Okay, so this is my first ever Xena fic. They are replaying the entire show on Oxygen in the morning and I've been wanting to write my own story for it. So, this is very AU starting from the end of season four when Caesar crucifies Xena and Gabrielle. I don't know if this has been done before, but I just had the thought of redoing the fifth season. I actually didn't like it as much as the first four. I know this is short, but it's just a prologue basically. I update my stories pretty fast, so I should have the next one out soon.

Don't own anything.

She expected to die. She had known what would happen, had accepted while still in that cell with Gabrielle. She wasn't sure how long she had been up there, but she found herself wishing for the end.

Her eyes closed, head bowed. The next sensation she felt, though, was an unexpected one. Her arms were released and they fell limply to her side. She didn't have the energy to lift her head as she sagged forward and was caught in an embrace. If she had been more aware, she would have wondered why it hadn't hurt to be released like that. Maybe she was dead, though.

"Don't worry." She vaguely heard someone whisper in her ear. "I'm going to take care of you." Most of the pain from before was gone now. She mostly felt numb and she thought that if she wasn't dead then she was close to it.

She felt herself being lifted up in strong arms and she managed to open her eyes halfway to glimpse dark ones staring down at her before hers closed and darkness overtook her.

Xena's eyes snapped open and she sat up. She frowned, trying to remember what had happened. When memories slammed back into place, she jumped from the bed she had been lying on.

Looking down, she took herself in. The wounds on her hands and feet where gone and she was standing up, so obviously her back was healed. She was wearing a white gown.

She looked around the room. It was decorated in pink and white and the bed she had been sleeping in was large and admittedly comfortable.

So, she was dead? It was the only explanation. She didn't feel any different, though. Of course, she had never died before. How could she know what if felt like? She walked around the room slowly and stopped short when she caught sight of something on the table beside the bed.

Reaching out, she ran a hand across her breastplate sitting atop her clothes. Her chakram sat on top as well, whole now. She traced her fingers on it, remembering what had happened.

Her hand snapped away when a new thought hit her. Where was Gabrielle? If she was dead, and she wasn't so sure on that one now, where was she? And if she wasn't, how had she gotten here and healed?

"Your not dead." A deep and familiar voice said from the doorway. Xena snapped her head up and her eyes widened only slightly.

"Ares."