When someone says that they're soul is lost forever it doesn't mean what most may think. Where does one go when they're soul is lost? What do they do?

Xena has lost track of how long she has been sitting by the edge of the dark body of water. She had been trying for days now it seemed to get back to Gabrielle, but nothing she tried worked.

In reality, time where she is at never passes. Everything stays the same and nothing ever seems to happen. It seems as if it is just another realm of the world she had once lived in, but different at the same time. Everything is dark and colorless, there is no sun rise or sun set and no matter how much she travels through this odd world, she hasn't ran into another living thing. No longer does she get hungry or have any need for the functions she used to have. She can still feel though.

It seems almost as if that is the only thing that you do in this world. Feel. All Xena can do is feel anymore, and think.

She thought that things would turn out differently for her and her bard. Very differently. She had always pictured them growing old together, maybe having a couple of more kids. Now all of that is ruined, shattered. All due to the fact that Xena couldn't outlive her past.

That always happened to them. Something always would come up, Xena's past always came back to haunt her somehow and this time she paid the ultimate price. She's stuck forever in this realm, no longer having her bard by her side. No, this was her fate.

But, have the two of them ever really accepted their fates before? More often than not they had found ways around it, survived it somehow. They always found their way back to each other. This time though… This time seemed more real than all the others, more permanent. She couldn't shake that feeling. This is it for them, Xena felt it and she felt the most helpless she had ever felt.

Most of the time now she just sits and concentrates, trying to find her way back to those emerald eyes. It had worked quite a few times but here lately it hasn't. The last time she had saw Gabrielle felt so final. Like they were really saying goodbye for good. How is Gabrielle handling it? Will she be alright? There wasn't a thought that went through Xena's head that didn't include the small blonde. But, that's how it had been for years now, hasn't it? Constantly thinking about her, in almost every context imaginable.

A big part of Xena was just relieved that Gabrielle knew how she felt, and that they had lived for many years together. There was a time, way back in the beginning, where she didn't think she would get that chance. Now she had had it. Gabrielle knew everything, and yet Xena felt as though she had not been able to say it enough. I love you. Those three words, uttered from her lips every chance she could get, but still she can't help but feel it wasn't enough. When you love someone that much, that fully and truly, well, there are never enough times you could say it. Of this Xena knows to be true.

Surely this wasn't final though, it couldn't be. They're Xena and Gabrielle after all. That's what they practically do for a leaving, beat the fates. Xena thought to herself. We had always found ways around it, always. But how in the world would she get herself out of this predicament? There's nothing here, at all. Even if I were to get out of this somehow, what would happen to all those souls? I couldn't just let them be lost forever.

"There is always a way." Said a voice out of nowhere. "You have done great honors warrior, and because of that you have great karma."

Xena jumped up, looking around. "Harukata? How are you here?" She asked, her brow creased in confusion. "This is a place for lost souls." She said sadly.

Harukata smiled upon the warrior. "You have redeemed yourself on more than one occasion, and finally paid the ultimate price. There is a way out though, a way to go back to your life. The road will be long and treacherous, but you have proven time and time again how strong your soul is."

The brunette couldn't believe it. "What about the souls? What will happen to them?"

"They are saved, and now that you have been in the afterlife for as long as you have, it is final. They will never be lost again thanks to you."

"But how is that possible?"

"The universe… It has odd ways of working." The old man said, then brightened slightly. "These odd ways have caused a loophole of some sorts. You will be able to go back to your life after this journey."

"What must I do?"