Familia of Heroes

by GODZILLA IS THE KING

For as long as Bell could remember, he always wanted nothing more to be a hero, except for maybe meeting a cute girl in the Dungeon. Now after a series of strange and unusually events one day in the dungeon, Bell not only meets a beautiful girl in the dungeon, but the perfect chance to live with and meet some of the greatest heroes of all. Inspired by Heroic Myth by Harouki.

8. Chapter 8

Bell would watch in silent awe as Heracles boarded the Argo alongside Jason, as he met with numerous other heroes that were his crewmates, and as the ship eventually departed, with land quickly disappearing from sight.

The world would shift around him, bringing him to different locations and to different scenes. And no one would notice his presence either, and when he did try to get their attention by calling out to them or grabbing them, they wouldn't hear him and his hands would simply go through them. It seemed that he didn't have much of a choice other than to be a passive observer.

Not that it wasn't like he would choose the option for him to see a story of heroism every time it was given to him.

"Hey, have you seen that Heracles guy?" Bell heard as the world finished shifting once again to see a man talking to someone else. Neither of them had weapons or had the aura of a hero so they must've been part of the Argo's crew.

Surprisingly enough, as Bell looked around to find him, he was simply unable to find any sign of Heracles. He briefly wondered where he was and why he wasn't here, but his attention was brought back to the conversation between crew members when the other man replied.

"How could I not? You would have to be blind to miss him."

"What are your thoughts on him?" the original man asked, causing the other one to give him a curious look.

"Well, I haven't talked to him so I don't know about him personally, but even with all the other heroes that are on this ship, I feel a hell of a lot safer knowing that guy is with us." he answered after a second of thought while shrugging. "Just being near him feels like one of the gods came down from on high to give us a hand."

"Well from what I heard, it's more like we're getting help from a monster rather than a god."

Bell blinked in surprise at the man's claim. What could he possibly mean by that? True, while Bell did not know a whole lot about who Heracles was as a person, unfortunately, but from what Chiron and Achilles had told him and from what he had seen for himself in this dream, to hear something like that seemed out of the blue and blatantly wrong.

"Huh? What do you mean by that?" the other sailor asked, fortunately sharing in the confusion and asking the question that Bell was unable to.

"Well, apparently he's the son of Zeus, not a big surprise, but his mother is the queen of some kingdom and her husband agreed to take care of him." the man began, causing Bell to once again blink in surprise that Heracles was apparently royalty alongside being a demigod.

"So when he was a kid, his stepfather got him a smart guy named Linus to teach him the lyre. But Heracles didn't like that apparently, and one day, he just hit the poor guy and killed him."

Bell could feel his eyes widen in shock at hearing that Heracles had killed his old teacher, and he didn't catch the other man's response with how surprised he was. It clashed with everything he knew about Heracles, and he didn't know if what he said was true or not. If it was, he wanted to hear Heracles' side of the story, but if it was anything like the man had just described.

"Hey! Don't you two have work you need to do!?" Jason's voice yelled out before the second man could respond, causing both of them and Bell to jump in surprise as the leader of the Argonauts approached.

"Uh- Yes sir! W-we'll get to that right away!" both of the men said at the same time, both nervous now that they had been caught talking about Heracles by Jason, before quickly off, either to do their tasks or to simply to avoid the friend of Heracles. As they did, Jason would glare at their backs, more than likely putting their faces to memory.

"You didn't have to do that." Heracles' voice said suddenly, surprising both Jason and Bell before they both looked in the direction it came from: upwards, where they saw Heracles sitting on a low hanging part of the mast.

"...So you heard that, huh?" Jason said, frowning slightly as Heracles jumped down to the ground with a thud and a groan from the planks that now suddenly had to support his weight.

Bell, meanwhile, could only wonder how he missed the sheer weight of Heracles' presence as the demigod crossed his arms.

"You didn't have to do that." Heracles repeated, wearing a solemn expression as he continued to speak. "People are going to talk. Besides, he wasn't saying anything that wasn't true. Better to let everyone know what kind of person they're sailing with."

"I would hardly call that the truth." Jason growled, throwing another glare in the direction the two men had run off in. "He forgot to mention that Linus was a cruel joke of a teacher."

"That may be true… but did he deserve to die?" Heracles said, frowning deeply and Bell could see a heavy amount of guilt in the hero's eyes.

Seeing his friend's sadness, Jason would send Heracles a look of concern before sighing.

"That… could be debated, but what can't is that you didn't mean to do it. You were a kid that didn't know his own strength, and he was beating you just because you didn't understand his lessons. Anyone would've made the same mistake."

So the murder was an accident done in self-defense?

Bell felt relief at the new context of it, feeling better knowing that his Servant wasn't the type to kill someone simply because they angered him. But at the same time… he couldn't imagine what that was like to have to live with that, especially when you were a child. And looking at the way Heracles' frown only deepened despite Jason's words made it clear that it wasn't exactly something that he was very proud of.

"That doesn't change the fact that I took the life of someone that didn't need to die." Heracles said somewhat despondently.

Jason and Bell both frowned at the response, knowing that neither really knew what Heracles was going through or how to properly help him. Jason once again opened his mouth to say something in hopes of making Heracles feel better, but Heracles would let out a sigh, interrupting him.

"It's fine, Jason. I've long since come to terms with it, it's just not something I like talking about." Heracles said before looking back to his old friend, the despondent look gone as he took on his normal expression. "Don't worry about me, let them say whatever they want about me and form their own opinions. Trying to stop them from talking and forcing them to like me isn't going to help anything."

"...Alright, fine." Jason said after a second with a sigh, clearly still not happy with the situation but willing to trust his friend. "But when I get my kingdom after all of this is over, I'm going to make absolutely sure no one talks that way about you again and everyone knows how great you are."

Heracles could only smile at that. He looked like he was about to say something, but then something caught his interest and his head jerked up slightly. Noticing this, Jason was about to ask if something was wrong, but a call from above them answered the question before he could even ask it.

"Land ho!" the lookout said, causing everyone to stop what they were doing to look out to sea, and there, just above the horizon line, was the outline of an island.

The world around Bell would blur together as it shifted once again before he could see how Heracles or Jason reacted to the land. Bell jumped at the suddenness of it, as the very reality of the world seemed to fall apart before going back to normal. And when it did, it was immediately clear that he was no longer on the Argo, but on solid ground.

He immediately spotted Heracles, it was nearly impossible not to… when he wasn't trying to hide his presence that is. Then it was nearly impossible to spot him.

He was standing next to a young boy, about Bell's age, and had more or less the same stature as him. However, his hair was black and his eyes, blue in stark contrast to Bell's white hair and red eyes. With his young age, along with how close he was to Heracles, it wasn't a very hard guess for Bell to make that he was Hylas.

There were other heroes too around Heracles, some that Bell remembered when he was being introduced to, others he didn't. It seemed like the entire crew of the Argo was here, in what seemed like the town square of an ancient-styled city. Jason stood out in front of them, meeting face to face with a woman in an expensive-looking dress with a crowd of women behind her and around them.

Bell also noticed that most of the Argonauts' faces were contorted slightly in some sort of wince and a few of them were covering their noses.

"Ugh, teacher, what is that smell?" the boy Bell thought was Hylas said, whispering over to Heracles.

"That would be our hosts, or hostesses I guess." Heracles said without looking at his young pupil. "The women of this island, Lemnos, were cursed by Aphrodite to have this stench follow them for the rest of their lives."

"What?! Why would she do that?" Hylas asked in shock, but Heracles wasn't able to answer his question, which was unknowingly shared by Bell, before Jason spoke up.

"I do hope we aren't intruding here, your highness." Jason spoke aloud to the woman in the expensive dress, grabbing everyone's attention as he continued. "I know your island's… history with men leaves a bit to be desired, but me and my crew would like to purchase some of your supplies to restock our own so we won't run dry on our journey. I promise we will be gone by the end of the week."

"Oh, it's no problem." The Queen said with a laugh. "I'm sure my subjects would be more than happy to… host heroes of your crew's caliber. I believe you will be more than welcome to stay for as long as you wish. Oh, and please call me Hypsipyle."

There was an odd way that Hypsipyle emphasized her words that made Bell blush, even if didn't fully realize the meaning behind them. Jason caught this as well, as his face turned red in flushed embarrassment. And clearly, the leader of the Argonauts didn't know what to make of what the Queen was implying or how to react to it.

Heracles, however, did.

When Hypsipyle had spoken, Heracles had raised a brow in surprise. It was then that he took a closer look at the rest of the women in the crowd, and saw that each of them had a certain look in their eyes as they looked at them, akin to someone starving looking at a buffet. Heracles let out a sigh at the realization of what was probably going to happen.

He wondered if this was an unknown secondary effect of Aphrodite's curse or if the years without any men on the island had simply made them… desperate. Either way, he didn't want any part of it. He already had a wife and family he was happy with, he didn't need or want anything to do with this.

"Hylas, let's go back to the Argo." Heracles said to his young pupil, who promptly looked up at him confused.

"Huh? Why? We just got here, shouldn't we be nice and at least say hello?"

"Listen to your teacher, kid." a new voice said, causing Bell and Hylas to look towards where it had come from.

What they saw was a tall man that reached Heracles' shoulders, dressed in the style of armor that most of the Argonauts had. And like Heracles, he was also well built and packing muscle. But unlike him, his complexion was lighter and his hair was blonde.

"You realized what's happening here too, Polyphemus?" Heracles asked, a little relieved at the fact that his brother-in-law wasn't willing to be a part of this either. If he had, the best-case scenario was their relationship would be damaged and he'd have to tell his sister. Worst case, he and his sister were going to rip Polyphemus limb from limb.

"A little hard not to." Polyphemus said, gesturing around them, prompting Heracles, Bell, and Hylas to glance around to see what was happening.

The sight caused Bell and Hylas to turn crimson as they finally realized what was happening, and the two boys began to sputter at it.

Even as Jason and Hypsipyle continued to "mingle", girls from the island had already approached some of the Argonauts and made their moves. All around them, they saw the women flirting with the various heroes and sailors of the Argo. And it didn't seem like they were very picky either.

Heracles spotted a pair of what looked like twin sisters flirting with and clinging onto both Castor and Pollux, causing the two to blush fiercely as they didn't know how to react. Off to the side, another woman whispered something into Atalanta's ear, something about "her liking children" from what Heracles could catch, which promptly turned the Huntress crimson, even as she tried to push her away. And despite the terrible stench the women gave off, most of the Argonauts didn't seem to mind it much anymore as the women got up close and personal with them.

Though Heracles did let out what seemed to be a slight snort of amusement as he saw Asclepius interacting with one of the women. Unlike the others, the doctor didn't seem very interested in her, rather, his focus seemed to be on the stench itself as he wondered aloud if he could find a way to cure it. And at the woman saying that he was more than welcome to inspect her to see, Asclepius loudly grumbled about unruly patients.

"Come on, we should go before they make their way towards us." Polyphemus said, causing Heracles to nod at that while being thankful for the minor miracle that they hadn't already.

"R-right." Hylas stuttered from embarrassment at everything that was happening as the three of them quickly began to leave before the Island's women noticed them.

Time then seemed to speed up around Bell, and he had to watch the Argo's stay at the island of Lemnos. Granted, he watched the visit from the perspective of Heracles, who mostly tended to stay on the ship alongside Hylas, Polyphemus, and a few other members of the Argonauts, spending most of his time teaching Hylas. Most of the Argonauts, however, spent their time on the island with the women.

Evidently, despite not really wanting any part of it or approving of it, Heracles didn't seem inclined to put a stop to what was going on. After all, this was most definitely going to be a long journey, and it was good for most of the crew to get these… urges out of the way so they wouldn't get in the way later. Besides, they weren't going to be here that long.

But Bell watched as the days turned into weeks, and weeks turned into months. Bell wasn't sure just how long exactly their stay at Lemnos lasted exactly, but it was long enough that Hypsipyle's stomach would grow round as she grew visibly pregnant, along with several other women of the island. And over that time, Bell would watch as Heracles' patience would begin to run dry and became more irritated at the situation.

"What is the meaning of this, Heracles?" Jason asked as time returned to a normal flow, during a meeting between all of the Argonauts that Heracles had called.

"When are we going to go, Jason?" Heracles asked with an irritated undertone that the hero didn't usually have when talking to his friend.

"Oh, uh, soon, I promise." Jason answered, taking notice of Heracles' mood and deciding to tread carefully with his friend. He wasn't the only one either, all around him, members of the Argonauts seemed to grow uncomfortable being near Heracles when he was in such a bad mood.

"You said that nearly five months ago Jason." Heracles responded curtly, causing the blonde to shuffle awkwardly as he continued. "What exactly is your definition of 'soon'?"

"Uh, well, I was thinking that we could go after Hypsipyle gave bir-" Jason began but soon stopped himself as Heracles' gaze turned into a glare at his answer.

"Tomorrow." Heracles said in a demanding tone, leaving no room for argument. "We are going to leave tomorrow."

"Wha-, You want me to miss the birth of my children, Heracles?!" Jason asked in bewildered shock and a little outrage, emotions that were shared by other members of the Argonauts, especially those that were to have children soon.

"This whole journey would've been over by now if we had left when we were supposed to months ago, and they could've been born in a kingdom of your own." Heracles said bluntly, reminding Jason about the entire reason for this journey in the first place. "The Golden Fleece isn't going to bring itself to Greece."

"Hey! What is your problem!?" Another member of the crew called out from the crowd before Jason could come up with a response to that. Whoever he was, whatever courage he had when he spoke up disappeared as Heracles snapped his attention over to him. Undoubtedly, the glare that Heracles gave him was going to live on in his nightmares.

"My problem? My problem!? My problem is that I thought that this was supposed to be a journey for the greatest heroes in all of Greece! Not a gathering of frauds who do their best impression of my father at the sight of a woman with too short a toga!" Heracles roared out at all of the Argonauts, causing them all to flinch back at the sudden display of anger at the Son of Zeus, and thoroughly surprising Bell at the seemingly uncharacteristic display.

A few of them very clearly felt some sparks of indignation at this outburst, but they were either too afraid of Heracles' anger or too shameful for knowing he had a point to speak up about it.

"Jason-" Heracles began as he took a breath to calm himself down, looking back at his friend as he did. "As a father, I'm happy for you to have a child of your own and excited to experience everything that comes with it."

"Then why-" a very confused Jason began, not having seen Heracles act like this before, but was interrupted when Heracles continued.

"But, it is because I am a father that I can't help but be so angry." Heracles would then take another breath to make sure his anger would stay under control as he continued before looking Jason dead in the eye with an intense stare. "I missed my son's birthday today, Jason. I gave her my word that I would be back in time to celebrate it with him, but because we've stayed on this island for so long, that promise is broken."

Silence reigned amongst the Argonauts. Some of them still felt a little offended by Heracles' earlier insult, but none of them could say anything to that. How could they? Nothing they could say would hold up against the righteous anger of a father.

"I want to help you realize your dream, Jason." Heracles said, finally breaking the silence. "Your dream of making your ideal kingdom. But the longer we stay here, when your perfect opportunity to make it come true is right in front of you, the more I begin to doubt how much you really want it."

That especially caused Jason to flinch, and an expression of genuine hurt appeared on his face. Heracles knew how much that dream and the promise he had given to Heracles behind it meant to Jason. Not only would he not say it if he wasn't serious, but it also meant he felt legitimately hurt if he felt the need to say that.

"Tomorrow." Heracles repeated as he turned to walk away. "I'm giving you until the end of tomorrow for us to start getting ready to leave before me, Polyphemus, Hylas, and a few others decide this whole thing as a waste of time and leave since not many of you have really done anything to give us faith in the contrary."

With that, Heracles would make his exit, leaving the Argonauts to dwell on his words in silence. Amongst all of them, Jason stood in silence with his head held low, his hair covering his eyes. But Bell could see his tightly clenched fists, even if he couldn't see his expression.

The world would then blur together again as the dream once again skipped forward in time. When it once again settled and Bell was able to see again, Bell found himself in the same place where Jason had first talked to Queen Hypsipyle when the Argonauts had first come to the island of Lemnos. And speaking of them, Bell saw Queen Hypsipyle standing in front of a bowing Jason.

"I apologize for the sudden departure, Queen Hypsipyle, but I'm afraid me and the rest of the Argonauts must continue on our journey." Jason said in a serious voice as he was still unable to look up at the Queen of Lemnos.

"I understand, but surely you could wait for a little longer?" Hypsipyle said, an undertone of sorrow in her voice as she spoke. "At least until-"

"I'm sorry, but no." Jason interrupted, surprising the queen. "Not only have we stayed much longer than planned, but, I'm afraid that, staying here as long as we have, I may have hurt a friend of mine that is very dear to me."

"... I understand." Hypsipyle said with a sigh after frowning seeing how serious Jason was about this and that she had no chance to convince him to stay. "Then I hope the gods will smile upon your voyage."

"...I'm not sure if I have much of a right to say this considering the circumstances, but I do have a request." Jason said after walking away a bit before turning back to speak. "If you have a son, could you send him to my parents?"

"I'll consider it." Hypsipyle said in a neutral tone as she gave him a look in the same manner.

Accepting that was probably the best he was going to get, Jason nodded and once again began to walk away. As he did, Bell saw that, all around him, similar scenes were taking place as Argonauts said goodbye to the women of the island they had been with. It created a bit of a melancholic feeling in the air.

As Jason walked away he saw that Heracles had been nearby, waiting with his arms crossed to see what Jason was going to do. Seeing him, Jason would stop for a few seconds before finally deciding to go over to Heracles. As he approached Heracles, there was an odd tension between them that was unlike the other times the two friends talked together.

"So we're finally leaving the island…" Jason said awkwardly scratching the back of his head as Heracles simply looked down at him. "I bet you're happy about that."

"...When are we leaving exactly?" Heracles asked in a neutral tone, looking past Jason to look at the rest of the Argonauts. Jason let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. Even when he wasn't being actively angry, Heracles' gaze was a naturally intense one.

"First thing tomorrow. I wanted to give everyone time to say their goodbyes and to make sure that we were properly stocked when we set sail." Jason answered as he looked back.

"If we take even a second longer, I'm tossing everyone on the ship and throwing it out to sea myself." Heracles said curtly as uncrossed his arms and began to walk away before someone called out to him.

"Hold it you big brute!" an unfamiliar voice called out, making Heracles stop as everyone looked to the source of it to see an older man, meaning he had to be part of the crew of the Argo.

"I'm getting real sick of your attitude, Heracles!" the man said angrily and with a heavy slur as he stumbled forth up to the hero, making it clear he was drunk.

"Now hold on-" Jason said, trying to intervene, not liking the tone the man had and not sure how Heracles was going to react to it with the mood he had been in lately. But the man continued past him, ignoring Jason, and Heracles continued to simply stare at the drunk man.

"It's bad enough that it's because of you that we're leaving this paradise of an island, but do you really think we're going to believe a claim like that! Bah!" the drunken man said, poking his finger into Heracles' stomach. "I don't give a damn if you are a son of Zeus! To throw a ship of that size along with all the heroes of this caliber is impossible!"

"No, wai-" Jason called out upon realizing where the man was going, trying to stop him as all the other members of the Argonauts that knew Heracles personally, like Asclepius and Castor, widened in realization.

But it was too late, because as the man finished the sentence, the air pressure seemed to change, and Heracles seemed to be giving off an ominous red light. Bell was reminded of the time when Chiron had nearly said "impossible" soon after he had been summoned by Bell, only to change it when a similar reaction occurred since Heracles had been in spirit form nearby. But having the word having been said to him without being interrupted, Heracles began to let out a presence that made it hard for Bell to breathe despite it being a dream and left everyone around him completely stunned.

Before anyone could move, the world would blur together and the scene would change. Bell was quick to look and see where he was and for any sign of what had happened. He would just as quickly see that, not only was he alone, he was out in the middle of the open sea with no one around, with no sign of what had happened.

But before his disappointment at the lack of revelation at the scene could get too developed, Bell would notice an odd shadow that seemed to fall over him. A second later, the sound of what sounded like dozens of people screaming could be heard to him. With the sound only getting louder and louder as the shadow grew bigger.

Finally, he looked up above him, only to nearly scream in shock as he saw the Argo falling above him, right onto where he was, with all of its occupants minus Heracles holding on for dear life and screaming in absolute terror. Luckily, since this was a dream and he was essentially a specter, he went right through the ship, which landed roughly in the water, causing a few heroes to nearly lose their grip. When the ship eventually settled, most quickly fell onto the wooden floor of the ship, looking as if a god of death had personally come for them.

As everyone struggled to catch their breath, Heracles would land on the ship with a heavy impact, causing the ship to dip a little in the water. He would then drop a few of the crew members that had lost their grips while the ship was still flying in the air onto the ground. Heracles then very quickly found the now very-sober man that had talked to him earlier before sending him a glare that caused the already stunned man to completely freeze before turning and walking away.

"What. Did. I tell you about saying that word around him!?" Jason said with a heavy breath and emphasis, having managed to recover along with Castor and Asclepius who flanked him and looked just as mad as him as he grabbed the collar of the stunned sailor's shirt and held him up.

Bell, meanwhile, was unable to do much else but stare completely dumbfounded at Heracles as the hero walked away from sight. The feat of throwing an entire ship and its crew out into the open ocean was certainly an incredible one, and reminded him of Elgram of the Loki Familia's feat of carrying an entire beached ship. And there Heracles went, walking away like it was nothing out of the ordinary.

Bell also made sure to completely internalize Chiron's earlier advice of making sure not to say the word "impossible" around Heracles.

But even as he struggled to process what he had just seen, the dream would continue.

The world blurred once again as time skipped forward to maybe a couple of days later on the Argo. Heracles was handling some of the sails as the other Argonauts focused on their tasks. Though it was still extremely clear that they were all doing their best to go around him as Heracles still wasn't really in the best of moods.

"Hey. Can we talk?" Jason asked, having walked up to Heracles from behind while he was focusing on his task.

Heracles would look back at Jason in silence for a few seconds before sighing as he tightened the ropes one final time. Once he was finished, he turned around to face Jason before gesturing for him to go on.

"Right…" Jason began, taking a breath to prepare himself to say what was needed while walking over to the railing of the ship and leaning against it. "I… I wanted to apologize for staying so long on Lemnos and making you miss your son's birthday."

"..." Heracles would silently stare at Jason for a second before looking away and sighing. "No, I should be the one apologizing. I didn't tell you beforehand because I thought we would be done before it really mattered, and it was… cruel of me to make you miss your child's birth."

"Not as cruel as me." Jason retorted with a heavy sigh, making Heracles look back toward him. "I knew you had a family, but it never even occurred to me how you felt being away from them for so long. I didn't think of anything other than myself at that moment, I was just being a selfish fraud of a hero doing his best impression of Zeus seeing a pretty woman like you said."

"I guess we're both cruel, then." Heracles said a second after Jason finished.

"Yeah…" Jason responded before a short silence started between the two as Jason leaned against the rail, watching as the rest of the crew occupied themselves with their tasks. The silence would end once Jason looked back toward Heracles, having built up the nerve to ask a very important question.

"So, between two cruel heroes, are we good?"

"...We're good. Just don't let it happen again." Heracles said, looking back at Jason to smile at him, causing the captain of the Argo to smile back at him. "So with that all behind us, are we going to go straight for the fleece now?"

"Of course!" Jason answered immediately, only to smirk as he glanced at Heracles. "After one more stop. See, someone kind of threw our ship out to see before we were ready, so now we're too understocked to make it to Colchis without stopping."

"At least I didn't extend our couple of days stay at Lemnos by a couple of months." Heracles retorted, returning the smirk and causing Jason to let out a loud laugh.

"Oh Zeus not this again! It happened one time, and I'm going to hear about it for the rest of my life from you aren't you?"

"Maybe it's because it happened the one time we went there and on the first stop we had."

The sound of the two friends talking would echo for a second before disappearing entirely for Bell as the dream continued on. And at the sight of the two of them reconciling, Bell couldn't help but smile. He had already known that their friendship was an odd one when first seeing Jason, but it was a genuine one and Bell was glad that his servant had such a friendship.

When the world returned to normal, Bell saw where the Argonauts had landed on this time, was home to a massive city. Bell heard that it was the coast of the Propontis, and the city had been built by the Doliones, a peaceful people that welcomed the Argonauts with open arms. As the ship was restocked, the various heroes disembarked to entertain themselves within the peaceful city. It appeared, at first, that this was going to be a quick and uneventful stop for the Argonauts in contrast to the extended stay at Lemnos.

But Bell knew in the stories of heroes, things rarely turn out to be how they first appeared.

After a few hours after the Argonauts arrived, massive stones impacted the walls of the city, with a few going over the walls, hitting some of the buildings of the city. A few seconds later, as the Doliones were recovering from the sudden attack, the deafening sound of thousands of roars could be heard. It was then that Bell saw what it was that was attacking.

The Doliones were not the only ones that called the coast of the Propontis home, that much became obvious as hundreds, or even thousands of monsters seemed to pour out of the mountains nearby the Doliones' home. Whatever they were, they were humanoid in a vague sense of the meaning of the word, as they all had an extra two sets of powerful arms. They made good use of them too, as they picked up huge boulders and hurled them at the city as if they had been shot from catapults.

Although Bell wasn't an absolute expert on the strength of monsters by any means, but he could easily tell that even a single one of the monsters could easily kill him. If he had to make some kind of guess, he had to say that these monsters were probably at level two, maybe even three.

Bell was completely shocked at the sight of the monsters and how strong they were considering they were on the surface. It wasn't an unusual thing to see, but monsters outside of the Dungeon were supposed to be much weaker than they were if they were from inside it. To see this many of them at this level was disconcerting, to say the least.

But then again, this wasn't his world.

This was the world of his Servants'. It had its own rules and didn't even attempt to follow his world's rules. It probably didn't even have its own Dungeon. Maybe this was what passed as the norm for monsters in this world?

Bell honestly found that thought a little terrifying.

"The Gegenees are attacking!" one of the Dolione guards called out, inadvertently giving Bell the name of these monsters as he took cover from another boulder that flew overhead. "We need to seal the gates and hold until reinforcements arrive!"

"Are you out of your mind?!" another guard yelled back, clearly on the verge of panic. "Do you see those numbers?! It takes three of us to hold one back, and there's hundreds of them! There's no way we can last until help arrives with just the forces here! It's impossi-"

The terrified guard was suddenly interrupted as a loud boom was heard over as one of the flying boulders was shot out of the sky. The remains of the rock were carried back to the Gegenees, raining chunks of rock on them as the item itself landed amongst the bulk of the Gegenees forces. The impact of it hitting the ground created an explosion of dust and rock as Gegenees around it were thrown away like ragdolls.

As both Bell and the Dolione guards process the shock at the sudden display of power and could only wonder where it had come from, the world would briefly blend and blur together for Bell. When it returned to normal, Bell found himself on a guard tower deeper within the city. And he was quick to see Heracles and Hylas on the same tower look to where the Gegenees were attacking from, the hero's bow raised and its string still shaking from having shot its arrow.

"Tsk." Heracles clicked his tongue in irritation as pulled another arrow out of his quiver, looking upon the aftermath of his first shot.

"Is something wrong Teacher?" Hylas asked next to him, watching with a slight bit of awe at the power of the hero's first shot, to which Bell shared completely.

"No. I just could've sworn I heard something." Heracles said, not looking away from the swarm of monsters approaching the city as he knocked the arrow and began pulling it back in preparation to fire.

He then spotted another large boulder flying toward the city thrown by the Gegenees before firing the arrow at it.

Hylas and the guards were forced to cover their ears as the arrow broke the sound barrier, causing a burst of noise that would've deafened Bell had it not been a mere dream. Once again, the boulder was completely destroyed upon the arrow impacting it, with the draft of wind produced by the speed and power of the arrow carrying the debris back at the Gegenees. As the arrow itself slammed into the monsters' ranks with enough force to cause an explosion visible from the tower where Heracles and Hylas were.

But by the time it landed, Heracles was already pulling back another arrow to fire, looking for a target for him to fire the arrow at. However, before Heracles would let loose the arrow, a realization would strike him. The realization caused him to glance over to the arrows in his quiver as he thought.

Arrows that were tough enough that they didn't shatter under the strength of him and his bow before he could fire them were also proportionally expensive and hard to obtain. Of course, he could make his own, but on a voyage such as the one the Argo was on, times where he could collect the wood and construct them, would be rare and impossible for the majority.

This meant that his arrows would be a rare and valuable commodity in the near future, and as fierce and dangerous as these Gegenees were… there were bound to be better uses for them later.

"...Hylas," Heracles said, grabbing the attention of the young teen as he lowered his bow without letting loose his arrow. "Keep an eye on my bow will you?"

"Uh, y-yes sir!" Hylas said in slight surprise as Heracles handed him his bow and quiver to hand on.

Heracles looked back at the horde of monsters, which were beginning to recover from the shots of his arrows. As strong as they were, he knew that he could handle them easily even without a weapon.

But, as Chiron's lessons had hammered into him, better safe than sorry, and it was always safer to be armed than not.

"Would you mind if I borrowed your sword?" Heracles asked a nearby soldier, who jumped slightly in surprise when the hero's attention was brought over to him. "You have my word I will return it."

"O-of course." the soldier said as he quickly drew his sword and handed it to the great hero.

"Hylas, I need you to go deliver a message to Jason for me," Heracles said as he inspected the sword's blade to see how sharp it was and gave it a few test swings to properly find its weight, causing the young boy to perk up once again at his mentor's command. "Right now, he should be trying to find and organize the rest of the Argonauts to drive them back, so you should be able to find him pretty easily."

"Alright, but what do you want me to tell him?" Hylas asked him as Heracles finished testing the blade and was walking to the walled edge of the tower.

"That I'll hold the Gegenees off until all of them can attack," Heracles answered as he placed his foot upon the waist-high wall.

Without waiting for Hylas to answer him, Heracles jumped high into the air, the wall that was his foothold crumbling under the force. Once he was high enough into the air, Heracles would snap his foot back in a power kick. A kick powerful enough to create an explosion in midair that forced Hylas and the guards on the tower to cover their ears and propelled Heracles forward with an intense speed toward the city walls.

Space would once again warp around Bell as he suddenly found himself standing outside the walls of the city. He quickly took notice of two of the Gegenees running towards the city, along with the horde that was running behind them. Evidently, with their last two attempts to throw boulders at the city utterly ineffective, the Gegenees thought it would be more effective to charge it instead, not knowing that Heracles would no longer shoot down the boulders.

But Bell scarcely had time to process that before the two front-running Gegenees were utterly eviscerated in what looked to be a series of brief flashes, with Heracles appearing behind them as he landed, his borrowed sword trailing a thin line of blood.

The rest of the Gegenees stopped dead in their tracks at his sudden appearance and death of their brethren, clearly caught off guard. Heracles, on the other hand, not wanting to waste the opportunity or the momentum he had from his jump, would continue to move.

Slamming his fist into the ground, Heracles would launch himself straight towards the horde of the Gegennes, creating a crater into the ground in the process. Unprepared for the unorthodox maneuver, the Gegennes were unable to even consider stopping Heracles somehow before the demigod smashed into their line. The only thing the ones with faster reflexes could do to avoid immediate death was to desperately jump out of the way while the rest were simply cut down or thrown aside as Heracles threw himself into the center of their line.

And as the hero began to fight the army of monsters single-handedly, Bell could only watch in dumbstruck awe as Heracles with a skill and grace that a person of his size had no right to possess. His body was little more than a dark blur as Bell struggled to even keep him in sight with how fast he was moving, his sword flashing in the light before a dark spray of blood would sprout out from an unfortunate Gegenne as they were cut down or lost an arm. And before those drops of blood would even touch the ground, another two Gegenees would be slain as Heracles stayed on the move, both to keep their attention on him and to avoid being overwhelmed.

Despite the gruesome display of the monsters being cut apart one by one, Bell could help but think that it was oddly beautiful in some way as Heracles displayed his complete skill with the sword.

Eventually, however, the Gegennes would begin to recover from the attack despite a rather decent part of their number being killed in only a few minutes by Heracles already.

Enraged by the deaths of their comrades, all of the Gegennes would begin to charge at Heracles, letting out roars of rage as they attempted to swarm him with the remainder of their forces. Bell held his breath as he began to see this. Even though Heracles had already proven that he could deal with dozens of these monsters rapidly and in short order, he wasn't certain how Heracles would handle hundreds of them charging him all at once.

But even this would not overwhelm him.

Heracles soon seemed to notice the increasing frequency of the monsters charging at him, his yellow eyes letting off an almost ominous red glow as they flew across the battlefield. To counter them as they all seemed to flock toward him, Bell saw the hero clench his hand into a fist as he pulled it back. Letting out an almost inhuman roar, Heracles would slam his fist straight into the ground when he was nearly set upon by the horde of monsters.

The sheer strength behind the punch would cause the ground to ripple out like water having a stone tossed into it, and a near-visible shockwave could be seen as the Gegenees around him were sent flying like ragdolls.

When the dust settled, Bell was able to see Heracles at the center of a large crater of his own making. Heracles would then stand to his full height and look around as he noticed that the Gegennes were no longer charging him. It was then that he saw that the rest of the Gegennes were crowded around the rim of the crater, snarling and roaring at him angrily but clearly not willing to charge him anymore.

Clearly, with whatever intelligence these monsters had they had realized that he was a target too dangerous to attack head-on, even with overwhelming numbers.

And for the first time since the battle began, Heracles didn't go on the offensive either. He didn't need to, all of their focus was on him now rather than the city of innocents, and it was his goal to hold them off until the rest of the Argonauts joined him rather than defeat them all on his own. Although it was almost abundantly clear that he was fully capable of that if he really wanted to.

Instead, Heracles looked down at the sword he was using and began to inspect it, making sure that the borrowed blade hadn't lost its sharpness or was damaged in any way while he had used it.

As Heracles patiently inspected the sword for any damages, the Gegennes would stay where they were. But there was a movement among them as some of them seemed to be moving out of the way of something that was approaching. That something was soon revealed to be an utterly gigantic Gegennes, dressed in armor and each of his six arms holding a sword.

Bell watched as the monster approached Heracles, and saw just how big it really was, with even Heracles barely reaching its chest. Once it was within its arms reach of Heracles, it would let out a deep and powerful roar at him. If the monster was one from the Dungeon, it would almost certainly be an enhanced species, probably being around level four in comparison to the rest of the Gegennes who Bell had guessed earlier had been level three.

Heracles didn't seem too concerned about that though.

In response to the monster's challenging roar, he had hardly reacted, barely glancing up from inspecting the sword before immediately looking back down.

The monster would snarl at his lack of response, clearly insulted as Heracles was left unimpressed. It would raise one of its arms before slashing the sword it held downwards to cut Heracles in half down the middle. Heracles, however, seemed to be against this plan for some reason and ruined it by cleanly sidestepping it. The monster would slash another one of its swords at Heracles, who bent backward slightly, once again avoiding the attack with only the bare minimum amount of movement.

It would then unleash a flurry of attacks with all six of its arms with such speed and ferocity that Bell couldn't follow all of it. But none of the attacks would even touch a strand of Heracles hair as weaved between the slashing blades. The son of Zeus was simply too agile for even the six-armed monster attacking with everything it had to touch.

As time went on and its attacks missed, the giant Gegennes would grow more and more frustrated, its attacks growing faster but sloppier as it simply attempted to hit Heracles. Eventually, it would pull two of its left arms back in preparation for two more simultaneous swings as the bottom one thrusted its sword at Heracles. It was then that Heracles found his opening.

Spinning on his feet as they touched the ground, Heracles would clang the flat of his own sword against the one thrusted at him, redirecting the thrust downward towards the ground. Sparks would then fly as the two blades grinded against each other as Heracles ran his sword against it in an upward slash. As the two upper left arms of the Gegennes began to lower their swords in downward slashes, Heracles' sword cut through their bases at the shoulder in what looked like a flash of light to Bell.

There was a large sprout of blood that erupted upwards as the two severed limbs were sent flying. The giant Gegennes seemed to freeze for a second before slowly turning its head to where its two arms should be, the shock of suddenly losing them not having allowed the pain to fully process. When it had, it stumbled backward, letting out a roar of pain.

A newfound rage would suddenly burn within it as it took forward, with all of its arms and weapons pulled back, ready to attack and put an end to the son of Zeus.

But Heracles was done playing around.

Heracles would crouch, ducking under a slash from a sword before shooting up into the air. Twisting around, Heracles would slice off yet another one of the Gegennes arms, this time the top right arm. Landing behind the Giant Gegenees as it let out another cry of pain from the loss of another limb, Heracles would lower himself close to the ground and slice the back of the monster's heel. With its leg no longer able to support its own weight, the Gegennes would fall forward onto its knees, forcing it to drop its remaining weapons in order to catch itself with its remaining three arms.

The monster would let out an angered growl at being brought down to its knees, along with the pain, frustration, and humiliation of losing half of its arms. Its one remaining left arm would tightly clench its hand into a fist before it twisted around to try and deliver a full-force punch straight into Heracles' face. However, Heracles would easily catch the fist with one hand, making it clear that, despite the size difference between them, Heracles was clearly the stronger between the two.

The Giant Gegennes barely had any time to widen its eyes in realization and fear of this as Heracles pulled the arm that hadn't blocked the monster's final attack, hand clenched into a fist. There was a thunderous boom as Heracles fist slammed into the Giant Gegenees', the armor it wore being shattered to pieces from the hit as the monster itself was, not only killed on impact but sent flying away into the distance. It was honestly a minor miracle that it hadn't been turned into a pile of red paste from the sheer power behind the finishing blow.

With the defeat of his opponent, Heracles would once again give a once-over glance of his blade to see if it had remained undamaged. After he confirmed that there was no outward damage, Heracles would look back out toward the horde of Gigantes to see how they were reacting to the loss of their possible leader or, at the very least, champion.

"Not well" was one way to put it.

Their shock and disbelief were evident with just a cursory glance at them, with the way many of them hadn't moved since Heracles' victory. Others were simply staring at the Giant Gigantes' very broken and very dead body almost as if they expected it to get up as if nothing had happened, unable to accept its defeat. But as more and more of them began to process and accept it, a new emotion began to dominate: rage.

Their anger at their champion's defeat was clear to see as time went on, with more and more beginning to angrily snarl or roar at Heracles. Their need and desire for retribution grew to match and even surpass whatever fear they felt for him. And it was only a matter of time before they all charged him again, forgetting in their rage how that had gone before.

And as the first few crossed over the edge of the crater, followed very quickly by even more, Heracles could only let out a sigh. He had hoped by killing the Giant Gegennes, the others would be too scared to continue fighting and would retreat. Evidently, that had been too optimistic of a hope.

Heracles then fell into a fighting stance, waiting for the monsters to get closer as they charged him once again, hoping to overwhelm him with raw numbers. And as the hero patiently waited for his foes to get closer, he couldn't help but wonder something. What was taking the other Argonauts so long?

Almost as if on cue, as Heracles was about to let out a slash at the first Gegenees that got close enough, an arrow whizzed by the side of his head to hit the Gegenees before he could. The arrow had enough force to puncture straight through the head of the Gegennees before blowing straight through several more that had been behind it. Whoever had shot that arrow, there had clearly been an absurd amount of power behind it.

Surprised and caught off guard by the arrow shot, Heracles was quick to turn around to see where it had come from and who had shot it. But as he did, Castor and Pollux both dashed past him on either side towards the Gegennees, fighting alongside each other in perfect sync to cut swathes through the horde of the Gegennees, pulling back after each attack so that the other one could attack without the worry of harming them.

More and more heroes of the Argonaut would then arrive soon after the Dioscuri, including Polyphemus. And although individually, none of them had killed as many of the Gegennes or as efficiently as Heracles, who had effectively held off the entire horde all on his own, with their combined strength, they quickly began to push it back. It was quite the glorious sight to see for Bell, to see so many heroes working together against the horde of monsters.

"What took you all so long?" Heracles asked, breaking Bell out of his amazed stupor from watching so many of the great heroes of Ancient Greece fighting together.

"We were actually ready to join in for a while." Jason answered confidently as Heracles turned to face him, causing Bell to jump, not having realized that the leader of the Argo had been there. "But then you got into a one-on-one fight with that big one, and a lot of us felt uncomfortable interfering with the duel so we held back to see what happened.

"But so many of them were so stunned by that little display that I'm not sure that I could've gotten them to move even if I wanted to!" Jason then added with a loud laugh.

"Hmm." Heracles hummed in affirmation, as he gave one more look over his sword before walking past Jason and going back to the city, surprising his friend.

"Hey! Are you not going to join back in?" Jason called out as Heracles continued walking.

"I've done enough. I'll let the other heroes earn their glory while I support from a distance with my bow alongside Atalanta if needed." Heracles called back, having realized that it was the Huntress of Arcadia that had shot that arrow earlier. "Besides, they seem to have everything under control, and I have a promise to keep."

Jason briefly looked confused at what Heracles had meant at the end there, before seeing the unfamiliar sword in his friend's hand and realizing what he meant.

"Alright, fair enough." Jason said with a helpless shrug, knowing that Heracles had a point in that he was no longer needed on the frontlines, with the Argonauts already pushing the Gegenees back.

Even as the world blurred together and the scene would shift to the next one, Bell couldn't help but replay everything he had just seen out in his mind. A lone hero fighting against an army of monsters to buy time for help to arrive and save the day. It was just like one of the stories his grandfather would always tell him when he was younger.

Even if no one could see it, he couldn't stop the large, dumb smile on his face at being able to have seen such a scene. And one played out by his own Servant no less!

He couldn't help but wonder how Heracles was compared to the great Adventurers in his own world. Braver, Elgarm, and Ais Wallenstein along with other adventures from the Loki Familia could've performed the same feat no doubt, all of them being level six adventures, and not to mention the King of Orario, Ottar. But he wondered more specifically where he stood against them and the other adventurers.

Assuming that his guess that the Gegennes were indeed around level three monsters, that meant that Heracles had to at least be a Second Class adventurer. Between fighting so many of them at once, the Giant Gegenees which was practically an enhanced species, and him never looking like he was worried at all, it was clear to Bell that he was probably even stronger.

Could he actually be the equivalent of a First Class Adventurer?

Then Bell remembered that this point in time was fairly early in Heracles' career as a hero, and what came next during his "Labors" overshadowed even this. Awe filled Bell and a childlike excitement along with it as he could only imagine what incredible things he was going to see next-

The sudden boom of thunder scared Bell, bringing him back to reality as he saw the new scene that was taking place.

He was back on the Argo, which was right in the middle of a fierce storm. All around him, sailors and heroes alike ran around managing the masts and bailing water overboard as they tried to avoid falling overboard into the sea. He was suddenly grateful that he didn't have a physical presence in the world at the moment, since he was getting seasick just looking at everyone being thrown around by the waves. Not to mention the fact that he would've been completely drenched nearly instantly.

"Damn it! Heracles, Castor! Couldn't you ask your old man to let the storm up a little?!" Jason called out over the wind and rain from his position on the wheel, steering as best he could to avoid capsizing.

"Shut it Jason!" the male twin of the Dioscuri snapped back as he and his sister worked on reigning the mast in and keeping it under control against the wind.

"You do realize Zeus isn't responsible for every storm right?" Heracles asked back as he kept a close eye on Hylas, very calm despite the situation. "Actually, since it's over the sea, it's more likely to be Poseidon's doing-"

"I know damn it!" Jason snapped as another large wave hit the ship, rocking it and causing him to nearly lose his grip on the wheel. "If this keeps up, we're going to have to find someplace to dock until this blows over!"

"There's an island over there." Heracles said, looking off into the distance as he pointed at a dark outline that could be made out through the rain and the storm.

"Thank Zeus, Hera, and every other Olympian for your senses, old friend!" Jason muttered under his breath as he pointed the ship toward the island.

Even with the rough seas, it didn't take the Argo very long to arrive at and anchor at the island, putting the ship under the cover of a large cliff.

Away from the winds and the bulk of the rain, Jason called up most of the Argonauts together to decide on a plan of action.

"I already have a few others checking the hull for any damages we may have gotten from the storm." Jason began as the crew listened to his orders. "I'd like for anyone else that can to help them out. Otherwise, we're going to have to explore the island a bit, both to see if there are any supplies worth taking and for landmarks. We lost our bearings in the storm so it's important to find out where we are right now-"

Jason was interrupted when Heracles suddenly shot forward. His friend stepped back out of reflex as Heracles seemed to appear in front of him with his arm outstretched… having caught an arrow that would've hit Jason in the forehead had he not caught it.

A stunned silence reigned over the Argonauts as they all realized what had just happened, with Jason having frozen and turned pale at the realization of how close he was to dying. Before any of them could say anything else to break the silence, there was a deafening roar cry from atop the cliff the Argo was anchored next to. Everyone could hear the twangs of bows as more arrows were let loose, aimed at the Argo and its crew.

The Argonauts were quick to recover from the shock of the attack. Each of them either caught the arrows in the same vein that Heracles had earlier, dodging out of the way, or in the case of the few non-combatants of the Argonauts, taking cover under the deck of the ship.

"B-b-bandits!? A-Argonauts! D-defend the sh-ship!" Jason stammered, clearly fighting against the terror and the shock of his near-death experience to give out the order as the Argonauts were already flying into action.

Heracles especially, with the ship rocking slightly against the force of Heracles' jump as he leaped to the top of the cliff to engage the bandits.

As Bell continued to watch, he quickly found that this fight was almost nothing like the fight against Gegennes. The darkness made it hard for him to see. Heracles had no time to grab a weapon this time, not even his bow, so the only thing he could use was his own strength. Finally, Heracles wasn't alone against the enemy for long, as the rest of the Argonauts were quickly able to join him in the fight against the bandits.

Still, there was something else that was different about this fight alongside the others that Bell couldn't put his finger on. Something that prevented him from getting worked up like he did when he had watched the fight against the Gegenees. It might've been because they were fighting humans this time and not monsters like the Gegenees that were making him uncomfortable, but whatever it was, it gave him a bad feeling.

Thanks to the darkness of night and the storm, Bell wasn't really able to really see or fully appreciate Heracles' skills and techniques as he fought. He could still tell that the Argonauts had once again proven unstoppable against their opponents, no matter how many of them were, but the fight would still last hours. The storm would be long over by the time the last of the bandits were defeated.

"Check the bodies for any equipment that might be worth taking!" Jason ordered, having arrived at the battlefront now that it was confirmed safe. "We're going to need everything we can get in the future, so best to take every opportunity we can to get weapons and armor! And we still need to find out what island we're on, so make sure to keep an eye out for anything that could tell us.

Heracles was nearby, of course, to make sure none of the bandits were playing dead to get an easy shot on the leader of the Argonauts. Most of the other Argonauts were either off to the side celebrating their victory while others were following Jason's orders and picking up what they could find that would be worth using later. Looking off into the distance, Heracles could see that the sun was rising over the horizon signaling the end of a very long night.

With a sigh, Heracles would look away and back towards the barren battlefield. Although there was a handful that were celebrating their victory against the bandits, it was mostly a quiet and somber morning, most likely because everyone was tired from the night filled with rough storms and bandit fighting. He had little doubt most of them would be passing out whenever they had the chance to sleep, not that he could really blame them.

As Heracles began to look over the various bodies that were around him, Bell would look away for a brief second to see what the rest of the heroes were up to. He'd quickly found Jason talking with Atalanta about a set of arrows that she had found, and Castor and Pollux were comparing a sword and ax that they had found to their own weapons. Asclepius was treating a wound that another hero had gotten during the battle.

"…Jason." Heracles called out to his friend in a quiet tone that was filled with horror, causing everyone that was present to hear him to freeze. The fact that Heracles of all people had such a tone caused a ball of ice to form in all of their stomachs as they quickly turned their heads to see what was wrong. Heracles seemed to be frozen, staring down at one of the bodies of the bandits, prompting them to look at it, only for Bell's eyes to widen in the same horror as Heracles as he came to the same realization as him.

"I know where we are." Heracles said finally, still not looking at the Argonauts, as he was unable to look away from the now dead face of the soldier whose sword he had borrowed during the fight with the Gegenees.

Bell felt like he was going to throw up as the series of events played out, and what had really happened was revealed.

The storm had blown the Argo back to the coast of the Propontis. Sentries had spotted the ship, and since the Argo had hidden behind a cliff as cover from the storm, they had mistaken it as a pirate ship preparing to launch a raid against the city. The king had taken his forces for a preemptive strike to capture or kill the "pirates", only for him and his entire army to be killed in the fight with the Argonauts.

All of the Argonauts had been horrified at the news that they had slaughtered the people that had been their hosts not even a few days before. A few said that they should flee, but Heracles and the rest of them agreed that they should at least inform the people what had happened. And it was what they did.

It had been a tense affair for the Argonauts as they returned to the city of the Doliones. At first, they had been overjoyed at the return of the heroes, but that joy had turned to horror when they had revealed the true reason they had returned. It had then taken an even more tragic turn when the queen, unable to bear the loss of her husband, had killed herself.

But amongst all of the sorrow at the tragedy, the Doliones had proven themselves very kind and understanding, not blaming the Argonauts for defending themselves against the surprise attack, and even inviting them to stay for the funerals. They agreed, and the Argonauts spent the next few days honoring the dead alongside the Doliones.

All the while, Bell watched how, during this tragic event, Heracles had been nearly silent while everything progressed around him. His hands were clenched in anger and he looked off in the distance in thought often. What he was thinking about, not even Bell was really sure, whether he was thinking about how this outcome could've been avoided or if he was thinking about how similar this was to a certain incident in his childhood and how more innocent blood was on his hands.

Soon though, the Argo would have to continue on its journey. The Argonauts would fully stock the ship before immediately leaving once the wind was right in order to make up for the lost time. An air of melancholy still hung over the ship and its crew as they set out, a stark contrast to the glorious departure they must have had after defeating the Gegeness.

Bell couldn't help but feel the heavy air weigh on him as well. He knew that the stories of heroes had more than their fair share of tragedies, but this seemed like a bit much this early into the journey. He only hoped that things would go better for them from here on out.

"Hylas! Don't go too far!" Heracles called out to his protege as the boy ran off ahead of him and Polyphemus, bringing Bell's attention back to the present… of the dream at least.

"I'm just getting some water at the pond!" Hylas yelled back as he kept running, eventually leaving their line of sight.

Heracles grumbled a bit under his breath at his student's casualness but didn't go after him since he was helping his brother-in-law grab the lumber they needed.

The storm had done more damage than they had first thought. Multiple leaks in the hull had been found, and there had even been a crack in one of the bulkheads, forcing the Argo to make yet another stop as they had to get the wood needed to make repairs. Heracles and Polyphemus had volunteered to be the ones to get the wood, with Hylas coming along since he wanted to stay by his teacher.

"… is something wrong Heracles?" Polyphemus asked, glancing at his brother-in-law as he finished chopping down a tree.

"What do you mean?" Heracles asked back, not sure what Polyphemus meant.

"You seem like you have something on your mind lately." Polyphemus explained, bending down to begin tearing off the branches from the trunk. "You've been a bit distracted and a little short-tempered, so I figured you had something going on in your head."

Heracles didn't respond immediately, instead simply bending down as well to do the same as Polyphemus. He debated in his head whether or not to tell his brother-in-law for a short while as he worked. When he finally came to a decision, he let out a deep sigh.

"Don't tell anyone I said this, especially Jason, but between everything that has happened, I can't help but feel like this voyage is cursed by the gods." Heracles admitted finally, surprising both Bell and Polyphemus.

"Well, that's a bit of a leap." Polyphemus said, mostly to himself before frowning as he remembered recent events. "Though I can hardly blame you for thinking that considering what happened with the Doliones."

"It's not just that though." Heracles said as he continued to explain. "The months we spent on the island of Lemnos, the Gegenees attack, and the storm that brought us back in the first place. I'm not giving up and I want to make Jason's dream come true, but we're still essentially at the beginning of the journey and already we've had four setbacks for the three stops we've made, including this island."

Heracles paused for a second as he snapped off another branch before letting off another sigh of frustration.

"And in only one of those incidents can I really say that we acted as heroes should."

"And it was the one that we arguably invalidated later." Polyphemus said, seeing Heracles' point with a sigh of his own. "I admit, it certainly doesn't seem like this voyage has support from the gods."

Heracles didn't give a verbal response, simply humming in confirmation as they began actually treating the wood to make it usable.

"But, like you said, it's early into the journey. Perhaps it's just a bit of a rough start, and that things will get going soon."

Heracles didn't look convinced to Bell, something that was missed by Polyphemus as he continued his work. Perhaps it had been something that came with life as a demigod of Zeus or it was simply how he was, but he did not tend to be optimistic. It certainly didn't help that he had a bad feeling since arriving on this island.

He then opened his mouth to say something, but before the words could even open his mouth, a scream cut through the air.

Time seemed to go still for the two Argonauts as their eyes went wide and their heads snapped into the direction of where the scream had come from. They, along with Bell, both instantly recognized the voice of the scream: Hylas.

When time returned to its normal flow, both of the Argonauts moved with a burst of speed as they rushed to where Hylas had been. Heracles, of course, moved faster than Polyphemus, driven by an urge to protect his student, but his brother-in-law was close behind him. But when they arrived at the pond that Hylas was getting water from, they found no sign of him, almost as if the boy had disappeared into thin air.

"Hylas!" Heracles called out, looking everywhere in sight for any sign of his student and who he considered something of an adoptive son. "Hylas, where are you!?"

"He's got to be nearby!" Polyphemus said, doing the same, but Heracles didn't seem to hear me.

Something seemed to have taken hold of Heracles at that moment, and Bell couldn't tell what it was. He could see something akin to panic in Heracles' eyes as he continued looking for any sign of where Hylas could've been. But he would find none, there were no footprints leading away from the water, no signs of a struggle despite the earlier yell, and no broken branches in the nearby shrubbery or rocks that had recently been overturned. The only sign Hylas, or anyone at all, had even been there was the large ripple in the water of the otherwise completely peaceful pond.

Unable to do anything to figure out what had happened, but refusing to simply do nothing, Heracles flew into action. Desperate to find any sign of what had happened, Heracles practically tore the area apart searching for something that could help him find his student or what had happened to him. He could hear Polyphemus trying to calm him down, but his words wouldn't reach him as he could only focus on searching for Hylas.

Hours would go by as Heracles continued to search for Hylas across the whole island, smashing trees out of his way and uprooting huge boulders. He seemed to be less a man, and more a force of nature as searched blindly for any clues as to what happened. Eventually, the island was turned into something resembling a wasteland or impact zone of an asteroid, and Heracles crouched in the center of it, breathing heavily as the desperation to find Hylas subsided and he only felt the exhaustion.

"Did you manage to find him?" Polyphemus asked, making Heracles turn to face him as his brother-in-law approached.

"No, it's like he just disappeared!" Heracles said, a bit of desperation still in his voice despite how tired he was. "Wh-where were you?"

"I went to go back to the Argo, thinking that Atalanta would be able to find some clue we missed." Polyphemus explained as he put a hand on Heracles' shoulder.

Why hadn't he thought of that? Of course, the huntress blessed by the goddess of the hunt would be able to track wherever Hylas had been taken. That is if it had survived him ripping through the island.

Damn it, why had he lost control like that? That hadn't happened since he was a kid. And now, he risked losing Hylas because of it.

"Did she find anything?" Heracles asked, having gained a little bit of hope at the prospect of finding his student.

"Before I tell you that, tell me, what do you think happened?" Polyphemus asked, confusing Heracles at the sudden question, but he would go along with it.

"I, I don't know. It happened too fast, and I didn't notice anything- wait." Heracles began, holding the side of his head as he thought back to what had happened. "When Hylas screamed, I think I could hear a splash of water. But when we got there a second later, there was only a slight ripple in the water. Which means-"

"Kid was pretty handsome for his age." Polyphemus said, interrupting Heracles' realization. "It's not out of the question that some Naiad saw him and took a liking to him, and took him for herself. And then whatever god she was working with struck you with madness temporarily to prevent you from realizing and going after him."

"Wha-, Polyphemus, what are you saying?" Heracles asked, even as his eyes widened in realization at what happened clicked in his mind, but he desperately hoped he was wrong.

"Looks like you were right, Heracles. This voyage was cursed." Polyphemus said, giving Heracles a joyless smile, and causing his brother-in-law's stomach to plummet. "When I got to where the Argo had anchored, the ship was gone with no sign it was ever there despite the damage to the bulkhead. Though I doubt it ever existed in the first place."

Polyphemus then sat down on a nearby large rock as he let out a dry laugh. "This whole stop? This was nothing more than a trick by the gods to get off of the ship. I guess they just didn't want us on the voyage."

"But why? Why would they do that? And what about Hylas?!" Heracles asked, the last remnants of his earlier madness making him act uncharacteristically slow to realize everything.

"Hades knows why, I can hardly claim to understand the whims of the gods." Polyphemus practically spat, clearly not happy with the situation. "As for Hylas, I doubt you have to worry, if he was actually taken by a Naiad, he'll probably live in luxury for the rest of his life being pampered by a goddess of the sea. Either way, I doubt we'll ever see him again."

If Polyphemus was trying to comfort Heracles at all, it didn't work. A white-hot rage burned within Heracles, burning away the last vestiges of whatever had possessed him earlier. He had practically raised that kid, and now he was just supposed to accept that he was gone without being able to do anything just because some goddess was attracted to him?! He didn't even get to say goodbye!

"Damn it all!" Heracles roared with an intensity and fury that legitimately terrified both Polyphemus and Bell as he pulled his fist back and punched it into the ground. The impact seemed to shake the very earth as the already devastated island seemed to suddenly be hit by a massive earthquake that further devastated it and seemed to tear it apart. When things had finally settled, Heracles was once again breathing heavily in a changed landscape.

"So what now?" Polyphemus asked, somehow having made it through the island disaster unscathed, waiting for Heracles to give his answer

"...We go home." Heracles said after a moment, before breathing in a few more times, mostly to calm himself rather than catch himself. "It feels like I'm giving up on Jason and I hate it, but it's for the best. If the gods were so insistent on getting rid of us, then that probably means we were the source of bad luck that's been hitting the Argo. With us gone, then they'll probably get some good luck finally, and I honestly don't want to know what kind of wrath we'll bring upon the Argo if we openly defy the will of the gods and rejoin."

Polyphemus nodded, seeing what Heracles was saying. He also chose to stay silent about, if Heracles was right, then that meant that they had been blown back to the coast of the Propontis that night and what had happened was because of them. If Heracles hadn't already realized it, he didn't need that extra weight right now while he was undoubtedly still recovering from the loss of Hylas.

Neither of the two said anything for a while after that, and the world would blur together before Bell could see how the two of them got off the island.

At this point, Bell felt… drained. This dream had taken a lot out of him, and he found himself thinking he was probably going to be more tired when he woke up than when he had gone to sleep. But the dream wasn't done yet as the world would settle once more.

Heracles was walking down a stone road in silence. Polyphemus was gone, having long since split from his brother-in-law to go back to his own wife. Now, all he had to keep him company was the thoughts going through his head that Bell had no way of properly knowing.

But he wouldn't stay that way for much longer.

As Heracles continued his trek, what looked like a house would appear at the end of the path he was on. As he got closer to it, Bell was soon able to see that there was someone outside it sitting on the ground. Not much longer, and it became clear that it was a young boy who was playing with some toys.

Not for much longer though as he was quick to notice someone walking toward the house, and even quicker to recognize that it was Heracles.

"Daddy!" the boy called out, pushing himself up off the ground, toys forgotten as he ran to greet his father.

Seeing this, Heracles would smile for the first time since his cursed departure from the Argonauts. He would stop as he lowered himself to his knees to catch his son in a hug as the boy practically tackled him while wrapping his arms around Heracles' neck. A gesture that Heracles was glad to return by tightening the hug a little bit.

"You've gotten bigger while I was gone." Heracles noted proudly as he loosened the hug to get a better look at his son, placing one of his large hands on the boy's head and ruffling his hair. Heracles would then tense for a second before his smile turned into a tight frown. "I'm sorry I broke my promise to you Therimachus, and couldn't be here for your birthday like I said I would."

"It's okay! I forgive you!" Therimachus said immediately, making Heracles blink a little in surprise at the quick answer, but would falter when his son finished talking. "After all, you were off being a hero!"

"...Yeah, I was being a hero." Heracles said, forcing a smile onto his face and doing his best to make it look natural to prevent his son from knowing that he had practically stabbed him with the memories of the disasters during his time on the Argo.

"I would hope so. You wouldn't be yourself if you weren't, it's just who you are." a feminine voice said before Therimachus or Heracles could say anything more, prompting them to look to where it had come from.

There, approaching the pair from the house was a beautiful woman with tanned skin and a head of long, dark red hair that reached past her shoulders. She had a kind smile on her face at the sight of her husband and son hugging together after Heracles was gone for so long. Closing the distance with a few more steps, she would lean down and wrap her own arm around the still crouched Heracles.

"Welcome home."

"Glad to be back Meg." Heracles said, his smile genuine once again at seeing his wife before tilting his head slightly to briefly press his lips against hers in a short kiss.

"Ewwww, you two are so gross!" Therimachus said in response to seeing his parents kiss as he tried to pull out of his father's grass.

Heracles and Megara would both let out a laugh in reaction to their son as Heracles let go of him, nearly causing Therimachus to fall from the sudden lack of resistance. As Heracles stood up from his crouched position, Megara's smile would turn into a small frown as he returned to his full height. The reason why became apparent when she next spoke.

"Where's Hylas?"

The question caught Heracles off guard and he had a brief look of surprise on his face before getting it under the reigns. He quickly glanced at Therimachus, who hadn't heard his mother as he had been focusing on recovering from his near fall. He knew that he was going to have to tell her what happened, but he didn't know how to tell her with one of his children in earshot.

Luckily for him, Megara noticed this.

"Therimachus, could you go tell your brothers that your father's back, we're going to have a bit of a celebration." she asked her son, giving him a perfect smile. "I'll make each of your favorite foods in a big feast!"

"Alright!" Therimachus said with a nod, excited at the prospect before running off to do as she said.

When he was out of earshot, Megara would look back to Heracles with a concerned frown, the question of what happened clear on her face, making her husband let out a heavy sigh.

"I'll tell you the full story once the kids are asleep, but Hylas isn't coming home." Heracles began, continuing before Megara could get the wrong idea. "He's fine and he's alive, he's actually probably living in luxury compared to us right now, but I don't think we're going to see him again."

Megara's eyes would widen before deeply frowning at the news that she was probably never going to hear from the boy who she had considered a second son. She wanted to know what happened of course, but something else had the priority. Heracles' fist was shaking from how hard he was clenching it, even as he kept his face emotionless.

It was clear to her that, whatever happened, her husband was not happy with it.

"Alright, I'll hold you to that." Megara said after a second, as she gently grabbed the hand that he had clenched with both her hands, surprising him and making him look at her to see she was still smiling at him. "But the boys aren't going to want to wait to see their father, so how about we don't make them?"

"...Right." Heracles said, his anger gone as he smiled back at her.

As the two began to walk toward their home, Bell felt something warm and pleasant feeling spread through his body. Since, at his heart, he was every bit a romantic that wanted to have a girlfriend as much as he was a boy that wanted to become a hero, he couldn't but hope that his relationship would be like this one if he was ever married. Especially if that hypothetical marriage was to a certain blonde-haired Sword Princess.

He was brought out of those fantasies at the realization that the world was once again beginning to blur together again. Heracles and Megara would disappear from sight, along with their house, being blended together with the rest of the environment as Bell waited for the next scene. The world would once against begin to still a second later, and then-

Bell opened his eyes.

He spent a few seconds staring up at the familiar ceiling of the Church's basement before properly realizing he was awake. At the realization, Bell would jump up from his lying position, his mind racing as he processed the contents of the dream. It was moving so fast that he nearly forgot to breathe for a few minutes.

Everything he had seen in the dream began to replay itself in his mind, as he unknowingly went over every detail to make sure he remembered it in case he would forget it in a few seconds. But, like most dreams, there were many details that he did lose, such as forgetting the appearances of the Argonauts and even some of their names. But the most important parts of the dream and the story overall were carved into his memory like stone.

Bell would try to calm down by taking in deep breaths, but it was no use. His heart was racing from everything he had just seen. There was just no way he could calm himself down after bearing witness to something resembling one of the stories his grandfather would tell him when he was a kid.

Without really realizing it, Bell would try to feel his connections to his Servants. Since summoning them, it had quickly become one of the first things he would do upon waking up, just to see where each of his Servants were. He could feel that Chiron and Achilles were just upstairs in the Church, and he could also tell that Herac-

Heracles.

An overwhelming urge to go talk to Heracles filled Bell. How could he not? He had just dreamed about a part of the hero's life, was he not supposed to go talk to him.

Bell would throw off the blanket and practically leaped off of the couch he had slept on. He would then rush up the wooden stairs in his rush, not even bothering to put on his jacket or shoes. When he was at the top of the stairs, Bell would all but slam the door open, completely surprising Chiron and Achilles.

"Oh. Good morning Master, how did you-?" Chiron, who had once again prepared breakfast for him and Achilles before Bell had woken up, with the Rider Servant already eating. But Chiron wasn't able to finish before Bell ran past them toward the door of the church. This action caught both of the Servants off guard as the Master opened the door that Heracles stood outside at all times.

And there he was as Bell pushed the door open, standing in the early morning rising sun, the dark giant turning to face him.

Seeing Heracles in his Berserker form seemingly caught Bell off guard, as odd as that was, considering this was the form that Bell had known him in the longest time. But after seeing his natural appearance in life, it was a little strange to see his appearance under the effect of Madness Enhancement.

Bell would open his mouth to say something to Heracles, but would soon stop under the realization that he didn't know what he wanted to say. That earlier drive he had to see Heracles after the dream had made him forget that he didn't have anything to say yet. And now that he had gotten to this point, that simple fact was impossible to ignore any longer.

But he was already at this point, and he still had the urge to say something to the Hero. So, as he went to try to say something once again, he could only say the first thing that came to his mind. And his mind had settled on the last thing he had seen in that dream…

"Megara-, uh, your wife is very pretty!" Bell yelled out, though as the words left his mouth and he realized what it was he said exactly, he would turn a shade of scarlet in embarrassment. Of course, he had to say that. Out of the thousands of things in his mind, he had to say probably the only thing that could make things awkward.

But he was distracted from his embarrassment when Heracles' normally stoic expression visibly changed in response to hearing Megara's name. The Berserker Servant's eyes widened in shock and his jaw seemed to fall open a little. The Servant's reaction caught Bell off guard since Heracles, although obviously listening to things going on around him, rarely reacted to anything said to him, certainly never to this extent before.

Bell had been about to continue, but was interrupted by the sound of Achilles coughing heavily.

"Master, where did you learn that name?" Chiron asked as Bell turned around to see him standing right behind Bell, and Achilles was now choking on the food that he had been eating earlier.

"Uh, I had one of those dreams you told me about?" Bell asked, a little concerned at the worried tone that Chiron had.

"I see…" Chiron trailed off a little, before smiling at Bell as patted his Master on the back. "I'm sorry, just hearing that name took me off guard. How about you tell me and Achilles everything you saw in the dream while you eat breakfast?"

"Okay…?" Bell said in response. Although Chiron's expression was no different from how it usually was, Bell got the impression it was a little strained for some reason.

And as he followed Chiron back to go eat breakfast, Bell glanced back to where Heracles still stood to see that the Berserker now had his back to him now. He frowned a little, having wanted to talk to Heracles a bit more, but would turn his head back to go eat and talk to the two other Servants. He would miss how tightly Heracles' fists were clenched...

As Bell ate his breakfast and told the two Servants what he had seen in the dream, there was an odd feeling of tension in their air. It would seem to alleviate itself slightly as the conversation went on, but it never truly went away. It made Bell feel a little uneasy since the two Servants' presence had previously had something of a calming effect on him, with Achilles' carefree behavior and Chiron's serene nature.

But now there was an undercurrent to how they behaved that made it feel like that he had done something wrong without realizing it, and it made him nervous.

"...And that's when I woke up." Bell said as he finished telling the two Servants everything he had seen in the dream.

"Hey, wait, you said you saw all the Argonauts, so how come you didn't mention anything about my old man?" Achilles questioned, giving Bell a pointed look.

"Uh, that's cause I don't really know if I saw him?" Bell said under Achilles' look. "I can't really remember much about the other heroes after waking up, and I don't know if he stood out too much in comparison to them?"

"Tch. The old man must've exaggerated his feats to make himself look better than." Achilles grumbled to himself, a little annoyed with his father at the information.

"So, was the rest of the journey like what I saw?" Bell asked the still silent Chiron, not knowing how to address what Achilles had just said.

"Not for the most part." Chiron said with the shake of his head. "After Heracles' departure, the Argo suffered far fewer tragedies and more feats of heroism akin to their victory over the Gegenees, and the journey was much smoother overall. As for the finer details and how the journey ended, you will have to wait to hear that."

"Huh? How come?" Bell asked in a small amount of disappointment, wanting to hear how the rest of the Argo's journey went. Though he was happy to hear that the Argo ended up having a much better time overall in comparison to what he had seen.

"Because, as I recall, I said I would tell you the story if you performed well today." Chiron reminded Bell of the deal they had made last night with some of his usual mirth. "And that I would have to give you more training if you didn't."

Bell would visibly stiffen at the reminder, having legitimately forgotten about it amongst the dream.

"R-right!"

"Speaking of which, since you're clearly wide awake and nearly done with your food, how about you go prepare yourself for today then?" Chiron asked with a normal smile, almost as if he was unaware of the panic Bell was facing at the thought of what would happen if he didn't live up to Chiron's expectations.

Nodding, Bell would quickly put his plate down onto the ground and shoot up from where he was sitting. He would then rush to the basement to go do as Chiron suggested, nearly slamming the door shut as he did. Both of the Servants silently watched him as he left earshot.

"...Fuck." Achilles said nearly as soon as the door was shut and Bell could no longer hear him.

"That is… an apt way of describing the situation." Chiron said with a heavy sigh as he thought about what to do.

"Are the dreams usually supposed to be that in-depth?" Achilles asked his teacher.

"No. From what I understand about them, Masters should typically only see fragments of the Servant's life, and they're usually unclear to a certain extent." Chiron said, cupping his chin in thought about how in detail the dream sounded according to how Bell had described it. "Whether this one was so clear because the magic is stronger due to the Falna somehow or Bell simply has a particularly strong connection to Heracles, I can't tell yet."

"Either way, if the next dream is like that…" Achilles started before grimacing slightly. "He's probably going to see something very unpleasant in more detail than he would like."

"...Unfortunately, that would seem to be the case." Chiron said with a sigh, clearly wishing otherwise for the sake of the young boy. "We can only tell him what happens beforehand so he can at least brace himself for such a sight."

"...Speaking of that, how do you think he's doing?" Achilles asked after a couple of seconds of silence, nodding in the direction of the main door of the Church. "Hearing her name out of the blue like that has to be rough on him."

"I don't think we have to worry about him." Chiron responded immediately, glancing in the direction of the student in question. "Although it must've been a surprise to him, Heracles has spent years dealing with the guilt of what happened. While he won't be unaffected, it won't haunt him like it would've in the days following what happened. Plus, with some luck, his Madness Enhancement might cloud his mind enough so that he won't be able to focus on it."

"Seems a little messed up to hope for something like that, but… fuck." Achilles said with a heavy frown before shaking his head, not sure what else to say. "The alternative isn't exactly better."

"Indeed." Chiron said simply.

They weren't able to say much more, as their ears perked up hearing Bell walking back up the stairs, with the door opening soon after, revealing Bell in his usual adventuring gear. With Bell fully dressed and prepared, the three didn't have much reason left to stay at the Church. The two Servants stayed quiet on what they were talking about as they got ready to leave.

As they did begin their trek to the Dungeon, Bell would give Heracles a wave as they walked away, saying that they would see him later. Heracles, however, wouldn't respond to the farewell, not even looking at his Master as he walked away. Bell wouldn't think much of this since Heracles was normally unresponsive to most things, but Achilles and Chiron could only frown as they wondered what was going through the Berserker's mind.