Disclaimer—All characters relating to Young Hercules belong to
Renaissance Pictures, and all characters relating to newsies save the newsgirls
belong to Disney. Neither Caroline nor I
claim to own them (though we wish we did…sigh), and this fan fiction story is just
our way of giving our love to these companies. Please don't sue us, 'cause we don't have
anything besides sugar, and we'd be glad to share some with you if you want it
that bad so there's no point in suing us.
Chapter 1
High in the
mountains of
***
"But Unc, I don't get it. I thought Zeus forbade us gods from messing around with time." A tall, skinny, pale, tacky leather-clad individual fidgeted nervously from foot to foot, his ice blue eyes a combination of worry and fear. Fear of the god pacing beside him.
"No, Strife, must I explain it to you again? Or will you still not be able to get this through that mumble-jumble you call hair into your brain?" Wounded, Strife put a hand to his head, pushing around his unruly thin black hair. Not waiting for a reply from the lesser god, Ares continued, his voice a menacing rumble. "Alright, I'll go through it once more, but only once more. You'd better get it right this time." Ares stopped and adjusted his tasteful leather vest.
"Dear old Dad did make playing around with time a no-no for us Olympians. But I stress the word Olympians. He never said anything about mortals, or half mortals. Now, here's the plan. You and I both know that Hercules," Ares spat out the name with contempt, "will do anything, and I mean anything, to gain Zeus' attention. All we have to do is find a certain item, make little brother think that the item is Daddy's and he wants it back, and BAM! Hercules is off on another quest, then out of my hair forever! If I can't squash him like the pesky little insect he is, then I'm sure as Taurtarus going to find another way to get rid of him."
Strife licked his lips, trying to find a way to ask his question without angering Ares further. The war-god's cold brown eyes were filled with anticipation over his newest and most devious plan for Hercules' demise. "Um, Uncle Ares, what item, exactly, are we discussing?" Ares, his patience increased with his excitement over his latest concoction to be free of Hercules, surprisingly told Strike what the lesser god wanted to know without zapping him first.
"The Orb of
***
The merciless summer sun beat down on the tall youth's tawny hair as he intercepted a ball (actually, a pig's bladder filled with water) that was being passed from a shorter, curly blonde-haired youth and a young woman with boyishly cut white blond hair. A swift kick, and the bagball soared between two trees. The tall, deep-blue eyed boy threw his hands up in the air, "Score!" With half-disappointed, half-defeated looks on their faces, the first youth's two opponents trudged over to stand beside him The girl—Lilith—fanned herself.
"It sure is hot," she whined. The curly-haired youth—Iolaus—wiped beads of sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand.
"You got that right. Hey Herc, you think you could get Helios to ease up a bit? He's got to be related to you somehow." Lilith snorted,
"Yeah, great idea. And how many of Hercules' godly relatives have been ready and waiting to do him a favor?"
"Hephaestus is friends with Hercules," Iolaus ticked off a number one with a finger.
"Yeah, one out of how many gods?" argued the girl. Iolaus counted a number two,
"And then there was Hades." Lilith waved that one off,
"Oh yes. Hades said he would help out Hercules in exchange for him spending eternity in Tartaurus. That counts, sure." Iolaus grumbled as he protested with an unswerving Lilith. Hercules ignored the pair as he surveyed their surroundings. He, Iolaus, and Lilith were in a field about two minute's walk from Cheiron's Academy. Hercules squinted, and studied the giant orb in the sky. The sun was blinding, and was getting brighter by the second. All of a sudden, the dazzling light formed images in front of Hercules' eyes. The orb of the sun transformed into a different sort of orb, one that radiated with power. Out of nowhere, a fuzzy figure reached for the orb, then to Hercules. "Father," the demigod whispered. A map registered itself in Hercules's brain, a map leading to the orb. Then, the vision was gone, interrupted by a waving hand in Hercules' face. It was Iolaus.
"Yohoo, big guy, you in there?" Hercules shook his head,
"Huh? Yeah, I am. Hey, where's Lilith?" Iolaus jerked his thumb in the Academy's direction.
"She left. Got tired of waiting for you to snap out of whatever dimension you were in."
"Oh." Iolaus rolled his eyes,
"Just come out with it." Hercules' face splayed with shock,
"What?"
"You know what. I know that look. It's your 'I've got an idea' look. Another one of your crazy ideas that results in me getting sucked up by a whirlwind, attacked by a phoenix, chased by bacchae…" Iolaus stopped as he saw Hercules stick his jaw out stubbornly. 'Uh-oh,' he thought to himself. Vocalizing what he knew was true but hoping fervently wasn't, Iolaus asked, "this doesn't have to do with Zeus, does it?" Instead of an answer, there was a guilty albeit obstinate silence.
"Aw, Herc, c'mon, not again!" Silence. "Listen to me! I'm supposed to be the one with the crazy schemes, and you're supposed to be the one following and cleaning up my messes! Not the other way around!" When there was still no reply, Iolaus gave up. He should have know that talking to Hercules when he was in his 'I've gotta get Zeus' attention' mode was like talking to someone after he/she took a good, long stare in Medusa's eyes. "Okay, I see there's no talking to you." Iolaus couldn't hold out anymore, especially when his usually more prominent goofy side was taking over. "Hey Herc, race ya to Kora's?"
Once again, Hercules did not
answer. Instead, he flashed a silly
smile at Iolaus before taking off in the direction of the young woman's
in. (AN: Hey Newsies fans! Just a little side note for your reference: Kora's
***
It was the dead of night and not a creature was stirring at Cheiron's Academy, not even a mouse, except for a certain demigod. He was creeping out of the sleeping quarters. That vision he'd had—it was sent by Zeus, he knew it. The object was something of his father's that he wanted back, but he couldn't get it himself for reasons that didn't matter. What mattered was that Hercules knew where the orb was. Without a second thought, Hercules ran off into the night, so engulfed in his self-imposed mission that he didn't notice the figure following him closely.
If Hercules had been himself, he would have taken note of how easy entering the cave had been. A few booby traps, a couple of fireballs, the usual. However, the only thought (an intense, burning thought) on the demigod's mind was the orb. And there is was…so mesmerizing. As Hercules reached out to touch it, he thought he heard a familiar voice shouting at him to stop. But the voice was distant, too far-off. The light from the orb grew brighter and brighter. Hercules' fingertips grazed the orb just as he felt a hand on his arm. Then his senses shattered and the world around him exploded.
***
'It's a good thing I'm a hunter,' Iolaus
mused, 'or I wouldn't have been able to
keep up with Herc.' The blue-eyed
cadet's nose wrinkled in disgust as he stepped over a smoking something—the
remains of a booby trap. 'I hate
caves. Especially the
caves with slimey things.' Suddenly, an uneasy feeling crept into
Iolaus' stomach. Hercules was in
trouble, he just knew it. Quickening his
pace tenfold, Iolaus sped through the passageways until he reached a large
cavern. There, in the center, was
Hercules, his arm outstretched towards a glowing object. "Hercules, NO!!"
Iolaus yelled, but to no avail. Hercules
did not appear to hear him. Iolaus raced
to Hercules' side and grabbed his best friend's arm just as Hercules touched
the glowing object. There was a great
flash, a huge popping sound, and Iolaus knew no more.