REPOST/RE-EDIT: Warrior... Slayer (1-4/?)

["Shadow" <Shadowlander1@xxxxxxx>]

Title: Warrior... Slayer (1-4/?)
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.
Pairing: Faith/Willow; Xena/Gabrielle
Rating: NC-17 - to be on the safe side... I've been told I write steamy
sex/love scenes although I usually put off writing one as long as humanly
possible. :)
Summary: A journey of redemption... or just further proof that I do not
handle boredom well.
Notes: This is for Rod, who demanded more Faith/Willow fics or he was going
to hold his breath until he passed out... or something to that effect, you
never can tell in regards to that particular mad Brazilian. <big grin> I
have no idea how Xena snuck in there, she just did and demanded fight scenes
with Faith... or that could just be all apart of my active imagination
working in overdrive again. Also to all the Xena fans out there... ignore
everything after season two, you know when they started doing stupid stuff
to our warrior babes. :) The Sito myth is of my own invention... while
Sito is a surname for Demeter and does mean 'giver of grain', there is no
such other goddess by that name that I am aware of.


WARRIOR... SLAYER (1-4/?)

Somewhere beyond time and space -

"Oh, isn't THAT just great!" The guardian of time and space sneered as she
watched the events play out before her from one of the more troublesome
realities. "Infinite number of possibilities and this is the universe that
gives me the most trouble," she grumbled to herself, erasing the scenes with
a wave of her hand. "They just HAD to be gifted with curiosity, couldn't be
content with worshipping rocks... no they have to question EVERYTHING!" She
continued, pacing the massive hall of her celestial palace, "next thing you
know the ungrateful rug rats are going to be sticking their noses into my
business. I can see them now, sling-shooting themselves around the sun in
starships trying to travel backward in time and wanting to visit parallel
universes."

"They aren't that bad, Eon," an amused voice said with a laugh bringing the
agitated guardian out of her ramblings on the inconsiderateness of the human
race.

"Oh really?" Eon replied, stopping in her restless prowling to give her
guest a disbelieving look. It wasn't often the guardian got visitors to her
palace at the heart of the space/time continuum. Usually some deity or other
wanting a favour in the form of bending the rules on no time travelling or
reality hopping, granted she had been known to bend her own rules a bit when
the cause was worthy enough. Like that Ebenezer fellow and young Timothy,
both mortals benefited greatly from a little time travel and a peek into
another reality. However just because she let one or two deities get away
with breeching her wards between time and space; didn't mean she was going
to let all of them do it, there was a reason the wards where there in the
first place. Still that didn't stop the occasional visit from one of the
older entities that, like her, existed outside of time and space. "Need I
remind you how you are remembered?"

Aphrodite leaned back in her chair as her laughter filled the massive hall,
"Eon, I have never cared what my own family thought of me much less the
human race. They grew beyond us, as it should be... but that does not mean
I stopped caring for them." She said, growing serious after a moment, "none
of us have," she added quietly, remembering the various times throughout the
history of man where she feared the most of their survival.

"I don't doubt that," Eon agreed, knowing exactly what the Goddess of Love
was remembering. It wasn't all that hard to figure out really, after all
Aphrodite has only cried exactly four times since the dawn of man; the last
time being during what the mortals of Earth called World War II. "But I
can't keep bending the rules, not even for you. The 'quick' fixes are not
enough, I am going to have to address the problem at its root source once
and for all."

"Daddy won't like it."

"Oh yeah like I've cared what 'Junior' has ever thought," Eon grunted, using
her pet name for the King of the Olympians. "Although I doubt he is going
to notice what I'm doing; not if he's up to his old tricks of 'enlightening'
every female that has struck his fancy."

"Okay... none of the other gods are going to approve. You are not allowed
to mess with the internal workings of a reality," Aphrodite amended with an
amused smirk, "it keeps you from being too powerful."

"Yeah like I want those crazy rug rats of yours making up legends about me
and demanding things. You know there is a reason I live out in the middle
of nowhere.... I'm not a people person."

"You're not even a person... you are an entity no one has ever heard of,
although why you are constantly being called 'Father Time' is beyond me,"
the Goddess countered with a laugh enjoying the rare times she ever found a
good enough excuse to spend time with the guardian.

"You've been hanging out with Athena in that Library of hers again, haven't
you?" Eon asked, with an amused smirk, out of all the deities she has ever
had to deal with, Aphrodite got on her nerves the least. It probably had
something to do with the Goddess' total disregard for what others thought of
her. "Okay, so the others may put up a fuss if I intervene personally," she
said, after a moment returning to the task at hand. "Fine... I'll just
barrow a chapter from the 'Mount Olympus Rulebook for Interacting with
Mortals'... I'll appoint champions."

"Uh oh."

"What? It worked for your family over the centuries... sort of," Eon
questioned at her guest started to rub her temples warily.

"Why do I get the impression you're only doing this to annoy Daddy?"

"Because a vast wisdom lays behind that beautiful face of yours and that
damnable half-brother of yours needs to be taken down a peg or two," came
the reply, filled with mischief. "Besides I don't want to be bothered with
this problem again, I do have other matters to attend to. Chaos and
Tapestry have hundreds of new universes to create and I have to be there or
nothing will get done. "

"Okay, okay I'll take your word for it," Aphrodite said, admitting defeat
knowing that Eon was still a bit peeved at the God of War for his one little
experiment with a very unstable "ultimate weapon" some ten billion years ago
and was just waiting for her revenge. "So... who do you have in mind?"

"Well since I do want this matter to end once and for all and I do have
another little 'hiccup' in time that has been annoying me... I'm going to
kill two birds with one stone, so-to-speak." Eon said with a secretive
smile. "A family reunion is in order I think, you're little girl is coming
home Aphrodite and she's staying this time."

*************************************

Sunnydale, California
Fall 1998 -

"Willow Rosenberg: research girl extraordinaire and novice witch... computer
geek and wannabe spell-caster is more like it," the young redhead grumbled
as she trudged home in the early morning hours after another all-nighter at
the Library researching the latest demon threat to the hellmouth. "Great,"
she groaned about halfway into her walk home as it started to rain. 'Maybe
I should have accepted that ride from Giles after all,' she berated herself
picking up her pace. 'But no I just had to prove that I could take care of
myself,' she said to herself, 'stupid Faith and her sneering. She's just
jealous because I can use a computer and read three other books at once.' A
growl from somewhere behind her brought her out of her silent ramblings on
dark-haired Slayers and their bad-girl attitudes. "Thank you, my life was
growing kind of boring," she said casting a quick glance skyward before
turning to face the source of the growl, one hand reaching for her trusty
stake that Buffy made her carry everywhere. And found herself faced with
three fast approaching vampires in full game face.

Letting her backpack drop to the sidewalk, she gripped her wet stake in one
hand and tried to remember everything she had learned over the summer while
acting as the substitute slayer while Buffy was off trying to find herself
after that whole mess with Angelus and the hellmouth nearly opening and
destroying the world. Only to stop slacked jawed as the lunging vampires
suddenly froze, after a moment she also noticed that the rain had stopped
too... in mid fall. Everything just stopped... everything except for her,
because she could still feel her pounding heart trying to beat itself out of
her chest. "Oh this can't be good."

"Really? It can't?" a voice calmly said, as a figure stepped out of the
shadows, "you wanted to be lunch for the undead?" Taking one look at the
huge being coming toward her, she did that only thing she could think of,
she plunged her stake into its chest. "Ouch!" the creature grunted after a
moment pulling out the stake, "was that really necessary little bit?" It
questioned in a shocked voice, handing the stake back to her and rubbing its
chest dejectedly.

"Oh sorry," Willow replied, after a moment taking back the stake
absent-mindedly, "reflex... er, what are you?"

"Oh forgive me, I am Alexiares guardian of divine justice," the creature
introduced itself with a little bow.

"Guardian of divine justice," Willow repeated, taking the time to get a good
look at the being standing in front of her. He was big, standing at a good
6"8" give or take a few inches, with a little black goat-tee covering his
chin and grey skin... or was that fur? It was kind of hard to tell, but it
was his eyes that captured her attention the most, they were sky blue and
seemed to glow from within from some internal power source.

'Not many humans know of me," he said with a wide grin, "I sort of help out
the more established gods and goddesses of justice around the world." He
finished in a stage whisper, a secretive look in his eyes.

"So you?" she questioned waving a finger around the general area.

"Stop time? Oh no I'm not responsible for this, messing with time is 'so'
not my department... I'm just here to escort you to someone who really wants
to talk to you."

"Talk to me? Why?"

"Not sure... Eon didn't tell me, just said it was really important that she
got to talk to you... before you became a happy meal for the three stooges
of the vampire world over there," he said, jerking a thumb in the direction
of the frozen vampires. "You know most vampires do have the sense to get in
out of the rain... or is that sun? I can never keep that one straight,
again not my department, but I can assure you that these particular vampires
will not be sneaking up on you after you talk to Eon." He finished, his
eyes glowing briefly, "it is time for their final judgment, they are very
disappointing as demons, you know?"

"Okay," Willow said with a shake of her head, taking his offered arm,
interested in seeing what was going to happen next, silently wondering if
she had not, in fact, fallen asleep in the Library and was dreaming all of
this. Giving the young redhead an encouraging smile, the two disappear in a
flash of light.

***********************

Elsewhere, the Palace of Eon -

"Easy," Alexiares said steadying Willow after the two appeared in a flash of
light.

"W-where are we?" Willow questioned taking a look around herself in awe. The
two had appeared on a terrace of some kind, a very large and imposing palace
looming over them on one side, around them was space, an endless sea of
stars and comets and just everything.

"The crossroads of time and space... and well just everything. Nothing
anywhere happens without Eon first knowing about it," Alexiares said proudly
with a chuckle, suddenly remembering that Willow was seeing all of this
through the eyes of a mortal and was a bit overwhelmed by something that was
pretty normal for him. "Hey... don't worry about it, nothing bad is going
to happen to you... Eon just wants to talk to you",
He assured her, "oh good they are here."

Looking in the direction he had indicated with a nod of his head, Willow
watched as three women approached them from the direction of the palace.
"Ladies may I present Willow Rosenberg," he said formerly, "Willow, the one
wearing the 'Byte Me' t-shirt is Tapestry, the guardian of all that is, was,
or ever will be. She also acts as the guardian of order, next to her in all
the leather is Chaos, the guardian of change, and finally this is Eon, the
guardian of time and space... and the owner of this place."


"Nice to met you kiddo," Chaos said with a sultry smile, a small ball of
energy glowing faintly in one hand, "hey, do me a favour... say bang."

"Huh?"

"Amuse her," Alexiares said with a laugh.

"Okay... bang," Willow said a bit hesitantly as she watched Chaos throw the
little ball of energy into the air toward a small patch of nothingness she
had not seen before. Only to jump back in surprise as the ball exploded in
an array of light and colour, adding a new patch of stars to the sea.

"Yes!" Chaos cowed merrily, a bright goofy looking grin plastered firmly
across her face as she admired her work. "I love starting things off with a
bang."

"Er... what just happened?"

"Nothing much... you just helped create a new universe is all," Alexiares
couldn't help but say with a grin of his own.

"You have to pardon my sister... little things amuse her," Tapestry said
with grin giving the young mortal a wink.

"Hey! You're just mad because you didn't think of it ol' orderly and boring
one."

"I couldn't of been an only child," Eon groaned with a shake of her head,
"you have to forgive my sisters, we do not get many visitors... and they do
tend to get overexcited when they are creating."

"Oh that's fine... I get the same way when Giles' let me look at his
'forbidden' magic books," Willow said trying to get into the swing of
things. 'Face it Rosenberg, you couldn't live on the edge even if Buffy was
there giving pointers.'

"Hey, don't think things about yourself like that," Tapestry admonished, "we
can read your thoughts little one, comes in handy every now and then in our
line of work. However, as the immortal bard once penned 'to thy own self be
true'... if you're not a live-on-the-edge type person, don't worry about
it... you have less of a chance of falling off and breaking something." She
finished with a smile.

"Hate to interrupt... but we got to get back to work," Chaos said, eager to
begin the long process of change and evolution in the newly created universe
circling serenely above them, she really loved this part.

"Of course, Willow if you'll come with me, I can tell you why I sent for
you," Eon offered leading the young redhead into the palace.

"Eon is really going to stir things up... isn't she?" Alexiares asked
watching the two enter the palace.

"Oh yeah she is... isn't it great?" Chaos replied, with that goofy grin of
hers plastered firmly in place.

***************************
Inside the Palace of Eon -

"Can I ask you a question?" Willow said following the guardian down a long
corridor lined with doors.

"Sure"

"Where do all of those doors go to?" She asked, with an arched eyebrow,
they all couldn't be lead to more rooms the place was huge enough from what
she had already seen.

"Oh those... they lead to various realities, all of the doors here do...
they are the portals I use to help maintain my wards. Even I don't know
where most of them lead too, not all realities need as much maintenance as
others do."

"Your wards?"

"The barriers between alternate universes and time itself... can't have
everything running together, things would be more confusing then they
already are in most places," Eon explained with a grin, knowing that a
longer more detailed explanation could wait for another time... they had
other matters to attend to at the moment. "To be on the safe side, don't go
opening any doors, all the 'safe' rooms are door less." She advised with a
bigger grin as the two walked into the main hall, where Eon tended to
conduct most of her business with her rare visitors.

Looking around the largest room she had ever seen, Willow noticed that two
other people were also in the room, a blonde woman in a pinkish near see
through dress sitting in a low-backed chair with a tall dark-haired man
standing behind her, one hand resting comfortably on the woman's shoulder.
"Good you two made it... how was the trip? Instantaneous?" Eon asked,
trying out those "people skills" Athena had told her about once.

"Eon... now is not the time for you to practice being social," Hephaestus
said lowly trying to remain calm for his beloved mate's sake. All he wanted
to do was get this whole mess over with so he could get back to his forge
and doting on his daughter... after fifteen thousand yeas he was certain he
had a lot of doting to make up for.

"Heph, has anyone ever told you that you take things way too serious?" Eon
questioned playfully before turning to the redhead next too her. "Willow, I
would like for you too met Aphrodite and Hephaestus, they have waited a very
long time to see you again."

"Again?" Willow questioned, confusion clearly written on her face, a faint
stirring in the back of her mind telling her that she should know the two,
that they were very important to her.

"Let me tell you a very old story not known to many mortals. It is a story
only told by the gods to remember the strength and power of love," Eon began
with a wave of her hand creating two chair, signalling Willow to take one
while she took the other. "About, oh I think, fifteen thousand years ago,
give or take a few centuries, there was this goddess who had became very
jealous of Aphrodite over there. So much in fact that she played a trick on
the Goddess of Love, she cursed her to never be able to give birth to a
daughter. As curses go that isn't too bad," she said choosing to ignore the
growl from Hephaestus. "She got away with it too, no one knew of her
tampering until one day on Mount Olympus she happened to be eavesdropping on
Hephaestus and Aphrodite who were off in a secluded spot talking about
having a daughter after having so many boys.

As you can imagine the vengeful goddess was having a grand time laughing her
head off over the whole matter, unfortunately in all her merriment she
forgot that she wasn't alone on Mount Olympus. While she was gloating,
Demeter, Goddess of the Harvest, who happened to be passing by, over heard
her. Demeter was outraged over the whole thing and immediately told her
brother, Zeus, the King of the Gods, of the goddess's cruel joke. When
called before the other gods the vengeful goddess refused to remove the
curse... not even the threat of being thrown into Tartarus for all time
would get her to relent. Zeus had no choice; the goddess had defied his
command so down to Hades' realm she went until she would remove it.
Hephaestus and Aphrodite were devastated, all of their hopes and dreams it
seemed rested on the actions of a jealous goddess.

In his grief the God of the Forge locked himself away in his beloved volcano
forge were he poured his grief and his love for the beautiful Aphrodite into
a sculpture. You see he was not going to allow the goddess to have the last
laugh, he was too proud for that and his love too strong. Upon completion
he took the sculpture back to Mount Olympus where he proudly displayed it
for all the gods to see. It was a statue of mother and child, made of the
purest marble in the entire known world. It was Aphrodite holding the child
that they would never have thanks to one vengeful act. When the Goddess of
Love herself got to see the sculpture it is said she was so over come by its
beauty that she cried... not something Aphrodite is ever known for mind you.
When her tears touched the marble infant, her love for her husband, and his
for her, broke the curse where once was a stone child was now a living one."

"Wow."

"Wow indeed," Eon said with a smile, "in honour of Demeter who discovered
the cruse, the happy parents named the child Sito, it means 'giver of grain'
it was the time of the harvest on earth you see. Although the child does go
by a different name now, she is called Willow."

************************************

"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, ol' 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 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, remembering
the last time the guardian had said 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 travelling 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 travelling 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.

************************************
Sunnydale -

Willow appeared in a flash of light in her bedroom, "I'm beginning to hate
that," she grumbled with a shake of her head, noting that it had started to
rain again. Turning toward her bed, she found a small pile of clothing and
other accessories, as well as what looked to be a pair of sturdy boots on
the floor, waiting for her. 'Leather,' she thought, fingering one of the
articles of clothing noting that it looked like it was meant to offer as
much protection as possible and still remain comfortable. 'Might as well
get this over with,' she decided beginning to remove her clothing, her mind
already working on the puzzle Eon had set before, choosing to ignore the
whole goddess thing for the moment. 'Time enough to worry about that later.'

Minutes later, the young redhead stood before her full length mirror,
admiring the way the silver/grey sleeveless linen shirt fit over the dark
leather pants that were tucked into her above-the-knee boots. 'When did I
get a full length mirror?' She questioned suddenly, noting another figure
standing behind her. "Er, hi dad?" She said in a small sheepish voice,
recognizing Hephaestus after a moment of sheer panic.

"I didn't mean to startle you, just wanted you to get a good look at your
new clothes... they are all right aren't they? I can change the colour or
style if you like," he offered, raising one hand to do just that.

"No, no they are fine... never owned anything made of leather before, unless
you count a pair of dress shoes," Willow replied, with a lopsided grin,
taking the time to take a good look at the being that was her father.
Recalling everything she had ever read about the Greek gods, she took a step
closer to him cocking her head to one side to get a better look at the side
of his face that he tended to keep out turned away from others. Tentatively
raising one hand to touch his scarred cheek, turning it so she could get a
better look at him, she immediately noticed the one things she most
definitely got from him... the green of her eyes. "So that is where I got
them," she said in wonder, staring into the eyes before her filled with
wisdom and power she ever thought existed. Rising up on her tiptoes she
planted a quick kiss on his cheek, "so... do I pass inspection?"

"Hmmm, yes... although if your mother had her way," he said with a playful
grin, taking a step back to give her new clothes one final once over, like
the proud father he was. "You would be dressed entirely in silk and have
about twelve servants around you at all times," he finished seriously.
"However, your Aunt Athena was able to reason with her, so no silk... yet.
You will find these cloths to be a bit more functional, especially if you
will be travelling with Xena... she tends to attract trouble." He said
ruefully. "Oh and you will need these," he added after a moment, holding
out his hand palm up as two forearm bracers appeared in them. "They will
help you channel your magical talent and offer a bit of protection... you
will note that your Uncle Hercules has a larger similar pair, his work a bit
differently but in the end they both serve the same function. Oh and don't
forget these..." he added, as a small sword and a knife appeared in his hand
after Willow removed the bracers, "the knife is your ceremonial knife for
spell casting and such... the sword is for protection, don't worry about
knowing how to use it... you will find you have a natural aptitude for it.
A little gift from Athena to help you on your way a bit. And lastly... a
satchel for carrying your magic books and other magical items... it's
enchanted, so you will be able to carry a lot in it, but not the laptop...
electricity has not been invented yet," he finished in a smile.

"I knew that there was a downside to all of this," Willow said somewhat
absently, as she put on the forearm bracers, her mind whirling with the
thought of actually having an Aunt Athena and Uncle Hercules. Then
something occurred to her, "isn't that cheating a bit? Giving me the
knowledge of how to use this thing?" she questioned taking the sword out of
his hand.

"Not really... it's not uncommon for one of us to bless mortals or
demi-gods... and you already have the knowledge, Athena blessed you with it
when you were an infant... she has hopes of you becoming a great warrior."
Hephaestus replied, "the knowledge would still be there when you return to
your right time... I'm just making sure you have the proper sword is all."

"You made this?" Willow asked, admiring the craftsmanship of the sword,
something telling her that the sword had been made especially for her, being
weighted for her small stature. "It sort of looks Asian," she noted
absently, the design reminding her of a katana she once saw in Giles'
weapons closet, only this one was double-sided and had a different style
hilt.

"It's actually more of an Amazon design... with a few of my own ideas added,
but it is one of the strongest blades ever made," he replied, watching with
pride, as his daughter turned the sword a few times in her hand as if trying
to get a feel for it. "You'll find the sheath and satchel over on the
bed... I will see you in a bit? Or in few thousand years in the past...
depending on your point of view." He said with a lopsided grin, before
disappearing taking his full-length mirror with him, as a pounding began on
Willow's front door announcing that she now had visitors.

"Wills! Wills you in there? We got big problems!" A voice shouted over the
pounding.

************************
Ancient Greece -

Xena chuckled evilly as she sent another opponent flying across the practice
field in what Gabrielle had begun calling "Xena's daily torture session with
the Amazons." Although the Warrior Princess herself called it "blowing off
a little steam with some of Eponin's finest," either way it resulted in a
lot of bruised Amazons and one rather smug Xena in the end.

Gabrielle watched Solari land with a thud, wincing in sympathy as she
watched the dark-haired Amazon climb determinedly to her feet for another
shot at the laughing warrior. "I take it back... she is just as stubborn as
Xena," Eponin noted dryly from beside her, where it was safe. The Amazon
weapon master may be a bit stubborn herself at times but she wasn't
stupid... taking on the Warrior Princess with only twenty other warriors as
backup was just plain silly. No, no she planned to have at least fifty
warriors behind her and maybe Hercules to help even things out a bit before
she mounted her attempt to wipe that smug little grin off of Xena's face.

A bright light interrupted the late morning activities, as several figures
appeared on the practice field not all of them female or even humans for
that matter. The effect was immediate on the gathered Amazons, all sense of
good-natured sparring thrust aside as time hardened instinct took over, as
they focused in on the possible threat that now faced them.

Faith was momentarily blinded by the sudden flash of light, losing her hold
on her battle-axe she was backhanded by the demon she had been fighting
with. Catching herself before she hit the ground too hard, she rolled
coming up ready for another round. "You have GOT to be kidding me? That is
the best you can do?" She taunted the demon barely registering the change
in scenery, her attention focused on the Pacer demon she had been trying to
slay and his ugly little offspring that used to be the night watchman at the
local Denny's.

"Slayer... you're blood will seal the fate of your unworthy race!" the demon
hissed through a face full of fangs, eager to tear the irritating human's
heart out and feed it to his new child.

"What? Do all of you refugees from the freak show use the same threats?"
Faith demanded, "you too late ugly, that one was used already by a fledgling
that staked himself." She growled delivering a kick to the demon's groin...
at least Faith thought it was his groin; it was kind of hard to tell with
all the slime and muck dripping off the thing.

"Faith quit messing around and kill the thing already!" Willow yelled
diving away from the demon that used to be the night watchman at Denny's,
only to come to a rest at Xena's booted feet. "Oh hi Xena... we'll be right
with you in a minute," she said looking up at the Warrior Princess. "Or
two... if Faith DOESN'T get the axe to slay these clowns with already!" She
added tossing the dark-haired slayer a dirty look. 'Just my luck to get
stuck looking for these two with Faith.'

"Anytime you want to take over Red, just say the word," Faith snarled giving
the demon before her a roundhouse kick, trying to work her way over to where
her axe had landed.

"The axe... its important?" Xena asked drawing her chakram and sending it
flying at the demon closest to her that Willow had been rolling away from.

"Yeah 'specially blessed to kill Pacer and other demons," Willow replied
scrambling to her feet, "although that seems to work too." She added as the
chakram decapitated the former night watchman with ease.

Catching her chakram on its return trip, Xena immediately turned her
attention to the other much larger demon and the young girl who was fighting
it. With a battle cry, that was known to strike terror into the hearts of
man and demons alike, the Warrior Princess entered the battle leaping the
distance in a single bound.

"The blood of a Slayer... long have I dreamt of tasting it," the demon
taunted unaware that a very un-amused Warrior Princess who was ticked off
over having her morning workout interrupted had joined the battle.

"Oh come on! You guys really need to get new lines... that one went out
with the master," Faith growled.

'Slayer? Master?' Xena filed the names away for later, she was sure she
could get some answers out of Willow, who, she noted, was already heading
for the axe the dark-haired girl had lost as was Solari. "Excuse me... mind
if I cut in?" she asked with a wicked grin, using her chakram to slice into
the demon, taking a moment to savour the scream of agony the creature made
as she did. Back flipping out of the way of the demon's wild swing, Xena
comes up ready to strike again, looking for the first opening.

Beating the small redhead to the axe, Solari scooped it up and changed
course for the demon, "Go for its head... you got to decapitate it
completely or it'll just grow another one." Willow's voice caused her to
pause for a moment, wondering what kind of bizarre creature the two girls
were fighting. Shaking her head to clear it she came up behind the creature
and swung hard, taking the head clean off only to have it hit Eponin square
in the chest, who had been leading the charge of reinforcements. Jumping
back the Amazon did what came natural... she drew her sword and began to
beat the hell out of the head for several moments before Gabrielle stepped
in.

"Eponin!" Gabrielle said firmly getting the weapons master's attention, "its
dead, you can quit killing it now."

Slowly stepping back from the decapitated head, "it moved," she defended
weakly.

"Right... I know I saw it too," Gabrielle agreed giving the head one last
wack with her staff in support of the weapons master.

"Well... just so we know its dead," Eponin replied, trying to get some
control of her shattered nerves.

"We're going to have to burn both bodies... heads too," Willow commented
coming over to the three gathered around the body of the larger demon.

"Why? Will it grow some more parts?" Solari asked with an arched eyebrow.

"Actually... yes if we don't destroy the body before nightfall," Willow
replied, looking the Amazon straight in the eye.

"I'll go prepare the bonfire... preferably down wind from the village,"
Solari said, handing the battle-axe to Xena and disappearing in the opposite
direction.

"So Red... friend of yours?" Faith asked noting the way the redhead seemed
so relaxed with the tall dark-haired warrior who had help her a bit. "See
you two got similar taste in cloths now."

End Part 4.

Shadow --
Dir. of Pub. Safety of the SECoLGA and Chief Dungeon Keeper. Vampire Teddy
Bear and Flying Fox {Fruit Bat} of the Woods Outback. The Big Bad and
Little Comma. Mistress of Mischief, corruptor of the innocent, tormentor of
Quindolyn. Founding Member of the Get Willow and Buffy Naked Society.
{GWBN -- Hey, its a way of life.} Dark Mistress of Weirdness. Yang to
Alex's Yin. Charter Member of the Hand of Chaos, member of the Order of the
Silver Claw of the Highland Werewolves of Gaia. :[

AIM Screen Name: ShadowDrake
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