It had been so long since the group had seen them that they almost looked and felt entirely different.
They somehow seemed older, wiser... and definitely stronger.
"Melanie!"
Celeste came running from her place in the kitchen and nearly tackled her daughter out of the air.
"Hey, ma. I'm back." She smiled.
Celeste was already on the verge of tears. "Where have you BEEN?!"
"Well..."
Apophis touched the ground and Serana came barreling at him like a freight car.
She would have knocked him over if he weren't on the same level of rigidity as an iron wall.
When tackling him didn't work, she went to pummeling.
He caught her hands, and she head-butted him.
...She nearly knocked herself out and she had to be held up.
Thea landed softly in front of Aisha and Aubrey- and it was clear that she wanted to run and embrace them both, but didn't for whatever reason.
"...Give me a chance to explain?" She asked with a guilty smile.
Aubrey looked like she wanted to say no.
However, Aisha grabbed her hand gently and gave her a sort of pleading look that she couldn't refuse.
"...Start talking."
- 4 Minutes Later...
Aisha: "So your entire everything was destroyed and rewritten...?"
Serana: "All because Apophis won a contest..?"
Malachi: "And you guys didn't even remember us until like an hour ago..?"
""Basically."" Thea and Apophis nodded in unison.
Naturally, that kind of information took a while to settle in with the group.
Well... for most of them anyway.
"Good enough for me! I missed you, babe!" Serana leapt into Apophis' arms like a princess.
Malachi was beginning to get that usual feeling of indigestion that he got whoever his mother said something wildly inappropriate.
Did he miss her..? Yes. Did he miss this..? No. Not at all.
"Hey, in a fight who wins?" Bianca asked.
"Are you seriously trying to power scale our relatives right now..?" Anna asked.
"Don't shame me, this is exciting!" Bianca pouted.
Unfortunately for her, neither Apophis or his sister seemed like they were going to answer that question either.
Thea picked up a bottle of liquor and smiled at everyone reassuringly. "So, what are we drinking?"
-
About an hour later, Camille had already been put down while the adults held a small drinking party.
While Apophis was getting felt up by Serana and Celeste was catching up on all of the motherly hugs that she had missed, Thea was trying to make up with the pair of beautiful women whom she had been painfully separated from.
"So... Is the other dimension still thriving well?" She asked awkwardly.
"...It is actually." Aisha realized. "How is that possible?"
"I-I guess when our realities were broken off, my realm was caught somewhere in limbo. And since several of your members still had keys to enter, then they were fine... I'm just glad that everything worked out." she sighed in relief.
Aubrey wasn't quite old enough to drink yet, so she nonchalantly sipped from a soda can while avoiding Thea's pleading gaze.
Aisha was seemingly much less upset, but it was clear that she wouldn't be making things easier for Thea either.
Even though what happened was not technically her fault, they could not help but feel like they had been abandoned.
So even if it was illogical, they wanted to make the gorgeous goddess sweat, if even for a moment.
And judging by the look she currently wore on her face, it was working extremely well.
"Don't be like that, my dears... I will do anything that you ask if you would only grant me your forgiveness just this one time."
Aubrey was a bit closer to caving than she wanted to admit. Aisha was too, her poker face was just better.
But all of the sudden, a single idea popped into Aisha's mind that made her look at Thea in a completely different light.
"You really want our forgiveness..?"
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"Of course I do." Thea kneeled and took both of the girls' hands.
"Okay then... then we need your help with one very important favor..."