Chapter 3
The Dream Comes True
"Assassination ...
Caesar's blood on your blade ...
this is you way of getting to him."
Crassus, „When In Rome…"
-I see it! I see it! – Xena was awakened by Dagnine's voice. – We're almost there. – He shouted as she slowly started to understand what he was saying. She still felt sleepy, but the look of Rome's gates made her wake up for seconds. This was it. This was the big day when she was going to get her so longed revenge on Caesar. Suddenly something occurred to her. Something she forgot.
-The gates! – She said loudly. – How do we get through them?
-I thought you were leading this army, Xena, didn't you think about that? – Dagnine asked. Before she could answer, Ares showed up.
-There's no place for panic, everyone, since you've got me on your side. – He said.
-Ares, you said nothing about the gates. How are we going to get through them?
-Gates? What gates? – He asked ironically and snapped with his fingers. Suddenly the gates were gone.
Xena smiled, took out her sword and galloped to the hole, where once were the gates, shouting:
-Attaaaaaaaaaaaaaack! - The whole army followed her and they all went through the gates. – Kill everyone who stands in your way! – She said to them. – And if anyone sees Caesar, bring him to me! Alive!
Then the whole army spited. The Romans had seen them and were prepared for the battle. And so it began. The battle Xena had always dreamed of since the day Caesar betrayed her. Now she was killing Roman warriors one after another. Her sword was all covered with blood, but not a single drop of hers was spilled. She was doing good, pretty good. Until suddenly she heard a voice:
-You've got to take me with you…teach me everything you know! – It was that same voice again, it was again all in her head and this time she knew it. Still, it came so unexpected and distracted her for a few seconds, so one of the Roman warriors could wound her arm. It wasn't that bad after all; just a wound and she had had many like this before, so it didn't matter to her. Of course that wound was the last thing the warrior did to her or anyone else in his life, because Xena finished him off with the speed of light. She stabbed him with her sword before he even noticed. After that there was another one, and another one, and another one. They all fell dead on the ground, killed by her sword. She kept making her way through them and soon she was going to reach Caesar's castle. The main target. She was getting closer and closer, when all of a sudden she stopped feeling her legs and fell on the ground. Soon her whole body was paralyzed. She couldn't feel a thing.
Ares stood there, watching the battle. He was invisible. Soon his army was going to join from the East and the Romans would be outnumbered. For Rome it was going to be over. Suddenly he looked at Xena and saw she was lying there on the ground, defenseless. He took out his sword and got into the fight with the only purpose to defend her. He stood there, next to her body and killed everyone who was trying to attack her. For a moment he looked at her and saw that she was still breathing, but he couldn't do anything to help her and she just stayed there, helplessly. Suddenly a vision came to her.
She was in a room, kneeling and in front of her there was this blonde girl.
-If I only have thirty seconds to live. – She was speaking to the girl.
-We're going to be together … for eternity. – The girl interrupted her. - You brought out the best in me.
-Gabrielle, this is how I want to live them, looking into your eyes. – She ended as did the vision.
-Gabrielle… - she whispered.
Meanwhile a few Roman warriors were attacking and Ares was doing everything he could to stop them from hurting Xena. Unfortunately he couldn't handle all and one of them was about to stab her with his sword, when she suddenly took hers in hand and managed to fight off the strike. She got up and started running towards the upcoming warriors, killing them one by one. She was back to normal. Or she wasn't back to normal at all.
Now she knew. Now she knew why were all those nightmares and visions. She knew who the girl was and that changed her. The woman who was now fighting against the Roman army, making her way to Caesar's castle, wasn't the "destroyer of nations" anymore. It was another Xena, a lot wiser and a lot better one. A Xena, who had feelings, a Xena, who knew what love and friendship were. But that didn't change the situation. She was leading her army into a battle to take over Rome. And she still wanted it, even though now she did not care about the land or the Romans. All she cared about was one special Roman and that was Caesar. She still wanted her revenge and she was going to have it…soon.
The other half of the army, which was supposed to attack from the back, had already joined. Now Ares' army was coming from East and this was the big surprise for the Romans. Everything was going as planned. Rome was slowly being destroyed.
Xena had finally reached Caesar's castle. It looked empty, there weren't any guards, or there were, but earlier – now she had killed them all, along with the other Romans, while trying to get to the castle. In fact…how many were they? How many had she killed? Twenty…forty…? Much or less? She couldn't tell, no one could tell and she didn't care. Now she was at the opened gates of the castle. The gates looked as if somebody was waiting just for her to arrive. She made a few more steps closer to the gates and just then Ares showed up from behind. Xena turned to him before he even spoke. She didn't need any sign to know he was there. She could sense him and that's was really amazed him – he had no explanation about it.
- What do you want? – She asked him.
- Can't you be more talkative? - He asked with that same old irony in his voice.
-No, I'm in a kind of a hurry.
- I just wanted to know – He stared. – What happened to you back there at the battlefield?
-The truth is I don't know myself – I just fell there, paralyzed. I couldn't move. – She decided not to tell him about the vision she had, at least not yet. – And speaking of that, thanks for saving my life.
-It was the least I could do to prove how much you mean to me.
-Oh, Ares, please…
-Okay, okay, I'm not going to annoy you with my speeches of love, I'm not like that fool Borias.
As Ares was speaking of Borias, Xena thought about the fact, that she hadn't seen him since the battle begun. Where was he? Was he dead or alive? She couldn't tell. Suddenly she saw him, there, at the battlefield, with the sword in his hand, close to loss and death. He was badly hurt. Xena was confused. Should she have gone searching for Caesar at the castle, or should she have gone straight to the battlefield and save the life of the only person who really cared about her. She had no time to think so she just started running as fast as she could, right to the battlefield, right to Borias and the Roman who was going to kill him any minute now and soon she reached them. She stabbed the Roman's back with her sword and he fell down. Borias looked at him and then looked at Xena. He couldn't believe his eyes. He never expected to see her fighting for someone else's life, not even his. She never expected that too, but now things were different. She was different. Different than the woman, who led this army to Rome a couple of hours ago. But her goal was the same, so she looked back at the castle (Ares wasn't there anymore), then looked again at Borias and started running back to the castle. Borias stayed there, stunned of what had just happened. He was watching her running back to the castle and was wondering why, what made her do that.
Xena got back to the castle and entered it. Inside it was dark. It looked empty, abandoned. Still, something was telling Xena that Caesar was nowhere but there. She moved slowly, carefully, quietly, even though it was dark, there was enough daylight coming in, so Xena could see. She was in a big hall, that looked as something as a living room, but she didn't lose time looking around. She knew what she was looking for, actually who she was looking for, and he definitely wasn't in this room. She looked left and saw a corridor. She had no idea where it leaded to, but she decided to give it a try. She walked about a minute and entered another room. This time it was almost completely dark and she could barely see anything. Suddenly she heard a voice:
-Hello, Xena. – It was the voice of a young man and it sounded senseless and cold. She recognized it immediately.
-Hello, Caesar. – She replied.
-It's been so long… - He said and lighted a candle. Now she could see him better, as he could see her. – You've changed, Xena. You've become even more beautiful.
-And you're still the same arrogant pig! – She said with disdain.
-Come on, Xena, I know our last meeting didn't go that well, but…
-You betrayed me! You broke my legs and you almost had me crucified!
-I know…and I made a mistake. – He said and got up from his throne. - But on the other hand I fulfilled my destiny. Look – all of this is mine! Rome is mine!
Xena looked around the room and said:
- Let's see a couple of naked statues, soon to be broken, a desk, where you write shit at and a throne, which is now just a pretty chair.
-All of Rome, Xena, all of Rome.
-But Rome's gone, Caesar, it's gone. I destroyed it with my army. – She said and looked him. – Well, yes, Ares helped a bit…actually a lot, but what's important is that your beloved Rome is gone.
Caesar was stunned. He couldn't believe Xena's words. He didn't want to believe. Rome. His Rome. It was gone. It had turned to ashes.
-That is impossible. – He said slowly and quietly.
-Do you think so? Go and see it yourself!
Caesar pulled the curtains of a window and looked through it. He couldn't believe his eyes. Everything outside was either burning or was already burned out. There were corpses everywhere and they all were of Roman warriors. But the battle wasn't over – there were still people fighting out there, even though the end could be seen. Soon. Soon everything was going to be over.
He looked at her, but remained silent. He had nothing to say. Everything he loved and had fought for was now being destroyed by her. But it was all his fault and he knew it. That was what hurt him most. And that's what she wanted. To see him suffer, like he made her suffer years ago. She realized that making him suffer that way was better than seeing him dead. And then she started thinking. She had a choice. To let him live with the thought that everything he loved was gone, or to end his fucking life right there. Then she thought about Gabrielle. What would Gabrielle say about it? Yes, she would definitely choose to let him live. That decision was both merciful and sadistic. She could have mercy on his life but the same time she would doom him to live with the thought that he lost everything he had. Than she thought about killing him right away. Now, what would Gabrielle say about that? Yeah, she would definitely not like it, but Xena believed it was the right way. She had killed so many people before, one more or one less wouldn't matter, but would she be able to forgive herself and live with the thought that she had Caesar, the person who had hurt her so much, in her hands and she had let him live? No, the answer was no. Negative. So she raised her sword at the level of his throat.
-Now what? Are you going to kill me?
-Do you think I would leave you alive after all?
-Xena, listen…
-Shut up! Or I'll make your death more painful than you could ever imagine… - She said with a threatening voice. – All those years I've waited for this moment. Your time has come, Caesar. Everything is over. Rome is gone. And you'll be gone too. – She ended, then lowered her sword to the level of his heart and stabbed him. A few seconds after, he fell lifeless on the floor. Xena felt relieved. It was over. It was really over. Xena pulled out her sword from Caesar's dead body. It was all covered with his blood. Then she gave him one last look and walked away.
Now Xena was outside. The battle was at its end – the last few Roman warriors were running away. Suddenly Ares showed up.
-We won! – He said with his usual voice, filled with irony. – Good job, Xena. But aren't you happy?
-No, Ares.
-Wait, wait, wait a minute! Wasn't Rome what you always wanted?
-No, what I always wanted was Caesar's blood on my sword. Now I got that and I don't give a damn about Rome or any other land on Earth.
-But…didn't you want to rule the world?
-That was Caesar's dream; it was also mine until some time ago, but now… Now I'm different. I'm not the Xena you know, Ares. I've changed.
-And when did that happen? Because I didn't notice.
-At the battlefield. I realized I'm going the wrong way.
- Xena, what the hell has happened to you?
- I saw the truth, Ares. Now I'm changed, reborn and you've got to accept that. – Suddenly she saw Borias a few meters away. She ran to him.
-We won, Xena! Half of the army is dead, but we won!
-You're badly hurt.
-I was going to be dead if you didn't save my life.
-I know. That's why I did it.
-I thought you didn't care about anyone else but yourself.
-I didn't. But now I do.
-Just like that, all of a sudden?
- Something happened to me during the battle. It changed me. I realized that the path I've taken is wrong.
-I was starting to think you'd never realize that.
-You knew I was wrong and still stood beside me. Why?
-To protect you from yourself. I love you, Xena and now that you've changed…maybe we could…
-No, Borias. – She interrupted him. – I've got other plans. – She said and started walking away.
-Where are you going? – He shouted after her.
-I'm going to find my destiny, a better Xena…and someone to show me the way. – She said loudly and kept running.
