~ Chapter Nine ~

A Hustler's World


Agile reflexes were quiet the advantage as the weapons eerily sparked and scraped against one another, creatively marking the initial of Xena's name upon blocking his approaching attack.

Spying a faltered gap presented above the 'X' became the perfect opportunity to thrust a first forward, colliding it acutely with the God's face.

"That's not fair Xe!" Ares whimpered, still rubbing his nose, taken aback by the sudden punch that actually made him totter.

"I never hit you square in the face. It could leave a mark, ya' know!" He finished the sentence on a slightly grumbling tone, puppy eyes looking at her as if he were a naughty child scolded by his mother.

Can you say irresistible? But then again, with him everything was an act, and that was one of the main reasons he could not be trusted.

Xena always bore that in mind, unable to erase the countless times she had fallen for his silly routines only to end up hurt.

And now, the God could easily read in her incisive gaze, the amount of disdain, carefully gathered inside her throughout the years, still nesting in the depths of her heart, just waiting for the right moment to drown him in it, like a bottomless ocean.

He simply loathed the way things had gotten between them, all those God damn twists and turns in their relationship, their souls tainted by the deplorable agony that a myriad of stinging betrayals had caused.

But then again, with the risk of losing her for good, these were tough lessons that he needed to teach her, always reminding her in a way that the first rule of survival, if he wanted her alive for more than one tomorrow — "trust no one."

As an application to that very rule, taking advantage of the stormy wrath that was obviously messing with her brain that precise moment, turbid memories knocking dead the last glint of focus she had, he launched a full offensive; blazing sparks flying with each parry and hit, the distinctive sound of clashing metal plunging him into a peerless state of ecstasy.

Suddenly, all trace of reality started to melt somehow, and in the far away corners of the background, his entire being buckled into some sort of invincibility shield, his noxiousness reaching critical levels for any living and breathing thing, and that moment he knew...

For three winks, there was no more Xena, no more Ares, there were only two blades, crossing antagonistically 'till one of them would crack under the other's impact.

It was the sign of a merciless, uncontrollable fight, and for a second there, the God feared for his Princess's life, wondering if he would stop in time, before slashing her to pieces.

A double flip, and a series of quick blows to her back and stomach combined with a painful strike with the hilt of his sword dangerously near her right temple, ensured his so called victory.

The upcoming spin sent Xena flying the opposite side of their playground, her body smashing loudly against a boulder seconds after his left leg collided full force against her spine.

The cockiest grin shrouding his lips, he couldn't help bragging about it, his sardonic trademark tone reclaiming its rightful place on the scene.

"Uhh... what were you saying about anyone getting this close to cause any damage, Xena?"

But his face turned papyrus white when he noticed that his Princess wasn't flinching a muscle.

"Xena….? Sweetheart, are you okay?"

In the blink of an eye he was leaning over her limp corps, hysterically searching for any vital signs, every fiber of his body tensed as on the verge of snapping.

As she lay there motionless, the world instantly swallowed the meager amount of consciousness Xena had silently held onto, pulling its Victim into an infinite hole of black and white until completely drowning her in a plutonic darkness.

The coral thread now spilling from one side of her forehead, stained the God's hands as he gently pushed the dark locks out of her face, feverishly searching for any other severe injuries as a result of the lethal impact with the solid mass of granite.

Gliding across every inch of the surface of her body between her head and her bottom, his warm hands were roaming freely up and down his Princess' tempting body, with the only difference being the adrenaline rush flowing through his veins and almost completely blurring and distorting his view that moment, was not the result of some unbearable arousal, but of the unspoken terror of finding any fatal wounds that could have surpassed his healing powers.

The very idea of her life slipping away between his fingers, while helplessly watching her soul leave the Mortal world, was as excruciating to him as... only there was no 'as.'

When it came to Xena, any term of comparison would fade away in a flash.

His feelings for her were so strong that it hurt, and in his heart there wasn't anything in this damned universe that could at least come close to the undying obsession-love thing he had for her.

As if a huge weight was taken off his mind, he exhaled profoundly, a breath he didn't even realise he'd been holding, when he found no sign of damaged organs or internal bleeding.

She had just passed out from the force of the impact, and the God couldn't help planting a delicate kiss on her swollen temple, silently thanking the Fates that there was no need to storm Hades' underground in order to find her and bring her back, causing yet another pointless and endless feud with the mighty Zeus himself, consequently stripping him from his Godhood for who knows how many decades, unable to protect his Chosen.

A bright alleviating amber halo was still streaming from his hands like some kind of a mild breeze, lowly vibrating against her bruised forehead, when, right out of the blue, a pair of strained eyes fluttered open, fixing him with a very familiar glare.

"You certainly took your sweet time coming back. Were you planning to give me a heart attack or something?"

Unfortunately though, without Athena's blessing, there was only so much Ares' powers could offer when they feebly dragged Xena back into the circumference of reality, allowing her to at least choke out a few muffled instructions about meeting the battling Duo in Corinth before suddenly slipping her into the gloomy pits of unconsciousness.

As much as he despised the irritating Blonde, barley repressing the barbarian instinct of smothering her with his bare hands every time he laid his eyes on her — that bloody Harpy, along with his mongrel Brother, being the main reason his Princess was no longer by his side — Ares knew better than to cross Xena.

And since she was still out of it, her mind completely disconnected, and to his much dislike still disturbingly weak, he decided it would be for the best if she rested somewhere safe, far from any harm's way, and Corinth was as good a place as any if he were there to watch over her.

Thinking about the Bard, he could already picture her heinous face when she'd see him holding Xena's limp body.

By Styx itself! Immortalising her reaction somehow as imagining her high-pitched voice, screaming violently, at the top of her lungs, her whole corps shaking like jelly, tears springing from her desperate eyes, uncontrollable sobs ready to explode from her throat, would worth all the dinars in the world, no doubt about it!

"Xena….? What happened? Ares what did you do to her?" It made him still believe that the Mortal world was not such a bad place after all.

"Oh yeah, and a classic it is." The God said to himself, snickering tawdrily while protectively encasing his Princess' flimsy body.

"Come on Xe. Let's get this show on the road! I don't know 'bout you, but I'll have a blast!"

All that being said, they both disappeared in a shower of blue light, making an appearance, seconds later, just outside Corinth, two feet away from a scandalised Bard and a dumbfounded Wannabe Warrior.

"Xena….? Ares, what happened? What did you do to her?" A horrified Bard shrieked, eyes ready to pop out of her head.

"Here we go, Sweet, just like I said." Ares smirked towards his still absent-minded Princess.

Joxer on the other hand was way too shocked to even conceive uttering anything, and when he finally got it out, picking up heart as a result of Gabrielle's volcanic reaction, his inflection modified perceptively from a normal tone to three muttered words, hardly audible, but ripping firmly on his rusty sword, a deadly expression glued on his face as if he were about to launch a full scale attack on the entire Amazon Nation itself.

"Wha… what's going on?"

"Are you blind Joxer!?" Gabrielle roared savagely, every muscle instinctively stiff and primed for action, feeling her heart smashing against her ribcage, as anger gradually clouded her mind to the point where she was about to catapult herself onto Ares' back.

Reading her ludicrous idea, the God couldn't help wondering if she was suicidal or just dumb, but for some erratic motive, the sight of her boiling mad and blowing off steam like a cauldron in Hephaestus' forge, amused him beyond words.

"Whoa there….! Take it easy Bard." He uttered, bursting convulsively in a cackling laughter.

"You might just pop an artery or something. Not that I'd be impressed by any means, but Joxer there, he would be wearing mourning for the rest of his dull, pathetic existence."

Her fists clenched, back arched, face a mask, Gabrielle stood her ground, struggling for control, but still, she thought twice before making her move, taking a guess about what the God's intentions truly were, when she detected the blue sphere already glowing inside his palm.

He only needed the tiniest excuse before crashing her against the city walls.

She was a smart girl, and despite the God's extensively cynical speech that she had to face each time he opened his useless mouth, she knew better.

No way in Tartarus was she planning on giving him that kind of satisfaction.

So instead of acting on her previous impulse, she advanced slowly 'till she faced him, and shooting him a short baleful glare she simply stated, wasting no words.

"If something happens to her, I'm gonna' kill you Ares."

"Spare me Blondie," Replied the mocking retort of the God, while rolling his eyes defiantly. "You couldn't kill a fly if it pooped on your nose."

"Try me!" Was all Gabrielle managed to say, on the verge of snapping, when she was abruptly cut off by Xena's deep wail.

"Xena….? Can you hear me?" The Bard murmured, frantically caressing her Friend's cheeks, hoping to get some kind of reaction out of her.

"Don't bother. She'll be out for the most part of the day. She needs to rest."

"What happened?" Came the husky inquiry of the Bard. "Is she gonna' be okay?"

Noticing the concern in her eyes, Ares decided to hold back a smart reply, saving it for a rainy day, aware of the fact that he needed to shelter Xena somewhere, before her condition got even worse.

He'd hardly managed to lighten her pain and her present state could easily deteriorate if she wasn't properly cared for.

The Halls of War would have been fine by him; she would have been exempted from all the wanton fuss and extra stress that the Blonde was going to serve her, but then again, Xena was as stubborn as her horse, so he had very limited options to work with.

Contemplating his Princess' body, her head resting peacefully against his chest, he spat out a brief and bitter answer, obviously afflicted by the very way it sounded.

"We had a fight. I lost my nerve. She has no severe injuries."

After a short pause that for him lasted like centuries he simply added, "We've got to get her out of the cold."

"You... You hit her!?" Gabrielle's jerky thoughts managed to surface the tip of her tongue, the entire landscape spinning like crazy while her brain was sedulously weaving an entire domestic violence type of scenario.

Quickly deciphering the paralysed look in the Bard's eyes, Ares was beginning to lose his composure.

"Of course I hit her. It was a *sword* fight. What'd you expect? Kissing….?" His irritated reply came, intentionally stressing the 'sword' part.

Swiftly brought back to reality, and still trying to regain her jagged breath, she answered promptly, her eyes avoiding the God's furious frown.

"There's a tavern not far from here. We could take her there 'till she's better."

With a silent nod Ares agreed with Gabrielle's proposal.

"Now that's a first!" Joxer told himself, perplexed by the God's coact attitude, while still doing his best to find a point in all that fishy charade, that to him made no sense what so ever.

While still bugged by the weird sensation that there was something going on, a dizzy feeling overwhelmed him, followed by complete dimness all around, and the next thing he knew, was waking up in front of some cheesy looking tavern, his head on the verge of exploding from the tremendous pressure that was squashing his temples.

"This should be cosy enough." The God's voice echoed deridingly, not failing to see the Bard's gruff expression, deeply plunged in the knotty analysis of the almost dilapidated hovel before her.

"And whadd'ya know…? It even has a balcony for you two Lovebirds to catch the sunset." Ares went on blabbering, half amused, half annoyed that his Princess had to spend the night here.

"Shut up, Ares." The Bard hissed, gashing her teeth. "Let's just get her inside already!"