I think this is my first piece of Young Hercules fanfiction. None of the characters you recognize belong to me, neither does Cheiron's Academy. I sort of zoned out during class and this is what happened.
Fiducious happily passed back graded quizzes at the end of class. A chorus of groans filled the air as cadets gathered their scrolls and things and left, eyes glued to their marks.
"Almost an alpha," Hercules said. "It could have been worse."
"It was," Iolaus said, following Jason and the demi-god into the hallway. He looked at his own quiz with shattered disappointment.
"What about you, Jason?"
"Alpha minus," he said. "What went wrong, man?" he asked Iolaus. "We studied together."
"With the girls," Iolaus pointed out.
"And we're smarter than you," Lilith teased from somewhere near the back of the stream of escaping cadets. One of the other girls pulled her aside into a circle of post-class chatter.
"What I'm saying is, they're a distraction." He shot a glare at the back of Lilith's head. "And annoying."
"And cute," Hercules said, seeing the root of the problem.
Iolaus nodded. "Unfortunately."
"It can be a problem," Jason agreed. "But we can't just kick them out of the study group."
"Without their help, my grade would be as bad as yours," Hercules said to Iolaus, who grimaced.
"So what am I gonna do? They're keeping you guys from flunking out of the academy, but my grades are getting worse."
"Don't worry," Hercules said, a smile lighting up his face. "I've got an idea."
~ ~ ~
"I still don't get why you think wearing a blindfold is going to help you study," Lilith said, staring critically at Iolaus. The cadets were preparing for another quiz.
Hercules shook his head. "It's not a blindfold."
"That's right," Iolaus said, scribbling down notes on an open scroll. His handwriting was messy and sprawled because he couldn't see it. "This is a highly magical concentration device I picked up in Thebes."
"Or that old scarf you bought from Kora," Jason said under his breath.
Lilith still wasn't convinced. "If it's so magical, then why haven't we seen it before?"
"Yeah," one of the other girls said. "Why would you wait until now?"
"It's all very complicated," Iolaus said, smugly adjusting the blindfold. "It's tied to the position of the planets and stuff like that. I wouldn't expect you to understand."
Sensing that a fight might break out if the group wasn't distracted immediately, Hercules intervened. "So, the chief exports of Athens are?" he asked, getting back to what they were studying.
"Oh! I know that!" Iolaus half-shouted with cheerful surprise.
Hercules turned to Jason. "See? Magic."
Posted on Apr 21, 2006, 11:50 AM from IP address 134.250.60.226
