"No!" Was all the warrior princess could say as she lunged for her child, knowing that she would not be able to save her in time, but not willing to do nothing and watch.
Everyone had been so caught up in the tension that no one even saw the door behind Athena open. And before they knew it the goddess of wisdom fell to her knees. The child was still in her arms but the dagger had fallen to the floor. It was at that moment they saw her; the once dead warrior bard had returned to life and they all stared at her with disbelief, all but one that is.
With Athena momentarily taken off guard Gabrielle quickly grabbed the child from the goddess' clutches. Then moved to where her old friend stood frozen from shock.
"G-Gabrielle?" Xena whispered with tear filled eyes. She was afraid that she might have been dreaming that it wasn't really Gabrielle standing in front of her.
"Yeah" The bard replied, her eyes also filling with tears.
Xena stared at her for a moment longer, there were so many questions she had. But her thoughts were halted with Athena's shriek of frustration.
"Damn you! Damn you all to tartarus!" The goddess yelled rising from her knees, fire burning in her eyes.
By this time Artemis had stood up and grabbed her bow and arrow aiming them at the warrior princess and the bard.
"Just die already" Athena screamed as she threw a large sphere of fire at Xena, the same time Artemis released her arrows.
"Watch out" Ares yelled, trying the warn them.
Xena and Gabrielle jumped out of the way. As the bard ran for cover, Xena flipped and snatched her chakram, which was embedded into the wall after Athena's sword collided with it.
"You just never learn" The warrior princess said before tossing the chakram at Artemis.
The Amazon goddess barely made a sound when the weapon found it's way to her chest killing her instantly.
Athena looked at Artemis' fallen form, she was losing and she knew it. The era of the gods would end and she could not do anything to stop it. "Him" She said through clenched teeth. "We would have defeated her if it were not for his meddling. If I will die then so must he" She suddenly vanished.
Xena looked around cautiously waiting for Athena to reappear. Gradually she made her way to Gabrielle and Eve.
"Do you think she's gone" The bard asked, still cradling Eve in her arms.
"I don't ---" Before the warrior could finish she felt as a burning sphere connected with her body sending her soaring across the room.
A wicked laugh filled the room as another fire ball appeared making it's way to Xena.
"Xena!" Ares screamed as he leaped in the way of the fire ball.
It collided into his chest making him cry out in pain. His body crashed against the wall before falling to the ground. Xena couldn't believe her eyes. Ares lie on the ground his chest covered with burns, blood spilling from his head as he groaned in agony.
Athena appeared in front of a barley moving Ares, her laugh was sick and twisted with a hint of insanity in it.
"You stupid, pathetic little man. You have betrayed this family for the last time. See you in tartarus dear brother" She said as she rose her sword ready to strike.
Xena quickly got up with her sword in hand. With a thrust she drove her sword into Athena's side. But that did not stop Athena's sword from striking Ares. The former god howled in pain as the blade sliced into the flesh of his lower side. His screech was soon joined by Athena's as the goddess crumbled to the ground.
Athena smiled as she took her last breath. 'At least he will die too, at least he will die too' She thought with delight before joining the other gods.
Xena was kneeling down beside Ares trying to put pressure on his wound. Though it was not deep he was still loosing large amounts of blood. Gabrielle grabbed a cloth and quickly came to his other side, holding Eve with one hand while the other covered his wound with the piece of fabric.
"What happened?" The bard questioned, there was both fear and disbelief in her features, which mirrored Xena's.
"I don't know. Damnit Ares what did you do?" Her voice was trembling. Xena could feel the ache in her heart growing deeper and deeper with each passing second. Tears once again stung her eyes as the fear of losing him crept into her.
"To save Gabrielle …I had to sacrifice my immortality" Ares struggled to say.
Both women were caught off guard by his statement. The god of war had given up his immortality to save a mortal.
"But why?" Xena was thankful he had done it but was confused as to why he would make such a big sacrifice. What was there to gain?
"Me and the little angel over there…had an agreement" He answered.
"What type of agreement?" She questioned, her voice out of breath and sad.
"She didn't want you to be sad anymore…and neither did I" He smiled weakly at her as he fought to keep his eyes open.
He saw her smile back at him, a sad but happy smile and he knew it had been worth it. Unable to keep his eyes from closing, Ares stared at her as if trying to memorize every detail. Then he closed his eyes as his world soon became covered in darkness.
The sound of laughter echoed throughout his ears and with that he awakened. When he tried to open his eyes he was assaulted with such bright light that it blinded him at first. 'Damn' He thought. 'Am I dead?' A funny thought then popped into his mind. 'What if I'm in the Elysian Fields? Wouldn't that be ironic, The god of war in the Elysian Fields. Ha' He laughed but as he did so a small pain ran through his body. 'Okay so maybe I'm not in the Elysian Fields' He thought and once again attempted to open his eyes. This time he raised a hand up to his face to try to block the rays of light.
"Damn it" He mumbled as he felt more pain than before. Every part of his body ached and the pain was starting to become aggravating. 'Tartarus I knew it' He thought with a sigh.
With his eyes still closed he began to hear a voice, but not just any voice it was hers. "Of course" He said, for it seemed that he would be forced to spend an eternity being tortured by her voice, all the while knowing that she was not with him. That he would never again see her, or feel her touch.
And for the first time in a long time he felt sadness rip through his body. He will never have her, he will never have her. The words ran back and forth through his mind. "But she's alive" He said in barley a whisper.
He heard her voice again, she was talking to him. He did not move and hoped that the demons would let him be.
"Ares, Ares" The voice said again.
And this time he felt a touch, that was soft and gentle but firm. Ares hesitantly opened eyes once again. That was when he saw her, her bright blue eyes sparkled and her raven hair flowed down her face. Her eyes were searching his and he felt her hand caressing his cheek.
"Ares can you hear me?" She asked, concern evident in her features as she waited for him to reply.
But he didn't, he was too stunned by the sight of her. His mouth suddenly felt dry and no words would leave his lips. He just stared at her, and prayed that this wasn't another one of his dreams. Where he would wake up in a cold sweat calling out her name.
"Ares can you hear me?" She asked again, snapping him out of his daze.
"Yeah" He finally answered, his voice was hoarse and low.
She smiled and pulled her hand away from his face before turning to her side. "He's awake" She called out.
He heard footsteps then saw the bard kneel down beside Xena, the child was in Gabrielle's arms. Eve smiled and reached for the former war god.
"Looks like she missed you" The bard said.
Ignoring the pain Ares stretched his hand out for the small child to grab.
"How do you feel?" Xena questioned.
"Like I just came out of tartarus" He replied, sitting up and trying not to wince from the slight pain he was feeling.
"Well your wounds are healing quickly, you should be alright. But you still need a little more rest" She said with all seriousness.
"No I'm fine, just forgot how much I hated pain" He joked as he tried to stand up but found himself almost stumbling back down.
Xena quickly grabbed him and placed her arm around his back to help him get up, knowing that he would just try again anyway. Both she and Gabrielle were now also standing, with a look of worry on their faces.
Ares stood up and began to stretch his sore muscles. He touched his forehead and noticed the badge wrapped around it.
"When Athena's fire ball crashed into you, you hit the wall pretty hard" Xena said after seeing the confused look on his face.
"You know you really shouldn't be up" Gabrielle voiced her concerns.
"Like I said before, I'm fine" He replied in a pathetic unconvincing voice. He was trying hard to fight the need to hold his sides and curse from the pain. The last thing he wanted to do was seem weak in their eyes. For it seemed that his pride was all he had left.
"I think I should get going" He said staring into Xena's eyes.
He wanted her to stop him, to give him a reason not to leave. She knew it by the way his eyes looked at her, they had a mixture of hope and desire. But she could not bring herself to say anything. It was as if her words had gotten caught in her throat and refused to come out.
After a short silence Gabrielle decided to speak up.
"We were wondering if you would want to travel with us… until your better" She said then glanced towards her friend, who appeared lost in a trance.
"Its alright, I'll be okay" He replied, and finally took his gaze off the warrior princess. Ares turned to Eve and gently touched her head. "It was fun kiddo" He said then looked at Gabrielle. "Do me a favor and try not to die anytime soon" He said only half joking.
Then he turned to Xena and walked up to her. He was so close that she could feel his breath against her skin. She felt as one of his hands slowly slide up her arm and stopped at her cheek, where his soft caresses nearly made her tremble. While the other wrapped around her side and pulled her even closer to him.
Their faces where barley an inch apart. He gazed into her crystal blue eyes as he lightly brushed his lips against hers. "Goodbye princess" He whispered before breaking away. Slowly he left and not once did he turn around. Fearing that they would see the hurt and pain on his face.
"What just happened?" The bard asked.
"I-I don't know" Xena replied.
"So that's it" It was question but sounded more like a statement.
Xena didn't reply she merely stared back at his disappearing form.