Death's Door: A Xena: Warrior Princess Fanfiction
Part 7:
As goddess Alti looked at Gabrielle, Gabrielle did her best to seem calm on the outside despite there being fear in her eyes. The last time Gabrielle had fought against a god by herself, Ares spared her because he'd rather stop Eli's way than kill her. Ares still might…but right now he was too focused on clone Xena, archangel Xena, and stopping goddess Alti to even think about Eli's way. Gabrielle said almost completely calmly, "if you think you can kill me, go ahead. But Ares is…"
Goddess Alti chuckled, "without realizing it, he's making it easier for me to kill you." She blasted Gabrielle with lightning, but Gabrielle in that same instant thought of one thing that could save her. Gabrielle somewhat slowly did a flip kick off the wall towards goddess Alti, letting her tattooed back deflect the lightning back at goddess Alti in mid flip. A surprised goddess Alti was knocked through the wall by her own powers, making her fall into the air like lake beyond the tower. Strangely enough, the water stayed separate from the tower as though it was actually some kind of jello. Gabrielle landed back on her feet, with holes in the back of her clothes.
At the same time, on the second floor…
Luckily, Gabrielle was able to hurl her Sais down to clone Gabrielle in the middle of goddess Alti's most recent teleporting. Ares made a sword appear in his hands, which he was aiming at clone Xena's body. Clone Gabrielle charged at Ares and deflected his sword with Gabrielle's Sais multiple times. Ares punched clone Gabrielle across the floor. Clone Gabrielle coughed violently from the impact as she struggled to get up. Ares was about to finish off clone Xena with his sword, when he saw goddess Alti crashing into the tower. Strangely, the tower wall shards that fell fell inward…not outward. Several tower shards fell down the collapsed part of the second floor, which crashed down onto the third floor and made part of that wooden floor collapse on their way down.
Meanwhile, on the first floor…
Gabrielle sighed with relief as Aphrodite showed up. Gabrielle wondered in annoyance, "what took you so long?"
Aphrodite turned to her, "I didn't even know about the Treasury of Souls until Eli's god…" Gabrielle was carefully taking out clone Gabrielle's Sais and archangel Xena's chakram, being careful not to fall down to the second floor in the process.
Aphrodite then noticed archangel Xena and the rest of the archangels standing on a certain windowsill. Aphrodite realized, "Xena?"
Archangel Xena urged, "bring me back to normal."
Aphrodite asked, "what about…?"
Archangel Xena insisted, "the rest of the archangels still have demons to keep under control." Gabrielle got clone Gabrielle's Sais and archangel Xena's chakram on her person.
Aphrodite sighed, "very well." She zapped archangel Xena with lightning that brought archangel Xena instantly back to normal size. But interestingly, archangel Michael put himself in the path of the lightning and purposely let himself be brought back to normal size. Gabrielle and archangel Xena turned to look at Michael with suspicion.
Michael figured, "someone has got to be around to keep you in line."
Archangel Xena urged coldly, "I could say the same thing about you."
Gabrielle urged as she stood between the two, "that's enough. Right now, we need to stay…"
Aphrodite added, "focused. Seriously, what in Tartarus is wrong with concentrating on our…?" To Aphrodite, Archangel Xena, Michael, and Gabrielle's eyes were darker than usual as they started to collapse on the floor. Aphrodite glared at goddess Alti, who was flying back into the tower. Aphrodite called out, "get back, witch!"
Goddess Alti counteracted, "actually, I'm a death worshipper."
Aphrodite remarked, "as if there's a difference here."
Goddess Alti figured darkly, "even if you do kill me…there's nothing you can do to save Xena or Gabrielle." Ares then appeared on the first floor, leaving the already collapsed bodies of clone Gabrielle and clone Xena on the second floor.
Meanwhile, within archangel Xena and Gabrielle's minds…
These words rang through their heads: Xena, Xena, Xena, Xena…praise the winds of chance that blew… Archangel Xena was caught in a strong wind among high flames of bright red, with her wings not helping matters any.
She called out as she clutched her head in response to this all too familiar song from Illusia, "Alti!" Archangel Xena was slowly becoming overheated, despite how large the flames were.
Gabrielle called out over the wind, "Xena!"
The words kept going on and on: You and me love war, doesn't matter what it's for… Archangel Xena saw before her eyes the many warriors that were under her command years ago…and the many warriors that Xena had to go up against to pay for the consequences, including Callisto and Caesar. She saw the many lives that were lost in both cases…which moved archangel Xena to noticeably shed a few tears. Archangel Xena held back as much as she could, but she couldn't stop those few tears from being shown to goddess Alti.
Goddess Alti's cruel voice briefly broke the rhythm, "for you and Gabrielle, nothing else but my power over you will matter." Gabrielle ran across the flames, trying to catch up to archangel Xena. But, she too was getting slowly overheated…and moved to some tears by what she and archangel Xena both saw of Xena's past.
Archangel Xena called out, "Gabrielle!"
Gabrielle called out, "hold on!" She jump flipped into the wind carrying archangel Xena, barely grabbing her hand in the air.
The words ringing in their heads kept going, "nothing changes but the time…we don't even change our minds…don't deny your destiny…it's just a case of killing to be kind…" A giant scythe came into view, which threatened to hurt archangel Xena and Gabrielle as it swung at them.
At the same time, within clone Xena and clone Gabrielle's minds…
Ironically, similar but different words from Illusia rang in their minds: It begins very small…seems like nothing much at all…" Clone Xena and clone Gabrielle were on a certain stone surface, small as specks of dust. They looked around, very alert.
The words kept going: And its power will strangle your love and your joy…and its hunger consumes, for it lives to destroy…" Dark red portals begun opening up, with multiple Gabrielles with red and black cloaks appearing before them.
Clone Gabrielle gasped, "Hope."
Clone Xena urged, "together!" The army of Hopes telekinetically fired many ancient swords, daggers, and shields at clone Xena and clone Gabrielle as though they were as light as dust.
Clone Gabrielle insisted uneasily with teary eyes, "but…I can't!"
Clone Xena assured her, "come on, Gabrielle! They're not even real."
Clone Gabrielle gulped, "right."
Clone Xena urged, "together!" Clone Xena and clone Gabrielle ran and jump flipped past the incoming weapons and shields, flip kicking off the shields to get closer and closer to the dark red wraith like being that was Dahak. Due to not having her chakram in this nightmare, clone Xena roared as she kicked and hurled several weapons back at the many Hopes that were appearing before them in the air.
Certain words from Illusia kept going: Hate doesn't care who you are…hate is the star!" The many Hopes' appearances were changing to look like past foes and past friends of clone Xena's and clone Gabrielle's including Hope as a little girl, Borias, Eve, Eve as Livia, Joxer, and Alti. Clone Gabrielle and clone Xena were getting teary eyed, but were holding back tears. Clone Gabrielle kicked and hurled weapons too, but made sure that the handles of the weapons hit and not the blades of the weapons. Several familiar faces fell unconscious.
Clone Gabrielle and clone Xena muttered to themselves, "they're…not real."
The bitter tune kept on going: All your hate gave me substance…your lives are undone…" Eight long pieces of floating ropes with a loop dangling from each one came from Dahak, and started latching onto clone Gabrielle and clone Xena's limbs. Dahak was growing bigger.
Alti's voice said somewhat loud, "how does it feel…to just be a footnote in the grand scheme of things?" Dahak had stopped growing at the size of a giant.
Clone Xena muttered, "go to Hell!"
The bitter words continued on as the rope got tighter, "it's your eve of destruction…your hatred has won!" The remaining faces floated towards pinned clone Xena and pinned clone Gabrielle, ready to use their swords to attack them directly.
At the same time, within archangel Michael's mind…
Archangel Michael looked at himself in a certain temple. He looked like…the archangel turned demon Lucifer in demon form. Archangel Michael was charging at a desperate Xena. In instinctive hatred, he grabbed Xena in the air. Michael thought, "Xena may have done bad things…but I wasn't even thinking. It's as though…I am Lucifer!"
Xena called out, "your kingdom awaits!" And like before with the real Lucifer, it played out the same way as expected. Michael, looking like Lucifer, was literally being sent to Hell.
At the same time, back in the tower…
Ares asked, "what did I…miss?" He then noticed archangel Xena on the floor. Ares shouted, "this means war!"
Aphrodite thought, "typical Ares." She suggested, "let's just get her." Ares shot fireballs at goddess Alti and Aphrodite shot energy blasts at goddess Alti at the same time. Goddess Alti teleported out of the way of some of them, but the fireballs and energy blasts still hit her because Ares and Aphrodite fired everywhere around them. This resulted in hitting goddess Alti against another section of wall, and nearly collapsing the whole tower on everyone inside. Thin pillars worth of metaphysical stone that held up the first floor barely remained intact.
Goddess Alti got back up, coughing a little as she blasted Ares and Aphrodite with lightning. They were both knocked backwards into some of the thin pillars, making the first floor start coming down on top of them. Goddess Alti chuckled as she floated outside the tower, "how fitting…to meet the rest of your godforsaken god family in Tartarus."
