Ares sat invisible under the shade of an immense beech tree. He was enjoying watching her train her ragtag group. She'd picked up exactly eight men in Constantinople, who were willing to travel back with her to Greece and a handful of horses. Not an army by any stretch of the imagination but definitely a start.

It hadn't taken her long to get used to her armor, under a week. She was moving in it as gracefully as if it were a part of her being. It was exactly like her old armor, making him able to imagine Xena as she was even more.

"It so won't be the same, you know."

He knew it was his sister before he even turned to look at her. "I would say mind your own business-"

"But love is my business," she finished for him. "You can dress her up, teach her everything she needs to know, but she still won't remember her old life."

"I know that, but it's to my advantage, isn't it? She won't remember all the mistakes. She won't remember Hercules or the annoying blonde. This is my time. Our time."

"Are you sure about that? Seems like to me you're just replaying old memories. Traveling down the same road is only going to lead you to the same end."

"Isn't there some young couple out there somewhere in need of your sage advice?"

She smiled at him sadly in the face of his anger, which only made him want to conjure a fireball even more, but of course, he couldn't.

Left to his own thoughts again, he could soothe himself about the future. Xena was well on her way to her dark self. If he needed proof of that, it was right before him as she battled all eight of her men at the same time. She was picturing the man that had killed her brother, he knew, by the look of pure hatred in her eyes. A very becoming look on her.

Would their romance follow the same course? He was counting on the fact that it wouldn't. He knew Gabrielle's destiny was tied to Xena's, and she would one day appear, but not before he was sure the darkness had a firmer grip on her than it ever had before. For in the darkness, they would find the only light they needed in each other.

sss

Ares' hope really began to build a couple weeks later when they came across an encampment.

"It's the Slavs," she said coldly, bringing her black horse to a halt. She would remember those gleaming, dome-shaped helmets and chain metal anywhere. Only this time, they sat by their fires with their weapons at their feet, roasting meant and laughing with their wives and children.

"They all deserve death," he reminded her.

There was brief hesitation that played across her features. This would be her first attack. She wasn't protecting this time but putting someone else on the defensive. "They look almost human," she muttered.

"Those almost humans had no trouble running down your people with their blades. They didn't hesitate to kill your brother. Make no mistake, they have declared war whether they're ready to battle at the moment or not. If you let them live, they will slaughter other nomadic farmers."

"Never," she said, that beautiful cold gaze returning along with the steel-edge in her voice.

She drew her sword and said to her men. "Kill them all except for the women and children!"

He broke into a full out grin when he heard her familiar war cry. He'd encouraged her to make noise as he trained her. It startled the enemy and gave the body more power and aggression. And now there it was in all its beautiful, primeval glory. No one did it like she did.

And it did the job. The Slavs looked around, expecting anything from a panther to a demon from hell though the truth was probably somewhere in between. The women and children screamed and ran for shelter in the trees, the same place that had masked Xenia and her men coming until it was too late.

Truly, someone should have painted the scene that followed for it was a work of art how quickly she made mincemeat of the dozens of armored men.

It was a small victory. Miniscule really, but to him, it was the biggest victory he'd had in an eon.

He hugged her blood-splattered body close, and she let him, another victory in his estimation.

He materialized another of her former weapons and handed her the dark chakram.

The splitting charam had been separated by Eve, the only one who could have done so as her blood descendant. She'd inherited the weapons after Gabrielle's death and had placed the dark charkram in the tomb with the scrolls as a tribute to their memory.

He still didn't know what she had done with the other chakram. She wouldn't tell him, not trusting him for a good reason. She'd no doubt started other twilights as was her destiny. And succeeded he was sure as things had been fairly quiet in the god realm lately.

"What's this?" Xenia asked, eying the sharp edge of the circular weapon.

"A gift. Proof of my confidence in you. It belonged to another war god in a different land. There's not another like it in the world over. You will do great things with it, I know."

He'd gifted it to her once on anther day like this. The victory had been harder won than this, but he couldn't resist. Perhaps Aphrodite was right in that he was only playing dress-up, but he thought he saw just for a moment a flicker of recognition in her eyes, and it was all his cold heart needed to warm itself.