Ares was sitting on a make-shift throne in one of the few temples that still paid him homage. Since the demise of most of his family, and his own subsequent humiliating stint as a mortal, humans did not worship him or seek him out like before when he was in his heyday. The ones that did still bring the occasional offering, or ask for help, were mostly low-life's who were looking to glorify themselves, not the God of War. He was presently amusing himself throwing fireballs at a row of dilapidated statues that he had lined up against the back wall. A sudden, blinding blaze of light appeared smack in the middle of his activities, causing him to freeze up for a split second.

"What the….," he blurted out.

"No, not Hell," a voice exclaimed. The voice and light materialized into Michael.

"What could you possibly want with me?" Ares retorted.

"I have a proposition for you Ares," Michael said as he took in the ramshackle surroundings. "And judging by the look of things, I think you might find my proposal rather appealing. It might even help restore some of your former glory."

Ares put his head back and guffawed. "Really? You think so? Well I'm all ears Mr. Archangel. What is this miracle cure you're so anxious to sell me?"

"I need you to help me wage a battle to save Xena's soul."

"Xena's soul? What are you talking about?"

Michael gave a wry smile. "Perhaps you haven't heard. Your Warrior Princess has expired."

"Oh. Again? So how many times does that make now, three…four? Actually I've lost count. No doubt she'll be back tearing across the countryside performing all her random acts of kindness with little Miss Goody-Two-Shoes by her side before you can say 'chakram'."

"Not this time, Ares. She voluntarily gave up her soul to save 40,000 others she feels she's responsible for. And I'm not here talking about bringing her back to life. Like I said, it's her soul I'm concerned with. Hades cohorts are just giddy with the prospect of latching on to it and dragging her to Tartarus. I could probably battle them without much outside help, but it's Lucifer I'm really concerned with. Once he learns of her death he'll just be itching to get his claws into her and she'll suffer unimaginable torture if he does. He has all the legions of Hell behind him and he will be relentless in his pursuit of her. I'm sure you know that."

Ares looked as though someone had kicked him in the gut. It was a look not unlike the one he possessed upon seeing Xena and her flying chakram when she caught him smooching up to her daughter after she thawed out of her quarter-century sleep in the ice cave he had placed her in.

Ares shook his head and brought himself back to his senses. He acted nonchalant, but in truth, he was struggling to keep his cool.

"She's a smart girl. She's always been able to get herself out of trouble. She sent Lucifer to Hell in the first place, didn't she? She'll fight…or talk her way out of it."

"No…no Ares she won't talk her way out. She can't even fight her way out. Not alone. And this is permanent. The best we can do for her is to keep her soul out of the hands of those who want her to suffer for eternity; and it will no doubt be one ugly battle.

"Even so, I'm not sure a disgraced fallen god such as I can do much to help that situation."

Michael lowered his head and looked up through hooded eyes. "Well then, perhaps I was wrong about you. I know things have been...err...difficult, but I believed you also had true feelings for Xena. I know what you've done to help her in the past, all you've both done to help each other. And I also assumed the prospect of a lively fight might be good medicine for you now. In all honesty, I'm not sure I can pull this off without your help. Aphrodite has agreed to lend a hand providing I can talk Gabrielle into signing up, which I can't imagine would be a problem. Persephone is also as good as on board."

"Hmmm," Ares grunted. Aphrodite I can see, but Persephone? She was Hades wife!"

"Yes, but taken by force if you remember, and then cruelly tricked with the pomegranate, something she never really forgave him for."

Ares walked over to his throne and sat down, a million thoughts running through his head. He recalled the early days with Xena and how through the years she had slowly become to mean much more to him than just an ally, a subject. Somewhere along the way he had fallen in love with the blue-eyed warrior. Through the good, the bad, and the ugly; the love/hate relationship; through it all she remained a part of him. He could not just walk away from her now. She didn't deserve to spend eternity in Hell and she wouldn't if he could help it." Besides," his war-lord heart admitted, "it would feel good to do battle again."

Ares stood and addressed Michael. "All right, you're on. I'll hone up my battle skills." As if to prove a point he let a couple of fireballs fly out of both hands, totally disintegrating a couple of chairs.

"Impressive," Michael stated. Keep practicing and ah, if you could manage to round up something resembling an army that would be great. I will be in touch with you before too long." And he was gone.

Almost immediately a burst of pink sparkles appeared where Michael had stood.

"Hi Bro. So I guess you heard huh?"

Ares sighed deeply. "Yeah, I heard. I have a hard time believing it though. So, the Bard hasn't tried to rectify the situation somehow?"

Aphrodite wrinkled her nose and started twirling a lock of hair around her finger. "No...I don't believe so. This is pretty serious Ares; it's not like the other times. Those women...those women have been my friends for a long time. Of course they have caused me some grief in the past, at least Xena has, but I'm over all that now. I admit I'm not sure what help I can actually be in Michael's little plan, but I am willing to try if Gabrielle... or you... are."

Ares looked around the room and snorted. "After all the glory, look what I've come to. A nice, bloody battle's sounding pretty good about now."

His sister visibly shivered. "Battles! That's not for me. I'm thinking more along the lines of lending moral support, or distracting the men with my womanly wiles."

"I think we'll be fighting cranky lesser-gods and demons Aphrodite. Not sure how well that tactic will work on them."

"Oh phooey," Aphrodite said with a pout. "You're a god and all Xena had to do was shake her leather skirt and you went running."

"True," her brother said rubbing his beard. "Anyway, I guess I'll go see what kind of troops I can dredge up. The loyalty just isn't there like it used to be. But, if I tempt them with liquor and coin I can probably find me enough hot-headed bastards to join the cause."

Ares gave a little wave. "Bye-bye Sis," and with a flash he was gone.