The Goddess of Mischief

Ares turned away from his warlords, to where only he could see the miniature goddess sitting on his throne as if she owned it. "Give me a minute to deal with this lot, then we'll go somewhere interesting."

The three warlords that were listening to Ares, regarded him strangely. "Who are you talking to, my Lord?"

Ares turned back to his men. "A friend." He handed over the plans for attacking Athens. "Now go, take down Athena's temple, then report back to me..."

The God Of War turned back to his charge and smiled. "What's the matter, sweet, couldn't find your little buddy to play with?"

Xena scowled. Herc had been too busy for her lately. He had a new best friend, Iolaus. "I don't like him anymore..."

Ares barely repressed the grin that was threatening to overtake his features. He'd been waiting for his little brother to stuff up. Xena wasn't the forgiving type...

"Come on, then." The god held his hand out to her. Xena grabbed onto it with an excited squeal. The couple quickly disappeared in a flash.

Ever since their little shopping escapades, Ares had become more tolerant of his half-mortal brother, but there were times when Xena had more fun with Hercules, or when Ares was too busy to go and have some fun with Xena.

The God of War had never believed that he'd ever be too busy to go and play with Xena...It hadn't been until Cupid had pointed out to him just how long it had been since Ares had ventured out with Xena, that he'd realized that he'd been neglecting the young goddess.

Ares had told himself that the next time Xena asked, he'd drop what he was doing and just take her out for a little fun with the mortals...

"So, what are we going to do, Ares?" Xena looked up at him with her bright, blue eyes. The god couldn't understand how he could have ever thought that war was more important than his little goddess.

"I thought that maybe we could play a few jokes on the mortals...what do you say? Do we ask Cupid and 'Dite to join us?"

Xena frowned, then shook her head. "Nope! Just us...Can we start with Hercules and his new 'friend'? I don't like him anymore..." Her lower lip began to tremble pathetically.

Ares chuckled and lifted her up into his comforting embrace. "Don't worry, sweet. When we get through with Hercules, he'll be begging you to be his friend again..."

Ares did as he had been commanded. "And we're off..." he murmured as they disappeared into the aether...

Hercules and Iolaus were walking through the market place in Corinth, not far from their own houses.

"Hey, Herc! I heard that there's a Hydra a few provinces away! I wanna go see," Iolaus told his new best friend enthusiastically.

It was then that Ares and Xena appeared behind them, unseen. Hercules, being the demigod that he was, felt the sudden shift, but didn't realize what it was.

Ares cringed at the name of her favorite pet, but was still furious. "Don't worry, he won't hurt her."

Ares and Xena arrived at Snuggles' cave long before Hercules, Iolaus and Jason did. The God of War just stood by the wall of the cave as Xena got up onto the Hydra's back and started whispering in it's ear.

For the life of him, he couldn't begin to understand Xena's reasoning for calling the monster 'Snuggles'. When Hera had first gifted Xena with the large reptilian creature, the Goddess of Discord had approached the baby Hydra and had given it a hug, not realizing that the tiny monster would one day grow into a ferocious beast. The goddess had only been five or so at the time, but in the four or so years that had passed, Xena hadn't gotten any less attached to it.

"Sweet, why don't we just zap the Hydra out of here and back to the Halls of War?" Ares 'suggested'.

Xena stopped whispering to the Hydra long enough to look up and shake her head. "Snuggles wants to play!"

Ares shook his head. He couldn't sworn that the damn beast had smirk. He shrugged off the thought just as he felt his brother's presence just down the path. "Hey, Sweets, baby bro is here..."

The two immortals made themselves visible to the Hydra. Snuggles laid down on the floor of the cave, not making a sound, as if lethargic, pretending to not be interested in the three mortals that were now entering it's humble abode...

"I can't believe I let you talk me into this, Iolaus," Hercules murmured, a little wary of the lack of noise.

"Hey! You didn't need much convincing, buddy. You're the one who said to bring Jason along..." Iolaus protested.

Jason chuckled nervously. "You're both big wusses. Herc, you're half-god, you don't need to worry about a little bitty Hydra."

It was then that they came across the Hydra in question. "Or maybe, not so little..." Iolaus gulped.

"It doesn't look so tough!" Jason challenged. "I'll bet we could take it on and chop it up into itty bitty bite-sized pieces before it even gets up!"

The three boys charged the monster. Just as the boys got close, the supposedly despondent Hydra let out a small cough, releasing a small cloud of smoke from it's mouth. It took only a second to realize that the Hydra wasn't going to get up. Herc, Iolaus and Jason halted and slowly lowered their weapons.

"Do you think it has a chest infection or something?" Hercules asked, scratching his head lightly.

Familiar laughter caught the trio unaware. Suddenly, the Hydra rose and let out a ferocious roar, followed by a breath of fire. It shocked and scared the boys, who dropped their weapons completely and ran out of the cave, not stopping until they reached the market place in Corinth.

"I have to admit, princess, that that little exercise was good fun!" Ares complimented between fits of laughter.

Xena giggled as she started patting the Hydra's rough skin. Ares silently admitted that his princess' pet wasn't half bad. He gave it a good scratch behind the ear and was rewarded with a playful swat on the behind from the Hydra's tail.

Only the Goddess of Mischief found it hilarious when it sent Ares flying across the cave...