Welcome to AresJoxerCupidStrife

Part 1

Title: Revelations and Rebirth
Author: Stephanie M wicciangirl51@hotmail.com
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters featured in the story. The Buffy characters are property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, WB Network.
The Xena/Hercules characters belong to RenPics and whoever else owns the rights to these characters. Summary: After a terrible attack Xander sets destined events into motion. A sequel to Joxer's Revenge available in the Xena section at:
http://www.angelfire.com/freak/beyondfriendship/
Rating: NC-17. Fandom: Btvs/X:WP
Pairings: Ares/Joxer, Cupid/Strife, Xander/?

1998

Xander walked down the street warily, he knew Sunnydale wasn't safe at night but he needed to get away. His parents were at it again. If he was in the house they would find some excuse to hit him again. He couldn't handle that today of all days.

"Happy Birthday, Xander." Xander said bitterly as he approached the park intending on spending a couple of hours there until he was sure his parents had collapsed.

A man said as he appeared out of the shadows, "What's wrong, kid?"

Xander looked up at the source of the noise and smiled. He grabbed the man in a crushing hug and laughed.

"I thought you were out of town for the next couple of weeks, Auto." Xander said happily.

"I couldn't miss your birthday, could I? Here you go." Auto said handing Xander a colourful parcel.

"Thanks!" Xander said as he tore at the wrapping to find a key with his name on it.

Auto smiled, "I figured you should have your own key for my place. Now you can get away from those bastards whenever you need to."

"This is the best present *ever*! So can we continue my lessons?" Xander said fingering the key in shock. Auto was the best person in the whole world!

Xander had met the king of thieves when he was ten years old. His parents had left him in the park and Auto found him.

Auto would appear and talk to Xander every week. Xander was shocked when the man offered him a place to stay whenever he wanted. Auto tended all the injuries inflicted upon Xander by his parents without question. When he was fourteen Xander realised that Auto hadn't aged, he had asked why. To his shock Auto had declared he was a Greek immortal Autolycus King of Thieves.

Auto had explained he was immortal because a friend had given him a golden apple. It had been a little hard to believe but after Auto had cut his wrists only for it to heal, Xander figured out it was the truth.

Auto grinned, "Sure. You're going to be the best thief in the world apart from me."

"Of course (!) How could I compare to the King of Thieves?" Xander rolled his eyes used to his friend's ego.

Not wanting to upset the younger man Auto said quickly, "You can be the Prince of Thieves. What do you say, Xan?"

Xander nodded, "I think it's great! Can we go to your place now?"

"Sure. Did I ever tell you about the time I rescued Xena?" Autolycus said as they walked down the street, one arm around the teen's shoulder.

*Present*

Xander Harris groaned as he stood up, dizziness flooding his head. He briefly wondered just where he was. With a shrug he dismissed the thought, it didn't matter. Nothing mattered. Three days ago he had been attacked and raped.

The worst part was that no one had listened to Xander when he tried to talk about it. He had even gone to the police only to be told that he should drop the charge if he knew what was good for him. It turned out that his rapist was the son of the police Chief, meaning that there would be no justice for him. Xander looked up at the sky praying to someone, anyone to help bring his rapist to justice.

There was a flash of light and a man appeared.

"Fuck! I've messed up, again!" Xander said with a resigned shrug. It wouldn't be the first time that had happened. Just ask anyone; he was the king of fuck-ups.

The stranger grinned, "I wouldn't say that. What happened?"

Xander found himself telling the truth, "I was raped and there's no chance of the man being punished."

"That might have been true, but not anymore. Now I'm here to make him pay!"

Xander sneered, "I wish! Who are you?"

"Jett, the God of Justice." The man replied with a smirk.

Xander held out a hand, "Nice to meet you, man. I'm Alexander Harris but people call me Xander."

"Why aren't you doing the whole trembling at my feet in fear deal?" Jett asked shaking the man's hand and thinking to himself that he kind of liked this mortal.

Xander laughed lowly, "Sorry (!) I live on the Hellmouth, things like this are an everyday occurrence. Well, they are for me, anyway."

Jett said hesitantly, "Want to come with me? We can plan what we're going to do to this man, and you tell me a little about yourself."

"You're not going to kill me or use me in some weird ritual, are you?" Xander said with a twisted smile.

Jett smirked, "Nah. Want to come back to my home?"

"Okay. Where is home?" Xander said knowing he could trust the man. Auto had said Jett was an okay guy providing you didn't hurt his mom or his brothers. Family was important to the god it appeared, something Xander couldn't understand. His blood family only hurt him. Auto was the closest thing he had to real family.

"Olympus but it might be a bit much for you. Anywhere in particular you want to go?"

Xander looked at the floor, "Erm�not really. I'm kind of avoiding everyone. They didn't listen when I told them I was raped. Buffy said I was making it up!"

Jett's eyes flashed, "They what! I'll take you back to my place. It's a bit of a mess though. I haven't been there in thousands of years."

"You don't have to. I can go back. It's not like anyone will notice me," Xander said with a sigh.

`Someone really did a number on this guy's self esteem,' Jett thought to himself as he gently placed his hand on Xander's arm and the pair disappeared in a flash of light.

In her home, Gaia smiled as she watched what was happening. The time of rebirth was at hand, or it would be if the pair passed the next stage in the test. She only hoped that they were strong enough otherwise the Gods would never be reborn.

"Did you see a doctor after you were attacked?" Jett asked as he waved his hand and tided up the room.

Xander shock his head, "No. I taped my ribs so I should be fine. I don't think anything was ruptured so I'm okay."

"Are you some sort of healer?" Jett asked wanting to find out about this mortal.

Xander said bitterly, "Me? No, I'm the idiot, the nobody. I just have a lot of practice with getting hurt."

"Who told you that?" Jett asked gently not wanting to scare his follower.

"Everybody. My friends, family, you name it."

Jett said seriously, "You're important. I happen to know that you might be The Child."

"The Child?" Xander asked nervously.

Jett said patiently, "The one person who can bring back the Greek Gods, my family."

"Oh yeah, I remember what Auto said about the Greeks. How am I supposed to bring them back?"

Jett shrugged, "No idea. We can check out The Fates' place later. You see, everyone thought the Greek Gods had died but we just went to sleep."

Xander said quickly, "And you're waiting to be woken up. Kinda like sleeping beauty, huh? I didn't mean that you were waiting for your true love or anything. I just meant that it's like a fairytale, not that I'm making fun of you. I'm babbling, sorry."

Jett grinned used to the babbling because Joxer was the same sometimes. He said smiling, "Calm down, Xan!"

He continued calmly, "I doubt all of us survived, only the Gods who are something people still feel or believe in would survived. You can stay here while I go and finish a little business. Feel free to look around. Everyone is asleep but don't worry about it."

"Thanks. Don't worry I won't break anything," Xander said with a twisted grin.

"I'm not worried about that. Be careful, I don't know if there's anything dangerous around." Jett said smiling. It occurred to him that he had smiled more in the last twenty minutes with Xander than he had done throughout his life.

Xander said seconds before the god flashed out the room, "I might just lie around here for a while."

*******

"Grandmother, are you here?" Jett shouted as he flashed into the room.

Gaia smiled, "Of course. Did you have a nice sleep, Jett?"

"It was fine. Do you know anything about the mortal who woke me up?"

The woman smiled sadly, "Xander is a nice boy. I placed him with the Harris family."

"What do you mean placed him?" Jett asked arching an eyebrow at her.

"I'll show you, sit down." Gaia commanded fashioning two chairs she concentrated on a nearby mirror, which showed images from Xander's hidden past.

*Flashback*

Gaia smiled at the woman looking at her, "Child, thank you. I know how difficult this is for you."

"I do as my Lady commands. Will my baby be okay?" Marie Lavelle smiled sadly as she gave the Earth Goddess her child.

"He will be fine. He is special, this one. What would you like to name him?"

Marie said wisely, "Alexander after the warrior. I can tell he has a warrior's spirit."

"He does indeed. I thank you for your sacrifice and promise to protect him," Gaia said as she vanished from the room.

"This will be your new home, Alexander. I know they are dark here but you have enough light to survive." Gaia said as she replaced the dead baby in the cot with the child in her arms.

Gaia sighed as she appeared outside the house. She cried bitter tears anticipating just what life would be like for the boy now known as Alexander Lavelle Harris. The boy would have a lot of pain in his life, all because of his destiny.

Gaia said looking at the man beside her, "Auto, protect this child. If anything happens to him then we are all doomed."

"Don't worry. I'll make sure he is safe!" Auto vowed, causing the goddess to look at him searchingly before nodding.

"Be brave child. You will survive, I'll make sure of that." Gaia said as she flashed out of the road

*End Flashback*

As the image faded Jett snarled, "Oh, you did a great job of protecting him (?) He was raped and no one listened when he told them."

Gaia smiled sorrowfully, "All we could do was protect him, not influence his choices. He had to experience the rape so that he could wake you. I'm sorry."

"So I've got to tell him he was raped to wake me up? You're a fucking cold-hearted bitch sometimes!" Jett shouted blasting a nearby chair.

"I'm sorry but it was his destiny." Gaia said understanding how Jett felt. She felt the same but there was nothing she could do about what had happened.

"That's not good enough. I'm going to go and take care of Xan. If we need you, we'll let you know." Jett snarled flashing out the room angrily.

*******

There was a flash of light as the god appeared in his Olympus temple. He smiled when he saw Xander was busy looking through some of his weapons. To his surprise Xander didn't seem disgusted or scared by all the violent weapons just curious.

"Hi. What's wrong?" Xander said as he looked up to find Jett scowling.

Jett said with a quick grin, "Nothing. Feel like going out and killing something? It always makes me feel better."

"Sure but you may end up rescuing me. I tend to get in trouble a lot." Xander said with a sigh.

Jett said reassuringly, "You'll be okay. I won't let anyone hurt you."

Xander said nervously, "Can we see Auto? I'm sure he would like to see you. You are his family."

Jett nodded, putting one hand around Xander's waist and the pair disappeared.

tbc