With that thought screaming wildly into my head, I somehow made it to the fountain, while stubbornly fighting to push it away from my overly active mind….I was probably more delirious than Xena was at the moment- to think that she had actually lived here….How could she have ? Yes, she and Ares must have shared a bit of history, she was a warrior after all and he was the God of War- they must have met on the battlefield, they might have even been allies at some point in the past, but from there to her living in his temple…..

" That's just ridiculous….." I sneered out loud, as if wanting to convince myself of how far fetched my idea was in the first place.

" I couldn't agree more. " I suddenly heard, as the pointed tip of what must have been a really sharp sword stung me straight in the back, making me instantly turn around, despite the life threatening danger I was in.

" Who are you?!" I instinctively asked, gazing in wonder at the amazingly beautiful priestess standing before me.

" I think that was supposed to be my line. What are you doing in my Lord's temple? If you're here to make an offering, the altar room is in the opposite direction." she casually let me know, scanning my face with narrowed, suspicious eyes.

"I'm not here to make an offering. I'm here with my friend, Xena. She was hurt. Ares brought her here" I clarified, letting out a heavy sigh as all the fears in the world suddenly started to take over my heart again. "I came for some water..." I added, showing her the jar I was holding.

"My Lady Xena is here?" she immediately inquired, shock written all over her face.

I hesitated a bit, probably even more shocked than she was by the title that she had used to address her.

" ….Yes?" I mumbled, not really knowing if we were even speaking about the same person or not, and I had certainly missed the moment when she had dropped the sword from her hand, letting it fall nosily to the ground.

" Oh Gods, have mercy on us!" she breathed out in strangled voice, panic washing over her strikingly confident visage. " I have to worn the others!"

" Wait! " I said, grabbing her arm, trying to calm her down. "There's nothing to fear…" I started, naturally supposing that my friend's tumultuous past was once again getting in our way. " Xena is not the same person anymore…She has changed…she's fighting for a better world now….."

She kept staring at me with the same horrified eyes until she finally broke free from my grasp, and it seemed as what I had just told her made absolutely no difference, cause she only looked even more alarmed by the perspective of living under the same roof with the Warrior Princess.

" She might have changed, I couldn't possibly know that…..But one thing I do know….My Lord hasn't!" she replied in a cold, slightly shaky voice , and next thing I knew she started running towards the other side of the yard.

"Hey! Wait!...you don't understand! " I yelled behind her, but she didn't even look back….

"What was that all about?" I asked myself, frowning at just how weird that conversation had been….

Her words kept replaying inside my head, over and over again while I returned with a jar full of water back to the room where my friend was waiting for me, trying to make as little noise as possible down the corridor, not wanting to disturb her just in case that she had fallen asleep or something, despite the fact that only a couple of minutes had passed since I had left her….

I finally stopped in front of the large wooden door. I gently cracked it open, and I was right about to enter when Ares' unmistakable voice stopped me dead in my tracks.

" ….well because she's right Xena! How in Tartarus did you fail to catch it, anyway?" he asked, and as I took a peek inside, I saw that he was pacing back and forth in front of her bed, looking utterly displeased at her.

" Ares come on! You saw that arrow…..how incredibly light it was…like nothing I have ever seen! It hardly made any noise! I couldn't have caught it!" she replied, and it seemed to me that she was trying to defend herself….or more like to justify her actions….

The God was pissed.

" Yes you could have! You should have! " he roughly accused, leaving me agape.

"What's wrong with you? It could have happened to any warrior…"

" Not to you! You're not just any warrior Xena!"

"I'm sorry! " she exclaimed, exasperated by the whole situation.

A pang of uneasiness swept over me as I heard her say those words…What was she even sorry for? Why in Hades was she apologizing to him? And her voice….was she crying…..?

He just let out a heavy sigh and took a seat on the edge of the bed, by her side, shaking his head as he kept looking at her with the gaze of a hungry predator that was getting ready to devour its prey, an impossible to explain mixture of anger, relief and veneration in his troubled eyes. With frantic, hectic gestures, he began caressing her long , silky hair before he casually moved to drying her tears- that from where I was positioned I couldn't possibly notice- with the back of his hand.

" You should get some rest….Once you're healed, by the Styx, Princess, you'll be catching a thousands of those arrows , eyes closed. Hephaestus will be definitely busy these days….." he commandingly let her know, in a remarkably calmer tonality though.

She didn't say anything, she just glanced down, at the blanket, refusing to look at him, biting her lower lip as if she were struggling not to burst into tears. I was speechless….For one year we have been travelling together and I don't really know if I've seen her shedding a tear once …What was this influence he had on her?!

" Shhhhhh….. Hush Love. " he finally said, reaching for her, pulling her into his arms, and his words struck me like nails hammered into my heart.

She didn't sketch one single gesture of refusal, not even the slightest intention that she wasn't ok with him comforting her…She just wrapped her arms around his neck, letting him draw her even closer, tightening his embrace as he kept smoothing her tumbled hair, delicately caressing her back.

" I'm sorry…I'm sorry…." she kept murmuring, against his shoulder, a thousand different thoughts assaulting my mind now. What was really going on there? She hated him! She hated everything that he represented- I know because she told me so, countless times before! She was disgusted with his ways and methods…the carnage, the blood….the selfish, senseless wars...And still, there she was, crying in his arms arms, for something that I couldn't even get myself to understand….

"It's ok...it's ok, Sweetheart...You just scared me to death, that's all..."

By now, I was really determined to barge inside and demand some serious explanations when Ares decided to break their embrace, abruptly putting a bit of distance between them, and, taking her hands in his, he brought them up to his lips, delicately pressing kisses all over their creamy surface.

" Thank you….for calling me…" he simply stated moments later, searching for her eyes, tilting her chin up when she avoided his gaze. "…I know it must have been a hard decision to make given our complicated past, but…..thank you…." he continued in a genuinely sincere tone, and my hand froze on the craftily carved patterns of the door, literally unable to get myself to enter the room….

And now I gotta ask you dear Papyrus, what has she been hiding from me all this time? Haven't I proven myself worthy of her trust so far?! Why was he thanking her? If she had called him, asking for help- him out of all people, an old, declared enemy- she should have been thanking him, not the other way around…..I must have been indeed as blind as a bat all this time…Am I losing my mind here?

WHAT DO YOU THINK GUYS? SHOULD WE GIVE THE BARD SOME SPICY DETAILS ABOUT OUR FAVORITE COUPLE? :))