"Argh!" Rexhenor cried out.
He grabbed for his chest, pressing both his hands against it. He fell backwards onto wooden flooring. The soldier looked up to see two eager heads peak over the edge off the sofa he fell behind.
"I got you." Alexia said, a wide grin on her face.
In her hand was an already reloaded nerf gun. Right beside her, little brother Daemon, pointed his gun at Rexhenor and shot without mercy. The foam dart bounced harmlessly off the Captain's chest.
"So have I."
"You don't shoot a man who's down Daemon. That's just messed up." Rexhenor said.
"Haven't your mothers taught you better than this?"
The eight year old shrugged, not caring much for the Captain's fruitless excuses. He got him, that's all that matters.
"Alexia and Daemon - 20, Rex - 15." Alexia stated.
Rexhenor smiled at that. Competitive as ever. She definitely took after her mother, the goddess of victory. He had not a single doubt that every small task in the house became even the slightest bit competitive. Just like he had no doubt that his superior, the kids' other mom and the goddess of wisdom, had to do everything in her power to not let the competition rule her family.
"What kind of soldier are you when you lose from two kids?" Daemon, ever insightful, asked dryly.
"A good one." The captain smirked.
He aimed the two small nerf handguns he was holding at the kids, hitting each of them with a dart.
"Alexia and Daemon - 20, Rexhenor - 17."
Alexia glared at him.
"I strongly dislike you." The fourteen year old stated.
"Ah, we agree for once. Now hide or I make it 18 and 19."
Immediately the kids scrambled out of the couch across the house. Rexhenor was a man of his word and they knew that. Silence settled in the living room as the kids hid. Rexhenor took his sweet time to get up and let them devise a strategy of their own. In the meantime he restocked his pockets with the darts that littered the floor. After a quick reload he decided to see if he could find them. As quietly as he could he snuck around the couch to get a better view of the living room. Rexhenor quickly established that his theory was correct. The children had left. That raised a new question. Where did the kids run off to? Their house was massive, as is befitting of goddesses of course, which made searching for two children quite the task. The captain decided on a systematic approach. From the living room he would make his way into the kitchen and then move on to the hallway. After that, he would move through the rest of the house, clearing it, room by room. After making sure to check every nook and cranny in both the living room and kitchen Rexhenor entered the hallway. Leaning around the corner, prepared to shoot at even the sight of dirty blond locks or black curls, he made sure the way was safe. He was about to go upstairs, pretty sure that neither of the kids would have the guts to hide in Athena's office or Nike's trophy room. When reaching the stairs, the captain aimed his guns up, making sure he was in the clear. Before he could finish he heard the clicking sound of a nerf gun that was being reloaded.
"Now!" Alexia's voice called out.
Immediately a rain of darts showered over the Captain's head. Daemon's devious cackle sounded from above him. It would seem the kid had stocked his mini-gun with plenty of darts. Sometimes Rexhenor really wondered how on earth he was born of Athena. The captain immediately jumped over the staircase railing and behind a wall to safety. The carnage from above came to a halt. He took a few deep breaths. Just then Athena and Nike exited their office. The former seemed confused at the scene in front of her. Her captain with two nerf guns held closely to his chest, taking deep breaths.
"What are you doing?" The wisdom goddess wondered.
A perfectly sculpted eyebrow raised itself and perfected her puzzled expression.
"Seems like one hell of a battle out there." Nike chuckled, seeing Rexhenor pressed against the wall.
It almost seemed like he wanted to disappear into it.
"You have no idea."
He even kept his voice low and glanced upwards in the direction of the staircase. It didn't help much as he couldn't see either of the kids from his position.
"What on earth are you two talking about?"
Rexhenor and Nike shared a look. As much as they loved the puzzled deity, this was something she would have a hard time understanding. Sometimes they pitied her. No matter how smart or clever she was she would never truly understand the concept of playing. Athena had never been a child, instead born an adult. She would never know what it was like to see those plastic darts as a deadly bullet. She would never know what it meant to see the floor as lava that would kill you the instant your feet touched the floor. She would never, not in her entire immortal life, be able to feel the happiness and thrill related to these kinds of games. Even if it were explained to her, she would not have the imagination necessary to truly play. Her ever logical mind made sure of that.
Athena eyed her captain and her wife, wondering what that gaze meant. Every bit of the long second that the look lasted was agonizing. She hated not knowing.
Rexhenor was about to open his mouth when she held up her hand.
"You know what, I don't want to know. It doesn't matter."
She turned to Nike.
"Let's get that map from the library shall we? The sooner we finish up our work, the sooner we can all do something nice together."
The victory goddess would stop her wife and counter her if she knew her efforts wouldn't be in vain. She was convinced that all her wife needed sometimes was just a moment of silliness. Instead she smiled at Athena and nodded.
"Of course, my love."
Besides, the promise of being able to hang out with her family was a great motivator as well.
"After you."
She stretched her arm out as a sign for Athena to lead the way. Up above at the top of the staircase the two kids huddled together. They heard the voices of their moms in the hallway downstairs.
"What are they saying?" Daemon asked.
"I don't know, but it's probably just them talking with Rex, nothing for us to worry about." Alexia said.
"In fact, this gives us a chance to get ready for when he does step away from that wall. He can't hide there forever." She added.
Daemon checked his magazine. The chain of darts was nearly empty.
"I'm nearly out of darts though."
"I think I have one more strip in my room." Alexia offered.
Quietly, yet surprisingly quickly she moved to her room and took the final chain of nerf darts from underneath her bed. She returned to her little brother, who used it to reload his machine gun.
"I only have two more clips myself." She whispered to him.
"Do you have an empty one?" Daemon asked.
Alexia nodded, placing it on the floor between them.
"Here use these."
Daemon dug in his pockets and took out enough darts to fill the empty clip.
"Picked them up on our way through the living room." He grinned.
"Genius." His sister grinned back as she started putting the darts in the bright orange magazine.
Just as she finished up she saw movement in the corner of her eye.
"Move, he's coming!"
Immediately the two siblings aimed their rifle and machine gun towards the end of the stairs. A loud, surprised, yell cut through the sound of the nerf guns. It was quickly followed by an even louder
"What is the meaning of this?!"
Immediately their firing seized. The siblings looked at each other, watching the blood fade away from their faces, as they turned as white as a sheet of paper.
"Both of you, down here now!"
Alexia's blood ran cold. She was sure she was done for. With their guns still in their hands the two of them made their way down the steps, where they were met with a fuming Athena. If his life had been a cartoon Daemon was sure his mother would've had steam coming from her ears. The thought nearly made him laugh, until her steel gray gaze bore itself into his. Daemon swallowed hard.
"Care to explain yourselves?" Athena asked, harsher than she had meant to sound.
Her initial anger had already cooled down. She just loathed surprises of any kind.
"Sorry mom." Alexia apologized.
"We thought you were Rexhenor, we've been playing a game with him this afternoon while you and momma were working." Daemon added.
They both stared at their feet underneath their mother's scary gaze. Nike would've laughed at the whole ordeal if her kids weren't looking like they were pleading for their mother's forgiveness. In fact, she didn't like seeing this at all. She stepped closer to Athena, gently placing a hand on her shoulder.
"I'm sure mom understands that this was just a simple misunderstanding." The angel said, sending her children a gentle smile.
"Don't you dearest?"
Though Athena glared at her, Nike knew there was no harm done. All her wife needed was a moment to cool down, no more, no less.
"Of course I understand. I just wanted to hear it from the two of them. Honesty is an important virtue."
"I know, so do they, now cut the angry act. You will end up teaching them to fear you. That is not what we do." Nike stated, sending her wife a stern look.
Athena gave a single short nod after which both goddesses ascended the stairs towards the library.
"That got out of hand huh?" Rexhenor asked the two kids.
Both of them nodded.
"Game over?" Daemon asked, a little sad.
"And let you two win?! Never!"
The captain said, shooting both children in the chest.
Once again they ran around the house chasing each other, though they decided to remain in the living room as to keep any casualties to a minimum.
Up in the library the two goddesses bended themselves over the map they needed for their latest strategy. Nike found herself unable to focus. She envied Rexhenor who got to play with her kids. She sighed as she watched her wife's focussed scowl.
"What?" Athena asked, feeling the angel's gaze on her body.
"Are we nearly done?"
"You tell me love. You're the one who approves my strategies."
"Right." Nike muttered.
She stared at the map in front of her. Athena was moving her fingers across it, clearly following a train of thought, yet not worked out enough to share apparently.
"Might we do something else for a moment? Take a breather before we get back to this?"
The wisdom goddess looked up from the map to look at her wife.
"What? Why?"
"I just think it will be refreshing."
"Didn't we just agree that the moment we get this done we would enjoy some family time?"
"Well yeah, but-"
"Then let's focus just a little longer okay?"
"Love, we've been working on this non-stop for days." Nike protested.
Athena sighed. She couldn't exactly deny that either. She too missed her family, but she was so close to figuring it out. She could feel it.
"You've been at it for days. Perhaps it will help to take a break and look at things from a different angle with a fresh mind." Nike added.
"But I'm-"
"So close. I know. It is always like that. That's why I know that a break will be good for you."
Another sigh. Athena gave her a small glare, but it quickly softened.
"Fine, what would you have us do?"
"I believe there is a battle going on downstairs. As deities of war, we can't not participate can we?"
With a wide grin Nike grabbed onto her wife's wrist and pulled her out of the library. Meanwhile downstairs they were caught in a crossfire behind the couches when Alexia hit Rexhenor again.
"Alexia and Daemon - 29, Rexhenor - 27!" She exclaimed.
She lifted her arms in victory. Suddenly she felt a dart hit her back. What the? Rexhenor was right there in front of her, it wasn't him. Did Daemon just break the 'no friendly fire' rule? His head poked from behind the single fauteuil. He seemed dumbstruck, but a wide grin started breaking through his expression. Rexhenor suddenly started laughing. Alexia turned to see who had fired the dart. She spotted her mom with a sniper rifle and her momma with a semi-automatic rifle.
"I believe we have some catching up to do, because there is no way I'm losing this." Nike announced.
"Alexia and Daemon - 29, Rexhenor - 27, Athena and Nike - 1." Athena corrected her daughter.
"Aw man, why can't you join me?" The captain practically whined.
Nike answered with a dart to his head.
"I told you, I don't lose."