Chapter Text
Hercules was confused. While he normally didn't like his brother Ares, he found that he agreed with him on this one point. Hera should *never* have forced Joxer to marry that killer. On the other hand, Hercules wasn't too sure about Ares' belief that Zeus had anything to do with it. He was confident that once they wrested the truth out of Hera's mind, that they would find that Zeus was innocent. He was probably tricked into doing it by his evil wife.
They would see.
Oddly enough to his way of thinking, it wasn't just Ares and Discord who thought that Zeus could be behind this. In fact, not one of the Gods had even *tried* to defend his father and that cut him to the quick. Even the Gods, as selfish and greedy as they were, should be able to see through Ares' lies. Right?
Still, Hercules was able to stand it only because the truth would soon be revealed and then everyone would be shown *exactly* how evil Hera was. They would see that it was *her* and not his father who was behind this wrong doing. Zeus would be exonerated and then he would make sure that everyone apologized for their lack of faith in his father.
Hercules was pulled out of his thoughts when Ares led Apollo, Demeter and Hades over to where Hera was chained up on her throne. He watched as the four Gods stood around her in a circle and clasped hands. They pulled their power together and focused it on one single goal. Reading Hera's mind. A glow of bright white light began to form inside of the circle they formed and all four of them closed their eyes as the Queen of Olympus began to tremble and jerk in her bonds.
Hercules smirked. He hoped it was painful for her.
!!!!!!
As Ares, Apollo, Demeter and Hades slid into a sort of trace, Xena yanked her eyes away from them and glanced around the room. Every eye was glued to the drama in front of them, but Xena had some important questions and she wanted them answered right away.
Standing up, she bent down and yanked a button off of her chair's cushion and flicked it with precise aim at Aphrodite. The bright red button flipped through the air and landed with a *ping* and a bounce on the table right in front of the Goddess of Love and Jealousy. A slight frown creasing her lovely face, Dite looked up and around. When Xena caught her eyes, the Warrior Princess waved her over.
Standing up, Dite squeezed Hepheastus' shoulder briefly in passing and then sashayed across the room until she was standing next to Xena, but angled to still see Hera and her self appointed judges. With one hand on her pink clad hip and her cleavage trying to escape the confines of her dress, the blonde Goddess leaned over to whisper in Xena's ear.
"What? This *soooo* totally better be important to interrupt *this*."
Xena rolled her eyes, but with the exception of Joxer and Hercules, her Aunt Aphrodite and her half-brother Cupid were the family members she liked the best. Dite and Cupid might both be flighty, but they had never *really* done anything *too* bad to her and her friends.
"I'm just worried about Joxer. I mean, what are these duties that he has to do now? It's nothing that can hurt him, right?"
Aphrodite pulled her eyes away from the drama long enough to flash Xena an understanding and reassuring look.
"Oh, don't worry about Joxie. He'll be fine once he adjusts. The Herald thingy? That's simple and easy. All that intales is the public reading of any announcements that the House of Aggression needs made. We all just usually take turns with that. And there are some things that only people from Ares and Eris' line can announce, but now Joxie can too. Things like judgment rulings, invitations to gatherings. Things like that."
Xena nodded, feeling a little better.
"What about those other things, though?"
Dite frowned slightly.
"Well, Speaker is just that. The Speaker sits in council meetings, but they can act as an advocate for any problem, petition or concern that one of the demigod children aligned to the House of Aggression might have. Normally, they just go to their parents and hope that they resolve it, but now they can have Joxer be their advocate too. So, that's one job that I'm sure Ares is glad will be taken from Zeus...at least in regard to Hercules. Herc causes more problems than he solves and Ares is always caught in the middle since Zeus always orders Ares to do what needs to be done anyway and then lets Herc think that Ares disobeyed an order *not* to do it. It's a huge mess. And as for the duties of "Consort", it's basically what you think it is."
Xena frowned in a way that was fairly reminiscent of her father.
"Wait a minute. Doesn't Olympian Law state that a Consort *must* give their spouse two children?"
Aphrodite nodded her head in confusion.
"Yeah. So?"
Xena gave her a look that spoke volumes.
"So Joxer isn't exactly plumbed for childbirth."
The Goddess of Love and Jealously shrugged her shoulders and almost evicted her breasts from her dress with the movement.
"True, but your father *is*. And even if fun-buns isn't willing to bare any ankle-bitters there are plenty of Goddesses around that would. Not many of the girls *like* Ares, but having another tie to the Crown Prince never hurt anyone. I mean, Cupie is Ares' heir and that won't change, but still, they would still be considered Ares' step-kids, ya know?"
Xena considered that for a moment.
"That's...weird."
Aphrodite shrugged again.
"What about Hera? What'll happen if she's found guilty?"
This time, the blonde Goddess *did* look worried and that bothered Xena more than she cared to admit.
"If Hera is found guilty and stripped of her power then that would leave Ares as Prince Regent until Zeus came back from where-ever he went. In fact, even if Hera is innocent and they can prove that Zeus is guilty and he doesn't show up to defend himself, then they can declare his "vacation" as abdication of the Throne. But that probably won't happen. That would take a unanimous vote of the Twelve and then an acknowledgment of all four Houses."
Xena looked stunned. It had never occurred to her that Ares could end up ruling all of Olympus. She wasn't sure how to feel about that. She settled on a mix of fierce pride and chilling fear.
"Oh."
!!!!!!
She flinched back in her chair when the bright white light wrapped around Hera suddenly shifted to bright blue and then exploded into shards of gleaming energy that dissolved in mid-flight. For a long second, Jace thought that the four judges were all going to crumple to the ground in a faint, but after a wobbly moment or two they seemed to grab a hold of themselves and straighten up.
Ares walked back over to his throne and turned to face the breathlessly waiting audience. He looked tired and somehow older, but despite the strain on him, his voice was clear and loud when he spoke.
"I, Ares; Crown Prince of Olympus and Lord of the House of Aggression pronounce Hera; Queen of Olympus *innocent* of all charges brought against her."
Everyone gasped in shock at this. Jace noticed that Hercules in particular looked a bit pale.
"Furthermore, it seems that she was also a victim of Zeus' mechanisms. She was not only *lied* to by Zeus about my marriage, she was left to take the blame with Zeus leaving explicit instructions for all problems to be laid at *her* feet."
Then Ares turned to face Eris.
"Take the power-negating collar off of her Sis. She didn't do it, but "Daddy-dearest" made damn sure that we would point our fingers at her. In fact, I am wondering who he hoped would win the confrontation he *had* to know would happen. Did he hope that *we* would kill his wife or that his *wife* would kill us?"
Discord stood up and walked over to Hera, a frown of mistrust on her face.
"She still might, 'Res. You sure about this?"
The WarGod looked pained and winced.
"Yeah. I'll take personal responsibility for everything. Don't worry about it."
Jace wasn't sure what that meant, but Eris looked relieved even as Aphrodite and Cupid both glared at Jace's Grandmother. There was a bi-play there that Jace didn't understand, but the Council Members *did*. She got the distinct impression that she wouldn't *want* to know. She was just worried about Eris and Jox. Hopefully Hera wouldn't take her anger out on them.
Almost absently she watched as her Grandmother undid the Queen's chains and removed the collar and gag. Almost instantly, Hera jumped up from her chair and glared at Ares with an angry expression on her face. Eris ducked and everyone braced themselves.
"I can't *believe* that you all thought that *I* could *ever* do such a horrid thing! And to my own *child*!"
Everyone stared at Hera goggle-eyed, but only Apollo had the balls to voice what everyone was thinking. He started off by giving vent to an inelegant snort of derision.
"Oh *please*! Save it for your Priestesses. *No one* believes you wouldn't scheme against *anyone* here if it would benefit you. And besides, *no one* gives a shit about *any* members of the House of Aggression. Oh sure, we all try to follow the correct forms and the rules, but that's more to keep Zeus off of our backs than anything else. Let's face it, the members of the House of Aggression are only *tools*, to be used when needed and discarded when you're done with them. That's *all*."
Hera had the grace to blush and Demeter looked away. Ares looked stone-faced and no one refuted his words as false, but Jace didn't really notice any of that. She was too busy having her heart torn to shreds as her *lover*, the one she adored the most in all the world, ripped apart her beloved family with his harsh and cruel words. Suddenly, she realized that Apollo never loved her, that he had just used her as a warm and willing body to spend his passions. She felt cheap and tawdry.
With a low cry of anguish, she leapt up from her chair and ran from the room, tears streaming down her face. She was so distraught that she didn't notice her Aunt Aphrodite jump up and run after her even as her Sire and Grandmother advanced on the Sun God.