Chapter II: An Old Friend Returns

Xena knew Gabrielle's words were true; she felt them in her heart. "We only have one chance to get this right, and we have to do it on the anniversary of my death, I have faith in you Gabrielle," Xena replied softly staring down at her friend. She hated putting this weight on the young warrior's shoulders, but there was no other way. "The key to bringing me back is you Gabrielle."

A look of confusion swept over the bard's face as she replied, "Me? What do I have to do with this? I don't understand."

"The dragon tattoo, it is the key, the one that will restore me," stated Xena as she placed her hand firmly on Gabrielle's shoulder.

Gabrielle was still trying to recover from the shock of Xena's statement, taking a minute to collect her thoughts and answered, "My tattoo, how can that be? I thought it was only for my protection."

Xena knew that Gabrielle did not know much about the culture on this side of the world, so she calmly explained the meaning of the dragon. "It is for protection, but in this culture the dragon is also considered a sacred creature. It has many powers that which includes the power of regenerating life."

Silence came between the two, while Gabrielle tried to process all this new and startling information that Xena had laid upon her. "But how? How do we unlock its powers?" she softly whispered.

"You must drink from the fountain," the raven haired warrior answered as she stood up. Reaching down to help Gabrielle up, she continued to explain, "The fountain unlocks the dragon's spirit that rests inside you, when the spirit is unlocked so are its powers."

Gabrielle slowly walked towards the fountain. Xena could sense that her young friend was afraid. She understood that pressure to accomplish this was great, but still she put all her faith in Gabrielle.

As Gabrielle peered over the edge of the fountain, the only thought going through her mind was that this better work. To lose Xena all over again, would be something she could not make it through this time around. Using her hands as a cup, she filled them with water. She slowly raised them from the fountain and drank the water.

A weird sensation came over Gabrielle; she could feel something awakening inside her. As the feeling overwhelmed her she fell to the ground. The tattoo on the bard's back began to glow.

Xena stepped back in amazement. The form of the dragon arose from Gabrielle's back. The spirit of the dragon had successfully been awakened. The spirit now moved towards Xena, and with a flash of white light their spirits merged.

It was nightfall when Gabrielle woke up; she could not remember what had happened after she passed out. As she slowly sat up, she tried to remember if it was real or if it was just a bad dream. Finally able to stand, she got up to look around. There was nothing, it was dark and eerily quiet. "It must have all been a dream," the young warrior said as she dropped her head.

Then a voice from nowhere stated, "No it wasn't a dream Gabrielle it was real, as real as I am now." A tall dark figure stepped out into the moonlight. The bard quickly raised her head with tears of joy in her eyes.

"Xena," Gabrielle said with a smile even the gods could not have missed, "By the gods it's really you."

"Yes, it's really me," replied Xena with a half grin, as she warmly embraced her friend.

"How long have I been out?" Gabrielle asked with a look of confusion on her face.

"At least a couple of hours or more," Xena said as her grip tightened on the embrace, "I decided to let you sleep, you needed the rest. Plus, I needed sometime to adjust to having my body back again."

Silence fell upon the women for what seemed like an eternity, for neither one of them spoke a word. They did not have to speak because words could not express how they felt. For Xena, it was the feeling of relief because Gabrielle would no longer be in pain. For Gabrielle, it was the chance to forget about the past year and begin to live her life again.

"How about we set up camp here for the rest of the night," Xena stated as she broke the embrace, "I bet we could both use the rest."

Wiping the tears from her eyes, Gabrielle replied "Yeah I think your right."

As it had always been, Gabrielle set up camp while Xena gathered the wood for the fire. Neither one of the women planned on getting much rest that night, because there were going to be questions that had to be asked.

The fire was now at a steady flame and the stars in the sky were as bright as they had ever seen.

It was pleasant night as there was no chill in the air. Everything seemed at peace that night. The two sat by the fire, Xena on one side and Gabrielle on the other.

"So, we have a lot of catching up to do," Gabrielle said as she peered across the fire at Xena.

"Indeed we do, but some of it can wait. As you know Rome was not built in a day," Xena answered now grinning ear to ear. A slight giggle then emerged from the two warriors.

"It's good to hear you laugh again, Gabrielle," Xena remarked, "I've missed that."

"Well it's nice to finally have something to laugh about, laughter is not something that came around too often this past year," the young warrior answered back as she began to watch the flames.

Xena watched Gabrielle closely; she knew what the bard's first question would be. "I know your wondering what happened to the 40,000 souls."

"Yes, I thought you were supposed to stay dead in order to redeem them," the young bard replied, in amazement as if Xena had read her mind.

"Well there is nothing to worry about, they have all been reborn," Xena answered as she leaned back on the rock behind her.

A look of exhaustion had now come over Gabrielle's face; the amount of strength it took to unleash the dragon's spirit had now started to take its toll on the brave warrior. She would never let Xena know just how weak it had made her.

Xena sensed that Gabrielle needed her rest and decided to call it a night. For she knew, that the journey they were about to embark on would not be an easy road home.

To Be Continued…