Xena woke to a long soft nose nuzzling her. Argo seemed quite adamant about her getting up. Xena groggily sat up and took in her surroundings. She was on a beach. Judging by the sun, she was on the west side. She stood up and brushed herself off. She looked up and down the beach. She wasn't sure why, but she felt like she had been with someone. She had always been on her own, but she suddenly missed the company. Argo nuzzled her again.

"Alright. Draco must be wondering where I am." The thought of Draco suddenly disgusted her. She didn't want to go back to him, but she had made a deal with him to save her village. Still, a strange voice in the back of her head tutted disapprovingly. "Shut up." Xena said to it. She pushed her feelings to the side and climbed on Argo.

The trek back to Draco's camp was going to take a few days. She couldn't remember what brought her out so far. The harder she thought about it, the more of a headache she got. The second day of traveling she came upon a village that had been burnt to the ground. The sight of it horrified her. Who could have done such a thing? A young boy of maybe ten saw her approach and began to run away.

"You boy." She called.

The boy froze. Fear filled his eyes as she approached. She couldn't imagine what he had been through. "What happened here?" She asked.

"Xena the warrior attacked." He replied.

Xena felt a cold chill run over her and a sick feeling in her stomach at the boy's answer. "Where are your parents?" She asked, even though she already knew the answer.

"Dead." Was his simple reply.

Xena couldn't take it anymore. She led Argo into the nearby woods. She was a monster. How many innocent lives had she destroyed under Draco's direction. She had fooled herself into thinking that she was saving her village, but at what cost? The faces of all the innocent lives she had taken, haunted her. She dismounted at a secluded spot and began digging. How many graves had she put innocent men, women, and children in. Once it was deep enough, she placed her weapons and her armor in the hole. She was in nothing but her undergarment. She would kill and bury the warrior, the murderer and subject herself to the cruelty of the world. Maybe she would die and the world would be free of one more murderer.

She heard several screams, crying and whimpering in the distance headed toward her. For the first time, she felt fear from the cruelty of the world. She stood and hid herself like a coward. Before she knew it, several villagers were being herded by armed men, she unfortunately recognized. They were Draco's men. And that meant that the women were being taken to the camp to satisfy the men's desires. Xena's disgust, fear, and rising temper at the thought of their fate was enough to raise the warrior in her.

"Okay, we can do this one of two ways. You can either hand us over the girls and go back to that humus you call home, or we can hack you up into pieces and take the girls anyway." Their leader laughed.

A blonde girl with a fiery spirit step forward and said defiantly, "Take me and let the others go."

"Ha, ha nice try, but we'll take you and anyone else we want." He reached to grab her, but she immediately smacked his hand away. Furious, he raised his weapon. The villagers whimpered and braced for impact. Xena had had enough. She quickly grabbed his raised weapon from behind. He turned to see Xena glaring at him. "I have to admit, your village makes tough women. Okay, Okay, now we take the gloves off." He held out his hand and one of his fellow soldiers placed a long jagged knife in it.

Xena immediately attacked by punching him repeatedly until he nearly fell.

"Round up the girls!" He ordered in frustration.

Xena was out numbered, but she knew these thugs and how they fought. She readied herself and took them out one by one. She got distracted momentarily when she tried to help the villagers getting attacked, resulting in her getting hit across the head and getting surrounded. Fortunately, it was where she had buried her weapons. She managed to pull them out. She threw chakram so it would cut off several of the soldiers' swords. Now that she was armed with her own weapons and they were without theirs, she defeated them easily. She held her sword at the leader's throat. "You work for Draco." She sneered. "Tell him, 'Xena says hello.'"

As Draco's men retreated, the villagers flocked to thank her. It was a strange feeling to be praised and thanked instead of cursed and feared. She realized it was something she had been missing, and something she craved. She was always going to be a warrior, but she didn't have to use it to hurt others. She could use it to help. It was a revelation that struck her to her core. First she had to sever ties with Draco and make amends with her home, especially her mother. Xena dug up the rest of her belongings and put her armor back on. She had a lot to atone for, but she now had a purpose. Just because the world was messed up, didn't mean it had to be.

Thanks everyone for your incredible support. It's been fun and challenging to write this. Sorry for any mistakes. Sometimes the computer thinks it knows better than me, especially with Xena's name. I try to catch all the mistakes before I post, but even I am human. I'll try to go back and fix them. Again, thanks for reading. It was way more popular than I thought it would be.