Everlasting
Love
Written
by Caina Q. Fuller©
Episode
#7 In “The Messenger”
Teaser
Fade In-Potidaea-Temple to
Aphrodite-Morning
Int.
Temple
Genia holds up a bottle of
Aphrodite’s potion called “insight” as she sits cross-legged on the floor. She stares at it, her face betraying the
uncertainty she is feeling about her role as Aphrodite’s priestess. She downs the contents of the vial, and
looks around as if she is expecting something to happen. When the temple remains quiet, she
tosses the bottle into the hearth and stares into the fire, feeling sorry for
herself.
Some priestess I’m going to
make for Aphrodite. I can’t
even match up two lonely old
people.
As she stares into the
fire…
Genia has a vision of
Gabrielle’s past that plays like a movie in the flames. It is details that she would have no
knowledge of had she not taken the potion, and Genia begins to rub her eyes,
wondering perhaps she’s hallucinating.
What
the…?
In the flames Gabrielle
walks through a field of tall grass where there is a towering oak tree. As she walks around the tree she
finds Perdicas tracing a stick in the dirt, doodling. This is before Gabrielle met Xena, and
right now the would-be bard isn’t thrilled to be betrothed to this young
man. She goes up to him regardless
and sits.
Have you told your
parents
yet that you don’t want
me?
Perdicas, it’s not that I
don’t want
you…It’s just that I have
dreams
of living my life,
not just plowing
through it like you do your
fathers
fields. I’m sorry Perdicas.
I didn’t
mean it to sound like I’m
condescending to you, but
I’m-
It’s ok. You have your
dreams
and they don’t include
me. I
can respect
that.
You’re making me feel like
I’m
wrong to want to live my
life to
the fullest instead of
staying
here in Potidaea. You say you
understand me Perdicas but
you
really don’t. That hurts
me.
And your rejection hurts
me.
I love you Gabrielle. I
wish
my love was enough to
make
you happy but it’s not.
Are you going to run
away?
Is that how you intend
to
make your dreams come
true?
No. I’m going to stay
here
and respect my
father’s
wishes. I’m going to
marry
you and…learn to be
happy.
You know how I am. I’ll adjust.
I know. You know what else
I know
Gabrielle?
I know that if you marry
me
you’ll just end up hating
me.
You’ll blame me for
holding
you back from your
dreams.
And what’s worse, is you’ll
be
right.
Perdicas stands from his
place under the tree and walks off.
Gabrielle doesn’t try to stop him.
Fade to:
Perdicas fights on a
battlefield with explosions ringing all around him. He cuts down man after man until finally
he collapses to his knees and holds his bloody sword to his throat, weeping over
all the life he has taken. As he
does this, an image of Gabrielle from “Beware Greeks Bearing Gifts” comes to
mind and he stops. He throws his head back, screaming in emotional
agony.
Cut to:
Clip-“Return of
Callisto”-Gabrielle and Perdicas kiss at the altar.
Clip-“Return of
Callisto”-Gabrielle and Perdicas kiss on their wedding
night.
Clip-“Return of Callisto”
Callisto kills Perdicas.
Clip-“Fallen
Angel”-Gabrielle faces the newly graced angel Callisto. “…You murdered my husband and many
innocent people…”
Cut to:
Perdicas falls through a
blue tunnel charged with electricity, screaming as he goes. There is an explosion of white light
that forces Genia to shield her eyes.
When she looks back she is seeing the world from Perdicas’ POV (point of
view). He is looking up at a woman
with sweat soaked hair and tears of joy staining her face.
When we cut away from the
woman’s face we see a newborn baby cradled in her arms.
Isn’t he precious? I think I’ll
name
him…
Genia is enraptured by this
dramatic play of events, and she sits forward, trying to address the woman who’d
just given birth.
Genia
Name him what? Oh come on!
Tell
me.
The visions in the flames
suddenly change from the woman and the child.
Cut to:
A
young man swinging a sword. He is
BENJAMIN, and wears the robes of Apollo and has sandy brown hair. He’s very handsome and strong, but he
doesn’t seem to be enjoying his position of power as Apollo’s champion. He looks from the battle raging around
him and suddenly seems to be looking directly into Genia’s eyes. She leans forward, dangerously close to
the flames and a ghostly image of Benjamin’s face leans forward from the flames,
his eyes imploring her to help him.
Benjamin
Help me. I am incomplete
without her. Bring us together
again.
The vision suddenly ends and
only normal flames burn in the hearth.
Outside the sky is beginning to lighten with dawn, and she realizes she
has spent the entire night in the temple, watching the lives of two separated
lovers. Genia is filled with a
sense of urgency as she realizes what she must do.
Gabrielle.
Fade
out.
End of
Teaser.
******************
Act
One
Fade
In-Village
Ext.
Hillside
Gabrielle stands alone at
the top of a hill looking down into a camp of Ares’ men with a spyglass held up
to her eye. Argo II, who stands
nearby, suddenly whinnies, and a hand covers the lens, blocking her view. She looks up to find Ares standing next
to her.
Call your
men off Ares. Now.
I will. Just as soon as you
agree to my earlier
proposal.
Gabrielle shakes her head
and looks at him in disgust. Now
that Xena is gone and Ares has seen Gabrielle in action on several occasions, it
would appear he has turned his obsession onto her. Gabrielle voices
this.
Xena’s gone so you think
you
can just turn your
obsession
on me? I’ve got news for
you:
I’m not going to be your
next
warrior Queen any more
than
Xena
would.
You don’t know what
you’re
missing Gabrielle. With my
army
following your every order
you
could make this world a
better
place to live in for you
mortals.
Gabrielle packs her spyglass
away then pulls the Chakram from her hip.
Ares
You wear that weapon
well.
You’ve mastered it in the
short
time you’ve had it. I’m
impressed.
You say that like I should
give
a damn. Understand
something
Ares: I would never
dishonor
Xena’s memory by falling for
your lies.
What makes you think
following
me would bring dishonor to
her
memory? You have no way of
knowing every dark corner of
Xena’s heart. Not in the way
a
man like me
could.
If she knew I had even
given
you a second glance it
would
break her heart. She’s at
peace
Ares, and I’m going to
make
sure she stays that
way.
Gabrielle hurls the Chakram
and it zigzags through the pass just above Ares’ army, causing a landslide. Ares watches her do this, shaking his
head.
That won’t hold them off for
long. You know that.
Actually, I hope it
doesn’t
keep them back for too
long.
Ares begins laughing at her
fiery spirit and fades away.
Gabrielle finishes watching the rocks finish collapsing and a pleased
grin covers her lovely face.
Gabrielle
I have always wanted
to do that.
The Chakram returns to her
and she mounts up.
Gabrielle
Come on girl. There’s much
work to be done before the
day is
finished.
Ext. Apollo’s camp
Apollo appears before his
champion’s tent. The young man is Benjamin, the same young man from Genia’s
vision. He bows to his god then
spreads open a map on a table before him.
Benjamin
Apollo. My scouts have
just
returned with this map.
He points to a pass, the
same pass Gabrielle just collapsed.
On either side of the pass are triangles, and they represent both
armies.
Benjamin
Ares’ army is here. We are
here. They were
preparing
to move on us when the pass
mysteriously
collapsed.
Apollo grins and strokes his
stubbly chin.
Apollo
That was one of Xena’s
favorite
tricks to stall for time.
Gabrielle
is using it now, which is
good
for us. It buys us more time.
Prepare the men. We will
move
on Mende now before our
enemy can dig
themselves
free and come after
us.
Benjamin
Yes sir.
Apollo
When you get to that
village,
I want you to squash
them
like the bugs they are. Move!
Benjamin bows again to his
god, then exits the tent. He
believes Apollo is referring to Ares’ men, not the villagers of Mende. When he emerges he takes a deep breath,
trying to clear his lungs the stuffy air in his tent. Today would be his one shot at finally
destroying Ares’ men once and for all.
Ext.
Potidaea
Genia paces back and forth
in the temple. As she does
Calantha, Virgil’s sister, enters the temple and smiles at her. Calantha is visiting while Virgil tries
to put their homestead back together.
Calantha
Genia
right?
Genia
That’s right. Have you
come
for confession?
Calantha
Actually Sarah sent me. She’s
been worried about you
since
she hasn’t seen you in a
couple
of days. Are you ok?
Genia is hesitant to answer
because truth is she isn’t ok.
She has been plagued with strange dreams about Gabrielle and Perdicas,
and she doesn’t know what to do with them.
Genia
I’d feel pretty weird
talking
to a stranger about my
problems.
Calantha
Why? Don’t strangers
come
to tell you there problems
all
the time? Besides, I’m not
much
of a stranger. I’m Virgil’s
sister.
Genia
That’s different. It’s my
job to
listen to the problems of
others.
Not to share
mine.
Calantha comes in and takes
a seat at a small altar to Aphrodite. There are pads on either side of the small
altar to make kneeling for prayer easier.
Calantha
I’ll pretend to be the
priestess
and you can tell me what’s
bothering you. Come on. I
won’t
bite, and I won’t tell
anyone
what’s bothering
you.
Genia mulls it over then
rushes over to kneel in front of Calantha.
They join hands and Genia spills her guts.
Genia
Aphrodite gave me a
potion
called insight. It’s supposed
to help me see into
people’s
hearts so I can match
them
up with the right
person.
Calantha
Didn’t the potion
work?
Genia
Boy, did it ever. I saw into
Gabrielle’s heart. I saw the
one she loved from her
past,
but he was killed. Then I
saw
another man and I think
somehow they’re connected.
I
think that maybe this
new
man is supposed to be
Gabrielle’s
new
love.
Calantha
That sounds
wonderful.
Genia
Yeah, if they don’t kill
each
other in battle before I
can
tell them the wonderful
news.
He’s Apollo’s
Champion.
Calantha is thoughtful,
mulling over the information Genia has given her.
Calantha
How long since you
began
having these
visions?
Genia
About four days ago, when
I
took the potion.
Calantha
Isn’t that when
Gabrielle
left to deal with the
Ares/Apollo
feud over Mende’s
loyalties?
Genia
That’s right.
Calantha
That only leaves us one
choice.
Genia
We have to get to her and
tell
her about
him.
Calantha
Great minds think
alike.
Only one problem
though.
Once again Genia has
anticipated what Calantha is going to say.
Genia
Gabrielle will kill us for
putting
ourselves in danger. As high
Priestess to the goddess of
Love,
I have no choice but to do
whatever is necessary to
bring two
people together when it’s
right.
I have to do
this.
Calantha
Then I have to help
you. She’s
probably in Mende. Come
on.
Ext. Forest, Gabrielle
Gabrielle stands at the edge
of a river. Before and above her is
a steep hillside with lots of lose dirt and rocks. If the rocks should ever fall into the
river, it would cause it to dam up, but the damn wouldn’t last long. Once it broke the dam would flood the
village of Mende not far from this location.
Once again Gabrielle unhooks
her Chakram and hurls it to a tree behind her. It ricochets off the tree, splits into
two and begins slicing huge gashes into the loose dirt of the hillside. As the
Chakram does this, Gabrielle mounts Argo and takes off through the trees to the
safety of higher ground.
Once she is up high,
Gabrielle leans her head back and gives one loud high pitched screech, making
the Chakram rejoin and return to her.
When it reaches her hand, there is a loud rumbling sound and the earth
begins to shake. Slowly the
hillside begins to slide into the river from the weakening caused by the
Chakram. The temporary dam takes
effect, and holds back the water, but the pressure is building and soon it will
give way, giving Gabrielle a limited amount of time to carry out her
plans.
Gabrielle
You know Argo, Xena
taught
me a lot before she died,
but
she never told me how
cooperative mother nature
could
be.
She holds up the muddy
Chakram and grins wickedly.
Gabrielle
With a little persuasion
that is.
Ext. Battlefield
Benjamin is lying down in
his tent, dreaming a dream he has been having all of his life. A dream of a woman whose face he cannot
clearly see fills his vision.
In his dream a young man
(Perdicas) stands at an altar with a young woman. From the rear the image is clear, but
when she turns she wears a veil that Perdicas cannot remove. The woman is Gabrielle, but he doesn’t
know that, for Benjamin has never seen Gabrielle before… or so he believes.
Gabrielle runs away from
him, through the doors of the temple and Perdicas chases her. When he gets through the doors of the
temple he finds the woman is in a bedroom.
She turns to him, the veil still covering her face, and slowly she pulls
her gown off.
Her skin glows in the
candlelight and her eyes gleam like emeralds. Perdicas is filled with desire for her,
and when she beckons him to her, he goes willingly.
Gabrielle
Perdicas, my love. Come
to
me. Make love to me.
Be
my love,
forever…
Perdicas and Gabrielle reach
their hands out towards one another, and just as the tips of their fingers are
about to touch…
Benjamin sits up, covered in
a film of sweat. He washes his face
quickly and examines his face in the mirror. As he does this, Perdicas’ face is
momentarily superimposed over his own. The image is disturbing to him and he
jerks back from his reflection and directly into STEFANO, his second in
command.
Benjamin
Stefano, damn it!
You’d
better have good
reason
to enter my tent
unannounced like
this.
Stefano
I’ve been calling to
you
for at least two
minutes.
I got worried and came
in
to see if you’re ok.
Benjamin
Yes. I know you’d be
all
torn up if you ever
found
me dead and had to
take
my place as Apollo’s
Champion
wouldn’t
you?
Stefano makes no effort to
hide his dislike of his commanding officer any more than Benjamin tries to hide
his similar feelings. Stefano
couldn’t care less what happened to Benjamin. One day, Stefano is certain, he
would take Benjamin’s place as Apollo’s right hand man, as it should have
been from the beginning.
Stefano
Commander. There’s something
out here you should
see.
Benjamin
What is
it?
Stefano
It looks like a woman, on
the
hill east of the
camp.
Benjamin sighs in
frustration and rubs his face.
Benjamin
You came in here over a
woman staring at our
camp?
Who is
she?
Stefano
I don’t know. She just sits
up there. Should I send
scouts
after
her?
Benjamin exits the tent and
looks up at the unmistakably female figure on the hill overlooking his
camp. Before Benjamin can answer
Gabrielle holds up a crossbow and fires an arrow directly at his position and it
sticks in his tent. Attached to the arrow is a small piece of
paper.
But what really holds
Benjamin’s attention is the woman’s eyes. They are familiar to him. They look
like the eyes of the veiled woman in his dreams.
Stefano
Nereous! Takis! Get up there
and bring her to
us!
As the men move to carry out
their orders, Benjamin holds up a hand, halting them.
Benjamin
No! I’m going up there. Alone.
Stefano
Even though she just
tried
to kill you? Gutsy.
Benjamin
She wasn’t trying to kill
me.
she wants a private
meeting
on the hill. I’m going to give
her
one.
Ext.
Road
Genia and Calantha ride full
speed down a road. As they do, they encounter a caravan of
people.
Genia
What’s going
on?
Male
Villager
Rumor has it Apollo and
Ares
are almost upon Mende.
We’re leaving while we
still
can. Unfortunately no
one
else will
leave.
Genia
Then we’re going to have to
convince them the danger
is
real and get them to
evacuate.
Calantha
Do you think they’ll
listen
to strangers when they
wouldn’t listen to their
own?
Genia
Sometimes it takes a
stranger
to break through to
people.
Regardless, I’m going to
do
my best. You
in?
Calantha
Absolutely. Lead the
way
priestess.
Fade
out.
End of Act
One
*********
Act
Two
Fade in. Temple to Artemis in
Mende
Apollo appears in the altar
room of his sister’s temple. Just
behind the wooden altar is a throne-like chair for the goddess to sit in. He is walking toward that chair when
Ares appears, taking his place.
This greatly angers Apollo.
This temple belonged
to
My sister. It is only
fair
That I should take over
here.
Well, we don’t always
get
everything we want, now
do we Apollo? If you want
this temple, and this
village,
you’re army will have to
defeat mine. You know
they
can’t.
This hits a nerve with
Apollo, considering he knows Ares is right. His army is made up of war-hardened
thugs that are experienced in the dark art of war. His is not. Perhaps that is
why he has been losing so often lately.
Your men. Right now they’re
trying to dig their way
through
a landslide created by
that
little blond bitch
Gabrielle. My
men will undoubtedly arrive
here first. By the time I’m
through with Mende, there
will be
nothing left for you to
take.
Ares laughs, but says
nothing, so Apollo continues.
Take my word for it
Apollo.
My men will arrive here the
same
time yours do. I’ll see to
that.
And when they do arrive,
they
will be under the lead of a
warrior your champion can’t
possibly hope to defeat:
Gabrielle.
You’re delusional Ares.
Gabrielle
would no sooner follow
you
than she would me or any
other god on
Olympus.
I have my ways to convince
her. Prepare to lose
Apollo.
Not only this temple, but
all
of Greece.
Ares fades away, leaving
behind a very angry Apollo. The sun god is just about to leave behind Ares when
he sees Genia and Calantha ride past the window outside. He knows Genia is Gabrielle’s friend,
and a wicked grin spreads across his face.
Insurance…Perfect.
Ext. Town
square
Genia and Calantha ride into
town and tie their horses in front of the sheriff’s
office.
Maybe we can talk
some
sense into the
Sheriff.
They rush in and find the
Sheriff sitting behind his desk, drinking on the job. He is a fat, lazy pig of a man, who is
unreasonably receptive to logic, as Genia and Calantha are about to
discover.
Sheriff? My name is Genia,
the new high priestess of
the goddess
Aphrodite.
Yeah? What are you doing
here? Didn’t Aphrodite
move
her main temple to
Potidaea?
Yes, yes. Listen, you have
to
evacuate the
village.
Why would
I want to do that?
We have reason to believe
that
Apollo is angry with you for
not dedicating Artemis’
temple
to him. His army is
riding
against the village at this
very
moment. You have to get
your people out before he
arrives.
The Sheriff obviously
doesn’t believe them, and after a minute he begins to
laugh.
Did Hagar
send you in here?
We don’t know any Hagar ok?
We’re serious! You’re village
is in grave
danger!
Sheriff
Sure it is. And I’m the
long
lost brother of the
Fates.
Your village is in
danger. Why
are you being so
obtuse?