Title: Full Moon
Author: Smenzer
Rating: PG
Pairing: Ares/Gabrielle
Archive: Yes, please. Let me know if you take it, OK?
Teaser: Gabrielle and Ares discuss the moon
Disclaimer: The characters are not mine. They belong to
Studios USA or
Whoever owns the Rights to Xena: Warrior Princess.
Gabrielle relaxed on the log and gazed up at the night sky.
She had just finished eating supper so her stomach was pleasantly filled.
"Look at it, Xena. Isn't it beautiful?" Gabrielle
asked her friend. "It's like a diamond nestled on velvet. Just looking at
it inspires me to write. It's so peaceful."
Xena glanced up at the full moon and frowned. The Warrior
Princess leaped to her feet and paced before their camp fire. She wrung her
hands together as she paced.
"Xena. What's wrong?" Gabrielle asked.
"I feel nervous, jumpy." Xena explained as she
finally stopped in front of the fire. The flickering light glistened on the
metal sections of her breastplate and gauntlets. "It's that moon. It's
doing something to me. It always does."
"But it's so peaceful and serene." Gabrielle
replied, confused.
"I think I'm going to go out and kill something for
breakfast." Xena picked her sword off a nearby rock and headed out into
the dark forest.
"I said it was peaceful!" Gabrielle called after
her friend's retreating back. The blonde bard shook her head in confusion. She
had thought she had finally understood Xena. "How can something so
beautiful make her so....so....bloodthirsty?"
White light flashed and Ares appeared next to her on the
log. He glanced up at the moon and then at Gabrielle. "You never cease to
amaze me, you know that?"
"What?" Gabrielle asked as she shifted on the log
to look at Ares. She had to admit the silvery moonlight made him look good. It
gently reflected off his earring and the metal studs on his black leather vest.
And it gave his hair a soft glow. Gabrielle pointed up at the moon. "Just
look how it hangs there,
"You think a big ball of rock is beautiful?" Ares
asked, one eyebrow raised.
"It's not a big ball of rock!" Gabrielle said
hotly. "Rocks don't glow."
"No, it's sunlight reflecting off a big ball of
rock." Ares corrected.
"It can't be sunlight. The sun is almost down. It's
getting darker every minute." Gabrielle glanced up at the moon again.
"Look how its silvery light transforms this valley into an enchanted
glade. I half expect a magical creature to step out of the woods."
"Like me?" Ares asked with a grin.
"I meant something like a unicorn." Gabrielle
said. Ares was still sitting next to her on the log. What did he want anyway?
She had a hard enough time trying to figure Xena out. Did she have to figure
him out, too?
"Oh, come on, Gabrielle. What could be more magical
that a God?" Ares smiled at her. His dark eyes focused on her blue ones.
He reached out and took her hand into his own. His skin felt hot. "Did you
realize you're sitting in the dark alone with me? Isn't that romantic? I mean,
that's what you think the moon is, right? Romantic? With it's silvery light
dusting us with its magic?"
Gabrielle's heart pounded like crazy in her chest as her
mind whirled. How did she get into this? She had been admiring the moon's
beauty and had felt inspired. She had planned to do some writing. But somehow
she had ended up holding Ares' hand in the dark! Gabrielle tried to pull her
hand away but Ares gripped it tightly.
"What are you doing?" She asked in a shaky voice.
"They say the moon has an odd effect on people, that it
makes them do crazy things." Ares said as he leaned closer to her.
Gabrielle froze. She felt trapped, like there was an arrow
flying right at her and she couldn't escape it. Worse yet, she didn't know if she
wanted to. Before she could think anything else, Ares closed the distance
between them and kissed her. A soft gentle kiss.
Ares pulled away and let her hand go. He stood up and backed
away slightly.
She looked up at him, confusion in her blue eyes.
"Maybe the moon let's us do what we want to do, gives
us an excuse to act crazy." Ares told her. "And maybe I wanted to
kiss you for a long time and I just never had the guts to do it. Until
tonight."
Gabrielle watched Ares wink out in a flash of light.
"He wanted to kiss me for a long time?"
**
"Gabrielle. Gabrielle!"
"Huh?" Gabrielle blinked her eyes and saw Xena
standing in front of her. The Warrior Princess stared down at her with worried
filled eyes. A rabbit dangled from one of her hands. "Oh, I was just
thinking about something."
"For a moment there I was worried." Xena said.
"I guess the moon has an odd effect on all of us."
Gabrielle explained as she peered up at the shining orb in the night sky. The
sky now was totally black and filled with thousands of twinkling stars. The
moon appeared to have a faint halo around it. Perhaps it was the magic dust
Ares had mentioned. It was falling off the moon's surface as it floated down to
the Earth, coating everything with its powerful powder. How would the moon look
from up on Olympus? She decided she would have to ask Ares the next time she
saw him. A smile crept across her lips at the thought. Still thinking of seeing
him again, Gabrielle settled herself into her bedroll and drifted off to sleep.