Chapter 10 – Partners of War

Every possible thought was passing through Xander's mind right now. Pain. Anger. Hatred. Fear.

He feared himself, because he wanted to Kill with Extreme Prejudice the small slip of a girl standing right in front of him. Dawn Summers, the reincarnation, possessed being, whatever... from the greatest murderer this Universe had ever known.

Worse of it, he used to love the girl like the small sister he had never had.

"I have to leave. Let's go, Ares." Xander stood up, going straight to the door. His voice was dead flat.

"Heir, wait... You have..." Dawn started to speak.

"DON'T ...talk to me! I HAVE to leave. NOW!" He went out, the husky following obediently behind. The door banged, almost flying away from its hinges.

Dawn looked at Willow, who had a terrified and frozen face. She just couldn't believe in all of that.

"I thought that this could happen." She said, sitting in another chair, leaving the sofa to the wiccan.

Willow's mind came out of the loop it had formed, and she whispered.

"Then why did you tell us? You could have acted like before, and we wouldn't have asked."

"The lack of truth was what caused the problem first. I couldn't have any more of that. So, I had to tell, even if it caused what it did. But Xander left before I could speak the most important thing."

"What is it?" Willow asked, drying her tears in her blouse's arm.

"Why am I here. And why you both are."

"So?"

"Later after the destruction ..."

Xander needed to vent the rage. So, he went to the only place where he wouldn't be disturbed, the scrap yard.

"You know, Ares, I've never felt so betrayed. Not even by Buffy, when she hid DeadBoy from us. Thank God we solved that fuck up." He spoke to the dog, who was, apparently, listening intently.

Of course, when Xander remembered Angel, he most surely remembered Cordelia. Damn, he missed her, but he really couldn't find a fault in her wanting to live this Hellmouth of a town. And the job offer she had would most certainly work for her. He still remembered the 'now you're famous, you gonna forget your friends' speech he gave her when she departed. And the long kiss goodbye.

He unconsciously passed his hand in his lips, trying to recall the sensation. But he had some sort of revelation, that night, in his bed. "Thank you, Cordelia Chase. It was wonderful while it lasted." he spoke to the air.

They arrived in the scrap yard. Xander looked around, he wanted to break something. He could always transform, it would...

No, the power was to be treated with respect. So, he kept the sword stored.

"Sit, boy." He motioned for the dog, which sat a few feet from him.

Xander grabbed a four foot long steel tube he found lying on the ground. And he proceeded into beating the defenseless carcasses into oblivion. In each strike he saw a different face: his own, Dawn, his father, Angelus, the Master, Skeletor, Evil-Lyn. He actually stopped to think about it: was it too stupid to try and extract revenge from a cartoon face? Ahhh, to heck with it. And he kept on beating.

It took the best part of an hour. In the end, he almost couldn't lift his arms, and the tube was a little flattened from the impacts. And he was crying like a waterfall.

He sat on the ground, Ares finally approaching him.

"Is God mocking me, Ares? Did I do something so terrible in the other life that I have to pay in this one? Or I'm just number one in the bad karma list?" Xander spoke into the dog's ears.

The Siberian animal answered with a too human headshake.

Xander leaned back into a carcass, and in moments he was asleep. Ares stood guarding him.

A couple of hours later, Xander woke up, his back hurting from the position. It was night already, but by the sky color, it was probably soon after sunset. He was still angry, but he was mostly frustrated. He needed to do something. He gave Ares a good look, and he grinned.

"Hey, buddy, wanna test that theory?" He asked the dog, who had his head perched onto his thigh. The husky stood up, looked him in the eyes, and walked a few meters away, standing stock still.

"Ready?"

The animal shook his ears, as if responding. Xander grabbed his sword, raising it sky high.

"BY THE POWER OF GRAYSKULL!"

He had seen the cartoon so many times he believed he could draw the entire sequence without looking. But, as amazing as it was, it was pale compared to the real deal. While the clouds formed above his head, Xander felt as if a truckload of ants began walking over his skin, or as if he was suffering a static electricity storm.

Then the felling suddenly rushed up, traveling up his sword. Then the mystical thunderbolt hit.

The feeling was as if someone suddenly traded his blood by hot lava and liquid oxygen, too hot and too cold at the same time, but without being painful. And every nerve over and under his skin went into overdrive at the same time. He could feel the smallest amount of wind passing over his skin. The mystic power then started acting upon him, and he felt everything grow, his bones, his muscles, his skin, his hair. His senses became more acute, and his mind was suddenly overwhelmed with knowledge. It was the greatest drugs' high, without the drugs. When the 'high' was at its apex, Xander, or better, He-Man, held the sword parallel to the ground with both hands, as some sort of grounding experience.

"I HAVE THE POWER!"

It was really funny, he had the power. But the power didn't have him. Curious.

Well, Ares hadn't run yet. So it was time for He-Man's small test. He pointed the Sword of Power to the dog.

For a microsecond, nothing happened. Then, a mystic bolt flew from the sword's tip, hitting the husky. He-Man's eyes were transfixed, this was too good to miss.

Ares was enveloped in the bolt, and he began to grow. And while he was growing, several things happened at the same time. His fur darkened and it became pitch black. His eyes lost the beautiful blue color, becoming a glowing yellow. His snout grew and thinned, gaining a more savage look, while his ears became longer and more pointed. His entire musculature grew with him, and he went from normal size to bigger than horse size. His claws seemed to be able to tear a man in half with a single strike. When he finished growing, suddenly a silvery armor appeared from nowhere, protecting his head, torso, front and back paws. And the part in his back had a saddle in it. When the transformation ended, in the place of a common dog stood a giant, armored black wolf. It looked to the sky and howled. It was a terrifying sound, heard into all town.

"Holy Mother of God." He-Man murmured. He sensed something in his head. It was not a thought, more like a feeling... a feeling of... happiness. "Ares, that you?"

More of the feeling. If He-Man could describe it, he could swear that the wolf was laughing.

The beast approached, and in an almost casual act, he licked He-Man's hand. "So, It's you." He patted the wolf's armored head "You know, I have to give you a name. Ares is a dead give-away into secrecy."

He-Man thought it over for a second. "I thought about Battle Dog, even Battle Pooch..." The wolf growled, the Heir grinned "... but I remembered that Ares is the God of War in Greek Mythology. What about... WarWolf?"

More of the happiness feeling. This sort of empathy communication would be useful.

"So, WarWolf it is. About that promise, want to go hunting?"

WarWolf howled again. The vamps wouldn't stand a chance.

He-Man jumped in the armored saddle. "Let's go, WarWolf!"

The wolf ran a few meters, and jumped into the air. His mystically powered muscles carried him outside the scrap yard in a single bound.

In the great scheme of things, while WarWolf and He-Man were going to their destinations, nobody noticed the arrival of a very important person into Sunnydale Bus Stop. She walked out of the bus, carrying only a duffle bag, and went looking for a place to sleep.

- To be continued -