A mere blink later, and definitely before Xena got a good grasp about what was happening, Aphrodite had already transported them to one of her temples, as far away from that damned place as she could.

What in her mind appeared like a huge favor though, to the angry Warrior Princess it proved to be an unspeakable offense, one that she made sure to reward with a resonant slap that collided to Aphrodite's cheek at such superhuman speed that it left behind the red mark of her fingers.

" Gee you're welcome!" Dite snapped, irritated by the warrior Princess' ridiculously brutal reaction. If there was anyone who had every reason in the world to act like a killing machine that was her , not Xena. "I'd say you owe me an apology!" she hissed, narrowing her pretty blue eyes at her brother's flame….well ex flame to be more accurate…

"Me?! " she sniffed, making a face at the Goddess. "I'm still surprise that you have the nerve to look me in the eye after what you did !"

"After what I did? Did I like hear you right? This is like totally incredible! "

"How could you, Dite? " the Warrior Princess shouted, doing her very best to keep herself from strangling her then and there. The disappointment and the aversion in her trembling voice were impossible to miss though. "How could you? I trusted you….I can't believe I actually trusted you!..You pretended to be my friend all along and you just stabbed me in back when you first got the chance!" her voice thundered accusingly through the room but it was strangled with pain and despite her immeasurable rage, tears had started forming on the surface of her saddened moons. .

Judging by the Goddess' expression, Aphrodite couldn't believe her ears. She was completely taken aback by the illogically violent outburst she was witnessing. For all the perfume and makeup in the world, she couldn't get it! Here she was with her brother's killer accusing her out of all people for having stabbed someone when she was the one who had done just that only half an hour before…like literally.

For a second there, she kept staring at the infuriated Warrior Princess in mute amazement, not really knowing what to say.

"What's your problem?" she finally inquired, pushing Xena out of the way and putting some distance between them , slightly frowning at her friend as she passed her by, a look of confusion painted over her divine visage.

It was obviously everything that Xena could take any more... The only thing she knew was the she would have liked to beat the crap out of her…..

" My problem?! I don't know…Maybe the fact that that accursed veil finally fell from my eyes, or maybe the fact that I finally got the opportunity to see your true colors!"

" Should this make any sense to me, cause I have no idea what you are talking about"?!"

" No idea huh? I shouldn't be so surprised I guess. For someone who doesn't have the minimum of decency this is probably considered normality!"

"What are you talking about? "

" I'm taking about the fact that for the past several years you fell over backwards to convince me that there was nothing going on between you and that demented Bastard anymore, that whatever happened between you two at some point belonged to the past, just to see him all over you tonight! Does that ring any bell in that empty head of yours?! I should have seen it coming, really…." she ended in a rather resigned note.

As if someone had hit her with a hammer in the head, the Love Goddess finally realized where all that fury was coming from….She must have seen them earlier that night…..

"Xe….." she started, closing back the distance between them and trying to caress her hair, but she only got another slap over the face in return.

"Don't you dare Aphrodite! Don't you even dare!"

"Babe , you've got it all wrong…..Nothing happened. Stud Muffin was just comforting me…."

"Comforting you?! That's quite an original way of comforting someone! I didn't really know that such process was synonym with a good fuck! Thank you for sharing this priceless information with me...This conversation has been extremely enlightening! " she spat, disgusted by what she had just heard.

"It wasn't like that Xe…He didn't….we didn't…."

"I saw you, ok?! So there's no point in lying to me, really, cause nothing you're gonna say will ever change how I feel about you! "

" He was just trying to make me feel better, Xe. I know how it must have looked like, but truth is, I was bumped and he was just …."

" Trying to help?... By licking your nipples?! Come on Dite, this is just…..I don't even want to hear anything else about it! I don't care actually! You can just go to Tartarus! Both of you! And take me back to the forest, will you? I'm not planning to spend one more minute in your company! I don't want to see you, I don't even want to…"

" Xe I'm sorry! I didn't mean to hurt you, I swear, but you gotta believe me!"

" Well you did! " she screamed at her, tears streaming uncontrollably down her face. " You did….Now take me back…You caused enough harm for one day! ."

" I'm afraid I can't do that. Babe, I'm sorry…please…."

Before she finished that line though, Xena's fingers were already avidly clutched into her blond curly hair, and her lips were just inches away from hers. When she spoke she didn't yell anymore, but every single word was uttered on such a dark, low tonality that for a moment there, the Goddess forgot all about the fact that she was immortal and that there was no way in Tartarus that Xena could do any real damage to her body….But she was scared…yes she was…

" Now listen to me and listen to me good Love Goddess, you'll do what I asked or I might just forget the fact that I once considered you my friend!"

" I can't.." she whispered her barely audible reply, terror clearly present in her eyes. " You heard him….He's gonna kill you…."

"Like you cared!"

" I do…I know I messed up Xe, big time, but I'm telling you the truth here. Nothing happened between us…I would never do something like that to you, you know that…."

"No, I don't... I thought I did. I must have been out of my mind…."

" By the Fates….That's why you did it, isn't it? That's why you plotted his murder…." the Goddess concluded, realization washing over her…

" What? Don't tell me you actually bought Teiwaz' crap! I wouldn't need to plot that Son of a Bachae's murder with anyone if I wanted him dead! I would just do it myself! "

For a few seconds, while still struggling to assimilate this new, unexpected information, Aphrodite stared emotionlessly into Xena's ice cold cerulean eyes….She was telling the truth…

"How did he know about the Hind's Blood dagger then? Excepting Herc, you were the only one who knew…."

"Me and the entire Olympus you mean…." Xena underlined in a mocking tone.

" They would have never told anyone such a thing! Let alone a foreign God!"

" I don't know how he found out about it Dite. I don't even give a damn, really! I'm just relieved that…" she immediately stopped though the moment she realized what she was about to say.

" That Bro' isn't dead, right….That's what you wanted to say…'

She didn't answer. She just turned her back at the Goddess and headed for the fire place. Despite the fact that it was the middle of the summer, at nighttime it was quite cold, despite the torrid temperatures over the day.

"Oh I'm sorry, you must be freezing! I like totally forgot that you were…." Dite excused herself, pointing towards her friend's naked body, and instantly materializing a dark blue satin dress on her. "I hope you like it….We can change it if…"

"It's fine…" the Warrior Princess cut in, without looking neither at the Goddess nor at the dress.

With slow, cautious steps, the blonde daughter of Zeus took a seat on the sofa next to her, not really managing to gather the needed courage to touch her hand like she had initially wanted to….Her wounds were still too deep and too recent for such intimate contact….

" Please let me make it up to you…." she hesitantly begged , starring at the pink plush rug beneath their feet.

In return, the Warrior Princess cast her a venomous glare, venomous enough as to mach the Goddess' insolence. She didn't articulate an answer though, a gesture that naturally Aphrodite interpreted as an invitation to keep ranting on the subject.

" Once things calm down, I can try and explain to Ares what…."

" Stop it! Just stop it! I don't want you to do anything!" Xena barked, startling a bit the ditsy Olympian.

"What do you want then?" she lowly inquired, her face still covered in the guilt and shame of having caused such an inexcusable wound to her friend.

" Right now, I just need to get some sleep….It was a long day….." she muttered, mechanically wiping away the fresh stains of tears from her cheeks.

"Sure…" Aphrodite sighed, wondering if she should continue her line. " …do you want me to stay with you…?" she finally asked, searching for Xena's sad moons. No eye contact was made though. The Warrior Princess couldn't really stand looking at her at the moment.

" No. " was all answer the got.

"Ok …..I'll see you later then….Call me when you wake up…."

That being said, the Love Goddess left, leaving a broken to pieces Warrior Princess behind. The instant she dematerialized from the place, endless sobs were finally freed from Xena's nearly exploding chest…. Nothing felt right anymore…..

XXX

As soon as she set foot on Olympus, the Love Goddess felt another hand clutching her hair, but this time, the pain she was feeling was different. It appeared as if the intention of the one holding her in place was not to simply immobilize her, but to actually leave her hairless.

"Ouchhhhh! That hurts!" she whined, staring up in wonder at the one who was so jealous of her golden, beautiful curls that they couldn't stand seeing her in one piece like that…

Her jaw almost fell to the floor when she noticed that her tormentor was none other than Stud Muffin himself.

" And it will hurt even more, trust me!"

"Like what's wrong with ya'? Has being a God again brought that violent side of you out so soon?" she inquired, feeling his change in aura.

"Were is she?" he yelled, eyes sparkling with hate and anger.

" Where's who?" the Goddess asked as if she had no idea who he was talking about.

"Don't play games with me Dite, cause I'm so not in the mood!" he threatened, pulling the Hind's dagger from his belt and menacingly placing it at her neck.

" I don't know what you're talking about Bro…." she murmured, making efforts to sound as clueless about the problem as she possibly could, aware of the fact that had he known where Xena was, he would have skinned her alive….and she couldn't allow that. Not now when she finally realized that the entire drama had happened because of her….

" Xena! Where is she?"

" I'm telling you, I don't know. She was in the forest when we left, wasn't she? I mean you were there too…."

"You were the last to leave and you didn't come back to Olympus with us! Where were you?!" he exploded, pulling roughly her head backwards.

"I was to Thessaly. One of my priestesses called me…" she replied, without hesitation, looking her brother dead in the eye. He immediately let go of her, convinced that she was telling the truth.

"You do have a screw loose, you know that, right?" " she finally snapped, throwing him an accusing glare.

" She's gone." he responded, pacing restlessly back and forth the room like a caged animal.

" She couldn't have gotten too far, Stud…..But, don't you think it would be better to wait a day or two before talking to her….You should both take some time to calm down…" she started, aware that would have been her classic line in that situation. The last thing she wanted was to attract his attention in any way….

"To talk to her?! Who said anything about talking? I want to rip her heart out! By Chronos that slut will beg me to kill her! She will beg me on her knees…."

"Well….maybe Teiwaz took her with him given that she's now his Chosen and all…."

Next thing she knew, the Love Goddess was hitting a wall full force, and for a second there she was under the impression that the entire room was spinning with her.

Once she recovered, the War God was gone…

"That went well….." she said to herself, while rubbing the back of her head. "At least he didn't set my hair on fire like the last time he was furious with me…"