Standard Disclaimer: All disappointing plotlines and out-of-character decisions during Season Five were healed during the production of this story...

Timing: This is the should-have-been ending for Season Five, or the final season opener. It directly follows Motherhood.

Extended Disclaimer: I didn't gripe about Season 5; it was more serious than that. I was hurt by it. People attacked it from a place of pain inside, not just from a critical eye. There were not only missed opportunities, there were simply out-of-character actions, a lack of The Bond (regardless of subtext, where was the friendship?); it was a different, weaker show entirely in my opinion. And tons of Herculean lightning bolts happening *outside* pale in comparison to the *inner* lightning bolts this show had in years past. I needed to find an outlet for the rift TPTB -- intentionally or no -- created with a large part of their audience in S5, so here is my vision of a feasible way out of the Tartarus that was Season Five. 

Don't blink, because there are plenty of details for your argument, observation, analyzation and enjoyment. Incidentally, since I am a bard of the screenwriting genre, this structure is more like an episodic script, but I toned that aspect of it down for readability purposes. 

If you were at all pained by the occurrences of Season 5, I urge you to read this and please share your thoughts with me at filmsong@aol.com. FYI, I intentionally DO NOT READ spoilers, interviews, TV Guide loglines, web sites, etc. prior to new shows, so I do not know even the least little bit about what's to come. If you could find it in your heart to please not confirm anything of that nature to me, that would be great, as I try to take each show as-is, without preconceptions. That said, enjoy the adventure!

Back Where We Started
by Lorre Fritchy aka filmsong@aol.com

FADE IN

On the beach where we last saw them, Xena and Gabrielle keep a watchful eye on their daughter, Eve, as she reads Gabrielle's scrolls far below them on the sand. A cliff drops off directly in front of them, with two sloping dunes on both sides.

Gabrielle closes her eyes. "Our daughter."

Xena offers a comforting look.

"What do we do now?" the bard asks. "Not that you had a plan for this one."

After a moment, Xena answers. "I was thinking maybe we should head home?" 

Gabrielle opens her eyes, "Twenty-five years later, Xena. Home might not be home anymore."

"Thought crossed my mind," the warrior admitted. "You ready for that?"

As if we have a choice, Gabrielle thought. "We have to know."

Xena forces a half-smile. "What is it about my mother not seeing her grandchildren grow up?" She is lost in thought a second until Gabrielle catches her eye and nods.

"We'll cross that bridge together," she offers. Looking around them and then down at Eve, Gabrielle notes, "She sure got down there fast."

"Yeah, she got that from me," Xena teases.

"You saying I'm not fast?" a fiendish look from Gabrielle.

"Oh no, no. That's okay, I mean you're an aaaartist," really milking it as Gabrielle pouts. "Just, you'd never get down there before me is all."

Barely another beat between them before they split off running down opposite sides of the slope.

On the beach, Eve hears giggling and teasing screams. She turns curiously and raises her eyebrows at the two women coming at her from both sides.

Gabrielle laughs as she loses her footing in the sand, but reclaims it and continues.

Xena flips through the air, saving herself a few feet. "Li li li li li li li!"

Gab laughs again, "Oh, she's gonna play that way, huh?" On the fly, she sees a staff-like branch of a tree broken on the ground, and picks it up deftly without stopping. Into the ground it jabs and Gabrielle is airborne, saving herself a few feet as well, and giving her best attempt at an Amazon battle cry.

Xena bounds forward, widening her eyes at Gabrielle's vault. "Aw, Zeus! Her signature move."

She kicks it up a notch and bolts toward Eve, one last flip and a "Li li li li" later, she lands at Eve's feet. Gabrielle only seconds behind. Xena feigns a where-have-you-been-all-this-time look, motioning to a nonexistent sundial on her wrist while trying to control her panting.

"See?"

"Hey! I would've had you if I hadn't done the war cry."

"Uh huh," Xena stares at her, having an embarrassing time wiping the smile off her face.

Eve looks to Xena, then to Gabrielle. "Should I leave?"

After a second, Xena surges out of it, "No no. We're just having a little fun."

"Some healthy competition. We're kinda competitive sometimes, you know," Gabrielle leans forward.

"Little exercise," Xena excuses, then turns serious. "Might be good for you, you haven't run around much at all since..."

"..since I brought about the Twilight of the Gods?" Eve goes silent again.

Gabrielle puts a hand on Eve's shoulder and although the bard is still guilt-stricken over her recent action, she is sure to make eye contact with Eve before the child walks away.

"Give it time," Xena assures.

Still catching their breaths, the women walk to the water's edge and scoop the foamy water over their necks to cool off.

Xena catches herself taking a long look at Gabrielle, who is running her wet fingers through her hair and dabbing her chest with water. The bard meets her gaze, looking a little preoccupied herself.

"What is it?"

Xena is uncharacteristically flustered, then frustrated because well, she doesn't know why she's flustered. After all, she's seen Gabrielle a thousand times before. 

Taking a step closer to Xena, Gabrielle lets a grin form in the corners of her mouth. In a low voice, Gabrielle looks out at the water but addresses her friend. "Haven't seen you blush in a long time."

"Pffft!" Xena tilts her head.

"In fact, I haven't seen you so eager to race me in a long time, either," Gab adds.

Xena kicks the sand around. Busted.

"Okay," Gabrielle confesses, "Is it just me or did that feel really -- really -- good?"

"Mmm?"

"Never mind, must be all that's going on."

"No, tell me what you mean."

Crouching to the ground and kneeling in the water, Gabrielle recounts.

"Remember when you--" she exhales.

"Go on," Xena encourages as the bard closes her eyes.

"You died in Niklio's hut on the mountain."

Xena's shoulders tense. Gabrielle looks at her very intently.

"That felt like the end of the world for me."

"It wasn't."

"But it felt like it. My heart hurt so I never thought I'd live through it, or want to. I was numb for a while after..."

"I remember," Xena nods.

"Now, our families are probably-- not that we've really talked about it -- gone after all these years. We've killed the gods," she searches for the words. "It...it is the end of the world, Xena."

Xena listens for the bard's point when Gabrielle looks at her blankly.

"So why don't I feel anything?"

Looking around them for a reasonable response, and finding none, Xena just stares at her friend.

"I feel the same numbness now, even moreso," Gabrielle continues. "But running down that mountain with you, it's like it sparked something deep inside me. I haven't felt that -- alive -- in a million moons."

A warrior arm around the shoulder helps ease the bard's concern.

"I thought it was just me," Xena admits. Surmising, "We've had a lot on our minds. Maybe we should let off a little steam more often, huh?"

Gabrielle nods, "I guess."

The bard does not see Xena's look of curiosity and concern at both of them unfeeling this way.


MOUNT OLYMPUS

It is deathly quiet on Mount Olympus. Rose petals fall past a portal overlooking columns and a large fountain. Following the petals to the source of their flight, we see Aphrodite, sadder than we've ever known her. Dressed in mourning black, she gently and numbly sprinkles the petals over her balcony. 

"Farewell, my sweets," she ekes out the words.


ARES' TEMPLE

The sounds of metal clang as warrior weapons and shields fly across the room, thrown in a fitful rage.

We see the edge of a scroll and follow it. It is one long scroll, and there is still an unused portion at the bottom. Ares paces by the scroll, a quill floating in the air nearby.

"IT CAN'T BE!" Ares rumbles, "IT CANNOT BE!"

He hurls another shield with godlike strength. His eyes motion for the quill to STAB into the scroll as a guttural yell emerges from deep within his blackness.

Aphrodite appears and surveys the strewn objects. She sees Ares staring into the large fireplace. The scroll is rolled and tucked into the back of his leather pants. Aphrodite approaches him and places an arm on his shoulder. 

"Guess you already heard," she states solemnly.

"Heard what?" After a moment, he notices her and peruses her outfit. "Been raiding Discord's wardrobe lately?"

Aphrodite removes her hand, a bit surprised and disappointed in his response. "You're still in shock," she mumbles. "Me, too."

She cries freely. Ares is still too preoccupied to really listen, or to even seem to care about his sister's expression.

"I just can't believe they're gone. I mean we didn't always see eye to eye, but they were -- family," she pauses. "I really did love them, you know."

"Listen, sis, I'm busy. Come back later, huh? If you must."

"Doing what?!" she finally gets upset. "I can't think of anything that would be more mega-pressing to you than this. They die like dogs at the hands of one of your precious warlords and you don't even have the decency to mourn them?"

Aphrodite steps back a few paces and shakes her head at him. "That's lower than a hydra's belly, even for you!"

Ares comes to.

"What in Hades' name are you squawking about?"

"Not that you care," Aphrodite regains her composure and stingingly states, barely uttering the words. "Caesar's army just crucified Xena and Gabrielle."

Aphrodite looks desperately at Ares, who is not as surprised at the news as she would have expected.

FADE OUT


FADE IN

The crickets sound the same as they used to, Xena notes as she adds wood to the campfire. Gabrielle cleans the pots from dinner and methodically lays out bedrolls and puts things away for the next day's travel.

Eve has kept pretty quiet, reading the scrolls. But with this scroll, a chuckle fights its way out from her side of the campfire every so often. Xena and Gabrielle exchange grins.

After a few hours pass, Eve is asleep with open scrolls enveloping her. Gabrielle brings a bucket of water to the camp. She puts it down, eyes Eve and the scrolls, and walks over to her. Pulling the fur higher on the child, Gabrielle removes the scroll from Eve's arms and steps away to read.

Xena, who appeared to be asleep against a tree is, of course, actually wide awake watching the whole transaction. She smiles curiously at Gabrielle's nostalgic grin.

"So what was she reading about?" Xena asks.

Gabrielle looks over, embarrassed, then resigns herself to telling. The bard involuntarily crinkles her nose, "You really want to know?"

Xena stands up, brushes herself off and shakes out the bedrolls a few times, smoothing them out.

"Why not?" Xena remarked. 

"Remember the enchanted scroll?"

Xena drops her bedroll and smiles broadly.

"Minya with your whip."

"Me, catching a hundred fish."

"Aphrodite's b.o.!"

They stop and stare at each other a beat, and then at the same time, "Three naked Gabrielles!"

They fall into a fit of laughter. The two women reminisce like they haven't seen each other in years. Neither one of them remembers laughing this hard in a good long while.

Xena does a respectable impression of one of the dancing Gabrielles, when the real one smacks her shoulder teasingly, never ceasing the laughter. 

The very sight of Xena and Gabrielle standing face to face, clutching their bellies in pleasurable pain, is enough to make even the campfire laugh just a bit.

The friends relax into a hug. An I-haven't-seen-you-in-ages kind of hug. A long-lost kind of embrace, complete with brief but reassuring caresses on the back. 

Xena's face is curious, as is Gabrielle's. After a moment that hangs in the thick night air, they part and stare at each other, somewhat sheepishly. Gabrielle cracks a bewildered smile and squints those green eyes inquisitively. They awkwardly fall into another hug, both putting their heads to the same side, laughing and correcting it. 

After closing their eyes to really take the moment in, they part again. Gabrielle shakes her head like she's swallowed an entire loaf of nutbread.

"What's hap --" she stutters.

"Dunno."

"Something's, something's not right."

But yet that was very, very right, the warrior mused to herself.

They shake themselves back into the here and now, and continue setting up their bedrolls. Without looking, Xena nudges her friend's shoulder. Gab takes a quick survey of Xena and nonchalantly moves her bedroll ever so closer to Xena's. 

For a few hours, they lay silent, staring up at the stars as they've done so many times before. Although this felt like the first. Gabrielle's arms fold in a self-hug as Xena turns over and looks up to follow the bard's gaze.

"Solaris," the warrior states matter-of-factly.

"Mmm."

Remembering the events surrounding that name, "Still feel like a silly sidekick?" Xena half jokes, then half doesn't want to hear the answer.

Gabrielle takes a deep breath and Xena makes a mental note of how serious her life-loving bard has been in the last few months. 

"I haven't in a while," the Amazon finally answers.

"'Cuz you're not."

"Felt anything, that is," Gabrielle states coolly.

"Huh?"

"I haven't felt anything, Xena. For months and months, it's like I just, I just --"

"Don't care?" Xena asks, concerned.

Gabrielle tilts her head, searching for the right words. "No. Don't feel." She props up on her elbow to face her friend. 

Xena removes Gabrielle's arms from being wrapped around herself, and touches the bard's arm tentatively with her callused hand. Gabrielle studies the hand and struggles to continue. But not because she's overcome with emotion, more because of her curiosity at her lack of them.

"How many things have happened to us where-- Well, before we used to talk about it, or something."

Gabrielle returns Xena's touch, her breathing becoming erratic, feeling slightly overwhelmed with sensations she hasn't experienced in longer than her recollection can muster.

"Even that," Gabrielle gestures to Xena's hand and manages to utter, "We don't even -- it's like we're not--" the bard is at a rare loss for words. 

Xena sees the struggle and how even this slightest touch brings up a friendship's worth of emotions within them. Xena gets a dire look on her face as she really hears what Gabrielle is saying. Noting Xena's urgency, Gabrielle asks, "What?"

Xena quickly puts another hand on Gabrielle's forehead, then moves it to her arm, her face, her shoulder. Gabrielle's not complaining, but she doesn't get it either. But who cares, she can sense herself beginning to feel again. And feel a lot. So much so that she didn't realize just how numb she'd been for months.

"What do you feel? Right now!" Xena commands.

The blushing bard mumbles, "Uh, well, actually Xena I'm definitely, um, definitely feeling something. A wave of things. Wow." It feels like when Ares stood by that barkless tree, giving her a taste of what it felt like to be a god. Except this, this was more powerful, Gabrielle observed, wondering if Xena felt it too. 

To be sure, Gabrielle cups Xena's face, methodically touches Xena's hands, her leg, her hair. And gets an affirmative answer to her unspoken question. But then Gabrielle can't understand the desperate look on Xena's face.

"That's it," Xena finally whispers, not wanting to admit anything. She sits up and faces Gabrielle. "I knew it, I -- I sensed something, but I couldn't put my finger on it."

Gabrielle sits up to see the warrior's face completely lit by the fire. "Sensed what?"

"Gabrielle, for a while now, there's been something very important missing from us."

Gabrielle leans in and whispers, "What?"

"Us."

Their eyes lock.


ARES' TEMPLE

Ares pores over the scroll, tapping his head. Aphrodite walks by, at first disgusted to see him, then interested in what he's doing. She moves in for a closer look. "So now you're waxing poetic?"

Ares jumps up and tries to gather up the impossibly long scroll but Aphrodite catches on and starts to read.

"Mind your own business, blondie," he growls.

He flashes out but Aphrodite gets a piece of the scroll. Her brow furrows curiously as she reads.


ARES' WEAPON ROOM

Thinking he's escaped his sibling, Ares settles down again quietly when a persistent Aphrodite flashes in.

"AUGH! My kingdom for a moment's peace!" he yells.

"Chill! What do you have stuck up your codpiece, bro?"

Ares surrenders to her reading it. He paces. Aphrodite is moved by what she reads.

"Awwwww, I think it's sweet," she croons. "I mean, you got their characters completely wrong, but it's a tribute nonetheless."

Ares is not pleased with her critique. Aphrodite looks up, suddenly sad.

"I just can't believe they're gone," she confesses. "For a couple of mortals," she pauses a long moment, "they were real goddesses."

She flashes out.

Ares narrows his eyes. "And they're killing the real gods."


CAMPFIRE

Xena and Gabrielle sit up, back to back. They brainstorm as Gabrielle scribbles some notes on her scrolls, documenting their conversation. 

"There was Chin."

"Lao Ma's book."

"Lao Ma, of course!" Xena slaps her forehead, "I haven't figured out how a comatose king gave her twin daughters."

"The Green Dragon."

"That wooden head trap he put me in."

"This time I was in it with -- Joxer." Gabrielle quells her sudden nausea at the memory of fetching a stashed bag of black powder from The Mighty's unmentionables.

"Joxer's cooking skills?" Xena cries in disbelief. "Helped figure out the black powder's secrets?"

"Ming Tien's legendary flatulence had nothing to do with him."

Xena involuntarily laughs out loud as Gabrielle continues writing. "What else," the bard inquires.

"Finding a potion for Joxer's wound and running out of time just like when you were hit with that arrow."

"Mmm."

"What about Swimming to Tartarus. And Solan. And the helmet of invisibility. And--"

Gabrielle jabs her hand in the air, keeping one finger up to tell the princess to please hold that thought 'til she can catch up. Xena practically bursts waiting to move on. She grimaces a fish-don't-just-catch-themselves grimace until Gabrielle releases her hold.

"'kay."

"Draco's stupid cupid spell."

"Set to music," Gabrielle adds.

"Yes." Xena rolls these things around in her head.

She jumps up again, ready to get serious. But her body language relaxes the further she gets from Gabrielle. At the same time, Gabrielle yawns and pokes the fire with a stick. Xena notices the change and fights the urge to stop what they're doing and go to sleep.

"What do you feel, at this instant?"

"Tired, I guess."

"You guess. You say that a lot these days," Xena prepares herself for a serious talk and her voice gets deep. "The Gabrielle I used to know had the right description for every event."

Gabrielle shrugs. "I guess I just have bigger things on my mind."

"A second ago you were a fireball."

Gabrielle pays attention and struggles to reclaim the fire. "I remember, Xena. But it's like it wasn't me."

"But it WAS you. More you than you right now."

"What?"

A serious gaze claims the warrior's face. "Come over here."

An inquisitive look from the bard at this very sincere command.


ARES' TEMPLE

Ares is sprawled, laboring over the scroll when Aphrodite flashes in angrily and confronts him, "What-did-you-do?!"

"What?" the God of War asks innocently.

"They're not in the Elysian Fields, and Hades hasn't heard anything either." Aphrodite gets her tough negligee self in Ares' face.

"Where...are....they?"

Ares backs away from her and scowls.


CAMPFIRE

Gabrielle, numb or not, obeys Xena's last instruction. Her Amazon instincts stand her up tall as she walks with care towards Xena.

"Closer," Xena urges.

Another step.

The warrior drawls, "Closer."

Gabrielle squints curiously. Xena puts a tentative hand on Gabrielle's shoulder. And leaves it there. Soon enough she is compelled to add her other hand to Gabrielle's other shoulder. They watch each other for reactions until their eyes have life again. They exhale and offer another bear hug.

"Xena, what's happening?" she hears the familiar crackle of Xena's leather as she squeezes her tightly, truly afraid of letting go.

"Not sure," Xena admits. "Whatever it is, I don't think we're in total control of it." Concern floods Gabrielle's eyes.

"And whatever it is, it's been trying to make us forget our," Xena considers, "connection to each other."

"I'm so sorry," Gabrielle says with ferocious sincerity. "I feel like you've been in Athens and I've been in Thrace for ages."

They part but keep their hands clasped as they sit down again.

"The only way we'll figure this out is together," Xena decides. "We have to remember who we are."

The warrior's mind churns. She searches the camp for something, but doesn't know what. She spots Gabrielle's leather skirt flaps and raises an eyebrow. Gabrielle raises both eyebrows in return. She's got that look, Gabrielle surmises, anxious to see what her friend has planned.

Xena whips out a dagger and sidles up to Gabrielle who, not knowing what is going on, looks around them as if to check for onlookers.

"This'll do," the warrior grins.

She carefully slides the knife along Gabrielle's tanned skin and up under one of the straps hanging from the side of her skirt. SLICE! Gabrielle is quite curious, but catches on when Xena hands the knife to her. "Mmm," she utters in recognition.

Gabrielle selects a strap from the side of Xena's well-known battle flaps, and seems to get a kick out of destrapping the warrior princess. Xena contains a chuckle, recognizing her companion again and appreciative of the mischievous green eyes returning.

Xena puts both straps on a rock and uses her knife to split them. She and Gabrielle work as one, over fire and water to form two like armbands combining their gear. 

Xena places the warrior black/Amazon brown weave on Gabrielle's arm as the bard tilts her head up at her, losing herself in blue. Gabrielle has a flash of looking up at Xena this way when she painted the Mendhi on her. Again their souls intertwine on their bodies somehow. The bard's thoughts suddenly whisper aloud, "I'm sorry I'd forgotten."

Gabrielle holds Xena's arm up to gently secure the armband on her friend. 

"So many things that have happened to us lately worked to separate us somehow," the warrior finally breaks the silence. "If we want to uncover this, we need to remember our--"

Gabrielle, half-listening and half-admiring, relishes a moment to trace the weaves of the bracelet around Xena's arm, shutting Xena up quite effectively. She reads into a pair of attentive eyes. "Bond?" she finishes, feeling everything that goes with that word. 

Xena nods slowly, "We need to stay together."

Gabrielle leans in and hugs Xena, "Together."


LATER

By the campfire, Gabrielle paces wildly, waving her arms in bardic description, with Xena adding her two dinars every so often in recounting stories of the past several months. 

The feather quill practically takes flight from its speed. Through the night, they work feverishly to recall and analyze 25 years of experiences.

"Alti again."

"Flying parchment."

"Greek Fire."

"That dream you had where you were underwater?"

Gabrielle stops writing and corrects Xena, "No, I think that really WAS a nightmare."

"Right."

Gabrielle glances at the ink on her fingers from writing. She bursts into happy tears, causing Xena to turn to her fully.

"What is it?"

"I just-- I can't seem to control my feelings all of a sudden. There was this rush when we hugged and again when I saw the ink..." she stops composing in order to compose herself. She pushes the scrolls away.

Xena stands up and paces by the fire, staring at Gabrielle, absorbing her emotions completely. Disheartened that they've been going along, business as usual, for so long that she hasn't really even looked at her partner.

Gabrielle has calmed down again, too calm. She yawns and stretches back on her bedroll.

"I'm so tired. Good night, Xena."

Xena stops pacing and frowns at Gabrielle. "Weren't we figuring something out?"

"I guess." Gabrielle turns over on her bedroll, half-answering.

Xena dives to the bedroll and lifts Gabrielle's hands to study the ink. A startled look from Gabrielle as her companion rubs some of the ink off onto her own finger and thumb. Gabrielle watches breathlessly, completely alert and in the moment now as Xena's fingers brush the ink in super slow motion. 

After this drawn out and purely blissful moment, Gabrielle snaps out of it and grabs her quill again.

"I got a horse!" she jumps back into the list. "For a while anyway."

"Named Amber."

"Like the stuff we got from the Amazon Chia," Gabrielle notes.

"There's Joxer's feelings for you."

"And Ares' feelings for you."

Xena arches an eyebrow. Gabrielle doesn't look up from her scroll, but she grins, "I'm just saying."

Xena scratches her head, frustrated; "Didn't we RESOLVE both of those issues a thousand times over?"

"It would seem."

They list these recurring people, places and circumstances through the night...


Early the next morning, Eve, ever saddened, mounts Argo II. Gabrielle hands her an empty sack.

"Make sure they're the rounded leaves, not the pointy ones, okay? Fill 'er up."

"Sure you trust me to come back?" Eve states blankly.

Gabrielle touches Eve's scarred hand and smiles warmly, "I'd like you to come back."

Eve tries to hide being moved by Gabrielle's answer. Xena watches as Gab pats Argo's rump to get her moving. The warrior picks up a scroll and reads their list to herself as Gabrielle approaches to read over her shoulder.

Xena's fingers trace the letters in a sensuous effort to find meaning in them. The Amazon observes and puts her arms around Xena to place her hands above the warrior's, copying her tracing a few moments.

"Anything?" she asks, hopeful.

Xena inhales deeply before answering, "Yeah." She turns to her. "But nothing that helps me with this."

The blushing bard removes the scroll from Xena and poises her quill for written battle. "So then."

"Wait, what's this one?" Xena inquires. "'Swedish twin oil wrestling with Aphrodite'?!"

Gabrielle rubs her own neck sheepishly, "Oh, didn't I tell you about that?"

The eyebrow.

"Guess not."

Taking giddy pleasure out of not elaborating, Gabrielle expertly changes the subject. "Something's still missing."

"We're only writing the events. Things that happened." Xena paces and considers the case. "And in looking at that list, many of them were events that were similar to things that happened to us before."

"Hmm, okay," Gabrielle replied. "So we covered the actions. What we're lacking here is--"

She circles her hands in the air, hoping the answer will just present itself. She and Xena catch a glimpse of their armbands -- friendship bracelets of the utmost purity -- and look at each other knowingly, Xena stating their conclusion, "The Reaction. Colossal changes in our lives have barely met with a blink in some cases. We've glossed over them. You said it yourself -- you felt nothing. Now we have to put the action with the reaction."

"You think that will help us find the answer?"

"Gabrielle," she sighed deeply and lowered her voice, "Maybe there are things about our lives that we thought we put behind us, but we really haven't yet. You ready for that possibility?"

Gabrielle inhales equally deeply and smacks her lips, nodding. She fingers her armband and thinks aloud. "So, we need to think philosophically, here. What each of these things means to us." She stops and looks sympathetically at Xena. "You aren't always big on heart-to-hearts, Xena. Sure you're ready?"

"As long as it's with your heart. I'm ready enough."

Gabrielle's skin burns red hot. She clears her throat and reads aloud. "Where should I start?"

Xena searches the cxampground and spots Gabrielle's weapon of choice, "When did you get your sais?"

Gabrielle peruses the list. "Uh, when we were trying to fix your chakram. You had forgotten your inner warrior. Oh and you got a new outfit."

"Ugh, I hated it! It didn't work for me," Xena comments.

"But you weren't yourself." She keeps reading, and summarizes, "Anyway, that's when I got my sais. And I got a new outfit, too."

Gabrielle gestures to her Amazon duds. Xena looks her head to toe and the blue eyes widen noticeably. "Uh, yours works for you. Next?"

The writer grins and continues, knowing she is still being watched. "Ares and Kel. Um, Amarice kept saying she was so amazed by my fighting skills."

"You were fighting for three."

"Ah, but I didn't know that yet. It was like preparation. I had no idea how I'd use it later," Gabrielle observes matter-of-factly. "You couldn't fight, so I fought to protect you."

"By the way?" Xena interrupts.

"Mmm?"

"Thanks, Mavis."

Gabrielle smiles fully, proudly at her warrior's compliment. 

Eve, who has been observing this scene, notices that even from her perspective at the forest's edge, the two women interact rhythmically. Eve is warmed by them, but troubled nonetheless. She looks up at the sky, thinking to no one in particular, What did they ever do to deserve me? 'Cuz I sure don't deserve them. You were crazy to bring me here in the first place. Argo II snorts as Eve leads her out into the woods.


Hours later, Xena pours water over the remnants of a fire to extinguish it. Gabrielle has packed their bags and they appear ready to leave the site except for one thing. Eve isn't there. Xena looks around, investigating the surroundings.

"She should have been back by now, Xena."

Pursing her lips, she nods. "Yeah, I know."

"You don't think she--"

"Not sure."

Just then, Argo II whinnies in the distance. The two women bound in that direction, clearing rocks and brush effortlessly. 

They arrive at the horse, who has no signs of a rider, and who was heading back to camp.

"Alright, girl, alright." Xena brushes Argo's face.

"What do you think happened?" Gabrielle searches the woods around them.

Xena spots a cut bridle and fingers it. She holds it up for Gabrielle.

"Come on." Xena is as soon on the horse, lifting the saddlebags Gabrielle hands her, then lifting Gabrielle herself onto the mare.


They probe deeper into the woods. 

"If we go far enough, we'll end up in the village. She definitely came this way, though. Argo's retracing her steps."

Suddenly, Argo rears up. Gabrielle is almost thrown, then holds on tightly to her riding partner as Xena calms the horse down.

"Okay, Argo. It's alright," she turns to Gabrielle. "Whatever happened, happened here."

Gabrielle follows Xena's eyes to the ground around them, where plenty of footprints indicate there was a group here not long ago.

Xena looks up into the distance, and sees hints of the village buildings. She sighs heavily. "Figures."

Gabrielle moves her head to see past Xena to the village in question. Although the village is rebuilt, there is a flag flying that both of them recognize. Quietly, the bard confirms. "Cirra."


OUTSIDE THE VILLAGE

Gabrielle wraps Argo's reins loosely around a branch of a tree out of the main village area. She looks tentatively at the layout of the renovated village. This is not someplace they really want to be recognized, not that anyone would remember them after all these years, but it's still a sore spot fresh in their minds.

Out of nowhere, Xena appears with a report. "Apparently, they're big traders here, and they've been scouting the areas for potential slaves."

"Some things haven't changed," Gabrielle remarks with a sigh. "You think they have Eve?"

"I'm sure of it. And for a village of this size, their prison is newer and well-guarded. It's on the other side of the amphitheater."

Gabrielle recoils. "Amphitheater? They trade human beings in between acts?"

Xena shrugs, "I'll need a distraction." 

Gabrielle listens for the answer, when Xena turns to her with that look that tells Gabrielle she's the distraction.

"Xena! What do you want me to do with them?" she pleads.

Xena holds up Gabrielle's arm, indicating their armband.

"You're a bard, remember? Engage them with your brilliant storytelling," teasingly.

"And if they don't listen?"

Xena pauses a moment. "Knock 'em out." She shrugs, "You're brilliant at that, too."

Gab half-smiles as Xena heads off, "How will I know when you've got her?"

Xena pats her chakram. "Watch the skies, my friend."


AMPHITHEATER - BACKSTAGE

Gabrielle peers out from the curtain to see a few people filing in. She can also see off in the background, the prison and many guards at the gate. She gulps at the sight. She is sure to avoid a performer who walks to center stage to announce his act.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please don't be shy. In a few moments you will witness one of the finest demonstrations of sandal making this side of the Aegean."

Out of the handfuls of people in the audience, one applauds, and half-heartedly at that.

Gabrielle rolls her eyes, "Great."

The performer returns backstage. He doesn't exactly know what happened next, but the last thing he remembers was the smell of leather and a soft voice saying, "Sorry about that."


JUST OUTSIDE THE PRISON WALLS

Xena skillfully works her way around, evaluating the walls, the bars, and she quietly knocks out a couple guards and drags them out of the way. She approaches a lock, leans in to get a closer look, and sighs, raising her eyebrows.

"You know? I'm a warlord for 10 winters and I can't find a decent lock," Xena laments as she fusses with the metal for a split second. "Twenty-five years later they get fancy new ones."

She grins, "Where's Autolycus when I need 'im." Having had enough, she checks her back and raises her sword above the lock to do it the old-fashioned way. It takes a second effort to break it clean through. She exhales.

Standing back a few paces, she glances around the corner to the amphitheater and spots Gabrielle watching from backstage. She returns behind the prison, removing her chakram as she goes.


AMPHITHEATER

From the stage, Gabrielle sees the chakram toss high in the air and recognizes it as her cue. She fingers her armband. "Back at the academy again."

Gabrielle takes the stage, getting a little more attention than the previous performer. Even a few woo-hoos from hungover off-duty soldiers sleeping it off in the bleachers. A grin forms and is rejected in the corner of her mouth.

"Who here is brave enough to hear the story of a young Centaur, who--"

The audience jeers, "Aw, Zeus, not another bard!"

Gabrielle draws back and smacks her lips. Xena, how do I let you talk me into these things.

A man calls out, "We just had a bard. This ain't the Appian Way, this is supposed to be a live demonstration!"

"A demonstration," she repeats. "Did you really come here to see sandal demonstrations, huh?" 

"No!" respond a few audience members.

Passers-by stop to see what's on stage, and listening to the banter, and filter in for a seat. A very fat warlord plops in the front row, and Gabrielle squints her eyes at him. Oh yeah, he's a good one to start with.

"You know, you can't be a good fighter if you're out of shape."

The warlord growls. Audience members snicker.

"Yeah, in fact you could all use a little exercise." Gabrielle flirts with her audience, feeling the power of the performer in her rise to the occasion. 

"How about a demonstration of another kind, eh?" the Amazon queen struts her stuff. She draws her sais a few times, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh. The audience loves it. In fact, it's not long before she's packing them in, villagers, ruffians, teenagers and gods know what other types. 

But the prison guards stay at their posts.

Coyly, "You know, I always like an audience when I perform." Hoots and hollers from the now very sober soldiers in the crowd.

"Okay, everybody up." she commands.

People look at each other like, "Is she kidding?"

Gabrielle starts doing some arm raises and encourages the onlookers to do the same. "Come on, let's go. One, two, three..."

Audience members shrug as they follow her lead in the earliest known Greek version of warriorobics. She does a little punching routine, a leg lifting routine. 

A surly maid says to her rather robust companion, "You really going to do these things?" The companion looks at her flatly and states, "Look at that peasant muscle. If it takes a few of these to get a few of those, it's worth a try." The maid looks at the rock hard stomach in question, widens her eyes, and joins in.

All follow Gabrielle from their seats throughout the amphitheater. Really dogging it too, this perky little blond is way too into this than they're used to. 

Gab lifts her arms to her sides and moves her legs out and in, out and in. Inwardly chuckling at making this up as she goes along. Come on, Xena, how much time do you need? I feel stupid, flailing in the air like, like -- Joxer.

"Hey, blondie, what in Tartarus do you call these?" inquires a tired patron, whipping Gabrielle out of her thought.

"Joxer." 

"Huh?"

Catching herself, "They're, they're -- jumping Joxers. And one, and two, eight more, come on. You can do it!" She says, grinning in tribute and almost hearing the aerobic version of Joxer The Mighty's theme song. "A healthy warrior is a mighty warrior."


PRISON

Xena moves like a firefly once inside the prison: now you see her, now you don't. Blending in with the walls. Surveying the place, she doesn't see where the slaves are being held. She takes out a soldier with half effort, and sees another locked set of thick bars across the guard-smattered courtyard. 

The prison guards gathering near the main gate point at the amphitheater and make very macho gestures, laughing. Xena sneers, "Anytime would be good, Gabrielle."


AMPHITHEATER

Gabrielle wryly grins at the tiring audience, but that ends when she sees the prison guards have still not budged. 

"Hey! How 'bout you guys? Up there!" she directs her attention to the guards at the rear of the amphitheater, who nonchalantly wander across the street to get an eyeful of good looking. If they only knew the good looking that was inside the prison, Gabrielle thought.

The bard is in complete control of her audience now. Give Xena more time, she thinks.

A couple of plump ruffians collapse into their seats as Gabrielle entices the guards to join her. "C'mon. I suppose you guys are the best, let's see it." Which they are more than happy to try and prove.


PRISON

Guards disappear in handfuls across the road to the theater, Xena nodding approval. She silently flips up into the rafters and balances on the bamboo roofings along the sides of the courtyard, landing on a lone guard at the bars. She gets his keys, working quickly.

A multi-celled dungeon houses a motley group of prisoners and innocents to be sold as slaves. Eve is one of them. Slumped in a corner, not caring much about her fate one way or another. A cool, low and familiar voice she is not too surprised to hear, finds its way to her cell.

"Eventually, you're going to have to let yourself off the hook," Xena says.

Another prisoner walks by, "She's dead already. Didn't even fight when she was brought in here." And spits at her feet.

Xena now appears, leaning casually on the bars.

Finally, "You and Gabrielle have something -- good," Eve utters.

Unsure of where she's going with this, Xena responds honestly. "The best."

"That much goodness shouldn't have this much badness thrust on it."

Xena chuckles, Eve tilts her head. "Sounds like something I said to a bard not long after we met. But Gabrielle saw something in me she was pretty determined to convince me of." And something we recently rediscovered to be true, Xena thinks.

"What was that?" her daughter asks, hiding her interest.

"Just because love is hiding, doesn't mean it's left altogether."

Eve hears her, and does not pull away from the hand that touches her cheek.


AMPHITHEATER

The audience is exhausted, sweaty, barely moving. But the guards watch with extreme interest as Gabrielle takes another of them onstage, amongst a pile of guards she's already disposed�);�ZX��f]��`;�2DDI&�^4!�)1A@cC �8��� (*�ł�.����D��u�ZTuU,�U�ݙ�����+�����!������ �}q��X4++�IcИ�ϖr��l�,���Y����t:��X}y���4�Z���zJD��cj��䨪3��4���`)&Q rD��2<�ۓ�D&�H�4����:�m@�E����-Q���y|.��6������}��Π�����p�x���| *�� �*�(V��&R���C�j"A��u�J����4�����?q�������o�5�;��`�b����/t�r����Vx% ����V_���A������Q����`������,_���1���h5L��{x|f�gc���a��J:�N��Y���5�yr����"� �
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"So, who's next? Two of you at once?" she's certainly getting her workout. "Anyone? Don't be shy." Teach you to boo my storytelling.

No one will volunteer, but they all want someone else to go up. The audience gets restless, show's over.

"Wait! Alright, you'll win a prize," trying a different tack. "Yeah, a lock of hair from Xena, the legendary Warrior Princess."

Gasps in the crowd, remembering her too well even these years later. The crowd suddenly grows silent but very eager. Oh yeah, I still got it, the bard muses.

Then she senses something. Turning, she sees a hooded figure emerge from backstage. She's a bit wary but seeing no chakram toss over the prison, she plays it up for time in front of this rapt audience.

"Ahhh, a mysterious foe."


PRISON

A couple guards Xena conked outside begin to come to. They realize the urgency and look around as if to tell someone "The prisoners!" but there just isn't anyone in close proximity at the moment. "Where in Hades is everybody?!"


AMPHITHEATER

Gabrielle faces her challenger with caution. She can't believe he got that close and she wasn't aware. Just when I think I'm getting better at this...

Gab blocks the thrust of a dagger in each hand of her opponent. They twist and turn, Gab seriously concentrating while the crowd nudges them on. Gabrielle takes a partial blow to the gut, but spins around quickly to land a kick to her foe's back. 

"Ohhhh!" the audience groans.

The challenger's daggers raise in the air above Gabrielle, clashing with her sais. As she is close enough, Gabrielle suddenly gets a mighty dose of piercing blue from beneath the hood. Gabrielle's own green eyes widen and her body shivers at the discovery of her shifty companion's identity. The two push off each other and circle around again. The crowd's cheers drown out the goings-on at the prison.

The bard mischievously squints at her cloaked friend and engages. "Feeling lucky?" she asks.

Xena, still disguised to the crowd, flips in the air above Gabrielle to land behind her, but the bard hits the ground to challenge, "Oh no you don't."

An orchestral demonstration of crashing daggers and sais ensues. Matching Xena's every move, and another flash of Xena's blues tells Gabrielle she's not the only one enjoying this little sparring match.

A step back, a lunge forward, a thrust, a jab, a parry. It is a dance of dedication, and the two are as focused on each other as they have been in a long time. A quick spin lands Xena back-to-back with Gabrielle who holsters her sais and reaches back to lock arms with her favorite warrior.

A low chuckle can be heard emanating from the cloak. Gab half-smiles and readies herself as Xena flips Gabrielle over her shoulders, causing the bard to come spinning back down in front of Xena, drawing her sais again.

Gabby quickly ducks down, under Xena's legs and flips the cloak over her head, revealing her sword, which the warrior now takes. Gabrielle's eyes widen as Xena "blindly" lunges at the Amazon, who barely blocks every attempt, right up to a standstill where Xena's sword rests in Gabrielle's sais. But Xena pulls a dagger in her free hand and gets one swift cut to the Amazon haltertop. 

"Hey!" Gabrielle screams, praying for nature to hold itself up. The crowd loves it.

A guard is finally heard over the stadium roars.

"The prisoners have escaped!"

Reluctantly, the guards and the crowd begin to pay attention. Xena removes her cloak and tosses it. Gabrielle holds up her strap and turns just in time to see Xena's chakram toss high in the air outside the prison. "Huh?" 

Xena raises an eyebrow at her, enjoying her confusion. They run out the side of the amphitheater, where Eve hands Xena her chakram, causing Gabrielle to squint her eyes at the warrior. "I think I'm remembering exactly who we are now," the bard exclaims as they escape the village unnoticed in the melee following a village prison break.


CAMPFIRE

Eve stares into the flames. There's a part of Xena that just wants to slap her out of this melancholy, but the warrior quickly quiets that impulse. "I know you didn't intentionally get taken, but you didn't defend yourself either," she says instead.

"Isn't that what your Eli taught?," Eve counters. "Let yourself be caught, imprisoned and killed?"

Gabrielle chimes in, "Eli taught a life not everyone is capable of...including me."

Eve looks at her as she continues.

"But I believe in his principles. We just each have to find our own path there."

Xena eyes Gabrielle, lost in the thought of simply tousling that blond hair. She touches Gab's shoulder.

"So, you're saying now you're a fighter, not a lover?" Eve contests.

Gabrielle touches Xena's hand, stands up and crouches in front of Eve.

"I'm saying that I'm both," she answers. "I think--" She looks at Xena a second. "I know they can coexist. The question for you, little one, is finding your own balance."

She pats Eve's knee and proceeds to cross the camp to her and Xena's bedroll. 

The warrior admires her partner and watches Eve's attentive reaction. "Get some sleep, sweetheart. We're moving again tomorrow."

Xena's almost sure she caught hints of a grin forming in the corners of Eve's mouth as she lay down to sleep. She places another blanket atop her offspring and kisses her shoulder good night.


A FEW HOURS LATER

Gabrielle is propped up on her elbows, writing, while Xena sits by her stomach.

"Sure you can't sleep?" 

"I'm as anxious to figure this out as you are," the bard pauses, "But if I do nod off, I'll leave it right here and you can add anything you want."

A smirk from Xena as she indicates the list. "You know, if all these things are pointing to something we think they're pointing to, a lot of this list is --"

"Fiction," Gabrielle finishes reluctantly.

Xena nods. Gabrielle puts a hand on the warrior's back, sensing a fast-rising tension within her.

"Things that maybe shouldn't have, or haven't really -- happened," Xena surmises, focusing a look on their sleeping daughter. In a moment of surrender, Xena lets a couple tears flow, and Gabrielle follows suit.

"I can't lose another, Gabrielle, I--"

She lowers herself to the bard, who rises to meet her. "I know. I don't understand it, maybe we're wrong."

"There's too much evidence. Something." Xena contemplates the situation grimly. The Amazon absorbs this as she holds the warrior's head to her chest in comfort.


THE NEXT MORNING

Along a river whose banks Xena thinks have shrunken a bit over the last quarter century, Eve watches Gabrielle carefully wash and scrub Xena's breastplate in knee-deep water. 

Xena approaches Eve and follows her gaze toward Gabrielle. An involuntary grin appears before Eve speaks.

"I'll never be that -- blessed. To have the strength of family," Eve states.

"What? I told you. I love you no matter what."

"Talking about you two." Eve indicates Gabrielle, taking the warrior by gentle surprise.

"She's something, alright."

Gabrielle looks up in the distance, her ears must have been ringing. She waves a bit tentatively. Xena smiles back.

"She's hardly been able to look you in the eye," Xena reveals.

"Don't know why not."

"Ashamed. Sickened that she'd ever harm you..."

"The gods were toying with her. It's not like she chose to hurt innocent people. Or made the conscious decision to raise a weapon over my head, which by the way I--"

"No you didn't."

Eve pleads, "The things I've done--"

"You'll have to reconcile. But you don't deserve what happened. And for that Amazon over there to be the one to do it--"

"Just goes to show my evil can infect even the brightest souls." Eve gets up to leave, upsetting Xena. "Don't know why she can't forgive herself though." A pause. "I do." And with that the troubled child walks away, giving Xena too much to think about.

Gabrielle approaches with sparkling armor, heavy-hearted as she sees Eve wander off again. Xena only lets her hang her head a moment when she points at the breastplate.

"Missed a spot," she says casually as she walks away.

A slight grin appears on the bard's face, and she rubs the spot despite its being perfectly clean.


ALONG THE RIVER

Xena selects a mushroom from a mudpuddle, causing her partner to grimace.

"Ilck. Smells like the one I gave you when Alti tried to steal Eve's soul," Gabrielle observes. And I practically let her, she aches.

Xena tosses the fungus back in the river and, sensing her friend's thoughts, "Gabrielle you risked your life to go in there."

"But it doesn't add up. Even before, I could at least swing a staff at Alti. I faced her. I went into that dream state the last time and barely crawled away from her alive."

"Like you were numb?" Xena asks.

The bard shrugs, ashamed.

"You can't still hold that against yourself," Xena argues. "You know how much it meant to me for you to do that."

"That doesn't mean my mind doesn't count it as a failure."

Xena leans over her shoulder and squeezes it while making eye contact.

"We're long past you proving yourself, aren't we? I can't count how many times you've expressed the take-me-seriously gripe," a frown from her friend, "When you should just know by now I have never not taken you seriously." Xena lifts Gabrielle's hand to her armband. "Don't forget that. Ever."


A DEEP CAVERN

Long after sunset, Eve reads Gabrielle's scrolls in a cave, shaking her head as Gabrielle approaches from behind and peers over her shoulder.

"How can I fight this battle? I'm only good with a dagger," Eve thinks aloud.

Xena enters the cave, eavesdropping.

"Sometimes, Eve, a warrior's toughest battle is one of the heart."

Eve gestures to the scroll, "You'd know, huh?"

Gab smiles, "I meant your mother, but yeah I suppose I do."

Xena leans back against the cave wall, nodding.


LATER

In the dead of night -- long blond hair and green top in place -- Gabrielle awakens abruptly and with intense clarity as she looks to her left to see the sarcophagus containing her best friend...

Xena and Ares gnaw each other's mouths when Xena awakens, hot and bothered...

Long blond hair and green top in place, Gabrielle awakens abruptly and with intense clarity after a night terror reliving her first kill...

Xena and Gabrielle, looking as they do now, AWAKEN at the same time and sit up abruptly.

"Morpheus is busy tonight," the bard observes.

Xena nods. "What'd you see?"

"A succession of my worst nightmares, mostly. Then... then..."

"Mmm?" Xena leans in closer as Gabby turns over and tosses her Amazon cookies. Xena sits straight up, knowingly. "Me and Ares."

"Ilck."

Xena's blue eyes are slivers and her voice lowers to its basest level, "What-is-going-on?"

She looks around as if for answers and puts an arm on the nauseous bard's shoulder, which does not go unappreciated. The two women sigh, and Gabrielle fetches her scroll and quill.

"What are we, sharing the same body again?" she jokes. But Xena doesn't laugh.

"Xena?" she touches her companion's shoulder gently. 

"What do you remember after coming out of that vortex Ares put us in?"

"I don't know, just you tricking him and--" Gabrielle calculates. "You think we're still in some kind of vortex?"

"Maybe."

"Of course! Iolaus told me about this happening to him and Hercules a couple times. You and I were both in this other world, completely not ourselves."

"I don't know, can't prove it. Not sure what's real." 

"Well it gives us something to work with. Yeah."

As morning creeps in through cracks in the cave, Eve is sound asleep. A fitful sleep, no doubt the kind of dreams she's having. Morpheus IS busy.

On the other side of the shelter, close by the fire, Xena hurts with Gabrielle.

"I was jealous. I couldn't believe after all we'd been through, Xena, you'd just go off and be with someone and be careless enough to get pregnant." Gabrielle admits through tears. "It hurt when you told me, and in front of everyone like that. Joxer, Amarice, even Armand who we barely even know really."

Gabrielle covers her mouth like she always does when she feels bad about crying over something. "It's awful of me to think those things."

Xena purses her lips, "But you only thought them, Gabrielle. You didn't feel them. Hey, I'da freaked if you told me something like that."

Gabrielle looks her in the eye, "But you didn't, Xena. Not with Hope."

The two women stop abruptly and stare at each other a second.

"Where did that come from? I, I wasn't even thinking about--"

"No, Gabrielle, keep going," Xena urges, "I think you're onto something. Things in common?"

"Besides the conception?!" Gabrielle points out the obvious.

"Both girls..." Xena thinks aloud. "So what. No, that's not it."

"Being faced with killing your own daughter," Gabrielle clenches her eyes shut. "A thing which I apparently have no hesitation doing."

Xena puts an arm around her. "I know this is difficult. But -- don't judge any of it yet. I need you to stand back from it." She touches Gabrielle's cheek, "It can't harm you right now."

For a second, Gabrielle hangs her head. "It will always harm me. Double, now." 

Xena adds this up and continues, "So it was still in your subconscious. Hope."

"I guess more than I thought. Hope killed S-- I let Hope kill Solan."

Xena's eyes well up, and for once she just lets them, "I forgave you Solan."

"But I didn't," Gabrielle pleas. Then something shifts inside Gabrielle and she gets up on her knees to face her friend. "Xena, there's something about that night -- I never told you."

Is she kidding, Xena thought. Another secret here? Xena isn't sure she wants to hear it. But one look at Gabrielle's stricken face -- if she wasn't feeling anything before, she's sure making up for it now. "Oh?" Xena braves and leans in to her, reassuringly.

"I prayed I could give you another child."

Xena is speechless, every emotion blazing through her.

"When Eve was born, and I held her for the first time, I remembered thinking she was the daughter I always wanted, and the child that -- because of me -- you never got to see grow up."

Xena glances over at Eve. Gabrielle nods, "As if it would make up for Solan, I know, but I just...I--" she can't finish. She doesn't have to.

Xena pulls her head to her chest, and sniffles rather melodramatically. "Terrific," the warrior exclaims. "That was only the third thing on the list."

They cry into a giggle as sunlight gleams into the cave.


ARES' TEMPLE

Aphrodite flashes into Ares' now-empty throne room and sneaks around looking for something. Behind the throne, under a shield, no luck. She taps her chin a second, then snaps her fingers giddily and walks over to the Eye of Hephaestus. A piece of the scroll sticks out, and she raises her eyebrow.

"Thanks, Heph."

A while later, Aphrodite is absorbed in the long scroll, her jaw hanging open. Ares flashes in, sees her and looks at the Eye for confirmation.

"Damn it!" he rages. "I knew I should have hidden it in the wall. Gimme that!"

"You are in big trouble, mister."

"Aphrodite, I had no choice. Look, I--"

"Even for you this is like, a major no-no."

"It was harmless. I thought I could maybe..." he whispers, "cheat a little."

"CHEAT?!"

"I could change things around a bit, bring 'em some kind of second chance."

"More like bring YOU a second chance," she corrects him.

"Look, it wasn't their time," Ares blurts.

"So now you're playing with the Fates? Screwing up the afterlife?"

"Not exactly." Ares avoids eye contact with his steaming sister.

Aphrodite gets right into his beard and backs him into a wall.

"Dish," she commands.

Ares sighs heavily, jutting out his chin as he often does when he is caught red-handed.

"It started out kinda innocent, really." He corrected himself, "Well, as innocent as I can be."

"Duh! Could you give yourself a juicier fantasy role?" the Goddess of Love points out.

"But something happened. Everything started...taking on a life of its own."

Aphrodite's brow furrows.

"Wait. You mean to tell me, those muchachas are out there in some alter-reality, thinking all this stuff is actually happening to them?!?"

Ares looks away, suspiciously silent.

"It really IS happening to them?" Aphrodite fumes.

"Kinda sorta, but not."

"YOU IDIOT!!!"

"Hey!!!"

Aphrodite indicates sections of the scroll and takes on an uncharacteristic logic as she highlights his flaws.

"No WONDER Mount Olympus has had its panties in a bunch lately. Don't you get what you DID with this Twilight crap? By inventing this, you're going to set in motion your own destruction!"

"I told you it's out of control! Besides, don't you think I've been thinking about that?!"

Aphrodite rolls her eyes big time. "According to this little Wish List, all you've been thinking about is the warrior babe, and lemme tell ya, you better make a visit to Morpheus for that one because there is no way in--"

"All right! All right! Now you know. How do you fix it?" he growls.

Aphrodite eyes him incredulously. She whirls her hands and POOF she is suddenly in glasses, hair pulled tightly back like a book editor, with a very big quill. 

Ares drops his head to his hand and grunts. 

Aphrodite sits behind a desk as the huge scroll unravels in front of her.


CAMPFIRE

A scroll unravels in the light of a campfire, in another clearing where the ladies have set up camp. Gabrielle unrolls it to its fullest, quickly grabs an empty scroll and writes. Xena coaches over her shoulder.

"That was important."

"I got it, Xena."

"Put it there," Xena points.

"I will," the bard nudges her back a little.

"Didja get that part about--" Xena says, craning her neck.

Gabrielle sighs. "I can't believe you kissed Marc Antony, wrestled Joxer in front of Amazons -- or at all for that matter--" she continues writing and really milks the next part, "'And how could I ever give my dear, dear friend Gabrielle a chakram to the back of the skull...'"

Xena who was really invading Gab's writing space, takes a second to hear what she just said. Then slinks back away with a grimace and a sigh. 


ARES' TEMPLE

Aphrodite scans the scroll and shakes her head at Ares, critically, "I don't know if this is even salvageable."

Ares raises an eyebrow. "No, no, no, you see, we HAVE to stop it."

"It's actually one of the worst pieces of writing I've ever laid eyes on. Your characterization is all wrong. You had them make half-Centaur decisions you'd want, nothing they'd ever really do." She pulls him down to her. "By doing that, these 'real events' keep getting worse and worse. Now this is working its way into real reality. Every step they take, they're on the crummy wrong path you started."

"Oh, like you know them so well. Like they're just Aphrodite's best buddies."

"Duh! You took two gals who I know -- being the seasoned pro that I am -- are definitely in the Goddess of Love column, and you effectively plunked them into the God of War column."

Ares paces at her pointedness, his silence an admission that she's right.


CAMPFIRE

Xena rubs her forehead and explains her perspective to her friend. "We're talking about reactions here. I may not like it, but I know why I chakramed you."

"Thanks, thanks a lot," Gabrielle half-teases.

"The Furies had driven you mad."

"Coulda slapped me or something. 'Hey Gabby, get the Furies out of your head!'"

"Gabrielle..." Xena drawls. 

"No, no, instead you just tie me up and drag me bleeding behind a horse."

Xena glares at her, "What?"

"What did I say? Wait a minute."

"That was before Illusia."

"Where you killed me with a sword."

Xena regrets, "Ares was right by my side."

"You know, Hope was there when I stabbed Eve."

"But that wasn't really Hope. It was the Furies." 

"Just like when they drove you mad."

"Because Ares had sent them," Xena's eyes become slivers.


ARES' TEMPLE

Ares slams his fists on Aphrodite's desk. "You're impossible! I made Gabrielle into a calculating warrior. A true fighter!" claims Ares proudly.

"No, dear brother," Aphrodite removes her glasses. "You sped up the warrior that had already developed within her."

"What's to complain about?" his chest puffs out. "She's a great fighter."

"The complaint is, Gabrielle's not just a great fighter, she's a great lover. You took Love out of the equation, bro, that leaves 'half-a-Gabrielle'."

Ares doesn't like it, but he listens.

"But you botched it up so bad, she's not even a 'Gabr'. Look at this, she hasn't written anything up to here, she and Xena have barely even chatted alone in a room together..." she fast forwards down the scroll and cocks her head, "Well, until recently anyway."

Ares looks suspicious now. His sister eyes him and squeals with delight.

"Hee! That's happening on its own, isn't it?" she presses. She kicks back in her chair and puts her feet up on the desk, crossing her goddess legs in that short skirt -- and flaunting it. 

"Ahhh, when will you learn; I'll-always-win." Aphrodite chews on her glasses and devilishly tosses her head back, grinning. "I have a good mind to tell Zeus."

"Oh, like he'd care."

"Hello! He'd care you had Herc kill him off in the second act!"

Ares squints his black eyes angrily at her, nostrils flaring.

"Then again, telling Zeus might make this Twilight storyline worse than it already is," she decides. "If I know these gals like I hope I do, they'll figure you out, Ares." 

She puts the glasses back on and flips to the end of the scroll, "Aaaand -- once they get over the shock that not all of it is real -- I hope they can undo what you've started. Or else Xena, Gabrielle -- all of us -- really are goners."

Ares and Aphrodite stare at each other, absorbing the serious chain reaction that has begun.

FADE OUT


FADE IN

Xena punches the ground, angry at herself. "My instinct took over, Gabrielle. Aw, I just shoulda known it wasn't you."

Gabrielle saves her with a forgiving look, "How could you? I didn't know it wasn't me. Truth be told, I'm more than a little sick of the gods playing with my head."

"Guess that won't happen much anymore. Aren't a whole lot of 'em left." Xena states.

They exchange concerned looks. 

Gabrielle shakes out of it, rolls her eyes and writes furiously to catch up on all they just said. "Popular guy that God 'O War. Can't tell you how many times I've had to write his name on this list."

That steely gaze possesses Xena's face, "You don't say."


THE ROAD TO AMPHIPOLIS

Xena and Gabrielle ride Argo II while Eve wanders ahead, using a walking stick reminiscent of a staff. Gabrielle scans a scroll.

"Remember when you first learned you were pregnant? We had stopped in that small town where your friend was the sheriff."

"The spas. Right. What about it?"

"I was having trouble believing you had no clue as to the father."

"Yeeeessss," Xena says, thinking her friend's rubbing this in a little. "As if you had never gone through the same thing."

"But I asked you if maybe Ares did some god thing."

"And I said absolutely no, I remember."

Gabrielle puts the scroll down and comes around a bit to catch Xena's eye. "What if I was right?"

Xena stops the mare in her tracks.

"You think our subconscious minds were trying to tell us something then? With him, you can never be too sure," she ponders apprehensively. "He's been buggering me about giving him a child, over and over."

Gabrielle winces at the thought.

"So you think he really is the father?" Xena doesn't want to know.

"I don't know about that, but something," she bites her lip. "I don't know. Just looking at things from a different perspective."

Xena clicks her teeth to get Argo walking again. "Hmm." And the gears are turning in the warrior's head.


AMPHIPOLIS

Xena leads Argo II who carries Gabrielle and a sleeping Eve on her back as Amphipolis calls to them ahead. 

"No singing," Xena notes matter-of-factly. Gabrielle notes there isn't much of anyone around. Remnants of a long-gone battle, seemingly lost here.

As they near the village, Gabrielle reaches down to the warrior's tense shoulder, and squeezes. Xena takes a deep breath and proceeds.

The once bustling fields and roads of Amphipolis are overgrown. People mill about but without much purpose. A few older folks rub their eyes and blink at the sight of Xena and Gabrielle, assuming it's either their vision or their sanity that has failed them.

Straight ahead, the women see it. Cyrene's inn. 

Inside, there are dusty old drawings of Xena and Gabrielle, long since ignored. "Looks like she and Meg have the same interior decorator," she says grimly.

Eve follows them in, looking around. A few drunks gulp their ale, and a young man appears to toss one of them out.

"Come back when you pay your way, Mentalus."

Xena does not like the look of things.

"Who owns this place?" Gabrielle asks tentatively.

The young man stands straight up and eyeballs the three ladies before him. "She's all mine," he says with rotted teeth.

"What about the woman who owned it before?" Xena asks.

"The last woman to own this tavern was killed in the big raid on Amphipolis, about oh twenty winters ago or so." He wiggles his eyebrows at a disgusted Gabrielle. "Heard she put up quite a fight though."

Xena practically nails him to the wall but says nothing. Gabrielle touches her arm before leading Eve out of the tavern. 


The adjoining house where Xena grew up is practically fallen down, clearly burned at some point and years unoccupied. Xena sifts through the ruins and finds a blue cloth, one that would match her own eyes once the dust coating was washed off of it. 

"She used to wear this in her hair," Xena fights back the tears. Gabrielle doesn't. 

An unbearable guilt behind her eyes, Eve slips out what's left of the door.

"It wasn't supposed to happen like this," the warrior composes herself. "Are you sure you want to go on to Potadeia?"

Considering the consequences, her companion quietly answers, "Maybe Lila--"

Xena nods.


A CLEARING IN THE WOODS

Xena ties Argo's bridle to a fallen white tree near the woods. 

Gabrielle puts her arm through Eve's arm as they walk to a clearing in this familiar forest. "Nice spot," Eve says, in the first light statement she's made in a while.

"Should be," Gabrielle offers, "This is where your mother and I first met." 

Xena hears this as she approaches, and looks around, at least getting a smile from that memory. 

Eve gets a glimmer of a smile herself at the thought as Gabrielle tries to lighten the mood.

"Yeah. Slave traders had captured the women in my village, see? And they would easily have beaten up on the men, who were just simple farmers."

She runs over to where she remembers being, getting animated as she tells the story. "And so they're wanting to take my sister, Lila, and my mother. And I was struggling to stop them, you know, but I was little farmgirl myself then. And barely that."

Eve sits on a rock to listen. Xena smirks at her companion's passion for sharing this moment.

"Anyway, all of a sudden, they're grabbing me--"

"No," Xena corrects her, "You're leaving out that you offered yourself up if they would let everyone else go."

Eve looks from Xena to Gabrielle, who nods acknowledgment of that unstated fact. Xena, meanwhile, has taken to burying her chakram in the ground for further illustration of the event.

"But when they went to take me, suddenly, there was this WOMAN." She laughs out loud. "Like nothing I'd ever seen before. In her skivvies, dirty from head to toe, like she'd been dragged behind a fishcart. Still, exuding heroism. So brave."

"Brave?" Xena interrupts. "It doesn't take bravery to stand up to someone you know you can beat." She turns to Eve. "Gabrielle challenged them knowing she might not beat them," she says before returning her gaze to the bard. "I found my hero that day."

Gabrielle's legs practically fall out from under her. 

"Mmm," Xena moves over to where she recalls standing, making mocking movements of herself as depicted, with her arms threatening the baddies. 

Gabrielle licks her lips and continues the description. "They were closing in on us, over there, over there. I threw a very bad punch. They managed to knock Xena down but she had a secret weapon," she leans down to Eve and cups her chin in her hand, "she always does."

"Wasn't so bad a punch," Xena says as she does a flip and digs her chakram out of the dirt, reenacting the scene; although no one is there, we can hear the sounds of the past as Xena selflessly kicks, punches and duels her way into the bard's heart. Again.

So much so that Gabrielle doesn't even realize she's speaking her thoughts, "And drop-dead-gorgeous. Let me tell you."

Xena stops short. Gabrielle blushes hotly a moment, then continues, "She's all 'Oh you're Draco's scum, tell him hello from Xena' after she beats the Tartarus out of them! Saving me and everyone else in the process. Mmm. I looked up at those piercing blue eyes, and I knew..."

Gabrielle is lost for a moment.

"What?" Eve begs, pretending not to be eager for the story to finish, "Knew what?" 

Xena arches an eyebrow, anxious for the rest of that sentence herself. 

Gabrielle releases her breath and with it the realization that, "I knew I wouldn't be a farmgirl for long."

Xena raises both eyebrows, pleased with the story, and brushes the dirt off herself.

Eve touches the dirt and gets up to take in her surroundings. "So it all started -- right here." She goes to get the packs off Argo.

Gabrielle nods, a breathless flash of all the time that's gone by since. 

"Right here," Xena confirms, covering her heart with her hand as she says so. Then thinking a little longer and evaluating the clearing. "It all started right here," she repeats. 

Gabrielle cocks her head, knowing something is up the warrior's sleeve.


LATER

A campfire that night proves a welcome antidote to the chill in the air. Eve sleeps while Gabrielle and Xena continue their examination of the case in question.

Xena bites her lip and exhales, "Amarice."

"Then Eli," Gabrielle says regrettably.

Xena's eyes squint, "Joxer."

"Mmm," Gabby smiles warmly as she writes it down.

"Brutus. Um, posing as Cleopatra because of an assassin."

Gab writes and nods her head in agreement, "Mmmmm!"

"A message from the Archangel Michael."

Xena is perplexed, trying to figure it all out. "What's the connection between these people? I can't--"

They both stop and turn to meet eyes. Gabrielle dips her quill and prepares to write.

"What?" she asks.

"We're not going back far enough." She repeats today's phrase, "It all started right here."

"What are you talking about?" Gabrielle talks as fast as she can think. "Far back to what? You don't think we're still in the vortex Ares threw us in after Eli brought us back?"

Xena looks at her bard and closes her mouth, signaling to Gabrielle that she is finished theorizing. Gabrielle prepares herself as Xena comes to an interesting conclusion.

"Gabrielle, we never came back."

The bard's jaw gapes as Xena argues her case. 

"You think we're still -- dead?" Gabrielle asks breathlessly.

"Or still on our way back. Think about it, is it any coincidence that Joxer, Eli, Amarice, Brutus, Michael -- they were all involved somehow. And our friends who were there have all since died in some horrible way we couldn't prevent."

"I'm with you," Gabrielle's mind turning things over. "That would explain why all our experiences have been -- mixed. Like, part you and part me, only we both went through them together this time."

"Like we're in the same--"

"Dreamscape?"

"Soulscape," Xena corrects her. She digs out the lists. "We need to look these over again. The answer is here, I know it is, we're just missing it."

"That's all well and good, but how do we fix it?" the bard poses a very valid question.

Xena lists a variety of items for Gabrielle to sketch out on her jam-packed scroll. They toss ideas back and forth as they re-read the list and the merits of each argument. 

"Gods," Gabrielle's head aches. "Can't we just find a Cronus stone?"

"That only changes time in the reality you're already in. Probably wouldn't do a thing to help us here. Nice thought, though," Xena concludes. "If only I could just--"

Then, Xena has an epiphany that stops her dead. 

"Xena?" Gabrielle urges. "What?"

In her lowest voice, "We have to go back."

"Back again? To the vortex?"

Xena swallows softly and makes her words very clear, "To Mount Amaro."

Gabrielle looks up at her, both fear and faith in her loyal eyes.


THROUGH THE NIGHT

After a fresh pot of stew and a healthy debate, Xena has a very unpleasant theory.

"The Fates once gave me the chance to wipe away everything that had happened to me after I had my first kill."

"Right. You got to see Lyceus grown up, in exchange for you not spilling blood," the bard remembers. 

"But I couldn't do it. You had lost your light and become a bloodthirsty--" she stops. Gabrielle touches her shoulder. "I chose to keep things the way they were supposed to happen."

"And you don't think what's happening now was supposed to happen?" the bard inquires. "What do you mean go back to Mount Amaro?"

Xena hangs her head. "I can't ask you to do it, Gabrielle. Stay here in this wrong path. But I...I can't lose another child."

Gabrielle reprimands her friend. "Xena you're talking craziness, now. What are you saying? In order for us to set things right, we have to kill Eve?!"

"No," Xena concludes. "Eve has to kill us."

"Great. You mean we should have just let her do what she was trying to do in the first place," Gab attempts humor but Xena is saddened. "Ahh, I get it. We'll have to convince Eve that we forgive her ahead of time because you don't want her feeling guilty after she kills us--"

Xena stares at Gabrielle a minute, effectively silencing her into understanding.

"She wouldn't feel guilty," the bard starts, "Because she would never have existed."

A dry look from Xena puts a droop in the bard's shoulders.

"Why Eve?" Gabrielle whispers. 

"Because she's where it started, the moment we came back." Xena affirms with conviction. "Rome." Taking a moment, Xena finally speaks again, "I won't have her sacrifice herself, Gabrielle." She turns to face the bard's green eyes, "But you, it's not fair for you to be stuck in this--"

Gabrielle immediately shakes her head no. "You know better, Xena. I won't leave you. Ever. I won't allow our daughter to give up her life for us either. She's come so far." She puts up an Amazon hand in protest. "Not an option."

The warrior sighs heavily. 

"You could always be wrong, too, you know." Gabrielle attempts to ignore the evidence. "Just because we have scroll after scroll of coincidences, doesn't mean it--" 

The bard surrenders to the facts as presented by someone whose facts are always right. She rests her head on Xena's shoulder as they both resign themselves to the present.

"Okay then," Gabrielle says hoarsely. "No gods...no friends...no family."

Xena feathers through Gabrielle's hair, "We have one another." And subconsciously throws a check-up look at Eve. "That's enough."

In the seriousness of this realization, neither woman notices the guilt-wracked young girl wide-awake and listening from her bedroll.


By morning, Gabrielle has packed up most of the camp, leaning over to Eve. "Time for little warriors to wake up," she says as she pours water over the fire's embers. "C'mon, Eve, we're moving out." No response. Xena perks up at this and comes over as Gabrielle touches Eve's shoulder only to find it's not a shoulder at all but a few extra skins tucked in the bedroll. "By the gods, Xena."

Xena experiences a rare moment of surprise. Though she was not so surprised to see a certain piece of fabric clearly placed on the furs. 

"A Roman banner?" Gabrielle asks. 

In no uncertain terms Xena confirms, "She's going home."

"But they'll crucify her there now!"

"She's counting on it," Xena adds.

FADE OUT


FADE IN

Heading now in the direction they came from, Xena and Gabrielle race on Argo II to catch Eve.

"How could she have gotten this far!" Xena growls.

"Xena, she's got Warrior Princess in her blood." Gabrielle holds tighter as they speed up. "It's as good as trying to catch you."

Xena turns her head to her passenger before really leaning into their gallop.


After long and weary travel, the claw-shaped mountain from Xena's Vision appears on the distant horizon. Both women take a deep breath as they recognize it. Xena closes her eyes tightly to shake off the visions she's having now.

"The trail leads that way. You sure you're--"

"Let's go," the bard cuts her off. "Before she brings any more harm to herself."

Jumping over a small log, Argo II carries them toward the foot of Mount Amaro.


ROMAN PRISON

Mount Amaro. Not a happy reunion for Xena and Gabrielle. The prison compound where Brutus once left them to die doesn't have many signs of occupancy. Crucifixes still line the road, skeletons and rags clinging there for decades.

Xena doesn't like it, and she motions to Gabrielle who has her sais drawn, ready for anything. Except this.

A small army of scruffy Romans pours out from behind the prison walls, encircling the women who fight them off admirably. Xena locks arms with Gabrielle and uses her to kick half a dozen soldiers in the gut, and into a half dozen others.

Gabrielle captures and throws several swords, dodging her way through the fight. Xena catches one of the swords Gabrielle tosses away, and uses it to become double trouble for a few soldiers who think better of picking a fight with her.

"What have you done with her!" Xena demands. They ignore her and more Romans descend upon them.

One soldier gets a sword on Gabrielle, cutting her armband off. It floats to the ground, and Xena steps on it as she backs up to avoid a blow. 

"Don't you lose me, Gabrielle!" Xena reminds her.

Gabrielle kicks the guy's wrist, disarming him, "It would take a lot more than that."

Fighting and fighting, swarming and swarming, Xena and Gabrielle are backed into a circle against each other, contemplating their next move.

"Enough!" comes a familiar voice from atop the prison wall. The two warriors look up to see Eve, back in her full Roman leader dress and completely in control of her actions. The Romans cease fighting, but disarm Xena and her partner. 

Eve flips down to the center of the circle and addresses her mother.

"Did you really think I could live like a hermit after everything I've accomplished here," Eve says, not really questioning.

"Eeeeeve?" Xena says in her lowest voice, which her daughter scoffs at.

"Catching bunnies for dinner, reading those stupid scrolls!" she glances at Gabrielle, who still does not know what to make of this. "There's more to me than that, and I'm not you."

Eve moves back and forth, stealthily avoiding Xena's gaze. She nods to her soldiers to arrest them.

"The gods -- the ones you haven't slaughtered like pigs anyway -- will surely smile upon me for this one," Eve growls. "Tie them up."


A close look at Gabrielle reveals a resignation in those green eyes, one Xena has only seen once before, in this same place, in this same situation. A look at the bigger picture reveals both Xena and Gabrielle -- tied to crosses on the ground.

Eve, who hides the anguish within her before walking to them, slides in between their crosses and taunts them.

"You're lying," Gabrielle says quietly, causing Eve to raise her hand to her. The bard doesn't flinch. Eve doesn't hit her. Instead gets up and says something quietly to a soldier, who nods and commands most of the soldiers away with him.

The remaining few Romans stand by for Eve's command to hoist them up. Xena's eyes widen as Eve returns. 

"You heard us last night," Xena realizes. 

"Shut up!" Eve admonishes.

"You think you know everything, Eve, but you didn't listen to that whole conversation!" Xena pleads. Eve looks at Gabrielle, who is shaking her head, teary-eyed.

"Don't do this," Gabrielle whispers.

"This is not what we wanted--" 

"It's not what I wanted either!" Eve finally reveals. "Mother, you had a chance to correct things to the way they were supposed to be, with Lyceus."

"But--"

"It's the greater good, mother." She faces the two of them. "You don't belong here." A pause. "And I don't belong."

Xena's eyes fill up as she sees the sincerity in her daughter's eyes. Xena shakes her head no.

"Let me do one selfless act in the life that I have," Eve begs. "I know you could get out of this in a second if you tried. But I'm asking you to let me make it right."

Before Xena can answer, Eve puts the pinch on her! Gabrielle's jaw drops as she watches in astonishment. Eve, letting the tears flow now, turns to Gabrielle and does the same to her. Both women start the signs they are too familiar with: nose bleeds, short gasps for air. 


MOUNT OLYMPUS

Ares and Aphrodite can do nothing but look on as words disappear from the scroll in their hands. "It's happening," Aphrodite says, albeit tentatively. 

Mount Olympus rumbles, black clouds gather.

More words unwrite themselves from the parchment, and both gods shake their heads as if waking up from being knocked unconscious.


ROMAN PRISON

Eve touches Gabrielle's forehead softly, "I love you, Gabrielle." She turns back to Xena, who has not stopped watching her, and now finally looks her dead in the eye.

"I forgive you, Eve." Xena gets out.

Eve leans down and kisses her mother's cheek. "I love you, mother. I'll always be with you." She gets up and moves to their feet, retrieving a hammer.

Xena and Gabrielle turn to each other, saying it all with their eyes. They try to fight but it's no use, Eve becomes a blurry vision as they lose consciousness. The last thing Xena barely makes out is Eve raising a hammer above her feet, where a nail is holding steady. She hears an anguished cry as her daughter makes the ultimate sacrifice.


WHOOSH! A crazed montage of events occurs, with a variety of images blasting through everything that's happened to Xena and Gabrielle since Eli resurrected them. 

<I>...the birth of Eve...a fireball in Chin...Gabrielle slicing the throat of a soldier...Hercules killing Zeus...Xena and Gab kicking Hephaestus and tying up Celesta...Solan in a cocoon in Tartarus...Joxer dying...Xena and Gabrielle in the ice cave... </I>

Between these quick and jolting images, Xena appears, as if physically pushing her way through them in her mind as they pass by faster and faster.

<I>...combining the dark and light chakrams...Gabrielle sheltering baby Eve's eyes from Xena and Yakut's Amazon visions...Xena kissing Ares... Ares killing Eli...Xena kissing Antony...Xena killing god after god... </I>

Gabrielle experiences the same sensation, and the warriors fight to keep their center while being hurled backwards through this onslaught of recent memories. Faster, faster.

<I>...Xena giving breath to Gabrielle after her failed duel with Alti...Amarice's look of astonishment at Gabrielle's fighting skills...Xena's hand on Gabrielle's shoulder after winning a war with love...Gabrielle comforting Joxer while the poison invades his body...Xena and Gabrielle having a moonlit like-mother-like-daughter conversation in Rome...Gabrielle holding Xena after her spiritual victory over Alti...Xena holding a lifeless Gabrielle as they fall from a fiery chariot to the beach below...the two women morphing into each other against Mavican... </I>

SLAM!

A gasp from Xena as she opens her eyes -- lying on Eli's tablet in the Roman ruin. 

Gabrielle opens her mouth and takes a breath, unable to speak. 


MOUNT OLYMPUS

Ares watches the ink lift away completely, the scroll disappears from his hands. An admiring grin crosses his face, "Oh, she is SO good!" he says as if he made her that way. 

Aphrodite tilts her head and pats him on the shoulder. "I'm sure it won't be long before she comes to tell you that personally." Aphrodite flashes out, leaving Ares with a justifiably concerned look on his face.


THE RESURRECTION TABLET

A gasp from Xena as she opens her eyes -- lying on Eli's tablet in the Roman ruin. 

Gabrielle opens her mouth and takes a breath, unable to speak.

Eli removes his hands from Xena and Gabrielle's heads, they look exactly as they did the first time they awoke. But now they understand the looks on their own faces.

Eli, Amarice and Joxer stand by, in happy disbelief as before. Xena holds Gabrielle's hand and they work to sit up. 

Joxer touches Gabrielle's face and smiles as she returns the gesture, sure to extend a warm eye to her Amazon sister.

"By the gods, you're all alive," Gabrielle exclaims.

Amarice cocks her neck back as befits her, and shares a look with Eli and Joxer.

"We're alive? You've been gone three whole days!"

The bard tries to comprehend this, and looks at Xena. "Three days."

Gabrielle holds Eli's hand a moment and he nods.

"Seems like a lifetime," Xena concludes. She and Gabrielle look at each other, connected at last. The three friends leave Xena and Gabrielle in private. The bard leans on Xena's shoulder.

"She did it," the warrior states plainly.

"We're going to be together. For eternity."

"Yeah."

Xena wraps her arm slowly around Gabrielle, who rubs her forehead achingly. "I don't know what's real and what isn't anymore."

"All I know is, I can feel you again," Xena admits. "It was like I'd lost you."

Gabrielle touches Xena's heart reassuringly, then reaches past her to the broken halves of the chakram. She shakes her head and looks up at her friend, "I don't know if these can be mended."

"We found our way back together, didn't we?" the warrior answers, sticking the halves together like a puzzle piece. A slight smile, then Xena's eyes well up.

"She's gone, Gabrielle. She never <U>was</U>," Xena comments, "All part of Ares' sick little scroll."

Hugging Xena's tired shoulders, Gabrielle sees it another way.

"But look at the gift she gave us, Xena. When we left her, she felt like she had destroyed so many lives, including ours." She gestures to them being alive and well. 

"I guess instead of me giving life to Eve, she gave life to us," Xena follows, brushing the bard's cheek. "Missed you. How you see right through everything to the goodness."

The bard grins. "Speaking of see-through." She motions to their loincloths. "Guess we need to buy clothes again."

They move to get up, painfully.

"Have to find that market where you got your little brown outfit."

Gabrielle stops and twinkles her eyes at her warrior princess. "Ahhh. You liked that, did you?"

Xena shrugs innocently, "Some things bear repeating."

"Mmm hmm."

The two meet eyes and smile, their shoulders relaxing, their bodies back to comfortable familiarity with one another. Xena helps Gabrielle off the tablet when the bard turns serious. "I can't believe it's all over."

Xena leans her head down and smiles at her companion from the core of her being. "Aw Gabrielle. It all starts right here." The warrior kisses her forehead before falling into a cathartic and full-bodied embrace they've literally waited a lifetime for.

FADE OUT

...the end...

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