Ares was still silent as he rose from his throne and crossed the large cave to warm his hands by the fire. "Ever hear of the Trojan War?" He asked the Champion though his mind was still lost in the past a million miles away.

Yes, an angry and vengeful God was Lord Ares. What better way to relieve some of the pain and frustration he must have felt than throwing himself full tilt into a war? "And then?" Duncan asked as he turned himself in the chair to face the God. "I know that's not the end of the story, if it was, we wouldn't be here now."

"Perhaps I wish that were the end of the tale," Ares mused sadly. "Perhaps, that would have been a kinder fate." He lumbered to the other side of the room and the table there. Ares poured himself a large chalice of Nectar and tossed it down his dry throat. "They didn't dare to actually destroy her, Champion. Even the combined powers of the Gods fear my wrath. In their misguided attempt to assage me, they doomed her. I rotted in those chains seven years before they set me free." Upon refilling his chalice with Nectar he held the chalice out to Duncan. "It won't kill you." He groused as he saw the look on the Champion's face.

Duncan took the gold cup from his large hand and drank of the sweet juice only the Gods were permitted to taste of. It was cold and thick as it slid down his throat, faintly it reminded him of peaches and strawberries. He took another drink and then passed the cup back. "What is the rest?"

"Unbenounced to me at the time, Bacchus and Hades had struck their own deal. Bacchus did not drain her completely of her Ichor, only enough so that the others thought her dead. But it was centuries before Onya even awakened after that. Centuries that she rotted in the Underworld with my dear Uncle. The two of them called upon the Fates and asked their guidance. Following the Fates' advice, they seperated her. Onya and Sarah live side by side lifetime after lifetime never knowing each other." He stopped and considered his last statement as he drained the last of the Nectar from the goblet and refilled it. "Let me rephrase that," he took another drink. "Sarah never knows Onya. Not until now. Until you finally came along. I'm getting ahead of myself, aren't I?" He asked with a good natured grin on his face. "In order to bring an end to the bloodlust of the Trojan War, I set down a few conditions concerning my daughter. The rules, Champion, are thusly. My daughter is reborn each time a woman descendant of Psyche agrees to take me into herself. Hannah and Sally." He said for further edification as he held up a large hand and took another drink.

While the God of War drank from his gold chalice, Duncan's mind had time to wander to Hannah. Why on Earth would she have willing slept with such a being? Duncan remembered holding Hannah on her deathbed so many years ago, Hannah telling him that she had born Sarah for him. With grave temperance Duncan spoke again. "Did they know who you were? Or were a coward and disguised yourself as their husbands?"

"Yes," Ares smilled a very satisifed grin. "We have more in common than you would like to admit, don't we? I took Hannah too." He whispered sharply. "She was a good fuck, wasn't she?" Ares laughed heavily, one huge hand held to his tight wash board stomach. "They all took my seed knowing full well who I was...and they loved it." Ares stroked his chin again.

"Why would either of them lay with you?" Duncan asked as he tried to keep the disgust out of his voice.

"We Gods, well, we know how to satisfy a mortal woman like no other man can. Not even an Immortal one." Lord Ares rose from his mighty throne and strode to stand in front of Duncan, towering over him, looking down upon him. "You look surprised, Champion. Why?"

Hannah had known, all along Hannah had known everything and remained silent.

"Each time Sarah is reborn she has the opportunity to be whole again. But she only has thrity years in which to do it and with Psyche's curse upon her, that has been difficult."

"And if she doesn't do it in thrity years?"

"Why do you always persist in asking question to which already have an answer?" Ares shot at him. "Sarah must do three things before the sun sets on her thirty birthday. She must discover her Immortality on her own. She must lay with the Champion. She must become pregnant. If she does complete all three tasks, she dies." Ares hung his large dark head. "This is the fartherst she has ever come to fulfilling the process of her rebirth. I don't know which of them is the lucky one, Champion. Sarah, the mortal whose body takes and feels all of the pain, the punishment, the damn humulliation. But she never remembers it. Not from one life to another. But Onya, she waits in the background and feels nothing but she sees and remembers everything, lifetime after lifetime." Ares shrugged his large shoulders as his lip curled and he shook his dark head. "You tell me, Champion, which is the kinder fate? To feel and experience everything but remember nothing? Or to feel and experience nothing but remember everything?"

"Lifetime after lifetime?" Duncan whispered. "It's not possible, she's Immortal, like.."

"Not like you!" Ares slammed his massive fist onto the table, the bowl of Ambrosia spilled it's contents as the decanter first wobbled then fell to the floor. "Not...like...you." He rose quickly, one hand went to the hilt of the sword at his waist and the other ran rapidly through his curly black hair. "Why don't you understand? Am I Immortal the same way you are?" He shot.

"No." Duncan returned.

"Are vampires Immortal the same way you are?" Ares' eyes narrowed quickly on Duncan's as he saw the look rising there. "Don't scoff, Champion. Just because you don't believe does not mean they do not exist."

"Then no, they're not. You can't kill me with sunlight or a stake through the heart." Duncan said as he tried to keep the anger from once again rising into his voice.

"Faeries?" The war god asked in low voice. "What of them, Faery Prince? Are they Immortal like you?"

"No, they're not."

"Neither is my daughter. She is more fragile than you. She can die if the wound is destructive enough. And that is part of the reason why we chose Champions. Some of us chose men who would protect her and others chose those who would destroy her."

"Markus and I? If you chose me, who chose him?"

"Psyche. There is one other Champion who still breathes on earth."

"Who is he?" Duncan questioned hotly as he rose. "Tell me so I can kill him. I won't let anyone touch her."

"You have fine fire, Champion," Ares smiled broadly as he nodded his head and lookd down on Duncan. "It is not that easy. Not for you." He poured the last of the Nectar in the decanter into his goblet and drank it down. "We all chose Champions, 12 of them in all. Psyche chose Markus because she knew he'd kill her eventually and that would end the cycle. Markus probably would have killed her before she could even given birth to the child." Ares grumbled angrily. "Fucking fool." Hotly he returned his stare to Duncan. "I chose you, had my eye you since the day you were born." Ares said in a proud voice. "Some of them killed each other off, some of them fell in battle to those uninvolved. One by one they fell until only the three of you remained. Now there are two."

"Who is he?" Duncan repeated as he took a step toward Ares.

"Aphrodite chose to offer redemption to the man who had dropped Onya down the well before she could draw breath." The fire burned brightly in his eyes. "Do you want to know him, Champion?"

"Yes!"

"Then look upon this!" Ares tossed a fireball from the palm of his hand across the room. It exploded, throwing flames outward from its center five feet or more. In the middle of the flames a man began to take shape. He was shorter than Duncan, he had close cropped hair...Duncan's heart stopped as the man turned around.

"Shit!" The man said angrily as he turned around to take in his surroundings. "You know I hate it when you do that, Ares!" He brushed at the light wool sweater he wore to get the ash off of it. "Why don't you ever just pick up a fucking telelphone?"

"Methos!"

Methos turned quickly to his left at the sound of the infuriated voice. "Duncan."

Ares laughed heartily as he held a huge hand to his tight stomach. "Kill him now, will you? Go on." He yanked the massive sword from his side and tossed it across the cave to Duncan who caught it but it fell out of his hand under the sheer power of its own weight. "Go on. He dropped your wife down a well. He could have told you everything months ago and chose to remain silent! He has betrayed you, Champion. Kill him!"

At Ares' words the rage which he had been choking down since last night broke free of it's restraints, Duncan lunged at Methos.

Ares laughed harder and clapped his hands as he watched the two Immortal Champions battle each other. MacLeod on top, pummeling the ever-loving crap out of the older Immortal below. Methos on the bottom, still trying to talk to the brute who was repeatedly smashing his fist into his lean body.

"Wait! Just wait!" Methos cried out as he tried to block the blows. "WAIT!"

Duncan would not wait, he would not be still and he damn sure wasn't about to listen to anything Methos had to say.

"Ares!" Came the reproachful hiss from behind him. "Stop this!"

Ares stopped laughing and cleared his throat as he turned to see Aphrodite standing behind him. He offered her a shy grin but her look remained stern. His dark eyes rolled in his head as he glanced toward the embattled men once again. "Fine," he huffed. "Enough!" Ares waved his hand in the air and seperated the two men from his place across the cave. "We don't have time for this anyway."

Duncan flew to one end of the cave and Methos to the other. Breathless and badly beaten, Methos had to fight to keep himself upright while looking into the hardned eyes of the man he had once (and hoped to again) called friend.

"Why!?" Duncan shot at Methos from across the room.

"Listen to me, I never touched her. I swear on all that is holy, I never touched her." Methos stated breathlessly as the sweat trickled from his forehead, he raised an arm to wipe it away as he caught his breath. "I did try to tell, if you'll remember for a moment. I did try to tell you of ancient times and Gods, long ago I tried. You looked at me as though I were some charming but befuddled old man. As though I were insane or pulling your leg. If I had tried to tell you again, even as it stared you dead in the face you would have denied it. Am I wrong? If I had told you, would you have believed me? Think about it before you answer." He warned.

Duncan threw his hands in the air and let out a harsh growl. "Fuck it! No, I wouldn't have."

"Then you have your answer. What good would it have done? I don't intend to fight you for her and I never did."

"Him." Duncan shot Ares a cold look. "Is he husband or you?"

"Methos is neither," Aphrodite said as she stepped from behind Ares.

"You, I saw you in the resturant this morning."

Ares stood behind her, towering above her head, placed his massive hands on her shoulders and kissed the top of her blond head. "May I present, the Lady Aphrodite, Goddess of Love and Beauty." He said in low admiring voice.

Clear pools of the medierteranian sea stared back at Duncan as the woman smiled for him. "Methos is Protector. I chose him because he wanted to redeem himself once he had heard Ares side of the tale. With his Darkness past him he was honest in his quest, he was strong and had a good heart. Still he is so. He is Second to you and he knows this." Aphrodite floated to where Methos stood and took his face in her hands. "It's been a long time," she said to him. "A long time." Delicate lips closed down over his mouth while her tongue slipped inside to flit with his and slide down his throat before parting. "Too long."

Ares cleared his throat and Aphrodite stepped away from him. "You'll have time for that later." He drew his arm out to his side then brought it down slowly to point a large finger at the floor, Aphrodite floated over to it and stood where he told her to.

"Why not me?" Duncan demanded through gritted teeth. "Goddess of Love, you of above all must know my heart, don't I love her? Is my touch not a loving one?"

Aphrodite looked at Ares but said nothing. Blue eyes pleaded with his black ones, but Ares only reached out a hand to her face and shook his head at her. "My daughter is weak," he said to Duncan, "but soon, she will be strong. " the look in the ancient Gods stone cold eyes, told Duncan everything he needed to know on that one.

"If she kills me, she will be strong?"

"Yes. I do not want my daughter to be weak." Ares shot. "You make her weak. Your love makes her weakest of all. But your power, your quickening, will make her strong. Stronger than she will need for the road directly ahead." Ares nostrils flared at him again. "You really don't get it, do you? A true Olympian as her father and a spiritual mother who was mortal but became Immortal, and a mortal earth mother. Even though my Ichor courses through her veins, she is more mortal than anything else and always will be. She has spent too many centuries among mortal men to be anything else." Ares again waved his hand in the air, his chalice was refilled. "Sarah tries to defy me. Casts a spell upon you to make you leave her after you make love with her. Make you forget her." He whispered. "Takes your talisman so, if you do remember, you cannot find her." He glanced up at Duncan. "She is powerful and her spell will work. She will be defenseless and alone and I cannot allow that."

"Why don't you take her to Olympus with you? She will not be alone or defenseless with you at her side."

"She is banned from Olympus, Champion. Were I to bring her there Chaos would reign. The Gods would go crazy with rage and fear." Ares voice was nothing more than an impatient whisper.

"That's why I am not Husband and he is. She needs my power to meld her back into a whole Goddess once again. Sarah won't do it. That's the problem, isn't it? She adores you as a God and as her Father but she loves me as a man. That pisses you off." Duncan's words escaped his lips before he could think, upon hearing them he rose quickly from the chair in anticipation of the Ares' anger. "You don't just want her strong, you want me out of the way. I won't let you fuck her, but he will. He will share her with you." Duncan whispered in a strong voice as he shot Methos a cold stare. "Why don't you just kill me yourself?"

"If only it were that easy." Ares groused. "I'd never get forgiven for that one, Champion." Ares' eyes smouldered to match the firey tone of his voice. "Sarah loves you and I fear Onya may as well."

"That blows your plans to shit, doesn't it?" Duncan mocked. "What if I just refuse to sleep with her? I mean that is the key, right? Once we make love then she tries to kill me. So, what if I just don't do it?"

Ares let out a laugh which showed that the Champion had touched something darkly humorous within him. "Nice try, you know that's an empty threat. You know you're going to take her by the time the moon rises high in the sky tonight. You can't stop it. Not now, Champion. You've had your taste of her, I feel your fire, I feel your heat, I know what burns in you. Do you know what happens if Eos rises tomorrow and you have not?" Ares sighed deeply. "You idiot! Do you not even know when your own wife was born? Sarah turns thrity tomorrow."

"You lie!" Duncan MacLeod stood before the God of War, craning his neck upward to look up at his face. But he did not lie, Ares was telling the truth."Psyche's curse...never to be touched by a man with a loving hand? Lifetime after lifetime? But Jareth touched her with a loving hand." Duncan said with conviction. He had not liked the Rock Star at all, but it was clear enough that Sarah liked him very much and he did not think she would be inclined to defend him if Jareth had done something horrible to her.

"Don't be a fool. He did his share of damage to my daughter."

There were other ways to hurt a woman than sex, but none better. What had he done to her? "Nothing that would warrant his death." Duncan returned. "He's still breathing."

"No, nothing that severe. He did manage to touch my daughter with a gentle hand but he never loved her." Ares' eyes narrowed on Duncan's as his nostrils flared. Ares' smile grew on his face as he saw more confusion set into Duncan's eyes. "He is a God in her eyes, Champion. Always has been and always will be. Jareth had no drive to hurt her. I have to give the man credit there were nights he had the women lined ten to twenty deep and he took them all. The blackness in his soul is willingly soothed by more women then even you have had in all your 400 years."

"Not one man?" Duncan felt the anger growing in him again. This was really just far too much, too far over the top for him to deal with in any other way.

"Not a father, brother, uncle, grandfather, cousin, stranger, husband, lover, not one." He said through tight lips. "You have been living on borrowed time for the last two months, time's almost up Champion. What's it going to be? Will you father her child and offer your life up for hers? Or will you let her die?"

Duncan was about to tell the God that he had touched Sarah with a loving hand many times but his eyes fell upon where she lay and he remembered how she got there. Loving hand or not, he had killed his wife this afternoon. Who gave a shit about intent, it was, after all, all in the result. Ares' words echoed in his mind, not a father, brother, uncle, grandather, cousin...

...brother...

Mahogany eyes squelched themselveles tightly shut to keep the rest of the thought from completing itself. He forced his mind to move in another direction.

"What is your side of the tale, Ares? Did you rape Psyche or not?" Duncan shot at him as he moved away from the wall. "That's what started this whole thing, did you do it?"

"No," Ares growled. "I may be God of War, Champion but I was God of Thunder long before that. Mortals invented war, they put up rocks and sticks to border what they considered their property and then they began to guard it from each other. In the beginning war wasn't much, a bunch of idiots throwing stones at each other. But it grew from there. And man grew from there.

"When the other Gods decided it was time to do something about this thing called war, only I stood up to defend it. Only I saw the use of it. Black and ugly it is to most, yes, but without it nothing changes and nothing grows. They detested me for daring to stand up and say to their faces what they could not look at in their own souls. They relegated the whole nasty business to me, laid it all in my hands. That gave them something they could hate, me. Let me tell you something, as contemptible as they say I am to each other, when it's one of their cities or their provinces or their people, whose door do they knock upon in the dead of night to defend it for them? Mine.

"I enjoy the heat of the battle greatly, it fills me and propells me onward. I war, Champion. I do not rape." Ares bent to retrieve his sword and sheathed it at his side. "Psyche could not live with the fact that she had slept with her husband's father. Her Mortal guilt overwhelmed her and when she discovered she was pregnant, she convinced herelf that I raped her. It is not only Psyche's pain which Sarah burdens, but her shame and her guilt."

"It's what you wanted me for, isn't it? My touch breaks the curse and then you can have her. No, I won't let you take her from me." Duncan challenged and felt Aphrodite's strong hands on his shoulders.

"Careful, Champion." She whispered in his ear.

"Are you challenging me?" Ares sneered as he rose from Sarah's side.

"Duncan you don't know what you're doing." Methos stammered as he drew away from his place against the wall for the first time.

"Shut up, you've done enough." Duncan shot at him. "My wife." He said to Ares.

"My daughter." Ares shot back. "Without me you would not have her at all."

"If I had a sword, I swear Ares..."

"Oh, is that all that's stopping you? Let me help!"

Duncan's own blade appeared in the palm of his hand. He raised it as Ares drew his own blade.

"Stop it, both of you!" Aphrodite commanded. "Now you listen to me. If you persist in this it will only bring sorrow. You both know it. Ares, I know how much you love her. I know how much they took from you. I know how much you want it back. But Sarah has made her decision and it's up to you to abide by it. If you kill him she will never bend a knee at your altar again and you know it. If you let him leave here without your blessing, she will send him away and she will be defenseless while your grandson grows inside of her. Is that what you want? She is just as pig-headed as her Father, you will not force her will.

"This is a fight you cannot win, Duncan. You cannot kill Ares, you cannot even harm him. You can only die here, badly. And where will that leave your wife?"

Knowing the Goddess of Love and Beauty spoke nothing but the truth, Duncan dropped the sword to the stone floor.

Ares ears seemed to prick up as though he were receiving some distant siganl that only he could hear. A hearty sigh escaped his lips. Ares holstered the blade. "She is awakening." Ares waved a hand in the air, Methos and Aphrodite disappeared. They were still there, they had simply become invisible to anyone's eyes but Ares'. "Sit over there, Champion." Ares pointed to the wooden chair he had been sitting in by the fire.

Duncan grudgingly sat in the chair. Ares followed behind him and sat on his throne. "Don't say anything." He warned. "Not one word." Ares waved his hand in the air for the last time and made the chair at the table disappear. "Daughter." He called. "Come to me."

Sarah awoke to the sound of her Father's voice calling to her. Sleepy eyes looked around to see that she was no longer on the Aeropagus with Duncan, she was in her Father's home. What happened? How had she gotten here? Sarah tossed the skins from her body to see that she was completely naked. She wrapped one around herself as she rose from the bed and made her way from her father's chambers to his throne room where his voice was coming from. Once there, she stopped in her track "Duncan? What are you doing here? How did you get here?" Sarah whispered hurriedly. He said nothing to her.

"He believes now, daughter. What is this?" Ares held his large hands out in front of himself. "Are you hiding your true self from me now? Never before were you afraid to stand before me."

"Before, I did not know you were my father."

Duncan shot Ares a quick look which clearly said told you so.

Sarah did not understand what was happening but she knew she had woken up to find that both Duncan and she were in the middle of one of her father's tests. She had no idea the rules or what was expected, she searched her father's eyes for an answer as she dropped the skin away from her body and stood naked before him.

Ares' eyes appraised his daughter, always did he love to see her stand before him like this. He could feel the weight of Duncan's stare upon him and the disgust in it. "Sit, daughter."

Sarah looked around the room for another chair and found none. She looked from Duncan to her father and back again. Which one? Sarah bit at her lower lip as she stood there and furrowed her eyebrows. Quietly she settled herself at the feet of her husband and then reached up to offer a hand to her father.

Aphrodite made herself and Methos rematerialize in the room. "She has made her decision." Aphrodite said. "She will honor you, Ares. Your grandson will grow up with your name on his lips, he will bend a knee at your altar. But she loves her husband. You will never have that part of her heart. Do not make her defy you further nor go through this alone. She has been alone far much already, Lover. Let your daughter go."

"No," Ares reached down a large arm and scooped Sarah up in it, he sat her to rest on his lap. Sitting there on the knee of the ancient God, Sarah appeared to be nothing more than a Raggedy Ann doll. One of his arms was almost as big as her entire body. Ares held her close to him as he closed one arm around her.

Methos slunk out of his place in the corner and cautiously made the distance between himself and the place where Sarah sat on Ares' lap, keeping his eyes on Duncan the entire time. Duncan stayed where he was, made no move to come forward, as Methos stood next to them. With tears in his eyes he looked up at Aphrodite who stood next to him. Still keeping an eye on his friend Duncan MacLeod, slowly Methos raised a shaking hand in the air above Sarah's head. He wanted to touch her. He wanted to caress her but his frightened hand would move no lower.

"Beautiful, isn't she?" Aphrodite asked softly as she laid a hand on the hand which hung in the air.

"Yes," Methos whispered. "She makes my heart hurt." Aphrodite smiled at him as she gently pushed his hand down until it caressed her silken hair. Methos sucked in a quick breath as he felt it wind around his hand and through his fingers. Never before had he touched her, so many times over the centuries he had been at her side but the only time he ever laid a hand on her was to drop her into the cold well in the black of the night. "I never...if I had known," he whispered, "if I had known, never would I have done such a thing." His tearfilled eyes looked up at Ares.

Ares sneered back at him.

Methos drew his hand away from her silken hair and cleared his throat. "I've lived a long life." He began. There were so many things he had to make up for, so many wrongs he had done and maybe if.... "What if she takes my head instead of his? Won't that give her the strength she needs?"

"No, it must be him." Ares stated as he stroked his bearded chin. Surprise touched his eyes, the Protector must be regreful over what he had done afterall. "Nice try." He complimented as he drew Sarah closer to him. Ares' arms began to burn with a fire that even he could not hold back for long as he felt the nakeness of her body pressed against him.

Aphrodite floated over to them and pried his large arm away from Sarah's body. "Let her go."

"No!"

"Yes!" She tugged on the massive arm. "It is a task that together they can perform." She pointed to Duncan and Methos. " No matter what you want, in her heart and in her soul he is Husband and you cannot change that."

"She will be weak."

"And you will keep her captive. Which is worse?" Aphrodite gave a mighty tug and Ares arm fell away from Sarah. "Go to your husband." She whispered to Sarah.

Sarah looked up into the face of her father, she stretched upward to kiss his beareded cheek. "I love you, father." She whispered and then slunk from his lap to stand by Duncan's side. She wrapped her arms around him tightly. "Please," she said to Ares as she held Duncan's head to her breast. "I love him, too."

"You will never fully be reborn, in fact, you know if you do not do this, Onya will die. Eventually, she will die."

"Yes," Sarah whispered as she stroked Duncan's hair. "Father, she is ready to go. She hurts so much, please let her rest. She has seen too much." Tears began to fall from her doe eyes. "Please," she begged softly.

"You don't know what you ask of me." Ares held a large hand out to her. Sarah took it in her own while she stood at Duncan's side. "I can not sit here and watch you weaken day by day until you are no longer strong enough to lift your own head or push forth my grandson into the world."

Sarah looked from her father to Aphrodite and then to Methos. "Isn't that why you called him here?" Sarah caressed the large hand which held her own. "Isn't it, Father? In your soul, you called him here and revealed all so that he would help Duncan and not destroy him. I know you, Father. I know you." Sarah bent her head and kissed her father's hand. "It will be hard, I know." She whispered. "But I can do this. Let me show you that I can do this."

Looking into his daughters' eyes, so like his own, feeling the black fire within him and knowing that he would never have her the way he wanted, Ares felt something inside his begin to bend and then break. "And you, Champion? Is this what you want as well? I do not exaggerate when I say she will be weak. She will require constant attention, constant care. She will not be able to suckle her own son, not be able to care for him for a very long time after his birth. It will be hard. At first, she will be strong, stronger than you can imagine. If you think a mortal woman's hormones go crazy when she's pregnant, well, you ain't seen nothing." He raised an eyebrow at Duncan. "She will lose her psychic abilities, the strength and prowess which is only beginning to show itself in her will be gone. In the end, when all is said and done and Sarah is the only one who remains inside that body, she may well be mortal again."

"No," Duncan whispered.

"Yes, such is the chance that is to be taken." Ares told him. "Still willing, MacLeod?"

Duncan looked up at Sarah who was standing strongly at his side. "Can't you do anything?"

"No."

Sarah smiled down at him while she ran her hand along his cheek. "Still want me, even if I grow old and gray?" She intwined her fingers in his hair.

"Yes," Duncan reached up and pulled her to his lap. "Always."

"And you, Protector? What say you?" Ares asked.

"I don't think they want me around, Ares." Methos said meekly as he cast his eyes away from all of them.

Ares raised his hand to Duncan and motioned for him to answer Methos' query.

"I can't answer it now." Duncan grumbled.

"You must decide now." Aphrodite told him.

"He dropped her down a well. He withheld all of this from me. Now you want me to trust him?"

"Yes," Aphrodite said quietly. "That is what you must do."

"Fine," he grumbled. "He comes with us."

"There's your answer, Protector. Do you stand with them?" Ares asked.

"Yes," Methos answered strongly. "I stand with them."

Aphrodite smiled at Ares and raised her eyebrows. "Well, Lover, what is it to be?"

"Come to me, daughter." Ares ordered in a soft voice. Sarah sat on his lap. "Willful child." Ares chided as he shook his dark head at her and held her to him. "What am I to do with you?" Sarah laid against his massive frame and was completely eneveloped in his arms, Duncan could no longer see her at all. Ares held her there for a long time with his eyes closed, his head resting on top of hers. Finally he let out a hearty sigh as he held her away from his body. "Kiss me, daughter." Ares whispered to her. "Not as your father or as a God, kiss me the way you kiss him."

Sarah stared at him with wide questioning eyes, she licked her lips and raised her head to reach her mouth to his. At the last second she pulled away with tears in her eyes, "I can't." Sarah shook her head as her lips trembled. "I love you, Father but not the way I love Duncan." She felt the harsh grasp of his mamoth hand at the back of her head as he forced her forward to his mouth. "Father, no." She whispered before his lips closed down around hers. Ares tongue slid between her lips and parted them as he held her to himself. Sarah tensed in his arms and tried to pull away.

Duncan began to rise but was reseated by Aphrodite's hand.

Ares' hardness rubbed itself along Sarah's thigh as he kissed her. To her surprise, it was a kiss and a touch that were not altogether unwelcomed by her. He was strong. He was powerful. And he did love her. Breathlessly, the God of War pushed his daughter away from his body. "Take her from me, Champion, before I change my mind." He ordered as he licked his lips. "Sweeter than Nectar." He whispered to her as he watched Duncan rise and take Sarah from his lap.

Sarah wrapped her arm around Duncan's waist and held on tightly.

"Go, daughter. Take your husband and your protector and go..."Ares sighed deeply, "with my blessings." He looked up at Duncan and Methos sternly from his throne. "You two remember this, every single man who has ever raised a rough hand to my daughter has died a violent death. Every single one, that I do have control over. You two will be no exceptions." He reached a rough hand into his pocket and produced Duncan's half of the talisman. "Give me the other piece, daughter." He held out a large waiting hand.

Sarah's hand went to her throat as she stared at her father and removed the necklace he had given her. She handed it over with fear in her heart.

Ares fit Duncan's smaller piece into it's place, closed his hand tightly around the talisman, bright purple light streamed through the spaces between his closed fingers as he used his powers to fuse it back together and store as much of his own energy in it as he possibly could. He held up the now whole talisman with his horns inside the crystal, it hung from two leather straps. Ares tossed it high into the air, drew the massive sword from his side, and split the crystal in two with a mighty blow as it fell to the rocky cave floor. He stooped and picked them up, one perfect half lay in each of his palms. "Equal." He said as he held them out to Duncan and Sarah. "See that you do not lose it again, Husband. You will have much need of it in the future."

Sarah cast her eyes away from her husband and her father as Duncan looped it around his neck. "Still, tonight." She whispered. "Will I?"

"Yes," Ares answered quickly. "You will still feel it. I can't stop it. You must be careful...Husband. If I were you, I'd take her on holy ground, just to be safe. Onya may well love you but she still wants to live." He warned. "And she knows no other way to do it."

"I love you, daughter." Aphrodite whispered with pride in her voice as she waved a hand in the air. Sarah was magickally clad in a long flowing green dress. "No longer are you alone, naked to the world." She floated over to where the three of them stood and joined their hands with their own. "Now, you have a true family. Go with Love and Beauty, daughter. Always." She kissed Sarah's cheek. "You two," she said sternly to Duncan and Methos "will just have to work everything out. There is no more time to waste." She squeezed Methos hand. "Though I wish there were just a little more time." Aphrodite winked at him as she slid her hand down his chest.

Ares turned his eyes away as Aphrodite raised her hand in the air and sent the three of him from his temporary home in Avalon, back to the Aeropagus in Athens.

"You have a good heart, Ares." She said as she turned back to him. "You did the right thing."

"Then why does it hurt so much?" He cried. "You didn't tell me it would feel like this." His large hand clutched at his chest.

"You haven't lost her." Aphrodite reminded him as she settled herself on his lap where Sarah had been only a moment before. "She still loves you. And now, she will always love you."

"You'd better be right." Ares said in a low warning whisper as he pulled her closer to himelf. Aphrodite wrapped her arms about the neck of her Lover, Ares God of War and held him while a mighty river of tears fell from his eyes.