The Stretch
After he and Krios had gone off on their own ways, Strife had spread himself out enough to really go around. Sparing no expense for his cause, he was found out on city streets, inside suburbia, in churches, everywhere...no place had been off limits.
But at the start of a brand new day he found himself materialized in the flesh sitting on a swing, twisting the chain, deeply evaluating the way his life had gone during the last past year up to this point and at a playground of all places. At first the playground had been deserted except for some squirrels that he watched chase each other up trees and the birds that tweeted and poked their beaks into the grass searching for bugs and worms.
Strife was suddenly annoyed with his life. He still didn't feel any differently which meant that Ruina hadn't got to Anteros yet. Ares was king but where was all the perks? There was all this hype, but nothing much had happened since Ares took the throne. Boring! The world hadn't really changed, things were pretty much the same as they had always been with exception that Ate was back in, Elpis followed along, many deities flocked back to the mountain, the Underworld was shifting, the Titans were free to leave the Underworld if they wanted, and he'd been manipulated by…By LOVE!
Sure his black little heart had dreamed of making what happened reality and all the perks that he thought would come with that, but would any of it had happened if Love hadn't existed between him and Harmonia? If it and fear of pain or worse hadn't overwhelmed him, and let the natural born killer "Phonos," inside of him out.
After everything had went down, and the stuff between him and Ares? Strife knew the relationship had to end even if he did still have these less then desirable feelings for Harmonia. He couldn't live as a walking talking pin-cushion after all, and it was crystal clear Harmonia would always side with Ares and that she was coming in between him and Ares. And then because it had to end, Love's Revenge came along and decided to make him suffer for it. Son of a--
Well, Strife had plans. Plans of stitching and patching things up with Harmonia, but now? Now that he was even double conflicted regarding love, he thought about ridding himself of all these…feelings.
After a few hours had passed, people and their children started piling in and filling the stands off from the small baseball field that was incorporated into the playground. Spreading a glamour over himself, he joined the crowd. At the beginning of the fifth inning, after he'd finished a hot dog, a blue raspberry slushy, and some buttery popcorn, the little league baseball game was in the process of becoming a showdown between a disgruntled parent of one of the kids and the coach. It was a simple quarrel, but it could become so much more then that as Strife eyed the baseball bat laying on the ground, near the yelling pair and over from a crying child who didn't understand why everyone was yelling because of him. It was…tempting. But there had been Styx's debate...he had felt it churning from within her out...Oh how he had tasted it. It had been G-o-o-d. That had been enough.
But what was this? Someone was invoking him?
But at the start of a brand new day he found himself materialized in the flesh sitting on a swing, twisting the chain, deeply evaluating the way his life had gone during the last past year up to this point and at a playground of all places. At first the playground had been deserted except for some squirrels that he watched chase each other up trees and the birds that tweeted and poked their beaks into the grass searching for bugs and worms.
Strife was suddenly annoyed with his life. He still didn't feel any differently which meant that Ruina hadn't got to Anteros yet. Ares was king but where was all the perks? There was all this hype, but nothing much had happened since Ares took the throne. Boring! The world hadn't really changed, things were pretty much the same as they had always been with exception that Ate was back in, Elpis followed along, many deities flocked back to the mountain, the Underworld was shifting, the Titans were free to leave the Underworld if they wanted, and he'd been manipulated by…By LOVE!
Sure his black little heart had dreamed of making what happened reality and all the perks that he thought would come with that, but would any of it had happened if Love hadn't existed between him and Harmonia? If it and fear of pain or worse hadn't overwhelmed him, and let the natural born killer "Phonos," inside of him out.
After everything had went down, and the stuff between him and Ares? Strife knew the relationship had to end even if he did still have these less then desirable feelings for Harmonia. He couldn't live as a walking talking pin-cushion after all, and it was crystal clear Harmonia would always side with Ares and that she was coming in between him and Ares. And then because it had to end, Love's Revenge came along and decided to make him suffer for it. Son of a--
Well, Strife had plans. Plans of stitching and patching things up with Harmonia, but now? Now that he was even double conflicted regarding love, he thought about ridding himself of all these…feelings.
After a few hours had passed, people and their children started piling in and filling the stands off from the small baseball field that was incorporated into the playground. Spreading a glamour over himself, he joined the crowd. At the beginning of the fifth inning, after he'd finished a hot dog, a blue raspberry slushy, and some buttery popcorn, the little league baseball game was in the process of becoming a showdown between a disgruntled parent of one of the kids and the coach. It was a simple quarrel, but it could become so much more then that as Strife eyed the baseball bat laying on the ground, near the yelling pair and over from a crying child who didn't understand why everyone was yelling because of him. It was…tempting. But there had been Styx's debate...he had felt it churning from within her out...Oh how he had tasted it. It had been G-o-o-d. That had been enough.
But what was this? Someone was invoking him?