Fic: Chain of events 6/6 - Hercules:The legendary journeys
Title - Chain of events 06 - Saved
Fandom: Hercules: The legendary journeys
Author: Ceindreadh
Genre: Drama, Hurt/comfort
Characters/Pairing: Hercules/Iolaus
Rating: M
Summary: Iolaus tries to rescue some captives but ends up joining their number.
Notes: Set post season 6 HTLJ, but ignoring anything that may have happened in subsequent Xena episodes. Many thanks to Tina for all her help with this story.
Word count: ~ 3,250 /23,000
Chain of Events 01
Chain of Events 02
Chain of Events 03
Chain of Events 04
Chain of Events 05
Warnings: Threat of non-con, which may or may not be carried out
Disclaimer. I don’t own the characters, I’m only borrowing them, no copyright infringement is intended.
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Without even looking, Iolaus kicked backwards, catching Belchor in the face and sending him crashing to the ground. “Now it’s over,” said Iolaus, shrugging Hercules’s hands off his shoulders and walking away.
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[Chapter 6]
But it wasn’t completely over.
Hercules made sure that everybody in the tent was securely bound and gagged before doing a quick circuit of the camp. Anybody asleep was tied up, anybody awake was rendered unconscious and *then* tied up.
He worked alone for the most part. Iolaus had retrieved his medallion from Belchor’s belt pouch and grabbing Eldred’s cloak for warmth had walked out of the tent, saying he was going to find his clothes. Hercules had called after him, telling him to wait until they could go together, but Iolaus had ignored him. Torn between not wanting to let Iolaus out of his sight again, and needing to make sure that Belchor and his men weren’t a threat, Hercules was forced to let Iolaus leave. He had seen from the look in Iolaus’s eyes that anybody posing a threat to his friend would likely end up picking their teeth up off the ground.
The raid, when it came had been a bit of an anti-climax, thought Hercules as he watched the camp being cleared the next morning. He’d located Iolaus, by then fully dressed and starting to look a bit more like himself, and had raised the signal. Iphicles’s men had ridden into the camp to discover that all they were really needed for was prisoner transport duties. Hercules had been most relieved to find that all the captives he’d freed had made it safely to the camp. As he’d promised himself earlier, he spoke personally to each of them, apologizing profusely for any distress he might have caused them in his persona as Kester. He also arranged for two of Iphicles’s men to accompany them back to their home towns safely.
“I wish you were coming with us, Iolaus,” Keti said as she gave him a hug. “If it wasn’t for you, I’d probably never have seen my home again.”
“I have to head back to Corinth with Hercules,” said Iolaus. “But the next time I’m passing by, I’ll be sure to call in and visit.” Keti had kissed him on the cheek before setting out with the rest of the group.
Iolaus had filled a carry sack with provisions from the store wagon before rejoining Hercules who was talking to Nestor, the leader of Iphicles’s men.
“We’ll be able to take a more direct route back,” said Nestor. “These men will be locked up in Corinth before the week is out. You have my word. Although I must admit, I wish you were accompanying us on the journey back.”
“We’ll only be a few days behind you,” said Hercules. “We may catch up with you before you hit Corinth. But if not, tell Iphicles we’ll see him soon, ” He thought he heard a sharp intake of breath beside him, but when he glanced at Iolaus, his partner’s face was in a carefully neutral expression. An expression which didn’t change as they watched Nestor lead Belchor, Eldred and the others away, in the chains they’d once used on their captives.
“I told Nestor that we’d make sure the campsite was cleaned up properly before we followed him,” said Hercules, once the others were out of sight.
“Fine,” said Iolaus, throwing his bag on the ground. “You just go right ahead and make the decisions and I’ll do as I’m told.”
“What is wrong with you?” asked Hercules. “I thought you’d appreciate having a day or so to rest up. I can’t imagine Belchor gave you any days off.”
“Maybe I want to go to Corinth now.”
“Okay, we’ll get our gear and catch up with Nestor. Happy?”
“YES!” yelled Iolaus, “NO…I don’t know.” His hands were clenched into fists.
Hercules instinctively took a step back, hands raised in a placatory manner. “Iolaus, what’s going on?”
“I just…” Iolaus let his hands fall limply to his side. “I just want to have a say in the matter…the last few weeks…every decision has been somebody else’s call. The only choice Belchor gave me was between not causing trouble or…or seeing people I cared about get hurt. Even last night, you made me stay put while you went and freed Keti and the others…”
“That was for your own good,” interrupted Hercules. “You’d been through a lot; I thought it would be safer for you staying put.”
“Yeah, and we saw how well *that* worked out,” said Iolaus sighed heavily, sounding more tired than angry. “Hercules, I’m not a child, I can take care of myself and I can make my own decisions. And they may not be the right decisions, but they’re *my* decisions, *my* choices, and I need to be able to make them for myself.”
“I understand,” said Hercules, “I just honestly thought that it would be good to have some time to ourselves. But you’re right, I shouldn’t have just made that decision for both of us, I should have asked you what *you* wanted to do.”
“That’s all I want.”
“Look, if you want to, we can grab our stuff and catch up with Nestor. Or, since he’s not expecting us to join him, why don’t we stay here for a day or two, take things easy for a bit. Either way is fine by me, but it’s your call.
Iolaus sighed heavily, “I guess we might as well stay put.” In truth, he was somewhat relieved that he wasn’t going to have to start out on another long trek immediately.
Hercules put his arms around Iolaus and pulled him into a hug. “I am sorry, really.” One hand automatically found its way to the small of Iolaus’s back, the thumb tracing a circle at the base of his spine.
Hercules could feel Iolaus tensing in his arms, but before he could say anything, Iolaus started to struggle. “I…I can’t do this…” Breaking free from Hercules, who was too surprised to stop him, Iolaus pushed himself away, and turning, half stumbled, half ran away from the camp.
“Iolaus!” By the time Hercules could react, Iolaus was half way across the clearing, headed for the woods. “IOLAUS!”
Hercules was fast, but Iolaus had had a head start and was almost to the river before Hercules caught up with him. He grabbed Iolaus by the arm, spinning him around and pushing him up against a tree. “Iolaus…” The look of fear on Iolaus’s face made Hercules take a step back. “Iolaus, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong, I just can’t…I…I…just don’t…don’t touch me…please…” Iolaus’s breathing was ragged and he couldn’t look Hercules in the eye. He slid back against the tree, knees buckling until he was sitting on the roots.
“Iolaus, please,” said Hercules, crouching down in front of him. “Whatever is going on with you…with us. I want to help you, but I can’t help you if you don’t talk to me.” Hercules didn’t really want to push Iolaus if he wasn’t ready, especially after their earlier argument, but he couldn’t just stand by and watch his Iolaus fall apart like this, not if there was anything he could do about it. “If you don’t want to talk, that’s up to you. But you’re my best friend you’re my partner, you mean more to me than anything in the world, and I will do whatever it takes to help you fix this. But you have to help me so that I can help you. Talk to me, buddy, please.”
“What if this can’t be fixed?” Iolaus’s voice was so low that Hercules could barely hear him.
“Then whatever it is, we’ll deal with it…together…” Hercules reached out, intending to clasp Iolaus on the shoulder, only to have him shy away from the touch. “Please Iolaus.”
“Hercules…” Iolaus swallowed hard before continuing, “I…I’ve always known that you were stronger than me. I’ve always known that if you turned your strength against me that there’d be nothing I could do to defend myself…I just never realized how it would feel to be in that position. But when I was being dragged towards the tent…when I was there, pinned to the ground…knowing that there was nothing I could do to stop it. I don’t think I’ve ever been so scared in my life. And I know it was all part of the act, but it hit me, that if you ever wanted to, you could break me in a heartbeat…and I just…I just don’t know what I’d do to stop you if you ever were truly angry with me.” He wiped his hand across his eyes.
“Iolaus, all you’d have to do is *tell* me to stop and I would,” said Hercules, shocked at what his friend was saying, “You know that I would never hurt you…you know that I would never raise a hand to you in anger.”
“I know that,” said Iolaus, “I know that *you* would never do it…but Kester would, Kester *did*…and he would have done more, and right now when I look at you, all I can see is *him* and what he was going to do to me…and when you touched me…like you did then…like *he* did…Hercules, I don’t want to feel this way, I don’t want to feel his hands when you touch me, I don’t want to see him when I look at you…but I don’t know how to stop seeing him…”
“Then let’s make him disappear.” Hercules stood and held out his hand to Iolaus, who looked at it as if was a snake, before reluctantly taking it and allowing Hercules to pull him to his feet. “We can do this, Iolaus. Together.”
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Iolaus carefully struck the stones together above the small pile of kindling that he’d gathered.
Hercules had asked him to build a fire while he went back to the campsite to get their things. The familiar task, one that Iolaus had performed more times than he could remember, went some way towards settling his nerves, but his hands were still shaking as he placed some twigs over the small flame. He’d thought that he’d gotten past the strain of his ordeal of the previous night. He’d thought that he’d managed to lock away the fear and dread that he’d felt when Kester had dragged him through the tent and thrown him to the ground. But when Hercules had hugged him after their argument, all Iolaus had been conscious of was the smell of Kester’s outfit that Hercules had still been wearing. Iolaus had managed to fight down the initial panic, but then he’d felt that touch on his back, and all of a sudden he was back in Belchor’s camp, hands chained, being carried to the tent.
He’d panicked, pure and simple, thought Iolaus. He’d panicked and run away like a coward, and the only reason he wasn’t still running now was because he had promised Hercules that he’d stay there and wait for him.
Iolaus was about to place more fuel on the flames when he heard footsteps approach. Afraid to look up for fear of who he’d see, Iolaus’s hand tightened convulsively around the stick. It wasn’t until he heard Hercules’s voice that Iolaus was able to let out the breath he hadn’t realized he was holding.
Hercules sat down, carefully picking his seat to be close enough to reach out to Iolaus, but not close enough to touch. He held out a blade to Iolaus and said, “Will you help me get rid of Kester?”
Iolaus saw the knife being held out to him and hesitated to take it, fearful of what he might do if he saw Kester in front of him. Forcing himself to look up, he saw Hercules’s smile shine through Kester’s beard.
“We can do this, Iolaus,” said Hercules. He saw Iolaus swallow hard, before taking the knife.
It was as well, thought Iolaus that he didn’t have to make his living as a barber. He’d used the knife to cut Hercules’s hair to its more normal length, sawing through the matted tangles and trying not to pull at it too much. That was the easy part though; at least he didn’t have to look Hercules in the face while doing it. He’d then knelt in front of Hercules, and cut away most of Kester’s beard, avoiding eye contact while he did so. Finally Iolaus cleaned the blade again and leaned in closer to Hercules to shave him. Iolaus’s hand was shaking as he raised it to Hercules’s neck and started to scrape away the stubble. “I…I don’t know if I can do this,” said Iolaus, hesitantly. He forced himself to look into Hercules’s eyes. “Not without hurting you.”
“You won’t hurt me,” said Hercules. “I know you.”
Iolaus steeled himself once more and slowly, carefully, managed to remove most of the stubble. When he was finished, he reached out with his free hand, caressing Hercules’s cheek, running his thumb over the skin. “Welcome back, Hercules,” he said softly. “It’s good to see you.” He leaned forward brushing his lips against Hercules’s but then pulled back, wrinkling his nose in disgust. “I don’t suppose you brought any soap?”
Hercules had indeed brought soap, and soon the two were wading into the river.
Once Hercules had washed the scent of Kester away for good, Iolaus took a comb and tried to untangle the unruly mane of hair.
“Ouch,” said Hercules as Iolaus tackled a particularly difficult knot. “Be careful!”
“I’m barely pulling it,” said Iolaus. “You are being such a baby!”
“Am not!”
“Are too!” Iolaus yanked at a lock of hair, making Hercules yelp. Hercules retaliated by scooping up a handful of water and throwing it in Iolaus’s face. Iolaus promptly ducked under the water, swimming around and coming up in front of Hercules to splash him in the face before backstroking away to an imagined safe distance. He’d reckoned without Hercules’s competitive nature - at least when it came to water fights - and the game was on.
Hercules finally managed to grab Iolaus as he tried to swim past him to the shallows. Iolaus was laughing as Hercules lifted him out of the water. “You win!” he gasped as he caught his breath.
“You’d better believe it!” Hercules tucked Iolaus under one arm and started to walk towards the river bank. Iolaus kept wriggling and twisting, and Hercules was afraid he was going to lose his grip. “Stay still, or else!” Hercules raised his free hand, ready to smack Iolaus on the ass, and then he froze.
Iolaus was puzzled by Hercules’s lack of movement and twisted around until he could see his face. “Hercules? What’s wrong?”
“Nothing…nothing’s wrong…” Hercules set Iolaus down and stumbled towards the river bank. Pulling himself out, he sat on the edge and buried his head in his hands. He heard splashing, and a few seconds later, Iolaus scrambled out of the water to join him.
“What were you saying about only being able to help me if I talked to you?” said Iolaus. “Well that goes both ways. What just happened out there?”
“I was going to smack you,” said Hercules. “I was going to smack you on the ass for being such a brat.”
“So?” said Iolaus, “I *was* being a brat.”
“Don’t you get it? All I was saying earlier about not hurting you, and then there I am, ready to hit you…just like Kester did.”
“Hercules,” Iolaus interrupted, “I’m not that fragile. When Kester hit me like that, it wasn’t the pain that hurt me, it was the fear. You said that all I’d have to do to stop you was to tell you to stop. And I trust you enough to believe that you always will. But you have to trust me enough to know that I’ll call stop when I need to.” Iolaus leaned against him, letting his head fall against Hercules’s shoulder. “I guess we’ve both been pretty messed up by this.” He sighed heavily. “So many times in the past few weeks, I just wished that I’d gone straight to Corinth with you.”
“But then Belchor would still be on the loose with all his captives,” said Hercules, wrapping his arm around Iolaus’s shoulders. “I should have stayed with *you*. Then as soon as we’d seen what Belchor was up to, we could have taken him down, freed the captives and gone fishing like you’d wanted.”
Iolaus shook his head, “The only reason I was on that road, on that day was because I was heading to Corinth to join you. If you’d been with me, we could have been anywhere in the province, and Keti and her friends would still be prisoners.”
“A part of me would rather this had all never happened,” admitted Hercules. “Even if meant not capturing Belchor.”
“You and me both!” Iolaus snuggled up against Hercules. “Do me a favor though. If Fortune shows up and offers to wipe my memories, both our memories of all this, promise you won’t say yes.”
“You have my word,” said Hercules, “There’s no telling how many years of our lives we might lose!”
“That’s not it,” said Iolaus, “It’s not that…it’s just that if I forgot the bad stuff that happened, then I’d also forget that you did everything in your power to save me.” Iolaus twisted around so that his head was resting against Hercules’s chest. “And that type of memory is always worth keeping.”
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It wasn’t that easy of course. Like with any infection, even once the wound had been lanced, and the poison drained, the raw edges still took time to heal.
Iolaus slept fitfully that first night, drifting in and out of restless dreams, before jerking awake so violently that he woke Hercules as well. He didn’t say much about the nightmares, simply grumbling good naturedly about how Belchor and his men were still interrupting his sleep. “At least this time I have a decent pillow,” he’d added, cuddling up to Hercules as he’d closed his eyes again.
But the days passed, and as the bruises to Iolaus’s body healed, so too did the bruises to his soul.
There was the occasional setback. Walking through a wooded area one day, a shadow had fallen across Hercules’s face at just the right angle to make it look like he had a long beard. Iolaus had only seen it for a second, but it had been enough to make him stop in his tracks, grabbing onto a nearby tree trunk to steady himself before continuing on. Hercules had seen the hesitation and the recovery and not knowing the exact reason for it had simply wrapped his arm around Iolaus’s shoulders in a silent gesture of comfort.
But as the days passed, Iolaus’s spirits grew brighter and his sleep less troubled. Hercules too felt his guilt over the mission fade as Iolaus showed in both word and actions that no grudges were held. Both men were thankful for the opportunity to spend some uninterrupted time together, having chosen a less well travelled path to Corinth in the hopes that no threats or danger would spoil the solitude.
The peace and quiet didn’t last of course and they were still a few days from the city when they heard familiar sounds of fighting and screaming.
Rounding the corner at a run, they saw a group of thugs surrounding what looked to be a merchant and his wagon.
“Looks like it’s business as usual, partner,” said Hercules with a smile as he started running towards the fight.
“I wouldn’t have it any other way!” said Iolaus, following Hercules into the fray.
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The end
Fandom: Hercules: The legendary journeys
Author: Ceindreadh
Genre: Drama, Hurt/comfort
Characters/Pairing: Hercules/Iolaus
Rating: M
Summary: Iolaus tries to rescue some captives but ends up joining their number.
Notes: Set post season 6 HTLJ, but ignoring anything that may have happened in subsequent Xena episodes. Many thanks to Tina for all her help with this story.
Word count: ~ 3,250 /23,000
Chain of Events 01
Chain of Events 02
Chain of Events 03
Chain of Events 04
Chain of Events 05
Warnings: Threat of non-con, which may or may not be carried out
Disclaimer. I don’t own the characters, I’m only borrowing them, no copyright infringement is intended.
-------------------------
Without even looking, Iolaus kicked backwards, catching Belchor in the face and sending him crashing to the ground. “Now it’s over,” said Iolaus, shrugging Hercules’s hands off his shoulders and walking away.
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[Chapter 6]
But it wasn’t completely over.
Hercules made sure that everybody in the tent was securely bound and gagged before doing a quick circuit of the camp. Anybody asleep was tied up, anybody awake was rendered unconscious and *then* tied up.
He worked alone for the most part. Iolaus had retrieved his medallion from Belchor’s belt pouch and grabbing Eldred’s cloak for warmth had walked out of the tent, saying he was going to find his clothes. Hercules had called after him, telling him to wait until they could go together, but Iolaus had ignored him. Torn between not wanting to let Iolaus out of his sight again, and needing to make sure that Belchor and his men weren’t a threat, Hercules was forced to let Iolaus leave. He had seen from the look in Iolaus’s eyes that anybody posing a threat to his friend would likely end up picking their teeth up off the ground.
The raid, when it came had been a bit of an anti-climax, thought Hercules as he watched the camp being cleared the next morning. He’d located Iolaus, by then fully dressed and starting to look a bit more like himself, and had raised the signal. Iphicles’s men had ridden into the camp to discover that all they were really needed for was prisoner transport duties. Hercules had been most relieved to find that all the captives he’d freed had made it safely to the camp. As he’d promised himself earlier, he spoke personally to each of them, apologizing profusely for any distress he might have caused them in his persona as Kester. He also arranged for two of Iphicles’s men to accompany them back to their home towns safely.
“I wish you were coming with us, Iolaus,” Keti said as she gave him a hug. “If it wasn’t for you, I’d probably never have seen my home again.”
“I have to head back to Corinth with Hercules,” said Iolaus. “But the next time I’m passing by, I’ll be sure to call in and visit.” Keti had kissed him on the cheek before setting out with the rest of the group.
Iolaus had filled a carry sack with provisions from the store wagon before rejoining Hercules who was talking to Nestor, the leader of Iphicles’s men.
“We’ll be able to take a more direct route back,” said Nestor. “These men will be locked up in Corinth before the week is out. You have my word. Although I must admit, I wish you were accompanying us on the journey back.”
“We’ll only be a few days behind you,” said Hercules. “We may catch up with you before you hit Corinth. But if not, tell Iphicles we’ll see him soon, ” He thought he heard a sharp intake of breath beside him, but when he glanced at Iolaus, his partner’s face was in a carefully neutral expression. An expression which didn’t change as they watched Nestor lead Belchor, Eldred and the others away, in the chains they’d once used on their captives.
“I told Nestor that we’d make sure the campsite was cleaned up properly before we followed him,” said Hercules, once the others were out of sight.
“Fine,” said Iolaus, throwing his bag on the ground. “You just go right ahead and make the decisions and I’ll do as I’m told.”
“What is wrong with you?” asked Hercules. “I thought you’d appreciate having a day or so to rest up. I can’t imagine Belchor gave you any days off.”
“Maybe I want to go to Corinth now.”
“Okay, we’ll get our gear and catch up with Nestor. Happy?”
“YES!” yelled Iolaus, “NO…I don’t know.” His hands were clenched into fists.
Hercules instinctively took a step back, hands raised in a placatory manner. “Iolaus, what’s going on?”
“I just…” Iolaus let his hands fall limply to his side. “I just want to have a say in the matter…the last few weeks…every decision has been somebody else’s call. The only choice Belchor gave me was between not causing trouble or…or seeing people I cared about get hurt. Even last night, you made me stay put while you went and freed Keti and the others…”
“That was for your own good,” interrupted Hercules. “You’d been through a lot; I thought it would be safer for you staying put.”
“Yeah, and we saw how well *that* worked out,” said Iolaus sighed heavily, sounding more tired than angry. “Hercules, I’m not a child, I can take care of myself and I can make my own decisions. And they may not be the right decisions, but they’re *my* decisions, *my* choices, and I need to be able to make them for myself.”
“I understand,” said Hercules, “I just honestly thought that it would be good to have some time to ourselves. But you’re right, I shouldn’t have just made that decision for both of us, I should have asked you what *you* wanted to do.”
“That’s all I want.”
“Look, if you want to, we can grab our stuff and catch up with Nestor. Or, since he’s not expecting us to join him, why don’t we stay here for a day or two, take things easy for a bit. Either way is fine by me, but it’s your call.
Iolaus sighed heavily, “I guess we might as well stay put.” In truth, he was somewhat relieved that he wasn’t going to have to start out on another long trek immediately.
Hercules put his arms around Iolaus and pulled him into a hug. “I am sorry, really.” One hand automatically found its way to the small of Iolaus’s back, the thumb tracing a circle at the base of his spine.
Hercules could feel Iolaus tensing in his arms, but before he could say anything, Iolaus started to struggle. “I…I can’t do this…” Breaking free from Hercules, who was too surprised to stop him, Iolaus pushed himself away, and turning, half stumbled, half ran away from the camp.
“Iolaus!” By the time Hercules could react, Iolaus was half way across the clearing, headed for the woods. “IOLAUS!”
Hercules was fast, but Iolaus had had a head start and was almost to the river before Hercules caught up with him. He grabbed Iolaus by the arm, spinning him around and pushing him up against a tree. “Iolaus…” The look of fear on Iolaus’s face made Hercules take a step back. “Iolaus, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong, I just can’t…I…I…just don’t…don’t touch me…please…” Iolaus’s breathing was ragged and he couldn’t look Hercules in the eye. He slid back against the tree, knees buckling until he was sitting on the roots.
“Iolaus, please,” said Hercules, crouching down in front of him. “Whatever is going on with you…with us. I want to help you, but I can’t help you if you don’t talk to me.” Hercules didn’t really want to push Iolaus if he wasn’t ready, especially after their earlier argument, but he couldn’t just stand by and watch his Iolaus fall apart like this, not if there was anything he could do about it. “If you don’t want to talk, that’s up to you. But you’re my best friend you’re my partner, you mean more to me than anything in the world, and I will do whatever it takes to help you fix this. But you have to help me so that I can help you. Talk to me, buddy, please.”
“What if this can’t be fixed?” Iolaus’s voice was so low that Hercules could barely hear him.
“Then whatever it is, we’ll deal with it…together…” Hercules reached out, intending to clasp Iolaus on the shoulder, only to have him shy away from the touch. “Please Iolaus.”
“Hercules…” Iolaus swallowed hard before continuing, “I…I’ve always known that you were stronger than me. I’ve always known that if you turned your strength against me that there’d be nothing I could do to defend myself…I just never realized how it would feel to be in that position. But when I was being dragged towards the tent…when I was there, pinned to the ground…knowing that there was nothing I could do to stop it. I don’t think I’ve ever been so scared in my life. And I know it was all part of the act, but it hit me, that if you ever wanted to, you could break me in a heartbeat…and I just…I just don’t know what I’d do to stop you if you ever were truly angry with me.” He wiped his hand across his eyes.
“Iolaus, all you’d have to do is *tell* me to stop and I would,” said Hercules, shocked at what his friend was saying, “You know that I would never hurt you…you know that I would never raise a hand to you in anger.”
“I know that,” said Iolaus, “I know that *you* would never do it…but Kester would, Kester *did*…and he would have done more, and right now when I look at you, all I can see is *him* and what he was going to do to me…and when you touched me…like you did then…like *he* did…Hercules, I don’t want to feel this way, I don’t want to feel his hands when you touch me, I don’t want to see him when I look at you…but I don’t know how to stop seeing him…”
“Then let’s make him disappear.” Hercules stood and held out his hand to Iolaus, who looked at it as if was a snake, before reluctantly taking it and allowing Hercules to pull him to his feet. “We can do this, Iolaus. Together.”
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Iolaus carefully struck the stones together above the small pile of kindling that he’d gathered.
Hercules had asked him to build a fire while he went back to the campsite to get their things. The familiar task, one that Iolaus had performed more times than he could remember, went some way towards settling his nerves, but his hands were still shaking as he placed some twigs over the small flame. He’d thought that he’d gotten past the strain of his ordeal of the previous night. He’d thought that he’d managed to lock away the fear and dread that he’d felt when Kester had dragged him through the tent and thrown him to the ground. But when Hercules had hugged him after their argument, all Iolaus had been conscious of was the smell of Kester’s outfit that Hercules had still been wearing. Iolaus had managed to fight down the initial panic, but then he’d felt that touch on his back, and all of a sudden he was back in Belchor’s camp, hands chained, being carried to the tent.
He’d panicked, pure and simple, thought Iolaus. He’d panicked and run away like a coward, and the only reason he wasn’t still running now was because he had promised Hercules that he’d stay there and wait for him.
Iolaus was about to place more fuel on the flames when he heard footsteps approach. Afraid to look up for fear of who he’d see, Iolaus’s hand tightened convulsively around the stick. It wasn’t until he heard Hercules’s voice that Iolaus was able to let out the breath he hadn’t realized he was holding.
Hercules sat down, carefully picking his seat to be close enough to reach out to Iolaus, but not close enough to touch. He held out a blade to Iolaus and said, “Will you help me get rid of Kester?”
Iolaus saw the knife being held out to him and hesitated to take it, fearful of what he might do if he saw Kester in front of him. Forcing himself to look up, he saw Hercules’s smile shine through Kester’s beard.
“We can do this, Iolaus,” said Hercules. He saw Iolaus swallow hard, before taking the knife.
It was as well, thought Iolaus that he didn’t have to make his living as a barber. He’d used the knife to cut Hercules’s hair to its more normal length, sawing through the matted tangles and trying not to pull at it too much. That was the easy part though; at least he didn’t have to look Hercules in the face while doing it. He’d then knelt in front of Hercules, and cut away most of Kester’s beard, avoiding eye contact while he did so. Finally Iolaus cleaned the blade again and leaned in closer to Hercules to shave him. Iolaus’s hand was shaking as he raised it to Hercules’s neck and started to scrape away the stubble. “I…I don’t know if I can do this,” said Iolaus, hesitantly. He forced himself to look into Hercules’s eyes. “Not without hurting you.”
“You won’t hurt me,” said Hercules. “I know you.”
Iolaus steeled himself once more and slowly, carefully, managed to remove most of the stubble. When he was finished, he reached out with his free hand, caressing Hercules’s cheek, running his thumb over the skin. “Welcome back, Hercules,” he said softly. “It’s good to see you.” He leaned forward brushing his lips against Hercules’s but then pulled back, wrinkling his nose in disgust. “I don’t suppose you brought any soap?”
Hercules had indeed brought soap, and soon the two were wading into the river.
Once Hercules had washed the scent of Kester away for good, Iolaus took a comb and tried to untangle the unruly mane of hair.
“Ouch,” said Hercules as Iolaus tackled a particularly difficult knot. “Be careful!”
“I’m barely pulling it,” said Iolaus. “You are being such a baby!”
“Am not!”
“Are too!” Iolaus yanked at a lock of hair, making Hercules yelp. Hercules retaliated by scooping up a handful of water and throwing it in Iolaus’s face. Iolaus promptly ducked under the water, swimming around and coming up in front of Hercules to splash him in the face before backstroking away to an imagined safe distance. He’d reckoned without Hercules’s competitive nature - at least when it came to water fights - and the game was on.
Hercules finally managed to grab Iolaus as he tried to swim past him to the shallows. Iolaus was laughing as Hercules lifted him out of the water. “You win!” he gasped as he caught his breath.
“You’d better believe it!” Hercules tucked Iolaus under one arm and started to walk towards the river bank. Iolaus kept wriggling and twisting, and Hercules was afraid he was going to lose his grip. “Stay still, or else!” Hercules raised his free hand, ready to smack Iolaus on the ass, and then he froze.
Iolaus was puzzled by Hercules’s lack of movement and twisted around until he could see his face. “Hercules? What’s wrong?”
“Nothing…nothing’s wrong…” Hercules set Iolaus down and stumbled towards the river bank. Pulling himself out, he sat on the edge and buried his head in his hands. He heard splashing, and a few seconds later, Iolaus scrambled out of the water to join him.
“What were you saying about only being able to help me if I talked to you?” said Iolaus. “Well that goes both ways. What just happened out there?”
“I was going to smack you,” said Hercules. “I was going to smack you on the ass for being such a brat.”
“So?” said Iolaus, “I *was* being a brat.”
“Don’t you get it? All I was saying earlier about not hurting you, and then there I am, ready to hit you…just like Kester did.”
“Hercules,” Iolaus interrupted, “I’m not that fragile. When Kester hit me like that, it wasn’t the pain that hurt me, it was the fear. You said that all I’d have to do to stop you was to tell you to stop. And I trust you enough to believe that you always will. But you have to trust me enough to know that I’ll call stop when I need to.” Iolaus leaned against him, letting his head fall against Hercules’s shoulder. “I guess we’ve both been pretty messed up by this.” He sighed heavily. “So many times in the past few weeks, I just wished that I’d gone straight to Corinth with you.”
“But then Belchor would still be on the loose with all his captives,” said Hercules, wrapping his arm around Iolaus’s shoulders. “I should have stayed with *you*. Then as soon as we’d seen what Belchor was up to, we could have taken him down, freed the captives and gone fishing like you’d wanted.”
Iolaus shook his head, “The only reason I was on that road, on that day was because I was heading to Corinth to join you. If you’d been with me, we could have been anywhere in the province, and Keti and her friends would still be prisoners.”
“A part of me would rather this had all never happened,” admitted Hercules. “Even if meant not capturing Belchor.”
“You and me both!” Iolaus snuggled up against Hercules. “Do me a favor though. If Fortune shows up and offers to wipe my memories, both our memories of all this, promise you won’t say yes.”
“You have my word,” said Hercules, “There’s no telling how many years of our lives we might lose!”
“That’s not it,” said Iolaus, “It’s not that…it’s just that if I forgot the bad stuff that happened, then I’d also forget that you did everything in your power to save me.” Iolaus twisted around so that his head was resting against Hercules’s chest. “And that type of memory is always worth keeping.”
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It wasn’t that easy of course. Like with any infection, even once the wound had been lanced, and the poison drained, the raw edges still took time to heal.
Iolaus slept fitfully that first night, drifting in and out of restless dreams, before jerking awake so violently that he woke Hercules as well. He didn’t say much about the nightmares, simply grumbling good naturedly about how Belchor and his men were still interrupting his sleep. “At least this time I have a decent pillow,” he’d added, cuddling up to Hercules as he’d closed his eyes again.
But the days passed, and as the bruises to Iolaus’s body healed, so too did the bruises to his soul.
There was the occasional setback. Walking through a wooded area one day, a shadow had fallen across Hercules’s face at just the right angle to make it look like he had a long beard. Iolaus had only seen it for a second, but it had been enough to make him stop in his tracks, grabbing onto a nearby tree trunk to steady himself before continuing on. Hercules had seen the hesitation and the recovery and not knowing the exact reason for it had simply wrapped his arm around Iolaus’s shoulders in a silent gesture of comfort.
But as the days passed, Iolaus’s spirits grew brighter and his sleep less troubled. Hercules too felt his guilt over the mission fade as Iolaus showed in both word and actions that no grudges were held. Both men were thankful for the opportunity to spend some uninterrupted time together, having chosen a less well travelled path to Corinth in the hopes that no threats or danger would spoil the solitude.
The peace and quiet didn’t last of course and they were still a few days from the city when they heard familiar sounds of fighting and screaming.
Rounding the corner at a run, they saw a group of thugs surrounding what looked to be a merchant and his wagon.
“Looks like it’s business as usual, partner,” said Hercules with a smile as he started running towards the fight.
“I wouldn’t have it any other way!” said Iolaus, following Hercules into the fray.
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The end