Author Note: Fearforget is very sorry for the lack of updates. There's been a lot going on, and it's not very happy stuff. But there's no reason to make excuses. Hopefully, there will be more frequent updates. And here the story continues.

Xena and Callisto made the slow trek down the abandoned roads. It looked like the time trapped villages were also physically trapped, as there were no travelers on the roads or traffic between the villages.

"You know," Callisto mentioned as she put one foot in front of the other, watching the pebbles underneath stay in one place. "I hate roads. I usually stay in the trees because the walked path is the most used. Crowds all going in one direction or the other, but right now I wish for at least one traveler. One person pushing their cart down the road! One smelly traveler I have to hold my nose against as they walked past. This is so wrong!"

Xena wholeheartedly agreed, but she wasn't about to tell Callisto that. One never really realized how empty life was without other travelers getting in the way. Though Xena did prefer it like this. If she just had Gabrielle and Argo, this would be the most pleasant of traveling situations.

Callisto was quiet for a few minutes. Then she shot a look at Xena. "Did your Callisto really destroy so many people? I mean, I know how dark I was going, but I never thought . . . I didn't think I was that bad."

Xena wrinkled her nose. "Neither did I. Remember, I went bad in your world. It was always Solan that did it. When he died in my world . . . I saw that demon in my face. Didn't you and Gabrielle have a similar experience?"

Callisto didn't answer. "I guess. We almost came to blows, but we went to Illusia. A few dozen songs later, and we were friends again."

Xena didn't like thinking about that whole time. She could never be sure it was real or fake, and when she and Gabrielle had headed back to the Amazon village, they never said a thing about Xena breaking Ephiny's arm or trying to kill their queen. She had to believe the whole thing was just part of Illusia, but Xena's descent into madness was real. "Do you have a son?"

Callisto shook her head. Her blonde hair swished over her shoulder, still glowing in the unmoving overhead sun. "I've never been . . . that close with a man. No. I've never had children."

"Then what happened? Hope, Gabrielle's daughter, killed my son. That set me off. But without a son, how did you . . .?"

There was no mistaking the judgment in Xena's voice. Callisto caught it and gritted her teeth. "I actually killed Dahak's evil spawn straight out of the gate. That made Gabrielle so angry she tried to kill me. That's when Hope brought us to Illusia."

Xena froze in place. "What?" Ice gripped her soul. "But Hope was evil . . . she had no choice but to be evil."

"Not in my world." Ah, so Callisto too could judge as harshly. "Hope was just a baby. Her father's evil only touched her because of circumstances. What happened in your world? Did Gabrielle have the baby?"

Xena couldn't answer. She herself had forced Gabrielle to abandon Hope. She herself had forced the situation so that Hope couldn't be good. Xena shook her head. Thiswas all justspeculation. In Callisto's world people ate rats! Hope couldn't have been . . .good.

Xena hated when she got like this. It was bad enough the evil she knew she did do without heaping more what ifs on top of her already weary head. "I am really not interested in telling you the differences of our worlds, Callisto. When I look at your face, I don't see a hero. I see the demon who helped Hope kill my child."

"Well, I see the woman who killed my family," Callisto spit back. "Do you realize that the sun is not going to set, and that we've been traveling for hours and hours?" She quickly changed the subject. "I want to hunt up some grub and then see if I can sleep in midday."

"I will do the same," Xena spat back. Then the two warriors separated, both pretty much irritated with who they had with them. Xena wondered how much more of this she could take. Not only was Callisto a representation of pain in Xena's past but also she represented a different path. What might have been if Xena had given Callisto more of a chance. Xena never like wallowing in guilt. She was doing her best to make up for what she had done, but her past always like smacking her in the face. And this new adventure had two gigantic hands.

"Greetings." A voice startled Xena, which wasn't good. Xena never let her guard down and always expected the worst. So why did she nearly jump out of her skin at the appearance of a man? He was wearing a long woolen robe with gems around the collar. On his head was a crown of hourglasses, all filled in different measures. Some were full. Others were empty. His face wasn't friendly, though he smiled. He was the most attractive man she had ever seen, and she knew. He was no man. He was a god.

"Chronos, I presume." Xena had her chakram out and her sword ready, but she knew neither would do much good against the god of time.

"You're brilliant. I always liked you better than Callisto the Warrior Princess to be honest. I watched a lot of your adventures."

Xena gritted her teeth and let her chakram fly. It buzzed an over head branch off its tree, but it stayed in midair.

Chronos smiled. His hair grew and shortened in seconds. His ultra clear eyes showed universes inside. "Ah, you are trying to trap me. Let me remind you, I am time. It falls when I say it does. It moves at my command. Gravity is a force as nothing when compared to time."

"What do you want? Where is Gabrielle? Both of them."

"Well, that is up to you. At the same time I'm telling you this, I'm telling Callisto. And I mean the exact time. It is wonderful when you can do as you wish, isn't it? I've called you here because I need your help, and I really didn't think I could just ask. I asked Thoon in both times to fight you both at the same time so that I could transport you here. It took two warrior princesses fighting at the same space and time for me to make my behest. You see, long ago when the gods were fighting, my brethren were put inside Tartarus, but I was left alone. I enjoyed messing up time. The gods would make a creation and then I'd rewind time and unmake it. I messed up their lives."

"Yay, the villain monologue. How I have missed it," Xena said dry pan.

"A little jaded, are we?"

"Only when I have to listen to all this backstory before you tell me why you kidnapped my friend."

Chronos smiled, stepped back and let the tree fall. Then he rested on the big branch and gestured Xena to sit next to him. She stayed put. "Long story short, the gods came together to trap me in Prime Finite. Here I can control time but I can't leave. I also can't rewind time."

"The gods have no brains. Didn't they care about the people already living here?"

"Gods never do when they have a problem. You see? We're on the same side. You listen to me and let me back to my real world, Prime Infinite, and I can pay them back. I'll be on the side of the mortals. Just think, Ares does something stupid. I rewind it and he whines. I'll be at the mortals' commands."

Xena ran her fingers through her hair. One eyebrow rose as she stared at him. "It can't be that simple. I've seen the result of what you've done to these villages. I can't risk that in my world."

"So cut and dry?" he asked, rubbing his jaw.

"This time, yes it is. You're a monster. Let the villages go on and try and find life here."

Chronos smiled. "Then we'll try this another way. If you don't listen to me I'll kill Gabrielle. You have one chance to save her. At the end of this realm, where time flows freely, there are the sands of infinity." He gestured to one of the hourglasses on his crown. It was empty. "If I refill this with those sands, then I'll be free and so will you and Gabrielle. You have no choice if you want her back or even if you want to leave this world at all. And, oh, by the way, I have told you that I'm telling this to Callisto as well? Well, it's a contest. First one to get the sands, gets her Gabrielle and freedom from this timeless world. Your choice, Xena."

Then he was gone. Xena wished she was stronger. If she were, she'd return to the village, find a way to save it and continue her search for redemption. She should forget Gabrielle and remember the greater good. But right now she was weak. And she couldn't lose Gabrielle.

Which was why she started running. She would get the sand before Callisto. Chronos could mark his time by that.