Souls

Inspired by Xena: Season 2: "The Quest." First few lines of dialogue taken directly from episode.

Gabrielle raised her staff, holding it out in front of her, a weapon to be reckoned with. Her face contorted with anguish and aggression. No one would stand between her and the journey to Amphipolus. Xena would be returned, in one piece, to rest beside her brother. And after that…after that she would decide what to do with her own life.

"Hey, little girl. You think a corpse is worth getting beaten up over?" The outlaw growled, his missing teeth appropriately complimenting his smarmy scowl.

"You tell me! I'm taking her back to her brother. I promised her!" Gabrielle sneered in return, gripping the staff so tightly that her knuckles gleamed white in the afternoon sunlight.

"You shouldn't make promises you can't keep."

Staff against sword, Amazon princess against rough and tumble outlaw-it should have been a match easily won. But there were more of those malnourished peons than she could successfully handle on her own. She tore through the crowd of them for a moment, but the ache in her shoulders told her the fight would not come out in her favor.

"You just made an enemy," the ruffian scowled, raising a fist and glowering.

"What a coincidence," came a familiar voice from over Gabrielle's shoulder. "So have you!" Iolaus jumped out of the woods, crashing into the outlaws' leader, throwing his fist into the menace, dancing around him like a trained boxer. Voices caterwauled in fear, and the men turned, running into the forest with their tails between their legs. Gabrielle panted, looking over Iolaus' shoulder at the fleeing men, then up into his face. The strength she'd managed to bolster from her beaten and worn soul flew out of her pores, leaving her only enough energy to hold herself standing.

"Iolaus," Gabrielle whimpered, her voice trembling.

"Fancy meeting you here." Iolaus chuckled, sliding his arms around the young woman. He inhaled the warm scent of her hair, pressed his callused hands against the soft skin of her exposed back, and pulled her close, close enough to feel the shivering that caressed her flesh and bones. In return, she squeezed her arms tighter around his neck and shoulders, the shivering increasing to tiny earthquakes in her muscles. Breath choked in her throat, and she could only stammer over shallow gulps of oxygen.

"Hey, I should get this greeting every time I show up," Iolaus joked half-heartedly, allowing Gabrielle to sink further into his embrace. Behind his ear, he listened as her brief choking gasps melted into frightened sobs. Her small, innocent figure descended into shaking, and even the staff fell from her grip and onto the dusty ground beneath their feet. At last, Iolaus held her out away from him, looking into her sullen face, brushing tears away from her reddened cheeks.

"Gabrielle? What is it?" He searched her face, and then over her shoulders, his eyes falling briefly on Argo, the blond horse rarely seen without his brunette mistress, and the intricately carved sarcophagus strung from his saddle. "Hey, where's Xena?"

Gabrielle stood over the coffin, looking down upon the inlay of small stones, her fingers caressing the wood as though it were Xena's sleeping face. Iolaus stood beside her, his head bent in sadness, his hand swept around Gabrielle's waist.

"I can't believe it," he murmured, tucking Gabrielle back into the nook of his elbow, allowing her to curl her head against his shoulder. His hand brushed the sarcophagus with sadness and wonder. Beside him, Gabrielle tore away from his hand, banging her fists against the coffin lid.

"She's gone! She just left me! How could she do that? She just left!" Tears sank down her cheeks, a rush of grief that filled her entire body. Iolaus tugged her back into his arms, pulling her against his bare chest, letting her tears soak into his vest. "I really want to hate her for it."

"No," Iolaus frowned, brushing his hand over her strawberry blond mane. "No, you don't."

"But I miss her." Iolaus pulled her tighter, closer, brushing his fingers gently through her hair, tucking her cheek between his chin and shoulder. She whimpered, trembling, crying with such full sadness. Never before had he witnessed so much grief in another person. She seemed to wither under the weight of her angst. "There are so many things I wish I could tell her. Why didn't I when I had the chance?"

"We always think we have plenty of time," Iolaus frowned, not releasing his grip on the young maiden trapped in his embrace. "We know people are going to leave us but we never face up to it. What would you have told her?"

"I would have told her how empty my life was before she came, and all the lessons I've learned, and that I love her."

"Gabrielle, you just told her." Iolaus sighed, venturing a small smile.

Gabrielle sighed at last, pulling herself reluctantly from the arms of Iolaus, her eyes darting to the ground, and then to Argo, standing impatiently beside a patch of sweet grass. "I have to…I told her I would take her body to Amphipolus. She wants to be buried beside her brother."

"It's a long way to travel alone. When people find out that Xena is dead, they'll…they'll want proof."

"Will you come with me, Iolaus? I mean, if you're not busy with Hercules."

Iolaus smiled affectionately, slipping his hand into Gabrielle's palm. He pressed a soft kiss against her cheek, then brushed it away with a sweep of golden curls. "I'll do whatever I can to help you, Gabrielle."

Night fell quickly over the spreading afternoon, ducking over the sun and sprinkling the evening sky with the light of a thousand stars. Iolaus led Gabrielle and Argo off of the main road and into a grove of sycamores congregated around a patch of yellowed grass and dusty earth. Argo disappeared into the night in search of food, leaving the coffin and it's protectors to build a fire. The flames rose like fingers into the night, stretching toward the glowing face of the moon. Gabrielle stared sullenly into the sultry heat, watching the fire dance upon its earthen bed. In the crisp evening, often filled with the sounds of steel against sharpening stone, the night was empty, void of time and space.

"I don't know what to do now," Gabrielle sighed, voicing her thoughts to her quiet companion. Iolaus slid across the dewy grass, sliding his arms around her waist, sighing deeply. She relaxed instantly against his muscled shoulder, curling into the curve of his bicep. She inhaled slowly, and exhaled a deep, whispering breath, slightly choppy with her grief-stricken voice.

"No home waiting for you at the end of your journey?"

"I left my village to travel with Xena. I didn't belong there. My mother wanted to see me married, with children, to a man I didn't love. I couldn't…I wanted to see the world."

"Sometimes I wonder if it's all that it's cracked up to be," Iolaus frowned, gathering up the trembling maiden in his arms, and pulling her across his knees. She moved with him, like a rag doll, easily bended and amiable to the will of a caregiver. "The world, I mean."

"So much has happened since we last met, Iolaus. I don't know if I'm the same girl that you met in the caves of Prometheus."

"You're even more of that woman I met than you were when I first saw you, Gabrielle. Your pure heart is still visible in your eyes, in your skin, in the way you fight and the way you speak." Iolaus ventured a small smile, letting it taste his lips like sweet fruit juice upon his tongue. His eyes glistened in the moonlight.

"I'm a widow now," Gabrielle sighed, resting her head upon his forearm, staring up into the moonlight cast by Artemis upon her skin. "His name was Perdicus. I've known him all my life. He was my suitor in my home village, the man chosen for me when I was just a girl. He followed me into my life with Xena. War and fighting had changed him, like I imagine it changes all people."

"It does," Iolaus frowned, brushing his fingers across her scalp as he listened.

"He was still the man I knew, but hardened by life in war. When he asked me to marry him, I…I didn't love him. But I pitied him, and I knew that I could bring some happiness back to his life. I couldn't bear seeing him in so much pain, and to bring more to him by refusing his proposal-I couldn't, Iolaus. I couldn't do that to him."

"Are you asking for my forgiveness, Gabrielle? Or are you asking for your own?"

"I don't know. I don't…" she stammered and fell short, a new set of tears falling down the sides of her face. Iolaus frowned, pulling her tighter into his arms, doing all that he could to comfort her. "He was murdered by a warrior, a bitch of a woman. Callisto."

"I've heard of her,"

"She murdered him, just to watch him die. She enjoyed it, I think. She enjoyed hurting me."

"From what I know of Callisto, she doesn't enjoy anything. She doesn't feel anything. I'm not saying that she's right or that I pity her…" He trailed off, returning his attentions to Gabrielle.

"I hope he's happier now, in Elysia. I hope he's with his family."

"I'm sure he's waiting for you, Gabrielle. And if he's a good man, he'll wait forever. He'll watch over you from the fields, guarding you from the dangers of living in this world."

"I became an Amazon princess," Gabrielle sighed after a moment, swiftly changing the subject. Iolaus held back a chuckle, surprised by her ability to move from one moment of solemnity to another of celebration. "I was given the right of cast. If I ever return to the Amazons, I am their rightful sovereign."

"You've certainly seen your share of adventure since last we met, Gabrielle." Iolaus chuckled, looking down upon her face. He pressed a hand beneath her chin and tilted her head up, looking down into her blue eyes. "I'm proud to know you."

"But all those things I did with Xena by my side. Now, without her…"

"Without her, you'll go on being the woman you are. You'll continue to have adventures, to see the world if you so choose. Those stories that you tell-you can spread Xena's message around all of Greece, inspiring warriors to follow her path."

"You remember my stories?" Gabrielle whimpered, descending further into his grip, curling tighter into his arms. His warm skin smelled of the dusty road he'd traveled to be at her side, and beneath it, his natural musk gave her a small sense of pleasure.

"I'll never forget them. When I was so close to the river Styx, your voice kept me alive. I'm certain of it."

"But you said you didn't remember…" Gabrielle's voice faded as Iolaus' hand rose to capture her cheek. Her skin reddened beneath his hand, and she could barely contain the sense of excitement that rumbled within her breast.

"Once, long ago, all people had two heads and four legs," Iolaus began, closing his eyes briefly to remember the image of Gabrielle's glistening eyes, the only light in the darkness of the cave. She'd brushed her fingers through his tangled hair, held him close to cease his trembling, and told her story, the last words he might ever hear. "The gods threw down thunderbolts, and divided people into two halves, leaving all people with one head and two legs. But the separation left each half with a desperate longing to be reunited with its other part. Both halves shared the same soul. Ever since the gods split us all in two, we've spent our lives searching for our other half, to reunite our soul."

Small sobs shook her eyes, her lips, and the tips of her fingers. His kisses would not bring stability, but they would bring warmth. It spread to the coldest regions of her small body, the ends of her toes and the heels of her feet. She felt his lips upon her lips, felt his breath twist into her lungs, filling her with life. Beneath the glowing light of Artemis' moon, Gabrielle lay back upon a woolen blanket, and opened wide her arms to accept Iolaus. He was gentle and sweet, despite the roughness of his chin, the force contained within his strong limbs. His hands worked over the knots in her bodice while his mouth sought the points of pressure throbbing in her throat. In turn, Gabrielle pushed the brightly patterned vest from his shoulders, fingering the pendant he wore against his chest. His skin was hot to the touch, like fire beneath her fingertips. This would be the second time in her life that Gabrielle would lie with a man, but she would look upon it more fondly and with more remembered pleasure than any other time in all of her years.

Gabrielle's milky white breasts fell from the snug bodice like fruits descending from their tree. Her lover's hands folded around them, protective of their beauty. With each breath, they rose to fill his awaiting palms, and though her mouth still trembled with reluctant sobbing, she no longer felt the sadness that had so crushed her since Xena's death. Pleasure filled the gaps in her happiness, just as warmth from Iolaus' body pushed away the cold fingers of the night.

Unlike Perdicus, who removed his pants with a swift struggle, anxious to be within a woman, within his bride, Iolaus was slow and determined. The braided leather was smooth against her thighs as he slid it down, away from his steaming flesh. Naked, they lay together for a moment, his hands caressing her skin, his mouth suckling upon her neck and breast. With self-assurance, Gabrielle pressed a hand against his cheek, stroking the rough whiskers, tracing the cheekbone with her thumb. Her eyes revealed her readiness, her desire, and no amount of darkened night could hide that sensation of longing. Iolaus smiled, tenderly and with great love for the delicate woman beneath his hands.

He spread his fingers between her thighs, kissing her parted lips as he slid inside her womb. Two halves of one whole, searching their entire lives for the other piece of their soul, they fit together perfectly. He found no pain in her glittering eyes, no reluctance or fear. Instead, she only wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled his chest against hers, licking at his tongue as their mouths connected. Each thrust would fill her with tiny gasps of pleasure, loud enough that they echoed in his ears and yet so quiet that no one but Iolaus could hear them. She murmured his name again and again as he carried her pleasure to a high she had never known before. Together, their voices swayed into the night, filling the moonlit grove with waves of erotic desire.

Birdsong awakened them, and Gabrielle opened her eyes to the comfort of Iolaus' embrace, tucked as she was against his chest, the contours of her spine melting into the musculature of his abdomen. Movement was reluctant, and Gabrielle spent several heartbeats listening only to the soft lilting of voices between the trees, the rhythm of Iolaus' breathing in her ear.

"I would never have believed your story before we met, Gabrielle," Iolaus murmured against her nape, leaving a warm kiss to follow his voice.

"I knew you were out there, waiting for me."

"But…" Iolaus sighed, pulling strands of hair from her cheek. He had already stiffened, awaiting her reply.

"But it isn't our time yet. I have so much to do before I can embrace my destiny. I…"

"We both have paths that call for us, Gabrielle."

"I have to take Xena home."

Iolaus slid his arms around Gabrielle's waist as she piled the remains of her belongings across Argo's saddle. She felt herself melt immediately, her troubles slough away from her shoulders, her head clear like sunlight pushing through clouds. Here, against his steadily beating heart, she would always find comfort. Here, in his heart, she would always find home.

"I'll never leave you, Gabrielle. I'll always be inside you." He murmured against her ear lobe, turning her hips with a quick movement of his wrists. She looked reluctantly into his eyes, staring up into world-wearied orbs. "And if you ever need me, I'll find you."

"Iolaus…" Gabrielle began, but his sudden kiss cut the words from her lips, swallowing them whole and keeping them forever. She moaned effortlessly into the embrace of his mouth, sinking into his body.

"Don't," he whispered, breathless. "I'll remember you, just like this."

End.