Series:22 for 22
Title: Works in Mysterious Ways
Author: Jmaria
Rating: FR-15
Disclaimer: Joss owns Dawn, Bruckheimer & Fuqua own Dagonet, and CBS owns Joan. God owns her/him self. I own nothing, save the plot.
Fandom(s): Buffy the Vampire Slayer/King Arthur/Joan of Arcadia
Character(s): Dagonet, Dawn, God, Joan
Spoilers: Season Seven of Buffy, Season Two of Joan, and King Arthur
Summary: God wants her to help a few kindred souls and learn about sacrifice. Slight Sarmatian Ladies connection, as in it might be used again in SL.
Words: 608
General A/N: In the same spirit as 21 for 21, I present 22 for 22, fics requested by my lj readers. Various fandoms, characters and crossings contained within, all between 100 - 1000 words long
A/N: So, this started off two different ways and changed about three. I liked this idea best, but might use the others at a later time.
Dedication:To fufumira , who requested the characters and the quote.

Twenty-Two for Twenty-Two

Works in Mysterious Ways

Arcadia, Maryland

All I wanted was a white knight
With a good heart, soft touch, fast horse

~ This Kiss, Faith Hill

Joan could barely believe what she was hearing. She stared at the Cute God who'd first approached her over two years ago in disbelief. Was God for real? She was supposed to sign up for the Exchange student program and go to England for six months?

"Yes, Joan, I'm for real," God smirked at her annoyingly.
"You want me to get out of the country - for what?"
"Do as I ask, Joan."
"Yeah, because the last two years haven't been crazy enough. And what about Ryan? Aren't I supposed to be watching out for him?"
"Joan, I'm asking you to broaden your horizons. Think of it as a vacation, Joan. A reprieve from all of the drama in your life."

"Oh, so God's resorted to bribes now, hmm?" Joan muttered as God walked away, giving her a little wave as he left. "I am so over the wave!"

"Is Adam going?" Helen Giaradi asked, frowning as her daughter packed for her first overseas trip. "Or Grace?"
"No," Joan sighed. "I just wanna go to England, Mom. Something new and - something new."
"I thought all the new things were going to stop..."

"Mom! Everybody goes to Europe in their senior year. It's not that weird, okay?" Joan groaned, slamming the lid closed on her suitcase. "Its just a normal trip"

South of Hadrians Wall, England
Two Weeks Later

Joan had rolled out of bed begrudgingly. She didn't want to go see some bizarre fifth century monument to some dead knight. But her host family had insisted it was a sight not to be missed. It was half of a worn-down sword with a metal ring tied to it. She wasn't finding it all that impressive or awe-inspiring.

"Its not the sword that people find so impressive, Joan," an elderly man - or a version of God said to her.

"Let me guess, it was his undying devotion and faith in you?" Joan sighed.

"Sir Dagonet of Sarmatia didn't believe in me, much like you didn't at first. He was a pagan, who sacrificed himself to help save hundreds of people from being massacred by the invading Saxons. He was enlisted at the age of nine to become a soldier. He was ten when he first killed a man. He had a deep loyalty to his leader and friends."

"How did he die?" Joan asked, losing a bit of her previous annoyance with him.

"He tried to break the ice, to open a gap between his group and a legion of Saxons warriors. For love."

"He did it for love?" Joan asked, sniffling a little. It seemed like this knight had lived an awful life. "For who?"

"For his friends, for a child, for her," God nodded at a young woman a few years older than Joan, heavily pregnant and staring wistfully out at the churning water. A tall man, who looked like he'd seen plenty of wars himself stood behind her protectively.

"Her? How could he die for her? She -"

"Love, like every force in nature, knows no bounds or restrictions, Joan."

"Are you telling me love made him die for a woman fifteen hundred years in the future? That she's somehow connected to him?"

"Everything's connected, Joan."

Joan watched as the woman brushed a tear from her cheek, and how the man kissed her fingers. God brushed a tear from his own cheek, and Joan frowned at him.

"I'm a sucker for romance," he sighed. "You should introduce yourself, Joan."

"To them?"

"Yes, to them. Get to know the nature of sacrifice."

"Why? Am I gonna have to sacrifice myself? Didn't I already learn this?"

"We never stop learning, Joan."