MISTIFIED

Someone was thrown into a clear chamber of a material he had never sensed before.

He threatened the thing to release him but it turned a deaf ear to all his curses then walked through the wall which immediately opened in a Voltron Lion like disassembly.

He walked forward till he saw someone then called,"Dad?"

I smiled then said,"Son."

Just by looking, he could tell I was from the future so asked,"Lilith sent you, didn't she?"

"Yes and no..."I said,"... Lilith misses you and regrets what she did."

"Of course she does..."Apollo said sarcastically,"... and let me guess, she wasn't in her right mind and was able to come back to her emotional stability by help from an experienced friend? Or that she'd do everything in her power to make up for things."

"...all of that was just a guess?"I asked.

"I think outside the box, but still, no amount of apologizing will change the fact that she killed so many innocent living beings."He said.

"You get your wisdom from me, but let me give you more...all that you said was true but, killing an innocent child? And just targeting her because she's defenceless against you? This isn't you, Apollo, please come back, we miss you, Maame misses you."

"Wait, Maame misses me?"He asked, starry eyed.

I grinned then said,"Yes."

"How much? Was it subtle or extreme?"

I shook my head and wiped a tear then said,"Her tears were more."

"Okay, let's go reconcile."He obliged.

"Wait so you're dumping your revolutionary, world saving, self sacrificing mission?"I asked, just to be sure.

He shrugged then literally begged me to take him back to his wife the a portal to our time opened and I grinned at his back as we walked through... then came back and zapped the cage so it opened.

***

Lilith yelled Apollo's name then ran to him but he walked past her and looked around then asked,"Where's Maame?"

They all frowned at me then I said,"I might've just made a little fib... she's in the middle of the Atlantic ocean..."

Apollo was frowning at me most as I said timidly,"Don't kill me."

He pounced on me and everyone had to come to my aid...

***

On a beach in Cape Coast...

A wave crashed on the rocks, leaving a mermaid behind, who changed into her human form as the water on her body evaporated.

She turned back then walked forward slowly then asked,"Apollo, is that you?"

He smiled slightly then she ran to hug him.

She pulled back and saw his sullen expression then asked what was wrong and he asked,"What were you doing down there?"

"Going to spend my eternity waiting for the day I'd be reunited with you, in this life or the next."She answered.

He smiled then kissed her.

Someone cleared their throat then Maame was taken aback to see me and asked,"What happened to you?"

I...who still had a black eye, bleeding nose and a few broken ribs, looked at the growling Apollo then gulped and said,"I got hit by a bus."

I healed myself at that moment then cleared my throat again to interrupt their kiss... again, then Apollo groaned then asked,"Dad, please could this wait?"

"Oh sure, it depends on how long you want to stay in this robotic, inprocreatable, ugly self."I said.

He felt both insulted and intrigued then asked what I was talking about and I said,"We could ask the most available person who could help you."

I gestured behind me then Apollo yelled,"Bertha?!"

"Hello, son."She said...

It took a bit...a lot of convincing to make Apollo trust his step biological mother again but when he did, she made him back into his former self, and with his help, she was able to imagine half the country's lost living things were restored to their homes with their loved ones, without memory of what happened.

It was a very gradual process, but soon, the entire world had mostly forgotten what happened, except for the leaders who imprisoned Lilith.

I stood at the other side of the pane then said,"I'm sorry Lilith, but I'll find a way to get you out of here."

She smiled sweetly then said,"I'll wait, knowing I deserve every second I spend in here."

Of course Jessie also had to be brought back, but he still exposed his resurrected brother for who he really was, and was confused as to how Lilith ended up in jail as he had no memory of what happened, but still went to visit her from time to time.

Zeinab was the only one who remembered and bore no grudge, she knew Lilith didn't deserve to be treated like that, but Lilith told Zeinab to do her a favour, to date Jessie if she really loved him back, he wasn't a very bad person, just insecure.

Zeinab agreed.

After all our clones had left, we all found a way to place Lilith under house arrest for four years instead of a life imprisonment... don't ask how.

We threw a party to celebrate the next stage of her redemption, but it wasn't a big one as usual, just a small feast with only my extended family partaking...I should've probably just said feast in the first place.

Lilith was sitting down when a black cloud with blood red eyes appeared behind her which she couldn't sense or see.

A hand which looked grey and diseased with extremely sharp nails scratched her shoulder mildly.

She looked around when she felt the pain, but saw nothing, so she tried healing it, but it was taking longer than usual...much longer, so she just went to the bathroom to wash up.

The cloud followed her as she used a paper towel to wipe the blood then it said,"Seems like I'm going to have to use a different approach."

Then it darted out through the ceiling and Lilith screamed as all the glasses exploded around her and the table was thrown over, so as all of us and I yelled,"What the heck was that?!"

Anneliese slowly got off her aching neck as that was where she landed and said,"If it were an earthquake, I would have sensed it."

I looked into the bathroom where I sensed Lilith on the floor, bleeding uncontrollably then ran to my daughter...