Heads I Lose, Tails I
Lose: Part 7
for ratings and warnings please see Part 1
Ares and Joxer came flying out of the vortex. Ares kept a
firm grip on his unconscious lover as he stumbled. It was lucky for Joxer that
he was unconscious, because such a landing would have caused him no end of
pain. The portal snapped closed behind them, leaving the temple wall blank.
Strife took one look at his brutalized friend and shrieked,
“Ace!” Before the echoes died down Aschlepius appeared in the temple with a
flash. Even a distracted Ares was surprised at how quickly the God of Healing
appeared. Asclepius immediately hurried to Strife’s side, not even noticing
Ares and his burden. He ignored Cupid, pushing him out of the way in the
process.
“Strife, what is it? What’s wrong?”
Strife gestured helplessly. “It’s Joxah.”
Asclepius turned back to Ares and the young immortal. He
took in the distressing scene with one glance. Ace yelled for his father as
soon as he saw the terrible condition Joxer was in. Apollo flashed in and then,
as a group, they all quickly flashed to Ares and Joxer’s temple.
The main room was filled with gods and goddesses, all of
whom had been helping in the search for Joxer. They gasped in horror at the
sight of the young immortal.
Granted with the blanket covering him from neck to feet and
Ares holding him there wasn’t much to see. But what they could see was
horrific. Joxer’s face was bruised and scraped; his lips were cut and chapped.
Joxer’s feet were sticking out from under the blanket and even they were
scraped. And the blanket. The once clean blanket had numerous damp patches of
blood covering it.
Ares ignored everyone and their questions. He carried Joxer
into their sleeping chamber. Once there he started to lay Joxer down on the
bed, but Apollo stopped him. “Ares, let me examine him before you lay him
down.” Apollo tried to move the blanket and Ares growled at him.
‘NO! I won’t let anyone else ogle Joxer!’ Ares thought of
all the people who must have seen and *touched* Joxer…and how awful that must
have been for his beloved.
“Ares, I need to see how badly he’s hurt before I can give
him anything for the pain.” Ares just growled ferally at his brother. The war
god’s mind was fixated on the blood and horror he knew his love had gone through.
Again, it was Strife who bravely stepped forward. “Unc, ya
gotta let em do their jobs. Ya don’t want Joxah ta be hurtin any more than he
already is.” Strife’s quiet voice broke through Ares’ anger and he calmed
down…slightly. Ares nodded his assent and let Apollo peek under the blanket.
Apollo swore at what he saw. “Who in Tartarus did this to
him?” Apollo thundered. “Never mind that right now.” Apollo examined him
briefly. “We need to lay him on his side, because otherwise we’re going to do
more damage to his back.”
“We can’t lay him on his side. Both of his shoulders are
dislocated.” Ares rocked the unconscious Joxer in his arms. It was impossible
to tell who was comforting whom in this situation.
====
“Both! They’re both dislocated?” Cupid was stunned, he had
never seen anyone this ill-treated before, not even in some of the wars he had
been witness to. Cupid looked over at his cousin and was shocked when he saw
sadness and anger, but no real surprise on Strife’s face.
That staggered him and upset him. Really, really upset him.
Strife *had* seen this sort of thing before?
Where? When? ‘What the Tartarus has he seen and how can I
make it better?’ Uh, huh? ‘Where did that come from?’ Cupid was surprised at
his internal rant and glanced back at Strife. Yes, he felt anger and the most
overwhelming need to comfort Strife.
Cupid was brought back to earth…well,
“I need to get some of the swelling down or we’ll never get
his arms back in place.”
This was when it would hurt Joxer the most to be awake…so
naturally this was when Joxer regained consciousness. He began whimpering and
thrashing around. He was begging softly. “No more, please…please, have mercy.”
Cupid’s gut clenched hearing Joxer, such a gentle man,
begging for mercy. The despair in his voice showed that he didn’t expect any.
The shape he was in just proved that he hadn’t been given any mercy at all.
====
“Shhhh Angel, it’s me.” Ares ignored everyone else; helping
Joxer was the only thing that mattered right now.
Hearing Ares’ voice, Joxer began to calm down almost
immediately. The young man risked opening his eyes. ‘Maybe this time it won’t
be a dream.’ There had been too many times that Joxer had woken from a dream
about Ares, only to find one of his tormentors laughing at him.
Joxer took a chance and looked up at Ares with adoring,
trusting eyes. Yes, it was Ares. He knew Ares would never hurt him. He would
protect him. If Ares was holding him and really here, then Joxer knew he must
be home.
Home. Safe.
The safe feeling disappeared in an instant. Joxer whimpered
and tried to push back into Ares’ chest when he saw someone coming towards him.
“No…please, not again.”
“Shhh, Angel, it’s just Apollo, nobody else.”
Joxer listened to the truth of Ares’ words and relaxed. Yes,
it was Apollo. He watched as Apollo came towards him. Apollo wouldn’t hurt him,
he would help him. He would make the awful pain go away.
Apollo didn’t say anything; he didn’t want to spook the
already upset young man. As soon as Joxer seemed to be used to his presence,
the God of Healing began to work.
Apollo gently placed his hands on Joxer’s swollen shoulders
and agony ripped through the young immortal. He screamed and screamed. Joxer
couldn’t seem to stop. His mind and body were overwhelmed by everything he had
gone through and Joxer’s nerves snapped.
“NOOOOO. God’s no, please no more!” Joxer sobbed and it was
crying without the tears, which made it that harder to witness. Joxer started
coughing. The deep, painful cough was frightening to watch and wracked Joxer’s
already pain filled body.
Apollo jumped back and watched as Ares soothed and petted,
trying to calm Joxer back down. Apollo spoke to the room. “I can’t give him
anything for the pain, not with some of the obvious injuries he has. Plus, Zeus
only knows how badly he’s hurt inside.”
Apollo wracked his brain, trying to come up with a plan of
action. He *had* to get Joxer’s arms back in place before he could attend to
any of his other wounds. How could he do that when Joxer couldn’t stand to be
touched?
Cupid was standing beside his father, a hand on his strong
back. He was trying to calm Ares down as Ares calmed Joxer down. Out of the
corner of his eye, Cupid saw a flash and looked over in time to see Strife
disappear with a very slight flash. ‘He just left!’ Cupid was stunned. He would
never have imagined that his cousin would run out on Joxer or Ares like that,
especially when they needed help so desperately.
Approximately 30 seconds later, before anyone else had a
chance to notice Strife’s *defection*, Strife flashed back in with a very
startled Warrior Princess. Strife shoved Xena towards Joxer and said, “Do ya
stuff.” Xena looked around, confused. Then she saw Joxer. A tortured, crying
Joxer.
Xena was livid. “What in Hades’ name has happened?” Xena
growled, her blue eyes flashing fire. What had Ares let happen to her friend?
Then she saw that her father was crying, crying over his lover whom he was
holding so tenderly in his arms.
Apollo touched Xena on the arm to get her attention. “We
need to get Joxer’s arms back in their sockets and I can’t give him anything
for the pain yet.” Xena nodded, she understood now what Strife had meant about
“doing her stuff”. She reached over and quickly mashed on the pressure points
in Joxer’s neck. This paralyzed the nerves in Joxer’s neck, leaving him pain
free.
Just as quickly, Apollo surged forward and carefully placed
his hands back on Joxer’s damaged arms. When he saw there was no pain at his
touch, Apollo sent healing energy into Joxer’s shoulders. They were so badly
abused that even with godly healing powers it took a couple of minutes for the
swelling to go down.
The assembled group waited anxiously as Apollo worked. Joxer
was still whimpering, even though he couldn’t feel most of the pain right then.
Xena was especially antsy; like her father, she was used to fighting her way
out of a problem.
Xena stepped forward again. “I need to let the pressure
off.” A slight trickle of blood was coming out of Joxer’s nose. If the pressure
on the nerves wasn’t released soon Joxer would die from a brain hemorrhage…or
considering he was immortal, well he’d probably be severely brain
damaged…forever. Apollo nodded his agreement and Xena once again mashed at
Joxer’s neck. Joxer moaned at the return of feeling.
The little group in the bedroom waited for a few minutes.
Ares was gently rocking Joxer and whispering softly in his ear. Xena looked
over to Apollo who nodded his head. Once Joxer was numb again, Apollo took hold
of his left arm and popped it back into place. Luckily Joxer couldn’t feel this,
but they could all hear it snap with a distressingly loud pop.
Xena released the pressure again and looked into her
friend’s eyes. Joxer tried to smile at her, the relief, even briefly, from the
pain had given him time to get himself under control.
“Ares you can lay him down now; on his left side.” Apollo
hastily reminded him, in case Ares was so upset that he forgot about Joxer’s
other arm still being hurt. “Then we will be able to get to his right arm
without causing any additional pain.” As Ares moved to lay his lover down,
Joxer panicked. In his mind he was back in the torture chamber.
“Angel, I’m right here and I’m not going anywhere.” Ares
rocked Joxer in his arms until the tremors in the young man’s body died down.
Ares laid Joxer gently on the bed and then flashed to the other side. This way
he was facing his consort and could keep him calm. It happened so fast that
Joxer didn’t have time to get upset. That was the reason Ares flashed, instead
of simply walking around the bed.
Ares kept looking into Joxer’s expressive brown eyes. It was
obvious he was still terrified, but Ares’ presence kept him grounded.
Xena ‘did her stuff’, as Strife put it, and Apollo fixed his
other shoulder. Joxer closed his eyes in relief and Ares wiped the couple of tears
Joxer managed to squeeze from his eyes. Then Ares wiped the tears from his own
eyes.
“Joxer, I’m going to roll you onto your stomach now, so that
I can get to your back easier.” Apollo’s tone was as calming as he could make
it.
“NO! Please don’t turn me over.” Joxer remembered Jabben,
the man who had the anal pear used on him and began a feeble attempt to push
Apollo away. Joxer clutched desperately at the blanket covering him.
“Angel?” That one word conveyed everyone’s fears and
ironically calmed Joxer back down.
‘Only Ares calls me Angel.’ Joxer opened his eyes and looked
over at his lover. ‘He’ll protect me.’
Once again Apollo reached out to turn Joxer over. “No don’t,
it hurts.” Joxer’s soft cry interrupted Apollo.
Apollo knelt by the bedside. “Where does it hurt?”
Joxer blushed a bright red and looked away. Reluctantly he
gestured to his groin; Joxer’s still mostly lifeless arms moving sluggishly.
Apollo felt Ares stiffen beside him and he spared his
brother a quick look, gaining permission before he removed the blanket. Ares
nodded his assent, never looking away from his hurt love.
In the meantime, several people had left the room so as not
to cause Joxer any further embarrassment. Xena was flashed back down to her
home where she waited anxiously for more news about her friend.
Cupid was one of the ones to stay, because he wanted to
offer moral support. He compromised by moving to the other side of the room.
Cupid glanced over and was surprised by Strife. Not in seeing Strife still
there, but because he realized that Strife was still standing bleakly by the
bed. Cupid frowned as he noticed that Ace touched Strife on the back as he went
to help his father. Cupid narrowed his eyes.
Grimly they moved the blankets back, exposing Joxer’s lower
body. All four gods stared in horror at what they saw. Joxer’s genitalia was
swollen to twice its normal size and bruised a deep purplish-red.
They tried to preserve some sense of modesty for the young
man and rearranged the blanket so only the area around the crotch was in view.
That made it seem worse; almost like this badly damaged area was framed by the
cloth…and badly damaged it was.
The numerous people who had *examined* and then molested
Joxer during his ordeal had started the process, however Torquemada had
finished it. His groping of Joxer during his time on the rack had become
vicious. Poor Joxer had been so frightened that he hadn’t realized he was being
hurt.
Joxer cried in pain and humiliation as Ace carefully took
hold of his knee to lift his leg up. Asclepius took one look at Joxer’s knees
and laid his abused leg back down.
While he was on the rack, Joxer’s knees had been pulled as
well. Things had torn and stretched around the knee. Now the joints of his
knees and hips were swollen and misshapen.
Joxer’s knees looked like someone who had severe arthritis.
His hips were so swollen that his legs wouldn’t close properly. Ares wept to
see how badly Joxer had been hurt.
Ares kissed Joxer on the eyelids, murmuring words of love
the whole time; trying in vain to distract his lover from the necessary touches
on his body.
Asclepius wrapped his hands around Joxer’s right knee and
began the slow process of healing it. The pain from the procedure was so bad
that Joxer passed out again. This was a blessing, because it allowed Apollo to
start on the other knee at the same time.
By the time Joxer regained consciousness, his knees were
*better*. It would take several more healing sessions and time for them to be
completely well; as would his badly damaged arms. Joxer’s hips had been spared
from more catastrophic injuries, because his arms and knees had given way.
Once again Ace took hold of Joxer’s leg; he carefully
avoided the thick bandages that protected and supported Joxer’s healing knees.
Yet again, Joxer cried out in pain; this time due to his inflamed groin being
moved. This gave Apollo access to the injured area. They did their best to help
Joxer’s fractured mind and only moved the blanket when they had to. With an
apologetic grimace, Apollo carefully cupped his hands over the area and
concentrated on healing Joxer.
Joxer tucked his head into Ares’ shoulder and unsuccessfully
tried to ignore the pain and humiliation.
When it was over all they covered Joxer back up and left him
alone with Ares. Joxer shuddered in pain. The swelling was down and the open
wounds were healed, but most of the bruising was still there. There was only so
much healing energy a non-godly body could stand in one area at a time.
The God of War tried to comfort his demoralized lover, but
he wasn’t very successful. Cupid came forward and tried his best as well.
Amazingly it was Strife, who got down on his knees beside the bed, that was
best able to comfort Joxer.
“Ya ain’t done nothin wrong, Joxah.” Strife ran his hands
delicately across Joxer’s bruise mottled fingers. “It will be all right, ya’re
gonna get bettah.” Strife smiled slightly and whispered. “It does get bettah, I
promise.”
Joxer nodded at his friend. “okay.” Joxer’s meek reply made
Ares want to scream.
‘They’ve broken his spirit.’
Ares vowed to annihilate the “people” who had done this to
his lover. He began to growl again. Strife reached over and rubbed his uncle’s
arm.
“We’ll get them.”
Ares nodded decisively and went back to holding Joxer as
best he could.
====
Cupid stepped away from the bed and tried not to gag. The
stench from all the infected wounds on Joxer’s body was overwhelming. The God
of Love watched in horror as Asclepius cleaned a ragged cut that ran down the
side of Joxer’s leg. At the same time Apollo was cleaning numerous scraped
areas on the young immortal’s hips and chest. They were inflamed, a deep angry
red and all of the wounds oozed a nasty greenish liquid.
Cupid was at a loss about what he should do. He didn’t know
how to help Joxer or Ares. Cupid watched in amazement when he realized that
Strife *did* know what to do.
The God of Mischief, supreme prankster and helper to war,
knew exactly which salve to pass to Ace. He was in the right spot *every time*
to pass new cloths and clean water. Strife knew just when to place a comforting
hand on Ares’ shoulder and when was the best time to wipe a wet cloth over
Joxer’s feverish forehead.
‘How is it that the God of Mischief knows as much about
healing as the healers?’ Cupid frowned as he contemplated that question.
Cupid wasn’t the only one who was surprised. Apollo watched
the interaction between his son and Strife with obvious awe. The two gods
worked like a well-built chariot. Even Ares, who was preoccupied with Joxer
noticed the camaraderie.
None of the gods missed the touches of comfort that passed
between Strife and Asclepius. Again, Cupid found himself upset and had to pinch
his leg hard so he wouldn’t let loose the growl he found trying to work its way
out of his chest.
====
Strife looked up suddenly. ‘What tha Hades was that noise?’
The young god looked fearfully around the room. He looked first at Ares and
realized it wasn’t him. ‘Oh gods! Did I just hear HIM?’
Strife heard it again and followed the noise to the other
side of the room. ‘Cupid?!’ Strife frowned in consideration. ‘What’s he growlin
about?’
The young god didn’t realize he was shaking until Ace rubbed
a hand across the back of his head. Strife smiled at his friend and then jumped
slightly when he heard the growling again.
Strife handed Ace another bandage, for Joxer’s abraded
wrists this time and glanced back at Cupid. The winged god was standing in the
corner. His eyes were shut and his hands were clenched into tight fists at his
side. Cupid’s snow-white wings were fanned slightly around him.
Strife had never seen anything so beautiful in all his life.
The young god forgot to breathe as he drank in the quivering figure before him.
Joxer coughed and Cupid’s eyes snapped open and over to him.
Strife sighed. ‘Oh, of course, he’s upset about Joxah. He’s thinkin about what
he wants ta do ta tha men that hurt him.’
Strife watched as his friend was soothed by his lover and
sighed sadly. ‘I wish somebody would wanna hold me that way.’
====
Joxer let Strife and Ares roll him over onto his stomach. He
gasped in pain and immediately tried to turn back. Seeing his anguish, Strife
and Ares helped him back onto his side again.
Ace eyed Joxer’s abused body in trepidation. “Where else are
you hurting?” Ace’s calm, quiet voice helped soothe Joxer. Joxer had rolled
into a ball and was holding his stomach, indicating this was where he was in
pain. Ares talked softly to Joxer and kissed his young lover’s nose and then
eyelids. Finally, Joxer relaxed enough so that Apollo could reach him.
Apollo held his hand over Joxer’s stomach and his eyes
widened in horror a moment before his blank professional mask slipped back into
place. Joxer’s stomach lining was inflamed and slightly swollen. Apollo thought
a moment and then checked other places on Joxer’s body. Joxer’s throat was
irritated and torn in several places where the funnel had been shoved down his
throat.
Apollo healed the damage done to Joxer’s stomach and throat
by the water torture. Before Joxer was laid back down on his stomach Apollo
decided it was safe and summoned up a pain draught.
“Drink this Joxer. It’s for the pain.”
“I thought you said he couldn’t have any pain medicine.”
Ares looked mad at the idea that Joxer had been hurting for no reason.
“I did,” Apollo explained patiently, but quickly. A pissed
of war god protecting his mate was nothing to trifle over. “…but enough
internal damage has been healed that it’s safe now.”
Ares grunted his understanding and Apollo relaxed. ‘Once
crises averted.’
Joxer took the cup, fatigue making his hands tremble and
drained the liquid quickly. Ares held him up as Strife helped him drink.
“Water, please…please something to drink. A little water please.” Joxer
whimpered slightly, in fear and desperation. Joxer had forgotten that he didn’t
need to beg.
He was naturally given a cup of water. His parched throat
soaked up the water as quickly as it was swallowed. Exhausted, Joxer lay down
on his stomach and after four agonizing days he fell into a semi-peaceful
sleep.
Joxer had a tight grip on Ares’ hand and even in his drugged
sleep he didn’t want to let go.
Apollo waited until he was sure that Joxer was asleep and
then he motioned for Ares and Strife to join him on the other side of the
bedroom. Reluctantly, Ares untangled their hands and when Joxer kept sleeping,
Ares followed his brother. Once they were far enough away so Joxer wouldn’t
accidentally hear something he didn’t need to Apollo explained.
“I’m going to finish examining Joxer now. I need to know if
you’ll be able to control yourself.” Ares looked confused, hadn’t he controlled
himself before now?
“There’s something you need to know…” Apollo took and deep
breath and braced himself; hoping against hope that Ares wouldn’t become
homicidal, at least not yet. “…from my initial examination, I can tell that we
haven’t seen the worst of his injuries yet.” He looked up into Ares’ horrified
eyes. “The back of his body is where he is hurt the worst. Yes, even worse than
we’ve seen so far. It’s going to be awful to see and I need to know if you can
handle it. The last thing Joxer needs right now is you going crazy.”
Ares didn’t bother answering. He went over and sat back down
on the floor by the bed. The older god started running his hand over the back
of Joxer’s head. This was one of the few places the young immortal wasn’t hurt.
One of the few places he could touch his lover without hurting him.
Joxer murmured in his sleep and moved his head back a
little, into Ares’ gentle hand.
====
The three other gods stayed where they were and watched this
tender scene. Actually, it was only two of the gods who were paying any
attention to Ares and Joxer. Strife’s mind was elsewhere, he was staring
blankly out into space. He had been since Apollo explained that Joxer’s
injuries were worse on the back of his body.
Asclepius moved closer to the young god and stood hesitantly
a few moments before he carefully put a hand on Strife’s arm. Strife flinched
and then smiled when Ace leaned in close to whisper to him. Ace ran his hand up
and down Strife’s arm, much in the same way Ares had been doing to Joxer.
It looked very intimate.
Cupid frowned. He didn’t like this, he didn’t like it at
all. And he didn’t quite know why this intimate moment was bothering him so
much. He and Strife weren’t close, they were cousins, but not chummy. So why
did the sight of Ace up close to him make Cupid’s blood boil?
Cupid didn’t realize it, but his eyes briefly turned a
glowing shade of green.
====
Apollo looked at the *seemingly* calm Ares. “Brace
yourselves.” He carefully pulled the blanket back and off of Joxer. Even as
prepared as he was, Apollo had to drop the blanket and jam his hand into his
mouth not to cry out at what he saw.
Joxer’s body was literally torn from one end to the other.
Where he hadn’t been whipped, he had been scraped and cut. Where there was skin
remaining and there was precious little skin left, Joxer was bruised. Not a
black and blue bruise. It was just black.
Ares could only stare at his lover’s body. ‘Joxer went through all of that because I couldn’t keep my stupid mouth shut.’ Joxer whimpered in his sleep and broke Ares’ stasis. He tore his eyes away from the horrible sight and began to coo to his lover, soothing his troubled sleep.