Love Potion #9

2/13/99-2/26/99

Viky sat on the floor trying to write messages in frosting the heart shaped cookies she had baked. Or tried to bake. They were kind of...no longer heart shaped...and little burnt. But, "cookies are cookies," Viky said to herself, as she continued to struggle with the frosting.

"Wow, conversation hearts are hard to make," She grumbled. She began to wonder if her labors would be appreciated. Valentine's day was more Cupid's territory, and she had heard stories about a party and a fight and a disfiguration of Cupid's scalp. Viky didn't know all the details, but she was sure it was all Cupid's fault.

Thinking out loud (something she seemed to do a lot) Viky said, "I wonder how Strife feels about Valentine's day?"

Livia sauntered into the kitchen and saw Vicky sitting on the floor, laboring over a stack of misshapen cookies. "Hey! Can I give you a hand?"

The other priestess smiled appreciatively. "Thanks. I could use one. Two doesn't seem to be cutting it."

Liv grabbed a few cookies and sat beside Vicky. "Wow! This isn't as easy as I thought it would be. Still, can't have V-day cookies without cute little sayings iced onto 'em, right?" she asked hopefully.

"Right."

They were about halfway finished with the stack when the God of Skirmishes himself deemed them worthy of an appearance. He sat on the edge of the table beside them, grinning down at the hard-working priestesses. "Hey, girls! What's doin'?"

Viky's face immediately grew hot and all she seemed to be able to stammer was, "Cookies...cookies".

Strife's grin grew bigger. He always seemed to have that effect on the little blonde priestess, and he had to admit, he liked it.

Liv finally volunteered, "Cookies. Want one?" She handed Strife one of the more recognizably heart shaped cookies.

"Cool they say stuff!" Strife exclaimed.

"Yeah..." Viky replied, staring at him dreamily.

"You...go girl?" Strife questioned deciphering the message on the cookie and then looking at the two priestesses.

"That ALMOST smells like cookies," Cassia said aloud as she rounded the corner to the kitchen. "And they almost look like cookies. Hey girls.. Strife.. what's cookin'?"

"Lookie, babe," Strife said as he bounded from the tabletop over to his high priestess. "Viky and Liv are making these... um.. heart-like shaped, frosted, worded cookies. See? This one says 'cooo-ay me'."

Viky frowned a bit, "No, I think that's 'Love Me'. Ya see," she pointed to the lettering, "the 'c' is an 'l' and the 'u' is really a 'v'."

"Ohhhh... okay, I get it." Strife angled the cookie sideways and squinted, trying to make out the phrase. Cassia and Liv looked over the finished product while spooning up some of the remaining frosting for licking.

"Some of them are more readable, over here on the counter," Viky said as she lead Strife over to where the cookies were.

"Uh.. Viky, why's this one say '88 Mime'?" Cassia held the cookie up for her to see.

Liv began to laugh, "That's one I made. It says 'Be Mine', ha ha, not '88 Mime', ha ha!"

"That's good, cuz I really hate mimes," Strife warned mockingly as he raised his fists in a boxing stance. Cass and Liv shared a giggle while Viky just looked up at Strife in wonderment.

"Maybe you can hand these cookies out this afternoon. Or if you want, you can have a SMALL party. I really don't wanna get Cupid in here complaining about how *we* cant have 'love-ins', ya know? Well, I'm outta here. Strife," Cassia said as she ran a finger under the godling's chin to raise his head in attention, "I'll be expecting you tonight. No 'ifs', 'ands' or... 'buts' about it, dig?"

Strife swallowed hard before answering, "Yes ma'am," he said sheepishly as Cassia exited the kitchen. Viky quietly sighed and turned her attention back to her cookies. Liv gave her a reassuring pat on the back and helped prepare the cookies for the other priestesses to eat later in the day.

"Well, ladies, I'm gonna go and cut the strings on all of Cupid's bows.. wanna join me?"

Liv shrugged and stood up. "Yeah, sure. I've got nothing better to do!" She had been consistently surprised by how entertaining Strife really was. Before coming to the temple, the only time she'd seen him was when he came to Ares' Fortress and cowered. *He's really a pretty nice guy. I can see why Viky's so stuck on him.*

Strife noticed that Vicky seemed to hesitate. "Aw, c'mon, it'll be fun! Promise! 'Sides, what else are you going to do, right?"

"Right." She smiled, standing beside them. "Let's go!"

Strife snapped his fingers and the group appeared in Cupid's Temple.

"I've got friends here," Liv said, "So let's try to stay out of sight, okay? Please?"

Strife just smiled. "Whatever you say . . ."

Strife and the priestesses crept silently through Cupid's temple. Strife (sort of uncharacteristically) bravely went first. The temple seemed deserted. Strife used his powers to check.

"It's empty." he announced. "They're probably all at some lovey-dovey party. At Dite's or something. Still, we should be careful. Troops, lets move out!"

The priestesses saluted and fell into single file behind him. They tip-toed accompanied by that xylophone sound effect always used when someone tip-toes in cartoons.

Then they saw them. Cupid's bows, hanging on the wall, all in a row. "Aw." stated Cassia, "someone left them unguarded." Strife snapped his fingers, and suddenly the bows were on the floor in a pile. He snapped again, and in everyone's hands appeared a pair of shiny hedge clippers. Everyone grinned maliciously. Even Viky had an evil glint in her eyes.

Strife picked up the nearest bow. The girls all did the same.

"Fire when ready!" Strife announced.

Back at the temple, Emily had begun to wonder where everyone was!

"HELLLLLOOOOOOOO!" She called only to hear her echo. She placed her hands on her hips and sighed. Where was everyone?

There was a smell coming from the kitchen. "Aha!" she yelled. "Someone's got to be in there!" She was sure of herself. Emily walked into the kitchen only to find a pile of cookies with writing on them. "Dangit! Where did everyone GO?"

Strife stopped mid-clip. "Oh!! I forgot Emily! She's going to strangle me!" He waved his hands dramatically and Emily appeared in front of the god.

"Man! I thought you guys had ditched me," she pouted.

Vicky and Liv stepped forward. "We're sorry! It was a mistake!," Liv cried.

"I forgive you," Emily decreed benevolently. She then turned an icy gaze Strife's way. "Well, what's your excuse, Mr. I'm-a-god-so-I-don't-have-to-remember-my-priestess? Hmm?"

"Well, I, er, I, uh... Help?"

One by one the priestesses clipped the taunt strings of the bows. Strife gave a sigh of relief and stated, "Man, that was best time I ever had with so many girls at once!"

"Ahem..."

"Oops...sorry Cassia."

"What else in this pink hidey-hole of love needs a 'trimmin'?" Viky asked with enthusiasm. She cautiously walked up to the altar and poked through the various offerings left for the God of Love.

Cassia looked over a row of small bottles lined up on a shelf. "Hey, what're these? Love potions?" she asked aloud. Strife stood next to her, checking the little bottles out.

"Hmm...prolly. Why don't we open one and find out?"

"Sheeyeah right. That's all I need, you falling for me more than you already have," Cassia said sarcastically and gave Strife a gentle shove on the chest. Ems, Viky and Liv came over to see the small vials. Each taking one and examining it carefully. Cassia walked over to Cupid's throne and had a seat. She watched as everyone checked out the temple that was so.. pink and.. bright. Unlike their own dark temple they called home. All the happiness that spewed forth from the walls made her want to retch. Strife's yelling brought her back to reality.

"No, Ems, don't!!"

Cassia watched as one of the bottles Ems had been looking at dropped to the floor. A pink cloud floated up from the floor and engulfed Strife, Ems, Viky and Liv. Cassia just leaned back on the throne, closed her eyes and sighed.

"Oh, great."

The pink cloud engulfed Livia, Viky, Strife, and Ems.

"I-" said Livia.

"...Feel-" said Ems.

"...Sorta-" mumbled Viky.

"...Funky." finished Strife, who even with his powers couldn't resist the potion. And they all passed out on the floor.

"Huh," said Cassia.

They lay on the floor in a neat little line: Ems, then Viky, then Strife, the Livia. They all looked so peaceful and angelic (even Strife) that Cassia had to giggle.

Then they woke up.... and fell in love with the first thing they saw!

"I love you Strife!" exclaimed Livia.

"I love you Viky!" exclaimed Strife.

"I love you Ems! exclaimed Viky.

"I love you wall!" exclaimed Ems, and to prove her love she proceeded to get up and lovingly caress one of the granite walls of Cupid's temple, whispering sweet nothings to it all the while.

Maggie scratched her head in befuddlement. Where was everyone? She'd only been gone a few hours; they hadn't relocated on her had they? "This is the last time I ever do anything on my own. Next time Strife asks me to do something I'm telling him to poof me there and back."

Ares had been kind enough to give his nephew two more horses. Decent ones that could actually be ridden at faster then walk. Saffron had thrown a shoe while being exercised one morning and Peregrine had outgrown her old ones so Maggie had had to take them both down to Ares; they weren't fortunate enough to have a blacksmith of their own.

It had taken longer than expected so she'd had a nice long bubble bath at Ares' place (Those girls had it made!), before heading home. Both horses had been put away and fed for the day and she had two lovely, bright red and rapidly growing, bruises on her arm as a souvenir. For some reason Peregrine didn't seem to like her at all, the filly had no problem with anyone else, just Maggie.

She'd gone to the kitchen to see if there was anything cold she could put on her arm to take the swelling down and found a lot of cookies but no girls. Grabbing a handful, and a waterskin, she'd headed into the dining hall.

She'd sat on top of the table rather then a chair, just because she felt like it, and started tending to her wound. Pouring the cold water into a goblet, she tied it cup end down to her arm with a piece of rawhide lacing, so the water wouldn't leak out from the scrape.

That brought her to where she was now. Eating frosted cookies and pondering, both over what was going on and what exactly some of the phrases on the cookies meant.

"Talk to the hand?" she wondered aloud, fixing her wet hair. The pins holding the back up were starting to slip and wisps of hair were falling out here and there.

Just then she heard a door slam and she looked up to see the High priestess storm in.

"Nice bracelet."

Maggie stuck her tongue out behind Cassia's back and pulled the goblet off her arm.

"I saw that."

She looked at the cookie again. Talk to the hand? Yeah, now she got it. Cassia had put her sword down and gone back out into the hall. Maggie took a good look at it and realized it was nearly shot to Tartarus, it was bent like it had been used as a crowbar.

Then everybody else shuffled in. Liv was clinging to Strife's arm, he was making doe eyes at Viky, she was staring at Ems and Ems was lugging a huge granite stone in her arms.

Oh boy, did she miss something.

Unable to carry the rock anymore, Ems set it down on the table with a hard thud. "I'm so sorry! I didn't hurt you did I?" she asked it in concern.

"Do I wanna know?"

"Probably not," the High Priestess' eyes were shooting daggers at Strife.

Mags looked over at Emily, who was now stroking the squarish rock, talking to it, and putting her ear to its' surface like she expected an answer.

"So I take it this is...?"

"Not Good. Not good at all."

Liv gazed lovingly at Strife's pale visage. "You know, I've never seen a more handsome man! You are perfect! Why didn't I see it earlier?" It seemed awfully strange that she'd known him all this time and had never seen the god for the enchanting being he really was.

"Isn't Viky beautiful?" he asked dreamily.

"Whatever. You have the cutest voice! And those eyes..." Liv sighed contentedly. All she wanted to do was stare at his perfect, gorgeous face for the rest of her life. "How did you get so cute!" she exclaimed.

Strife paid no attention to Liv's babbling, focusing his attention solely on Viky, who was in turn fascinated with the wall-loving Emily. "She's an angel! I must tell her that I love her!" Strife pulled away from Livia, who followed close behind while he made a beeline for Vicky.

Zynthiel headed for the temple with a sigh of relief. Strife had decided since she could cook that meant she should get the food to cook with which meant a long day of haggling with merchants.

Of course, Strife could have just produced food out of thin air with his powers but he seemed to think that manual labor was a sign of devotion. So she'd lugged this sack of food from town and was now pretty tired, not to mention grumpy. *Strife better be damn grateful,* she thought as she entered the temple. *At least, now I can relax.* She stepped into the kitchen and stopped dead in her tracks. Her gaze shifted from Livia who was staring dreamily at Strife who was doing the same at Viky who couldn't seem to take her eyes off Emily who was busily stroking and kissing a big rock. Zynthiel stared at them and then looked at Maggie who was trying not to laugh and at Cassia who looked really angry.

"Okayyy. This is new."

Back and forth, back and forth.

"No amount of pacing will ever get this stupid poem finish!" Sillen grumbled to herself, staring down the hallway. "I suppose I should try doing something useful today."

She wandered through the gloomy temple, looking for nothing in particular, but finding something rather peculiar. "Um, hi everybody," Sillen said, looking around the room.

She got a couple of smiles and a little wave from Maggie, Cassia and Zynthiel. The others just continued the gazing and mumbling. Sillen wandered around the room, watching Strife and her fellow priestesses in confusion.

"So, is anybody planning on explaining this, or should I just ignore it?"

Viky sat glumly in a chair with Strife attached to her right leg. She ignored his cries of "Oh fairest one, I can't live without you!" and focused on the object of her own affection.

"Look how sweet and gentle she is even to that inanimate object," Viky began to sob, "I've never wished I was a rock more in my entire life! Wahhhhhhhhh!"

To which Strife replied, "I would love you even as stone my angel." He then proceeded to kiss Viky deeply on the lips. Cassia shook her head; disgusted. Viky slapped him. "Ew, you're not Emily!"

Steaming.

That's how mad Cassia was at this point. Steaming mad. Their little field trip to Cupid's temple had ended up with Liv in love with Strife, Strife in love with Viky, Viky in love with Emily, Ems in love with a granite wall and Cassia with her favorite sword, bent. She angrily paced back and forth, her arms folded across her chest trying to think of a way out of this mess. She knew she couldn't be mad at the priestesses or Strife. It was, after all, a harmless prank. "Hmph...was..." she mumbled to herself. "Now, how to get these lovebirds back to normal? Hey Sillen, are we on Cupid's Hit List for any reason?"

The Priestess of Rhymes spun around to face her high priestess, "Huh? Oh.. I think we are, actually/ I'm not really sure why/ I could find out for you, matter-of-factly/ It probably had to do with a pie."

"Oh...kay." Cassia knew the only way to fix this was to talk with Cupid. She also knew that wasn't going to be easy explaining what she, Strife and the priestesses where doing in his temple but she'd just have to cross that rope bridge when she got to it.

"Sillen, Maggie, Zynthiel...I need you guys to keep these four separated until I can get all of this straightened out by Cupid. It's not going to be easy, trust me.. I lost a good sword because of this mess, but I think the three of you can keep tabs on these... hmph, well, you know whats."

"Sure thing."

"You betcha."

"Aye, aye!"

Outside, Cassia mounted her horse and started off towards Cupid's temple. She hoped he'd be there. It was Valentine's Day after all and she was sure he'd be totally swamped. Maybe so swamped that this matter would be generously overlooked. "Yeah right, and Hera's 'Mother of the Year'."

"Three of us and four of them. That seems fair," Zynthiel nodded. "The question is, how do we keep them off each other?"

"Well," Sillen pondered, "we could split them up and take them to separate places in the temple."

"Sounds good," Zynthiel agreed. "But how do we do it? It's like that stupid word problem with the wolf the goat and the lettuce."

"Okay, okay," Maggie said, waving a hand in the air. "I've got it. We bring Strife to one place because he loves Viky and Viky to another because she loves Ems. Ems won't be any trouble because she has her rock and therefore is perfectly happy, and well, weighed down so its okay for one person to look after her and another. So we'll put Liv and Ems together because neither of them are in love with one another. Hah! Got it!" Apparently the sugar was beginning to take effect.

"So who wants to call dibs on who?" Sillen asked. "Or is that whom?"

"No clue."

Maggie smiled smugly and rubbed her hands together. "I call dibs on Strife. I still owe him quite a bit of payback for that first prank."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Don't worry Zynth, I know exactly what I'm doing." She grabbed Strife by the ear and pulled him to his feet.

"Owww! Quit it!"

"Come on Leatherboy, you're coming with me."

The two priestesses looked at one another apprehensively as the Godling was led out of the room by his earring and Mags let out a diabolical chuckle.

"So how do you want to divide up the rest?" Sillen asked

"You want to rock, papyrus, shears for it?" Zynthiel offered.

"Why not?"

This was a lot harder then she thought.

She'd managed to get Strife to a spare bedroom in the West wing but she hadn't been able to keep him occupied for very long. She'd tried getting him preen- it could be considered one of his favorite pastimes- by telling him he had to look nice for Viky. But then he'd questioned what was wrong with the way he looked now. So she'd told him that Viky had been persuaded to go on a date with him so he just had to look even better then before to impress her.

That had been a mistake.

He hadn't bought it at all.

So now she was chasing him around the room, trying to stop him from leaving while also looking for a way to bar the door. Now she remembered why she never baby-sat for her relatives. "Oh no you don't," she snarled, elbowing him out of the way and blocking the doorway with her body.

"Out of my way, Mags. I need to be with her. This is bigger than the both of us. And everybody knows love conquers all."

"Brute force conquers all," she insisted, bracing her arms in the door frame and pushing him back with a foot. "Don't make me use any more then I have to." Her eyes landed on a side table, where a long brass key sat.

As he rushed the door she placed her hand on his forehead and pressed firmly backwards. It took a lot of effort, but she was able to get her elbows back inside the room, and then her heels, and finally her whole body as she pushed him back into the room.

As quickly as she could manage, she slammed the door shut, snatched the key and twisted it in the lock.

"Very funny, Maggie. But that ain't gonna stop me."

"No, but I think this will." She put the key in her mouth and attempted to look serious. "One step closer and I swallow it," she threatened.

"No you won't. I know you too well." He was advancing on her slowly, and looked very very unhappy. "Now give me the key and I won't get mad."

Her back bumped up against one of the marble walls. This must be a guest room. None of the other rooms in this wing had marble, just rock. She shook her head, slipping the key under her tongue, intending to pretend she'd swallowed it and then hide it.

"You think this is funny?" he asked, pinning her against the wall with his hands, his face getting uncomfortably close.

Oh man, this was bad. Her heart was pounding somewhere just below her throat and she was finding it hard to breathe. Damn, she'd always wanted him to get this close to her but never like this.

All right, she admitted it, she cared about him. Practically all the priestesses did in some way shape or form, otherwise they wouldn't be serving him. But that somehow didn't make her feel better. Besides, he was Cassia's, and Viky had a thing for him too. Her fellow priestess might not have come right out and said it, but she had left enough behavioral hints to alert others to the situation.

Strife's eyes were blazing, and his thumbs were starting to dig into the hollow between her shoulder and side, bringing Magge back to reality. She swallowed hard upon seeing his expression.

Swallowed?

Oh no. Oh dear Gods no.

She choked somewhere in the back of her throat, and Strife looked at her oddly. "Hey, are you okay?"

"Key....swallowed...throat...damn...damn...oh damn."

"What? I can't understand a word you're saying. Slow down."

"I swallowed the key!"

"Ha Ha. Funny. That's funny Mags," he laughed nervously then paused. "You aren't kidding, are you?"

"No."

His hands slid slowly off her shoulders. "Oh we are in trouble now."

"What do you mean? Can't you just poof out of here?"

"This room is God proof. Y'know for privacy? There is no way we're getting out of here."

"No? Unless..." she said slowly. "Unless I didn't lock the door right, or I didn't close it tight."

They looked at one another for a few seconds, then bolted for the door. Strife tried jiggling the doorknob, and when that failed, he braced his boots on either wall and tried pulling it off.

"This is useless. We're stuck but good."

"Swell."

"And none of the girls are gonna come down this far into the temple."

"Even better."

"Well ya know, this wouldn't have happened if you had just..."

She settled down on the floor and put her head between her knees. "I know, I know. Don't remind me."

"I wonder if Viks misses me. If she's thinking about me. Fretting her pretty little head over me..."

Maggie grabbed a pillow, covered her head with it, and prepared to leave it there for a very long time.

"Um.. hello? Is anyone here?" Cassia's voice echoed through the great temple erected for the God of Love. "Probably not. Duh, it's V-Day." The high priestess slowly walked down a long hallway that lead to the main throne room, peeking in each open door she passed along the way.

"Can I help you?" snapped a voice from behind her. Cassia turned around to face whomever had dared to take such a harsh tone with her. There stood a woman with long dark hair and looking like she had one serious attitude.

"Yeah, I'm lookin' for Cupid. You seen 'im?"

"Yes, I've seen him but he's not taking personal requests today so you'll hafta come back some other time. The door's that way." She pointed towards the direction Cassia had entered the temple.

"Well, this isn't a 'personal request'. I've got some business with the Love God and I think it'd be in his best interest if I saw him ASAP. Or his little Day o' Love is gonna be shot straight to the hog pen, dig?" Lying came pretty easily to Cassia. So what if it wasn't a super-duper emergency. If a load of horse manure got her in to see Cupid, so what? "But ya know, this is only THE most important day for a god in his position... I certainly wouldn't want to be one who prevented it from being one of his best Valentine's ever."

"And who are you exactly?"

"Just someone who knows something. It's really of no importance to you. So, are you gonna tell Cupid I'm here or what?"

"I think 'or what' sounds best. Now if you wouldn't mind getting lost."

"Sure thing, toots. Catch ya later." Cassia breezed by the priestess and headed out the door. "Crap! Well, I'll just hafta find some other way to get in touch with him." And then she saw her way.

"Uh, uh... ow! Dangit!" Cassia sucked on her finger, "Damn thorns!" She had scaled a wall which, she found out about 50 feet up, had thorny vines. But she had made it to a stained glass window she had seen earlier that day, from the inside of course. It was one of the windows in Cupid's throne room. The one right behind the throne if she remembered correctly. She pushed on the window and it opened slowly with a creak. She peered in and saw no one in the room so she hefted herself up onto the window's ledge and pulled herself the rest of the way into the parapet. She scanned the room but nothing looked any different from the last time she was there. Even the bows where still on the floor, strings clipped. And the pink vial, the reason she was here, was still lying on the floor. She walked over to it and kicked it with the toe of her boot.

"I knew someone would return to the scene of the crime." Cassia looked up to her left and saw the God of Love standing there, arms folded and not looking too happy. "Having relationship problems?"

"Oh Emily you are so fine,

Oh how I wish that you were mine.

I'd even eat a smelly sock,

If you'd love me instead of your rock.

Without you I am really blue,

I feel like an icky pile of goo.

You are the prettiest Emily..."

Viky put down her poem and thought for a moment. "Sillen, you're the temple poet, what rhymes with Emily?" Viky asked.

"Nothing," Sillen replied, looking like she was going to puke.

"Oh," Viky looked disappointed. "Oh well, if you'll excuse me I have to go give my love this poem."

"Not so fast!" Sillen exclaimed, jumping to her feet and blocking Viky's path, "You aren't going anywhere. Besides, Ems is busy with her rock, remember?"

"Yeah." Viky said, her eyes darkening. "That lousy Emily stealing representation of all that is anti-Emily." Suddenly, she brightened. "I could fight it and prove my love!"

"You're going to do battle with a rock?" Sillen asked.

"OUT OF MY WAY NOT-Emily!" Viky yelled, pushing Sillen aside and running out the door.

"Wait!" yelled Sillen, chasing after her.

Maggie sat on the floor, watching as Strife banged his head against the door. "I don't think that's helping," she commented.

"But it makes me feel better." Strife whined. Then he began to sing...very badly: "Oh Viky! Life without you is icky! It makes me sicky! And then my brain goes all sticky!"

"Cassia, please HURRY!" Mags yelled above the din.

Zynthiel munched on one of Viky's cookies as she watched Livia and Emily. It wasn't half-bad. Emily had her cheek against the stone and was whispering love poems to it. She wasn't a problem. It was Livia she had to keep an eye on to keep the priestess from running out of the room to find Strife.

Right now, Livia was sitting in the corner sulking. "Where is he? I can't take this waiting anymore." The priestess suddenly jumped to her feet with a look of determination on her face. "I have to find him and tell him how much I love him."

Zynthiel got to her feet hastily and moved to block the door. "He'll be here soon, Liv. He's just, uh, out doing godly things right now. Yeah that's it. So you should sit back down and be patient like he wanted you to."

Livia glared at her. "I think you're lying. He didn't tell me to wait here. He's with that little tramp, Viky, isn't he? I saw the way he was looking at her. I swear, when I get my hands on her..."

At that moment, Viky slammed past Zynthiel into the room. Her eyes were fixed on Emily and she didn't even appear to notice the enraged Livia. "Prepare to die, evil stone, anti-Emily THING!" she yelled, and advanced on Emily and her stone.

Viky stormed forward and wrestled Emily's beloved stone away from her, causing Ems to scream with rage. Viky then proceeded to grapple with the granite in fight to the death. Ems jumped into the fray to fight for the honor and life of her love, and Livia joined in also, convinced that Viky had stolen her man. Zynthiel and Sillen gave up and joined too, trying to break up the cat fight.

Then the girls heard the noise of a god teleporting into the room.

"Strife?" asked Liv expectantly.

"I don't think so!" exclaimed Discord, extremely annoyed that anyone would dare confuse her with Strife.

The fight came to a halt.

"So," said Discord as she examined the situation, "this obviously just goes to prove the insanity of anyone who would tolerate Strife." Then she laughed her annoying cackle.

"Not Emily!" Viky yelled, and hurled the object of Ems' affection at the goddess's make-up caked face.

Ems screamed.

Discord screamed.

The rock remained bravely silent.

Out of fear, Discord forgot she could teleport away, and took the full force of the rock in the stomach. She should have just fallen down, but for some reason she flew backwards and crashed through wall after wall of the temple. She finally came to a stop after breaking through the wall that separated Maggie and Strife from everyone else.

"Now that was neat!" exclaimed Strife. The girls had to agree.

Viky even stated, "Good rock," as she gave it a pat. Ems was happy to find it unharmed.

"But why did she fly so far?" pondered Sillen.

Hephaestus popped into view and explained, "I may have given her just a little push," and then disappeared.

"Oh. Thanks!" everyone chorused.

But now everyone was in the same room again, and a fight was totally brewing!

Once again there was the sound of godly teleportation.

"Strife?" Livia exclaimed expectantly, despite the fact that the Godling had once again attached himself to Viky's knee.

"Not with these wings," Cupid said with a chuckle as he and Cassia walked out of the shadows.

Livia lunged for Viky. "You little harlot! Let him go!" Of course, it was obvious to everyone but her that Strife was the one doing the holding on.

"Take him!" Viky cried. "Give me my darling Emily! Oh, Emily! You are so beautiful and so perfect! That rock--wonderful, brilliant, perfect Discord-basher though it is--does not deserve your beauty!"

"I said LET HIM GO!" Liv reminded Viky, who was completely ignoring Strife, who was in turn trying to get close enough to her lips to kiss her.

Cassia stood next to Cupid, smiling hopelessly at the situation before them. "You weren't kidding, this IS a mess," Cupid commented.

"Yeah. So, can ya help us out?" She knew the God of Love would fix things, but at what cost? She figured the price wouldn't be high.. considering what the alternative was. Anything was better than three feuding priestesses and a lovesick Godling.

Cupid sighed. " I suppose I should do something about it . . . They're quite a mess. And if they were really with the people they loved . . . But this is all wrong! Okay, okay, I'll fix it! But you all are really going to owe me... big time." Cupid drew an arrow from his quiver and took aim.

Cupid's arrow hit Livia squarely in the middle of her back. "Ouch!" she squeaked, rubbing the spot. "What the . . .?" The priestess threw herself backwards. I was hugging Strife?! Eew! "I don't love you! What got into me?" She looked up and saw Cupid. The memories came flooding back . . . the prank . . . the pink vial . . . chasing Strife . . . trying to fight Viky. Livia groaned. "Not one of my brightest moments. Oh, gods, if anybody ever finds out, I'm never going to live it down! Iolaus is going to laugh me out of the Temple!" She forgot her own embarrassment a bit as she settled in to watch the others come around.

Cupid's second arrow hit Viky in the side of the head. "Ouch!" she exclaimed standing up. Then she began to giggle. Her laughter became louder and louder. "Ems...I...you...hehe!" She yelled, and then collapsed in hysterics.

Then suddenly she stopped. "Oh no! I slapped Strife," Viky said, almost fearfully. *Maybe Cupid won't shoot him,* she thought hopefully.

A loud "Ouch!" from Strife's direction killed that hope. Viky shuffled over to where the Godling sat rubbing his shoulder and glaring at Cupid.

Blushing furiously and staring at her feet she said, "Um, hi. I'm sorry I smacked you when you kissed me. Forgive me?"

Seeing that the girl was once again in her proper frame of mind, Strife decided to have a little fun. Putting an angry expression on his face he reminded Viky, "Well you did spurn my advances..."

Strife looked up to see Viky who looked like she was going to cry. His face softened, "Aw, forget about it." With that he kissed her deeply on the lips before hurrying over to yell at Cupid and grovel at Cassia's feet.

Viky collapsed on the floor. "Mmm..." she murmured with a smile, "Definitely not Emily."

Emily still grasped onto her rock when she grabbed her arm. "OUCH!" she yelled. Then she noticed she had a rock in her arms, which she dropped about a half and inch from Maggie's toe.

"Hey! Watch it!" Maggie said as she looked at Emily.

"I was in LOVE with a rock? Ewwwwww!" Emily said as she wrinkled her nose. She attempted to kick it and ended up with a sore foot. "OW!" she yelled again.