Title: Discordance
Author: Jinni (druscilla@cox.net)
Series: Thrust Back
Pairing: W/Ares
Genre: BtVS/Xena-Hercules Crossover.
Rated: PG13
Disclaimer: All copyrights remain firmly in the hands of their individual
copyright holders, none of which are me. I make no money off of this.
Distribution: Anyone who has prior parts of the "Thrust Back Series" (ie,
Consort of War, etc).
Author’s Note: Quickie Challenge Response: http://quickie.moonlitpaths.com
<http://quickie.moonlitpaths.com/> - previous parts can be found there.
This follows "Consort of War" in the series.

~*~

Willow hated being woken up.

With a passion.

A deadly, irate, rip-someone’s-throat-out type of passion.

That feeling of panic and loss of warm comfort that comes with the
beginnings of true wakefulness. Sleep is a blanket, protecting and holding.

So the moment someone grabbed the covers off of her, startling from her
sleep, she was immediately not only on the defensive, but very, very pissed.
Green eyes flew open, lighting immediately on the figure next to the bed.

"What in Hades are you doing here?"

The red head blinked tiredly at the irate little woman standing about a foot
from the bed, face set in a scowl that Willow somehow doubted ever lightened
up to anything close to a smile. She was dressed in the same type of
leathery evil-looking get up that Ares seemed to favor, though it looked
much delectable on her than it did on here.

"Waiting for Ares to come back – do you mind?" Her voice was cool, almost
chilly, as she regarded the woman with a raised eyebrow. She could feel her
control slipping, that part of her that was dark and sinister coming slowly
to the fore, as if it were a different personality altogether.

Well, maybe it was, she conceded silently; but she welcomed that darker side
of her with open arms in situations like this, when faced with
confrontation. She enjoyed letting that darker side of herself play and
frolic, creating havoc and mischief, pain and suffering. Long gone was the
girl of happiness and flowers, the one that had been a ‘good girl’ a ‘best
friend’. That part of her was lost. Forever. All that remained was this.

But, for now, the ‘lighter’ side of her consciousness was prevailing, though
that part of her, too, was displeased with being woken up and was anxious to
get back to bed, to snatch a few hours of sleep before her amorous lover
returned from whatever chaos he was creating out in this world. She yearned
to go with him, but now was not the time for that. She was still acclimating
to the world. Soon she would join him and together they would make the world
tremble.

It would be fun.

"I –do- mind, though," the other woman managed to laugh, haughtily. She put
her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes, lips forming a scowl. "Do you
have any idea who you’re dealing with?"

So many times in her life Willow had heard that same line that she nearly
laughed out loud at the triteness. It was usually used by two-bit little
pieces of nothing that she now wielded enough power to simply crush under
her pinky. She slid into a kneeling position, sitting proud on the bed in
the little slip of a negligee she had been given to sleep in. Her arms
crossed over her chest, the ring Ares had given her only the night before as
a present glinting on her finger.

"You should ask me first of all if I –care- who you are." The red head
smirked. "And the answer would be – No."

"Oh – but you’re going to care when I’m through with you. The name is
Discord, baby. And it could possibly be the last name you ever hear."

"You’re Ares’ sister?" Willow snorted, slipping off of the edge of the bed
to stand in front of the demi-goddess. She was short, shorter than the red
head by a few inches easily. With a gesture of her hand Willow was dressed.
The darkness was coming closer, slipping to that edge. And if Discord didn’t
pull back soon she would find out what it meant to tango one on one with a
woman that was filled to the brim with magic. "Funny – I thought you’d be .
. . prettier. Aren’t goddesses supposed to be pretty? And delicate? You don’
t look delicate. Rather. . . rough around the edges, if you ask me."

As the words left her mouth Willow was already putting up shields, invisible
to the naked eye. This woman had woken her up and then threatened her. She
was about to learn who –she- was dealing with.

"Why you little –" Discord backed up a step and flung her arm towards
Willow. Sparkling balls of light flew towards the witch, growing to large
flaming orbs as they neared her, and then bursting harmlessly on her
shields, the sparks falling to nothing before they even touched the ground.

"Is that all you’ve got?" Willow felt it the moment her control slipped the
rest of the way. She felt the coldness of her power flare within her,
spilling into her heart and soul. Her eyes and hair would mirror her heart
now, black as the midnight sky.

"What –" Discord stammered, taking another step back. And then another, as
she sought to distance herself from the woman that she had thought to be
nothing more than another of Ares’ playthings to be destroyed at the first
chance. She was not going to be an easy kill, it seemed.

"Did you think I just walked in and crawled in his bed without permission?"
Willow questioned darkly, the endless blackness of her eyes fixated entirely
on the demi-goddess in front of her. "That I just laid down and went to
sleep in my underwear without a thought as to who’s bed I was in? Did you
even stop to think that he was keeping me around for a reason?"

"Because you’re a good lay?"

The moment the words left her mouth Discord knew she had screwed up. She
blanched at the completely blank look on the other woman’s face.

"A. Good. Lay?" Willow questioned slowly.

"Well –" Discord stammered, stopping in mid-thought as her mouth sealed
itself shut. She raised a hand to her face, feeling where her mouth was . .
. or should have been. There was nothing there now. No lips, no opening. She
could feel her teeth still, clenched together, unable to move, and the skin
that was where her mouth had been holding her jaw in a rigidly painful
position. "MmmMm mMmm mmm."

Willow laughed. "What was that?"

Discord began to panic. Try as she might, she could not undo the spell
herself. Her eyes were wide, afraid. She raised her hand to her face,
feeling blindly at the smooth, unblemished skin.

"You shouldn’t say such awful things about people you’ve just met," Willow
continued on, her expression denoting nothing but amusement over the
demi-goddess’ distress. "Now – let me introduce myself. Willow is my name,
if you care – which, believe me, you should. I think I’ve already proven
that you’re nothing compared to me. Nothing. And if your brother chooses to
continue to keep me in his bed there isn’t a damn thing you can do about
it – got that?"

Discord nodded and Willow released her hold on the other woman’s mouth,
letting her free of the spell which had rendered her speech, and
mouth, -less.

"You’re mortal, little girl." Discord snarled, taking a step back from
Willow, as if the distance could save her from whatever pain the witch could
choose to inflict on her. "And that means that it’s only a matter of time
before you get sloppy. A knife in the dark. . . poison in your food. . ."

Before Willow could say a word in response to the newest threat, Discord was
gone, vanishing just as quick as she had come. Willow sat on the edge of the
bed, mentally reviewing what had just happened.

"You should have hurt her more."

"And that would have solved. . . what?" Willow laughed without turning,
unsurprised to find that her lover had been lurking nearby during the
exchange. He seemed to be able to tell when she used her powers, which was
just as well. If things had turned out badly with Discord it would have been
nice to have him there, just as backup. "Your sister is just a little bit
crazy."

"I think you give her too much credit – a ‘little’ crazy?" Ares smirked,
sitting behind her on the bed, his strong arms pulling her back against his
chest. "Don’t worry, though. I’ll deal with her soon enough."

"But that will completely ruin the fun of watching her try to plot my
death."

"And if she gets lucky?

"She won’t." The witch waved him off with another laugh. "And if she tries
too much or too hard she’ll find out just what kind of punishment I’m
capable of dealing out. She acts like a jealous girlfriend."

"And that’s your job?" He teased her earlobe with his lips, his hands
caressing her stomach and thigh. Without even looking into his face she knew
he was smirking, that dangerous sexy look he got when he was getting wound
up for a long night, or day, of bedroom fun and games.

"Not hardly," she snorted. "I’m too confident in my own abilities for that."

"And what abilities would those be?" He prompted, voice a low purr.

She turned, kissing his lips softly. "Well . . she did accuse me of being a
good lay. . . "

~*~The End~*~