Freaking EXPLICIT CONTENT. And not the fun kind. More like the horrifying "oh shit, sick, I didn't want to know that" kind. Look away if you're squeamish. I really don't know why I'm writing this crap. Rrrrrrrrrrrrr. SORRY sorry sorry sorry sorry. Also I'm virginal when it comes to Greek mythology so if anyone wants to correct me on anything goes on here with that lot, please do.

The first part of the italics (before the '--' break) are a Gabby flashback, the rest of the italics is what happened after.

Seriously, I'm sorry for this. I don't want to get into this anymore, so just FYI Gabrielle saw what was done to Xena. You can fill in the rest.

edit: I went back with a fresh eye and I think I made it less explicit. maybe. it's not as blunt, anyway. You're all smart, I don't have to get into the details, right?? good.

"Ares..." Gabrielle crawled around her pitch-black cell and called out to the war god, her voice exhausted from screaming and then from crying. "Ares..."

The God of War appeared in a flash of light that startled Gabrielle. "Ah, Gabrielle, what a strange surprise," he said haughtily, oblivious. "I have to say I knew you'd come around eventually."

"No." she whispered.

"No?" Ares taunted. "Please don't tell me you called me here for a truth or dare. I've got much more interesting things going on and I DON'T like it when people waste my time."

"Ares, it's Xena." Gabrielle began.

"What about her?"

"She's dead."

He snapped his fingers and the cell lit up so he could see it clearly. He took in Gabrielle's injuries but didn't really care about them. "What?"

Gabrielle looked up at him with loathing, but didn't let it show in her face. "She's dead. I need you to get her body out of here. Take her away before they cook her and feed her to the rest of the prisoners."

"Who did this?" he asked, a terrifying fire burning behind is dark eyes.

"It doesn't matter, just please get her out."

Ares turned, but Gabrielle called him back just before he disappeared.

"Ares wait!"

"What??"

"Make it so that she doesn't remember what killed her. I want her soul to be at peace. You can do this, can't you? You can take that memory away?"

"The Fates can, but only if they give it to someone else."

"Have them give it to me." Gabrielle blurted almost before he'd finished his sentence. "She can't know, it would ruin her, even in the afterlife. You know this. You'll see. Ares, you know where her strength comes from. Please. For her sake."

He made no indication whether he was going to grant her request or not. He simply flashed out of her cell and left Gabrielle in utter darkness. Gabrielle laid down, crying on the cold stone floor, spoke her goodbyes to her sister and her parents and to Joxer, and tried to die.

--

Ares found Xena and un-strapped her from the torture table. Her limp body fell into his arms heavily and Ares held back his emotions as he transported the two of them outside and back to the camp site.

Argo started rearing and trying to trample him the minute he appeared at the bones of the campfire and had laid Xena down. He turned to the palomino with a great annoyance, "Would you settle down, you dumb animal? I'm not going to hurt her."

He inspected her, letting his hands hover around her body as he took in each injury to find the one that had killed her. She was positively ashen, from forehead to foot, already a ghost in the flesh. He set her broken bones one by one: jaw, arms, ribs, wrists, not wanting to bury her in such a broken state, until he got to her lower abdomen, and pulled his hands away with fury. This was the injury that killed her, and he saw now what Gabrielle was talking about. She'd bled to death from these internal injuries. He saw the cause in his mind's eye, watching in horror as he learned what was taken from her, that she had literally been torn apart by these men. He knew in his heart that Gabrielle was right, it was imperative that Xena not remember this final horror. It truly would ruin her. Ares regained his composure, sucking back tears, and corrected the damage to the now-useless organs there. He quickly fixed her ankles next, then called the Fates.

"You are to take away Xena's memory of the injury that killed her." He said.

"We can't do that." They said. "It's already written, already done."

"You'll do it, you old crone. I know you can. You'll give the memory to my custody, I wish to use it on someone else."

"We can't do that, Ares, one man's memory is meant for him and only him."

Ares let out a feral scream and grabbed the crone by the throat. The other two grabbed at their own throats as if he were choking them, too. "You'll do as I say or I will crush you and the other two one by one."

"If you killed us, the world would spin out of control," the young girl said hoarsely.

"Good!"

The Fates relinquished and Ares released them. His eyes flashed in a wild rage as he disappeared from the camp site with a tiny fiber of glowing string in his fist.

"Let's find out what happens when you piss off the God of War!"

Argo whinnied at the flash and trotted over to where Xena was laid out. She lowered her grand head, folded in her powerful legs, and lied down beside her friend, tipping just slightly so that her back was in contact with Xena's body. She blew hot breath into Xena's hair as the warrior princess slowly began to regain her color.

Gabrielle awoke slowly in the middle of the night to find that again, someone was holding her, and someone else was holding her hand.

Joxer looked at her, red-eyed, from the chair he'd dragged over and rubbed her knuckles in a greeting. He smirked slightly and nodded to the warrior curled up beside Gabrielle. "She had a bad dream," he explained. "And then you did," he continued, a little embarrassed, and let go of her hand. Gabrielle smiled at him, hating that she always made him so nervous.

"Get some rest," she whispered to him.

"I'm not tired." He replied, then yawned like a lion. She quirked an eyebrow at him. "What I mean is, I'm just waking up. You know how you yawn when you're ... ... I'm gonna go get something to eat."

She pretended to sleep, and a moment later, she heard him get into the other bed. He began snoring almost immediately.