Almost on impulse, the War God dematerialised from the throne room, his mind instantly projecting him in the one place he actually felt comfortable at that moment: close to the camp Xena's army had set up a few days earlier. It wasn't much really, but considering there were no wars in Greece during those accursed, torrid summer months, it was the best sight he was going to get and that was a fact….

Making an effort to get the haunting images of his Princess and Nabucco-nearly fucking on the dance floor- out of his head, Ares focused his attention on the prewashed red tents of the almost six hundred men that were supposed to fight for his undying glory ….

" A bunch of good for nothing drunkards." he couldn't help noticing, as, from the top of the hill, he impatiently scanned the surroundings, probably hoping for some kind of action. He was longing for a fight, a squabble, a confrontation of any kind…..There was nothing though, nothing to satisfy his inner hunger, nothing to feed his burning wrath and frustration….

Even worse, there was no one keeping watch- ignorant, completely brainwashed lunatics that apparently didn't give a damn about their useless lives, stupidly exposing themselves as if a surprise attack from anyone on the planet would have been as impossible as Zeus fucking one single woman for the rest of his endless existence.

To top it all, he could definitely see no scouts anywhere on a five mile radius...

An angry frown suddenly made his face seem even darker despite the bright light of the full moon.

"Idiots" he mumbled, out loud this time, his fingers twitching with the need to just launch a few fireballs their way, just to teach them a lesson. That scenario would have definitely kept him entertained for a couple of hours…He could already picture the panic, the horror, the lack of organization, the screams….

Despite how tempting it sounded though, he just rolled his eyes at the idea, dismissing it faster than it came….It would have only held his Princess in place for a few extra days, and they still had quite a significant number of villages to plunder before they reached Elateia – a rich city that could offer her enough provisions and manpower to go up against Thebes and finally Athens ….Now that would have been an amazing spectacle – a feast for his eyes…..

He could only dream about the moment though, and he knew it….She still had a lot to learn and she was definitely not going up against Athens with those losers under his banner…No….He had bigger plans for her…First, she still had to perfect her battle techniques, he really had to teach her how to think big and out of the box, he had to build her self esteem and to make her believe that she could be the way he saw her: invincible! A Goddess to rule them all , a force of nature, unstoppable, feared by Zeus himself- completely molded into his perfect image!

" Now that's a vision that could cheer up any bleeding heart! " he jovially concluded, only to realise the very next second, that once again, his every thought rushed in her direction. It was as if he could no longer think about anything that didn't involve her- and for some reason he liked and hated the idea at the same time …..

With an exasperated, low groan, he vanished from the hill, just to reappear moments later near a tent in front of which he could just swear he had heard Xena's name being mentioned. Call it a sixth sense if you will, or simply the advantage of having godly powers, but there they were, a furious Darphus and an overly pensive Theodorus, arguing about what seemed to be an important enough matter as to make them pull their swords out .

" Are you really that stupid?!" Theodorus inquired incredulously, casting a long, wondering glance at his friend. "You know as well as I do that I'm going to hack you to little pieces .!" he boasted, making sure to add a loud, contemptuous laugh to his line.

" Not at all. You're going to bite the dust as fast as you got that sword out!" Darphus remarked, visibly pissed with the soldier's words .

" I don't know about that …" the first one replied, swinging his blade a couple of times while obviously trying to figure out Darphus' first moves, and already blocking them mentally .

" I have an idea! If I kick your ass, our agreement stays in place . If not, we'll do it your way . Do we have ourselves a deal ?" he challenged, aware of the fact that it would have been pure cowardice for his friend to refuse .

"Fine " the other simply grunted through gritted teeth." I would never say no to the opportunity of teaching you a lesson once more !"

"Finally some action !" the War God said to himself, rubbing his hands in anticipation. It was as if he had been waiting for a bit of suspense his entire life….This was going to be goooodddd!

Nonetheless, the very instant the two edged blades passed each other in mid air, a pang of sharp shooting pain, -like a thousand needles piercing through his lungs- made him fall to his knees as if struck by lightening. Never had he experienced anything similar and judging by his clenched fists and the slightly bleeding lower lip – that he had unconsciously bit in the process- , he definitely had no clue on how to deal with such mortal-like situations.

"Wha' the.."he only managed to articulate before another type of sensation – which he quite quickly associated with suffocation , took over his senses along with his judgement.

Shock turned into utter panic in just a matter of seconds though, the moment he realised that it was not his body that was in pain , but someone else's …

XXX

A blink later, he was back at the temple- and it must have been his own lack of concentration caused by the intensity of the pain that had invaded his every cell, but unlike other times, the vortex literally spat him somewhere between two gigantic columns, right at the front entrance of the huge stone structure.

"Gods damn it!" he cursed, rushing inside, and running like a lunatic down the long, dark corridor that led to his Princess' chambers.

He stormed inside as if his own life depended on it, in desperate need to make sure that she was ok, that his godly intuition had been wrong – for the first time in eons- , that it was all a product of his sick obsession when it came to her ….That's probably why he froze in place for a few moments when, laying eyes on her , he suddenly remarked the unusual colour of her now bluish skin…..

This was definitely not right…..

"Xe?" he called her, rushing by her side, and throwing the covers aside as soon as he touched her ice cold face.

"Xena?" he repeated, pure horror now painted on his features, fervently checking for a pulse that appeared to be long gone.

" Think….think…..!" he loudly commanded to himself, as, strangely enough, his blood started throbbing uncomfortably into his temples, making him even more agitated than he already was.

" Fuck!" he spat nervously, anger and fear combined in his raspy voice. The only solution he could think of in the heat of the moment- given that her lungs definitely lacked air- was to try to fill them up himself, and soon, the son of Zeus was desperately struggling to bring the dark haired Warrior back to life, his first failed attempts only resulting in his fists colliding violently against her chest, so hard, that the third time he actually had the impression he had heard her moan.

"Come on! Come on!" he growled, directing another fist right in the centre of her breasts, no longer preoccupied with the fact that the force of it could have easily fractured her rib cage…

This couldn't happen ….He wasn't going to allow it …

Worried sick as he was, his brain didn't even get the chance to process the information correctly….There he was, bending over backwards to have her alive and breathing again , without actually asking himself the question…How on earth had this even happened? Definitely , to blind with worry to notice a tiny little detail that surely should have triggered countless question marks- she was soaking wet…..