Disclaimer: I do not own Xena: The Warrior Princess or any of the series' characters. Any resemblance to other fictions are pure coincidental.
Notes: This is an AU (Alternate Universe) and a Xena x Gabrielle fanfiction. I'm a fan of the pairing ok? Xena is my childhood hero and after re-watching the series this year, I decided to make a fanfiction. YEY. Comments are welcome. Reviews are welcome. Please be nice ahahhahahha it's my first Xena fanfic. I hope you all enjoy. :DD
Introduction
In a time of ancient excavations, humans were divided according to their territory—earth, water, sky. When the Aerial Territory proclaimed its superiority and command over the others, people whose souls were linked in every life time must fight to defend their loved ones; to protect their dreams; and to secure a future for humanity.
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"Xena put the singing stone on her right ear. She closed her eyes and heard a sweet female voice. She couldn't understand the lyrics but it made her feel warm inside. It gave her a very familiar feeling. She suddenly thought of a woman. She had beautiful blue eyes and long blonde hair. She was writing on a scroll. Xena knew her. She knew that bard." ~ Chapter 1: Amphipolis
Chapter 4: Famliarity
Combing her hair and feeling her head for any injuries using her fingers, she woke up still a little dizzy. The blonde was relieved that she had no serious injuries but she did feel a lump somewhere at the back of her head. The moonlight that pierced through the holes of the root cave was enough for her to recognize what kind of place she had been sleeping in. It seemed safe and she felt no threatening presence.
"What happened again...?" She asked herself after a sigh.
She stood up slowly and walked out of the root cave. Observing the surroundings, there was no sign of the creature that knocked her out. She came to realize immediately that perhaps it was the black haired woman who brought her in the root cave. Her throat felt dry as the cold night gave her a little shiver. She reached for her water canteen hanging from her belt and got disappointed to find it empty. After a few moments, she groped for something that should have been hanging on her belt.
"No... my scroll..."
The blonde grabbed her sai from her boots and quickly cut a branch from the nearest tree. From inside her coat, she took a yellow amber stone and attached it on one end of the branch using a short vine.
"That should do it..." She held it close to her face and gave it her warm breath. Slowly, the stone glowed and after a few seconds it emitted enough light comparable to a torch. If one would look at the stone closely, bodies of a kind of insect-fireflies- were the source of the light.
The blonde closed her green eyes and inhaled deep. Her scroll had a scent which the blonde knew so well. Her nose looked for that familiar scent.
After a cold wind, "There.." she knew where to go and walked briskly with the firefly torch as her light.
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The blonde was obviously not used in trekking the woods as she looked at the trees with awe. It had been almost an hour of walking.
"Where.." The short woman inhaled again. The scent of her scroll was faint than usual. To her, it was as if the scent of the scroll itself was damaged. She continued to follow the scent and recognized the spot where she saw the black-haired woman and was knocked out by a creature.
She gave her firefly torch another warm breath making it light even brighter.
Shiver.
The blonde felt something around her-danger. Using both hands, she struck the ground with the torch burying it still. Its light spread a few meters making a circumference of light. Her hands quickly grabbed her sais from her boots and her eyes looked around.
Nothing.
She saw nothing but she knew there was something lurking behind the shadows of the trees.
Breathe.
Silent and still night made a creature's breathing so clear. Did it come from behind? left? right?
Neigh.
The blonde rolled away. A tikbalang came down exactly on the spot where she had stood.
"Not gonna work twice on me.." She mumbled.
Before she could smile because of a lesson learned, her dry lips opened a little in awe of the tikbalang's height.
After swallowing hard "Great.. this is going to be a challenge." Her voice sounded sarcastic and optimistic at the same time.
Neigh
With a loud horse cry, the tikbalang stretched its arms wide and ran towards the blonde. She quickly tossed her sais up in the air and removed her coat. The demon horse stared at the sais spinning in midair while its hind legs exert the greatest force to dash towards the woman.
Her coat covered the creature's head blinding its sight. She gave a strong kick at the side of its right knee. She had hoped to break it but it felt like she kicked a rock. Now behind the blinded tikbalang, she caught her sais and paused for a while. It was a smart move as the tikbalang suddenly kicked backward. Even with her breast plate, if that kick had hit her, she'd probably suffer some broken ribs. The creature freed itself from the coat and turned towards the woman.
"Oh dear..." She took a deep breath, tightened her grip with her sais, and ran.
Snorting loudly, the tikbalang ran after its prey.
The blonde ran fast towards a tree with no plans of slowing down. The tikbalang was just a few steps behind her. As soon as her foot stepped on the tree trunk, she lifted her weight and was able to make 4 huge steps on the tree trunk. She shifted her weight, turned in midair and landed a strong kick right on the tall creature's head. It fell down on his knees and shook its head.
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Xena had heard the battle cry of a tikabalang and knew it came from the spot where she killed one. Through the sound it echoed in the woods, it wasn't looking for a prey, it was looking for 'revenge'. "A life for a life"-That's what the hunter's say about tikbalangs' revenge. It was a little different from what humans might think.
"Of all the nights for a woman to stroll alone in the woods, why when a stud in heat is in loose?"
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The blonde took a step back and felt that she stepped on something-her scroll.
"My scroll..." She quickly bent down and took her missing scroll.
Her smile was soon replaced by a gasp when a pair of human-like hands of the tikbalang grabbed her ankles, pulled her down to hit the ground. She lost grip of her scroll and weapons.
"No!"
The tikbalang pulled her a few meters and spread her legs. The blonde's green eyes grew wide in terror. Her free hands found a big rock and threw it hitting its groin. It gave a louder cry than before. Perhaps it felt insulted being injured like that. As a form of payback, it hurled the woman against a tree. She hit her back hard. While kneeling in pain, the creature held its groin.
The woman moaned, still conscious. Thinking of what the tikbalang was planning to do with her, she wouldn't dare lose consciousness. For a moment, she laid on her back as she squinted because of the pain. She grabbed on to the tree which her back had hit and pulled herself up to a stand.
"Hands up!" Shouted a woman. It was Xena.
The blonde saw a long piece of wood coming to her direction-a staff. The tikbalang stood up and neighed more loudly than before. She rolled, caught the staff and spun it for a strike. The end of the staff hit the tikabalang's upper abdomen below its chest. The blonde spun the staff again and hit its right knee with full force. It broke and she sighed "Finally..". She took a few steps back and vaulted using the staff landing a full force kick on the creature's chest.
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Xena, had been watching the shorter woman fight and found her quite impressive. "Good girl.." she mumbled as she observed how the other woman spun the staff and fight the demon horse.
The blonde turned around to pick up a scroll.
"Wrong move.." Xena moved quickly and drew her sword.
"Gabrielle! Look out!" She screamed.
As soon as Gabrielle turned around, the hand of the demon horse grabbed her head. She hadn't noticed how big the creature's hand was up until then. It covered her entire face and she felt its fingers crushing her skull. She tried to swing the staff hoping to hit the demon horse for it to let go.
Slice.
Xena cut off its arm. With another swing of her sword, she cut its head.
Gabrielle removed the creature's filthy hands off her face. Her face disgusted with the sight of brown blood and the decapitated demon horse.
Xena looked at the dead demon horse, checking it, and turned to the blonde. "Next time, make sure it's dead before you turn your back away from it..."
The blonde met Xena's eyes. She couldn't help but notice those beautiful light blue eyes. Both were speechless as they look at each other.
"Green.." Xena whispered. Everything about the blonde was familiar except for her green eyes. She thought that they were beautiful but for some reason, she had expected those eyes to be of another color.
"Um.." Finally she started. "Are you alright?"
"Uh.. yeah.. I think so.." Gabrille dropped the staff on the ground. "Thanks for saving me."
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The warm crackling flames lighted the root cave. Xena continued putting in pieces of firewood until the center of the flame became red of heat. Gabrielle had put the wild birds on sticks and put them over the fire to cook. They hadn't spoken about anything since they had gone back to the root cave. The strange silence between them seemed to express a certain level of understanding which neither one of them could explain.
Gabrielle hunched over the fire checking the roast. It was almost done. Xena sat and leaned against the wall of the root cave.
"I'm Xena.. Xena of the Hunter's Sword.. " The black haired hunter introduced herself. It was a custom to introduce oneself as a member of a village but in Xena's case, she couldn't as she was banished. Another way of introducing oneself was by the honor of one's way of living.
"It's a beautiful yet strong name." She sat at the other side of the cave.
"I'm Herodotus's Gabrielle.. You can just call me Gabrielle" She introduced herself in another way, by the use of her father's name.
"Somehow.. I already know that.." Xena mumbled.
"What?" It was a question which Gabrielle knew the other woman couldn't answer as she, herself, seem to feel the same unexplainable familiarity. Her face showed not curiosity or confusion but confirmation "I know that I don't know her. At the same time, I feel that I know her." She told herself.
Xena gave a small smile and pointed at their roast "I'm hungry.. I think we can eat those now."
Gabrielle smiled back and took a roasted wild bird handing it over to Xena.
~end of Chapter 4: Familiarity~
Author's Notes: This chapter is shorter than the previous one. I wanted to make it longer but it's a perfect cut for another chapter. I tried writing more action since I'm done with describing the environment. What do you think? Comments and reviews are all welcome. Also, I was so busy this past week because of work and the SUPER TYPHOON (of the year) that is currently hitting my country.
OFF TOPIC: I know that this is not a place for this but I am humbly asking for your donations to help my Filipino country men. The Philippines is being hit by the largest typhoon in the world of 2013. Please see the links below. Thank you so much.
. /news/world-news/typhoon-haiyan-live-updates-the-2 689089
. /about-us/media-and-publications/latest-news/super -typhoon-haiyan
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Tikbalang: Neigh neigh snort snort (OUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCH)
Gabrielle: Don't mess with the blonde!
Xena: hahahahhahahhahaha
Authoress: Well, you didn't need much help… hahahha :P
(spoiler)
Xena and Gabrielle: WHAT NOW?
Authoress: wolves are coming…lol
Xena and Gabrielle: Great…
