Chapter 1: Giles

He was researching when he felt the shift in the air behind him.

This being the Hellmouth he was instantly on alert, spinning and pulling a knife on whatever was appearing in his library. What he saw stopped him cold. There, before him, was a group of people and they all looked like they wanted him for something.

"Before I put this down," Giles said trying to maintain his calm, "I want to know who you are and what you want from me."

He knew this could be a very stupid thing to do but with the mayor and other concerns on his mind, he really wasn't in the best of states. Too much danger and too little time to deal with it, he supposed.

"Guys," a man dressed in leather said to the group, "Maybe I should talk to him alone? Something is wrong here and I think he's a bit on edge."

"Okay, Ares," a blond man said. Giles felt his jaw drop as the big man in leather nodded. He looked at the rest of the group and then at Giles and sighed.

"Introduce yourselves before you go," he said. "Just so he knows our names if he agrees."

"Apollo," the blond man who had spoken said.

"Aphrodite," a blond woman who was Very well formed said.

"Cupid," a blond with wings said as he vanished.

"Hephaestus," a man with scars on his face and body said.

"Hestia," a matronly looking woman said.

"Janus," a god with a split face said.

"Lust," a woman with black wings and red eyes said.

"Asclepius," a man with green eye said.

"Strife," a man in leather being held together with what looked like safety pins said.

"Hades," a man in an armored breast plate said. He was the last one to leave and he grabbed the safety pin guy on the way out. That just left Giles and the leather-clad man named Ares.

"Well," Ares said as he looked at Giles, "I'm guessing you want to know why my family and I came here to speak with you?"

"It had crossed my mind to ask, yes," Giles said. "So, may I have an answer?"

Ares sat in one of the chairs at the table in the center of the library and dropped his head into his hands.

"We need an elite group of Warriors," Ares said softly. "There is something coming, something bad and we need a group of Warriors to fight it. However, before we move on to the warriors, I need to find my Lead Warrior. My family and I watched your group. Some were discounted immediately, others after some consideration. It was finally brought down to a choice between you and young Wesley. However, Wesley is not ready for this kind of War. You are. So, I'm asking you, Giles, will you help us?"

Giles thought for a few minutes as he silently debated.

"If I do," Giles began slowly. "Will you help me?"

"What do you need my help with?" Ares asked the librarian as Giles rubbed his own temples.

"The mayor of this town wants to ascend to a demon," Giles began.

"He's already in his 100 Days and is invulnerable to anything we can do about him. I am at the end o my rope. One Slayer doesn't have the experience to handle this and the other one..."

"Yes, the Other One," Ares began. "The one who should never have been called and being called should never have been given CPR. It is set that way for a reason. They die and that’s it thanks to The Way mixing a warrior I placed as a guardian, Male or Female, by the way, at one time there were males, and then mixing them with demons so they could be made evil if The Way wanted to use them as destructive weapon. Potentials are injected with Demon cells when they are found. Merrick gave it to Buffy. Faith's Watcher did not give it to her. She was one of My Chosen. Just as you and your…mate belong to my cousin Janus, so she belonged to me. She obeyed me when I told her Not to inject Faith with those cells. That's why Faith is so against the Council and it's teachings, not being touched by the demonic cells, she is not controllable by mind."

"Dear Lord," Giles whispered. "Does Wesley know she wasn't injected?"

"Wesley was sent here to die," Ares said. "He dared say it was wrong to do this to people. Wesley is being punished. Daily by those bastard supervisors of his. However, there is one who is even now preparing to help him. You think he's Angel but he isn't. Angel is in LA getting his mate. They did not come back from hell in the same body, Rupert," Ares told him. "Dear God," Giles said, as he understood. Angelus had been helping hem. But that did explain why he was so against Buffy now. He couldn't even stand being in the same room as her.

"Giles," Ares began softly. "I really need your help here. You are the one everyone in my family, bar my nephew Strife, chose as Lead Warrior. I had not marked anyone because I had to choose impartially. You are the best for this. But I can't force you. I will help you here regardless but I could truly and sincerely use your help."

Giles thought for a few moments a he looked at the books scattered on the table and he sighed as he sifted thoughts in his head. He was needed by someone for something other than cleaning up a child's messes. He looked at Ares and then at the books and then back at Ares again. "I will help you, lord Ares," he said softly. "Where do we start?"

"You choose your team," Ares aid. "And if you want him, your mate can come too."

"Ethan," Giles whispered softly. To be with Ethan again, without the girl's nasty comments, without Xander's ridicule. Yes, he wanted that. He desperately wanted that.

"Once I make my first choices, Lord," Giles began. "If we can, I'd like Ethan."

"Then you will have him once you've settled. Are you ready to go? Do you need anything?"

"Yes, I'm ready," he told Ares. "And no, I don't need anything except to leave Faith and Tara a note."

"No need for that, G," Faith said from behind. 'You go and save the world. Call if you need us."

"Help Angelus take care of Wesley," he told her with a smile.

Faith nodded, as did the shy girl at her side, and Giles stepped into Ares' hand, which was immediately placed, on his shoulder. "Lets go start saving the world," Giles said to himself. "Again."