Story Summary: In this story, Ares is actually the father to Eve he does not remember his time with Xena and Xena is starting to feel guilty about him not being in their daughters life. The story takes place a few days after Amphipolis Under Siege.
Copyright Disclaimer: No copyright infringement intended, I do not own Xena nor the characters of the Xenaverse. Characters belong to Renaissance Pictures and MCA/Universal studios.
Special Thanks: Again Special thanks to my sweet editor and muse Xentrya. I know helping me hasn't been easy, I really do appreciate everything that you have done for me and continue to do for me :D.
Shout Outs: To Strawberry14, Writer Writing, AresLover, and Guest thank you for your reviews :).
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And now, looking back to the logic of things, she couldn't help thinking that It wasn't love he felt for her, she was nothing to him. Just a toy to be played with. He was a God after all, and what could an Olympian want with a mere mortal woman?
End of Flashback In A Flashback, Back To Original Flashback
Suddenly, Xena heard someone calling her name, breaking her reverie.
"Xena, Xena look at me are you okay?"
It was Gabrielle.
As if having taken a cold shower, the Warrior Princess woke from her trance like state, shaking her head in utter disbelief and almost choked on the word coming out of her mouth.
"Pregnant, I can't be pregnant it's impossible! I can't do this."
With that, and with a very determinate " Do not follow me, I need some time to think" she simply fled, leaving an astonished bard behind, to wonder if she had heard her correctly.
Minutes later, Xena was running fast through the woods as if a hound out of hell was on her tail, probably breaking one of the most important rules of a Warrior's code: running doesn't help one solve anything, but on the contrary,facing problems always does.
After running and leaping over trees for a good 25 minutes she just stopped, she didn't have the energy to run no more, being pretty much exhausted when she sank to her knees onto the cold hard forest floor.
Her whole body hurt, she was crying on the inside but she didn't want to show it on the outside. She couldn't. That would have meant plain weakness and she was definitely not allowed to show.
Suddenly, while fighting desperately to regain her breath, just like a throbbing head ache, she felt him.
… The reason for all her endless pain and misery….. he refused to step out of his invisibility shield though…..
"Go away you Bastard, Haven't you already caused me enough pain for a lifetime?."she yelled at him from the top of her lungs, annoyed by his divine presence anywhere near her.
Ares didn't reply in the process though, and his dismissive attitude only managed to further angering her, so, as to make him hurt the same way she did, she just sharply looked in the direction she knew he was standing, and screamed as loud as she could, imagining how her words would burn his heart to a crisp:
"I hate you! I wish I never met you! If I could, I would rip out your heart and throw it to the wolves!"
And voila! Out of thin air and in a sparkle of blue light, the mighty War God appeared before her, looking as opted as he could, and, walking straight towards her.
She instantly put her head down since the last thing she wanted was to look him in the eyes, afraid that through some Zeus knows what kind of godly technique, he might have figured out what was really wrong with her.
Slowly, very slowly, taking his time to contemplate the troubled expression of her face, Ares closed in the distance between them and knelled in front of her.
Even though Xena wouldn't look at him, he still tried to talk to her, sensing the growing tension and frustration her aura was impregnated with.
"Will you at least look at me, please?...This isn't you…talk to me, sweet…"
He stopped for a second though when he realized she wasn't going to answer him soon, so he just decided to continue, his heart breaking to pieces when seeing his raven haired Princess looking so shattered and sad..
"Xe, Princess, you know you can tell me anything, I know you are hurting, ok? I can feel it through our bond. Just tell me what's wrong, will you? Maybe we can fix it together…. you are still my Chosen and my Princess even if we are on different sides….
Almost in shock, Xena didn't know what to say . While a part of her wanted to jump into his arms and tell him the whole truth, hoping that he could somehow make it all better, the Warrior in her couldn't possibly forget that in front of her stood Ares God of War himself, and in her long experience with him across the years she was well aware that he was nothing but trouble.
As a conclusion, she had to make him angry enough so that he would leave her alone, without checking up on her any more. She needed time….
Hoping to say the words to his face, she began looking him in the eyes, but adverted her gaze a moment later, unable to bear seeing his hurt expression as she literall broke his heart. She just turned her back on him instead.
"Ares I hate you…..Is that so difficult to understand? Honestly, if I wanted a dumb sorry excuse for a War God to follow me around, I'd buy a damn mutt. Are you really that blind that you can't see that the mere sight of you makes me sick to my stomach? I actually thought you could read me that much. And just for the record, and you should definitely get this through your thick skull already: I would never return to you, do you understand me? You make my skin crawl- and not in a good way either….I wish you would just leave me alone, and stay out of my life forever. And for Chronos's sake, stop following me around like some pathetic love struck teenager, will you? It's creepy and cheezy!"
As she finally turned back around and looked into his eyes though, what she saw made tears fill her blue moons despite having intended to block any emotion what so ever regarding their relationship, convincing herself that it was for the best.
She had hurt him though, his face was full of anguish, hurt, and pain… And as she was on the verge of tears, ready to take back those harsh words she had just said , something inside her kept pushing for her to utter the following words too:
"Ares, let's face it: you're no good for me and I'm no good for you, I want to be happy but I can't be happy knowing I'm still tied to you…" she continued, barely holding back the tears threatening to stream down her face.
"I don't want to do this any more, since the only thing we do these days is to cause each other misery, Please Ares, just… let me go."
Watching her slightly injected eyes, Ares' face softened a bit. He knew something was really bothering his Princess. Yes, what she said hurt him deeply, but he also knew more than he knew himself, and it was as plain as daylight that she was talking out of anger.
Controlling his initial intent to slap her and send her straight to Tartarus, he decided instead to use a different approach, curious to find out what was her previous outburst all about. He needed some answers and he was adamant to receive them.
Thus, tenderly cupping her face in his hands, he whipped away the tears now bathing her cheeks, and after seconds of thinking, what he said genuinely surprised both of them:
" If what you need is time to sort out whatever it is that's bothering you, I will give you time. I will stay away as long as you need, ok? I know I have hurt you in the past as I know I have just hurt you just recently but I swear it on the river Styx Xe I will always care about you. So don't ask me to get out of your life for good cause I won't, we both know that. But I will grant you your space…. If you need me Princess, call me and I will be there."
With that, he gently laid a kiss upon Xena's forehead, and before she could even say anything, the God vanished.
Xena wanted to cry out to him, but she couldn't.
"I have to do everything it takes to protect this little angle inside me, even if that means keeping him/her away from their father.I can do it…I have to….."
With that in mind, she took a deep breath and called on the one person that could help her with her predicament: the Goddess of Love.
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