Chapter 46

Ares was casually sitting on his ebony throne with his leg draped over the side of it in the Halls of War, gazing at a battle that he had planned for weeks. He had some damage control that he needed to take care of from his long absence. He had given his general strict instructions on what they had to do and it was guaranteed to be a clean victory if they didn't screw it up. Somehow he knew they just might though. He shifted for the hundredth time that night trying to shake this uneasy feeling that he had started to get just before the sun started to set. He wasn't sure what it was and he knew it didn't have anything to do with the battle that was raging on in front of him. He had sat here a million times watching countless battles play out until their end. But for some reason, this day was quite different from all the others and that irritating notion that something was wrong would not let him relax and he couldn't focus on the battle entirely. He pressed his fingers against his temples and started to rub against them, what the fuck was this feeling, he didn't like it and he wished that it would just go away.

Foot falls could be heard approaching the throne room and after a while, in stepped a somewhat nervous priest. He wasn't sure why he had been summoned by his Lord and it had taken him the better part of the whole day to get there. He saw that the War God was rather occupied with watching something in a portal and he was a little reluctant to disturb him. He didn't seem too pleased with whatever it was that he was watching.

"My Lord..?" he spoke softly, and he thought that maybe he had said it a bit too low for the War God to hear him. The God didn't even bother to break his gaze from what he was looking at and that made the priest grow even more nervous of having interrupted him from his business.

"My Lord, I have..." he attempted to gain his attention again but was cruelly cut off.

"I heard you the first time!" Ares hissed out to him, the impatient grimy presence of his priest was only infuriating him.

The War God brought his focus to the frightened looking man, good, he had all the reasons in the world to be scared.

"Do you know why I asked you here today Talon?" he asked him ever so calmly, not giving away an inch of the pure rage that he had for him at that moment.

"No… no My Lord." he couldn't help his nerves as he watched the War God intently. No one would tell him what this business with his Lord was about and he was nervous to find out the reason for this summoning.

"It's about an incident in my temple that happened a while ago."

"I'm afraid I'm not sure what you mean, My Lord. There have been no incidents in your temple." he tried to rack his brain for any recent activity that had happened in the Gods temple that would result in this type of summoning but couldn't come up with anything.

"Are you sure?" an amused looked formed on the War Gods face with his answer, "Funny, considering you were involved directly."

"If you could somewhat elaborate on this incident a little, then maybe I can help with the matter and be able to recall what it is that you are referring to, My Lord." he said, completely terrified as he stared up at the War God. The Olympian's face held no emotion and he was beginning to think that he didn't really want to know what it was that his Lord was talking about, and that impassive look in his eyes was only making the priests' fear grow.

A devious grin started to lighten up the War Gods' face and without another word to his priest, he made another portal appear and an image began to form in it. The priests' face immediately turned white once he saw what it was that was contained inside that portal. He now knew what the God was talking about and he was doomed and he knew it, there was no way he was going to get out of this. He was a dead man and nothing that he could say – not even his countless years of service- would change the War God's mind when it came to this incident.

The scene started to unfold in front of him and he watched as that raven haired woman was twirling her sword around and then shortly after he saw himself walk into the room. He started to hear his own words – the ones he had spoken that day to her- and he cast a fleeting look in the War Gods' direction. The Olympian sat on his throne unmoving with a blank stare on his face as he watched the scene continue to play out. The priest started to sweat; he knew what was coming as he watched himself walk up to that woman, the woman who his Lord had claimed as his own. He looked away from the portal and immediately directed his eyes to the floor, he could already predict his own death sentence with the slap that had sealed his fate.

"Oh, come on, this is the best part." Ares cheerily exclaimed and with a wave of his hand he forced the priests face back up in time to watch him slap his Princess viciously across the face. After that, the portal fizzled out of existence and all that was left was the petrified look of a dead man.

"My Lord, I can explain. That is not what it looked like..."

"Really?" the War God mocked, "So you're trying to tell me that you didn't raise a hand against my Chosen and tried to fuck her?"

"It was not what it seemed... we were just simply..."

"Simply what, exactly?"

"That wasn't what it looked like. She's not even that attractive… I don't even think she's pretty and…" he was fumbling over his words, trying to get himself out of a situation that he knew he was going to lose.

"So now you insult my Chosen's beauty?" Ares hissed out angrily to him.

"No, that's not what I meant… She's very beautiful, absolutely breathtaking, My Lord. Any man would be lucky to have her, she is like a Goddess. Those blue eyes, that silky raven hair, how could anyone resist?"

"So, you did want to fuck her?" Ares opposed as the frightened priest tried to save his own skin.

"Yes… No!" he quickly blurted out when he realized what it was that he had just said, "I didn't know who she was and…"

But he was doomed from the moment he walked into the Halls of War, actually he was doomed from the moment that he had looked at his Chosen. Ares never had any intention of ever letting him leave the place alive for having touched his Princess in the first place and he sent a fireball in his direction. The priest yelled out once it made contact and he was instantly reduced to a pile of ash.

With a small flick of his wrist, Ares made the pile of dust vanish and he returned his attention back to the battle. Not even the satisfaction of killing that scum had eased this feeling he was getting. What in Tartarus was it? It felt like something was gnawing at his insides and the ever growing feeling that something was wrong was becoming more intense.

Trying to suppress the feeling, the War God decided to ignore it, not liking the tiny bits of emotions he was getting from it, and brought his attention back to the battle in front of him. He noticed that his well laid plans had started to go sour with his general. That said general was now trying to make up his own plan to try and salvage his mistake.

"Idiot! All you had to do was stick to the plan and victory would have been yours!" he yelled out to the portal as he watched his plans fall to pieces.

He unconsciously started to lightly rub the area above his heart. That uneasy feeling was starting to become stronger and with it the feelings were growing more dominate and it didn't matter what he did, it just wouldn't go away. Nothing was distracting him enough from this notion and he was starting to feel a pull somewhere as this unknown force was reaching out to him. He couldn't have been getting this worked up over this now hopeless battle, it just didn't make any sense to him. This feeling had to have been brought on by something else but he couldn't figure it out. It was going to drive him insane if he couldn't find out what it was.

He finally decided to give in to the feeling and was just about to let himself link to the force that was silently calling out to him when suddenly he heard the sweetest voice push its way through his thoughts and everything else immediately faded from his mind at the sound of its delicate caress. He smiled because he knew who that voice belonged to and his mind drifted back to their most recent pleasurable encounter and he grinned more at the thought as the echo of her moans of ecstasy started to fill his head once more. But that smug smile slowly faded from his face when he realized that there was something off in the way that she had said his name and he sat up in his throne a bit alarmed. From the tone in which she had said it, Ares could hear the hint of desperation that she had in it.

"She's never called me before." he said to himself wondering what this could mean, "What could she want that would make her call on me now?"

He took one last look at the portal in front of him that still held the failure of a battle that was now completely lost to him. He thought about trying to somehow fix what his general had messed up but he couldn't pass up this opportunity to pop in and see what his Princess wanted. Plus, now it gave him the chance to get close to her again and who was he to deny himself such a rare pleasure, especially after having been away for so long? But it was the tone of her voice that had him on edge, something was not quite right and he searched for her through their small bond that they had started to develop. He stood up from his throne and quickly vanished to where he sensed his Princess to be.

Xxxxxxx

Xena soon felt the emptiness engulf her as she waited to feel that familiar tingle but it never came.

'He's not going to come, it had all been a lie.' she thought to herself, 'Athena was right.'

She lowered her head as she felt her last shred of hope leave her. She was so sure that he would come that her mind never even toyed with the notion that he wouldn't. She felt so foolish for having let him spin his web of lies to her, again, and what did she get out of it? Nothing, because now she sat in this Gods forsaken forest sentenced to death by one God while the other was most likely too busy trying to recruit the next able body that he could find, filling their head with talk of him training them to be the best warrior that he could make them and of becoming his first Chosen. He had strung her along just to spite Athena and she was mad at herself for ever thinking that it was ever anything more than that. To think that she had actually tried to defend him to Athena, well the joke was on her. Her thoughts were soon interrupted from the chuckle of the man in front of her.

"Ares?" the man questioned with amusement as he stepped back from her a little, "I gotta say, as far as last words go that was... pathetic. I was kinda hoping it would have been more... I don't know, inspirational coming from a warrior of your standards." his men began to laugh at his comment.

"Nothing more to say then, huh?" he waited to see if she was going to say more but could see that she wasn't as she just sat there with this disappointed look on her face, "Alright time to get this over with." he said, lifting up his sword and he started to close in the distance between them, ready to plunge it into her chest.

Everything seemed to move in slow motion for Xena at that moment. Just as he was finishing his last line, she felt it. The tell tale sign of that all too familiar presence and the warmth that started to fill her as she knew he was close.

"Ares..." she breathed out barely above a whisper and a small smile pulled at her lips while she closed her eyes the moment she felt his strong, dangerous presence become more intense. Shards of blue light began to form in front of her and she felt the relief go through her as the War God started to make his appearance.