GENERAL COPYRIGHT/DISCLAIMER: Xena: Warrior Princess, Gabrielle, Ares and all other characters who have appeared in the syndicated series Xena: Warrior Princess, together with the names, titles and backstory are the sole copyright property of MCA/Universal and Renaissance Pictures. No copyright infringement was intended in the writing of this fan fiction. All other characters, the story idea and the story itself are the sole property of the author. This story cannot be sold or used for profit in any way. Copies of this story may be made for private use only and must include all disclaimers and copyright notices. NOTE: All works remain the © copyright of the original author. These may not be republished without the author's consent.
Part II
Good Morning, San Francisco!
It had been a long, tiring day. The trip from Corinth had been interrupted by a couple of highwaymen with the wrong idea of how to make a couple of dinars, and then a steady rain decided to set in. The two travelers were soaked to the bone, tired and ready to settle down for some much needed warmth and rest.
"Boy, finding this cave in this rain is a blessing, Xena! I'll see if I can find some dry wood for a fire, ok?"
"Ok, Gabrielle, I'll get our stuff ready. I'm exausted! That blanket and fire is going to feel nice."
The two women warmed themselves and dried off from the rain. Xena looked up suddenly, sensing they had a visitor, when a bright light appeared.
"Artemis! What brings you here?" Xena asked. "You wouldn't happen to have any dry clothes and food on you, would you?"
"Sorry, Xena, I'm afraid not. But I do have a message, or I should say, request, from Zeus."
"Zeus? What would he possibly request from me? He knows that I have no use for him or any gods. No offense intended, Artemis..."
"None taken, Xena. I know they are not exactly on your list of favorites." Artemis looked at Gabrielle and the fire, then said,"It's Ares again. Discord sent him into the future to teach him a lesson. He lost his sword and..."
"And now he can't get back, right?"
"Right! You are the only mortal who could pull this rescue off."
"Sorry, Artemis," Xena smiled. "I would like to shake Discord's hand for doing it! Ares has caused me a lot of grief!"
"I know, but..."
"Tell Zeus that I'm not interested. I'm through trying to help the gods!"
"But, Xena..."
"NO! Artemis, I'm not interested!"
Artemis sighed with disgust, waved her hand over her head and disappeared.
Watching what had transpired, Zeus smiled and said, "We'll see about that, Xena! We'll see!"
"Can you imagine the nerve of Zeus! To think that I would actually want to help him bring Ares back! Hahaha!"
"That's pretty bold of him to assume something like that, Xena!"
Xena and Gabrielle laughed at the audacity of the gods, as they lay down and drifted off to a well-earned sleep. Suddenly, a soft light surrounded the sleeping women, lifting them up and vanishing with it's unsuspecting cargo!
Gabrielle rolled over and pulled the blanket around her to block out the chilled morning air, when a loud sound brought her out of her sleepy haze. As she sat up with a jolt, she looked around her. Something was definintly wrong here! There was a huge metal structure above her head, and a lake! How did they get to a lake? This was not just any lake, it was huge! And what was that awful noise? Those things rushing over the metal thing? She looked over at her sleeping companion.
"Xena! Xena! Wake up! Now! Come on, you gotta see this!"
"What! Gabrielle, leave me alone..I'm not ready to get up yet"...just then Xena heard the noise too; and , hearing a sea gull overhead, realized that something wasn't right. Peering out of the edge of her blanket, her blue eyes snapped open in shock!
"What the...? Where are we? " Looking up at the huge metal structure in amazement, she angrily snarled out, "ZEUS! I should have known he would do something despicable like this!"
"Well, what do you think we should do? How are WE going to get back home, Xena?"
"I have a feeling that we're going to have to find Ares in order to get back home, Gabrielle." Xena sighed in disgust. She wasn't crazy about having to deal with Ares, and finding him in this huge, strange place was not going to be easy!As she surveyed the grim scene, she said,"Ares must be near. We can hope that Zeus would at least have enough sense to send us in the same general area where Ares is."
"This place is so strange, though. I've never seen anything like this before..."
"We'd better find him, fast! I want to get out of this place as soon as I can. What's that awful smell in the air, anyway?"
"I don't know, Xena, the air is so thick and heavy. Let's just find Ares and get out of here."
The two women got up and looked around. Deciding on which direction to start in, they slowly and cautiously headed down the sidewalk towards the city. As they walked they noticed how strangly the people were dressed. This was really different!
"Xena, why are those people staring at us? It's creepy! Boy, they really look strange!"
"I think they think WE look strange, Gabrielle. We may have to find some of those funny- looking clothes ourselves so we won't look so conspicuous. But first, we've got to find Ares!"
