Ares had left a warm and comfortable bed and a snuggly, cuddly Joxer an hour earlier responding to a mental call from his father who was tired of waiting any longer. He'd materialized in Zeus' chamber with a growl and a huge chip on his shoulder, anxious to get whatever the old goat wanted out of the way as soon as possible so he could return to Joxer.
His scowl and attitude had disappeared when Zeus had explained that this was about how to help Cupid. Father and son had spent the hour discussing and dismissing different ways to deal with the situation. For some reason Zeus didn't think that making those who accused Cupid meet Ares in combat, defending his son's honor, was a good idea. He preferred his pantheon alive and squabbling rather than calm, mellow and permanently visiting Hades.
Ares had already blasted two statues, burnt up the goat tapestry Hera had made and made a new hole in the wall of pure frustration. But still there was a warm fuzzy feeling deep, deep inside. He'd rather die than admit it to someone else than Joxer, but having his father so completely on his side, plotting and planning against other Olympians to help Cupid, felt … nice.
Mental screaming suddenly interrupted their brainstorming. All Ares heard was Joxer crying out his name.
Ares materialized into a chaotic Temple of War. Strife was holding and trying to calm down a hysterical Bliss, who was crying at the top of his lungs. Apollo was carrying a moaning Joxer towards the main bedroom while Asclepius opened the door. Behind Apollo, a trail of blood followed on the marble floor. Cupid hovered over them all, trying to help Strife comfort Bliss, asking Apollo questions and remaining calm and useful, all at the same time.
"Joxer!" Ares shouted and followed Apollo into the bedroom, preparing to rip Joxer out of his arms.
"No, Ares!" Ace shouted. "You have to let us help him!"
Apollo laid Joxer down on the bed and Ares went to his knees beside it, trying to pull Joxer towards his chest. "Joxer, what's wrong? You can't die! You're immortal! Don't leave me! Please don't leave me!" he begged.
"Ares, you got to let us do our job and examine Joxer," Asclepius said gently, like talking to a little child. "I think it's best if you wait outside until we're done." He gently grabbed Ares' elbow and helped the War God raise from the floor. When Ares frowned and was about to object he added, "Think about what's best for Joxer. We really don't need you to distract us right now."
Ares nodded and left the bedroom casting one last look at Joxer now surrounded by a yellow glow created by Apollo. "You have to save him," he said hoarsely. "I can't be without him."
"We'll do all that's in our power," Asclepius promised and gestured for Cupid to come and help him. "Take care of him," he ordered before he went back into the bedroom and closed the door. "He'll need his family right now."
Cupid nodded and led his now zombie-like father to a bench. He sat down next to him pulling his father into a hug.
Ares just sat there, unmoving, keeping his eyes on the same spot, completely silent. Suddenly Cupid realized he was staring at the trail of blood. With a curse and a gesture towards it, he cleaned it up.
Hera and Zeus entered. Hera came up to Ares, gave his cheek a pat and a kiss and smiled apologetically, "I'm sorry, dear. Apollo and Ace called for me." Getting no reaction, she entered the bedroom.
Zeus sat down next to Ares, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Hera told me what's going on. How are you holding up, son?"
Ares finally moved and looked at his father, eyes showing his despair, "Joxer… he's hurt."
"I know, son." Zeus answered, looking at Ares he saw the little boy he once was. The boy that usually followed him around laughing and giggling with mischief in his eyes. The boy who believed that Daddy could do anything cause he was the best Daddy in the world. And during those rare occasions when Ares the boy was sad or upset he would give Zeus that look that said 'Fix it, Daddy. I know you can!' The same look that Ares the man now gave him for the first time in centuries.
Zeus pulled Ares into a hug, ignoring the fact that the movement almost pushed poor Cupid onto the floor.
Ares hesitantly returned the embrace first soft and then harder. Zeus felt his son starting to shake and Ares began to cry. They just sat there, Ares crying his heart out, something he hadn't done for a long time and Zeus holding him, silently stroking his hand over Ares' back in a comforting motion.
After a while, Ares raised his head from Zeus' chest and started to notice their surroundings. He saw Strife sitting on another bench with a still sobbing Bliss. Cupid had moved and sat beside Strife, gently stroking Bliss between his wings. Aphrodite and Hephaestus had arrived, sitting on a newly created bench next to them.
Cupid noticed that Ares was aware and looking at Bliss. "Joxer held Bliss when he collapsed," he explained.
"Oh, poor child. Hey, Bliss!" Bliss looked up. "Want to sit with Grandpa for a while?
Bliss nodded and hesitantly walked the way over to Ares who lifted him up on his lap and gave him a hug. "I love you, Bliss," he said.
"Bliss luvs you too, Gwandpa," Bliss said and returned the hug. "Bliss' so sorry…"
"It's not your fault, Baby," Ares interrupted. "Just picking you up can't have hurt Joxer."
"Kay," Bliss said and turned in Ares' arms so he faced Ares' chest and promptly fell asleep.
"How do ya do that?" Strife asked, shaking his head. "I've been trying to calm him down for ages."
"It's a talent I have," Ares answered. "Children listen to me. At least my own."
Cupid nodded, "I bet that if he ordered me to clean up my room, I would be pushing things under my bed before I even realized what I was doing."
"Go to your room, Brat!" Ares said.
"Aw, do I have to? I just got here!" Phobos whined as he materialized, sitting on the bench next to Ares. "I felt your fear," he explained and leaned against Ares' shoulder. "I'm sure things will work out fine. It has to."
"I hope so," Ares said and put a kiss on the black curls on his son's head. So like Strife, he thought, not for the first time.
"It scared me, you know. Feeling your fear like that. I've never felt it before." Phobos looked up, "Is it like that to love? If it makes you scared and stuff, what's the point? I want to scare others, not feel it myself."
"It's worth it, son. Believe me. It's worth it."
The air glimmered and Deimos appeared. "Hermes told me," he said and then just stood there, looking at his father, biting his lip, scraping a foot against the floor. Looking extremely undecided.
After a while he said, "Aw, fuck this!" he bent down, carefully not to disturb the sleeping Bliss, he gave his father a quick hug. He swiftly moved away, straightening out his outfit, trying to look cool and indifferent. He glared at the others, "Not a word about this to *anyone*, understand? Talk, and I'll figure out a way to make your life miserable, " He threatened pompously. Completely ignoring the fact that all Gods present except Phobos and Bliss were his senior and most likely to make *his* life miserable if he tried something. "I got a reputation to maintain." Ignoring Phobos' snort, he sat down next to Aphrodite. "People don't seem to take me seriously so the last thing I need is a bunch of rumors saying I've gone soft."
"It's the short pants, Dear," his mother told him and patted his knee affectionately. "No one can take someone in short pants seriously. And that bleached hair, honestly." She sighed, "And you were so cute as a baby…"
Deimos' outraged "MOM!" was the last thing heard in the hall for a long time as the gathered gods just waited. And waited.
*****************
After what for Ares felt like an eternity, Hera and Apollo came out in the hallway.
"Please sit down and be calm, and I'll tell you all what's going on," Hera said, noticing Ares, trying to get on his feet without waking up Bliss.
Ares leaned his back against the wall again and tried to be patient. "How's Joxer?" he asked.
"Joxer is fine, for now." Hera answered. "We got to him in time and there's no harm done to him or the baby. Yet."
Ares let out a relieved sigh and then... "What do you mean, YET?!"
"Shhh! Don't wake Bliss!" Hera said.
"I'm afraid it's my fault," Apollo said and bit his lip. "At least partly. Joxer is immortal, but not even an immortal man is supposed to get pregnant. Male God's can, but it takes a lot of power and energy."
Zeus nodded, "While I was carrying Dionysus, I hardly used my powers for anything. Just keeping him alive was hard enough." He glanced at Hera to see if she would throw a tantrum at the mentioning of one of his bastard children. Fortunately, Hera only tightened her lips to a thin line. Zeus let out a sigh of relief.
"Exactly!" Apollo continued, "Now, Joxer didn't seem to have any troubles. Since the Chaos Stone 'helped' him to get pregnant, Ace and I thought it had taken care of the problem. Since the last thing Joxer needed was stress during the pregnancy, we decided not to mention that this could be a problem, and just keep an eye on him and be prepared for an emergency. We didn't think there would be any complications."
"Well, obviously you were wrong!" Ares growled.
Apollo bent down his head, not willing to meet Ares' eyes. "Yes, we were wrong," he admitted. "And you can't imagine how we regret this. Ace is completely beaten up by it."
Trying to get the focus off Apollo and on the important parts, Cupid asked, "What did you mean with 'yet'? You've fixed Joxer now? Right?"
Apollo shook his head, "We've healed him and given him extra energy and power, but that's not enough to get him through the whole pregnancy."
"So I have to share my strength with Joxer?" Ares asked. "No problem!"
"That's not enough, dear," Hera said sadly. "Giving Joxer power from someone else is just a quick fix. It has to come from himself. As it is now, Joxer's immortality won't allow him to die, but it's not enough to help him deliver a healthy baby. He will be in constant pain, and the child will probably be either gravely deformed or dead at birth. If it gets born at all."
"What do you mean?" Strife asked.
"There is a possibility that Joxer's immortality will fight the pregnancy. Not allowing it to change, keeping him pregnant and in agony forever." Apollo answered.
Ares calmly handed Bliss over to Zeus, stood up, went over to Apollo, grabbed him by the throat, lifting the Sun God high off the ground, and hissed, "So how do we *fix* it?"
Apollo swallowed and squeaked out, "There is probably only one thing to do. Could you put me down, please?"
Growling, Ares put him down again.
Apollo cleared his throat, "Thank you. Now as I was saying, Joxer needs to be able to produce the power necessary by himself. And there is only one way to do that. Joxer has to become a God."
Everybody turned as one and looked at Zeus.
"Father?" Ares asked softly.
"Oh, I don't mind if he becomes a god," Zeus said hastily, so Ares wouldn't become defensive again. A defensive Ares was almost as bad as an offensive Ares. Almost. "But it's not just in my hands, you know. If a large majority of the twelve don't agree to make him a god, many in the pantheon will see him as a lesser being and make his life miserable." Hearing Ares growl at the thought of anyone messing with his mate, he added, "When you weren't around, of course. And you know Joxer would keep quiet about it to not cause trouble."
"You're right," Ares reluctantly admitted. "Well, *I* vote yes!" He looked expectantly at his relatives.
"So do I," Hera smiled at her son. "I like him."
"Of course, Joxie should be a god!" Aphrodite squealed and jabbed her elbow in Hephaestus' ribs.
Her husband grunted, glared at his wife and said, "I vote yes."
Everybody looked at Apollo.
"What?" The sun god glared. "I might usually vote against Ares on pure principle, but I didn't work this hard to save Joxer just to let him die again. Of course, I vote yes!" He added a bit quieter, "Besides, Ace would stop talking to me if I voted no."
"Even with Apollo, we need one, or better yet, two more," Hera said.
"Athena would vote no just to get to me," Ares said.
Apollo nodded, "So would probably Artemis too."
"Poseidon would say no if I say yes," Zeus said. "We had a fight…" He stopped realizing what the fight had been about and how Hera would react to hearing the cause. But still, Poseidon was unreasonable. How was he supposed to know that Poseidon had saved that cute little sea nymph for himself?
"What about the rest?" Strife asked.
"I'm not sure," Zeus answered. "But there is no other way. We have to put this before the council or Joxer might become an outcast." Seeing Ares wanting to object he added, "And if they say no we can always pull a sneaky one and make him a god anyway. Better an outcast than dead."
"So, let's call everybody in for a vote!" 'Dite bounced.
It took a few sharp mental commands from Zeus, but the twelve were soon gathered in the Great Hall. All except Ares, who refused to leave Joxer. Apollo quickly explained the problem with a few interruptions from Hera.
"So, now you know. Should Joxer be granted godhood?" Zeus finished.
"Why?" Athena asked. "We can't go around giving all kinds of people godhoods. Just think of the chaos, and what it would do to our power bases. If we grant this for Joxer, then other gods will want to make some of their mortal followers gods also. Olympus would be overcrowded in no time! I vote no."
"But we're not giving just some mortal guy a godhood," Aphrodite objected. "Joxer is Ares' *consort*, that's different. I vote yes!"
"But why should Ares get special treatment?" Athena persisted.
Zeus sighed, "Believe me, daughter. If your consort was risking death and godhood was the only way to save him, I would put that into vote too. But unless you have a huge secret life you haven't told anyone, I don't see that day coming very soon. Do you?"
"No," Athena mumbled.
"We're not only talking about Joxer's life, but also about the life of his and Ares' child. I urge you all to vote yes. As I do." Apollo said, looking at Hermes.
Hermes nodded. "I vote yes," he said simply.
"I vote no!" Poseidon said and gave Zeus a glare so the King of the Gods would know exactly why he voted no.
"So do I," said Artemis, disinterested in the whole subject.
"I vote yes," Hephaestus smiled at his wife.
Hera voted yes and so did Zeus, adding Ares' vote to the yes pile since Ares couldn't be there in person.
Everybody looked at Hades and Hestia.
"Well, I certainly do not mind if Joxer becomes a god," the Hearth Goddess said. "In fact, I think he'll make an excellent god. I like the boy."
"And I don't need all the Olympian visitors the Elysian Fields would get if Ares' child dies. Besides, I guess I owe Joxer one. If I remember correctly, he was the one who found Ares' sword during that whole Sisofys debacle." He shuddered. "I'm the first to admit that that could've gotten ugly."
"Then it's decided," Zeus said, relieved. "Nine votes for and three against. That makes a large majority for Joxer being granted a godhood. Which one, can be decided later." Now, they didn't have to go against the council, which made everything so much easier. "Unless someone has something important to add, I declare this meeting adjourned."
All rose and those that considered themselves part of Ares' family hurried
back to the Hall of War. It was time to save Joxer.