"Where's my daughter?!"

After, a second of stunned silence, realization finally struck Ultra Father. There was only one logical choice for who he could possibly be talking about. The one who must have been the cause for this whole uprising. Suddenly, Ultra Father got a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach, when he came to the conclusion that this whole thing was "their" fault! They caused this, not the Twilohites!

When all this suddenly dawned on him, Ultra father was at loss for words, and possibly for the first time in forever, didn't know what to say. His facial expression of fierceness fell, and was replaced by one of serious thought.

Sarak, noticed the sudden mood change in his rival, and took it as an immediate sign that he did, in fact, know the whereabouts of his daughter. This, only seemed to further enrage him.

"So, you do know why we've come!" it wasn't a question. "You may see "us" as savages, but in our eyes "you" are!" after drawing in a sharp breath he continued, "You started this war, but we intend to finish it!" he then lifted his leaser gun, aiming at Ultra Father.

"Wait!" Ultra Father shouted, lifting up a hand motioning for him to stop. "Listen to me! There is no need for any of this!"

Giving an irritable grunt, Sarak said, in an almost mocking tone, "No need?"he then slightly lowers his aim. "There's "no need" to defend ourselves, our home, or our children, from…from you whoremongers?!"

Ultra Father was slightly taken aback by such an insult, but quickly recovered. "Listen to me, your daughter, she's-," he was then abruptly cut off by the general.

"Shut up! You don't even have the right to speak of my daughter. You've undoubtedly slaughtered her,…and I shall see to it that her blood is avenged! Even if it means the obliteration of this whole world!" he then lowers his voice to a hoarse whisper, "You will pay for what you've done."

Then without hesitation or warning, Sarak again, took aim with his gun, which was set to kill, and fired at him. Ultra Father gasped in surprise, but barely had the time to react due to its immense speed. Now, just as the death ray was about to make contact with its unprepared target, a voice of protest was immediately heard. "No!"was shouted at the exact moment, someone had jumped up, knocking Ultra Father out of fire rage. They were both sent barreling to the ground from the hard impact of the leaser striking the isolated wall where Ultra Father would have been.

After hitting the floor along with whoever had just shoved him out of the way, Ultra Father quickly looked to his side, trying to see who it had been. He couldn't tell at first because of all the dust and smoke in the air, but after a second it cleared enough so that he could make out who it was. Once he did, he choked out a shocked gasp, before saying his name, "Taro…?"

Taro, began to lift up himself, and gave a light moan, while placing a hand to the side of his now throbbing head, since it hit the floor. Thinking he heard his father say his name, he tried to respond, "Father?"

That was all Ultra Father needed to hear! Without taking a moment longer to think, he got up on one knee, and instinctively grabbed his son by the shoulders and pulled him into a tight hug. This sudden action took Taro by surprise, and caused him to suck in a breath, since he almost couldn't breathe. But, that didn't stop Taro from hugging his father back, since he was just as equally happy to see him. But, their reunion was short lived when a certain party began to interject.

"Enjoy your family moment while you can, because it's the last one you will ever have!" Sarak stated harshly while preparing to fire again, without the slightest intention of missing.

The two Ultras quickly released each other out of their embrace and stood up. Ultra Father attempting to protect his son from further harm, stood in front of him. He then held a hand out to his side, motioning for him to stay back. But Taro, not willing to be shielded by his father, brushed past him and stood forward.

"Stop! You don't have to do this!"

"Shut up!" Sarak shouted back.

"No! There's no reason for any of this!"

Sarak growled at that, before shooting back with, "Fools! I said, I'd get vengeance for my daughter, Xena! And, nothing will stand in my way. Nothing!"

Taro, froze at the Generals' statement, before saying, "Xena, is your daughter?"

"Yes, and your people killed her without reason! Now, you will all suffer the consequences!"

"No, listen to me! I'm the one who took your daughter!"

"Taro!" Ultra Father said, knowing what his son was doing.

"This is all my fault, so you can do whatever you want with me, but leave my people alone. I'm the one to blame, " Taro spoke sternly, unafraid of what was about to befall him.

Sarak remained silent, while processing what this Ultraman had just confessed. But, after a moment the general narrowed his one eye in Taro's direction, before saying coldly, "Then so be it." He then quickly cocked his gun and prepared to shoot. Ultra Father of course protested, but everything seemed oblivious to Sarak, except for the one person who he assumed was his daughters murderer. Nothing else in the world could have stopped him from pulling the trigger in that very moment…. except for a certain familiar voice.

"Father, don't!"

Sarak, froze on the spot, not believing what he heard to be true. Before he made up his mind whether to turn and look or not, the owner of the voice saved him the trouble, and approached him from the side. He then lowered his weapon in utter shock and confusion, as he could immediately tell who it was.

"Xena…is that really you," his voice became softer now, as he faced his daughter, "But, how? I thought that they had…"

"Yeah, well you were wrong!" her voice was filled with spite. "Just look at what you've done,…and for what?!"

"But-!"

"No! Now, it's my time to talk! And you are going to listen!" she quickly snapped.

Everyone else remained silent. No one had even seemed to take notice of Ace, who had just caught up with the others and was now standing by Taro. It was evident that Xena had wanted to have this talk for a long time.

"All my life I wanted to make you proud of me,…to show that I could be as good a warrior as you someday. But, were you supportive and encouraging, like a father should have been? Not at all! After mother died, the first chance you got, you shipped me off to a military academy, were they pounded me into becoming the soldier I am today!...And now, looking at you , I realize what a fool I was, for wanting nothing more in life than your "approval." Which, I never got!" she paused a moment trying to straighten out her thoughts, and began again. "So tell me,…" she started, crossing her arms and looking her father straight in the eye, "how come after all this time, of you seeing me as if I didn't even exist,…and now , suddenly you send all of Twiloh into an uproar, and attack a peaceful planet, as a result of my mere pitiful disappearance? I was nothing to you before, aren't I still nothing?!"

Sarak, didn't know what to say at first and for a split second wore a look of regret. But, it was short lived, and his face was now just as hard as ever. He stared at Xena with anger evident in his eye, before quickly stepping forward and hitting her flat across the face with a great deal of force. This took everyone by surprise, everyone; however, except Xena, who managed to keep a straight face and looked as if she had been expecting it.

"How dare you take that tone with me!," he breathed heavily. "It is not your place to question my motives, nor is it for you to show, such disrespect for your commanding officer, and father I might add! Do you understand me?!"

When Xena didn't make the slightest attempt to respond and deliberately avoided his stare, he growled in fury, grabbing her by the hair (causing her to give a quick gasp) and lifted his armor plated hand, in order to pound some sense into her.

"Stop!" Taro shouted, grabbing sarak's his arm and punching him in the face, making him let go of Xena. Taro, then quickly stepped protectively in front of her, which earned a couple of confused looks from the other Twilohites present. "I won't let you hurt her again!"

That statement rather surprised Xena, but she was grateful none the less.

"She's none of your concern!" Sarak snapped.

"Well, I'm making her my concern, so why don't you just back off!"

Just about this time, commander Zoffy, and Ultraman had partly recovered from their previous injuries, and were now standing off on the sidelines, trying to put together what was happening.

"What exactly is going on here?" Ultraman asked, clearly confused at the complicated scene before them.

"I don't know, but we better try to get in touch with the other Ultra brothers, and tell to get here quick, before anything else happens," Zoffy then looked to see that one of the entrances was clear and turned to ultraman. " Let's go that way."

"Alright, through all this confusion no one will probably even notice."

While these two were making their getaway, general Sarak was getting impatient. He was about to continue his argument with Taro, when he noticed Xena placing a hand on Taros upper arm, (probably trying to give him confidence). When Taro glanced at her in recognition, making no attempt to remove her, it suddenly dawned on Sarak that their connection to one another was obviously more than what he had previously thought. This sudden realization, just seemed to put him over the edge.

"So that's it?!" he asked looking at the both of them in disgust. "You wish to rather betray your own people, so you can be shamefully joined with this…this..subspecies!"

Taro, at first looked confused, not sure what he meant by that. Then looking down at Xena, and seeing her shocked expression at her father's words, it quickly dawned on him, and he probably would have blushed if it wasn't such a serious situation. Once, concealing his embarrassment, he was about to object to what sarak was insinuating, when Xena shocked him by making a sudden confession.

"Yes! …Yes, I would much rather be inter joined with a member of the Ultra race, then keep my ridiculous loyalty, to an incriminating barbaric society, such as Twiloh! That place I once called home, means nothing to me, now that I can see it's true colors! All it is, is a bloody battle field wanting nothing but war, and that's all it ever has been, because of leaders like you! I was just too blind to see it, until now!"

"Foolish girl! I should-" Saraks outrage was cut off by Xena.

"No! I am not the fool here,…you are!"

"Me?! I-."

"Yes, and if you had any sense, would put an end to this fight between our two colonies, which you so pointlessly started!"

Sarak, remained silent as if thinking about what she just said.

Just then, Ultraman, Zoffy, Jack, seven, and Zero!, who had just made a miraculous recovery, (thanks to Ultra Mother) burst into the large corridor of the plasma spark tower! Zoffy, who was in front, boldly shouted, "Everyone lower your weapons!"

"No! Stand your ground!" Sarak shouted to his men.

The twelve twilohite soldiers, who were present, looked at each other for a moment, trying to decide what to do, since they were realizing that what Xena had said made a lot of sense.

Xena, immediately noticed their struggle within themselves, and took the chance to try to convince them to do the right thing, since she knew that her father was a hopeless case.

"The decision you make could affect the rest of your lives,…"she paused a moment to watch their expressions, "be sure it's the right one. Do you choose war, or peace."

After looking among themselves and then at all the Ultras who were lined up readying to fire their beams, they finally slowly began to lower their weapons, before dropping them straight to the ground.

"No, you fools!" Sarak shouted, who was still tightly clutching his heavy gun.

The Ultras had collected all the Twilohites guns, and were now leading most them out the door, along with Xena who was very eager to get to the others and tell them to stop the fight. She was on her way out with the others when she suddenly stopped to look back at her father, who she had almost forgotten about. She saw him standing there with his gun in hand looking straight ahead at someone, but it wasn't her. Just then she noticed Taro and a few other Ultras coming towards him. One was Taro's father and the other two she didn't know who they were, but one had these two sharp things on his head, and the other had just one. She couldn't hear what they were saying, but she figured it was something about his gun, since she could see him glancing at it. She was surprised to see him just hand over his weapon to Taro's father without a fight. But, that, of course, was something he would never do, so she quickly became suspicious of his actions. She decided to closely watch him for awhile.

As Ultra Father, Zero and Seven, were walking back to the others, Taro stayed a moment longer, perhaps to smooth things out with Sarak.

"I hope you'll choose to do the right thing."

Sarak merely shrugged with a grunt, not even bothering to look at him. Taro, gave a low sigh as he turned and began to walk away from him. Sarak looked up as he watched the ultra depart, and as he reached for something strapped on to his upper leg, he whispered to himself, "I choose war!"

Xena, gasped as she saw her father pull out a long machete knife, and was preparing to hurl it straight at Taro! Who, unfortunately, had his back to him. And she knew it wasn't going to miss him!

"Taro, look out!" she yelled as loud as she could, as she made her way to Taro.

All heads turned to the sound of the warning, but since it all happened so fast, no one had a chance to react in time.

Taro, had turned around just as Xena lunged herself at him, grabbing his shoulders, and shielding his body with her own. Before he knew what happened, the machete knife, which was aimed at him, had swiftly impaled itself right into Xenas back. Xena immediately dug her nails painfully into Taros shoulders, while letting out an agonized gasp.

"Xena!" Taro shouted, horrified. He had instinctively grabbed both her upper arms, as to support her to him. Taro, looked to the general with anger burning in his eyes. "You! You did this to her!"

Before, Sarak could give any sort of reaction, Zero, who had witnessed the whole scene, quickly without second thought, seized both his eye sluggers and hurled them, simultaneously, at the clearly insane Twilohite. Sarak barely saw them coming, before they had slashed up his body several different ways at lightning speed. Sarak stood, completely stunned for a moment, just before giving a long yell, and blowing up in a heap of fire and smoke. Zero, then caught both his eye sluggers, before placing them back on his head. Zero, probably would have said something arrogant, but chose against it, when he saw a sorrowful scene beginning to unfold.

Taro held Xena's almost lifeless body, tightly up against his chest, as he painfully watched a tear beginning to roll down her face. As she faintly looked him in the eyes, he could sense her beginning to slip away. As she could no longer support any of her own weight, Taro slowly lowered her partly to the floor, but being careful not to lay her down completely flat because of the knife still in her back. As he continued to hold her dying form in his arms, he was totally oblivious to everyone else present. He hadn't even noticed when his brother Ace left to get a medic.

"Taro…" Xena weakly spoke between her labored breathes. She slowly started lifting up her hand, which Taro anxiously took, and accidently squeezed a bit too hard.

Taro sucked in a breath as he tried to hold back tears. But, It seemed futile as he could feel his eyes beginning to water. He saw Xena attempting to lift up her head towards him, which caused him to lower his. He gently leaned his forehead against hers.

Using her last breath, Xena whispered her last words so that only he could hear then.

'"I love you…" just then her eyes slowly closed, and her grip on Taros hand went suddenly limp.

At that moment Taro felt completely lost. The tears had already started to come, and all he could do was hold on to Xenas lifeless body, as if that would bring her back. But, he knew that she was gone.

Pretty soon after, the medics came and immediately took Xena to an emergency room, though they could tell her chances of survival were very few, due to her severe blood loss. Taro, stayed behind, though, not wanting to have to be told again that she was dead.

While, being around the other Ultra brothers, Taro tried his best to hide his grief, but he knew they could all see right through his anterior. But, none of them said anything about it, which Taro was grateful for. They figured that he was already taking everything to hard, and they didn't want to make it any worse. Especially, Ace, since he knew firsthand what Taro had been through in the last twenty-four hours.

After a short meeting with a few of the Twilohite combat leaders, they and the Ultra Brothers quickly came to the conclusion that this whole thing was a misunderstanding. A major case of rash overreacting, on the part of their forming superior commander, general Sarak. Who they all agreed was a war crazed mad man.

Peace negotiations went on for about an hour, before they all came to a controversial agreement. Ultra Father officially apologized for intruding on their planets desired privacy, which was obvious due to their cloaking device. This led to the Twilohites doing the same, considering all the damage they caused to M78.

Once, both sides agreed on peace between their worlds, the Twilohites returned to their home, hoping to find a more just military leader, than Sarak.

After everything had been cleared up, Ultra mother went to see Taro to give him an update on Xena.

Taro was in his room, sitting on his bed, just trying to piece together everything that had happened. He sat there for a good thirty minutes, before he heard a faint knock on the door. He waited a minute before getting up to answer it, figuring that it was probably more bad news.

Once he finally answered the door, he saw that it was his mother, and let her in, before sitting back on the edge of his bed. He was trying to brace himself for whatever it was she was about to say. She cautiously sat next to him and was uncomfortably silent for a moment, which instantly indicated that she had something unpleasant to tell him.

So, without even looking at her, he glumly began to ask, "Is she..?"

After giving a long sigh, she placed a comforting hand on his upper arm, which he flinched at , before responding, " Well,..the knife had punctured a vital organ within her chest cavity, which led to internal bleeding. Through surgery we were able to stop the bleeding, but…she immediately went into hypovolemic shock, which we weren't able to stop and now…"

"And, now what?" he said looking at her, dreading what the answer would be.

"I'm afraid she's gone into a deep coma,…and we're not sure if she'll ever come out of it."

Taro slowly turned away ,while processing what he had just heard, before burying his face in his hands.

Ultra Mother almost felt her heart begin to break, from seeing her son in such distress. She felt so terrible, knowing that there was nothing she could do to comfort him. Suddenly her motherly instinct kicked in and she placed both her arms around her son, and pulled him against her chest, hugging him as if he was still a child.

Taro was grateful for her support, since he just couldn't bare to be alone right now.

Time just seemed to slip by, day after day, and Xena still hadn't woken up. Three long months had past, and Taro was still struggling with his depression. But, he never even would have made it this long, if it wasn't for his Father, Mother and brother, who continued to stand firmly by him. He tried his best to move on with his life. Being able to teach the children again seemed to help take his mind off things.

Every week , though, he would visit Xena, hoping that something would change and that she would wake up. But every week he went, he left disappointed.

Until, one day when something different happened.

Taro had just finished training the children, and he was in his office getting ready to leave for the day, when Ace urgently came rushing in.

"Taro!"

"Ace, what's wrong?" Taro asked confused.

"It's Xena! You have to come now!"

Taro, immediately dropped what he was doing, and quickly went with Ace to the hospital.

Once they got to Xena's room, Taro anxiously went right in, while Ace stopped to talk to a nurse. He slowly walked up her to the side of her bed, and tried to search her for any sign of movement , which at first there was none. After waiting a couple of minutes and noticing nothing different, he sadly turned around and began to head for the door. Then suddenly he heard a faint noise, which sounded like a moan. He instantly stopped and turned around. Xena slowly began to turn her head in his direction, and a second later her eyes began to open. Taro had almost forgotten how blue her eyes were.

"Taro?"

"Xena!" he said rushing to her side.

She became more lively every second as she quickly sat up and looked around the hospital room. She looked to Taro confused.

"What..What happened?"

Being overwhelmed with joy Taro couldn't even answer her. Before Xena knew what was going on, Taro had bent down, planted both hands on the sides of her face, and firmly pressed his mouth to hers in a passionate kiss. After getting over the surprise , Xena slowly relaxed and rapped both arms around his neck.

It was at this time that Ace walked back into the room.

"Oh-uh, sorry!..I uh guess I'll come back later," he said awkwardly, immediately leaving. But strangely neither of them even noticed.

Once, Xena had made a complete recovery , she decided now that her father was dead, that she should go back to Twiloh. She was eventually promoted to general in her fathers place, and was a much better one than he was. She was sorry about leaving Taro, knowing that she would always miss him, but she promised to visit him every year, around the same time when they first met. Taro continued with his life, and looked forward to her first visit in twelve months from now. And she kept her promise!

Author Note: I hope you've all enjoyed this story, and thank you for reading!