She looked over the assembled men with a small smile. Her best soldiers, handpicked for the mission to capture one of the blue hostiles supposed friends. Maggie Walsh had read through the profiles carefully, had made her choice based on the facts she knew.

Rupert Giles, British citizen, ex-libarian of Sunnydale Highschool, previously curator in the British Museum of London and fatherfigure to several of the ex-students.

Willow Rosenberg, American citizen, previously top student of Sunnydale Highschool, now student of psychology at the University of Sunnydale, described as shy and friendly.

Buffy Summers, American citizen, previously student of Sunnydale Highschool, like Rosenberg now student of psychology at the University of Sunnydale. She had a history of damaging schoolgoods, even burning down a gym-hall in her old highschool and one time she had been suspect of the murder of a girl named Kendra. The charges had been dropped quickly, but still didn't strike Walsh as a model citizen.

Daniel Osbourne, American citizen, previously student of Sunnydale Highschool, previously student at the University of Sunnydale, now moved to an unknown place.

Alexander Harris, American citizen, previously student of Sunnydale Highschool, now missing, presumed dead.

From the descriptions and personality-profiles, Walsh had singled out Willow Rosenberg. She had not many friends, her parents weren't home very often and she was easy to overwhelm.

She had instructed the team not to harm her, she needed her healthy or there was the risk that the blue hostile could went berserk. No, better have her healthy and under her control, that would be the key to control her future star weapon.

***

Cordelia was upset, really upset. She'd thought Xander was safe, as safe as one could be as a friend of the slayer, but now her ex-boyfriend was curled into himself, shaking and making small noises and obviously neither safe nor ok or even human anymore. And it was all Angel's fault. Not that Xander wasn't human anymore, no, but that she had nearly had a heart-attack when she'd seen him, that she hadn't been warned about the wards and his obvious nightmares. Both of them could have been spared this situation and it was all Angel's fault! Oh, he would pay for it later, literally! Her face lit up with all the possibilities of that extra money.

It was then, that a weird bluish flash appeared in front of her and the others, only to reform into the shape of the leather wearing man from her last vision.

***

Ares looked at the scene before him and frowned. That didn't looked so good. Xander was caught in a deep shock, the seer Cordelia was truly angry and Angel was feeling helpless because he didn't know how to help Xander. And right now both of them were looking straight at him, confused and angry, not a very good combination.

"Who are you?" The seer's question was short and clipped and he couldn't shake the feeling that she really wanted to vent some pent up frustrations at him.

"I have many names. Personally I prefer Ares," he shrugged, "maybe I'm a bit sentimental here, but I really liked the old Greeks. They had a certain flair while worshipping me. The Romans called me Mars, but most people these days only know the candy, although having a planet named after you is a nice touch." He smiled wolfishly at the young woman, who, regretfully, wasn't impressed at all.

"So. What do you want here?" She snapped at him.

Ares pointed at the rocking frame of Xander. "I'm here because of him."

In the next moment, the seer was tightly warped around Xander's body, her eyes promising death, should he dare to step closer and he vampire's position had shifted into attack-mode.

Ares sighed and rubbed his temples. "I'm not here to take him away from you. If I was, he would have been already gone. No, as strange as this might sound, I'm here to help you." He waved his hand and then settled down in the comfortable chair that had appeared. "Alexander is to be protected under any circumstances. No matter who attacks him or why or how, he has to survive or everything is doomed. And I mean *everything*! He is the nexus point in a battle between light and dark that was already ancient when this world came to be. This conflict has birthed the light warriors, the dark warriors and him. He is, or will be, natural balance. He is the Chaos Child, the one that will safe us all."

***

In a labroom, deeply buried in the complex of the Initiative, a strange demon-hybrid opened it's eyes for the first time... and they were glowing ruby-red.

*****
Part 6:

Safe, he was safe. Nobody could hurt him. Wrapped in the security of his own mind. Nothing could reach him here, nothing hurt him. But on the other side it was also awfully lonely here.

Xander drifted through his own mind, floating slowly, randomly shifting directions now and then. The outside world was a pale shadow to him now, a fogged over memory, already halfway forgotten.

***

Carefully she placed the candles in a circle around her. Everything had to be perfect or all her work would be wasted. Twelve candles, each of them carefully molded and blessed, to be used in the purification ritual. She lit them and then placed small bowls with incense between them. The smoke of the herbs and aromatic woods wafted through the room, as Willow prayed to the goddess.

After she had turned Xander into a mythical being, Giles had tried to block her magic, but without real success. Instead things had started to explode around her, bursting into flames when she looked at them or sometimes dissolved into a strange black dust. Finally Tara and Giles had scanned her magic center, only to find it tainted by an unknown power. A wild and untamed power that seemed to use her as a conductor. So now she was trying to free herself from that power. Magic, her normal magic, was all she really wanted, but this was too scary for her.

Willow closed her eyes. Before her inner eye the landscape of her mind arose with all its paths and strange forms and she started to travel towards her center. Only at the intermost core of herself she had a chance to understand and then remove the taint. The taint that had cost her best friend his humanity.

Deeper and deeper she sank into herself, never noticing the soldiers as they entered her dorm room, never feeling the tiny prick of the dart as they shoot her with a tranquilizer. But she did notice her loss of control as she spiraled into unconsciousness, slipping and falling uncontrolled into the core of her mental self.

***

"Xander is WHAT?"

"Didn't you listen?" Ares was slowly, but surely loosing his temper with the seer. He couldn't fault her, she was only worried for her friend, but if she raised her voice like that again, he would gag her.

"Alexander, such a fitting name, is the Chaos Child. Long before mankind came to be it was destined to be. I quote: 'And Chaos will send out her Child, hidden behind the face of an innocent will it grow and learn. In the time when Light and Darkness come to head, the Chaos Knight will wake the Child. And the Child shall seek out its mates, Life and Death incarnate. The three shall be the only hope to quell the Battle of Light and Darkness or that battle shall destroy balance and everything will fall into the Abyss of Nothingness.' Which simply translated means that if he don't stop the battle from happening, we all will be in deep shit." Ares ended his explanation.

Cordelia opened her mouth to ask another question, but Angel was faster.

"So Xander is the Chaos Child, but who is the Chaos Knight and who are the two mates of the Chaos Child?"

Ares grinned wolfishly. "That is for me to know and for you to figure out." And he leaned back into his chair.

***

Buffy was pummeling her punching bag merciless. Ever since Willow had gotten so terribly out of control with her magic her life had become steadily worse. First she had almost *married* the bleached blonde childe of her ex-boyfriend (and she was still shuddering with disgust when she remembered the kiss she had shared with him), then Willow had turned Xander into some kind of freak. Buffy still wasn't sure what he had become, but he was giving her the wiggins. Somehow he felt off to her, not demon, not human, but something else that was so different that she failed miserably to describe it. And of course, as if that wasn't enough, the Initiative had found out about him and was hunting him for their own little reasons. Ohhh, and not to forget that Riley, her then boyfriend, was a member of the Initiative and had told them about Xander... not that he knew that it was Xander, but he told them about the blue being that had helped her. She had given him the lecture of his life when she'd found out and then had kicked him out. but the damage had been already done and Xander was now on the run and she didn't know if and when she would see her xandershapend friend again.

Anger fueled her movements and with a furious kick she ripped open the covering of the punching bag, letting the stuffing fly through the training room.

She stood there, panting in anger and for one short moment her eyes glowed eerily silver.

***

~Sweet Child of mine~

He was safe, rocked in the warm embrace of golden glowing tendrils of... something. Xander's mind was fuzzy, but he could have sworn that he knew that golden glowing stuff from somewhere.

~Laughter~
~Oh, dearest Child of mine~

The voice was here, somehow. He heard it in his head, with his heart, it sung to his entire being. And it filled him with longing for something he had never experienced in his mortal life, but he didn't know what it was.

~My poor Child~
~How much did you suffer at the hands of mortal beings~

The voice sounded so sad now, so sad and so close to him. And still he didn't know who it was.

"Who are you? Where are you? And why do I feel like I should know you?" He shouted into the seemingly emptiness around him.

~I'm here Child~
~I'm around you~
~I'm with you~
~Finally~

"But who are you?"

~I'm everything~
~And nothing~
~I was before the Light~
~I was before the Darkness~
~I will be there when both of them are long gone~
~I am Chaos~
~Chaos Incarnate~
~And you Child, has to return now~

And with a startled gasp Xander returned to the real world.

*****
Part 7:

~Flash~

His mother was cowering in a corner and his father was stumbling towards him, one hand already risen to beat him in a drunken rage.

~Flash~

He was driving straight into a rail on his skateboard after seeing the new girl.

~Flash~

Jesse's face as he crumbled into dust, the stake still in his hand.

~Flash~

Buffy lying facedown in a pool of water, lifeless. He frantically tried to revive her.

~Flash~

Ampata, beautiful Ampata. He had really loved her, had been ready to die for her, when she'd crumbled into dust.

~Flash~

Angelus holding Willow in a viselike grip, threatening the Slayer and her friends.

~Flash~

Guarding the hospital room. Angelus so close, the white roses crushed against his chest.

~Flash~

Shy, bashful Willow, coming after him, wielding an ax.

~Flash~

Being checked out by the girls while being undercover in the swimteam.

~Flash~

Willow, comatose in the big hospital bed.

~Flash~

Helping a bleeding and almost broken Giles out of the mansion.

~Flash~

Watching the demise of the fake female Watcher.

~Flash~

Cheating on Cordelia with Willow.

~Flash~

Defeating the zombies and the final stand off with Jack.

~Flash~

Trying to help Faith, but being almost choked to death.

~Flash~

Planning the battle of Graduation day, knowing that some of his friends and classmates might not survive, knowing that he might not survive.

~Flash~

Anya, as she seduced him in her unique way.

~Flash~

An obviously drunken Willow wailing over the loss of Oz.

~Flash~

Willow, smiling at him as she explained her newest spell to him.

~Flash~

Pain, unbelievable pain, as he was forced into a new form.

~Flash~

The reaction of the other Scoobies.
Anya, screaming and running away from him.
Giles, worried and always cleaning his glasses while searching for a way to undo the damage.
Buffy, edgy and eyeing him suspiciously as if she expected him to switch sides.
Willow, tearful and unable to really do something, always apologizing, always close to tears.
Spike, he'd tied to hit him, only to break his hand at his stone skin.
Tara, she'd been the first to really touch him. She hadn't known him in human form for long and she was the first to accept his new appearance.

~Flash~

Being hunted by soldiers.

~Flash~

Angel, coming to his help.

~Flash~

Waking to a screaming Cordelia, almost killing her.

~Flash~

With an almost audible snap Xander returned to reality. He uncurled from his fetal position and sat up, rubbing his forehead.

That, he decided, had been really weird. He had thought that those moments, when you saw your whole life on fast forward were reserved for those times when you were in a life and death situation, but his life hadn't been in any danger, or had it?

Xander looked around. There was a stranger sitting in a chair, who was looking like the proverbial cat who had gotten the canary, but he couldn't feel any threats emitting from him. For some reason Cordelia was hugging him, hugging him so hard that he could feel it despite his stone skin. And Angel looked like he was going to attack someone the next moment.

The stranger looked at him and nodded. "You are awake. Good."

Xander couldn't help but feel confused. "Who are you. And what do you want here?"

A longsuffering sigh. "As I already told your friends, I prefer to be called Ares. Before you ask, yes I mean it as in God of War. And I'm here to help you, because you have to survive or everything is doomed."

Ohh....

***

She had a headache. A really big headache and there was a cottony feeling in her mouth. She felt strange. Really strange, in a bad way. And her head hurt, badly.

Willow opened her eyes and in the next moment wished she hadn't done so. There was hash white light stabbing down at her, that felt like it would burn out her eyes. And her surroundings.... white tile, three solid, white walls and the one in front of her made out of glass... she knew where she was. Spike had described the place where he had been hold prisoner very clearly and now she was here. Caught by the Initiative for whatever reason at all.

Slowly she sat up, trying to suppress the panic that was bubbling up inside of her, yet without success. Why was she here? And how had those people gotten her? The last thing she remembered was... the purification ritual. Anger overruled the panic. Those bastards had taken her while she had been meditating, disrupted her inner cleansing.

That meant all her hard work was for naught. Her powercenter was still tainted and she was still dangerous to her friends. And why? Because of those people that shouldn't stick their noses into something they didn't understand. They were like dumb little children, poking at something until it bit them. And their experiments, she shuddered. Spike might be a vampire and they normally staked vampires, but they didn't crippled them and then experimented with them. That was wrong, that was inhumane. Willow the witch might be wiccan, but Willow Rosenberg was still a Jewish girl, who had been told of the horrors of Bergen Belsen, Theresienstadt and all the other deathcamps of the Nazis. Her grandparents had survived the horrors and made sure their children and grandchildren did not forget.

Right now Willow remembered the tales of her Nana only all to well. Those people were like the Nazis. Locking up others, judging by appearance only (she could see several harmless demons, plant and carrion eaters in other cells) and conducting inhumane experiments at them. Willow Rosenberg was very angry. And the temperature in the Initiative complex started to rise.

***

He had found it. Finally. Now he wished he hadn't.

"Oh my..."

Ever since Xander's change at Willow's hands and his discovery of the taint of Willow's powers, he had been secretly researching for a reason to it all.

Now he had found it. A prophecy. Or better said: The Prophecy.

'And in the times, when the lines between good and evil becomes incredibly blurred, when evil is done in the name of good and evil creatures fight for the light, the great forces of Light and Darkness shall gear up for the finally battle.

The Innocent that harbors Chaos Child shall be woken by the Chosen of the Golden One to quell the battlelust of the warriors of Light and Dark. Guard the Chaos Child or all will be lost. For the battle will wipe out everything.

The Chaos Child shall flee for those in liaison with the forces of Darkness, searching out the two mates that will awaken the final power of Chaotic Balance. Death Incarnate and Life Incarnate shall stand with him and the Power of unguarded Passion shall aid them with word and deeds.

Together they will come to the side of battle, each with their chosen force and only the decision of Chaos will save or damn all creation.'

The taint, the strange power interwinded with Willows own, it was golden. He cursed himself for not realizing it sooner. Hell, in his misspent youth he had done some chaos magic himself, how could he not recognize the signature of Chaos. Willow was the Chosen of Chaos, of the Golden One. She was the Chaos Knight whose coming the Watchers had feared for centuries, for it was a sigh for the Final Battle between Light and Darkness. And if Willow was the Chaos Knight, that meant... that meant that Xander was the Chaos Child, World Saver or World Damner.

Xanders change... the waking of the Chaos Child, meant that the time was near. The Battle.

Giles' hands were shaking as he dialed a number all watchers dreaded to dial. A small part of him, Ripper, found it hysterically funny, that he, an ex-watcher who didn't want to have anything to do with the council, was the one to inform them of the coming of the Final Decision.

*****
Part 8:

Magarethe Walsh was studying the intel from the capture of Willow Rosenberg. Obviously the girl had some hidden secrets. When her men had captured her, she'd been sitting in a circle made out of candles and incense bowls, meditating... floating one foot over the floor. Which was quite fascinating, because due to all her preliminary tests, the girl was 100 percent human.

What a pity that she needed the girl for something else, studying how the girl was able to levitate would have been rather useful. On the other hand she doubted that the girl would be cooperating with her enough to repeat the levitation episode in the controlled surroundings of the lab.

She started to pace in her office. If the Rosenberg girl had been able to hide her secrets before her, what about the other demon hunters? Was that the secret to their success? She pulled out the files of the civilians again. Maybe inside of these files was the key to finish her special project.

***

The office was dark and empty, so he slowly walked down the steps to Angel's basement apartment. He had tried to go home, but somehow he'd been drawn back here. And so here he was, confused and without any idea why he should be here, only knowing that it was important.

Voices were coming out of Angel's "living" room, he identified Angel and Cordelia and there was another one, an unknown male voice. Curious he stepped down the last of the stairs, entering the room.

They were there, Angel and Cordelia he'd known to be there, Xander's presence was more of a surprise, he'd assumed the changed boy was still sleeping. Yet here he was, sitting at the table, following the strings of conversation around him while being absolutely silent. And the other, the unknown one. His presence seemed to dominate the room. Somehow he seemed to be more. More real, more alive, more everything. And he had noticed him.

The unknown male turned around to him and for a split second their eyes met. And he saw armies, men with their swords raised high in the air, screaming triumph and vengeance, fighting, blood, struggles as old as the being before him. Quickly he looked away.

"So you are finally here," the man said with a smirk, "I almost sent out search parties. Sit down, Wesley, you all have a lot to learn."

***

The demons were the first to notice it. Something was going to happen, something big, sometime soon. First the temperature in the complex had risen several degrees and the faint scent of magic had wafted through the air and now the ground was trembling faintly. It was like something was testing its bonds before breaking loose and the demons knew that. And they waited.

***

He was bound, but the bonds were weakening. Soon he would be free, soon he would walk towards his destiny. He could hear the call, could feel the pull in his blood. The ground was trembling. He closed his red glowing eyes. He would be free, eventually. Soon.

***

She was walking through the streets, not knowing where she went, not knowing where she was, not even knowing who she was. The only thing she knew was that something was waiting for her at the end of her way. Something she yearned for, something she hated with all her might, something that was the opposite of her.

She walked through the cemetery, always towards the pulling feeling and the creatures of the night fled from the slayer with the eerily glowing white eyes.

***

The Lady of Nightmare frowned slightly as she watched the images unfold before her. This was happening too fast. The mates hadn't recognized themselves now and her Child wasn't ready. Ares was doing a good job preparing them, but they didn't have the time anymore. She turned around to Gaia and nodded.

Gaia vanished, going straight to Sunnydale to prepare the battleground.

Nightmare looked into the mirror again. She had waited for this moment for so long and now that it had finally arrived she was unsure how to react. Finally she could claim her Child, could tell him of his true heritage and family. But how would he react to all of that? Could he forgive her the knowledge that he had been left with mortal parents that hated him? Could he accept his true parents, his destiny?

She didn't know and for a being that normally did know everything, that was quite unsettling.

One last time she watched her Child through the mirror and couldn't help but feel the quiet hurt he emitted. Her poor child.

She closed her eyes and vanished from the room.

And in the now empty room, one single tear fell onto the carpet where she'd stood one moment before.

***

Something was happening. He could feel the energies unraveling and for him this was an unsettling feeling. Then SHE was here, standing in the middle of the room like she belonged there.

He jumped up from his chair.

"Nightmare? Why are you here now?"

"The forces are moving faster than expected. We have to prepare them now or everything will be lost."

*****
Part 9:

There were a lot of people, colleagues and other semi-important people, who would describe Quentin Travers as an absolute asshole. He was rude, not familiar with the most important works of the Watcher's huge library and he didn't know when he should shut his big mouth. Unfortunately, his father was an important member of the Watcher's high council, so there wasn't that big a chance to get rid of him.

Since the last fiasco in America, where he failed helping the young, now ex-watcher, Wesley, he was doing desk duty... badly. So it seemed that fate was laughing like a loon when he answered the phone-call of his father who told him of the earlier call of another very worried ex-watcher, who was telling him that both, Chaos Knight and Chaos Child had been woken and seen on the hellsmouth in Sunnydale.

Quentin's mind was racing. The Chaos forces, the most powerful forces of Earth, they were only woken when something really big was happening. Something like the final battle of Good and Evil, a battle that could leave the Watchers unemployed, should the Chaos Child make the wrong decision. Quentin really didn't like the idea of being unemployed, even if the work was crappy sometimes, he liked being a Watcher, specially when he lead a team against someone or other. He liked the feeling of power it gave him and the payment wasn't shabby either.

So something had to be done about the Chaos Child and the Chaos Knight. Something to make them see his point of view, to guide them to make the right decision. Unfortunately, the ex-watcher hadn't said who the Child or the Knight was, or he could have tried to find their weak spots. So he was left with one real option, fly to Sunnydale and try to find out who was who. If he was lucky, he could score some good points with the council and they would give him back his old position.

***

There was something about this woman, this woman that had appeared moments ago in Angel's living room, something that felt achingly familiar to Xander.

~Sweet Child of mine~

A voice he didn't heard with his ears, but felt. Familiar, soothing.

Who are you?

~I am Chaos~
~Chaos Incarnate~
~Sweet Child of mine~

The woman emitted a steady golden glowing aura, like the golden tendrils, that had rocked him while he was in his own mind. The voice had been there, too.

It had felt good, he remembered. For the first time in his life he had felt loved. Like he belonged somewhere. And she had called him her child.

The memories of the other one became active and he was flooded with memories of the same golden woman. She had been a part of his life, too.

Her name was Lord of Nightmare, LoN or L-Sama for short and she was the living Chaos. People had called her a devil or an angel, but neither of them were right, for she was everything.

More memories swamped his brain and his breathing grew ragged as he remembered....

*** flashback ***

He hadn't started a fire this night. Why should he? He didn't needed it and the only people who would have needed it were long gone, only memories conserved in his mind.

Gourry was the first one to go, he was only mortal after all and unlike his companions, the swordfighter had no magic abilities, nothing that would slow down his aging process. He died peacefully, of old age, something so rare in this times. A shallow comfort.

Sylphiel had barely lasted longer than him. They had been in love and married for so long and while she still looked young, her heart had been broken the night he had died... she had died of heart failure only three weeks later.

Amelia had become the good queen he had always knew she would be. After her justice loving period had calmed down a little and she had realized that the world wasn't always black or white, she had been exactly what the people of her kingdom had needed. A wise queen, ruling with wisdom and not by force. She had married. Not him, but he hadn't expected it otherwise. Her crush on him had been only that: a crush. She had found her true love and went on. She, like Gourry, died of old age, peacefully.

Filia and Val had lasted for a long time, several hundred years, but when they tried to help the Dragon Lord Milgazia against an uproar of the mad Dark Lord Dolphin, they had died alongside of most of the other Dragons. Pretty, caring Filia, the Golden Dragon that could match his strengst and with a quick temper like Lina, she had died by a powerful blast of Dolphin herself, trying and failing to protect her little Val and the Dragon Lord Milgazia.

And then, Lina. She had been around for nearly a millenium, her aging process had nearly stopped completely. But that didn't stopped the assassin who finally took her down. Cowardly, with a poisoned dragger to her back.

The only one left of their little group had been him, him and Xellos, who popped in sometimes to visit him. He never could figure out the mazoku, but after a while, he stopped caring. There weren't that many people who would become friends with a chimera and Xellos, strange and twisted as he was, was still a friend. He had never thought he would lose Xellos to death, but even the ageless mazoku had died, fallen in the second Kouma war.

Now he was alone, completely and utterly alone. His appearance scared away any human being and neither mazoku nor dragons were interested in his friendship. And thus, he didn't need a fire this night... or the night before or the next and the next. He squashed that train of thought, it only made him depressive.

Into his quiet brooding, a woman appeared. A woman he knew, but hadn't seen in almost 500 years.

"L-sama," he bowed. Even depressive as he was, he still felt compelled to show the world creator his respect.

"~My little one.~"
"~So lonely.~"
"~I never meant for this to happen.~"

He remained silent, unsure how to reply.

"~This world is ending, little one.~"
"~It has become too unstable.~"
"~And no one is here to balance it.~"

She stroked his head, like parents would caress little children. He leaned into the touch, it had been so long since someone had touched him without revulsion.

"~I'm going to call everything back into me.~"
"~There will be a new start.~"
"~A new world.~"
"~A new chance.~"

He listened up. Why was she telling him all of this?

"~There will be conflicting forces again.~"
"~But also a force to balance them.~"
"~I want you to be that force.~"
"~Be reborn through me.~"
"~Become my child.~"

His breath stopped at her proposal. He had never imagined something like this could happen.

"~You will live as a normal mortal being.~"
"~Until you are needed.~"
"~To restore the balance.~"
"~Your other friends will be there as well.~"
"~You will not be alone.~"

"~Do you accept?~"

Zelgadis swallowed. Then he looked around. There was nothing that was truly holding him here and the chance to meet his friends again....

"Yes." He mumbled with a dry throat.

L-Sama unfolded her arms and embraced him.

He was wrapped in tendrils of gold, golden energy. He felt warm, warm and safe. And for the first time in over 1500 years he wasn't alone anymore.

*** end Flashback ***

It was clear now. He understood everything.

Xander stepped forwards.

"Hello Mother."

*****