GABRIELLE’S FATE
Disclaimers: The characters in this story are the property of MCA Universal and
Renaissance Pictures. It was written for fun. No copyright infringement is intended.
Subtext Warning: This story is about two women in love. There is nothing graphic.
Spoiler Warning: This plot assumes events in evidence from the third season of XWP and has
some spoilers for fourth season.
Authors note: Gabrielle’s Fate is set immediately following the events of Sacrifice
II. It is our attempt to solve the mystery of what happened to Gabrielle between the lava
pit and her return to Potadeia. Hopefully this missing fragment will clear up a few
nagging inconsistencies and provide a fresh connection to our chosen XWP reality as many
of us face another dreaded cliffhanger...
******************************************************************
She just acted. No plan, just heart. She couldn’t let Xena die, not like this, not
over Hope, for something that was her fault, her responsibility. Ares' warning hammered at
her, overriding her questions about right and wrong and letting her instinct to protect
Xena, at all costs, win out. The lava pit would do. She grabbed Hope and turned to look at
Xena, one last look, and then falling, it hit her. Falling away from Xena, she called out
her name as she felt everything that mattered ripped away. The lost consumed her last
moments and then she knew nothing.
************************************************
Xena’s head was swimming. She must have hit the ground because she could feel the hot
stone against her cheek. From a long way off, She heard an anguished wailing. She saw it
happen again in her mind and opened her eyes to stop the image of Gabrielle falling,
calling for her and her reaching out a heartbeat too late. She had been frozen for that
instant between the heat of her battle against Hope and the shock of this unexpected
sacrifice. Helpless. The sight of Callisto filled her vision and she realized it was she
herself who was screaming. Callisto lay there dead by her hand. Hot tears clouded her
vision. She got up and ran.
Hours later she stopped and looked around, shock gave way to bewilderment. She couldn't be
gone. How could this happen? How could she have let it happen? Faced with only empty
echoes to her questions, she knelt in the dirt and wept.
Argo had followed slowly behind. Eventually she came up to Xena and nudged her. Xena took
a deep breath and wiped her mud streaked face with the back of her forearm. Grabbing onto
Argo, she wearily pulled herself up and hugged the mare's neck. "Oh gods, Argo, why
couldn't it have been me?" Argo knickered and Xena mounted, letting Argo go where she
would.
Her thoughts began to stir again as she started to recognize the guiding hand in the
thread of events. Gabrielle had chosen to sacrifice herself to save her and to ensure her
daughter's demise. Ares had caused this. She seethed with rage, needing to wrap her
fingers around his neck and squeeze, imagining the damage she could do to him with the
Hind's Blood dagger. Yet, knowing he would stay away from her while she had it. Dazed she
rocked in the saddle, her emotions shifting wildly between fierce grief and impotent rage.
**************************************************
Gabrielle's first awareness was the restriction of her arms. She opened her eyes and saw
all around her silky threads binding her tightly. She felt almost numb, floating in
twilight. But her mind refused to close down and accept oblivion. The pain was a real
reminder. She'd lost Xena... nothing else mattered...and yet she couldn't stop thinking
about her. She closed her eyes tightly and let the wave of tears course through her.
After some dry, painfully gulped breaths, she shook her head and opened her eyes again,
twisting to see what was with her in the emptiness. Threads running from every direction
into the distance. They stretched endlessly to points she couldn't make out in the
dimness. As she moved the threads swayed and she could see patterns in them, structures
really. They were bound together, radiating out like snowflakes. She shivered reflexively
realizing that she was cold. The sensation aroused a hint of her curiosity and dragged her
mind out of despair long enough for her to wish she could see the patterns better.
*********************************************************
Xena realized Argo had stopped, probably a while ago, and that it was dark. In the spare
starlight, she could see a grassy meadow and smelled water, though heard no running
stream. Probably a spring. Numbly, she unsaddled Argo, removing her bridle and patted her
sleek neck, "Go eat, girl, thanks." Argo knickered in acknowledgment and bent
her head to the tender shoots.
Not even thinking about food, Xena sat with her back to a tree on the edge of the meadow
and listened to Argo's munching. Out of habit, she unsheathed her sword and, retrieving
the whetstone from the saddlebag, she began to sharpen her weapons. The soothing routine
blocked out the rawest layer of pain, her mind automatically planning. Staving off
futility by spinning ideas that she accepted as a distraction to the certain darkness to
come.
First things first, she told herself. Ok, Hope was dead. Callisto was dead. Ares
was afraid to come near her and was probably in trouble with the Olympians. No concern of
hers, as long as that traitorous bastard stayed away from her. True to his manipulative
style, he'd helped Dahok in his own lust for power. But for pressuring Gabrielle into the
choice, playing on her good and self-sacrificing nature--she'd never forgive that.
She shook her head and resumed sharpening. Gabrielle shouldn't have died. And since a
god had interfered there was a chance she could plead her cause to Hades and regain
Gabrielle's life. A spark ignited in Xena, clearing her head and bringing a welcome
focus. Yes...Ares interfered, Gabrielle saved the Olympians, Hades owed her. She
would offer her own life in exchange if that was what it took.
With her course now decided, she began to feel her surroundings. Crickets were chirping
ceaselessly in the cooling night air. She shivered reflexively and laid her weapons at her
side drawing a blanket across her from the nearby pack.
Argo ate and kept watch.
The horizon was pink when she awoke after falling into a fitful, exhausted sleep a few
candlemarks earlier. She sat up and glanced over to check on Gabrielle, and then
remembered with a crushing weight that she wouldn't find her. She whistled to Argo who
trotted over eager for attention now that Xena had beckoned her. Silently, Xena rubbed
down the companion she'd neglected the day before. Finishing, she fondly patted her,
"There you go, girl."
Taking the waterskins, she walked toward the boggy part of the meadow and then followed
the water back up to a spring coming out of the rocky hillside. She drank deeply and
refilled the skins, then washed, wishing there was enough water to bathe. Sighing, she
returned to pack her gear and saddled Argo, Then started on toward the lake that was a
portal to Hades's realm.
****************************************
Gabrielle had decided that the worst part of being tied down in....wherever she was...was
that it left too much time to think. After falling into the lava pit she had expected to
be toast. She expected to be dead. Of course, dead didn't always mean dead in her
experience, and she'd had more than most people on that subject. She snorted in wry humor.
A few years with the Warrior Princess and a few returns from the dead later...
But.. this nothingness... What did it mean? How long had she been lying here? Hours
since she'd awakened, who knows how long she'd been unconscious or dead or whatever she
was. What if Hope isn't dead? What if she's here too? Startled she lifted up
her head again, straining to see to the far edges of her sight. After taking in the
silent, unchanging stillness, she laid her head back down convinced she was alone.
So many regrets, she thought. I killed my own daughter, twice. I loved her...but
how can I even say that? I thought she was a gift, my way to save some innocence from a
bad situation. I'm a fool. A murdering fool. I thought it was possible to make a
difference, to confront wrongs without killing. That violence and hatred could be turned
aside by love and forgiveness. Yet I've killed, and I’ve lost Xena, even before
falling into the pit. I lost her trust.
With the bittersweet pain of a lost love, she remembered Xena’s caresses. Once again
she could see in her mind’s eye the look of trust, adoration and desire on the face
of the woman who had been her lover until Solon’s death. Unbidden, the ache of
longing for what was lost tore at her already broken heart. Tears slid down her face as
she remembered the sweetness of lying in Xena’s arms, exhausted from their passion.
Oh gods, I’m sorry, I'm so sorry I hurt you. And I know you're alone with that
hurt now. How can you forgive me? You are more than I deserve, Xena, no matter what you
say. With nothing but the cold threads holding her, Gabrielle broke down again. I'm
sorry I didn't trust you, Xena. I wish you could hear me now. I wish so many things. I
never stopped loving you, Xena. I hope you at least know that. You are the only thing I
believe in. She was brought out of her dark downward spiral by a sudden swaying of the
threads.
**************************************************
After two days of hard riding and little sleep, a determined warrior and a tiring mare
approached the lake. The sky was darkening and she feared not being able to find the
portal. She jumped down onto the sand and stripped her gear and tack off Argo so she could
fend for herself while Xena was gone, stowing her saddle behind some rocks. She walked
toward the shore, not willing to let the growing darkness stop her from trying.
Hades appeared, blocking her path. "Don't waste the effort, Xena"
"Hades! I was just coming to see you."
"I know, and I know why you're here, but it won't do you any good and frankly Charon
threatened to quit if the undead kept bumming free rides."
"Release her Hades, I should have died in her place.. You can't let her pay for
Ares’ betrayal."
"Silence mortal. There are things you don't understand." He held up a hand as
Xena reached back to touch her sword with her fingertips. "I don't have
Gabrielle."
"You have to have her. I saw her die...what have you done with her? I swear Hades,
I'll take back your helmet and kill you myself if you don't give her to me."
"Don't threaten me warrior. I'm not Ares. I'm not manipulating you. She is not here.
Perhaps you should try your impertinence on one of the gods that was involved." And
then he vanished.
Xena sank to the ground. "Not here, where is she? Lost, oh gods, I've lost her."
The grief welled up and claimed her, as the unseen Hades looked on sadly. "Go find
her warrior." he said softly and returned below.
*************************************************
Gabrielle might have enjoyed being gently rocked in this eerie cradle of threads, had she
not been so afraid. Something was coming and her surroundings looked an awful lot like a
spider web. Maybe this was Tartarus after all and she was doomed to an eternity of
considering her regrets and being devoured by spiders. She twisted around until she could
see a huge shape emerging from the edges of her vision, a shape that indeed resolved into
a spider and her terror escalated. Ok, I talked a cyclops out of having me for lunch.
Maybe I can talk my way out of this, too.
***********************************************
Xena had heard Hades whisper in the cold lake breeze at her back and her resolve pushed
past the anguish. Hades said find her. I will. I just have to figure out where to look.
She had been dismissing the clenching in her gut, but now recognized it was hunger. She
quickly set up a make-shift camp and went hunting for game. She hoped that she could
figure out what to do while she tended to the mechanics of staying alive.
Xena sat on a log by the fire thinking. She stared at the flames and sifted through what
she knew. Hades didn't have her and had pointed her to the other gods involved. That
meant Callisto, who was dead, and therefore no help, Ares, who wouldn't come near her, and
Dahok, whose daughter she'd just helped to kill. Cozy group. As much as she disliked the
idea, she'd have to start with Ares. Pretend to be willing to trade him the dagger for
Gabrielle, so he could save himself from the wrath of the other gods.
But how to keep him from really getting it...she considered the options and walked
to the lake where she drew out the dagger and scrubbed off the Hind’s Blood, as well
as Callisto’s she realized. She dried it and dragged its sharp edge shallowly across
her arm, coating the dagger in the blood that rose from the cut. She then laid it aside,
bandaged the cut and rescued her blackening dinner from the flames.
At first light, she'd begin her journey back to the Hall of War to look for Ares. It was
only a day's ride from here as her quest had taken her on a roughly circular path. She
wrapped the remaining meat away, threw the bones in the fire and laid down to rest til
dawn.
Sleep did not come easily, nor was it dreamless. She dreamt of the warmth of lying in
Gabrielle's arms, before Chin, before Solon's death, before they stopped trusting each
other. Her soul melted into that bliss like a lover's caress. Asleep she could relive the
love now out of reach. She could feel Gabrielle’s breath on her neck and hear the
soft sounds she murmured while they made love. Her body arched into the touch of her dream
lover as her heart rejoiced to be in love’s embrace.
Cruelly, the dream shifted and she relived flashes of betrayal; Gabrielle in Ming Tien's
bed, Gabrielle telling her Hope had returned and was with Solon. Again she revisited her
mistakes: abandoning Gabrielle in her lust to kill Caesar, leaving her on the road when
Lao Ma summoned, letting her think she wasn't coming back because she didn't want to face
Gabrielle's disappointment that she was going as an assassin, sending her away at the
funeral. She knew Gabrielle had almost killed herself, and why. Xena whimpered in
her sleep. I’m sorry I wasn’t strong enough to help you Gabrielle.
Instead of passion she burned with self disgust.
The dream shifted again. She was watching figures in a tapestry. She and Gabrielle. Scenes
from Britannia: huddled in the ruins, a baby floating down a river in a basket, both of
them, awkward with each other, walking out of Ming Tien's ruined palace. She began to see
individual threads in the woven patterns. Tracing one she could see how it fit together in
the whole.
Ming Tien's ran back to a fork where it turned dark. She stood at the junction. One fork
was silver and ran back to a point where she saw Lao Ma, the other fork was darker and ran
back to Ming Sui. From where she stood it ran the deepest black to its end. The dark
thread ended with a picture of a raven.
She looked to the Centaur Village and saw Solon's bright thread and its end. There, she
picked out Gabrielle's thread and followed it forward to the Hall of War. It was golden
and had darkened after Solon, not murky but burnished, deeper in hue though less bright.
Understanding now that she was looking at the Fates’ work, she expected to see this
thread clipped. Startled, she awoke. It was deep night and she recognized the dream as a
vision. The thread had turned pure white and disappeared into the fabric, but it had not
been clipped. The Fates had hidden Gabrielle, but where?
*************************************************
Gabrielle tried to calm herself. As the spider came into sight, she saw a human head
mounted on the front of its body. "Lachesis?"
"Yes, mortal, you are in our web."
"How..why..what are you going to do with me?"
The spider reached out a leg and snipped the threads that held Gabrielle down. "Ahh,
mortal, there are three of us, but we will only answer one question at a time. Come, there
is much to discuss."
Gabrielle rose stiffly and tried to follow the retreating spider. She fell forward into
the web and awkwardly got back up. She widened her stance and tried to match the swaying
of the web. It was a little like walking on a ship. Ugh, that made her seasick, but she
progressed forward and followed her Fate.
She could see the edges of the web finely as Lachesis disappeared into a cleft in the rock
wall. When she reached the edge it opened into a chamber. A huge tapestry filled most of
the room. It was mounted on a roller that gathered up the finished end while the work
continued. The threads seemed to move themselves, and Lachesis stopped to inspect the
progress. She pursed her lips and reaching out, moved a single thread slightly. She stared
a moment longer then nodded her head and ambled on. Gabrielle had no time to look at the
scene if she wanted to keep up with eight legs. The next chamber was the one she had
visited with Ares. The spider was gone and the three Fates were in their places spinning.
For once, she waited silently, in confusion and exhaustion, knowing time meant little to
the Fates.
Three voices spoke together in an orchestrated chant, "Hm, she.. is quiet..for
once."
Gabrielle blinked and waited.
"You may..eat and drink...refresh yourself mortal." inclining their heads
towards a table with a light meal laid out on it.
"Is this one of those things like I shouldn't eat in the underworld or I'm stuck
there forever?" she asked looking hungrily at the plate of bread, cheese, olives and
fruit.
"There are no... tricks here, mortal... only choices." All three spoke finishing
each other’s sentences.
"Ok...thank you." And Gabrielle sat at the table eating, watching the Fates spin
and the view behind them in the portal. People she didn't know in scenes flashed rapidly.
She recognized Joxer standing at a funeral pyre. Frightened, she looked to the Fates and
asked, "Who's?"
"Callisto..by Xena's.....hand."
Relieved and sad she said, "I think that's what she wanted."
"And what.. do you.... want mortal?"
"I wanted to save Xena," she said simply.
"And is ..she .. saved?"
Xena filled the view behind the Fates. Gabrielle gasped and watched Xena returning to the
Hall of War screaming out Ares’ name, before the scene changed to others she didn't
know. Frantic Gabrielle asked, "What is she doing? Why is she calling Ares?" Was
Xena looking for vengeance? Certainly Ares had betrayed her, and Gabrielle knew with a
heavy heart that Xena would blame Ares for Gabrielle's death. "I have to stop
her!"
"Do you have ... so little faith..even now, mortal? She seeks...only.. you."
Relief and shame washed over her as she whispered under her breath, "Oh Xena, I don't
deserve you. I'm sorry I doubted you."
"'What do..you want.. mortal?" they chanted again.
"I want Xena. I want to feel worthy of love again, instead of all this regret."
Gabrielle sighed.
"We..will...see. You acted well...when you made ...your sacrifice. It was our
condition....in the pact we made.. with the god of war. If you offered...yourself in her
place... you would be saved."
Stunned, seeing help unimagined, Gabrielle whispered, "Thank you."
"It is yet to be seen..if you will...welcome our help."
"What do you mean? I'm alive when I should have been dead. I am alive, aren't I? I
mean you didn't, you know, snip my thread, did you?"
"Your thread remains..and yet.. it is hidden."
"So, I'm alive, but Xena can't find me? Is that it?? So what do I do now?"
"Yes, we wait..to see what.. you will do now. Approach..the ...threads. All of these
threads...are lives.. you might have lived. You must..choose a.....new life."
"What? Which should I choose? Where will I be taken?"
"Only the one..you chose will.. be revealed."
"What about Xena? Will she be there? Will I remember her?"
"She...looks...for you. You will.. still have a .... shared past. It is ... the
future... that will change. You will.. remember...for one moon. After that....you will
live..the life you choose."
"Will she find me? What if she finds me? What if she doesn’t?"
"If she finds you... before the new moon....you will reclaim your thread."
"And if not I'm stuck in my new life, and I have to choose one of these without
knowing." She stared at the threads bewildered. Raising her eyes to look again at the
Fates she calmed and said, "Thank you, at least it's a chance where I had none."
And she reached out and choose a thread.
She felt some vertigo, then her vision filled with swirling images of her new future: she
saw Xena, full of forgiveness and relief dropping her sword and embracing her; Hope
sitting in the bedroom of her childhood; herself, sword in hand, leading a charge in
battle; Xena in chains, being led onto a prison ship; throwing herself across an
unconscious Xena. The images spun faster: Pearls; sensually painting Xena’s body;
throwing her staff into a river and watching it float away. She asked herself, “Why
would I do that?” And then she forgot it all.
************************************************
Xena knew she wouldn't sleep anymore after the vision. She packed up and ate the remains
of dinner in the dark before morning. Believing that Gabrielle was alive, she allowed
herself to think back on their life together and what Gabrielle meant to her. With the
crushing grief eased, the feelings of love and closeness flooded back into her aching
heart.
She smiled at the memories, longing to gather Gabrielle in her arms and make everything
right between them again. Xena might have resumed their physical relationship after
Illusia, but she knew she would have been holding back, and Gabrielle didn't deserve that.
Part of holding back was her own need to repress her feelings. She had always dealt with
pain through action and by refusing to feel what she couldn't bear.
To love Gabrielle, she'd have to bear the pain, face all of her guilt and regrets. She
knew what to do, she'd just have to do it. She had no more doubts. It was simple really.
She couldn't live with not trusting Gabrielle completely, so she would trust her. No
matter what. "I need you Gabrielle," she said to the vision, "and I'll do
whatever it takes to earn your trust again."
Arriving at the deserted Hall of War, she saw blackened earth, probably from a funeral
pyre. She figured Joxer had seen to Callisto and was making sure Seraphin got home. She
knew he must feel the grief, too, but he hadn't gone half-mad. Must be easier to bear
when you aren't filled with regrets.
She slid off Argo and stormed into the Hall screaming Ares’ name, demanding his
presence. Her skin itched. There he was, hiding in the shadows. "Show yourself you
pathetic traitor."
Ares took only a step forward to the pale edge of light. "Couldn't stay away I
see."
"Don't flatter yourself Ares, I'm here because of Gabrielle."
"I figured your true colors would win out, Xena. Here to get your vengeance with your
little dagger. Well, come on. Your lust for the kill is like foreplay to me, Xena. I can
feel you coming back to me. You can love me or you can hate me, but with your heart full
of hatred, you're mine," he sneered.
"Never Ares. I leave you to the sport of the Olympians. I relish thinking what they
will do to you."
"What makes you think the gods bear me any ill will? Well, anymore than usual?"
"Because you've gone too far, and failed. You've betrayed them by helping Dahok. I
figure they're gonna plan something special for you."
"Oh Xena, Xena, Xena. Maybe things aren't really as they seem. It's not like I need
to discuss all my plans with you, though I'd like to..... I'm in the position to make you
a particularly sweet offer."
Xena continued to stare at Ares with contempt but said nothing. Things are not what they
seem? He's not afraid of retribution from the other gods. "What could you possibly
offer me Ares? Everything you touch is twisted."
Ares laughed, "Well yes, twisted, I like that. I'm like you, Xena. I like to twist
things to my own design and through a twist of fate,” he laughed, “ I have
something you want, and you, you have always had something I want." His eyes filled
with lust as he looked her over. "Such a waste, to give all your talent to that
little peasant."
She knew the only reason she wasn't having to endure a physical caress from him as well
was because he feared the dagger. "Come closer, Ares. I'll give you a taste of...
Hind's Blood."
"Tsk, tsk, Xena. I know you've been to see my uncle, so you know she isn't in
Hades’ Domain."
"Where is she Ares?" menace in her voice.
"Why would I tell you, Xena? You come here and threaten me, call me traitor.. You who
just managed to kill another god recently... even if I agreed with that one... still it's
bad form. The Olympians frown on that sort of thing."
"You'll tell me because you need the dagger."
"Are you offering me the dagger, Xena?"
She didn't answer him right away, "Why aren't you afraid of retribution from Zeus,
Ares?"
"Maybe I was doing my Father's bidding? Maybe I was a spy in a rival's camp? One
warlord to another. You've done the same, Xena."
"Pawns," she seethed, "we're pawns in your power struggle. You used us to
save yourselves, even if it destroyed us."
"Now Xena, that's not really fair. I played by the rules. Everybody had a chance, a
choice to make. I just helped them choose."
"You bastard. What choice did Gabrielle have? You goaded her into sacrificing
herself."
"And that was her chance." he gloated, "Surely you can appreciate the
beauty of that, Xena. A mind like yours?"
"Where is she?" She wanted to scream but was deadly quiet.
"I made a deal with the Fates. You remember, your little friend owed me, over a small
matter of a jealous action on her part. All I did was call in that marker. It meant I
could ask the Fates to twist her thread when I needed it."
"Tell me, Ares." stepping closer to him.
He smiled coldly, knowing he was in no danger from her now. "I could have let you
kill Hope, Xena. Like you wanted. I needed her dead, and I would have let you, as a last
resort. But I didn't want to see all my years of work creating you go to waste. The Fates
demanded a sacrifice to snip a thread as powerful as Hope's. It would have meant your end.
Be glad I'm so persuasive, Xena. I told them your loyal little friend would die in your
place given the chance. They agreed if that happened not to snip her thread."
"Why Ares, why would you protect her?"
Ares straightened and looked Xena in the eye. "You hate me, Xena, because of what you
became for all those years. It's more yourself you hate, your potential. If I killed
Gabrielle, you'd actually hate me. No, this way you still have your uses." He
reverted to taunting, "And this way, you need me. Oh I like that."
"So if you're a big hero now on Olympus, why do you need the dagger?”
"Let's just say it's safer in my keeping than in the hands of mortals. Daddy doesn't
like it."
"And Daddy would like you having it, Ares? I can just see it now, Ares, King
of the Gods. Then who would keep your petty little schemes in check?"
"You forget, Xena. The Hinds are mine. I've always been the guardian of the Hind's
Blood. Besides, what would be the fun in killing them all? Then who would I have to bend
to my will?"
"You’ll tell me how to find Gabrielle in exchange for the dagger, I have your
word?"
“I’ll do better than that,” the god said with sudden mirth, “I’ll
send you to her!”
Xena laid the dagger on the floor and backed up a step. She nodded her agreement to her
nemesis and he hit her with a fireball that would send her into the same altered life as
Gabrielle.
Xena felt like she was falling. She was surrounded by a vortex of images as she spun
dizzily threw the air. She saw a dead horse and felt herself dance around a funeral
pyre. She saw images-- of Cyane’s amazons, the witch Alti, Lachesis with
Gabrielle’s face. Another flash: Gabrielle being crucified; following Gabrielle in
the woods; holding a sobbing Gabrielle on a battlefield over the body of a friend. She
looked down to see rats and then, her hand holding a tooth. The scenes blurred again:
Gabrielle wearing upholstery undulating like a snake; tracing painted lines on
Gabrielle’s body. Again she saw Gabrielle, but with golden hair shorn. Then herself
helpless-- with no arms, then with four. A voice “No, that would hurt her and
that’s your job.”
Confused, she came to herself riding Argo hard through rain swept hills, headed towards a
war-torn village where she knew she would find Hades judging the dead. She could feel she
was forgetting something important and shook her head, and it hit her again, Gabrielle was
dead. She had thrown herself and Hope into the lava yesterday. Anguished, she howled her
rage and rode on determined to recover her love.