The God Within 10/? (updated)
Title: The God With 10/?
Author: Wildannuette
Fandom: Herc/Xena
Website: http://wildannuette.livejournal.com/
Rating: FMT
Summary: Joxer gets a little stressed, Ares holds a inquiry and leverage against Assyinntios is discovered.
Warnings: mpreg
Notes: Thanks for checking this for me Jo, you are a star! :)
Flinging his blanket from his body, Joxer rolled onto his back; as his arm moved over his face to rest on his eyes, he wished that there were some way to blacken out the bright light from the moon. Covering his face with the blanket hadn’t helped much, even though it was a cool night the blanket was keeping him far too warm besides it was too d scratchy to want to hold over his eyes for long so he was finding it extremely difficult to sleep. It wasn’t that the idea of being pregnant that was keeping him awake or even the nausea that had kept coming and going; the worry that Strife had to be kept safe had played on his mind when he had first found out but it had not affected his sleeping habits too much. Instead it was the scratchy blanket, that grated on his sore chest and the snoring that kept him awake. He sighed and removed his arm from his face, glancing around at his companions. He had no idea how any of them could sleep through the rasping snores but they were driving him crazy, he eyed the Goddess-turned-pig with a glower as she snored and spluttered in apparent contentment.
Why in Tartarus Hercules and Iolaus were still travelling with them, Joxer didn’t know. At first he’d tried every trick he knew of to get them to leave; he couldn’t believe either man couldn’t take the hint. Even Xena’s, ‘well here’s where our ways part’ hadn’t worked; she’d tried it three times and all she got was an animated smile from Iolaus and a glance from Hercules. Personally Joxer believed they were following them as punishment, subjecting them to continual versions of ‘Hercules berates the Gods’ and ‘why God’s didn’t make good friends’ (Hercules wasn’t exactly subtle).
A few days before, after listening to Hercules rant at Discord for the fifth time that morning, Xena and Gabrielle had gone off to bathe or get away from Hercules as Joxer personally believed, leaving both Joxer and Iolaus who had decided to do some fishing rather then opt for the more dubious pastime of mediation between a pig and her half-brother. Only one good thing had come about from their time together, both Iolaus and Joxer had come to an understanding about Strife. Joxer hadn’t been keen on spending time alone with Hunter at first, he still remembered Iolaus’ opinion on Strife and his ‘toady’ comment but he wasn’t eager to lose another friend. He was sure once (if ever) his pregnancy was revealed and Strife's rebirth announced, his number of friends would drop down to the more realistic amount of none; or one if he counted himself.
Joxer had hesitantly decided to bring up the issue of Strife but had been slightly surprised when Iolaus had voiced it first. The hunter had been feeling guilty about his reaction to the news that Joxer had been his friends with Strife. Iolaus didn’t normally speak so bluntly or so ill of the dead and he usually bit his tongue for the sake of friendship if nothing else; he’d admitted that listening to Hercules rants about the Mischief God not put him in a good mood in the first place and that he’d been the butt of several of Strife’s more malicious pranks- the first of which he remembered from his teenage years. Listening to him Joxer had had to agree, the other man’s stories didn’t paint Strife in the best light even if he had just been doing what he did best; Iolaus even went so far to admit to Joxer that had Strife kept up his antics he and Hercules may not have remained friends. The strain Strife and Ares had put on them by twisting things between them had almost wrecked their friendship. To Iolaus losing his friendship with Hercules would have been worse then dying. A loud grunt interrupted his musings and Joxer frowned, letting out a loud sigh; if he couldn’t sleep he didn’t see why Hercules should, he was the one who insisted on keeping Discord with him. Joxer had only skipped back a year or so in Strife's dream memories but from those mere glimpses into Discord and Strife’s relationship he was quite happy to let Hercules sell her.
Joxer tried rolling onto his stomach but was stopped by the slightly paranoid thought that he could squash baby Strife, so he opted for his side again and tried to pull the itchy blanket around him.
“Why do you even bother with that old thing?” the husky voice cut through the silence making Joxer jump violently and twist back onto his back. Letting out a loud yelp he glared at the smirking War God who lay next to him propped up one elbow. Ares offered Joxer an innocent look but it didn’t quite work for him, as Joxer expression remained annoyed. Taking the easy way out and as a peace offering (ironic as that is) Ares ran a hand over the blanket changing Its texture so that even though it appeared the same it was soft and comfortable rather then chafing.
The further back into Strife’s memories Joxer had gone the more guilt he had felt over his attraction to Ares, luckily foetus Strife didn’t seem too bothered by his Uncle’s presence or they might have had a few problems. Though Joxer wasn’t entirely sure how much Strife was aware of he knew the foetus recognised something in some of the other Gods; the one time Hercules had dumped the pig-Discord in Joxer’s arms he had felt a tingling run through his arms before the pig screeched land leapt back to Hercules with her tail and hairs standing on end.
“Dinah for them?” Joxer glanced at the God whose eyebrows were raised, “Come on now say something, I don’t often visit your campsites,” a slightly amused look crossed Ares face and he added, “At least not for late night visits of this nature.”
Joxer hesitated as he thought over his answer, not wanting to give anything away; he guessed that if the War God knew how close he was to Strife he wouldn’t have been calmly lying next to him. Joxer had to admit he wasn’t sure just what Ares reaction would have been since the relationship between him and Strife had seemed complicated to say the least. Though Ares didn’t appear to be outwardly grieving, Joxer believed Ares at least missed Strife but their last conversation had been too confusing for the mortal to gauge him properly. He settled for the most neutral thing he could find,
“What nature?”
The surprise that crossed Ares’ face nearly made Joxer laugh out loud; it was priceless and something he was sure the God would never want anyone to see again. The mortal was still uneasy around Ares especially when he knew he was keeping such a big secret inside him but seeing such a human reaction from a God set him a little more at ease.
It took a moment for the surprised expression to drop from Ares’ face; since the God definitely felt a little off balance whenever he saw Joxer, he secretly hoped the other man felt it too. In truth had it been any other time or place Ares would have shagged the mortal out of his system but between trying to clear Strife’s name and keeping the other Gods from finding out Joxer’s existence he had to settle for taking it slowly. “What do people normally sneak into other peoples campsites for?” he asked softly.
Giving him an odd look Joxer counted the reasons off on one hand, “To steal something from them, to spy on them, to kidnap them,” he would have continued if it hadn’t been for the look of sheer incredulity that spread over Ares face.
“How about trying to seduce them?” Ares felt like he was getting nowhere fast, he knew Joxer was attracted to him, the other man’s response to their kiss had proven that but the mortal seemed intent on making Ares do all the work; the God could only surmise that it was the mischief in him coming out, he just had no way of knowing how right he was. Catching sight of a strange mark on the underside of Joxer’s wrist he grasped the man’s hand, his fingers tracing the raised skin, “You burned yourself?”
Holding off the urge to shiver at Ares’ touch Joxer nodded his cheeks flushing slightly, “Tripped over yesterday when we stopped to get Argo shoed,” he answered shyly, “I wasn’t paying attention so I fell over one of the buckets and burnt my hand on the metal.” He wasn’t sure how Ares had noticed, though the moon was bright and high the burn was almost completely healed which Joxer had guessed was Strife’s influence; the mortal had never healed as fast in his life, he’d had numerous burns, cuts and scrapes to compare with. Joxer guessed it was a God thing and was grateful and slightly proud that his baby-to-be was trying to protect him as much as he aimed to protect baby Strife; at least now the man knew where his sudden co-ordination had come from, he just hoped it remained after Strife was born. It would be handy in protecting the Godling.
He froze suddenly as he realised what he’d just been thinking off, *Just how is he meant to be born?* Joxer eyes trailed down his body to his stomach as panic started to rise within him. Where was the baby growing? Would he grow like a normal baby and how would he get out?
Luckily Ares was too busy examining Joxer’s wrist to notice the panic on his face; Ares was deep in thought wondering how Joxer had healed so fast, it was only after a minute or so the God decided he must have just overlooked Joxer’s natural abilities in the past. He’d actually overlooked Joxer a lot in the past, which was something Ares, had every intention of rectifying. A screechy summons cut through Ares’ mind and he closed his eyes, placing it and grimacing; much as Ares was enjoying phase One of his ‘seduce Joxer’ plan, he was already late meeting the fates and the Goddesses were definitely not happy about it. Naturally elusive and mysterious they rarely granted appointments on short notice and when kept waiting they were not appreciative.
“I’ll be bothering you again soon,” catching Joxer’s chin with his hand, Ares leant forward and kissed the man softly on his lips; it was only a brief kiss but it left Ares wanting more and when he leant back he was satisfied to see the startled expression on Joxer’s face before he flashed out.
Joxer had been astonished by the kiss but only because he’d been so close to overwhelming panic that it had been completely unexpected. The bright light from Ares exit made him blink black spots and he touched his lips briefly all thoughts of anything but the War God suppressed in his mind. Lying back down on his side he hoped sleep was soon forthcoming.
********
First an intervention for Cupid, then a summit, every Deity present could see Ares was obviously not wasting anytime at clearing Strife’s name; the only oddity to the proceedings was that whilst practically every god and goddess on Olympus was in attendance save Zeus and Hera (who were always late), Ares himself was missing.
The fact that they’d been waiting for an annoyingly long amount of time seemed to be wearing thin on some of the Gods nerves and they’d taken to either calling for Ares (Athena), glaring at Asyinnitos (Aphrodite) or trying to brainstorm exactly how Ares was going to clear the deceased mischief God’s name. This was all except for one God who was using the meeting as an opportunity to manipulate.
“You know you could always come to my temple for dinner and we could…discuss this further,” Apollo’s voice was a purr as he stroked Asyinnitos’ arm causing her to stiffen more in nervousness then fear. His attempts at seduction were having the opposite effect on the younger Goddess though Apollo seemed completely oblivious to her rising panic, he’d convinced himself her slight trembling was her awe at being the centre of his affections, he never considered otherwise. Despite what Asyinnitos’ Godhood stood for she was very naïve when it came to things of a sexual nature and Apollo’s exaggerated flirtations were alarming her. It wasn’t as if Asyinnitos was afraid of Apollo she wasn’t used to be so closely confined to any other member of the pantheon, especially him; she was, despite her naivete, not ignorant of his true intentions and so whilst she was slowly backing up away from him she was growing more annoyed at his attempts to woo her.
“I’m not removing the curse,” her voice held firm despite the tremble within her, she crossed her arms over her chest her eyes darting around in the hope that her Mother had arrived, “It stays Apollo, get used to the side affects.” Asyinnitos wasn’t sure what response she was expecting but it definitely wasn’t for him to move in closer forcing her to back up against the temple wall, his arm casually looping over her shoulder as he used his most flirtatious smiles on her apparently not used to anyone turning him down.
“But think of the benefits babe. Me, you, dinner and wine; think how much more fun it could be if you took it off even for the night,” Apollo’s smile grew but Asyinnitos could see the desperation in his eyes, the being barren wasn’t bothering him but the impotence side effect was. She was about to open her mouth and tell him something she knew would have him running from her when he rapidly backed off, straightening up and appearing chagrined; in bewilderment she followed his eyeline and caught sight of Ares, considering her last encounter with him Asyinnitos was surprised to see the cool glower he had levelled at Apollo. It should have relieved her instead it made her more uncomfortable about the War God’s intentions; though Ares seemed to accept her curse more readily then the other Gods and had been civil, to the point of amused, with her so far she was still unsure why. She had caught a few brief glimpses of his personality to reassure her that Ares genuinely missed Strife and wanted him back but it was hard to wipe clean the tarnishing memories of him she’d witnessed from foetus-Strife.
Ares made no attempt to walk over to her and merely eased himself into a chair whilst he waited for Zeus to arrive; in fact he ignored the other Deities questions as they surrounded him trying to discover what he had unearthed in such a short time.
No matter how minor a Deity or how busy they claimed to be they were in attendance, Zeus and Hera’s backing Ares on the whole matter of clearing Strife’s death had seen to that; only Bliss and Psyche was excused since Cupid didn’t want his Wife put through the trauma of what learning about her conception and Bliss was too young. Even the God who desperately didn’t want to be in attendance had no choice but to be; he was keeping up the pretence of listening to his siblings whilst fervently trying to appear excited by what Ares would say despite his deep fear and dread.
Tuning out what his older, more opinionated, siblings were saying the God focussed on his own inner misery and guilt. Whilst he was sure Ares wasn’t close enough yet to reveal why Strife fathered Psyche, the young God was sure such a meeting would not have be called unless something big had been found; he knew for certain if the War God had found out what had truly transpired, he would have been blasted into oblivion before a meeting could even take place. The God shuddered inwardly at the thought; oblivion terrified him though he had to admit he would welcome it more then his family disowning him. Whatever problems they had, however much his parents continual rejection hurt him, betraying his own family would only turn them all against him.
At least he had one consolation, Ares was so fixated on clearing Strife’s name and finding out who was responsible he had forgotten to overlook the one thing that could have revealed the God in question- the how. It was the one thing that could bring anything crashing about him though luckily the thought had not yet occurred to Ares. The young God shifted growing more worried as time wore on, he was barely paying attention to his siblings now but luckily they were fixated on talking to their mother about the curse. That was one topic of conversation that made the God smirk inwardly and his eyes drifted over to focus on its caster- Asyinnitos. Not that she was in anyway aware of his attention on her; she was having her own problems fending off the unwelcome and obviously annoying attentions of Apollo.
Crossing his arms over his chest he was unaware that, to his parents, it appeared as though he was just annoyed as them over the cursing and was focussing on the Goddess for that reason. In actuality he was contemplating her part in it all; the God had to admit it was a good curse, very effective to all who had wronged Strife even encompassing the caster herself. The one flaw in it was it didn’t punish him. The one God at the root of it all was unaffected by it. It was the one thing the guilty God could silently laugh over because it wouldn’t give him away, he wasn’t immune or able to block it the answer was far more simple- the young God was sterile; unable to conceive within him, as arduous a task as it could be for a male God, it was possible and unable to impregnate another be it mortal or God. Not only that but he suspected that he and Asyinnitos appeared to have one thing common, though he was guessed he was up on her by the one night of passion he had; whilst the God would miss pleasuring himself he could live with it and fake doing it to divert suspicion from himself.
Of all the Gods present he knew he was the least under suspicion; appearing not only so close to Cupid and overlooked for having no motive he should have been less worried. And yet he wasn’t. Instead he felt like he was running out of time. Should Ares chose to start asking ‘how’ the guilty God would be in deep trouble, his reasons for ‘why’ would seem unimportant to all the others; when they discovered he hadn’t tricked Strife or coerced him but had merely used his own powers and a potion to take his form for the night they never believe it wasn’t for malicious reasons. Or that he had no way of knowing that, by taking Strife’s form he was no longer infertile and would impregnate his lover with the mischief God’s essence; he’d had no way of knowing the potion was that good until after Psyche had been conceived and it had been to late to hide his mistake. He clenched his fists inwardly screaming at his own stupidity and so almost missed Ares arrival, one thing he did catch was the interchange between Asyinnitos and Ares. He couldn’t understand why the two were, if not working together, at least sharing information from what he could see. His eyes narrowed on the Goddess as his panic rose, she had been the one to suggest to Ares that Strife hadn’t fathered Psyche; she had been the one to place the curse that had sparked so much interest in Strife. It was easier to blame her then himself, any of the other many Deities that had wronged Strife or Cupid whose instability had caused the intervention. Though they were distantly related he found it easier to become enraged by her involvement than his direct families, out of all of them he couldn’t take the risk that she would suggest anything else to Ares. Betraying his family was what he had already done, it was too late to redeem that mistake he could only hide it, try to bury it in the past along with everyone else that got in the way.
The noise within the temple was almost deafening as many of the God’s and Goddesses did their best to manipulate, cajole and guilt Ares into revealing what he knew. Only two Deities were not clamouring for the gossip; Asyinnitos, who used the opportunity to flash down to Joxer, and the one God responsible for starting off the chaos, was sitting panicking inwardly until he noticed the young Goddess flash out and silently followed her.
***
Joxer shifted within the blanket trying to find some part of the ground that was comfortable, he stared up at the night sky groaning inwardly as he realised it would be morning in less then a few hours and he still hadn’t been able to sleep. He hadn’t thought sleep would be more forthcoming after Ares visit but had had to try to relax. The problem was the more he thought about trying to sleep, the less it happened and the more secret worry infiltrated his mind. He was now so focussed on his worries that every little problem or ache was seen as an unusual side effect to his pregnancy. *My pregnancy* That thought itself was something Joxer was having trouble comprehending, at first he’d written it off as a Godly miracle now he was wondering how far the miracle stretched, he kept rubbing his stomach attempting to ease the slight ache he felt in the lower region; his latest paranoid delusion had been that perhaps baby Strife was going to emerge any second without warning and was pushing his way out. The only thing that stopped Joxer hyperventilating and becoming hysterical was the images of Strife he’d been shown. The baby in those images was far too small and unready to be out of the womb.
A muted flash caught his attention as Asyinnitos appeared next to him looking more harassed and fatigued then he’d seen her before. She glanced around briefly before sitting down, cross legged, next to him her toga modestly arranged over her legs, “You’re worried.” She smiled as she spoke but Joxer could see a slight anxiety there as if she was afraid he would change his mind.
Sitting up, he shook his head and then nodded slightly, “not that worried,” he spoke softly to reassure her, “just wondered how and when Strife will come out.” He hesitated, “I mean you dropped this bombshell on me and I haven’t seen you in fourteen days!” his voice was rising slightly and he had to fight it down in case he awoke on of the others.
Asyinnitos laid a hand on his arm, “Don’t hold back Joxer you can rant if you wish. I can sense Ares has been here and his illusions and silencers are still in effect so be as loud as you wish,” she looked guilty though not as guilty as she felt; she’d been so busy throwing people’s suspicions off and allying with Cupid that she’d forgotten how much Joxer had to be stressing. She was surprised he hadn’t gone into full-blown hysteria, forgetting he hadn’t the answers and knowledge the God’s were born with she’d almost abandoned him to that worry.
Joxer blinked slightly nonplussed that she didn’t mind him yelling at her, that calmed him more then anything else could, “Okay,” he worried his lip, “I just need some time, I need to know what’s going to happen and not just with me. With Strife too, my body and his body and how this whole birth thing will work.” He sighed, “You have no idea how close I’ve been to blurting this out to Xena, the only thing holding me back is Discord,” he gestured to the sleeping pig, “And Hercules reaction. I just don’t want anything to happen to Strife, what I’ve seen…it wasn’t nice. His life wasn’t nice. I don’t want to ruin it all again by accidentally doing something wrong.”
Closing her eyes the Goddess berated herself for not seeing this sooner and not explaining to Joxer, “You won’t do anything wrong Joxer, trust me. Strife didn’t just choose you because you were the closest to him, given his life history I seriously doubt he would have chosen anyone else. If you hadn’t been there…” she trailed off watching comprehension flood Joxer’s face, “This didn’t just happen for convenience Joxer, Strife didn’t just pick the nearest incubator. He was ready to give up until he felt you, you were the only thing that kept him going and you’re one thing keeping him safe right now. You won’t mess it up.”
Hearing her earnest words Joxer didn’t have to look at her to hear the truth behind them, his hand roamed down to his belly to rest over the place he’d felt the stretching, “He did huh?” A smile lit up on his face and he looked at her seeing the same smile on her own.
A slightly tingle interrupted Asyinnitos focus and she concentrated following it back to it’s source, “Oh Tartarus!” She stood up quickly, “I’m sorry Joxer all of us are supposed to be at a summit, if I’m not there they will send someone after me.” Agitated she ran her fingers through her hair, “Here, I have an idea,” she ran her hand over Joxer’s head and he felt a calming wave sweep through him, “This shouldn’t take long and I promise you I’ll be back tomorrow. I’m sure Cupid or Psyche can help me out with a distraction for your friends so we can talk about this.”
Joxer could hardly nod, the relaxed feeling was spreading and all he wanted to do was sleep; he barely had time to lie down before he was in a deep sleep, restful sleep. He never noticed Asyinnitos flash out or the slight glimmer hailing the emergence of another God, which appeared after she left. The one God that was also not at the summit was the one who had followed Asyinnitos to Greece and who had allowed himself to become visible after the Goddesses departure.
An unusual, almost cruel, smile lit up the God’s face as he surveyed the sleeping man; he had no idea Joxer was in anyway linked to Strife but he was obviously special to Asyinnitos which gave the God the leverage he needed in case she interfered again. His eyes assessed Joxer as he bent down next to him, he moved to touch the mortal but before his fingers made contact the shrill voice of his mother sounded in his mind and with a curse he flashed back to the summit keeping the thought of leverage in mind.
Author: Wildannuette
Fandom: Herc/Xena
Website: http://wildannuette.livejournal.com/
Rating: FMT
Summary: Joxer gets a little stressed, Ares holds a inquiry and leverage against Assyinntios is discovered.
Warnings: mpreg
Notes: Thanks for checking this for me Jo, you are a star! :)
Flinging his blanket from his body, Joxer rolled onto his back; as his arm moved over his face to rest on his eyes, he wished that there were some way to blacken out the bright light from the moon. Covering his face with the blanket hadn’t helped much, even though it was a cool night the blanket was keeping him far too warm besides it was too d scratchy to want to hold over his eyes for long so he was finding it extremely difficult to sleep. It wasn’t that the idea of being pregnant that was keeping him awake or even the nausea that had kept coming and going; the worry that Strife had to be kept safe had played on his mind when he had first found out but it had not affected his sleeping habits too much. Instead it was the scratchy blanket, that grated on his sore chest and the snoring that kept him awake. He sighed and removed his arm from his face, glancing around at his companions. He had no idea how any of them could sleep through the rasping snores but they were driving him crazy, he eyed the Goddess-turned-pig with a glower as she snored and spluttered in apparent contentment.
Why in Tartarus Hercules and Iolaus were still travelling with them, Joxer didn’t know. At first he’d tried every trick he knew of to get them to leave; he couldn’t believe either man couldn’t take the hint. Even Xena’s, ‘well here’s where our ways part’ hadn’t worked; she’d tried it three times and all she got was an animated smile from Iolaus and a glance from Hercules. Personally Joxer believed they were following them as punishment, subjecting them to continual versions of ‘Hercules berates the Gods’ and ‘why God’s didn’t make good friends’ (Hercules wasn’t exactly subtle).
A few days before, after listening to Hercules rant at Discord for the fifth time that morning, Xena and Gabrielle had gone off to bathe or get away from Hercules as Joxer personally believed, leaving both Joxer and Iolaus who had decided to do some fishing rather then opt for the more dubious pastime of mediation between a pig and her half-brother. Only one good thing had come about from their time together, both Iolaus and Joxer had come to an understanding about Strife. Joxer hadn’t been keen on spending time alone with Hunter at first, he still remembered Iolaus’ opinion on Strife and his ‘toady’ comment but he wasn’t eager to lose another friend. He was sure once (if ever) his pregnancy was revealed and Strife's rebirth announced, his number of friends would drop down to the more realistic amount of none; or one if he counted himself.
Joxer had hesitantly decided to bring up the issue of Strife but had been slightly surprised when Iolaus had voiced it first. The hunter had been feeling guilty about his reaction to the news that Joxer had been his friends with Strife. Iolaus didn’t normally speak so bluntly or so ill of the dead and he usually bit his tongue for the sake of friendship if nothing else; he’d admitted that listening to Hercules rants about the Mischief God not put him in a good mood in the first place and that he’d been the butt of several of Strife’s more malicious pranks- the first of which he remembered from his teenage years. Listening to him Joxer had had to agree, the other man’s stories didn’t paint Strife in the best light even if he had just been doing what he did best; Iolaus even went so far to admit to Joxer that had Strife kept up his antics he and Hercules may not have remained friends. The strain Strife and Ares had put on them by twisting things between them had almost wrecked their friendship. To Iolaus losing his friendship with Hercules would have been worse then dying. A loud grunt interrupted his musings and Joxer frowned, letting out a loud sigh; if he couldn’t sleep he didn’t see why Hercules should, he was the one who insisted on keeping Discord with him. Joxer had only skipped back a year or so in Strife's dream memories but from those mere glimpses into Discord and Strife’s relationship he was quite happy to let Hercules sell her.
Joxer tried rolling onto his stomach but was stopped by the slightly paranoid thought that he could squash baby Strife, so he opted for his side again and tried to pull the itchy blanket around him.
“Why do you even bother with that old thing?” the husky voice cut through the silence making Joxer jump violently and twist back onto his back. Letting out a loud yelp he glared at the smirking War God who lay next to him propped up one elbow. Ares offered Joxer an innocent look but it didn’t quite work for him, as Joxer expression remained annoyed. Taking the easy way out and as a peace offering (ironic as that is) Ares ran a hand over the blanket changing Its texture so that even though it appeared the same it was soft and comfortable rather then chafing.
The further back into Strife’s memories Joxer had gone the more guilt he had felt over his attraction to Ares, luckily foetus Strife didn’t seem too bothered by his Uncle’s presence or they might have had a few problems. Though Joxer wasn’t entirely sure how much Strife was aware of he knew the foetus recognised something in some of the other Gods; the one time Hercules had dumped the pig-Discord in Joxer’s arms he had felt a tingling run through his arms before the pig screeched land leapt back to Hercules with her tail and hairs standing on end.
“Dinah for them?” Joxer glanced at the God whose eyebrows were raised, “Come on now say something, I don’t often visit your campsites,” a slightly amused look crossed Ares face and he added, “At least not for late night visits of this nature.”
Joxer hesitated as he thought over his answer, not wanting to give anything away; he guessed that if the War God knew how close he was to Strife he wouldn’t have been calmly lying next to him. Joxer had to admit he wasn’t sure just what Ares reaction would have been since the relationship between him and Strife had seemed complicated to say the least. Though Ares didn’t appear to be outwardly grieving, Joxer believed Ares at least missed Strife but their last conversation had been too confusing for the mortal to gauge him properly. He settled for the most neutral thing he could find,
“What nature?”
The surprise that crossed Ares’ face nearly made Joxer laugh out loud; it was priceless and something he was sure the God would never want anyone to see again. The mortal was still uneasy around Ares especially when he knew he was keeping such a big secret inside him but seeing such a human reaction from a God set him a little more at ease.
It took a moment for the surprised expression to drop from Ares’ face; since the God definitely felt a little off balance whenever he saw Joxer, he secretly hoped the other man felt it too. In truth had it been any other time or place Ares would have shagged the mortal out of his system but between trying to clear Strife’s name and keeping the other Gods from finding out Joxer’s existence he had to settle for taking it slowly. “What do people normally sneak into other peoples campsites for?” he asked softly.
Giving him an odd look Joxer counted the reasons off on one hand, “To steal something from them, to spy on them, to kidnap them,” he would have continued if it hadn’t been for the look of sheer incredulity that spread over Ares face.
“How about trying to seduce them?” Ares felt like he was getting nowhere fast, he knew Joxer was attracted to him, the other man’s response to their kiss had proven that but the mortal seemed intent on making Ares do all the work; the God could only surmise that it was the mischief in him coming out, he just had no way of knowing how right he was. Catching sight of a strange mark on the underside of Joxer’s wrist he grasped the man’s hand, his fingers tracing the raised skin, “You burned yourself?”
Holding off the urge to shiver at Ares’ touch Joxer nodded his cheeks flushing slightly, “Tripped over yesterday when we stopped to get Argo shoed,” he answered shyly, “I wasn’t paying attention so I fell over one of the buckets and burnt my hand on the metal.” He wasn’t sure how Ares had noticed, though the moon was bright and high the burn was almost completely healed which Joxer had guessed was Strife’s influence; the mortal had never healed as fast in his life, he’d had numerous burns, cuts and scrapes to compare with. Joxer guessed it was a God thing and was grateful and slightly proud that his baby-to-be was trying to protect him as much as he aimed to protect baby Strife; at least now the man knew where his sudden co-ordination had come from, he just hoped it remained after Strife was born. It would be handy in protecting the Godling.
He froze suddenly as he realised what he’d just been thinking off, *Just how is he meant to be born?* Joxer eyes trailed down his body to his stomach as panic started to rise within him. Where was the baby growing? Would he grow like a normal baby and how would he get out?
Luckily Ares was too busy examining Joxer’s wrist to notice the panic on his face; Ares was deep in thought wondering how Joxer had healed so fast, it was only after a minute or so the God decided he must have just overlooked Joxer’s natural abilities in the past. He’d actually overlooked Joxer a lot in the past, which was something Ares, had every intention of rectifying. A screechy summons cut through Ares’ mind and he closed his eyes, placing it and grimacing; much as Ares was enjoying phase One of his ‘seduce Joxer’ plan, he was already late meeting the fates and the Goddesses were definitely not happy about it. Naturally elusive and mysterious they rarely granted appointments on short notice and when kept waiting they were not appreciative.
“I’ll be bothering you again soon,” catching Joxer’s chin with his hand, Ares leant forward and kissed the man softly on his lips; it was only a brief kiss but it left Ares wanting more and when he leant back he was satisfied to see the startled expression on Joxer’s face before he flashed out.
Joxer had been astonished by the kiss but only because he’d been so close to overwhelming panic that it had been completely unexpected. The bright light from Ares exit made him blink black spots and he touched his lips briefly all thoughts of anything but the War God suppressed in his mind. Lying back down on his side he hoped sleep was soon forthcoming.
********
First an intervention for Cupid, then a summit, every Deity present could see Ares was obviously not wasting anytime at clearing Strife’s name; the only oddity to the proceedings was that whilst practically every god and goddess on Olympus was in attendance save Zeus and Hera (who were always late), Ares himself was missing.
The fact that they’d been waiting for an annoyingly long amount of time seemed to be wearing thin on some of the Gods nerves and they’d taken to either calling for Ares (Athena), glaring at Asyinnitos (Aphrodite) or trying to brainstorm exactly how Ares was going to clear the deceased mischief God’s name. This was all except for one God who was using the meeting as an opportunity to manipulate.
“You know you could always come to my temple for dinner and we could…discuss this further,” Apollo’s voice was a purr as he stroked Asyinnitos’ arm causing her to stiffen more in nervousness then fear. His attempts at seduction were having the opposite effect on the younger Goddess though Apollo seemed completely oblivious to her rising panic, he’d convinced himself her slight trembling was her awe at being the centre of his affections, he never considered otherwise. Despite what Asyinnitos’ Godhood stood for she was very naïve when it came to things of a sexual nature and Apollo’s exaggerated flirtations were alarming her. It wasn’t as if Asyinnitos was afraid of Apollo she wasn’t used to be so closely confined to any other member of the pantheon, especially him; she was, despite her naivete, not ignorant of his true intentions and so whilst she was slowly backing up away from him she was growing more annoyed at his attempts to woo her.
“I’m not removing the curse,” her voice held firm despite the tremble within her, she crossed her arms over her chest her eyes darting around in the hope that her Mother had arrived, “It stays Apollo, get used to the side affects.” Asyinnitos wasn’t sure what response she was expecting but it definitely wasn’t for him to move in closer forcing her to back up against the temple wall, his arm casually looping over her shoulder as he used his most flirtatious smiles on her apparently not used to anyone turning him down.
“But think of the benefits babe. Me, you, dinner and wine; think how much more fun it could be if you took it off even for the night,” Apollo’s smile grew but Asyinnitos could see the desperation in his eyes, the being barren wasn’t bothering him but the impotence side effect was. She was about to open her mouth and tell him something she knew would have him running from her when he rapidly backed off, straightening up and appearing chagrined; in bewilderment she followed his eyeline and caught sight of Ares, considering her last encounter with him Asyinnitos was surprised to see the cool glower he had levelled at Apollo. It should have relieved her instead it made her more uncomfortable about the War God’s intentions; though Ares seemed to accept her curse more readily then the other Gods and had been civil, to the point of amused, with her so far she was still unsure why. She had caught a few brief glimpses of his personality to reassure her that Ares genuinely missed Strife and wanted him back but it was hard to wipe clean the tarnishing memories of him she’d witnessed from foetus-Strife.
Ares made no attempt to walk over to her and merely eased himself into a chair whilst he waited for Zeus to arrive; in fact he ignored the other Deities questions as they surrounded him trying to discover what he had unearthed in such a short time.
No matter how minor a Deity or how busy they claimed to be they were in attendance, Zeus and Hera’s backing Ares on the whole matter of clearing Strife’s death had seen to that; only Bliss and Psyche was excused since Cupid didn’t want his Wife put through the trauma of what learning about her conception and Bliss was too young. Even the God who desperately didn’t want to be in attendance had no choice but to be; he was keeping up the pretence of listening to his siblings whilst fervently trying to appear excited by what Ares would say despite his deep fear and dread.
Tuning out what his older, more opinionated, siblings were saying the God focussed on his own inner misery and guilt. Whilst he was sure Ares wasn’t close enough yet to reveal why Strife fathered Psyche, the young God was sure such a meeting would not have be called unless something big had been found; he knew for certain if the War God had found out what had truly transpired, he would have been blasted into oblivion before a meeting could even take place. The God shuddered inwardly at the thought; oblivion terrified him though he had to admit he would welcome it more then his family disowning him. Whatever problems they had, however much his parents continual rejection hurt him, betraying his own family would only turn them all against him.
At least he had one consolation, Ares was so fixated on clearing Strife’s name and finding out who was responsible he had forgotten to overlook the one thing that could have revealed the God in question- the how. It was the one thing that could bring anything crashing about him though luckily the thought had not yet occurred to Ares. The young God shifted growing more worried as time wore on, he was barely paying attention to his siblings now but luckily they were fixated on talking to their mother about the curse. That was one topic of conversation that made the God smirk inwardly and his eyes drifted over to focus on its caster- Asyinnitos. Not that she was in anyway aware of his attention on her; she was having her own problems fending off the unwelcome and obviously annoying attentions of Apollo.
Crossing his arms over his chest he was unaware that, to his parents, it appeared as though he was just annoyed as them over the cursing and was focussing on the Goddess for that reason. In actuality he was contemplating her part in it all; the God had to admit it was a good curse, very effective to all who had wronged Strife even encompassing the caster herself. The one flaw in it was it didn’t punish him. The one God at the root of it all was unaffected by it. It was the one thing the guilty God could silently laugh over because it wouldn’t give him away, he wasn’t immune or able to block it the answer was far more simple- the young God was sterile; unable to conceive within him, as arduous a task as it could be for a male God, it was possible and unable to impregnate another be it mortal or God. Not only that but he suspected that he and Asyinnitos appeared to have one thing common, though he was guessed he was up on her by the one night of passion he had; whilst the God would miss pleasuring himself he could live with it and fake doing it to divert suspicion from himself.
Of all the Gods present he knew he was the least under suspicion; appearing not only so close to Cupid and overlooked for having no motive he should have been less worried. And yet he wasn’t. Instead he felt like he was running out of time. Should Ares chose to start asking ‘how’ the guilty God would be in deep trouble, his reasons for ‘why’ would seem unimportant to all the others; when they discovered he hadn’t tricked Strife or coerced him but had merely used his own powers and a potion to take his form for the night they never believe it wasn’t for malicious reasons. Or that he had no way of knowing that, by taking Strife’s form he was no longer infertile and would impregnate his lover with the mischief God’s essence; he’d had no way of knowing the potion was that good until after Psyche had been conceived and it had been to late to hide his mistake. He clenched his fists inwardly screaming at his own stupidity and so almost missed Ares arrival, one thing he did catch was the interchange between Asyinnitos and Ares. He couldn’t understand why the two were, if not working together, at least sharing information from what he could see. His eyes narrowed on the Goddess as his panic rose, she had been the one to suggest to Ares that Strife hadn’t fathered Psyche; she had been the one to place the curse that had sparked so much interest in Strife. It was easier to blame her then himself, any of the other many Deities that had wronged Strife or Cupid whose instability had caused the intervention. Though they were distantly related he found it easier to become enraged by her involvement than his direct families, out of all of them he couldn’t take the risk that she would suggest anything else to Ares. Betraying his family was what he had already done, it was too late to redeem that mistake he could only hide it, try to bury it in the past along with everyone else that got in the way.
The noise within the temple was almost deafening as many of the God’s and Goddesses did their best to manipulate, cajole and guilt Ares into revealing what he knew. Only two Deities were not clamouring for the gossip; Asyinnitos, who used the opportunity to flash down to Joxer, and the one God responsible for starting off the chaos, was sitting panicking inwardly until he noticed the young Goddess flash out and silently followed her.
***
Joxer shifted within the blanket trying to find some part of the ground that was comfortable, he stared up at the night sky groaning inwardly as he realised it would be morning in less then a few hours and he still hadn’t been able to sleep. He hadn’t thought sleep would be more forthcoming after Ares visit but had had to try to relax. The problem was the more he thought about trying to sleep, the less it happened and the more secret worry infiltrated his mind. He was now so focussed on his worries that every little problem or ache was seen as an unusual side effect to his pregnancy. *My pregnancy* That thought itself was something Joxer was having trouble comprehending, at first he’d written it off as a Godly miracle now he was wondering how far the miracle stretched, he kept rubbing his stomach attempting to ease the slight ache he felt in the lower region; his latest paranoid delusion had been that perhaps baby Strife was going to emerge any second without warning and was pushing his way out. The only thing that stopped Joxer hyperventilating and becoming hysterical was the images of Strife he’d been shown. The baby in those images was far too small and unready to be out of the womb.
A muted flash caught his attention as Asyinnitos appeared next to him looking more harassed and fatigued then he’d seen her before. She glanced around briefly before sitting down, cross legged, next to him her toga modestly arranged over her legs, “You’re worried.” She smiled as she spoke but Joxer could see a slight anxiety there as if she was afraid he would change his mind.
Sitting up, he shook his head and then nodded slightly, “not that worried,” he spoke softly to reassure her, “just wondered how and when Strife will come out.” He hesitated, “I mean you dropped this bombshell on me and I haven’t seen you in fourteen days!” his voice was rising slightly and he had to fight it down in case he awoke on of the others.
Asyinnitos laid a hand on his arm, “Don’t hold back Joxer you can rant if you wish. I can sense Ares has been here and his illusions and silencers are still in effect so be as loud as you wish,” she looked guilty though not as guilty as she felt; she’d been so busy throwing people’s suspicions off and allying with Cupid that she’d forgotten how much Joxer had to be stressing. She was surprised he hadn’t gone into full-blown hysteria, forgetting he hadn’t the answers and knowledge the God’s were born with she’d almost abandoned him to that worry.
Joxer blinked slightly nonplussed that she didn’t mind him yelling at her, that calmed him more then anything else could, “Okay,” he worried his lip, “I just need some time, I need to know what’s going to happen and not just with me. With Strife too, my body and his body and how this whole birth thing will work.” He sighed, “You have no idea how close I’ve been to blurting this out to Xena, the only thing holding me back is Discord,” he gestured to the sleeping pig, “And Hercules reaction. I just don’t want anything to happen to Strife, what I’ve seen…it wasn’t nice. His life wasn’t nice. I don’t want to ruin it all again by accidentally doing something wrong.”
Closing her eyes the Goddess berated herself for not seeing this sooner and not explaining to Joxer, “You won’t do anything wrong Joxer, trust me. Strife didn’t just choose you because you were the closest to him, given his life history I seriously doubt he would have chosen anyone else. If you hadn’t been there…” she trailed off watching comprehension flood Joxer’s face, “This didn’t just happen for convenience Joxer, Strife didn’t just pick the nearest incubator. He was ready to give up until he felt you, you were the only thing that kept him going and you’re one thing keeping him safe right now. You won’t mess it up.”
Hearing her earnest words Joxer didn’t have to look at her to hear the truth behind them, his hand roamed down to his belly to rest over the place he’d felt the stretching, “He did huh?” A smile lit up on his face and he looked at her seeing the same smile on her own.
A slightly tingle interrupted Asyinnitos focus and she concentrated following it back to it’s source, “Oh Tartarus!” She stood up quickly, “I’m sorry Joxer all of us are supposed to be at a summit, if I’m not there they will send someone after me.” Agitated she ran her fingers through her hair, “Here, I have an idea,” she ran her hand over Joxer’s head and he felt a calming wave sweep through him, “This shouldn’t take long and I promise you I’ll be back tomorrow. I’m sure Cupid or Psyche can help me out with a distraction for your friends so we can talk about this.”
Joxer could hardly nod, the relaxed feeling was spreading and all he wanted to do was sleep; he barely had time to lie down before he was in a deep sleep, restful sleep. He never noticed Asyinnitos flash out or the slight glimmer hailing the emergence of another God, which appeared after she left. The one God that was also not at the summit was the one who had followed Asyinnitos to Greece and who had allowed himself to become visible after the Goddesses departure.
An unusual, almost cruel, smile lit up the God’s face as he surveyed the sleeping man; he had no idea Joxer was in anyway linked to Strife but he was obviously special to Asyinnitos which gave the God the leverage he needed in case she interfered again. His eyes assessed Joxer as he bent down next to him, he moved to touch the mortal but before his fingers made contact the shrill voice of his mother sounded in his mind and with a curse he flashed back to the summit keeping the thought of leverage in mind.