A/N

Thank you for reading and all your comments!

I enjoyed your reactions to Aphrodite's little mistake.

Let me know what you think! Every review is appreciated.

Enjoy

x

Xena screwed her eyes at the pain in her head, the last thing she remembered was Gabrielle screaming for her men to seize her and she was guessing that they had knocked her out. She felt her stomach roll and gritted her teeth fiercely. She kept her breathing as steady as possible, hoping that they would still think she was out cold. Her arms were bound behind her back but a quick twist revealed that they weren't that tight. She could hear someone pacing in front of her and guessed it to be Gabrielle, she couldn't hear anyone else in the tent with them.

"If you've quite finished taking in your surrounding's Xena, I know you're awake," Gabrielle said softly.

Xena sighed, her element of surprise gone, and opened her eyes. When the tent stopped spinning and came into focus she saw that she was lying on her side, Gabrielle's black boots directly in front of her. With a groan she managed to sit up.

"They hit you pretty hard didn't they?"

Xena narrowed her eyes at Gabrielle. She could see nothing of the woman that she loved in the face that stared back at her.

"You know, I expected you to be harder to catch. I didn't expect you just to...pop in." Gabrielle chuckled and turned towards her desk, grabbing something from it that Xena couldn't see.

"I didn't expect it myself," Xena grumbled, deciding that the best course of action was to keep Gabrielle talking until she thought of a way out of this.

Gabrielle turned back towards Xena, an arm behind her back and a cruel smile adorning her face, "I'm surprised you let Aphrodite help you. She's a joke."

Xena felt a bite of anger towards the conqueror, Aphrodite had helped them both in the past, in her own way at least. "How do you know it was Aphrodite?"

"There aren't many Olympian's left... thanks to you of course. I'm guessing you didn't want to end up in my tent and Ares wouldn't have messed up so badly. Though he is pathetic too."

Xena glared as she twisted her hands, trying to get free of the bonds without alerting Gabrielle. "You don't know what my plan is."

"Hmmm," Gabrielle cocked her head at Xena, making a great show of thinking deeply. "Does it have anything to do with this by any chance?"

Xena felt the blood drain from her face, Gabrielle had just revealed what she had been hiding behind her back. It was a small vial full of yellow liquid.

"Thought you still had it? I had my men search you when they knocked you out. What is it? Poison perhaps?"

Xena didn't know what to say, she was just grateful that Gabrielle didn't know what it truly was.

Gabrielle hunkered down in front of Xena so they were now on the same level. She eyed her prisoner curiously, "Not going to tell me?"

Xena stayed silent, her hands twisting vigorously.

Gabrielle pulled out a small dagger from her side and softly ran it down Xena's cheek, "I could make you tell me."

"I won't tell you anything," Xena spat, refusing to flinch away from the dagger.

Gabrielle paused, her eyes searching Xena's face with burning curiosity. "I actually believe you. You're not scared of death or pain," she sighed. "No matter."

Xena watched as Gabrielle stood up and moved towards her desk, she was surprised to see the conqueror place the vial carefully in the middle.

"You're not going to destroy it?" Xena asked before she could stop herself.

Gabrielle ignored her question. "I hear my men have found the messenger, I received word just before your arrival. They will be here with them soon."

"Why are you doing this?" Xena asked softly.

Gabrielle's eyes narrowed, "I'm doing it to bring peace. Together my God and I will crush the follower's of Eli. There will be no more war because no one will dare stand against us. The world will be united and I will help rule it."

Xena laughed without humour, "Been there, done that."

"Yes, your history is rather impressive... until you went soft. At one point it even looked like you could succeed in your plans."

Xena felt disturbed by the fanatical gleam that lit her best friend's face. "But I know you Gabrielle. I know you better than anyone. You're good. Even without your memories you would be good. It's who you are! What happened to you? Something must have happened! Your God did this to you."

Gabrielle rubbed the bridge of her nose, eyes closed, as if she were suddenly in pain, "Lies. You don't know me and you never knew me."

"I do. I know everything about you! I know that you love writing stories and that you're good at it too. I know that you have a giant dragon tattoo on your back for protection. I know that you get seasick whenever you set foot on a boat and I know that something happened to you."

Gabrielle clenched her eyes tighter and blood began to trickle from her nose. "Ever since meeting you I've had this pressure in my head," she muttered.

Xena stared at the bleeding nose with fascination, she knew what it meant. "It's your memories! They are trying to break through! Don't fight them. Your God's men made a healer give you a potion to get rid of your memories."

"ENOUGH," the conqueror screamed, wiping the blood away viciously. "It was not my God that did this. It was the follower's of Eli!"

Xena stared at Gabrielle with surprise, that was the last thing she expected to hear. "What?!"

"Your precious messenger's follower's. They are the reason that I don't remember anything. My God told me everything. I was a mighty warrior, fighting to save lives of innocents when I was set upon by a gang of follower's. They beat me so badly that they gave me this," she pointed at the angry scar marring her once perfect face, "I woke up with no memory of anything I had ever done. I knew no-one, I knew nothing. My god saved me, gave me shelter, told me what had happened. He is all knowing and wise. He helped me get strong, so I could take my revenge on those who had wronged me. He offered to get rid of the scar, restore my face to what it was but I wanted to keep it, as a reminder of what those vermin can do to a person. They need to be stopped."

"He lies," Xena said in shock.

"Don't you dare talk about Him that way!" Gabrielle screeched with fury.

The last thing Xena saw was Gabrielle's face twisting into an angry scowl before a fist swung out and connected with her head.