Chapter 59: Our future

Xena POV

"Here...Give him to me!" Dite approached me once we materialized in…Where were we again?

Before I got the chance to answer she had already taken Adam in her arms.

"Where are we?" I asked in bewilderment...All the marble around was white except a red as blood carpet on the floor and we were in a hall that appeared to be endless.

"Olympus, duuhhh! Where else?..." She replied, and my eyes widened instantly at her statement.

"Adam will be safe with me, don't worry...Ares hasn't brought you here yet as I can tell, has he?...Well...it doesn,t matter. His chambers are on the end of the hall on the right..." She said, getting ready to leave.

"Where are you going?"

"Home...Hephie would want to meet his nephew, that's for sure..."

And with that she just vanished giggling with my son in her arms and abandoning me in the middle of the immense hall...it was even bigger than the one he had in his fortress in Macedonia.

I moved along the hall as she had previously instructed...all the doors appeared the same white but sometimes I would see a sign engraved on them as a sun or a forest and an arc and I supposed those doors must have lead to Apollo and Artemis's rooms. And then, at the end, on the big white door on the right a sword and a dagger where craved in it. My heart started hammering harder and faster against my chest and the blood started racing maddeningly inside my veins just at the thought that I would soon see him again. I missed him.

To knock or not to knock...maybe he was still asleep or maybe he didn't want to see me anymore after what I had said to him and certainly after what I had done. I collected all my courage and just entered without knocking.

The room was immense and had a throne in the middle of it and a table, the same colors as in all his others temples -black of course-…and then I suddenly realized that the Halls of War was something like a suite because his bedchambers weren't there…a huge trap on the left side was surely leading to maybe another hall and then his room…What really attracted my attention was the unspeakable mess inside it...broken vases, broken furniture and destroyed statues….statues of me...shattered statues...A tear escaped my eye...What have I done? It wasn't about the materials things...things that he could restore with one snap of his fingers but I had damaged him on the inside...I did this to him...me...and nobody else.

I moved through all that chaos that still lingered on the floor and climbed the steps till I found myself in another hall but this one was luckily shorter...only 4 rooms...I opened them on a row...The first one was a weapon room, the second was empty and the third made my heart bleed...it was a baby room just as broken as his soul was…I entered it slowly...As I moved forward in the room, tears started falling down my cheeks uncontrollably.

It was all painted in a very light blue, a joy to the eyes but now it was ruined...I lightly touched what remained of the crib and took one more glance inside the room and went out trying to recollect myself.

I entered the last room to find him laying in bed, asleep...I knew that gods didn't need sleep but maybe in this exceptional cases they did so was he really asleep? I made my way to his bed and for once I found myself not knowing what to do...He would soon wake and see me here and...He turned on my side where I could see him perfectly. Hesitantly, I extended my hand to caress his features...In that moment I wanted nothing more than to kiss his suffering away.

Sooner than I had wanted him too, his eyelashes fluttered open and I thought that maybe he had felt my presence there.

"Ares..."

"Xena...Yeah sure...Dite come on...stop playing with my mind..." he said, blinking once.

"It's really me..." I said sadly. His face turned serious.

"I'm sorry that I took Adam...I would never..."

"I know...Dite told me everything. I'm sorry...I'm really sorry."

"What did she tell you?" he asked coldly and got up from his bed.

"Everything...what you did for Eve...I could never repay you...and...and...that you didn't have a choice, that she forced you to drink the ambrosia…And I'm glad she did."

"What?" I came near him and put a hand on his cheek, looking him in the eyes.

"I'm glad that I didn't lose you and that you are alive...a God, yes, but alive...You should have told me." I smiled.

"Am I missing something? The last time we talked you and that mongrel brother of mine..." He couldn't even say it, it pained him too much…

"I lied. I was furious thinking that you had lied to me again and...it was just a lie ok?"

"Really?" I nodded.

"Yeah...I want you in my life...And it's a choice I made with all my heart...only you..." I said, sealing my words with a kiss. Just as fast, he was kissing me back hungrily and then stopped and looked me in the eyes…still a flicker of disbelief in his eyes.

"The kids will be really happy…" I added smiling and he kissed me back…

"I love you..." he murmured in between kisses and caresses…I felt myself being swept into his arms and felt the soft silks of the bed caressing my back.

"I love you too."

The moment my words rolled out of my mouth he stopped and pierced my eyes with his gaze.

"What did you say?"

"That I love you." I repeated again while I took his vest off. He smiled at me and kissed me again and again…

That night was just about the two of us…to bury the past deep and build a future, our future… together.