Chapter 226 - 2.103 [Castle Bonus] Homecoming (3)

Celeste decided to call a meeting between the gods so everyone could get on the same page. Sora, Brie, Xander, Diana and Eris couldn’t agree more, but they also wanted to enjoy the homecoming celebration before they did anything else. There was no sense bringing Emma and Emery, they were way too young to understand the magnitude of what was actually going on.

Everyone enjoyed the wedding as a group and socialized afterwards. Xander felt different. He didn’t feel like he fit in with the party anymore and Levi could sense something was off with him.

"Yo, Xander, let’s head to the dojo quick?" He asked.

"Yeah, sure Uncle Levi." Xander said with a slight smile.

"Come on Diana, let’s go make sure our husbands don’t do something stupid..." Sasha said with a laugh.

"Sure, Riss, Jules, you want to come too?"

"Yeah sure."

’Well so much for just me and Uncle Levi.’ Xander rolled his eyes. ’At least it’s with the people other than my parents I’m most comfortable with, although Jubelle is pretty easy to talk to and so is Leila.’

Brie and Sora watched them walk away and realized Xander was being different since they saw him in Paradise. They felt bad but knew they were doing everything they could to make his life the best possible one he could have. He was born into a war torn planet and both of his parents were gods. Then they spent that time in Paradise where all he did was train and work with Athena to get stronger.

"I feel like he never got a chance to just...be a kid." Brie said to Sora while hugging him.

"Yeah... neither did I, though. Not here at least. Even growing up on Earth it was always with orphans. Never had any friends so at least he has a good family and party of people that care about him deeply. Still, if we had to do it over again, maybe we should have just gone to MeadowSong instead."

"But then we wouldn’t have been able to be King and Queen nor would we have helped Athena. I don’t think Xander realizes how much he’s helped, maybe that’s why Levi wants to talk to him?"

"Hope so because we have to take out the rest of the werewolves soon. That shouldn’t be difficult but maybe we should just let the kids stay out of this one. They’ve seen enough war and bloodshed as it is."

"We could just use all the people who don’t have kids and it should be pretty easy. I’m not sure how strong Fenrir and Selene are, though. I’m sure Ox would know. We could always talk to Dorian and see if he’d want to send anyone."

"No need. This is a party thing, not a werewolf and vampire thing. We’ll be able to kill them off easy enough, take their power and look like assholes. That’s what sucks about all of this." Sora said while they started walking to their room.

"We need to start thinking more like god and goddess remember? We have to ensure the safety of the people while we have a blessing. If werewolves have to go because they sided with demons, that’s what Athena wants and it prevents you from destroying the world. That’s what I agreed to help you with the first night here and I said it in my vows. I love you Sora, but we have to start looking at things differently."

"I couldn’t agree more. Well, Emery and Emma are out like lights. Let’s go practice being god and bad goddess again."

Brie blushed and laughed. "Sounds good to me."

*****

Xander and company got to the dojo and Levi sat down next to him. Julius, Rissa, Sasha and Diana sat in the comfortable lounge seating they had installed years ago to make the spars more comfortable to watch. They decided to give them some room to talk, but they also wanted to talk to him afterwards.

"Xander, you don’t seem like you’re very happy these days. I thought you would be ecstatic to be home and you were at first, what changed?" Levi asked sincerely.

"Eris was talking to Pride about god and goddess stuff and now that we have Zeus’ blessing, we also can turn on and off telepathy, invisibility and share all of our abilities. It’s annoying to see her so lovey dovey with him and I thought she shouldn’t be talking about my dad’s life with Pride. It’s his life to live, not hers."

"Ah. Well, for what it’s worth, anything she said to Pride, it’s probably something your dad knows anyway or most of the party has figured out at least." Levi said while patting him on the back.

"Not this stuff. I don’t even think Sasha and my mom have talked about it."

"So god stuff?" Levi asked curiously.

"Yeah... it’s kind of all just messed up. I guess we should just be lucky it’s Nana Fena ruling and not Zeus." Xander sighed.

"Xander, you know my family has been around since the origination of this planet, right?"

"I forget about that sometimes, but yes. What do you mean?"

"Do you know how many different prophecies my family has seen over the generations? Tens of thousands. Your dad was in one. He was meant to be here so if it was something about him not being here, that was always a possibility."

"So even the Uthra know about that stuff?"

"You don’t think Dorian and Azazel didn’t either? What about Mina and Xavier? They’ve all been around forever Xander. You need to stop looking at the world from your parents point of view. I know you haven’t had a real childhood, but you’re not a regular child either. You were born to be great."

Xander smiled. "Thanks Uncle Levi. It’s just so weird! Like I’m older than Julius now, Diana is too. I feel like I never even was a kid."

"Aren’t you a little bit to blame for that though?" Levi asked sincerely.

"Yeah, that’s true. I’m the one who sped up time to get back, I get it."

"Well, start trying to enjoy life rather than dwell on things you can’t control. Trust the party and trust your parents. I know you’re an adult, but you don’t have to do everything yourself. You already proved you’re more than capable of that. Try spending some time with your new wife. Enjoy the small things."

"Alright," Xander smiled. "That sounds good."