:What happened after the battle with Athena and Artemis:
With the goddess of wisdom finally gone Xena and Gabrielle had only one thing on their minds. Ares had fallen unconscious and was losing a great amount of blood.
"We have to get him out of here now" Xena said hastily.
"Why, isn't this his temple? We should just ask the priests for help" Gabrielle replied.
"Do you really want a bunch of Ares' priest to find their god laying dying on the floor with us beside him?" The warrior princess questioned, hoping to get her point across.
"Oh, yeah…Then how are we going to get him out of here in time?" And at that moment Aphrodite appeared, a depressing expression on her face. She stood frozen as she stared at Ares' unmoving form.
"Aphrodite, Aphrodite!" Xena had to call out her name twice to get her attention. "Unless you want to watch him die, you have to get us all out of here right now" The warrior yelled.
The love goddess only nodded as she seemed at a lost for words. Unsteadily she rose an arm and they all vanished and reappeared in the forest.
Outside they could see the darkness of the night approaching them. Xena and Gabrielle quickly tended to Ares' wounds. Afterwards Gabrielle made camp with minor help from the Aphrodite, while Xena watched over the former god of war.
It was the dead of night; the warrior princess sat kneeling beside Ares' sleeping form. His face was pale and his skin was cold to the touch. His hair was in disarray and that godly glow he once possessed had faded away.
With gentle hands she touched his face. Her fingers trailed down from his cheeks to his lips where they stayed for a moment before she pulled them away, when she thought she saw his lips move.
She tensed a bit but then relaxed when she realized it was simply her imagination. She continued to stay in silence. It seemed a million things where running through her mind. And she tried miserably to stop the burning pain she felt in the pit of her stomach.
In one rapid swoop everything had changed. And the warrior princess had no idea what she should do. Xena had been so deep in her thoughts that she didn't hear Gabrielle approach.
"Xena, are you okay?" The golden-haired bard questioned.
"What?" Xena mumbled as she was snapped out of her thoughts.
"Xena are you okay?" Gabrielle repeated, with concern in her features.
"Yeah, I'm fine" Her voice was low and unconvincing. "Where's Eve?" She quickly changed the subject.
"With Aphrodite" Gabrielle answered as they both looked back to see the love goddess playing with the child.
Silence fell upon them for a few minutes, before Gabrielle spoke again.
"How is he?" She asked glancing towards Ares.
"His wound is pretty deep, but it looks like he'll be alright" Xena unconsciously touched Ares' hand and quickly pulled away when she realized it. She hoped that Gabrielle had not noticed. But the bard did in fact see the way a small smile appeared on Xena's face before vanishing.
"What happened while I was gone?" The bard had been wanting to ask the question since she had awoken but had decided to wait for a better time.
Xena did not answer right away. It seemed she was struggling to find the right words to say.
"He was there for me" Came her answer.
Gabrielle looked into her friend's eyes and could see not only sadness in them but also bitter happiness. And at the moment she understood. Ares had been there when Xena was in need, and during that time things had changed between. She knew that to be true from the way Ares last looked at Xena before he fell into unconsciousness.
The bard only nodded in response to Xena's answer. And again they were both silent.
"What will happen now?" Gabrielle's voice was filled with uncertainty.
"We'll have to keep moving and hopefully no other gods will come after us" Xena replied looking at anything but Gabrielle and Ares.
"You know that is not what I am talking about. Xena listen, I can see that you are fighting this battle inside you. And it's not going to go away if you just ignore it"
"So what do you want me to do?" The warrior snapped, and finally turned to face the bard. "I can't take this right now not with everything that's been happening" She paused and released a deep sigh. "Part of me wants to run away from him and pretend that nothing has changed between us. But the other part…wants to just be with him. What in tartarus am I suppose to do? I've spent years telling myself that I had to stay away from him, because he was bad for me, because he stood for my dark side. But now I'm not sure anymore"
Gabrielle could now see the pain and misery Xena had been so desperately trying to hide.
"Do you love him?" To Gabrielle the answer was obvious but she wanted to see if Xena would admit it.
"I-I don't know" The warrior princess replied looking away.
"Yes you do, and I think that if you run away you'll be regretting it for the rest of your life"
Xena turned to Gabrielle confused, never in her dreams would she have imagined her friend coming to Ares' defense.
"Why are you--"
"Because I can see that something inside him has changed. He loves you we both know that, there's no point in pretending anymore. Xena I trust your judgment, and what ever you decide will be all right with me"
And for the first time that night both woman smiled in understanding and acceptance. In the following hours the love goddess would leave after wishing her fallen brother a full recovery. And all but the warrior princess would have a restful night.
:End of missing scene:
:Morning after Ares awakes:
He walked slowly away from the campsite, away from the pain, away from the woman he loved. Discord was right, he was a fool to think that things would ever change between Xena and him. No matter how much he tried or what he did, he would never get her back.
'Back' He shouted in his mind. 'I never really had her in the first place' He chuckled bitterly to himself.
His body still hurt with pain but he refused to stop or turn back. There was nothing here for him and he would have to learn to move on. He had no idea where he was or where he was going, and he didn't care. Only minutes had passed but to him it felt like hours. And already his body wanted to give up. It was then he heard foot steps racing towards him.
His first instinct was to draw his sword but even that seemed too tiring. 'What was the point' he thought to himself. 'If he was lucky they would kill him and he would be done with this life'.
Once the foot steps had stopped Ares turned around to instead find Xena standing in front of him.
She stood there with a soft uncertain smile. A small breeze blew around them as strains of her raven-hair danced around her face. Ares fought the urge to grab her and kiss her lips. He unconsciously took a step closer to her, and immediately wished he hadn't.
Xena opened her mouth to speak but was unsure of what to say.
"Already started missing me, didn't you" Ares said when he noticed her hesitating.
"No just making sure you didn't get yourself killed yet" She replied as her body relaxed. She paused before continuing. "You don't have to go" She said with all seriousness.
"I know you and blondie are just trying to be nice and all, but I'll survive" He said with an all too familiar smirk.
"It won't be easy out here without your powers" She said, trying to get through to him, hoping he would get it.
"Look Xena, I don't need a babysitter. I can take care of myself" Irritation could be heard in his voice as the old Ares reappeared. He wanted just to get away from here, away from her. The longer he stood next to her only made it that much harder to walk away.
She turned her head to the side, and looked away from him, not wanting to show her discontent.
"I should go" He said, and began walking away.
"No wait…I want you to stay" She said in almost a pleading voice.
Ares had stopped dead in his tracks. Slowly he turned back to look at her. His blood began racing and the pounding of his heart echoed throughout his ears. At first he thought he had heard her wrong. But then she came closer to him, until their bodies only barley touched.
"You sure about this?" He asked, locking his eyes with hers.
But instead of an answer he felt as her lips met with his in a yearning but soft kiss. He wrapped his arms around her waist pulling her closer. And she in turn intertwined her fingers through his hair. The kiss deepened and became more demanding as both were lost in it. And just for a moment the world made prefect sense.
:The End: