The God Within 4/?
Title:The God Within 4/?
Author: Wildannuette
Fandom: hercules/Xena
Email:auxilary25248891@aol.com
Website: http://www.livejournal.com/users/wildannuette/
Rating: FRT
Summary: Joxer experiences some strange dreams and Cupid makes an appearance at Xena's camp.
Warnings: mpreg, slash, mastaubation
Notes:In sickness and I hell borrowed words from:
“Yo Unc what’s up?” Joxer blinked, confused, as the words flowed from his mouth. He felt his own mouth settle into a smirk as he strode into the simple white temple. A bright flash lit up the room and a feeling of nervousness and dread settled over him. As the flash died down he stared up at Ares scowling face and his heart sank, Joxer tried to bite back the babble that flew from his lips but his body moved of it own accord. “Yeh sorry about ta day it just would have been bad ya know. It’s not like I missed tha thing on purpose an I bet Cupe was glad not ta have me there.” Joxer grimaced inwardly as he felt his heart twist at the mention of Cupids name but the smirk remained fixed on his face.
Ares fist was a blur of red as it shot out hitting him straight in the chest and Joxer felt himself fly backwards almost in slow motion. His eyes were fixed on Ares and he saw disgust briefly in them before the God turned away as Joxer crashed into the stone pillar behind him. He kept the forced smirk on his face even as his body shuddered at the flare of pain across his back. Joxer resigned himself to dealing with the bruises as the thought, bizarrely, crossed his mind that the only person who’d actually patch him up was busy down in Greece trying to introduce his newest method of healing. *I hope he doesn’t rough me up too much, still rather him then Discord* the thought crossed his mind confusing Joxer even more. He didn’t understand why he was being thrown around by Ares anymore than why he was worrying about Discord roughing him up; it was true he’d probably be terrified if he ever met the Goddess but he’d never worried about it when he’d been friends with Strife.
*Speak of the harpy* the thought echoed snidely in his mind as a slightly more muted flash lit up next to him. Joxer felt a hysterical giggle pass his lips as he stared up into Discords face. She leant over him, sneered and sashayed away moving closer to Ares then Joxer would have liked. He inclined his head slightly and froze; technically his mind did anyway, as he stared into the polished reflective surface of a shield. His body pulled itself up despite the stabbing pain that ran through it, dusted itself off and sauntered over to Discord and Ares. Joxer’s mind was still locked on the image in the shield; instead of his normal cheerful average looks (his own words) he had seen the sharper paler features of Strife. He tried to scream “What in Hades is going on?” but as his mouth opened all that came out was, “Hey ma, long time no see.”
Joxer could feel conflicting emotions coming from Strife as he looked from Ares to Discord. As he looked at Ares he felt respect and a deep desire to please; he felt a need to make Ares proud along with a comfortable feeling of security and safety which Joxer found extremely ironic considering his visit to the pillar all of five minutes ago. When Joxer turned Discord he felt Strifes emotions become chaotic and twisted; he hated his mother and yet desperately wanted her at the same time; he was terrified of her but enjoyed baiting her and making her life miserable whenever he could even though he seemed to grudgingly respect her work.
Joxer tried again to speak but nothing came out; his gaze was fixed on Discord and as he looked at her he felt his body force itself not to involuntarily tremble. Discord must have noticed a tremble no matter how slight and Joxer felt Strife’s heart sink as the Goddess smiled, it wasn’t a very nice smile it was the kind of smile that made mortals piss themselves.
“Shame you missed the ceremony today Strife, you know presenting a new God to the pantheon is a big thing. Zeus wont be pleased you didn’t attend.” The light in her eyes told Joxer how much she’d love to see him, Strife, punished for it. He felt something inside Strife die little by little as she spoke, her words like poisonous barbs despite their ‘sweetness’, “and the baby was so cute you know. All blue eyes, blonde hair and smiles. Oh and wings too you know, he looks just like Cupid did when he was a baby. Can’t see any of his mother in him but that’s probably for the best. Just as well he looks so much like Cupid isn’t it? He wouldn’t want any other unpleasant reminders coming out in the newest generation.”
Joxer felt himself swallow hard and his fists clench involuntarily as he watched Discord laugh. A bright light pierced his vision which made him blink and he heard cold words echo in his mind displacing the laughter briefly *You will never see him, never Strife. You’re nothing to them. * Joxer saw Ares on the edge of his vision blasting Discord into the wall and he let out a mental cheer as the bright light spread out encompassing everything. Joxer felt hands on his shoulders and he hit out wildly. He felt relief flood him as he felt his body move to slap away the intruding hands. He heard a squeal and felt a sudden rush hit his body as tiny pinpricks of cold covered it.
Joxer sat up gasping and rubbed at his eyes as he spat out the remnants of the ice cold water that had soaked through his clothes. As his vision cleared he stared up at Xena, a very unimpressed Xena who was holding a water carrier and sporting a slight bruise on her shoulder. Joxers eyes went wide and realizing the implications of this he stood up quickly babbling in apology.
Xena’s face cracked a slight smile as Joxer raced over the apology and he felt relief settle over him as she spoke “Apology accepted Joxer, I won’t try to wake you again.” Xena frowned and looked at him “You know you’ve been having a lot of nightmares recently, kicking about and moaning but you always seem to settle straight after them and not wake up,” she shrugged “You must have been fighting someone though, I wasn’t expecting the punch but I should have been able to stop it. You must be practicing.” She turned away before he could correct her and walked over to the light fire scratching her head violently.
“Oh God it itches!” he heard the moan before he saw Gabrielle limp into the clearing trying to scratch her foot as she walked. She hopped over to Joxer then flopped down next to him on Xena's bedroll holding her foot up for his inspection even as her eyes stared at Xena in accusation "Foot rot!"
Xena rolled her eyes “Gabrielle I told you, if you didn’t listen…” she didn’t have time to finish before Gabrielle was off griping again “Foot rot Xena! From those disgusting swamps you made us wade through,” her eyes almost glowed in anger and Joxer edged away slightly. On the whole Gabrielle only got that upset one day out of the month and that was the day all of them had their ‘alone time’.
Xena looked more amused then annoyed though Joxer noticed her scratch her head vigorously again “I warned you Gabrielle, I said…”
“And what in Zeus is this?” Gabrielle voice rose to new octaves as she jumped up staring down at Xena's bedroll, “Lice! You’ve got lice Xena?”
Joxer somehow managed to fight back a laugh as the normal unflappable warrior princess almost shoved Gabrielle out of the way to examine her bedroll; "I have not got lice. You think I wouldn't know if I had lice?” she scowled at Gabrielle who was now alternating between itching her foot and head “I don’t think so,” she stomped off back to the fire mumbling the word “lice” under her breath as she tried to get the fire going properly. Gabrielle had resorted to hopping as she stared at Xena's bedroll.
Joxer resisted the urge to scratch his own head; with all the gracefulness he could muster in the early morning light and with a full bladder, sprang up out of his own bedroll not wanting the irritating insects near him. He swayed slightly feeling momentarily lightheaded and almost tripped over. He heard Gabrielle’s laughter as he righted himself and smiled ruefully; his clumsiness had been a long time coming so he wasn’t surprised she was making the most of its comic value. It had been well over four weeks since his balance and coordination had improved and Joxer had found himself becoming less and less prone to falling over. Recently it seemed the own time he did was when Gabrielle was near and he’d either fallen on her or knocked her over in the process.
“Same old Joxer,” Gabrielle smirked at him as he pottered past her and Xena on his way to the river. Joxer felt a slightly popping in his abdomen and frowned pausing on his way, after a few minutes without any unpleasant side effects he shrugged and walked down the slope to the water, he burst into laughter as his ears caught Gabrielle’s voice which was becoming fainter at each step “By the Gods it’s spreading, Xena look this things spreading all over!”
Still laughing quietly to himself, Joxer quickly stripped off and laid his clothes by the waters edge checking them briefly for lice. He couldn’t help but smile at the slight sounds of argument coming from the camp; He didn’t like to see anyone fight but Gabrielle had been becoming almost unbearable recently in her not so subtle attempts to find out more about his friendship with Strife and insult the God. The words ‘shut up’ worked only so often and he could see Xena becoming more and more short tempered as the days went on, for the sake of their friendship well his and Xena's anyway, Joxer had decided to part company with them once they reached the next village. He choked back at laugh at Xena's ‘Scabrielle’ comments and focussed on himself, ignoring the sniping of the other two.
Joxer shivered slightly as he stepped into the cold water, the sun had not had enough time to heat it. He took a few steps in and gasped as the cold tingle settled over his privates, not waiting for the water to lap higher he ducked down and shot up gasping as the too-refreshing feeling. Joxer stepped out a little further and started bobbing in the water, letting it soak up to his neck now. He’d been so hot recently and now his body was becoming used to the water he was feeling a lot better for it. His only real discomfort was a throbbing feeling in his nipples, they’d been tingling on and off for the last week but now they were throbbing violently. He touched them and hissed; it wasn’t quite pain but they were very tender his eyes widened as he looked down at them; Not only were his nipples a lot larger then normal but they were covered in small white bumps, Joxer prodded a bump experimentally and groaned as the burning feeling hit him. He cupped his pectoral as the pain passed and stared in fascination at the pale bluish lines around his nipples, they spread out like a fan making his pec more raised then normal, almost swollen. It didn’t look abnormal but it gave the impression Joxer did a lot of training and exercise. If it wasn’t for the lines and lumps he wouldn’t have minded the look, and the pain too of course.
Joxer washed his chest carefully before tending to the rest of his body; a blush started in his cheeks and almost instantly ran down his body as he realized his nipple explorations had caused his cock to go half hard. Without thought his hand instantly moved to it and he wrapped his fingers around the shaft stroking softly, as the other hand swept down lower and cupped his balls he realized how sensitive they were and bit back a moan gently massaging them. Closing his eyes he blocked the sounds around him and focussed on the strong sensations running through his body. Joxer licked his dry lips keeping up a steady stroke; his hand moved off his balls and almost hesitantly stroked his swollen nipples. It wasn’t quite pleasure or pain but it made him more aroused then ever; Joxer shuddered slightly, his cock jumping at the feeling,. He whimpered as he pumped his cock faster and ran his nails gently over his nipple, his back arched and his mind slipped into one of his favorite fantasies. Joxer’s fantasy lover was caressing his body gently, teasing him into frenzy as he kissed up and down. His dream lover sucked and teased Joxers nipples with his tongue and the mortal rubbed harder and faster on them. His dream lover took Joxers cock; he taunted the mortal by bathing it with his tongue before he took it fully into his mouth, sucking hard and encouraging the mortal to thrust into his mouth. Joxers hand pumped herder and he thrust into time to the thrusts in his fantasy. He felt a hot flush swell from within and his body shuddered, arching his back Joxer didn’t manage to bite off a cry as he came, his fantasy lovers name slipping from his lips, “Ares!”
The instant the name slipped from his lips Joxer collapsed back into the water panting hard. Red faced and sweaty he opened his eyes and was fervently glad that both Xena and Gabrielle were arguing too loudly to hear him. A second after his relief came the guilt and Joxer closed his eyes in shame as he realized he’d just fantasized about one of the people who’d hurt Strife the most. The fantasy wasn’t anything new unlike the sensations from his body but he let the guilt wash over him as he bobbed in the water glad there was no evidence of his ‘crime’. Ares was the one person Strife actually had seemed, both in Joxer’s dream and in reality, to look up to and believe in. The abandonment and pain his friend had to have felt when Ares left him must have been overwhelming. Joxer bit his lip and swallowed hard, he’d left his worship of Ares for a reason for Strife and he’d be damned if he’d ever allow himself to indulge like that again and defile his friend’s memory. Joxer swore to himself that he’d put his own feelings for the War God aside and focus back on the ones he’d felt for Strife, over the injustice at his friends death and mourning.
His decision made he stepped out of the water and stood in the morning sun for a few minutes letting it dry him, Joxer slowly began to pull on his trousers and tunic and was just reaching for his shoes when he heard Gabrielle’s shriek, it wasn’t a ‘I’m furious with Xena’ shriek it was more of a ‘we’re being attacked!’ shriek. Reacting on instinct and with no thought of the potential danger that could lie ahead Joxer raced back up the slope, he ignored the rocks cutting into his feet and burst into the clearing…and froze.
Xena was slowly making her way to her feet in a daze of confusion as she rubbed her head at the pain and Gabrielle was pinned against a tree, a muscular arm holding her in place as she tried to wriggle free. Although their attackers back was to him Joxer would have recognized the wings anywhere, he stepped forward cautiously and asked “Cupid?” the only response he got was Gabrielle’s gasp of pain as Cupid tightened his hold around her neck. Joxer moved closer not wanting to rush the God, he never imagined Cupid to be a violent God but he wasn’t going to chance startling him and getting Gabrielle’s neck broken “Cupid, put her down!” His voice was soft yet had a note of command in it that even Joxer had never heard before.
He wasn’t entirely surprised when Cupid dropped Gabrielle to the floor as if she were a rag doll. He glanced at her, her eyes were a little fuzzy and she was gasping but she seemed all right. Xena had now righted herself fully and seemed back in control, despite her itches she was poised to attack or defend as Cupid turned to face Joxer.
Joxer stared at the God; though Cupid had never been one of his favorite Gods he felt pity at the sight of the God before him. Cupid looked like he’d been to Tartarus, for punishment, and back. The God was shaking violently his body experienced severe tremors, small sparks were spitting from his hands and his body was sagging under his own weight. As Joxer stared up at Cupids face he saw sweat pouring off the God, the pain and sorrow radiating off him was obvious for anyone to see even without the miserly reflected in Cupids face. He felt fear grip him as he locked eyes with Cupid and the God’s eyes locked back into focus, on Joxer. Joxer could see Cupid was acting on instinct more then anything and now that the Gods eyes were on him Joxer took a step back, trying to put himself out of the line of fire. He saw a hunger more primal then anything ever seen he’d ever seen before light up Cupid’s eyes as they began to glow a bright emerald green, the glow encompassing the Gods body as he lunged for Joxer.
TBC
Author: Wildannuette
Fandom: hercules/Xena
Email:auxilary25248891@aol.com
Website: http://www.livejournal.com/users/wildannuette/
Rating: FRT
Summary: Joxer experiences some strange dreams and Cupid makes an appearance at Xena's camp.
Warnings: mpreg, slash, mastaubation
Notes:In sickness and I hell borrowed words from:
“Yo Unc what’s up?” Joxer blinked, confused, as the words flowed from his mouth. He felt his own mouth settle into a smirk as he strode into the simple white temple. A bright flash lit up the room and a feeling of nervousness and dread settled over him. As the flash died down he stared up at Ares scowling face and his heart sank, Joxer tried to bite back the babble that flew from his lips but his body moved of it own accord. “Yeh sorry about ta day it just would have been bad ya know. It’s not like I missed tha thing on purpose an I bet Cupe was glad not ta have me there.” Joxer grimaced inwardly as he felt his heart twist at the mention of Cupids name but the smirk remained fixed on his face.
Ares fist was a blur of red as it shot out hitting him straight in the chest and Joxer felt himself fly backwards almost in slow motion. His eyes were fixed on Ares and he saw disgust briefly in them before the God turned away as Joxer crashed into the stone pillar behind him. He kept the forced smirk on his face even as his body shuddered at the flare of pain across his back. Joxer resigned himself to dealing with the bruises as the thought, bizarrely, crossed his mind that the only person who’d actually patch him up was busy down in Greece trying to introduce his newest method of healing. *I hope he doesn’t rough me up too much, still rather him then Discord* the thought crossed his mind confusing Joxer even more. He didn’t understand why he was being thrown around by Ares anymore than why he was worrying about Discord roughing him up; it was true he’d probably be terrified if he ever met the Goddess but he’d never worried about it when he’d been friends with Strife.
*Speak of the harpy* the thought echoed snidely in his mind as a slightly more muted flash lit up next to him. Joxer felt a hysterical giggle pass his lips as he stared up into Discords face. She leant over him, sneered and sashayed away moving closer to Ares then Joxer would have liked. He inclined his head slightly and froze; technically his mind did anyway, as he stared into the polished reflective surface of a shield. His body pulled itself up despite the stabbing pain that ran through it, dusted itself off and sauntered over to Discord and Ares. Joxer’s mind was still locked on the image in the shield; instead of his normal cheerful average looks (his own words) he had seen the sharper paler features of Strife. He tried to scream “What in Hades is going on?” but as his mouth opened all that came out was, “Hey ma, long time no see.”
Joxer could feel conflicting emotions coming from Strife as he looked from Ares to Discord. As he looked at Ares he felt respect and a deep desire to please; he felt a need to make Ares proud along with a comfortable feeling of security and safety which Joxer found extremely ironic considering his visit to the pillar all of five minutes ago. When Joxer turned Discord he felt Strifes emotions become chaotic and twisted; he hated his mother and yet desperately wanted her at the same time; he was terrified of her but enjoyed baiting her and making her life miserable whenever he could even though he seemed to grudgingly respect her work.
Joxer tried again to speak but nothing came out; his gaze was fixed on Discord and as he looked at her he felt his body force itself not to involuntarily tremble. Discord must have noticed a tremble no matter how slight and Joxer felt Strife’s heart sink as the Goddess smiled, it wasn’t a very nice smile it was the kind of smile that made mortals piss themselves.
“Shame you missed the ceremony today Strife, you know presenting a new God to the pantheon is a big thing. Zeus wont be pleased you didn’t attend.” The light in her eyes told Joxer how much she’d love to see him, Strife, punished for it. He felt something inside Strife die little by little as she spoke, her words like poisonous barbs despite their ‘sweetness’, “and the baby was so cute you know. All blue eyes, blonde hair and smiles. Oh and wings too you know, he looks just like Cupid did when he was a baby. Can’t see any of his mother in him but that’s probably for the best. Just as well he looks so much like Cupid isn’t it? He wouldn’t want any other unpleasant reminders coming out in the newest generation.”
Joxer felt himself swallow hard and his fists clench involuntarily as he watched Discord laugh. A bright light pierced his vision which made him blink and he heard cold words echo in his mind displacing the laughter briefly *You will never see him, never Strife. You’re nothing to them. * Joxer saw Ares on the edge of his vision blasting Discord into the wall and he let out a mental cheer as the bright light spread out encompassing everything. Joxer felt hands on his shoulders and he hit out wildly. He felt relief flood him as he felt his body move to slap away the intruding hands. He heard a squeal and felt a sudden rush hit his body as tiny pinpricks of cold covered it.
Joxer sat up gasping and rubbed at his eyes as he spat out the remnants of the ice cold water that had soaked through his clothes. As his vision cleared he stared up at Xena, a very unimpressed Xena who was holding a water carrier and sporting a slight bruise on her shoulder. Joxers eyes went wide and realizing the implications of this he stood up quickly babbling in apology.
Xena’s face cracked a slight smile as Joxer raced over the apology and he felt relief settle over him as she spoke “Apology accepted Joxer, I won’t try to wake you again.” Xena frowned and looked at him “You know you’ve been having a lot of nightmares recently, kicking about and moaning but you always seem to settle straight after them and not wake up,” she shrugged “You must have been fighting someone though, I wasn’t expecting the punch but I should have been able to stop it. You must be practicing.” She turned away before he could correct her and walked over to the light fire scratching her head violently.
“Oh God it itches!” he heard the moan before he saw Gabrielle limp into the clearing trying to scratch her foot as she walked. She hopped over to Joxer then flopped down next to him on Xena's bedroll holding her foot up for his inspection even as her eyes stared at Xena in accusation "Foot rot!"
Xena rolled her eyes “Gabrielle I told you, if you didn’t listen…” she didn’t have time to finish before Gabrielle was off griping again “Foot rot Xena! From those disgusting swamps you made us wade through,” her eyes almost glowed in anger and Joxer edged away slightly. On the whole Gabrielle only got that upset one day out of the month and that was the day all of them had their ‘alone time’.
Xena looked more amused then annoyed though Joxer noticed her scratch her head vigorously again “I warned you Gabrielle, I said…”
“And what in Zeus is this?” Gabrielle voice rose to new octaves as she jumped up staring down at Xena's bedroll, “Lice! You’ve got lice Xena?”
Joxer somehow managed to fight back a laugh as the normal unflappable warrior princess almost shoved Gabrielle out of the way to examine her bedroll; "I have not got lice. You think I wouldn't know if I had lice?” she scowled at Gabrielle who was now alternating between itching her foot and head “I don’t think so,” she stomped off back to the fire mumbling the word “lice” under her breath as she tried to get the fire going properly. Gabrielle had resorted to hopping as she stared at Xena's bedroll.
Joxer resisted the urge to scratch his own head; with all the gracefulness he could muster in the early morning light and with a full bladder, sprang up out of his own bedroll not wanting the irritating insects near him. He swayed slightly feeling momentarily lightheaded and almost tripped over. He heard Gabrielle’s laughter as he righted himself and smiled ruefully; his clumsiness had been a long time coming so he wasn’t surprised she was making the most of its comic value. It had been well over four weeks since his balance and coordination had improved and Joxer had found himself becoming less and less prone to falling over. Recently it seemed the own time he did was when Gabrielle was near and he’d either fallen on her or knocked her over in the process.
“Same old Joxer,” Gabrielle smirked at him as he pottered past her and Xena on his way to the river. Joxer felt a slightly popping in his abdomen and frowned pausing on his way, after a few minutes without any unpleasant side effects he shrugged and walked down the slope to the water, he burst into laughter as his ears caught Gabrielle’s voice which was becoming fainter at each step “By the Gods it’s spreading, Xena look this things spreading all over!”
Still laughing quietly to himself, Joxer quickly stripped off and laid his clothes by the waters edge checking them briefly for lice. He couldn’t help but smile at the slight sounds of argument coming from the camp; He didn’t like to see anyone fight but Gabrielle had been becoming almost unbearable recently in her not so subtle attempts to find out more about his friendship with Strife and insult the God. The words ‘shut up’ worked only so often and he could see Xena becoming more and more short tempered as the days went on, for the sake of their friendship well his and Xena's anyway, Joxer had decided to part company with them once they reached the next village. He choked back at laugh at Xena's ‘Scabrielle’ comments and focussed on himself, ignoring the sniping of the other two.
Joxer shivered slightly as he stepped into the cold water, the sun had not had enough time to heat it. He took a few steps in and gasped as the cold tingle settled over his privates, not waiting for the water to lap higher he ducked down and shot up gasping as the too-refreshing feeling. Joxer stepped out a little further and started bobbing in the water, letting it soak up to his neck now. He’d been so hot recently and now his body was becoming used to the water he was feeling a lot better for it. His only real discomfort was a throbbing feeling in his nipples, they’d been tingling on and off for the last week but now they were throbbing violently. He touched them and hissed; it wasn’t quite pain but they were very tender his eyes widened as he looked down at them; Not only were his nipples a lot larger then normal but they were covered in small white bumps, Joxer prodded a bump experimentally and groaned as the burning feeling hit him. He cupped his pectoral as the pain passed and stared in fascination at the pale bluish lines around his nipples, they spread out like a fan making his pec more raised then normal, almost swollen. It didn’t look abnormal but it gave the impression Joxer did a lot of training and exercise. If it wasn’t for the lines and lumps he wouldn’t have minded the look, and the pain too of course.
Joxer washed his chest carefully before tending to the rest of his body; a blush started in his cheeks and almost instantly ran down his body as he realized his nipple explorations had caused his cock to go half hard. Without thought his hand instantly moved to it and he wrapped his fingers around the shaft stroking softly, as the other hand swept down lower and cupped his balls he realized how sensitive they were and bit back a moan gently massaging them. Closing his eyes he blocked the sounds around him and focussed on the strong sensations running through his body. Joxer licked his dry lips keeping up a steady stroke; his hand moved off his balls and almost hesitantly stroked his swollen nipples. It wasn’t quite pleasure or pain but it made him more aroused then ever; Joxer shuddered slightly, his cock jumping at the feeling,. He whimpered as he pumped his cock faster and ran his nails gently over his nipple, his back arched and his mind slipped into one of his favorite fantasies. Joxer’s fantasy lover was caressing his body gently, teasing him into frenzy as he kissed up and down. His dream lover sucked and teased Joxers nipples with his tongue and the mortal rubbed harder and faster on them. His dream lover took Joxers cock; he taunted the mortal by bathing it with his tongue before he took it fully into his mouth, sucking hard and encouraging the mortal to thrust into his mouth. Joxers hand pumped herder and he thrust into time to the thrusts in his fantasy. He felt a hot flush swell from within and his body shuddered, arching his back Joxer didn’t manage to bite off a cry as he came, his fantasy lovers name slipping from his lips, “Ares!”
The instant the name slipped from his lips Joxer collapsed back into the water panting hard. Red faced and sweaty he opened his eyes and was fervently glad that both Xena and Gabrielle were arguing too loudly to hear him. A second after his relief came the guilt and Joxer closed his eyes in shame as he realized he’d just fantasized about one of the people who’d hurt Strife the most. The fantasy wasn’t anything new unlike the sensations from his body but he let the guilt wash over him as he bobbed in the water glad there was no evidence of his ‘crime’. Ares was the one person Strife actually had seemed, both in Joxer’s dream and in reality, to look up to and believe in. The abandonment and pain his friend had to have felt when Ares left him must have been overwhelming. Joxer bit his lip and swallowed hard, he’d left his worship of Ares for a reason for Strife and he’d be damned if he’d ever allow himself to indulge like that again and defile his friend’s memory. Joxer swore to himself that he’d put his own feelings for the War God aside and focus back on the ones he’d felt for Strife, over the injustice at his friends death and mourning.
His decision made he stepped out of the water and stood in the morning sun for a few minutes letting it dry him, Joxer slowly began to pull on his trousers and tunic and was just reaching for his shoes when he heard Gabrielle’s shriek, it wasn’t a ‘I’m furious with Xena’ shriek it was more of a ‘we’re being attacked!’ shriek. Reacting on instinct and with no thought of the potential danger that could lie ahead Joxer raced back up the slope, he ignored the rocks cutting into his feet and burst into the clearing…and froze.
Xena was slowly making her way to her feet in a daze of confusion as she rubbed her head at the pain and Gabrielle was pinned against a tree, a muscular arm holding her in place as she tried to wriggle free. Although their attackers back was to him Joxer would have recognized the wings anywhere, he stepped forward cautiously and asked “Cupid?” the only response he got was Gabrielle’s gasp of pain as Cupid tightened his hold around her neck. Joxer moved closer not wanting to rush the God, he never imagined Cupid to be a violent God but he wasn’t going to chance startling him and getting Gabrielle’s neck broken “Cupid, put her down!” His voice was soft yet had a note of command in it that even Joxer had never heard before.
He wasn’t entirely surprised when Cupid dropped Gabrielle to the floor as if she were a rag doll. He glanced at her, her eyes were a little fuzzy and she was gasping but she seemed all right. Xena had now righted herself fully and seemed back in control, despite her itches she was poised to attack or defend as Cupid turned to face Joxer.
Joxer stared at the God; though Cupid had never been one of his favorite Gods he felt pity at the sight of the God before him. Cupid looked like he’d been to Tartarus, for punishment, and back. The God was shaking violently his body experienced severe tremors, small sparks were spitting from his hands and his body was sagging under his own weight. As Joxer stared up at Cupids face he saw sweat pouring off the God, the pain and sorrow radiating off him was obvious for anyone to see even without the miserly reflected in Cupids face. He felt fear grip him as he locked eyes with Cupid and the God’s eyes locked back into focus, on Joxer. Joxer could see Cupid was acting on instinct more then anything and now that the Gods eyes were on him Joxer took a step back, trying to put himself out of the line of fire. He saw a hunger more primal then anything ever seen he’d ever seen before light up Cupid’s eyes as they began to glow a bright emerald green, the glow encompassing the Gods body as he lunged for Joxer.
TBC