"What in the name of me is this place?" Ares snarled, kicking futilely at a sloping wall. The material gave slightly, but immediately bounced back. Their prison was tastefully, albeit pinkly, decorated with silks and furs, the centerpiece being the enormous circular bed that was literally smothered by soft pillows of all shapes and sizes.

Xena's tired voice wafted over from the bed. "Give it up, Ares. I already tried that."

Ares pulled away pillows until he found Xena. "You know," he said, "he's not letting us out of here until we... get busy, as he terms it, so—"

"Shut up." She sat up, scowling. "This is all a big game to you, isn't it? Ever since you showed up back in that prison three years ago, all you've been doing is messing with my head."

"If you hadn't hurt me by leaving in the first place..."

"You dangle me on your strings and feed me a wagonload of lies."

"I never lied to you!"

"Deceived, manipulated, whatever you want to call it. Wrap it in your pretty little words, but in the end--" Xena's hand slashed at a pillow angrily, and it flew off the bed, bounced off the wall, and landed on Ares' shoulder, where it immediately burst in a nova of feathers.

"Godsdammit, Xena!"

"Oh, shut up." She picked up another pillow and, with impeccable aim, dropped it on his head.

"How do you know that this wanton violence isn't making me more—"

This time, the pillow was in his mouth. As he spat a few feathers from his mouth, he heard a tiny laugh. His chest felt hot and tight, strange pride rushing through it. He could make her laugh.

"All right, that's it," Ares growled happily, and picked up a pillow.

The pillows had to be magical. They bounced off the walls with no visible loss of kinetic energy, but upon contact with skin, they instantly transformed into a flurry of feathers. Ares soon found himself in the middle of an expanding cloud of white. He carefully judged his shot, and sent his pillow rebounding off of the wall. Xena dodged, and he stepped into her path so that the resulting collision dropped them both onto the bed.

The shock of skin on skin stilled the warriors.

Frozen, they lay facing each other. Their leathers were gone, leaving only a thin shift on Xena and soft trousers on Ares. His hand was clasped around her wrist, and he felt her pulse increase. He tightened his grip when she moved to pull away.

"Wait. Xena, I was... wrong. To lie. I..."

His eyes were unguarded and open-- rich chocolate-- beautiful. Xena vaguely registered his breath on her lips, mingling with her own, before the sensation of warm smoothness. Full and soft, his mouth slowly moved across hers, and her mind was empty of everything except him. His scent, his warmth. She closed her eyes and imagined that it was just Ares, the man, and the god wasn't there anymore.

Of course, it was just make-believe.

She turned her head away and rolled onto her side, watching feathers drift slowly down onto her outstretched arm like snowflakes. After a while, she felt his arm slip hesitantly around her waist. Quietly, comfortably, they drifted off to sleep.

x x x

Xena woke the next morning to find herself in Ares' bedroll, facing identical rictuses of surprise on the faces of Joxer and Gabrielle, and she nearly dismissed the experience as a dream before seeing the soft white feather resting in her hand, fluttering in the breeze.

"This is not what it looks like"

As she started to get up from his bedroll quickly and in the process waking Ares up, Gabrielle and Joxer's jaws dropped as they stared at her.

"Ahh, Xena I think you might want this," a groggy Ares said as he nervously jumped up to cover her.

To her horror, Xena was wearing a skimpier version of Aphrodite's Love Goddess outfit in Lavender & Diamonds. The material was of the sheerest kind she had ever seen. It seemed more like the jewels were glued to her rather than to any material.

"I'm gonna murder that son of a bacchae if it's the last thing I do!!!" Then she abruptly turned to Ares, who had remained behind her, and burst out laughing at his hot pink silk pajamas and the feathers in his hair.

At the sound of her laughter, Ares suddenly had no desire to look down. Cautiously, he braved a glance and instantly paled. Pink!?! He was sorely tempted to agree with Xena's earlier death threat, before he remembered that, unfortunately, he was tied to that henbane smoking, pink-loving nutball. "Maybe we could just wound him. Really, really badly." He was pretty sure that wounding this world's God of Love wouldn't adversely affect his own person.

Both warriors shared a somber moment, deliberating both their costumes and the issue of doing bodily harm to the God of Love, when snickering interrupted their thoughts.

Simultaneously, they turned to see Gabrielle and Joxer snickering most amusedly. The two shared a glance before Joxer managed to get out, "Not what it looks like? You sure you two didn't pay a visit to my brother Jace's dance club?"

Xena very nearly snarled - something about being clad in Aphrodite-esque clothing made her temper remarkably short. Ares snapped at Gabrielle, "You know, Blondie, instead of just sniggering over there, you might use... my powers to fix this."

"Or, I could just zap you into something even more unpleasant," Gabrielle grinned, still having a hard time controlling her laughter.

Swiftly intervening, Xena shot out, "We don't have time for this." In a kinder tone, she turned to her friend, "Gabrielle, if you wouldn't mind..."

Once the warriors were safely back into their traditional leathers and armor, Xena did her best to take stock of the situation while ignoring Gabrielle's questioning glances. "Well, it looks like neither of our alternate selves are going to be much use… We need to find Callisto and the other Joxer and get our bearings in this place."

"Actually," Ares could have kicked himself for even bringing it up, "that bleached travesty to leather might be of some use, if we can keep him focused on the right goals and, preferably, if I could avoid the traumatizing image of seeing myself like that again."

Xena knew that there was a story behind that, but she let it go for the moment. "Fine, we'll send Hercules..." she paused, remembering the demigod's comments about the Sovereign. "Or, maybe Gabrielle should go. Joxer, you can find Hercules. Ares, try to find out if the other Joxer is going to be of any use to us, and I'll track down Callisto and see if she has any ideas on the 'Then what?' about Dahak."

Posts issued, and the issue of Xena and Ares' nocturnal disappearance momentarily forgotten, everyone made haste to exit the campsite. Their alternate selves were proving more troublesome by the minute, and nobody wanted to stay in this universe any longer than was absolutely necessary.

As Ares was just about to head back to Joxer's hideout, he felt a hand close on his arm and turned to see Xena regarding him intensely. "Stay away from... her... we don't want to test her intellect..."

Trying to still his feelings over Xena's apparent concern, Ares shrugged. "Not to worry, Princess, I have about as much desire to meet that harpy again, as I do to meet my own alternate ego." He leaned closer, voice lowered, "Especially when I have visions of your bejeweled self," and ducked away before Xena could smack him for the comment.

Shaking her head, Xena tried to remove feather-tinged fantasies from her head and focus on the goal - a plan for stopping Dahak, once and for all.

Deciding to head toward the nearest temple dedicated to the Love God, Xena spotted an old woman by the main road selling flowers.

"Why not," she said stepping forward to browse her selection.

Picking a particularly exquisite white rose to sniff, she suddenly thought wistfully about her first glimpse of her Ares.

A seventeen year old Xena slipped into the steaming waters of the tub after an exhausting day. She'd been feeling tense all day, since her practice session with Lyceus in the predawn had been interrupted by a group of wannabe thugs. All of a sudden in the middle of the fight she had felt someone sneak up behind her and thrust her sword-hilt backwards, only to meet with thin air.

It had thrown her off for all of 2 seconds but it was enough to have gotten her killed if she hadn't thought fast and kicked her opponent where it would do the most damage, bringing him to his knees. That feeling that someone was there watching her had stayed with her all day and had only irritated her more as she strived to locate where it was coming from.

Now, as she tried to release the tension with a nice hot bath, the feeling was lulling her to sleep, until she felt a warm hand slipping from her face to her shoulders and opened her eyes to see a beautifully perfect white rose held in front of her by a strong gauntlet- encased hand

She gasped at the intrusion but stared at the proffered gift. On closer inspection she realized it was not just a simple rose, but metal shaped into the form of a white rose.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" he had asked, then proceeded to pluck one of the petals, "But deadly, just as you are." he finished as he threw the petal towards the back wall, letting it imbed itself in the hard wood of the support beam.

Fascinated, she watched her hand reach up and take the flower from the hand. Snapping out of her trance, she shot to her feet and spun to face— empty space.

She found the cold metal of the stem in her hand again, burning into her palm as her mouth stretched open in a soundless scream. Lyceus' beautiful blond curls bounced on the mud, streaks of red smeared across their roots.

Her throat felt raw when she finally found her voice. "Lyceus!" The hoarse scream bubbled from her mouth as her hand came up automatically and hurled the rose. The razor-sharp tip of the stem drove into the warrior's neck. He touched the petals with a surprised expression etched on his face before crumpling slowly beside Lyceus' body.

Xena stared at the man she'd killed. Killed. With her hands. A bearded man clothed in leather reached down and plucked the stained rose from the warrior's corpse. Raising it in salute, his mouth twisted in a dark smile that seemed too familiar. Xena watched a trickle of blood run down the glinting stem, and she decided that she felt nothing.

Xena watched her hand shaking as she clenched it hard around the stem of the white rose. When she saw the tiny rivulet of blood on the stem, she realized that she hadn't felt the sting of the thorns jabbing into her hand.

"Xena?" Ares' voice said behind her.

She watched him as he took the flower from her with a concerned frown. His eyes were warm this time.

"You're bleeding," he whispered, and brought her fingers to his mouth all the while staring straight into her eyes with a resigned concern as though he knew what had brought this on.

The contact of his lips on her fingers snapped her out of her trance and she pulled away quickly. "I'm fine. I thought you were supposed to be in the rebel camp?" she said with a harsher tone than intended.

"Well, I was headed in that direction, but..." Ares looked down and for a moment, just a moment, he looked embarrassed but sincere at the same time and at a loss for words. He looked at her and shrugged slightly. "I thought... Xena, about last night..."

Xena averted her eyes for a moment. Talking about what had happened was embarrassing, but it wasn't because what had happened to them hadn't been...pleasant. No, it was because she didn't think she could have gotten satisfaction from their encounter and more importantly, that she shouldn't have. He shouldn't make me feel that way, she thought.

Xena sighed. "Ares...what happened...happened. Let's just move on, all right?"

Ares moved a little closer to her, cocking his head, his voice almost whispering. "Don't tell me you didn't feel anything."

For a moment, the glint was back in his eye, the way he would always get when he knew that he knew something she wasn't telling him. It was that self-centered look, that he knew more about her than what she was letting on. He smirked a little but soon that smirk was gone from his face when he saw the annoyance in her eyes.

"You don't know what I felt. What happened - it wasn't really us. It was the God of Love's doing – his matchmaker mind at work. That's all."

"Really." The cockiness was back in his voice. "Then why do you seem so...embarrassed about it?"

Annoyed and getting angry, Xena shook her head. "You always do this. Twist my words around to fit your liking. And I'm tired of it."

Xena turned around and began to walk in the direction she had been heading before stopping at the flower stand. Ares watched as she walked away, almost guiltily. He'd blown it. He had wanted to have a sincere conversation about the night before, but his ego had gotten in the way...again. Xena turned a corner, disappearing behind a thick line of trees, and Ares sighed.

Xena stopped behind the trees, off the main road, and closed her eyes, frustrated with Ares and with herself. It was so difficult to talk to him about this sort of thing – she had too much pride to let him see a weakness in her. And what happened the night before had brought out a weakness that she did not know she had, at least not for Ares. Xena sighed. Just concentrate on the situation at hand. Gotta find Callisto, gotta stop Dahak. There's no time to worry about any feelings I may be having...

Her thoughts were abruptly interrupted.

"Xena?"

Xena turned around to see Ares standing a few feet in front of her. ...for him, her thoughts finally finished. He had a sincere and perhaps even an apologetic look on his face – it was clear he had not wanted to make Xena angry with him...yet again.

Xena opened her mouth to speak but Ares raised his hand to stop her.

"Xena, just listen, all right?" He walked forward slowly, and she stayed put, watching him. "Maybe you didn't feel anything..." he looked down, "but I did. It's not something I know how to explain, but no woman has made me feel the way you do. And I want to blame it all on that crazy love god who's wearing my face but...I can't." Ares sighed. "So make what you want of the events of last night. You know where I stand."

Xena stared at him for the longest moment, neither of them saying a word. For just a second, she wondered if this had been a trick, since she had never heard anything really sincere come out of his mouth since, well, ever. But the look in his eyes had her realizing that it couldn't have been a trick – the way he told her, the way he looked, it was all too genuine to be lies. Has mortality really changed him? she thought to herself.

"Well," Xena started to say, wanting to break the uncomfortable silence, "you should probably head to the rebel camp and talk to the other Joxer. I need to find Callisto."

Ares nodded. "Will do."

Ares walked off back in the direction he had come from.

Xena watched him for a long moment, then sighed.

"I felt something, too, Ares," she said quietly to herself, then headed on down the road.

x x x

Xena found Callisto next to a dried-up riverbed, combing through a wave of wet hair. "Hello, Xena. Did you sleep well?"

Xena looked away for a moment, thinking of the events of last night. If things had gone just a little farther, we might have . . . Oh, snap out of it! " I've sent Ares to find Joxer . . . your Joxer. We'll need to find out just what kind of help . . . or threat . . . this other Xena is going to be for us."

"Don't waste your time, my dear. She's nothing."

"But she – "

Callisto held up something that glinted in the sunlight. Xena stepped closer and saw that the item was a dagger with a wavy-edge and a jewel-encrusted handle. "Looks like a sacrificial dagger. Where'd you get it?"

"Her chambers. She had them under heavy lock and key, but," Callisto grinned rakishly, "I have ways of getting around that kind of thing."

"I'll bet you do." Xena gave a half-smile and continued, "But what is it?"

"The Dagger of Helios."

Xena's eyes widened. "One of the weapons that can kill a god? You mean . . . "

"She doesn't have the power to kill gods any more than you or I do. She's been . . . cheating."

"And now . . . we have it."

"You got it."

x x x

Ares stumbled his way back toward the rebel camp, looking for their leader and hoping to avoid both his alternative self and Xena's. All along the way, he couldn't help thinking about what had happened the night before. It's a good thing it didn't go any further than it did, Ares thought. Otherwise, I might've wound up on the wrong end of the Warrior Princess' chakram. Wait, a chakram doesn't have an end. Oh, Tartarus. Who cares? He kicked the dirt furiously as he walked.

Finally, he found the alternate-world Joxer in one of the main halls of the underground caves. He was talking with a short, muscular young woman, apparently giving some orders. He then dismissed her, and she left through one of the many doors in the hall. He nodded to Ares to approach.

Ares spoke first. "Xena sent me to find you. We need to act qui-"

Joxer cut him off with a sense of urgency. "I'm glad you're here. There's no time to be lost. Xena . . . the Xena from this world, that is, has disappeared. This morning she was frantic, saying something was missing. She raged for half an hour, tearing her room apart, and she badly injured one of my men. Then she ran out, screaming something about Dahak.

Ares was taken aback, but replied sardonically, "Really? She seemed so . . . down-to-earth when I met her last night."

Joxer rushed on, "Ares, we've just had word from one of our spies that she's back at the Sovereign's castle. Seems she's planning a full-out onslaught. For tonight."

x x x

Hercules was running through the forest at a pace that only he could keep. Suddenly, a flash of red-gold light not ten feet in front of him stopped him. The goddess Hera stood proudly in front of him. The demigod stood gaping for a moment. Could this really be Hera? Instead of her usual cool palette of blue, green, and black, she wore a lush red gown with gold embroidery, and was crowned with what looked like glowing yellow stars. Her eyes were the same pale blue, only now they sparked warmly, not mockingly, in her regal face.

"You must be Hercules. I've been watching you." There was something in the way she spoke, something that had great power – it was a sense of time - time that was running out.

"Hera? You . . . "

Seeing that the man was speechless, she continued. "I know everything. I've been watching you and your friends ever since you arrived in this world. You want to destroy Dahak."

She waited for Hercules to acknowledge this with a nod.

"You must reach him somehow before he enters this world. He is not of this world. He has another realm, far out of our own time and space. He is trying to create a bridge in the ether between our world and his. Zeus and I were holding him back, but now . . . "

"Zeus is dead." Hercules looked down, biting his lip hard and balling his fists.

"Yes. Dahak grows stronger with every passing day. The other gods and I cannot reach him – we are bound to this realm. You – must act quickly. He is building his bridge over the palace, where his minions are in charge. You will only have moments to act before he will be able to cross over. You must get to him first."

"But how can we kill him?" Hercules asked.

"You will find the right weapon when the time comes. You will need someone of immortal blood to go with you and fight Dahak. Go, and quickly!"

A red-gold light surrounded Hera, and she vanished.

HERA!" Hercules yelled as soon as she vanished, but she didn't come back. He let out a frustrated yell and punched a tree near by.

x x x

Ares arrived back at camp and was rushing to tell Xena about Alt-Xena when..
"OW!" Ares looked down to see Hercules on the ground rubbing his head.

"Hercules, move out of my way," Ares said while Hercules was getting up.

"No, I need to tell Xena something very important, Ares. You don't understand."

Ares was getting more heated by the second.

"Oh I think I understand perfectly. Now Hercules, move, or you'll regret it."

"Whatcha gonna do Ares?" Hercules was enjoying getting Ares heated. "Throw a fireball at me? Wait! I forgot! You can't!"

"Oh, little brother, I can do more that that!"

Ares tackled Hercules right in the middle of his stomach, which sent them rolling downhill near camp.

x x x

Alt-Xena ran to the Sovreign's castle as fast as she could. How could I be so stupid?! How did I lose my most valuable possession? Where is it?!!

She had to find her, to tell her what had happened.

The closer Alt-Xena got to the Sovereign's castle, the darker the sky got. It was almost a dark purple, but the clouds were closer to black.
"Ah, home at last." Alt-Xena smiled evilly. She arrived at the entrance of the castle.

"Ooh, new decorations?" Alt-Xena said, looking at the door knocker, which was in the shape of a skull.

Right before she reached the skull to knock on the door, the door opened.

She heard someone talking, so she followed the noise. Who...?

She saw a back view of someone in a white robe, talking to many people.
"There was once a girl who was full of evil and hate. So Dahak, hearing about this, wanted to cure her of this evil inside of her. He believed that anyone can be purified. He sent for her, and taught her all the good he knows. This shows that Dahak is the one and only good god, and he can accomplish anything, no matter how horrible your past is. Is this how the gods treat you?"

The crowd replied with a firm "No!"

"Then we should stop them! We deserve equality and respect! Dahak will give us that!"

The crowd started clapping wildly.

Alt-Xena gave an inquiring look while she continued to walk closer. She came closer to the white-robed human. Her heart was racing, and she tried to tip-toe across the red, velvety carpeting that led toward the altar, even though to her it sounded like a huge boulder was being dropped within each step she took.

Her voice trembled, "Um, uh, ex-excuse me, but do I know you?"

The white-robed person turned around and took off her hood to reveal dark-brown hair, twisted into two weird buns on either side of the head. Althea smiled at Alt-Xena and greeted her with a friendly handclasp.

"So you're the one I'm supposed to meet?", Alt-Xena inquired.

"If you're Xena, I am." Althea smiled. "We have much work to do if we are to accomplish my master's mission." She reached out a hand toward Alt-Xena. "Come. I'll explain everything in my chambers."

Alt-Xena looked at Althea and then grinned a sinister smile. She followed Althea down the hallway leading into a dark area of the palace.

In a quiet forest where birds sang and a babbling brook meandered along through the underbrush, shaded by the tall trees, the calm serenity of the forest was suddenly interrupted when Ares and Hercules came rolling down the hill and tumbling into the brook. They let go of each other and moved back, both soaking wet.

Ares pointed an accusing finger at Hercules. "You know, this is all your fault."

"Yeah, of course you'd say that. Never wanting to take responsibility for your actions."

"I'm getting real tired of you, little brother."

"The feeling is mutual."

Ares and Hercules stood up wiping off as much water off their cloths as possible. Hercules looked at Ares.

"Just stay away from Xena and I'll stay out of your way."

Ares cocked his head moving toward Hercules. "Stay away from Xena?"

"Yeah. Your obsession with her is as clear as rain. And I'm not going to have you trying to corrupt her...for a second time."

Ares moved closer to Hercules, getting right up in his face in a threatening manner. "You really have to be a goody, goody, don't you? Well, for your information, maybe corrupting Xena isn't on my list of things to do anymore."

Hercules grinned. "Yeah, I guess not. What power would the ex-God of War have over her, anyway?"

That was the last straw. Hercules' persistent nagging attitude toward Ares got on his last nerve. He snarled and attacked Hercules again, landing a punch to his face. They began to fight once more, still standing in the middle of the brook, slugging it out, swinging at each other like two men in the middle of a tavern brawl.

They both swung a few good punches at each other, brushing each others' faces. Then Hercules tackled Ares and wrapped his arm around Ares' neck and held him down until Ares kicked him in the leg and sent Hercules staggering back. Ares jumped Hercules again and pushed him down to into the water. He landed over him and raised his hand for one more punch to his face when a lightening bolt suddenly shot out from nowhere and struck in between Hercules and Ares, sending the two of them flying back in opposite directions, both landing on their backs in the brook.

Gabrielle stepped up to the brook, looking down at Ares and Hercules, then lowering her hand.

Gabrielle did not look very pleased and, for a moment, she had an angry look that looked very close to one of Xena's own. "Enough, you two. We don't have time for this."

Xena stepped up next to Gabrielle. She was scowling at both Hercules and Ares. Hercules looked embarrassed for the way he had acted. Hercules stood up from the river and walked over to Xena.

"Xena, I'm sorry for letting Ares get to me again. I know it isn't the time for petty grudges."

She put her hand up, sighing. She was slightly annoyed with the way things had been going between Hercules and Ares. "Let's just go. We need to get back to camp. We have some things to talk about."

Hercules nodded and headed off, Gabrielle following.

Xena lingered for a moment. She turned to see Ares standing up from the brook, looking at her. Xena walked up to him.

"Look, Xena..."

She put her hands on her hips, her face stern. "I'm getting tired of this, Ares. This thing with you and Hercules - put it behind you. We have more important things to deal with. So I don't want you picking fights with him anymore."

"Me, pick fights with him? Please! He --"

Xena raised a finger to silence him. "You're as much to blame as Hercules—and I'm tried of this constant conflict between the two of you. It ends now, got it?"

Ares slowly nodded his head, not wanting to disagree with Xena anymore. She could really kick his ass now that he was mortal and he knew it.

"The only way we're going to be able to defeat Dahak is if we work together, and that can't happen if you two can't get along for more that two minutes."

Ares looked down. She had a point. It was just that Hercules always got on his nerves and it was hard to resist pummeling his half-brother whom he had never cared one ounce for. But if they were going to stop Dahak, he needed to listen to Xena. Otherwise, everything could go to Tartarus. Besides, he didn't like it when Xena was sore with him.

"Fine. I'll try to get along..."

"Good," Xena said, and turned to leave.

She heard Ares' voice behind her. "He told me to stay away from you." Xena stopped and glanced back at him. "It set me off and all I wanted to do was hurt him...because of it." Ares looked down for a brief moment. "He believes I want to corrupt you again."

"And you don't..."

Xena turned around and continued to look at him. Part of her knew why it made him so angry…that Hercules was trying to protect her from Ares. She knew the things he'd done to her -- and how he was part of the reason she turned into a monster all those years ago. But, standing there as a mortal, looking at her with his eyes so different from the way they'd been when he was a god, it was hard to think that he might want to do that again.

Ares moved closer to her. "No...I don't."

He moved even closer to her but Xena did not move back. His eyes were gentle and she didn't know if she could turn away from them. He moved closer and their lips just barely touched. She didn't know why she let him get so close -- but she couldn't help responding to his kiss.

Their lips meeting a brief moment, Xena's head was no longer in control of her actions. It felt really good to kiss him, even if their lips were just brushing against one another—it sent shivers down her spine and, no doubt, down Ares' as well. But her senses quickly got the better of her and just as the kiss was heading in the direction of possibly becoming passionate, she pulled back and looked at him. She wasn't sure what to say—and neither was he—so they stood in silence for a long moment, at a loss for words.

"Xena, you coming?" Gabrielle shouted from the clearing not far away.

Xena and Ares both sighed with relief that Gabrielle had interrupted their uncomfortable silence. Neither of them knew how to respond to what had just happened between them. Their defenses had been down and it made them both uneasy.

"I'm coming!" Xena shouted.

She looked at Ares once -- it was uncomfortable to look at him, but pleasant and warming at the same time. With a silent nod toward him, she turned around and walked briskly back toward where they had set up camp.

Ares sighed. As he watched Xena walk away his faced showed a bit of warm happiness and a small smile crept across his lips. I'm finally getting to her, he thought, and followed Xena back to camp.