Here's the next one, I hope everyone enjoys it.

The Brother Of Hercules

Chapter 35

Maelstrom & The Old Folks

Academy Carriage

The students right now were on their way to an old folks home, since it's apart of their studies and as the teacher had stated, would look good on their permanent record, though most of them were groaning and moaning about "spreading sunshine" with Adonis not liking old people in general, until Icarus soon put his foot in his mouth about listening to his father about not going too close to the sun with wax wings, with Cassandra pointing out how stupid such a stunt was, which made Icarus complain about missing the chance to gain wisdom from it.

Though a quick recap of Rossweisse's introduction to the boy's friends, turns out, while she was shocked that so many girls were "with" Mael, she slowly came around to the idea of joining them, seeing as they had the blessings from both Aphrodite and Hera, it was understandable that the group would accept her as well, with her joining them in Prometheus Academy, seeing it as a chance to learn about the Greek's culture, she also began wearing the same style of clothes as the other girls, considering how the weather of her country wasn't exactly "tropical" like it was in Greece, but she soon got use to the weather and temperature.

The group soon arrived at the retirement home, along with the group seeing a old blind prophet named, Tiresias, who was able to predict just about anything, "I used to have VAST KNOWLEDGE, NOW THEY PIN MY ROOM NUMBER ON ME!" The old man stated, pointing at said piece of paper.

Next was an old man sitting on a bench outside, this was Nereus, a once powerful shape-shifter, soon a nurse approached the old man, "Time for your medicine Nereus." She states in a chipper tone, having a spoon and said bottle of medicine.

Though the old man was stubborn, "You can't make me swallow that I am, ur, Lightning Fast Cheetah!" With him shifting into said animal, though there was a slight problem, "Catch me if ya can! I am the wind! (Growl!)" His age had also affected his animal forms, meaning that he was basically a hobbling old cheetah.

The nurse simply poured the medicine onto the spoon, "This will help THAT too, we've been getting complaints." She stated, making him take his medicine, as well as commenting about "something" else too, with the old man shifting back to his human form.

Anyway, back to the students, Cassandra was visiting Tiresias, though he ended up "predicting" the girl falling, which she did because of him, causing the old man to cackle at such a thing, Maelstrom then states, "Come on gramps, be nice, my girl has visions too you know, maybe you can help her out by teaching her how to control her visions."

Hearing this Tiresias couldn't help but contemplate such a thing while Mael was help Cassandra up, "Hmmm, ya might have a point there, while my visions are screwy now, I still know how they work, what'd ya say lass, want to learn a few tips from an old man." He couldn't help but get a little excited about such an idea of having a student.

Cassandra on the other hand, "Gee(!) Aren't I lucky(!)" She sarcastically states, while glaring at her boyfriend for putting her in such a predicament.

Mael simply held his hands up in surrender, "Hey now, you be nice too babe, learning how to control your visions might come in handy in the future, besides, what plans did you have while hanging out with gramps here." He quickly stated his reason, thus making Cassandra curse her boyfriend's logic and stopping her from being mad at him, so with that, the old prophet and girl got to work in teaching her how to control her visions.

Soon after, both Mael and Hercules came up to another room, where Icarus was having fun at seeing Nereus shifting into different animal forms, though Mael became slightly worried that Icarus would annoy the old man, "Icarus, try and ease up on asking the stubborn old goat to change too much will ya, we're supposed to make them happy, not ourselves!" Mael soon called out, which happened to do 3 things:

1. It made Nereus transform into an old goat.

2. It got Icarus to agree on easing up a little.

3. It made said "old goat" happy.

Though soon both Mael and Hercules continued, though Hercules was pretty confused why Mael was calling the old men such disrespectful names, "Mael, what are you doing, were suppose to respect the elders, why are you calling them those names." He couldn't help but question his brother.

Mael simply raised his eyebrow in puzzlement at Hercules, until he realised what his brother was talking about, "Oh~ Right, you don't know do you, I sometimes visit these guys every Sunday, just to hear their stories and play some games with them, all to the point that I pretty much gave these old men nicknames of their personality."

Hercules was surprised at that admittance, though while he was happy that his brother visited these people once a week, he couldn't help but wonder why, with Mael explaining that he sometimes visits them in order to relax and have a joke with them, nothing major, just a small routine that he enjoys since it kinda reminded him of Naruto visiting Hiruzen, who the ninja affectionately calls "old man" before his passing.

Which Hercules can respects, until the duo sees Adonis making an old man clean his feet, making them upset that the man-baby was doing such things, but both had decided to let Kurama "deal" with the disrespect towards the elder, just as long as the prank wasn't bad enough to make the old man die from laughing too much at the end result.

The two soon came up to Hercules's room, though a nurse soon came running out of the room when a tray was thrown out, though Mael knew what was coming, he decided to let his brother figure it out for himself, though he still went into the room to greet the occupant, only before he could greet the old person, a snowball was thrown at his face, though luckily he ducked before it could hit him, seeing as he's use to it.

Hercules on the other hand, had to wipe the slush off his face, though Mael simply called out, "HA! Nice try ya old buzzard, you should know by now that I'm use to your "attacks" now!"

Hearing this, after Hercules was done cleaning, he sees the resident of the room being an old Griffin, with said old griffin having a smile on its face, "Mael, nice ta see ya again brat, guess my training is finally paying off."

This just made Mael roll his eyes and shake his head at Mr Griff, since the old Griffin was as stubborn as they came, though since Mael had treated Griffin with some respect, the two got along well enough to the point that every now and then Griff would "test" Mael in some way, pretty much making it the highlight of the old griffin's day.

"Yeah, sure ya old buzzard, but what did I tell ya about throwing ya food at the nurses, they're only trying to help ya, you know!"

With the Griffin answering back, "It's that horrible Baba-ganoush! She knows that stuff goes right through me, I can't stomach such muck!" While crossing his talons in a huff.

This also caused the blond demigod to shake his head, " That's the whole point ya old buzzard, it helps with your "irregularities" and everything, though I guess ya have a point since that stuff does cause some "air problems"." Mael couldn't help but to agree somewhat with Griff about the babaganoush, there's got to be someway to improve THAT "meal" somehow for the old men here, for ALL their sakes.

Shaking his head from those thoughts, "Anyway, Griff, this is my brother, he's gonna be your visitor for a few weeks, so try to get along with him will ya."

The griffin just grumps about such a thing, though once Mael had left, Griff soon started pelting Hercules with more snowballs, wanting to see if the kid was just as good as his brother at dodging his throws, but it turns out, Hercules wasn't since the griffin had managed to hit the "bullseye" each time, until Hercules yelled at Griff to stop throwing them.

All the while Mael had decided to make himself useful in the kitchen, wanting to help improve the food at the retirement place, even showing the cooks his skills at cooking, seeing as he doesn't really need to work on his permanent record, seeing as he visits the place regularly, so his record was easy to deal with.

Next Day

Before long Hercules had told the others about his experience with Griff, with Mael simply stating that the stubborn old buzzard would need time to warm up to him, since it did take a while for Griff to warm up to Mael, hearing this, as well as the weather changing to rain, Hercules's hopes weren't too promising.

But the two soon made their way to Griff's room, until Griff threw Hercules out again, while yelling, "PRETTY FLOWERS DOOF!" Only this time Mael saw the whole thing, causing the blond to sigh at the sight.

"Herc, you gotta understand, Griff prefers food than anything else, especially sweets, which is why I only give him one candybar when I'm visiting, though I doubt that'll work for you."

Hearing this, Hercules was thankful for the advice, though he wasn't too sure about the candy angle, but maybe a healthier snack would help.

Third Day

Soon both Hercules and Mael were walking the halls, though Hercules seemed to be getting tired of having to deal with Griff's personality, with Icarus asking the duo if they've seen Nereus, with Mael having an idea who what might have happened, "You went overboard with making him shapeshift again didn't ya." It wasn't a question, but an obvious statement.

This caused Icarus to become sheepish and quickly made his exit, making the brothers shake their heads at how their friend was acting, until the pair came to Griff's room hearing laughter, which turns out that Hephaestus was visiting Griff, where he soon explains about Griff's mission to guard a large diamond for the god, which turns out made Hercules post Griff's achievement in the newspaper, causing the Griffin a large amount of trouble, since he wanted his life to be private.

Where not long after, Griff was given a banquet in his honour for guarding something for the gods, though during the celebrations, it turned out that Griff was still guarding the diamond, but since he was at the banquet, his hated enemy had managed to steal it from him, which Hercules ends up blaming himself for the slip-up, since he didn't realise that Griff was still guarding the jewel.

Hearing this, Mael decided that Hercules needed to help Griff with recovering the jewel himself, seeing as it was his brother's fault to begin with, while he cleans up the plates, bowls and cutlery for everyone, with the staff helping him as well.

But before anything else, a visitor who resembles Hermes had appeared, this happens to be Hermes's counterpart of the Norse gods version, "Hey there Mael, been a long time, listen, I can't stay for long ya know, long trip back home, but anyway, here ya go, there's also a letter from Odin himself as well."

The counterpart had then quickly dropped off the package and letter to Mael, practically making the lad confused at such a rush from the Norse God, but then he started reading the letter, though obviously the counterpart had written the letter in Greek, so it was easier of Mael to understand it.

"Hmm, let's see, "Greetings young Maelstrom, I hope things have been well for you, after our meeting during your time in Valhalla, I've come to realise that you would've been a perfect wielder of Mjolnir, either you or my son, but since my son has been doing a good job of balancing the weather and being a true Thunder God, I've decided to give you this gift, I hope you enjoy it"-!?"

Before Mael could finish the letter, the package suddenly burst open, revealing a beautifully crafted sword, which also happens to be flying around by itself, until it appears in front of Mael, making the boy shocked at the sight of the blade.

He quickly went back to the letter, wanting to find out what was going on.

""The gift is a specially crafted sword called, Ingrid, after finding out that you were an archer, I had the master dwarves use the leftover metal from Mjolnir to have her crafted for you, I also explained to the master dwarves about how you were an archer, so in their wisdom, they've decided to create this sentient sword for you, who will defend you and watch your back while you and your brother are busy with your herowork, hope you and Ingrid become the best of friends.""

Finding out that Odin had took the time to have someone make such a weapon for him was astounding, but he wouldn't deny that such a weapon would certainly come in handy if ever he needed some help, with that, he fastened the sheath to his hip, where he then looks towards the floating sword, after securing the sheath.

"Um, nice to meet ya Ingrid, let's work well together!" He exclaims in excitement, while he could've asked Hephaestus to make him a weapon to help him in battles, he didn't want to push it like Ares did with his bow, Glenda, but he's no doubt that the God Of The Forge would want to have a look at the blade at some point.

Mael decided that he'll explain the circumstances the next time he sees the god.

Before he could say anymore, Ingrid, with a quick "swish" of it's blade, flew flawlessly into her sheath, finding her owner to be the perfect master to use her, whether he was using his bow or his sword would be his own choice depending on the battle that he's in, which Ingrid wouldn't have it any other way.

Afterwards

Hercules soon returned, after explaining what had happened between Griff and his enemy, where it turns out the two were soon getting along, kinda, seeing as they were having some arguments that old rivals usually have, though this seemed to put Mael in a better mood, "Meh, at least now he can have someone to "play" with besides me." Since it was pretty obvious that Griff was bored.

Then it was Mael's turn to explain where his sword came from, with said sword floating out of the sheath to greet everyone, making Hercules a little jealous, but couldn't deny that his brother could use the backup in case both were busy with their herowork.

Hephaestus though had a quick look at the sword, giving some hums and looking over it in detail, "Not bad, not bad at all, certainly some fine craftsmanship if I do say so myself, them Master Dwarves certainly have an eye for detail, maybe I should visit them so we could swap ideas and tips for our crafts." Thus proving that while Hephaestus was a little jealous, he couldn't deny such skills and craftsmanship from fellow forgers, though obviously he'd ask Zeus for permission to visit the dwarves to swap stories and stuff, but he also knew that Zeus would give him a deadline, since it wouldn't do for the Greek God Of The Forge to be away from his work for too long.

Before long both Mael and Ingrid had gotten use to each other, with both training in order to be in sync with each other, with Phil allowing the sword, since it wasn't as chatty as Glenda, though it did cause some mischief now and again, especially when Phil was trying to look at nymphs.

The End.

I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter, since I wanted to get this one over with since there's still LOADS of episodes left for me to write.

Also I hope everyone enjoyed how I brought the sword, Ingrid, from God Of War: Ragnarok into the mix, since I figured, what better weapon for Mael to use that could actually help him out, and while I know Odin in the game didn't have the sword made, in my story, he did, so why not. lol

I Do Not Own Naruto Or Hercules. (Or God Of War: Ragnarok.)