Chaos

by Amorette

Iolaus chose discretion over valor and ducked behind a pile of rock, getting well out of the way of Hercules and Ares as they shared one of their brotherly moments. The argument had started over nothing and quickly escalated to blows. Iolaus suspected that both of them used most of their fights more as exercise and stress relief rather than a genuine desire to do the other harm. At least, the fight at the moment seemed more a token than anything serious.

While Hercules and Ares crashed around, Iolaus studied the narrow canyon they were in. He squinted at the vine and moss covered walls, trying to decide if he was surrounded by the ruins of a very old structure or if the natural fracturing of the rock had caused the square corners. Engrossed in his study, he missed it when Ares tossed a fireball at Hercules, who tucked and rolled. Ares sprang after him and they both crashed into one wall with considerable force.

Hercules sat up, shaking his head, stunned. As he had hit the wall, there had been a flash of bright light and a metallic sound that sounded as if a thousand dissonant cymbals had been crashed together. He blinked, trying to clear his vision, and saw Ares sitting next to him, apparently doing the same thing.

Forgetting their earlier battle, Hercules turned to the god and said, genuinely puzzled, "Did you do that?"

Ares, who was trying to stand and not succeeding, glared at Hercules. "No."

"What was it? Iolaus. . ."

Hercules turned to where his partner had been sitting behind a plinth of stone. Iolaus wasn't there. Hercules lurched to his feet, shouting, and immediately regretted both actions.

"Iolaus!" He managed the one cry before he dropped to his knees, dizzy.

Ares got to his feet, wincing at Hercules' voice. "Keep it down, would you? Yeesh. I feel as if I drank a tub of Dionysus' really good stuff."

Hercules took a deep breath, got his dizziness under control , and stood up. He turned slowly, not wanting to collapse again. There was no sign of Iolaus. He turned to Ares and snapped, "Where is he?"

"Where is who?" Ares sounded even more irritable than usual. He was still twitching and rubbing his ears, bothered by the residual ringing.

"Iolaus! Who else?"

Ares shrugged, acknowledging that Hercules was right, he should have known to whom his brother was referring.

"No idea." Ares looking around, frowning. Iolaus was a warrior, even if not Ares' favorite person, and he was normally aware of Iolaus' presence on some level if the irritating mortal was anywhere in range. "Wasn't he just here?"

Now Hercules did spin on his heel, extending one hand to keep his balance at the end of his rotation. As his hand touched the wall, he felt the slight aftershock of the initial event and then heard his friend's voice.

"Herc? Are you all right?"

Iolaus was standing next to the plinth, where he hadn't been a heart beat before.

"Iolaus," said Hercules, relieved, until he got a good look at his companion. "What happened?"

Iolaus looked puzzled. "Happened? When?"

Ares and Hercules exchanged equally bewildered glances, then looked back at Iolaus. Instead of his usual patchwork vest, Iolaus was wearing a long sleeved, grey blue shirt, open to his belt, with a plain wine-colored vest over it. His hair was shorter than it had been earlier in the day.

"Ah," said Ares, "This is odd."

"What's odd?" Iolaus sounded confused. He wasn't the only one.

Hercules frowned as he studied Iolaus. "Did you notice a bright light and a noise?"

Iolaus shook his head. "No. I mean, I noticed when Ares threw one of his lightning things and the sound you guys made when you hit the wall but nothing out of the ordinary. Why? Herc, why are you looking at me like that?"

Ares gave his head another shake, regretted the motion, and extended his hand to correct his balance, touching the wall as he did so. Hercules glanced away from Iolaus at the motion, and when he looked back, his jaw dropped.

Standing next to the plinth, where Iolaus had been, was Iphicles.

Ares' eyes went wide. "What's he doing here?"

Hercules shook his head again and winced. "I have no idea."

Iphicles frowned. "What do you mean, what am I doing here? I'm watching your back, brother, the way I always do."

Hercules and Ares looked at each other and shrugged. Then Hercules asked the obvious question. "Does the name Iolaus mean anything to you?"

"Who?"

"Blonde guy." Hercules gestured. "Yea high. Curls. Blue eyes."

"Oh, the blacksmith. What does he have to do with why you guys are acting so strangely?"

"You wouldn't happen to know where Iolaus is just now, would you?" said Hercules, ignoring the snicker that came from the god beside him.

Now Iphicles gave him a very strange look. "I assume he's back home in Thebes with his wife and that herd of kids of theirs. Where else and what does any of this have to do with him?"

Hercules blinked. "Wife and kids? How many kids?"

Iphicles' eyes narrowed. "I don't know. A dozen or so. His wife pops one out about once a year. Someone should explain to them how babies are made so they can stop."

Hercules turned to Ares. "He has a dozen kids."

"And is a blacksmith." Ares extended his senses. "Yup, Iolaus isn't a warrior any more." He turned his attention back to Iphicles, who was standing next to the plinth, looking annoyed. "And Iphicles isn't a king. You know, he dresses better as a king. And washes more often."

Iphicles' jaw dropped. "What in Tartarus are you two going on about? Hercules, has Ares lost his mind?"

"No, I don't think so. Um, Iph, who is the king of Corinth?"

For a moment, Hercules thought his brother wasn't going to answer. Then, shaking his head, Iphicles replied, "Aeson, son of Jason. You were at the coronation, remember?"

"Well, no, actually. It's kind of difficult to explain. What happened to Jason?"

"You're joking! The sea monster ate him and you were standing right there when it happened."

Hercules and Ares exchanged confused looks again. Ares extended one hand and touched the wall. Iphicles flickered but remained, only now Iolaus was standing next to him. However, they were not the Iolaus or Iphicles that either Hercules or Ares remembered.

"This," said Ares, raising his eyebrows, "is getting seriously weird."

"What's getting weird?" Iolaus asked the question but didn't get an answer because Hercules and Ares were too busy studying the pair in front of them.

Iolaus wore his patchwork vest but his hair was so long, it hung in two braids across his shoulders, reaching nearly to his waist. He wore a band of woven leather across his forehead. Iphicles wore a matching band but his hair was cut short. What made it even stranger was Iolaus had one arm wrapped casually around Iphicles' waist and Iphicles had an arm draped affectionately around Iolaus' shoulders.

"That," said Ares, "is creepy."

Hercules said, "Agreed" and touched the wall. Both mortals disappeared. Hercules again reached out towards the stone.

"Stop that!" thundered a voice. "Right now."

Zeus appeared, looking every inch the King of the Gods. "What have you done now?"

"Me?" Ares pointed at himself. "I haven't done anything."

"Oh, and you expect me to believe that Hercules released the energy of Chaos?"

Ares frowned and looked around himself. "So that's what it is. I noticed it felt funny."

"FUNNY!" Zeus' roar echoed off the stones. "Don't you know where you are?"

Ares made a face as he looked around. "A narrow canyon above Tyrnavos. . .oops."

"Oops!" Hercules frowned. "What do you mean 'oops?'"

"Ah, this wouldn't happen to be the throne of Chaos, would it?" Ares gave his father a wide-eyed smile that was his attempt at innocence.

Zeus' response was to smack the God of War on the side of his head. "Yes. And somehow you released some of the residual energy and now it is leaking out and mucking things up. The Fates are in an uproar. The Tapestry of Life keeps unraveling. I swear, Ares, if I didn't know better, I'd think you did this just to be annoying."

"Hey!" Ares rubbed the side of his head. "It was an accident. Ask your perfect son over there. He's the one who started the fight in the first place."

"Me?" Hercules looked offended. "I didn't start anything. You. . ."

"SHUT UP!" Zeus emphasized his command with a couple of bolts of lightning that stunned both of his sons. "I don't care who started it! It takes two to fight! Now behave yourselves while I try to see if Ge can get this under control."

With a last glare at both Ares and Hercules, Zeus vanished.

Hercules shook his head like a stunned bull, then glared at his elder brother with an expression very reminiscent of their father. "Throne of Chaos, huh? How come you didn't mention this?"

Ares shrugged, looking around much as Iolaus had. "I've never actually been here before. When I was a child, during the lesson about ol' Chaos, some mention was made of his seat of power and that it should be avoided but I haven't thought about it since. . .what?"

"Nothing."

"Yes, it is something. Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Because. . ." Hercules cleared his throat and looked embarrassed. "Frankly, I can't picture you as a. . .child."

Ares looked annoyed. "What do you mean you can't picture me as a child?"

"I mean. . .children tend to be. . .I don't know. . .cute and innocent and well. . ."

With a casual wave, Ares summoned up the translucent image of a small boy, with curling black hair, who was playing with something invisible. The child's face was intent until he achieved something, then he smiled broadly and laughed, clapping his hands. The image was silent but Hercules could easily imagine the sound.

"That's. . .you?"

"What is it with you? Of course that's me! Who did you think it was? Athena?"

Hercules studied the child, who was sitting down now and fussing with the laces on his boots. "Athena was born adult, right? And Apollo and Artemis were pretty precocious but you were. . ." He pointed. "That?"

"You say that as if I were repulsive!" Ares sounded genuinely hurt. "Look at me! I was adorable!"

"Well. . ." Hercules sighed. "Actually, you were pretty cute. So how come you were a child?"

"I don't know!" Are threw up his hands. "I guess my parents wanted to raise a child." Ares scowled. "My mother, anyway."

"Um. . .so how long were you a child? I mean, did you age normally or what?"

"Why do you care?"

Now Hercules threw up his hands. "I don't! I'm making conversation!"

The image of the darling little boy in black vanished and the god and half god paced to opposite sides of the space, carefully not touching the walls. After a longish pause, Ares said, "It took me about two hundred years to be ready to take over as God of War. I did get some practice when I was an adolescent as a fertility god but I had to be older before I could take on the big stuff."

"Oh." Hercules looked at his brother, finding the image of the child now in his memory and interfering with his usual loathing for the god. "But that's kind of unusual. . ..for a god, I mean."

"Yeah." Ares studied his boot toes. "Cupid was a child for a century or so. Aphrodite wanted to enjoy the childhood thing. She lost interest by the time the other kids came along and they grew up faster." He raised his head to look at Hercules. "I don't hold with that born adult thing. Makes for very obnoxious gods. Like Athena. That's why I was perfectly content to let my children grow up normally."

Hercules tilted his head, squinting. "I forget you're a father. I'm not sure. . ."

"You can't picture it?" Ares was belligerent again, suddenly toe to toe with Hercules. "I'll have you know I am a very good father! Ask any of my kids! I'm a much better parent than any other Olympian and I defy you. . ."

"All right!" Hercules back away in surrender, stunned by his brother's adamant words. "I've never heard anyone say anything against you on the fatherhood front. On a few others but not that."

"Well." Ares tugged down his tunic and twitched his hair back. "I should think so."

They walked slowly around the space, keeping their distance, casually not looking at each other until Ares muttered something. Hercules turned, uncertain that he had just heard what he thought he heard.

"What did you say?"

Ares shook his head.

"You said something. What did you say?"

Glaring fiercely, Ares said, "I think Hera was wrong to take out her problems on your kids. Toast old Iolaus to ashes or maybe even fry your wife but the kids were a bit much."

Hercules' jaw dropped. He tried to say something but decided, from the look in Ares' eyes, that he best just drop the subject. He nodded once and turned away. As he turned, he found himself facing plinth where Iolaus had sought shelter.

"Do you think Zeus can get him back?"

"Blondie?" Ares shrugged. "I suppose the Fates will . . ."

Ares voice trailed off as his eyes went wide. Hercules ran to his side, unnerved by the look on his brother's face.

"Ares! What is it? Ares?"

Ares shook his head and took a shaky breath. "It's all right. It's just for a moment there. . .everyone was gone."

"Everyone? As in. . .everyone?"

"Not the gods, just the mortals." He eyed Hercules. "Pity it didn't take out the half mortals as well."

"How could you tell?"

"I'm a god, remember! Sheesh. How can you tell you're breathing? It's automatic, just a sense of my worshippers in the background."

"Really? So, you really do hear prayers?"

"Prayers, vows, oaths. Some idiot drops his sword and uses my name in vain and I hear it. "

"And ignore it."

"Sometimes." Ares grinned. "And sometimes I give them a big ol' pile of weapons and tell them to go out and shed some blood."

Hercules made a face and turned away.

They had paced out the small space. Both tall men with long legs, it hadn't taken very long. Rather like tigers in a cage, they tried to avoid each other as they prowled, bored and waiting. Then Hercules leaned in to see if there really was an inscription on the stone, his foot slipped and he automatically reached out a hand to steady himself.

Hercules didn't immediately register what had happened but Ares did. Ares started to laugh so hard he was staggering, speechless, pointing at Hercules. Then Hercules noticed a draft where he didn't normally feel a draft.

"Shit!"

It wasn't a word Hercules normally used but he felt the circumstances demanded it. He was no longer wearing his usual heavy trousers and shirt but was wearing a few leather straps, held together with silver rings, none of which provided much in the way of modesty. Dangling from a pierced portion of his anatomy which was not his ear was an earring. The sword of Ares.

Ares was enjoying the scene immensely and was quite disappointed when a very grim Hercules extended an arm and touched the wall again.

Now Hercules started to laugh. When Ares saw the change in his usual black leather costume, he screamed in rage and lunged for the wall.

"WHAT PART OF 'STOP THAT' DIDN'T YOU UNDERSTAND?"

Zeus was looming over the canyon, lightning crackling around him. "WE ALMOST HAD IT FIXED AND THEN YOU TWO IDIOTS RELEASED MORE CHAOS! TOUCH ONE MORE STONE AND YOU'LL BOTH BE IN TARTARUS. "

"Ow." Hercules' ears were ringing.

"He did it!" Ares shouted at the vanished god. "Damn."

Ares sat down, carefully keeping his leather garments between himself and any of the stones. Hercules did the same. Hercules started twisting one of the strings tying his gauntlets. Ares glared at him but was ignored.

"They should have hidden it."

"What?" Hercules was getting used to the silence.

"This place." Ares waved his hand. "Chaos energy seems to be pretty strong stuff. So why didn't the Titans or the Elder Gods conceal it. I mean, if I were in charge, I'd put some pretty stiff wardings around here, to make sure nobody tried to use the power."

"Maybe," said Hercules, "the Titans and the Elder Gods thought the other gods would be smart enough not to try to use Chaos. From what I've seen, it can't actually be controlled."

Ares sneered at the implied insult and Hercules sneered right back. Before they could launch into each other out of sheer boredom and frustration, Zeus appeared.

"Behave yourselves," he said warningly. "We think we have the balance almost perfect. One false move and we lose the mortals again or maybe animals or something more important than you two!

Both of Zeus' sons started pointing at each other in protest but he cut them off.

"I don't want to hear it! All I want to know is, who touched the wall first."

"Um . ." Hercules shrugged. He had been too busy trying to strangle Ares to notice.

"Come on, come on. I"ve wasted a whole day on this mess. Ares?"

"Ah. . ." Ares mimed the last moves of the fight. "Me, I think. Yeah, my shoulder hit first."

"Right." Zeus rubbed his hands to gether. "Then to balance it, Hercules, you touch the wall. And then both of you get out of here without touching anything or so help me, you'll spend the rest of your miserable lives cleaning up after centaurs."

Hercules nodded and extended his hand. He stopped just short of the wall. "This will bring Iolaus back, right, and put things back where they belong."

"Yes." Zeus pushed Hercules, who stumbled and touched the wall.

"Hey," said a familar voice next to the plinth, "What's going on? Why is Zeus here all of a sudden?"

Zeus said, "See. Now get out of here before you screw things up again." And vanished.

Hercules sprang to his feet and ran over to his friend, pulling him into a near crushing embrace, which caused Iolaus to squawk in surprise.

"You're back!" Hercules cried with delight, letting his friend step back and check for damage.

"I wasn't aware I had gone anywhere." Iolaus sounded a bit put out. "I was just checking out this place and you guys suddenly went from fighting to just sitting there and Zeus was here. What happened?"

Ares stood up, announcing to the sky, "I still say it wasn't my fault. Put a sign on this place if it's so damned important," and vanished as well.

Iolaus gave Hercules a very puzzled look. "Huh?"

"I'll explain but we need to get out of here."

Hercules gave Iolaus a short version of the story as soon as they were away from the canyon, leaving out the odd pair of Iphicles and Iolaus and the black leather strap outfits.

"Huh." Iolaus shook his head. "Sounds weird but then hanging around with you, I've kind of gotten used to weird. Chaos. He's what, your great-great grandfather or something?"

"Something. I don't think he had a purely physical form but for some reason, his power was centered in that place, long ago, and I guess Ares and I triggered a bit of it. Ares is right. There should be a fence or something."

"Maybe that would just call attention to it."

"Good point"

They kept walking for a while, until Iolaus chuckled and said, "Imagine! Me, married. What a ridiculous idea!"

And far away on Olympus, Ares looked at his eldest son and said, "What do you mean you're the God of Fruit?"

And Zeus and his grandmother and the Fates sighed and tried to straighten out the tapestry again.

February 2003