Title: A Treasure Found

Author: Cat

Rating: T (Possible Language and Situations)

Status: In Progress

Summary: Events following A Friend In Need...

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters from the Xena Warrior Princess show or Hercules the Legendary Adventures. I do however own the story line

He knew the moment, he had memorized every second of the memories, playing them back through a viewing portal time and time again. Only to frustrate and anger himself in the end. But now, it paid to have memorized the information, he knew the moment he needed to go to and when he reappeared, he was several centuries in the past in the Halls of Olympus. Before he could gather his baring's a voice snapped his head up.

"Ares?" asked the sweet melody he hadn't heard in forever.

As he turned to face her, his face lit in excitement "Xena" he quickly ran to her pulling her into an embrace.

"I am Xenia, not Xena" she said as she broke the embrace and pushed him back with much force her ice blue eyes snapping "and you most definitely are not my Ares" she stepped back further from him "who are you?"

Ares looked down, realizing now he was dressed in modern jeans and a turtle neck and most assuredly did not look as she would be used to seeing him "I am your Ares, but from the future" he smiled "I came to stop you from this, it is a mistake."

She looked him up and down, her blue eyes taking in the changes in him "You bare the markings of the King and a mortal" she paused "you have come back to stop me you say" her eyes locked with his "but apparently these events have led you to be the King of your Pantheon and most likely those events would be changed if I were to change the path that I am about to take."

Taking a deep breath "You are most likely right" he held her gaze "but you were wrong to trust in me, in him" he motioned the closed door knowing his past self would be there momentarily. "I failed you, I didn't understand what you were doing, I didn't trust in you" his gaze and head dropped, his voice quieter "I failed you and I failed us. Zeus has no intention of making good on the deal and will leave you trapped as a mortal." He looked up at her again, stepping closer "I had hoped if I came here and stopped you that all would corrected."

She smiled warmly "I can see somethings never changed, but Ares if you truly wanted to stop me or change the path, you would have appeared to yourself and told yourself of what was to happen." She too stepped closer "I do not think it is the path you wish to change, just the outcome at the end and we are not the ones to change it, it is laid by the Fates."

"She" he paused "You are my everything, you are my equal, my reason for existing and I have existed for so many lifetimes without you" his head dropped again "I can't go on anymore, there is no reason too." A sigh escaped "It took so long to win her over and now" he shook his head "It doesn't matter."

Reaching up she pushed the spray of grey hair from his forehead "Perhaps she fell in love with the man you became, not the God you thought you were" a soft smile graced her face as her hand trailed down his cheek "I admit I am curious to know him as well" her hand fell back to her side "It is not me you desire or love Ares" her smile did not falter, her eyes lit with a secret "I believe it is the woman I am to become that completely ensnares you" she stepped back from him "I have to go through that door now, in order to become that woman and you have to let me go."

Ares felt defeated again. Her logic was reasonable and as he looked at her now, he knew deep down, she was not the same woman that held him in awe all these years "But she just disappeared and I have searched the world from top to bottom, took the throne by force and have yet to find her."

Again her smile graced him as she stepped closer, pulled him to a hug and whispered "Then she never left would be my guess" she broke the embrace "perhaps you are too far in the past in your search my King" she turned again and walked towards the door, stopping short "If I were you, now that you have the power of time-travel, I would visit the time you last knew her to walk this plane" her hand on the door handle "until we meet again Ares, know my love grows by the moment" she opened the door, crossed the threshold and the door closed.

"And I will fail you time and time again" he whispered. His mind was in torment, she was right, if he had truly wanted this Xena, Xenia, then he would have went to himself and stopped this. No, something deep inside stopped him from that. Closing his eyes, he searched through memories long laid to rest of the time she disappeared. The King of the Gods vanished as the God of War appeared on the other side of the door.

He returned to his penthouse in the states. With a wave of his hand, the wall in the living room disappeared to reveal a secret room, he stepped across the threshold and sealed himself in the secret room. No mortal or god could access this room, he had spent many years creating the magical wards that protected it and everything within it. The room as lined with bookshelves, tables and littered with papers and scrolls. To the left, a small alter to the woman that kept him in constant misery with a broken heart and yet his motivation to keep going in the endless search for what happened to her. "Soon" he said softly will briefly looking to the portrait he had painted himself of her years ago.

Breaking the gaze, he crossed the small room to a desk in the far corner. It was covered with papers, old parchments and books he had gathered over the centuries covering anything to do with the realm of the Fae. He had researched for years, trying to find a veil and a passage to her original home, in hopes that she was there, but had failed time after time, it appeared the veils had been closed. He shoved all of them aside, opened the middle drawer and retrieved a worn leather journal.

Carefully he opened the journal and began paging back through the ancient writings. It was his journal from many lifetimes ago. He had kept it originally tracking battles and warriors, it later became a reference to timelines and events.

He found the notation he was looking for "I have returned from the Abyss. Damn him and all he is. I cannot find her, our bond has been destroyed, she is no longer in this plane or her death has occurred. The old man refuses to tell me which is the truth. I shall continue to search for her, but I will without his knowledge. I am done with Olympus, I will acquire a new power source and all that reside in his Halls be damned. The memories she had shared with me of the future will be valuable in my pursuit of power and it will take power to find a way to her. The bastard had kept memories of her from the past from me, but I have them now and nothing will take them from me. "

Noting the date, he knew that he had been trapped within the Abyss for nearly a year. Zeus had freed him relatively soon after he heard of the fall of the Dark One. Ares shut the journal and replaced it in the drawer. Standing up, he went to the middle of the room. With a thought his clothing transformed from dark jeans and black turtle neck to an old friend of sorts…black leather pants and his leather vest. His pendant lay at his chest, earing secured and sword at hip. He felt like himself for the first time in centuries. Closing his eyes, he concentrated on the timeline he wanted to appear in and the location…in an explosion of light…he vanished.

Ares reappeared in a meadow he had not seen in many years. The time felt right, the area appeared correct and in the distance he could see the construction site for what later would have been a temple to the Dark One. Then he felt it, a sensation he hadn't felt in forever, their connection reestablishing itself, she was near and she was alive.

Using the link as a path to find her, he followed it as it grew stronger. Away from the temple, towards the sea. When he crested the hill, a Roman Settlement came into view. The sensation was growing stronger with each step. He walked the streets in the early morning hours, following the power pulling him towards her. It led him through the small settlement and to a road obviously headed to the ports not far "she was heading home" he thought as he walked faster. The thought to teleport directly to the port ran through his mind as he was now practically running down the dirt road, when he felt the pull change.

He stopped short "she left the road" he thought, as he too left the road following her trail. When he finally cleared the woods, it opened to a small meadow and there she was, his princess, alive but surrounded by hundreds of circling lights. As he looked closer he could see they were beings, fairies to be correct. He had read many volumes of study on them and their abilities. Before he thought he reacted, his hand shot up and a ball of energy flew towards her. When it impacted, the fairies scattered and Xena fell to the forest floor. Ares ran to her side and quickly gathered her in his arms. Looking up he saw the fairies were recovering more quickly than he had thought they would. They began to reform an attack towards him "Not this time" he muttered as he and Xena vanished, leaving no trace of either of them and a pack of pissed of fairies in the quiet meadow.

Tbc…..