Title: "The End"
Author: Pirate Turner
Rating: R for character death
Summary: Gabrielle finally gets to write what she has ached to for so long.
Warnings: Character Death, Sort-of Suicide, Slash
Disclaimer: Gabrielle and Xena: Warrior Princess are & TM their respective owners, not the author, and are used without permission. The Gods are, of course, & TM Themselves, but these particular versions of Ares and Aphrodite are & TM their respective owners, also not the author, and are used without permission. Everything else is & TM the author, Pirate Turner. I make absolutely no profit whatsoever off of this story.

She crossed her last t, dotted her last i, and then scrawled in flourished handwriting the two infamous, final words that she had ached for so long now to pen with her quill. Her haunted green eyes gazed at the phrase that was renowned throughout the world for being the most final words in any human language and yet were also the same words that offered her the only chance for happiness and peace she'd ever get again. They, and they alone, could free her of the misery and pain that had engulfed her heart and soul ever since she had lost the one person who had brought real meaning to her life. Without her woman, she had been lost in a sea of the most despair, anguish, and misery that she had ever felt, and the only thing that had kept her trapped in this Hell that normal people called Earth was her desire to let the whole world know the remarkable story of the miraculous woman she loved.

She straightened her back, squared her shoulders, and held her chin with the pride that she had learned from her beloved Warrior Princess. She was exhausted beyond words, but she was finished at last. She placed her favorite quill into her trusty ink stand, rolled the scroll tightly together, and bound it with a blue ribbon her love had given her years ago. She handed it to the Woman who stood beside her as testament that she had not been alone during her last trial, though she had never felt more lonely than she had in this longest of years.

Standing, Gabrielle embraced the Love Goddess in a tight, tender hug. Aphrodite could not keep the sadness from Her eyes nor stop a tear from falling down Her perfect face as She released the bard to walk toward the one thing she had wanted and ached for ever since they had lost Xena. Aphrodite had never wanted this to happen, but it had and She would not stand in the way of the one thing that could restore the bright light of happiness to Her best friend's eyes, heart, and soul.

Gabrielle's mournful eyes turned to encompass the two figures who stood against the wall, as much an accepted part of the shadows as the night itself. She closed the distance between them in two purposeful, elegant strides. "It is done," she told the woman in the hooded cloak, "and I am ready."

She paused only to look at Ares, who stepped forward out of the shadows for the first time in the many months He had been watching her. "Thank You, Ares, for keeping Your word and granting my release." Aphrodite had come to stand beside her, and Gabrielle encompassed them both with her caring gaze. "Thank You both for standing by me, by us. I'll tell Xena you say hello and send your love."

Ares' jaw was slack with shock, and it was all He could do to keep His own tears at bay as Gabrielle accepted the offered hand of Death. An eerie, chilling wind swept through the small cabin, and the candle of Gabrielle's life blew out, leaving the mourning Gods in pitch black. Ares pulled Aphrodite close and let Her tears soak His muscular shoulders while Gabrielle was swept into Xena's loving arms in the beyond.

The End