Happy New Year! I'm sorry it's been so long! A lot has happened - I was nearly hospitalized twice, alot of baby deaths, one great grandparent death, three new pregnancies, twenty orchestra concerts, Tang So Do belt testing, sickness, insanity and a whole lot of other stuff... - which resaulted in my being unable to even see my computer for a bit and everytime I'd try to type up a new chapter, something came up to prevent me. And supposedly this semester is going to be much, much worse added to the fact that I'm getting ready to graduate and I'm doing stuff so I can get into college.

So be prepared for a lot of inconsistant updating - since I won't know when I'll have the free time to type - but I'll try my best to update as often as possible since I really love this plot.

Thank's for being patient and onto the story! Also: please note that I'm American and don't really know anything about how people in Britain speak besides what I've read from other fanfictions...

BTW: DISCLAIMER! Don't sue me... I've enough on my palte without another lawsuit - don't ask...

It took Abraxas a whole half hour to find his way back to town and it took him another ten minutes to find the blacksmiths… without getting caught by the stray wolves that is, otherwise he'd have been there a lot sooner. After he entered he went straight to the blacksmith who he was on pretty good terms with and asked if Aarya had showed up yet and he was ushered into a back room where the only light was from multiple candles and a forging station.

"Oh, thank goodness," she squealed before giving him a rib cracking hug. "I didn't think you'd make it!"

"It's fine, Rya," Abraxas smiled gently down at the small girl. "I'm just glad that you're okay."

"Oh, I forgot! Ares, come here and meet Abraxas."

Abraxas just looked at the smaller female angel and shoot his head sadly. "I thought we were running away from the wolves, not collecting them."

"Oh, shush you," Aarya smacked him on the back of his head as he just chuckled. She smiled at the sound; happy in turn because she could see a spark in his eye's that hadn't been present the first time they'd met. "Now say hi to Ares."

"Hello, I'm Abraxas," Abraxas smiled and waved at the gigantic shadow lurking behind Aarya.

The figure took a step out of the shadows and into the light spread about the room from the fireplace. As he got closer, Abraxas had to tilt his head farther and farther back in an attempt to see the giants face and what he saw was not exactly what he's expected either…

While Abraxas had been expecting some type of ogre or giant, he was definitely not expecting what looked to be some sort of overgrown… he didn't really know what it was called actually… Ares looked sort of like he had some ogre blood and some giant blood in him but that wasn't all. He had one eye in the center of his face, above his nose, and above that there looked to be another eye but it looked rather painted or tattooed instead of being an actual eye. Underneath Ares' cloak but not completely hidden were not two but four arms, all well-muscled.

After taking all of this in, and noticing that Ares wore only thin and broken sandals that barely fit his feet, Abraxas didn't know whether to curl up in a corner and hide or stand his ground and wait to get stomped… despite being taller than he normally would have been, he was still puny compared to this giant; seriously, he was huge!

"Uh…"

"So this is Abraxas?" a deep voice rumbled out of the unknown creature. "He seems kinda scared to me…"

"What- oh! Sorry, Abraxas. I forgot to warn you, Ares is a Cyclops," Aarya blushed at her forgetfulness. "He's harmless, really. They do tend to be friendlier than their Ogre and Giant cousins."

"Yeah… He looks like a bog cuddle bug, no offense Ares…"

"None taken…"

"Yeah, well… You'll just have to take my word for it…" Aarya glared at them before her eyes glazed over and she started going more in depth about the Cyclopean race. "Did you know that the Cyclopes were the slaves of the Greek Gods? They used to make all of the Gods' weapons and armor. Also because of their amazing levels of strength they make amazing warriors and the like…"

The Cyclops and the Fallen just looked at each other before rolling their eyes and started slowly backing out the door Abraxas entered through, hoping that the angel didn't notice…

"Blimy, can she talk!" Ares exclaimed once they were away from Aarya but still in the Blacksmiths. "And in here she has even more reason to show off her brains. Boy, do I fear who she marries one day."

"She's not all bad really," Abraxas defended. "She just likes to share what she knows… often…"

Ares snorted, "Sure. So what do we do now? Wait for her to realize we're gone and get hammered or go and do something fun?"

Abraxas thought about it for a moment. Ares seemed very fun, not at all like how he looked. "I think I'll wait for Aarya; she knows better how to deal with the wolves…"

"Wolves?"

"Uh… I meant girls…" Abraxas blushed, embarrassed. Ares just snorted.

"If only I had your problem," he said in a woe's-me voice. "I have the exact opposite problem, ya know… No girl worth her gal-pounds would be caught with the likes of me. I'm just way too scary for them… Though I do suppose that being chased by flocks of them suck as well…"

"Yeah…" Abraxas sulked. He still wanted to visit the towns Auction House to put some of his spoils that he thought other people would like to buy up for sale.

"Girls don't even come within five meters of me; it's horrible! A few even faint when they catch sight of me and I know it's not because of my dashing good looks. I… wait a moment… That's it!"

"Huh?" Abraxas' head snapped up at the Cyclops' exclamation. "What's it?"

"Well, you an' Aarya want girls to leave you alone right?"

"And guys, in Aarya's case…" Abraxas pointed out.

"Well if all three of us make a group together, you two won't have to worry about them," Ares pointed out. "They'd be too afraid of me."

"That's brilliant! Now we just have to run it by Aarya but I know she'll agree. She hates the wolves- I mean fan peoples almost as much as I do; if not more," Abraxas clapped his hands together excitedly."

"What are you two going on about?" a feminine voice coldly asked from behind them. Turning around they saw their favorite little angel of death standing behind them glaring daggers through them.

"Uh-um… A-Ares found a w-way to get the wol-fans to s-s-stop chasing us…" Abraxas stuttered. It was like Uncle Vernon when he came home drunk after a foul day at work… He wasn't afraid to admit that he was scared of someone half his size because one of Dudley's friends was nearly half his size but weighted about twice as much. Boy, did he pack a punch that one… He also learned at a young age not to discriminate against woman… he did the same work they did and saw what his Aunt Petunia could do when angry…

"Well," she snapped, "tell me, then, what your oh so brilliant plan is, hmm."

"Well, I thought that since girls can't stand being within five meters of me," Ares said in a 'slightly' nervous voice, "that if you guys teamed up with me, they wouldn't go near you either…"

Aarya just glared at them harder while she thought through the merits and misdemeanors of Ares' plan. She had to admit, for being a giant buffoon, his plan had way more merits than misdemeanors. Eventually she gave in. "Okay then, let's go see just how well this plan of yours works. Anywhere you guys need to go? We can test the theory as we go."

"Nope, got it all done before I fished you out of the pond," Ares said cheerfully, earning him a stern look from Aarya and a curious one from Abraxas.

"Well I have nowhere else to go but to go level," Aarya announced before turning to Abraxas. "And you?"

"Well…" he hesitated before Aarya glared at him to spit it out. "I would really like to go to the Auction House and put some items up for sale."

"Really?" Aarya asked, the last bit of her vicious demeanor fading with curiosity. "What are you planning to put up?"

"Well, I found this egg on a slime and I didn't really want it," Abraxas said quietly. "If either of you want it, you can have it."

"A slime?" Aarya asked in shock. "I didn't know slimes could drop eggs… Hmm, I'll have to speak to…"

She trailed of and her eyebrows scrunched together as she thought. Ares just looked from her to Abraxas before saying that he did not want the eggs and he should put it up on the Auction House if he thought it best; it was his egg after all.

An hour later, after testing that Ares' theory was indeed correct – no wolves had dared to enter that five meter radius while Ares was with them - and Abraxas made some gold - which he offered to share with Ares once he caught Ares' appreciative glance at said gold; Ares declined saying that it was Abraxas' money to do with as he wished to – it was time for the trio to get off for the night, day, whatever it was considered. A feeling of dread entered Abraxas as he said goodbye to his new friends. He couldn't help but feel like this happiness was going to end soon and he didn't want to let it go.

So... Please don't kill me! I at least want to get my high school deploma and get a doctorite in both med and law before you kill me so please wait a couple years. I wanted to get this next part out so that you guys could meet Ares (I love that name so much... Unfortunatly with all the pregnancies and my grandfather pushing for more great grandchildren I've been thinking of baby names... It doesn't help that I finally found a decent guy I'd be willing to have kids with - we can just flirt back and forth for hours and I love his Dad, great guy to talk to...) and set it up for what I have planned for the next couple chapters.

Does anyone hasit a guess at who Ares might be?

So until next time... wish me luck... I've like five stacks of nothing but orchestra music added to the piano music added to the homework added to the job interviews (mom wants me to get yet ANOTHER job... as if I don't work in the daycare, do secretary work for Dad nearly everyday, or work at the church constantly...) and all the other stuff. *shudders* So yeah... Good luck with the new year and Woot! we're not dead yet.

Word count: 1'500 words (sorry it's so short...)