Lilith giggled continuously throughout breakfast. Nerissa and Hercules both had dark lines beneath their eyes from little Althaia crying every hour. Nerissa's powers of persuasion were dulled when she was tired, the two had found out quickly. Luckily, Solon slept like a log, but that meant he was exceptionally hyper now that he was awake. Hercules had to use his strength to keep the boy seated and eating his breakfast instead of playing with it. Iolaus and Jason had been forced by Cheiron to eat an early breakfast and help the villagers pack up as they all were going to leave for Corinth soon.
"I really want to make a joke about how tired you guys are, but..." Lilith snickered only to Nerissa.
Her friend just glared at her as she spooned some mushy peas into Althaia's mouth. Hercules finally let Solon go run around the table. He'd eaten enough to pass as a decent breakfast.
"I suddenly feel bad for my mother," Hercules mumbled, rubbing his eyes.
Lilith and Nerissa grinned at him before Lilith propped her chin on her hands.
"I wonder what will happen to these two in Corinth."
Hercules and Nerissa looked at the kids, pondering the question. Putting down the baby's spoon, Nerissa got up from her seat and handed Althaia to Hercules.
"I think I know just the person to talk to about that," she said before dashing off.
Lilith and Hercules watched her before turning to each other. The young woman smiled at him, a twinkle in her eye.
"So...what did you think of seeing the caregiving side of Nerissa?"
Hercules's leg slipped and he accidentally kicked the student sitting across from him. He apologized quickly before the guy left, glaring at him.
"W-What do you mean?" he asked, thinking back to Nerissa drying his hair for him.
He pretended to be examining Althaia's clothing so that Lilith wouldn't see how heated his face had gotten. Lilith rolled her eyes at him.
"With how she was taking care of the kids, duh."
"Oh," Hercules sighed with relief," Uh, she's great. She'll make a great mom someday, I think."
Lilith wiggled her eyebrows at him when he glanced at her.
"For your kids, maybe?"
Hercules tossed a roll at her just as Nerissa came prancing back into the dining hall and plopped down beside Hercules.
"Jason is going with the villagers to Corinth and will make his way back after everything has settled down. He somehow managed to convince Cheiron and Fiducius to let Iolaus go and help. They agreed, calling it community service or something. But the point is, Jason swore that he'd make sure Solon and Althaia made it to the best family possible in Corinth. He said he will personally check in on the orphanage there. He wanted me to go and help but I told him I knew someone much better for the job."
Nerissa winked at Lilith who squealed.
"A vacation for me and I get to spend it wi-" she stopped herself before noticing Hercules staring at her with an eyebrow raised.
Clearing her throat, she nodded solemnly.
"I will do my utmost to help Jason and the children."
Nerissa smirked and the girls shared a hug before Lilith ran off. Hercules looked over at his friend.
"Is there something I'm not being told?" he asked.
Nerissa gave him the most innocent look she could.
"Of course not."
Hercules didn't push it, instead he handed Althaia to Nerissa before getting up and catching Solon on one of the kid's laps around the table. Solon squealed with delight as Hercules threw him up into the air and caught him again. Nerissa laughed at the adorable sight before getting up as well. They made their way out to the courtyard where the villagers were just about to leave. Nerissa gave the two kids hugs before handing the baby over to Lilith and Solon to one of the villager women. Hercules gave them his goodbyes as well before watching the villagers leave. Once the last person had left, they looked over to see Cheiron standing nearby. He grinned and trotted over to them.
"Seems rather quiet here now, does it not?" he noted.
Nerissa grinned.
"Well that might be because Iolaus went with them," she added.
Hercules let out a laugh before putting his fist in front of his mouth to stifle his amusement. Cheiron's lips twitched as if he were about to smile. Instead he pulled a scroll out of a saddlebag on his back.
"You two may or may not remember that we sent out invitations to Parents Day recently. The student who was in charge of the planning for the event as fallen ill. Since it is this weekend, we need someone willing to help right away. Nerissa, I was hoping you might be willing."
He handed her the scroll, which she opened and scanned. Closing it again, she nodded.
"Sure, I can do that, Cheiron. I may need help though, this isn't a short to-do list."
"That's fine. Pick whoever you think is suitable. Thank you for stepping up. It is a huge help. I suggest getting started right away."
With that, Cheiron nodded at them both and moved into the Academy. Nerissa thought for a moment before looking up at Hercules with puppy-dog eyes. Hercules laughed and tugged gently at her nose.
"Yeah, yeah, I'll help you. Come on."
The pair spent most of their free time for the rest of the week setting up for Parent's Day. When Lilith, Jason, and Iolaus arrived back, they were quickly recruited to help set up. Early Saturday, signs had been taped to walls and the Academy was spotless. Nerissa sat nervously on the well waiting for her parents to arrive. She was so engrossed in her thoughts that she almost fell into the well when Lilith jumped on her from the side.
"Stop looking so scared!" Lilith smirked, smacking her arm for good measure," Your grades are great!"
Nerissa glanced back to see the boys had come over as well. Sighing, she grinned.
"It isn't my grades I'm worried about. My parents never get along. I'll grant that my father does everything my mom tells him to, but not without an embarrassingly loud argument beforehand."
Hercules hopped up to sit on the well beside her.
"Maybe Balian will be too distracted by representing Jason to argue with your mother. Especially when he hears about Jason's grades!"
Jason and Hercules made faces at each other, which almost made Nerissa smile.
"It's not only that, either!" she continued, "Mother is going to grab the attention of everyone who comes here! You saw how she dresses. She never changes!"
"That's fine by me," Iolaus muttered under his breath.
Nerissa turned and punched Iolaus in the arm causing him to protest loudly. Lilith ran off at that moment as she saw her sister arrive. The four of them watched her hug her sister before Hercules looked at Iolaus.
"Is your mom coming this time?"
Iolaus shook his head.
"She's visiting dad in Athens, so this time I'm free! Other than the fact that your mother will be informing mine about my grades..."
Hercules and Jason snickered at their friend. Iolaus jokingly pretended to push Hercules into the well before running behind Jason, but accidentally elbowed Nerissa on the way past, who was not paying attention. With a yelp, she began to slip backwards, but Hercules swiftly slid off the well and pulled her forward and into his arms. Nerissa clung to his shoulders, her heart beating heavily in her chest. Looking up, she and Hercules were taken aback by how close their faces were.
"A-Are you okay?" Hercules asked her softly, staring into her eyes.
"Oh, uhm, yes...thank you."
They stared for a moment longer before hearing a light laugh off to the side.
"Well, well, you never mentioned having a girlfriend, Hercules."
The two of them glanced over to see a beautiful woman with silvery-blonde hair wearing a pink dress. Hercules and Nerissa detached themselves from each other swiftly.
"Mother!" Hercules nervously smiled, his face going slightly pink.
As he hugged his mother, Nerissa looked demurely over at Jason who was grinning mischievously at her.
"Oh, shut up," she hissed at him, which only made his grin widen.
Looking over at Hercules and Alcmene, she found that the woman's attention was fully on her now. She smiled despite the previous awkward moment.
"It's nice to meet you. I'm Nerissa," she introduced.
Alcmene smiled at her.
"I had a feeling you were. Hercules wrote quite a bit about you in his most recent letters home."
"MOTHER!"
Hercules gave her a look, which only made his mother laugh again.
"What? That isn't strange! It's natural to talk about friends you make recently more than the older ones."
Jason and Iolaus smiled at each other.
"Yes," Jason stated dramatically for Nerissa and Hercules' benefit, "Friends."
Hercules glared at them as Nerissa's attention went to the gate at the sound of a high-pitched squeal.
"There she is! My beautiful little girl!"
Every eye in the courtyard turned to Aphrodite, who came running toward her daughter. She swept her up in her arms, hugging her tightly. Nerissa was just thanking the gods her mother was wearing a normal dress. She spotted Balian following her mother at a much slower pace. He greeted Jason first, of course.
"Mom," Nerissa said, pulling away," Uhm, meet Alcmene, Hercules' mom."
The girl was taken off guard as she was flung away from her mother as the goddess smiled brightly and opened her arms to Alcmene. Nerissa would have hit the ground if Hercules hadn't caught her and kept her on her feet.
"Are you aware how many times your reflexes have saved me since we met?" the girl hissed to him.
Hercules thought about it for a moment. It was a very high number.
"Do you need me to stop?" he teased.
"Please don't. I'd be at the bottom of the well right now…"
"Alcmene! Lovely to meet you," Aphrodite cooed, pulling the woman into a hug far gentler than the one she gave her daughter, "Your son has plenty of girls falling for him. Thanks to you more than Zeus, I'm sure."
To her credit, Alcmene just smiled and thanked the goddess politely. Nerissa looked up at her blonde friend.
"Is today over yet?" she sighed, pulling out of his grasp.
He sucked his lips inwards for a moment as he shook his head.
"Nope, just beginning."
Nerissa turned and nodded to her father who gave her a quick nod of acknowledgement before addressing Jason once again. She looked at the ground. Everything was going pretty much as she had expected. Moving over to her mother, she put a hand on her shoulder.
"I'm scheduled first and Jason right after so we should make our way to Cheiron's office."
Nerissa led her parents and Jason into the Academy, leaving Hercules with his mother. She smiled up at her son and stroked the side of his head.
"She seems sweet," she told him.
"Hm? Oh, Nerissa? Yeah, she's gre- Wait...mother, no, seriously. It isn't like that."
His mother laughed softly.
"Oh, Hercules, you could do far, far worse. She also seems nothing like either of her parents. Did her father even say a word to her?"
Hercules gave a foul glance at the closed door of the Academy.
"Not one..."
It was late afternoon when Hercules met up with Nerissa and Jason again. The sight he was presented with was unfortunate. Nerissa and Jason were facing off against Balian while Aphrodite sighed from the side.
"Who cares about good grades? I don't see how you've changed. Just come back to Corinth."
"And get married!" her mother piped in.
Jason held a hand up.
"Balian, Nerissa is a fantastic student. She deserves to be here."
"My King, this has nothing to do with-"
"Then fight me!"
Balian raised an eyebrow at his daughter. Hercules looked around to see all the other students and parents, including Iolaus and Lilith, watching the two. He herded his mother closer to where his friends were while the situation unraveled.
"One-on-one. Here in the training room. I will fight you and show you how much I've grown."
Jason stepped in front of his best friend and looked at her seriously.
"Nerissa, I get it, but he is in charge of the Corinthian guards."
"Then a fight shouldn't be a problem."
"That isn't the issue here!"
Balian waited as Jason tried to dissuade Nerissa, but the girl was adamant. Jason wound up giving in. The captain of the guard grinned.
"I accept your challenge. If you lose, you come back to Corinth. Understood?"
Nerissa nodded, her teeth grinding. Aphrodite sighed and went over to her daughter.
"I'm not much interested in fighting. It was wonderful seeing you, darling. Such a good girl. I'm going to make my exit here. Let me know the results!"
Her mother then disappeared in pink light. Nerissa just shook her head.
"Thanks for the support," she mumbled.
Jason looked between Nerissa and Balian.
"Uhm...fight will commence in thirty minutes here in the training hall. The challenged chooses the weapons..."
"Swords," grumbled the older man.
With that set, Nerissa left the hall and went to her room. Closing the door behind her, she climbed onto her bed and sat staring out the window. What had she agreed to? Her fingers dug into stone under the blankets. She had challenged him because she had to prove herself. This was her moment. But was she ready? She still had much to learn at the Academy. She had just agreed to give it all up because her father was acting ridiculous. She would lose most of her friends. If she ended up having to get married off, she was likely to never see them ever again after today. The girl put her face in her hands. She looked up as a knock sounded on her door before it opened. She laughed slightly, seeing just who she had expected.
"Hercules."
He gave her a grin.
"Predictable, huh? That I'd be the one to come talk to you?"
Nerissa shrugged at him.
"Not that I mind. It just means you are reliable. Out of curiosity, how would you feel about staging a kidnapping?"
Hercules closed the door behind him and went over to her, leaning against her bed with his arms crossed. Nerissa growled and ran a hand through her hair. Hercules smirked as her hair couldn't even get ruffled. Though it was wavy, it went right back to being perfect. That made the girl even more frazzled.
"I can't run away. But...I don't want to lose. If I do...everything I have gained is gone. My independence, my willpower, my friends, my life—washed away by what my father wishes."
She looked up at Hercules who watched her, thinking. After a moment, he turned so he was facing her, while still leaning.
"You have to believe in yourself, Nerissa," he told her," You are a good warrior and you know that. Trust yourself. If you want to keep your life as your own, you will win. Everyone who matters is behind you. You're just getting someone who is more important than the rest of us to see how much this means to you."
Nerissa looked up into his blue eyes.
"You're so lucky. What I wouldn't give to have a parent like yours. Your mother is so sweet and kind. I now see why you never have anything negative to say about her."
Hercules glowed with pride.
"Yeah, well, half lucky is good enough for me. Look, just remember that your dad does care about you. He was ready to turn the world upside down to find you when Lucius took you."
"Then why can't he support me like you, Jason, Iolaus, and Lilith do? Why is it that my own parents can't let me live my life on my own and make my choices for myself? Hercules, you and the others are my real family and do you know how much that tears me up?"
Hercules could see a new fire in Nerissa's eyes. He watched as she got up and moved toward the door.
"That's it. I'm fighting to keep my family."
She turned and smiled at him.
"I'm not going to lose you, not to him."
Hercules' throat closed up, his heart beating fast. He understood her meaning perfectly, but the way she said that... He was only able to nod as she left the room. He slowly began to follow her.
"Pull yourself together, Herc," he scolded himself.