The Demons Inside of Us – Chapter 2
Thank you to 'existence1' for the very first review! I'm glad you liked the first chapter and hope you enjoy this one just as much. Thanks as well to all those that have also read this story so far! :)
Disclaimer. The Xena Warrior Princess series and its characters are all copyrighted property of MCA/universal
The sun was up high in the sky and the birds were chirping much to Gabrielle's delight and Xena's annoyance. The road they were travelling on was empty of travellers as far as the eye could see. Trees were situated at both sides of the road so the two women had some form of shield from the sun but the Warrior Princesses awareness was on high alert as to any impending attacks coming from behind the tree lines. The journey so far had gone as expected. Gabrielle had bombarded Xena with question after question after question, repeating them over and over in order to get a satisfying response. Xena had always been able to put up with the considerably persistent bard, however, she was beginning to think that she could no longer keep hold of her temper if the bard persisted any longer. Xena's mind drifted back off to the God of War. It was always him that she thought of to control her temper. Although some would think it would have the opposite effect (in making her actually lose her temper), to her, thinking of the God of War made her think of what she could be become if she didn't keep that temper in the locked cage she had learnt to mentally form. Thinking of the God of War made her also remember back to what he had had said to her earlier that morning 'I don't care what others think as long as I have you by my side. I want you to be my wife, to be the mother of my children and to be the one that I say I love to day after day.' she had no doubt in her mind that the God of War did actually love her in his twisted way, but the declaration that he didn't care about what his followers thought were hard to believe. The God of War's ego was nearly a life of it's own it was that big , among other things she thought. She refrained herself from chuckling at that last thought. But seriously, would the God of War be willing to lose all of his followers for one woman that he 'thought' he loved? At that moment Xena was pulled back from her thoughts by the impact of Gabrielle's staff softly hitting her on the arm.
"Your not listing to me are you?" Gabrielle said with an irritated tone.
"I am Gabrielle and for the last time nothing is happening between me and Ares!" Xena had now stopped and had gained a very angry expression on her face, that temper trapped in the cage was roaring to break free.
"Actually Xena I was just asking how much further it was to Amphipolis but if your going to react like that I'll not bother speaking for the rest of the journey."
"Well that would suit me fine seen as you haven't stopped talking since this morning! You know I thought you'd get the message by me taking no notice but nooo Gabrielle does what Gabrielle does best to talk!" Xena replied quickly.
"FINE!" Gabrielle shouted in response.
"fine!" Xena bounced back.
The journey for next three hours was awkward to say least, neither of the women had said a word. Both women had seen the other glance over in an attempted approach to say something but nothing materialised until Xena finally gave in. She pulled Argo to a holt and tied her to a nearby tree. Gabrielle had stopped at the same time wondering what was happening. She readied her staff for an impending attack.
"What direction are they about to come from Xena? Ive got your back!" Xena quickly turned around and smiled.
"Thanks Gabrielle but you can get my back when there is some real danger. Look we need to talk about earlier, about me snapping at you, I'm sorry." Xena's facial expression was now that of a woman pleading for forgiveness. She'd only ever shown that expression to two people, Xena's mother and Gabrielle. She had seen it many times, when Xena was asking for forgiveness in Illusia, when Xena had accused her of not finishing Hope off (the first time) and many other times. "Ares just always seems to put me in a bad mood! I'm not trying to make excuses I'm just saying that I had a lot on my mind and you asking me all those questions just made me lose it."
"Well maybe if you talked about it with me it wouldn't linger on your mind as much." Gabrielle placed her hands of both of Xena's shoulders "come on Xena after all we've been through you can tell me. What happened between you and Ares?"
Xena removed Gabrielle's hands from her shoulders gently and cupped them in her own.
"It's nothing for you to worry about, I'm just reading into what he said too much." Xena smirked at Gabrielle's raising of the eyebrow. She certainly wasn't going to let this go. Xena had to tell her something! "Look he said the same old lines that he loved me and that he'd change. The thing that threw me was the look in his eyes when he was saying it to me. But like I said I'm reading into it too much, he's the same old snakey God he's always been. Happy now?"
"Do you love him?" Gabrielle asked "And give me a straight answer I dont want you avoiding the question."
"Look Gabrielle you've got to understand he's been in my life for a long time now, a lot of my skills as a warrior is thanks to him." Xena was interrupted by Gabrielle "I don't want to know what he's taught you and how long you've known him, I want to know how you feel about him!" Xena let out a deep breath, there was no chance she could deceive this girl, Gabrielle knew her too well!
"Then I guess... I'll have to say that I don't know. I don't know how I feel about him. All I know is that whenever I see him he gives me goosebumps and although this may sound strange, whenever he's around me I get a warm feeling inside me and my heart starts pounding. Is that love? Or is it me reacting to a nearby danger?" Xena looked down at the floor removed her hands from Gabrielle's and rubbed the back of her neck. The stress of the whole situation was definitely taking its toll on her, every muscle in her body felt tense and she had a pounding headache.
"Thank you" Gabrielle said with a smile.
"For what?" Xena replied confused and looked back up to see Gabrielle's beaming infectious smile.
"For opening up to me and answering truthfully. It's very rare that you open up, there must be something in the water." They both chuckled and had a quick loving hug before Xena retrieved Argos reins from the tree and set off walking along the road.
"I can't keep many things from you can I?" Xena asked with a chuckle
"Nope and you never will, your stuck with me!." Gabrielle replied.
"I sure am! Come on. Lets get to Amphipolis, all this talking has made me hungry!"
Thanks for reading again guys! It's extremely appreciated! I'm thinking about bringing another God into the mix, but not too sure on names! I was thinking Terrocles (as in God of Terror) what do you think? If you could pop us a review I'd very much appreciate it! :)