Author's Note Hi, I was wondering if the person who e-mailed me a review by the name of, Goddess Achlys , will you please explain to me how I am suppose to format this thing. See, I am a seventeen year old girl with no idea of how to really work a computer… Please Help!! Thanks :)

Secrets of the Past

DDR

Xena felt as if she had just fallen out of the sky, though her feet were planted firmly on the ground. It took her a minute, but she started to remember. Ares had sent her to her past. One second she was enjoying a nice bath (that is until Ares arrived) and the next second she was here, almost four years in the past. She took in her surroundings. It was amazing how well she could recall this part of her life. She was standing still with a stick in her hand. A couple of people who lived at this house that had just been destroyed were dead on the ground and Darphus' men laid dead or unconscious. One man had freed the horses and was riding off in to the distance to warn Darphus of her coming to get him. This was when she was just learning to fight for good. It wasn't easy, but having her army betray her the way they did, made things more manageable, as did Hercules.

"Geez, Ares did you have to give me my old emotions back too?" She muttered. When she had thought of Hercules she felt love sick, like a teenage girl. She hadn't truly loved anyone this much, not since Borias. Even then she had only realized it after he was murdered. That was one of those painful memories. If she had only been a better person then, if she had fully committed her love to them, Borias and her son might still be alive. Oh, right, in this time Solan was still alive. Xena's head was beginning to hurt, it was all so complicated, even for the warrior princess. What was she to do next? She tossed the stick away. If Xena was to conceive a child with Ares it would have to be soon, her and Hercules' child had been conceived the day after tomorrow. Knowing that she had to do something that was bad for her, something she didn't really want to do, but knowing that she had almost let herself slip in to doing it before, meaning that part of her really wanted to do it, she headed off into the woods. There was plenty of time before she had to return to Hercules.

Already knowing that she was, Xena scanned the trees to make sure that she was alone. Then, she disarmed.

"Ares!" she called. In a flash of blue light he stood before her, smiling.

"I see you remember our deal."

"I see you left my memory intact." she said her words dripped with sarcasm. Ares hand rested on the hilt of his sword, he stared at her for a minute.

"C'mon, lets get this over with." said Xena. This seemed to hype Ares' attitude. He tossed his sword to the ground and threw his belt off. He grabbed her waist, pulling her to him and kissed her. She tried to forget who she was dealing with so it wouldn't be as bad, so she pictured him as someone else.

Xena was ready to get going as soon as they had finished. She put on her leather and armor. She was tired now, but she was ready to wash up and get back to camp on time in order for the rest of history to remain the same. Ares was watching her dress

"Is our deal complete?" she asked him

"Oh yes." He said smoothly "You are with child When it comes time for the baby to be born call my name, I will come and take it. And only you and I will ever have to know about this."

Xena was curious. "What do you intend to do with it?"

Ares fastened his belt around his hips. "I intend to raise it. It will be a new beginning for Olympus."

Xena frowned "One of bloodlust and violence?" This unpleasant thought made the bottom fall out of Xena's stomach. She didn't much like the idea of her child being used as an object of war.

"Actually, I was thinking about trying to bring peace among the Olympian Gods." It took a lot for Xena not to laugh. She managed to keep her expression and voice steady.

"D'you really think that would work?"

Ares sighed "I think it could." He was actually serious. Ares saw that Xena wasn't convinced "Think about it, if there is peace on Olympus, then it will spread to the mortals."

Xena nodded "Alright, but why would the god of war be concerned with peace?" she said, collecting her weapons.

"Did it ever occur to you, that maybe I'm getting tired of being Ares: God of War?" Xena was speechless, really, she never thought about it.

"Call me when the season comes." and with that Ares vanished.

DDR