Chapter 2

They soon rematerialized on his throne at his quarters on Mount Olympus and his Princess' soft whimpers started to die down a little, finally easing the strain that was encroaching on his heart at seeing her like that and her body began to relax more and more into his hold. Xena curled herself more into his warm embrace, staring blankly at his chest, watching as it lightly raised and fell with his every breath. All the tension within her started to gradually leave her body and with it, all of the vicious thoughts that had been cruelly invading her mind and a sense of ease came over her.

She inhaled a slow, deep breath against Ares' neck and softly exhaled it. His scent washed over her, filling her with that certain something that she had been missing all those past few years. His strong, but yet at the same time gentle hold made her feel like nothing had ever changed between them and it made her think back to how they had spent countless nights wrapped around each other, just holding one another close and enjoying their time together. Nothing else mattered at that moment, only what was being silently conveyed between the two estranged lovers. The War Gods gentle caresses were a welcomed sensation to Xena and her sapphire eyes drifted shut slightly from the unique feeling his touch always provided her.

Gods, this felt so right to her and she snuggled more into him, wanting to just stay within his embrace for the rest of her life. But like always, her need to deprive herself of the one thing that she really wanted started to work its way into her mind. No, this wasn't right, it was completely wrong and somehow the War God had managed to take advantage of her once again while she wasn't thinking straight. He was the enemy and she should not have allowed him to sneak his deceitful way back in her heart. She should have sent him packing the moment he showed up at her camp. This was not how it was supposed to go, they should have been fighting, cursing each other's name and they were not acting the part like they were supposed to be doing. But what were they doing instead was that they were not playing by the rules and the War God was protectively holding her in his arms while she drenched his chest with her tears.

The Warrior Princess started to panic. They had a routine and this was not how it was supposed to go. No…usually he only showed up to annoy her and usually, she would hit him with a cunning remark about his lame attempts to get her to come back to him and then he left- angry and frustrated. That was what should have happened, not this, and what was this anyway? What was he hoping to get from her in return by doing this?

In the meantime, the War God could feel the tension that was starting to seep back into her body. She was becoming anxious and his hold tightened a little more around her, trying to calm her down once again and he began to softly run his fingers through her raven tresses.

For a moment, it almost seemed as if his soothing caresses were actually working, that his sweet Princess even relaxed into him slightly for a few seconds. Feeling that his efforts were having the desired effect, Ares then placed a loving kiss against her head but before he even had a chance to react to what she was going to do, the next thing he knew she was abruptly pulling herself from his embrace and was distancing herself from him significantly.

Here we go... he thought, her walls were back up. His analytical eyes watched her as she walked back and forth across the floor in front of him, pacing like some caged animal that was desperately seeking a way out of their confinement.

"Xena…"

"Don't!" she quickly shouted, cutting him off and sending a harsh glare his way, stopping whatever lies were about to come slithering out of his mouth, "…. I'm fine…" she just as swiftly stated, even though she was far from it.

"I know you better than that…." was his calm response, seeing the doubtful look that came across her eyes the moment the words left his mouth and the distrust, "…. and you used to be a much better liar…"

"Take me back, now!" she growled out, making it clear that she wasn't asking him, she was telling him. She had made a mistake, a potentially dangerous mistake and who knows what this was going to cost her. With Ares nothing ever came with no strings attached and the longer she stayed there, the bigger his request was going to be. She chastised herself for her momentary lap in judgment, for having foolishly allowed herself fall victim to him once again.

But choosing to ignore her request, preferring to act like she hadn't really said anything at all, Ares got up from his throne and slowly started to make his way over to his visibly agitated Princess. Her defenses were up though and each step that he took only made her body grow even tenser while her need to lash out at someone was building considerably. Her grief had turned to anger now and the only thing she wanted to do at the moment was hurt someone else in return, to inflict as much pain to equal the same amount of despair that was flowing through her.

"I don't have time for your little games Ares." she made sure to spit out with as much venom as she possibly could the moment he finished his journey across his throne room, stopping right in front of her.

However, the War God could see that she was trying to lash out now, to get a rise out of him and somehow get him to slip right into her hands if she angered him enough. But he wasn't going to let her goad him into doing what she wanted, he knew her far better than she was willing to admit to herself and she was only acting on instinct now. That impeccable ability to put on that iron mask, just like he had instilled into her mind as a defense mechanism, and make the world hurt as much as she did, annoyed him to the point that words just couldn't describe it.

Trying not to let it bother him though, Ares reached up and endeavored to softly caress her cheek, not caring that the last thing she wanted was for him to touch her. But before his fingers had the joy of caressing her silky skin, Xena just as quickly slapped viciously his hand away from her face.

"Don't touch me!" she bit out aggressively, pushing against his chest for good measure, thus putting some much needed space between them.

Her actions started to irritate Ares a little- and though he was trying not to let her get to him, with her he could never win. She was obviously attempting to shut him out now and he wondered- not for the first time- how exactly they had gotten to this point in their relationship when not so long ago he was the only one she had allowed to remove that mask. Sure, he had done some things that he wasn't entirely proud of throughout their turbulent past- especially since she left him- but how long was she going to hold that against him?

Her own checkered past didn't look any better than his did, littered with just as many sinful deeds- and he still forgave even the biggest of them all, in spite of the fact that it had left the largest scar on him, larger than anything else ever could. Not even the dagger of Helios could have wounded him as deeply as when that mongrel half-brother of his had tainted her mind against him, when they had been in a minor spat with each other, filling her head with how bad he was for her when in fact that insistent nuisance in his life had no clue what it was that they had been through together. What had drove that proverbial knife through his heart even more was that she had been so angry with him back then, that she ate up his lies like it was some kind of special ambrosia, choosing to believe the poison that was being fed to her and deciding to ignore every single moment that had ever happened between them- to the point that now he could no longer reach his Princess.

He wasn't completely sure where things had gone wrong exactly. He had replayed the scenario over and over again in his mind trying to find the precise moment when his world got turned upside down. They had a fight in his temple, an apparently regular fight that they always seemed to have with each other about something that was insignificant. He then left his Warrior Princess alone for a few days- a chance for both of them to cool down a little and when he finally came back, having actually missed her and wanting to make amends for that stupid little argument, the sight of the two of them in each other's arms, that bastard thrusting himself within his Princess and her seductive little moans that drifted up to his ears, letting him know that she was enjoying every moment of it, everything had crushed his immortal soul with such a severity that he thought that he was going to die that day.

Ares quickly shook the unwanted memory from his head. Indeed, that was something that still haunted him to this day and it was the only time that he thought that he could have actually killed her. His hand unconsciously drifted to his chest, lightly rubbing the area where his heart would be for a few seconds as the sensation of that dreadful memory lingered in his mind for a moment. Why was he even doing this with her now, she was never going to let her walls down enough to allow him even a small step behind them. No, what they had once shared, the years of intimate relations with each other had been destroyed within the matter of minutes because someone had to stick their nose in where it didn't belong and made her doubt her faith in him, selfishly taking away the only thing that had ever mattered to him and not stopping for an instant to think that he should have left it well enough alone.

Not even after all this time, there wasn't anything that the War God wouldn't have done for the chance to have those hypnotizing blue moons of hers look at him the way she once did instead of constantly seeing the loathing that she directed at him whenever they saw each other. Looking back up into her sorrowful eyes- that she was doing a poor job of hiding- he once again reached up and this time succeeded in lightly running his fingertips down her cheek. No matter how many times he told himself that he was done with her, that he should just erase her from his memory and undo all of the things that she had somehow managed to awaken within him, he just couldn't let her go and he never left her side when she truly needed him and he wasn't going to do it now even though he knew that she was going to fight him every step of the way.

"Why do you let those pathetic mortals get under your skin the way you do?"

"Don't even pretend to act like you know me. You don't know the first thing about me!" she viciously responded, despite knowing that it was the furthest thing from the truth she had ever said, but she was looking to maim with it and she once again shoved his hand away from her and started to walk away from him.

"You're at war with yourself, Xena…" he said, choosing to ignore her comment, trying to suppress just how much her words had really stung, "…. and there's a hunger inside of you that you've been neglecting."

"You'd like that wouldn't you? For me to come crawling back to you, feeding this supposed hunger and be your little Warrior Queen…?! But it's not going to happen Ares so you can just forget it!"

"There isn't anything I'd want more than for you to come back to me but that is not what I meant." he growled out, she was getting to him, pushing his buttons in a way that only she could.

Why was it so hard for her to trust him?! If he had really wanted to take advantage of her then he would have done it back at her campsite. It was the perfect moment, a hurt and impressionable Xena filled with an unruly conflict and all she needed was a small push in the right direction to have unleashed the blood lust.

"What is it that you meant then? What type of angle are you trying to play this time?" she just kept on attacking, "Do you really think that this pathetic little act of yours is going to suddenly change my mind, that I'll fall at your feet and be eternally grateful for your sudden generosity, leading your army again and wash the ground in my enemies' blood, while all the while you'll be manipulating and scheming behind my back just like the selfish bastard that you are?"

The Warrior Princess had seen the slight hurt that had come across Ares' eyes before he quickly covered it with the anger that now began to form in him. This was what she needed, he was the only one who could do it, the only one who was capable of doing it. She needed him to get angry, it was the only way that she could be stopped before she ended up slaughtering the world. It was better off without her in it anyway, no one would miss her and she wanted the War God to be the one to do it.

"What's the matter God of War, did I hit too closely to your plan? How sad it is that the almighty Ares himself can't even tame one unruly mortal? You don't even deserve to be a God." she mocked, a vindictive grin forming on her face while each word hit their intended mark to perfection.

The next thing she knew, Xena was being viciously slammed against the marble wall while Ares brutally dug his fingers into her shoulders. His eyes flared with a burning hatred for her- her words had surely done their job and she had knocked that cool façade right out of him- but before she could react, she was suddenly gasping for breath when Ares delivered a wicked punch to her midsection and she doubled over from it. Desperately trying to fill her lungs with air once again, Ares wrapped his hand in her hair savagely and pulled her head up to make her look at him.

"Is that what you want Xena? You want me to tame you? Well, Honey, all you had to do was ask." he breathed out on a deadly tone, his grip tightening in her hair and then brought his knee up, making it collide violently with her stomach again before shoving her harshly to floor.

With her momentary breather, Xena took the chance to try and get her lungs working properly again and when the War God reached down to deliver another deadly blow, she quickly reacted and supplied an equally bone crushing blow to his jaw that sent him staggering back for a moment. She hastily got to her feet. She knew that this fight wasn't going to be easy, although she didn't want to win anyway but she had to make it look good. With that thought in mind, she drew her sword, the War God drawing his own in return and they clashed together.

For several long minutes they fought, both feeding off of the fury that was coming from the other while they viciously swung their swords at each other. They were too equally matched and Xena knew that she had to give him everything or he would pick up on what she was trying to do. She had to keep him fighting her, it had to come down to Ares really tiring her out in the end if she was ever going to get him to deliver that deadly blow.

But the War God, having trained with her countless times in the past had soon picked up on her little subtle antics. She was fighting him like she always did, yes, but her reaction time was way off. She was barely attempting to block his blows, seeming to ward off his attacks just at the last moment as if she really wanted him to strike her, only to parry against him ferociously. What was she doing, her focus had never been so off before and that is when it hit him. His Princess actually wanted him to kill her! Did she even know what it was that she was trying to ask of him?! Ares was immediately sickened by the thought, her lifeless body lying at his feet, slain by his own hands and manipulated into doing it just for her own selfish needs.

Not for a second though was he about to give in to her self-regarding desires, so, furious with her for having dared to try that with him, he backhanded her across the face viciously before he sheathed his own blade and turned his back to her.

"I'm not going to kill you Xena, so you can just get that silly notion right out of your head!"

That last blow had caused her lip to start bleeding a little and she wiped the blood away from her mouth while she watched Ares walk away from her. She immediately started to panic… This was the only way and she quickly charged him again but he soon turned around and halted her attack, grabbing her by the throat and making her sword fly from her hand in one swift motion. He could see the despair in her eyes, the need to have him do it, but he couldn't, that would have destroyed him and he roughly pushed her away from him.

Not being deterred in the slightest, Xena attacked him once again, landing lethal blows against his body to try and make him defend himself. She struck against him until she had eventually backed him up to the wall and she punched him over and over again.

"Fight me you bastard!" she shouted at him, hitting against his chest savagely, each blow having a less harmful effect each time she connected with his body, "Fight me!"

She backhanded him across the face and when their eyes met again, tears were shimmering brightly in her own. The agony that was in her eyes was killing Ares and he reached up and gently cupped her face while her fists softly connected with his chest again. She tried to fight against him at first but he pulled her closer to himself, encasing her protectively in his embrace and once his arms were wrapped around her nice and tight, his Princess had fallen completely apart in them and started crying into his chest again. Her body seemed to have finally given out from the wave of emotions and she crumbled against him and he slowly lowered them to the floor. Her sobs racked her body for what seemed like an eternity and Ares was completely helpless to do anything to stop them. He felt so weak at that moment, all this great power he had and there was nothing that he could do for his sweet Princess. He held her tightly in his arms, doing even the impossible to try and calm her a bit when suddenly it felt like someone had ripped his heart out with the words that came flowing out of her mouth.

"I don't deserve to live…" were her strangled words while she continued to make a habit of keeping Ares' chest nice and drenched with her tears.

"Don't talk like that…" he rushed to reply, urgently cupping her face to make her look at him, "… you're hurting right now and I promise you Sweetheart that everything is going to be fine. I'll make sure of it, ok?" he encouraged, searching for her sapphire eyes to make sure that she had heard him, softly brushing a few tears away when she nodded her head slightly.

They just sat in each other's arms for several more moments, silently holding each other's gaze. The sadness that was in her eyes he didn't like seeing and he ran his fingers softly along a cheek, gently caressing her silky skin before he just rested his hand against her face and then leaned in and captured her lips in a loving, tender kiss. It was meant to be a short kiss as he pulled back to search out her sapphire eyes again, but it had been so long since he had the chance to taste his sweet Princess and given that she didn't seem like she was really objecting to it, Ares gently brushed a few stray raven locks out of her face and then softly cradled her head and closed the gap between them and took possession of her mouth again, deepening the kiss more from their first soft one. It stayed at the same slow pace though, both of their lips gently moving against the other's, neither one moving to rush through it, preferring to savor the moment and make each sweet kiss last longer while each one became deeper. Ares wanted her to know that she was truly needed, he needed her and his slow tender kisses were supposed to show Xena just how much.

After a few more seconds of the same slow warm kisses, soft sighs and moans, Ares broke away from her and then softly placed her head against his chest. She didn't resist him and went willingly into his arms and relaxed against him, curling herself into his embrace before she let her eyes close. Having everything that he needed right in his arms, the War God just sat there with her for a while longer, soothingly running his fingers through her raven tresses.

She was at peace in his arms and he only wished that he could keep her there but he ultimately knew that once morning came, things would go back to the way they were. She would hate him once again and his Princess will lock this away along with all the other countless moments that she had willingly chosen to forget. With a heavy sigh, he leaned forward and placed an adoring kiss against her head and then gathered her more to him and carried her to his bed chamber.

Once inside, he carefully walked them over to the bed and gently laid his now half asleep Princess down in the middle of it. With a small wave of his hand, he changed her out of her leathers and into a silk nightgown so she would be more comfortable. He smoothed back her hair for a moment and then leaned forward and pressed his lips against her forehead in a loving kiss. He pulled back from her, savoring the image of his Queen lying in his bed once again, where he knew in his heart she belonged, lying right there beside him in his arms night after night for the rest of eternity. But reality was a cruel thing, one that this cold and empty bed reminded him of night after night, and he knew that this was something that she was never going to give him. He had lost her, partially due because of the interference of another, though he knew that his own actions had a reason for her staying away and he had no clue on where to even begin to get her back.

He didn't want to fight her any more, but if that was what it took in order for him to be able to be close to her then he would do it. He wanted so much to make love to her again, to hold her in his arms and never let her go while he passionately showed her just how important she was to him still, that it hurt. He had missed her terribly, and not being able to touch her and see her gorgeous face every day was pure torture for him. She was his sanctuary and he felt so empty without her there, his whole long miserable desolate life didn't mean a thing until his Princess had been sent to him to brighten it up. Knowing that once she stirred, the last thing she would want to see was him, Ares placed one last kiss against her cheek and then began to leave the room.

"Ares….?"

It was barely loud enough to have even been heard, but the War God did hear it, there was no way that he could ever not hear that sweet voice and he slowly turned around and looked at her slumbering form. Her bright sapphire eyes were peering up at him from the bed and for a moment there he thought that he had seen something else besides hate in her gaze. No words were said though, not a single syllable uttered after he heard his name flow from her lips. The only thing the Warrior Princess did do though was shift over a little in bed and nestle herself back into it. It was a seemingly minor movement, one that anyone else would not have even thought twice about but to Ares that was a very small sign she had given him and he wasn't going to let the opportunity slip through his fingers.

He made his way back over to the bed and cautiously climbed his way into it, thinking that the slightest wrong movement might snatch everything away from him, and he settled himself down next to her. After carefully sliding himself under the same sheet as Xena, thinking about every move that he made while casually getting closer and closer to her, his Princess crept her way closer to him and snuggled herself in his embrace. He instinctively lifted his arm, and she wrapped it around her while she nuzzled her head against his chest as her own hand softly covered his heart. It took him a moment to respond, too shocked to fully comprehend that he actually had her in his arms once again and that she was there because she actually wanted to be, and he wrapped his arms around her tightly, pulling her closer to himself before she had the chance to change her mind. One out of two wasn't bad, it was extremely great odds for him and he placed a loving kiss against the top of his sweet Princess' head before securing her to him more snugly.

Meanwhile, Xena had her own thoughts whirling wildly inside her head. This was what she had missed the most since she had left him, the feeling of him holding on to her so strongly, like he never wanted her to leave his embrace. Things between them had gotten so strained and she knew deep down what the catalyst that had caused that was. She had betrayed him, in the worst possible way and what made it even nastier was that Ares didn't even do anything to deserve that and she hated herself for it, she could only imagine what it was that he thought when he looked at her. He was probably disgusted with her, she was certainly sickened with herself so there was no way that he could have possibly felt otherwise. It was just another thing to add to that long list of things that kept her up at night.

Pushing the unwelcome thoughts from her head, Xena burrowed herself closer to Ares and in response his hold adjusted to her, closing in around her more and for the first time in a very long time the Warrior Princess drifted off to sleep completely at peace in the arms of War. Something that neither one of them even thought was ever going to happen again.