Title: A Mystery and A Few Revelations
Author: Brae
Rating: Teens
Feedback: brae_tms@yahoo.com
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters and am making no profit from
their use.
Fandom: Xena/Herc.
Pairing: A/J.
Status: Complete
Series: Missing Sidekick Chronicles
Archive: Yes to all.
Website:
Warning: Um, the m/m sex thing? A few dirty words? Can't think of
anything else other than it is very AU in the fact that it strays far
and wide from canon and myth both.
Notes:
Beta: Thank you Kerensa. Thank you, thank you, thank you!. :)
Summary: Missing, one sidekick. Found, a few home truths.
A Mystery and A Few Revelations
by Brae
The young man groaned as a black cloud seemed to move over his godly
lover's countenance and the god stilled over him, mid kiss. He knew
what that expression meant--he ought to know by now, he'd seen it
often enough. He was going to be left alone for a while longer while
Ares went to deal with an unhappy Hercules. Or with Xena. Either way
it wasn't fair, they didn't get to spend enough time together as it
was and now his lover had to rush off to deal with a temperamental
hero or two. Talk about ruining the mood! It was so
frustrating...literally! Well, it could have been worse, at least
they had only just been getting started. He said as much to Ares,
trying to calm him down--or well, cheer him up slightly, although he
figured that was as likely as him walking from Athens to Corinth
without an unfortunate accident or major stumble along the way. Or
even a minor mishap or misstep down the hall from Ares' bed chamber
to his audience room for that matter. In other words, it could
happen, but probably wouldn't.
Ares dropped his head to rest, forehead to forehead with Joxer,
nodded agreement and sighed. Only by sheer force of will did he hold
back the furious snarl that wanted to erupt, not wanting to upset
Joxer with his temper. He was so tired of the muscle-bound lump
wrecking his temples. He had been looking forward to spending some
uninterrupted time with Joxer and now his dim-witted half-brother had
to go and spoil the first time they'd had alone together in over a
month.
"There is that. I'm sorry for leaving like this, Love, but I have to
go deal with this before I have another situation like Thrace to
clean up. That would just keep us apart for even longer. I'll be back
as soon as I can." He flashed on his leathers and claimed a kiss
before rising to his feet and standing beside the bed for a moment.
As he looked down at the naked, rumpled Joxer lying in his bed, Ares
groaned again, even deeper this time. He leaned down steeling another
kiss as an impishly grinning Joxer arched up to meet him
midway. "I'll definitely be back. Soon, promise."
As he reluctantly pulled away he remembered something important and
he grinned, arousing Joxer's curiosity. "What's that smile for?
Should I be worried?" Joxer teased.
"Only for my brother."
"Hmm? Wha--"
"Shh," Ares placed his finger over Joxer's lips, promptly having to
bite back another groan as the man proceed to nip and gently suckle
on it. "Just remembered something important is all; I don't have to
hold back so much anymore, Zeus revok--"
"That's right! I'd already forgotten!" A calculating look came over
the young warrior's face. "Can I watch? Please?"
A rich chuckle rumbled from Ares' chest, he pulled Joxer into a
quick, hard kiss and then, after waving his hand towards the foot of
the bed, vanished leaving Joxer to drop back onto the bed with a
soft "oomph" and an, "I hate it when he does that!" When he saw the
oval mirror filled with slowly clearing mist floating at the foot of
the bed he sat up happily and crossing his legs, tailor fashion and
settled in to watch Hercules hopefully getting a clue or two. In his
opinion it was long overdo. `Maybe this is for the best... Clue in
Herc to the way things really are and hopefully that'll get the
seemingly mandatory weekly `hero interruption' out of the way for a
while. It would be nice if Ares and I can spend the rest of our time
together without being bothered anymore...'
/\\{{0}}/\\{{0}}/\\
A black cloud, in the shape of a furious demigod, stormed into the
darkened interior of the temple overturning a weapons rack along the
way. "Ares!" A burning brazier and a large decorative urn followed
the way of the weapons rack as Hercules blazed a trail to the
altar. "ARES, I demand that you bring him back RIGHT NOW!" Another
weapons rack and another brazier clattered and clanged as they were
hurled across the temple. "Do you hear me? Right NOW, ARES! Ares!" A
furious snarl echoed through the chamber followed by a clattering
crash of breaking glass as the offerings on the altar made a rapid
descent to the stone floor. A large fist crashed into one of the
interior support pillars; the war god appeared with a brilliant
shower of blue sparks. At the ominous groaning of the cracking pillar
Ares looked appraisingly at the ceiling and with a curse pushed his
little brother aside. Laying his hand on the pillar, a low warm light
appeared and the cracks in the pillars were repaired and the rocks in
the ceiling ceased groaning and shifting position. Another wave of
his hand and the scattered embers from the braziers were extinguished
before they could do any damage.
"Do you mind, Jercules? I have convalescents in the next room, are
you *trying* to bring this temple down on their heads? Isn't it bad
enough that you already injured three priests, crushed one of my
injured, he's now going to have to live with only one leg--if he
lives--and killed two of Strife's street kids at my temple in Thrace
this week?!"
"I demand that you give me Iolaus back Ar-- What? I what?"
"You heard me. Unless all those blows to the head have made you deaf
as well as `numb'. And I don't have Curly; why would you think he's
with me? I'm not the only deity you routinely piss off you know! And
while we're on that, when have *I* ever attacked you through him--or
any of your other little friends or family, for that matter? That's
not my style, you moron."
Vaguely, in some fog bound corner of Hercules' mind, he realized with
some surprise that Ares was right. The only time he could recall his
friends or family being in danger from Ares was when they were
actually with him and they were helping him stop one of Ares` ongoing
wars or when they had helped him when he had stolen from Ares or
something. Huh, what do you know? He'd have to think on that more
later; right now he was too busy trying not to be sick to his
stomach. Was Ares telling the truth? Had he done all of that when
he'd damaged Ares' Thracian temple earlier this week? Somehow, he
didn't think Ares was bluffing.
"Ares... I didn't really? Did I? This isn't some...sick, twisted game
you're playing with me is it?"
A contemptuous snort was his answer. "Please little brother, I have
better things to do with my time." `Much better, a naked Joxer is
waiting for me in my bed right now as a matter of fact--but that fact
would completely blow what few brain cells you have left so I'll keep
that to myself for now. Although...it would probably be really fun to
watch your head explode, I think I`d enjoy that...'
"I'm completely serious. Why do you think it pisses us off so much
when you trash our temples? Do you have any idea how many of our
worshipers or priests you routinely injure, permanently maim or even
kill with your little temper tantrums? Do you?! Besides the sheer
level of disrespect that is. Ya know ya always say how much it annoys
you that we don't treat you with respect, but Jerc, respect is
earned. And you rarely act worthy of it in my opinion. Zeus, you're
worse than a two-year-old who doesn't get his own way. Grow up
already, would you please!"
"As annoying as the damages to our temples and stuff are, we can
repair it. It's annoying, but a wave of the hand and hey presto, wow,
good as new. But what you don't see is what happens in the inner
courts, brother dear. You don't think about what happens every time
you crack a pillar or pull down a wall, or the ricochet from stuff
you hurl around! Or the kids, they like to play behind the altar and
the pillars, you know? Do you know how many of the little buggers
Strife and I have had to cart to Ace and Apollo on the double because
their supposed `hero' got them hurt by throwing weapons, glass and
stone around? DO YOU?"
"Oh, Gods, you're serious. I-I-I didn't know!"
"I know, but you should have stopped and thought! There are always
people in our temples; just because you can't see them doesn't mean
they aren't there. They tend to hide when they see you come storming
in. You *terrify* the little kids when you come storming in like
that; does that make you proud?"
"N-no. Gods no! But... Kids? You keep mentioning kids. Strife's
street kids, what? And convalescents, you have injured here?"
"Yes, I have injured here. All warriors have the right to be treated
in any of my temples, Hercules. I don't just abandon my men for
Hades' sake. I employ more healers than Asclepius. Matter of fact,
Ace trained with me for a while when he was first learning medicine.
Apollo is a different type of healer altogether, he uses different
kinds of potions, when he uses them that is. Mostly he does the whole
godly 'magic' bit because that's his godhood. Ace's godhood is the
more traditional mortal style of medicine, not miraculous healing
*medicine.* So with Ace, *I* am the one that taught him how to treat
with mortal medicines and herbs, how to repair war wounds and heal
more slowly at a pace the mortal physiology can handle much more
easily, not Apollo, ya know. You always act like you know everything
about us, and that that means you're in the perfect position to judge
*us*; well surprise, surprise, you don't know everything about
everything like you thought. Especially about us!"
"I know that Asclepius is one of the few gods you like. As is Cupid,
you called him my nephew when last we talked--surprise again, he's
not my nephew! He's mine and Dite`s oldest boy. My son! Did you know
that Ace is my son, too? Pol's and mine. Surprise again, hmm? Did you
know that he has a suite of rooms in every one of my temples and in
my Hall? So that he can be on hand to help with the injured whenever
he's needed...or just to escape Pol and the muses for a while, hmm,
did you? Didn't think so. If you didn't know any of that, imagine
what else you don't know, you smug hypocritical little know it all."
"And yes, *kids*. I usually have any number of kids around my temples
at any given time. Some are acolytes, a few are assistants to the
priests and the acolytes. Some are just worshipers here with their
fathers, some are children of warriors who have fallen in battle and
whom are being tended while they mend. Others are orphans from war or
foolish warlords run amok, that are being supported by the temple in
exchange for a years service when they're grown. Some are here at
their father's behest, to train with the priests in basic self-
defense or with a weapon the father is not skilled with and can`t
teach himself. And others are just your average street kids. I've
always taken in kids, I lived on the streets in Egypt, I know what
it's like to be cold and hungry and have nowhere safe to sleep!"
"Strife just adopted my habits of letting them have a place to sleep
and eat and took it a little farther. He made it known that they, any
and all kids, are welcome here at his shrine," Ares waved a hand
towards the section of his temple that he reserved for Strife. "If
they need a refuge, a meal or something more permanent, they know
that they can come here with no obligation owed to him, to stay till
grown, receive training from either of us or to just stay for a short
time while they need to hide out from a drunk or something for a
night or two. Strife convinced me to let the kids who have parents
still but not necessarily the most...ideal ones to hang out here too.
A few of my priests and all of Strife's look after them, he even had
Athena get some of her priestess' to teach some of our priests how to
teach the kids how to read and write properly."
"Tartarus, I hate telling you this shit." `Especially when I could be
spending all of the time I could with Joxer before he has to go back
to work, pestering the Hades out of Xena and the bard for pissing off
Artemis instead.' "Ruining the Hades out of my bad-ass rep. I worked
hard for that rep, keeps people from messing with me and mine very
nicely." He looked Hercules up and down. Sneered, "Most intelligent
people, that is... But guess what Herc, I hate having to fix up my
people because you had a snit even more! So this is your last warning
you twit--lay off trashing temples! GOT THAT? HUH? You do it one more
time and I will retaliate, Zeus' protection or not. `Cause guess
what? That's a `not' nowadays!"
He grinned at the confusion on Hercules' face. "What, you thought you
could kill him in that hokey dream alternate reality you and your
friends created when you stumbled across the Morpheus Stone an' get
away with it? Oh, you thought we wouldn't know about that, huh?
Thought we were unaware of the way you killed most of us off in your
dreams or of how you turned us into whiny little weaklings?! Thought
you were safe, that you'd not have to face some sort of censure for
that stunt? Guess again! Since Dad found out about it he's been way
pissed at you. Waaaay, waaaaay pissed. Your protection order is all
but void, bro. That's why I'm free to tell you what you've done now."
"Remember waaaaay back when, the first temple you ransacked? Dad
didn't want you to have to live with the guilt of the fourteen dead
there on your conscience. He forbade us from ever telling you. Hah!
Now, since you killed your `dream' version of him, and after this
latest batch of wounded mortals during your latest temple rampage in
Thrace... He's decided on what he thinks is a suitable punishment for
your `offing` him. He finally thinks that you are more than due for a
taste of your own rightful guilt!"
"Oh, and whenever else you do something stupid, make some judgment
about us that, as usual, you don't know what you're talking about on--
we get to tell you the truth now! Isn`t it *great*! I have waited so
long to be able to really let you have it! `Course you're such an ass
you probably won't believe us anyway, but hey, that's your problem.
Welcome to the real world, hero, it`s about time you joined the rest
of us in it... I hope you enjoy your new reality, little brother, I
know I will."
"Oh," he said, pausing in the act of flashing out, impatient to get
back to Joxer. "As I said, no, I don't have Curly, so stop wasting my
time--and no, I don't have any idea who does have him either. Might I
suggest that when you find him you bell him? Ya know, like a cat--so
that you can find him more easily when he wanders off again. Because
let's face it, he will. The door is that way," he pointed. "You're
not welcome in my temples, any of them, leave--and don`t come back; I
think you have frightened the kids enough for one day." He
meaningfully indicated a pillar behind Hercules with a flicker of his
dark eyes.
Hercules nodded numbly and tuned to leave. As he passed the indicated
pillar he flushed in shame. A child, light-haired with large,
frightened blue eyes was watching him warily and edging farther
around the pillar, heading towards Ares, obviously trying to get as
far away from the people's hero as he could get. A pile of the
shattered remains of the glass ornaments he'd hurled off the altar
rested at the base of the pillar. Trickles of blood dripped down from
the child's hairline and even in the flickering light of the
braziers, Hercules could pick out the glass shards in the boy's hair
and clothing. Shit. Ares was telling the truth. If he was telling the
truth about this, what else might he have been telling the truth
about? Shit. What was he going to do now? And if Ares didn't have his
friend then WHO did? Where could he be this time? `Oh, Zeus, please
don't let him be dead or in another universe again! I don't think I
can take it!' He wandered away lost in thought and wondering at the
vague feeling of familiarity he had felt when he glimpsed the child.
/\\{{0}}/\\{{0}}/\\
Joxer watched with delight, wide grin firmly in place as Ares told
off the sanctimonious demigod. He couldn't hold in a chuckle or two
at the flummoxed look on the big hero's face. And the relish in his
lover's voice as he told his brother that they knew about the
Morpheus Stone and what Zeus decreed to be Hercules' just punishment
brought forth another round of chuckles. Knowing how much and for how
long Ares had wanted to have this `little talk' with Hercules, Joxer
wasn't surprised that the war god was enjoying himself. He was
impressed with the degree of restraint Ares was showing, however.
Given their history Joxer wouldn't have blamed Ares, now that Zeus
had firmly let up on his favoritism of the demigod, if the god had
decided to give Hercules a taste of his own medicine. Especially
since Zeus said Ares didn't have to let him win any longer, that in
fact, "he would prefer he not and show," in Zeus' own words, "the
hypocritical, spoiled, ungrateful whelp, exactly who and what he`s
been messing with and where he truly stands in the grand scheme of
things! Drive home the point of how low on the food chain he really
is for me, son. Give him a good blow to that pride of his, that'll
fix him!"
Yes, considering that his father had basically given him carte
blanche for dealing with the uppity demigod, Joxer was definitely
impressed with his restraint. He couldn't help wondering *why* he was
so restrained though. Joxer knew for a fact that there were several
more very impolite things that Ares had been `dying' to say to the
hero for years. Not to mention all of the other things Ares had
longingly mentioned *doing* to the hero... Joxer really wouldn't have
minded watching Ares dish out a little pain on the hero, he figured
the twit had it coming. And it might have been fun to see Hercules
turned into a donkey for a while, Ares said that it was only fitting
that since the man was set on behaving like an ass he ought to look
like one too, and that he'd be more than happy to help him out with
that part. Joxer had laughed and made Ares promise that if he ever
carried that one out he'd make sure Joxer got to see Herc the Jerk
like that at least once. Joxer still mourned missing the chance to
see Herc as a pig. He sighed at the lost opportunity before
brightening. No doubt Hercules would piss Ares off again sooner or
later, probably sooner, and with luck Joxer would get to see the
promised transformation into an ass happen live, not in rerun on
scrying glass.
Joxer smiled softly as he realized why Ares had held back
in `talking' with Hercules. There, shown through the glass, he saw
the small child still inching ever so slowly towards the war god. `Of
course, he didn't want to scare the boy any more than Hercules
already had. The big softy,' he thought fondly, watching as Ares
waved his hand and restored order to his temple after Hercules left.
Joxer frowned, it was apparent that the child was feeling shy with
the god now that the threat presented by Hercules was gone, by the
way he moved. The way he moved...Joxer didn't recognize the boy but
something about him felt familiar. He didn't think he'd ever seen the
child around the temple before, he spent enough time with Ares that
he had come to be able to recognize most of the kids that regularly
hung out in the war gods temples by sight, if not by name. Ares
usually kept a glass tuned to each temple and usually it focused on
any kids in the place until he set it on something else as needed.
Ares said it was to make sure they stayed out of trouble or to alert
him to anything that they needed. Joxer said it was because the god
found their innocence soothing and because he was a big softy at
heart and liked to spoil them...
Ares denied this of course but Joxer knew better, he had proof. One
such example of the war god spoiling the kids was responsible for
them only `just getting started' before this latest interruption,
after all!
Earlier that day, shortly after Joxer had arrived on Olympus, he'd
seen the god sneaking a batch of cookies from Hestia for the kids in
his Spartan temple, *after* the mirror tuned to that temple showed a
group of warriors laughing at them and stealing their bag of freshly
picked apples. Apples that the children had picked themselves from
the fruit trees behind the temple earlier. *And* he'd seen what Ares
had done, or rather had Strife do, to those warriors that would steal
from children, Joxer smirked in `evil' satisfaction as he remembered
what the mischief god had done to them. Witnessing those events had
made up for the delay in being alone with Ares and the delivery of
the cookies would provide him teasing material over Ares for years!
Of course he had other material for a good tease as well, like the
fact that several months before, after he had heard several children
in another temple craving some fresh fruit, but bemoaning that the
only trees in the region belonged to a wealthy, and very stingy,
landowner he'd seen Ares talk to Gaia about growing some fruit trees
behind each of his temples for him in the first place, but that was
another story. One which Ares also denied any knowledge of. Joxer
rolled his eyes wondering who the god thought he was fooling,
certainly not him.
The war god sat down on the top step of the dais his throne sat on
and waved the hesitant child closer, the god's whole posture had
somehow softened, Joxer noted with a little twitch of his lips and
crinkle of his eyes. He wondered at the reaction should Xena ever see
this side of his lover...or if she should ever find out that they're
lovers for that matter, he thought wryly. No doubt it would be
amusing he decided, feeling that her reaction would be priceless to
see. Ares seemed infinitely more approachable than a moment before,
there was a gentleness about the god that now shone from his eyes and
he radiated a sense of protection instead of the menace that the
Warrior Princess and the young bard claimed to feel whenever they met
the war god. The women would not believe him capable of it unless
they saw it for themselves, Joxer knew, and probably not even then.
The boy relaxed slightly, although he was obviously still unsettled,
no longer hesitating to be in the god's presence he rushed to Ares'
side. Joxer growled, for the first time seeing the trickles of blood
and pieces of shattered glass all over the boy. It was too common a
sight; the talk with Hercules hadn't come soon enough. `At least he
knows now,' he soothed himself, `maybe next time he'll think before
he acts.'
Ares smiled gently at the boy at his side and held an arm open wide.
The boy looked surprised but hopeful. "L-lord?" he asked curiously.
Ares could feel the fear left in the child by the hero's visit, and
with a gentle probing of the young mind he could tell that the boy
desperately wanted to be held. "It`s all right," he soothed softly,
nodding at the child and holding out his other arm too. Sure enough
at those few words and the inviting gesture he had a trembling child
in his arms, perched securely on his lap. Ares held the boy close for
a moment soothing the child's fears. Feeling safe for the first time
in days the boy began to sob, breaking the watching Joxer's heart.
Brushing his hand lightly over the child's head Ares bathed the boy
in a soft white light, removing the bulk of the glass shards, small
scrapes and blood. The deeper gashes and the embedded glass he left,
he could deal with them, he'd had plenty of practice, but he
preferred to let Ace or Apollo do the healing of such wounds just in
case he missed something. They were the healers; some things were
better left to the experts in his opinion, especially in the delicate
areas of the body...like around a child's eyes for example. Besides,
something about this boy told him that his son and his brother needed
to take a look at him. This little one was wounded inside and
out...and there was something else too. Ares sent another gentle
probe into the child's mind, looking deeper this time. If he could
just place what about the boy was bothering him...
Ares' eyes widened slightly and he backed carefully from the boy's
mind. Tilting the child's head back from where it was buried in his
leather vest he studied the small features carefully for a moment,
murmuring, "Well what do you know, I guess I do have him."
"L-l-lord...?" the child choked out around his sobs.
"Shh, it's nothing, nothing. Don't worry about it anymore, little
one. It's alright now," Ares reassured the boy thinking rapidly on
the best thing to do next. Standing up with the child still perched
in his arms, the war god rubbed a gentle hand down the trembling
boy's back soothingly. "Let's go get those cuts looked at, then we'll
find you some food, how does that sound?"
The boy nodded vigorously, he hadn't eaten in a few days, food
sounded very good. So did getting his cuts tended, they were starting
to sting a little now that he wasn't so scared of the big, angry,
yelling man. "It-it sounds very good, Lord. Thank you."
"You're welcome, child." With that Ares simultaneously sent a mental
apology to Joxer, letting him know he would be back as soon as could
but that he'd be gone longer than he'd planned, sent a summons to
Apollo and Ace to meet him in Apollo's home temple ASAP and took hold
of the boy's mind again, holding his gaze firmly with his own. He did
this so that the child wouldn't be frightened by his `magic' as he
moved them through time and space to the Temple of Healing on
Olympus. To the child's perspective they walked through an arched
stone doorway to the side of his throne and down a long obsidian and
marble hallway, then through another doorway to a room filled with
everything a healer could ever need and two tall blond men.
Elsewhere on Olympus, Joxer sat perched in the middle of Ares' bed
staring at the swirling mists once again filling the scrying mirror
with a gaped jaw and rapidly blinking eyes. /"Well what do you know,
I guess I do have him."/ He couldn't get the words out of his mind.
They repeated in an endless loop as he stared sightlessly at the
mists darkening the mirror. /"Well what do you know, I guess I do
have him."/ At those words he'd instantly realized why the kid seemed
so familiar to him, but he was having trouble really grasping the
concept. It seemed impossible that that frightened wounded child
could be his friend. Finally he blurted it out loud incredulously, it
didn`t really help him understand any better, but it did make him
feel slightly better to give vent to the lack of understanding, to
actually speak the words circling endlessly in his mind.
"Iolaus!? How..? What...?! Iolaus!?!"
Fin~