FIC: Warrior... Slayer (3/?)

["Shadow" <Shadowlander1@xxxxxxx>]

Title: Warrior... Slayer (3/?)
Author: Shadowlander
Email: Shadowlander1@xxxxxxx
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters commonly associated with
Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Xena: Warrior Princess; they belong to
others and are used without permission. No copyright infringement is
intended.
Archive: The usual places all others please ask first.
Rating: NC-17
Pairing: Faith/Willow; Xena/Gabrielle
Spoilers: Nothing major for either series... yet. : )

WARRIOR... SLAYER (3/?)

"Me?" Willow questioned, eyes wide in disbelief, "no, no... I'm not the
goddess type. I can't be a god... I'm short and unpopular and... and
I'm Willow."

"And what exactly is wrong with being Willow? And you are most
definitely a god... even if you did get screwed out of your godhood,"
Eon questioned even as Hephaestus growled in outrage, to think his
little girl had such a negative opinion of herself.

"I got screwed out of my godhood? Why? If I was born from two gods
shouldn't I be one too?" Willow questioned, her analytical mind kicking
in as the words penetrated her thoughts.

"Well normally yes... however there is this little snot of a goddess who
has nothing better to do then making people's lives difficult. She
pointed out that since you weren't exactly conceived by the normal
standards you weren't technically a full-blooded god. Zeus was forced
to agree with her... however, Athena did counter with the whole 'being
able to earn your godhood' that would take care of that little problem.
Which you were well on your way to doing, before someone started
screwing with my wards," Eon explained.

At Willow's confused look, "Ten thousand years ago, a demon tried to
invade your world. He was stopped by seven warriors, most of them
Amazons, who had been assembled to fight along side the Warrior
Princess... or at least he would have been if someone hadn't tried to
alter the outcome. You were to be one of the warriors... adding your
considerable magical talent to the group. However, someone wanted the
demon to invade and hopefully overthrow the gods themselves. In order
for that to happen the seven warriors had to be broken up... you and
another warrior were both thrown into the future."

"But why? It doesn't make any sense, why allow a demon that isn't
supposed to be invading a world to invade? And more importantly... who
would gain the most by such an act?"

"Those are three very good questions. I wish I could answer all of them
for you. As it is I can only answer the first two... the why is simple.
The throne of Mount Olympus itself, it is a very tempting prize among
the gods. As for allowing the demon to invade... it makes a very good
diversion while you are trying to seize thrones. As for who would gain
the most... that list is almost as long as my palace. Since it is
technically an internal matter, I can't intervene and look for the
culprit myself. However, since nothing was done to stop the little twit
that caused this mess in the first place, it has become my problem. You
see in order to get you and the other warrior out of the way, my time
wards had to be breached, while Zeus did make a quick fix... it was not
a complete repair and won't be as long as you and the other warrior
continue to exist outside of your proper time period."

"So we got to go back... and you want us to look into this for you since
you can't. Search for the 'twit' responsible and stop them once and for
all," Willow said, absently shaking her head as she worked over the
problem in her mind.

"Yes... and I want that demon stopped too... he's really beginning to
get on my nerves," Eon agreed.

"Why am I the only one here, right now?" the redhead asked after a
moment.

"Well I did want to speak to you privately first... you do have a right
to know about your godhood and why... when I do send you back, you are
going to probably run into all of your brothers who have been dying to
spoil their little sister," Eon said after a moment. "Just because you
are working on the godhood thing, doesn't mean you are cut off from all
of your family, and I do believe that Cupid wants to have a long talk to
you about your love life, or more to the point, lack thereof."

"C-cupid?" Willow stammered turning red at the thought of the God of
Love having a long talk about her love life.

"Yeah Cupid... God of Love and over protective big brother... no one is
going to be good enough for you, just so you know that ahead of time",
Eon advised with a grin. "Not that your father over there is going to
be any better", she smirked, tossing the God of the Forge an amused look
before turning back to the redhead.

"If you don't mind Eon, I will be the judge of who is and isn't good
enough for my daughter", Hephaestus all but growled, even as Aphrodite
covered his hand on her shoulder with one of her own, silently calming
her
husband. The look on the Goddess' face clearly saying that she would
be the one handling that sort of thing; it was her job after all.

"Might as well get used to this kiddo... You are about to enter into the
wildest family on Mount Olympus, they thrive on being strange."

"We like to think of it as being 'eccentric'," Aphrodite cut in with a
little pout, a naughty little grin shining in her eyes, as she regarded
her daughter. "Besides have you seen the rest of the family up there?
Bores, total bores." She said in a dismissing voice.

"This from the Goddess that actually flashed a group of warriors in
front of her half-brother no less," Eon commented dryly.

"It stopped the fighting didn't it?" Aphrodite defended with mock
outrage.

"And traumatized you poor half brother in the process... Hercules
doesn't want to see you naked, you know. Unlike some other gods, he
KNOWS what Hephaestus would do to him for looking," Eon replied, with a
sly wink to Willow.

"You know for a guardian who isn't supposed to be messing with the
internal operations of a universe, you certainly know what is going on
in one," Aphrodite commented, arching one eyebrow.

"Please, like I have nothing better to do when watch Junior share
himself with every female that walks, staggers, or crawls past him with
a good set of legs." Eon began only to be interrupted by a small portal
opening not far from the little group, followed closely by a body
sailing out of it and into the nearest wall with a loud thud. "Xena...
was that really necessary," she asked as another figure stepped through
the open portal.

"Eon," the Warrior Princess growled, her ice blue eyes flashing with
barely contained anger.

"You were expecting Father Time?" Eon questioned with a smirk, settling
herself deeper into her chair, totally unconcerned about the newcomer's
obvious irritation.

"Whatever it is... NO," Xena growled noting the presence of the young
redhead and the other two gods. 'Great, just great... this is all I
need, getting mixed up with something involving Aphrodite and
Hephaestus,' she chastised herself.

"Even if it involves Gabrielle?" The reaction was immediate as the
warrior launched herself at the guardian, only to have her intended
victim disappear on her. "Will you calm down already, old tall and
grumpy one! I'm trying to stop anything bad from happening to that bard
of yours," Eon said, appearing behind the warrior.

"Halt! Nobody move!" Alexiares growled appearing in the hall in a flash
of his own light. "Oh its only you Xena," he said, after a moment
sheathing his sword, once he saw who was the cause of all the commotion.
Noting the figure slowly picking himself up off the floor by the wall,
"Do you really have to throw Lawless around EVERY time you see him?" he
asked, with a jerk of his thumb toward the figure.

"Yes," Xena deadpanned, arching one dark eyebrow at the guardian of
divine justice, silently daring him to do something about it. "What do
you want Eon?" She demanded, deciding that fighting with Alexiares would
pretty much be a waste of time, he wasn't above just teleporting her
into a remote prison somewhere and just leaving her there for several
days.

"I need a favour."

"I don't work for the gods!" Xena growled taking a menacing step
forward.

"For the last time... I am not a god!" Eon growled right back.

"Really? Why not?" Willow's voice cut in before Xena could.

Turning to the redhead, Eon let out a tired sigh, "By being called a
god, it implies that I am worshiped... which I am not. That is the only
thing that differs between Aphrodite and myself... well that and I don't
own any transparent dresses."

"I can help you with that," Aphrodite offered sweetly.

"Dite", Hephaestus said in warning, gently squeezing her shoulder,
having no desire to fight with Xena at the moment. "Xena... please,
hear Eon out before you make any decisions," the God of the Forge asked,
staring the mortal straight in the eye. He really had nothing against
the Warrior Princess in general, although she did nearly sack his forge
once looking for some weapon Hermes had hidden there from a minor prince
with delusions of godhood. Thankfully the drug-induced haze that stupid
prince had put her under to get her to attack his forge in the first
place did wear off before she did too much damage. And she had proved
helpful in repairing the damage, even spending a fortnight helping out
before returning to her path of destruction, but he felt Ares had more
to do with her decision to leave then anything else.

"Out with it," Xena growled after a moment, righting Eon's recently
vacated seat with one foot and sitting down, a look of eternal boredom
written clearly on her face.

"Someone has been screwing with time... they've been moving warriors
around
and doing their damnedest to ensure you remain a complete nut," Eon
said, after conjuring herself a new chair. "And you were too a nut
there for several years, so don't try to deny that," she added with a
smirk. "Willow here is one of the warriors that were moved... she is
supposed to be one of Gabrielle's closest friends. Between the two of
them, they should be keeping you busy for the next thousand years or
so."

"No, no... me and trouble are not friends. We rarely get along with one
another and I certainly won't be getting other people into trouble too,"
Willow said, well on her way into full babble mode.

Turning to the young redhead, Xena found herself smiling a bit, as she
looked into honest green eyes that reminded her so much of her own
bard's. "You're a warrior?" Xena questioned after a moment, noting the
almost self-conscious way the young girl seemed to hold herself, and yet
she also saw a hint of something else. Something she usually saw
looking into her bard's eyes, a subtle almost quiet strength that seemed
to pulsate from within putting people at a natural ease.

"N-no no, I'm just Willow," she said shifting a bit uncomfortably under
that other woman's direct gaze. 'And I thought facing Angelus was
scary,' she thought, almost in disbelief, practically feeling the barely
restrained explosive energy that seemed to come off the tall dark woman
in waves. 'This lady could scare the Master.' Only to be distracted by
a snicker from Eon, who seemed to be on the verge of rolling on the
floor with laughter. "Huh?" Willow questioned, as Xena gave the
guardian the 'look,' which was kind of like resolve face but only
scarier.

"Sorry private thought... and Xena has scared him once or twice... or at
least she will," Eon said with a secretive grin.

"Eon... if you don't mind! Why are we here?" Xena questioned, remember
the last time the guardian has something equally as strange to her and
not long afterward she was up to her ears in little blue things that
kept repeating the same word and singing! She couldn't get that damn
'la-la' song out of her head for nearly an entire moon.

"Spoilsport," Eon said sticking her tongue out at the Warrior Princess,
mischief shining clear in her eyes. After a moment she sobers, grinning
wildly at her guests, "Okay... here's the deal. Willow over there is
Heph and Dite's little girl... ask Gabrielle, she should know the story,
so should Herc if you want to hear the longer version of 'As the
Hourglass Turns.' In a nutshell Willow got screwed out of her godhood,
which is no big deal, she could still get it back. However, in doing
so... you nearly got screwed out of your redemption. Someone has gone
to a lot of trouble to ensure that you and Gabrielle have a rather
violent falling out and aren't there for one another when the time
comes. I want the little bastard responsible for both events and I
can't trust Zeus to do it for me. He had his chance to fix this mess
and he did a half-assed job, so now I'm calling in the big guns... which
would be you two, to fix it. Questions? Comments?" She explained
sitting back in her chair to wait the fallout.

Taking a deep breathe, Willow raised her hand tentatively, "You said
that there were two of us that got thrown into the future... who is the
other one?" she asked, unsure if she liked the smile that crossed the
guardian's face at the question.

"You have to understand Willow that the other warrior that got thrown
into the future is not exactly the same person you now know. The future
has been a bit unkind to her... in her proper time, she is a most
remarkable warrior, one of the few beings of the ancient world that
could ever give Xena here a run for her dinars."

"Oh no... you can't be serious... that is evil and wrong... and just
evil," Willow said, shaking her head as she put two and two together and
was coming up with nothing but trouble. "She hates me!"

"Now I wouldn't say that kiddo... lusts after you and wants to get you
naked in the nearest closet yes, but she does not hate you," Eon
replied.

"N-naked? Me? Faith? Closet?" Willow said, her eyes widening in terror
with each word. "N-no, no those are bad, bad thoughts... bad Eon," she
chastised the guardian, shaking a finger at her, "Me... Faith naked
together is bad."

"If you can help her out in the confidence department I'm sure Aphrodite
would be more then willing to make sure that Gabrielle doesn't fall in
love with that sword-swallower in that traveling acrobatic troupe that
is going on a tour of Eastern Gaul," Eon said in a stage whisper to
Xena.

"I'll see what I can do", Xena replied, wondering at the wave of
jealously she felt at the thought of some two-bit sword-swallower even
looking at her bard, 'I got his sword right here,' she thought
murderously.

"So with that settled... lets get this show on the road. Xena, I do
believe you have a little unfinished business with the Amazons at the
moment. I will let you get back to that... and go a little easy on the
Amazons will you? You are going to need them a little later. And
Willow I will let you get home, I believe that there are a few books you
want to collect. And be a dear and put on the clothes waiting for you.
Bright orange overalls really don't blend in all that well in ancient
Greece," Eon said, with a clap her hands sending both mortals back to
where they had came from.

*************************
Ancient Greece, somewhere outside of Amazon territory -

Xena looked up as her traveling companion came stumbling into camp, her
small arms full of firewood, a stray tree root causing the young girl to
trip and lose control of her precious cargo. "Interesting method of
gathering firewood," Xena commented dryly, her mind wondering over the
strange visit she just made to Eon's palace. While she wasn't quite
sure what Eon needed her for, she know that it had to be important if
Eon was asking favours from anyone, let alone a mortal. Then something
occurred to her, "Gabrielle, do you know any tales about Aphrodite and
Hephaestus having a daughter?" she asked, once the bard had staked the
wood by the fire.

"Huh? Oh you mean the tale of Sito... its very old, not many know of
it,
in fact many think that it's complete fiction," the bard said, looking
up a bit surprised; Xena almost never asked for a story. "Well as I
recall it is a story told by the gods to remember the strength and power
of love," she began slipping into what the Warrior Princess liked to
call her "bard" mode.

End Part Three.

Shadow -
Dir. of Pub. Safety of the SECLGA and Chief Dungeon Keeper.
Vampire Teddy Bear and Flying Fox {Fruit Bat} of the Woods Outback.
The Big Bad and Little Comma.