Chapter 12
"If you think you can simply waltz right in and take her from me – then you’ve got another think coming! She belongs to me!"
"No she doesn’t! She told me that she loved me!"
"No! She loves me! Not a day goes by that she doesn’t tell me so!"
"Because you manipulated her into believing that! I know the way you work, Ares – you feed her half-truths and out-and-out lies until you have her convinced that she wants you!"
"She needed no persuasion, brother! That first time – I took her within mere hours of meeting her!"
"Having sex with a woman, and having her fall in love you, are two entirely different things!"
"Not in this case! She was mine by the end of that night!"
"And I’m telling you that you are wrong! She loves me!"
"Then why – when she had known you for over a week, and me for only one day – did she chose me, over you!"
"You must have poisoned her mind in some way! For pity’s sake – you had her in such a state, that she was riding naked on a galloping horse!"
"Gods above, preserve my sanity against jealous men! That is enough!" Jessa’s angry voice cut through their argument like a blade.
"I don’t want to hear anymore about who I ‘belong’ to!" she glared at Ares, "I belong to no one other than myself! And I don’t want to hear anymore about how my mind has been ‘manipulated’ or ‘poisoned’!" she glared at Hercules, "I have a mind of my own, and I’m quite able to make my own decisions!"
"Then why don’t you make up your mind – instead of forever straddling the fence about which one you want to straddle with your traitorous, whorish legs!"
Jessa’s sword left her scabbard with a sharp, metallic ‘shing’.
"Strife! You boney-assed, gutless wharf rat! Show yourself!"
Strife sleazed out from behind one of the columns in Ares’ palace. He was grinning like the sphinx that had swallowed the peacock.
"Glad to see you all could make it to my little meeting on such short notice," he said cheerfully, "I know what a bitch rush-hour traffic can be – I mean you can almost always count on a chariot loosing a wheel, or a horse throwing a shoe!"
"Strife!" Ares warned dangerously, "You don’t want to be here now!"
"Oh, but I do! I most certainly do! I wouldn’t miss this for the world!"
Ares eyes narrowed. "Just what kind of game do you think you’re playing at here?"
"Oh, no game, Uncle – I just have some information I think you would be very interested in! It concerns all of you!
"Well, all except Goldielocks-the-pygmy here!"
Iolaus growled.
Strife snickered.
"Well, then, spit it out Strut-the-godling!" Jessa snarled impatiently.
Iolaus snickered.
Strife’s superior grin dissolved into a seething sneer. "Alright you two-timing slut – let’s start with you then!"
"It seems quite apparent that you have a choice to make here – which unfortunate chap here is it to be, hmm? Who do you choose? Who is the light of your life – the man of your dreams? Who’s the one who pops your cork? Floats your boat? ‘Greeces’ your wheels?"
He flitted over to Ares and presented him with a flourishing wave of the hands. His voice became deep and resonate, in a campy sort of way.
"Let the games begin! Tell us, bitch-o-lor-ette, just who do you love…"
"Bachelor Number One: Here, all the way from beautiful, scenic Mount Olympus – the King of conquest, the Emperor of evisceration, the Master of malevolence – the god who made pillage a hovel-hold word – that magnificent and all-powerful god of war – Ares! (Let’s everyone give him a big hand!)" Strife clapped enthusiastically. Ares graciously tipped his head to him in acknowledgment of these self-evident truths.
"…OR," Strife indicated Hercules with another flourish of the hands – except this time he used a crude finger gesture. His tone turned jeering.
"Bachelor Number Two: The Viceroy of vanity, the Squire of self-righteousness, the Heir-apparent of hoity-toitiness, that half-breed, bastard-son-of-a-mortal-harlot – Hercules." Strife stuck his finger down his throat and pantomimed gagging.
Hercules growled at the insult to his mother and lunged for him. Strife ducked behind his Uncle with an impudent grin on his face.
Jessa was in no mood for this. "What’s with this crap, Stain! If you have something to say, then say it!"
Strife stalked up to Jessa. "All in good time, wicked bitch of the far-east!" He insolently poked her in the chest with a finger. "But we’re gonna do it my way!"
"OW!" Strife looked down to the source of his pain – one of Jessa’s knives was pressed into his crotch.
"Move it…" Jessa said indicating the finger he was poking into her chest, "…or lose it!" she said, indicating her meaning with another jab of her dagger.
"OW! Uh – right…" Strife curled his finger, retracting it, and gingerly backed up – retracting something else. He poked a finger through the hole Jessa’s knife had made and scowled. "You’ll do anything to get into a guy’s pants, won’t you?"
Jessa’s flashing sword barley missed him as he ducked hastily behind Ares again.
Strife’s sneer returned as he glared from his safe-haven. "Well? Who’s it gonna be – huh? Who’s the unlucky guy?"
Ares’ face and attitude bespoke total self-assurance – and even a little humor, as he examined his laughable opponent.
Hercules simply looked at Jessa with his soul bared on his face – his heart on his sleeve.
Jessa agonized.
"I… I…" She suddenly buried her face in her hands, "Gods above help me, but I can’t choose!"
Ares face flashed outrage. "What do you mean, you can’t choose! Jessa I know you love me!"
"I do!"
"Jessa," Hercules said in confusion, "You just told me earlier that you loved me!"
"I know! And I do! The problem is that I love you both!"
Ares was getting impatient. "Jessa! We’re not going back to this ‘both’ nonsense again, are we? I thought we had all that settled!"
"I thought we had too! But when Hercules came to me in the camp… I found that all my feelings… all my love for him, did not fad away like you said they would – they had just been waiting, just below the surface – as strong as ever!"
"That’s not possible! I’m telling you – you cannot be in love with us both!"
"I know something you don’t! I know something you don’t!" sang a voice.
Everyone turned. Strife was sitting cross-legged, eyes closed, a peaceful expression on his face. His hands rested on his knees – the tip of the thumb and middle finger of each hand touched, making a little ‘O’. He was also floating several feet off of the ground. He was humming Zen-fully to himself.
Ares’ patience thinned even more. Growling, he began striding aggressively toward the hovering harrier, boots snapping sharply on the hard marble floor.
Strife’s eyes popped open in alarm. "Wait! If anything happens to me you won’t find out the very important, critically indispensable, eminently consequential, vitally… uh, vital information I know!"
Ares wrapped one hand around Strife’s throat – giving his pain-in-the-neck nephew, a pain in the neck.
"And if you don’t knock off these games, you’re not going to find out the significantly crucial, urgently compelling, and extraordinarily momentous knowledge of what tomorrow’s sunrise looks like!"
"Good point," Strife squeaked from between purple lips. Ares released him.
"Right," Strife choked, rubbing his neck. "Okay – I went to see Aphrodite."
"The goddess of love?" Jessa said.
"Well, DUH! Know any one else named ‘Aphrodite’?"
Jessa’s hand slapped to her knife-belt in irritation. Strife started to dart towards his Uncle for shelter again, but then thought better of it after seeing the scowl on his face. He looked around at the circle of glowering faces that surrounded him and decided that maybe the best course would be to just get to the point and get it over with.
"Yeah, well, when Uncle Ares started to go gaga over henna-head-the-harpy over here, I had to do something! I mean he really lost it!" He was talking to Iolaus. "You should’ve seen him! He was pulling out chairs for her! Giving her the clean plate! He was even using napkins! Can you imagine – napkins!" He shook his head in disbelief. "And as for her – he couldn’t keep his hands off her! Not that the copper-top-battery-queen minded though – you can bet she was using her feminine wiles to get her claws into him – flaunting her bodacious boobs and awesome ass all over the place! Uncle Ares didn’t stand a chance – he was reduced to a slobbering, gibbering, lust-slave! It was a pretty sickening sight, I can tell you!"
Abruptly, Strife stopped his narrative – he had just noticed the strange expression on Iolaus’ face. It seemed to be somewhere between fascinated awe and gleeful anticipation. It puzzled Strife – until he realized that Iolaus was no longer looking at him – but past him – at something – or someone – behind him.
Strife’s gulp echoed loudly in the marble chamber. (Out-of-sight-is-out-of-mind – poor absent-minded Strife.) Strife’s eyes made a valiant attempt to look out of the back of his head while the rest of his body froze in terror. This tactic may sometimes prove successful to rabbits and other small-game animals attempting to evade detection by predators – however, this does not apply to weasels.
"STRIFE!"
Even the combined might of a half-god hero, his sidekick, and a warlord Queen, are not enough to pry apart the fingers of a vengeful god when they are locked in rancorous ire around the neck of a witless, addlebrained godling.
Shouted comments like: "Ares! Stop this!" – and – "He hasn’t told us what he knows yet!" – and – "You can kill him later!" continued on for some time before they were able to penetrate the brilliantly incandescent haze of fury that clouded the mind of the vindictive god of war. (In the god of war – thought travels at the speed of smite. Think about it for a second – you’ll get it. For you Xena: Bitter Suite fans, here’s a clue – "Fear! Lies! Smite and smote and pulverize!")
Finally, Ares’ hands were wrenched off of their death-grip on Strife’s throat. (Hmm... should the ‘death-grip’ term refer to Ares’ hands or Strife’s throat? I suppose it’s a moot point – since Strife survived. Ah, well – life is full of little disappointments.)
Ares was pulled – and Strife was dragged – to opposite corners while Strife recuperated enough to continue. As Strife lay on the floor, drawing in great whooping breaths, he made a mental note to himself to work on some very-near-future plans for some truly righteous ass-kissing.
Iolaus grimaced at Hercules. "Eesh! Do you realize this is the second time we’ve pulled Strife’s skinny little keister out of the fire?"
"I thought we weren’t going to mention that again," Hercules reminded him.
"Oh yeah, sorry, you’re right. But – in the future – we have got to show a little more restraint the next time we catch Ares trying to off that slimy little smeg-head." (This term will probably make sense only to Red Dwarf fans (A British sci-fi comedy show aired on select PBS stations). But for those others who aren’t familiar with it, look up the word ‘smeg’ in an unabridged dictionary. Disgusting, ain’t it?)
"Alright, Strep," Jessa snarled, dragging Strife to his feet by his collar, "Unless you want more of the same for your throat from me – you had better get right to the point this time." She shoved him away and he staggered but managed to maintain his footing.
Strife needed no further persuasion, he had pretty much had all the gaiety garroted right out of him.
"OKAY – I thought that I should talk to Aphrodite when Uncle Ares started to go off his rock… uh, that is, started to act out of character when carmine-the-man-eating-carnivore showed up. Aphrodite had some very interesting things to say about her." He looked at Ares. "Do you remember when she was telling you about her birth-parents? About how her father was always bragging that the love between her father and mother was doubly-blessed by both Aphrodite and Cupid? Well she wasn’t far off from the truth. Seems her mother was a devoted follower of Aphrodite’s, especially after she had fallen in love with, and married Jessa’s father.
"Aphrodite remembered both you and your mother," he said to Jessa, "She told me that your mother, as she lay dying from the wounds inflicted by the caravan raiders, made one last plea to the goddess of love – she asked that Aphrodite see to it that Jessa would find a love in her life, a love of unparalleled measure.
"Aphrodite, in recognition of the woman’s devotion to her – and out of pity for the child’s loss of her mother – granted the wish. She laid a blessing on the child that would spring into being when she grew to womanhood and found such a one, locking the two together in love, forever."
Strife looked at Ares. "And you were the one that fulfilled that blessing – who else for a warrior of her skill – " you could see that it chafed him to have to admit this, " – can be said to be of ‘unparalleled measure’, except the god of war himself? She fell in love with you."
Ares and Jessa locked eyes. Ares went to her and pulled her body hard to his and kissed her deeply.
"I knew that it was me you truly loved," he breathed into her ear.
Jessa’s eyes brimmed with tears at the truth of his statement. Ares turned his head and glared in triumph at Hercules. Iolaus’ heart broke for the look on his friend’s face.
"But that is not the end of the story."
All eyes turned to Strife again.
"She is also in love with Hercules – just as she said."
Ares’ expression made Strife’s palms start to sweat. He hurried on.
"What Aphrodite did not know, was that Cupid’s bow was also poised to find a target for Jessa’s heart.
"Jessa’s birth-father was a faithful follower of Cupid’s – he did so in thanks for the loving wife he had been blessed with. Both of Jessa’s parents continued their worship of both gods, not knowing which might have been responsible for their finding each other. That’s why her father bragged that both gods blessed their love.
"But, Cupid did not have a hand in the love of Jessa’s parents – only Aphrodite. But, Jessa’s father’s offerings to Cupid did not go unnoticed by the god. Cupid’s blessing to the man was that his sons and daughters would all find a true love, and the one that they found would be a counterpart to them – in body, spirit, and mind – a kindred soul-mate."
Strife looked at Hercules. "And so, she fell in love with you." His lip curled in disgust. "Some people just have no taste."
Hercules went to Jessa and held out his hand for her. She reached out a hand to him, but Ares refused to release her – tightening his embrace.
"No! She fell in love with me first! She stays with me!"
"Ares!" Hercules’ warning tone promised much.
"Stop!" Jessa twisted out of Ares’ adamant hold using a move that left the god wincing and gripping one hand. "We will not be going into another shouting match between you two!"
"So what are we supposed to do now!" Ares was attempting to shake the pain out of his hand.
"I suppose you two could always share her."
Everyone rounded on Strife (who else?) with angry faces.
"Or not," he retracted, backing up with an obsequious grin on this face. "Just kidding!"
Hercules approached Jessa. "This must be very hard on you."
The agony on her face was all the answer he needed.
"Jessa, if it were anyone else, I would bow out – I can’t bear to see you in such pain." He brushed her cheek softly with the back of his fingers.
Jessa reached up and took his hand in both of hers. She looked into his eyes. "You would do that? You would let me go – even though you love me?"
"If it would ease your pain, yes, I would. IF it were anyone else – but it isn’t anyone else – it’s Ares. Jessa I can’t back off and leave you to him – I can’t just stand by and let him continue to do to you what he has already been doing. It’s not right."
Ares roughly shouldered Hercules aside. "Why don’t we just let her decide what is right for her!"
"Aphrodite said it is up to her."
Strife was, once more, the center of attention.
"She said that love is anchored in the heart – one anchor in the heart at each end of the ties of love that bind the hearts together. Normally, that means two hearts, two anchors. But because of the love god/goddess screw-up, we have a very messy love triangle going on – with four anchors, in three hearts – Jessa has a double load. Two of those four anchors have to be plucked out – releasing the bindings of love from those hearts. Aphrodite said it’s up to Jessa to decide which two go."
All eyes were now on Jessa. "It’s up to me…" she whispered to herself. She turned from the others and began to slowly walk away – she was lost in the anguished world of her mind.
Ares cast a quick glance at the others and then stepped after Jessa, stopping her by taking her arm.
"Jessa, the decision has already been made… you chose me – remember? You made that choice months ago!"
She looked at him – only half-aware of the world outside of the maddening swirl of her tormented mind. "What? Did I?"
"Yes! You chose to come with me – to be my Queen!" He swept her up in his arms and – just as he had always done every other time that ‘other’ name was ever mentioned – he kissed her so deeply, so long, and so passionately that he was certain that he could smother that name out of existence in her mind.
When he finally stopped, Jessa’s heart beat in her ears louder than when she rode screaming into battle.
Ares held her limp body fiercely in his arms. "Jessa you can’t leave me," he whispered hoarsely into her ear, "I… I love you." Jessa gasped – he had never spoken those words before to her – not in all the time they had been together. Ares’ body was shaking.
Jessa’s hands clutched desperately at the fabric of his vest – her body shook also. "Oh, gods, Ares…"
"Just tell him Jessa – just tell him you choose me and it will all be over. Then, I’ll take you away – to anyplace you desire – and we’ll stay there together, alone – just the two of us – for as long as you like! I am a god Jessa – anything you could possibly want, is yours – anything – there are no limits – all your desires – all your dreams – all your fantasies – I’ll make them come true – all of them! Just choose me!"
Jessa wept uncontrollably. Ares’ arms were the only things that kept her from collapsing to the floor.
"But wait a minute!" Strife couldn’t believe what he was hearing. "Uncle Ares, don’t you understand – you wouldn’t even be in love with her if it weren’t for those meddling love idiots that presume to be gods! If it weren’t for them and those stupid ‘anchors’, none of this mess would be happening! You should be trying to talk her into choosing Hercules – not you! Once she does that, you’re free! Free of the claws of this manipulative, mind-warping, ball-eating shrew!"
"STRIFE!" If Ares hadn’t had his hands full with Jessa, Strife would probably have been dousing his flaming hair in the viewing pool.
"But Uncle! Don’t you see! Without her, everything would be back to normal! Just like the good ol’ days! You know – just you and me – just hangin’ around the ol’ viewing pool – looking for a way to start some new trouble brewing down in the mortal world! Remember? Come on! We don’t need some warlord-come-lately bitch messing up the action! Who needs her! Let her go!"
"I don’t want to let her go!"
Strife shook his head, genuinely sad. "Aphrodite said this might happen – you’re so blinded by the spell this little witch has cast over you, that you can’t see that you’re better off without her."
Strife squared his shoulders, lifted his chin, and looked his Uncle straight in the eye. "I’m sorry Uncle, but I have to do this – it’s for your own good. I’m afraid you’re forcing me to – play fair."
Strife looked at Jessa. "You’ve spent the last several months with Uncle Ares – plenty of time to get to know him – to find out what you need to know in making the choice you have to make. But, you’ve only spent a little over a week with Hercules."
"In all fairness – " you could see his body shudder in horror as the words passed through his lips – it even looked like he was going to be sick for a moment, " – in all fairness, you must give Hercules equal time before you make your decision!"
"Strife!"
"I’m sorry, Uncle," Strife said. His lower lip trembled, while his upper lip strived to keep its stiffness. "It’s a clean job, but somebody had to do it!"
"Well?" Strife asked Jessa pointedly.
She looked into Ares’ eyes – she was still in his arms. She looked over at Hercules – she could not help but see the hope in his eyes. She looked back at Ares.
"I’m sorry Ares, but he’s right – I have to do it."
"No! Since when have you taken seriously anything that this despicable worm-of-a-godling has said?"
"I’m sorry," she stepped out of his embrace, "I have to do this. It’s the right thing to do."
"The right thing! What about keeping your word! Huh? What about the promise you made to me?"
"What promise?"
"The one where you promised not to leave me as long as you loved me!"
"Ares, it was your promise to me – to let me go!"
"If you no longer loved me! But you do still love me!"
"I know – and so I must ask you to bend your promise."
"No, Jessa!" Ares’ anger abruptly flared to a thunderous, fiery pitch. "No!" he shouted vehemently, "You can’t expect me to just step aside and let him have you! I can’t do that! I won’t do that!"
He shoved Jessa behind him. "You can’t have her!" he roared at Hercules. His howl of fury shook the walls as he cast a blindingly brilliant ball of flames at Hercules.
The heat of the passing fireball blistered Hercules’ skin as he frantically dove for cover behind a marble column.
With his rage heightened beyond all reason, Ares threw his arm back for another strike.
"NO!"
Suddenly, Jessa was in the path of Ares’ intended strike. It was too late to stop the momentum but he desperately twisted his arm to alter the fireball’s trajectory.
The diverted fireball blasted its way through the wall over and behind Jessa, reducing it to rubble.
"Ares!" Jessa shouted furiously, "I warned you!" Her knife was at her throat.
"Jessa, no!" Hercules lunged for her.
Jessa leaped out of his grasp, hit the ground rolling, and jumped to her feet again – out of immediate reach of all three men.
Hercules prepared himself for another launch.
"No!" Jessa warned, "You know I can do it before you can reach me!"
Hercules aborted his lunge with frustration.
"Ares!" Jessa shouted angrily, "Stop this immediately! I’m going with Hercules!"
But Ares was still incensed beyond reason.
"No! I won’t stand for it!" His raised his arm again and poured all of his seething rage into the roiling flames in his hand.
"Ares! I’m not bluffing!" A thin thread of blood began trickling from where the tip of Jessa’s dagger was pressed.
Ares rounded on her in insane fury.
"Damn it, then do it, Jessa! Do it! I’d sooner see you dead than with him! DO IT! DO IT!"
"So be it, then," Jessa whispered. She drew the blade across her throat.
"JESSA!" Ares was on her faster than any mortal could move. He wrested the blade from her and slapped his hand over the spurting wound.
"No, Jessa!" Hercules shouted in agony as he slid to a stop on his knees by her side.
"Jessa!" Iolaus screamed, "Oh, gods, Jessa!"
A gleeful, maniacal giggle echoed in the room. "Anchors away!"
"Jessa!" Ares cried, "I didn’t mean it! By Zeus’ name, I didn’t mean it!"
"You murderous bastard!" Hercules cried, "This is all your fault!" He backhanded Ares across the face so viciously that the god flew across the room, demolishing two columns in his wake. Hercules tore off his shirt and desperately tried to use it as a compress for Jessa’s still-spurting wound.
"Don’t die, Jessa! Oh, please don’t die!" Hercules sobbed.
Ares returned and dropped to his knees at Jessa’s side.
"Get away from her you murderer!" Hercules hissed through clenched teeth.
Ares looked at him through agonized eyes. "I swear Hercules, I didn’t mean for this to happen!" He tried to brush the coppery coils of Jessa’s hair from her face, but he only succeeded in turning it a new shade of red. Both he and Hercules were covered with blood to the elbows.
"Ares!" Iolaus called out.
Ares looked into Jessa’s dimming eyes. "Jessa!"
"Ares!" Iolaus called again urgently.
The god just bent over and buried his face in Jessa’s hair.
"Don’t touch her!" Hercules spat. He would have shoved Ares away if he hadn’t been still desperately trying to staunch the flow of blood.
"Damn it, Ares! You’re a god!" Iolaus grabbed him by the collar and jerked him up.
Ares just stared at him in incomprehension.
"Damn it, you’re a god!" Iolaus repeated. He shook Ares by his collar, trying to get through his grief-stricken mind, "A god! You can heal her! Do you hear me! You can heal her!" (A god forgetting that he has powers? Hey it can happen! Just check out the Herc episode titled "Judgement Day". When Strife is getting the stuffing beaten out of him by Herc, Ares has to remind him. "Fight him you idiot!" Ares snarls at him, "You’re a god – use your powers!")
Iolaus’ persistence finally penetrated.
Ares flung himself at Jessa and pushed Hercules’ hands away. Hercules did not fight him.
Covering Jessa’s now barely seeping wound with both hands, he concentrated.
A golden light built under his hands and glowed out from the edges of his palms. Then there was a sudden flash of brilliance.
He removed his hands.
The ivory expanse of Jessa’s long throat was unmarred. No trace of blood remained. The color seeped back into her ashen face.
Her eyes slowly opened and she looked up into Ares’ brow-furrowed face.
"What’s wrong?" she asked him drowsily, as if not yet fully awakened from a long, deep sleep.
He let out a sob and pulled her to him in a tight embrace.
"I’m sorry Jessa, I’m sorry!"
Jessa’s mind swam into full consciousness. She touched her throat.
"How…"
"I healed you."
"Oh." It had honestly never occurred to her.
"Let me up," she said.
Ares raised her to her feet.
Jessa pulled away from him, but then she reached out and touched his face in wonderment – it was wet.
Ares’ eyes shifted over to Hercules and Iolaus. They just stood there, looking at him. He turned his back and quickly wiped his face. When he turned back around, he avoided their eyes.
"Ares," Jessa said gently, "I’m sorry, but I have to go with Hercules!"
"Jessa! How can you expect me to let you do that!"
"Ares, you must! I have to know! If I were to stay with you now – I would forever be wondering – it would mar our relationship – always. Please, Ares."
Ares clenched his teeth in conflicted aggravation – and in deeply imbedded pain and fear.
"Alright!" He rounded on Hercules fiercely. "But if anything happens to her…"
Hercules put his arm around Jessa’s shoulders as she went to stand by his side. "Don’t worry, her life is more dear to me than my own."
"It had better be! Because if anything does happen to her – your life won’t be worth squat! Zeus or no Zeus – edict or no edict – I will kill you!"
"All right Ares, I get the message!"
"Please," Jessa pleaded, "No more!"
Jessa nodded at Hercules and Iolaus. "Ares, we’re ready to go."
Ares glared at them for a long moment – his face terrible to see in the torrent of emotions that churned just under the skin. Then he raised his hand and slashed it down as if it were a guillotine. A trio of flashes marked the exit of the others.
Ares stood there for a moment – head down, shaking fists at his side – and then his head suddenly jerked up – as if he had just remembered something.
"STRIFE!"
Strife could be absentminded, addle-brained, witless, and stupid – but he wasn’t that stupid – he was long gone.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
"It’s alright – I understand," Iolaus assured them, "You two need this time together, alone."
"Thank you, Iolaus." Jessa hugged him and kissed his cheek.
Hercules and Iolaus shook hands. "We’ll catch up to you later, Iolaus."
"I’ll be looking forward to seeing you then – both of you."
Hercules and Jessa stood – side-by-side, arms around each other’s waist – and watched until Iolaus’ figure disappeared into the distance.
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