Disclaimer: - See Chapter One. As always, I don't own anything but the idea for this craziness.

Chapter Two: -

It's all that Damned Monkey's Fault

The Great Hall

"It is done…" The lead Power intoned in his most imperious voice, rounding on Janus, he scowled. "Now leave, Godling. We are done with you."

Oh, yes, you are done, the Chaos God muttered as he rounded on all of the Powers glaring at him. "Very well." He grounded out, scowling at the smirks of the arrogant Powers That Be. Over grown pompous pricks, Janus thought of them as his faces suddenly turned their scowls around and he smirked. "But know this, as you had originally deigned to rid me of the child and his potential for chaos, by the Creator's will, you are to lose the reins of your precious Slayers and vampire."

"What?" The lead Power suddenly asked. "What new madness do you speak?"

"It is true. He has seen your intent for your champions and has decreed no more." Janus said grinning madly. "They are to be taken from you just as you have taken the child from his home."

The Power raged: "But – but he can't!" His exclamation was met with furious flashes of lightning that lit up the area outside and roars of thunder that bellowed and reverberated around the hall; just then, there was a another flash of lightning, furious in its appearance and radiating the Creator's power that made everyone in the great hall cower. As the smoke from the lightning cleared a message could be seen scorched into the marble floor.

'I can and I have. Janus speaks for me in this matter. Your hold over the Slayer essence and the Vampire with a Soul has been severed. From this time onwards, until entropy takes my creation, the Hosts of Heaven shall be given their reins. Do not seek to defy my will on this: You have been warned.'

"There is justice after all." Janus sing – songed, he was smiling gleefully at the looks of utter shock and bafflement some of the Powers wore, whilst others sported looks of outrage as they came to terms with having the Slayer and the Vampire removed from their service.

'Have a care, Chaos God. You have gotten your way. The Mortal known as Alexander has been saved.'

"Spoilsport." He muttered under his breathing and that was followed by a deafening roar of thunder that shook the foundations of the great hall. "Ok, ok, I get you… sheesh." Janus began as he turned to watch the Powers clamouring to be heard over one another. "I'll take what I can get." He finished saying backing away from the Scrying pool. Just then he cringed, feeling a huge amount of power and energy threatening to overwhelm him. He felt like he was being smothered. Suffocated, and Janus knew that it was him and he was not amused. 'Alright, alright, fine. I'm done gloating.' Janus thought desperately, knowing that the Almighty could hear his thoughts. A second later, the feeling of power ceased and Janus shook himself as he regained his composure.

Janus watched as the dismayed Powers That Be turned and looked at their tapestry, the gigantic fabric that was the representation of their work… unravelling. All they had planned; all that they had accomplished for the last two – thousand years and their plans for the future had come undone, and ultimately, it was all thanks to a young boy who wouldn't let his friend die when destiny said she was supposed to.

"JANUS!" The lead Power raged as he whirled upon the Godling, his eyes glowing with power and anger; anger that was directed toward the two – faced deity. "THIS IS YOUR DOING!" The Power raised his hands towards the God, his palms suddenly filled with crackling balls of lightning. The great hall fell silent; the rest of the PTB watched as their Leader summoned his immense might, about to bring it to bear towards Janus, who stood still, an eyebrow crocked on one of his faces as he waited to see what the lead Power would do next.

"Yes, it is." Janus said calmly; the Power was incensed. How dare he! The two – faced deity treats his work like a joke, the leader fumed.

"Don't you realise…" The Power started. "I… We have worked for too long against the Wolf Ram and Hart for all of our work to be undone…"

"What work, Power?" Janus asked. "You mean the backroom dealings you made with your contemporaries and opposites. The shady offers you made concerning the fate of my favoured…"

"We do what is necessary to maintain the balance…" The Power stated with pride lacing his voice.

"But that's just it; you were charged to keep evil from winning, Powers. By him!" Janus intoned before spinning around taking the other PTB's in. "YOU ALL WERE!" He shouted. "And instead you barter and bargain. You proffer and sell the fates of your champions as currency filling your coffers, and in doing so you allow the forces of evil to gain even more footing on the Earth. Well I say no longer… the Creator says no longer!"

The Powers continued to watch as their tapestry unravelled even more. "The Creator knew that you, Power, had plans of your own that you sought to implement. Plans that would destabilise the current Slayer and the Vampire. He's not happy."

"NO, NO, NO, NO!" The Power ranted. "My work… all my work, NO!" He screamed as he saw his most recent plans for the Slayer and the Vampire fade from the tapestry. "JANUS!"

"A RECKONING, CHAOS GOD!" The Power raged madness and insanity filling his voice. His power filled the great hall and cowed the other Powers, bringing them to their knees. "THERE SHALL BE A RECKONING BETWEEN YOU AND I. YOU HAVE RUINED EVERYTHING THAT I HAVE WORKED FOR!" Just then, as Janus expected the Power to attack, he did the opposite, the Power raised both arms to the air, his palms facing upwards as the balls of crackling energy still rested there, and silently called down the lightning and the great hall was consumed in a bright flash of blinding light.

When the light dimmed a few moments later, the lead Power was nowhere to be seen, but there was a message scorched into the marble where he had stood.

'A Crisis, Janus. There shall be a Crisis. Look unto your favoured, Godling. For he shall be the First to fall.'

As the clamouring of the other Powers died down over their leader as their tapestry had finally stopped unravelling at a certain point on the heavy fabric, the tapestry's loom began anew. Charting out new fates for the mortals; some good, some not so good. Janus watched as the collective were helpless in trying to preserve their work. "All in all, a good day." The Chaos God said to himself as he faded away from the great hall of the Powers That Be, the lead Power's warning to him still at the fore in his mind.

Arriving back in his domain, Janus set his mind now to the task of making sure that his favoured was guided towards the entity he had been in contact with for quite some time prior to meeting with the PTB. The entity he contacted to help him was… immensity. Formless. Vast.

'Can you hear me? Is everything ready, he is on his way to you now. Help me! Help him!' And as he expected, Janus did not receive an answer but he knew that the entity would render its assistance.

Blackness

Universes and dimensions away, in a realm of darkness where the chattering, wailing and raging of the dead is heard, a great and terrifying being that was laying the foundations for his return felt the reverberations that the Power had unleashed in his anger against Janus. All around the entity, darkness, thick and viscous rolled around him like a murky river, covered him like a smothering blanket and yet, offered his movements no resistance, for the great Black Lord of Sorrow and Death, the being, Nekron, stirred at the sense of the reverberations and smiled as his plans began to take shape for his eventual return.

Somewhere

He could feel warmth, as if the Sun was on his face. Xander felt content, at peace. He also felt that he was lying on something soft. He knew it wasn't his bed, that lumpy piece of crap he unfortunately called a bed wasn't anywhere as comfortable as this. This was heaven compared to that and so he languished and stretched and smiled in contentment. And that was when heard Buffy's voice speak to him.

"Morning, Sleepyhead." She said from next to him. In bed. "C'mon, we're gonna be late. Rise and shine." She sleepily said to him as he heard an alarm clock go off. He cracked open an eyelid and for a moment he thought he saw nothingness then a roiling sea of yellow and orange before he saw flashes of Buffy's dirty blonde, bedhead hair and her face coming into view. She pecked him on the side of his head and all the way down to his mouth, suddenly motivated, Xander returned her peck with fervour, which then heated up into a passionate smooching session.

"Mmmm, don' wanna… stay." He mumbled into the lip lock. "Comfy."

"Baby, mmm…" Buffy returned. "Wills is, mmm, coming, mmm, round… school. Snyder. Late…" She told him, trying to get him to stop. And failing, Xander could tell that her resistance was weakening. Especially when he slipped his hand under the covers and between her… "Guh! Not… fair. Ten… more… minutes." Buffy said between kisses, all resistance gone.

"I knew you'd see it my way." Xander said with a smirking and chuckling.

"Well, it's not like you gave me a choice, Mr. Galactic Overlord." Buffy returned with a chuckle as the two separated for a brief moment before Buffy moved back in to continue. He must've still had sleep on his brain; either that or his girlfriend's tongue wrapping itself around his was making him lose all sense of reality before what she said had registered through his sleep addled brain. "Wait, what?" He asked pulling away from her and for the briefest second, Buffy's face was… still and emotionless.

She opened her mouth: 'Wake up.'

To Xander the words seemed to be Buffy's and yet, at the same time they weren't; he knew it wasn't Buffy talking to him. Another second later Buffy was smiling and playfully teasing him, running her fingers up and down his arm with a feather light touch, all trace of that cold and emotionless visage forgotten. "I said it's not like you gave me much of a choice, Baby. C'mere." She said smiling with her bright blue doleful eyes before leaning in to give him another kiss before she pulled away again. "Xan, we really do have to get up."

He sighed. "Fine." He breathed out as he got out of his girlfriend's bed, looked out of the window and saw nothingness, he stared and blinked, rubbing his eyes, Xander found himself looking out over Revello Drive on a bright sunny day and then he made his way to the bathroom. He felt really good today he thought smiling and entered the bathroom. Walking up to the mirror, Xander noticed the love bite Buffy had given him last night on his neck, the minx; chuckling before he turned the Fawcett on and bent forward to splash his face, he straightened back up and looked at the mirror and stared as his reflection was missing.

"Huh, wha?" He said as he stared at a sea of stars amidst what he thought was a night sky. "What the…?" He said as he saw a small red dot appear in the mirror; Xander stared as the dot became bigger and bigger until the young man eventually figured out that it was a planet. 'Why is there a planet in the mirror?' He asked himself as the red planet finally settled into view.

'Filthy Monkey's. Today's the day I wipe you Saiyans from the face of the galaxy. The Super Saiyan, hah!'

The sudden thought came unbidden in Xander's mind as the young man watched as a small figure flew straight up from the planet. It was a man; Xander saw a horde of strange creatures flying in the man's path as the figure charged right through the horde, bowling some of the strange looking creatures away, punching and kicking others as he kept flying straight for where Xander was looking at him from. "What?" He asked himself again amazed that he was actually seeing this.

Soon the flying man, Xander noticed, looking bruised and battered had stopped after he had cleared right through the horde; he thought he saw various cuts and scars on the figure's face and then it looked like the figure was shouting at him.

'You've lived long enough! Actually, it's been far too long for my taste! Frieza, listen up… we quit! All of us! Got it! We don't work for you! We're free! You can find someone else to do your dirty work! Oh, yeah! There is one more thing! This is for all the people that we killed in your name! I wish we were never foolish enough to obey you! Here… have it!'

'Wake up.' There it was again, that voice that sounded like Buffy's but Xander knew that it wasn't. Ignoring it for the moment, Xander noticed that he had missed something vital in the image as all he could see now was blackness. Eerie blackness; where was the red planet? Where had the battered looking man gone?

"Xan, c'mon! We're going to be late for School!" Buffy shouted from downstairs.

He shook himself, he suddenly felt a feeling of cold maliciousness and anger from somewhere but he couldn't tell where the feeling was coming from, looking around, Xander shook himself and rubbed his eyes; maybe he was more tired than he thought. That'll teach him not to let Buffy keep him up all night; he thought and then paused, considered that very notion, thought back to what they were doing last night and decided with a wide grin. "Nah."

Splashing his face with water again, Xander noticed that his reflection had come back in the mirror. His face was dripping water as he peered closer at the mirror as if something had caught his attention. Moving ever closer, Xander saw the mirror shake for a brief moment before he stopped and the shaking had stopped. "Wha…?" He moved closer again and as he did the mirror began shaking again until a white clad arm with black fingernails and a purple gem set in its wrist burst right through, shattering the mirror and grabbed a startled Xander by the throat and pulled him through while he screamed.

'Wake up… child.'

Once he was on the other side of the shattered mirror, Xander found himself lying face down on short grass, surrounded by bits and pieces of mirror and rocks. He groaned as he tried to move and figure out just what it was that had grabbed him and where he was. He rolled over onto his back and opened his eyes to a… green sky. Just where the hell was he?!

"The hell?!" He asked out loud as he sat up and saw green all around him; he looked to his left and saw a small green lake and a weird looking frog waving its arms frantically as it ran on by. He looked to his right and saw a few white spiked, domelike structures that had seen better days and a few scraps of white and brown clothing. He decided that he didn't like this place, apart from the fact that he didn't know where he was, there was just something depressing about it, Xander got the feeling that something bad had happened her recently and he did not want to spend one more second here than necessary.

"I've gotta get outta here… wherever here is. I've gotta get back home."

'Namek. Dragonballs. Immortality is within my grasp. I will destroy anyone who gets in my way.'

The thoughts came to Xander's mind once again unbidden; he had no idea where they were coming from. They weren't coming from him, were they? Quickening his pace, Xander looked to see if there was a way out from this nightmare he had suddenly found himself in.

'Wake up, Favoured One.'

He stopped, this time the voice didn't sound like Buffy's, it sounded old and cultured. It sounded like… "Giles…?" Xander spoke out hoping to hear his friend's voice but he was met with silence and he became more freaked.

And then the sky turned dark, lightning flashed accompanied by hurricane force winds and the ground started shaking violently. "Jesus! What the hell is happening?!" He shouted out over the roar of the winds.

'You… must… awaken.'

"And who the fuck is that?!" Xander exclaimed as he heard the same disembodied voice speak to him again. "Who's doing this?!" He shouted at the air.

He was surprised to get a response: 'You are, Guide. Wake up!'

He was! Guide? What the hell did that mean? And why the hell was the voice telling him to wake up. "What d'you mean wake up?!" He was already awake, wasn't he?

'You are not. You… must… awaken.' The voice told him once more sounding like Giles.

Ok, that was freaky. Xander was seriously starting to get weirded out by the whole experience now, he certainly felt like he was awake. He noticed that the scenery had shifted around him again, this time Xander looked to see two figures, a well – built human with outrageously spiked golden hair and muscles that would put Schwarzenegger to shame. The guy was looking in his direction and Xander couldn't help but look into two cold turquoise coloured eyes that were filled with potent fury.

He felt unnerved by the intense scrutiny the golden haired guy was giving him.

'Kill you! I WILL KILL YOU!'

The scene shifted slightly and Xander noticed that he had a stone in his left hand; he was suddenly overcome with intense hatred, his breathing laboured as Xander found himself returning the icy stare with his own rage filled one; the problem was he didn't know where this rage was coming from. "YOU CAN'T BEAT ME! A MONKEY CAN'T BEAT ME! A SAIYAN CAN'T BEAT ME! YOU CAN'T! YOU CAN'T! YOU CAN'T! YOU'RE NOTHING BUT AN OVERGROWN MONKEY! I HATE YOU!" He shouted as he found himself embroiled in a fight with the golden haired guy.

'Awaken…' The voice said to him once more; Xander then found himself lying on the ground… in pieces.

He looked down and saw his lower half three feet away and his left arm another two feet from him, but what he did consider strange was the fact that his lower half was white, had a purple gem imbedded into the shins on both legs… and three toes and a tail with a third of it looking like it had been sliced off.

"AAAAHHHH!" He screamed. "WHAT THE HELL?! HELP ME SOMEBODY! SOMEBODY HELP ME!" He shouted again as his mind began telling him that he was in agony.

'Then wake up.' The voice said to him once again.

"I AM AWAKE! I WOULDN'T BE FEELING LIKE THIS IF I WAS DREAMING!" Xander shouted at the air.

'You are certain of that, Guide?' The voice asked inquisitively.

Xander ignored the question as his mind was telling him he was in pain. "OH, GOD, IT HURTS! HELP ME, PLEASE, HELP ME!" He screamed out as he felt himself getting weaker, he felt as if he was going to die. Just then, a moment later, the golden haired guy was standing over him, a look of righteous anger on his face; Xander contemplated that the guy was trying to decide whether or not to help him. He didn't get it, what had he done to this guy to warrant this, he asked himself as he saw the guy raise his right arm and shoot… something at him.

A second later, he felt a little better, his mauled figure raising itself off of the ground somehow as he stared into the intense face of the golden haired man. He listened as the guy told him that he had given him some of his own energy and was then told to do with it what he will.

'Peace! I AM FRIEZA! I AM MIGHTY! I AM THE MOST POWERFUL BEING IN THE UNIVERSE!'

A minute later as the scene had shifted again, Xander, his body mauled even further as half of his face had been blown off and the rest of his left arm had been destroyed up to his shoulder, was engulfed in fire as the planet he was on exploded.

'You have awakened.' The voice intoned.

Xander awoke to find he was floating amongst bits and pieces of planetary debris, his body whole once again. "What the hell? Where am I?" He spoke out loud as he looked around and saw stars in the far off distances around him. "This is freaky." And he just realised that he had just made the understatement of the fucking decade.

And then, it dawned on him that if he was in space, then how was he breathing?

His memories of Sunnydale, the Hellmouth and Halloween surfaced in his mind as he remembered what had happened to some of the kids he was escorting, his memory replaying the scene when he witnessed a few of the kids changing and then his own experience of undergoing the change. "God, that fucking hurt." He said as he remembered the pain he felt. So, first things first, he mused as he tried to move in the floating vacuum. He managed to sit up and look around at his surroundings more…

"Help… me." It was barely a whisper and yet Xander had heard it. "Help… me… please!" He heard it again; Xander looked around, trying to find the source of the in pained plea. Looking left, he couldn't see anything but huge sized rocks as they floated through space and collided with each other and then breaking off into smaller pieces. Looking to the right, he saw more of the same.

"Someone… help me…" The voice whispered again. Xander turned to look back; a giant sized piece of Namek blocked his view but the young man had the feeling that the source of the voice was coming from behind that rock.

"Hey!" He shouted out. "Are you alright?" He asked. It then dawned on Xander that this… scene looked familiar to him; frowning, Xander looked left and right, his mind telling him that there was something eerily familiar about this and about that voice.

"Who's… there?" The voice responded back. Xander's brow scrunched itself in thought; that voice sounded really familiar. "Did my Father send you?"

"I don't know your father…" Xander said as he stood; he found it easy to move wherever the hell he was. He had worked it out; he knew that he wasn't really in space because he was still breathing. With that in mind as just one of the many things to figure out why and how he was here, Xander began moving around the giant rock. He spoke out with vehemence lacing his voice as he realized how he knew this place and who he was talking to: "And if you really are who I think you are; which, I'm really wondering how this is happening, and how I could be here talking to a dying piece of trash like yourself, then you really deserve everything that has happened to you…" He trailed off as the broken and torn form of Frieza floating in front of him. "And will happen to you, Frieza." Xander said thinking back to what he knew about the fate of the alien.

Xander looked down at the form of the white clad alien and couldn't help but sneer at the alien's misfortune. "Who… are… who…?" Frieza rasped out as he opened his remaining eye and looked up and stared at… "Wha…?"

Himself, his Arcosian form, whole and healthy. Oh, this wasn't fair, he thought. Was this the universe playing a cruel joke on him?

"Me!" Xander said. "I'm a Human from Earth." Xander cocked his head to the side as he saw Frieza's reaction to that.

"Earth…" The Arcosian rasped out as he glared at who he believed to be an imposter. "Imposs… impossible! You are Arcos… an arcos…" He tried to speak.

"What are you talking about?" Xander asked, his sneer disappearing from his face and was replaced by confusion. "I am human! Born and raised!" Xander didn't realise that Frieza saw him as a member of his race more than a mirror image of himself.

'The Shade does not see, Guide.' The disembodied voice said making a return. Xander looked up at nothingness before he looked down at Frieza; the alien didn't look like he heard the voice speaking.

"Shade?" Xander asked out aloud.

Frieza glared at him, wondering who the doppelganger was speaking to. "Who… who are you… who are talking to?" He managed to get out with what strength he had left.

"That's what I'd like to know." Xander muttered to himself before he glared at Frieza. "Shut up. I'm not talking to you." Xander said. "What do you mean by Shade?!" He asked aloud.

'The Shade does not hear my voice, Guide. It… does not belong.' The voice responded; Xander didn't bother looking up again and kept his gaze fixed on the dying form.

"Got that right. So, how do I get rid of him?" The young man asked aloud. Frieza eyed his copy intently, he wasn't in any condition to kill him and as he watched himself circle around him, he was becoming agitated and concerned that his copy was going to do something final to him.

"Wait…" The Arcosian said. "Help… me. Take me… to my… father. Please." Frieza watched as the being eyed him like he eyed those beneath him. With contempt. "Please, I beg you. I don't want to die!" He said.

'It is fading, Guide.' The voice said to him. 'It returns to its own reality soon enough.' And just as the voice finished speaking, Xander saw the floating image of Frieza fade for a moment before it solidified. 'And to its own fate.'

"Good riddance…" Xander said in response. "But still, how did this happen? Why am I here?"

'Chaos brought you here.' The voice said. 'Chaos has changed you…' Xander stopped circling the fading alien as the voice informed him that he had been changed. His mind went back to Sunnydale and how he felt pain. Unimaginable pain as he remembered feeling his body changing. Did he feel that tail becoming real, his bones fusing and becoming denser? Wide – eyed at the possibility of the Hellmouth fucking him over… again, Xander shouted: "What?!"

'Chaos has changed you… To prepare for what is to come.' The voice said as the remains of Frieza's body faded again, but Xander didn't pay any attention to that. The Arcosian watched as his copy looked up and frantically spoke out loud at nothingness. He was going crazy. That was it; he was hallucinating before he died. That damned monkey…

"What do ya mean? What happened to me; what's coming?!" Xander shouted out. Frieza faded again; the disappearance happened longer this time as the Arcosian vanished completely before returning.

'Darkness.'

Just then, Xander got a flash of white light followed by hues of orange and yellow roiling in front of him before his vision returned to that of Frieza looking at him. The voice spoke to him again: 'The Shade returns to its fate. You must be made ready, Guide.'

Xander stared intently at the torn white form; questions forming in his mind about what the voice had meant when suddenly his arm rose of its own volition. "Hey!" He called out. "What's going on? What are you doing?!" There was that freaky feeling again as he lost control of his arm as the palm of his hand laid itself on Frieza's chest and then pain blossomed once more within him as a faint blue and white corona of Ki enveloped both him and Frieza.

'Readying you.'

And with that, Xander screamed once more as he felt power infusing him. "AAAAHHHH!"

The black sea of space and the remains of Namek receded from his vision as they became replaced by the orange and yellow hues of an expansive field of energy; Xander jolted as the feeling of power being forced into his body increased even more, the pain becoming more and more unbearable as Xander's vision turned white and he blacked out again, his arm still placed upon the fading form of Frieza's purple gem, stuck as Frieza finally disappeared and the feeling of power entering his body stopped and just like Frieza, Xander's Arcosian body disappeared.

'It is done.'

Someplace Else… Universe's Away

It was a glorious day, Izaya thought as he stood in the centre of Super Town next to the Conduit of the Living Source. His people were going about their business, contemplating the fundamental energies of the universe and the Source everything around them as the Gods of New Genesis were wont to do. He looked up and saw his friend and former pupil, Sollis flying encased in an aura of light. He turned to the right and looked at his old friend Himon as the old man spent time with his daughter, Bekka. His heart was gladdened at the sight.

He then turned his gaze back up to the skies of New Genesis. He wasn't surprised that he could see it as bright as day, and even less that he could feel the malevolent presence of its Dark Lord, Uxas. He knew that his enemy always wanted them to know that he was there, waiting. Apokolips and its master, Darkseid.

"Highfather! Highfather, look!" His train of thought was broken as a small group of children ran to him, smiles on their faces as they approached.

"Hello, young ones." He said as they circled the wise old man. "What have you got there, Dayna?" He asked the young girl. She looked eager to show Highfather what she had discovered. "Show me, child." And Dayna did. Highfather watched intently as the young girl revealed to him a Motherbox.

Dayna handed the Motherbox to him, she watched as Highfather inspected it, turning it over in his hands. It was newly formed, coloured gold and he could sense the power of the Source emanating from it; Highfather felt the small sentient computer reach out to his mind timidly before withdrawing. He frowned, he knew that Motherbox's formed a connection with their creator, but he sensed no connection from it in regards to Dayna. Curious. "How did you come by this, Dayna?"

Dayna looked at Highfather, her eyes wide of childlike innocence as she twiddled her fingers in her long blonde hair. "It was in my home, Highfather." She told him. "I woke up and it was there. Can I have it? Please?"

Highfather was about to answer when the sentient computer began pinging. It made its feelings known to the leader of New Genesis and it didn't seem pleased by that. Dayna pouted when the computer didn't want to join with her. Shortly the Motherbox stopped pinging. "I do not think that would be wise, Dayna. It was not made for you."

More pouting. "Okay…" Highfather placed the Motherbox to his side, a mystery to solve for later. He saw the still eager looks on the children's faces. He smiled as he had an inkling as to why they were here apart from Dayna's discovery. "Shall I tell you a story?"

When he and the children moved away from the Conduit, Highfather was led by the children to a small garden just off to the side. He was about to start when the Motherbox he placed at his side began pinging again.

"Highfather?" "What is it?" "What's wrong?!" The children called out.

*Ping*

And then there was an explosion of light from behind Highfather, he and the group of children turned to see the Conduit ablaze in golden orange fire as the Source made itself known to all of New Genesis.

Everyone nearby in the vicinity of the Conduit stopped what they were doing and made their way over, it wasn't every day that the Living Source deigned to contact them unless they prayed to it directly.

"Highfather…?" Himon and Bekka called out as they approached, they dared not move closer. Even Sollis came down from the skies and watched intently, the New God was so entranced, he didn't notice his friend, Orion approach.

"Lightray, what…?" The adopted son of New Genesis asked, but he didn't receive an answer from his friend. Orion moved closer, spotting his wife, Bekka with her father and made his way over.

"Stepfather…" He called out gaining Himon's attention; at the sound of his voice, Bekka turned and went to him.

"Orion!" She wrapped her arms around him as he approached, concern emanating from her as she, like everyone else present, hadn't a clue as to what was going on.

"Bekka, what's happening?" Her husband asked as the warrior moved closer when he saw Highfather inch ever closer to the Conduit. "Highfather!" He called out to the leader and was gratified when the wise old man turned to acknowledge him.

"My Son…" Highfather called out but turned back to the Conduit as he felt the power of the Source intensifying. Everyone watched and feared soon as the energy soon encapsulated the leader of the New Gods.

"HIGHFATHER!" Many of them called out, fearing the worst. Orion and Lightray rushed to render aid only to be repulsed by the might of the Living Source; a barrier had formed instantly as the two God's approached. They were immediately flung back.

"ORION!" Bekka screamed out as she moved to help her husband.

Inside… Immensity

The Motherbox was pinging like crazy as Highfather had to avert his eyes lest he be blinded by the light of the Source; he walked on, urged by a feeling of great importance that something of significance was about to occur.

"Why have you brought me here?!" He called out to the vastness. He waited a moment as the pinging coming from the Motherbox died down, Izaya looked down to it, feeling the urge to take the Motherbox in his hand and hold it out in the field of energy. "Why am I here?!" He asked again.

'He is to be cared for and made ready.' The words formed out of golden fire, being written by a golden hand that appeared off in the distance.

"Who!? Who is to be cared for?!" Highfather called out; just then, off in the distance, a golden orange cocoon of energy appeared. To Highfather, it looked like there was someone inside. The cocoon moved closer until it rested next to him.

*Ping.*

The Motherbox sounded in the Highfather's palm. It requested to the leader of the New Gods that it be placed on the cocoon; as Highfather did so, he watched as the Motherbox sunk into the cocoon vanishing from sight.

'He is necessary.' The hand wrote; Highfather had his next question ready at the forefront of his mind, but the Source anticipated it.

'The First Darkness... ancient. Primordial.' The words appeared again made of fire as Izaya stared at them. He didn't understand. Did this have something to do with Darkseid, he thought. The Source seemed to know his confusion and answered it:

'Darkseid is not the danger I speak of. Prepare him. It is returning.' The hand wrote finally as Highfather felt himself and the cocoon being pushed back.

"Wait!" Izaya called out as he was moved back. As the light of the Source faded from his sight, Highfather could hear the concerned cries and exclamations of the people of New Genesis becoming louder and louder until he and the cocoon was expelled from the Conduit much to the relief of the people of New Genesis.

"Highfather!" Many of the observer's called out as they saw their leader, teacher and guide return safe and unharmed, but not alone. "Highfather, what…?" Many of the New Gods asked when their eyes settled on the golden cocoon. Intrigued, Himon approached cautiously with Orion and Lightray behind him.

"Highfather, what is it?" He asked as his eyes were firmly affixed to the object. Izaya raised his hand to forestall any other questions as he contemplated this turn of events; the Source's warnings to him were foremost in his mind as Himon, Orion and Lightray moved closer.

"Highfather…"

"Father?"

Lightray and Orion both spoke, but they were cut off when a column of golden energy burst out from the cocoon and shot straight up into the sky. Everyone present watched, their bodies still as they didn't realise what to make of this as the column glowed brightly for a few seconds more before its light faded and the column dissipated revealing an unconscious white clad humanoid male with three toes, a tail and a purple gem fused into its cranium.

And questions as to what in the name of the Living Source was going on!

Author's Note: -

Well, New Genesis makes it's appearance... and the Source as well. Here's hoping I do Jack proud.

Apokolips will make a brief appearance in the next chapter.

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