The Prodigal Child Returns

Xanthius had expected a massive tirade to spout from Kai, but instead his apologies fell on deaf ears. From what he could tell, his landing had knocked his sister for a loop. Which , in his mind, made things even worse. "Wake up, Kai. C'mon, I didn't hit you that hard. Your head is so much stronger than my ass and back. So wake up!" Looking up brought him in direct eyeline with Zarda. For a moment or two there was confusion in his eyes, as if he didn't completely recognize his father. She had fewer scars on her body and the look in her eyes were different. "Dad?"

Hippolyta groaned in Circe's arms. Why were her brothers and sisters always fighting? Life was so much easier when it was only her, Circe, and Zarda. Maybe Kai, too. But only when she was a baby. "... Get mom to do something. Lightning bolt their asses..." She rolled over, but the pillow under her head was too hard. Trying to move her arms to readjust things, she found them to be tied, causing her to panic. Gasping and wide awake now, Hippolyta sat up right, or as much as she could, given the current situation. Looking around, her eyes landed on a person she hadn't seen in a while. "Kai! Kai! You're back! Mom found you?!"

A hand on her should caused the young goddess to jerk around, facing Circe. "Mom? You found them?! Where's... where... You're not my mom, are you?" This Circe was younger, not that her mom had aged much in the couple thousand year that Hippolyta had existed, but there was a difference, even if it was slight. Sadness and confusion rolled over Hippolyta's face, soon replaced by anger. The chains then easily broke under her strength and she turned to Dante, the one closest enough to vent her anger on. "What the hell happened?! First Kai and Mel decades ago, then you, now me and Xan?! I.... I've got to get back! Mom needs me! What if something happens to her?!" For the longest time, Hippolyta had always been her mother's protector. It felt almost second nature now. With them separated, she wasn't sure what to would do.

"Hey, my ass is not big," Xanthius shot back. "And it's not like a had a choice. The portal opened up right above you." But honestly, that didn't really matter right now since Zarda looked like she was possibly about to do something drastic if things didn't get explained right away. "You're my dad, right? You and Circe... you.... I'm the baby that mom was pregnant with when you disappeared." But she should have know that, at least his father knew that. Xanthius had know idea how far back in time they were thrown, but judging by the lack of scarring, pretty damn far back. "Um, Kai? When are we?"

"What happened? Mom lost the two of you through whatever stupid time thing or spell Loki hit you with. Mel thought she could get you back. That clearly didn't work. The only thing that held her together was getting dad back. Then Dante went missing not too long ago," Hippolyta fumed, trying to piece things together. I don't know what happened with me and Xan. Last thing I knew I was going down the hall, looking to research some things for mom and, bam, I'm knocked out. I woke up here. Chained and with a throbbing headache." She doubted Xan knew anything more than she did.

Things just seemed to be getting progressively worse and more chaotic. No one knew what was going on. Getting to her feet, Circe found that she had had enough of this. "Quiet! All of you!" she shouted, her voice accompanied by a deafening crack of thunder. It wasn't often that Circe pput her foot down, but when she did, people listened. "Everyone sit down, collect yourselves and patch up any remaining injury you might have. Then we will figure all of this out." Why couldn't this have been a simple meeting between her and Kaileena? Now the sky mother had three more children she never knew about. If all of them were as bad as Kaileena, this would not get any better.

"What can we say? You've got a magnetizing personality. Everyone keeps fall for, and on, you," Xanthius explained. As for the second ass remark, he kept quiet, knowing that no matter what he would say and counter with, Kai would have another retort waiting. "No, we're from a different... mom isn't pregnant now, and I'm sure your Circe isn't either, but I'm your kid! Your first born son. Kai and Mel are my older sisters!" Maybe somehow whatever he was saying would make sense to Zarda, but he doubted it would.

Once everyone was seated and at least a little bit calmed down, Circe looked over the established group of misfits. Everyone of them looked different, but there were some similarities between them; facial structure, mannerisms, height... no, not height. Not for all of them. Everyone, save for Kaileena, seemed to be around the six foot tall area, meaning Circe had to look up at them, but with her would-be first born daughter, Circe was actually slightly taller. That little fact perplexed the goddess, adding more confusion to the situation. Perhaps it was a side effect to whatever magic or curse afflicted the girl.

Hippolyta immediately hugged her two little sisters, letting neither of them escape without a momentary squeeze, having missed them for so very long. "I missed you two so much. As for who would have a thing against Kai or us or mom or dad? That's a long list. But okay, so... the Kai and Loki thing is a separate accident. Mel goes to try and find her. Did you try and get back home once you did, Mel?" Maybe through a process of elimination, things could be fixed and figured out.

Circe, meanwhile, sought out Zarda, sitting next to her and resting her head against her shoulder. "Will we really have this many children?" She knew they had all the time in the world, but at the moment this seemed a bit overwhelming.

Xanthius shut up immediately, looking rather sheepish and ashamed. "Sorry... sorry, dad. I..." He decided it was probably better to keep quiet and sit rather than try to explain how he hadn't known or met his father until Circe had retrieved her from being lost in time. Zarda had always been this great person Xanthius had put on a pedestal, so he couldn't help but get worked up around her.

"Well, okay, maybe that's an exaggeration since half of mom and dad's enemies are gone, at least when it comes to gods. But hell, how many super-powered mortals there are, and they know mom's weakness. Not to mention the other pantheons? We've never sought to do anything bad with them, but who knows..." Honestly, Hippolyta didn't have a clue who would try and tangle with Circe, not really. Especially not when she ruled Olympus. As for what Kaileena brought up, Hippolyta looked at the younger woman that was her mother. "Maybe? She's the sky-mother in this universe way before mom got the title. She might know something that we don't, or hell, Ares might have told her a few secrets. I dunno, Kai. It's worth a shot." She wanted her sister to be happy and laughing again. She missed what Kai was like when she was little.

"I know, I know. And this isn't deterring me in the least. We make some beautiful children, even if they don't look alike," Circe said with a smile.

"You're right, most of them are dead and gone. Even their descendents don't exist or don't care anymore, but there are some that cheated death. But I think it's someone immortal or close enough to it. How else could they get on Olympus so easily?" Hippolyta asked. Upon hearing how this Circe gained power, the young goddess just looked at Kai. She wouldn't say anything or do anything, but she was curious as to how and why Kai got worked into a blood rage, and that made her glance briefly at Melina. "And what if she makes it all better? Wouldn't you like that? To be happy and not have to worry about your emotions getting out of control? I want my little, dorky sister back. I mean, I love the serious women she's become, but I miss the little girl who bug me all the time about wanting to play and explore."

Xanthius listened to Melina quietly, taking in all the news. "So, I guess that means no Thor then, huh? If Amora took his hammer." He had grown up on Asgard, so this news was quite a great deal for him to take in. "I'll make sure to behave around them all." He usually did. Unlike his sister, Xanthius was a rather well behaved young man.

"It could be the result of either of us. Purple hair was not in my family before the first time I died." Circe just shrugged. Their individual appearances could be due to the odd mixing of genetics. After all, these were the first offspring of a god and an alien that she knew about, so anything was possible. "I suppose we'll need to find them living quarters, and explain this all to Lyta." The Sky-Mother knew that that would be an interest endeavor since her child would have so many questions to ask.

Hippolyta didn't want to think about people just barging in to Olympus, doing as they pleased. Deep down, she had always been a worrier, wanting to make her family safe and secure. Now her worst fears had come true; she was stuck in a different universe entirely, unable to protect her mom. "Okay, then this is what we do. We find a way back home as soon as possible and stop whoever or whatever did this before they cause anymore trouble. It should be easier with all of us working together." The lavender haired goddess then frowned, looking at her sister. "Kai, I've been prepared to do that ever since you took control of dad and had her kill Ares. I never want to have to do it, but I'm prepared for it, just in case," she admittedly freely. That was why Hippolyta had stuck close to Kai when they escaped to Asgard. In case she had another incident, maybe she would have enough time to deal with it before being taken over.

Xanthius was a bit confused as to why Melina would tell him to be a good father when he didn't even have a girlfriend yet. Hell, unlike his sisters and Dante, he had only been with the opposite sex once and that, he swore, the girl did out of pity. Xanthius didn't really know much about girls, so he wasn't too worried with being a dad at the moment, but he thanked his older sister for the advice.

"Oh gods, she'll have a field day, asking everyone questions left and right. They would get no rest. If she does come in here, do you think you can run interference while I take care of whatever decision Kaileena comes to regarding her abilities?" They had talked a few times about the girl and her powers, Circe using Zarda more as a sounding board and council. Her wife was still learning about magic, but she provided good advice nonetheless. Circe watched the two girls talking, hoping that they would reach consensus soon.

"Then we get her help. We get help from whoever we think would be useful. It doesn't matter if they're an ex-girlfriend or not," Hippolyta reassured her sister, assuming that 'having a history of sorts' meant that they had slept together at least once, possibly multiple times. She assumed the latter, since it seemed more Melina's style to have one night stands. And, for what it was worth, Hippolta was actually glad that her sister had apparently found someone after the debacle with Amora. When they broke up and she had learned the truth about the Enchantress's intentions, Kaileena wavered back and forth between anger and sadness, handling neither emotion well.

Xanhius sort of frowned and looked at his older sister. "You're going to set me up on blind dates? Is this one of your 'embarrass Xan' tricks? How do you even know my type?" He was a little wary of Melina's intentions, being well aware of what she and Kai did to him as a child. "Are they cute women? And what are they? Gods? Nymphs? Mortals?" Apparently his curiosity was winning him over though.

"I didn't say for you to block her entry into here, Zara, just make sure she doesn't go crazy with all the questions. I'm well aware that she can sneak into any place she wants, darling. I wouldn't be surprised if she were in this room right now, but invisible." Thankfully, she wasn't. Circe could sense that Lyta was playing babysitter to a few of the godly children that ran around Olympus. They would have her busy for a little while longer.

Taking Kaileena's hand, Circe led her to her laboratory. She wasn't foolish enough to perform dangerous magics out in the open and set into a bare area of the room was a circle used for summoning and containing dangerous things. They would use it just in case. The others could stay and watch just as long as they stayed quiet. In fact, Circe asked Hippolyta to be a second anchor point for her magic, while requesting her mother to be the third.

Perseis came willing and quickly, their relationship having been smoothed out over the years. She was rather put off by the sudden appearance of more grandchildren, but accepted them nonetheless due to the circumstances. In fact, upon gazing into Kaileena's eyes, she embraced in a gentle hug, saying to the girl that they were similar and that she was glad for the path the children had taken over the past decade. "It centered you," she said.

The circle prepped and closed, Circe stayed inside with Kaileena, her daughter's head in her lap as she relaxed and laid on the floor. The magic spilled into the girl slowly and steadily, seeking out and trying to displace anything that was Ares' influence. It was a slow and tedious process since it had been knotted into Kaileena's very core since she was little. A tangled ball of string with many strands tied together, save for the fact that it was closer to barbed wire and string, both of which were sunk deep into Kaileena. Pull to hard or too quickly and disaster and pain would follow, severing either the girl's control, magic, sanity, or life. Those 'failsafes' Ares had installed angered the goddess, but she steeled herself, not wanting to rush. The process was a long and delicate one, but eventually it would end.