Chapter 8

Four years later...

Athena sat in her throne room in one of her temples seemingly lost in thought. She had a battle against Ares that day and she knew he always had a few tricks up his sleeve. She couldn't help the small grin that appeared on her face while thinking about how good it was going to be to defeat him. She finally had her new warriors trained and her newest asset was going to solidify her win against Ares later. Over the last couple of years she could see that Xena had a knack for coming up with different battle strategies if needed, so she could rely on her if anything went wrong. The way she would turn the tide at the last minute in battle to work in their favor still amazed her to that day. The War God was going to meet his match on the battle field and she couldn't wait to rub his face in the defeat.

"So what do you think of this one?" a bubbly voice asked interrupting her thoughts. She turned her attention to her sister.

"Isn't that the same one you've just showed me?" she asked her, looking confused since she had just answered this question a few minutes before.

"No, it is not the same one see." Aphrodite made the other dress reappear next to the one she was now showing Athena. "This one is more of a rosy pink. While this one…" she motioned to the one on her left "is more of a light pink."

"Aphrodite… they both look exactly the same to me." She said, once again looking at the dress on the right and then the one on the left. "I really don't know how you can tell the difference."

"Well I can and so can others. So which one is it going to be?" she gave her a big grin as she waited for her to choose.

"Tell me again why we are doing this?" Athena asked, slightly annoyed with the whole situation.

"Duh, like you can't wear that thing to your own party, 'Thena !" Aphrodite exclaimed, pointing to Athena's gold armor with disgust as if the thought of being seen in it was a crime.

"There's nothing wrong with what I am wearing." Athena retorted, glaring daggers at her for her comment. "Besides no one is going to care about what I am wearing."

Aphrodite held her hands up in surrender. "Fine if you don't want to take my advice about how to grab everyone's attention, then don't.

Athena was right about to respond to her when a flash of blue light appeared, leaving Ares himself in its place. She couldn't help but notice the cocky grin he had on his face. She couldn't wait to wipe it away later.

"What's this? Are we playing dress up before the big battle?" Ares took note of the countless dresses that were strung out on the couches. "Is this your big secret weapon you have been going on and on about, that will presumably help you win? Cause from where I'm standing you are going to have to do much better than this." he said while gesturing towards the couches.

Athena simply rolled her eyes at her brother's comment. "No Ares, you will find out soon enough what awaits you on the battlefield." a smile pulled at her lips as she could already taste the victory.

"Will I now?" he gave her a questioning glance. "I don't know about that, since I can already smell the victory…. Shall we put all curiosity to rest then? " he said while motioning for them to leave.

"Let's do that. I can't wait to wipe that smug look off your face." she got up from her throne and made her way to the middle of the room where Ares stood.

"Sorry Dite, looks like I won't be needing your assistance any longer." she didn't give her a chance to respond as both gods disappeared from the room.

Xxxxxx

The battle was raging in full glory in front of Ares as he watched his army slaughter Athena's. The rush he was getting from it was exciting him beyond words. Victory was his and he couldn't wait to see Athena's face once the battle was over. Whatever her well crafted plan was, it certainly was not working in her favor. Ares watched as his men continued to push Athena's forces back, but all of a sudden a reign of arrows started to flow down on his men.

The ones in the front, were immediately hit from the onslaught of arrows, never having a chance to escape. Once the rain of arrows stopped, his men began to reform their lines, struggling to push forward again. This minor slip up didn't seem to deter his courageous troops. Ares kept watching as they made their way further into enemy territory and he smiled big. But his smile quickly faded as he saw his men begin to lose their ground and start to be pushed back by the opposing army.

"What in Tartarus!" he bellowed as he saw Athena's forces regaining their ground. He quickly scanned the field to look for any opening his men could take. That attack from the arrows had left his defenses weak. Athena's forces seemed to had lured his men into thinking they were getting the upper hand. "That was quite clever." he thought to himself.

Ares appeared next to his general. "You need to find the leader and bring them down." he said in a demanding tone. "Once they fall, their defenses will crumble."

"Yes My Lord." his general quickly replied and headed out to relay his orders. Ares watched him go and then disappeared.

He reappeared in the middle of the raging battle but stayed hidden from view. He wanted to see for himself who was responsible for this amazing tactic and then watch as they met their end. He scanned the field before him when a piercing war cry came from behind him. He turned around in time to watch as a raven haired beauty cut her way through his men. He instantly felt something stir in him as he watched her. The way she moved around her opponent and the grin that was on her face as she defeated them. She was enjoying this. Ares could see it, the fire that was shining in her eyes as she fought. He felt a slight shiver going through him at the power she was radiating with. A power that was begging to be released and he couldn't help but think how he would love to help her release that power.

Xena fought her way through the opposing army enjoying the rush she was getting from the battle. Her plan had worked perfectly and now the odds were in their favor. As she cut down an enemy soldier she felt a tingle go down her spine and a very distinct presence. She was confused by this feeling. She looked around the field but kept getting brought back to the same spot but there was nothing there. Not letting this interfere with her task she continued to push the army back. But she couldn't shake this presence as it seemed to follow her. She kept glancing to where she thought it was.

Ares watched as she continuously glanced in his direction. She seemed distracted by something. Having brought down another one of his soldiers she turned around and made her way to him. He was curious as to what she was doing as she came to stop a few inches in front of him. She stood before him breathing heavily as she carefully scanned the empty space up and down. The power that was coming off of her aura was simply stimulating. He had never felt anything like it before. He completely forgot about the raging battle that was going on around them. Ares begin to walk around her as he took her in. He watched as her head followed his movements as if she knew he was there. That thought intrigued him as no one had ever felt his presence when he was hidden in the ether. He circled her once and finally came to rest behind her. As if knowing that he had stopped moving she turned around to face him once again searching the empty space for some sort of sign.

He was convinced that she could feel him but he wasn't entirely sure. He moved to her side and watched as she cocked her head to the left as he did so. He reached his hand out to touch the air around her and she seemed to close her eyes at the contact as if anticipating his caress. They were both brought out of their trance by someone shouting.

"Xena, behind you!" one of her warriors shouted.

Ares quickly directed his gaze to his right where he saw one of his men with a raised bow aimed at her back. He immediately felt his rage build at the sight.

Xena turned around in a blink at the warning, just to see the soldier releasing the arrow from the bow. Knowing that she was not going to be quick enough to dodge it, she remained unmoved, seemingly accepting her fate and she closed her eyes. She should not have let herself get distracted. Waiting for an impact that never came, she opened her eyes and glanced down expecting to see the arrow sticking out of her chest. Nevertheless, what she saw confused her. The arrow seemed to have been halted right before it made contact with her chest and was now hovering in the air. She looked up at the soldier who had shot the arrow and noticed his bewildered expression. He couldn't believe it either. All of a sudden, the presence she had felt disappeared and the arrow fell to the ground. Quickly shaking herself out of her shock, she moved to dispatch the soldier who shot the bow who was still too stunned at what happen to retaliate.

Xxxxx

Thick black smoke was raising in the air as the battle was finally over. Ares and Athena stood on the hilltop watching as each of their armies collected their dead. Athena was overjoyed at having defeated Ares. She couldn't erase the grin off her face as she began to rub his nose in it.

"So how does it feel Ares to know that you lost to real warriors?" she was beaming as she tried to rub salt in the wound. "Like I was saying from the start, you and your pathetic excuse for an army was no match against my new warriors."

Ares was too lost in his own thoughts to give her a response. His mind was consumed with the woman from earlier. He let himself get distracted by her presence and that took his mind off of the battle. Something that had never happened to him before. He watched as she helped take the dead off of the field. He knew that if she had died today it would had swayed the battle in his favor. But when he saw that arrow get release he could not bring himself to let her die, so he stopped it. He didn't know why he had felt the need to protect her at that moment and just pushed it off to not wanting to see her die by a coward that had to shoot her in the back to stop her.

Xena was walking around the battle field offering what assistance she could. Feeling a pair of eyes glaring a hole in her back she turned around and looked up to the hilltop. She could see Athena standing there talking to someone she didn't recognize. She shifted her gaze to him and could see he wasn't paying any attention to what Athena was telling him. Their eyes locked together and they just stared at each other. Feeling the heat of his gaze Xena had to turn away from it. She started to think about the events of the day and that arrow. What had stopped that arrow from reaching its target she wondered. She knew that according to any natural laws of war, she was supposed to be among the dead right now but something or someone had stopped that arrow. And that presence she had felt earlier…. She knew someone was there and whoever it was must have stopped the arrow. She was confused about the whole situation.

Athena could see that Ares was lost in thought about something and saw that his stare was fixated on something. She followed his gaze to where Xena was standing. She looked back at her brother and she could clearly see the interest he had in her. She saw the slight grin that pulled at his lips as he continued to watch her. Not liking her brother's new fixation she quickly tried to put a stop to it.

"Oh no Ares, you stay away from my warriors." she hissed at him to get her point across.

Hearing the anger in her voice, Ares reluctantly shifted his gaze from the warrior in front of him and refocused on his sister. "Whatever do you mean?" he gave her a sly grin

" Your pathetic women warriors are worthless to me."

Athena just rolled her eyes at his answer. "I mean it Ares. She is off limits, stay away from her." she didn't wait for his response as she left him there.

Ares looked back at the warrior that had captured his full attention. He felt that strange feeling begin to stir in him again that he felt earlier when she was near. He couldn't quite figure out what it was but knew she was the cause of it. He thought back to what Athena told him moments ago and a huge smile appeared on his face. "….they don't belong on the battlefield." he continued out loud, watching as she walked away and got lost in the retreating army he took his leave, the whole time thinking of a way to put himself in her presence again.