"Don't even dare make this about me, Callisto! You're a cold blooded killer, and nothing will ever change that, no matter how much you try to blame it on others!"
" A cold blooded killer…." she said, while musingly narrowing her eyes at the baby. "It's a bit classic, but I kinda like the sound of it…' Too bad I need to share my second of fame with you, though….I would have loved to have the spotlights all for myself….." the Goddess mockingly retorted, smiling widely, as, contrary to the trio's expectations, instead of backing down, she took a few more steps in their direction, so that she was now face to face with Xena, just a breath apart, so close that had the Warrior Princess tilted her head just a little bit, Ares- to his immeasurable joy- would have gotten the chance to witness an amazingly hot scene involving tongues, lips and a some arousing fluid exchange….
"…..Plus, let's face it. This is about you…Somehow it's always about you, Xena. You're always the cause of everything…..one way or the other. While I was just a tool of Destiny, meant to make you pay for your crimes, you , my dear, you were the mask of Death itself. I can only dream about ever equaling your soul lifting achievements. " she ended, pulling back just a bit, enough to catch the War God's dumbstruck expression… He was looking at her as if he were staring at his own image in a mirror…..She couldn't help laughing at the realization. Indeed, part of her little speech had been very similar to Ares' usual ranting ...As ridiculous as it may have sounded inside her head, the thought made her laugh again, this time, at her surprisingly fitted conclusion.
" One of my achievements will be sending you back from where you came from if the thought of harming one hair on my little girl's head even crosses your mind." the Warrior Princess hissed, but she could easily understand from the maniac's still twisted face that her threat had failed to reach its purpose.
" You seem to forget one thing, mommy. " Callisto, quickly took advantage of the new opportunity to get on her old enemy's nerves. " I was not the one to ask for this miraculous resurrection, remember? You came to me asking for help….And don't try to deny it…..We both know that your situation is a bit more desperate than you'd like me to think….something related to the Olympian Gods and that little brat of yours, maybe? " she purred, bemused by the genuine shock transpiring from Xena's overly tense form and by that small twitch of her upper lip.
A line creased between Ares' eyebrows the second he noticed his Princess' hesitation in answering her. In the old, classic fashion of saving the damsel in distress, the War God thus jumped in to the rescue of his beloved Chosen.
His fingers curled mechanically around Callisto's neck, so tightly that even her immortal body reacted at the flash of pain ripping through her at the disturbing pressure the God had applied in order to make sure he had her undivided attention.
" Don't talk , think or even dream about my child, do you understand me?!"
A few seconds later, after a rather obvious sign that she had every intention of honoring him with a reply if she could actually articulate her opinion on the matter, Ares released her as brutally as his hand had gripped her throat, furiously pushing her back a couple of steps, obviously meaning to put some distance between her and the baby, aware that the interest she had showed in his and Xena's child was by far not a healthy one.
"Not even if I promise to be on my best behavior? I could baby sit while you and Xena here do ...what parents do in their free time …? Have I mentioned that I can also sing? Plus….I have considerable experience with child care…and I just love babies." she ironically insinuated, shifting from one foot to the other, as if nervous about the God's reply.
Not at all amused with her rather comic routine, Xena took the suddenly crying little girl from Aphrodite's arms and started rocking her back and forth, sweetly caressing and kissing the top of her head from time to time.
"This is just too….depressing…Even for me. The Warrior Princess a mother…It is worse than the fall of Troy, it's an….. abomination ….Is the child a god or a mortal? " she suddenly heard herself asking, despite the fact that she hadn't even considered the option up to that point, pausing a bit to take a look at the child.
Before anyone got the chance to come up with a decent enough retort to make her shut up already about the subject, the aura around the little girl began growing more and more intense under everyone's astonished stares, and they all let out yelps of exclamation when the baby stretched its hands towards the blond Goddess that had proved so much interest in her identity.
While the War God and his Warrior Princess exchanged a wondering glance, and Gabrielle still struggled to understand the strange phenomenon she was witnessing, Callisto was the first to talk.
" I think I have my answer…" she mumbled to herself, silently analyzing the surreal changes in the tiny child's presence.
" I think she wants Callisto to hold her…" Aphrodite suggested, noticing that the girl wouldn't stop squirming in her mother's arms.
" Are you out of your freaking mind?" both Ares and Xena shouted in unison, much to the Love Goddess' delight…..She simply loved these special moments in which life cared to remind her favorite couple that they belonged to each other…Finishing each other's sentences or even better, speaking the same thing at the same time was like the icing on the cake for her…
Right before Xena got the chance to add some more words to that line, and rain over her a thousand and one reasons for which that maniac would never get to touch her daughter, something else caught her attention, alarming her beyond measure.
"Ares….!"
The despondency in her voice was so obvious that the God immediately focused on her.
"…..she's burning….." she continued while all of them kept staring at the now intermittent light pulsating around the child's body.
" What's happening to her ? " Xena continued, her eyes widening in horror at the possibility that something wrong might occur to her little bundle of joy, something that surpassed even Ares' knowledge in the problem given that, judging by his facial expression he was even more concerned than she was.
" I don't…know…" his weak, quivering voice could be barely heard.
"She's burning hot. I can't hold her any more!"
She tried to give the child to Ares, but when he touched his little girl, electrical sparkles formed on the surface of her body, and he couldn't lay one finger on her, let alone take her in his arms.
"Give her to Callisto." Aphrodite ordered, in a clear, resonant voice. "That's what she wants. I can feel it" she added.
"What? Why me?!" the Goddess protested, as if they were trying to force poison down her throat. "Oh no, no, no! Don't even think about it. I don't wanna hold her….." she added with a dismissive gesture, but when Xena stretched her hands to give her the baby, as if an unseen force had commanded her to do so, she just took it in her arms, and placed it on her shoulder, as if the fragile child had been some Turkish rug that she was about to carry home from a shop.
Mouths agape in disbelief, and hearts pounding so hard that one could hear them on the background, the others kept staring at them as if they were aliens that had accidentally crashed on Earth from another planet. Almost instantly, the pulsating light and the sparkles around the little girl's form disappeared, and when Gabrielle finally found her words, they suddenly snapped out of the trance.
" Hold her properly, will you? She's not a sack of potatoes. Place her in the crock of your arm and make sure to give her some extra support with your free hand if needed."
Reluctant and clueless about the entire procedure, and she herself taken aback by the unbelievable turn of events, Callisto mechanically complied.
" Is this part of that " you can't talk, think or dream about the baby" routine?" she couldn't help spitting some venom, feeling even more awkward when the tiny child placed its hand on her left breast right on top of her heart.
"Sorry bright eyes! No milk from me! If you're hungry, ask your mother for food! " she announced, clearly agitated.
"I think she likes you.." Aphrodite concluded, making a face at the indisputable reality that was suddenly staring them all in the eye.
" I don't want her to like me…." Callisto rushed to clarify, as if such incident could forever ruin her reputation as a villain.
"Well she apparently does….."
"That's…not…right…..Hey little monkey! Stop groping me!" she exclaimed nervously while the baby keep caressing the area above her heart.
" How did she do that?!" Xena finally exploded, in pure amazement, still way too shocked by the entire affair to think straight any more.
" She's immortal…..she obviously has powers….." Ares tried to explain, his face still hardened and his body still stiff.
Callisto's unexpected words broke the silence that followed…..Her sickening statement threw everyone back in flabbergasted mode seconds later.
"I'm the protector of the Messenger! " she announced, arching her eyebrows at her own line the very following moment.
"You're….what?" they all viciously snapped while staring in disbelief from the child to the Goddess and back.
" Why did I say that? " the Goddess herself questioned, just as shocked about her remark as the rest of the company was.
" How do you know about the Messenger? " Ares demanded to know, suspicion echoing from his voice.
"I have no idea. What in Tartarus is going on here? And who's the damned Messenger?!"
