Chokeberry, Pineapple, and Black Raspberry, with bunches of Toppings and Extras
Author: Nikki and Kelly
Challenge: Nikki: Chokeberry #30 (I will never be alone; Chloe always has a friend, even if she doesn't know anyone), Kelly: Pineapple #19 (sprinkles sundae; as far as I can throw him), Black Raspberry #14 (When in Rome, do as the Romans do)
Extras/Toppings: Chopped Nuts, Brownie, Milkshake, Smoothie, Peaches (As long as you're able to maintain a healthy perspective on the situation, you'll see that many of the behaviors that upset you result from someone else's insecurities as opposed to their lack of affection for you.), Pineapple (Welcome to my Nightmare - Alice Cooper), Strawberries (http://tinyurl.com/3otycbf), Malt (Nikki: But I've committed no recent crimes!; Kelly: Summer Challenge 2011, 483. Can't you guys just find some old nuts and bolts lying around and jerry-rig up some machine-y-deal-y-bob and gets us out of this situation? - Phineas & Ferb (Candace)), Sprinkles (Diana and Liam for Kelly)
Word Count: 8,337
Rating: PG-13. Faith POV, so much foul language.
Notes: OH MY GOD, WHY IS THIS SO LONG. Warning for the worst succubus ever and possibly a lot of sap. Takes place in the the Supe AU. There might be some Broadway references.
Story: Phase and Polyfaceted ( Index~/~ Timeline)the title of this is "The Kids Aren’t Alright."
Summary: It is never good for a succubus to be sleeping with someone who helped humanity. It's even worse when said succubus is close to people who hate that entity.
It had probably been too long since Faith had checked in on Chloe; with how long she had been around, years went by faster than she bothered to keep track of. She was at least pretty damn certain that it hadn't been around a decade and a half this time. It took a moment to track her down in New York City, because Chloe had always been consistent about changing last names, locations, and fabricated paper trails (there was a reason she was one of Faith's favorites,) which was always a plus. There had been times where Faith had just wanted to fucking smack one of her employees simply because of how goddamn easy they had been to find.
When she did find Chloe, in some frou frou apartment building in Manhattan, Chloe had acted... weird.
"Hey," Chloe said, too cheerful as she stepped out into the hallway and shut the door behind her. That had been a tip-off. Chloe had always been welcoming, and Faith couldn't remember Chloe ever suggesting they talk anywhere other than inside her house-of-the-moment.
"Hi," she answered and leaned over to look at the closed door behind Chloe, as if that would let her see through it. Just vaguely, she could hear someone moving around inside. "Am I interrupting something? Who's in there?"
"No, it's nobody important." And in almost four hundred years, Chloe hadn't improved at lying one fucking bit. She still refused to look anyone in the eye as the words slipped out of her mouth.
"Liar. Come on, it's me. Are you scared I'm going to judge you for who you're bringing home?" After a beat, Faith narrowed her eyes at the door again. "You didn't bring some sleazy douchebag to your apartment, did you?" she asked sharply.
"No!" That must have been the answer to her last question; it was true. At least, she really fucking hoped that it was the answer to her last question. She didn't like when her favorites did stupid things. It made her cranky. "And no..."
"You're lying! For the love of me, stop lying, because you're fucking horrible at it. Who's in there?"
Chloe seemed to mentally fight with herself about something and wrung her hands together behind her back. "Well. Uh," she finally said, looking up at Faith and holding her eyes, "my boyfriend?"
She was about to ask why that was such a big deal before Chloe looked away again, when she got her answer. She had learned to ignore seeing what people wanted a long time ago; it took Faith a moment to even notice the flash of some guy with blue eyes and blonde hair and a massive fucking scar on his stomach. She jerked back, then, not really knowing how to feel about that or him. Faith knew him.
For a long moment, they only stared at each other. Chloe pale and so very nervous looking, and Faith had no goddamn idea how she looked. She didn't really know how she wanted to react to this, so what the hell expression was she supposed to have on her face right now. "I'm gonna go talk to Diana now," she managed after a moment, and momentarily popped out of existence before Chloe could really answer.
She found Diana on Olympus, doing whatever the fuck minor gods did during their leisure time. Drinking ambrosia, Faith guessed, but that wasn't terribly important right then.
"Hey, Faith," Diana said, lifting a hand. "Want to fuck?"
Tempting, but... "Chloe has a boyfriend."
"And...what, Jesus decided to walk the earth again and steal a succubus?"
She'd have to kick someone's holy ass if that ever came true. "It's more like your... great-great uncle decided to visit Earth or something and started fucking Chloe." Then again, she might actually fucking prefer the Jesus idea.
Diana's eyes narrowed. "Which great-great uncle?" she asked. "Because the way you're acting..."
"Got it," Faith said. "That one."
"I hope Chloe remembers she can find someone else when I tell Daddy about this."
"She's all... twitterpated about him," Faith muttered with a grimace. "I think if it weren't anything serious, she wouldn't have tried to be sneaky about him and... I love her, but she can't sneak. She's as subtle as a fucking battleship."
Diana snorted. "Very true." She sighed. "So I do need to tell Daddy, then. When he sees Chloe, Faith...and when he sees him..."
"Is this going to be something that gets the mortal cops called on us? That's always fun." Faith pressed the heels of her hands against her eyes, sighing. "Do you think she knew who he was, at first?" Considering how bad this situation was already, she desperately hoped that wasn't the case.
"She better not have," Diana muttered. "I don't know what I'd do if she knew she was getting involved with a fucking betrayer. Shit, Faith, why the hell did she stay involved?" She shook her head. "I say we sic an eagle on him again. Except rip off his dick daily."
"You know how Chloe is... all about the 'good in people'." She used the air quotes with that very sarcastically, considering who they were talking about. "What do we do now?"
"We talk to her," Diana said grimly. "My mom won't really be a help...unless we want him ended, I mean. But Daddy should come, at least before Grandfather knows about this and throws a bolt at Chloe's head. It might not kill her, but she'll feel like hell."
Faith frowned. "Even if it might not kill her, I'd rather that didn't happen. If we want to get technical about it, she's my jurisdiction."
"Yeah, but she's dating someone who betrayed my family." Diana shook her head. "Want me to get Daddy, and then we'll go?"
"Have at it. I'll..." Faith noncommittally waved a hand, "be around where ever, whenever you're ready to go. You don't think he'll still be there, do you?"
"I have no idea," Diana said grimly. "He was a sneaky bastard before Grandfather chained him to that rock. He might be worse now, or he might be willing to face us. Anyway, where's she living?"
"Manhattan. Upper West Side. Nice place, from what I could tell," she offhandedly answered. "This is going to either being really fun or make me cranky. Either way, Chloe's going to be all... Chloe about it."
That earned a smirk from Diana. "She's always Chloe. Daddy and I will be there soon." She paused a minute. "You know, I don't think Chloe's ever firsthand seen the Ares anger Daddy can have?"
"Lucky her," Faith muttered. "I thrive on chaos, and that's still never something I really want directed at me. Other people, yeah, it's fun, but me? Fuck that."
"She might now," Diana said thoughtfully. "Giving the little bastards fire gave Daddy more to do, but man, Grandfather is still furious about it. So I'll see you there soon? A couple of minutes?"
"See you there." She blipped in and out of existence again, showing back up in the hallway of Chloe's apartment building. The door was shut again, and she couldn't hear anything behind it. Either they had both left, or nobody (however many people were in there) was moving around. Faith frowned, rolling her neck to try and release some of the tension in her shoulders. Maybe she should have waited another few years to check in. Or maybe not. This with Chloe and him, whatever this was, could have progressed to levels she didn't want to think about. Fuck, she didn't really want to think about how it was now.
When she knocked again, it took Chloe a minute to answer. When she did, Chloe only opened the door enough to look out at her with a wary expression, and that very possibly bothered Faith more than anything else that had happened so far that day. "Do you think I'm going to hurt you or something?" she couldn't help but ask.
"You told on me," Chloe lowly answered. "Like a five-year-old."
"They deserved to know who you were seeing."
"It's nobody's business who I date, except mine. I think I'm old enough to make my own decisions."
"Obviously not."
Diana and Liam appeared seconds later, Liam looking nearly as pissed as Faith had seen him when Greece was fucked during their war for independence. Not a good sign.
"Is he in there?" Diana asked levelly.
Chloe paled, flinching away from the door just a bit. Faith really hoped she didn't try and lie about this. There was no way she had become a convincing liar in the past few minutes, or however long it had been. "I tried to make him leave," she eventually admitted, chewing on her bottom lip. "He said he should stay. In case."
"I'm glad you didn't," Liam growled. "I'd hate to have to hunt him down."
This could be very bad or very entertaining. Possibly both. Faith hadn't decided yet.
"Are you going to invite us in, Chloe?" Diana asked, just as evenly and calmly as before. That was a bad sign. Goddess of revenge, acting calm about someone who'd fucked over deities, including her own family?
And Faith, come to think of it, considering he'd given it to Adam the animal-fucker.
"Considering the other option is having my door broken down, I don't have much of a choice." Faith had to admit that Chloe had a point with that. Of course, she hadn't cared before what was considered fair. Why would she start now? Chloe closed her eyes for a moment, like she was trying to steel herself, before she stepped back and opened the door. She still looked pale and as nervous as Faith had ever seen her, and fuck if she had any clue why. From the way she acted, it was like she expected them to kill her.
Assuming they were here to kill him. Faith felt that was a safe assumption to make.
"We could have just popped in there," Liam pointed out as they all passed her. That was true; Faith's succubi might be powerful, but they couldn't ward out gods. "Prometheus." His voice really was a growl that time. Very doglike.
"Ares. Adrestia," he greeted from where he sat on the edge of the couch, "Lilith." Faith thought he looked and sounded far too calm for the situation. Chloe shuffled behind them, her footsteps even sounding anxious, and Faith huffed in irritation when she edged around them to sit next to the traitor on the couch.
"Get away from him," she snarled.
"Don't involve Chloe in this. Your problems with me have nothing to do with her."
"Well," Diana said, her voice still that eery level tone that she had to have learned from her aunt--Faith knew it couldn't have been either of her parents, "since Chloe is Lilith's," oho, ~official~ names, Diana was pissed, "and we're close enough that my parents are nearly her parents, I think Chloe's gotten herself involved and caused problems with all of us and her."
"Do you think your mother should be here?" Faith asked, interested.
That earned a grin Faith had only seen when Diana was involved in some sort of destruction, feral and daring. "She is older than him. She might actually destroy him."
Chloe sharply looked up, her eyes wide and fearful, and she reached over to grab one of Prometheus' hands. "Please don't," she quietly pleaded.
"If you're upset with her, at least deal with it separately," Prometheus continued, squeezing Chloe's hand. It annoyed Faith more than she could really say that it actually seemed to reassure Chloe, if only a bit. "And as far as I know, Chloe doesn't belong to anyone. Regardless of who she works for."
Diana's smile turned sharp when she looked back at Prometheus. "Lilith made her what she is. You know she takes from humans, don't you? Enough to kill them? That's kind of the point of being a succubus. Whether or not she's also fucking you is kind of irrelevant to the point of her being immortal."
"And the issue with her is tied to the one with you," Liam said, his eyes hard and mouth curled into a snarl. Faith could definitely see why the animal tied to him was dogs. Made plenty of sense. "I don't see a reason we shouldn't involve my father, at the very least, right now."
"Knowing Zeus, I imagine that he wouldn't hesitate in harming Chloe if he felt the need to. I would see that as a reason, considering I don't have the ability to stop him."
"I wouldn't let that happen," Faith snapped.
"You don't have that ability, either," Prometheus answered, and she nearly snarled at how frustratingly fucking right he was.
"Kurt knows what I am, and what I do," Chloe quietly continued, before she looked at Liam. "Please, please don't bring him here."
"Grandfather probably already knows," Diana told Chloe. She looked back to Prometheus. "He can hold a grudge. It's my job to deal with things like revenge that he'd want with you."
Liam laughed, short and bitter. "And Titans don't have the same abilities as gods. Between the two of us, it would be easy."
"Are you here to kill me then?" Prometheus asked grimly.
Beside him Chloe whimpered and gripped at his hand, and Faith decided that she had finally had enough of that. "I don't know what else we'd be here for," she grumbled as she stormed over to the couch and reached for Chloe's arm to pull her away from him. Faith felt her eyes widen when Chloe made a scared sounding noise and frantically pushed her hand away. What the hell did Chloe think, that they were going to hurt her?
Prometheus stood before Faith could blink to move in front of Chloe, and he wasn't calm anymore. Good. That crap was starting to piss her off even more than she already was. "Don't touch her," he said darkly.
Faith laughed. "What the fuck are you going to do me?"
Diana was there without Faith seeing her move, and though her size hadn't changed--Faith had seen Diana get giant, bigger than any angel--she nearly threw Prometheus across the room. "We're not hurting Chloe," she snapped, "and you will not interfere in Lilith's province, Prometheus."
Damn, it was awesome what a god could do against him. Kind of a turn-on, too. For a moment, Faith wondered how good her chances of getting laid would be after all of this was done with, before Chloe rushed across the room to make sure that the traitor was okay and Faith frowned again. "Why the hell do you care what happens to him?"
"Because I love him," Chloe practically snarled in answer, glaring at all of them over her shoulder.
"Chloe," Liam gritted out, "don't make me restrain you to the couch if Faith doesn't do it first."
"Besides, I doubt the throw hurt him." Diana's mouth twisted. "Liver torn out by an eagle for how long again, Prometheus? That throw was harmless in comparison."
"It was," Prometheus agreed before he stood up, "but considering the situation, you'll have to excuse the fact that I'm not rushing to walk back over."
"He was already punished!" Chloe argued.
"Not for long enough." Faith managed to get a hold of Chloe's arms this time and pulled her away from him. Prometheus moved to take her back, anger darkening his expression, before Diana appeared and knocked him down again.
"Four hundred years of being chained to that rock wasn't long enough!?" Chloe yelled, struggling against Faith's grasp.
"You know who the fuck he helped," she hissed in Chloe's ear before she wrapped her arms around Chloe's waist and pinned her arms to her sides. "If it weren't for him, humans wouldn't have fucking ruined the earth like they have."
Still, Chloe uselessly fought her. "I used to be human, Faith! Please, please don't hurt him. You don't know, you don't understand-"
"I could say the same fucking thing to you!" she said sharply, cutting Chloe off.
"He went against the ruling god on Olympus," Liam snapped at her.
"To be entirely fair, so did Athena," Faith said, "even though I don't give much of a fuck about fair."
"Athena is Grandfather's favorite daughter." Diana pinned Prometheus with a hard look. "He is a Titan who had one job. One. And he went against Grandfather twice. The punishment was eternal, not 'until a demigod decided it was enough'. No offense," she added to Faith.
"None taken. I didn't break him free."
"Chloe, you're tangentially involved," Liam said, his voice low. "You want to be with him. You've no idea what he did."
"I don't care about what he did!" Chloe argued as tears started to fall from her eyes. "He loves me! He loves me, in spite of everything I've done, all the people I've killed and hurt, he doesn't care and he still loves me! He was the first person to think I didn't need to change anything!" Chloe twisted as much as she could to look at Faith, quietly pleading, "You know how we see things. Four hundred years and nobody ever wanted me, just me and he did. Please don't chain him back up."
"Frankly," Liam said, and he did loom, nearly a foot taller than Prometheus, "I don't care about that. There are hundreds, if not more, gods, not just Greek and not including demigods, and you might find someone who didn't fuck over every pantheon involved in this planet."
Faith pressed her lips together to keep from frowning when Chloe looked back at her almost desperately. "This isn't anything I can or want to change," she told Chloe. Chloe's face went bloodless and nearly hopeless as she turned around to, as far as Faith could tell, look at Diana. That was obviously a fruitless plan, and Chloe finally stopped struggling, going deadweight in Faith's arms with a choked sob. Faith couldn't help but feel a tad guilty (Chloe was one of her favorites,) but Chloe would get over it.
Prometheus spoke up for the first time in too soon, and Faith was surprised he was able to speak at all. She wasn't sure she'd be able to speak if Liam were looking at her like that. "It will be all right, Chloe."
"We won't hurt you," Diana said quietly. "We'll ask someone to help you with losing him, if we need to, but you're safe." Her look turned sharp when she looked back at her great-great-uncle. "I promise nothing about him, though."
"I'm beginning to think you need to get your mother," Liam said to her, his gaze at Prometheus still hard and angry. Not as vicious as before, which was nearly disappointing, but furious.
Something in Prometheus' expression seemed to relax at that, which annoyed her. Death probably was better than having something ripped out or off of you daily, but Faith wished he would at least look a little more frightened. Probably trying to look tough in front of Chloe, like it even fucking mattered at this point. "Killing him instead of chaining him to the rock, then?" Faith felt Chloe start to shake at that, but she stayed silent this time. "I can get behind that, I guess."
"Daddy, we should ask Grandfather first," Diana said to Liam. "He'd want to decide."
"You're right," Liam said grudgingly, "but I'd rather be done with him."
Faith smirked. She liked Liam's thinking. "Can I hit him with lightning or something?"
Diana snickered. "Probably." She looked back to Prometheus. "Be glad Daddy and Mom aren't deciding for us." The look he gave her in return was close to incredulous.
"Am I going to get to see when you bring him back to Olympus?" Faith asked, excited at the idea. Talk about chaos. It was always fun when the gods got into a tizzy, as long as she wasn't in the middle of it.
"You can come with, as long as Chloe's all right alone," Diana said, ignoring the look Liam shot her.
"How much are you fighting us?" Liam asked Prometheus. Given he was still looming, now almost enough to fill the apartment--Faith was pretty sure that was his anger doing it and that he wasn't paying attention--it probably wouldn't be much of a fight, especially factoring in the whole Ares and Adrestia things.
"I know when the odds are against me. I won't fight you," Prometheus somberly answered. That was nothing but a barrel of disappointment.
"If I let you go, will you behave?" Faith asked Chloe lowly. Chloe looked miserable when she nodded, but Faith knew that she'd get over it. What was that human saying? Plenty of fish in the sea? She was wary when she let Chloe go and stepped back, but Chloe didn't do anything other than shakily walk over to one of the living room chairs and sink into it, staring at the floor the entire while.
Faith frowned. "How long are you going to pout for? If this is going to be a prolonged thing, I can come back later with some booze."
"Seriously, Chlo-Chlo, someone can help," Diana said, almost gently. "Nothing else, water from Lethe will erase this. I can get that for you." The 'after we deal with him' went unspoken, but obvious enough to Faith.
There was a long moment of silence before Chloe barely glanced at them. Faith couldn't decide if she looked angry or sad; either way, she wished she had checked in on her more often. She'd have to from now on. The last thing any of her succubi needed was sympathy for humans and traitors. "Just go away," Chloe eventually muttered.
She glanced over at Prometheus to see if he'd have anything to say again, but he only stared at Chloe, looking grim and lost for words. That was good enough for her. "So, are we going now or what?"
"Yes," Liam said, and stepped close enough to grab Prometheus by the arm, distaste written on his face.
Diana snorted. "We could make a side trip, Daddy," she suggested. "Visit Hades or something. Or Mom."
"No, it's your grandfather's decision what to do with him." He glanced over at Faith. "Olympus," and then he popped out, Diana following less than a second later.
Faith looked at Chloe before she left. "You'll get over him," she offered before she blinked out and back to Olympus.
This time, she found herself in front of a visibly furious Ian, almost enough to make her flinch. Aisling was beside him, not looking so pleased herself, and Cait sat nearby, just watching. Since she was a Titan-goddess, Faith had to wonder where she stood on the issue of Prometheus. Of course, with the love thing, she might be swayed; Aphrodite and her weakness for that crap.
"So," she said brightly, "rock and eagle? Because that sounds awesome." Or maybe something worse than an eagle. Idly, she wondered if anyone here could find something like a dragon. He did give fire to the goat-fucker. "Or maybe something that has him burned alive every day."
"I was thinking what was done with Loki," Ian said in a low voice. "Acidic poison dripping." He looked to Faith. "The succubus loved him? She can empty a bowl of it."
The problem with that was that, knowing Chloe, she would actually do it."I was thinking about explaining the whole thing as temporary insanity and erasing it from her mind, actually," she lightly answered, rocking back on her heels. She saw Prometheus clench his jaw, like he wanted to say something, but he must have been smart enough to stay silent on the matter.
"It has been three millenia," Cait said in her mild way that meant she was going to influence Liam to her side of things. Damn it. That side of Aphrodite, her stupid softness about love.
"Three millenia of humanity ruining our planet," Aisling snapped at her. Of course. Still pissy over the beauty thing. Goddess of beauty and love, of course she'd win that, but leave it to Hera to hold that grudge, just like every other.
"I think we should have the eagle rip off certain other parts," Diana put in. "Or just destroy him. That works too. My mother is older than even him. She could do it."
"You could keep hitting him with lightning," Faith cheerfully suggested with a grin. "I could even help with that."
"There's always a combination," Ian mused. "Random lightning strikes on top of my eagle and the venom."
Delighted, she looked over at Diana. "I like today."
"You like today? I get to implement today," Diana returned with a grin.
"Husband," Cait said, and fuck her, she was doing that weird almost-glowing beauty crap that Faith wished to all hell that her succubi could do, "do you really think this is appropriate?"
Liam gave her a long look, and gods damn it, his face softened. Maybe she loved today a little less than she thought. The fact that Prometheus suddenly looked a little more hopeful about his situation didn't exactly help either.
Faith grimaced, barely holding in a huff of irritation. "Then what about just the rock and eagle?"
Ian's eyes narrowed. He probably knew what Faith knew--if Cait got Liam to change his mind, then Diana's intense loyalty to her daddy would change her mind, and shit would be that much more difficult, since revenge was kind of really hard without the goddess of revenge agreeing to it.
"You will be silent," Aisling told Cait.
Cait barely even raised an eyebrow at that. Fucking double fucking abilities and fucking generation. Fuck. "Ares, fire gives you things to do. They would be throwing rocks still if he hadn't interfered."
Fuck. Faith had been hoping no one would remember that detail. "Or one of them might have had the dumb luck of figuring out fire without a traitor's help," she said, hoping that at least a rock and an eagle still looked like a good option.
"Might have," Cait said, impossibly coolly, and of course she kept her temper well down for this because of fucking love. Leave it to Chloe to be a succubus to fall in love! "Not necessarily would have. It's led to things you're fond of," she added to Liam. "Gunpowder, for instance. Bullets. That sort of thing."
Oh fuck her, Liam's hold on Prometheus looked like it was loosening. 'Fuck her, fuck me, and fuck this entire thing,' Faith grimly thought, before she wondered what the hell she'd even say to Chloe after this. If Chloe would even speak to her. She frowned at that thought before she could stop herself. This was a clusterfuck. She really, really should have checked in on Chloe more often.
Diana rolled her eyes. "I'm about to go to my mother," she said to no one in particular. "This is ridiculous."
At least someone agreed. Faith might have said as much, if not for the possibility that Ian would hit her with lightning. Wouldn't be the first time, but it wouldn't be fun, either.
"It is ridiculous," Aisling agreed. "Extremely so." She gave Ian a hard look. "What are you doing about him?"
Ian's eyes narrowed, and with a twitch of his hand, Prometheus was the one hit with a bolt. Compared to four hundred years of getting your liver torn out, it was probably nothing. Probably. It still cheered her up to see Prometheus stumble; the only thing that kept him from falling was Liam's grip on his arm. "I'm thinking."
Damn it. Thinking wasn't exactly what she had been going for here. Eagle, giant snake, dragon, lightning, whatever, anything, as long as he got put back on that rock or killed. Something. Faith had to literally bite her tongue to keep from saying something of the sort; again, she didn't want to be hit with lightning. Let Ian save that for Prometheus.
But there was Cait still doing her stupid glowy beauty trick, and Ian's eyes cut to her for just a second, and Faith felt her fucking revenge slip straight through her fingers. Gods be damned, if possible!
"Ian," Aisling said sharply.
"She may have a point."
Diana literally bit her lip. Faith guessed she was having an equally hard time not fighting that one. Aisling, though, considering the whole wife or lead consort or whatever the fuck thing, had no reason to keep quiet. "She has no point," Aisling hissed. "She's taking the ridiculous love of a succubus and a Titan into consideration." Fucking gods. "You are being lured in by her."
She glanced over at Diana, the start of a few different sentences on the tip of her tongue, though she swallowed them all. It was starting to look like Nicoletta was their best fucking bet... And considering who she was around, Faith figured that the best thing for her physical wellbeing at this point was to keep that wonderful little idea to herself until she could bring it up with Diana in a more private setting. If nobody else brought it up first. It was still a possibility.
Cait had the beginning of a satisfied smile, and Faith half-considered hitting her with lightning. If they'd chain a Titan to a rock, though, who knew what they'd do with a demigod if she pissed them off? Especially with Liam right there.
Ian turned to Aisling slowly, looking incredibly pleased with himself. Not an unfamiliar expression for him, though it obviously had Prometheus worried. "Stripping the succubus of her demonhood," he declared.
What the fucking fuck.
Aisling opened her mouth before grinning horribly. "Oh, that is good."
"You can't fucking do that," Faith said, not even caring if this would get her in trouble. "She's mine. I decide on whether or not she gets punished, not you."
Ian shot Diana a look, which was apparently fitting, going by the expression on her face when she looked to Faith. Cold, almost. "It's to punish him," she said. "He gets a finite time with her now. Aphrodite can't well complain, because they get their love, but it ends."
"I can't," Cait said, almost bitter, something Faith would have liked to hear about two minutes before.
Liam laughed. "It fits," he agreed. "Fits very well."
"If you want to punish me, then do something to me," Prometheus argued, his displeasure for this idea written all over his face. It bothered the hell out of Faith that she actually agreed with him about something. "She's barely involved in this! There's no point in bringing her into this."
Cait sighed, leaning back in her seat. Had she not been her and incapable of gracelessness without interference, Faith guessed she would have slumped instead. "She is involved. Her love, Prometheus. She got herself involved entirely, no interference from any of us." Her meaning with the emphasis was clear.
"You can't have thought she'd get away with nothing," Aisling added, an unpleasant smile on her lips. "Keeping you from us."
This obviously wasn't what she fucking wanted. She wanted him to physically hurt, right fucking now, not in half a decade or however fucking long it would take Chloe to age and wither away and die pathetically like a mortal. She bit the inside of her cheek hard enough to bleed to keep herself from saying something stupid.
You never could trust a god to keep their word.
"And he just goes back to Earth, like fucking that?" she asked after a moment, feeling it was the only safe thing running through her mind.
At that, Ian looked disgruntled. "I can't strip a Titan of immortality."
"Damned right," Cait said under her breath.
"I'm not promising he'll be exactly comfortable that whole time, though," he added.
Diana brightened considerably. "What do I get to do to him?"
That at least cheered Faith up a little. Even if Ian was going to turn Chloe into one of those things again... Humans. Bleh. At least there was a chance of her not staying human. A vampire could maybe turn her, or... Well, Ian hadn't said anything about not turning her back into a succubus in a few years. Faith managed to keep her expression neutral, but that thought made her feel a lot better about the situation.
Though, considering Chloe lately, she might want to stay human. Gods forbid, and where did Faith go wrong if that was even a vague possibility?
"Come on," Diana said to Prometheus. "You're being there when I do this." She looked over at Faith. "Coming? Or do you want to avoid the whole getting a soul and heartbeat back mess?"
"Of course I'm going," she answered, mildly offended. "Like I said, she's one of mine. Besides," Faith continued, glaring at Prometheus, "I'm not done with him." The fact that he didn't seem all of that affected by the glare made her frown, but she would grudgingly admit that it wasn't much of a shock. She knew she wasn't the scariest one here, not to him. "Let's get it over with."
Diana apparently didn't trust Prometheus any more than her father did, since she grabbed his free arm just as Liam let him go so the two could pop out. Faith followed a split second later, vaguely annoyed for no real reason that Diana had just landed in Chloe's living room instead of the hall.
Chloe was still in the living room when they got there, though she had moved to sit on the couch. Faith noticed two cups of tea on the coffee table in front of her, before Chloe launched herself off of the couch towards Prometheus with a cry. She wrapped her arms around him with enough force to nearly make him stumble backwards. He wrapped his free around Chloe's waist, bending to press his face into her hair, and Faith nearly gagged.
"Miss?" an unfamiliar voice said from the kitchen, and Faith blinked when an angel (or so she was almost sure; she couldn't remember seeing an angel with blue hair, tattoos, or perfectly applied eye make-up before) walked out of the kitchen. "Miss, are you alright?"
"...Chloe, when did you get a pet angel?"
The completely flabbergasted and offended look the angel gave her was almost amusing enough to make up for today.
"Oh for My sake," Diana said, sounding thoroughly exasperated, "Chloe, how the everloving fuck did you even qualify as a succubus, and Faith, why the Hades did you pick her? She's been the worst succubus in the history of succubi! Including the ones my male relatives had to seduce instead of the other way around!"
"No, there have been worse," Faith told her lightly. "Besides, she fed me a few times, and helping her out seemed better than leaving her to be forced to be married to some fucking ancient, grumpy-ass pervert. What's the big deal? Look at him, he's a puppy."
"He isn't a puppy, and he isn't my pet," Chloe muttered, before she frowned at Diana. "His name is Jax, and he's my best friend. Excuse me if I don't give a fuck about what you think right now."
"Chloe, don't," Kurt lowly said, and Faith remembered why they were there. Any amusement she might have been feeling left her completely.
Jax spoke again. "Maybe I should go..."
Chloe's frown deepened. "No, stay. I'd rather you be here."
"Chloe," Faith started, but trailed off when she found she didn't know what to say. Fuck.
Diana rolled her eyes, then twisted her shoulders. "Prometheus is staying. Chloe, you're staying. I will stop either of you. Faith, ...angel, you can stay or go, your choice, before I do this." She gestured to Chloe. "No touching the Titan right now. You can in a couple of minutes. No angel or demigod, either. Just...stand by yourself or sit or something, I don't care."
For the first time since they got back, Chloe looked scared. "Why?" she quietly asked, not letting go of Prometheus. Faith noticed that he tightened his hold around her as well, his shoulders tensing.
"Chloe, I'm sorry," he murmured, barely loud enough for Faith to hear.
Out of the corner of her eye, Faith saw Jack or whatever his name was start to move closer. He was frowning, but she didn't pay much attention to it. He wasn't much of a threat, and she'd rather focus on trying to get through this with a little dignity. "Aphrodite fought for the both of you, but Zeus made his decision," she answered, trying her best and failing to sound soothing.
Chloe looked at Diana, wide-eyed and pale. "You said you wouldn't hurt me."
"It won't hurt," Prometheus murmured against her hair. "It won't be comfortable, but I promise that it won't hurt."
"I will not hurt you," Diana said in a low voice that was probably not reassuring, since she was getting bigger. "My word as a god, this will not hurt you. You won't enjoy it, but it won't hurt. Now let him go, or I'll hurt him when I make you."
Chloe looked like she was going to stay where she was, if only because of not being able to move from sheer terror, which was exactly what was all over her face. Yeah, Diana was doing a great fucking job at making Chloe want to cooperate. Faith was about to step in and pull Chloe away, when Prometheus said something into Chloe's ear. It was too quiet for her to hear, but it must have been the magic words; Chloe looked a tad less terrified when she let him go and moved to shakily sit back on the couch.
The angel moved to stand behind where Chloe was sitting and rested his hands on her shoulders. It seemed to have an immediate calming effect on Chloe, though she still looked horribly shell-shocked. "And what exactly is it that y'all are planning to do to her?" he asked. Faith was impressed that he seemed more worried about Chloe than scared of them. Of course, he probably thought his God would protect him.
"They're going to turn me into a human," Chloe quietly answered, reaching up to place one of her hands over the angel's. Oddly enough, Chloe's answer made him frown even more, which Faith found... odd. He was an angel. She would have thought that his 'best friend' (seriously, what the fuck) would have been more at peace with the idea of someone getting back their ~precious soul~.
"It's alright, Jax," Chloe answered, somewhat woodenly. "It's only a soul. I'll be fine."
To his credit, Jax looked less than convinced. He squeezed her shoulders once before he stepped away.
Chloe looked at Prometheus, who looked like he would do anything to change this if he had the power. Faith was surprised when Chloe was the one to give him a comforting smile. It was small and weak, but it was there. "I prefer this to the other options," she told him, and Faith grimaced.
Diana was right. She really was a horrible succubus.
"I don't," Prometheus quietly responded.
"Oh, you really were the worst succubus ever." Diana shook her head. "Okay, first thing I'm doing is bringing you back to human life. Blood, beating heart, needing to breathe, everything, so I hope you gave him a ridiculously long blowjob already. You're going to have to actually pause now. You ready?"
Faith couldn't help but snicker when the angel blushed furiously, obviously embarrassed by the comments. She could almost see why Chloe kept him around. He was cute, in a puppy dog kind of way. Chloe, on the other hand, only gave Diana a rather uneasy look. "You're sure it won't hurt?"
She shrugged, answering before Diana could. "It shouldn't be any different from when I took it all away from you." Or so she assumed. She was at least sure that she wouldn't be the only one wrong about that, if it ended up not being true.
Diana glanced at Faith before answering Chloe. "I have to say, I've never done this. I won't lie. But I won't let it hurt. Not physically. This part isn't going to be painful. I don't promise anything about emotions and your soul, but since you're apparently a terrible succubus, probably won't be as bad as it could be."
Chloe frowned. "I think I was a perfectly fine succubus until just recently," she grumbled. Faith saw her take the barest hint of a glance at Prometheus, and she scowled at him.
"You fucking ruin everything good," she said.
He sent her an irritated glance that did absolutely nothing in return. "Chloe thinks differently, and she is the only person here whose opinion I care about."
She saw Chloe look less anxious after he said that, before Chloe seemed to steel herself for what was about to happen. She straightened in her seat and kept her hands in her lap. Only the fact that she was squeezing her fingers hard enough to whiten the knuckles showed that she wasn't completely brave. "Alright. I'm ready," Chloe told Diana before she looked at Prometheus. "I love you."
Oh, for fuck's sake. Faith was going to go kill somebody after this.
"I love you too," he answered. "I'm sorry this is happening."
Chloe gave him a small smile that quickly disappeared when she looked back at Diana. "Jax, don't do anything to interfere with them," she quickly added.
That seemed to have been a smart idea; the angel looked reluctant to agree, but he did in the end. "Yes, miss."
Miss. That was cute for a puppy.
"Prometheus, you should probably care about what I think. I've got pretty blanket permission to torment you." Diana stepped across the room and brushed a hair out of Chloe's face, ridiculously gently given her current size and what she was about to do. The reason was obvious a second later when she said to Chloe, "Didn't hurt, did it?"
Chloe blinked. "No," she answered uncertainly, raising a hand to her chest. Slowly, she took a deep breath and winced. "I think I just... need to get used to it again."
Faith couldn't help but feel a bit better at that, but she knew it wasn't the worst part of this. Human, she guessed wasn't too bad. There must be some humans out there that weren't complete dumbasses, right? If Chloe became a dumbass - though she wasn't sure if this qualified or not, considering - she might just have to give up all together. Or get Diana's help in creating a screening process for new succubi.
"Are you sure you're alright?" the angel asked, hovering just out of reach of Chloe.
"Yes," Chloe answered, though she still didn't look completely sure. "Though I imagine the worst is yet to come."
"Well," Jax continued, worriedly tugging at one of his lip rings with his teeth, "a soul ain't that bad, miss, all things considering."
"All things considering," Prometheus grimly agreed.
Faith didn't bother holding back a derisive snort.
"Oh would you shut up, Prometheus," Diana snapped at him. "I don't care if you've loved her for however long, Faith and I have loved her for centuries, and I know you can foresee shit, but knowing you would love her isn't the same as actually knowing her and loving her, so shut the fuck up because I'm about to hurt her. Chloe," she said, much more gently, "I am sorry about this," and Faith could almost see the soul going back into Chloe.
There was a very tense moment of silence before Chloe let out something between a horrified moan and a scream. The sound for some reason made Faith's stomach roll and rooted her to the spot. The angel was the one to get to her first, practically vaulting over the back of the couch to pull Chloe into a hug. Like before, his touch seemed to have a calming effect, though Chloe still looked lost. Her eyes darted back and forth, though it didn't seem like she really saw anything; she was too caught up in what was going on in her own head.
"It's alright, miss," Jax murmured, running a hand up and down her back. "You didn't have a choice."
That almost made Faith laugh, though she wasn't sure it would be a happy sound. What about this was happy? Prometheus moved next and knelt in front of the couch; he reached up to cup Chloe's face in his hands and gently turned it to look at him. "Chloe..." he said sadly, caressing her cheeks with his thumbs. "Chloe, can you hear me?"
"Yes," she quietly answered.
"Are you okay?" Faith asked, finally finding her voice.
Chloe looked up at her with haunted eyes. "...No," she finally answered, hesitantly, "but... I think I will be."
"I would take it away," Diana said quietly, "but I can't." Faith saw her eyes narrow a moment later before she met Faith's eyes. "Water from L--"
"If you finish saying it," Faith interrupted, "I think power to the entire city is going to go out from how pissed off Zeus is and how much lightning he throws here."
Diana rolled her eyes. "Could still get Mom to kill him off," she muttered.
"Could," Faith answered halfheartedly, but the idea of it didn't sit as well with her now than it did before. That really fucking annoyed her. She knew that Diana couldn't have gone against Ian for this, but all of this would seem even more fucking useless if they killed him anyway. Maybe after she made Chloe a succubus again, which she would do. That was all a matter of when. (Faith made a mental note to tell Diana about that, when she knew that they weren't being watched.) "But you'd be the one dealing with all of Chloe's hissy-fits, not me."
Chloe seemed to come back to herself a bit more when she heard her name. "If you all don't mind, I'd like to spend some time alone with Kurt now." She still sounded disoriented, and Faith was obviously not the only one too pleased with that suggestion. She didn't know about the angel, but she was pretty fucking sure that Diana also didn't want to leave Chloe just yet, much less with him. Only Prometheus really looked happy about the request, and like she gave two flying fucks about that.
"Miss, are you sure?" the angel softly asked. "I mean, you - They just-"
"They did something they were ordered to," Chloe told him, cutting him off with a frown. "I know they didn't want to, and I don't blame them for it. I chose to get involved, and now I need to learn to deal with... this. I know you mean well, and thank you for that, but I can't do that with you here."
"Are you sure you want me to stay?" Prometheus asked before he ran a hand through Chloe's hair.
She was really getting sick of him touching her. "If you ever hurt her," Faith threatened, "I will chain you to a rock again and tear off parts of you myself, until the end of time."
"Oh, we can make it so much worse than that," Diana muttered. "One bruise, one emotional hurt, and you have no idea what I will do to you, Prometheus. I am the daughter of War and Destruction, and I am the goddess of revenge, and I will hurt you in ways you could never have imagined."
Considering Diana was nearly tall enough to reach the ceiling and pretty much radiating anger and stress, Faith, for one, believed her completely. It was a serious turn-on.
"I believe you," and Faith was delighted to see that he was being honest, "but I will not hurt her."
"I'll believe that when I see it," she grumbled. She looked over at Diana. "Ready to go? I feel like killing someone who deserves it." Faith couldn't help but snicker when the angel blanched at that. Precious.
"Oh Christ, please let's do that." Diana had to have chosen that name purely for the angel's reaction. "And then," she continued, "maybe we can fuck."
Oh yeah. She was fucking with the angel.
Awesome.
"You're so hot," she said admiringly, before she sobered. Faith walked over to Chloe, completely ignoring Prometheus and the angel. "I am sorry this happened." Leaning over, she brushed a kiss over Chloe's forehead. She avoided looking in Chloe's eyes; now that Chloe was human again, anything Chloe hoped for would be open to her, and Faith found that she didn't want to know what she might see. "You know how to call me, if you need me."
"I do," Chloe confirmed, before she lightly shrugged off the angel's arms. He let go reluctantly, but Chloe surprised her when she only took a sharp breath. There was a moment when Faith thought she was going to scream again, but Chloe seemed to shove everything into the back of her mind. "I told you, I'll be fine."
"Once you get over him, maybe." Faith turned and shared a glare with Prometheus. She waited until he broke his gaze away first and smirked as she walked over to Diana. "Come on, let's go."
With how tall Diana was just then, Faith's head was basically at boob level, which made the whole thing better.
"There's a guy over in Illinois who could use a nice, slow death," Diana said to her. "I can take us there."
"Sure." She grinned when Diana wrapped an arm around her, since it meant she was pressed into those awesome boobs. Turning, she gave Prometheus and Chloe's pet angel one last look; the angel looked mortified at witnessing this, but Prometheus was ignoring everything. That figured. Then Diana popped them out of that apartment.
Challenge: Nikki: Chokeberry #30 (I will never be alone; Chloe always has a friend, even if she doesn't know anyone), Kelly: Pineapple #19 (sprinkles sundae; as far as I can throw him), Black Raspberry #14 (When in Rome, do as the Romans do)
Extras/Toppings: Chopped Nuts, Brownie, Milkshake, Smoothie, Peaches (As long as you're able to maintain a healthy perspective on the situation, you'll see that many of the behaviors that upset you result from someone else's insecurities as opposed to their lack of affection for you.), Pineapple (Welcome to my Nightmare - Alice Cooper), Strawberries (http://tinyurl.com/3otycbf), Malt (Nikki: But I've committed no recent crimes!; Kelly: Summer Challenge 2011, 483. Can't you guys just find some old nuts and bolts lying around and jerry-rig up some machine-y-deal-y-bob and gets us out of this situation? - Phineas & Ferb (Candace)), Sprinkles (Diana and Liam for Kelly)
Word Count: 8,337
Rating: PG-13. Faith POV, so much foul language.
Notes: OH MY GOD, WHY IS THIS SO LONG. Warning for the worst succubus ever and possibly a lot of sap. Takes place in the the Supe AU. There might be some Broadway references.
Story: Phase and Polyfaceted ( Index~/~ Timeline)the title of this is "The Kids Aren’t Alright."
Summary: It is never good for a succubus to be sleeping with someone who helped humanity. It's even worse when said succubus is close to people who hate that entity.
It had probably been too long since Faith had checked in on Chloe; with how long she had been around, years went by faster than she bothered to keep track of. She was at least pretty damn certain that it hadn't been around a decade and a half this time. It took a moment to track her down in New York City, because Chloe had always been consistent about changing last names, locations, and fabricated paper trails (there was a reason she was one of Faith's favorites,) which was always a plus. There had been times where Faith had just wanted to fucking smack one of her employees simply because of how goddamn easy they had been to find.
When she did find Chloe, in some frou frou apartment building in Manhattan, Chloe had acted... weird.
"Hey," Chloe said, too cheerful as she stepped out into the hallway and shut the door behind her. That had been a tip-off. Chloe had always been welcoming, and Faith couldn't remember Chloe ever suggesting they talk anywhere other than inside her house-of-the-moment.
"Hi," she answered and leaned over to look at the closed door behind Chloe, as if that would let her see through it. Just vaguely, she could hear someone moving around inside. "Am I interrupting something? Who's in there?"
"No, it's nobody important." And in almost four hundred years, Chloe hadn't improved at lying one fucking bit. She still refused to look anyone in the eye as the words slipped out of her mouth.
"Liar. Come on, it's me. Are you scared I'm going to judge you for who you're bringing home?" After a beat, Faith narrowed her eyes at the door again. "You didn't bring some sleazy douchebag to your apartment, did you?" she asked sharply.
"No!" That must have been the answer to her last question; it was true. At least, she really fucking hoped that it was the answer to her last question. She didn't like when her favorites did stupid things. It made her cranky. "And no..."
"You're lying! For the love of me, stop lying, because you're fucking horrible at it. Who's in there?"
Chloe seemed to mentally fight with herself about something and wrung her hands together behind her back. "Well. Uh," she finally said, looking up at Faith and holding her eyes, "my boyfriend?"
She was about to ask why that was such a big deal before Chloe looked away again, when she got her answer. She had learned to ignore seeing what people wanted a long time ago; it took Faith a moment to even notice the flash of some guy with blue eyes and blonde hair and a massive fucking scar on his stomach. She jerked back, then, not really knowing how to feel about that or him. Faith knew him.
For a long moment, they only stared at each other. Chloe pale and so very nervous looking, and Faith had no goddamn idea how she looked. She didn't really know how she wanted to react to this, so what the hell expression was she supposed to have on her face right now. "I'm gonna go talk to Diana now," she managed after a moment, and momentarily popped out of existence before Chloe could really answer.
She found Diana on Olympus, doing whatever the fuck minor gods did during their leisure time. Drinking ambrosia, Faith guessed, but that wasn't terribly important right then.
"Hey, Faith," Diana said, lifting a hand. "Want to fuck?"
Tempting, but... "Chloe has a boyfriend."
"And...what, Jesus decided to walk the earth again and steal a succubus?"
She'd have to kick someone's holy ass if that ever came true. "It's more like your... great-great uncle decided to visit Earth or something and started fucking Chloe." Then again, she might actually fucking prefer the Jesus idea.
Diana's eyes narrowed. "Which great-great uncle?" she asked. "Because the way you're acting..."
"Got it," Faith said. "That one."
"I hope Chloe remembers she can find someone else when I tell Daddy about this."
"She's all... twitterpated about him," Faith muttered with a grimace. "I think if it weren't anything serious, she wouldn't have tried to be sneaky about him and... I love her, but she can't sneak. She's as subtle as a fucking battleship."
Diana snorted. "Very true." She sighed. "So I do need to tell Daddy, then. When he sees Chloe, Faith...and when he sees him..."
"Is this going to be something that gets the mortal cops called on us? That's always fun." Faith pressed the heels of her hands against her eyes, sighing. "Do you think she knew who he was, at first?" Considering how bad this situation was already, she desperately hoped that wasn't the case.
"She better not have," Diana muttered. "I don't know what I'd do if she knew she was getting involved with a fucking betrayer. Shit, Faith, why the hell did she stay involved?" She shook her head. "I say we sic an eagle on him again. Except rip off his dick daily."
"You know how Chloe is... all about the 'good in people'." She used the air quotes with that very sarcastically, considering who they were talking about. "What do we do now?"
"We talk to her," Diana said grimly. "My mom won't really be a help...unless we want him ended, I mean. But Daddy should come, at least before Grandfather knows about this and throws a bolt at Chloe's head. It might not kill her, but she'll feel like hell."
Faith frowned. "Even if it might not kill her, I'd rather that didn't happen. If we want to get technical about it, she's my jurisdiction."
"Yeah, but she's dating someone who betrayed my family." Diana shook her head. "Want me to get Daddy, and then we'll go?"
"Have at it. I'll..." Faith noncommittally waved a hand, "be around where ever, whenever you're ready to go. You don't think he'll still be there, do you?"
"I have no idea," Diana said grimly. "He was a sneaky bastard before Grandfather chained him to that rock. He might be worse now, or he might be willing to face us. Anyway, where's she living?"
"Manhattan. Upper West Side. Nice place, from what I could tell," she offhandedly answered. "This is going to either being really fun or make me cranky. Either way, Chloe's going to be all... Chloe about it."
That earned a smirk from Diana. "She's always Chloe. Daddy and I will be there soon." She paused a minute. "You know, I don't think Chloe's ever firsthand seen the Ares anger Daddy can have?"
"Lucky her," Faith muttered. "I thrive on chaos, and that's still never something I really want directed at me. Other people, yeah, it's fun, but me? Fuck that."
"She might now," Diana said thoughtfully. "Giving the little bastards fire gave Daddy more to do, but man, Grandfather is still furious about it. So I'll see you there soon? A couple of minutes?"
"See you there." She blipped in and out of existence again, showing back up in the hallway of Chloe's apartment building. The door was shut again, and she couldn't hear anything behind it. Either they had both left, or nobody (however many people were in there) was moving around. Faith frowned, rolling her neck to try and release some of the tension in her shoulders. Maybe she should have waited another few years to check in. Or maybe not. This with Chloe and him, whatever this was, could have progressed to levels she didn't want to think about. Fuck, she didn't really want to think about how it was now.
When she knocked again, it took Chloe a minute to answer. When she did, Chloe only opened the door enough to look out at her with a wary expression, and that very possibly bothered Faith more than anything else that had happened so far that day. "Do you think I'm going to hurt you or something?" she couldn't help but ask.
"You told on me," Chloe lowly answered. "Like a five-year-old."
"They deserved to know who you were seeing."
"It's nobody's business who I date, except mine. I think I'm old enough to make my own decisions."
"Obviously not."
Diana and Liam appeared seconds later, Liam looking nearly as pissed as Faith had seen him when Greece was fucked during their war for independence. Not a good sign.
"Is he in there?" Diana asked levelly.
Chloe paled, flinching away from the door just a bit. Faith really hoped she didn't try and lie about this. There was no way she had become a convincing liar in the past few minutes, or however long it had been. "I tried to make him leave," she eventually admitted, chewing on her bottom lip. "He said he should stay. In case."
"I'm glad you didn't," Liam growled. "I'd hate to have to hunt him down."
This could be very bad or very entertaining. Possibly both. Faith hadn't decided yet.
"Are you going to invite us in, Chloe?" Diana asked, just as evenly and calmly as before. That was a bad sign. Goddess of revenge, acting calm about someone who'd fucked over deities, including her own family?
And Faith, come to think of it, considering he'd given it to Adam the animal-fucker.
"Considering the other option is having my door broken down, I don't have much of a choice." Faith had to admit that Chloe had a point with that. Of course, she hadn't cared before what was considered fair. Why would she start now? Chloe closed her eyes for a moment, like she was trying to steel herself, before she stepped back and opened the door. She still looked pale and as nervous as Faith had ever seen her, and fuck if she had any clue why. From the way she acted, it was like she expected them to kill her.
Assuming they were here to kill him. Faith felt that was a safe assumption to make.
"We could have just popped in there," Liam pointed out as they all passed her. That was true; Faith's succubi might be powerful, but they couldn't ward out gods. "Prometheus." His voice really was a growl that time. Very doglike.
"Ares. Adrestia," he greeted from where he sat on the edge of the couch, "Lilith." Faith thought he looked and sounded far too calm for the situation. Chloe shuffled behind them, her footsteps even sounding anxious, and Faith huffed in irritation when she edged around them to sit next to the traitor on the couch.
"Get away from him," she snarled.
"Don't involve Chloe in this. Your problems with me have nothing to do with her."
"Well," Diana said, her voice still that eery level tone that she had to have learned from her aunt--Faith knew it couldn't have been either of her parents, "since Chloe is Lilith's," oho, ~official~ names, Diana was pissed, "and we're close enough that my parents are nearly her parents, I think Chloe's gotten herself involved and caused problems with all of us and her."
"Do you think your mother should be here?" Faith asked, interested.
That earned a grin Faith had only seen when Diana was involved in some sort of destruction, feral and daring. "She is older than him. She might actually destroy him."
Chloe sharply looked up, her eyes wide and fearful, and she reached over to grab one of Prometheus' hands. "Please don't," she quietly pleaded.
"If you're upset with her, at least deal with it separately," Prometheus continued, squeezing Chloe's hand. It annoyed Faith more than she could really say that it actually seemed to reassure Chloe, if only a bit. "And as far as I know, Chloe doesn't belong to anyone. Regardless of who she works for."
Diana's smile turned sharp when she looked back at Prometheus. "Lilith made her what she is. You know she takes from humans, don't you? Enough to kill them? That's kind of the point of being a succubus. Whether or not she's also fucking you is kind of irrelevant to the point of her being immortal."
"And the issue with her is tied to the one with you," Liam said, his eyes hard and mouth curled into a snarl. Faith could definitely see why the animal tied to him was dogs. Made plenty of sense. "I don't see a reason we shouldn't involve my father, at the very least, right now."
"Knowing Zeus, I imagine that he wouldn't hesitate in harming Chloe if he felt the need to. I would see that as a reason, considering I don't have the ability to stop him."
"I wouldn't let that happen," Faith snapped.
"You don't have that ability, either," Prometheus answered, and she nearly snarled at how frustratingly fucking right he was.
"Kurt knows what I am, and what I do," Chloe quietly continued, before she looked at Liam. "Please, please don't bring him here."
"Grandfather probably already knows," Diana told Chloe. She looked back to Prometheus. "He can hold a grudge. It's my job to deal with things like revenge that he'd want with you."
Liam laughed, short and bitter. "And Titans don't have the same abilities as gods. Between the two of us, it would be easy."
"Are you here to kill me then?" Prometheus asked grimly.
Beside him Chloe whimpered and gripped at his hand, and Faith decided that she had finally had enough of that. "I don't know what else we'd be here for," she grumbled as she stormed over to the couch and reached for Chloe's arm to pull her away from him. Faith felt her eyes widen when Chloe made a scared sounding noise and frantically pushed her hand away. What the hell did Chloe think, that they were going to hurt her?
Prometheus stood before Faith could blink to move in front of Chloe, and he wasn't calm anymore. Good. That crap was starting to piss her off even more than she already was. "Don't touch her," he said darkly.
Faith laughed. "What the fuck are you going to do me?"
Diana was there without Faith seeing her move, and though her size hadn't changed--Faith had seen Diana get giant, bigger than any angel--she nearly threw Prometheus across the room. "We're not hurting Chloe," she snapped, "and you will not interfere in Lilith's province, Prometheus."
Damn, it was awesome what a god could do against him. Kind of a turn-on, too. For a moment, Faith wondered how good her chances of getting laid would be after all of this was done with, before Chloe rushed across the room to make sure that the traitor was okay and Faith frowned again. "Why the hell do you care what happens to him?"
"Because I love him," Chloe practically snarled in answer, glaring at all of them over her shoulder.
"Chloe," Liam gritted out, "don't make me restrain you to the couch if Faith doesn't do it first."
"Besides, I doubt the throw hurt him." Diana's mouth twisted. "Liver torn out by an eagle for how long again, Prometheus? That throw was harmless in comparison."
"It was," Prometheus agreed before he stood up, "but considering the situation, you'll have to excuse the fact that I'm not rushing to walk back over."
"He was already punished!" Chloe argued.
"Not for long enough." Faith managed to get a hold of Chloe's arms this time and pulled her away from him. Prometheus moved to take her back, anger darkening his expression, before Diana appeared and knocked him down again.
"Four hundred years of being chained to that rock wasn't long enough!?" Chloe yelled, struggling against Faith's grasp.
"You know who the fuck he helped," she hissed in Chloe's ear before she wrapped her arms around Chloe's waist and pinned her arms to her sides. "If it weren't for him, humans wouldn't have fucking ruined the earth like they have."
Still, Chloe uselessly fought her. "I used to be human, Faith! Please, please don't hurt him. You don't know, you don't understand-"
"I could say the same fucking thing to you!" she said sharply, cutting Chloe off.
"He went against the ruling god on Olympus," Liam snapped at her.
"To be entirely fair, so did Athena," Faith said, "even though I don't give much of a fuck about fair."
"Athena is Grandfather's favorite daughter." Diana pinned Prometheus with a hard look. "He is a Titan who had one job. One. And he went against Grandfather twice. The punishment was eternal, not 'until a demigod decided it was enough'. No offense," she added to Faith.
"None taken. I didn't break him free."
"Chloe, you're tangentially involved," Liam said, his voice low. "You want to be with him. You've no idea what he did."
"I don't care about what he did!" Chloe argued as tears started to fall from her eyes. "He loves me! He loves me, in spite of everything I've done, all the people I've killed and hurt, he doesn't care and he still loves me! He was the first person to think I didn't need to change anything!" Chloe twisted as much as she could to look at Faith, quietly pleading, "You know how we see things. Four hundred years and nobody ever wanted me, just me and he did. Please don't chain him back up."
"Frankly," Liam said, and he did loom, nearly a foot taller than Prometheus, "I don't care about that. There are hundreds, if not more, gods, not just Greek and not including demigods, and you might find someone who didn't fuck over every pantheon involved in this planet."
Faith pressed her lips together to keep from frowning when Chloe looked back at her almost desperately. "This isn't anything I can or want to change," she told Chloe. Chloe's face went bloodless and nearly hopeless as she turned around to, as far as Faith could tell, look at Diana. That was obviously a fruitless plan, and Chloe finally stopped struggling, going deadweight in Faith's arms with a choked sob. Faith couldn't help but feel a tad guilty (Chloe was one of her favorites,) but Chloe would get over it.
Prometheus spoke up for the first time in too soon, and Faith was surprised he was able to speak at all. She wasn't sure she'd be able to speak if Liam were looking at her like that. "It will be all right, Chloe."
"We won't hurt you," Diana said quietly. "We'll ask someone to help you with losing him, if we need to, but you're safe." Her look turned sharp when she looked back at her great-great-uncle. "I promise nothing about him, though."
"I'm beginning to think you need to get your mother," Liam said to her, his gaze at Prometheus still hard and angry. Not as vicious as before, which was nearly disappointing, but furious.
Something in Prometheus' expression seemed to relax at that, which annoyed her. Death probably was better than having something ripped out or off of you daily, but Faith wished he would at least look a little more frightened. Probably trying to look tough in front of Chloe, like it even fucking mattered at this point. "Killing him instead of chaining him to the rock, then?" Faith felt Chloe start to shake at that, but she stayed silent this time. "I can get behind that, I guess."
"Daddy, we should ask Grandfather first," Diana said to Liam. "He'd want to decide."
"You're right," Liam said grudgingly, "but I'd rather be done with him."
Faith smirked. She liked Liam's thinking. "Can I hit him with lightning or something?"
Diana snickered. "Probably." She looked back to Prometheus. "Be glad Daddy and Mom aren't deciding for us." The look he gave her in return was close to incredulous.
"Am I going to get to see when you bring him back to Olympus?" Faith asked, excited at the idea. Talk about chaos. It was always fun when the gods got into a tizzy, as long as she wasn't in the middle of it.
"You can come with, as long as Chloe's all right alone," Diana said, ignoring the look Liam shot her.
"How much are you fighting us?" Liam asked Prometheus. Given he was still looming, now almost enough to fill the apartment--Faith was pretty sure that was his anger doing it and that he wasn't paying attention--it probably wouldn't be much of a fight, especially factoring in the whole Ares and Adrestia things.
"I know when the odds are against me. I won't fight you," Prometheus somberly answered. That was nothing but a barrel of disappointment.
"If I let you go, will you behave?" Faith asked Chloe lowly. Chloe looked miserable when she nodded, but Faith knew that she'd get over it. What was that human saying? Plenty of fish in the sea? She was wary when she let Chloe go and stepped back, but Chloe didn't do anything other than shakily walk over to one of the living room chairs and sink into it, staring at the floor the entire while.
Faith frowned. "How long are you going to pout for? If this is going to be a prolonged thing, I can come back later with some booze."
"Seriously, Chlo-Chlo, someone can help," Diana said, almost gently. "Nothing else, water from Lethe will erase this. I can get that for you." The 'after we deal with him' went unspoken, but obvious enough to Faith.
There was a long moment of silence before Chloe barely glanced at them. Faith couldn't decide if she looked angry or sad; either way, she wished she had checked in on her more often. She'd have to from now on. The last thing any of her succubi needed was sympathy for humans and traitors. "Just go away," Chloe eventually muttered.
She glanced over at Prometheus to see if he'd have anything to say again, but he only stared at Chloe, looking grim and lost for words. That was good enough for her. "So, are we going now or what?"
"Yes," Liam said, and stepped close enough to grab Prometheus by the arm, distaste written on his face.
Diana snorted. "We could make a side trip, Daddy," she suggested. "Visit Hades or something. Or Mom."
"No, it's your grandfather's decision what to do with him." He glanced over at Faith. "Olympus," and then he popped out, Diana following less than a second later.
Faith looked at Chloe before she left. "You'll get over him," she offered before she blinked out and back to Olympus.
This time, she found herself in front of a visibly furious Ian, almost enough to make her flinch. Aisling was beside him, not looking so pleased herself, and Cait sat nearby, just watching. Since she was a Titan-goddess, Faith had to wonder where she stood on the issue of Prometheus. Of course, with the love thing, she might be swayed; Aphrodite and her weakness for that crap.
"So," she said brightly, "rock and eagle? Because that sounds awesome." Or maybe something worse than an eagle. Idly, she wondered if anyone here could find something like a dragon. He did give fire to the goat-fucker. "Or maybe something that has him burned alive every day."
"I was thinking what was done with Loki," Ian said in a low voice. "Acidic poison dripping." He looked to Faith. "The succubus loved him? She can empty a bowl of it."
The problem with that was that, knowing Chloe, she would actually do it."I was thinking about explaining the whole thing as temporary insanity and erasing it from her mind, actually," she lightly answered, rocking back on her heels. She saw Prometheus clench his jaw, like he wanted to say something, but he must have been smart enough to stay silent on the matter.
"It has been three millenia," Cait said in her mild way that meant she was going to influence Liam to her side of things. Damn it. That side of Aphrodite, her stupid softness about love.
"Three millenia of humanity ruining our planet," Aisling snapped at her. Of course. Still pissy over the beauty thing. Goddess of beauty and love, of course she'd win that, but leave it to Hera to hold that grudge, just like every other.
"I think we should have the eagle rip off certain other parts," Diana put in. "Or just destroy him. That works too. My mother is older than even him. She could do it."
"You could keep hitting him with lightning," Faith cheerfully suggested with a grin. "I could even help with that."
"There's always a combination," Ian mused. "Random lightning strikes on top of my eagle and the venom."
Delighted, she looked over at Diana. "I like today."
"You like today? I get to implement today," Diana returned with a grin.
"Husband," Cait said, and fuck her, she was doing that weird almost-glowing beauty crap that Faith wished to all hell that her succubi could do, "do you really think this is appropriate?"
Liam gave her a long look, and gods damn it, his face softened. Maybe she loved today a little less than she thought. The fact that Prometheus suddenly looked a little more hopeful about his situation didn't exactly help either.
Faith grimaced, barely holding in a huff of irritation. "Then what about just the rock and eagle?"
Ian's eyes narrowed. He probably knew what Faith knew--if Cait got Liam to change his mind, then Diana's intense loyalty to her daddy would change her mind, and shit would be that much more difficult, since revenge was kind of really hard without the goddess of revenge agreeing to it.
"You will be silent," Aisling told Cait.
Cait barely even raised an eyebrow at that. Fucking double fucking abilities and fucking generation. Fuck. "Ares, fire gives you things to do. They would be throwing rocks still if he hadn't interfered."
Fuck. Faith had been hoping no one would remember that detail. "Or one of them might have had the dumb luck of figuring out fire without a traitor's help," she said, hoping that at least a rock and an eagle still looked like a good option.
"Might have," Cait said, impossibly coolly, and of course she kept her temper well down for this because of fucking love. Leave it to Chloe to be a succubus to fall in love! "Not necessarily would have. It's led to things you're fond of," she added to Liam. "Gunpowder, for instance. Bullets. That sort of thing."
Oh fuck her, Liam's hold on Prometheus looked like it was loosening. 'Fuck her, fuck me, and fuck this entire thing,' Faith grimly thought, before she wondered what the hell she'd even say to Chloe after this. If Chloe would even speak to her. She frowned at that thought before she could stop herself. This was a clusterfuck. She really, really should have checked in on Chloe more often.
Diana rolled her eyes. "I'm about to go to my mother," she said to no one in particular. "This is ridiculous."
At least someone agreed. Faith might have said as much, if not for the possibility that Ian would hit her with lightning. Wouldn't be the first time, but it wouldn't be fun, either.
"It is ridiculous," Aisling agreed. "Extremely so." She gave Ian a hard look. "What are you doing about him?"
Ian's eyes narrowed, and with a twitch of his hand, Prometheus was the one hit with a bolt. Compared to four hundred years of getting your liver torn out, it was probably nothing. Probably. It still cheered her up to see Prometheus stumble; the only thing that kept him from falling was Liam's grip on his arm. "I'm thinking."
Damn it. Thinking wasn't exactly what she had been going for here. Eagle, giant snake, dragon, lightning, whatever, anything, as long as he got put back on that rock or killed. Something. Faith had to literally bite her tongue to keep from saying something of the sort; again, she didn't want to be hit with lightning. Let Ian save that for Prometheus.
But there was Cait still doing her stupid glowy beauty trick, and Ian's eyes cut to her for just a second, and Faith felt her fucking revenge slip straight through her fingers. Gods be damned, if possible!
"Ian," Aisling said sharply.
"She may have a point."
Diana literally bit her lip. Faith guessed she was having an equally hard time not fighting that one. Aisling, though, considering the whole wife or lead consort or whatever the fuck thing, had no reason to keep quiet. "She has no point," Aisling hissed. "She's taking the ridiculous love of a succubus and a Titan into consideration." Fucking gods. "You are being lured in by her."
She glanced over at Diana, the start of a few different sentences on the tip of her tongue, though she swallowed them all. It was starting to look like Nicoletta was their best fucking bet... And considering who she was around, Faith figured that the best thing for her physical wellbeing at this point was to keep that wonderful little idea to herself until she could bring it up with Diana in a more private setting. If nobody else brought it up first. It was still a possibility.
Cait had the beginning of a satisfied smile, and Faith half-considered hitting her with lightning. If they'd chain a Titan to a rock, though, who knew what they'd do with a demigod if she pissed them off? Especially with Liam right there.
Ian turned to Aisling slowly, looking incredibly pleased with himself. Not an unfamiliar expression for him, though it obviously had Prometheus worried. "Stripping the succubus of her demonhood," he declared.
What the fucking fuck.
Aisling opened her mouth before grinning horribly. "Oh, that is good."
"You can't fucking do that," Faith said, not even caring if this would get her in trouble. "She's mine. I decide on whether or not she gets punished, not you."
Ian shot Diana a look, which was apparently fitting, going by the expression on her face when she looked to Faith. Cold, almost. "It's to punish him," she said. "He gets a finite time with her now. Aphrodite can't well complain, because they get their love, but it ends."
"I can't," Cait said, almost bitter, something Faith would have liked to hear about two minutes before.
Liam laughed. "It fits," he agreed. "Fits very well."
"If you want to punish me, then do something to me," Prometheus argued, his displeasure for this idea written all over his face. It bothered the hell out of Faith that she actually agreed with him about something. "She's barely involved in this! There's no point in bringing her into this."
Cait sighed, leaning back in her seat. Had she not been her and incapable of gracelessness without interference, Faith guessed she would have slumped instead. "She is involved. Her love, Prometheus. She got herself involved entirely, no interference from any of us." Her meaning with the emphasis was clear.
"You can't have thought she'd get away with nothing," Aisling added, an unpleasant smile on her lips. "Keeping you from us."
This obviously wasn't what she fucking wanted. She wanted him to physically hurt, right fucking now, not in half a decade or however fucking long it would take Chloe to age and wither away and die pathetically like a mortal. She bit the inside of her cheek hard enough to bleed to keep herself from saying something stupid.
You never could trust a god to keep their word.
"And he just goes back to Earth, like fucking that?" she asked after a moment, feeling it was the only safe thing running through her mind.
At that, Ian looked disgruntled. "I can't strip a Titan of immortality."
"Damned right," Cait said under her breath.
"I'm not promising he'll be exactly comfortable that whole time, though," he added.
Diana brightened considerably. "What do I get to do to him?"
That at least cheered Faith up a little. Even if Ian was going to turn Chloe into one of those things again... Humans. Bleh. At least there was a chance of her not staying human. A vampire could maybe turn her, or... Well, Ian hadn't said anything about not turning her back into a succubus in a few years. Faith managed to keep her expression neutral, but that thought made her feel a lot better about the situation.
Though, considering Chloe lately, she might want to stay human. Gods forbid, and where did Faith go wrong if that was even a vague possibility?
"Come on," Diana said to Prometheus. "You're being there when I do this." She looked over at Faith. "Coming? Or do you want to avoid the whole getting a soul and heartbeat back mess?"
"Of course I'm going," she answered, mildly offended. "Like I said, she's one of mine. Besides," Faith continued, glaring at Prometheus, "I'm not done with him." The fact that he didn't seem all of that affected by the glare made her frown, but she would grudgingly admit that it wasn't much of a shock. She knew she wasn't the scariest one here, not to him. "Let's get it over with."
Diana apparently didn't trust Prometheus any more than her father did, since she grabbed his free arm just as Liam let him go so the two could pop out. Faith followed a split second later, vaguely annoyed for no real reason that Diana had just landed in Chloe's living room instead of the hall.
Chloe was still in the living room when they got there, though she had moved to sit on the couch. Faith noticed two cups of tea on the coffee table in front of her, before Chloe launched herself off of the couch towards Prometheus with a cry. She wrapped her arms around him with enough force to nearly make him stumble backwards. He wrapped his free around Chloe's waist, bending to press his face into her hair, and Faith nearly gagged.
"Miss?" an unfamiliar voice said from the kitchen, and Faith blinked when an angel (or so she was almost sure; she couldn't remember seeing an angel with blue hair, tattoos, or perfectly applied eye make-up before) walked out of the kitchen. "Miss, are you alright?"
"...Chloe, when did you get a pet angel?"
The completely flabbergasted and offended look the angel gave her was almost amusing enough to make up for today.
"Oh for My sake," Diana said, sounding thoroughly exasperated, "Chloe, how the everloving fuck did you even qualify as a succubus, and Faith, why the Hades did you pick her? She's been the worst succubus in the history of succubi! Including the ones my male relatives had to seduce instead of the other way around!"
"No, there have been worse," Faith told her lightly. "Besides, she fed me a few times, and helping her out seemed better than leaving her to be forced to be married to some fucking ancient, grumpy-ass pervert. What's the big deal? Look at him, he's a puppy."
"He isn't a puppy, and he isn't my pet," Chloe muttered, before she frowned at Diana. "His name is Jax, and he's my best friend. Excuse me if I don't give a fuck about what you think right now."
"Chloe, don't," Kurt lowly said, and Faith remembered why they were there. Any amusement she might have been feeling left her completely.
Jax spoke again. "Maybe I should go..."
Chloe's frown deepened. "No, stay. I'd rather you be here."
"Chloe," Faith started, but trailed off when she found she didn't know what to say. Fuck.
Diana rolled her eyes, then twisted her shoulders. "Prometheus is staying. Chloe, you're staying. I will stop either of you. Faith, ...angel, you can stay or go, your choice, before I do this." She gestured to Chloe. "No touching the Titan right now. You can in a couple of minutes. No angel or demigod, either. Just...stand by yourself or sit or something, I don't care."
For the first time since they got back, Chloe looked scared. "Why?" she quietly asked, not letting go of Prometheus. Faith noticed that he tightened his hold around her as well, his shoulders tensing.
"Chloe, I'm sorry," he murmured, barely loud enough for Faith to hear.
Out of the corner of her eye, Faith saw Jack or whatever his name was start to move closer. He was frowning, but she didn't pay much attention to it. He wasn't much of a threat, and she'd rather focus on trying to get through this with a little dignity. "Aphrodite fought for the both of you, but Zeus made his decision," she answered, trying her best and failing to sound soothing.
Chloe looked at Diana, wide-eyed and pale. "You said you wouldn't hurt me."
"It won't hurt," Prometheus murmured against her hair. "It won't be comfortable, but I promise that it won't hurt."
"I will not hurt you," Diana said in a low voice that was probably not reassuring, since she was getting bigger. "My word as a god, this will not hurt you. You won't enjoy it, but it won't hurt. Now let him go, or I'll hurt him when I make you."
Chloe looked like she was going to stay where she was, if only because of not being able to move from sheer terror, which was exactly what was all over her face. Yeah, Diana was doing a great fucking job at making Chloe want to cooperate. Faith was about to step in and pull Chloe away, when Prometheus said something into Chloe's ear. It was too quiet for her to hear, but it must have been the magic words; Chloe looked a tad less terrified when she let him go and moved to shakily sit back on the couch.
The angel moved to stand behind where Chloe was sitting and rested his hands on her shoulders. It seemed to have an immediate calming effect on Chloe, though she still looked horribly shell-shocked. "And what exactly is it that y'all are planning to do to her?" he asked. Faith was impressed that he seemed more worried about Chloe than scared of them. Of course, he probably thought his God would protect him.
"They're going to turn me into a human," Chloe quietly answered, reaching up to place one of her hands over the angel's. Oddly enough, Chloe's answer made him frown even more, which Faith found... odd. He was an angel. She would have thought that his 'best friend' (seriously, what the fuck) would have been more at peace with the idea of someone getting back their ~precious soul~.
"It's alright, Jax," Chloe answered, somewhat woodenly. "It's only a soul. I'll be fine."
To his credit, Jax looked less than convinced. He squeezed her shoulders once before he stepped away.
Chloe looked at Prometheus, who looked like he would do anything to change this if he had the power. Faith was surprised when Chloe was the one to give him a comforting smile. It was small and weak, but it was there. "I prefer this to the other options," she told him, and Faith grimaced.
Diana was right. She really was a horrible succubus.
"I don't," Prometheus quietly responded.
"Oh, you really were the worst succubus ever." Diana shook her head. "Okay, first thing I'm doing is bringing you back to human life. Blood, beating heart, needing to breathe, everything, so I hope you gave him a ridiculously long blowjob already. You're going to have to actually pause now. You ready?"
Faith couldn't help but snicker when the angel blushed furiously, obviously embarrassed by the comments. She could almost see why Chloe kept him around. He was cute, in a puppy dog kind of way. Chloe, on the other hand, only gave Diana a rather uneasy look. "You're sure it won't hurt?"
She shrugged, answering before Diana could. "It shouldn't be any different from when I took it all away from you." Or so she assumed. She was at least sure that she wouldn't be the only one wrong about that, if it ended up not being true.
Diana glanced at Faith before answering Chloe. "I have to say, I've never done this. I won't lie. But I won't let it hurt. Not physically. This part isn't going to be painful. I don't promise anything about emotions and your soul, but since you're apparently a terrible succubus, probably won't be as bad as it could be."
Chloe frowned. "I think I was a perfectly fine succubus until just recently," she grumbled. Faith saw her take the barest hint of a glance at Prometheus, and she scowled at him.
"You fucking ruin everything good," she said.
He sent her an irritated glance that did absolutely nothing in return. "Chloe thinks differently, and she is the only person here whose opinion I care about."
She saw Chloe look less anxious after he said that, before Chloe seemed to steel herself for what was about to happen. She straightened in her seat and kept her hands in her lap. Only the fact that she was squeezing her fingers hard enough to whiten the knuckles showed that she wasn't completely brave. "Alright. I'm ready," Chloe told Diana before she looked at Prometheus. "I love you."
Oh, for fuck's sake. Faith was going to go kill somebody after this.
"I love you too," he answered. "I'm sorry this is happening."
Chloe gave him a small smile that quickly disappeared when she looked back at Diana. "Jax, don't do anything to interfere with them," she quickly added.
That seemed to have been a smart idea; the angel looked reluctant to agree, but he did in the end. "Yes, miss."
Miss. That was cute for a puppy.
"Prometheus, you should probably care about what I think. I've got pretty blanket permission to torment you." Diana stepped across the room and brushed a hair out of Chloe's face, ridiculously gently given her current size and what she was about to do. The reason was obvious a second later when she said to Chloe, "Didn't hurt, did it?"
Chloe blinked. "No," she answered uncertainly, raising a hand to her chest. Slowly, she took a deep breath and winced. "I think I just... need to get used to it again."
Faith couldn't help but feel a bit better at that, but she knew it wasn't the worst part of this. Human, she guessed wasn't too bad. There must be some humans out there that weren't complete dumbasses, right? If Chloe became a dumbass - though she wasn't sure if this qualified or not, considering - she might just have to give up all together. Or get Diana's help in creating a screening process for new succubi.
"Are you sure you're alright?" the angel asked, hovering just out of reach of Chloe.
"Yes," Chloe answered, though she still didn't look completely sure. "Though I imagine the worst is yet to come."
"Well," Jax continued, worriedly tugging at one of his lip rings with his teeth, "a soul ain't that bad, miss, all things considering."
"All things considering," Prometheus grimly agreed.
Faith didn't bother holding back a derisive snort.
"Oh would you shut up, Prometheus," Diana snapped at him. "I don't care if you've loved her for however long, Faith and I have loved her for centuries, and I know you can foresee shit, but knowing you would love her isn't the same as actually knowing her and loving her, so shut the fuck up because I'm about to hurt her. Chloe," she said, much more gently, "I am sorry about this," and Faith could almost see the soul going back into Chloe.
There was a very tense moment of silence before Chloe let out something between a horrified moan and a scream. The sound for some reason made Faith's stomach roll and rooted her to the spot. The angel was the one to get to her first, practically vaulting over the back of the couch to pull Chloe into a hug. Like before, his touch seemed to have a calming effect, though Chloe still looked lost. Her eyes darted back and forth, though it didn't seem like she really saw anything; she was too caught up in what was going on in her own head.
"It's alright, miss," Jax murmured, running a hand up and down her back. "You didn't have a choice."
That almost made Faith laugh, though she wasn't sure it would be a happy sound. What about this was happy? Prometheus moved next and knelt in front of the couch; he reached up to cup Chloe's face in his hands and gently turned it to look at him. "Chloe..." he said sadly, caressing her cheeks with his thumbs. "Chloe, can you hear me?"
"Yes," she quietly answered.
"Are you okay?" Faith asked, finally finding her voice.
Chloe looked up at her with haunted eyes. "...No," she finally answered, hesitantly, "but... I think I will be."
"I would take it away," Diana said quietly, "but I can't." Faith saw her eyes narrow a moment later before she met Faith's eyes. "Water from L--"
"If you finish saying it," Faith interrupted, "I think power to the entire city is going to go out from how pissed off Zeus is and how much lightning he throws here."
Diana rolled her eyes. "Could still get Mom to kill him off," she muttered.
"Could," Faith answered halfheartedly, but the idea of it didn't sit as well with her now than it did before. That really fucking annoyed her. She knew that Diana couldn't have gone against Ian for this, but all of this would seem even more fucking useless if they killed him anyway. Maybe after she made Chloe a succubus again, which she would do. That was all a matter of when. (Faith made a mental note to tell Diana about that, when she knew that they weren't being watched.) "But you'd be the one dealing with all of Chloe's hissy-fits, not me."
Chloe seemed to come back to herself a bit more when she heard her name. "If you all don't mind, I'd like to spend some time alone with Kurt now." She still sounded disoriented, and Faith was obviously not the only one too pleased with that suggestion. She didn't know about the angel, but she was pretty fucking sure that Diana also didn't want to leave Chloe just yet, much less with him. Only Prometheus really looked happy about the request, and like she gave two flying fucks about that.
"Miss, are you sure?" the angel softly asked. "I mean, you - They just-"
"They did something they were ordered to," Chloe told him, cutting him off with a frown. "I know they didn't want to, and I don't blame them for it. I chose to get involved, and now I need to learn to deal with... this. I know you mean well, and thank you for that, but I can't do that with you here."
"Are you sure you want me to stay?" Prometheus asked before he ran a hand through Chloe's hair.
She was really getting sick of him touching her. "If you ever hurt her," Faith threatened, "I will chain you to a rock again and tear off parts of you myself, until the end of time."
"Oh, we can make it so much worse than that," Diana muttered. "One bruise, one emotional hurt, and you have no idea what I will do to you, Prometheus. I am the daughter of War and Destruction, and I am the goddess of revenge, and I will hurt you in ways you could never have imagined."
Considering Diana was nearly tall enough to reach the ceiling and pretty much radiating anger and stress, Faith, for one, believed her completely. It was a serious turn-on.
"I believe you," and Faith was delighted to see that he was being honest, "but I will not hurt her."
"I'll believe that when I see it," she grumbled. She looked over at Diana. "Ready to go? I feel like killing someone who deserves it." Faith couldn't help but snicker when the angel blanched at that. Precious.
"Oh Christ, please let's do that." Diana had to have chosen that name purely for the angel's reaction. "And then," she continued, "maybe we can fuck."
Oh yeah. She was fucking with the angel.
Awesome.
"You're so hot," she said admiringly, before she sobered. Faith walked over to Chloe, completely ignoring Prometheus and the angel. "I am sorry this happened." Leaning over, she brushed a kiss over Chloe's forehead. She avoided looking in Chloe's eyes; now that Chloe was human again, anything Chloe hoped for would be open to her, and Faith found that she didn't want to know what she might see. "You know how to call me, if you need me."
"I do," Chloe confirmed, before she lightly shrugged off the angel's arms. He let go reluctantly, but Chloe surprised her when she only took a sharp breath. There was a moment when Faith thought she was going to scream again, but Chloe seemed to shove everything into the back of her mind. "I told you, I'll be fine."
"Once you get over him, maybe." Faith turned and shared a glare with Prometheus. She waited until he broke his gaze away first and smirked as she walked over to Diana. "Come on, let's go."
With how tall Diana was just then, Faith's head was basically at boob level, which made the whole thing better.
"There's a guy over in Illinois who could use a nice, slow death," Diana said to her. "I can take us there."
"Sure." She grinned when Diana wrapped an arm around her, since it meant she was pressed into those awesome boobs. Turning, she gave Prometheus and Chloe's pet angel one last look; the angel looked mortified at witnessing this, but Prometheus was ignoring everything. That figured. Then Diana popped them out of that apartment.