Turbulent

"I'm impressed."

Gabrielle's stomach swooped with the praise, crashing into her heart and bringing it along on its meteoric rise into the cosmos. Then they and her face fell a second after Xena's did, and the girl winced when the woman grabbed her arm again. Wide green-blue eyes never left the warrior princess as she dragged their owner back toward the remaining cultists.

"Touch her and die," Xena warned them, the tremulous catch in her voice widening Gabrielle's eyes even more. Unchallenged, she barged past the men and through a random door halfway down the hall.

"Xena, wh-"

Satisfied that she and her companion were alone, releasing the hilt of her sword but not the girl, she cried, "You're in different clothes for real! Did those bastards- Did they- I'll kill-"

Oh. Oh! Gabrielle grinned awkwardly. "They let me change myself! And, actually, you've brought me to the exact room they kept me in, s-"

"Great," the warrior princess deadpanned, her entire affect flatlining in an instant. "Change again, and then let's get out of here." She nearly yanked her friend into a quick embrace but then turned and fled the room without a backward glance.

Gabrielle's heart fluttered once more.


*200 words.