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.
For other disclaimers and notes, please see chapter 1.
#
Chucks of the towers, smooth like glass but hard as stone,
crashed all about the streets. They ranged from fragments
small enough to fit in the hand to boulders large enough to
block whole streets. Their slick surface made climbing
impossible, so whenever Joxer encountered a street that had
become a dead end, he raced back the way he came, trying to
find a way around.
Where he ran to, he didn't know. As far as anyone knew,
the City had no end, no edge to pass and suddenly be beyond
the streets and flowers and buildings. It simply went on
forever. Before the downfall, Joxer never considered
leaving. Now, it was a matter of survival. To stay here
surely would result in his final death. Already, the
falling debris had crushed too many.
He passed a woman huddled against a tower, sobs wracking
her frail frame. He thought of stopping to help her, but
then the lights started flickering. Her sobs became
screams, and she ran off in panic. Joxer, watching the
woman instead of where he was going, tripped over a helmet-
sized rock and pitched face first into the street.
Blood dripped from his nose onto the broken cobblestones.
The world spun, but he knew he dare not stay here until his
head cleared. Too dangerous.
A hand reached out to help him to his feet, and he took it
gratefully. His benefactor, a young man with confident
bearing and earnest eyes, steadied him and handed him a
cloth for his nose.
"Thanks," Joxer mumbled, using the cloth to stop the flow
of blood. He had seen too much blood today.
"I know you, don't I?" the man asked. "You were best man
at my wedding."
Joxer took a closer look, and a name floated to the
surface of his mind. "Perdicus?"
The man smiled and nodded. "I knew you looked familiar.
I'm remembering things, but it's coming so slowly. I can't
remember your name ..."
"I'm Joxer." He struggled through the fog in his mind. "I
think I remember that wedding. You were marrying Gabrielle,
and she wore that really pretty dress. And her hair ..."
"She was beautiful," Perdicus agreed. "But I was killed
the next morning, so I never got a real chance to love
her." He paused. "You died young, too?"
"Oh, no, I was old and wrinkled."
Perdicus cocked his head in confusion. "But you're young
now."
Joxer thought about that, then finally said, "This is how
I was when I first met Xena and Gabrielle. It's how I'll
always visualize myself, so Hades -- or whoever -- probably
picked up on that."
"Ah, I see." He winced as a tiny chunk of glass bounced
off his head. "We have to get out of here."
So they ran, and Joxer talked between heavy breaths. "Um,
not to bug ... bug you or anything, but ... where are we
going?"
"Don't know." Perdicus hurdled a smallish boulder, and
Joxer scrambled over behind him. "But I have an idea on how
to get out. We were sent here, somehow. So there has to be
an exit. A door or something."
"There are no ... no doors here."
"There's at least one. I remember seeing it once, a long
time ago. A big wooden door, at the top of a tower. I tried
to open it, but it was locked."
Joxer grabbed Perdicus' tunic, pulling him to a stop in
the center of an abandoned square. He couldn't keep talking
and running at the same time. "The towers are all falling.
If there was a door, it's probably rubble by now."
Perdicus shook his head. "No, it has to still be standing."
"How can you be so sure?"
"Because it's our only chance."
Joxer had no answer to that, so they started running
again. Perdicus moved like a soldier, Joxer noted, flying
over the ruined streets with long, confident strides. And
while Joxer peered over his shoulder every other step --
worried that some new terror might be drawing up on their
heels -- Perdicus never looked back. Forward, always
forward. Like a male Xena. No wonder Gabrielle had loved
him.
Twice they dodged falling boulders that surely would have
ended their quest, perhaps even their afterlives. Joxer
kept looking around, but for what he didn't know. The
towers were in pieces, gaping holes in their once
gracefully smooth walls, and some had fallen to rubble
completely. How would they ever find a single, solitary
door in this crumbling place? In the dim light of twilight,
the spirals had lost their brilliant shine, dulling to a
flat gray.
At one point, a bloodied man ran past them, waving his
arms wildly. "Save yourselves! We've angered Hades, and
he'll kill us all! We must find the great god and throw
ourselves on his mercy!"
A crowd of people followed in the man's wake, chanting out
to Hades for forgiveness, but Joxer and Perdicus ignored
them. They had a different mission.
Then Joxer saw it: A flash of solid white against the
darkening horizon. He blinked, thinking perhaps his
imagination was playing tricks. But no, it didn't vanish. A
tower, far in the distance, still standing, flawless and
gleaming like a beacon to lost souls.
"Wait! Look there!" Joxer pointed.
Perdicus breathed out in obvious relief. "That's it! It
has to be! That's our ticket out of here." He tugged on
Joxer's tunic. "Come on!"
They raced toward their only hope of escape.
#
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.
For other disclaimers and notes, please see chapter 1.
#
Chucks of the towers, smooth like glass but hard as stone,
crashed all about the streets. They ranged from fragments
small enough to fit in the hand to boulders large enough to
block whole streets. Their slick surface made climbing
impossible, so whenever Joxer encountered a street that had
become a dead end, he raced back the way he came, trying to
find a way around.
Where he ran to, he didn't know. As far as anyone knew,
the City had no end, no edge to pass and suddenly be beyond
the streets and flowers and buildings. It simply went on
forever. Before the downfall, Joxer never considered
leaving. Now, it was a matter of survival. To stay here
surely would result in his final death. Already, the
falling debris had crushed too many.
He passed a woman huddled against a tower, sobs wracking
her frail frame. He thought of stopping to help her, but
then the lights started flickering. Her sobs became
screams, and she ran off in panic. Joxer, watching the
woman instead of where he was going, tripped over a helmet-
sized rock and pitched face first into the street.
Blood dripped from his nose onto the broken cobblestones.
The world spun, but he knew he dare not stay here until his
head cleared. Too dangerous.
A hand reached out to help him to his feet, and he took it
gratefully. His benefactor, a young man with confident
bearing and earnest eyes, steadied him and handed him a
cloth for his nose.
"Thanks," Joxer mumbled, using the cloth to stop the flow
of blood. He had seen too much blood today.
"I know you, don't I?" the man asked. "You were best man
at my wedding."
Joxer took a closer look, and a name floated to the
surface of his mind. "Perdicus?"
The man smiled and nodded. "I knew you looked familiar.
I'm remembering things, but it's coming so slowly. I can't
remember your name ..."
"I'm Joxer." He struggled through the fog in his mind. "I
think I remember that wedding. You were marrying Gabrielle,
and she wore that really pretty dress. And her hair ..."
"She was beautiful," Perdicus agreed. "But I was killed
the next morning, so I never got a real chance to love
her." He paused. "You died young, too?"
"Oh, no, I was old and wrinkled."
Perdicus cocked his head in confusion. "But you're young
now."
Joxer thought about that, then finally said, "This is how
I was when I first met Xena and Gabrielle. It's how I'll
always visualize myself, so Hades -- or whoever -- probably
picked up on that."
"Ah, I see." He winced as a tiny chunk of glass bounced
off his head. "We have to get out of here."
So they ran, and Joxer talked between heavy breaths. "Um,
not to bug ... bug you or anything, but ... where are we
going?"
"Don't know." Perdicus hurdled a smallish boulder, and
Joxer scrambled over behind him. "But I have an idea on how
to get out. We were sent here, somehow. So there has to be
an exit. A door or something."
"There are no ... no doors here."
"There's at least one. I remember seeing it once, a long
time ago. A big wooden door, at the top of a tower. I tried
to open it, but it was locked."
Joxer grabbed Perdicus' tunic, pulling him to a stop in
the center of an abandoned square. He couldn't keep talking
and running at the same time. "The towers are all falling.
If there was a door, it's probably rubble by now."
Perdicus shook his head. "No, it has to still be standing."
"How can you be so sure?"
"Because it's our only chance."
Joxer had no answer to that, so they started running
again. Perdicus moved like a soldier, Joxer noted, flying
over the ruined streets with long, confident strides. And
while Joxer peered over his shoulder every other step --
worried that some new terror might be drawing up on their
heels -- Perdicus never looked back. Forward, always
forward. Like a male Xena. No wonder Gabrielle had loved
him.
Twice they dodged falling boulders that surely would have
ended their quest, perhaps even their afterlives. Joxer
kept looking around, but for what he didn't know. The
towers were in pieces, gaping holes in their once
gracefully smooth walls, and some had fallen to rubble
completely. How would they ever find a single, solitary
door in this crumbling place? In the dim light of twilight,
the spirals had lost their brilliant shine, dulling to a
flat gray.
At one point, a bloodied man ran past them, waving his
arms wildly. "Save yourselves! We've angered Hades, and
he'll kill us all! We must find the great god and throw
ourselves on his mercy!"
A crowd of people followed in the man's wake, chanting out
to Hades for forgiveness, but Joxer and Perdicus ignored
them. They had a different mission.
Then Joxer saw it: A flash of solid white against the
darkening horizon. He blinked, thinking perhaps his
imagination was playing tricks. But no, it didn't vanish. A
tower, far in the distance, still standing, flawless and
gleaming like a beacon to lost souls.
"Wait! Look there!" Joxer pointed.
Perdicus breathed out in obvious relief. "That's it! It
has to be! That's our ticket out of here." He tugged on
Joxer's tunic. "Come on!"
They raced toward their only hope of escape.
#