" Aphrodite!"
" Heya chica? Ready to set the wedding date? I have like a zillion ideas about what the location should look like! Oh I'm like so excited!" the Goddess of Love squealed the instant she materialized into the room, her midsummer sky blue eyes sparkling with joy…..Finally, she was getting that much awaited happy end- she had been praying for ever since she had found out that her brother was madly in love…..Probably that's precisely why the Warrior Princess' dry, emotionless answer didn't have too much effect on her…
" That's great. Now sit down."
" Like where did Bro go?" was her next question, while confusion painted her face.
A very stern, commanding " Sit ." made her roll her eyes. Her enthusiasm didn't decrease though. The Warrior Babe was so much like Ares! Definitely two peas in a pod. They could deny it all they wanted but there was no escaping it. It was sooooo obvious that they were just right for each other! The perfect, perfect match!
" Fine, fine….-no need to frown- you don't want any new wrinkles on that pretty face right before the big day, right? Everyone will expect you to look absolutely flawless, and by Gaia, we still have a few things to correct anyway…"
" Would you shut up with the wedding already?! There will be no wedding!" the angry Chosen of War growled, her eyes narrowing menacingly at her overly chatty immortal friend.
Aphrodite was naturally in shock….Nevertheless, her consternation faded rapidly as another scenario, just as ridiculous as the first one, gripped her mind.
" No wedding?! Wait a minute…. you mean…not a traditional wedding? Oh by Hades himself, don't tell me Ar got you into wearing a black dress on that special, special day?! I'm gonna kill him!" she breathed out, terror suddenly taking over her…Her fairy tale fantasy would have been forever ruined….
" I don't know about that, but I'm sure gonna kill you if you don't stop talking! " The Warrior Princess replied on a menacingly calm note…Her patience – which was already wearing thinner and thinner every time Dite opened her mouth – was close to zero now….
The Goddess shrugged at her friend's reaction and gently covered her hand with her fine, delicate palm, making sure to caress it comfortingly while she kept ranting….Moral support was always the key in these extreme situations, and she knew all about that….
"Ok….pre- wedding jitters…! All brides have them, you know? I remember when me and Hepphie got married, I like totally freaked out because six months before party, I still couldn't find the right dress! I had nightmares about it for like weeks! I couldn't sleep- and yeah, I know that Gods don't actually waste their time with useless activities such as resting and stuff but I really needed my beauty sleep! And …"
Her little speech was left unfinished though, when, briefly glancing at Xena she noticed just how high the left corner of her upper lip had gotten…She looked pretty much like a lioness ready to devour its prey….And since there was no one else in the room but her, Dite's hipper active brain quickly made the connections.
" Jeesh…like all right! You can do the talking- I'm like all ears…You can as well start with the cake though …" she tried to calm her fuming interlocutor. " .Or not…."
Silence at last- Xena said to herself while her murderous gaze drilled a whole straight through the Goddess' forehead…Had Ares been right all that time…?! Was she really brainless?!
" What exactly happened during the days when I had that blasted fever?" she demanded to know, her eyebrow slightly raised at her and arms now crossed over her chest.
" What fever...?" came Love's instant, extremely honest answer- that she immediately tried to mask with an obviously fake memory of the so called event.
" Oh….the fever…. Yeah….awful….." she said, clearing her throat a couple of times while talking….She had forgotten all about the lies that Ares had stupidly considered fit to feed her so that he could keep his unjustified distance.
This time, Xena's voice became even lower, and her fingers clenched violently around the bubbly blonds' arm, making sure she had her undivided attention.
"Now listen here…It's enough I had to put up with Ares' crap for one day. If you keep lying to me I'll chain you to that armchair and dye your hair black, Aphrodite, I swear it!" she threatened, and judging by her furious expression she meant it.
Despite her efforts, the curly Olympian didn't appear too impressed, on the contrary. She snorted out a laugh, reluctantly amused- the idea itself was ludicrous!
" Pffff…you can't just chain me to a chair, Xe! I'm a goddess remember?! A snap of my fingers and…."
'Oh really? I've even chained Celesta remember?" the Warrior Princess harshly reminded her.
Hmmmm…now that little detail had somehow slipped her mind…The chains of Hephaestus….She really had to have a word with her husband about this nonsense of his- creating weapons that could be used against his own keen, that was something he had to stop doing….
" Oh…..ok…." she agreed, a plastic smile stretching unnaturally her rosy lips. "What was it that you wanted to know again?"
" Everything."
" Everything…" she mused, silently wondering if her brother was going to let her live if she spoke….Seeing that she had no other alternative though, she started telling the story…"Okie dokie…So to sum it up, when that nasty priestess brought you that disgusting herbal tea…."
"Draja?"
"I guess that was her name yes…she made sure to accidentally drop something in it….."
There was a brief pause before she continued, but when she did spoke, Xena's eyes widened in horror.
-"…the Dreams of the Damned….."
" The Dreams of the Damned….?!" she whispered, finding it hard to believe. " Isn't that…?"
" The most poisonous mixture ever- the very one. Even Daddy himself fears it …..So no, you didn't have a fever. You were like literally hanging out with Celesta on your way towards Charon's boat- without actually dying because you couldn't really die….like for real- but your memory was going to be affected big time. You were supposed to forget everyone and everything that had ever meant something to you with one exception…" she explained.
" The person I loved the most…" Xena filled in the blanks, a pang in her chest reminding her just how much she missed Ares.
" That's right….the punishment of the damned is to always be haunted by the memory of the one they love the most, without being able to actually see them again…..And that was going to last an eternity- a horrible torment for any soul!"
" Indeed…."
" It was Bro, wasn't it? The last person that haunted your mind…" she asked in a hopeful voice, a bitter smile plastered on her lovely, porcelain visage.
" Yeah…."
" Oh I knew it, I knew it!" she shrieked, clapping her hands, all of a sudden radiating happiness again. " Xe, you two were meant to be together! It's like sooo obvious! If this doesn't speak volumes to you about your relationship, I don't know what does….!"
Somewhat used to the Goddess' childish enthusiasm, the Warrior Princess just offered her friend, a small, warm smile, but kept digging for the truth…She still had a million questions to ask…She just needed to understand….
" I thought there is no cure for the Dreams of the Damned …."
" That's what they say- the legend is tricky though….Ar literally bent over backwards to save you Babe…..He even went to Hathor, begging for help…"
" Hathor? His ex?!….She hates his guts ….!"
"Yeah, well…he put all his pride aside, just to get you back, imagine that!" the Goddess of Love mentioned, carefully analyzing her friend's any reaction. She was walking through a minefield and she knew it…
"That's…. something…." Xena murmured, chewing pensively on her lower lip. Had he actually done that? For her?!
"Yeah, tell me about it! Being the arrogant bastard that he is, Bro wouldn't stoop as low as to beg anyone, not even if his own life depended on it…"
" And yet, he did it for me….." the Warrior Princess continued, in a low, weak voice. Unbelievable!
" Oh Xe…! " Dite whispered, softly caressing her friend's cheek. "He would move mountains for you….He loves you to pieces!"
Trying hard not to fall apart at hearing that overly emotional statement, Xena preferred to ask another question, thus masking- at least in her opinion- the fact that those words had shaken her to her very core.
" Did she tell him the cure? Last I knew, they weren't even on speaking terms…."
The Goddess frowned. That bitch had nearly killed Xena!
"Long, boring story….Anyway, me and Lover Boy, we were up on Olympus- Daddy was having one of those silly meetings that required…"
" Lover Boy?" Xena interrupted. Who in the world was she talking about?!
" Yeah…" Dite tried to clear the air. " …the fake Ares."
" What's a fake Ares?"
" Not what- he's not an object, for crying out loud!…Who…" she began, waving her hand dismissively " Never mind, that's just another long story…I'll explain it later. "
" How did Ares find the cure, then?" Xena kept pushing.
" The second he thought he lost you, he started crying- you know how obsessed he is with you. Living the rest of eternity without you by his side was unconceivable for him. He couldn't accept the fact that you were gone- and this time for good! He cried tears of love for you, Xe! Pure love, that was the cure- that's what brought you back. It was a miracle, really. We were already mourning your loss…we were certain that it was the end. Oh man…you should have seen him Xe… he was like totally devastated. …Miserable, I'm telling you…."
It was official….The Warrior Princess' soul was so deeply touched that she could no longer restrain the tears that started falling from her beautiful moons one after another.
"I could feel it….The memories were still foggy – and my brain was a mess but…I did remember bits of conversation…In my dreamscape….he told me he loved me more than life itself….That I meant the world to him…."
" And that's true, Babe…He meant every word, you know that…." the Love Goddess answered, wiping her own tears.
" I felt it, Dite…Despite everything that has happened between us, I felt it so clearly. It was like time hadn't passed….It was….magical."
By now, Aphrodite was sobbing….
" I'm sorry. That's like so touching!" she said, blowing her nose in a satin pink handkerchief that matched perfectly the rosy shade of her nails.
" But still…I don't get it…." Xena voiced her thoughts. " Why does he want to keep his distance now? After everything we've been through, I uh…I thought that maybe this was the chance of a new beginning for us…"
"And it can be, Xe….It really can, why not? You love each other like crazy…He's just scared that by being part of your life he could somehow end up hurting you, I guess- and with everything that's happened, can you blame him?!"
" But that's ridiculous! I would have been dead anyway if it weren't for him! " Xena protested, for once feeling absolutely helpless. " You gotta help me Dite….He wouldn't listen to me…"
That was it! The bubbly Goddess of Love was ready for action!
" Don't worry…Auntie Dite is going to make everything better…You just leave it to me…I know the perfect way to fix this!"