Terrible Twos , page 1

Just a little story I conjured up for a contest on another site. Hope you enjoy it

Sitting at the edge of the Great Lake, Apollo felt well rested. It felt so good to know that he was the one giving warmth to the humans far below. Closing his eyes he relaxed a bit further and allowed his body to soak up some of the suns warm rays, basking in the glory of being a God.

He thought of his father, Zeus, and how he was never satisfied with what Apollo had to offer. When will he realize that I have grown a lot in the past two hundred years? He asked himself. Living up to his father’s expectations could drive any of the Gods crazy.

A high pitched scream followed by a peal of laughter cut Apollo’s thoughts off abruptly. In the Heavens where everything was quite peaceful a scream like this was never heard. He straightened up and strained to hear more. To him it sounded as if the sounds had come from a child. But that thought was illogical because Apollo knew there were no children on this side of Heaven. He decided then that he should go and investigate but when he reached for his bow it was no longer resting on the rock where he had left it.

He raised a quizzical eyebrow as he pondered the situation.

“Hmm,” he thought aloud. “Now, I know I set it down here….” At that moment he heard a childish giggle escape from behind the bushes to his right. “Who is there?” He bellowed in his most authoritative tone. After a second, the leaves began to rustle and a very chubby baby popped out from behind the bushes causing Apollo to jump back in surprise. The baby had rosy red cheeks and extremely thick, curly black hair that bounced ferociously with every step he took. He looked to be not more than two years of age, wearing only a diaper, and was staring up at Apollo as if he had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

“What the-“Apollo started, but the baby quickly interrupted him.

“I do not know where your bow is, Apollo.” His voice was high pitched and extremely cute and Apollo was surprised at how well he was able to speak. He was shaking his head vigorously but he had a look of guilt on his chubby round face. “I don’t, I don’t, I don’t.”

Apollo cleared his throat but was too taken aback to actually say anything. With one last look up at Apollo the baby took off running towards the gate the led from the Lake to the square. Still shocked, Apollo took a moment to gather his thoughts and began to follow him rather cautiously. He didn’t know what was going on. Maybe there was some kind of special event happening that involved letting children visit the God’s Villages. All he knew was that he needed to find out. But when he came through the gate he was met with a most horrifying scene.

In the middle of the square there was a fountain in which golden water had flowed for centuries. This fountain was well known throughout the Kingdom of Heaven as the Thinking Origin. Where Gods would come to relax and reflect. At this moment though, there were no Gods around.
Instead, there were little chubby children everywhere. In the fountain, there were five at least, splashing around and tackling others into the water. Loud peals of laughter and screams were everywhere, piercing Apollo’s ears causing him to cringe. He had never seen so many babies in one place before and he had no idea what to do.

He felt a tug at his robes and looked down to see a red headed baby grasping them and pulling with all his might.

“Apollo,” the baby said to him. “Apollo, Aphrodite took your bow. I saw her. She took it and ran into the big pillar place. She said she wanted to give it to Cupid.”

He then let go of Apollo’s robes and took off for the fountain, jumping in head first and laughing as he knocked over another baby.

“Aphrodite? Big pillar place?” Apollo had never been more confused. Why would Aphrodite take his bow and where did all these children come from!? Apollo guessed the big pillar place the baby had referred to was in fact the King’s Chambers where his father resided and he started to make his way in that direction. As he walked something flew above his head, shrieking in a high pitched voice and he ducked quickly to get out of the way. As he looked up he realized it was a baby with wings like an angel being chased by another one. Both of them were wearing diapers and neither seemed to have a care in the world. He then noticed that the first had a crown of red cherries atop her head. Apollo knew of only one other person who wore a crown like that, Angel Rachelle, and with a closer look at the baby he saw to his great surprise that she was also holding a harp. Angel Rachelle both wore a cherry crown and carried a harp in order to bring love and music to the humans.

Apollo looked around the square and he was astounded to see that every baby he laid eyes on resembled someone he knew whether it be God or angel. The chubby curly haired one he’d seen earlier at the lake had turquoise colored eyes shaped like almonds. The same eyes that Poseidon, God of the Sea had. The red headed one had a pink scar along his jaw line. The same ugly scar that Hermes had obtained delivering a message to Hades, God of the Underworld. He then spotted a baby carrying a staff as big as Apollo himself. As he watched, the child pointed the staff at a baby a few yards in front of him. With a swift jab of the staff a shot of lightning bolted from the end hitting the baby directly in the chest turning her into ash on the concrete below. “Gotchya’” he said, laughing loudly, and took off running, pointing his staff at other babies threatening to get them too.

Apollo finally realized that something terrible had happened. Somehow, something had turned everyone into babies and Apollo had not been there to be turned into one himself. As he stared in horror at what was happening before him he caught a glimpse of an adult shaped being darting behind a pillar. Without a second thought he took off after it and when he came around the pillar smacked face first into the Norse God of mischief and chaos, Loki.

When Loki saw who he had run into, a look of confusion crossed his face.

“What are you doing here?” He asked Apollo. “Why aren’t you infected?”

“What are you talking about ‘infected’?” Apollo asked him. “Why has everyone turned into babies!?”

Loki then smiled a wicked smile and straightened his robes quite slowly. “Well, since there really isn’t anything you can do about it, especially since you are alone, I guess I can tell you.” He placed an arm around Apollo’s shoulders and walked him back into the square. “As you have figured out every one of the Gods and Angels have been turned into a baby. Look there is your father Zeus shooting his little bolts of lightning and killing off his fellow Gods. Isn’t that just ironic?? Did you see him shoot one at Hera just now? Little Zeus just murdered His Queen of the Gods and seems to think it’s a game!”

Apollo was too shocked to say anything. He just looked at Loki with wide eyes. Why? He thought.

As if reading his mind, Loki said “Well, for a long time now I have been trying to figure out a way to take over the Kingdom. And by a miracle I came across this infection that Zeus himself had been hiding away for centuries. One that was used many, many, many years ago by my predecessor to wreck havoc in the world below us. And it might have worked if he had been as smart as me. You see, I made sure to infect Zeus first, so that he could not stop me. Once he had been tainted by