A Treasured Quality

For Jamie Blue's crossover challenge at the Joxerotica list. It's short, None of the characters are mine and I think most of the plot is very familiar... ;) Hugs to Carrie for looking through this for me.

Legend has it that Ares, God of War, once lost his sword through treachery. The sword was the symbol of his power and might, and with it, he also lost his godhood. Cast away as a mere mortal and exiled from Olympus, he turned to a former follower. A Warrior Princess, once his favored, now his enemy. Knowing that, despite her hatred for him, everything he stood for, and her own past, she was his strongest chance for survival.

With no one holding the Sword of War, the world was in chaos. Neighbor turned against neighbor and father against son. All of mankind felt the effect, but only they of the strongest mind could fight it off. Even the peace-promoting bard that was the Warrior Princess' love, couldn't control her anger. It became clear for the Warrior Princess that the best way to solve the situation was to find the sword before chaos increased, and before someone unworthy found and claimed it first.

The Warrior Princess set out on a quest. With her came the now human Ares, the Bard she loved and a warrior called Joxer the Mighty. But the Warrior Princess' following was not alone on their quest. The thief and traitor that now had the sword in his possession had issued a contest where Ares' former godhood was the prize. The contest was held in a castle on a deserted island. Ten Warlords where invited, the Warrior Princess and Ares took the place of two of them, and they all travelled together to the island on a ship.

Little is said about the Warrior Princess' true motives. Some say she was planning on claiming the sword herself, others that she had made a deal with Ares and was to return it to him for a price. Nobody knows for sure. All that is said is that she was determined that no other competitors were to claim the sword.

To win the sword, a monster had to be killed. The ten War Lords had to fight among themselves for the privilege. While Ares and the Warrior Princess fought the War Lords, the Bard and Joxer, who had been asked to stay behind, found another way into the castle. Through the drainage pipe they travelled, both fighting their violent impulses. Way down in the castle's inner tunnels, Joxer found the sword and they revealed the thief's deceitfulness. There was no monster. Only the thief's cunning plot to get rid of the ten War Lords and become the God of War himself.

Fast, they moved to the main chamber where only the Warrior Princess and Ares were left alive of the contestants. The thief was about to kill them when Joxer and the Bard interrupted him. And although Joxer had claimed the sword, he gave it up, to save Ares and the Warrior Princess.

And Ares was once more the God of War. Most people praised the Warrior Princess for the conclusion, but Ares took a long hard look into Joxer's soul, knowing that he was the true reason things had ended as they did. Joxer could've kept the Sword for himself, but he didn't. Instead, he'd returned it to Ares, knowing becoming the new God of War was not in his best interest.

Not long after that, Ares, the God of War, took Joxer the Mighty as his consort. Many eyebrows were raised, as Joxer was mostly known to be clumsy and a lousy warrior. Ares ignored them all. He'd already sired enough children, both mortal and gods, to continue his legacy. And when he looked into Joxer's soul, he saw something just as important as fighting skills and pure physical strength. Joxer was a survivor. In a violent world where the majority was stronger than him, Joxer still managed to survive. Ares saw this and treasured it. It is said their love made Aphrodite weep of joy. And together they made Olympus prosper.

This legend was told to all the children in the Kodiak Pride as an example that while physical fitness is worth striving for, other qualities are also to be treasured. So, while some of my fellow Nietzschian might frown and wonder how Tyr Anasazi, out of Victoria by Barbarossa, can stoop so low as to bed a kludge like Seamus Harper, I know the Kodiak Pride would've accepted him. Because Harper is nothing, if not a survivor.