When Universes Collide

Ever so cautiously, the group made its way toward Hogwarts. At sunrise, they took a break to eat and rest, many of them having come from their worlds when it had been night. Those that came from daytime were being bothered by internal clocks telling them the sun must have set hours ago, even if it was staring them full in the face. Spike, however, took time to enjoy it. It had been a long while since he was able to feel the sun on his face.

-///-

Harry had been unable to sleep the rest of the night, and now watched the first rays of dawn come through the window of the hospital wing. The boys in his dorm had helped him here, and were quickly shooed away by Madame Pomfry, who alerted Dumbledore. He could see the curiosity in the old man's eyes, but he'd felt the boy needed rest. Thus, Harry was lying there. Resting. And Merlin knew how badly he wanted to be asleep.

Later that morning, Harry made his way to the Great Hall for breakfast. Worried, his friends nearly swamped him, but he just smiled and let them know he was alright. Of course, he couldn't blame their worry.

These days, everyone was worried for everyone else. Dumbledore had made announcements at the end of almost every breakfast, saying what places had been attacked. The letters to children who'd lost family came after that; owls dropping letters in house colors, each with a black ribbon. Many didn't even open them anymore. They knew they'd lost that last person.

Even though Harry didn't have anyone left to lose, he still felt guilty that he never got a letter. It somehow made it worse that he never would. Though he'd lost Sirius, it was only one person. People lost brothers, sisters, friends, neighbors...both parents. He only had to go through that pain once. Some had gone through mourning two or three times now. Some had to go through more.

As breakfast finished, he turned toward the teachers, waiting to hear of another attack. But none came. Dumbledore wasn't even at the table. Yet, there was one owl carrying a green letter with black ribbon. Everyone watched it cautiously. None more so than the Slytherin table, which had gone so quiet, there wasn't a whisper among them. Then the letter fell, right into Malfoy's lap. There seemed to be a collective gasp and Malfoy held the letter out, eyes wide.

Slowly he pulled the ribbon off, almost afraid to open it. He closed his eyes tightly and held it out to Crabbe, mumbling something. The other boy opened the letter and closed his eyes in grief. He leaned down, telling Malfoy every word. The blond only left the hall.

In that moment, even Ron felt sorry for him. There had been many losses on both sides. Malfoy had been another reminder that the "innocent" ones weren't the only victims. No one was truly innocent, but no one deserved what each side had been feeling from the start: That blackness which had come to be called death.

Harry soon got a letter of his own, but nothing so dramatic. The headmaster was asking him to go to his office. He tucked the letter away and looked back up at the table. Now Professor McGonagall was gone. He excused himself from their table and made his way to the giant gargoyle he knew would be blocking the entrance. After all, it probably had been since the school was built. McGonagall let him in and he made his way up the staircase.

Once there, he was greeted by an unusual group of people. He had to wonder if it was even possible to have hair as bright as the spiky-haired woman's. She only watched him. Another person had bright red hair. And the boy that stood next to Professor Dumbledore had hair that was light lavender, soft with a few strands going astray. Harry couldn't see well, but the hair seemed pulled back into a long ponytail.

"Professor?"

Dumbledore nodded. "Harry. Come meet someone." He gestured to Ares. "This is Ares. The others you see around you have been brought by him to help out in our war. Moreover, they've come to help you."

Harry blinked. "Where'd they all come from?"

"Various places," Ares said. "Many I'm sure you've never even heard of. Some you have, but it only exists in a universe either separate or parallel to your own."

"Okay, I'm confused..." Harry looked around at the others once more. "Why? I mean, don't you have your own universe to protect? I mean, besides that..." He looked at the man with the gun. "What can any of you do?"

Ares looked to Dumbledore, who nodded. "If you'll come with us to the Quidditch pitch, we'll have a nice little demonstration."

Slightly dumbfounded, Harry nodded and they made their way out of the castle, Ares in the lead. Part way out, Ares paused a moment then had the group go on ahead, saying he would catch up. He walked off the path a little to hear someone cursing and kicking something. Sounded like a tree. He walked over to see a blond-haired boy leaning against what he figured to have been the same tree that was just kicked.

"Hey..."

"What do you want?" the boy asked, coldly.

"Don't be like that," Ares chuckled. He took a seat on the ground. "Something happen?"

The boy snarled. "What, you don't know?" He turned to Ares, then realized he didn't recognize the man. "You really don't, do you? The all-powerful Lucius Malfoy has been executed." He tossed the letter to the man. "Read for yourself."

Ares didn't know much about this land, but black symbolized death everywhere, even in Chaos. He opened the letter and read it through carefully. "I'm sorry."

Draco opened his mouth to snap at him then paused, realizing the man was sincere. "You're the only one who is. My father was a Death Eater. You know who they are, right?"

Ares nodded. "Sadly yes. I've come to fight against them."

"You sound disappointed."

Ares handed the letter back. "Where I'm from, the world is run by demons. We aren't just fighting some guy who came to power; we're often fighting family over the throne. Our three basic lessons are magic, poisons, and horseback riding. It's not a pleasant place. In fact, I became famous when I was twelve for killing my grandmother. Everyone called me a great war hero. But fighting a war so young... Ever since then I've only begged for the nightmares to stop." He shook his head. "No, I'd rather not be fighting another war. I've seen too many."

"Then, you've killed."

"Yes."

"How many?"

"Thousands."

Then, quietly, "how is that different? How are you different from those who are being punished for killing?"

"I'm not." He looked Draco in the eyes. "I'm only treated different, because I killed to protect, and not to harm."

Draco seemed to consider this a moment before he realized the man had stood, beginning to walk away. "Wait! Who are you?"

"Many things, childe. The Hell God, the War Demon, the Lord of Nightmares...Chaos." He looked back at the boy. "But if you want to know how I was named, my mother called me Ares." And he walked away.

Ares kept Draco in mind as he walked toward the pitch. The others had started conversations: K and Roland talking about the more advanced weaponry of K's world; Lina, Squall, Cloud, Dagger, and Yuna talking about the differences between summoning and casting, Willow listening in; Spike, Kellein, and Ryoko enjoying talks of their greatest victories; and Harry and Dumbledore talking of latest events in the war.

He walked up calling out to them. "Ryoko, you're first! All of you: feel free to use the full length of the field in your demonstrations!"

The groups broke up and they all gathered at one end of the field. Ares conjured a wall facing the corner of the field. Ryoko stepped forward. Ares nodded to her as he joined the group. She nodded in return.

She started by phasing through the wall, making sure everyone could see she was clearly going through it. She then transported to the top of a Quidditch hoop, flew down to the top of the wall, summoned her plasma sword, then cut through the wall. A large chunk fell, neatly sliced, and embedded itself in the ground. She then summoned a large sum of energy to blast the wall, which became wall bits. She walked out of the settling debris and bowed to them, who gave mild applause. Ares de-conjured what was left of the wall and repaired the field.

A containment field appeared as Lina stepped forward. Most of them stepped back as Lina began her incantation. "Darkness from twilight, crimson from blood that flows; buried in the flow of time; in Thy great name, I pledge myself to darkness! Those who oppose us shall be destroyed by the power you and I possess! DRAGON SLAVE!" Harry stood shocked as the entire rest of the Quidditch field was destroyed; looking like the spell could have done more damage had the barrier not been in place. Some of them even had to brace themselves against the back-lashing power flow. She went on to demonstrate smaller spells, but Dragon Slave was still held in most of their minds.

The barrier did not fall, nor did Ares fix the field for what was coming up next. However, there were live targets. The first was a red dragon, which charged the moment it appeared. Yuna summoned Anima, destroying it with a good deal of pain as well. A bomb was summoned, which Cloud summoned Shiva for. A t-rexaur appeared and Squall first summoned Valefor, then attacked with both blade and blast. Last, there was no target besides them as Dagger summoned Carbuncle. The tiny green creature cast a light on them and they suddenly felt somehow protected. Demonstrating the barrier, she cast a spell against them, which was reflected back on her. Kellein walked over and healed her, then nodded to Spike who stepped forward. Again, Ares did not fix the field.

Kellein and Spike fought for a good deal of time, Spike sending her flying a few feet several times. Eventually, she ran Spike through with her dagger, straight through the heart. He pulled back away as he changed, his vampiric nature now evident. Then he attacked in a full flurry, utilizing all capability he possessed. The fight went in a blur, both taking a good amount of injury before Ares told them to stop. He healed them both before setting up a bench with cans as targets. Again, he did not fix the field.

K and Roland stepped forward and drew. K was accurate, but much slower than Roland. Roland hit all of his targets dead center in what sounded like a single gunshot. Then Ares conjured new targets and placed them at the very end of the field. Roland still hit, though he was slower in aim and only grazed the targets. It wasn't his fault, of course, but the gun was not meant for such things. K's sniper rifle was. He hit all the targets dead center. Ares de-conjured the bench and targets while K and Roland stepped back.

Ares stepped forward. Much of what he could do was already evident in the conjuring and healing, but he knew there was more they'd have to see. Darkness fell on all of them as he reached out with tendrils of the Logrus, deep within him. As he raised a hand, he earth in front of him then rose, shifting its placement, before dropping to the ground. He sent an invisible blast out at it, creating a crater similar to the one made by Lina's Dragon Slave, the shockwave hitting most of them hard, knocking Harry off his feet. He waved his hand and the ground shifted once more, this time evening itself out. Then the darkness lifted and he concentrated on what was ahead of him. The grass grew, brighter than before, and the pitch was clear once again.

The barrier was dropped and Ares turned back to the group. "Now you've seen. And now you'll know." One by one he gestured to each member of the group. "Ryoko, Lina, Yuna, Cloud, Squall, Dagger, Kellein, Spike, K, and Roland." Then he bowed, an elegant sort of gesture. "And I am Ares. We are now at your service."

Harry stood dumbfounded, as did hundreds of other students, who had come to watch. They looked out windows of classrooms and halls. They watched from far paths, and some had come a little closer.

The closest was Draco Malfoy, who now understood the things Ares had called himself. Being the son of Lucius Malfoy, he had become accustomed to the feel of darkness, but what he felt from Ares during his demonstration almost made him feel sick. It reminded him of the Dark Lord, only stronger. He didn't want to be reminded of that. He didn't want this man, who didn't want to fight, even if he was strong enough, to be like Voldemort...Voldemort with his sickening touch and nauseating words.

But when Ares had changed again, he could see the difference. He watched the wings lighten, the eyes turn to a rich violet. When it was over, the man's wings were dark again, and his eyes violet with that inner red glow, but he could still sense it there. Something other than darkness. The man seemed to be darkness itself, and yet almost holy. A creator. He thought that in that moment, he truly understood Chaos.

Ares nodded to Draco then walked back to the rest of the group. "Now, Harry, we await your decision. We can help in your fight, but you must accept us first."

Harry blinked and looked at him incredulously. "Help? You're stronger than me, you go fight Voldemort!"

Ares couldn't help but laugh. "I'm afraid we can't. We can't touch him, in fact. However, you can defeat him. Don't worry. We'll make sure you're prepared first. And no matter how dark, we'll light the way."