x

The temptress

I don't own working AC, couldn't we have waited until September to break….

8

A little while after Callisto's speech to the army, Xena approached her, "You wanted to tell me something?"

Callisto nodded, "Yea… I'm certain that one of the Gods of Chaos is among the troops of Hercules. He wanted something and he said you had it."

Xena paused, remembering what she had found recently. She reached into a small pouch and pulled out a purple crystal. Both women stared for a second as the tent lit up with a purple light. Xena stated, "This might be the heart of Chaos..."

Callisto grabbed the crystal and slammed it to a desk, unsheathing her sword she slammed it against the crystal, but nothing happened. Callisto stood there in frustration, "Damn…"

"I tried that already with both the chakram and the sword. It can't be destroyed."

Callisto grabbed the stone, "What are we going to do with it?"

Xena grabbed it from Callisto's hand returning it to her pouch, "Nothing for now. We've got other concerns…"

"If one of the gods of Chaos is indeed among Hercules, if he got that…"

"Then he won't get it."

8

Gabrielle strayed into some trees to collect her thoughts. Suddenly she felt a tap on her shoulder. It was Aphrodite.

Gabrielle scornfully shot, "What do you want!"

Aphrodite smiled as she grabbed the bard's arm, "So strong… it's a shame they left you out of the battle, you would have been a great help."

Gabrielle's mind drifted to thoughts of the past, "I've fought enough battles."

Aphrodite pulled back, "Well… I thought they shouldn't treat you like a kid, after all, you've helped them so much in the past. You should be right there with them, not in the background."

Gabrielle turned away trying to hide her feeling for the Goddess, but knowing deep down that it was all for naught. The Goddess Aphrodite knew Gabrielle better than perhaps the bard knew herself. Gabrielle reasoned, "They had their reasons."

Aphrodite touched the bard's chin pulling her eyes back towards the eyes of the Goddess, "They were afraid you'd just hurt yourself. Like a kid."

Gabrielle smacked away Aphrodite's hand, "You don't know anything! I don't want to fight like I used to! I don't want to be what was in the land of Chaos!"

Gabrielle turned away again, hiding her tears, the Goddess approached the bard, whispering in her ear, "Oh… but you do…" Grabbing onto the bard's shoulders Aphrodite concentrated her power upon her, "Remember the power… the control, the exhilaration."

Gabrielle felt deep down inside her the joy of battle that's she'd felt once in the land of Chaos, "Yes…"

Aphrodite smiled, "Remember the kill? Remember Brutus?"

Gabrielle saw his face and the blood on her hands, "Yes…"

"It was good wasn't it? The Vengeance, the power you held in your hand. The life of the bastard who did that terrible crime to those women… he had it coming didn't he? Yes Gabrielle, yes…"

Gabrielle was entranced, but suddenly the face of Xena came to her, "NO!" Gabrielle shoved Aphrodite to the side.

She laughed at the bard as the Goddess regained her balance, "It's you Gabrielle; it's always been you, buried under that noble villager routine that has always been a part of you, why do you deny it? It's a part of you, don't fear it, face it, except it, tame it, own it, and use it! Be who you are!"

Overcome with emotions Gabrielle shouted, "Stop it!"

Aphrodite pulled back slightly, "You know what you want, you feel it down in your soul. That call you are feeling, it's your darkness, give into it."

Gabrielle was wordless before the former Goddess of love.

Aphrodite bowed her head, "When you are ready come and take it, know this. The army of Hercules could be army of Gabrielle. All you have to do is snatch it for yourself. Then it would be you rewriting Greek History, not the maniac Demigod. It's your fate to make."

Gabrielle shouted back, "A fate of blood, a fate of murder, I want no part of it…"

Aphrodite grinned, "Oh… you do, you deny it to me, but you can never deny it to yourself." With that, the goddess of was gone.

With that the bard feel to her knees, tears flowing down her cheeks, she thought of her mother… she wished she was hear now, the Bard needed her more than ever.

Unbeknownst to Gabrielle, and Aphrodite, they were being watched by a certain former God of war. Ares mused, "Very good sister... but you've forgot something, I invented this game you're playing."

8

Aphrodite reappeared beside Herici, she mused, "Anarchy… or is it in fact Chaos."

Herici replied, "Anarchy is just a vessel now, it's Chaos. Did you win the bard?"

"Almost… she wanted to, she's on the precipice, I might be able to convince her soon. She'll leave that life of hers behind soon enough."

Herici added, "Like the life of being the love Goddess."

Aphrodite recoiled at the statement, "Don't… please don't bring that up."

Herici smiled, "You've done well… But if Gabrielle doesn't go along, I've got my eye on another. Selenta… she's smart, and she has a bloodlust very much like Xena in her younger days. She could serve me well in place of Hercules. But all that is secondary, I want that purple crystal, with it, I'll achieve full power and no longer have to live in this husk of a lesser god hiding from the thunder god and his minions."

Aphrodite nodded, "We shall get that crystal soon, if we target the Centaurs, Xena will pull away from the others and open herself to us. Then…"

Herici smiled, "Then… I can take back what was mine, and from there forge a new world of Chaos. My time is nearing."