Circles I

The cool night air felt lovely on her skin as she felt like burning up inside.. it was just after midnight.. and Xena rode Argo fast, fast and furious.. furious at the distance.. how did they get so far during half a day? Clearly, she was distracted which made her smile.

Further into the heart of the valley, and under the mantle of the evening's lurking shadow a tall and utterly handsome man heard a knock on his door. He decided to leave the dinner he just couldn't stomach to see who in Tartaros would disturb him at this hour. As he opened the door it became more than obvious from his neighbour's clothing and behaviour that this was supposed to be a booty call. Although he didn't seem too eager but she decided that she could cheer him up, oooh yayy, she'd really like that. She stroked his wide shoulder in a beckoning way, being as much of a seductress as she could, and she was good, truly.. for a moment he dozed off but then just smiled in a rather sad manner.. well, looks like it wasn't going to be happy hour after all..

The Warrior Princess knew she was closing in on her destination, and she felt real excited about it, she gently pulled Argo's rein to a swift halt close to a nearby creek where she decided to take a short break as she knew she would only get there around dawn no matter how fast she rode and Argo needed a quick bite and drink right along with herself, to be followed by a refreshing swim.

The wood was still burning a little.. breathing its last cracklings but its warmth was almost all gone, and a fair-haired bundle of snooze snuggled up more cozily in her blankets holding onto on of her sais in the unconscious consciousness to feel safe.. because tonight she was sleeping alone, Xena left to sort out a potentially dangerous situation after setting up camp, maybe she didn't use those exact terms but it pretty much meant something like that unless that was also part of her dream which she was definitely unsure about at the given moment.

While running down to the water undressing Xena heard an annoyed neigh, and turned her head towards Argo..

„What is it, you want a swim too, Girl?" Argo nodded repeatedly, Xena smiled and shook her head. „Alright, let's undress then" „Argo, we gotta do this quick, okay? Say, we go in, count till four no five hundred then we continue, okay?" Argo nodded „Good Girl, so, race till the water on three?" Argo neighed. „Ready, set, run!" and then race was on, for the first couple of seconds they were head to head but then Argo's strides grew longer and shortly Argo was in the water „Damnit, at least you could've let me win once! Just once? Aghh.. well." She jumped in too.

After closing the door he was still leaning against it.. he had to be able to handle THIS, right? After all, he was The.. No. Not anymore. Not anymore.

After packing the food away, he cleaned up using a wooden basin.. „clense your body, clense your mind" he sat down on his bed, how does the saying go? Out of sight out of mind? no, no, no, no, no. No. No! No! That's when he felt the pain, and realized that he had been hitting his own thighs with his fists. At least the physical pain numbed the emotional for a couple of seconds. The woman of his dreams left. Again. He took her pillow and blanket and inhaled deeply..

Her scent filled his nostrils, his whole head and suddenly the room decided to spin around him or so it seemed. He couldn't control it, he couldn't really control anything anymore.. he knew it well, which only upset him more, he wasn't used to being helpless, useless. Another hour had ticked by.. he felt so lonely and although he used to enjoy being alone, hell, he used to thrive on it, but this time.. it was different.. Everything was different. He didn't just feel alone, what he felt was being abandoned, and it was tearing him apart.. He reached out for the magical piece of fabric with her delicious scent, that had apparently slipped through his fingers during his tossing and turning. He felt like he was falling apart, and the next thing to break was his soul. Weirdly noone thought he even had one for a long time. He wanted to hold onto something, something to ground him.. so inhaled deeply once again and his spirit shook with agony as tears started to stream down his beautiful, beautiful face. He eventually cried himself to sleep.

The earliest rays of the sun coloured the top of the valley, and a lonely rider was approaching the house in its path.

As soon as she got there, Xena ran to the door and started knocking.. then listened for any noise.. nothing.. she continued knocking, repeating the listening and the knocking. She felt her heart in her throat, that's when she knew she had to calm down first.. „deep breaths Xena, in and out..okay. You're here, you're here already, you've got this" She heard movement from inside and felt her knees weaken.. damn, she had to keep it together.. so she slapped herself, then shook her head and knocked one last time.. and there He was behind the opening door in all his glory. The moment he realized it's Xena he actually felt his jaw drop. Good thing it's fixed otherwise it definitely would have hit the floor.. what a stupid thing to think.. he chuckled.

„Xena!"

„Hello Ares" she smiled „did I wake you? I guess I did.. I'm sorry"

„I'm not."

„Me neither.." she thought.

„So? Did you forget something here?"

„Mmmhmm?"

„I just thought you must have left something here if you're back so soon, right?"

„Right."

„Okay, since I am up.. do you need help finding it, I mean, do you know where you've left it?"

„Sure I do."

„Want me to lend a hand or know where?"

„Both..? So, lend me those hands of yours" he clearly was confused as she held out both her hands, he held out his hands, Xena took his with hers, stepped closer to him and put a hand on either side of her waist.

„Alright, what are we looking for then?"

„Well, nothing anymore.. I was looking for something and I have found it exactly where I've left it.."

„Here, you mean?"

„Yes" Ares was still at a loss. „How much sleep did you get?"

„Not much."

„I guess that explains why you still don't get it.. Ares, it's you. You're what I left here."

"Xena.." he started but he didn't have the time to finish because, by then Xena grabbed his neck and pulled him into a kiss. By the gods, she missed having him so close to her, always lurking nearby eversince he sacrificed his godhood to save her.. the other night was pure torture.. not being able to invade his mouth, not being able to wrap herself all around him and have him press their bodies so close that the boundaries wouldn't exist between them.. all that would be was them, no him or her.. and now, there she was in his velvet steel embrace.. all alone together.

Ares found her choice of words intriguing, and before what she said could really register in his head he felt her hand on the back of his neck, a finger tracing his mouth, her breath hot on his face and lips so soft.. wait, what was he thinking about before.. with Xena in his arms Ares felt intoxicated, drunk on love.. and the best was hopefully yet to come, unless this wasn't real at all.

„Wait, wait, wait, wait.." said as he broke their kiss „How do I know this isn't just a dream?"

„Are you serious?!"

„So, back me up here.. This is real, I am not dreaming..?"

„No, you're not dreaming.."

„But wouldn't my subconscious just say that too?"

„Do you need me to pinch you or something?"

„..or something..yeah" this put a wicked smile on Xena's face as she tucked her right hand underneath his shirt, tapping each inch of skin as her hand went upwards.. and then he felt the squeeze.

„Ouch! Not the nipple! Xena!" She laughed out loud, which put a silly grin on his face.

„You see now? Not a dream."

„Not a dream.."

„Good boy" she said, and traced his eyebrow with her left thumb,

„Good boy?" he asked while stroking her face with the back of his hand,

„You are to me.." and with that they melted into another kiss..