Chaos in Corinth

[kriscat]

is done and betaed.

It's not up on my site yet. But in case you're interested

 

 

 

Part eleven

Iolaus slowly opened his eyes and moaned. Perhaps Hercules had been right and he'd had too much wine last night. But he'd had so much fun that, at the time, Hercules just seemed like a party pooper.

"Finally!" Hercules' voice said from the doorway. "It's about time. We are so late!"

"Late for what?" Iolaus asked and buried himself underneath his blanket. "The ceremony isn't until noon."

Hercules sighed, "It *is* noon. Something you would know if you removed the blanket from your head and looked out through the window."

"What!!" Iolaus exclaimed and jumped out of the bed. He moaned and gently touched his hurting head and more quietly asked, "Why didn't you wake me sooner?"

"We tried," Hercules defended himself. "You were dead to the world. We even tried banging with the dinner gong close to your ear, but you just kept on sleeping."

"Never mind," Iolaus said and quickly washed his face and grabbed his clothes. "We'd better hurry!" he practically shoved Hercules out of the doorway and rushed out in the hall. Jumping on one leg at a time, he put on his boots. Noticing that Hercules hadn't followed him down the hallway, he turned around as he put on his vest and yelled, "Come on! We don't have time to stand around. What if they begin without us?"

Hercules rolled his eyes at Iolaus and followed the hunter on his rushed trek through the palace. When they came out of the castle Iolaus took time to make a nod to the guard on duty and put on his vest. Then he began to run again. Luckily, his destination wasn't far from the palace.

It had been decided that the ceremony would take place in the large city square, so all of Corinth's citizens that wanted to could attend. A large podium had been built so everyone in the audience could see all that happened.

Iolaus slowed down and let Hercules lead the way through the audience. Hercules was always good to have when you moved through a crowd. People always moved voluntarily when he was there.

They'd arrived just in time. Joxer stood beside Ares with Arion in his arms at the middle of the stage. Several seats were placed on one end of the podium. Most of them already occupied by gods and goddesses. Xena and Autolycus sat there, too, but Gabrielle were no where to be seen. Instead sat Joxer's mother Jocasta next to Xena. Beside her sat Nanny Twanky with Mjau in her lap. Iphicles and Thalia sat beside Cupid and Strife. Iolaus noticed they were holding hands.

Auto waved at them, "It's about time!" He said. "Come up and join us! We saved your seats." He gestured at the two empty chairs next to him. Hercules climbed up on the stage and then helped Iolaus up. Realizing Mjau was there, Herc quickly choose the seat furthest away from the cat.

Iolaus sank down in his chair with a sigh, "Did I miss anything?"

"No," Aphrodite, who sat behind him, answered. "But they're about to begin," she added and nodded towards Zeus and Hera who'd entered the stage.

Hera walked over to them and, after a sneer at Hercules, sat down next to Jocasta. "We grandmothers have got to stick together," she said with a smile. Jocasta just nodded, completely overwhelmed.

Fanfares signaled the beginning of the ceremony and the public quieted down. Zeus raised his arms as a greeting and began, "People of Corinth! You have been given the greatest honor we gods can give you. Not just one god, but two will receive their official godhood here. Cherish them, and they will cherish you." The people cheered. Zeus made a gesture towards Joxer, "Joxer, Consort of Ares, God of War, come forward!"

Joxer handed over Arion to Ares and went to stand next to his father in-law. Zeus smiled at him and asked him to kneel. Joxer complied. Zeus put a hand on Joxer's shoulder, "From this day forward, you shall be known as Joxer, God of Survival. Those that survive will have you to thank. You'll take over duties concerning survival from most of the other gods and work close with the fates as well as the houses of War and Death."

Joxer looked up at Zeus, overwhelmed. He'd expected a small godhood no one cared much about. Sort of an honorary title. Not such a big godhood like this! Practically all people in Greece would have reason to pray to him at least once or twice in their life.

Zeus materialized a thin gold chain with a small pendant in the shape of a shield and hung it around Joxer's neck. "I hereby give you your symbol of power. Keep it with you, always." Zeus took a step back and helped Joxer up on his feet. "Gods of Olympus, people of Corinth, I give you Joxer, God of Survival!"

Hera wiped her eyes with a handkerchief, "I've been to so many of these, and I still cry every time!"

"Is that it?" Xena asked.

"No dear," Hera answered. "Arion is left."

"But Joxer's part is over?"

"Yes," Hera nodded slowly as if talking to a child. "Is there something you think was left out?"

Xena smiled sheepishly, "No, it's just that I expected the ceremonies to be longer and, eh... more impressive."

Hera shook her head, "It's not the length that makes a ceremony important, dear."

"I guess not," Xena said and focused on Zeus when another fanfare sounded.

"People of Corinth," Zeus began again. "Usually I lead ceremonies like this, but this time we are all honored by the presence of Gaia. Kneel in respect of the original mother to us all!"

Gaia materialized with one eyebrow raised, "Really, grandson. This isn't necessary. I don't need people bowing before me to know my self worth." She walked up to Ares and gently took Arion from his arms. She looked down at the baby who blinked at her with curious blue eyes and smiled. "My, how you've grown," she said in that tone that all grandmothers seem to use.

Gaia turned to the crowd. "Arion, son of War and Survival, from this day forward will you be known by your true name, Arion, God of Chaos!"  Balancing Arion on one arm she raised the other and the Chaos Stone appeared in her hand. She gave it to the baby who giggled and grabbed it with his little hands. The stone began to glow with a bright blue light that soon surrounded both Gaia and the boy. Arion laughed and with a squeal he absorbed the light. Just leaving it shining through his eyes.

The crowd was quiet with awe, and so were the gods. Even Zeus. He stared at the baby and his grandmother. Then he seemed to be aware of the silent audience. Zeus smiled a completely insincere smile, trying to pretend like everything had gone exactly like he'd expected and said, "People of Corinth, give out a cheer for your two new gods, Joxer, God of Survival and Arion, God of Chaos! May Corinth always be them faithful!"

The people cheered.

"And now," Zeus continued, "will Arion and Joxer's family and friends retire to the castle for some private celebration. Enjoy the festival!" He turned to his grandmother and the seated gods and hissed, "We'll discuss this in the castle in five minutes. Don't be late!" And he disappeared.

Hera rose from her seat, "We better do what the old goat wants. I must admit, I'm curious too." She left in a rain of purple sparkles and peacock feathers. The rest of the gods followed her example.

Iolaus looked around. The people of Corinth were already leaving the podium, eager to start the festivities. Iolaus turned to Hercules, "What just happened? Zeus looked freaked."

Hercules nodded, "Yes, something's definitely going on. Zeus told me Arion would be the God of Children. He didn't say anything about chaos."

"Well," Nanny Twanky said and got on her feet, still holding Mjau. "I don't know about you, but I'm going back to the castle. I bet that 'discussion' Zeus talked about will be very interesting."

Iolaus agreed and together with the others, he walked back to the castle.

******************

Hercules and his friends quietly entered Ares and Joxer's room. Except Iphicles and Thalia, who'd gone off to have some time of their own.

All the gods that had been present at the ceremony had already arrived. They were all eagerly watching the scene before them. Gaea and Zeus stood in the centre of the room with Ares and Joxer. Joxer had an arm wrapped around Ares' waist and looked from Zeus to Gaia with confusion and not so little fear about what might happen. Ares was just growling. Zeus shouted, "What's going on?! There is no godhood of Chaos! There's never been!"

Gaia, who was still carrying Arion smiled at her grandson. "True, there hasn't been a need, until now."  She absentmindedly tickled Arion under the chin as she continued, "But the Chaos Stone has been waiting for Arion to be born since the Titans were defeated. It was thrilled when you met Joxer, Ares. It had waited for your perfect mate for so long."

Ares stopped growling just long enough to frown, "Wait a minute, exactly how involved has that stone been in my life?"

"Well, it had nothing to do with you meeting Joxer, however, it *did* have a part in getting you back together." Gaia answered.

"You mean it let me touch it, when I fell into the cave?" Joxer asked.

"Actually, it started interfering a bit earlier," Gaia stated with a smirk and distractedly gave Arion to Joxer. "It influenced Zeus into believing that the godhood swapping debacle was a great idea."

"Oh, that's a relief!" Hera interrupted. "I thought he was going senile!"

"Really!" Zeus huffed.

Gaia ignored them both and continued, "And since it was so easy to influence Zeus, it continued by giving him the idea to steal it from Cupid."

Zeus blinked, "You mean it wasn't my own idea?"

Gaia smiled, a bit amused, and shook her head.

"Great," Zeus sighed. "I don't know if I should be glad that I didn't come up with that stupid idea by my self or depressed because that was the only prank I managed to do as God of Mischief."

Everyone ignored him, except Hera, who rolled her eyes at her husbands self involvement.

Joxer bit his lip, "I'm not so thrilled that the chaos stone manipulated my life like that, but this far, only good things have come of it, so I really can't complain. But exactly how involved will the chaos stone be in Arion's life?"

"They will be very close," Gaia answered. "Together will they will work to bring order in chaos. But they will be companions; the chaos stone has no power over Arion."

"Good," Joxer said relieved. "Then I can live with this."

Ares nodded. "I don't like that the chaos stone has messed around with my life. If it had been anyone corporal I'd have ripped his lungs out, but I'm not stupid enough to mess with that stone. Besides, I got Joxer and Arion out if this."

"I guess we all got something out of this," Hera said. "We gods learned that the grass isn't greener on the other side of the fence, and that we should be satisfied with the godhood we have."

"And I finally learned what is important in life," Psyche said quietly and hugged Bliss.

"An', I got my mommy back an', I'm not the littleless on Olympus anymore!" Bliss said and hugged his mommy back.

"I got Cupid," Strife said with a leer.

"And I got you, babe," Cupid answered.

Joxer sighed contently and hugged his son close. "And I got you, and your daddy," he whispered to the baby. "I'm glad everything turned out as well as it did."

Arion looked at his father with sparkling blue eyes. He still held the chaos stone in his little hands. The stone sang in his mind. A song in a forgotten language telling him of all the great things they would do when Arion got big enough. The God of Chaos giggled and his eyes flashed brightly. Life would be fun.

The end