Title: Final Battle
Author: JoeyRZ
Email: joey_amazonbard@hotmail.com
Website: http://www.angelfire.com/pq/joeyrz/index.html
Rating: PG
Fandom: Xena/Herc
Pairing: A/J
Status: Complete
Sequel/Series: Part 10 in the "Righting Wrongs" universe. Follows "Demon
Season"
Archive: To Joxerotica, AJCS and my site; anywhere else, ask permission
first.
Summary: This is it. the final battle.
Notes: This is for the Joxerotica 2005 Challenge. This is October's entry -
ruling god: Hades.
Disclaimer: Nothing is mine except the idea and the words.
Final Battle
By JoeyRZ
The echo of Ares' voice carrying across the Great Hall managed to rouse
Hades, his head protesting against the noise. Pushing himself up, he sat up
enough to see Ares dropping next to Joxer on the other side of the hall. As
the younger god was helped into a sitting position, Hades saw the trail of
blood running down his face. He watched as Ares coached Joxer through the
process of self healing the small wound, an ability all gods naturally had
and was developed in their childhood years. Hades supposed that, in godly
terms, Joxer was a child.
"Brother?" Poseidon's voice sounded to his right. Still aching from the
collision against the wall, he turned slowly towards his older brother.
Poseidon was resting against the wall, just below the indentation his body
left on the thick marble slabs that covered the temple. Hades was sure that
if he looked up, he'd see a similar hole.
"I'm okay. sore, but okay." Rising unsteadily, he managed to stay on feet
only by holding onto the wall. "Ares, you and Joxer okay?" he asked,
wincing at the loudness of his own voice.
"We're fine," Ares said, his words of assurance losing their worth as he
stumbled from his kneeling position, bracing himself on Joxer and only
barely managing not to fall on top of him.
"What happened?" Poseidon asked as he got up himself, just as shaky as
Hades, and half heartedly swatted the dust and debris off his hair.
The goddesses were still laying in the middle of the Great Hall, locked in a
tight embrace; Athena's twitching tempered slightly by Artemis hold on her.
Hades and Poseidon approached them carefully, unwilling to be thrown back
again.
"I think it's safe," Joxer said carefully as he wiped the blood off his
forehead with a cloth Ares had given him. "For now. And no, I don't know
for how long. But if Artemis and Athena win, we have nothing to worry
about. If they lose, we have to be prepared for the worst."
"Should we move them somewhere safer? To Tartarus, perhaps?" Hades
suggested, as he went to touch the Artemis.
"NO!" Joxer shouted, scrambling to get to his feet, and half running and
half crawling, managed to get to Hades' side. "No, don't touch them, we
don't know what'll happen. And we shouldn't move them, much less to
Tartarus; Dahok could control the dead. Worst case scenario, we don't want
to give him a ready made army."
"Any suggestions, Ares?" Hades asked as his nephew made it to their side.
"There's no way to tell how this little mind walk of Artemis is going to pan
out, so we're operating assuming the worst. Artemis fails, Athena dies and
Dahok breaks free. We have no idea if Dahok will be weaker or stronger
coming out of this, but we'll say stronger. That means, that even you,
Uncle Don, won't be able to take him out again. I've declared war. We need
an army."
~*~*~*~
Hades looked out one of the windows of the Great Hall and smile in
satisfaction. Joxer was just now relaying Ares' instructions to the rest of
the gods assembled outside and around the temple.
They managed to get the strongest gods in Olympus plus other many minor but
brave gods here in less than a minute. It was amazing the commanding power
Ares exuded, and now functioning as King of the Gods, his booming demand for
their presence was not ignored. Only Ares, Poseidon and he remained inside
the Hall, the front line of defense. If they should fail against Dahok or
if the demon managed to escape, he'd be confronted by over fifty Olympians
upon setting one ugly foot outside.
"Hades!"
He only hoped Artemis was successful. Persephone was outside.
~*~*~*~
The silence unnerved Joxer more than anything else that was going on. No
one was talking.
If one thing he'd learned of the gods in the time he'd been one, is that in
groups of three or more gods and goddesses, conversation was hardly scarce.
But all around him, they stood at the ready, weapons drawn and silent.
Silence that had fell upon them as they heard Ares loudly calling to Hades.
Nothing could have been deciphered from the one word, Ares' yell carrying
neither fear nor relief with it.
He'd done his part, informing the gods of the current situation and now
stood next to Eris, holding his own sword up the ready, but feeling as small
and helpless as he had when he'd been a small boy.
Eris nudged him, bringing his attention to the temple. The windows rattled
in their frames.
~*~*~*~
Hades moved closer to Ares, as they studied with morbid fascination the
increasingly rapid twitching of Athena's body.
"This is it, right?" Poseidon asked, pulling his sword from its sheath and
stepping back, giving himself move to maneuver.
"Where we live or die," Hades confirmed, also unsheathing his sword and
mimicking his brother's movements.
"Where we live, gentlemen. I have one very important god outside those
doors to love for the rest of eternity," Ares corrected his uncles, easily
swinging his sword.
They were unprepared for the light that once more burst from the goddesses'
bodies.
~*~*~*~
All fifty three gods stood, breaths held, unwavering eyes locked on the
doors.
Which opened suddenly, a dark figure looming in the threshold.
Before anyone could move, Joxer ran up, dropping his sword as he reached
Ares, grabbing him in a fierce hug.
For a second, Ares allowed Joxer to squeeze the stuffing out off him, before
pushing him softly away in order to grab his face and kiss him soundly.
Smiling easily, he pulled Joxer to his side.
"Apollo, we need you." His calm voice indicated that it was not a case of
life or death.
Already just a few paces away, Apollo bowed to Ares, and jokingly replied,
"Aye, my King." He laughed as Ares playfully shoved him inside the temple.
Seeing the anxious faces before him, he walked toward his 'army'.
"Artemis is fine. Athena is understandably weak but also fine." Drawing his
lover closer to him, Ares continued. "And thanks to Joxer's knowledge,
Dahok is gone. For good."
If the silence had been unnerving, the sudden release of tension in the form
of cheers was deafening.
Hades walked past them, clapping a grateful hand on Joxer's shoulder,
gracing the young god with a smile. Stopping a few feet away, Hades scanned
the faces in front of him, looking for a specific goddess, who managed to
find him first.
"Hades! Are you alright?" Persephone asked, standing just far enough to not
be close enough. "I was so worried."
"I'm fine, thank you."
Awkward silence lasted for a few seconds before both of them started to talk
at the same time. A brief session of deciding who spoke first ensued,
before Hades finally just took the proverbial horse by the reins.
"You were very brave to come out here today. I wanted to thank you."
"Oh. um." Persephone stammered, blushing a bit. "Well, I couldn't just sit
at home and knit while this was going on."
"Ah. you knit?"
Blushing bright red now, Persephone stammered a bit more. "No. um. figure
of speech."
"Ah."
~*~*~*~
"That's so cute," Joxer remarked as they watch the interaction between Hades
and Persephone.
"I might gag," Ares replied, but pulled Joxer closer to him with a strong
arm around his waist.
Joxer smiled.
The end