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Your song is on repeat and I am dancing to your heartbeat. . .

~Clean Bandit

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As soon as his hands connects with my upper arm, my whole life begins to flash before my eyes and I realise one thing- I am not human.

I once was human, but it was a very long time ago. A time, before Cupid came into my life.

The images gets steadier and clearer as my body connects with his in a warm embrace. My memories fill up the emptiness within my soul answering every question I have ever had about my existence.

My focus heightens on the memories of our marriage ceremony - the day I became a goddess.

I was the prettiest and happiest of brides. My smile, brighter than the stars that illuminated the luxuriously decorated hall of Olympus.

"If you keep smiling like that, I might not wait for this proceedings to end before claiming you." I hear Cupid's husky voice in my head.

"That will be a show I wouldn't want to miss," Anteros- his brother says behind him.

Even as I watch the scene, I blush at the words. We were happy, but. . .why did I leave?

I watch as Zeus, the god of gods, bestows upon me the gift of immortality. The answer to all my insecurities.

I became a god.

The god of beauty, thanks to my physical features.

The god of love and passion, as I was now married to Cupid.

And my very own gift, the goddess of wealth.

I am still enjoying the glamour of the event in Cupid's arms, when I feel my consciousness begin to frail, like something is pulling my very soul away from my love.

No!

Not again!

No! I can't die!

I am a goddess!

My heart begins to race at an impossible speed as the panic seeps into my organs. I struggle to stay conscious but my efforts prove worthless as my world turns dark. The happy memories, long gone.

It has happened, again.

Am I dead?

The warmest of breezes laps against my skin. Welcoming me to the one place death takes me, every time. Opening my eyes, recognition of where I am brings tears to my face.

All this while, death somehow brought me home.

I am home. I and Cupid's house.

Just like, the previous times it happened, I find myself in a corridor. My own corridor.

The very one I decorated with my own hands. I allow my hands trace out the feel of the delicate silver intricate designs. The ones, I made on the bronze wall. My bronze wall.

"This is terrible, my love!" I hear the echoes of Cupid's teasing voice, in the memories of the day I crafted the hanging wools.

The first time I found myself here, I thought I was in heaven because hell couldn't possibly be this beautiful.

But I was wrong. Oh I was wrong.

This isn't heaven. It's Olympus.

It's my house.

Maybe this time, I am not dead.

As I move, the light which hovers above me, like an enchanted spotlight, showers golden rays of light unto my skin and the tiled floor directly beneath me.

I continue my never ending trek and for now, it is quiet. Only the light welcomes me, like it recognises my presence.

Joy fills my heart as I realise, my legs are carrying me to my chamber. I and Cupid's chamber.

"Oshun!" Memories of him calling out my name plays in my head and I can't help but smile.

Soon, I am in our chamber.

I scurry to the bed and await my love's arrival. For he always had the most beautiful smile whenever he opened the door and I was the first thing he saw.

Now that I remember it, he said he needed to retrieve a gift for me.

Chuckling softly, I make myself comfortable on the bed, flinging my long dark locs unto my left shoulders. A position my husband totally adored.

The door swings open as I presumed, but it isn't my love at the door. It isn't my husband. It's his mother, Venus.

"Mother," I greet softly trying to hide my disappointment as I rise from my position on the bed. Cupid, where are you?

"May Zeus strike me dead if I birth a thing like you," she coldly spits, her green eyes shining with hatred.
Knowing our history, I ignore her hateful reply.

Venus, Cupid's mother, has never liked me. And for no actual reason, other than the fact that some gods, goddesses and humans alike, find me more beautiful and attractive. I am the goddess of beauty after all- but so is she, and that is a crime.

Ever since, Cupid presented me as his fiancée to all of Olympus, is mother never approved.

But I was ready to do just about anything to gain her approval.

"Do you need anything, mo- dear goddess," I implore her, my brown eyes meeting her shoes in respect. I shouldn't be doing this for I am a goddess too, but I want to gain her love.

"As much as I detest every milli second I spend in your presence, I love my son. And he is in trouble. Thanks to a thing, like you," she says, her voice laced with contempt and her eyes blazing with so much hatred- If I were human, I would have flamed up.

Hearing my husband was in some kind of trouble, I raise my head but do not meet her eyes- the heat coming from those green orbs is enough to burn me.

"What happened to Cupid?" I cry. Just the idea of Cupid being hurt pumps pain into my heart.

"In a foolish quest to make you the best jewelry Olympus has ever seen, he has found himself lost on earth in one of Hades' traps! A minute longer in that hole, you won't have a husband and much more importantly I won't have a son anymore," she explains, circling around me like a hungry predator.

"Hades?" I exclaim. "What do we do mother? We should go to Zeus right now for a coin of transportation. Have you informed Anteros?" I ask, shock washing over me. Hades was the meanest and most cruel of all gods.

If what mother says is true then we had to act fast.

"No!" She suddenly screams, "do not inform Anteros. I wouldn't want my two sons to get trapped!" At this point, she stops going round me like an hungry lioness and stares at me with alarm.

She doesn't want Anteros involved.

"W-what about the coin? W-we still need to get to Zeus," I stutter.

She fists her hands in frustration or irritation - one can never be sure with mother- "we don't need Zeus!" She says conjuring a dark bowl filled with a greenish mixture. A sort of concoction.

"This is what you need. Drink it!" She urges, "once you do, it will take you to where Cupid is. Take it!" She says raising her voice. She thrusts the dark bowl into my palms and forces it unto my lips.

"Drink!" She barks.

Why is she so desperate?

Her voice. I've heard it elsewhere. . .

"Drink it!" I swallow the bitter-sweet concoction and just as my body begins to fade away, I see the satisfying wicked grin on mother's face.

I realise, she tricked me.

________*________

A citrus scent fills my nostrils, gently pulling me out of my world of memories. It is everywhere. On the soft bed I am laying on. On the soft hands holding tightly unto mine. Cupid's scent.

Fluttering my lids open, my brown eyes meets the grays of his. So intense, just like I remember them. My love.

Despite the tiredness in them, they lit up with happiness as he sees my smile. "Hey, my love!" I whisper, my voice weak and husky, like I have been crying.

He gives a low happy laugh. The one that emits a sound that is so contagious, I can't help but join him. My Cupid.

"I have missed seeing you two laugh like idiots." I turn my head to the direction of the chuckling voice and I find Anteros, sitting on a short stool by the end of the bed.

"Care to tell me why you decided to run off?" He adds, "because I know, Love-brain over there wants to know the reason why you did that, but he is too occupied with love you to ask."

As his question registers, my memories return and I finally make sense of everything. The concoction.

Mother sent me here. She tricked me.

She is the reason why I keep dying and coming back only to meet people who have already forgotten me.

She cursed me.

"M-mother," Cupid brushes stray strands of hair away from my face as I begin. "She tricked me."

Anger flashes in both their eyes but it's even stronger in Anteros' golden orbs. "Mother tricked you! How?" He grits, trying to control his anger.

"She showed me an image of Cupid being tortured on earth by Anubis." The two brothers exchange knowing glances, but urge me to continue. "I was desperate," I cry, realising what my blind trust in mother cost me.

"It wasn't your fault, my love," Cupid says, placing gentle kisses on my temples.

"Why didn't you find me before running off to play hero," Anteros questions, his voice firm and stern. "Everyone knows mother is good friends with Hades. If truly Cupid was in some kind of trouble with Anubis, she could have stopped it with a snap of her fingers!" He barks, his olive skin starting to glow in anger.

"Brother, control your temper. Óshún doesn't know all of that," Cupid tells him, all the while tracing comforting circles on my palm.

At the time, I wasn't exactly considering the possibility of mother tricking me. Besides, I didn't know about her relationship with Hades.

"I am not angry with her! My anger is towards mother!" He growls, "how could she have done this!"

"We can find that out, when we get back. Save your energy brother. We are going to need it," Cupid advises, his voice firm and strong.

Settling further into Cupid, only one thing passes my mind as I sigh in relief, mother failed.

Cupid found me.

__________*___________

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