This was co-written with Deianeira & IolaBeth.
This story is not intended to violate any copyrights held by MCA, Universal Studios, or Renaissance Pictures concerning Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. This story is for fun and no money was made from it.
Festival at Argos
It had been a glorious day for a festival. The sun shone down upon all the festive participants from a clear azure sky. Hercules and Iolaus were having the time of their lives. They already had participated in the games, and of course, Hercules won most of the prizes. As he usually did, he gave them away to some delighted village children. At the yearly pie-eating contest, Iolaus proudly ate more cherry pies than Hercules did and took the prize. The children watched, filling the air with their laughter as the two grown men stood with red filling all over their faces.
Eventually, the games and nonstop fun finally got to the two tired men, who had just happened to stop in Argos on their way to see Iphicles in Corinth. They decided to stay because they both loved festivals, especially Iolaus.
The celebration was winding down now, and the remaining citizens were slowly making their way through the streets. Most had consumed quite a bit of ale during the festivities and were either trying to make it home or in search of yet another festival site.
Hercules and Iolaus wandered over to the tavern and sat down at an outside table to watch all the remaining revelers enjoy Argos' first festival of the summer. As they sat at the table, Iolaus was babbling, as usual, about a certain fascinating girl he had met. Hercules was only half listening to him when someone had caught his eye. He began to stare across the pathway at the strikingly lovely older woman.
She was dressed in a royal blue dress and carrying a basket on her left arm filled with an assortment of flowers. She held a yellow rose to her nose smelling it ever so gently. Her hair was golden blonde and was pulled up with little ringlets cascading down the back, just like his mother used to wear hers. Hercules could not catch himself before softly voicing his thoughts, "Mother?"
Iolaus heard Herc whisper something and asked, "What was that Herc, what did you say?"
"Oh nothing, Iolaus, nothing at all." Herc replied back, as he quickly downed a large gulp of his drink.
But that really wasn't true, for Hercules, seeing that woman, who reminded him so much of his mother, brought back some happy memories as well as some regrets he had been keeping rather well hidden until now.
"Well Herc, if we are going to make it to Corinth to see Iphicles, we better be on our way. It's a good day's journey from here. The sun will be completely down soon, so we'll need to find shelter for the night."
"You're right Iolaus. If we leave now, we will have just enough light left to be able to make camp. Let's grab our packs and head out."
They both went inside to reclaim their belongings from the tavern keeper who had insisted on watching over them for the heroes. They bid him farewell and were off.
As usual, Iolaus chattered away continuously as they walked, but he soon noticed something was wrong with Hercules. He had become very quiet as they continued down the path. Even though Iolaus knew he sometimes tended to babble, Herc usually humored him, but not this time. No, something was definitely on his mind.
"Hey Herc, I know you're troubled, I can tell 'cause you're too quiet. So if you want to discuss it with your buddy here, I'm willing to listen, you know."
"Iolaus," Herc said, "Was there ever a time in your life that you started to reflect back on things you've done or haven't done and have regrets about them?" Herc inquired, as he stopped rather abruptly and stared at the hunter.
"Yes I do, Herc, sometimes very much so. It's easy to look back and say 'what if' or 'if only' I'd done something differently. Why, is there something in particular that's bothering you?" Iolaus asked, hoping Hercules would talk to him rather than keep it inside.
"Well, yeah, there is," Hercules remarked as they continued down the path. "Maybe we can talk about it later." Iolaus didn't push Hercules. He knew Hercules would talk to him when the time was right.
The sun was now beginning to set, since they'd been walking quite a while. Hercules hadn't realized how long they'd been on the road, but he'd been so preoccupied with his unsettling thoughts.
"We should think about making camp around here somewhere before total darkness sets in," Herc commented.
"I guess you're right, Herc." Iolaus spotted a clearing next to a small stream that would be perfect for a campsite. "Hey, here's our spot." Iolaus declared.
"Yeah, this will do great, Iolaus. You always seem to find us the best spots just when we need them the most." Hercules said with a smile. "How do you do that?"
"Just call it the luck of the Golden Hunter!" Iolaus laughed at his own remark. As they got to the clearing, they both put their packs down next to a log. "Why don't you go find us some food lucky Golden Hunter?" Hercules said with a small chuckle. "Since you're the better hunter here. I'll go off to gather the firewood."
"Okay, I'll be back with some rabbits in just a few." Iolaus replied back, as he turned and quickly disappeared into the bushes.
"Oh great, more rabbit." Herc muttered to himself in a low voice.
So off they both went, each doing their part in setting up camp and catching dinner. Iolaus returned shortly, noticing the pleasantly roaring fire. Hercules was sitting next to it, absentmindedly poking at the embers with a stick as he sat on the log. He already had the spit ready over the fire and had laid out a few cooking herbs and spices from Iolaus' pack. Iolaus prepared the rabbit as he normally did and placed it over the fire to roast.
Later that night, the duo sat savoring a few last bites of rabbit. "Not bad, Iolaus, if I say so myself."
Iolaus could barely respond leaning back against the log with his eyes half closed. As the two prepared to bed down for the night, he saw that Hercules looked worried or preoccupied again, and asked if there was something he needed to talk about?
Hercules didn't really want to say anything, but that woman at the festival was still on his mind, so much that he couldn't stop thinking about her. So Hercules considered maybe if he talked about it, the thoughts would just go away.
"Well Iolaus," Hercules started. "You know at the festival when we were sitting at the table outside the tavern? I could have sworn I saw my mother across the pathway. But I know that can't be, because she's happily living in the Elysian Fields now, as she deserves to be. But it looked so much like her and seeing that woman brought back memories of some promises I had made to my mother that I never kept. Not on purpose, of course, it's just that my life's work is to help anyone who needs it. I think that's what's bothering me the most, that I helped other people instead of my own family, especially when it came to Iphicles." Hercules said with obvious regret in his voice.
Iolaus could tell this was really tearing him up inside. "Herc, I don't know how to help you, but just admit the truth to yourself, ok? And that's, you did what you thought was best and helped a lot of people in the long run. Your family always understood that's what you do."
As he mentioned Hercules' family, it suddenly triggered emotions and a memory that Iolaus thought he had long, long forgotten. But with Hercules talking about all his regrets and Iphicles, upsetting memories came flooding back into his mind. At the time, Iolaus had never told Hercules what Iphicles had done to him so many years ago, when they were younger. Now that they were older, he wished he had.
As Iolaus finally gave in and drifted off to sleep more memories invaded his dreams, recollections suddenly too strong to stay hidden. Iolaus, Hercules, and Iphicles had been just children, playing a warrior's game, complete with mock battles, skirmishes, and sneak attacks. Iolaus had hidden behind some thick bushes as Iphicles approached him. As Iphicles reached Iolaus' position, Iolaus decided to jump out and practice his best surprise attack. Iphicles was caught off guard, but still managed to hold his own through the ensuing battle. Finally, a lucky swing of Iolaus' sword to Iphicles' shield knocked him to the ground.
Laughing as he claimed his victory, Iolaus reached out to him as Iphicles sat fuming on the ground.
"Give me your arm, my brother, and I'll help you up." But Iphicles would have none of it. His pride was hurt, but there was something more behind his reaction. He refused Iolaus' arm and stood up quickly, as he snapped back at Iolaus.
"I know Hercules calls you his brother, but you will never be his brother, not in the way I am. We share the same blood in our veins. What is it that you share? Oh yeah, you're his so-called best friend and he's supposed to think of you like a real brother? Well just remember this," Iphicles ranted, "I will always be his true brother and you can only be a substitute for one."
Those words felt like a stab to Iolaus' heart and were so painful as to be almost unbearable. His young life up until that point had been full of hardship, rejection, and feeling unworthy of friendship and love, until he met Hercules. Now Iphicles was telling him that was all a sham? He wanted to run and tell Hercules, but what if Iphicles was right? What if Hercules really did feel that way toward him? No, he dared not ask. He would bury the whole ordeal and it would never come up again. But now, he struggled to awaken from this terrible dream and looked groggily across the campfire at Hercules. Still half-asleep, he wondered why the doubt had come back now and so strong. They should be enjoying each other's company, laughing like both of them usually did around the campfire, talking about the festival and their past adventures and speculating about new ones they were off to discover.
