By kirasmommy

Disclaimer: Nope I still don't own them (I checked) and I still don't make any money off this (I checked on that too my billfold still empty).

Cupid healed quickly. And it wasn't long before he decided it was time to keep his promise to Strife to go out to dinner. Strife was on Earth when Cupid decided to go talk to him, he appeared off away from him and stopped short as he watched Strife. Strife wasn't yet aware of Cupid's presence and he was staring intently at a man sitting outside a tavern.

*What is he doing?*thought Cupid watching intently.

Finally Strife stood up from where he had been sitting, he was invisible to the man and walked over to him and waved his hand over him, then he walked away nodding his head.

Cupid came out where he could be seen and walked to Strife. "Hey what was all that about?"

Strife smiled and said "That? oh nothing, just work."

"What kind of work? What did you do to that poor man?" Cupid was a little distressed, he still wasn't sure how he felt about Strife's role in the world, as minor as it was.

"Poor man? heh trust me he isn't a poor man at least not yet." Strife said with a evil grin.

Cupid glared.

"OH OKAY I will tell ya all about it." He motioned to the tavern and they went inside and sat down still invisible. "Okay it's like this, that man out there has never had a real problem in his life, he was due for a little...strife shall we say." He chuckled. "Anyway he is an embezzler, he's been skimming money off the city taxes for years, That man is the richest man in this town...that is for now...at this very moment a minor official has discovered proof that he has embezzled millions in dinars since he joined the council. By tomorrow an audit will start and thus starts his...strife..." Strife said the last with a waggle of his eyebrows.

Cupid looked out the door and looked at the man, then looked back at Strife. "So what you're saying is it's kinda like poetic justice?"

"Well at least in this case." Strife gazed at Cupid as Cupid squirmed in his chair. "You don't like what I do huh?"

"I just don't understand it. I mean I know why we have wars and I even know why discord is necessary but I just don't understand why we need petty annoyances and angst and strife." Cupid stood up and walked around moving toward the end of the counter where a man and a woman stood at the end. He sized them up and then shot both of them as they looked at one another. Then he walked back.

"Now why the hell did you do that?" asked Strife.

"Because they needed it." Cupid said shrugging his shoulders.

"Why did they need it?" Strife said trying to fish for the answer he wanted.

"When I come across a couple that has the right 'vibes' I know they need it." Cupid said then he thought for a second and then added "And it's basically the same for you huh?"

Strife nodded. "Yeppur."

"But why do we need all of it?" still wanting to know.

"Think about it sweets think about it, what would happen if a mortal or an immortal for that matter, never felt embarrassed, never felt humility, never had any problems, If they always succeded at anything they do."

Cupid looked confused and shrugged.

"They would get too full of themselves for one thing, they would start thinking they are better than anyone else, they would become tyrants. Anyone less than perfect would never make it in the world because there would be no pity, or sympathy. Sympathy comes from being able to put yourself in anothers place. See yet?"

Cupid was stunned, "I never thought of it that way."

Strife stood up and walked behind him and rubbed his shoulders taking care not to jar his wings. "I say we get out of here, what say you?"

"I agree, oh I was wondering how about dinner tonight?" asked Cupid.

"What time?" asked Strife eager.

"After sunset, on Olympus?"

"Perfect see you then." Strife said then looked nervous and hesitant as he leaned forward then thought better of it, then changed his mind again and leaned forward again and gave Cupid a peck on the cheek. Cupid smiled and said "See you then."

Ares appeared in Strife's house as the young god rushed around like a chicken with his head cut off. Ares grabbed him as he hurried by. "Whoa whoa whoa what's going on here?"

"I have a date tonight."

"And that explains...what? Why are you running through the house?"

"Nerves, nerves, I'm trying to burn off the extra energy."

"You are seriously weird sometimes you know that? So you finally going out with featherboy huh?"

"Yeah"

"Have uh you told your mother yet? About Cupid I mean and how you feel about him."

"NO ... I mean no not yet, I hardly ever really see her anyway you know."

"Yeah I know, she can be a little...distant when it comes to warm fuzzy feelings"

Strife started biting his lip "What do you think she will do?"

"I'm not really sure what Eris will do, I mean if she tries to scare off Cupid she effectively kills you, yet on the other hand it will be a matter of pride to her, you know that no son of mine stuff..."

"What should I do?"

"I have no idea you need to make the call, Eris can cause you a lot of problems if you're not careful."

Strife nodded, "I'll look for her tomorrow and talk to her, bummer really, she isn't the easiest person to talk to."

Ares clapped him on the back "Tell me about it. " He smiled "Why don't you start getting ready."

Aphrodite walked into Cupid's room as he was straightening his outfit. "Hey nice looking threads dude! Where you going?"

"Out to dinner with Strife."

"Ew " she made a face, "Why?"

"You know why."

"He wouldn't hold you to that you know."

"I know but I want to go out with him."

"Are you sure? I mean come on be real."

"Mom don't start okay, Strife is not that bad of a guy once you get to know him , hey did you know he actually has a purpose in the world?"

"Humph well anyway, I guess he can't be all bad after all he went and saved you and all." She smiled and tried to ruffle his hair.

"Stop that," he said mimicing how he sounded as a kid.

"Have fun on your date, but be careful all right his side of the family can get a little weird."

"His side? Have you ever taken a look at our side?" He laughed as she threw a pillow at him.

"Oh just go eat or something will ya."

Cupid set the table before he left to get Strife and he had everything ready. Strife was wearing all black as usual but cut more in the style of what Ares usually wears. It wasn't hard to figure out who helped him get ready tonight! As they walked down the walk way back to Cupid's Abode Cupid grabbed Strife's hand and squeezed it. "Stop being so nervous, It's all right," he said trying to reasure him.

As they walked in they didn't see the dark shadow move near one of the pillars.

The woman pulled off her hood and glared at the door. *What in the hell is going on here?*

She walked up to the entrance and vanished in a flash and reappeared on the other side. She crept upto the dining room and looked in where she saw her son sitting across from Aphrodite's brat. She hunkered down so she could listen better.

"Thank you for having dinner with me." Strife smiled.

"Hey my pleasure okay. How have you been feeling recently?" asked Cupid, Strife still looked too too thin.

"Oh you know...it's not that important," he tried to change the subject.

Cupid raised his eyebrows, "Is it still bad?"

"Sometimes...when I don't see you for a while it gets bad." He smiled then "but it's not as bad as those months you completely avoided me."

Eris cringed inwardly. *He can not be saying what I think he's saying.*

Cupid reached and took Strife's hand, "I'm sorry for that, I shouldn't have done that. Forgive me?"

"I was never mad, I can't get real mad at you, I've tried and it doesn't work...I love you too much."

Eris stood up as she felt rage course through her *LOVE, how can Strife love Cupid, I didn't teach him to love the weak!"

Then she watched as Cupid reached out and touched Strife's chin, "It'll be okay somehow."

She reached into her pouch and rummaged through her apples untl she found the one with 2 green leaves attached to the golden stem of the golden apple. She aimed and threw it onto the table. Cupid and Strife saw it land at the same time. Cupid released Strife and sneered "Whatever" and stormed off before disappearing.

Strife turned around and faced his mother. "Mother why? why did you do that?" he was already feeling his stomach twist on the food he had already consumed and felt his heart drop. *Apparently* he thought* Three arrows is still more powerful than her hate apple*

"What the hell are you doing playing around with that happy bastard huh?"

His breath began to hitch as he said "You had no right to do that, no right what so ever." He focused on Ares and left before she could reply.

She thought to herself *Little brat most likely ran off to see my brother* and she too focused on Ares.

Meanwhile Cupid had broken all his arrows, and was sitting on a hill outside his mother's temple. She saw him and came out "Hon it's dark out here what's wrong I thought you were out on a date."

"So what? I didn't ask you to come out here did I?" He said snidely. She took a step back at the sneer on his face.

"Whoa what's going on here? What did he do to you?" She said getting angry.

He jumped up. "What makes you think he did it huh? That's it always jump to conclusions," he said throwing the broken arrows down the hill.

"Why did you break those arrows? And who did this to you?"

"I broke them because I don't need them anymore. All right?"He yelled. "As for who did it, it was his mom, she's pissed or something, I don't know and I don't care. I'm not going to be in the service of love anymore so get the hell off my back, bitch." He said before he blinked out.

She gasped. "Ex squeeze me? I am not a bitch." she said to the air.

Strife had stumbled as he appeared and Ares caught him. "What happened?" He asked as he helped Strife to a chair.

"Busted, mom busted us during dinner."

"Oh shit," Ares said as he brushed his hand over his eyes. "What did she do?"

"She threw one of those damn apples at us. I think it was her hate one."

"You aren't hating Cupid though?"

"No...too many arrows I'm guessing but he hates everything now and my heart knows that. It's starting to skip beats."

"Calm down take deep breaths okay try to hold on okay here have a drink of water."

Eris flashed in. "Thought so I knew you would run to him, You always have when you get in trouble."

She turned to Ares, "And you, I just bet you've been encouraging him."

Ares closed his eyes and took a breath trying to steady himself, "And you don't have all the facts yet either...what you've done tonight is sentence your own son to death."

She took a slight step back thrown off a little, "What are you talking about, I just saved him from making the biggest mistake of his life."

"No you haven't just sit for a second and listen..."

Ares told her and in the night one could hear a cry of agony.

Aphrodite finally decided to focus on Ares as Cupid's signal kept shifting before she could zoom in on it. As she appeared she saw Ares pacing and Eris wiping Strife's sweat covered face. *It seems in the face of pure hatred Strife's condition worsens rapidly* Aphrodite thought. "Well are you happy Eris now both our kids are lost to us, your's dying and mine might as well be dead, at least to the world,and me."

Eris looked down ,"I didn't know..."

"That's hardly an excuse..."

Ares knew a fight was starting and he stepped in between them, and boomed, "enough you two that won't help anything."

He turned to Aphrodite "You're the goddess of Love is there anyway you can reverse any of this mess, either remove the power of the arrows or remove the power of the apples."

Aphrodite shook her head "No Ar at least not the arrows I tried just after it happened sorry bud it was a no go. As for those apples I've never tried."

"Well I think you need to try because more is a stake than even Strife's life, without Cupid there could be a severe population shortage in the future."

Aphrodite thought for a moment then gasped "You're right We need to work fast...I think we need to get Cupid to the pool where he dips his arrows. But the problem is I can't focus on where he's at."

"Where's the pool at, you let me take care of capturing Cupid, just tell me where the pool is at," Ares said grasping Aphrodite's shoulders.

Strife sat up woozy. "It's a pool under my main temple." she said at last.

Ares turned around to tell Strife that everything was going to be okay but the bed was empty.

Strife grabbed the branch before he could topple out of the tree. He was in the olive grove that Cupid liked best Strife remembered once that Cupid mentioned he came here when he felt mad or sad. He waited in the tree. *Eventually he will show up* Strife thought. *Even if I die I can't let Cupid go on like this, he deserves better than that.*

His wait paid off in minutes as Cupid appeared under his favorite thinking tree. He looked around sneering, Strife got up the last of his energy and jumped grabbing Cupid in a hard embrace and then flashed them into Aphrodite's temple near the still pool.

Very near it, lucky for Strife, as even though Cupid is lighter, Strife at the moment was weaker. Strife finally resorted to dirty fighting and tripped Cupid making him fly into the pool with a splash.

Strife sat on the side panting as Cupid came up sputtering. He looked at Strife and smiled. Strife took a deep breath "Did it work? Do you still hate everyone and everything?"

Cupid came out of the water and sat beside Strife "Does this tell you anything?" And he grabbed Strife up and pulled him into his lap kissing him hard.

Strife's heart steadied. "What was that about? Not that I'm complaining"

Cupid laughed stroking Strife's face. "Didn't you realize that I would fall in love with the first person I saw after coming out of the water? Good thing it was you."

Strife gaped. "We just figured it would neutralize it." Then Strife laughed. "Uncle Ares was the one that was going to capture you."

Cupid looked horrified. "Well now I'm definetly glad it was you at least I already started having feelings for you before all this."

Strife leaned over and looked him in the eye. "Really? honest?"

Cupid smiled and picked Strife up "Yeah, hows about we finish that date?"

Strife put his arm around Cupid's neck. "Sounds good...after we let everyone know you're okay."

"Deal."

And then in a shower of sparkles they left.

THE END

E-mail the author at kira@q-com.com