"We should move you somewhere safe." Hercules suggested, taking her arm.
"I know a place." Ares offered.
"I think I can handle it." Hercules rebutted.
"Hey!" Xena gave both men warning looks. "I don't need to be manhandled, and I'm certainly not running away." Both men backed off. If there was one thing Hercules and Ares agreed on, it was that Xena could take care of herself and would prove it if she were ever babied. "Besides, we have to wait for Gabrielle and Iolaus."
"Xena, with the stone cut, it would be safer if we went somewhere a little less out in the open." Ares advised.
"He's right." It pained Hercules to agree with him. "We can spot Gabrielle from the trees."
Xena surveyed the trees, realising that arguing with a God and demi-God who were equally persistent was just going to waste time. "Fine, but we don't even know what's going to happen."
"I think we should assume that whoever killed Apollo and stole his chariot will be coming after you next." Hercules concluded.
"And he'll have the element of surprise." Ares added. "We don't know who or what he is. If he wields the power to kill the Gods, he could really be capable of anything."
"Which means we are all in danger, not just me. With the Dagger of Helios… Ares, you don't need to be here –"
"I'm not leaving." He said forcefully. Xena and Ares stared at each other, battling it out, but eventually Xena nodded in acceptance, and they headed for the trees, hoping that the additional cover of night would protect them.
Although uncomfortable hiding from her enemies where she would usually seek them out, Xena understood that it wasn't just her fate she was trying to avoid, but the fate of the world.
As they walked deeper into the forest, she kept glancing from Ares to Hercules, who stayed distant either side of her. She thought of her feelings towards both men: so similar in their strength and passion, but so different in where they aimed those traits. Hercules had saved her life where Ares had tried to destroy it; Hercules had helped people selflessly where Ares would plan for profitable war. All of these facts told her who the obvious choice should be, be something held her back. That something was this feeling when Ares would look in her eyes or wrap his arms around her. It came from the knowledge that she was his most prized possession, that he would never let go.
"Here should be fine. Gabrielle and Iolaus shouldn't be long." Hercules observed as he began to climb the tree. "You can see the field clearly from –" He stopped, staring over the trees.
"What is it?" Xena asked, unable to see past the trunks and branches.
"There's someone there, but I can't make out his face." Hercules responded.
"I'll go check it out." Ares grunted. He had been oddly silent, Xena observed.
"No," Hercules jumped from the tree. "I'll go, stay with Xena."
"We'll all go." Hercules and Ares were about to object, when she said, "You're both as vulnerable as me with the Dagger of Helios out there, we should all watch out for each other."
Xena moved out, getting more than slightly annoyed by the constant insinuations that she was helpless. She understood that they came from a caring and worrying place, but she had proved herself capable on more than one occasion.
The field was dark and the man in front of them was still standing still and facing the opposite direction. Xena made a motion that they should surround him and come from all angles. Hercules and Ares nodded. Quietly, Xena and Ares both drew their swords, where Hercules preferred to stay unarmed.
Still unmoved and deaf to the footsteps of Xena, Ares and Hercules, Hercules reached out his hand to spin the stranger; he was met by a familiar face.
"Zeus!" Hercules exclaimed, taken aback to see his father. Zeus looked at him with dead eyes and a blank façade. He slowly looked down, Hercules following his gaze to the dagger plunged into Zeus' gut, his blood drenching down his once white tunic.
Zeus collapsed to the floor, Hercules supporting him in his arms. "Father…" Hercules seemed almost in shock.
"Hercules," He whispered, tellingly on the brink of death.
"Shh," Hercules cushioned his head and gripping his hand tightly. "Don't speak."
"Hercules, I came to say, before I …" He coughed. "I am proud to have been your father." Zeus smiled one last time before his muscles lazed and his eyes closed, the dagger of Helios still lodged in his torso.
"I'm sorry Hercules." Xena said softly, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. Hercules gently laid Zeus on the ground, taking one final look at him.
"Whoever this person is, he will be stopped." Hercules vowed, more as a vengeance pact than anything else. He stalked past Xena and Ares into the forest. Xena and Ares glanced at each other with worried expressions before going after Hercules. Ares spent a lingering moment staring at the deceased King of the Gods. There was no doubt the end was coming, and coming soon.