Disclaimers: See Chapter 1

Additional Note (Please Read): This story is tied in with, The Conqueror & Ri: A Twist of Destiny. Thanks for reading, and I hope you all enjoy the chapter.

Xena & Gabrielle

A Turn of Fate

By Ahkiken

Chapter 9: Let's Talk

Slow, yet, steady steps felt like a temporary escape from a tragedy as Xena headed toward the stables, whilst the ship readied its sail to Japa. Xena's ruminations were in disarray with everything she had discovered from Harukata, including making the rash decision to die in order to stop Yodoshi, the daemon who fed off souls and trapped the forty thousand inhabitants of Higuchi whom died by her hand.

'What have I done?' Xena mused, understanding the full ramifications of the bind she had placed on herself.

Notwithstanding, the crisis did not purely concern her, but in turn, would affect the lissome Amazon to a greater extent. Xena wouldn't just be dead, she would also be with Akemi. Could she divulge that to her bard? Although they were going through an argument and harmful words were stated, she didn't have the heart to cause her lover any form of pain. Either way, Gabrielle would suffer, unless the Warrior Princess changed her choice, which wasn't likely.

The spirits of Higuchi weren't the only ones Yodoshi captured. There were others as well, along with Akemi, and altogether they were prevented from going to their reincarnations. Akemi's father absorbed all of Higuchi's deceased souls before adding sixty thousand more, bringing his total of undead warriors to a staggering one hundred thousand.

Though Harukata's forces almost numbered twenty-six thousand, it was inconceivable to think victory could be won by combat on the battlefield alone. Their best effort to destroy Yodoshi coincided with what the old Shogun apprised:

The Warrior Princess had to die.

Xena became fully aware of her surroundings when she heard a loud yelp. Looking down, she saw the auburn-haired teenager she'd knocked over.

"Gods!" Tanya yelled. "You're in such a rush. Where's the fire?"

Flames was the spark to all the troubles that now centered in Xena's world. She wasn't in the mood for Tanya's banter.

"We are ready to leave port. You should get to the galley."

"I was on my way there." Tanya assented, holding her appendage up. "Will you give me a hand?"

She reached and pulled the teen on her feet, and Tanya noted that the dark warrior's demeanor was colder than usual, as Xena stalked to the stables. "Are you okay?"

"Get rowing, Tanya, and stay to your own affairs." The answer came without a backward glance.

The younger female heeded the stern announcement, and went to where she was told.

Xena walked into Argo II's stall and the Palomino whinnied in excitement.

"Hey, girl, I'm back." She spoke, rubbing the cream-colored mane.

Its tone reminded her of Gabrielle's white gold hair during the seasons of summer and winter. She would never see it that full shade again, and a deep sorrow gripped her very soul.

"Argo." Xena choked on tears. "I have to do something... Something of momentous proportions that will free many spirits in bondage. I know what I must do, but I'm afraid once it's done, it cannot be undone."

Droplets poured from Xena's eyes.

"I have to do this, Argo. Your mother knew most of my brutal past. How much I had to repent for. I must yield to what I'm obligated to do, even if it means to never see you, or..." Xena's voice faltered with her resolve and she collapsed on quaking knees, cerebrating, 'I was supposed to get married. Live out the remainder of my days with my soul mate, and now, this happens.'

Sadness withered into an incredible tantrum when Xena's thoughts turned dark, as Argo neighed wildly from seeing her mistress in such distress.

'I finally had a chance at happiness. Real happiness. I deserve peace and to be happy. Gabrielle believes that, and I do, too. Haven't I atoned enough for one lifetime? Haven't I!' Her fist pounded the hay straws in the stall, and she blared at the numerous victims she'd accumulated throughout her life, "Fuck 'em! Fuck them all!"

Xena sobbed, repeating the personal mantra over and over until her enraged pupils softened at espying the golden ring that her lover had given her yesterday. She consciously read the engraved words.

'My Soul, My Life.'

The tall warrior let out another soulful dirge. She knew what needed to be done, no matter how strongly she didn't want to do it. Xena accepted that Japa's desolation would hurt the person she truly gave her heart to.

'Gabrielle, my love, this is going to break you.' She wailed inwardly with the acknowledgement.

Argo II bent her head and gently jogged Xena, trying to offer some sort of comfort. The tender nudging put the tired, somber woman into a fitful sleep, while she was questioning, even in her dreams; what was a Warrior Princess to do?

{X&G}

The trim blonde sat on the cot in her and Xena's cabin with a tear-streaked face that was pressed against bended kneecaps. Gabrielle felt like her heart was in tatters after hearing the Warrior Princess' declaration of Akemi's importance compared to her.

'That using witch Akemi! Stealing what's mine. Xena and I belong with each other!' She mentally fussed with faith.

Gabrielle was no longer certain if jealously pushed Xena to want Akemi, or if her fiancée always wanted the Japian manipulator from the beginning of finding out that, in a sense, she still lived. The bard disliked herself for her earlier comments to Ares' Chosen. A jealous lover wasn't one of Gabrielle's good qualities, particularly when it came to her.

Xena was the sole person who brought out the most excellent and worse in the Amazon.

'It's her fault that I am like this.' She groused.

Anger swelled within her, whilst thinking of all the times she had to play second fiddle to others whom attained Xena's attention. Once they'd made love for the first time, the Warrior Princess always found a way to relay to Gabrielle that they weren't committed exclusively to each other.

Regardless of how much she hated it, Gabrielle played along with her new lover's game of pretending not to have a sexual liaison in the worlds view. It was gut-wrenching to watch Xena leave her to make out with other men, then come back whenever the need and desire for the bard's taut physique was too great to deny.

Each and every time, Gabrielle would give in when she'd sworn that she wouldn't. A look from smouldering sapphire irises, and she knew what was coming as soon as they were alone. She revelled in the sensations that was visited upon her body. The dark warrior's compassionate tongue, affectionate touches, and loving fingers that glided inside of her, always tore a scream from Gabrielle's throat before an explosive orgasm induced her to moan or shout Xena's name.

Rarely, even if someone was travelling with them, mainly Joxer, Xena would still take her, teasing Gabrielle constantly about staying quiet, which was a huge challenge, and seldom the petite screamer would fail, causing her talented beloved to smother the outcries with thorough kisses.

Xena, on the other hand, remained silent during Gabrielle's ministrations, whether they were by themselves or with company.

For a while, the Amazon feared she couldn't please the experienced Warrior Princess, but Xena assured the bard that she did satisfy her. Nonetheless, Gabrielle remained having doubts, until she had her tongue on the older female's slick vagina, drinking Xena's climax, as it free-flowed into her mouth.

Albeit once Xena had grown pregnant with Eve, she'd gotten highly vocal, and Gabrielle really couldn't get enough of her blue-eyed lover. But being hunted by gods, plus dealing with the Greater Good, their sex life was sporadic at best, and following Xena's delivery of her newborn, it became a dry spell.

The attention that the mother showered on her baby made the warrior-bard envious; envy for all the love Xena could show her daughter in public, but none for her. Profoundly desperate for Xena's acceptance of their lives together, the Amazon Queen tried to settle with the Northern Steppes tribe.

However, Xena wouldn't have it, so she started to plan her and Eve's exit. Under the threat of Olympian Gods, the raven-haired beauty, who'd recently given childbirth, was willing to abandon Gabrielle when all she wanted to do was keep them; her family, safe.

In the end, Xena decided to stay, but the cropped blonde became cautious of her soul mate's altering stance on living with the Amazons. So she'd relinquished her title to Cyane II who was covetous of the position. Nevertheless, Gabrielle didn't care, she just wanted to be with her Champion. Afterwards, they'd dropped Eve off in Amphipolis with Cyrene and went on a sea voyage to the Land of Pharaohs to aid Cleopatra.

'Like multiple times, I gave up my throne.' Prior to rage stirring within her, a final teardrop cascaded from Gabrielle's eyes. 'I'd bestowed Eve with my Right of Caste, and how was I rewarded by Xena? She breaks off all sexual contact with me before we get to Egypt, and while in Alexandria, I got a front row seat to watch her practically seduce Marc Antony in every way imaginable. A Roman, cut from the same tree as Caesar. The same people who betrayed her and had us crucified!'

Grabbing her sais from the cot, Gabrielle threw them both at the wooden walls of the cabin with all her strength, impelling the twin weapons to impale it all the way through to the hilt.

'I have every god-given right to be jealous. She claims on periodic occasions that she loves me move than anybody, then she's kissing another.' Gabrielle ruminated.

Drying the wetness from her cheeks, Gabrielle began cogitating on why would Xena bother asking for her hand in marriage if she wanted someone else on a whim?

Gabrielle released a sigh. "Knowing how fickle she can be, why did I agree? Am I that dependent on her?"

Wondering over her precarious relationship with Xena, the bard mistakenly surmised she felt a bit nauseated from crying so much, preceding realizing that the ship was moving. She applied the pressure point to her wrist to stop the inevitable seasickness, and closed her eyes, remembering the ending results of when another warrior entered the duo's lives. A spiritual fighter who'd wanted to take her from past pains, and coaxed Gabrielle to become desirous of a different path away from her secret lover as well.

[Kneeling by the creek to rinse the last trace of the rabbit stew out of the pot, I can't cease thinking how variant Xena's mood has been since giving Najara to the Phoenician authorities. Our ride on Argo through the forest was devoid of conversation and awkward. Even at dinner, Xena said nothing the entire duration of it, until she'd finished her plate, telling me she was gonna feed Argo some fruit and brush her down.

That was a candlemark ago. Now here I am, all by myself, unable to eat every bit of the tasty food, at least I believe it is, that I'd prepared because of ruminating if she's mad at me for leaving her to be with Najara. I had to, though.

If I didn't, Najara would have...

I can't picture my life without the Warrior Princess. My best friend. My Champion. I would do anything for her. I'll assist her by becoming a trickster, a saboteur...a betrayer. I pray Najara will forgive me for my latest ploy, but what of her divulgence to me? Did Xena really cast me off on her? I'd quickly dismissed the claim, and Xena's actions proved otherwise once she came for me.

I give up. Pondering on the subject is getting me nowhere when it comes to Xena's state of mind.

"After Xena gets back, I'll talk to her." I announce silently.

"About what?"

Startled, I look up to see Xena leaning on the tree closest to me. Gods, I hate that she is able to sneak up on me. There goes the subtlety I needed.

With the cookware clean for another day's use, I sit it down before rising. "Xena, are you mad at me? Did I upset you?"

"No, Gabrielle. I'm not upset nor angry with you. Come. Let's get ready to sleep." She answers.

Pushing off the tree's bole, Xena moves towards the campfire, but her reply did nothing to quell me.

Walking over to the campsite also, I pursue the issue further. "If you have any misgivings apropos to me leaving you in the inn, it was because-"

"You don't have to explain." Xena cuts my explanation short. "I know why."

"You do?" I ask, relieved.

"Yes. Can we sleep now."

It isn't a question, and Xena commences unequipping her bracers. Accustomed to our normal routine now, I reach out to aid her, but she backs away.

"I got it." She gives me a false smile. "Why don't you lay down."

Something is wrong.

I'm not allowing her to placate me anymore. "That is it, Xena. Clearly you are hiding your true feelings. Don't deny it."

"Deny what? There's nothing wrong." Xena avers, appearing faintly testy.

Taking the last of her armored accessories off, she lies on her bedroll that is separate from mine.

Fine, I will be blunt on other matters.

"Really? Everything is okay? So why did Najara avow that you wanted me to stay with her?" I inquire more harshly than originally intended.

Xena sits up on her elbows. Confusion is written on her face, and from Xena's reaction, I want to retract what I'd just unveiled. I shouldn't have played the fool to Najara's fabrications. No way she would give me up to anyone.

The sentence out of her mouth destroys that notion, "Like you weren't all on her when she spoke 'bout the Light."

What?

Sitting up fully, Xena goes on, "Oh, and as she proposed opening a hospice, with the speed of Hermes, she became the Crusader of your heart."

My head's reeling. I did like Najara. Maybe too much, but she couldn't ever take me from Xena.

"You've claimed you knew why I left with Najara." Bending down, I cup Xena's chin, staring at her beautiful face. "Do you, though? Do you truly know?"

Xena nonchalantly moves from my grasp. "You were infatuated with her and she was instantly allured by you, too. Who am I to interfere? I told her it was for the best that you remain beside her and help run the hospice."

"You were going to leave me?" My query is barely audible.

"It's what you wanted." She retorts.

"How dare you!" I shout, jumping to my feet. "You're wrong. I went with her 'cause she was going to kill you. Najara had her blade directly above you, and if I hadn't done anything, you would be dead now. That's the real reason you awoke alone. I did it for you, Xena."

"Is that when you became an initiate of the Light?" Xena questions with indignation.

My facial expression probably has given me away already, whereas how bad can a small lie be?

No.

I'm over deceptions. Dishonesty took the life of Solan, Xena's son, and caused us to splinter. I will be truthful.

"I requested to join, whilst you were gone to capture Marat."

"Hmm, well, I stand corrected. You can still see her, Gabrielle. Make sure you jot down the visiting schedule for inmates on your scrolls."

Xena's dispassionate deportment brings my belligerent attitude to the fore. "You listen to me, Xena, and you listen good. I only did that mostly because of the hospice. You of all people comprehend how I feel regarding lives."

I have to fight back the cursed memory of a bloody dagger in my hand from killing Meridian inside Dahak's temple.

"As for Najara... Yes, I'll admit, I was fascinated by her. She is an amazing warrior. She'd saved my life and appeared to have a reverence for it. She had a charm to her. It made me willing to confide certain fears, mainly your dark side, but it isn't merely enough to sever our connection. You've no concept of what you do to me when I think of you, or when I'm near you. I'll surrender my all for you." I confess, wiping the foolish tears away. "Nonetheless, you've made it clear you do not share the same sentiment."

The comment causes Xena to rise, wearing a look of disbelief, which is covered quickly with the stoical mask that conceals her emotions.

"You're right." I launch my rhetoric. "Who are you? Who's you to me, huh? Who are you, Xena? Obviously, you're the person who's capable of living without me, and I'm tired of it all; the pretending, the sneaking around with you. Most of all, I'm weary of not feeling loved or being able to openly show it. At least Najara didn't hide her intentions. She wanted me and I had relished it. You know, I should be with her... I will be with her."

I head aimlessly into the woods.

"Where are you going?" Xena's tone Is neutral.

"Wherever I want. You're not my keeper, or lover." Locking eyes, I declare, "Not anymore. I belong to Najara now. The woman you gave me to."

Her stoic facade falls completely and Xena seems livid. "You are mine."

I have no interest in being someone's token, not even Xena's. Ignoring her, I keep walking into the unknown, until she spins me around and shoves me, not too roughly, onto the trunk of a tree.

"Xena." I lightly try to push the stronger female off me.

"I'm not letting you go."

She already did. "Why?"

"We belong together. I know it and so do you." She states.

Xena's hand travels downwards, slowly guiding up my skirt to more skin. The heat at my center is set ablaze in an instant.

Darn it!

How does she do this to me?

"Xena... Either talk to me, or let me go with the words you've already spoken."

Both of her hands are on me; Xena's right begins caressing my thigh, while the left covers my chest.

"Xena-"

My mouth becomes occupied by Xena's, and reluctantly, I open it slightly to receive her tongue, relenting further, as our pink muscles tastes each other's. A sough slips from my throat, and I fear with that knowledge, Xena feels in control. Squeezing my breast through the green halter top, I can discern that she is influenced by battle-lust. I've felt its wrath just once, and I won't ever forget it. She's seen so much activity today; from fighting slavers, to getting defeated by Najara and besting her. I'm positive it's boiling her blood.

I am curious if she will take me hard again akin to last time, as she unlaces my top, exposing one of my breasts to the cool night's breeze.

Xena flicks the taut nipple with her thumb, causing me to increase my moans. The hand on my thigh traverses to its primary goal, stroking my damp undergarment. She breaks the kiss and lick my neck. Nipping it with her teeth almost sends me to the edge.

"Gods." I groan.

"Who do you belong to?" Xena inquires.

I respond to her with whimpering grunts, stalling the inevitable surrender, whilst feeling my sex become saturated by her probing fingers.

"Who?" She purrs at my ear, sending shock waves through me.

She wants me to enunciate her name, but I will not accede to it... Although I want to terribly.

No!

I will not give in.

Striving to hold my composure, I plead, "Talk to me."

Staring into my irises, Xena concedes, "Alright. While I am talking, do not move, and I don't want to hear a peep out of you, unless I command it. Understand?"

Ceasing my aroused movements, nodding is all I can do.

Refraining hers as well, Xena continues speaking, "You recall when I told you about my journey to the Northern Steppes, so that I could get to the Amazon Land of the Dead to see you after I thought you'd died with Hope?"

"Yes." I confirm.

Xena evinced to me what had happened with the remnant Northern Amazons whom were nearly broken due to the aftermath of her betrayal of Queen Cyane I and its council leaders. As they were hounded by an expelled Amazon Shamaness named Alti, my Warrior Princess had to deal with her grief for me, also defeat her whilom mentor, and Alti's conjured Berserker, all whilst enduring adventures in the sin trade for her past.

"Alti gave me a glimpse of our future. That's how I found out you survived the fall into the lava pit. All of that I went through... Continue to go through, and you think I would exit your life because I don't love you?" A few strokes between my legs punctuates Xena's question.

"No." I moan. "I... I...assumed-"

A stifle groan ends my own tirade once Xena shifts the soaked fabric to the side for direct contact with my silky clitoris.

"You seem to have forgotten the rules." She sexually chastise me by using her elongated digits. "I heard you say no, so you don't need to gab away because I haven't commanded you to affirm anything else. You are a talented bard, however, now is not the time for your wordplay. Okay?"

Giving another nod, I suppress any kind of sound, but I'm losing ground with my hips, as they languidly gyrate.

"Everything I do, or have done lately, is for a purpose. You should get that by now, but I guess I'll have to show you what you presume about me is false!" Xena exclaims.

Attacking my mouth with hers, Xena's thumb and forefinger pulls my pinkish nipple, making wetness flow from the apex of my thighs, thus trailing down my legs.

Halting our kisses, she whispers, "I love you more than anyone. Toris, my mother... Even Lyceus."

"Mmm. Oh, Xena." I submit to her words.

Xena haven't ever proclaimed something this heartfelt to me in our history with one another, and the confession causes me to swoon. I hope she means it, and it's not the battle-lust confounding her.

She clicks her tongue. "You can't follow directions."

Next, her head descends, taking my breast into her mouth. My hands shoot upwards to hold her in place, while she sucks and bite it gently. Xena has paid more erotic attention to my twin mounds since they have grown in size after giving birth to Hope.

Placing a firm grip on Xena coaxes a repercussion in the form of her biting harder on the sensitive, pale skin. The reverberation forces me to groan, and I'm sure there will be additional consequences to follow once my hips buck for my core to be ravished.

"Enough, Gabrielle. You think I will tolerate your defiance." Xena glares at me, and for the second time tonight, it isn't an inquiry.

Her two fingers emphasizes what she meant by thrusting into my drenched sex.

"Xena!" I cry out, following with whimpers of pleasure, as she lunges in and out of my canal.

My hips oscillate with the invited fingers, breaking Xena's rule of non-motion. Her repeated thrusts slams me onto the bark, and it hardly resonates within that, in comparison to what's occurring below the waist, my back is taking an equal beating. Our eyes haven't parted, whilst I continue to defy. I don't intend to, but Xena always drives me wild, especially now with her plunging deeper and faster, bringing my climax to the surface.

"I'm sorry." I apologize, offering my hand to her in hopes she'll forgive me for all my offenses this day and night.

Xena grabs it, pulling it down to my waist so she can stroke me thoroughly.

Sluggishly, I slide my leg along the outside of her thigh, and Xena quizzes me again, "Who do you belong to?"

A final thrust from powerful fingers coerces my orgasm to peak, putting Xena's repeated inquiries to rest from my very loud response, "You, Xena!"

My gorgeous lover smiles in satisfaction, feeling my hot liquid coat her palm. I convulse and recognize the double fingertips that's withdrawing from my pulsating vagina, missing them dearly.

"Only you, Xena." It's a struggle to keep my pupils from shutting, and I am dizzy from the lingering aftereffects of coming, muttering, "Always you."

Xena lowers me to the forest's bed of grass, kissing me soundly.

"Don't forget it." She demands in advance of standing and traipsing from me.

I close my eyes to the sounds of her sucking my cum off of her hand, while leaving me in my reverie.]

Back at the camp, Xena filled Gabrielle in on Alti's vision that plagued her. The bard couldn't believe that their deaths were destined to come true, and tried to dissuade her soul mate from believing it as well.

'But we did die. It was foolhardy to think we could run from our fate.' Gabrielle ratiocinated, once her mind came back to the present. 'Am I being a fool now?'

She gazed at the silver band on her index finger, scanning the engraving.

My Heart My Love.

The words, at the moment, felt hollow and meaningless.

'I should take it off and destroy it. Xena will never be mine wholeheartedly, although at every turn, she's resolute to remind me that I'm hers. She can be-'

The door to the cabin opened, thereon interrupting Gabrielle's mental carping. Upon seeing Xena step inside the room, she became incensed and determined to discover the Warrior Princess' motives.

Xena's eyes were red from severe tears, as she looked at the equally flushed Amazon on the cot. "We need to talk, Gabrielle."

"Yes." She eagerly agreed. "Let's talk."

To Be Continued...