New Beginnings

Who is Xena Loki? 2

When Fire got home, she was welcomed by the sounds of explosions and colorful cursing from the basement.

The wolf girl smiled to herself, knowing she'd arrived just in time, "Hey Royalty!" She shouted, shutting the front door behind her before walking to the kitchen and leaning against the door way to wait for Phantom.

Stomping could be heard before the door to the basement slammed open, revealing a very irate Phantom with torn clothes and black smudges all over him as he coughed.

"I actually destroyed three of those damn machines this time on reflex," he grumbled, ruffling his now grey hair to try to get most of the soot out of it, "one of these days I'm going to destroy every. fucking. thing that is in that lab sans the portal itself."

Fire snickered lightly, but her amusement died after a second, remembering what happened earlier, "Phantom, I...have to tell you something."

Phantom paused from trying to dust the soot off his clothes and turned his full attention to her, "What's up Fire? Something wrong?"

She sighed heavily as her human form burned away, "Depends on your definition of wrong." The wolf rubbed the bridge of her nose tiredly, "I saw her, Phantom. Xena..." She trailed off.

Phantom's eyes widened, "You mean the-" he shook his head, "to be honest, if I think about it, since there is no version of you here, that doesn't mean she doesn't exist; things in this dimension happen differently from your old one."

He sighed and slumped in a chair, resting his elbow on the table and threading his fingers through his hair, "Are you doing alright?"

Fire laughed bitterly, "Of course I am! I nearly had a panic attack the second she introduced herself and lashed out at Mikey. Then!" She laughed hysterically, sliding down the door frame with her knees drawn up to her chest, "I lied through my fucking teeth about how I was okay! To Danny of all people! Yep, things are all good!" The wolf groaned before banging her head against the door frame.

Phantom shook his head, a slightly unhinged grin of his own spreading across his face as he chuckled, "I can see that, if I was in the same situation I would've probably done the same thing." He raised his head up and looked at her, "Should we be wary of this...Xena? Am I gonna have to keep my guard up just in case?"

The wolf girl groaned again, "I don't know! Like you said, this world works differently than mine, but if I were to be honest..." Fire opened her eyes, silver meeting green as she said, "you should be careful around her. Don't give out information carelessly and I swear if you tell Danny about this right now I will throttle you."

She hit her head against the door frame again, looking up at the ceiling, "I don't want him to worry about this right now. He's already gotta take care of Tucker." Fire sighed again, "Oh yeah, he told me to tell you he's staying the night there."

Phantom sighed in relief at the last, "That's fine, and don't worry; my lips are sealed."

He stood up and walked by her, unconsciously rubbing her ears as a kind of comfort, "If you'll excuse me, I really need to take a shower and..." he thought for a moment, an idea coming to mind, "after that, we can go out into the woods and have our little game and...mind telling me where you keep your hair brush?" He raised his shoulders and grinned wryly in embarrassment, a trait he seemed to have taken from Danny.

Fire snorted, "I use my claws Phantom. I wouldn't mind helping you out though." She smirked slightly, though it was obvious that the offer wasn't just a joke.

Phantom laughed, "Alright then! Let me get ready and we can head out." He gave her a grin and walked away, heading to Danny's bedroom to get some clothes. When he rounded the corner upstairs however, all humor fled from his features, and he couldn't help thinking: