As soon as the cheering stopped and the soldiers began the unpleasant but ever so necessary labor of looking after their wounded comrades and digging holes for the dead, Ares made sure to take Xena away from the battlefield.
As he took her in his arms, instead of the usual exhilaration of having her so close to him, a dark frown was painted on his face at the blunt awareness of that unnecessary, open wound on her shoulder. It wasn't like he hadn't seen her injured hundreds of times before...Basically, every important fight was bound to leave behind a scar or two. What had actually irked the Tartarus out of him this time though, was the fact that she had received it as a result of trying to protect the Bard...For some reason,he just couldn't stand the thought. Any situation that implied even the mere idea of her caring for another living and breathing thing , had the extraordinary ability of making his heart burn with consuming jealousy.
" What the fuck were you thinking out there?!" he exploded, the second they materialized back at the fortress, turning her around to face him.
The Warrior Princess just rolled her eyes at his uncalled for outburst. She was way too tired after that day's events to be in the mood for such theatrical displays of passion.
"What do you mean?" she asked on a bored, fed up with everything tone.
Grabbing her viciously by the shoulders, the infuriated God made sure to stick his thumb straight into her still bleeding gash. She moaned in pain of course, her entire body tensing at the unbearable pressure he had decided to apply there, eager to make a point.
" Do you need extra explanations? You could have been killed! Killed by some third rated soldier that could barely hold a sword in his hand, Gods damn it! And all that because instead of keeping your eyes on what was happening around you, you were busy saving that brain dead Blondie! " he snapped, all his body vibrating with fury.
" She was in over her head; of course I needed to give her a hand, even if it meant losing focus, for a couple of seconds!" , she bit back, pushing him with all her remaining force, a bit taken aback by his attitude.
" Well those couple of seconds could have sent you on a joyride straight to Hades if I hadn't been there to watch your back!"
"You're overreacting. Plus, it's just a scratch..." she mumbled, turning her back at him and heading towards the bed.
" A scratch? You call that a scratch? That scratch might cost you an arm if it gets infected! Have you seen how rusty that sword was? Huh?! " he asked, raising his voice by a notch.
This time, she didn't reply...Truth being told, right after that incident, she had been way too preoccupied with anticipating every attack given the fact that she was forced to fight using her left hand, which, despite her uncommon talent when it came to wielding a sword, proved to be a very uncomfortable situation.
"Why did Athena attack us?" she finally inquired, trying to make him change the subject, involuntarily using her hand to cover her burning shoulder.
Taking a few steps in her direction, Ares threw her one last silent reproach before getting down on one knee before her, to closely inspect the lacerated flesh.
As inapt as that soldier had been, he still managed to do enough damage as to make her wince in pain again the minute his hands began removing her armor.
"I asked you a question." she briskly emphasized, seeing that he wasn't going to give her an answer soon.
"I'm not deaf. " he replied, on an equally irritated tone, slowly getting up from where he had been standing just to take a sit somehow behind her. Her gaze followed him restlessly for a few moments, confusion flickering in her eyes at his sudden calmness...
Before she could even realize what he was doing, with incredible dexterity, the God's fingers had already began the very stimulating task of unlacing her battle dress- a rather cheap trick one might say, undoubtedly meant to cleverly tempt her into holding back all that avalanche of questions she was evidently getting ready to shoot. She sure had more than one doubt regarding that absolutely mind blowing, impossible to anticipate attack...
As angry as he still was with her, Ares had to smile to himself the instant he noticed the tension building in her muscles under the effect of his divine touch. The good thing about it was that he seemed to be doing quite a decent job in keeping her mind focused on those primal sensations infiltrating through each and every nervous cell in her brain...For a couple of eternally long minutes, to his utter amazement, despite the heavy uncertainty floating into the air, she let him have his way….Defying all logic, she just closed her eyes and completely surrendered to him, his hot, regular breath - pleasantly tickling the back of her neck- along with the ravishing gentleness of his caresses, having effectively made her abandon any thought related to the battle or to Gabrielle...
"Is this your escape plan to avoid an answer?" she cattishly asked, without opening her eyes, still trapped in that unique universe of emotions he was building for her...
" I'm not really trying to avoid anything, on the contrary..." he playfully retorted as he got to the small of her back, and, the moment the tip of his fingers slid further down towards her sacral bone, under the carefully disguised form of an accidental touch, he could genuinely feel the sudden inactivity of her lungs...She was holding her breath...a ridiculous reaction come to think about it, given their previous days together, but one that instantly sent a shiver down his spine...The mere thought that he had that kind of effect on her was driving him crazy...
"Oh yeah? Is it me, or you weren't as surprised as you should have been about the attack?" she cleverly murmured, biting her lips hard when, having finished his so called task , he carefully pushed the rough fabric off her shoulders, letting it slide freely down her breasts until it reached her waist, leaving her half naked.
Contrary to her usually impulsive nature, for once she found herself unable to voice one single protest. It was as if all words had died out on the tiring road in between her throat and the tip of her tongue. Instead, she did her best to swallow back a wanton moan the second his hands rested flat on her stomach, right at the base of her breasts inches above the fallen fabric, her naughty, naughty mind already projecting some pretty inciting possibilities with them positioned like that.
Breaking all rules and self imposed codes, she finally let out a barely muffled groan the moment a few locks of hair glided accidentally down her shoulder wound. It hurt like Tartarus and to top it all, the cut appeared to be bleeding even more than before.
"I guess I'm not that easy to impress.." he whispered in a delayed response of her previous line, and, snapping his fingers once, in little less than a blink, her silky tresses were pulled back in a messy Chinese bun, a timeless look that gave her the air of a hypnotizing geisha.
When she finally decided to look over her shoulder, parting her lips to say something, she discovered that he had already advanced a bit to take a better look at the wound- now that there was no fabric what so ever to cover it from sight- so that their lips unintentionally brushed against each other in the process….
"Stand still a little bit…." he uttered lowly while placing his hand on top of the torn skin, an expression of utter dissatisfaction settling on his visage the moment he noticed just how hot her shoulder was...Without saying a word about it though, he let a wave of golden, healing energy flow from his palm, annihilating the incipient infection he had warned her about just minutes before.
" What are you doing?" she finally questioned the instant he materialized two long linen strips next to them on the bed, and on the floor, just two steps away, a bowl of lukewarm water and some ointments.
" What does it look like I'm doing? Cleaning and bandaging your wound…." he answered, trying hard not to chuckle at her visible confusion, in spite of the fact that, judging by the look on his face, all his attention had been captivated more by the alluring nearness of her mouth rather than by the urgency of that torn flesh that he could have simply closed with one simple godly touch during the same moment he had made the infection vanish.
" Why?" she childishly demanded to know, as if it the reason hadn't been obvious enough.
"Because it's bleeding…..? Because wounds are supposed to be mended?" he replied, on such a natural tonality, that Xena instantly turned around to confront him.
" That's not what I meant! " she stated, visibly irritated by the presence of his well masked, fine irony. " You would have normally healed this in less than a blink. " she pointed out, casting a quizzical gaze in the direction of her shoulder.
He just grinned widely at her uncharacteristic discomfort.
" Yeah well….I'd figured it couldn't hurt to fix things the old fashion way from time to time….Plus, maybe a bit of suffering would be a good reminder that you are only mortal and that you can't afford to lose your focus during a fight! …." he acidly added, while sensually caressing her neckline.
She just clenched her teeth at his patronizing remark, patiently waiting for him to finish with the washing and the sterilizing part, without bothering to inquire why was that even necessary if he had already used his energy to wipe out the infection. By then though, she was way too angry with him to demand an explanation that she was well aware she wasn't really going to receive.
Once that stage was done with, the God began wrapping one linen strip around her shoulder, and for a brief moment, at the irresistible effect that his aura had on her, she almost forgot that she had had every intention of punching him straight in the face just second before…She involuntarily leaned into him, gasping inaudibly at the contact of her bare back with his chest…An unmistakable feeling of déjà vu finally ripped through her tense form, making her pulse rise maddeningly high as a result of that euphoric injection of chemicals spreading through her brain the instant his hands began working at the lower part of her bandage, wrapping it firmly around her waist…..
For a minute there, time itself seemed to have stopped flowing as the strikingly similar- though reversed image- of her taking care of his alarming injury back in the days when he had been mortal- an unfortunate event that Sisyphus had staged with the blunt intention to take his place as the God of War- invaded her half drugged with ecstasy mind.
She uncontrollably shivered as, bits and pieces of their conversation from back then, along with an ocean of hardly repressed feelings, gradually emerged from some far away corner of her brain...Despite having been in Callisto's body at the time, her every cell still reacted at the intoxicating perfume of his skin…..This time it was no different….Despite her wound, despite Athena's unexpected attack, despite Gabrielle's shocking role in the fight, despite the brutal slaughter on the battlefield, despite his rather fishy reaction regarding all those events, his stimulating presence had effortlessly wiped everything out as if nothing of the kind had occurred in the near past….
"Ok...you're almost ready, Princess..."
As the sexily uttered words began pouring from his sinful lips, another cold shiver rushed down her spine, her entire being vibrating at the memory of an ever so familiar dialogue that was now echoing throughout her head….Back then, their conversation had started roughly the same but its ending had turned into a bewildering confession from the God's part.
"You don't trust me? I can't blame you, after all I've put you through. But a taste of mortality has really opened my eyes. And, who knows? Once I regain my sword, maybe things will be…different."
""A kinder, gentler God of War? We both know that's not gonna happen."
"You changed…why not me? I never lied to you, Xena. Oh…deceived, manipulated, yeah, but a God need never lie."
""But that's just it, Ares…you're not a God anymore. So as much as I'd like to believe you, even if you believe it, all bets will be off once you get your godhood back. And that's IF you do."
"I think you might be surprised- about the change you can inspire in a man…or a God."
She instantly flinched at the awareness that he must have planted those thoughts inside her head way before she even dared allow her mind to get trapped into the fragile cobweb of their poisonous implications….
" What's this all about? " she harshly inquired, grabbing his hand and shifting a bit her position so that she could look him straight in the eyes.
"Your doubts…..You thought I had something to do with today's fight….." he responded, a slightly offended expression -only partially veiled- flickering on the surface of his amber moons.
" And did you?"
" What if I did?"
If just moments before she had quizzically arched one single eyebrow at his statement, now she used them both, completely taken aback by the force of his words.
"Did you know that Gabrielle was in Athens?"
" Maybe…." he secretively answered, biting his lower lip at the thrill of seeing her so worked up over finding out the truth.
" Cut the crap! " she hissed, pushing him lightly back with his hand. " You knew damn well that Athena was going to attack! That's why you sent me there in the first place! That's why you were so quick to introduce me to your troops as their Commander! "
" ….Just wanted to see if you were ready to fight after everything that's happened…" he answered calmly, hardly impressed by that rising dissatisfaction in her eyes. " That Bitch's decision to strike first, proved to be the perfect opportunity…."
She gazed at him pensively for a couple of seconds, as if trying to decide whether to believe his version of the story or not….When she realized that she couldn't possibly make up her mind on the spot, she simply replied:
" Why did she strike, in the first place? We were at considerable distance away from Athens…..Why would she risk starting a full scale war when there was no immediate threat upon her precious city…..?"
"That's a good question; one that I've been asking myself ever since the battle began…."
" Did you tell anyone about our pl…."
"No" he immediately cut in, knowing well where she was heading at. "She is the Goddess of Wisdom though….But what in Tartarus was the irritating Blonde doing in Athens? And why was she fighting alongside Elenis?"
"I don't know….." the Warrior Princess murmured, staring blankly at his hands….
Too preoccupied with solving the puzzle, she kinda missed the God'd discreet smile...
As for Ares, his mind was finally at rest...when it came to manipulation, he was the king. After all, he had perfected the art...