The twilight was upon them, they were all starting to fall into the sleep, when a piercing cry echoed out. A baby's scream, a baby that was alone out there, somewhere, lost and abandoned. And it was screaming for someone, one of them. A flash of light from the temple of War and someone was gone from the mountain, saved from the sleep, the cry woke them all, reminded them that if they were not there, who would care for the ones who were abandoned? They all fought, pushing away the sleep, the lethargy, finding reserves in themselves to stay awake.
Ares?" Zeus, the King, asked as the War God returned, carrying in his arms a baby boy who had his dark hair and eyes, his Greek complexion, his face and smile but the Fool's genes were part of him, too. The fool who had caused all of this.
"There were two," Ares whispered, cradling the child. “They took the one like the fool, they left the one like me to die of exposure. Pol? Could you . . ."
"Give him here, Ar," Apollo said, gently. Ares handed the baby over and Apollo's hands glowed with the warmth of the sun. The baby stopped crying then.
"What's his name?" Aphrodite asked.
'They did not give him one," Ares answered, "The other they named Alexander, a great warrior's name for a Fool's child."
"Damn them and all their line then," Apollo cursed, "Then you must name this child, Ares. You must give him a name that's all his own, not one that belongs to anyone else."
"I promsied Isis once," Ares began, "I promiesd her that if I were to have a child that was not by one of the others of the Pantheon I would name that child for desert that forged me."
"Name him then, Ares," Hades whispered, "Name the child of our hope."
"Arderth," Ares whispered, lifting the boy to the sun, "My son, Ardeth."
The baby smiled down at them, then.
"Where will you raise him?" Zeus asked.
"The desert he is named for," Ares said, "He will be a great protector and king, he will be what the other was named for but he will be greater. He will be Himself, not trying to live up to a name or down to a person."
"May we come see him?" Hades asked.
"Of course, Father," Ares spoke, "He will need to know who he is. Who his family are."
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Years passed and the two boys grew.
Ardeth grew to be a king. Noble, strong, honorable. Compassionate, caring, loving, brave. Raised to fight evils so great that no other organization could handle them, no matter how much training their minions had.
Alexander grew into a young man, yonger than Ardeth by Ares will, prejudiced by his father’s selfhatred, Joxer drank himself into a stupor. Why? He never accepted why but if one looked one knew it was guilt. His guilt about what he'd le Gabby convince him to do ae t him every day. He drank himself to sleep at night, not heairng Xander, his sweet Xander, crying from his mother . . . Gabby's . . . blows. He didn't want to hear because he w sanagry. Angey at himself and angry at the son he'd kept. There w asno reosan for the second one but he thought since the other baby had probably been lost to the elements or omesthing why should Xander have an easy time?
"What kind of a father are you?" a voice whispered in his mind, "You failed one son so you'll turn your back on the other? What in the name of the Gods you once worshipped are you thinking? They'd never do this. You wretched, cowardly, cur! Get up and make her stop. Protect your son and be the man you claimed you were."
He did, oddly enough, struggling to his feet and throwing the bottle of rot-gut poison away. Oh, how he remebred Ares once telling him how Apollo had bitche dout one of hisown preiests for overindulging in this shit.
"Gabrielle!" he bellowed, grabbing her arm before she and Herc could throw one more thing at Xander, "Get the hell out. Both of you!"
"J-joxer?" Gabby asked, shocked. Damnit, her spells had worn off. And he looked way to angry at her to let her put them back on.
"I sacrificed one son on your words, bitch," he hissed, "And that choice has eaten me alive every day since. I will not let you destroy the other one. Take him and get out of my home. I have a lot of thinking to do that you are not going to be around to influence me on this time. I won’t let you do to him what you made me do to Ardeth."
"I thought you didn't name him," she sneered.
"He didn't," a drak vice spoke from the doorway, "I did."
"Ares," the blond gasped in her very poor attempt at fearful awed tone.
"Bitch," Ares greeted her, "Hello Joxer. I see you finally craweld out of that bottle you've been hiding in."
"It was your voice!" Joxer realized, "You spoke to me a minute ago!"
"No," Ares told him, "I didn't. Your own voice came through finally with a little help from your other son."
"He's really alive?" Joxer asked.
"He is," Ares told him, "Ardeth Bey. I brought him with me but he wasn't ready to see you yet. He spends a great deal of time with his 'Daddy Pol' when he's not busy being King of the Medjai or fighting the followers of Imhotep."
"What did Ardeth say when he made my inner voice loud enough for me to hear?" Joxer asked.
"He said," Ares began, "'I love you this much'." And Ares demonstrated by opening his arms wide as if he were hugging the world.
"How could he love me?" Joxer asked.
"Pol and I raised him," Ares told Joxer, "We did not raise him to hate. Ardeth has your singing voice, only he sings a bit more . . . sanely, He has your heart, as it was before you listened to her He has your compassion but unfortuatnely he has my sense of duty and my unforgiving nature when it comes to what he 'must' do. He will not compromise his principles, he will not sacrifice any if he can help it. He's the two of us, Joxer. Just like Alexander is, I'd wager."
"I don't see you in Xander," Joxer whispered with self loathing, "I only see the fool I let Gabby treat me as. I blinded Xander with hatred, made him think it was all right to hate, to be nasty to people ebcuase they teased him or had things he didn't, I raise dhim to think it was all right to lash out at people ebcuase the world isn't fair. I made out son a monster, Ares."
"Did you?" Ares asked, looking at the boy who had gotten to his feet, "I think you've done better than you know. He gets up when others would stay down much like you, He is loyal to his friends, like you, but I'm afraid he had my snap judgement and emper only he;s mortal, he enevr had ambrosia or was taght to be a God and to see things as a God sees them. That makes his snap judgments wrong. A God can read a soul, Jox, a mortal, half God or not, cannot. But he can learn, if he wishes too."
"How did I know Ardeth's name?" Joxer asked.
"He told you," Ares answered, "Come on, both of you, you have a family member to meet."
"What's he like, sir?" Xander asked, speaking to Ares.
"Quite a bit differetn than you," Ares told him, but not unkindly, "Aredth is a warrior rasied and trained, he is Medjai, their King and Leader. He is Desert forged in a place where there are no luxuries and you don't have the option of hating people who are on your side because you need them all to help in times of need. Ardeth is . . . he was . . . you have to meet him to see. He is a contardiction, much as you are, Xander. I think you two will be able to help each other far more than your father and I can."
Xander nodded and he and his dad followed Ares out of the house and down the street to a houes much like his but better kept. There were two men standing outside talking. One was blond, the other was Arabic but Xander knew, without even thinking about it, that the Arab was his brother. Even if he did look older than he was.
"Hi," Joxer began tentively.
"Hello," the Arab said, "You would be Joxer, correct?"
"Yeah," Joxer said, "I am. And you'd be Ardeth, right? Because that's Apollo so I know he's not my other son."
"Yes," Ardeth spoke, "My name is Ardeth, Joxer. Ardeth Bey. And that would be Xander, correct? My big twin/younger brother?"
"Yeah," Xander spoke up, "I am. It's nice to meet you."
"You as well," Ardeth inclined his head, "Shall we go in, fahters?"
"Yes," Ares spoke, catching Apollo's arm, "Uh-uh, you helped raise him, you are just as much his parent as Jox or I am. Get your butt in that house, Sunshine."
"I hate it when you call me that," Apollo growled. But he followed Ares in and Joxer shook his head, amused. It took two Gods to raise the other cild. He wondered what that would mean for him and Xander.
"Do you think he's the hell riaser thse tattoos make it look like he is?" Xander asked him.
"Probably," Joxer answered, "But I bet he needs a really good reason to raise that hell."
"Let's hope we don't give him one," Xander remarked.
"Indeed," Joxer mused, "We could alwys get lucky though, the Mayor could give him that reason."
"Cool!" Xander exclaimed.
"That is, if your father and, I guess, Step-Father there don't decide to save us all the trouble of dealing with him."