Enter the Goddess...
By Nancy Lorenz.

Disclaimers on Page One.
 
 

PART TWO

IV

The morning broke gently as a soft breeze filtered through the gauzy curtains of the small room's window.  Had she been alone it would have been the first thing she saw.  She wasn't alone.  The sharp little cries of the being at her breast had punctuated her time to sleep, and for the effort of feeding her she felt worse than she had in years.  She would never complain to Gabrielle about her tendency to kick in her sleep again.  Not that she had that option.  Joxer was Gabrielle's pelt partner now, and Xena really didn't want to intrude on that.  She shuddered at the thought.

"Come on now little one," Xena said flatly, wanting to sound motherly but being far too weary to try it, "Drink up."

An's dark blue orbs moved up to meet her mother's, looking deep into her.  Xena found it in all her weariness to smile.

"Hey," she whispered, "Are you looking at your Mommy?"

An gooed in the suckle.

"Yes!" Xena grinned, "You can talk! You're a clever bubby aren't you hmm?"  Xena blinked, realising what she was doing, and she gave a thin smile at the baby, "You're makin' Mommy talk like a lunatic, do you know that?"

The corners of the baby's mouth creased up in a smile, and Xena's heart soared.  Such a pretty face, she thought, my little precious one...

"What are you thinking, An?  I want to hear you so badly, like your Daddy hears you," Xena felt a pang in her chest.  Did An miss him?  The Gods knew she herself missed him.  Glancing back to the baby's face, she tried to let down the barriers she held, the defences...

An, I love you, so much!  A mother should say that to her baby.  I want to say it to you...

An's eyes looked back, examining her, and the sheer look of age behind the little one's eyes sent a shudder through her body.  An knew what she was thinking, she knew.  What Xena would have given just to listen to her thoughts in return.  Perhaps help her understand things that bewildered the young mind.  For that moment, Xena felt lonely, so very lonely.

"Ares," she whispered, a frown creasing her brow, "Gods I hate this," she cursed to herself, "Ares, if you can hear me... I can't do this alone.  I need you - to help me.  I've been up all night," her whisper cracked, a tear cascading down her cheek, "I just - I want a minutes rest..."

She glanced around the room, the air staying dead, and very very empty.  Xena gazed down at An, sighing softly.

"The one time I wanted him here."

An giggled and kicked a leg, a slicing shift in the air, and Xena felt a relief sweep through her despite herself.  As Ares stepped into the room, Xena leant her head back, her arms falling slack.

"As soon as this leech is finished, take her off me!" Xena cried with a weary smile.  Ares rose a brow, pulling up a chair next to the bed.

"Had to finish off a little family dispute in Sparta.  No deaths - Hades will be thankful,"  Ares said, taking Xena's hand and kissing it briefly. "I'm sorry I wasn't here the moment you said my name."

Xena let out a soft laugh, "I - I didn't think you'd turn up."

Ares gazed at her a long moment, a seriousness in his gaze, "I will be here, always."

A coo from the child broke their gaze, a hand reaching up for Ares' face.  Ares looked down, smiling at the child.

"Come on, I think it's time for you to come to your Daddy..."

Xena let out a sigh of relief as Ares scooped the child from her arms, pulling up the blanket around her and snuggling into the pillow.

"Are you ready to be moved today?" asked Ares.  Xena nodded sleepily.

"Gabrielle tell you did she?"

"I overheard," he said, jiggling the child up and down.  "An says you've been trying to talk to her today."

Xena's eyes moved to the baby slowly, and she snorted in disgust.  "I can't do it, she just looks at me and I don't know what in Tartarus she's thinking."

The corners of the War God's mouth curled a little as he looked to the baby in his arms, "Well, it's just a matter of practice.  I can help you..."

A groan lifted from the warrior princess, "I want to be able to do it on my own."

"Xena," he said, "So independent.  Very well.  I'm here, remember."

Xena gazed at him a moment, "I don't think I could forget if I tried."

Ares looked back down to the child, watching the baby play with his fingers, gargantuan in comparison to An's.  "She's a quiet child."

Xena nodded, "Except at night, when she wants to be fed.  I wish she'd realise it's self serve..."

"You just have to tell her," Ares said, "Communicate with her, not just with words, with your feelings."

Xena let loose another snort, "You make it sound so easy."

"It is," he said, "That's what you have to learn."

He felt how sleepy she was, it was probably half the reason she was so unreceptive to his advice.  Tucking the blanket around her, he kissed Xena softly on the brow.   She released a quiet moan despite herself, her brow tingling at the heavenly but brief caress.  Ares smiled, hugging the baby to him a little more.

"I'm travelling with Apollo and Hercules today..."

Xena rose a brow whilst her eyes were closed in a cat nap. "You?  Travel?  What's wrong with zapping wherever you're off to?"

"I have to protect them," he replied, and upon opening her eyes Xena realised the uneasy tone in his voice was reflected with a slight look of disgust.  He felt her eyes open, and met them with a quick purse of his lips.  "For the good of Olympus..."

"Sure," Xena nodded, smiling and closing her eyes again, "For the good of Olympus, your powers and your place as the God of War."

Ares grinned, "You've always understood me Xena!"

Shifting her head on the pillow, her delving blue eyes shone at him, "Maybe not always, but I do now."

Ares nodded, "I better get going, the men are on the road, and approaching trouble."

Xena nodded, "Okay, you better give me An."

Ares chuckled at the comment, "Well I doubt she's ready for battle just yet."

Rolling her eyes, Xena took the baby in her arms, and snuggled back down into the bed.  As she settled the baby, she glanced to Ares once more.  "You know, I've never really seen you so concerned about anything like this before..."

"You have..." he said.  Xena knew what he meant, remembering the dank castle on a ruddy little island off the mainland, the both of them cooped up in a ridiculous room and her hands on Ares' bronzed skin... her hands... Callisto's hands, with her essence inside of them.

Xena nodded, caressing the soft scalp of her child, "I guess, he he," she gave a rolling smile, "I'm not used to you caring about anyone except your self..."

Glancing down at the child in Xena's arms, he smiled, "You're wise to be cautious... Everyone knows I'm a God that only cares about my own gratification, maybe that's why I'm going to stop Hera, so I can live.  Continue to be the tyrant that I am-"

"No," she shook her head, "You know why you're doing it."

Ares cracked a smile which almost twisted to a wince, that was hung with such a confusion, Xena herself felt the effects of the flux she sensed within the God before her.

"I'm not that kind of God Xena," he said suddenly, "You've told me that a thousand times in doubt of my intentions and I see no reason why it should change now."  He stood, stroking the face of An briefly, "I better go."

"Hey..."

Ares turned, meeting the risen affection brows of Xena.

"Thank you... for turning up..."

He smiled, genuinely, his eyes narrowing, "I will always be here."

Xena nodded, holding her child. "I know."

A glistening in the air soaked the form of Ares into it, Xena sighing resignedly as he disappeared.  She glanced at her child, which gazed at her with deeply blue eyes, her features a reflection of her handsome father.

"Well, little one," she said, "It's only a matter of time before Aunty Gabrielle and Uncle Joxer get here hmm?"

"Gabrielle darling, could you pour some more water on those hot coals please?  Thank you!"

Turning, Gabrielle took the half gourd, pouring it's contents onto the small plate of hot coals near the hot tub in which she sat.  A cloth held up her hair, which had been washed and bathed in scented herbs.  Eurepaeda smiled across at her from the other end of the tub, Lethaia between them looking thoroughly uncomfortable.

"So we just sit here?" she asked, and received a playful slap on the shoulder from Eurepaeda.

"You sit and relax!" she insisted, "This is a real bath - not like those awful things they have in Rome darling."

Lethaia's brows peaked together, "Huh?"

"Well they're disgusting - big baths where everyone goes - it's unhygienic!"

"I prefer streams myself," Gabrielle said airily, "Beautiful dappled rivers, breakfast waiting to be caught, that's the life."

She glanced to Eurepaeda, smiling suddenly.

"Though I will never say no to a hot bath!"

Eurepaeda chuckled, "What woman would?"

Lethaia bit her tongue.

"So," Eurepaeda took the soap, lathering her shoulders, "Who's first?"

"First what?"

Eurepaeda looked to Lethaia, "To spill the beans dear!  Tell their tales!  I want to hear all about how you've been with Jett lately..."

"With all respect, Eur-"

"Ah ah!"

Lethaia rolled her eyes, "Mama, you really know all there is to tell."

Eurepaeda laughed, "Oh come now, Lethie, we're all women!  You can tell us we won't laugh!  We've both been there, done that..."

"But I haven't done anything!"

"A young woman like you and a strapping lad like my Jett?" she waved a hand, "Ridiculous!  You can tell me sweety, that's what a mother in law is here for!"

Lethaia sighed, "Jett and I aren't married..."

"Matter of time dear, I can tell these things..."

"We're not even a couple!"

Eurepaeda sighed, "Well how do you expect to have babies if you're not even having sex?"

"I don't want to have sex with him!" Lethaia hissed, "He's my friend!"

"That's what we all say," replied the older woman, "It's only ever a matter of time before reality sinks in."

"What reality?" Gabrielle found her voice.

"That the quiet dependable man you'd been eyeing all those years is the man you truly love, and the ones who sweep you off your feet in a flash and a wave of bravado are sure to break your heart..."

"That's not always true," Gabrielle said.

"No, maybe not, but it's true with me dear."

Gabrielle studied the older woman for a moment.  Her eyes, dark and soulful, were so much like Joxer's that moment, years of pain betraying her jolly countenance.

"It must be awful, having your husband in jail."

Eurepaeda smiled sadly, her lips pursing with a hidden pain.  "To be honest?  It's a Gods-send..."

Lethaia's jaw dropped.

"Yes, my little nymph," the older woman nodded, cupping the young woman's chin in her fingertips and shaking it maternally a moment, "I thanked the Gods above me the day they caught Janus and threw him in jail.  I hoped he'd learn a lesson.  -At times, he was - he was a despicable, ugly man."

"Ugly?" Gabrielle said.

Eurepaeda chuckled, "Oh, physically, he was handsome, like Joxer and his brothers, so nice to look at.  But his soul - this was a man who didn't care where he got his wealth and cares.  I don't know how many peoples lives he's ruined because of his selfishness.  I never asked, I never questioned.  I just - stayed quiet, and looked after my boys."

Lethaia blinked. "Why did you marry him?"

"I didn't have the choice," she said, "It's not like these days, where you girls seem to run off when you don't want marriage.  No, I had to marry him because he had conquered our village, and my father begged Janus that he may be able to keep the farm and his family.  It was then Janus saw me, young and nubile.  I was barely 16.  I could tell even then as he undressed me with his eyes that I would never be able to be free of him.  I knew with a terrible dread that this man was to be my life."

Gabrielle listened with a deep sadness, understanding the plight, knowing how easily her fate could have been similar.  Slavery, unwanted marriage - it was one and the same.  She frowned.

"If he was so terrible to you why do you want him out of jail?"

The older woman's eyes moved to her slowly.

"I'm lonely," she said, "I'm - I need company.  The kind of company only a man could give and, well, after all these years I guess I was just used to Janus.  I guess, I miss him.  Besides that," she added, waving a hand and acquiring an air of idleness, "The money is running out now."

Gabrielle blinked, "You just want the money!  You'd let out a convicted murderer for more money!"

The bard jumped out of the bath, grabbing a robe.

"Gabrielle darling wait!  Please listen for a moment!" the woman called.  There was a pleading in the woman's voice that caused Gabrielle to stop.  She turned and met the eyes of Eurepaeda.  The mother spoke so softly, so rough, that Gabby couldn't help but shiver.  "It's only part of the reason.   I - I see how much Jett has changed.  That shroud of hate that glazed his eyes for so long... it's lifted.  I don't know why or how, but it has!  If being in jail for that age did it, maybe..."

"No," Gabrielle shook her head, gathering the robe tightly around her,  "That's not the way it works.  Jett was changing before he ever set foot in jail - he wouldn't have stayed there if he didn't think he deserved it."

"She's right," Lethaia piped in, "The change in Jett - it's something inspired from within, rather that an outside force."

Gabrielle sighed, kneeling next to Eurepaeda, "Through my travels with Xena, I've met a lot of warriors... most of them had done some very bad things in their lives, some even repeated them like Xena did.  But all of them, every single one, changed because they wanted to, not because others did."

"It's been so long," the older woman whispered, her dark eyes a reflection of sadness that Gabrielle had seen so many times in that of her son, "Since he's come home to me, bringing me gifts.  He always brought me things... such beautiful things.  At first, I was guilty of receiving that which was not lawfully taken, but..." She sighed, "There was nothing I could do.  I'm not strong, I cannot fight, all I knew how to do was obey.  After a while, I began to enjoy life with him.  He had his moments, and I think he really did love me."

"But-"

"No, Gabrielle," Eurepaeda caught the young woman's gaze with a soft severity in her own, "He did, even though he took me from my family, and all that I loved.  He gave me life, he looked after me, and made me a veritable queen here in this lovely house."

"At what cost?" Gabrielle said regardless.

Eurepaeda let loose a laugh of knowing, "A little freedom, a little choice, and some independence...  I never really had these things to start off with, so losing them was not painful.  Though I would not have them back, if it meant losing my sons."  Her eyes lifted to Gabrielle, "That man gave me the three most precious things in my life I could ever have asked for."

"You're right," Gabrielle nodded, "What happened has happened, and you've got some wonderful things in your life from a bad situation.  But you finally have your freedom and independence after all these years - don't you realise you'd become a slave again if you set him free?"

Eurepaeda now laughed freely, "I was never a slave Gabrielle!"

Lethaia smirked, taking a kantharos of wine from the edge of the tub and sipping it idly, watching the discussion unfold.  She knew the spoils of a warlord's life.

"Oh, Janus was very successful.  He never did anything stupid such as invading Athens - that was for other idiots our for fame.  No, Janus was clever.  He did over small towns, upturned Phoenician trading vessels and convoys.  He went for taking over villages rather that destroying them, but oh!  He loved the kill!!  He was a vicious mindless killer when he had that bloodlust in his eyes.  His handsome face would turn so - seriously ugly."

Gabrielle nodded.  She'd seen the same lust twist Xena's elegant features before, she understood too well.

"Nevertheless, he would return home with such riches that would make Queen Cleopatra herself feel envious.  I was dressed in silks and satins, I smelt always of the finest oils, jasmine and lotus, exotic and much sought after.  He loved to make me beautiful, dress me in fine clothes and make ups, it was almost a hobby of his.  Then when the children came..." A frown wrinkled her once soft brow, "He became angry.  I was still his queen, but it killed me how he beat Joxer and - well he didn't even acknowledge Jace..."

Lethaia choked on her wine, waving a hand as Eurepaeda glared at her, "Sorry," she breathed, doing her damnedest not to laugh, "Go on."

"But that's not even the point," the woman shook her head finally, "I just want to make sure, that maybe, he might be caught inside a cell a changed man... we have to be sure, Gabrielle!  I know it's hard to believe, but, sometimes I thought that under all that bad upbringing there was a really lovely man..."

Gabrielle pursed her lips, ready to disappoint 'Mama' with the news that she wasn't going to try to get Janus out, when-

"You know who reminds me of Janus the most?"

Lethaia looked up from her wine, "Jett?"

"No," laughed Eurepaeda, "Joxer."

Gabrielle rose a brow incredulously, "Joxer?"

Eurepaeda nodded, "Yes.  Janus was a man who didn't know how to handle things.  Like his mother, Joxer takes it out on himself, whereas Janus took it out on the world." A sigh fell from her as she gazed out the curtained window, high on the third floor of the city townhouse, "He was a mixed treasure.  Sharp, cold, but beautiful and dazzling like a jewel."

A silence fell upon the three, all of them contemplating the paradox that was Janus while the water of the tub grew steadily colder.  Lethaia sniffed brusquely, scratching her nose with a boyish flinch.

"So, you still want me to get the guy?"

Eurepaeda nodded, patting Lethaia's hand that leant on the edge of the tub, "Yes, Lethaia, I would like that very much."

"Even though he was a murderer?" the bard said, knowing she was fighting a battle already lost.

"Gabrielle, you don't live with someone for 25 years without beginning to care for them a great deal," said Eurepaeda, "I may not have always been happy with Janus, but I would like to know if he is all right, and if he indeed has changed.  When you love somebody, despite their ills, you tend to want to give them the benefit of the doubt."

Staring at Gabrielle, Lethaia pouted absently.  Gabrielle hunched her shoulders a little, the parallel between the marriage of Eurepaeda and Janus a little to reminiscent of her bond between herself and Xena, or indeed Xena and Ares.  Either way, she sighed a final sigh.

"You're right," Gabrielle said, "After I'm dressed I'll go get Jo-"

"No," Eurepaeda said suddenly, "Jett and Lethaia are getting him, it's been discussed."

Lethaia nodded whilst drinking the dregs of the wine.  It had been her third cup, she felt like it was taking it's toll.

"But why?"

"You're staying here," Eurepaeda insisted, "And you're arranging a wedding!"

It was early when Joxer began to seek out Hercules, Apollo and Iolaus.  He had wandered through the smoky smelling ruins of the stalls in the town centre, only half still standing. Miraculously, like worker ants, people worked hard and many were being hastily fixed.  A couple were almost ready to begin selling goods again.  The Festival of Trades was a lengthy affair of a week, and the vendors needed to cover their costs - the remaining days would help them do so.

He sighed to himself.  He had to help Xena, she was his family.  If whatever was a threat to An, he had to help stop it.  He couldn't get Jett up out of bed that morning, as usual after a night of drunken affairs the fellow had a heavy head and was in no mood to be doing anything, less going on a mission.  But Joxer was determined.  He remembered everything Xena had done for him, trusting him in important tasks, trusting him in friendship, lifting his spirits when he felt as if no one in the world cared what he said or did.  She was one of the few people who made him feel worthwhile.  In his darkest hour she was a silent shoulder, sturdy and gruff but invaluable and tender.  He brought his attention back to the task at hand.

Asking at every inn, tavern and stall was a task, and Joxer finally got an answer from a vagrant of all people.

"Have you seen three guys - one is tall, called Hercules, the other is sorta short - blonde and strong looking, and another guy he's kinda tall and muscly but like - really handsome.  Ya seen em?"

The vagrant sniffed, scratching his haystack of a moustache and growling a "Might have."

Rolling his eyes, Joxer pulled out a couple of dinars and handed them to the man.

"Yeah, I saw them headin' outta here early this morning.  Probably to Aphrodite's temple on the hill."

Joxer nodded.  They were probably moving fast.  He ran to the stall nearby, nearly tripping on a stone half-set in the road.  Reaching a worn wooden door he pounded on it mercilessly.

"OORight oright!" cried a husky voice, "Sheesh!"

The door swung open, a middle aged man narrowing his eyes at Joxer in its frame.

"Don't tell me," he said, "You're in a hurry, right?"

Joxer blinked, swallowing a gasp, "How could you tell?"

The guy rolled his eyes, throwing a wave at Joxer, assuming he was being sarcastic.  "So - do you wanna horse or not?"

Joxer nodded at the stableman, "Sure - I know there've been problems with the animals in town lately so are your prices high?"

The man shrugged, "Sure they are, but I could be accommodating if need be."

Joxer grinned, "Wow - that's great of ya!"  He looked inside his purse, counting his dinars quickly.  He had now 50 dinars, 30 of which he had acquired when selling Nippy.  He grinned, he knew he could afford a better horse this time!

"What do you have for 40 dinars?"

The stableman pointed a finger up at him in a signal to wait, turning around and disappearing in a large archway that seem to enter into a passage way.  Out the front of the stable, a set of doors opened, the stableman leading out a large, barrel-chested beast, brown, fluffy, very much like a bear on horses' legs.  Joxer blinked.

"Nippy?!"

The horse seemed to recognize him, and it whinnied and stamped a foot.  He looked to the stableman.

"But - I spent 30 dinars on him - he's not worth 40!"

The stableman shrugged, "Supply and demand buddy! You heard the news about the Festival!"

Sighing, Joxer pulled out the dinars, "I'll give you 35!  Reigns, bit and saddle inclusive."

They were as impressive as Nippy was.

"40, 35 for the horse, 5 for the gear, no less."

"Okay fine, I'd like to see you get more than that for your hay-bag!"

The horse snorted, stamping on the floor at Joxer.  The stableman glanced at the horse a moment.  He opened his mouth to accept the bid, but a hasty "Okay okay I'll buy it!" filled the void.  The stableman grinned.

"Very wise of you," he said, taking the dinars from Joxer.  Joxer rolled his eyes, taking the horse by the reigns he led it away.

He reached the centre of the town square, beginning to attempt to mount Nippy.

"How'd I get stuck with you again?" he said, shoving his foot in the awkward stirrup. "You make my legs hurt you're so fat!"

As his foot was in the stirrup, he pulled himself up.  The stirrup twisted just as Joxer had a weak hold of the saddle, and he promptly tumbled to the cobblestone ground.  He felt his head thump the hard road.

"Ooow," he moaned.  Great start! he though.  A wet smooth muscular something glided over the length of his face and he let out a yelp.  Opening his eyes, he saw the large muzzle of Nippy in his face.  Lifting his hand he stroked the velvet nose, smiling crumudgingly, "Thanks Nip.  I'm - I am glad you're back."

The horse nodded and stomped a hoof once more.

"Joxer!"

Pulling himself up by the stirrups he spotted Gabrielle jogging towards him, rosy gold locks fluttering.

"Hey," he smiled, catching Gabrielle in a kiss as she stopped.  Or would have, bumping noses instead.  Gabrielle rubbed her nose.

"Ow," she said with a patient smile, "Wanna try that again?"

Joxer nodded sheepishly, her lips claiming his suddenly, and this time he returned the caress with far more finesse.  Gabrielle gave a small moan, a content smile at her lips, when a large brown head pushed at her side.  She took a step to balance herself.

"Nippy!!" she grinned, "Oh!  How did you get him back?!"

"I was uh," Joxer grimaced, "Real lucky!"

"Ohhohoho!" the bard laughed at the affectionate horse, "Well, where are you off to then?"

Joxer cleared his throat, "I'm finding Herc and Iolaus, I'm going to help them stop Hera."

Gabrielle frowned a little, "But - you don't need to do that..."

He nodded, "I know, but I feel like I owe it to Xena.  She's done so much for me and - this is the least I could do."

Gabrielle gazed at the horse a moment, a smile of uncertainty at her lips, "Joxer, the best you can do is stay here and look after us while there are animals blowing up all around us!"

Joxer smiled softly, "You know Gabby - you don't need my help."

"W-well, you never know," she said, voice faltering, "Joxer - you might get yourself killed!  And I wont be there to s-"

She stopped herself and Joxer nodded, patting his steed.

"Save me, I know," he said, seeing the regret in Gabrielle's eyes. She didn't want to offend him, he knew, but he also knew his own inadequacies.   "Well I have to learn how to save myself for once.  You know that.  And if helping Xena is the way to do that, then that's the way it is."

Gabrielle nodded slowly, "I know it's just that - going against the Gods - you'll die."

Joxer smiled, stroking her cheek, "I'll have Herc there, and Iolaus.  And Apollo.  See?  That's one and a half Gods already!"

Gabrielle laughed softly, "Yeah I guess so.  You know, your mother wants us to stay here a while, to get married..."

Joxer tightened his grip on the saddle, "That wont be happening till you're ready."

Gabrielle smiled, stepping forward, a seeming thankfulness in her features.  And love, such love.

"I love you," he whispered, pulling her into an embrace.  He heard her soft breath at his ear, a deep sadness ringing in it's husky tone.

"I love you Joxer, please be safe."

He nodded, pulling himself up onto Nippy.   Gabrielle blew him a kiss, watching him kick Nippy into a burst of a gallop, that, once outside the town's perimeter, quickly collapsed into a tired canter.  Gabrielle sighed as the sight of him diminished into an incomprehensible dot of colour down the road.  She blinked softly, Eurepaeda's words ringing in her mind.  With a determined pout she strode to the inn to help Xena.

Hera moved through the realms, slipping and curling, moving like liquid.  The tiny orb that she hounded eluded her, he was faster and younger but she was older and wiser.  She knew where he'd go, and it was an empty realm with no protection.

"Run, little boy," she giggled, zipping through the ether, "Just where I want you to..."

Slowing finally, she reached the cloud-clad world of the God of Music and Medicine, long columns and podiums for performance encasing an atrium-like crop of lush greenery and a sitting area spotted with settees.  The young god panted, turning about, finally realising how he'd been tricked.  He spun about, the golden flecks of metal at his heels fashioned as wings flashing in the blinding light of the goddess Hera.

"Here!" she cried, pulling him up, absorbing him into the small chest she held, "You will know a torturous eternity, mongrel son of Zeus!"

Hercules sighed, the walk rather arduous on the dry Athens bound road.  Iolaus plodded, quiet and determined, however Apollo screwed up his face in disgust.

"This is ridiculous - where is Ares?  He should be here helping us!"

Hercules looked up in the air with some drollness, "Come on - Ares help someone?"

Apollo frowned, "He's not that bad you know."

"I'll make up my own mind on that," the blonde hero began but a snickering laugh stopped him.

"You already have!" the Music God said wryly.

"You're rather jovial for a half-beaten God," Iolaus said, instinctively coming to Hercules' defence, but Herc raised a hand to calm him.  Apollo rose his brows with a sad smile.

"Right now I need all I can to keep my spirits high," Apollo said, "Our sadness, depression and bickering is her strength."

"He's right," Hercules said to Iolaus, "Dare I say it."

Apollo stretched his head, peering down the road, a proud smile on his face, "Aaah, I knew he wouldn't be long..."

"Who?" Iolaus said, squinting at the veering road.  He saw no one.

"My chosen," Apollo said, pulling a wayward raven lock from his long sculptural face.

"Your - chosen?"

"Yes, brother Hercules," the God said, "My chosen, Joxer."

Iolaus burst into laughter, gripping his chest, "You're - ha ha - you're kidding right?"

"No," Apollo said, frowning at the leg-less sidekick, "I am being quite serious."

"But - he's an idiot!"

Apollo sighed, hands on slender hips, narrowing his eyes at the veer in the road, "Yes, many say that.  Many small minds who only seem to gauge strength on how many people one can kill, and how much damage they can do to a life."  Apollo turned, gazing hard at Hercules, "Tell me, brother, when is the last time you listened to the wind, and thought about it's origins?"

Hercules opened his mouth a moment but Apollo stopped him.

"No, don't even try.  I know that sort of thing rarely even crosses your mind,"  the God said, turning back to the already travelled road, "But Joxer...  he ponders, he delves.   Every stumble, every gawky move... such art in him is a living paradox!  Like his father, like his mother, but so much more!"

"What are you going on about?" Iolaus sighed.

"Joxer..." began Apollo, smiling suddenly, "Is so complex a person, I cannot even believe my own brilliance in his conception.  From the moment he was born, I knew... he would be my finest prodigy!"

"Prodigy of what?" Hercules asked.

"Creation!" sighed Apollo, "He has the silent talent that stuns thousands!!  Tell me brother - have you ever heard him play the lute?"

Hercules shook his head, Iolaus looking a little wrought with disbelief.

"I didn't know he played the lute!" the sidekick said.

"Oh, he does," nodded the God, "He plays beautifully.  Just recently he's began to write music.  Great music.  Music that croons of the deepest loves and the saddest heartbreaks."

"He never said-"

"No," Apollo shook his head at Hercules, cutting the hero off before he could even finish his sentence, "He'd never say that he played the lute.  Not to a hero he admires such as you.  For fear he would be laughed at perhaps?  He holds his manhood in high esteem, sadly."

"Unlike you..."

Apollo sneered as the dark stalwart figure slipped through from the ether, silver reams spilling from a falling shining orb.  With a puff of plasma Ares finally congealed.

"Yes, Ares," Apollo laughed, "Say that to your brother that still beats you at the discus every time!"

Ares shrugged, rolling his tongue about in his mouth, "You're a good cheater.  Let's go to this temple huh?"

"No," Apollo said, "We wait for Joxer."

"You don't actually want him to come with us do you?" Iolaus said.

"Of course not," Apollo said, "He'll be killed.  I would not dare risk my favourite prodigy on a family dispute."

Ares glared at him, "Is that all you see this as?  A family dispute?"

"Yes, a deadly one," Apollo said, "I fear for the lives of all those Gods missing.  Who knows what Hera could unleash in her anger."

As he spoke the whinny of hooven beast neared them, and before he even looked to see who the traveller was, Apollo smiled.

"Hello, dear child," he said, "You look well."

Joxer, rolling off his steed, clambered over to Apollo, bowing before him.  Apollo grinned.

"You don't have to bow before me, sweet chosen.  I know respect lies in your soul for me."

"Oh, okay," he nodded.  Finding some courage to speak he shuffled his feet, "Listen, Apollo, er - guys?  I know I'm not much of a warrior or nothin' but I came to help you fight this thing that's threatening Xena.  Xena's like my sister and I'd do anything for her.  Plus, I want to help you too Apollo...."

Apollo smiled, a slender bronzed hand stroking Joxer's face tenderly.  "You are a faithful one, Joxer.  But this is not your battle."

Joxer opened his mouth but Apollo lifted his hand.

"A battle of the Gods is no place for a mortal.  Hera would ruthlessly destroy you in the blink of an eye."

Ares gulped, watching Apollo talk to the idiot.  He wasn't really sure why Xena liked him around, or why Gabrielle loved him so much.  He remembered tagging along with Xena, travelling alongside Joxer.  He talked of irrelevant things, idle thoughts consumed him, and he would often prattle about things that would cross his mind.  The little annoying blonde loved it.   They'd prattle at eachother like a pair of senseless birds in a cage, it drove Ares half crazy.  But despite all that, Ares still found himself piping up.

"I'd appreciate it Joxer," he said, "If you looked after Xena for me."

Joxer was taken aback that Ares was even talking to him.

"Y-y-y-you would?"

Ares nodded slowly, "She is weak from the birth.  It worries me that only women are there to guard her."

Well, one Amazon Queen who was mean with that little stick of hers, and a whole town of men, nevertheless...

"Yeah," Joxer nodded, "I hadn't thought of that."

"Maybe you should go too," said Hercules to Iolaus, "Where we're going might be pretty dangerous."

Iolaus glared darkly at Joxer, then sighed.

"No," Iolaus shook his head, "With the Gods against you, you'll need my help - besides... It'll just be you and them - " he motioned to Ares and Apollo.

"He'll be fine," Ares drolled, "He is half-God."

Joxer gulped, adjusting his helmet then, puffing himself up with some confidence "Well - I'll be off then.   To protect the women!"

Hercules eyed Iolaus, who kept his hands at his hips adamantly.

"I'm not leaving."

"Okay," Hercules sighed knowingly, grinning darkly at Iolaus.  He glanced to Joxer and threw him a wave, "Take care Joxer, look after Xena."

The fool pulled himself up on the round horse, getting comfortable in the saddle and slowly, the saddle slid sideways taking Joxer with it.  After tumbling off the horse in a small cloud of dust, the young man tightened the saddle gingerly, climbing back up on Nippy.   Together, would-be hero and steed soon became shapes in the distance.

Ares turned to Hercules, Iolaus and Apollo.

"So, are we ready?"

"Why did you convince him to leave?" Hercules asked Ares, "I figure you wouldn't care less if he was here or not."

"Yes I was just wondering the same thing," Apollo said.

"Xena would never let me hear the end of it if anything happened to that surrogate brother of hers."

Nice cover, Apollo thought, you're beginning to get good at that now you're going all soft like Aphrodite.

Ares eyed Apollo in the odd silence, Shut up.

Xena turned on the bed, feeling the prickle of the furs underneath her form.  The soft shift she wore did not hide the sensation of pelt against skin, and as she turned, it felt as if it weren't there at all.  Languid eyes opening, she saw translucent drapes hang from the ceiling like a net around the bed, a dark shape hovering behind its flimsy shielding.  With a breath so light, the figure blew at the gauzy wall between them, and with the long silence of the fabric's lifting in the air, the figure slipped in the small alcove of intimacy created by the bed.  She felt her breath seize in her throat, the figure now not so dark...  Her lover, the father of her child - her nemesis, knelt before her on the bed, his head cocked sweetly with some wry questioning... his eyes said 'Why have you not touched me my love?'.  Xena said nothing, she could not.  He wore only a shirt that was a white billowy affair, brown leather togs, and boots.  His hair was not immaculate as when he was a God... oh how it reminded her of when he fell to the earth those months ago, vulnerable and completely human.

"Why are you dressed like that?"

Ares looked down, "Dressed like what?  Isn't this what you wanted?"

"Huh?" Xena narrowed her eyes incredulously. "Don't be ridiculous... you said..."

Ares now smiled broadly, "Remember?  You asked me... and I could see it in your thoughts... The vulnerable nice Ares you'd seen."

"But I," Xena shook her head, "No - what about your domain?"

Ares leant forward, pulling her into his arms, "Why think of that?  Look at the sacrifice I've made for you..."

"What about An?"

"She'll be fine," he said, "I can be a better father now!"

"How?!" Xena frowned, gripping his shirt, "How can you when you're as vulnerable and soft and transient as I am?"

"This isn't about what An needs," he said, tilting her head up to his, "This is about what YOU want..."

"NO!"

"Xena...."
 

"NO!!!!"

Sharp cries dug at her ears, and her eyes slammed open.  She gulped for air, rolling over and coddling the wailing bundle next to her in her arms.  It was only then she realised she wasn't alone.  The tender hand rubbed her arm, and looking at the face clearly she breathed a sigh of relief.

"Oh Gabrielle," she huffed.

"Xena are you okay?  You were thrashing about..."

"Bad dream," Xena said, more concentrated on getting her child latched onto her teat.

"Oh," the bard nodded, setting herself on the edge of the bed.  With her fingertips, she gently stroked the ebony silk locks that adorned the crown of the baby.  She smiled.  "She's so beautiful..."

Xena nodded, "Yeah, she is..."

Gabrielle frowned suddenly, "You wanna tell me what the dream was about?"

Xena's eyes flicked up to hers, "Yeah, that might be good..."

Gabrielle blinked.  Xena actually wanted to talk to her?!

"Yeah I do want to talk to you Gab-"

Gabrielle laughed, "Xena! How did you know what I was thinking-"

Xena glared at Gabrielle, "I don't know..."

A muffled giggle suddenly burst from the child in Xena's arms, and the mother narrowed her eyes with wonder at the baby.

"Did you help me with that?  Huh?"

Another giggle erupted from the baby, and Xena sighed with a worn smile at the child, "Naaah, I can just read Auntie Gabrielle's body language hey sweetie?"

"Yeah," Gabrielle nodded warily, "That's it.  The dream?"

"Oh!" Xena nodded, jiggling the baby, feeding it the nipple as it tried to spit it out, "It was strange... I was in this luxurious bed - kinda like you'd expect in Ares' lair..."

"Not that I've ever been there," Gabrielle smirked.  Xena mirrored her friend's expression.

"I hope not..."

Gabrielle rose a brow and Xena smiled wryly.

"Anyway - there's this gauze all around it - and he is standing behind it.  When he steps through it - he looks all mortal."

Gabrielle rose both brows this time, and nodded slowly.

"Well - he says it's what I wanted.  And all I could think of through the dream is how I really didn't..."

Gabrielle smiled finally, stroking the child's hair idly, "Well it's obvious you're dealing with your feelings for Ares on a subconscious level..."

"Gabrielle - I can't love him!"

The bard's jade pools met Xena's firmly, "But you do love him.  Don't deny your feelings Xena, they make you who you are..."

"But - he's a monster! You hate him, Mom hates him-"

"I don't hate him," Gabrielle smiled slightly, "I uh - tolerate him."

Xena smirked, "You can't stand him."

"True but it's not like I hold that against you," the bard said, grinning with some humour, "Xena, I - when I see you've been with him or catch you talking about him you - you look so happy.  I don't want to get in the way of that.  Sure, I worry about you, but I see in your eyes that there is no way you'll turn to evil again, and I know, when I see Ares with you, that you bring out something good in him."

"Don't let him hear you say that," Xena grinned, letting her fingers play through the downy whorls of her baby's crown, "He might try to prove you wrong."

Gabrielle smiled, "Yeah.  Xena, I can see you want to be a family.  I think you need Ares this time..."

Xena eyed Gabrielle.

"He knows about Godhood, and your child - halfling she might be - she is a God."

"I know Gabrielle," Xena said, gazing at her child, "She's so perfect... so beautiful.  And I know - it's not just a Mother's bias.  I've seen new-born babies and - they look like they've been through an ordeal - and they have!  An - she's just like an flower in a temple.  And her soul is so pure... can you sense it Gabrielle?"

Gabrielle watched Xena speak of her child, running tentative fingertips over the baby's features, the child, in a half asleep reverie, stroking her mother's face in return.  The bard felt a yank in her heart, sighing sadly.

"Thank the Gods Xena, that you've been given the chance to have such a beautiful child," she found herself saying.  Xena glanced up.

"Oh - oh Gabrielle..."

Gabrielle shook her head with a reassuring smile, "It's okay Xena really... An is a gift.  Treasure her.  Is she all fed?"

Looking down to the baby, who was more content playing with Xena's features, the mother nodded. "Yeah, we can pack now."

The Pink Realm that hummed with Love was now a faded puce.  Slipping into it, the Goddess searched through it for energies besides herself.  To her horror she found none.

"Aphrodite!!" she called, "Aphrodiiiiteeeee!  Erooooooos!!  Cupid?  Psyche!!!  BLISS!!!"

Her voice echoed of empty walls and stark palisades, all decoration and fanciness gone from the realm.  Athena shuddered.  Her head ached from the excessive wine she'd consumed from before... she wished with some doggedness that she hadn't have been so keen to celebrate the new arrival.  She wondered what this child was like... she would only have time to visit it after this was over.  Closing her eyes, she felt around the cosmos, and moving through the ether freely she slipped to a place where she knew her brother lay.

V

Gabrielle held the now unhefted saddlebags, lugging them to Eurepaeda's townhouse. Her stomach was unsettled, and she knew she wouldn't be able to sleep till Joxer was back home.  From the corner of her eyes she saw a lanky figure on a fat looking horse, and chuckled, thinking she was possibly delusional.  But on second glance, a grin cracked her face, and she forgot herself, dropping the saddlebags and running towards the now real figure.

"Joxer!" she laughed, watching her love slip off the horse and run towards her.  "I thought you were going to help Hercules!!"

"Ares sent me back here," Joxer said, receiving Gabrielle into his arms, "To look after Xena!"

Gabrielle grinned, planting kisses all over Joxer's face, "Mmm, oh it's so good to have you back!"

Joxer grinned back through the kisses, planting a few of his own, "It's good to be back!!"

Finally he caught her mouth in a passionate caress, his hands cradling her jaw and neck sensually. Gabrielle stilled, hanging delightfully in his hold, Joxer bringing her up to him in a close embrace.  As his lips left hers he whispered, so as his breath brushed against her lips.

"Where's Xena?"

"Back at your house," Gabrielle replied huskily, "Joxer, Jett and Lethaia are leaving this afternoon..."

Joxer's face fell, "Whaddaya mean?"

Her eyes grew red, "They're going to try to find Janus..."

Joxer's throat constricted, his knees growing weak. "Are they crazy?  He was put away - years ago.  His cell is so deep within the structures of Merimas' main fort that I don't know if they'll even find him!"

"It won't be like getting Jett out," she said in agreement, "But there's no stopping your mother."

Joxer nodded, "Yeah she's pretty stubborn when she gets an idea in her head."

Gabrielle smiled, rising her brows.  Joxer blushed.

"Hey I didn't mean - I love that about you really."

"Yeah yeah yeah," she rolled her eyes, "Come on."

Lethaia pulled the dripping clothes from the tub, squeezing them, and then plunging them back into the sud-filled water.  From the corner of her eye stumbled the dark figure, finally coming to rest on the back step next to Lethaia.  She would have usually smirked at the man next to her, but this morning, she had no wish to smirk.  She sat there, shirtless, only a undersinglet giving her any modesty.  A borrowed petticoat covered her lower half, the rest of her travel-wear in the iron-ribbed tub.

"Morning," he said huskily.

"Barely," she replied, her body shaking as she vigourously scrubbed the clothes, "Half the day is gone already."

"Uugh," the fellow replied, burying his face in his hands, "My head is killing me!"

Lethaia sighed, "I'm not surprised."

"What's wrong?" Jett asked her, wrapping an arm around her waist.  She slapped it off, lifting the pants from the wash, rinsing the water from it.

"You know," she said.  Jett looked bewildered.

"When are you going to stop it?"

"Stop what?"

"Drinking yourself into a stupor night after night!"

Jett sighed, rolling his eyes, "It's not night after night!"

"YES it is, Jett!" she said, glaring at him, "Every night!  Now I don't know what you're running away from, but every night when we're within a walk of some sort of civilization you're off at a tavern filling yourself up with ale, staggering home at all hours then sleeping the daylight hours away!"

He glanced away guiltily.

"Now I DON'T know about you, but I want to do some good for a change.  I've had enough of the guilt, I've had enough of dreaming of the innocent I've killed being an assassin-"

"Hired killer," leered Jett, but Lethaia squeezed shut her eyes.

"Assassin!!" she cried, and after a moment, she got back to working at her washing.

"Lethaia..."

She continued to wash, watching the bubbles play between her fingers, feeling the sand of the ground move between her toes.

"I'm scared."

She looked to him, his dark brown orbs shining with fear.  She sighed, her hand lifting and running smooth against his cheek, despite herself.  "I'm scared too, Jett.  Believe me, the road we've chosen - it's not easy..."

He nodded, leaning against her hand.

"But we're on it together okay?  I've told you that before... please remember it."

"Okay..."

Her hand dropped to her lap, and she began scrubbing at the pants, "You know, it - it hurts me."

"What does?"

He gazed at her as she worked at the clothes, and after a moments silence, perhaps choosing her words, she gazed ahead at the scrub of the back courtyard.

"When you turn to a bottle of ale for comfort instead of me.  I can't remember when you stopped talking to me about how you were feeling..."

Jett looked down to his hands, his stomach sinking.  He looked back to her.  Her brown eyes, soulful and endless, met his.  How tired she was.  He could see that.  He smiled.

"Can I tell you how I'm feeling now?"

She pursed her lips a moment, "All right."

"I think you're beautiful-"

"I know you think I'm beautiful," she said, rolling her eyes.

"You didn't let me finish!" Jett said, turning her face towards his again, "Your beauty is only a small part of - of what I admire I mean - the words..."

Jett frowned, sighing with some frustration.  Lethaia frowned, trying to understand his him.  Glancing back up to her he continued.

"You're - you're so patient with me.  I hurt you, I drink too much, I hate myself for what I've done to people, but I still find you at my side day after day.  With all honesty, Lethaia, I don't know of another woman who would *want* to know how I'm feeling, especially after the past I've had.  I've been a mindless killer - I still am a mindless killer.  A thin line stops me.  I've never had the strength to stop being a bad person before... and when I tried, it was so hard!"

Lethaia nodded.

"But Lethie," He took her chin in his fingertips, turning her porcelain features to his, "You stay with me for some reason, I don't understand it..."

The dark orbs of the girl at his touch glistened, she sighed through rogue tears, a shaking hand caressing his cheek briefly,  "Jett - I - I just-"

"Shhh," Jett sniffled a moment, squeezing his eyes shut, "Don't be sad.  I guess I'm just trying to say - I'm sorry...  I'm sorry I've been so awful to you... I don't deserve you..."

"Jett," Lethaia breathed, "Please don't say things like that about yourself..."

"It's the truth," he said, "When you killed, you did it with some sense of justice!  I did it with a sense of greed and - it was wrong.  I don't know how to be any other way.  I've come to feel that you sort of - help light the way for me... you show me how to be a better person..."

"How can I be a light for you?" she said, her brows tilted up sadly, "I don't even know what I'm doing!"

Jett smiled, "I guess that's the way life is, hmmm? That's life."

Lethaia smiled brightly, her eyes finally shining with some sense of peace.   She felt a giddiness take her as his hands came in contact with her skin, and a fire erupted within her as his lips pressed against hers with a warm paradisical pleasure she'd only dreamed of for so long.   He held her there for a sweet time, his lips touching hers a moment, brief kisses in their playing lips.  Lethaia pulled her head away, her cheeks a rosy red.

"I - I have to finish cleaning..."

An arm wound around her shoulders, as she kept her head looking down at her work, she felt the skilled lips of Jett roam at her ears and cheek, soft kisses touching her sensitive but weathered olive skin almost in tandem with the scrubbing motion she was performing to clean her clothes.

"Jett..." she whispered, her head tilting up, her eyes closed, too full of passion to be open, "I..."

She let herself be pulled up in strong arms, her fingers played at jet-black locks.  His kisses became more intense, more concentrated, and she felt timidness stop her from returning them with full ardour.   She gasped for breaths, realising Jett was walking - where?

"Where are you taking me?" she asked huskily, her mouth being closed over all of a sudden with Jett's empassioned lips.  There was the slam of a door, and glancing around she realised he had taken her to the hot-tub.  She gasped, stepping back.

"Oh, Jett, I don't know, we've been friends for-"

He pulled her towards him running fingers over her jaw and neck, "I've always loved you," he whispered, "From the moment -" he grinned, "You got me in the nads..."

Lethaia grinned, letting Jett take her in his arms.  "Jett," she said between passionate caresses, "What if someone walks in?"

With his foot he kicked down the lock, grinning at her, "That won't be a problem."

Lethaia nodded finally, her strength surrendering to his hold.  His hands deftly worked at the flimsy clothes on her brown toned skin, the years of travel blessing her body.  She reached into him with her embrace, and pulling her head away from him once more, his eyes glazed with frustration, she smiled.

"Jett..."

"What?"

She suckled on his bottom lip a moment, and letting to go she took her own bottom lip in her teeth playfully.

"I've always loved you too..."

Hercules unrolled the pelt in front of the now raging fire that Iolaus tended, ignoring a pacing Ares.  His brother had been most irritating, disagreeing with his plans of action.  Apollo just remained silent, sulking over his twin sister lost.  The darkness surrounded them, and for some reason, even the stars looked restless that night.  Hercules glanced up to Ares finally.

"Will you *please* just - sit down?"

Ares flashed a glare at him, "I don't know how you can sit still when at every moment, Hera grows stronger."

Apollo nodded, "He's right you know.  Perhaps - after my strength is fully renewed, Ares and I can snoop around Olympus."

Hercules gritted his teeth, "You two?  How do I know Hera won't convince you to join her?"

Ares glared at Hercules directly, "You don't get it do you?  Things are the way they are for a reason.  Hera is breaking the order of the Universe, and she must pay!  She is using the unrestful period of the birth of a new Goddess to make her move!"

Hercules shook his head, looking away.

"I don't get it," Iolaus muttered, "Whaddaya mean unrestful period?"

Iolaus looked a little confused and Apollo smiled, "It's quite simple, young Iolaus.  When a new God or Goddess comes into the world, the order of the universe is unsettled - things need to readjust themselves..."

Hercules looked to Iolaus, nodding darkly, "Kind of like when a new child comes in to a family, and the siblings have to get used to the new pecking order."

Iolaus nodded vaguely. "I see."

Uncomfortable quiet fell upon the group again, and the sound of Ares' pacing filled their ears.

"Why are you worried, brother?" Apollo asked Ares.  Ares sighed.

"Why do you think I'm worried?" he spat, "My child is unprotected - a sitting duck in Corinth!"

"Not necessarily," Apollo leered, "Joxer's there to look after Xena..."

Ares rolled his eyes, "Gee that's really comforting!"

"We just have to get to the next temple, Brother," Apollo said, "Once I can regain my strength from the cosmos, then we can rally in force against Hera and find our lost siblings."

Ares sent a dark look to Apollo, and he shook his head.

"And how do you expect to regain that power, Apollo?"

Apollo jumped to his feet at the sound of the voice, relief flickering across his features...

"Athena!  Oh sweet Goddess!!" he said, thrusting his hands up with a grin, "Thank the cosmos you are healthy!"

Athena's face was wrought with panic, and upon seeing Apollo she let out a sharp cry of horror.

"Apollo!" she gasped, pulling him down to the ground, "By the Cosmos!  Look at you you're a mess!" Athena glared at Ares, "Ambrosia!  Get him ambrosia!  And nectar!"

"I've tried," Ares said, "The ether is all messed up right now.  But I'll try again - don't glare at me like that!"

The Goddess of Wisdom nodded, looking back to Apollo.

"I'm fine sis, really," insisted Apollo, but a flat glare from Athena silenced him.

"You are not - you look as terrible as a mortal!"

"Thanks," Iolaus grinned with no true intent.

Athena ignored him, waiting for Ares to return.  "Why did you not tell me of Artemis' victimization?"

Ares returned, a delicate crystal amphora to the brim with thick sweet liquid in one hand, and a bundle in his other.  He lifted them up with a leer.

"You're *so* very lucky I'm Hebe's favourite brother!"

"She gave you Godly food?" said Athena softly, "Is she with Hera?"

"She isn't happy with what Hera is doing, but if she does or says anything about it she'll end up the same way as Apollo here.  Well, she said Hera's not around in Olympus," Ares replied, kneeling next to Athena, handing her the nourishing food, "Says she's out on 'errands'."

"Hhuh," Athena muttered, raising a brow as she lifted the brim of the amphora to Apollo's lips, "Sounds dubious."

Apollo snatched the amphora finally, rolling his eyes, "I can eat and drink myself!"

Athena sighed, sitting back on one of the logs, her fingers intertwining as her brow descended in thought.  She rose a brow to Hercules.

"Brother Hercules - I trust you are well?"

"As well as can be expected," Hercules muttered with a wry smile, indicating the unwanted Godly company.  Athena smirked, and turned to Ares.

"I've been searching the realms," she said softly, gazing past the fire, "... and it seems many Gods are now missing..."

"Who?" Ares asked, fear constricting his throat.

"Hermes," she replied, "Artemis - no moon out tonight..."

Glancing up, Ares nodded.

"Aphrodite is missing too..."

Hercules frowned, "Is Helios safe?  If Hera gets him..."

Athena sighed, "I believe it is only a matter of time before he is captured."

"We need to move now," Ares said, standing. "If we combine our powers, we can take Hercules and Iolaus to the Temple of Aphrodite outside Megara."

Athena nodded, "Good.  Let's move."

"Wait -" Hercules stood, "Iolaus and I are tired - we need rest!"

Athena glanced at the cup of nectar, and then to the two mortals.  "Open your mouths..."

"Now don't get any funny ideas," started Iolaus, but Athena shook her head.

"No," she said, "This will not make you immortal - it will renew your strength.  You will be not needing sleep for three days after taking a sip of this fluid.  In Godly bodies it invigorates much longer."

Raising a brow, Hercules sighed as Athena held the cup to his lips.  She tilted the cup, and the sudden sweetness of nectar hit his body.  He clenched his fists, feeling power surged through him.  Swallowing down the strange sensations, he nodded to Athena as Iolaus packed their things.

"We're ready."

Ares looked to Apollo, slapping him on the thigh, "Get up off the floor, ya bum!"

"Get bent!" he replied with a leer, getting up, almost glowing with renewal.

The burning rush of air blasted Damocles' face, but he worked on, pouring the molten metal into the cubit square molds.  At removal he pounded the imperfections away, slid the tile into it's place in the stock, and turned to start another.  This was the routine he had lived by for three days, and all he yearned for was to sit by a raging fire with his little daughter and son, listen to his wife prattle about Corinth gossip, and savour a long frothing ale.  But all he had was the clanging of metal, the roar of the burning fires, and the angry eye of the Goddess Hera.

At a whoosh, he knew she had returned.

"Foiled again," she growled, "I don't give that Aphrodite enough credit!"

Damocles nodded.  She had brought in God after God, and with a heaviness he had realised that Hera was not giving Hephaestos a rest.  Hephaestos must have been tricked just as he was.  She would disappear into the deep recesses of the mountain he could only assume as Olympus, and she would reappear with no one.

He turned to see her holding a golden box, intricate and large.  She hefted it and smiled.

"Aaaah, my dear Helios... the sun shall not rise again, till a child of mine sits on your throne!"

Damocles could not believe it - Hera had the gall to seize the sun itself!!  He swallowed, fear coursing through him, and unabating regret.  Clamping his eyes shut, he laid down his hammer at the anvil.

"Queen," he said, bowing his head.  Hera's crystal eyes flashed at him.

"Yes dear Damocles..."

"I ask - why do you do this to the Gods?"

Hera cocked her head, a brow descending, "Are you questioning me?"

Damocles closed his eyes, fear striking him, "I question your motives."

"Well," she sighed, taking a sword from the racks, clasping it, "Question me no longer..."

As her grip tightened, light burst from the shaft, the metal ringing with the energy shining from it.   Her hands let go, and the sword, floating of its own will, glided over to Damocles, assuming a position over his head.  Hera smiled thinly, no kindness in her eyes.

"There now," she said, her hands resting in each other, "Work, Damocles, and you will be safe.  The moment you stop working, stop moving, stop pounding that alloy - the sword will strike you dead."

"But - I'm a God!" Damocles protested, "I cannot be killed!"

Hera tilted her head with a sardonic smile, "You can now."

VI

The night was dark, very dark.  Lethaia felt a stirring within her, a sickening worrying one.  She knew night, she knew the sounds it made.  This night - it had no sound.  The animals that would crow and chirrup in the black of night were silent tonight... perhaps in the same fear that gripped Lethaia.  She gazed at the fire Jett had struck up.  It raged on, Lethaia mused how it continued despite something obviously being cosmically wrong with the scheme of things.  Deftly slicing through the skin of the rabbit they had caught, she couldn't stay silent any longer, and met the eyes of her companion.

"No moon," Lethaia said, pulling the skin from the rabbit, "Tonight was meant to be the half-faced vision of Artemis."

"A half moon ya mean," Jett nodded, "Yeah I know.  It is weird."

Lethaia sighed, digging the sharpened stick through the rabbit, and setting it on the makeshift spit she had built.  They had covered a good distance from Corinth, Lethaia sharing the saddle with Jett on Daphne, her horse.  Daphne, the leggy white mare, now grazed at the grass fringing the edges of the clearing.  Jett frowned.

"That sunset..."

Lethaia rose a brow.

"It was odd," finished Jett, "I don't like how quick it was."

Lethaia nodded, "I know.  I've never seen a sunset like that before."

"Do you think it has anything to do with this problem with the Gods?"

Lethaia met Jett's obsidian orbs and pouted in musing, "I don't know.  I wasn't really paying attention to what was going on with them.  I did get wind of Hera causing trouble.  If the Queen of the Gods herself is unhappy then I suppose anything could happen."

Jett pulled up the pelt that sagged about his leather-clad frame, getting comfortable in his place to wait out the cooking of the meal.

"It'll be hard to execute our plan if Helios has come to harm," muttered Jett, and looking up from the turning rabbit, Lethaia smiled.

"Perhaps not..."

Jett frowned.

"Get out some of the nutbread and cheese for me will you?" Lethaia asked, and Jett did so as she continued to speak, "Why would the sun disappear so suddenly?"

Looking up from the unhefted saddlebag, Jett pouted with thought, "Uh - I dunno..."

Lethaia rolled her eyes, "Apollo - he had been struck down by Hera, and he said Artemis had been as well..."

"Yeah..." Jett nodded along with her.

"Well...."  She met Jett's eyes and only received blankness, "Apollo, Artemis, Hermes... What do they all have in common?"

Looking down to his feet a moment, his eyes grew wide.  He glared at her with some excitement, "They're all illegitimate!"

"Yeah," Lethaia nodded, "You got it!  And Helios..."

Jett frowned, "He has nothing to do with Zeus or Hera..."

"Exactly," Lethaia said with a grimace, "I think - I think she's trying to get rid of the Gods that aren't - that aren't from her or something..."

Jett pouted a moment, "Why though?"

"I- hmmm," Lethaia started suddenly as she saw the rabbit sitting still, and continued to rotate it, "Probably to replace them with her own - from her apparent ego it seems that'd be it..."

The dark haired man shook his head suddenly, "What does this have to do with Merimas?"

Lethaia smiled a tiny smile, "Well, this whole God kidnapping thing could work in our favour, because if Helios has been taken..."

"Then, it'll be dark till he's returned!" Jett glared.

Lethaia nodded, "People will freak out - chaos will ensue..."

"And it'll be a wonderful distraction from you and I as we try to break into Merimas Prison!"

Lethaia smiled as she turned the rabbit, her brows rising, "I'm glad I haven't lost my edge..."

Jett leered at her, a lustfulness in his dark orbs, "Never..."

The fire crackled contentedly at the hearth, and Xena lay coddled on an empirical style sofa close to its warmth.  Xena felt the soft and frequent breathing of the sleeping baby, and smiled down at the little elfin face.  Finally, the child had gotten to sleep after a restless early evening, and it bothered the mother no end.  It wasn't like An at all.  She usually settled much easier, seemingly loving sleep as much as a hibernating bear.

"Gods, Xena," came a tender male voice, "She's - she's so beautiful..."

Xena glanced up to Joxer.  He sat at the sofa's matching companion, Gabrielle curled about his lazing form.  She smiled.

"Yeah," agreed the bard, "I don't think I've ever seen a baby so at peace before... apart from this evening," she smiled at Xena.

Xena nodded, "Well it certainly wasn't like her," she said, "I'm glad she finally nodded off."

"She seems pretty quiet," added Joxer.

Xena rolled her eyes with a smirk, "Try sharing a bed with her and being her main food supply!  You'll know quiet then!"

Joxer winced suddenly and lifted a palm, "Aaah, I think I'll leave that to you."

With a bump, the kitchen door swung open, Eurepaeda's buxom form filling it's frame.  Her hands were taken with a round cauldron, steaming with a rich smelling broth.

"Here we go!" she announced, "Lamb stew!"

"Great!" Joxer grinned, his eyes gleaming with a childish sparkle.

Xena's eyes lit up.  Real lamb!  It had been an age! She let her finger dive out and into the strew, a sudden playful smack from an older hand startling her.  Eurepaeda grinned.

"Wait till I get the bowls, dear!"

Xena grinned in return, sucking the rich flavoursome broth from her finger tip.  Eurepaeda turned on her heel, Xena meeting Joxer's hailing eyes.

"Say," he said, taking a taste of the stew himself after his mother strolled from the room, "The sun set kinda fast, didn't it?"

Xena's eyes dropped to a seriousness after she pulled them from the gaze of her baby.

"Yeah, yeah it did," she said, "It worries me.  Particularly after Apollo's falling from grace."

"You think - you think Hera has Helios?" piped up Gabrielle suddenly, finger daring to dip in the stew.

Xena saw the fear in Gabrielle's eyes.

"The way she's going... I think she has the gall to do just about anything..."

The swift footsteps of Eurepaeda startled the young bard, and her finger, just dipped, whipped out of the cauldron, a slick of broth following her momentum and splatting against Joxer's arm.  He glared at her jovially and she blushed as Eurepaeda admonished her with a dour glare.

"Couldn't wait could you?  Tsk tsk!"

Gabrielle blushed as the older woman set to work dealing out the stew into the small clay bowls she had retrieved.  Joxer saw the bread she had brought with her, as well as some butter.  He grinned, tearing the bread apart and doling it out, excitedly waiting the sumptuous meal.

Xena received her bowl with glee, taking the bread Joxer had given her and dipping it in roughly.  She devoured the juice-clad bread, tasting the myriad of vegetables and spices as well as the unmistakable savour of meat.  She purred contentedly, stretching her legs and throwing a thankful look to Eurepaeda.

"Ohh, Eur-"

A stern glare from the older woman silenced her.

"Mama!" she corrected, Eurepaeda grinning, "This stew is - fabulous!!"

"Thank you," the mother smiled, giving Gabrielle her bowl, "It's been perfected after many years... it's just the way Janus liked it."

Joxer swallowed hard on his bread, averting his eyes.

"Well," Xena said suddenly, "Obviously it's just the way your sons liked it too?"

Joxer's look softened, and he glanced back to his mother.

"Yes," the woman smiled, "It is."

After a silence of Eurepaeda setting out her own serve, they all began to work at their meals, several moans of delight coming from the hardened travellers.  Xena gazed out the window as she ate, feeling the soft suckling of her daughter at her breast as the darkness of the sky loomed large.  It did bother her terribly.  She felt like she wanted to hide.  Panic.  No moon, no sun.  Her heart beat with an anxious rhythm.  Joxer's profile pouted as he also looked out the window.  A breeze seemed to whip the dark trees, and Joxer, setting down his meal, closed the shutters fully.  He looked to Xena.

"Seems like a storm's coming on."

As he spoke, a low rumble rolled through the skies, and Xena rose a brow at him.

"Yeah, I'd say so."

The temple was a lavish affair, gold and pink decorating it's every surface, every plain.  Murals awash with images of decadent love-making surrounded the altar in the temple alcove, and the Gods that stood there waited with some concern in their brows.
They felt something wrong, they knew it as they knew where they stood.  Athene strode about, shaking her head with worry.

"This is not right," she said, examining the drapes, the offerings, even the pedestals topped with Thracian vases.

"What's up?" asked Hercules.  Ares eyed him darkly.

"The energy of this temple - it's low."

"Oh," Iolaus muttered, "Like we could tell."

Apollo smirked, stepping to the meagre offering of the mortals, picking out a panflute.

"A temple is more than just a place of worship," he said between pouts and blows over the holes of the flute, "It's a conduit, a merging, between the realm of Olympus, and your world."

Hercules nodded, "And it's here we can get to Olympus and stop Hera."

"I don't think she's in the main of Olympus," interrupted Ares, "I think she's somewhere else.  If we consider that she had kidnapped Hephaestos first, I think his forges on Olympus should be the first place we look."

"We'll be lucky to get there considering the pitiful state of the ether," Athena added, glancing about the beautiful but somewhat faded temple, "The energies of the cosmos are still flowing, but very slowly - as if someone has dammed them up.  The world will function for some time yet - but precariously."

A scuffle of sandal on ground resonated through the temple, and the visitors eyed eachother.

"Was that you?" asked Iolaus, looking to Hercules.  Hercules shook his head.

He glanced around.  The cloth of the offerings table at the main altar fluttered.  Stepping forward, he lifted it, searching underneath.

"Hmm, nothing," he said, "That's odd."

"Not really," said Ares, rolling his eyes and stepping to an adjoining table.  Thrusting his arm underneath it, he looked to the ceiling, rummaging around underneath, and after a moment's struggle, yanked out a body.

"Leggoaameee!" the woman screamed, "EEaaagh!"

"Aphrodite!"

Hercules dove down next to the pink-clad Goddess who cowered from Ares.  She glared at him, then at Ares.

"Oh - Oh I thought - you were with the bitch..."

Ares sighed, "No, what do you take me for?"

"I'm not going to answer that," the Love Goddess replied.  Her hair was somewhat straggled, her face dirty, soft creamy skin littered with bruises.  Apollo winced, snuggling next to her and wrapping an arm around his sister.  Aphrodite smiled at him, "Thanks Apollo..."

"What happened?" breathed Iolaus, and Aphrodite sighed.

"As if you can't tell - Old Cowface had a shot at me didn't she?"

"Hera tried to capture you?" asked Athena.  Aphrodite nodded, shuddering a little.

"Cupie and little Bliss are hiding.  She took Psyche though.  Poor kid wasn't fast enough - comes from starting out as a mortal."

"We'll get her back," Hercules knelt before her, looking her in the eyes, "I promise."

A sad laugh cracked the air.

"Oh please," Aphrodite rolled her eyes, "I don't know what Hera has got on her side this time, but we're in trouble."

"A box," Apollo said suddenly, "She had a box with her."

Athena pouted, her brows knitting in deep thought, "The box did what?"

"It was like - a vacuum, sucking me up into it."

"Herc, that sounds awful familiar," Iolaus said.  The hero nodded.

"That stupid box Pandora had - now her kid's lookin' after it," Ares said suddenly, "Where is it?"

"Naah, that did nothin'," Aphrodite said through a disappointed sneer, "Xena found that one out."

Hercules slapped his hands together, looking about himself.

"Whatever she's done, whatever she's got, we'll find out," the hero said, standing.  He eyed Ares and Apollo, who stood with him.  Athena pursed her lips.

"We should plan some, discern a course of action."

"I say we go in and kick some Queenly behind," Ares said, propping his hands on his narrow hips.  Athena rolled her eyes.

"Without a little thought we could all be defeated!"

"You said once," Hercules smiled, "That surprise is the most valuable element in confrontation.  The way she's going the last thing she'd expect is for a group of us to go up against her.  Especially Ares and Apollo..."

"You guys are nuts!" Aphrodite exclaimed, "Look at me!  Look what she did to Apollo!"

"I was alone," Apollo said, "Were you?"

Aphrodite nodded warily, "Cupid and his fam were at Knossos why?"

"She hasn't had the gall to try it on more than one God at a time - this could be our advantage."

Hercules nodded, "Then let's do it!"

"Oh man," Aphrodite's blue eyes glanced about her in fear, "It's been keen knowin' ya guys!"

A crackle filled the room, the flash of lightening bursting in from the glass-domed ceiling and the shutter windows.  Iolaus staggered back from the wind, the Gods just stood there, resilient to it's forces.  Apollo sighed, shaking his head to Ares and Athena.

"I don't like how this is going..."

"Hmmm, so, you're planning a little assault, are we children?"

The voice, crisp and cold, was unmistakable.  Ares could barely believe it.  This was the same woman that had been a protector for him not so long ago.  He sighed as her vision appeared before them.  She was not fully there, he could see in her wispy avatar the weakness in the ether.  They would have to rally strong to burst through to the other side, in Olympus.  It would also be a challenge having the mortals with them.  Ares felt a trickle of fear as his mother's eyes settled on him, a judicial glint in them.

"So, son of mine," she said, "I see you are turning against me?"

Ares swallowed, glancing to Hercules.  The blue eyes of his brother glowed as he nodded, urging him on.  Ares coughed, not believing the gesture had come his way from that certain individual.

"I turn - against your plans..."

"You don't know my plans," Hera said, her thin red lips smiling, "I could have been planning a wonderful reign for you.  For you to be my prince, at my hand, of all the world, all the cosmos..."

Ares licked his lips.  Oh - control of all the cosmos, with Xena at his si-

No, he thought.  No Xena.  No An.  Only me.  Not even Discord or Strife.  No Aphrodite, no Apollo.  Just Hera - and her inbred brats.  If they were anything like him - he wouldn't like them at all.  Grinding his teeth, he blew a hard breath through his nostrils.

"No, Hera," he said, voice sharp and forceful, "No more of this.  This is not how things are supposed to be."

In a wave of angry green, the avatar of Hera fluttered her peacock feather adornments, her eyes glaring with rage.

"You shall call me MOTHER!  For that is who I am!"

"A mother doesn't destroy."

Hera growled, colour bursting from her, ugly and offending.

"Betray me shall you?" A laughter fell from the avatar, one that filled Ares with dread, "Well, you shall too know what it is to turn against Hera..."  She turned her gaze to Hercules, motioning a hand towards him, "See Ares, I took that halfling's wife, his children... I rid the earth of them all."

"Mother... don't you dare!"

Hera grinned, falling away in nothingness, a harsh chuckle crashing away from her, wracking Ares' body.

"NO!"

Stepping forward, he tried to burst through the ether, to slip into Xena's room, to take her in his arms. The air bounced him back, it was as tough as old leather.  It pulled at every pore, not letting him step through as he always could.

"No let me through!" he growled, pushing at the reality over and over.

"Ares," Athena said, "Seeing as Hera herself had not the energy herself to appear to us in her full form, I'm afraid we may only have enough power to get us through to Olympus."

Ares glared at her darkly, his arms shuddering, "No - we have to get Xena!  We have to save her!"

"We will," the Goddess of Wisdom said, placing her arms on the War God's shoulders, "By saving our world."

Aphrodite stepped forward, grabbing Hercules as she stormed to Apollo.  Iolaus was yanked also by her ivory hand, and after a moment the found themselves in a small circle.  Ares glared at her.  His breaths were panicked, and he tried with everything to calm himself.

"I'm not letting that bitch ruin the most happening family I've stitched together since Herc's!" the blonde nymph cried, "Let's lynch Cow-features once and for all!"

Athena gave a decided nod.  Grasping Ares by the hand, with the other she took Apollo's, glancing to her siblings to follow suit.  Holding onto each other she breathed deeply.

"Feel the cosmos in our breaths, focus it in our space, our energy.  Push forward, through the skin that divides us, and let us be whole..."

VII

    The rumbles resonated through the humid, stormy sky.  Out the bay window, Xena could only see darkness, the deep blackness of the sky suffocating the shadows of the world about her.  She sensed the clouds so low that perhaps, she could reach out - touch them.  Snuggling under the pillow she bundled An to her, tilting her brows.  She wondered, as she watched the demonic weather, where Ares was.  What was he doing?  Was he as worried as she was?  For some reason, she felt pride within her.  Pride he was standing up against the most powerful of Goddesses.

She shuddered as a cold breeze somehow managed to filter through the warmth of the room, her pelt, her blankets, and surround her body, her skin springing up in goose-bumps. She hugged the baby closer, but the heat from the room seemed to be leaking away somehow.  Her back was all that faced the shuttered windows a mere pace away from the bed, but the hearth where a small fire crackled quietly was easily a few paces farther.  She wondered why they had put the bed so far from the fire.  Maybe so that any visitor could gaze out the window easily, and not strain their neck or eyes.  She crawled carefully from the bed, turning to face it, and close the window firmly, perhaps drape a sheet over the space so that the heat was insulated.  As she turned and glanced to the window, a quavering green flash erupted in her face, An wailing suddenly. She wanted to leap, flip, grab her chakram and hold onto her child for dear life, but her strength allowed her only a stagger.  Her loins still hurt, she had not stopped bleeding from the afterbirth.  Rolling over the bed she grabbed An, pulling the sobbing baby close to her.  The energy shuddered further, drawing close to her.

"Hmmm, you cower... good..." came a voice.

"Go away!" Xena cried into the whipping cold rush of air that came from the being before her.  She knew who it was.  This once benevolent being turned so fast in its intentions, anger in every pore of its being where kindness and protection was before.

Only a laugh came from the form, as tendrils of energy licked out towards the cowering mother, curling and writhing around her body.  She shook her head, pulling away.

"No,  don't!"

The cackling filled Xena's ears as she felt fiery warmths take her arms and legs, An screaming in her arms.  A burst of energy struck her suddenly, and with a cry she bolted to the door.  She yanked it open, staggering into a frantic but speedy run down the hallway.

"GABRIELLE!" she cried, "JOXER!!  Oh Gods oh - GABRIELLE!"

A door from behind her, the steps behind her familiar.   Glancing back she saw the bard race after her, fear in her features.

"What - what's going on?"

"No time to explain-"

Before she could finish, her bedroom door burst open in a rush of gale force wind.  Gabrielle spun about with a shriek, Joxer stumbling out after her.  They ran down the hall, Joxer enclosing Xena in his arms and his lover toting her staff.  The three dashed down the stairs, the furious hissing and whipping of the wind reminding them of Hera's rage beating down after them.  Xena clutched her screaming child to her chest, tumbling out the front door into the night, moving her legs as fast as she could to get to the stables.  She untethered Argo, leaping up onto the unsaddled beast.  Her loins ached, she could feel the slick of fresh blood trickle down her legs, but she knew now was not the time to be worried about such things.  Her bare feet kicked the golden flanks, her only thought in the blind fear within her was to retreat to the caves at the base of the Mountains that rimmed Corinth.  The sound of hoof-beats behind her called her to turn her head a moment.  Gabrielle and Joxer shared a brown bay, the horse unsaddled but strung up with old black reigns.  She whipped her head forward, her eyes narrowing in the bluster of the speed.

Gabrielle glanced back, seeing the fading green vortex of Hera slowly lag behind and grow weak.

In the wind, the whispered promise of revenge filled all their ears... I will get you Xena...

    A distant scream ripped through Lethaia's unconscious mind.   Stirring herself from sleep, she realised with much concern that the screams were continuing, and growing louder.  She rolled over, grabbing her crossbow from her pile of things sitting dimly by the dying fire.  She kicked Jett in the side, fumbling with her weapon, listening intently.

"Zeus, what's ughh..."

The ex-assassin rubbed his features groggily, laying back on his pelt until another scream filtered through the air.  He glanced at Lethaia, grabbing his sword and jumping to his feet abruptly.

"It's coming from that way," Lethaia pointed, pulling on her short leather gauntlets.  Jett nodded, and pulling Lethaia along with him he dove into the forest brush, heading towards the noise.

Lethaia felt the bristle of branches and twigs rip at her as they blundered through the undergrowth.  Any track there may have been was ignored as Jett hacked away with his sword. The screams were no more, only louder whimpers.  The night's darkness was not abated, and fear rose in the dark warrioress.  With a stagger they reached a clearing, two dark shapes at its centre.  One lay flat, lifeless, another curled over it.

"All right buddy!" Jett growled, yanking back the attacker.  The stranger gurgled weakly.  Lethaia watched Jett pull the man to his feet, and through the darkness she couldn't comprehend why the man wouldn't stand.  Jett growled again.

"Stand up damn you!!"

Only another gurgle.  The stranger grew limp, and Jett fumbled around with the man's neck.  With a sigh, he let the man down gently.

"Dead," Jett said, and reaching down he checked the other person - a woman, "Her too."

"We gotta find out what happened, we can't in this dark."

Turning to the scrub, Lethaia hunted out a reasonably thick dead branch, to fashion a makeshift torch.  After finding an appropriate stick, and wrapping dead grass around it, she applied the flint sparks to it.  After a few minutes blindly snapping her flints, as well as accidentally pounding the sharp rocks into her own fingers and knuckles accidentally, a glowing red took the torch.  Carefully, she blew life into the embers, bringing it to flame.  Lifting the raging torch, she brought it's aura of light to the centre of the clearing.  As she did, Jett's face grew pale.

"Gods," he breathed, "Look."

The woman, the supposed victim, lay dead, her ivory skin smudged with blood.  Her dress was ripped open, exposing her breasts and torso.  Red hair covered her face.  Down the length of her front were tiny little cuts, slits and stab marks.  Finally, just next to the centre of her chest, was a dagger, planted to the hilt, her blood spilling over from the wound in a trickle.  Lethaia looked away a moment, moving the torch to the murderer.  His eyes were frozen with post-mortis fear.  And total surprise, for in his side, from under his arm up into his heart, was a stab wound, that had bled openly into the dirt.  Looking to Jett, Lethaia saw the blood that ran over his outfit.   The scent of stiff smoke filled Lethaia's nose, and glancing up she saw the torch was ready to retire.

"I need to fashion a proper torch," she said, "Meanwhile, we must take care of these bodies..."

"What do you think happened?" asked Jett.

"Lover's quarrel gone wrong perhaps?" Lethaia said, "Either way, there is a madness in their eyes that I have never seen in anyone before.  I suggest we get to Merimas as quickly as possible, and find Janus."

"How can we in this pitch blackness?"

Lethaia shrugged, "We'll figure something out.  We haven't time for a proper pyre.  Lay them aside, put dinars on their eyes and cover them with the woollen sheet in my satchel."

Jett nodded, trudging off toward their camp.  She set off after him, glancing up to the sky.  The stars still twinkled, their powers beyond Hera, their presence immemorial.  Once at the camp, she set about making a number of torches, ripping up a spare shirt in her supplies, and wrapping the ends of the stubs of branch with the long strips.   Taking out saddle oil she doused the heads of the torches in it.  She put four torches away into the satchel, and lit two more.  Turning to Daphne, she saddled the horse up, and finished dressing herself properly.  Jett soon returned, a sadness in his eyes.

"I uh - did as you said."

Lethaia smiled.  When he spoke, the softness was almost identical to that of his brother.  But she knew, there was a warmth and need inside that soul that Joxer didn't have.  On the outside, Jett was fierce and adept.  Inside, he was a crying boy lost, such a contrast to his brother, who in contrast was a pillar of strength and conviction.  She held forward her hand.

"Come," she said, "We have to get to Merimas and fast."

Jett nodded, stepping forward and taking her hand.  As he did so, his face screwed up into a grimace.

"Eeew," he complained, "What IS that your hand is covered in?"

Lethaia chuckled, swinging herself up onto Daphne's saddle, "Saddle oil, you big baby.  Get up!"

Jett jumped up behind her, and with a swift nudge to the horse's side, Lethaia urged the animal onwards into a bursting gallop, heading in urgency to the city of Merimas.

The well of energy in the temple surged about the bodies, most of them a mirage of mortality, their real natures showing in a whorl of frenzied energy.  Hercules felt himself get pulled into it, and at first he feared.   But something in him knew that this was the only way to help Xena, help Iolaus, help all mortals.  He did as Athena's commanding voice said, and soon, a rippling crisp skin seemed to pull over him as he stepped forward into what must have been the ether.

Glimmering energies rained over and up and around Hercules' soul.  He wasn't sure what was going on, he didn't dare move.  Around him, his siblings sped forward in unrecognizable states.  Mere balls of energy.  He wondered - did Xena know what her lover really looked like without the mortal guise?  Before he could study his surroundings much longer, the wayward world of Olympus seized them, it's bizarre and ever changing gravity pulling them down, and a little sideways.  And then back again.

"Oh by the Gods," Iolaus muttered, taking a shaky step forward, "What is this?"

"Olympus," replied Athena, "You cannot stay here long.  You will die if you do."

"Oh no wonder I feel so crap," the sidekick muttered.

"You'll get used to it," Ares said, stepping forward casually, eyeing over the facade of the Great Hall. "Xena did..."

"Good for Xena," the blonde shorter man said through a balk.

"You took Xena here?  More than once?" exclaimed Hercules.

Ares turned to the hero.

"Yes, of course," he replied, "Hera wished to see her.  I had Xena's permission of course..."

Hercules clenched his teeth, but the calming touch of his sister Athena stopped him from smacking Ares silly.

"Be still, Hercules," she said, "An needed to know her Grandmother."

"Oh she'll know her all right," Aphrodite piped up, running an idle finger over a column, inspecting the dust it picked up on it's journey with a crinkled nose, "... 'Hey An,'" Aphrodite said in a heightened tone, "' This is Cowface, your old Granny.  She tried to kill all your relatives!  Isn't she peachy?!'  Yeah plenty to learn about her!"

Athena frowned at the Love Goddess, "Sshh, we have much to do."

Ares growled, striding forward, "We don't have time for this - we have to get to the forgeries now!"

"Haste brings error, brother," Athena said suddenly, grasping his shoulder, "But strategy brings victory."

Ares sighed.  He knew how many times this woman had kicked his butt in battle.  He cleared his throat, eyes on the wandering Gods about him, but voice thrown directly to Athena's ear.

"I just - feel so helpless..."

Athena nodded, "I know you would never admit such a thing lest you were in real fear, Ares.  Let's go - we'll save Olympus - and your love."

Ares couldn't help but give a small smile, gratitude bolstering his spirits.

"Here," Apollo said suddenly, pointing towards a narrow marble-lined passageway. "This is the way to the Forges of Olympus.  Follow close.  Many traps line this passage, to ward off mortals lest they somehow break in."

"Thought of everything haven't ya?" said Iolaus, stooping to enter the narrow space.

"You mortals are an ingenious race," the God of Music said, lighting a torch.

"Yeah," agreed Ares, "Like rats."

"Thanks," Iolaus narrowed his eyes a moment, realising that it was soon dark around him.  Hercules patted his shoulder.

Apollo sent a leer to his brother God, "We Gods don't risk a thing."

The footsteps of the Gods echoed in the passage, Iolaus' mortal steps a mite louder than his supernatural companions.

"What-"  Fear choked the sidekick's words, "Uh - what *kind* of traps might we trip?"

He felt a hand yank him back suddenly, slicing filling the air as a wall of razor sharp blades flashed past Iolaus not a hair's breadth from his front.  He rasped, as if the blades severed the words that had just left his mouth.

"I believe," said Ares, pulling the young man aside, "That we Gods should go first, in case your feeble mortal bodies are damaged in the descent to the Forges."

"You say the nicest things," said Hercules, wryness dripping in his words.

Athena pulled the war god forward, rolling her eyes, "Come.  We haven't time to waste."

The cold stale air of the cave bit at Xena's skin, her body craving warmth.  At her breast her child cried, determined not to rest. The cave's cold blue rock interior stretched up around them like the inside of a temple, the baked interior the colour of rock formed from the earth rather than sediment deposited by water.  The jagged ground was sharp, their flickering torch a pitiful light source.  Xena did her best not to slip - she could hear Joxer tumble ever few steps or so.  Gabrielle stuck to his side like glue, and by the dim torch light Xena could see rips in Joxer's pants and tunic, blood trickling down his leg, bruises speckling his arms.  Grinding her teeth, she pushed forward into the deepness of the caves.

"Are you okay Xena?"

The sound of her best friend's voice comforted her and ripped at her heart all at the same time.  She had brought her to this.  If it weren't for her own weakness, Gabrielle would never have been tied up in this battle of the Gods.

"I'm fine," she said, "Really."

Gabrielle nodded, "Do you need help with An?"

Xena shook her head, "No, it's okay.  I think maybe you and Joxer should leave me..."

Joxer seemed to spring up from the ground, shock in his large coal eyes.

"Are you crazy?" he exclaimed, "We're not leaving you here!"

"Yeah," Gabrielle agreed, "We're in this together."

"You don't understand," Xena said darkly, clutching the child to her, "Hera has no quarrel with you, just get out of here while you can!!"

"No," the lovers said together.  Gabrielle glanced to Joxer, who spared a weary smile.

"I'm staying," said Joxer, "No matter what you say.  My life would be nothing without ya."

"You know how I feel," Gabrielle said to her friend, "I love you Xena, I can't live without you."

Xena felt a tremble run through her, "You DON'T understand!" she cried, "This isn't pretend!  Hera is going to try to kill me!!  If you stay here you'll be hurt!!"

"If I leave," the bard said, "I'll hurt for the rest of my days, and I could never forgive myself."

The cry of An ripped through the air, rattling the nerves of her mother.  Xena felt her tears spill down her face in a warm heat, their number unchecked, "I don't want you to die..."

She felt her legs grow limp, and she slipped down to the ground, coddling the wailing infant to the nape of her neck.

"You're not going to," said Joxer, "Apollo and the rest are on our side, remember?"

Xena tightened her lips with contempt, "If they don't kill eachother in the mean time..."

Xena felt no hope.  Just a dark crashing realisation that Ares had finally won, after all that time, that pain, those tears.  The dirty rotten son of a bitch had won.   She sat there with his mongrel child, in a fit of hysterics waiting to die at the hand of his mother.  And her friends were STUPID enough to go down with her.  Hate bubbled up inside of her, deep hatred and scathing contempt for the childish entities that governed fate.  They were chaotic, with no sense of responsibility, right or wrong.  They just were.    How could she have thought she had feelings for one?  Especially the God of War?!   She wanted to kick herself for making such a fatal mistake, her anger brought about by the senseless loss of her friends when Hera found them.  And she would find them.  She would hunt them down slowly, and destroy them.

When she looked up from her child, she realised through her numbness that Gabrielle and Joxer flanked her, their arms around her and holding her tightly.   Gabrielle softly wiped a tear from Xena's face.

"You're crazy," Xena whispered, "You're going to die..."

"No she's not," came a voice, "And neither are you..."

Glancing up, Xena's heart thumped hard in her chest.

"What do you want?!"  Xena growled at the dark figure, who rose a brow.

"I thought you and I were on better terms now," Ares smiled, stepping forward and kneeling before the child, "How's An?"

An shook uncontrollably, wailing and shuddering.

"She's - unhappy," Xena frowned, "Scared... Why are you here?  I thought you were-"

Ares grinned suddenly, dangling a finger at the crying baby's hands, "Going after Hera?  Yes well, I just had to come back here and make sure you and An were all right."

"We're fine," Xena said, wiping away her tears, her eyes piercing, "Get out of here, now."

Ares seemed to still with fear, then relax a little, patting Xena's cheek, "Oh don't worry babe, I'm here for you now..."

"Hera will kill you," Xena said.

Ares laughed, "I don't think so..."

An hadn't quietened, and now the baby refused to even touch her father.  Xena glared at the man, staggering to her feet.

"Get BACK!!" she cried to her companions, Joxer diving for Gabrielle.

Ares eyes suddenly bellowed with green fire.  He threw a bolt to the couple, their forms blasting into the rock wall, their half buried bodies bonded with the stone.

The warrior shook her head her throat on fire, "No!"

A low, triumphant chuckle spread throughout the cavern.

Xena glared at the figure that emitted it, stepping back.  "You're not Ares..."

'Ares' laughed long, a taunting wisp like the guile of a concubine under his speech, and the visage of the God of War melted away.  Xena fought back tears, willing to run but feeling stuck to the ground.  An was screaming herself hoarse, the child shaking wildly.  Hera, resplendent in an angry green dress, adorned with tendrils and peacock feathers, stepped towards Xena.

"Dear warrior princess," she said, reaching out a hand to stroke the dark sweaty locks of the exhausted woman before her, "Such a shame.  I thought that you would be a part of my new empire..."

"Get away from me," rasped Xena, "Now!"

Hera tilted her head, "Well that's not way to talk to the woman that would be your Mother in Law..."

Xena hissed, "I'm never marrying Ares!  I never will!"

Hera rose her brows, "Oh really?  I was to understand you were rather in love with my son.  Maybe I don't need to kill you after all.  Perhaps destroying your spirit and presenting your broken being to my Son may be enough to put him out of action... maybe even Zeus' mongrel son Hercules too."

Xena bit her tongue, the feeling of hate bursting inside of her.  She felt her soul blacken with it, tainting and twisting slowly.

"Well," the Goddess said, "I shall waste no more time.  I need you to capture the last of the stray Gods.  You shall be a most suitable lure."

Xena growled, staggering back.  "Get AWAY from me!"

Hera ignored her demands, outstretching long arms, misty glowing light spewing from her and floating towards the cowering Warrior Princess.

The cackling filled Xena's ears as she felt fiery warmths take her arms and legs, An still screaming in her arms.  She felt herself being drawn away, her being seeping through something intangible she'd known and become used to before... Where was Ares? she wondered.  She then tried to figure out why she even cared where he was.  He wasn't here, and he was responsible for every agonizing moment of this torture.   Maybe he wanted her to be taken - he'd never LET her get taken - would he?  Her mind spiralled into despair as the final visages of the Earth dissolved around her, the ether buzzing dolefully around her.

Fire spread about them like a rabid disease, licking and pouncing upon new fuel such as houses, shops, inns, barns, and devouring them hungrily.  The air held rancid stench of death, the light of the infernos surrounding them giving the whole town a terrible orange glow.  They kept low, huddling in their cloaks, their eyes always moving, wary of every stranger.  People wandered the streets with glazed, panicked eyes.  Chaos had settled upon the town, and it's most dangerous souls were ready to step from their bonds should one crazy enough let them free.

"This is madness," Jett breathed, cowering in the shadow of a stairwell.

"You're tellin' me!" Lethaia agreed, "It's armageddon!"

Jett pulled Lethaia to him as a burly man raged past them, sword flailing, expletives pouring from his mouth.  Lethaia shook her head.

"We should hurry, I don't like the way things are going..."

"I know," Jett said, "Those guys better hurry if they're gonna save the day..."

Lethaia nodded, and crept from the wall of the stairs, hiding in the shadows that flickered from the light of the fires about her.  She slowly drew her sword, a medium length but light weapon, ideal for close combat.  Jett was behind her, a longer but equally as lethal weapon in his hands.  For the most part they were ignored, people much to busy panicking and attacking people they knew rather than out of towners.  The odd villager ran up to them, screaming that the world was going to end.  Lethaia only flashed her sword to deter them.

As they crawled up the hill that the jail was mounted on, the havoc grew dimmer.  But a howling, a strange bizarre howling seemed to mount.   Lethaia skipped through the rivulet that separated the jail from the town, and approached the guard-box she had ambushed not so long ago.  Upon arriving, she tapped on the walls and door.

"Empty," she said, and crept around to the front of the box.  The small hut was deserted.

"The guard must have known what was coming," said Jett gravely, "Let's get that key and get this over with."

Lethaia pursed her lips, gazing up to the castle, "Do you think your father's alive in that hell hole?"

Jett ground his teeth, his own lips thinning a moment, and met her gaze, "I don't know.  I doubt it."

She took his hand, squeezing it a moment, and pulled him towards the drawbridge entrance.

It was closed, the towering wooden structure dark and cold in the torch light.  Digging into her bag, Lethaia pulled out a hook and rope.  Jett stepped back as she swung it, watching it whistle to its peak, and clang to a grip.  Upon pulling it deftly, the woman nodded, pulling the brown elbow-length leather gloves on her hands tighter.  She jumped up, taking a hold of the rope, swinging and bouncing up the wall with great pulls of her arm.  As she got a fair way up, Jett followed suit, eyes still aware of what was about them.

Lethaia crawled over the edge of the roof's wall, Jett's hand on her behind pushing her up and over.  He spared a grin at her as he joined her.

"So, where is he?" she asked him.

"Deep underground," Jett replied, "We're gonna have to ask around."

"If anyone's still here," Lethaia frowned, "I think most of the officials have panicked and ran."

"There might be one or two vigilant souls," he said, "But we're not gonna find out if we stand here yakkin'."

Lethaia nodded, "True."

She retrieved her hook and rope, watching Jett scope out the courtyard below them.  It was empty, the dim torches lining its square expanse setting a flickering eerie light on the place.  The wails and cries filled their ears, the sound growing deafening.

"I guess they're freaking out like the rest of us," muttered Jett, Lethaia nodding in return.

"We'll head to the administration desk," the woman said.  She skipped down the worn steps, leaping to the ground nimbly, her eyes always moving.  Ahead were the heavy doors they had entered through nearly a year ago, their appearance now dark and ominous in the everlasting night.  One of the doors were slightly ajar.  She approached it, and touching it the slab of wood creaked on it's hinges.  She exchanged a quick reassuring glance from Jett, and pulled it open.  He pulled the other, and the doors opened smoothly, with little noise.

The slight creak to finish their arc echoed in the empty foyer.  Tall columns lined the walk to the administration desk up ahead, it's small nook of space in the wall lined with wooden shelves with compartments that were fit to burst with scrolls.   On the desk was an abandoned scroll, ink bottle lying discarded and open.  Lethaia got closer, her boots grinding the stone floor of the foyer, echoing off sparse undecorated walls.  She turned about the desk, eyeing every little piece of broken furniture, abandoned belongings, and finally, her fingers touched the scrolls they were after.

"Look," said Jett.

She glanced to where he was pointing.  On the ground, a quill was trampled and split, it's fine feathered lengths splayed and broken.  She frowned.

"No, Lethie, not that..."

It was then she saw him.  Cowering under the desk, hiding in the hole it created, was a familiar face.  She held out her hand.

"No!" the man cried, "Not you!  Leave me!  Let me hide!"

Jett rolled his eyes, "Relax buddy, we're not going to kill you..."

"You!!" he hissed, "You're a maniac! So you're not going to kill me?  You expect me to believe you huh?"

Jett pressed his lips together and sighed through his nose, "If I really wanted you dead, you wouldn't have had a moment to think about whether you believe my good intentions or not."

Lethaia nodded, "You can trust us..."

"Oh I saw the neat work you made of our guards three seasons ago!  We lost 16 recruits to you and your queer friend!" he growled, "What kind of barbarians *are* you?"

"Fine you can stay there," Lethaia sighed, turning around and facing the wall of scrolls, "We'll just have to find Janus ourselves."

"Janus?" the man exclaimed, "The Janus?"

"Warlord, killer - family man..." Jett muttered.

The little man under the desk began to laugh, slapping his toga-clad thigh with a chuckle.

"Good luck!" he said, "I'm sure he's rotted into the stone foundations by now - and serves him right, the brute!"

Jett lunged towards the man, but two lithe hands held him back, with a calming voice.

"Jett - leave him!" Lethaia looked to the old fellow, "What's his cell number?"

The small blue eyes of the man sparkled, "You really think I'm going to tell you?"

Rolling his eyes, Jett raised his hand, balling it into a fist and promising it in a shake.

"Oh I've been threatened before!" the little man howled, "Never shall I, Dorian, betray my country and village!"

Jett grabbed Dorian's collar, lifting him a clear two foot into the air.  Glancing down Dorian gulped.

"Underground - he's underground!"

"WHERE?" hissed Jett with menace.

"He's in room MXXVI!!"

"THANK you," Jett dropped the man, "Your co-operation is most appreciated!"

Dorian nodded, rubbing his bottom gingerly, "Much good it'll do you - he was thrown into a cell and the key was thrown away!  Serves the old coot right!"

"Shut up before I slit your throat," Jett growled, grabbing Lethaia's hand.   Lethaia frowned at him, then followed, shaking her head at the old records keeper.

NEXT PART