Disclaimer: Gabrielle, Xena and all characters pertaining to XWP are the property of Universal/MCA and Renaissance. No copyright infringement is intended and I don't plan on making a dinar from this. It's just for the fans.
Violence: This story contains mild violence.
Subtext : Nope. Not really.
Feedback : is always welcomed. AdamChiron@yahoo.com
Rome burns. And atop his imperial palace Nero dances in delight. The smoke of the burning capital is like perfume to him. The screams of those suffering like music. The hellish conflagration like a fine painting. And watching his emperor's glee, Praetorian Sexton Afranius Burrus certainly shares in his happiness. The purge of Rome is underway. The city will be cleansed by the fire and rebuilt in its new glory. The enemies of the empire in the city have already felt her wrath. And the Praetorian Guard stand ready to bring more of these traitors and conspirators to swift Roman justice. He needs only to give the word. But he will wait just a little while longer. The fire is beautiful after all.
Nero ceases his dancing to focus his attention on a particularly intense blaze some streets distant. He seems entranced by the dancing colors accompanying the all-consuming fire. He begins to sing loudly an ode to the gods thanking them for their favor. Sexton greatly encourages the emperor's love of the arts. Since his ascension to the throne, Sexton has done nothing but feed the appetites and desires of the emperor. Nero's gluttony for food and drink, his lust of carnal pleasures with partners of both sexes and his love of theatre have served Sexton well to keep the man's mind away from the business of the empire. This has left Sexton free to rule from the shadows. It is where he is most comfortable.
As Nero finishes his song, he begins to gesture wildly and speak with his boisterous voice. It takes him a few moments to realize that the emperor is quoting from some Greek tragedy. It seems appropriate somehow.
"Sexton!", a voice from behind him exclaims. The voice is familiar, if somewhat unexpected. He had not thought she would return for several days. With a warm and welcoming smile, he turns to face her.
It would be strange for a woman to address one of his rank so impudently. Stranger indeed would it be to see a woman armored in the roman lorio segmentata, wearing the helmet of a roman general and armed with a roman gladius. But then this is no ordinary woman. No. She is a living legend. Decades ago she and another woman of extraordinary nature were crucified by Julius Caesar himself. More amazing than the fact that she survived her own execution is that she has seemingly not aged in all those intervening years.
She removes her helmet and long blond hair cascades about her shoulders. Seeing her exquisite features framed by her hair and her perfect body practically poured into that custom armor reminds him of why he has taken her into his arms and his bed so many times. His eyes are particularly drawn to the scar on the right side of her neck that he has kissed so often. Before he can greet her, Nero has observed her appearance and is beaming with joy as he shouts to her.
"Gabrielle!"
It is now that Sexton sees the anger in her eyes. "What's wrong?" he asks.
Her look of anger turns to shock as she points out to the city. "The city is on fire! I passed men, women and children impaled and crucified on the road into the city! What in the hell are you doing?"
Nero answers before Sexton can say anything to calm her. " It Œs beautiful, isn't it?" he announces gesturing to the flames. "And worry not for that dead and dying upon the trees of woe. They are all traitors, thieves and fiends. Just Hebrews and those annoying followers of Eli."
Gabrielle's look of shock is erased and is replaced with one of horror. It looks to Sexton as though she is on the verge of being sick. He doesn't comprehend this reaction from her. She has served Rome dutifully this past year. She has led the armies of Rome into Britannia and Syria. She has returned to the city to receive triumphs and laurel crowns from Nero himself. She has fought and won in the name of the empire. Why is she so upset by these actions which will only strengthen the empire? "I do not understand," he states. "Why does this have you so distressed?"
"It is for the good of Rome," Nero says matter-of-factly.
Those words cause Gabrielle's entire body to shudder and an expression Sexton has never seen to cross her face. He feels as though he suddenly looking at a different person that the woman he has known these many months.
"You're insane," she says with a dawning realization. Nero reacts as if insulted.
"No need for name calling," Nero retorts and crosses his arms childishly.
She turns her gaze to Sexton and says, "You're all insane."
Sexton is insulted by this accusation. "Even you are not allowed to speak to me in that manner!" he shouts.
She lowers her gaze and inhales a deep, shuddering breath. The words that come out of her mouth as she exhales makes Sexton's blood boil. "This entire empire is built on insanity."
Sexton trembles with rage. How could this woman, his lover and a loyal soldier of Rome, speak such seditious words? Nero's reaction is more like that of a spoiled child than the ruler of the greatest empire in the world. He points at Gabrielle and says, "Take that back!"
"If only it had died with Caesar," she says, then draws her gladius. She takes a step forward in Nero's direction.
Sexton draws his own gladius and steps in front of the emperor. "Be sensible, Gabrielle," he says. She continues to walk slowly forward. "You don't actually think you can best me?" he asks. She doesn't seem to hear him. "Don't make me kill you. I've enjoyed your company." The words have no effect on her advance. "I've trained with this weapon since I was old enough to hold it. You've trained for a little over a year. Who do you think will be victorious?"
As Gabrielle closes to within striking range of Sexton, she tosses the sword away. Sexton, shocked, takes his eyes off her for a moment and watches the blade hit the tiled roof. It is all the time she needs and she does not hesitate. She closes with Sexton and slams extended fingers into the vessels in his neck that supply his brain with blood. The gladius slips from his grasp as Sexton seizes his throat in a vain attempt to halt the deadly process Gabrielle has initiated. He drops to his knees. He turns his face up to hers and grasps wildly at her arms. He wants to plead for his life but finds that his vocal capabilities no longer exist. He can feel flood flowing from his nose and even his eyes. His vision gets splotchy then darkness creeps into his view. He can hear the blood pumping in his brain beginning to taper off. The motor functions of his body start to go haywire and he falls onto his side in a massive seizure. His back arches so painfully and violently that he hears joints popping, muscles tearing and bones breaking. He cranes his neck up involuntarily and his last sight is her emotionless eyes staring down at him.
Nero stares down at the body of the man who has been his friend and mentor since he became emperor. Then he fixes his gaze on the woman he has called friend for over a year. Since coming to Rome she has taught him how to improve his writing and even given him ideas for plays. She has taught roman soldiers who could hardly throw a javelin five feet to be superb warriors. She had lectured before the Senate and explained how Rome could expand her boundaries, conquer its enemies but still keep a lasting peace; a reinitiating of Augustus's pax romana. She has rode triumphantly back into Rome after leading legions to victory in the east and west. She has even been the lover of the man who now lies dead at her feet by her hand. How could she do this? Didn't she understand that Rome's enemies must be dealt with? "How dare you?" he explodes. He is filled with rage. He takes a step forward.
She hardly seems to move. But in an instant Sexton's gladius is in her hand and its point is touching his throat. Nero is perplexed by the fact that she looks sad. "I thought you would be like Octavian," she says in a hollow, monotone voice. "He was a good man. But you...you are as insane as Caligula."
Nero realizes that he does not want to die. Tears start streaming down his face and he feels he may lose control of himself at any moment. "Please don't kill me," he blubbers loudly. Despite the sword at his neck he drops to his knees and reaches out and grabs at her legs intent on begging for his life if he must.
Gabrielle steps back in disgust. "You're nothing but a puppet," she states with dawning realization. "Dancing on Sexton's strings. Gods! How could I not have seen it?" She tosses the sword aside. She looks down on this madman she has served and feels pity for him. "I'm not going to kill you. You will suffer enough in life." She turn and walks away. Behind her she can hear Nero crying and babbling like an infant.
Gabrielle finishes the last braid in her long hair and ties it off with a short, thin piece of leather . She looks in the mirror and studies the way the long braiding drops over her shoulder. She had not known Brunnhilda long. But in that short time she had grown to love the valkyrie as a dear friend. She wears the braid in remembrance of the woman who sacrificed so much that she would be protected.
She turns to the bed and begins to fit on the leather armor she had made some time back. She knows she has time. The chaos in the city will keep any members of the Preatorian guard occupied. They won't be looking for her any time soon.
She turns back to the mirror to see how it fits. The leather bodice and quilt are similar to Xena's. But Gabrielle has had this dyed a dark crimson color. The bronze filigree on the chest is simple in design and not as fine in craftsmanship as Xena's. It also doesn't reveal as much of her as Xena's did. She recalls the time she had worn Xena's armor. It had been to big for her but this armor was tailored for her. The studded quilt is longer but still allows for the full range of movement. She takes hold of two leather strips hanging from the top of the bodice. Hanging from them is a leather collar with several metal plates woven into it. She buckles on the collar then goes through some movement to see how it fits. Several months ago a Gallic swordsman had come close to decapitating her. Only quick reflexes had left her with just a scar. The collar should help to insure it never happens again.
Onto her right arm she fit's a studded leather armlet and a bracer. She slips an elbow length gauntlet onto her left arm. She looks at her gloved hand to study the strip of bronze made into the palm. She had finally learned to use the chakrum efficiently. But she found out painfully in Egypt one day that catching it was not nearly as easy as throwing it. The gauntlet should keep her from doing any further injury to her hand.
On the bed lies two weapons. One is the katana she had used during Xena's last adventure on this earth. Beside it is the chakrum. Her sai have been gone for a long time.
She picks up the chakrum. In an instant, the memories of the person she had loved more than any other begin to overwhelm her. Then she senses him and she is filled with anger, bordering on blind rage. "What do you want?" she growls.
Behind here there is a flickering of light and a sound of rushing air. "Impressive," Ares says. "I thought only Xena and Hercules could do that."
"Your presence hangs in the atmosphere like a sulphuric cloud, Ares. It's impossible not to feel it." she spit's the words out as she turns to face the black-clad god of war.
Ares assumes that casual, friendly stance that she had seen him use almost every time he talked with Xena. He looks her over appraisingly. His whole face is a smug smirk as he comments, "I like the hair. And the outfit."
Gabrielle groans with exasperation as she turns back to the bed to pick up the katana. She slings the baldric over her shoulder and fits it. "I have more important things to do, Ares" she informs him as she moves towards the door.
"I imagine so," he says in an even more cocky voice. "What happened on the roof of the palace looked pretty important."
More than anything Gabrielle wants to leave but his words make her realize something. "How long have you been watching me?" she asks.
Ares walks over with confidence to stand beside her. "Since you met Sexton in Alexandria," he replies.
"I should have stayed in Thebes," she says more to her self than the god of war. "Or gone back to Chin. It was a mistake to join Rome. I thought I could change things. Bring them back to the way it was when Octavian ruled. A lasting peace."
Ares grins. "You... joining the Roman Legions. I never would've imagined it! You became a general. You taught their soldiers to fight. You made speeches before the Senate. You! Who sent Crassus to his death! I mean, come on! You joined the very people who had you executed. You and ..."
Gabrielle cuts him off saying, "No! Three things I'll not hear you talk about: Xena, Eve or my daughter."
Ares can't help but laugh as he says, "What's the matter? You mad I slept with them but never with you?"
The chakrum is still in her hand and she uses it. The movement is so swift it takes Ares a second to realize what has happened. He looks down to see that not only is his vest sliced but also his chest. Black, iridescent blood oozes from a six inch gash. His anger is tempered with respect.
"Xena managed to get the drop on me a time or two," he states. The wound heals as he speaks. "But the last person to actually draw blood was Achilles. You're better than I thought."
"Go away!" Gabrielle demands through gritted teeth.
"This isn't over," Ares says before disappearing in a blur of light and sound.
Ares rematerializes on Olympus and is to say the least, disturbed by the sight that greets him. Standing by his cousin, Aphrodite, are two figures who are neither welcome on Olympus nor should they even be able to enter this place. Unless...
"You allowed them entrance?" he roars pointing at her.
The pair flanking her are wearing identical armor crafted from gold, silver and who knows what else. But aside from that they are so dissimilar that one could never believe they are brothers. One has golden blond hair, a face to make all masters of the arts cry and glistening black wings whose individual feathers sparkle like jewels. The other has pallid white flesh covered in scales and bone, a twisted visage best left in mortal nightmares and leathery, black wings tipped with talons. They are the Arch Angel Michael and the Hell-King Lucifer.
"Finally," Michael declares. "We wondered how much longer we would have to await you, War-monger."
"No doubt had he known we were here," Lucifer says, "he would not have put in an appearance at all."
"What are they doing here, Aphrodite?" Ares screams. He draws his great black sword and gestures towards the interlopers.
Lucifer laughs wickedly. "Do not seek to threaten us, master of strife. You are nothing to us."
"What?" Ares bellows. He advances towards the three of them.
Michael gestures. The roof above them explodes and a pillar of fire descends to block Ares' advance. "There will be no violence here today," he announces.
Ares wants to prove that statement wrong and seeks to find some path to them. But with each of his movements, the pillar shifts to block him. Seeing the futility of his rage, Ares sheathes his sword and waits. The pillar vanishes leaving only a smoky vapor behind.
"You might as well calm down, Ares," Aphrodite speaks at last. "We have something to tell you."
"We?" Ares says turning his glare on the angels. "Their machinations have no bearing on Olympus."
"It will soon," Aphrodite informs home.
"Oh it will, will it?" Ares says mockingly. "I don't have time for this. I have more important matters to attend to."
"I assure you that your voyeuristic attention of the reborn can wait," Lucifer tells him.
"The reborn?" Ares inquires.
"He refers to Gabrielle," Michael informs him.
"What I do on the mortal plane is my business." Ares says, trembling with renewed rage.
"Gabrielle is no longer your concern!" Michael exclaims. His wings spread and an otherworldly glow encompasses him.
"I beg to differ!" Ares screams. "Gabrielle is a warrior. And thus she is my concern. As are all warriors. I am the god of war. Why can't anyone understand this is the reason for my existence?"
"Please don't bore us with your excuses for why you do what you do," Lucifer says with a sarcastic tone. "In the past, you have engaged in campaigns that were far beyond the scope of your station and purpose."
"What is that supposed to mean?" Ares asks in contempt but as soon as the words leave his mouth he knows of what Lucifer speaks.
"May we remind you of your involvement with Dahak and bastard goddess Hope," Michael reminds him. "Surely you remember. You! Who sought to conceive the Six Destroyers of Dahak!"
"Please stop," Aphrodite says moving towards her cousin. "Ares, I'm leaving."
"Fine! Go!" Ares begins to dematerialize.
"And when I'm gone Olympus will crumble," she says in a solemn voice.
Ares is almost gone when her words reach him. He pulls himself back. "Excuse me," he breathes.
"When I'm no longer here, you'd be the last Olympian," Aphrodite explains. "You'll be alone. One god where there were once many. Essentially, there will be reason for our home to remain."
"Why are you doing this?" he demands.
"Our time is over," Aphrodite says. "The twilight of our pantheon has come." She glances momentarily at Michael as she speaks. "Ironically it is a twilight we brought upon ourselves. It's time for us to move on."
"I refuse!" Ares screams so loudly that Olympus shakes. "I am Ares, god of war! I will not go quietly into oblivion!"
"Your consent is not sought," Michael says. "Whether you leave or not, this place will fall."
"We are here to aid Aphrodite in her transition and to make sure there is no errant energy left over," Lucifer says, walking closer to the two Olympians.
"Transition?" Ares is confused. "What is he talking about?"
"I don't want to just leave Olympus. I want to leave this reality all together," Aphrodite's voice begins to tremble. Her eyes begin to well up with tears. "I want to move on. And I hope it leads me to Hephastus."
"Fine! Leave! Find him! I don't care!" Ares starts to dematerialize again.
Michael swoops down and seizes the war god by his throat ending Ares's attempt to leave. Through physical contact Ares can feel the rage and the power possessed by the archangel. "Mine is the power Xena wielded to kill gods! Mine is the power that can crush nations and annihilate immortals! Mine is the power to call down the wrath of Yahweh! Now by that power you will remain until we have given you leave to go!"
Ares nods his understanding.
"Why are you doing this, Ares?" Aphrodite asks of her cousin. "You gave up your immortality to save Xena and the others. You helped save me from Caligula. Why are you so angry?"
"Because I didn't choose any of this!" Ares screams. "I've been in existence too long to just sit back and let it all dissolve into the ether."
"But you were perfectly willing to allow a force of evil from outside our reality to come here and lay waste to the earth?" Lucifer points out.
"That's enough!" Aphrodite cries out in anguish. She lays her hand on her cousin's cheek. "I wanted to say good bye. I shall miss you."
Ares reaches up and touches her hand. "I will miss you as well," he says. "Good bye." He find that he will indeed miss her but refuses to let it show.
"It's time," Michael says. Where Zeus's throne sits there is an explosion of light. A vortex of intense white light swirls like water before them all. Aphrodite's eyes linger on her last remaining kin for a moment before she turns and walks into the vortex. As soon as she enters it, Ares feels as though some part of himself is ripped away. Lucifer glares at Ares with contempt then he enters the vortex. Michael looks to Ares and says, "If you too wish to go...call my name. I will come."
"Don't' bet on it," Ares grumbles.
Michael turns and enter the vortex.
The god of war braces himself as if expecting Olympus to crumble to ruin around him. Nothing happens.
"No need to be afraid, Ares," a woman's voice says from behind him. He draws his sword and turns to face this new intruder. Emerging from the shadows is a woman dressed in a black flowing gown with long obsidian black hair. Wound from her wrists to her shoulders are gleaming bracelets fashioned to resemble snakes. "Olympus will not collapse with the departure of the erstwhile goddess of love."
"I guess I need to get the locks changed," Ares says. First the angels, now this woman. Can just anybody walk the halls of Olympus now. He prepares to demand the identity of this woman when he sees that the strange bracelets she wears are in fact not jewelry at all. As she moves closer he can see that they are writhing on her arms. One crawls up from her left arm and coils gently around her neck. The serpent rears its head and hisses at him in such an odd way that he is certain it is greeting him in some animalistic fashion. Her identity is no longer a mystery. "What do you want, Medea?"
The Priestess of Herate and former queen of Argos performs a curtsey worthy of a supplicant beseeching aid from her ruler. The serpents, too bow their head. "I am not here to ask anything of you, Great Ares. I come to grant aid."
Ares sheaths his sword once more. He turns from the witch to look at the dais where moments before Michael's vortex had existed. Now he can see the throne upon which Zeus and then Athena sat. He walks slowly towards it. He ascends the dais and stares down at the marble throne where once mighty Olympians held sway. He lays one hand on the back of it. Then he seats himself upon it. Why not? he thinks. Am I not the last? Isn't this throne now mine by right? "What aid could you possibly give me?" he asks.
"I can give you what you are being denied," she says as she walks to the bottom of the dais. She bows to one knee and remains in that posture as she speaks. "Xena was yours, the destroyer of nations. You tried throughout her life to make her your instrument. But you were thwarted by interference from every corner of the world. So many botched your prized warrior's development. From Lao Ma to Alti. Then Hercules and Gabrielle."
"Are you purposely trying to anger me, witch?" Ares says. Already he finds himself growing tired of her presence.
"Xena belonged to you," Medea continues. "And so by right of her training by Xena, you see Gabrielle as yours."
Ares is taken aback by this witch's knowledge. "Even if you are correct, it can hardly be done. She has already rejected me on several occasions," he informs her.
"Indeed," Medea agrees. She stands and walks up the dais then kneels before the throne. "But her innocence and purity of spirit have been strained nearly to the breaking point over these last years. All those she cared for are gone. Xena's spirit has moved on. She can no longer guide Gabrielle. All her friends are dead. Ephiny, Joxer, Brunnhilda, Eli. She is no longer the wanna-be bard that Xena found it Poteidaia. Her soul has become dark and twisted beyond even her understanding. Since the day she drove the dagger into that girl in Brittania she has begun an inevitable alteration that has led her down so many paths that she is now coming to a crossroads that may well remove her from the Way. Her road to reincarnation is no longer certain. She can yet be your new destroyer of nations."
"This is preposterous!" Area exclaims as he rises to his feet. "What aid could you possibly give me?" he roars. With ease he kicks her down the steps. She rolls onto the floor. "And how could you aid me? Last time I checked your patron, Hecate, met oblivion years ago at the hands of vengeful gods from the east. Your power is gone."
Medea stands and Ares watches with some disgust as one of her serpents slithers down her leg then disappears under the hem of her gown.
"The aid I can render is the help of one other Olympian whom all seem to have forgotten," she informs him with a smile.
Ares can find no words to retort this statement.
"Aphrodite said that when she left, Olympus would cease to exist. You will recall there was a time recently when you and she were the last gods of Olympus. And that you were both powerless. You had sacrificed your godhood to resurrect Eve. And Aphrodite's power was stolen by Caligula. But yet Olympus remained. For there is another god of Greece. Defeated yet not dead. He alone will be able to give you Gabrielle."
Again Ares is shocked into silence. She is insane. There are no others.
"As to my power!" she cries out. She extends her arms and flames erupt all around her. The heat can even be felt by Ares. "While it is true Hecate was destroyed, I made a pact with another far more powerful goddess. And she has given me knowledge and power far beyond any mortal understanding." With those words she pulls down the top of her gown to reveal a blackened scar in the shape of a triumvirate flame.
Ares stares at the branded tattoo with a mix of disbelief and fear. It is a symbol he has not seen in over thirty years. The symbol of an evil he had thought erased from the world by Xena, Gabrielle and Hercules.
Medea motions with her hand. The flames around her take the form of nude women and begin to dance about obscenely. "My goddess is not the bastard of Titans! She is not the fulfillment of mortal desire and faith! She is the daughter of evil and the corruption of innocence! Her physical form can be killed but her ethereal power is infinite! There is no end to her power! She will never rest until the dream of Dahak is fulfilled! Hope is eternal!" She extends one hand towards him. "Take my hand God of War and you shall have all that you desire!"
Gabrielle keeps her eyes on the road before the horse so she can't see the bodies on either side of the road. The beast runs at a thundering gallop out of Rome bearing northeast. She drowns out the groans of the dying by singing aloud verses of Sappho. But in her heart and mind she is cursing herself for these past eighteen months. She'd been a fool. A blind, stupid and naïve fool. To serve the same government that had once put her to death!
Tears form as she remembers how those many years ago her physical form had died. And then how her spirit and Xena's has ascended to heaven. If only they'd stayed there in peace. But they had wanted to live again, hadn't they? It was part of their destiny. A grand destiny that had led to Callisto's redemption and Eve's birth. All part of what Eli had called the Way. He had died for it. How she missed him now. How she missed them all. Joxer. She fondly remembers the young warrior with the skills of a slug but a heart of gold. The Amazons. There are still times she regrets not accepting her title as their queen. Eve. The reincarnation of Callisto. Sometimes that fact is still hard to comprehend. Once that woman had taken the life of the only man she had truly loved. Now, in a sense, she is very like a daughter to her.
But it's all gone now. Joxer...dead. Eli...long dead. Eve...far away. The Amazons...all but extinct. She should have gone looking for them. Perhaps she might have felt at home with the Amazons. She tries hard to let the loss of Ephiny creep into her heart once again. Another irony. She has served the very people that cost her one of her best friends.
The cobblestones give way to dirt and she looks ahead at last. The long road stretches out before her. She must decide where to go. She ponders for a moment then decides that before she can take the next route in her life, she has to visit one last time. "Amphipolis," she says aloud.
The dragons which draw Medea's chariot roar as they leap into the sky carrying away the God of War and the High Priestess of Hope.
After they are gone two more step from the shadows. The presence of this pair would be as unwelcome to Ares as the angels. The man, tall with blonde hair and beard, and the woman, lithe but a warrior nonetheless with red hair, had in fact been conversing with the angels and Aphrodite before Ares' arrival. They'd stayed to observe the god of war. And have been witness to his conspiracy with Medea.
"This is not good," the woman says. "I fear Gabrielle will be broken by those two."
"I have placed myself in their affairs more than enough I think," the man says staring into the sky where the chariot flies.
"But surely you cannot sit back and allow this to happen," she says. "Michael could not have foreseen the involvement of Medea in all this. They forbade you to interfere, it is true, but I made no such covenant."
The man looks aghast at his companion's words. "You shall not involve yourself in this! I forbid it."
The woman meets his gaze with an equal portion of anger. But she concedes. "So there is nothing we can do? Gabrielle will be helpless before them."
"Perhaps not," he says. He whistles a strange tune. A raven appears from the shadows to alight upon his shoulder. He turns to the bird and speaks to it in it own language. The dark bird listens with rapt attention. Once the man has finished speaking, the raven nods then flies off into the shadows.
"But you said..."the woman starts.
"I said that I would not interfere with Gabrielle," he retorts. "And as long a she does not request our aid, I shall not."
In a desolate expanse of low hills and marshland, the dragon-drawn chariot of Medea begins it descent. Standing behind Medea, Ares speaks for the first time since their departure from Olympus. "Can I guess what you want from this deal?" he inquires, thought he already knows the answer. "Ambrosia."
Medea smiles fiendishly back at him even as she whips the dragons faster.
"Why does everyone want to be a god?" Ares asks rhetorically.
Medea replies anyway. "I want to be more than just a god. I want to be queen of the gods. And I want you to be my king."
"Excuse me!" Ares says in shock.
The chariot lands in a fallow field covered in dead grass and twisted trees. Beyond is a cave carved into a hillside. "Zeus. Hera. Athena. All gone, Ares. You and I can be mother and father to a new pantheon," she says.
"A pantheon that follows the will of Dahak?" he says suspiciously. "You need Gabrielle as well." He begins to understand.
"Hope can be reborn using Gabrielle," Medea explains. "but it can only be done now when her soul is so corrupted. When her path on the Way is obliterated, we'll be able to resurrect Hope."
"We?" Ares asks.
"I'll have my goddess and you'll have your destroyer of nations," Medea tells him. "Hope will be reborn in Gabrielle's body and all will fall to the will of Dahak."
Ares finds himself intrigued by this twisted scenario. King of a new pantheon and co-author of a world under the rule of war and strife. He points to the field and cove. "So how does this fit in?" he inquires. He still fails to see how any of this is relevant to some unknown Olympian.
"Here is to be found one who long ago laid claim to Gabrielle's blood," Medea states. "Defeated by Xena and left for dead. But he merely slumbers. Awaiting a new destiny. A new future." She steps down from the chariot and walks towards the cave. "Follow me, Ares, and embrace your new destiny."
She leads him into the cave and he can feel the ambient power in the air. And the ambient darkness and evil. A thought comes to him and he begins to hope that he is wrong. But each sight that greets him in the cave only reinforces his belief. Scattered about are numerous corpses in various states of decay. All of them are female. In the center of the cavern is an immense cauldron setting on a pedestal of rock that has shifted over the years, such that the contents have spilled onto the floor. A thick, black ichors is pooled on the floor and some still remains in the cauldron. Large portions of it have dried in a foul smelling paste. At the far end of the cavern is another corpse. This one looks human but possesses inhuman characteristics such as cloven feet, horns protruding from his head and enormous teeth. Medea stands over the heap of bones and rotting flesh looking down at it almost reverently.
"Bacchus," Ares says not so reverently.
Medea walks back over to the cauldron and rights it. She examines the interior then nods. "Come, Ares," she says beckoning him. As he steps closer she draws a dagger. He steps back. "Your immortal blood is needed."
"I'll do it then," he says holding out his hand. She smiles as she hands him the blade. "This had better work," he grumbles in a threatening tone that she takes little notice of. He holds his wrist over the cauldron and cuts open his veins. He winces as his blood flows into the cauldron to mix with Bacchus's dried vitae.
"That's enough," Medea says. "Step back." She holds out her hands and begins to chant in a strange dialect. Suddenly an unearthly flame appears beneath the cauldron and in seconds the contents are boiling. She picks up a metallic cup that has lain in place for decades and takes a draught of the bubbling liquid. She stands over the corpse. "I need you for another task, Ares," she says pointing to the chest cavity. Ares sees an enormous bone shard protruding between two ribs. Ares knows what to do. As he pulls the bone free, the decomposing remains shudder as if still alive. Medea pours the blood infusion onto the skeletal face and into the open mouth particularly. "Bacchus. God of Wine. Lord of Debauchery. Tyrant of bloody hedonism. Taste this, the blood of your veins and your kin. Grow strong. Reinvigorate your undying flesh. Feed on immortal blood and be whole once more. Rise up! Be a god once more!"
Ares watches unimpressed as nothing happens. He turns to leave but is drawn up short when he hears a sound akin to entrails pouring from a gutted warrior. He observes as what had been a jumble of dried blood and viscera resting under the skeletal remains begin to liquefy then writhe around. Muscles start to reform from dried bits of flesh clinging to bone. Organs reconstitute and flesh grows anew. Liquid swirls in empty eye sockets. The detached jaw bone snaps shut loudly. One arm slowly rises up as muscle, sinew and skin once dead reform to immortal life. The mouth opens and closes as if Bacchus is trying to speak but he still lacks the necessary organs. One cloven hoof stomps the ground causing the cave to vibrate and rocks to tumble loose from the walls and ceiling. The rejuvenating corpse suddenly stands bolt upright so that it towers over Medea. The witch, Ares is amused to see, is visibly startled for an instant. But she quickly recovers.
Bacchus throws back his head and erupts into a cacophonous howling of unearthly sounds that make even Ares shudder. When his cry is complete, Bacchus stands as tall but not as strong as Ares remembers. His body is thin and emaciated. His eyes are black specks in his unbelievable pale face.
The god of wine turns his gaze upon the two beings watching him so intently. He recognizes the god or war but the female is unknown to him. When he speaks his voice sounds frail and old. "Where is she? Where is Xena?"
Ares glares at the diminished god then to Medea. "This is your plan?" Area grunts in disgust. "He can hardly stand!"
"He will need to be further rejuvenated with blood," Medea replies to Ares' screaming.
"You'll get no more from me," Ares states. "This is ridiculous."
"Have patience, my lord," Medea says in the most flattering tone she can. She must tread carefully. Even her goddess's blessing will not save her from Ares should he decide to vent his wrath on her.
"What are you two babbling about?" Bacchus demands. "What is going on? Where is Xena? I will rip her head from her body and supp from her neck."
Ares chuckles at the irony. "You're a little late."
"Be calm, lord Bacchus," Medea says. "There is much to explain."
"Explain to me after I have fed!" Bacchus roars. "I would grow strong now and not be trapped within this husk."
Medea holds up one hand. One of her serpents coils around her arm and stares at her. "Go to the village. Bring my lord Bacchus sustenance." The snake bolts from her and slithers out of the cave.
"Now, Ares," Bacchus begins. "You will explain to me why I feel your presence but not others of our kind."
Far to the north, below the great expanse of the frozen wastes, a lone raven completes its journey. It flies into a small grove of trees and settles onto a huge rock that rests within the small clearing. It turns its head in all directions seeking something. When it cannot find its quarry, it hops into the air repeatedly letting out its baleful cry. It continues to call out for several minutes before it receives an answer. "Herald of Odin," a voice from nowhere addresses the bird. "Why are you here?" the voice is sad but content in a way that the simple messenger can't comprehend. It beings screeching loudly once more, this time delivering its message. "She's in danger?" the voice asks the bird. It screeches a reply. "I don't know if I'm strong enough." confused, the raven cocks its head to one side. It admonishes the voice with its harsh call. "You are right. For Gabrielle...I will try. I would do anything for her." There is a brief eruption of flame then the raven realizes it is alone. It takes wing and is gone from the grove.
Ares watches with a mixture of curiosity and disgust as Bacchus tosses aside the fourth village girl that Medea's serpents have brought him. Now the god looks as Ares remembers. His dark hued skin, razor sharp teeth, horrific face and muscular body are all as they should be. The god of wine mortals call him. Festivals are held in his honor. Theater is performed in his name. How they would fear him if they know that the wine he and his Bacchae drink is indeed the "wine dark vintage of the mortal veins" as Bacchus once told him.
The grotesque god leers at Ares. "So we are the last," he says then laughs maliciously. "How I would have enjoyed seeing Athena die. It was Zeus's bastard daughter that banished me from Olympus."
Ares can't help but smile. "Ironic that you and I, despised so by our kin, should be the only ones left."
"Indeed," Bacchus agrees. "And it allows us the perfect opportunity to bend this land according to our will."
"And the will of Dahak," Medea interjects.
"Correct," Bacchus says laughing. "Through Gabrielle we will all get what we want." His laugher echoes throughout the cave.
Gabrielle lays her right hand on the urn containing Xena's ashes and fights back the urge to begin weeping. She will not cry. She will be strong. Xena's urn sits atop the casket that contains the body of her brother, Lyceus. This is where she had wanted to be laid to rest. All around Gabrielle are more caskets containing the remainder of Xena's family, including her mother, Cyrene, and her younger brother, Toris. Surrounded by death again, Gabrielle thinks. Not for the first time since Xena's spirit moved on , she wonders if her soul mate has gone on to her next incarnation.
She bows her head and prays that it is so.
"Gabrielle?" a voice from behind her says her name with an inquisitive tone.
Gabrielle draws her katana and wheels around quickly to face..."Eve!" she cries out in a startled voice.
Xena's daughter, who is ironically Gabrielle's physical age, rushes forward to embrace her. As she is held. Her mind is flooded with images of the girl's past. Her birth at the very instant of Zeus's death at the hands of Hercules. Holding Eve for the first time. The sadness of having to aid Xena in Eve's appropriation by Octavian to save her from Athena. The horror of awakening thirty years later to find Eve, calling herself Livia, a brutal and merciless Roman general. Joxer being impaled on Livia's sword. At that memory, Gabrielle steps out of Eve's embrace. A dark part of her soul still can't forgive Xena's child for the murder of her dear friend. How easy it is to forget that this is Callisto reincarnated, Gabrielle thinks.
Eve looks over the woman she thinks of as family and is mildly shocked by her dress and appearance. Before she can speak, Gabrielle asks, "What are you doing here?"
Gesturing behind her towards town she asks a question in response. "Didn't you notice that the inn and much of the town has been rebuilt. We've been restoring Amphipolis for the past year or so."
"We?" Gabrielle inquires.
Eve actually blushes as she answers. "Virgil and I. Some others. Meg is living here too. She runs grandmother's tavern."
Meg and Virgil. Joxer's wife and son. She remembers watching helplessly, bound and screaming, as Livia rams her sword into Joxer's chest with as little care as she would stomp an insect. She physically shudders at the memory. "No," she says. "I didn't see. I came in from the east."
"I see," Eve says. Then she notices the scar which the collar doesn't totally obscure. "Oh, my god. What happened to you?" She reaches up to touch the wound but Gabrielle seizes her wrist. She applies more pressure to her grasp than she intends. Eve's hand quickly turns red. "I'm sorry, " she apologizes.
Gabrielle, shocked to find she is hurting Eve, releases her. "I was fighting in Gaul," she explains. "A warrior nearly took my head off."
Eve seems impressed and says, "The collar is a good idea then. Offers some protection." her attention turns to the gauntlet. "Still haven't mastered mother's Chakrum." She looks the armor over once more. "Wearing that you almost look like her."
Hearing that becomes too much for Gabrielle and she breaks down. She begins sobbing loudly and tears stream down her cheeks.
The reaction so stirs Eve that she stands motionless as Gabrielle drops the katana and stumbles back, Lyceus' casket the only thing stopping her from falling backwards.
"Gabrielle?" Eve says in shock.
"If she were alive..." Gabrielle mutters. "...if she were...she would never forgive me...oh, god!. I'm glad she isn't...alive to see what I've become."
Eve can hardly believe that statement. She starts to ask what Gabrielle is talking about but is cut off by the response.
"Do you know what I've done for the last year and a half?" Gabrielle asks turning her tear stained face to meet Eve's gaze. "I've been a general in Rome."
The confession strikes Eve like a physical blow. Never in her wildest dreams would she have imagined Gabrielle in service to Rome. She and Xena both loathed the Roman Empire so that they had on numerous occasions enmeshed themselves in activities that had but one purpose...to thwart the machinations of that empire.
"I trained their warriors. Led Legions into battle in Gaul, Brittania, Syria and Persia. I even had a praetorian guard for a lover."
Eve stutters out a response. "Wha...why?"
"I thought I could change Rome. Make it better. But the longer I stayed the more I fell in with the ideality of the empire. I became just like Caesar. Just like you were. "
The memory of her life as Livia makes Eve almost sick to her stomach.
"I led troops into the very lands that I had fought alongside Xena and Bodecia to keep from Caesar's grasp. I had traitors executed for deserting. And each night I was in Rome I rutted in the bed of Sexton Burrus like a whore."
Eve hopes that the look of shock on her face goes unnoticed by Gabrielle. During her life as the bitch of Rome, as that amazon had perfectly put it, she had been with other lovers besides Octavion. Sexton Afranius Burrus was one of them.
" My life became infected with Roman life. I grew to love the triumphs
bestowed upon me. I lived every day like Caesar or Pompey or Antony. Reveling
in the acclaim of the people. I was a hero to them and I loved every moment of
it. It wasn't until I saw that Nero had crucified Hebrews and Eli's
followers along the road outside Rome that I realized what I was doing. Even
Ares was proud of what I had been doing!"
Eve herself starts to cry now. She gathers Gabrielle into her arms. "Come
on," she says. "You need to rest." Gabrielle nods
in response. As she leads Gabrielle from the crypt Eve can sense something
wrong. Once whenever she was in the presence of her mother's soul
mate, she could feel only love and compassion emanating from her. Now she
can sense only confusion, fear and self-loathing. She silently prays to
Eli and all the forces of heaven that she can in some way aid Gabrielle.
"She has returned," Ares says. He refers to a black clad woman walking into the cave carrying a slab of stone. She is as pale as marble with blood red orbs set into her eye sockets. And she is not alone in this aspect. A dozen other young women of similar countenance are gathered around Bacchus. Until this evening they were village girls. Now they belong to the god of wine. They are Bacchae.
"Set it over there," Medea says pointing to one corner of the cave. The Bacchae lays the slab where indicated. Then she returns to gather with the others around Bacchus. He laughs loudly, taking time to play at and generally fondle the beautiful women fawning over him. "Go my Bacchae," he says, pointing to the cave opening. "Hunt. Feed. Kill."
The Bacchae unanimously cry out like wild animals. With preternatural speed they exit out the cave and into the night. "As they grow in number my strength grows," Bacchus states aloud.
"What is that?" Ares asks Medea as she kneels over the slab to examine it.
"Some years ago there was a pit to Hell that opened under Amphipolis," she begins to explain. "It drove the town mad and led to the death of many including Xena's mother. It corrupted anyone who came near it and was only closed due to Xena's actions. Though it did corrupt her soul and Gabrielle's to some extent. They may have sealed the rift but the blight on their souls was never completely expunged. That will aid us in our efforts with her. As will this. It is a stone from the courtyard. It still carries the taint of Hell. With it I can consecrate an alter to Dahak."
"You've really thought this out," Ares says. He is impressed with the sorceress's efforts.
"I've waited decades to serve my goddess and to welcome her back," Medea says. "I will not fail in this. Before the sun rises I shall look into the eyes of Hope and receive her blessing."
"Then perhaps we should begin," Ares proclaims. He turns his attention to Bacchus. "Can you do it now?"
Bacchus sneers. "No need to doubt me, Ares. She has known my touch before. She shall know it again." He reaches out with his taloned hand as if to grasp something. His fingers curl in and tightly grip the air as he says in a tone bordering on orgasmic, "Gabrielle..."
Gabrielle is sitting at a corner table drinking a tankard of water and trying not to look at Meg as she goes from table to table talking to her patrons. She has avoided her since arriving with Eve the previous night. She is certain she will break down again if she talks with the woman who is virtually Xena's double. Having slept most of the day away she feels tired again since it is dark once more.
"Gabrielle," Virgil calls to her as he and Eve enter the tavern. Their close proximity to each other tells Gabrielle they might be more than just friends. An ironic twist of fate considering she killed his father. They sit across from her and he asks, "Feeling better?"
"A little rested," she replies. "Thanks for letting me stay."
"It's as much your home as ours," Virgil replies.
"I won't trouble you much longer," she says.
"What? You're leaving?" Eve asks. "Where will you go?"
"Maybe India or Chin," Gabrielle replies. She is certain no one in Rome knows what she has done. Why would they? Was she not a loyal servant to the empire? She will avoid Roman held territory regardless.
As she is about to speak again she is seized about the throat by some unseen force that lifts her to her feet and throttles her. As she feels the blood flow to her brain diminishing she sees images flashing through her mind. She sees herself held down by screaming women in black. Another lays over her and gropes her painfully. The woman leers at Gabrielle. It is Xena. But she is horrifically altered. Her eyes drip blood and her hair is a mass of writhing serpents. The serpents shoot out to bite her in intimate places. Xena opens her mouth. All her teeth are misshapen and jagged like flints of obsidian. When she speaks her voice, however, is like a siren's call. Beckoning with promise and heavy with seduction. "Come to me, my amazon princess!"
"Gabrielle," a voice says to her. She opens her eyes to look into the face of Xena altered. She shrieks and back pedals away in terror before she realized it is Meg. She, Eve, Virgil and several tavern patrons are staring at her.
"What happened?" Meg asks in a voice that is thankfully nothing like Xena's.
"I think she had a seizure," Eve replies.
"Are you all right?" Virgil asks.
Gabrielle cannot get that horrific image of Xena out of her mind. She gets awkwardly to her feet and stumbles towards the door without saying a word to anyone.
Bacchus laughs. He draws back his hand and swings it before him like a backhanded slap.
Gabrielle is almost to the door when something strikes her across the face with ungodly force. As she falls back onto the floor another inhuman image enters her mind. She is bound against a tree screaming while a composite thing made up of physical features of both Callisto and Livia rams a sword into a thing made up of parts of Perdicas and Joxer. The Perdicas/Joxer polymorph explodes and coats her from head to toe in their blood.
She screams and finds Eve and Virgil holding her down. She thrashes wildly. "Let me go!" she demands. The two of them release her immediately.
"Gabrielle. You aren't well. You need to lie down and we'll summon a healer," Eve says.
"I'm fine!" Gabrielle exclaims in a voice that seems to dare them to challenge her words. She steps out the door.
Bacchus chuckles once more. He extends his arm forward with a snapping punch.
Gabrielle is two steps outside the tavern when she doubles over from a crushing blow to her gut. And a third image assaults her senses. Caesar himself drive the nails through her hands with glee. He hammers them down to the hilts. He steps back to admire his handy work and Gabrielle sees that he is not alone to watch her suffering. As the cross is raised, she can see Caligula, Antony, Crassus, Pompey and Brutus watching on. They point to her and laugh. She turns her head to look for Xena. But the cross beside her is not occupied by Xena. It is her dressed in the long skirts and loose fitting garments she had worn when she had first met Xena. That Gabrielle is weeping blood and crying out for her mother. She averts her gaze and finds another cross to her left. This one is occupied by her as well. This one is dressed in the short skirt and revealing top she had worn during their early exploits in Greece. The cross beam she is nailed to is the staff she had carried for years. Blood is flowing from her nose and mouth and she is calling out for Xena. She turns her eyes forward to avert her gaze once more and it greeted by another macabre self image. This Gabrielle is naked and her stomach is heavy with child. She has no eyes but is weeping none the less. Her hair dangles past her feet and is jet black. Her legs have been broken and bones protrude from the skin. She is giggling like maniac. It takes her a moment to realize that this Gabrielle is not crucified but impaled! Her bloated midsection begins to writhe. Gabrielle screams.
"Gabrielle!" Virgil shouts at her.
She is screaming like a mad woman. Eve kneels beside her and embraces her. She begins praying softly and reverently. Meg, Virgil and a few others encircle the two women as Eve asks for aid to Gabrielle's soul. It takes several minutes before she is calm enough for Eve and Virgil to get her to her feet.
"What in the name of Heaven?" Eve gasps.
"What?" Gabrielle mutters.
"Your neck. You're bleeding. That wound in your neck has reopened," Eve explains.
Gabrielle puts her hand to her scarred neck and can indeed feel blood weeping from the wound. She just begins to remember something. An event she thought insignificant in her life with Xena. Something to do with blood. She is just about to come to a startling realization when she faints.
When Bacchus returns his attention to the cave he is smiling with delight. His Bacchae have returned and Medea has managed to summon a substantial fire from the rock slab. For a moment, he tries to contain himself but he can't and soon he is laughing heartily.
Medea ceases her chanting and turn to him. "You have been successful?" she asks smiling wickedly.
"My hold on her blood is as strong as ever," he replies. "Soon she will come to us."
Ares, who is leaning against the cave entrance and staring out into the night, makes a derisive grumble.
"You disapprove of my tactics?" Medea asks. "Having second thoughts?"
"I learned over many years not to underestimate Gabrielle," Ares says strolling back into the cave. The Bacchae glare at him but when he turns his gaze on them they all flock back to their lord. "Everyone applauds Hercules for taking Xena away from me. Saying it was he who removed Xena from the path I'd set for her. They were wrong." Ares wanders closer to Medea. He stares at the unnatural flame that burns on the stone for a moment before he continues. "Hercules nudged her off that path. She would have returned to me eventually. If it hadn't been for that annoying blonde from Poteidaia. She kept Xena from me. I've only just come to the realization in the last few years that if I had killed Gabrielle I might have had Xena back."
As he says the words 'killed Gabrielle', the flame Medea has conjured blazes higher and brighter for several moments. Ares' eyes are drawn to it and he understands what it truly is. "The Fires of Dahak," he mutters with some trepidation.
"You need not fear," Medea says. "Dahak holds no grudge against you for past failures. He is, if nothing else, patient." Medea doubles over gagging and retching. Her body shudders like she is about to be sick and she does indeed open her mouth. But nothing issues forth. Nothing physical that is.
A voice so like Gabrielle's but filled with hate and rage speaks from Medea's open mouth. "But I am not!"
Bacchus stares curiously at the possession. Ares takes a step back. His eyes darting from the possessed witch to the searing fire. "Hope..." he stammers.
"Bring me my mother, War God!" Hope's voice commands. "I grow tired of this immaterial existence! Bring her to me this night! And do not fail me again, Ares!"
Medea faints.
Ares rounds on Bacchus and screams, "What are you waiting for?"
"You'll have to be patient a little longer," Bacchus replies.
"My patience is fast evaporating!" Ares says in response.
The two Olympians stare at each other in challenge for several moments before Baccchus points to the cave entrance. The smile is again on his face. "Go my Bacchae. You know what to do."
The Bacchae make a unanimous outcry of glee as they exit with unnatural speed and agility. Bacchus sits back onto his throne and closes his eyes. "I will need silence to concentrate," he explains. "Within the hour she will be here." He begins to mutter in his rumbling voice.
Ares turns back to Dahak's fire and beings to contemplate the serious repercussions of what will happen this night.
Gabrielle awakens to the sound of a haunting chorus of voices. It is a song she has heard before. It is, she discovers strangely, a song she has longed to hear for years. It fills her with a sense of fellowship and belonging she has not felt since Xena's death. She rises from the bed and sees Eve asleep in a nearby chair. For a moment, she is curious what has brought the Messenger of Eli to Amphipolis in the first place.
The moment is gone when she hears the chorus rise into a crescendo. Eve does not hear the ethereal voices lifted in song. Swiftly and quietly she dresses in her red leather and out of reflex hooks the Chakrum to her belt. She makes her way out of the inn and into the town square. There is no one in sight. The full moon is at its apex and Amphipolis is bathed in its soft glow.
Gabrielle looks about fervently searching for the source of the song that calls out to her. At the far end of town she spies a lone figure who is dancing in time to the song. She jumps and twirls, writhing to the eerie refrain that thunders in Gabrielle's ears but which is apparently silent to the still sleeping town. She finds something familiar too, in the way the mystery woman moves. It is a seductive movement of her body that is primal and wild. And so as the dancer pirouettes from the streets into some nearby woodlands, Gabrielle follows.
A rushing of hot air and a breathy voice awakens Eve. She searches quickly for the source of the disturbance but relegates it to a triviality when she sees that Gabrielle is gone. She rushes out of the inn just in time to see her enter the woods surrounding the town.
"Gabrielle!", she calls out. Somehow she is not surprised when there is no response. She starts after her friend and stops abruptly. She turns to look behind her. No one is there. But she is certain she is not alone. She strains her eyes to see anything. And in the moonlight she does see something; a distortion in the air similar to the way air ripples from the heat of a fire.
"Who are you?", she asks. She extends a hand toward the anomalous form. "I know you are there."
The shimmering air rushes towards then through her. She is inundated by feelings of love, compassion, redemption and a desire to protect. For an instant, she believes it is Xena's spirit. "Mother?" she says in a hopeful voice. But something tells her that isn't possible. "No," she says. "You're not Xena. You're someone else that loves Gabrielle. You want to protect her as you did once before?" she inquires not quite understanding who this is. The shimmering spirit moves off rapidly towards the woods Gabrielle had entered moments before.
Eve turns and looks into the inn. She should wake Virgil, bring him and others to search for Gabrielle. She does not instead running into the woods, alone.
Gabrielle enters a clearing in the woods and finds the dancer she has been following and the source of the siren call she has heeded. A group of women, girls really, all dressed in revealing clothing that is hardly more than strips of black cloth are dancing and singing in the center of the clearing. Their red, blonde and black locks of hair swish as they twirl about. Their pale limbs are wrapped about each other as they embrace and dance erotically to the melody they sing.
She leans against a tree and watches with fascination as they move their hands suggestively over each other's bodies. Frequently their lips caress the others in suggestive ways and places. Then one of the girls separates from the others. She moves toward Gabrielle with acrobatic grace and poise. With a flourish, she bows, as if to a dance partner, then holds out her hand to Gabrielle. Their eyes meet and Gabrielle cannot help but be transfixed by the obsidian gaze.
She takes the girl's hand and allows herself to be led into the milling group of dancers. When she is among them, they encircle her and begin a new dance. They welcome her to the fold with a new song. This is a hymn to lust and carnal desire that she has heard before. A hedonistic ballad which tells her that self-control and her conscious are unnecessary burdens she should let go of. Their hands caress her with wanton lust. Their eyes leer at her with open desire. She joins the song with her own resonant voice. She joins the dance with her own seductive movements. She feels at home. At peace. She doesn't take notice as one girl unbuckles her protective collar. Or as another rips it from her armor. She now remembers what it was about the blood weeping from her wound that was familiar. She has been bitten there before.
A blonde presses herself against Gabrielle's back. She wraps her arms around Gabrielle like a lover. A brunette dances forward to undulate against her chest. Gabrielle sways with the movement of the two she is pinned between. The girl behind her sinks her teeth into Gabrielle's neck where the sword wound is. The girl before her sinks her teeth into the opposite side.
Gabrielle moans as if in the throes of passion. She feels her blood running down the sides of her neck and onto her chest but she doesn't care. This is what is meant to be. She belongs with them. A voice cries out her name in horror but she ignores it. As the other Bacchae take flight and leave the clearing, she rises into the air to join them.
Eve comes to the edge of a clearing and is shocked to see Gabrielle singing and dancing amidst a group of scantily clad young women. Before she can react to the situation, two girls pin Gabrielle between them, then proceed to bite her on both sides of her neck. Blood is spilled and she screams, "Gabrielle! No!"
Suddenly Gabrielle and the others soar into the night and disappear over the tops of the trees. "Bacchae," she mutters in horror. Eve leaps into the air and lands on a limb in a nearby tree. With practiced ease, she climbs higher then begins jumping from tree to tree. All the while she manages to keep the flying group in sight.
She dashes across the upper branches for what seems like forever until she is nearly exhausted. Then the tree line breaks and she drops to the ground among low hills. Her quarry sails over nearly hills and she races off after them. She tops the first hill and watches the group descend through the air to land before a cave in a hillside. They enter the cave and disappear from sight.
Eve runs down the hill and is almost overcome by the foul sensation that boils out of the cave. She falls to her knees and tries not to be sick. The evil that seeps from the cave is unlike anything she has ever felt. It is even more pervasive than when the rift to Hell had been opened in Amphipolis. "Eli protect me," she says. Then she senses two other presences. Close to her she can feel the same spirit that was being drawn to Gabrielle. The other is within the cave. His very presence disgusts her. She speaks his name as if it were a curse. "Ares."
All eyes turn to the cave entrance as the Bacchae return. The three of them smile when they see Gabrielle among the girls. The Bacchae all move away to stand against the cave walls, leaving Gabrielle in the middle of the cave. Her eyes are blood red. Her skin is pale. And blood covers her chest and is staining her leather armor. She looks longingly at the other Bacchae but them spots Bacchus upon his throne. She moves towards her lord and master and is taken aback by the strange flame which burns in the corner.
Ares and Medea step from the shadows. The god of war is shocked by Gabrielle's appearance. He sees the blood. "Bacchus," he growls. "If she's been hurt..."
"She's far more malleable, Ares," the god of wine explains. "Look at her. I don't think she even recognizes you."
Medea stand before Gabrielle and places her hands on the young warrior's shoulders. "Hello, Gabrielle," she greets her. "I have longed to meet you. I am Medea, High Priestess to the goddess Hope. Your daughter."
Some recognition flashed in her eyes and Gabrielle backs away, her eyes staring at the Fire of Dahak.
"No," Medea says. "It's all right. I..." her voice trails off as she feels a tangible presence enter the atmosphere. The cave seems to vibrate with an otherworldly power she has never experienced before. "What is that?" she screams.
A young woman with dark hair dressed in the simple clothes of a villager enters. Medea knows it cannot be real but she is sure that the miniscule amount of light in the cave has gotten brighter by this woman's appearance.
"Ares!" the woman bellows in rage.
Ares reacts as though he has been hit. "Eve!" he cries out in shock.
"Perfect!" Bacchus exclaims with a laugh.
"What?" Medea exclaims now knowing the identity of the woman from Ares' use of her name. Eve, the messenger of Eli. If there is being on earth who is her opposite in every way it is the daughter of Xena.
"You need Gabrielle corrupted body and soul," Bacchus replies. He points to Eve and says, "Here is the instrument to complete that task."
Medea backs away from the newly turned Bacchae as Eve approaches. There is a power in the girl she cannot abide being close to. It hits her in waves. She feels ill from it. Even the fire seems diminished by Eve's very presence.
Eve reaches out to place a hand on her friend's shoulder. "Look, Gabrielle!
It's Livia!" Bacchus proclaims.
Gabrielle snaps her head around to glare over her shoulder at this newcomer and hisses loudly. Eve is horrified to see Gabrielle staring at her with eyes that are as red as blood. Her open mouth reveals two enlarged upper canine teeth that gleam maliciously.
Eve holds up her hands reflexively. "Gabrielle," she says in a clam, soothing voice. "It's me, Eve. Xena's daughter." Bacchus chuckles. Eve turns her attention to Ares. "Why are you doing this? Is your love for Xena so obsessive that you will try to conquer anything of hers. It was never meant to be. Why can't you understand that? Xena was never yours. I was never yours. Gabrielle will never be yours. Stop this insanity. I know that you understand the evil here." Her eyes dart to the flame. "You know what it is capable of." Her face softens. Her tone is calm once more. "Please. Don't do this."
Ares stares at her. He looks to the fire, then back to Eve. Can it be true? He asks himself. Is it just my damned ego and Xena's constant refusal that is causing me to do this?
"Once before you sacrificed your godhood to save Gabrielle and I," Eve says. There is a pleading look in her eyes. "Was that just a mistake? Or are you truly so bitter and evil that you would ally yourself with that?" She point to Medea and the fire.
Ares' stern features twist with conflict. "You don't understand. You can't understand. I am Ares. I will not just slip away into oblivion."
Eve understand now. He is alone now. He escaped the Twilight. Aphrodite must be gone. And Bacchus isn't even kin in his mind. Alone he feels that he will drift into obscurity and be forgotten. In him she can see the conflict of warring emotions. Survival versus morality. Before she can speak to him more, Bacchus roars.
"She killed Amazons, Gabrielle!"
Saliva drips from one of her fangs.
"Don't listen to him," Eve pleads.
"She killed the followers of Eli!"
"Stop this," Eve says both demanding it of Bacchus and begging it of Ares.
Medea smiles. Something is about to give.
"She killed Joxer!"
Gabrielle turns with superhuman speed and slams Eve to the ground. She growls like an animal.
"No," Eve pleads.
"Yes!" Medea exalts.
Gabrielle drive her fangs into Eve's neck. She wails and wrights as she feels her lifeblood being drained by her friend. The fires of Dahak erupt and bath the cave in a crimson glow. Ares watches the two women on the cave floor and smiles with triumph and satisfaction. All doubt is gone. Bacchus rises from his throne clapping. Gabrielle unclamps her mouth from Eve's neck and throws back her head to unleash a howl that should come from a rabid, wild beast and not a human being. Medea goes rigid and extends her arms to Gabrielle. Her mouth opens and a voice issues forth, "Well done, mother." The fire is becoming an inferno behind her. "Now, Bride of Dahak. Come to me so that I may live again."
Gabrielle stands over Eve and looks towards the possessed sorceress. She hardly feels any sense of herself anymore. Just a dark, bloody rage that wants nothing more than to consummate the malevolent nature she has been nursing since the departure of Xena's soul.
Bacchus looks down at Eve's body and wonders what it was about her that so disturbed Ares and Medea. Ares watches as Gabrielle walks slowly to Medea's waiting arms.
There is a rush of air and a brief explosion in the area between Medea and Gabrielle. Brunnhilda tackles Gabrielle and the two of them slam into a group of Bacchae.
Eve opens her eyes and stares up at Bacchus. Her eyes are not blood red or pitch black. They are blue. Just as they should be. "What?" Bacchus blurts out. "Why aren't you a Bacchae?"
Eve stands and the god of wine blinks when he sees the aura that surrounds her. "This is impossible. What power do you possess that can balk mine?"
"A power you can never understand, Bacchus," she states. Not quite knowing but sensing it is right she reaches out and lays her hand on his chest. There is an explosion of light and Bacchus is hurled against a far wall.
Medea stares down at Gabrielle and this mysterious interloper. She turns her gaze then to Ares and Hope's voice screams, "Kill her!"
He rushes, sword drawn, towards the two blond women.
The valkyrie holds the writhing Gabrielle as tightly as she can. Her beloved friend hisses and snarls at her. Brunnhilda sees both the Bacchae and Ares closing in on her. But she can do nothing to stop them. It took every bit of her energy to become corporeal and stop Gabrielle from embracing the witch. She has no strength to fight. The Bacchae seize her and Gabrielle and drag them to their feet. Ares closes on her and draws back his sword to run her through with it. She turns her gaze to the almost inhuman visage of Gabrielle. I wanted to save you, but I couldn't, she thinks. As Ares sword begins to drive forward, she prays, "Odin protect us."
There is a detonation of light between Brunnhilda and Ares. "Enough!" a thunderous voice proclaims. At the same time, light engulfs all the Bacchae except Gabrielle and reduces them to bone and gore. Ares is thrown to the ground. And all eyes turn to the source of the disturbance. Standing in battle armor with sword in hand is Odin, All-Father of the Norse Gods.
Ares stares in disbelief. Medea and Eve are shocked. Brunnhilda embraces Gabrielle tightly to keep her from running to Medea. Bacchus roars in defiance, "You dare come here, Norse God!" Like an enraged animal he charges Odin.
Odin turns to face Bacchus just as the god of wine gets to within striking distance. The Aesir hammers Bacchus to his knees with a punch that reverberates through the cave and causes dust and rocks to rattle free of the walls.
Ares stares in disbelief to see this most loathsome of the Greek gods laid with a single punch. The god of war is note stupid and he realizes that with the arrival of the most powerful god in this part of the world, their cause is now hopeless. No matter how powerful Medea thinks she is, backed by the might of Hope and Dahak, they will not prevail. He scrambles to his feet and races for the cave entrance determined that this insanity he has foolishly allowed himself to be a part of will not claim him. He survived the Twilight, he will not meet his end here at the hands of the very being who returned his godhood to him. As he reaches the cave opening, he glances back to look at Gabrielle. The blonde warrior is enraged and trying to fight off the woman who appeared out of thin air moments before.
He runs out of the cave and concentrates his power to begin his travel to Olympus. But his efforts are disrupted by the sounds of hoof beats. He turns around and is hit then trampled over by a white horse that has descended from the sky.
Ares swears loudly then gets to his feet. A red haired woman in silver armor and a winged helmet dismounts and draws a sword from her saddle scabbard. "Going somewhere, War monger?" Grinhilda inquires as she rushes in to assault him. Ares barely gets his sword up in time to block her strike. She attacks like a berserker but all her blows are precise and in no way random. Ares fends off her attack with only instinct and survival in his mind.
He finds that as he defends himself, he is backing towards Bacchus' cave. "What the..." Ares exclaims as he battles the leader of Odin's Valkyries.
"Are you stark, raving mad, Ares!" Grinhilda shouts as she continues her unrelenting assault. "Or just stupid! Michael told you she is no longer your concern!"
First Eve. Then that blond. Then Odin. Now Grinhilda. How many gods and demigods are there that watch over Gabrielle? He now knows that Grinhilda may be right. He may indeed be mad or stupid. But it's better than oblivion, he thinks. I will not just go quietly into nothingness, like Aphrodite. Around him he can hear screaming and the sounds of combat. He is once more inside the cave. Fine, he thinks. Destiny seems to desire that I fight here for my existence. So I shall. He seizes upon his anger and uses it to fuel his strength.
Brunnhilda knows that she is losing. Her transformation into a Bacchae has granted Gabrielle supernatural strength. She can still hear the witch speaking in a voice that doesn't belong to her. "Come to me mother," a voice dripping with malevolence and passion. "I can ease all your pain."
And with one sweep of her arm, the Bacchae, Gabrielle, removes the obstacle that stands between her and Hope. Her mind a boiling cauldron of blood and rage, she slams Brunnhilda to the ground. She stands and stares at the unearthly visage of the black-clad Medea holding out her arms, writhing with serpents, with the hellish fire of Dahak behind her.
"I am your destiny, Gabrielle," the voice of Hope calls out to her. The empty and dark emotions within her say that the voice of her daughter speaks the truth. "I have always been your destiny. You were born to bring me into the world."
Gabrielle steps forward and Brunnhilda screams, "No!"
Bacchus rises from his knees with blood streaming from his eyes, nose and mouth. He doesn't care about the pain. All he wants is to destroy this upstart god who dares to interfere with his affairs. But while he may be an Olympian he has never been a fighter. He has never had to be, thanks to his Bacchae. And driven by his own blood rage he is truly even less of a threat to a god who has known war and combat since the day he first came into existence. Besides, Odin already knows the day of his death. This is not it. As the wine god slashes at him with huge talons, Odin backstops then slams the pommel of his sword into the side of Bacchus' face. The immortal bones of his face shatter under the impact and his left horn is broken off at the base. Bacchus crumples to the ground once more and the Aesir kicks him savagely.
Bacchus cannot help but be amused. Odin can do as much damage as he likes but he cannot kill the god of wine. Thanks to a bargain struck with Cronus long ago. Only a Bacchae can kill him. He laughs as he rises to his feet once more.
Eve turns her attention from Odin and Bacchus to the cave entrance to see Ares battling a woman clad in silver. The woman's face is etched with resolve while Ares looks almost mad. Then a piercing scream draws her attention back to the reason she came to the cave originally. The woman who had materialized before is lying on the cave floor, seemingly too exhausted to even rise, reaching out and screaming Gabrielle's name. The sensation of love and anguish coming from the stranger is unlike anything she has ever felt. For an instant, she realizes this must be what her mother had felt that day in the temple when she had said the words, "Eli save my daughter for I cannot." Eve races towards Gabrielle who is moments from taking Medea's outstretched arms and loosing an unparalleled evil upon the world.
As Gabrielle takes Medea's hand, the serpents coil around her arms and sink their fangs into her flesh. "In my name and in the name of my father, I claim my mother's flesh for my own now and forever." the voice of Hope intones.
In that same instant Eve reaches Gabrielle. She lays her hands on her friend's shoulders and prays, "In the name of Eli and all the powers of Heaven, I cast this evil back to the dark void from whence it came."
Gabrielle awakens into a darkness dripping with blood. "Where am I?" she howls in rage. She can still taste Livia's blood in her mouth. She casts her gaze about for her prey. She longs to wrap her hands around her neck and strangle the life from the bitch of Rome.
"She is the daughter of Xena and her name is Eve," a strangely familiar voice whispers in her ear. A flicking light illuminates the darkness. Gabrielle turns to the light and comes face to face with herself clad in robes of crimson and black.
"Hello, Mother," Hope says.
Bacchus surges to his feet once more this time throwing himself at Odin with all his might. His shoulder collides with the Aesir's mid-section and they go to the ground. Odin's sword slips from his grasp and he finds his opponent atop him. Bacchus seizes him about the throat and begins to squeeze.
Grinhilda increases her efforts to defeat Ares. She takes a two-handed grip on his war blade and begins to hammer at his defense. She thinks she may have the upper hand when Ares drops down to avoid a decapitating strike. He sweeps out with his legs and takes hers out from under her. She falls flat on his back. Before she can react in any way, Ares drives his sword into her. The stab shatters her left collar bone and essentially destroys her shoulder joint as it pins her to the cave floor. Ares smirks as he stands staring down at her. Then he stomps down onto her head rendering her unconscious.
Brunnhilda watches helplessly as these two women, one a messenger of light and the other a servant to darkness, wage war for the soul of Gabrielle. The warrior bard that she loves more than her own existence trembles as if in the throws of a seizure. She wants to help but is too weak. She can't even move. Then with horror she feels herself beginning to fade back into a non-corporeal state. "No," she mutters. "I'm sorry, Gabrielle. I failed you."
Gabrielle is confused. She looks about like a trapped animal. "It's all right, Gabrielle," Hope says. The fires of Dahak burn hot and bright behind her. Hope knows that soon she will be able to work her father's will on Earth. "This is how it was meant to be. As I said, this is what you were born to do. I was the reason you were conceived. Your life led up to the moment you killed the priestess in my father's temple. Since that day I have been a blight that has corrupted your soul further and further. You couldn't stop it. Xena couldn't stop it. Nothing could. You thought I was dead but I am always with you. Corrupting your soul more and more. And now that the corruption of your body mirrors that of your soul, come to me." She opens her arms to embrace Gabrielle. "Let us become one. Become the Destroyer of nations that Ares and my father desire."
Hearing Hope's words and knowing them to be true, Gabrielle steps forward to embrace her daughter.
Bacchus is reveling in his victory when he realizes that he cannot hold the Norse god. Odin reaches up and simply pulls Bacchus' hands from his throat. He seizes the thing before him by his own throat. He rises to his feet then slams Bacchus to the floor with the force of a small earthquake. Bacchus feels his body explode in pain. He did not think it possible to hurt this much.
Odin steps back. Bacchus doesn't care about the pain. He will kill Odin! He staggers to his feet and moves forward with his claws outstretched. Odin stomps on the ground, a move that puts his sword in reach. "Time to end this," he says. He swings the sword and Bacchus' head falls to the ground. Ares pulls his sword from the valkyrie. He prepares for the final blow but hears a sickening thud behind him. He turns to see Odin facing away from him and standing over the decapitated body of Bacchus. That's impossible, he thinks. Only a Bacchae can kill the god of wine. But is doesn't matter. What does matter is that Odin's back is to him.
Gabrielle is about to embrace her daughter when she feels a hand on her shoulder. She sees Hope look over her shoulder and scream in denial. The bloody darkness dissipates. Driven back by a light which emanates from behind her. She feels all the rage and hate dissipate. The Fire of Dahak erupts and seems to take on some kind of amorphous shape.
Gabrielle steps back and looks to see who is behind her. "Eli," she says in shock at seeing the Avatar with his hand on her shoulder.
"Hello, Gabrielle," the bearded man wearing robes that seem made of light greets her then embraces her.
"What's happened?" she asks. "I felt such hate and darkness. Oh, my god. Eve? Is she all right?"
Eli smiles. "My messenger is fine," he replies. "Bacchus is dead. His claim on your blood is forfeited. Your body is no longer tainted by his corruption."
"No!" Hope cries out. "She is mine. She renounced your way of love long ago."
Eli turns his attention to Hope. And while Gabrielle's daughter does not react to him, the Fires of Dahak seem to diminish. "Her path is different from mine. But it is still a path on the Way. She renounced my way of love to save the one she loved the most. She made a sacrifice that cost her dearly but that gives you no claim on her."
"I will not accept this!" Hope shouts. "I have suffered too much. You will be mine!" Hope rushes forward but is blocked when another materializes between them. Michael holds his sword before him and Hope stops just short of impaling her throat on the blade.
"It's over!" the archangel proclaims. The Fires of Dahak seem to flicker with rage at the angel's presence. Michael draws back his sword to strike.
"Michael! No!" Gabrielle exclaims.
The black winged angel turns in surprise to her. He meets her determined gaze then looks to Eli. The Avatar nods. Michael lowers his blade and steps away.
"I'm sorry, Hope," Gabrielle says.
"You're sorry?" Hope says dumbfounded. "Oh, please. I don't care. You think that this has anything to do with our relationship?" The Fires of Dahak grow once more and begin to take on some blasphemous form that defies explanation and reality.
"You've been saying I was born for the sole purpose of giving birth to you," Gabrielle replies. "So, yes. I think it is about us."
"You're pathetic, mother!" Hope spits out the last word like it was a curse. Then she lashes out with her power sending Gabrielle to the ground and pinning her there. Eli and Michael remain silent and still. Dahak's unworldly laughter fills the space in which they are. "I don't give a damn about 'us', do you hear!"
"I do. You say you've suffered. So have I. And what we have both suffered has been my fault. All the pain we've both endured is my fault alone."
"Spare me your preaching!"
"I betrayed Xena. Do you understand that? I betrayed my soul mate time and time again where it concerned you. In Brittania right after you were born, I ordered Banshees to attack Xena. In that moment I wanted Xena dead! Because I wanted you to live!"
"Shut up! You abandoned me! Left me floating on a river. If a wandering group of Amazons who had been aiding Bodecia hadn't found me I probably would've drifted into the ocean."
"Xena would've killed you. So I lied to her. Then when I found you again I was so happy."
"You're lying! You hardly even took notice of me until
I killed Xena's brat! And you poisoned me! Then you were too
cowardly to take your own life!"
"Because I knew I would face retribution from Xena. I didn't
want to die. I wanted to suffer for what I had done to you." The
invisible force holding Gabrielle down releases her.
"What?" Hope stammers.
"You're right," Gabrielle continues. "My soul was corrupted. Because of what I did to you. When you returned again, I decided I was going to stop you but that I was going to die with you."
"No!" Hope says. "I won't believe this!"
"Not a day goes by that I don't feel pain for it all." Gabrielle steps forward. She stands face to face with her mirror image daughter. " I've suffered the guilt, the pain and the betrayal in my heart and soul every day since that day in Brittania when I gave you up. I named you Hope. I did everything I could for you. Everything to make your name your reality. I failed." Tears are streaming down Gabrielle's face as she speaks. " I tried my best and I failed as a mother." She holds out her arms. "Please forgive me." She encircles her daughter in her embrace.
Eli smiles. The atmosphere around them erupts in an unearthly light that would be blinding to any physical eyes. Dahak roars in impotent rage. Gabrielle, now in her former angelic state, is kneeling down and holding her daughter. Hope is no longer the doppelganger of her mother but the blonde child she should have been.
"I'm sorry," Gabrielle says weeping loudly.
"Oh, Mother," Hope mutters as she sniffles. "I killed him. I killed Solon. All those horrible things I did."
"Shh..." Gabrielle says patting her daughter's head. "It's all right."
The Fires of Dahak surge forward to engulf them but Eli steps between them with his arms outstretched. And Dahak is balked by the Avatar that is anathema to all it is.
Gabrielle wipes the tears from her daughter's eyes and kisses her forehead. To her right, the atmosphere changes and it parts like an eye opening. Mother and daughter turn to look. Beyond it they see a small boy no older than Hope herself. Behind him are green fields bathed in a warm, soothing light. The boy looks to Gabrielle with a smile then turns his eyes to Hope. The young girl is shocked when the boy extends an inviting and welcoming hand to her.
Hope turns her eyes up to Gabrielle and asks, "Can I?"
Gabrielle smiles and says, "Yes. I'll see you again someday."
Hope smiles and Gabrielle knows a joy she didn't think possible. Hope walks forward but looks back over her shoulder one last time. "I love you, mommy," she says.
"I love you, too," Gabrielle replies, still crying with joy now. Hope takes the boy's hand and he leads her into the beautiful fields beyond. The opening disappears. "Thank you, Solon."
Gabrielle and Michael stand to either side of Eli and take his hands. The Fire of Dahak roars in defiance. Then as one they say, "In the name of all the power of Heaven! Return to the void from whence you came!" The Fires are gone with a pitiful cry of despair.
Still crying, Gabrielle looks at the armor of heaven she is clad in and the black wings sprouting from her back. The fact that receiving the forgiveness of her daughter has returned the light and glory of Heaven to her is a shock. "Now what do I do?" She asks Michael and Eli.
Michael waves a hand and a three dimensional image appears in mid-air. She see herself between Medea and Eve. And lying not far from them is...:"Brunnhilda," she gasps. But the valkyrie seems to be partially invisible. "What's happening to her?"
"She summoned every ounce of her being to become corporeal in order to help you," Michael answers.
"Her love for you is that strong," Eli says.
"But now she is fading away." Michael continues. "Not into non-corporeality but into nothingness."
"No," Gabrielle says. She thinks of the loss she has felt since Xena's departure. It is that sense of loss that aided in Medea's plan. She cannot give into it again but neither can she contemplate the idea of Brunnhilda ceasing to exist. She takes in the rest of the scene. Odin standing over Bacchus' decapitated corpse. At the cave entrance, Grinhilda lies bleeding. And Ares staring intently at Odin's vulnerable backside. "I can't let this happen."
"I didn't think so," Eli says smiling broadly. "Now listen carefully. Here is what you must do..."
Medea cries out in loathing as the Fire of Dahak is snuffed out and the slab of stone cracks in half. She, Eve and Brunnhilda all behold Gabrielle in her glory.
Gabrielle shoves Medea back towards the wall, sweeping her other arm as she turns around knocking Eve aside and dives toward Brunnhilda's fading form.
She grasps the valkyrie's hand and in an instant releases her glory into the woman. There is a loud impact to the air like thunder without sound. Gabrielle is once more in her red leather armor and Brunnhilda is once more flesh and blood. Gabrielle is weak as a kitten but knows there is one last thing she must do. She unhooks the chakram from her belt and remembering vividly all the times she had seen Xena use the weapon, throws it with all her might towards the far cave wall.
Ares is momentarily distracted by Medea. He stares in disbelief as Gabrielle is transformed and Dahak's fire goes out. He observes that Odin is distracted as well and has yet to notice him. He closes in to kill the Aesir.
Medea reels. Her magic is gone. Hope is dead. "No!" she screams. She sees Eve, a representative of Heaven lying before her. She draws her dagger. "Bitch!" She moves towards this woman who has ruined her destiny. "Die! Messenger of Eli!" She raises the dagger.
Gabrielle's chakram impacts the far wall and rebounding off of it splits into its two components. One half deflects off the walls two more times then hurls straight towards Odin. He leans back out of its path and it thuds into Ares' chest. The god of war stumbles barely keeping his balance. Odin puts the point of his sword to his foe's throat. Ares drops his sword.
The second half deflects off at every wall in the cave before burying itself between Medea's breasts. She drops her dagger and falls to her knees. She stares at the weapon imbedded in her with confusion. Then she pulls it out. Blood flows from her chest in torrents. She leans back her head and begins a pathetic wailing.
To the surprise of Eve, Gabrielle and Brunnhilda, who witnesses the witch's death, as she falls back two small forms appear to both sides of her. They are indistinct but Gabrielle is sure they are children. Both of them turn their misty eyes to the warrior-bard and say, "Thank you," before vanishing.
"What was that?" Brunnhilda asks.
"Jason and Medea's children," Eve answers. "She's held their souls in bondage all this time. Now that she's dead, they're free to move on to the Elysian Fields."
"Just like Hope," Gabrielle smiles.
"Who's Hope?" Brunnhilda asks.
Gabrielle chuckles. "I'll tell you later."
Eve picks up one half of the chakram. Brunnhilda helps Gabrielle to her feet. "You gave up your glory for her," Eve states. She wonders who this woman is that Gabrielle would make such a sacrifice.
"In the past I've sacrificed for the people I love," Gabrielle says turning her eye to Brunnhilda.
"This was no different" Brunnhilda smiles.
Grinhilda regains consciousness and curses herself for letting Ares get the better of her. She spots Ares under guard from Odin and makes her way over to him.
"Are you all right, Grinhilda," Odin asks with concern.
She holds a hand on her bloody shoulder. "I won't be wielding a sword for a while but I'll be fine." They are soon joined by Gabrielle, Eve and Brunnhilda. She smiles at her fellow valkyrie.
Gabrielle looks at Bacchus' body. "I thought only a Bacchae could kill him," she says in confusion.
"That would be the case if he was a god," Eve begins. She looks at the hand she had touched the Olympian with. "But when I touched him I took that from him somehow. He was nothing but a monster when Odin killed him."
Ares is suddenly filled with fear as he gazes at Eve.
A flash of light and Michael is among them. "It is a gift, Eve," he says. "I gave it to you when your mother died. It is different from hers because you are not meant to kill. Use this gift wisely. And I hope you never have to use it again." He turns his attention to Odin. "You were told not to interfere Aesir!" he exclaims pointing at Odin.
"I did not interfere in Gabrielle's affairs," Odin retorts. "I was merely helping one of my own." He gestures to Brunnhilda.
Michael looks at him incredulously then bursts out laughing, realizing he has been outwitted. He is still laughing when he vanishes from sight.
"Was it worth it, Ares?" Gabrielle suddenly screams.
Ares looks shocked but is distracted for a moment as Odin pulls the chakram half from his chest and hands it to Eve.
"Was all the pain and suffering you and Medea caused tonight worth trying to have me as your 'destroyer of nations'. Was it?" Gabrielle demands.
"Please," Ares begins saying. "You can't understand. It's all gone. I'm the last. I just wanted to continue as I always have." His eyes go to Eve.
"Murderer of Eli," Eve says biting back the spite in her voice. "Tell me why I shouldn't."
Ares keeps his composure as she speaks. "I'm the last. I refuse to give in to the inevitable. I survived the Twilight. I exist where all the others are now gone." His eyes to go Bacchus' rapidly decaying corpse. Then he fixes his stare on Gabrielle and Eve. "And besides, you owe me. If it weren't for me neither one of you would be alive."
"You're not fit to be a god," Brunnhilda informs him.
"But he's right," Eve says. She eyes her one time mentor. "Debt repaid. But if you ever do something like this again, I will find you."
Odin lowers his sword. "Leave Olympian before I decide to kill you regardless."
"Ares," Gabrielle says. "I don't ever want to see you again in this lifetime."
Ares disappears without another word.
Odin sheathes his sword and puts his arm around the wounded Grinhilda.
"Michael told you to stay away from me?" Gabrielle asks.
"Yes," Grinhilda replies. "But we learned what Ares and Medea were planning."
"So you told me..." Brunnhilda begins.
"With the hope that you would call for me," Odin says smiling. "then I would be able to circumvent my promise and help Gabrielle."
"Thank you," Gabrielle says.
"You and Xena were there to help me," Odin says. "How could I not do otherwise."
Gabrielle frowns. It hurts still to think of Xena. "What would she say if she saw me now?" she ask them all.
"I think she'd be proud of you," Brunnhilda answers.
"Indeed," Odin agrees.
"You defeated Ares," Grinhilda says. "And thwarted Medea's plan."
"And you redeemed Hope," Eve adds.
Gabrielle feels as though she may cry again.
"No need for tears," Eve says. "I don't think Xena or Hope would want you to cry for them."
Gabrielle forces a smile. "You're right I suppose."
Grinhilda winces at the pain in her shoulder. "I think we can go now," she informs Odin.
Odin nods. "Brunnhilda, you are welcome to rejoin the ranks of the valkyrie."
Brunnhilda looks from Gabrielle to Odin. "If it pleases you, my lord, I'd prefer to stay here with Gabrielle." She turns to Gabrielle. "If that's okay with you."
Gabrielle smiles. "Of course."
Odin chuckles. "I must have your word that you'll watch over her. She is headstrong with much to learn. But I think that you'll make a fine teacher."
"You have my word," Gabrielle smiles as she replies. The former valkyrie beams. Gabrielle recognizes the expression. She wore that same expression some thirty years ago when Xena agreed to let her travel with the warrior princess.
"Daughter of Xena," Odin addresses Eve. "You do your mother proud."
"Thank you," Eve replies.
Odin and Grinhilda vanish from sight.
Brunnhilda observes the carnage about them. "It's over?"
Eve hands the chakram to Gabrielle.
"With Bacchus dead, his hold on my blood is ended," she says. How ironic it is to her that an event in her life she had forgotten nearly spelled disaster for them all. "But then I wouldn't have been able to give Hope peace," she say aloud.
"Who is Hope?" Brunnhilda asks again.
"My daughter," she replies, happy for the first time in a long time to speak of Hope.
"It's a long story," Eve says at Brunnhilda's aghast look.
"But now with a happy ending," Gabrielle says.
Eve moves towards the cave entrance. Brunnhilda support Gabrielle as they exit behind her. "As cliché as it sounds," Eve starts, "where do we go from here?"
"Well, I had talked about going to Chin," Gabrielle replies.
"Sounds good to me," Brunnhilda says. "After being insubstantial in that grove for a few years I could use a change of scenery."
Eve and Gabrielle laugh. Gabrielle looks down at herself. She see her armor covered in dirt and blood. She grimaces and says, "I think before we can go anywhere I need a wardrobe change."
They walk out of the cave. And for the first time in what seems an eternity Gabrielle walks forward with a sense of hope.
The End