The limbs on the trees of the forest were so intertwined almost no light at all was able to penetrate and illuminate the ground. It was mid-afternoon and hot outside of this sacred forest, where so much history had been made in times of old. Yet inside, there was perpetual darkness and the air was cool, moist and sweet. It was a perfect place to hide from the elements, whether it be rain, sun or driving winds.

Gabrielle ran through this place, not noticing the beauty around her. The flowers that managed to bloom here in seemingly everlasting shade offered a beautiful sight to behold, their fresh fragrance perfuming the air, but Gabrielle did not care. She was blind with hurt and rage and she was unable to appreciate the wonders of nature around her. All she could see was the face of Apollo, mounted on his un-natural steed, chasing her down with cruel intentions... All she could hear was the sound of his breathing and the feel of his disgustingly soft skin against hers as he violated her again and again. How she hated what he'd done to her. How she hated herself for allowing it to happen.

She even found herself hating Xena for not being there to save her from such an unthinkable act of violence and cruelty. Never in her life had she done anything that would deserve this kind of punishment. Never. She had killed in battle for the greater good. She had been willing to sacrifice her own happiness, her own life for the well-being of strangers. Over the past month she'd even been able to begin living something that faintly resembled her and Xena's normal life until the sickness came and the healer had told her what she had been hoping against hope wasn't true.

She was pregnant. She was carrying Apollo's child.

It had been too much. Gabrielle had ran from the healer's office, past Xena and Eve and into this glorious forest. She pushed herself harder than she should have, making nearly every muscle in her body burn and ache until she was barely able to breathe. Maybe, if she ran hard enough, she would be able to leave behind all of the horror of the past month.

"Gabrielle!"

It was Xena. Gabrielle didn't know who she hated more now. Apollo or her so-called best friend. Gabrielle had gone numb when she'd found that the simple act of oversleeping had caused Xena to be late for their rendevous. Because Xena had given in to the selfish urge to turn over and sleep just a little longer, Gabrielle had been left alone and open to Apollo's attack. She blamed herself for not being warrior enough to defeat Apollo on her own, and she blamed Xena for not being friend enough to be there in her moment of need.

"Gabrielle, please! Stop!"

Gabrielle couldn't. She just kept running and running until finally the very ground itself opened up and swallowed her. She fell through and landed hard, the wind gushing from her lungs by the force of it. She lay on her back, staring up to the ceiling. It wasn't lost on her that on her way down she'd twisted her body instictively so she would land on her back instead of her stomach.

Why did I do that? She asked herself. I could have ended this nightmare here and now and my conscience would be clear. I would have lost Apollo's spawn in an accident.

Only it wouldn't have been an accident. She would always know that deep in her heart she'd killed the child on purpose, and that would have just been one more regret in this entire Nightmare story. Despite how it was conceived it was still a child. An innocent completely dependent upon her for it's life and she just couldn't bring herself to purposefully kill an innocent. At least not yet.

Xena's concerned face appeared in the small hole in the roof of this place that had opened and swallowed her. The Warrior Princess searched the room from above for only a moment.

"Don't worry Gabrielle. I'll have you out of there in no time."

"Don't bother Xena. Just leave me. Let me die. For the god's sake, just let me die."

"Never."

Xena disappeared and Gabrielle forced herself up into a sitting position. She looked around and as her eyes adjusted to the dim light she was able to make out the rooms details. Stone pillars lay everywhere around the room, giving a sense of age to this place, but the masterpiece was a large Sarcophaga in the center of the room. She had landed right next to it and could consider herself lucky she hadn't hit the sharp stone edge. Had that happened, she would have surely died.

There was a wound in the center that indicated someone had been here after the body of the giant had been lowered to it's final resting place. Gabrielle blew away the dust on the letters that were inscribed at the head of the Sarcophaga. What she saw sent chills through her. Not chills of fear, but of sheer delight.

Cronus.

"This is the tomb of Cronus!"

Gabrielle quickly checked to make certain Xena wasn't watching, then peered into the hole she knew only a god could make in the thick stone. Or should we say, half-god. This was where Hercules had punched through to get one of the ribs of Cronus to save Eve when Zeus worked to kill her. This was where it was rumored Hera had met her end. Right below Gabrielle, in plain sight was what she needed to avenge the death of her soul. The Ribs of Cronus.

Without wasting anymore time, Gabrielle jumped inside. As Hercules had done almost 26 years before, Gabrielle grasped one of the bones from the skeleton. Unfortunately, she didn't have the mighty man's strength and she was unable to pry it loose, so Gabrielle took the next best thing: the vertebra.

Fortunately Cronus had been an incredibly large Titan. Bigger than even the ones Gabrielle had freed from Zeus' prison all those years ago. Even one of his vertebrae were as long as the blade on Xena's sword. She took the two which lay disconnected from the rest of the body and climbed back out. When she emerged, she went to the walls, scanning them with her eyes. No way out. Gabrielle knew full well that when Xena saw Gabrielle's prize she would do something to try and stop her from killing Apollo. She couldn't let that happen. Gabrielle had a mission and it wouldn't be long before she was too swollen with child to fight. She knew Xena would fight for her, but this was her battle and she deserved the honor of making the kill. Besides, all Xena ever talked about now was Gabrielle healing herself and not giving in to the "darkness."

"Well, I'm giving in." Gabrielle said aloud. "Even if it kills me."

Gabrielle rested one of the nearly indestructible bones against the wall of the tomb and when she did a crack appeared, as if by magic. The corner's of Gabrielle's lips turned up in the first smile she'd allowed since this tragic story began and went out, just as Xena entered the cave behind her.

Xena dropped into the cave, preparing for one of the many arguments she and Gabrielle always seemed to fall into lately. Her friend had changed for the worse and no matter what Xena did, there seemed to be nothing she could say or do to help her. When Xena looked into her eyes now all she saw was anger and hatred. All of the love that had once filled Gabrielle's beautiful green eyes was gone, without a trace it sometimes seemed. At times looking into Gabrielle's eyes was like looking into the stare of a dead woman, and Xena knew she had been responsible for that.

"Gabrielle?"

Xena searched the room. Unlike Gabrielle Xena was immediately aware of where she was, and something deep down in her gut told her that she was too late. "Gabrielle? Are you..."

Xena grabbed the rope she and Eve had secured above and climbed back out. When she emerged from the hole, Eve helped her to her feet.

"Where's Gabrielle?"

"Gone. She's got..."

"What? What has she got?"

"She's got the bones of Cronus."

Eve nodded knowingly. "She's going after Apollo."

"We have to stop her, come on."

Eve pulled Xena up short. She was hesitant about pursuing Gabrielle.

"Mother...Why should we? Stop her, I mean."

"I can't believe that you of all people, would ask that question."

"She's taking her revenge for a horrible wrong committed against her. I'm just not so sure we should get in her way. She'll hate us forever if we do."

Xena reached out for Eve. It was imperative she made her daughter understand the importance of stopping Gabrielle from taking her first step on the road of never-ending despair. A road she herself had been on until someone took an interest in showing her a better way.

"Sweetheart, if we don't pull Gabrielle back from the path she's on now, she's going to do something horrible before she even gets to Apollo. Something she'll have to live with for the rest of her life and we both know what I'm talking about. Both of us are carrying around that sin with us now."

Eve nodded, understanding but still hesitant. "You mean the taking of an innocent life. Mother, Gabrielle would never do something like that."

Xena turned away from Eve, and looked in the direction she knew Gabrielle had gone. She could almost feel Gabrielle's presence. Her hurt and pain.

"Eve, right now Gabrielle would do anything to get vengeance. Anything."

From a distance the sight of Thad's two hundred man army was impressive. However, upon closer examination by the discerning eye of a real warrior one could see the cracks in this facade. The men of this army were malnourished, and were growing weak. The leather of their uniforms was worn, the material ripped and filled with holes. Their weapons were old, unpolished and dull.

However, the warlord Thad was a different story. He was grossly overweight where his men were dangerously thin. His clothes were new and richly woven whereas his men were dressed in rags. He sat at a banquet table laden with food. He ate greedily, spilling crumbs and grease into a beard already full of these and other...things. His poor manners allowed him to wipe the grease from his food onto his expensive clothes. The men of his army stood by watching, their bellies growling with hunger at the smell and sight of the food their commander selfishly hoarded to himself.

Gabrielle watches all of this from the trees of the forest surrounding the clearing the army had camped themselves in. She checked her weapon once more. The sword and matching dagger had been crafted for no one but her. This blade was unlike any other on earth. The metal had been laid over the bone that had been sharpened to a razor's edge under the skilled hands of an old and experienced black smith. He had done such an excellent job that unless one held the blade to the light and nearly drove themselves blind to examine it, one could not see the bone of Cronus that was it's true edge. It was this that made the sword and dagger deadly to man and god alike.

Gabrielle had had enough. It was time to prove to these men that they could do better, and that better was with her as their leader. She rode into the fringes of the camp, unmolested. She had expected at least a token of resistance to her presence but there was none. How pathetic. These men were so tired and abused they didn't even have the will to fight an intruder. She would have to do something about that.

Thad looked up at Gabrielle with a mixture of lust and annoyance at he interruption of his meal. He wiped animal fat from his mouth onto the back of his hand and belched disgustingly. Because Gabrielle was down wind from him, she could smell this warlord hadn't had a bath in quite some time. Neither had the men. She would also have to do something about that.

"Who in Tartarus are you?" Thad said in a thick, gravelly voice. He belched again and took a long drink from his wine goblet.

"I'm your death angel."

At first Thad was shocked, then his mammoth belly began to jiggle with laughter. He came to laugh so hard he wheezed and coughed to the point of his face turning dangerously red. Gabrielle had never been so disgusted with an individual in her life. There was simply no excuse to let oneself go to this extent. He could at least take a dip in the river.

"My death angel huh? Ah, kill her and get her out of here!"

"Why don't you kill me?"

The men looked from Gabrielle to Thad without moving. Gabrielle could sense their fear, their confusion and their dislike of Thad, so she decided to capitalize on this.

"You want someone else to do it because you know you can't. You've lost your warrior spirit. I take that back. You haven't lost it. It's just buried under a couple hundred pounds of fat. You couldn't kill the pig you're eating, let alone a real warrior."

Gabrielle's words had the desired effect. Thad came up out of his throne-like chair and drew his sword.

"You want me to kill you little girl? Fine, I'll just do that."

Without bothering to dismount to the ground, Gabrielle jumped onto the table, sword drawn and ready to fight. She quickly disarmed him and put the blade of her sword to his neck.

It was time to do what she did best: talk.

"Boys, let me see if I've got the situation correct here. You go into battle. You do all the work and risk your lives, then Thad here takes all the spoils. Am I correct?"

Thad burned with rage, but he was too afraid to move against Gabrielle with the sword at his neck. He threw his arms up helplessly.

"What are you waiting for you scum! Kill her!"

"Look at yourselves, then look at Thad! Your uniforms are outdated and worn. Your spirits are as dull as your swords! You freeze in the winter, and starve year around! He's getting wealthy off the sweat of your brow! Why do you let him do these things to you! Look at him. He can't even defeat a woman in battle!"

The men begin to nod and shift on their feet. She was having a definate effect on them.

"Not that I'm just any ordinary woman."

Thad brought his hand up, knocking the sword away from his neck. Gabrielle quickly drew her dagger. It was time to prove herself to them. She allowed all of her rage and anger come to the surface and she plunged the dagger into Thad's heart. He was dead before he hit the ground. The men looked around at one another, confused. Here this stranger had come into their camp and killed their leader. What should they do?

"Follow me and I will make you wealthy. The spoils of your battles will go to you all of us, not just me. The world will be your playground!"

One man stepped up, and it became immediately clear he was not so easily swayed.

"And why should we trust you?"

Gabrielle wiped her blade and re-sheathed it.

"Why shouldn't you? Come with me now. I will train you and make you mighty men of Valor. I will do for you all that Thad could not."

"What's in it for you?"

"Vengeance, but we'll discuss that later. Right now, give me a couple of months and I will prove to you I am worth following. You won't regret it."

She and this new man held eye contact for a few long moments. He saw something in Gabrielle that his gut told him to trust, so he nodded in agreement. With this, Gabrielle could see the other's follow suit and begin to murmer among themselves.

"My name is Huron. You?"

"Gabrielle."

His face changed upon mention of her name. "Gabrielle. The Warrior Bard of Potidea? Xena's companion?"

"Former companion. I have a new purpose now. To conquer the world. Will you join me?"

Huron smiled and drew his dull sword. He stabbed the earth with it and knelt to one knee.

"I will. All hail Gabrielle! Our new commander!"

"All hail Gabrielle! Gabrielle! Gabrielle!"

The men cheered her name until they no longer seemed like a group of individuals but one living thing. She soaked up the power that came from their worship and for a moment, she remembered the feeling of godhood Ares had shown her when he'd tempted her to follow him all those years ago. She found herself smiling again in satisfaction. Maybe life was worth living after all. Step two in her plan of revenge against Apollo was complete.

Gabrielle had an army.