Hey guys, sorry for the last chapters mistake! This time I will get it the right chapter, haha. :) Merry Christmas everyone! :) Hope you all have a great time this Christmas filled with happiness :) xox

Arm in arm, the perfect pair walked up to the golden doors. Slowly, they started to open in front of them, light edging its way to reflect the faces of the God and Mortal.

The couples dancing closest to the doors stopped. They stared in awe at the unmatchable beauty of the Princess and the deliciously gorgeous God.

"Hey babe! Hey bro!" a cheerful voice rang out as flashes of pink came running at them.

Aphrodite squeezed them both in a very generous hug and grinned.

"Woah! Hey Sis," Ares replied, glancing at her out outfit and raising his eyebrows a little. "You look...good."

It was a coral dress, if you could call it that. And it left, of course very little to imagination.

"Yeah, uh, you look great, Dite" Xena quickly added trying to cover the easily to remark note of sarcasm in Ares's tone.

"Thanks guys but Xe, I gotta say it: in that dress, I can like totally see why my brother's so obsessed with you. You look incredible!"

Xena laughed and Ares slipped an arm around her waist and squeezed it. The blue-eyed beauty looked up at him smiling. He smiled right back.

The Love Goddess was watching the two intently. The way they were reacting to each other was perfect in every sense of the word and every ounce of their love could be read in their eyes.

The pair looked back at Aphrodite.

"What?" they both questioned at the same time.

"Oh nothing, I'll see you two later!" she said with a wink and sauntered off to find Cupid and his family.

Xena and Ares walked off together in search of wine. Secretly, the Warrior Princess was looking for something else too…..or better said someone…... that Bitch Goddess Athena. She tried not to make it seem too obvious because she hadn't told Ares anything about it, but he soon picked up on her eyes intently scanning the room.

"Who are you looking for Xe?" he whispered in her ear.

She tensed then moved a little.

"No one in particular…."

He squeezed her waist a bit harder but kept walking so that they wouldn't attract even more attention…..

"Come on, talk to me…..what's happened? Who are you looking for?"

She shrugged and said on a harsh tone emphasised by the look in her eyes:

"No one," .

Sighing, the god didn't push it so instead he got her some more wine then once they had drunk quite a bit, a slow, seductive song came on.

"Care to dance, Princess?" he asked, words slightly slurred but still in control.

She glared at him, glancing at his hand sharply for she knew how much he had been drinking. Sighing, she took it and walked out with him.

They stood there awkwardly for a minute and just as Ares started to make a move, Xena decided it was game on.

Slowly, she began to sway her hips to the music whilst cunningly gazing at him through her bangs. She saw his eyes travel over her body and stop on her sensual hips. She put her arms up in the air and twirled in a circle then leaned over and bit his neck, a light, sexy, playful nip. Then, letting her hands roam, she brushed lightly over his crotch up to his chest and tweaked his nipples.

He could no longer control himself now. He grabbed her wrists and brought them up to rest behind his neck and use his own to grip her waist, pulling her close, his erection pushing into her stomach. He brutally crushed his lips onto hers. No surprise there. I mean between the wine and her teasing, no man would be able to control themselves…..

When she didn't kiss him back, he pulled back and looked angrily into her eyes. She licked her lips then darted her tongue out to trace his, a self satisfied smile on her face.

Power. She loved it, he loved it. This was going to be interesting. The Warrior Princess was obviously enjoying the power she held over her God at the very moment, but Ares wanted some too.

Kissing her again, he pried her stubborn lips open and slipped his tongue in. If anything could ever be called a 'tongue war' then this was it. Xena let out a low moan which travelled through both of their bodies. Ares' hand moved up to grip his Princess' hair and her fingers lightly brushed up and down his neck. Then it was like they were the only two in the room. The Lord of War jerked Xena's head back, breaking the kiss and proceeded to kiss her jaw-line, chin and neck. Xena arched into him and moaned again.

Suddenly, a scream interrupted them. The looked up and around. A few pairs of eyes were still watching what must of been a pretty damn good show by the two of them but everyone else was huddled around something. They ran over and tried to get through to see what had happened. They had no idea though until they saw a trail of bright, red blood sliding towards them.

Pushing through and yelling for people to get out of the way, Ares and Xena finally made it to the scene. It was horrific. Blood everywhere and the body had taken a brutal hacking. It was faceless but everyone recognised the glinting, gold armour and short, neat, brown hair.

It was Athena. And next to her, written in blood was the word 'FAIL'.

Zeus pushed though everyone, his eyes and face giving away to shock. After a moment, he composed himself and took control of the situation.

"Gods! Take your Chosens away from here and protect them. Artemis, you take Athena's Chosen with you and stay with your twin, Apollo." he uttered glancing around before his eyes rested on Xena and Ares. "Ares, you and the Warrior Princess will stay here with me. The rest of you, GO!"

Different coloured lights danced around the room for about 10 seconds as all the gods hastily departed with their Chosen ones.

The three left stood in a circle. Xena was frowning, Ares was smirking a little and trying to hide it from his father and Zeus was just plain flabbergasted.

"Athena…." Xena said, her voice was hollow but slightly disappointed.

"Yeah..." Ares said.

"Do you two have any idea what happened?"

Ares shook his head but Xena nodded. Both Gods looked at her in surprise.

"You do?!" the War God asked, surprised. Zeus stared hard at her as she started to speak:

"Last night, Athena came to kill me. She failed and I think this is why she's dead. Because she didn't kill me. Look at her, the word 'fail' in written in her blood next to her, that is the only plausible explanation."

"What?!" Ares exploded. "And just when exactly were you planning to tell this to me? Why didn't you call me?"

"I didn't think it was a problem and yes I did think about it, just didn't tell you," she said back, defensively.

"You could have been killed. She is….was a Goddess, Xena! What were you thinking?!"

She fixed him with her most icy glare then snarled at him.

"Well I didn't perceive her as a real threat that's all. I could handle her!..."

"ALRIGHT! That's enough out of you two!" Zeus' voice thundered menacingly.
They both turned to look at the King of the Gods, staring at him like two children caught stealing bread from the bakery

"There are only few weapons that can kill a God….Whoever has done this to Athena must pay…. You two are in charge of tracking them down... and killing them."

Giving them both a nod, he disappeared in a hazy flash of lightning bolts, taking the dead Goddess' body with him.

Ares put his hand on Xena's shoulder and transported them to the Halls of War.

She flopped down on the bed, seemingly drained of all energy. The God lay down beside her. Despite being immortal, he also felt completely tired out. He wanted nothing more than to lay on his bed with her in his arms, forever.

He rolled over and propped himself up to look at her. She glanced over at him then reverted her eyes back to the roof.

"Xena..."

"What?"

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I don't need your protection, Ares."

"Yeah, you weren't saying that yesterday."

She glared at him. He sighed and shifted a little.

"Look, if you had of..." he didn't bring himself to say the word. It was a strange feeling- being afraid of death... after all he did love the concept given the fact that he was living his everyday life in the company of mortals dying on one battlefield or another...Still, when it came to Xena, he was constantly tortured by the idea.

"If I die, I die. I'm only mortal Ares, not a God. I can't live forever."

She was calm and tender, trying to comfort him by placing her hand on his arm and giving it a gentle but reassuring squeeze.

He suddenly grabbed her hand violently and kissed it.

"Stay with me," his voice croaked. " Become my Goddess, my Enyo, my Eternity..."

His eyes were so pleading and his hands were shaking. He obviously did not like the idea of losing her. And she wasn't helping, just sitting there looking shell shocked. Softly, slowly but without hesitation, the gorgeous God captured his Princess' lips in a perfect kiss. One of those really special ones only they could share...

A mirror, rimmed with jewels stood in the middle of a dark, damp room. A figure stood in front of it, watching Ares lean down and kiss his love again...

"No!" a voice screamed out. "They can't be falling in love, they can't!"

Silver light flooded the room and a robed, hooded figure stepped out.

"You cannot stop their union. It was told eons ago that War would be brought into a balance by Love. There is nothing you can do..."

"Well I'm sorry, but I can't just let that happen."

A flaming orange ball was hurled at the hooded figure, they screamed and jumped aside, then another one came spinning at them, hitting them square in the chest.

Evil laughter and scarred screams were the only sounds left echoing off the walls.