't feel obligated to read this if it is not something you are comfortable with.

SUMMARY: The disappearance of Strife is noticed.

Shifting Tides
Secrets 3 - panta rhei

Zeus sat in his private study in his Earthly Sanctuary and scowled fiercely at the dozen scrying mirrors that silently shifted from town to town, city to city and village to village. It was only due to his great worry that he was able to ignore the mechanisms of the Houses of War and Love as he came upon the evidence of their collective displeasure. However, he had a much greater worry than anything that they might be doing.

He was looking for Strife. He couldn't find his damned grandson anywhere and that worried him more than he was willing to admit.

With a frown, Zeus considered the God of Mischief and Mayhem. He was, seemingly, just another in a long and boring roll call of minor Gods. Not much power and not a lot of worshipers to support him. Zeus, on the other hand, knew the truth about Strife. In Zeus' opinion, he never should have been born and if he had known about Eris' pregnancy at the time, he would have ended *that* one too. Ares was smart enough to know that Zeus wouldn't allow his twin to give birth, so he had hidden his sister from the entire pantheon until after the baby was born. Then he had publicly acknowledged him as a member of the House of War and firmly placed the squalling brat under the protection of Zeus' own laws. He could still feel the sting of humiliation over being out maneuvered.

No one seemed to feel that Strife's child had needed that extra protection from him, however. Maybe it was because they figured that the unborn child's blood had been thinned by Cupid. Maybe it was because they didn't think that he would care any longer. Zeus was glad that the child was born dead, it was one less worry for him to deal with, he only wished that the child had pulled Strife back into death with it.

Honestly, he had thought that this whole thing had ended when Strife had died the first time, but his blood was of mixed heritage and the Hind's Blood didn't send his soul into the void as it should have. Instead, he ended up haunting Hades' in the Underworld. While a bit of a shock, Zeus would have been happy with that, but Strife didn't stay dead. One full year after his death, he had awoken on Olympus completely alive and healthy. Hades swore that he had nothing to do with the Mischief God's resurrection, but that thought only worried Zeus more.

Now, Strife was still alive, obviously insane and gone missing. No one had seen him or heard from him since the birth of his and Cupid's stillborn daughter. And that wasn't good.

Strife was reaching the age that Zeus had silently dreaded since his appearance in Ares' Fortress all those centuries ago and it was possible that this trauma would accelerate his development instead of impede it the way Zeus hoped. Without being able to watch him and monitor him, Zeus had no way of telling. And that, more than anything, was worrisome.

*

Discord had spent most of the morning inciting riots all along the southern isles. Mobs of people had broken out into spontaneous eruptions of violence, anger and hatred. It had pumped her full of energy and she had made certain to target as many of the villages that held Temples and Shrines to her father as she could.

Afterwards, she had retreated to her own Temple for lunch and tried to locate Strife once more. This was becoming a daily ritual for her. She searched and searched, but she could not find her child.

That worried her.

She had never been the best mother in the world, but she loved her son and she had always done what she could to keep him safe. And now, he was lost. Both in his own pain filled mind and from her. Eris wanted him back.

Never the best at comforting someone through pain or grief, she still recognized that her child needed to be comforted. To be held and loved and made to realize that he could avenge the death of Glory. She felt that if he could just let the anger and rage flow out of him that he would eventually begin to feel better.

Also, she was worried about him because he was getting older and he would soon be entering a transitional phase in his growth. If Glory's gestation and birth had gone on schedule, Strife would have hit that phase when she was six months old. As it was, she had no idea if this turn of events had effected his development.

Very few on Olympus knew of his father's heritage. It was a closely guarded secret held by the House of War. As far as she knew, only herself, Ares and possibly Hades was aware of it. Cupid knew as well, for Ares and Strife had insisted he be told when Strife found out he was pregnant with Cupid's child. Although, other's may have figured it out by the sheer fact that Strife was able to conceive on his own. She and Ares had pretended that the ability had been handed down from Zeus, but it was Strife's father that had passed that ability along, not the old goat. It was, after all, an ability that only Zeus, Poseidon, Apollo and once upon a time, Hades shared.

*

Zeus finally growled at his fruitlessly searching mirrors and stormed from his study. He had to find Strife. His grandchild had to be monitored for signs of reaching the next phase of his development. If he was at that point, Zeus would have to take steps to stop the progress...one way or another.