Date written: Mon 13 Nov 2000
Author: Starway Man
Disclaimer: All X-WP characters belong to Universal and Renaissance Pictures, and all the usual stuff about copyright applies. I'm merely a fanfic writer, and I don't want any money out of this. The only thing I want is to entertain fan fiction readers - and if you believe that, you'll believe anything.
Classification: Adventure (Gen)
Rating: Definitely R-ish
Continuity: Set in season six, shortly after The Abyss.
Spoilers: The whole Xena mytharc, and the episodes 'Stranger In A Strange World' and 'Stranger and Stranger' from H-TLJ.
Warnings: There's lots of violence and some language, but no sex in this fanfic. Any possible subtext is where you want it to be.
Summary: Xena, Gabrielle and Virgil encounter the Joxer from the mirror universe, who is trying to save the people of both worlds from the wrath of Cupid, the God of War.
Title: Stranger Side Of Destiny
The man known as Virgil was fast asleep, beneath the shining stars in the night sky of ancient Greece. His eyes were tightly shut, and he was dreaming.
Up until recently, his nightmares had almost stopped; they had been like the last fading traces of a raging fever. He had made it that way - HE had, not his family or friends or anyone else.
One could say that it was something for him to be proud of.
But ever since the death of his friend Hosep at the hands of those cannibals, and his own near-death experience with the Djindar tribe of human flesh-eaters, the dreams had started up again full-force.
Every time he closed his eyes.
In his dream, he was walking through a destroyed village. Everywhere there were houses burned to the ground, there was smoke and destruction - and almost all of the people were either injured, gone or crucified.
He knew what would happen next; this part of the dream was quite familiar. Soon, his memories of the past would show him his father's death; Joxer getting killed by Livia's sword-thrust.
And he was unable to do a thing to prevent it.
But suddenly, the dream changed. He didn't understand it, but somehow he found himself in front of a large wooden cross, that was standing alone amidst the ruins.
Virgil looked up, and got the shock of his life; his father was there crucified on it, arms outspread with his hands nailed to the beams, and his feet were nailed together as well.
The old man looked at him, and smiled despite the pain. "Hello, Virgil."
Stunned, Virgil could only gasp, "Dad? Hold on, I'll get you down!"
Joxer's expression did not change. "Why?"
Virgil was now even more confused. "Huh? Wh-what do you mean? I - what's going on?"
Joxer shrugged, or at least tried to. "It's your dream, son. You tell me."
Suddenly, the sky went completely black. Thunder rumbled, and lightning crashed. Virgil started backing away but then he stumbled, his head hitting the hard ground. He shook his head, and got up; then he noticed that he was now in a completely different place.
Virgil looked around, and saw that he was at the shore of a lake. There was nothing else around, except for the daylight sky above and the surrounding grass.
The water itself was totally black, and perfectly still.
Then he sensed something, or someone nearby. He turned, and sure enough Joxer was standing beside him. But Virgil almost didn't recognize him; his companion was a young man, about 30 summers old, only a few years older than he was.
It was the same age his father had been 25 years previously, when all this had really begun.
"It's coming soon, you know," Joxer said solemnly, looking at the water.
Virgil was more confused than ever. "What is? I don't understand."
"You will," said his companion. "All part of the plan."
Virgil said hopefully, "Plan? So, uh, Michael and Eli - they've sent you?"
"You mean the higher powers? I have no idea."
Joxer took his son's hand, and raised it in his own. Virgil looked at it, then beyond at the water of the lake - it was like a mirror, and he could see himself standing on the shoreline with an upraised arm.
But there was no sign of his father's image, being reflected in the water. It was as if he simply wasn't there.
In Virgil's opinion, this was starting to get creepy.
Joxer then told him calmly, "You have to be careful of what you'll find, from the other side of the mirror."
Virgil was still confused. He said, "You - you mean there's gonna be trouble?"
His father nodded. "Xena and Gabby aren't going to be able to help you much with this one, son." The young Joxer then shrugged. "You'd best keep an eye out. If you get monster-sized problems, make sure you don't lose your head - in fact, it's the other way around."
Virgil shook his head, and started pacing around. "I don't get it - what are you trying to tell me?"
Joxer came up to him, and then stopped about two feet away. His eyes bored straight into Virgil's, which suddenly sent chills down the young man's spine. And when his father spoke again, somehow it was like listening to a prophecy of doom.
"There's not much time left in the world, son. And it's all gonna come down to you. Trust me...and trust your instincts."
Joxer glanced down, and suddenly Virgil saw the sword in the man's stomach, which had not been there a moment before. His father grunted and said, "You think I'm ever gonna get that thing out of me?"
He pulled at it, and a thin spray of blood splashed all over Virgil's face...
In the real world some distance away, a blue vortex appeared in the night. The wind started howling madly, as within its depths a man struggled to fight his way out, to break free of the phenomenon's deadly embrace.
He was a young man, dressed in a white shirt, black leather and armor. Apart from a scar on his cheek, Virgil would have recognized him instantly, as the man in his dream.
At the last moment before the vortex started to fade away, Joxer 2 tore himself free with a loud scream. As the gateway disappeared, he collapsed onto the ground unconscious, holding a rose-colored globe in his hand.
By some miracle, it did not break; but instead it shone with an ethereal light, literally something from out of this world.
Far away, the Fates contemplated his arrival quite emotionlessly.
With the passing of the Olympian order, their powers and dominion were steadily decreasing. But that did not change the fact, that they knew human destiny itself was at stake now.
And they also knew that humankind only had two avenues left open to it anymore; survival...or oblivion.
Not far away from the arrival of a man from another world, Virgil, Xena and Gabrielle's campsite lay hidden in the forest. Virgil, in the grip of his nightmare, jerked up and let out a muffled scream.
It was now past dawn, and Xena the warrior princess and Gabrielle the warrior bard instantly whipped their heads around towards him.
They had been up for a while, and the blonde and the black-haired women looked at each other knowingly. Gabrielle in particular knew what he was going through; she had been having bad dreams herself, especially with her slaying of Korah the desert boy not long ago.
Virgil started rubbing at his face, as if trying to get something out of his eyes. When he realized what he was doing, he stopped and looked around - then he noticed Xena and Gabrielle were staring at him.
He looked at them sheepishly. "Uh, sorry."
They came over, and suddenly Virgil realized they were going to try to comfort him. He didn't want that right now, so he got up and held out his hands, to forestall their words. "It's okay. I know, it was just a bad dream. It's not like I'm not used to them."
Xena looked away, and Virgil could have kicked himself for what he'd said. Of course, it was not exactly Xena's fault that her daughter Eve - formerly known as Livia, the Champion of Rome - had given him just cause for nightmares, by killing his father.
But it was pretty crass of him to rub her nose in it like that.
And in any case, Eve was no longer Livia; after seeing the light, she'd become like a totally different person. The person she had truly been meant to be. It was too bad she was away right now, helping spread the word of the holy man Eli's God as His Messenger.
"I'm sorry, Xena," he said at once. She knew what he meant, and a quick smile let him know all was forgiven.
Gabrielle came up to him and said, "I know you don't want to talk about it, but, y'know, we are here for you. Maybe it'll help to let it all out?"
Virgil sighed, and decided that maybe she was right. After all, they'd been his father's best friends, and keeping it all inside hadn't made the nightmares go away.
He said slowly, "It was...it was different this time. Not my usual nightmare, when Eve..." he broke off. "I mean, I saw my father. And I think he was trying to tell me something. That something bad was about to happen..."
By this time Xena had joined Gabrielle and himself, and she was looking at him closely. "Did he say anything in particular we should know?"
Virgil frowned, trying to remember. "He said, there was something I had to do...and that you two wouldn't be able to help me much..."
Xena lowered her eyes. Virgil asked, "What is it?"
Xena looked at Gabrielle briefly, then turned away. "Virgil..." she started. "Did your father ever tell about the time we died?"
"Which one?" Virgil asked with a quick grin.
Both women could not hide their amusement either, as it was true enough that they HAD died and come back to life on a number of occasions.
Xena quickly became serious, though. "It was before you were born...about 26 years ago, a few moons before I became pregnant with Eve."
"No."
Gabrielle glanced at Xena, wondering where she was going with this. The warrior princess said slowly, "Your father...ah, well, it's complicated."
She continued, "You see, I'd gone to kill Caesar, but the Romans imprisoned Gabrielle and Eli and some others in one of their mountain garrisons. I went to rescue them - everyone else got away, but Gabrielle and I ended up getting crucified," she finished up.
Virgil looked at them, suddenly remembering one of the stories Joxer had told him and his brothers and sisters. "Oh, right, you two went to Heaven and Hell before Eli resurrected you, or something like that?"
"Yes," Gabrielle said shortly. It was obvious those memories were not entirely happy ones for her.
Virgil continued in puzzlement, "But what does all that have to do with my dreams?"
Xena looked at him compassionately. "Virgil, if your father hadn't...Amarice and Eli were there as well with him at the time, and they also grieved for our passing. But they might not have done anything more than that..."
She paused. "Joxer was the one who insisted they should bring our bodies back to Greece, and he helped take us down off of those crosses. The world might be a very different place today, if he hadn't been there."
Given the Twilight of the Olympian gods, that was understandable. But in terms of his dreams, he still didn't get it, and it showed.
Gabrielle said to him gently, "Virgil, your father dreamed about us being in trouble, and that he had to help us. That's why he came. You see, the three of us hadn't even been in contact before that, before we - died. Basically, he just...knew."
Xena put in, "It was almost prophetic. And what I'm thinking is, maybe the talent runs in the family."
Comprehension, then shock dawned on the young man's face. Without another word, he turned around, and quickly started off into the forest.
Gabrielle started to go after him, but Xena held her back. As the warrior-bard looked at her friend, Xena said, "I think we'd better leave him be for a while. He needs some space to deal with this. I'm sure he'll be back soon."
Gabrielle reluctantly agreed, and watched as Virgil disappeared.
Later, Virgil was walking along and trying to make some sense of it all. He didn't understand why his father had never mentioned any of that - maybe his mother Meg had forbidden him to do it? He just didn't know.
Suddenly, Virgil came across a body lying in the middle of the road. He went to examine it, noticing it was a dark-haired man close to his own age.
As he tried to revive him, he had less than a second to register the shock of seeing the man's face - then both he and Joxer 2 were under attack, by a group of men armed with swords and other weapons.
Yelling loudly, they came at the duo without hesitation. Murderers and thieves one and all, they only wanted to rob and kill. But as soon as Joxer 2 woke up, it was obvious that today was not a good day to die...for him and Virgil.
Putting away the globe and withdrawing his weapons, the man from another world started to go after his attackers. Virgil fought as well, and got a few of them; but it was like an amateur wrestler trying to compete with the Ultimate Fighting Champion, for the Olympic laurel wreath.
It was no contest who was the better killer.
The thieves were quickly finished off or ran away, and Virgil watched as the last of them left. Then he turned to face the other man...and found the tip of Joxer 2's sword at the base of his throat.
He said nothing, but just looked into the man's eyes. Luckily for him, Joxer 2 liked what he saw there. Dropping the sword, he lowered his eyes and only muttered, "Yeah. You ARE Virgil."
Virgil didn't know what to say or do. The man looked like a younger version of his father, apart from the scar, almost like the man in last night's dream. He was sure this was no relative, though, so he was probably just a look-alike.
But then, how did the man know his name? Virgil knew he wasn't exactly famous.
Then he noticed blood on the man's leg and so just said lamely, "Uh, you're wounded."
Joxer 2 looked down, and cursed. Suddenly, Xena and Gabrielle burst out of the woods; they had grown worried about Virgil being gone so long, and had come to find him.
As soon as Joxer 2 saw them a few feet away, he snarled and brought his sword up again. Instantly, instinctively, Xena grabbed her chakram and Gabrielle took out her sais - and then both of them looked shocked, as they recognized the Joxer of the past.
Virgil knew this would get out of hand and so he tried to calm things down, even though he was still confused too. "No, don't!" he shouted to Joxer 2. "They're friends!"
He turned to both women and commanded them, "Xena, Gabrielle, put your weapons down!"
They just looked at him, so Virgil yelled, "DO IT! Just trust me, you don't want a bloodbath!"
Reluctantly they did so, and then Virgil looked at the other man. Joxer 2 looked back, then gradually lowered his sword. "You trust them?" he said in a suspicious voice.
"Yes," Virgil replied. "Hey, uh, you know my name - but I, I never got yours."
Joxer 2 frowned at this. "Virgil, don't you recognize me? I'm Joxer, I'm your..." he broke off with a grimace.
Gabrielle came forward angrily. "No way! You are NOT Joxer!" she said.
Instinctively his sword came up again, and Virgil placed himself in between them to calm things down again. When things were a little more relaxed, he said the man, "Good. Okay. And, er, thank you for helping to save my life - I guess I couldn't have taken on all those men, by myself."
Joxer 2 said calmly, "I didn't exactly do it for you, I did it for my son. Virgil."
The young man looked confused. "But I AM Virgil!"
Xena's mind had been working much more swiftly than that of her companions, and she figured out what that meant. "But you're not HIS Virgil," she said carefully, watching Joxer 2's face.
She continued, "If I'm right, this IS Joxer...but not OUR Joxer. He's the Joxer from, oh, say, the Sovereign's world? See, I haven't forgotten the bard stories. Am I right?"
The alien traveler merely looked at her with an upturned eyebrow, and mockingly inclined his head to acknowledge she was correct.
Back at the campsite, Virgil helped Joxer 2 take care of the wound on his leg. It wasn't too serious - but the man still didn't want Gabrielle and Xena to help him.
The warrior princess already knew what kind of man Joxer 2 was, and had started anticipating problems with him around.
She'd often fought against his type in her warlord days, just for the challenge. Because he was someone who didn't let his guard down, for anyone or anything - ever.
A dangerous man, forged by the world he'd lived in. A product of whatever dark forces ruled there.
Gabrielle and Virgil were hitting him with questions, and Joxer 2 answered them as best he could. He also suspiciously asked Virgil about Xena and Gabrielle, and the young man told him all about them - their adventures and personalities in detail.
From the look on Joxer 2's face, it was obvious he found it incredible to believe even half of what Virgil told him.
And although he obviously felt uncomfortable about it, the warrior briefly discussed the history of his world, such as the exploits of the Empress and the Sovereign. He was subsequently amazed to learn the details about their counterparts in this world, the pirate queen Nebula and the hero Hercules.
Then Virgil asked him, "How did you get you get here - and why do you look so young? I mean, my Dad..." he gestured helplessly, "he looked much older than you."
Joxer 2 looked at him and then the two women, and decided to answer. "I came here the same way everyone does, through the gateway. And as for the other part, I was on ice for 25 years, like your two friends here."
He paused. "But in my case, one of the other gods did it without my consent - to hide me from the God of War."
"Ares?" asked Gabrielle.
"No, Cupid." Ignoring the looks of disbelief, he brought out the rose-colored globe. "This is...the Orb of Destiny," he said, staring at it emotionlessly.
"What's it do?" asked Xena at once.
"It lets you travel anywhere you want, any time or place." He saw the looks on their faces and said quickly, "But I don't know how to use it. No one other than the Gods has that knowledge. What I do know, is that Cupid wants to try to destroy us with this."
"Us?" asked Gabrielle.
"Every man, woman and child that's ever lived."
They didn't understand, and Joxer 2 sighed. "From what I know, before I stole it Cupid's plan was to persuade Zeus and Hera not to create human beings at the beginning of the world. And that would mean..."
"Not only would everyone in your world die - never have existed - so would everyone in ours!" Virgil exclaimed.
"Right," Joxer 2 shrugged, as he tucked away the glowing sphere. "He blames us for the deaths of the Gods, for whatever crazy reason."
Virgil, Gabrielle and Xena looked at one another, and silently agreed that they had to tell him. Joxer 2 then learned all about Eve, the Twilight, and Xena and Gabrielle's role in the deaths of so many of the Olympian gods.
All three of them could instantly tell, that he was severely pissed.
"Couldn't you have found some other way?"
Xena shook her dark-haired head, her leathers rustling. "It was kill or be killed. I gather...it wasn't like that in your world."
Joxer 2 didn't look at her. "No. The Gods all just started dropping dead, without warning. No Twilight, or whatever you called it. Oh, Zeus had died 25 years ago, but everyone had mostly forgotten about that. Aphrodite - the Queen of the Gods - was doing fine without him. Then...the chaos came. And all because of you."
Gabrielle tried to divert him from that thought. "What happened exactly?"
He looked at her with loathing. "Like I said, there was chaos. People who were in mortal agony couldn't die. The weather went insane. No crops would grow, it was impossible to find clean water, there was no day or night anymore...it took months for the remaining gods to get everything back under control."
He paused. "And I lost someone very special to me."
"Who?" asked Virgil.
"Harmony," Joxer 2 almost whispered.
All three of his companions looked confused. Xena asked, "Who was that?"
Joxer 2 sighed. "She was a love goddess, the niece of Ares, the God of Love. We were...very close."
Everyone else missed the strange expression on Virgil's face, as he realized that his counterpart in that world must have had a very different life to his, if his mother and father hadn't been together like they'd been here.
Joxer 2 went on, "She was the one who helped me steal the Orb, the one who hid me from Cupid for 25 years..."
Gabrielle couldn't believe it. "You mean...DISCORD? You and she were...?" She then went on to talk about the goddess they'd known.
It wasn't the smartest thing to do, as Joxer 2 just drew his weapons, furious once again. "Don't you dare talk about her that way, you damned...!"
Xena and Virgil then had to calm things down again, and Gabrielle apologized. "I'm sorry...it's just that, I-I guess I'm just not used to all of this yet. I mean, I remember all the stories about the Iolaus of your world coming here...but it's totally different, actually meeting someone like you."
Joxer 2 didn't want to know. "Yeah, right. Wait a candle-mark," he suddenly asked. "Where am I in your world, anyway?"
There was a silence as Xena, Virgil and Gabrielle looked elsewhere. Eventually Virgil said, "You, uh, died a while ago."
Strangely, the young man didn't seem at all affected by this. "I see. Must have been during the time I was in that limbo place, since I'm still alive and kicking."
Xena then asked, "So what's the plan? Why are you here?"
Having calmed down a little, Joxer 2 said, "I can't hide the Orb anywhere in my world - Cupid would find it. I need to get rid of it somehow, and Harmony told me what to do before she died. But I need something that's been destroyed in my world to do it, and that's why I came here."
He took out the Orb again, and they gazed in wonder at it. It was hard to believe that something so beautiful could be so deadly, if it fell into the wrong hands.
Xena looked at him and said, "You're injured. We better come with you, to make sure everything turns out all right. After all, it's our lives at stake as well."
Joxer 2 just looked at them, with no friendliness on his face or in his voice. "Fine. Just stay out of my way," he told them, before turning around and walking off.
After breaking camp, the foursome was walking along, the women up front and the men trailing them. Xena and Gabrielle might have preferred otherwise, but it was obvious that Joxer 2 had no intention of turning his back on them, as well as not allowing them near him.
"Where exactly is this place again?" asked Gabrielle.
Joxer 2 didn't look at her. "Corinth."
Xena frowned. "It'll take a while to get there. Especially on foot."
Virgil tried to keep things cheerful. "Well, we'll make it...it doesn't look like we're gonna have too many problems, anyway."
The other man stopped at once, and looked at him. "One thing that Gravis, my leader in the resistance taught me...if it looks too good to be true, then it IS too good to be true."
Right on cue, another vortex appeared. The weather went wild as usual, and the wind tore at their hair and clothing. As the blue swirl of light stabilized and the wind died down, a horde of demons from Hell came rushing out.
They headed straight for Joxer 2, and it was obvious they were out for blood.
All four of them withdrew their weapons, and there was a huge fight. But unfortunately, every time a demon was mortally wounded, it didn't die - the creature just shrugged off the injury, and rejoined the battle.
Under such conditions, Xena, Gabrielle, Virgil and Joxer 2 quickly began to get tired, as there was no chance to rest or even the numbers. And it was only a matter of time, before they succumbed to the inevitable.
Then Virgil suddenly remembered part of the warning his father had given him, in his dream. 'If you get monster-sized problems, make sure you don't lose your head - in fact, it's the other way around.'
"CUT OFF THEIR HEADS!" he yelled to his three companions. Without thinking, they started to do so - and as soon as they did, the demons exploded into dust.
"Son of a bacchae!" cursed Xena, as she and the others started to cut down their opponents. Her chakram flashed through the air, and before long their enemies were all dead.
Suddenly Joxer 2 froze, as did his companions. Standing before them alone on the battlefield, was the god Apollo.
But it wasn't Apollo, the God of Light of this world; it was Apollo the minor war god, assistant to Cupid the God of War.
"Hey there, Jox!" he said in a smarmy tone. It was amazing how much his act resembled that of the long-dead Strife, the assistant to Ares the God of War, of this world. "Long time no see, buddy."
Joxer 2 said nothing, but closed the distance between them.
Apollo's grin didn't flicker for an instant. "Now look, my friend, I'm sure we can work something out! You know the chief is a reasonable guy..."
Joxer 2 just idly touched the scar on his face.
Apollo looked nervous, but only for an instant. "Come on, are you still mad about that? I said I'm sorry! And it's ancient history! I mean, let's let bygones be bygones here..."
Virgil, Xena and Gabrielle were by this time close around as well, and the god alien to this world tried to turn on the charm. "Hey! Nice to see you all..."
Joxer 2 growled, a deep animalistic noise in his throat. Apollo immediately returned his attention to the warrior. "Look, Cupid's authorized me to negotiate. You don't need to worry about a thing! Just give me the Orb, and we'll go back and find Zeus and Hera together. I have some ambrosia...enough for everybody," looking around at his companions.
"There's not much time left in the world," Virgil suddenly said to himself, diverting everybody's attention. "And it's all gonna come down to you."
Everyone looked at him in confusion for a moment, before Apollo coughed and got their attention again.
The god then continued his spiel, "Anyway the plan is Jox, when we get to where we're going, you'll become one of us. No matter what happens, you'll be assimilated into the ranks of the Gods - and safe as Olympus! Now what do you say - do we bury the Trojan spear?" He stuck out his arm.
Joxer 2 moved forward, and withdrew a knife from his boot. And then for the first time, he spoke. Coldly and emotionlessly. Two words.
"Assimilate this."
He plunged the dagger into Apollo's chest, and the god's eyes bulged out in shock.
There was a loud rumble of thunder, as Apollo died - with a look of great surprise on his face. His body then crumpled to the ground.
"Hind's Blood," Joxer 2 spat at the corpse. "Hope you don't mind that I kept a tiny drop." He then threw the knife away, and turned to look at Virgil. "How did you know how to stop those things, anyway?"
The young man's mind was still reeling from everything that had happened, and could only stammer, "I-I had a dream..."
Gabrielle cut him off, shocked at what he'd done. "You...you just killed him!"
Joxer 2 looked at her, but said nothing.
"You're a murderer!" she told him angrily.
"And you were the Executioner, where I come from," he said calmly.
Off her look of surprise and disgust, he continued, "You're surprised? Then you should have seen what you were like in the Sovereign's court. You killed more people than I've had decent meals. And a lot of them were my friends and allies."
"And me? What did I do?" asked Xena challengingly.
"You were the Sovereign's whore," Joxer 2 shrugged, as if it was unimportant. He turned and looked at Virgil. "We need to get moving."
Without waiting for an answer, he started off. Virgil looked at the two women, then shrugged himself and started to follow him.
Gabrielle started to follow, but Xena held her back. "You need to calm down," she told her friend.
"Xena!" Gabrielle exclaimed. "You just saw what he -!"
"Was it really that much worse than any of the things we've done? Me, especially?"
Unable to believe her ears, the bard asked, "OK, who stopped payment on my reality check? You're actually defending him?"
Xena fought to find the right words. "No...but I can see where he's coming from."
"I don't believe this!" Gabrielle exclaimed. "Xena, when we first met him, I was glad...I mean, we had Joxer back! At least, sort of! But he's NOT Joxer! He's a...a..."
"Different person," Xena supplied quietly. "Someone who doesn't love you, like he did. In fact he's someone who despises us both, no matter how he tries to suppress it, for what we did in his world."
Gabrielle was shocked speechless at the bluntness of Xena's words.
"Gabrielle," Xena continued, "think it through. What do you think would have happened, if Joxer hadn't done what he did?"
"Well, I..."
"He would have gone back to Cupid - HIS Cupid, and told him everything," Xena said. "And once THAT god knew what the situation was...I think we'd have been in real trouble. Think in terms of Ares at his worst, without his...feelings for me to interfere with the job."
She paused. "Come to think of it, we still are in trouble...Joxer's just bought us some time. But Cupid won't ignore Apollo's absence forever."
Gabrielle was about to protest again, when Xena said, "I know, I know...it doesn't make it right. However, it WAS necessary. Because we're fighting for our lives here - I don't like it any more than you do, but it had to be done. It's just...the fortunes of war, I guess."
"War..." repeated Gabrielle softly. "And what about the Apollo of our world, Xena? Did he deserve to die like that just now, not even knowing what hit him?" She sighed. "War. Death. Killing. Isn't there anything else in life, Xena? Ever?"
"Yes," Xena said comfortingly. "Love. Honor. Responsibility. Don't forget we're doing this to save everyone, Gabrielle. And the worst part is, this time it won't be up to us to see it through - not entirely."
"Huh?" asked Gabrielle in confusion.
"Don't you remember?" Xena said, looking right at her. "It's all gonna be up to Virgil. Joxer - our Joxer - told him that, in his dream. All we can do now, is help him the best we can."
Later as they were walking along, Virgil was trying to think of a way to ask Joxer 2 some personal questions. The man saved him the trouble though, by looking at him and saying, "Just ask me."
Virgil looked uncomfortable, but then shrugged it off. "Tell me about the Virgil of your world."
The warrior turned away. "I don't know anything much about him. I only ever met him once. And I could tell..."
"What?" asked Virgil.
"That he despises me, for everything I've done. Or didn't do," said Joxer 2 matter-of-factly.
"What?" said Virgil in amazement. "Why?"
This version of his father sighed. "Look, your mother - I mean, my son's mother, Meg - she was a priestess of Harmony. And we'd known each other a long time. She loved me, but I didn't love her..."
"Yeah, I remember," said Virgil. "You were in love with her boss, the goddess."
"Right. So the thing is, one time after a battle we were alone, I was delirious and...it sort of just happened. Nine moons later, you were born. I never knew - and I was in the freezer by then, anyway."
"Wow," said Virgil in amazement. "Then...I guess my brothers and sisters don't exist in your world."
Joxer 2 looked at him sharply, but then turned away again. "No."
Virgil tried to cheer him up. "Well, when this is over, maybe you can go back to your Virgil and sort things out..."
The Joxer from another world stopped, and looked at him. Xena and Gabrielle stopped too. "When this is OVER?" he asked in amazement. "What's the matter with you? Haven't you realized yet, that it's NEVER gonna be over for me?"
"I - "
"Cupid is never going to stop looking for me! EVER! Don't you understand!" Joxer 2 yelled at Virgil in fury.
He continued, "I can't ever go see my son again! Or Meg! Do you think that the God of War wouldn't hesitate to kill him or his mother, if he thought that might bring me out into the open?"
He stalked off, leaving the others behind. Leaving Virgil with Gabrielle, who tried to comfort the young man, Xena quickly caught up with Joxer 2. "Don't you think you were a little rough on him?" she asked.
"You people are soft. Probably wouldn't last five minutes in my world," her companion said icily, still walking along and not looking at her.
"We're not in your world now," she countered, looking behind her quickly. Virgil and Gabrielle had started to catch up, and were not far behind them.
"I've been thinking," she said to him, slowly. "I get the feeling we've got a few things in common."
"Such as?"
"Well, for one thing, you were once involved with your God of War, just as I was with mine," she said. Seeing the face he made, she said, "Oh, don't bother to deny it - how else could you have stolen that Orb? I'm right, aren't I?"
He didn't look at her. "Yes."
"Takes one to know one. I bet you've changed since then too, like I did - see, I had Gabrielle, just as you had Harmony."
Joxer 2 looked at her in amazement. "Her? She changed you?"
"Yes. She's brought...peace to my soul. And to other people in the world."
He looked at her. "Nice speech. But even if one day everybody believed in peace, the only thing that'd happen is that they would immediately begin fighting over the best way to achieve it."
"Maybe. But she's still the light of my life," Xena said simply. "The better part of me. If it hadn't been for her, by now I'd have fully lived up to my old title of 'Destroyer of Nations.'
They walked along quietly for a while. Xena marveled at how he didn't flinch at her presence, even though having her so close made him VERY uncomfortable. She eventually asked him, "So, what happened to Gabrielle and me in your world?"
Joxer 2 replied in a monotone, "You two had become famous for dying, and coming back to life again. So I bribed someone to tell me the next time it happened. Less than a year before Zeus died, when the resistance got its hands on your bodies, I personally buried them in a prison in the mountains."
He gave her a quick glance. "There's a possibility you might have dug yourselves out."
Xena shuddered. "Sounds like fun."
Joxer 2 shrugged. "It was the least I could do."
The warrior princess grinned. "For a moment, you sounded just like..." but then she stopped.
Her companion understood, though. Uncharacteristically gentle, he said, "Tell me about him."
Xena sighed. "When Gabrielle and I first met Joxer, he was...such a klutz. But he did get better over the years, and he saved our butts more than once. He was...he was the most loyal and loving man I ever knew. And Gabrielle and I loved him like a brother."
Joxer 2 knew she was leaving something out. "And?" he prompted her.
Xena didn't want to say it, but she did anyway. "He loved Gabrielle. I mean, he REALLY loved her. Enough to marry her, if she'd loved him."
"You're kidding me," the alien Joxer said in disbelief.
"No. When he was...the age you still look, he loved her more than anything, even his own life. Despite their 25 years apart, he still cared enough to die for her, a few moons ago. That was when my daughter Eve...killed him."
Joxer 2 looked at her in amazement, shaking his head. "He sounds like an idiot to me."
Ignoring the angry look she gave him, they continued on towards Corinth, Gabrielle and Virgil bringing up the rear.
Eventually they arrived at their destination, Cupid's main temple outside Corinth. Joxer 2 stopped, as he saw the city in the distance.
"What is it?" asked Gabrielle.
He turned to look at her and just for once, the loathing was not there. Instead, she could have almost sworn there were tears in his eyes.
He turned away and simply said, "It's just that everything's so...different."
Virgil said, "It's not like this in your world, is it?"
Joxer 2 looked at him, and shook his head. "None of this is here anymore," he said, waving an arm towards the metropolis. "It's all gone now. Some of it was due to Cupid's anger, some of it from the chaos after the death of the Gods, but still..."
Xena suddenly understood and said then, "This was your home, wasn't it?"
The warrior just nodded. For the first time, his three companions could see the emotions underneath the man's iron exterior, and it was more than a little disconcerting.
He soon pulled himself together, though. "Come on, we've wasted too much time out here already. Let's move!"
"I'm right behind you," Virgil said.
The front door wasn't locked, and Joxer 2 quickly went inside. But as Xena tried to follow, it was as if she'd hit an invisible barrier; the warrior princess was barred from entering the temple, in any way, shape or form.
Joxer 2 came back outside, and nothing stopped him; they soon learned that Virgil and Gabrielle could enter and leave at will as well, but there was no way Xena could do so.
"Just keep watch out here," Virgil eventually said to her. "Remember what I told you about my dream? This is the way it has to be."
Xena didn't like it. "I don't accept that. There has to be some way..."
"Xena, we can handle things," Gabrielle said, cutting her off. Looking at her soulmate, the warrior princess then capitulated to the inevitable.
Xena went up to Virgil. "Be careful," she said to him in a concerned voice. The young man almost rolled his eyes, he felt as if she was acting like his mother. Which was very confusing, come to think of it, since she was a younger-looking version of Meg.
"I mean it!" she then told him in no uncertain terms. "I don't want anything bad to happen to you."
He just nodded, as he and his companions entered the temple.
Inside, it was deserted. And once they found what Joxer 2 was looking for, the rest was fairly simple. The warrior began to prepare the ritual to get rid of the globe he carried.
"Hold this for a moment," he said to Virgil, and handed him the Orb of Destiny.
The young man was amazed. "You trust me with THIS?" he asked.
Joxer 2 didn't answer him. He just grabbed the artifact he'd found in Cupid's temple with both hands, a huge solid gold ring that had been carefully hidden.
As Virgil and Gabrielle watched, Joxer 2 began to chant in a tongue that was completely unknown to both of them.
Taught the words by his beloved Harmony, the warrior spoke in a dialect that was old even when the Olympian gods had been little more than hunted animals, on the run and anything but the masters of the world.
And human beings just an unformed dream, at the back of their minds.
The language had been ancient even when Mephistopheles, the King of Hell that Xena had recently slain, had been a loyal angel in the service of Eli's God.
As Joxer 2 finished chanting, he let go of the ring. Instantly, a giant pillar of white light formed around it, stretching from the floor to the ceiling - and searing their eyes with its splendor.
"This is it!" he said excitedly. "Virgil! The Orb!"
At the last moment though, there was blaze of glittering red and black light and Cupid, the God of War appeared. His wings were black, as was the leather he wore and the sword at his side.
"Joxer!" his voice boomed out in merriment. "Thank you, old friend, for getting this all set up for me!"
For the first time Joxer 2 froze in fear, as he realized that this had been a trap all along. Virgil and Gabrielle were not far behind him in realizing it, too.
Moving with inhuman speed, Cupid grabbed the blonde warrior-bard by the throat, pulling her close to his chest. "Give me the Orb, or she dies!" he hissed viciously.
"If I do that, we'll all die!" Virgil yelled desperately.
"Maybe," said the war god, an evil smile on his face. "Maybe not. It all depends on what you believe, doesn't it? I'm sure you've heard Joxer's side of the story, but I say he's lying. Now who are you going to believe - a god, or some puny mortal like him?" he indicated Joxer 2.
Virgil was torn - horribly, grievously torn. If he did nothing, Gabrielle would die - and he couldn't just let that happen.
But on the other hand, if he gave in to the God of War's demands, every human being in both worlds would be wiped out of existence - despite whatever the war god said, he was equally sure about that.
Suddenly, he saw Joxer 2 moving around, as if getting himself into position for something. Catching Virgil's eye and making sure Cupid couldn't see him, the man gave a single quick nod of his head.
Then Virgil remembered his father's last message in the dream: 'Trust me...and trust your instincts.'
And right now, his instincts were telling him to save Gabrielle.
As Virgil threw the Orb of Destiny to the god, Cupid shoved Gabrielle away into Virgil's arms. The two briefly looked into each other's eyes, as the God of War from another world held the Orb up in one hand, and laughed triumphantly.
Suddenly Cupid the love god appeared, in a shower of golden light. Bearing a bow and poison-tipped arrows, he looked like the exact opposite of the God of War, in appearance and temperament. "What's going on here? What are you people doing in my temple?"
There was one moment of pure confusion, and Joxer 2 used the opportunity to grab the Orb.
Having positioned himself properly, he then continued with a running leap towards the column of light, to send the Orb of Destiny on its way.
"NO!" yelled the God of War, and fired a lightning bolt at the escaping man to stop him, or better yet kill him.
But the other Cupid deflected it, and then Joxer 2 and the rose-colored globe vanished in a burst of light. The ring then clattered to the floor, as the white pillar also disappeared.
"YOU IMBECILE!" the God of War raged at his counterpart. "I could have prevented the deaths of all the Gods who died! But you sided with these damned mortals! I'd kill you right now, if it wouldn't mean my own death!"
"War gods," Cupid said, in derision. "You're all the same. Do you have to think with your...sword, instead of your brain? Now get out of here, before I allow Xena to come in and kill us both."
Cupid the God of War glowered at him, but vanished in an angry burst of light without another word.
Cupid the love god then looked at Virgil and Gabrielle, who were still clinging to each other in all the confusion. He chuckled. "Way of Love?" he said, before disappearing like his counterpart.
Self-consciously, the two let go of each other and hurried out to rejoin Xena.
"Gabrielle! Virgil!" exclaimed Xena. "Are you two okay?" Then she looked around. "Where's Joxer?" she asked.
Virgil and Gabrielle quickly told her what happened. "Do you think he survived? That we'll ever see him again?" asked Virgil to no one in particular.
"We can hope so," said Xena softly.
Virgil had a funny look on his face. Gabrielle asked him, "What is it?"
"It's just..." the man tried to find the right words. "This has all been so much like one of your adventures, like my father used to tell me about when I was little." He looked at Xena and Gabrielle.
"So was this what it was really like, back then?" Virgil then asked them.
"No," Xena said. "Because even though Joxer was with us, he wasn't OUR Joxer. Virgil, no one could replace your father, as far as I'm concerned...he was a better man, in more ways than one."
"Better man?" Virgil asked, as a thought suddenly struck him. "You mean, you two and he..." he paused, trying to be delicate. "Uh, so, did you three actually engage in..." he gestured with his hands.
"NO!" Gabrielle immediately bellowed after understanding what he meant, and started to stalk off. Xena just grinned, and followed her.
"What?" asked Virgil, as he started off after them. "What? Oh, come on!"
There was no reply for over a week.
THE END
Apollo cashed in his chips, and no interdimensional gateways were harmed in the writing of this fanfic. Thanks for reading, if you made it this far! Praise and flames can be sent to: theop at hotkey dot net dot au