Title: Finding Death's Mate

Author: Kate R.

Disclaimer: The Buffy Characters belong to Joss. The gods belong to anyone. Xena, Gabby and Joxer and Eve belong to Ren. Pics.

Summary: They have to find Death's Mate. Or he has to find Death. Somehow.

Rating: PG-13 to R I suppose

Pairings: Ares/Joxer, Cupid/Strife, Xander/Spike, Hades/Giles, Heph/Wes

Finding Death's Mate
Kate R.

Prologue: How Much for the Ex-Watcher?

A week they'd been here, Xander thought as he came in to the office of Angel Investigations. Again, for the fifth time in as many days, Wesley was asleep at his desk. This was it. It was bad enough how they treated the guy when they were all present and it was obvious Angel, Cordy and the bald black guy liked to make Wes feel badly about himself. How many shots would they take a night? Even Spike had lost count. Speaking of Spike, his Mate came

in silently and looked at what Xander saw. They walked over to the desk and looked down at the sleeping man. There were deep shadows under his eyes and his glasses were lying on the desk. Xander started to wake him but then stopped. For a week he'd watched Angel be cruel to Wesley. For a week he'd seen Wes trying not to react. Well, enough was enough.

"If Deadboy can't play nice," Xander started.

"Then he can't play at all," Spike finished.

They looked down at the sleeping man silently contemplating what they should do. They looked at
each other at the exact same moment with the same idea.

"I want him Spike. How much do you think an Ex Watcher costs?" Xander asked in his little boy voice.

"Peaches'll be pissed," Spike said quietly.

"We have to take him home with us," Xander said. "It's our duty to care for him."

"Peaches'll be pissed," Spike said again as he thought about it.

"They're hurting him, Spike," Xander said. "We have to take him home with us. He needs to be taken care of."

"Peaches'll be pissed," Spike said again with a slow, evil grin starting to form on his face.

"I mean, this is like abuse, right?" Xander asked.

Spike nodded.

"We can't let abuse like this go unpunished."

Spike heard the serious note in the teens voice and knew the boy was thinking of his own father before Spike had rescued him. Xander looked down at Wesley and almost touched his hair.

"Poor Ex-Watcher guy," Xander said quietly, almost childlike.

Spike saw the glint of evil coming to Peaches in his eyes and he let his own grin. "We'll take care of you now. Right Spike?"

Spike nodded. "And a big Bonus, luv," he said to Xander. "It'll piss Peaches right off if he loses his book man right from is own place of business. Come on, Get his jacket."

Xander nodded and got Wesley's jacket as Spike lifted the human and carried him out to the car. The human was thin and Spike suddenly recalled that all the meals Angel had taken them out to this week; Wesley had not been present at one. And no one had gotten him anything to go. Angel had told them he was researching but Spike couldn't help thinking about the sad look whenever they came in.

"You mind ridin' in the back with him mate?" Spike asked.

Xander climbed into the back and took Wesley as Spike handed him in. "Do we take him home with us?" Xander asked.

Spike nodded and gunned the engine. Still the ex-watcher slept soundly. Spike sighed as they
started the three-hour drive home. But, they had gotten the books Giles wanted.

"This has got to be one hell of a souvenir," Xander said as they drove. "Never brought a Wesley home with me before."

"Me either, Pet," Spike said. "Me either."

Chapter 1: the Souvenir and the Knife

Giles sighed after hanging up the phone with Angel. How many times did he have to tell the vampire that he did not have Wesley? He hadn't seen Wesley since the young man had left Sunnydale.

Giles stopped then. He hadn't seen Wesley, which was true. But Xander and Spike had when they went to LA. Xander and Spike had not allowed him to unload the car when they got back from LA 2 months ago. As a matter of fact, Only Spike ahd gotten out of the car and he carried everything over to Giles. Why? What else did they have in the car that night? Xander had said they had brought back souvenirs. What kind of souvenirs?

Giles grabbed his leather jacket and went to Xander's house that Spike had bought for the two of them and knocked on the door. If he was right, they had better have a damn good explanation for this. Souvenir indeed.

He wasn't going to be angry that they had taken Wesley, something Angel's tone told him if they had then it was a good thing. He was going to be angry that they hadn't told him.

He knocked on the door when he arrived and found himself listening to cartoons as Xander opened the door.

"Giles!" he exclaimed shocked and if Giles wasn't mistaken, louder than necessary for a vampire to hear.

"Xander, Spike," he said as he walked in. "Can I talk to you?"

"Sure G-Man," Xander said.

He was nervous, Giles could tell.

"Tell me, Xander," he said. "When you and Spike went to LA, did you happen to bring back any living souvenirs? You know, something you might have put in the car to piss Angel off?"

"Uh---when you say living---do you mean---"

"Wesley, Xander," Giles said. "Did you bring Wesley home with you?"

"Uh---What's the best answer?" Xander asked nervously.

"Yes," a soft voice said from behind. "Please don't be angry with them. They were concerned about me. I can go if it's too much trouble for me to stay. If Angel is being too bothersome. I should go back. I belong to him."

"No, you do not," Giles said. "I just wanted to know so I can sound more convincing when I tell him I do not know where you are. Which will be true if you aren't in my range of vision. If I can't see you, I won't know where you are."

"You'll help?" Xander asked.

Giles nodded. "If you tell me why you bought a Wesley as a Souvenir," Giles told them.

"They were hurting him," Xander said. He didn't get to eat with them and they made him sleep at his desk. We don't think it was right so we bought the Wesley and brought him home with us."

"Well, perhaps then Wesley would like to go out with us tonight? I have a gift waiting for me apparently. I think it might be from Ethan. He's my best friend, Xander. He sends me gifts that aren't practical jokes. He said this one will keep me and anyone I call Mine safe. AH, I suppose I
should let Dawn know you are here, Wesley. She misses you."

"She-she d-does?" Wesley stammered nervously.

Giles nodded. "I think after her mother's death she could use you being around. You are her friend and I think she needs a friend to let her grieve instead having to hold Buffy together."

"I-I can do that," Wesley said softly as he grabbed his jacket and followed his three conspirators out of the house and to the museum where the package was waiting for him. Giles signed for it and opened it. There was an exquisite Dagger lying in the ornate wooden box. It was in a beautifully crafted leather sheath and Giles whistled as he picked it up.

He heard Dawn call his name as she was told to meet him there after school. Glory was out and
they wanted her safe. Dawn squealed as she saw Wesley and ran into his arms hugging tightly.

"I'm here," he said softly."I'm here."

He could feel the repressed sobs and just held her as Dawn cried a little bit. He carried her out of the museum easily enough, he'd gotten stronger.

Giles followed looking down at his dagger that suddenly began to glow. A herd of demons and three of Glory's minions had surrounded them.

Giles brandished the dagger and got a strange reaction. It flared bright white light and Glory's minions and the demons ran off. Well, the minions backed off. The demons fled in terror. Giles looked down at the dagger in wonder.

"Whatever this is, Ethan," he called into the shadows. "Thank you."

Chapter 2: Traveling Air Olympus

"It's Rhea's Dagger, Ripper," Ethan's voice came from the shadows. "I thought perhaps you might like it. Glory should be---unnerved by it to say the least."

"How are you, my friend?" Giles asked.

Ethan chuckled as he watched them. "I'm surviving. The power had been easier to handle of late.
And you all? I see you brought The Wesley out with you tonight."

"Yeah. I found out their souvenir was living. So, what does this thing do besides Scare Glory?"

"I honestly do not know," Ethan told him. "I knew it was something Travers had that he was keeping from you so I 'Liberated' it and sent it to you."

"Giles, Look out!" Xander yelled.

Ethan gasped as he felt pain.

He looked down and found a spear had been shoved through his stomach trying to hit Giles. He looked up and saw his friend's eyes were smoldering with cold rage. He was gripping the dagger so hard, he cut himself on it and his blood fell onto the handle. It started to glow then. Glow with power.

Ethan whimpered as the spear was twisted and yanked out and they all heard an enraged
scream of "Wesley!" from down the street.

Unfortunately for the shouter, the light encompassed them all and when it cleared, they were just gone. Leaving a confused Angel and a bunch freaked Knights standing around looking stupid.

The Cave of the Fates, Greece. Sometime BC

"Is everything ready?" Atropos asked.

The young God, known as Strife, stood looking at them. "Yes, it is," he told her and her sisters. "They are coming now."

"Excellent," Clotho said. "Have Cupid go to the Shrine outside of Corinth and wait. Leave Lust with Hades for now. Cupid has to bring the Mate to Hades."

"All right," Strife said as he flashed down to Asphodel. Cupid was sitting with Lust as they watched over the figure tossing restlessly in the bed. Her was hoping Hera's plan worked.
"Cupes, you need to get to the shrine in Corinth. They'll be arriving in a few minutes. Lust, you get t' stay here with me. It has to be Cupes who brings them here."

"Okay," she said as she touched her father's face to make him rest. They were all praying now that the dagger had been given to the right person.

OOO

Cupid appeared at the Shrine in Corinth in time to see a flash of white light that preceded the arrival of those he was waiting for. He knew Hades' mate by the dagger in his hand. The other he recognized was Ethan.

Oh, shit, Lust was gonna be pissed. The others were strangers but he figured they had been brought for a reason. The one he recognized as being important because he had to be moved from one place to another. Cupid grinned and made himself visible.

"Hi!" he said cheerfully. "It's good you go here alright. I mean inter time traveling is a pain at the best of times. Ethan, your mom is going to kill whoever did that to you. Anyway, guess we should be getting on to why you're here."

"Yes," the eldest seeming of the group said. "It would be a damn good idea for you to explain this."

"Okay, your pretty Dagger there was set to bring us the ideal mate for Uncle Hades. It would react to protect that Mate and those he considers His from all harm. It did that for you. I can't make you stay but he's dying and we were desperate and---"

"Take me to him," Giles said. "Take me to him Now."

Chapter 3: Death's Mate

Asphodel. Dark, cool, lonely, Giles thought as he walked through it following Cupid. He could feel the absolute loneliness coming from this place.

"No more," Giles said to himself. "Never alone, never again." He moved with a self assured grace through the halls where he found others waiting, watching him with---was that desperate hope? He sighed and followed his instincts walking into the bedroom. He heard the female with red eyes and wings curse when she saw Ethan but that would be dealt with later.

He approached the bed where the pale man lay looking so sick and almost dead. Giles knew a broken heart was killing this man. Maybe he could save him, he would damn sure try. He set his dagger down on a table by the bed, the faint noise rousing the man, and Giles felt his breath catch in his throat.

"Beautiful," Giles whispered as he lay down next to the man. "You're beautiful."

"Are---Are you Giles?" the man asked.

Giles nodded as he leaned over so he was face to face with the man, Hades, a part of his mind supplied.

"You know that," Giles whispered. "I've been waitin' forever to meet you. I see you in my dreams."

"I---I never thought you could come here. The Time and the Way---"

"Are nothing to me," Giles said. "I, like Ethan, follow Janus. One of yours. Although I think Ethan is Lust's son."

"He was taken from us. By a group calling themselves The Way," Hades said quietly.

"He's home now," Giles said as he laid against Hades, the God having pulled him down against his chest. Giles was quite content to lie there.

He was tired and he felt at long last as if he were home. Hades held Giles as the ex-watcher felt tears slide down his cheeks.

"I love you," Giles whispered. "I've loved you in my dreams for years. Let me love you while awake now."

Hades nodded and pulled Giles to him.

OO

Outside the room, Wesley, Xander, Spike and Dawn were just sitting. His mother to have his wound looked at had spirited off Ethan. Dawn and Wes seemed lost here. Adrift.

Cupid walked over to them and took their hands. "Everyone grab a God or Goddess," he said. "It's time to get you all where you need to be."

They each touched someone and were suddenly somewhere bright and shining.

"Death's mate is found," Cupid said as he led Wes and Dawn into the center of the room. "He's healing Hades as we speak."

Spike snickered at the collective sighs of relief and watched as a big man dressed in leather walked over to Dawn

"Hi,"� she said to him. "If you're Ares, I'm your Key."

Chapter 4: Interlude

"I'm sorry, What?!" Ares asked in a near shout as he looked at Dawn.

"Uhm, yeah," she said. "The monks figured best way to make Buffy protect me was to make me human so they uhm…well, they made me human. I'm your Key and Glory is kind of after me as well as the knights of Byzantium and well..."

"Hold still," Ares said. He touched her pulling from her the green energy of the key but leaving her human.

"Welcome to real life, Dawn," he said as he turned her to face Dionysus. He'd known the second he saw her who she belonged with. "Watch him on the dark moons. Bacchus comes out then."

"I can handle Bacchus," dawn said. "After all, Angelus didn't scare me. Course, Angelus is nicer than Angel at this point and I hate that he's stuck in there but seeing as we're in the past can't really fix that right now."

"Can when you get back to your proper tie. Spike, Alexander, you'll both have to become immortal to get home. Who are you?"

"W-Wesley," the man stammered as he looked around. His eyes locked on someone and Ares heard him gasp. Hephaestus stared as well and Aphrodite smiled as Wesley moved forward, towards Heph, seemingly in a trance.

"Can I help you?" Hephaestus asked the mortal. He felt desire for this one. He felt pulled to him but he did not know why.

"L-love me?" Wesley asked.

Hephaestus looked down into his eyes and wrapped him in his arms gently. They flashed out then and Aphrodite smiled.

"He's whole," she said quietly. 'At long last, he's whole."

"Well," Zeus said as he looked round. "This is nice. Uhm, Who are all you people?"

"I'm Xander," the youth said. "We came with Giles, Death's mate for hose of you who are slow, and well, he and Hades wanted some alone time. Anyway, Lust and them brought us here and we have actually no idea what we do now except exist here till we get back to our own century and uhm, I think Giles is kind of in need of Hades cause he's been alone way too long so he needs rest and company and by the way, whoever just took out Wesley had better take damn good care of him. He's been hurt enough by people claiming to like him."

"Heph wont hurt him," Cupid said as he looked around the room.

All the senior gods were kind of sating at their guests but the guests seemed used to it. Ares was standing looking at the energy in his hands and swearing to kill every damn one of those monks.

"Dawn existed before," Ares said softly. "The monks played with your heads. They placed the energy of the key into Buffy's sister. But, she did exist before this."

"I beg your pardon, mate?" Spike asked as Xander passed out.

Ares chuckled. "I'll explain it in more detail when Giles is here as well. He needs to know this as well so he can make sure nothing happens to her. Also, when you go back, you wont be alone. We will be with you. I wont let that little bitch hurt anyone else ever again."

"Agreed, Ares," Zeus said. "Glorificus will face the host of Olympus and she will rue the day."

"Cool," Xander said. "We're gonna have Gods of our own to help kick her arse. This will so totally rock!"

"What's rock?" Strife asked. Xander chuckled.

"Tell you later," was all he said. "Promise."

END PART 4