Rating: PG
Series: The Adventures of Joxer The Mighty and Virgil (TAJMAV)
Pairing: None
Spoiler: Looking Death in the Eye, Eve, Livia, Motherhood
Summary: Joxer and Virgil travel to Athens to deliver a scroll to an old friend of Gabrielle's - and encounter some trouble along the way.
Note: Paragraphs that start and end by 3 stars *** are excerpts from Virgil's scrolls.

*** This is so different from what I usually write. I'm used to using poetry to paint pictures of stories for many a reader to read. However, I also need someone to whom I can speak about this life of mine. I cannot tell the world around me about who I am. No one would believe me. Therefore, I will record my feelings and experiences in an effort to relieve the burden that always seems to fall on my shoulders.

It's been a very interesting few days. Joxer and I left Helios almost a week ago. After our arrival in Greece, we traveled there with Armaan to bring him back to the Academy. I'm really going to miss him. He and I have become quite close. Maybe later I can convince Joxer to go visit him at the Academy.

Anyway, after replenishing our supplies, we took the road to Athens. When we had said goodbye to Xena and Gabrielle days earlier, Gabrielle had given Joxer a scroll for him to bring to a friend of hers in Athens should we pass that way. I'd been to Athens several times and thought it was a pretty good idea. Luckily, Joxer agreed. ***

Virgil looked around him. The city of Athens was very different from the last time he'd been here. That time, he'd come to rejoin his family after packing up the last of his belongings at the farm after his father's death. This Athens was much livelier. There was no fear or dread of Roman centurions, only peasants and merchants and nobles passing through the streets.

"So, Joxer, do you know where the Academy is?"

"Not really. Let's find someone who can give us directions and get this over with."

Virgil watched as Joxer stopped a passerby and asked for directions to the Academy of Performing Bards. Despite his questions, Joxer had not yet told Virgil what had happened between him and his friends. From the looks of Xena and Gabrielle when they had parted, Virgil suspected they didn't know either. He hated to see Joxer upset for any reason, but he was glad that he could be here for him.

Joxer finished speaking to the passerby and motioned for Virgil to follow him. "The guy says it's right around the corner."

"So, do you know this guy?"

"No, but Gabrielle says he's really good. Maybe you can learn a thing or two from him and some of the others at the Academy."

Before long, they'd stopped in front of the great columned building that was the Athens Academy of Performing Bards. Joxer led Virgil through the door into a kind of lobby. He stopped the first person he could see.

"Excuse me, I'm looking for a bard."

The man just stared at him. "And... Everyone's looking for a bard. That's what this place is for: people to find bards."

"Well, I'm looking for a specific bard."

"Oh, that makes this so much easier."

Joxer sighed and rolled his eyes. "His name is Orion."

"Down this hall, turn right, second door to your left."

The man rushed off with Joxer calling out "Thank you!" at his back. Joxer shrugged at Virgil. "Nice guy."

They followed the direction until they came to a plain wooden door. Joxer knocked and slim, brown-haired man answered. "Hello?"

"Umm, Orion?" The young man nodded. "My name's Joxer. I'm a friend of Gabrielle's."

"Gabrielle? Wow, I haven't heard from her in a while. Come in, come in, please. Since you're a friend of Gabrielle's, you can call me Homer."

Joxer smiled at the young man's enthusiasm. "Well, Homer, let me introduce you to my friend, Virgil. Virgil, this is Homer."

The two shook hands. As Virgil smiled his greeting, he spotted an open scroll on Homer's bed with a map and several diagrams. "Hey, that's Trojan, isn't it?"

"Yeah. How'd you know that?"

"I'm kind of a buff on the Trojan war."

"No! Me too! I thought I was the only one." Homer picked up the scroll to show it to Virgil. "See, here's the troop movements, and these are the major battles. I can't wait until I'm good enough to write about the war itself. Just to be able to describe all that happened..."

"You know, I've always been partial to Aenaeus' part in the war, myself. He brings something human to the story, you know? Hearing about him just draws me into the action somehow."

The two young men were distracted by a loud coughing. "Umm, I hate to disturb you guys, but the reason we're here is to give you this." Joxer was holding the scroll Gabrielle had given him, and he held it out for Homer.

The young man took the scroll, opened it quickly, nodded, and set it aside. "Thanks for taking the time to bring it all the way to Athens. I've got an idea. How about I give you a tour of the city while you're here?"

Virgil smiled. "I'd like that. How about you, Joxer?"

He shrugged, then smiled at the younger man. "Sure. We're here anyway."

Homer beamed and clapped a hand on Virgil's shoulder. "Great! There just happens to be a music festival in town and I've been wanting to check it out all week."

As Homer led them through the streets of Athens, they watched and listened to the various performers on the streets. Joxer stopped them by one lute player. Virgil couldn't help but see the envy on Joxer's face as he watched the man pluck the strings in an intricate rhythm.

"Wow!"

Virgil turned to see what had caught Homer's attention. There were a number of attractive young women watching one of the performers. He watched them laugh with his new friend.

Far above the wandering crowds, Cupid found his mark. His Mom really wanted this young man paired up. Apparently, Apollo thought being in love would improve the guy's writing skills, so he'd made an arrangement with Aphrodite. As usual, it was up to him to do the dirty work.

He looked and found the young lady his mother had suggested. He pulled out two arrows and shot them at the two young people just as they caught each others eye across the crowded Athenian streets.

"There you go, Mom. My job's done."

Joxer had been enjoying the lute playing down below until he heard Virgil crying out behind him.

"Homer? Hey, Homer? Where're you going?"

"What's going on?"

"It's Homer. He's just taking off towards those girls over there. He won't talk to me."

"We'd better follow him."

They struggled to keep up with the young man through the crowd, but they finally caught up with him by the group of young ladies. They watched in shock as he lifted one of them in his arms, swinging her around, and proceeded to kiss her passionately.

"Wow. Somebody's lucky." Joxer hit Virgil on the arm. "What?"

"You said it happened suddenly, right?" Virgil nodded. "There's only one explanation: Cupid."

"What would he want with Homer?"

"What he always wants: trouble."

"Someone sounds bitter."

"Don't ask."

Virgil smirked. "So, what are we going to do?"

"I don't know. Maybe we can talk to Aphrodite..."

Joxer was cut off by a loud crack of thunder as a lightning bolt hit the ground, splitting the crowd and singing a lyre and the musician holding it. Thankfully, the musician was still alive, however his instrument was little more than fertilizer.

Before anyone could react, a bright flash of light almost blinded the crowd, revealing an older man standing next to where the musician had been. He pointed at Homer and the young lady he was holding and bid them approach him.

"Take your hands off her!"

Homer looked into the frightened eyes of the girl as she held onto him tighter. He turned his angry eyes on the man before him.

"No."

"No? Do you have any idea who I am? I am Zeus, King of the Gods! Obey me, mortal."

"No. I love her and she loves me."

Joxer rolled his eyes and sent a silent prayer to Aphrodite.

"Hiya, studmuffin." The scent of rose petals and the soft arms wrapping themselves around him from behind announced the Love Goddess' arrival.

"Hello, Aphrodite. Do you know anything about this?"

"Oh yeah, I... Hey!" Aphrodite turned her eyes on Virgil. "You must be the little honeybuns the Fates told me about. They were right. You are sooo cute." She lovingly pinched his cheek.

"Aphrodite? Zeus?"

"Oh, yeah. Don't worry, I'll take care of it."

She strode over to the group and placed a calming hand on Zeus' arm. "Daddy, what's going on here?"

"That woman was to be mine, but your idiot son interfered, again."

"But Daddy, don't they look good together?"

"I don't care. She was to be mine."

She sighed. "Daddy, I'm the Goddess of Love, right?" He nodded. "Then let me do my job. Next time you want to take another mortal to bed with you, send me a list first. Otherwise, stay out of my business."

"How dare you speak to me that way?"

"Daddy, you're being unreasonable!"

"I'm being unreasonable? I'm your father! It doesn't matter whether I'm reasonable or not!"

"Daddy, let it go!"

"No!"

The God and Goddess tried to stare each other down, but neither would budge. Virgil and Joxer began to worry.

"Joxer, this doesn't look good."

"You're right."

"You know, this reminds me of the Trojan war. I wonder if this is how Zeus and Aphrodite fought over it?"

"I have no idea, but I've got to do something here."

"What can you do? They're Gods."

"Just watch me."

Joxer took a deep breath and walked over to the Gods, successfully hiding his fear from the crowd. Please don't screw up, please don't screw up, please don't screw up.

"Excuse me, I'm sorry to interrupts, but I just wanted to ask something."

"What is it, mortal?"

"Well, so few of us find real love in the world whether we're Gods or mortals, shouldn't they be allowed what little time they have together? For all we know, they could be gone tomorrow never having known how to love?"

Zeus looked as if the wind had been knocked out of him. "It's true. Even Gods can be separated and may never know they had love in the palm of their hands until it is gone."

Aphrodite hugged her father. "You miss her, don't you."

"I know Hercules was just defending himself, but it was my fault. I drove her to that point. I hurt her over and over again, and now that she's gone, I miss her."

Virgil came up behind Joxer quietly. "Jox, do you know what they're talking about?"

"I'm not sure, but I think Zeus misses Hera. Hercules sent her into some kind of pit a while ago."

"Oh."

Zeus turned to the couple. "Enjoy your love while it lasts and never let a day pass that you don't say you love each other." They nodded as the King of the Gods and the Goddess of Love disappeared.

"Well," Virgil said, "that was interesting."

They turned towards Homer and the young girl who didn't appear to ever be willing to let go of each other. "Maybe we'd better leave them to each other."

"Yeah. Homer?" The young man broke the kiss long enough to look at his friend. "We'll be leaving soon. I just wanted to say goodbye." Homer waved, then began kissing his lady love. Virgil smiled as he followed Joxer out of the crowds.

They watched a few more performances before making their way out of Athens. "So, where are we heading now, Joxer?"

"Well, tonight we're going to camp outside Athens, and tomorrow we'll head towards Corinth. Hercules' brother is King there and I thought we might see if he and Iolaus are around. I still feel kind of bad about lying to them."

"They'll understand."

A short ways outside Athens, they found a good place for a campsite. They set up a fire and took out some rations for supper. His stomach full, Virgil took out his quill and scrolls.

***Well, I got to meet, or at least see, another couple of Gods today. It was nice to see Aphrodite since Dad used to talk about her all the time. She was more beautiful than I'd expected.

I'm definitely going to have to keep in touch with Homer. Not only is he a fellow writer, but he's into the Trojan war like I am. Who knows, we may even work together some day.

I'm still worried about Joxer, though. I only hope he'll talk to me eventually.***

Virgil looked up from the scroll to see Joxer looking longingly into the fire. "Is everything ok?" Joxer nodded as he used a stick to stir the fire. "You know I'm here for you if you need someone to talk to. I've still got a few debts to repay in that department."

Joxer looked up at his sidekick and knew he needed to talk. "It's Xena and Gabby. While on the Leviathan, I found out they were a lot closer than I thought they were."

Virgil was confused for several moments, but Joxer could see the moment he realized what he'd meant by the expression on Virgil's face. "You mean they-they're..."

"Yeah."

"Whoa. No wonder you've been down lately. If I found out the woman I loved was like that with her best friend..."

"That's not it, Virgil. They never told me." Virgil nodded in understanding. "They were my best friends, yet they thought they had to keep this from me."

"I'm guessing you haven't spoken to them about this." Joxer shook his head. "Maybe you should."

"I will, eventually. I just need some time first."

Virgil looked at the quill he was twirling in his fingers. He wanted things to be fine between Joxer and his friends, but he worried about what would happen if he went back to traveling with them. Would it be the end of Joxer and Virgil?

"Virgil?" He looked up and met Joxer's eyes. "No matter what, you're my sidekick. You do know that." Virgil smiled and nodded.

"Hey, Joxer. I got you a little something in Athens."

"What? You didn't have to get me anything. When did you have the time?"

"Oh, I can be pretty quick when I want to be." He pulled a wrapped package out of his bag and handed it to Joxer. "Here, open it."

Joxer pulled away the cloth wrappings and gasped. It was a lute. "How in Tartarus did you afford this?"

"I saved a little here and there. Why don't you play something before we turn in."

"Virgil, this is..."

"Please, Joxer?" The look in his eyes killed whatever protests Joxer was about to make.

Joxer plucked at the strings, tuning the instrument for a few moments before he was satisfied. He began playing a familiar tune and they both sang along.

"Joxer the Mighty
Roaming through the countryside
With Virgil as his sidekick
By his side he'll always stick
Righting wrongs and singing songs
Being mighty all day long
It's Joxer, it's Joxer the Mighty."

***Well, Dad's finally opening up to me. I still can't stop thinking of him as my Dad, though at least I've stopped calling him that by accident. I don't think he ever really minded though. Even now I can see what a great Dad he'd make.

I never thought my life would turn out this way, but I guess no one really knows how their life will turn out. All we can do is live and hope to make the most out of the opportunities we get. I've got the chance of a lifetime ? to get to know my Dad better than I had before, as equals.

What the future holds, only time will tell.***

Please take a moment to write to Jaime at russia_girl@yahoo.com and let her know how you liked the story!

COPYRIGHT DISCLAIMER:
Xena: Warrior Princess, Xena, Gabrielle, Joxer, Virgil, and all other characters who have appeared in either series, together with the names, titles and backstories are the sole copyright property of StudiosUSA and Renaissance Pictures. No infringement of copyrights or trademarks is intended in the writing of this fan fiction. This story is copyright © 2000 by JaimeBlue and is her sole property along with the story idea. This story cannot be sold or used for profit in any way. Copies of this story may be made for private use only and must include all disclaimers and copyright notices.