No more games, Xena....

By: Kristian S. Fischer


"Aw no, not more rain!", Gabrielle whimpered, as the first heavy drops began falling. Xena glanced over in her companion's direction, and smiled slightly at the indignant look she directed skyward, as if she could make the gods stop the rain by staring angrily at them. The two friends had been travelling along this narrow forest trail all day with nothing to keep them company but each other and the rain. Now it was getting towards night, and as far as Xena's sense of direction told her, they were far from the nearest civilization. That meant yet another night under open, wet skies if they didn't find shelter somewhere else.

"Yeah, ain't it nice? Come on, let's go see if we can't find a cave somewhere", Xena replied, drawing her cloak tighter around her. Leading Argo in between the tall trees, she silently repeated Gabrielle's curse, while her eyes scanned the gathering dusk for any signs of an opening in the rocks above them.

Ten minutes later, it was Gabrielle who saw the dark, gaping hole between two large boulders. The companions quickly made their way forward, and a short inspection revealed that the cave would not only accomodate Xena and Gabrielle as well as Argo, but that a withered bush under a rocky overhang would provide them with at least somewhat dry kindling for a warm fire. While Gabrielle spread their wet cloaks on the floor of the cave, Xena got the small bonfire going, and before long they were sharing a meal of some traveller's rations they'd bought in the last village they'd passed through. As she munched on the bland food, Xena half-listened to Gabrielle recounting for at least the tenth time since that village exactly which one of her family members that shopkeeper had reminded her of, and the hilarious antics the man had been involved in when Gabrielle'd just been a little girl. Even though Gabrielle had told the story several times already, Xena still didn't ask her to stop. She liked hearing Gabrielle's voice, liked seeing her smiling with eyes as well as mouth. When Gabrielle had come into her life, she'd freely given the friendship and the love that Xena had missed for so long since turning her back on her previous life. Xena loved Gabrielle, and she knew that Gabrielle felt likewise. So she simply watched her friend wind her way to the familiar ending of the story, and knew that things were as they should be.

As she finished her tale, Gabrielle noticed Xena looking at her. "What's the matter? Don't tell me I've told this one before!"

"Only about ten times", Xena smiled, "If you're through, I think we should get some sleep. We have a long way ahead of us in the morning."

A few moments of rummaging through their belongings brought out bedrolls and blankets, and soon the two companions were tucked in, watching the fire burn itself into small glowing embers. Near the mouth of the cave, Argo was already asleep, though Xena knew that her horse slept lightly enough to awaken at the slightest sign of any threat during the night. Not that bandits and cutthroats were likely to be a problem. Even those people kept to their shelters on nights such as this one. Xena glanced over at Gabrielle, and saw that she was fast asleep as well. "Probably dreaming up new tall tales", Xena thought with a smile, as sleep overtook her.


The next day dawned with sunlight peeking through the trees of the forest. As Xena and Gabrielle emerged from their cave, they could see an almost cloud-free sky above them. It looked as if it would be a fine day. After breakfast, they found a small pond behind the cave where the water was pure enough to wash themselves and fill their waterskin. Then they set out again.
After a few hours, the narrow trail met a wider track, deeply rutted from the passage of many wagons. Knowing that it had to lead to a town or village, and glad to leave behind the more difficult going of the forest trail, the two friends started down it.

They had wandered another hour or so, chatting idly about this and that, and enjoying the warmth of the sun after the cold rains of yesterday when Xena's sharp ears picked up sounds all too familiar: the ringing clash of sword against sword, the shouts of men in battle, the screams of the dying. The sounds came from further ahead, and Xena immediately spurred Argo towards them, with Gabrielle right behind her.

As Argo crested the top of a hill, Xena took in the chaotic scene below in an instant. At the foot of the hill the track ran through a clearing in the forest. In the middle of this clearing, a caravan of six carts was being attacked by bandits. The few defenders were being overrun, and wouldn't last much longer. There was never any hesitation in her mind as she dismounted her horse and drew her sword from its sheath on her back. As Gabrielle came running up to the top of the hill, she was just in time to see her friend charge into the midst of the battle.


As Xena covered the fifty paces between her and the battle, she saw the last of the caravan's defenders go down under the blow of a brigand's cudgel. She howled her warcry, building up the irresistable momentum that had served her so well in so many previous battles.

Her first opponent never knew what hit him, judging from his dumbfounded facial expression as Xena dropkicked him to the ground. The next man swung his sword at her head, but she easily parried the blow, disarmed him with a flick of her sword hand, and then struck him down with a blow to the temple by the pommel of her sword. As he was collapsing to the ground, Xena used his body as a pivot for a round-house kick that sent three more bandits spinning in three different directions. As she landed on her feet with no immediate opponent, Xena quickly took stock of the field. She had her back to one of the wagons, five disabled enemies on the ground in front of her, and another eight within her field of view. There was also a man she hadn't noticed before, standing apart from the fighting just inside the treeline. He was clad in a black, hooded robe, and although she couldn't see his face, he seemed to be watching her intently. As her eight opponents began advancing on her in a semi-circle, she mentally filed the robed man away under "possible threat", and started a menacing display of swordsmanship, whilst giving the bandits a healthy dose of her fiercest battlegrin.

Suddenly, a voice rang out over the clearing. "Hold!"

The word had been spoken by the black-robed man, and it instantly halted the bandits' advance. Instead they simply held their positions, weapons out, nearly encircling Xena. As she noticed Gabrielle creeping into the clearing out of the corner of her eye, the black-robed man spoke again: "Am I correct in assuming that you are the one known as Xena, the warrior princess?". The man spoke perfect Greek, but in no dialect that Xena could recognize. Before she could answer, Gabrielle shouted, "that's right, she is Xena, and if you don't surrender to her now, there'll be trouble!". The man didn't answer; instead he made a hand gesture seemingly at empty air.

So intent on her opponents was Xena that she almost didn't notice the slight tug at her belt. It took a microsecond to register the lifting of the weight of her throwing Chakram from her hip, and by time she turned to grab the hand of the thief, she could only watch in surprise as the circular blade rose into the air held by nothing. Everything seemed to slow down as her free hand came up to grasp the weapon, but before she could do so, it went spinning across the clearing. Her eyes followed it, but by the time she realized where it was going, it was too late to shout a warning. In hideous slow-motion, the Chakram sliced across Gabrielle's throat. As Xena watched in horror, her friend's screamed name dying on her lips, Gabrielle's eyes widened in surprise and pain, her hands coming up to grasp her severed jugular vein, from which the first ruby-red drops of blood were already emerging.

Time returned. With sickening clarity, Xena heard the thunk of the Chakram burying itself in a tree trunk. Her eyes took in every minute detail as Gabrielle's hand closed on the terrible wound across her throat, as her life's blood spurted through her fingers, as she fell.

Xena took one step towards her friend, tried to take another, and found she couldn't. Her whole body seemed to be encased in thick mud, as she watched Gabrielle's body hitting the ground, her hands falling limbly down, her eyes wide open, the blood seeping down the front of her dress. With all limbs as heavy as if Mount Olympus itself was on top of her, Xena turned back towards her enemies. However, instead of the bandits arrayed around her, there was only the black-robed man, walking into the clearing. As she watched, unable to life her sword to strike down Gabrielle's murderer, he threw back his hood, revealing a hard, angular face, framed by night-black hair and beard.

"Ares!", she whispered.

"Of course, my love", the God of War replied evenly. "Did you really think I would take no for an answer?"


As Xena watched helplessly, Ares wandered over to Gabrielle's prone form, and bent down beside it. With a black-gloved hand, he reached down and brushed a strand of strawberry blonde hair out of Gabrielle's unseeing eyes.

"Get away from her, you murdering bastard!", Xena shouted, straining every muscle in her body to break free of the unseen power that held her.

"Now, now Xena, that's no way to talk to your god. The god you served and pleased so well for so many years. Besides, there really isn't such a thing as 'murder' between you and I, now is there? Only the battle and the killing. Things you used to be so good at...." The god straightened up, and in the next instance was standing right behind Xena, whispering into her ear.

"I have to say that I was very disappointed indeed when you refused my last proposal to join me. Oh sure, the way you wriggled out of it vaguely amused me for a while, but then I thought 'how dare she refuse me?'. So I watched you for a while, and I figured out what had severed the link between your past and your present". Even though Xena couldn't see Ares's face, she could feel his eyes shifting from her to Gabrielle, lying in the bloody grass in front of them.

"Since this girl so very clearly had dulled your edge as the warrior princess you were always meant to be, I decided you had to be separated from her... permanently" With these words, Ares moved to stand in front of Xena, looking straight into her eyes.

"However, never let it be said that Mighty Ares is unreasonable. 'Permanently' doesn't have to mean 'dead' ". He smiled a thin, humourless smile. "I'm going to give you a choice, my warrior princess. You can either come with me now, becoming my consort and ruler of the World in my name, in which case I'll return your friend to life, unharmed, so you can say goodbye to her. Or, you can deny me yet again, in which case little Gabrielle will remain as dead as she is now, her blood on your hands. No more games, Xena. Choose now, and choose wisely"

As Xena stood there, transfixed by Ares's steely eyes like a butterfly on a pin, visions flooded across her mind's eye. She saw herself at the head of a black-clad army charging into a nameless town, killing and destroying all around her, revelling in the screams of the dying, gleefully licking their blood from her hands. As the scene shifted to another town and another one after that, Xena felt the familiar flame of battle burning hot within her body. Yet everytime she struck down a woman in each town, it was Gabrielle she impaled upon her sword, Gabrielle she disembowelled with the Chakram, Gabrielle she pushed into a flaming house to burn to death. And everytime Gabrielle died, she had the same look of surprise and pain in her eyes. And everytime she screamed Xena's name, and cursed her for her betrayal.

"NOOOOOO!!!!!" Her scream echoed through the forest. "I will never join you now. If I do, you'll have me murdering innocent people again. You'll make me kill Gabrielle over and over again. YOU GO TO HEEELLLLL!!!!!". Her eyes blurring with tears of rage and sorrow, she spat the words out at him.

"So be it", the god sighed,"you will not join me to save your own life, and you will not join me to save the life of your dearest friend". He turned away from her, walking a few paces into the clearing. There he stopped, not turning around.

"Such a shame", he murmured, "you could have been a goddess. Instead you'll live out the rest of your empty existence all alone in a world that's barren to you" With these words, the God of War drew the hood down over his face and vanished.

With Ares went all signs of the battle, but Xena noticed nothing. Her sword tumbling from fingers gone numb, she staggered the few paces across the clearing to where Gabrielle was lying, and fell to her knees beside her.

Completely blinded by her tears, Xena cradled Gabrielle's limb body in her arms, feeling the blood staining her hands and armor. Gently stroking Gabrielle's hair, she began rocking slowly back and forth, her body heaving with every sob. Only the keenest of hearing could have heard her repeating over and over again, like a mantra, "forgive me.... please forgive me...."


Xena awoke with a start. The fire had long since gone out, and the first signs of dawn could be seen through the entrance to the cave. Argo stood where she'd left him, and.... she quickly looked around. Gabrielle was sleeping peacefully under her blanket not three paces away. Struggling out of her blanket, Xena covered the distance in one stride, scooped Gabrielle up, and held her tightly. As the disoriented Gabrielle came half awake to find herself embraced by some unknown assailant, Xena held her out at arm's length, as if to make sure it was really her and not some phantom, and then kissed her friend fully on the lips, before she drew her back into a tight embrace, tears of relief rolling down her cheeks.

An hour later, Xena and Gabrielle left the cave with Argo in tow. Xena had told the perplexed Gabrielle about her dream, and although Gabrielle had quickly dismissed it as just that, a dream, neither of them felt completely comfortable tempting fate by continuing on their original route. So, as the two women started back along the trail they'd come the night before, Gabrielle striking up another traveller's tale, neither of them noticed the black-robed man watching them from the trees.




NOTE: This is my first attempt at any type of fan fiction. Comments on the story are encouraged and hoped for, and can be sent to this address. Thanks!