Laughter and tears

 
Lisa couldn’t believe her children were alive. And well. Or as well as any demi-gods could ever be. Although she was sitting right next to her grandmother and sister, she couldn’t hear a word they were saying. The only sound that registered was the beat of her heart and the long forgotten sound of her beloved’s voice.

Lethe stared at her sister with pity. She didn’t deserve the things that had been done to her, the pain she had suffered. Tears coursed down Lethe’s cheeks as she realized the enormity of the betrayal she had inflected upon her sister. If Lethe hadn’t erased all of her memories and emotions, Lisa could have had a relatively normal life. Well, normal for a Demi-god anyway.

Nyx watched the emotions that played across her grand-daughters faces. As a first God, she could have prevented all of this, but the master plan called for their suffering and pain. Nyx had withdrawn from everyone once the deed had been done, she couldn’t bear to face any living thing that displayed happiness or love. Alone in her darkness encased castle, she had brooded for hundreds of years. The One True God had spoken to her several times, consoling her and trying to ease her suffering. HE didn’t understand, as long as blood of her blood suffered, she suffered as well. But now, now that they were all together again and all of them remembered what had taken place, Nyx knew the time was drawing near. The time to destroy the evil being that had twisted all of their lives. Too bad the One True God didn’t believe his creation deserved to be destroyed. Nyx, as a primordial being, knew true evil when she saw it and Satan had gone beyond true evil into the realm of indescribable evil. The Big Guy saw good in all things; Nyx knew that wasn’t the reality of it.

“Girls,” Nyx began, her voice quiet and deadly, “we have to get our shit together and fix this. We can’t afford the luxury of feeling sorry for ourselves.”

Hearing their Grannyx say ‘get our shit together’ was enough to shock both girls out of their reveries. Never before had they seen this side of their grandmother, to them she had been a stern, but loving, person who had a wonderful, if dark, sense of humor. This woman, this goddess covered in darkness and glistening with newly born stars, was a stranger to them.

“Get our shit together?”, Lisa echoed. “Did I just hear you say ‘get our shit together’? What has happened to this family since I’ve been gone? Where is the dignity, where is the righteous anger?”

Lethe couldn’t stop the giggle that escaped her at Lisa’s comments. Leave it to her little sister to get to the heart of the matter in mere moments. Glancing at her grandmother, Lethe saw that Nyx fought the smile that threatened to creep across her face.

“Yes, I said we need to get our shit together. I realize I live in a cave, but I do have cable you know.” Nyx said indignantly.

Lisa’s eyes bugged out and she began to cackle like an old witch. Never before had she heard anything so hilarious. Lethe fought a losing battle with laughter, in a matter of seconds she joined her sister in gales of laughter.

Soon the booming chuckle of a primordial goddess joined in. Reigning in control was impossible, all the women had to do was to look at one another and the laughter would burst forth again. It seemed as though centuries of pent up humor had escaped and now refused to be controlled. The halls of the Gods rang with their laughter for hours as all of the pain, the betrayal and the sorrow as washed away on a tide of sheer hilarity.

The other gods trembled with fear, never before had they heard such sounds issue forth from the halls of the chaos gods. Something horrible was headed their way, they were sure.