Title: Let My Love Open the Door
Author: Jennifer Campbell
Rating: PG-13 for regular Xena violence
Characters: Joxer, Xena, Gabrielle, Perdicus,
Persephone
Time period: Sometime after fifth season
Summary: Hades' death causes big problems in the
Underworld.
Notes and Disclaimers:
This is a Gabrielle and Joxer Romantics Society Lyrics
Challenge story, which means it's based on song lyrics
given to me by another participant in the challenge. For
more information on the challenge, visit
http://www.crosswinds.net/~lyricsarchive
Thanks to Raye for the lyrics, which I interpreted pretty
literally for the story. I love the Grosse Pointe Blank
soundtrack (I even watched the movie a couple of days ago).
This story borrows a bit of imagery from a story of the
afterlife by Dharma Bum (can't remember the title) and from
"The NeverEnding Story."
None of the characters belong to me, unfortunately. If
they did, Joxer would be alive and in the arms of his
loving Gabrielle. No flames please, but I'd love to hear
constructive feedback.
If you want to archive, please ask for permission and I'll
probably say yes.
#
Originally performed by Pete Townsend
Lyric and Music written by Pete Townsend
© 1980 Towser Tunes, Inc. (BM) Administered by
Windswept
Pacific
Let My Love Open the Door
When people keep repeating
That you'll never fall in love
When everybody keeps retreating
But you can't seem to get enough
Chorus
Let my love open the door
Let my love open the door
Let my love open the door
To your heart
When everything feels all over
When everybody seems unkind
I'll give you a four leaf clover
Take all the worry out of your mind
- Chorus -
I have the only key to your heart
I can stop you falling apart
Try today, you'll find this way
Come one and give me a chance to say
Let my love open the door
It's all I'm living for
Release yourself from misery
Only thing's gonna set you free
That's my love
- Chorus -
When tragedy befalls you
Don't let them bring you down
Love can cure your problems
You're so lucky I'm around
- Chorus -
#
The City had gone to tartarus, everyone agreed.
Before the downfall, the sheer white buildings -- delicate
and graceful like river reeds -- spiraled into a
perpetually clear sky. Nothing could crack their glasslike
surface or tarnish their shine. The City shimmered like a
small star, even at night, more divine than anything its
residents had seen on Earth. Beauty incarnate. That's what
it had been. Before the downfall.
People had strolled among the towers on cobbled streets
lined with a rainbow of blossoms -- tulips, roses and
flowers never seen topside. No one had a care for their
life before this, up on Earth with all the pain and grief
that came with it. To Joxer, everything before his death
faded to a clouded dream, and one hardly worth bothering to
remember. Humiliation, inadequacy, injury, rejection. All
things of the past.
Each day -- although he couldn't be sure whether it was
day, seeing as the City had no sun; only an evenness of
light that seemed to come from everywhere at once -- he
walked around the spiraling giants of shimmering glass,
sometimes going inside to marvel at their beauty from
another angle. He picked flowers. He talked with other
residents, for here, he had no enemies. He felt nothing but
a blissful peace, not ever stopping to wonder whether he
could feel any other way.
Only one word could describe his afterlife: Perfect.
Then again, for all the beauty and tranquility, Joxer
sometimes felt a nagging emptiness inside, as though he had
lost something pivotal to his very existence. It was silly,
perhaps, to wish for something the City could not provide.
Yet he could not shut out, from deep in his soul, the light
whisperings of a name, vague remembrances of lost love.
_Gabrielle._
Those moments came upon him like a feather-light breeze,
here one moment and gone the next, while he gazed out his
chamber window or contemplated the sky. He caught the fresh
scent of her hair and saw flashes of deep green eyes, each
vision baffling for the sharp yearning that accompanied it.
And afterward, only the emptiness remained.
_Gabrielle._
Except for that, Joxer wouldn't change a thing. Then the
downfall came.
One morning, as usual, light filtered into his chamber on
the fifth level of a glass tower. He woke and rolled out of
bed, ready for the start of another blissfully peaceful
day. He slipped into a tunic and pants, pulled on his
slippers. No need for breakfast because hunger, like pain,
had become a relic of the past. He walked through an open
archway -- there were no doors in the City -- and into the
hall.
And the lights went out.
Panic suddenly clutched at his insides. In the City,
things like this never happened. Even at night, the towers
gave off enough light to see, if only a dim reflection of
the day. Absolute darkness did not exist here, and it never
had.
And yet, blackness closed in like a monster, suffocating
the City like a physical _thing_. One moment, the tower had
been awash in light, and then next... nothing. Joxer felt
along a smooth wall, assuring himself that at least the
building was there. He pressed his back against the
comforting, solid feel of it. At least, even if he couldn't
see his hand before his face, the tower still stood. It was
a small reassurance.
He cleared his throat, and called out hoarsely, "Ah, is
anyone there?"
Silence.
He called out again, louder this time, "Hello? Hello?
Hell-O!"
No response came back except for his own desperate cries
echoing off the walls, up into the spiral and into the
darkness. Joxer's heart thudded, his breath came in short,
quick gasps. Something had gone terribly wrong. Things like
this didn't happen in the City.
Joxer started feeling his way along the wall, his fingers
searching for the opening to the staircase. If only, he
thought, he could get down, out of the tower, everything
would be all right. At least, then, he could find other
people. He wouldn't feel so alone and so trapped. If only
he could get out... get out ... getoutgetout_getout_!
He pounded a fist against the wall, and heard the definite
sound of glass giving way. Then, with no more warning than
before, the light came back on. Joxer blinked against the
sudden brightness and stared at the wall in amazement. The
smooth, flawless glass, which nothing could damage, now
sported a long, winding crack. He ran his fingertips over
the thin line, and small shards tinkled to the floor. One
splintered off into his finger, and he yelped. Pain! He
gently pulled out the sliver; a small bead of blood formed.
Blood. He hadn't seen his own blood since his last day on
Earth, when Livia had ... had run her sword ... through...
Oh. My. God.
With heart pounding faster than before, he raced around to
the staircase and out of the tower, fear chasing fast on
his heels. How could he have forgotten how he had died? The
pain and blood, turning to blessed numbness. Falling asleep
on the battlefield and waking here, in his chamber on the
fifth level of a tower. How could he have forgotten?
In the cobbled streets, circumstances were no better.
People ran in all directions, clothes in shreds and eyes
wild. Some were screaming. He passed one woman sobbing in a
flower bed, tearing viciously at delicate pink pedals.
Chaos. Everywhere. Were they all like him, remembering?
Wishing they could return to their happy ignorance, forget
the pain and go back to blissfully not knowing?
The light flickered on and off a few times, stopping
people dead in their tracks, before it settled on the half-
light of early twilight.
Someone yelled behind him, "Look to the tower! Look out!"
Joxer spun around, just in time to see a chunk of white,
three times the size of a man, topple from the tip of a
spiral. It seemed to fall in slow motion, as residents
screamed in panic and raced away. One woman, though,
oblivious to the warnings, stood dumb at the foot of the
tower, as if in a trance. Joxer watched helplessly as the
boulder crashed to the street, crushing her beneath it.
"NO! he yelled. He ran up to the massive hunk of fallen
glass, but he already knew he came too late. He numbly
wondered what happened when one's spirit died in the
afterlife.
Now that the City was crumbling about them, now that a
downfall had begun for some unknown and terrible reason,
they might all learn the answer to that mystery much too
soon.
#
Author: Jennifer Campbell
Rating: PG-13 for regular Xena violence
Characters: Joxer, Xena, Gabrielle, Perdicus,
Persephone
Time period: Sometime after fifth season
Summary: Hades' death causes big problems in the
Underworld.
Notes and Disclaimers:
This is a Gabrielle and Joxer Romantics Society Lyrics
Challenge story, which means it's based on song lyrics
given to me by another participant in the challenge. For
more information on the challenge, visit
http://www.crosswinds.net/~lyricsarchive
Thanks to Raye for the lyrics, which I interpreted pretty
literally for the story. I love the Grosse Pointe Blank
soundtrack (I even watched the movie a couple of days ago).
This story borrows a bit of imagery from a story of the
afterlife by Dharma Bum (can't remember the title) and from
"The NeverEnding Story."
None of the characters belong to me, unfortunately. If
they did, Joxer would be alive and in the arms of his
loving Gabrielle. No flames please, but I'd love to hear
constructive feedback.
If you want to archive, please ask for permission and I'll
probably say yes.
#
Originally performed by Pete Townsend
Lyric and Music written by Pete Townsend
© 1980 Towser Tunes, Inc. (BM) Administered by
Windswept
Pacific
Let My Love Open the Door
When people keep repeating
That you'll never fall in love
When everybody keeps retreating
But you can't seem to get enough
Chorus
Let my love open the door
Let my love open the door
Let my love open the door
To your heart
When everything feels all over
When everybody seems unkind
I'll give you a four leaf clover
Take all the worry out of your mind
- Chorus -
I have the only key to your heart
I can stop you falling apart
Try today, you'll find this way
Come one and give me a chance to say
Let my love open the door
It's all I'm living for
Release yourself from misery
Only thing's gonna set you free
That's my love
- Chorus -
When tragedy befalls you
Don't let them bring you down
Love can cure your problems
You're so lucky I'm around
- Chorus -
#
The City had gone to tartarus, everyone agreed.
Before the downfall, the sheer white buildings -- delicate
and graceful like river reeds -- spiraled into a
perpetually clear sky. Nothing could crack their glasslike
surface or tarnish their shine. The City shimmered like a
small star, even at night, more divine than anything its
residents had seen on Earth. Beauty incarnate. That's what
it had been. Before the downfall.
People had strolled among the towers on cobbled streets
lined with a rainbow of blossoms -- tulips, roses and
flowers never seen topside. No one had a care for their
life before this, up on Earth with all the pain and grief
that came with it. To Joxer, everything before his death
faded to a clouded dream, and one hardly worth bothering to
remember. Humiliation, inadequacy, injury, rejection. All
things of the past.
Each day -- although he couldn't be sure whether it was
day, seeing as the City had no sun; only an evenness of
light that seemed to come from everywhere at once -- he
walked around the spiraling giants of shimmering glass,
sometimes going inside to marvel at their beauty from
another angle. He picked flowers. He talked with other
residents, for here, he had no enemies. He felt nothing but
a blissful peace, not ever stopping to wonder whether he
could feel any other way.
Only one word could describe his afterlife: Perfect.
Then again, for all the beauty and tranquility, Joxer
sometimes felt a nagging emptiness inside, as though he had
lost something pivotal to his very existence. It was silly,
perhaps, to wish for something the City could not provide.
Yet he could not shut out, from deep in his soul, the light
whisperings of a name, vague remembrances of lost love.
_Gabrielle._
Those moments came upon him like a feather-light breeze,
here one moment and gone the next, while he gazed out his
chamber window or contemplated the sky. He caught the fresh
scent of her hair and saw flashes of deep green eyes, each
vision baffling for the sharp yearning that accompanied it.
And afterward, only the emptiness remained.
_Gabrielle._
Except for that, Joxer wouldn't change a thing. Then the
downfall came.
One morning, as usual, light filtered into his chamber on
the fifth level of a glass tower. He woke and rolled out of
bed, ready for the start of another blissfully peaceful
day. He slipped into a tunic and pants, pulled on his
slippers. No need for breakfast because hunger, like pain,
had become a relic of the past. He walked through an open
archway -- there were no doors in the City -- and into the
hall.
And the lights went out.
Panic suddenly clutched at his insides. In the City,
things like this never happened. Even at night, the towers
gave off enough light to see, if only a dim reflection of
the day. Absolute darkness did not exist here, and it never
had.
And yet, blackness closed in like a monster, suffocating
the City like a physical _thing_. One moment, the tower had
been awash in light, and then next... nothing. Joxer felt
along a smooth wall, assuring himself that at least the
building was there. He pressed his back against the
comforting, solid feel of it. At least, even if he couldn't
see his hand before his face, the tower still stood. It was
a small reassurance.
He cleared his throat, and called out hoarsely, "Ah, is
anyone there?"
Silence.
He called out again, louder this time, "Hello? Hello?
Hell-O!"
No response came back except for his own desperate cries
echoing off the walls, up into the spiral and into the
darkness. Joxer's heart thudded, his breath came in short,
quick gasps. Something had gone terribly wrong. Things like
this didn't happen in the City.
Joxer started feeling his way along the wall, his fingers
searching for the opening to the staircase. If only, he
thought, he could get down, out of the tower, everything
would be all right. At least, then, he could find other
people. He wouldn't feel so alone and so trapped. If only
he could get out... get out ... getoutgetout_getout_!
He pounded a fist against the wall, and heard the definite
sound of glass giving way. Then, with no more warning than
before, the light came back on. Joxer blinked against the
sudden brightness and stared at the wall in amazement. The
smooth, flawless glass, which nothing could damage, now
sported a long, winding crack. He ran his fingertips over
the thin line, and small shards tinkled to the floor. One
splintered off into his finger, and he yelped. Pain! He
gently pulled out the sliver; a small bead of blood formed.
Blood. He hadn't seen his own blood since his last day on
Earth, when Livia had ... had run her sword ... through...
Oh. My. God.
With heart pounding faster than before, he raced around to
the staircase and out of the tower, fear chasing fast on
his heels. How could he have forgotten how he had died? The
pain and blood, turning to blessed numbness. Falling asleep
on the battlefield and waking here, in his chamber on the
fifth level of a tower. How could he have forgotten?
In the cobbled streets, circumstances were no better.
People ran in all directions, clothes in shreds and eyes
wild. Some were screaming. He passed one woman sobbing in a
flower bed, tearing viciously at delicate pink pedals.
Chaos. Everywhere. Were they all like him, remembering?
Wishing they could return to their happy ignorance, forget
the pain and go back to blissfully not knowing?
The light flickered on and off a few times, stopping
people dead in their tracks, before it settled on the half-
light of early twilight.
Someone yelled behind him, "Look to the tower! Look out!"
Joxer spun around, just in time to see a chunk of white,
three times the size of a man, topple from the tip of a
spiral. It seemed to fall in slow motion, as residents
screamed in panic and raced away. One woman, though,
oblivious to the warnings, stood dumb at the foot of the
tower, as if in a trance. Joxer watched helplessly as the
boulder crashed to the street, crushing her beneath it.
"NO! he yelled. He ran up to the massive hunk of fallen
glass, but he already knew he came too late. He numbly
wondered what happened when one's spirit died in the
afterlife.
Now that the City was crumbling about them, now that a
downfall had begun for some unknown and terrible reason,
they might all learn the answer to that mystery much too
soon.
#