Chancing Fate
During the second season there is an episode called Remember Nothing. Xena and Gabrielle are attacked outside the temple of the Fates. After killing a young boy dressed as a warrior, Xena makes a wish to the Fates to change her destiny; she wishes she had never taken the path of a warrior. Her wish is granted on the condition that, should she spill one drop of blood, she would return to her life as a warrior.
After returning to Amphipolis and her brother, Lyceas, she discovers her life here is very different. She is engaged to be married and her mother has passed on. Yet the worst is that Gabrielle is enslaved to an evil warlord.
Trying to save Gabrielle from slavery results in a battle and Gabrielle kills her captor. Xena then decides that the price of this existence is too high. She takes the life of the warrior about to slay her from behind and her deal with the Fates is broken; she returns to the life of a warrior and ex-warlord.
But, what would have happened if the deal had gone sour, and she wasn't transported back after drawing the blood of her would-be assailant?
Gabrielle is enslaved, her captors are forging an alliance that will doom them all, Amphipolis is being ravaged, and Xena must face this fearsome foe unaided.
A/N: I have changed the dialogue and events of this story to coincide with how I want the events to unfold.
Disclaimer: You guys know the deal. I don't own the characters (though I do like to sit up nights fantasising about how to change that), they are the property of Renosance Pictures, yadda yaddi ya… I'm not making any profit from this story, (so don't you think of doing it either), blah blah blah, you get the point.
Feedback: Do I have to say it? Don't make me do it… Oh, all right. Of course I want feedback! (Doesn't everybody?) All comments, suggestions or criticisms will be greatly appreciated.
Chapter 1: A change of Fate
Yet from those flames
No light, but rather darkness visible.
John Milton; Paradise Lost. Book I
I spun as Gabrielle cried out and ran my sword through the warrior coming at me from behind. Pulling my blade from his stomach, he fell to the ground in front of the temple of the Fates. I didn't even hear Gabrielle's gasp as I looked into the face of a child.
"He's just a boy," Gabrielle said with dismay as I stood, transfixed, watching him take his last breath.
I barely heard her. As I looked into the boys dying face, I saw the terror of death and pain of choice flash through his already glazing eyes. I bled for him; he was innocent, unaware of the consequences that such a life wrought.
"Wait here," I told Gabrielle, and with that, I walked into the temple.
It was bleak and sinister in the temple; it reminded me of all the darkness in the world, and the injustice of the death I had just caused. Just being in the temple was enough to give me the creeps. It was hardly enough to intimidate me, and I walked boldly up to the dais, determined to set things right.
"Fates!" I called from the podium. "Show yourselves."
With a quick flash of light, the three Fates appeared; the Mother, the Maiden and the Crone, their infamous spinning wheel strung before them.
"Thank you for saving out temple, Xena," the Fates stated. "For that we shall grant you a wish if it is within our bounds to do it."
Of all the gods on Olympus, the Fates had to be the eeriest. They had a way of finishing each other's sentences without breaking the flow of the words. It made them seem as if they were one being split into three bodies.
I have dealt with a number of the gods on different occasions, and I'm not a person to be easily daunted, but these three sent shivers running down my spine. Perhaps it was the concept of being so thoroughly connected the way they were; bonding to another was not something I would claim to fully understand.
"What? No, I don't want your thanks. I -"
"You want to know why the boy died," the Fates continued, cutting off my words. "Yet there is something else… You have regrets, Xena."
"Everyone has regrets," I replied evasively. I knew the Fates knew me more thoroughly than I knew myself, but I did not know how to go about stating my request.
"Yes," the Fates replied knowingly. "But your deepest regret is what dictated the direction of your life. Are you willing to change everything you know, sacrifice all that you have? To allow you this chance will change your entire world, Xena. Are you willing to chance it?"
"You already know my answer," I stated boldly.
"It is done then," croaked the Fates. "We will allow you the chance to live the life you would have lived, had you never killed. But, should you draw blood in anger, spill even one single drop of blood, our deal will be forfeited, and you will return to this life."
I looked at the three Fates, strengthening my resolve. "Done."
The world around me began to spin, light flashing, swirling and changing, and the Fates cackling as the disappeared.
As the room began to fade into blackness, I heard the voice of the Fates. "Can you really play chance with the Fates, Xena?"
All light disappeared with the sound of the Fates' last words.
-
My feet fell lightly over the stone floor as I made my way towards the exit of the temple. The final words of the Fates still rung in my ears as I cautiously opened the heavy wooden door to the sunlight outside.
Can you play chance with fate? I didn't know. I didn't want to know. Hope filled me as I made my way towards the bushes that surrounded the place of worship. Could I really have been granted the opportunity to see my brothers face again, look into my mothers eyes without seeing hate, to be a part of village life again?
I pulled back the bushes and stepped through, not really seeing what I was doing. The soil under my feet crunched under my soft shoes. Wait – soil? Soft shoes? What had happened to the forest, and how did I have soft shoes on? I always wore boots.
I spun around to stare back at the temple, my skirts flaring with the quickness of the turn. Skirts? Could it be possible that the Fates really had sent me home?
I looked around for the temple, but it had gone. In its place was the carefully ploughed field of a farmer. I froze as I heard a familiar tune being sung behind me. I had grown up listening to that song.
My heart was thundering in my chest as I gathered the courage to look at the scene behind me. As I turned and saw the women working the fields in front of the village, and listened to the tune I had not heard in so long, silent tears ran down my cheeks: This was Amphipolis, and I was home.
Half-dazed, I ran home as fast as I had ever run in my life, my dark hair streaming out behind me. Through the fields I bolted, past the rustic houses of the villagers, never noticing the familiar faces of the people I had grown up with. Straight to the house of my childhood I ran, not even stopping when I nearly knocked several people flying.
I paused at the door, half afraid to enter. But before I had the chance to pull myself together, the door was thrown open. There, framed in the doorway, stood my mother.
"Xena! What have you been doing to get yourself into such a state? Come inside and get yourself cleaned up for supper."
I barely heard her. I flung my arms around her and clung to her for dear life. I half wondered why my eyesight was blurry before realising they were filled with unshed tears.
Mother pulled me back to arms length to look at my face. "Xena, what's wrong?" she asked me, her face creased with concern.
"Nothing, mother," I managed to croak. "I'm just happy to see you."
"I'm happy to see you too, honey," she replied, a slight smile forming at the sides of her mouth. "But that wont excuse you for being late. Come inside and wash your face, then we will sup."
I followed her into the house and headed for the washbasin, but stopped dead four steps into the room. He was here. My brother was here.
Lyceus stood ladling out the food, a lock of hair falling across his eyes each time he bent his head to pick up a bowl. I hadn't anticipated the surge of love and joy that would afflict me upon seeing his smiling face.
He looked up at me as I entered the house, tossing his head to throw back a lock of his fringe. "What's with the goofy grin? Hurry up and help me with this." And with that he returned to the pot still on the stove.
I hadn't realised I was standing transfixed in the doorway until mother gave me a gentle nudge from behind. I walked in a daze to the washbasin in the corner of the room. I quickly poured some water into the basin from a jug and gasped when the cold water hit my face.
"It would have been warm if you had arrived on time," mother berated me. "Will you never learn, Xena?"
She wasn't really mad, I could tell by the twinkle in her eye. By the gods, I had missed this.
I finished up and dried my hands and face. Walking over to Lyceus I couldn't help staring. I hadn't seen him in so long, but nothing could ever make me forget the contours of his face, or the way he smiled at me when I was in trouble.
I picked up the bread and moved it onto the table, along with some butter, cheese and the bowls already served. Everything seemed so surreal, but as we all sat down to eat a feeling came over me. I hadn't felt so happy in a long time. Lyceus was alive and I was home. I had been given a second chance, and everything would be ok.
