Author's Note: And we are FINALLY back with another update! Hopefully those of you reading are enjoying the direction this is going and I hope you guys stick around for the rest because I think this thing is just getting to the good stuff! Let me know and enjoy the ride!
Yakut had barely entered her hut with Xena behind her when she spoke.
"That can never happen again Xena. You've always been a friend to me and the Amazons...but I can't allow you to try and kill one of my Amazons - no matter how out of line she is."
Xena knew it had been coming and the response in her mind was still the same.
"If anyone ever talks about him like that again, I don't care who they are, they'll be lucky to live...like her."
Yakut turned around with a sigh and stared at Xena who looked like she was still ready to murder Cyane for what she had said.
"Xena...I know hearing her say those things about Joxer it...no one wants to hear someone talk about someone they love like that. And I guarantee you that under any other circumstances no Amazon would ever hurt anyone that you or Gabrielle cared about." Yakut tried to be diplomatic with her somewhat apology to Xena...but it seemed to have the opposite affect.
"It's not enough Yakut! If Gabrielle or I wasn't here Cyane would have used Joxer to...to...I can't even say it!" Xena squeezed her eyes and shook with anger at what Cyane would have done.
"She more than likely would have killed him Xena. Cyane's normal reaction to men seems to be very much different then what you've seen. I just think she was trying to impress the others to show how much of an Amazon she is."
"And that's supposed to make me feel better?! Yakut I..." And again Xena found the words wouldn't come out of her mouth...her heart damn well could have beat out of her chest...but those three words strung together talking about Joxer now refused to leave her mouth.
Yakut knew exactly what Xena wanted to say, and never in a thousand years would have thought she would feel pity for Xena for such a thing as love. Having never experienced it herself...the idea of not being able to say it to the one person you should...Yakut felt horrible for her friend.
"I know Xena. I know you do and I know it doesn't. Just know that I will be talking to my tribe about how we view men and how we treat them have changed. I'm just sorry it comes at the cost of Joxer's pain." Yakut said and placed her hand on Xena's shoulder as Xena tried not to cry at the idea of Joxer by the lake believing what Cyane had said.
"He's...he's childish, always talking, and annoying but we never...I never thought that way about..." Xena wanted to at least let Yakut know that pity had never crossed her mind when thinking of Joxer.
Yakut rubbed Xena's shoulder as a tear did began to fall down her face and she roughly swiped it away, as if ashamed of crying.
"I haven't known him long but...he doesn't seem that way to me. He's been...quiet. The only one he seems to speak with is..." Yakut stopped talking as Xena's eyes began to burn with anger.
"Elaine. She's...she's manipulating him. He believes her over me and I never thought that could ever happen." Xena had truly never thought it was possible.
Joxer always listened to her.
Even when he would roll his eyes at her, he would still do as she said.
Xena's fists formed as she thought of why Elaine could manipulate him. The morning by the stream.
Her knuckles cracked and her chest tightened.
"Has she...laid with him yet?" Yakut asked timidly, not sure if she should ask the question at all. But the only way she knew a woman to change a man's mind...
"No. I haven't left them alone long enough for her to touch him again." Xena said clearly reliving something Yakut was sure with the way Xena's fists began turning white.
"She's...touched him." Yakut asked and Xena's eyes flared with fire.
"I let my guard down for a second!" Xena's angry words filled were whispered out just before Gabrielle entered the hut.
"You'll never believe what Artemis just admitted to me." Gabrielle said immediately as she tried to swallow down the lump her throat.
Xena rolled her head back and grit her teeth then smushed her lips together and glared at Gabrielle.
"What possibly could make this worse than it already is?!" Xena glared at Gabrielle who had not listened to her at all when she had spoken to Gabrielle about having a limited amount of time to speak with Joxer.
Gabrielle's eyes filled with tears making the anger drain from Xena as the next thing she knew Gabrielle was gasping out as tears came down her face even as she said the words with anger.
"Artemis told me that Elaine would step aside if she promised to commit to Joxer forever! She...she practially admitted that she's in love with him! What the hell is going on Xena?! It's JOXER for Zeus sake!"
Xena was by her side in a second and caressed Gabrielle's shoulders the same way Yakut had seconds before done with her.
"She doesn't Gabrielle! She doesn't know him the way we do! NEITHER of them does." Xena's stare barely making an impact on Gabrielle as she shook her head no.
"They don't."
"Of course they don't! They don't know how he snores at night when he's completely exhausted!" Xena encouraged Gabrielle.
"Or the way he's constantly putting his foot in his mouth!" Gabrielle sniffled as Xena wiped away a few of her tears.
"He's constantly tripping over his own two feet!" Xena continued with a slight smile.
Gabrielle laughed, "Or he's constantly singing that stupid song of his."
"See?! They don't know him the way we do!" Xena's encouragement ending by wrapping her arms around Gabrielle who still felt as though everything was crazy around them in a way it had never been before.
Gabrielle sniffled against Xena's shoulder and whispered quietly. "Do you think he doesn't love me anymore?"
Xena winced and closed her eyes tightly and squeezed Gabrielle. "Not a chance in Tartarus."
"Artemis..."
"Artemis doesn't know Joxer's heart. We do! And...I do. And nothing short of you beating him to death could stop him from loving you. And you've tried a time or two." Xena tried to make Gabrielle laugh but Gabrielle only pulled away from Xena looking as though her heart had been torn in two.
"Why can't he look at me Xena? I...I never said...those things. I never said that I didn't...that I didn't care about him..." Gabrielle didn't notice the way Yakut shook her head and looked away from them. Gabrielle was too busy trying to make sense of why Joxer was soo angry with her.
Why he couldn't even look in her eyes.
Yakut had already figured the answer to her question, but, she dare not answer Gabrielle's rhetorical question.
It wasn't her place.
Yakut noticed a shadow at the entrance of the hut but looked back over at the two women and knew now was not the time to let Rhea know she wasn't being clever enough.
"He's just hurt because of what Elaine told him Gabrielle. And we've been anything but...but loud with how we feel about him." Xena tried to not squirm as she said the last eight words.
Her own insides were a mess. What Elaine had said she would do with Joxer to make him forget about the two of them fresh in her mind. Oh and how it made the anger and rage in her spark and furl inside her veins.
"But nothing happened! Nothing HAS happened Xena!" Gabrielle's watery eyes gazing into Xena's angered ones and trying to reason out how if nothing had occurred how could Joxer find fault with her!
"Gabrielle she knows things about him that we should know and we don't! She can manipulate him in a way we can't because we were too stupid NOT to ask him things." Xena was raging inside as she thought of what Elaine had said to her last night before going to free Grinhilda.
Xena's insides were boiling and the one word repeating in her mind every time she even thought of Elaine touching Joxer that way.
"We said we wouldn't ask him. We'd wait until he told us." Gabrielle mentioning a conversation they had many years ago. Joxer had told he had been embarrassed about Jett but...to not say anything at all it was...
"Well she didn't ask him and she still knows. Gods know how...but she know things about him and every time she's pulling him closer to her and away from us." Xena spun around and began to pace as she tried to think of a way she could get Joxer to open up to her.
Xena had never wanted to pry into Joxer's past. Especially after the whole Jett business a few years before. She figured if Joxer wanted to tell her or Gabrielle about his past he would. But it never happened.
Joxer never talked about his family with them. Or his brother. Really he never discussed anything personal with them.
Remembering what Hera had accused her and Gabrielle of she felt the sting of truth hit her in the chest once more.
The more Xena thought about how very little she knew about the man she had travelled with for years, the more she realized she knew more about Hercules than she did Joxer.
And despite being intimate with Hercules it made Xena feel as small as an ant that she honestly knew soo little about him personally.
Hera had made her feel ashamed.
But Elaine last night made her feel unworthy.
"Maybe a few drinks..." Xena said outloud. Knowing that when Joxer drank he tended to talk a whole lot more than he should.
"You're going to get him drunk?" Yakut asked with a smirk and raised eyebrow.
Xena looked startled at Yakut and seeing her expression promptly blushed as she realized what Yakut thought Xena planned to do.
"Xena we've seen him drunk a hundred times and he's never said anything..." Gabrielle missing Xena's blush and Yakut's reference completely as she too thought of how they could get Joxer to talk with them.
Or just Xena.
Gabrielle winced at the thought.
Yakut looked away smirking and shook her head as Xena looked at Gabrielle.
"But we never ASKED him anything when he was drunk! We'd let him just ramble on and not take advantage of his loose tongue..." Xena stopped talking and blushed again as Yakut tried to fight the smirk continuously trying to form on her lips at Xena's words.
Xena tried to stop the blush but Yakut giving her those knowing looks did not help that her mouth was deceiving her and quite badly at that.
"His drunk stupid tongue always gets him and us in trouble Xena!" Gabrielle said as she grabbed two fistfuls of her own hair and pulled out of aggravation.
Yakut's eyes opened wide and turned and stared at Xena, Xena felt her blush going down her throat as she looked at Yakut and then to Gabrielle who was oblivious to what she was saying having another meaning.
"That might be your answer then." Yakut said causing Gabrielle to suddenly let go of her hair and look up at Yakut.
"What is?" Gabrielle asked almost desperately.
"Let him use his drunk tongue." Yakut said staring straight into Gabrielle's eyes.
Gabrielle's innocence shown in that moment as it took several long seconds of furrowed brows before she looked over at Xena whom was still blushing for Gabrielle's eyes to go wide and look back at Yakut.
"What?!" Gabrielle's voice sounding almost panicked.
"Xena said that Elaine's already touched him..." Yakut immediately saw the way Gabrielle tensed and instant anger filled her green eyes.
"Maybe you...or Xena should do the same." Yakut said hurriedly, afraid of Gabrielle getting angry at her for even bringing up Elaine touching Joxer.
"NO!" Xena said immediately. Despite what she didn't know about Joxer, what she did know was that what he felt went beyond physical. Gabrielle trying to seduce Joxer would backfire on them like nothing else ever could.
But it was too late.
The look in Gabrielle's eyes of hope that she could somehow do something to sway Joxer lit up her eyes and Xena knew Yakut suggestion would bite them in the ass if Gabrielle even attempted to do such a thing.
Xena moved to grab Gabrielle's face and made her stare into her eyes. "Gabrielle you listen to me! Don't even THINK about playing with his emotions like that! You having sex with him is the last thing he wants right now!"
And the hurt that filled Gabrielle at those words were barely trumped by the anger that followed.
Gabrielle jerked her head away from Xena.
"IF I DON'T SHE WILL XENA! YOU KNOW SHE'S WAITING TO GET HIM ALONE!" Gabrielle screamed into Xena's face who looked pissed at her for some reason.
"Damn it Gabrielle listen to me! Joxer doesn't want SEX! SEX he can get from..." Xena realized her mistake a second too late.
"FROM MEG XENA?! YOU THINK I DON'T KNOW WHERE HE GOES WHEN HE LEAVES US?!" Gabrielle's anger being fueled by the idea of how many women had actually touched Joxer that way.
How many women knew him more intimately than her?! A man who had confessed not a week ago that he was in love with her had slept with other women despite being in love with her!
"Damn it Gabrielle the only reason he goes to Meg is because he cares more about you than just some roll in the hay!" Xena tried to make Gabrielle see reason.
And boy did it not.
Gabrielle's eyes narrowed as she looked at Xena, a dawning of facts suddenly hitting her.
"You knew. You knew each time he left exactly when he would go see her...didn't you?" Gabrielle's voice sounding hurt as reality suddenly hit her.
Xena couldn't look Gabrielle in the eyes then and her eyes scattered all around the room but not at Gabrielle.
"You knew because he would tell you...and you didn't stop him." Gabrielle felt a tightness in her chest as Xena looked at her with regret written all over her face.
"Gabrielle he..."
"DON'T! Just...don't!" Gabrielle warned Xena before she could give another excuse.
Gabrielle was glaring at Xena now. "How could you think it was ok Xena?! How could you know this whole time the way he felt about me and be OK with him having SEX WITH HER?!" Gabrielle screamed out in anger at Xena and at Joxer.
"Oh for gods sake Gabrielle it's just Meg! It's not like..." Xena tried to justify why she didn't think it was that big of a deal and again Gabrielle felt the truth hit her in the face.
"Because she looks like you Xena? It's not like it meant something more because she looks like you?!" Gabrielle whispered the questions as she saw Xena's face fall at the questions.
"You were ok with it being Meg because she has your face. Because even though he was betraying me...he technically wasn't betraying you?" Gabrielle stared into Xena's eyes and saw that Xena seemed shocked to hear these words coming out of her mouth.
"That's not true Gabrielle." Xena did not see this conversation going this way at all and now Gabrielle was looking at her like she had fault in what was happening.
"Isn't it Xena? Then why does Elaine touching him make you just as angry as me?" Gabrielle asked the question not knowing that it was the question that truly explained everything.
Xena couldn't speak for a second. Her mind consumed with images of watching Elaine touch Joxer and the rage it caused in her heart and how the image of him doing so with Meg barely made her uncomfortable.
Gabrielle knew she had been right when Xena shifted her stance and fidgeted in front of her.
"He's in love...with YOU Gabrielle. And he has been for a long time..." Xena tried to reason with Gabrielle again but Gabrielle knew now that Xena didn't feel betrayed when Joxer touched Meg, because for some reason Xena didn't see Meg as a threat.
Only one reason she could think of for Xena to think like that.
"So in your head it was ok for him to touch Meg because of who Meg was and not that she looked like you? So what if it had been Diana instead of Meg Xena? Would it still have been ok?" Gabrielle was now getting angry as Xena smirked at her.
"Gabrielle you know that..."
"Know what Xena?! Diana is a Queen and probably could have a consort. And she looks just like you too! Would you have been ok if Joxer was having an affair with Diana?!" Gabrielle getting angry when she saw Xena's smirk disappear and just shook her head.
"It doesn't matter who he slept with Gabrielle! You weren't ready..." Xena again began when Gabrielle cut her off again.
"Leah?! If he was having sex with Leah would it have mattered?!" Gabrielle's anger increased as Xena didn't seem bothered by any of them like she was. The more she thought how each of the women could have had sex with Joxer the tighter the vice around her heart.
"Damn it Gabrielle it doesn't matter..." Xena was starting to yell when Gabrielle asked a question that made Xena still with anger.
"What if he had sex with Artemis?" Gabrielle watched as Xena's nervous stance became rigid in a second as the name left her lips.
"Art...Artemis is the goddess of chastity Gabrielle. She's never been with anyone..." Xena's mind now beginning to imagine Joxer touching Artemis and the wave of anger that she felt wasn't natural.
"She JUST said she would let Joxer ATTAIN HER if I didn't want him!" Gabrielle said in anger and watched as Xena's eyes suddenly glowed with anger.
"What?!" The word garbled out of Xena's throat that was now clogged with instant rage. Her blue eyes were blazing just like Gabrielle's at those words.
Yakut was fascinated by what she was hearing. But she was even more amazed by what she was seeing.
Both women were very much in denial of just how they felt towards Joxer and Yakut couldn't for the life of her understand why.
Xena moved closer to Gabrielle with her eyes locked on Gabrielle. "She said that?!"
"She bragged that she could give him immortality and love him for eternity." Gabrielle confirmed with a hitch in her voice as glared up at Xena.
Xena's mind filled with images of Artemis touching Joxer and the instant jealousy flared in her belly.
Xena whirled around and stormed outside and screamed out.
"ARTEMIS! YOU GET BACK HERE RIGHT NOW!" Xena screamed as the image of Artemis touching Joxer once more went through her mind and it enraged her even more. Gabrielle right behind her as she brushed past Rhea without thought.
Artemis flashed into the clearing right in front of Xena and smirked as she read Xena's thoughts.
Really both she and Gabrielle were both absurd with how jealous they were of one man.
"Really Xena it's no business of yours if I allow a man to..."
Xena held up a finger and her hand shook with repressed anger, "Don't..."
"If it would make you feel better I can change my form to look like you or Gabrielle like my sister has done in the past. It will keep his heart attached to you both." Artemis offered what she thought would be a good compromise when both Xena and Gabrielle jerked their heads up in shock and stared at her in a way no mortal had ever dared do.
"What?!" Gabrielle asked in a deep voice as a new rage suddenly filled her at Artemis words.
"What do you mean like your sister has done?!" Xena was about to lose her mind. The want to suddenly kill all but consuming her as the only sister she knew would do something of the sort was Aphrodite and the implication that she had...
And then everything began to make sense in Xena's mind.
All the nicknames Aphrodite used around Joxer. The way she KNEW about this connection between the three of them.
"Xena, everyone knows my sister uses her excuse of being the goddess of love to lay down with any mortal she deems talented. It's how Aphrodite keeps connections when loved ones are apart. I assumed you knew. " Artemis said in slight confusion at Xena and then looked at a still semi shocked Gabrielle.
"Gabrielle you grew up on a farm. You most certainly know what a stud is. Why do you think Aphrodite used the term when speaking to Joxer?" Artemis watched as Gabrielle's green eyes became dark like leaves of the most dangerous forests.
Yakut and Rhea's eyes were wide as the new information shocked even them. Both exchanging looks as they knew something very bad was about to happen.
Xena's whole body trembled as she suddenly KNEW that Aphrodite had seduced Joxer. And now what Gabrielle had been saying finally hit home as she could see that Aphrodite had only been able to do so by using her face! Hers and Gabrielle's.
Gabrielle felt the sting of betrayal hit her in full.
She had thought that Aphrodite was her friend.
She had thought there was no way she could have felt an anger beyond what she had felt for Elaine.
She had thought wrong.
"Call for her." Gabrielle said in a voice Xena had never even heard.
But Xena also wanted to confront the goddess who had been pushing the both of them to do something or lose Joxer forever.
The idea of Joxer touching Aphrodite thinking it was her made Xena's mind go white with anger.
"Call her Artemis." Xena growled out as her insides felt like they were boiling alive.
"Really Xena? And what do you plan on doing to her? It's not as though either of you have claim over him now or ever. Let alone thinking you could beat her senseless. Despite how my mother has been treating you Xena we are still powerful and immortal. Despite Aphrodite's usual temperament, she is not at demure as you think she is!" Artemis warned Xena that her thoughts of pummeling Aphrodite into the ground were useless.
"I DON'T GIVE A DAMN ARTEMIS!" Gabrielle screamed as she moved towards the goddess in a very threatening manner and it was through devotion to Gabrielle that Xena moved away from the goddess and grabbed her before Gabrielle let out her anger in a useless manner.
Artemis could hear the pain in Gabrielle's voice clearly and realized as she looked into Gabrielle's eyes that the only thing keeping Gabrielle from breaking down and crying there in front of all them was her anger.
Artemis stared only for a second as Xena grabbed Gabrielle's arms and held her tightly against her when Gabrielle said words that even angered her.
"YOU SAID NOT TO TREAT HIM LIKE AN OBJECT! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU CALL WHAT APHRODITE DID?!"
Artemis stared at Gabrielle and Xena and had to admit... Gabrielle was right. What her sister had been doing was treating Joxer as though he were a toy and not a man, regardless of how it kept Joxer attached to Xena and Gabrielle.
Artemis nodded her red haired head and knew what she was about to do would most likely cause another of her family's epic fights.
"Aphrodite!" Artemis called and she readied herself.
Both Gabrielle and Xena watched in confusion as Artemis rolled her eyes at apparently nothing when she spoke outloud again.
"I don't care that you're with Hephaestus right now!" Artemis said and was rewarded with Aphrodite suddenly sparkling into the clearing right next to Artemis.
"Tre uncool sis!" Aphrodite immediately said as she adjusted her strap onto her shoulder and as she turned and was starting to smile at both Xena and Gabrielle she was bombarded by their overwhelming angry thoughts, causing her smile to immediately drop.
"It seems as though Xena and Gabrielle were unaware of your...experience of Joxer's...skills." Artemis said with a glare at her sister.
Aphrodite instantly began to back up as Xena let go of Gabrielle and both women moved as one towards her.
"What?!" Aphrodite looked panicked for a second when Artemis' words finally penetrated her mind and her eyes bulged and then turned and glared at her sister.
"You..."
"Joxer is not a toy for you to use and discard when you want sister. He deserves more than that." Artemis said with a glare at Aphrodite who suddenly looked shocked at Artemis.
Aphrodite placed her hand to her heart and felt the wave of emotions that Artemis gave when thinking of her being with Joxer.
It truly shocked her more than Ares and Apollo put together.
She had never felt those emotions coming from her sister...for anyone.
Aphrodite didn't have time to gasp as Xena was suddenly in her face a mere centimeter from her own face with a look in her eyes that spoke of murder.
"Tell me she's lying." Xena said with barely contained rage.
"Tell me you didn't pretend to be me and..." Xena couldn't say the word as the anger choked her throat closed.
Aphrodite's blue eyes stared back at Xena with a face that showed not a bit of insult. Instead Aphrodite winced and just stared back at Xena and barely whispered, "Just once."
Xena's entire body trembled with the overwhelming want to butcher the woman in front of her. The idea...the very idea of Joxer touching Aphrodite and thinking it was her making her want to hurt the goddess in a way that would leave her disfigured for all eternity.
Aphrodite winced at Xena's thoughts and barely had time to move when Gabrielle pushed Xena aside and glared at the goddess in a way that made Aphrodite's heart hurt.
"You...had sex with him? Using... my... face?!" Gabrielle could barely talk with the emotions flaring up in her body. Her fists kept balling up and she constantly squeezed them to keep from bashing the blonde goddesses' face in.
Aphrodite steeled herself and stood up a little straighter. "He thought is was just dreams. And only the times you hurt him bad enough to want to leave you two."
Gabrielle felt her stomach drop at the words and even Xena winced at the information.
"How many times?" Gabrielle barely got out the question as she imagined Aphrodite's body pressed against Joxer. The goddess of love herself touching him in ways that she had only seen on temple walls. Aphrodite had touched Joxer like that...using her face.
Aphrodite flicked her eyes over to Xena and then back to Gabrielle, and Xena knew immediately the amount of times were too many to be able to say outloud.
There was no way Gabrielle could handle the truth.
Gabrielle straightened and tried to stop the snarl from forming on her lips and not able to.
"Gabrielle..." Xena tried to touch Gabrielle's shoulder and Gabrielle moved her arm in disgust and continued to glare at Aphrodite.
"Can you even remember? Or is he just one of the many men you would bed a day?!" Gabrielle's anger fueling her words which were leaving her mouth unchecked.
Aphrodite suddenly was glaring back.
"Gabrielle!" Xena said through grit teeth and spared Aphrodite a look and immediately knew that this was NOT the thing to say to the goddess of love.
"I remember every time Gabrielle. Joxer's not someone a girl could forget. Ever." Aphrodite gave an evil pleased little smirk and Gabrielle lost her mind at the sight.
Artemis' eyes bulged and Xena's as well.
Without a second to spare Artemis moved Gabrielle and herself out of the clearing and into her temple where Gabrielle screamed out in anger and glared at the goddess.
"YOU HAD NO RIGHT!" Gabrielle screamed and then proceeded to destroy everything around her as the anger in her rushed out of her like the pressure in a volcano.
Everything from fabric to offerings were destroyed by Gabrielle's hands and Gabrielle's anger only increasing as she imagined Aphrodite under her hands and she couldn't stop.
Tapestry. Platters. Food. Anything she could get her hands on, she destroyed.
And when minutes had passed and the entire temple looked as if it had been ransacked did Gabrielle look at Artemis.
And Artemis was just staring back at her with this look. This look of...
Pity.
Gabrielle was suddenly hit with a wave of realization that it was what she had made Joxer feel.
Artemis barely allowed Gabrielle to cover her face with her hands as the sadness overtook her.
Artemis wrapped her arms around Gabrielle as though she were a child and rocked her.
Gabrielle's cries became sobs and wails and Artemis said nothing but held her and rocked her, knowing that she needed an outlet for the pain she had been holding in for days now.
Artemis let Gabrielle cry until Gabrielle began to pull away from her.
Both said nothing as Gabrielle tried to recover from all of the emotions coursing through her body.
Artemis remained silent, allowing Gabrielle to remain calm and not stir up her feelings once more.
Gabrielle allowed another tear to fall and closed her eyes and sucked in a huge breath.
Artemis slowly reached over and placed a hand on Gabrielle's back.
Gabrielle didn't startle but did look over at the red haired beauty.
"Did it help?" Artemis asked simply.
Gabrielle wanted to deny that it had...but...part of her knew that the hate inside of her had been building for days. She had needed to expel it out of her somehow.
Despite what she had learned, Gabrielle had sworn to herself that she never wanted to feel the kind of hate she had just felt.
It was too much for her soul to handle.
But...knowing that Aphrodite...
"It's best not to think about that just now. Better to think about how you're going to convince him." Artemis said quickly.
Gabrielle instantly became confused.
"Convince him of what?" Gabrielle asked in a whisper.
Artemis stared into Gabrielle's eyes and slowly took in a deep breath and let it out with a smile forming on her face.
"That you were too afraid to be in love with him. That being in love with him would be more frightening than losing him to a Goddess."
Gabrielle just stared with an open mouth at Artemis.
Artemis just looked into Gabrielle's green eyes and spoke softly.
"When your mind is racing like it was...you can't hide how you really feel."
Gabrielle winced and looked away and then down to her hands as she tried to not feel completely drained of energy.
"I thought..." Gabrielle began and then stopped out of exhaustion and shook her head as she knew Artemis had heard all of her feelings.
"I thought of it once. I thought...he's...he's always so happy. He sees the world with such innocence in his eyes. He sees it the way I use to and I..." Gabrielle winced as Artemis completed her thoughts
"You envied him."
Gabrielle didn't look at Artemis, but nodded her head.
"I wanted to keep him like that. Because as long as he stayed that way...the world was worth fighting for."
Artemis gave a soft little smile.
"And that whole time...she...was touching him." Gabrielle closed her eyes after she said the words.
Artemis' smile became a frown as she felt the jealousy coursing through Gabrielle in that moment.
"She was making him happy." Gabrielle swallowed the lump in her throat as the imaginary images formed in her mind of Aphrodite in bed with Joxer and her chest felt like someone was reaching into her chest and squeezing her heart with their bare hands.
"With your face Gabrielle. My sister couldn't have seduced Joxer...without looking like you. He never would have touched her otherwise. It's the only real reason she even touched him. However horrible it sounds, it was to keep the three of you connected. Apparently there have been times when you've almost lost him. And as hard as she and my nephew have been trying to find a way to send Elaine back...it must be a very important connection."
At those words Gabrielle whipped her head to look at Artemis.
"They've been trying to send Elaine back?" Gabrielle asked as Artemis let out a sigh - knowing that a long explanation was due to her Amazon Queen.
Xena's eyes whipped to the now empty space where Gabrielle had just been standing and then at Aphrodite who suddenly looked terrified that Xena was looking at her again.
"Xena I can explain..." Aphrodite immediately said as she began to back up.
"Explain? EXPLAIN?! YOU JUST TOLD GABRIELLE YOU'VE BEEN SLEEPING WITH HIM FOR YEARS APHRODITE!" Xena screamed in Aphrodite's face.
"I HAD TO! IT'S NOT LIKE I WANTED TO XENA! IT'S WHO I AM! IT'S WHAT I DO TO KEEP THINGS IN BALANCE OR JOXER WOULD HAVE..." Aphrodite suddenly stopped yelling and looked chagrined at having almost told Xena what Joxer had wanted to do soo many times that she would have to step in.
And Xena saw the sadness in Aphrodite's eyes and her anger jerked back as a worry began to grow in her belly.
"He would have what Aphrodite?"
Aphrodite just looked into Xena's eyes, knowing that if she told Xena the truth...it would devistate her.
"Aphrodite..." Xena warned with her voice, still reeling that the blonde goddess had touched Joxer while pretending to be her.
Aphrodite looked down and played with her fingers before whispering the words.
"He wanted to hurt himself...really hurt himself."
It took Xena a moment to truly understand what Aphrodite meant when Aphrodite looked up at her again and said words that made Xena tremble suddenly.
"I had to pretend to be you and make him promise he would never try to do it again. That I..." Aphrodite stopped for a second and corrected herself, "that you would blame yourself. And no one would be safe from your anger and pain."
Xena's body was trembling as the full weight of what Aphrodite was telling her hit.
"He wouldn't..."
Aphrodite just looked into Xena's eyes and didn't look away.
Xena closed her eyes and calmed herself.
Aphrodite had pretended to be her to stop Joxer from...
Aphrodite was right. She would have killed anyone she thought could have caused Joxer to do such a thing.
And yet the fact that Aphrodite said 'just once' when it came to stopping Joxer using her face and body made something in Xena's head highly suspicious.
"Just once..." Xena said again, and when Aphrodite stared into her eyes and nodded her head, Xena knew that whatever had happened - it made the Goddess of love uncomfortable enough to never want to do it again.
"But you used Gabrielle's face and body...over and over again." Xena said and watched as Aphrodite seemed to become slightly frightened again.
"My body...once." Xena said again and Aphrodite stared into Xena's eyes and Xena knew Aphrodite was hiding something big from her.
Aphrodite finally looked down and then back up at Xena as if she came to a decision.
"I've been with millions of mortals Xena. I'm not ashamed of what I need to do. But..." Aphrodite stopped as her eyes took on a look of introspection.
"I don't think I could ever do that again...without losing myself." Aphrodite whispered the last three words.
Xena felt like all the air in the world was removed as Aphrodite's words sunk in her brain.
And the way Aphrodite looked into her eyes with an emotion Xena had never seen on the Goddess' face. It made Xena suddenly want to scratch out her eyes.
Xena's jealousy began to increase and make her body tremble as she continued to allow Aphrodite's words to register...Xena's hackles rose in a way she couldn't explain.
"One time..." Xena said again and stared into Aphrodite's eyes when something deep inside Xena told her what Aphrodite wasn't saying.
"For how long?" Xena's throat almost closed around the words.
Aphrodite looked down again and Xena felt like crying...because she already knew the answer.
"Hours."
Aphrodite's whisper made Xena's eyes fill with tears.
And Xena knew she couldn't look at the Goddess a second more and whirled around and tried to put as much distance between herself and the goddess of love as she could.
Yakut and Rhea said nothing as both watched in sympathy as they saw the tears falling silently down Xena's face.
Both then looked at the pink clad goddess who returned their stare.
"She wasn't supposed to feel this way about him for a very long time."
Both said nothing with the explanation lost on them.
"It's going to change everything." Aphrodite said before she vanished from the clearing.
When Amarice found Joxer her heart went out to him.
He sat on a boulder with his head lowered and a hand in his hair looking more than just miserable.
"Hey..." she said softly not wanting to scare him.
Joxer didn't move or even acknowledge he heard her.
Slowly Amarice made her way around to the other side of the boulder and slowly sat down.
At first neither said anything, but then his whispered question made her heart ache for him.
"Are they laughing at me?"
"No." Amarice said immediately, "I would have beaten them into the ground if somebody had."
Joxer said nothing, and silence once more settled over the two.
"I'm not...good...with...making friends and..." Joxer said suddenly not changing his position or even looking at Amarice.
"And I thought they..." Joxer couldn't complete what he wanted to say. But he didn't have to.
Amarice understood.
"You thought Xena and Gabrielle knew that and were different."
Joxer let out this sigh that sounded like his soul was in pain.
Amarice turned her head to looked at him.
"Joxer...they are your friends! And not for the reason that stupid bitch said. Because both Gabrielle and Xena don't just look at you like a friend!"
This caused Joxer to look over at Amarice with wounded eyes when she smirked at him.
"You're part of their family! And right now...they're in pain because they know you're in pain." Amarice stressing the words to drive a point home.
"Then why didn't they tell me that..." Joxer couldn't finish the question, his heart in his throat that the two people that claimed to be his family...had hidden and lied about their relationship this whole time.
Amarice saw the hurt in his eyes as he looked away from her eyes, ashamed to even having to ask the question of someone that he had just befriended.
Amarice sighed and looked down and fiddled with her hands. "I don't know."
Joxer hung his head once more and stared at his naked hands. Hands that he had been so use to having gloved or wrapped with leather to be able to use a sword.
Now it was bare...and it didn't seem to bother him like it would have not so long ago.
"Elaine said she would help keep them both alive. And...because of her Solan is alive..." Joxer began as he kept his head down, even as Amarice looked over at him.
"She's...smart. Funny. Beautiful. She...makes me feel like...it's ok just to be me."
Amarice watched Joxer look up into her eyes and knew his heart was in turmoil.
"I think I...I think I really want to be with her...but..." Joxer didn't know how to say what he was feeling.
He was feeling too much.
He didn't want to feel anything at all.
Amarice though knew exactly why he was in soo much pain.
"But you don't know how you can be...because of Xena...and Gabrielle."
For a second she saw anger on Joxer's face and was shocked when he looked at her with that anger in his eyes.
"Elaine says that they'll always find each other. In each...lifetime. Like...they come back from the dead over and over and live different lives. Because they're soul mates."
Amarice said nothing as she had been there when Hera had said that Gabrielle was Xena's soulmate. She knew that it was true.
Joxer looked down and then up at Amarice with a look she had never seen on his face.
"If i say something...will...will you keep it a secret?" Joxer's voice almost sounding scared.
Amarice furrowed her eyebrows but nodded her head, curiosity being outweighed by her barely new friendship with him.
Joxer nodded and then looked down again blew out a breath before he looked back up at Amarice.
"Elaine said something and...and it...it made me feel...happy...and then...really really sad."
Amarice's brow furrowed even more. "What did she say?"
"She...she said that maybe...maybe she was...MY soulmate. That...she wanted to be." Joxer looked down at the ground as his shoulder's sagged with a deep kind of sorrow.
Amarice's eyebrows shot up and felt a little more than shocked. She...she hadn't even thought about it.
When Hera had even mentioned that Joxer was a part of Xena she had thought it ludicrous but now...
But now the idea that JOXER had a soulmate...that...that made Amarice extremely curious as to if Elaine might be right.
Hera hadn't said anything about Joxer's soulmate at all...just...that they were a part of each other.
And then Amarice rewound in her head what Joxer had just admitted.
Oh! Ooohhhhh!
Amarice winced as Joxer kept his head down.
"I...I don't know what to say Joxer. It...it's possible she's right and...you shouldn't feel sad that she could be right!"
Amarice watched him look up at her in shame.
"Back there...I wished Elaine was right with everything in me."
Amarice couldn't help but feel horrible for Joxer.
"I...I know you don't know me well but...I've never had friends...before Xena and Gabb...Gabrielle. I...I annoy pretty much everyone I meet. I...I try...I try all the time but I just can't..." Joxer stopped talking and felt embarrassed when he started to cry again and furiously wiped at his eyes with his new jacket sleeve.
"Hey! I'm your friend! And I know what it's like to not have friends. I know what it's like...to pretend to be something that I'm not. Joxer - Elaine was telling the truth. I'm...I'm not an Amazon! I never have been. I...I lost my parents when I was really young. So...I know what it's like to grow up without a mom too. So...we're more alike then you think. And...I was being a snob before! I thought I was...better than you but...I'm not! I'm just like you."
Joxer huffed a slight laugh. "Except you can actually fight and...I almost get myself killed most of the time."
Amarice couldn't help but smile at that and then nudged Joxer one handed and Joxer looked up at her with a small smile.
"Look. Before Elaine got here I honestly can say I didn't think I could stand you and...I a few minutes ago I almost killed that dumb bitch back there that tried to make you feel bad! I don't take it lightly when people try to hurt my friends. And your my friend now soooo...you may annoy me at times...but I promise to annoy you back. Deal?" Amarice stretched out her arm in a warrior's shake when Joxer shook his head making Amarice frown immediately.
"I'm not a warrior Amarice." Joxer whispered then looked up with sad eyes at Amarice.
Amarice looked at her arm and...realized she wasn't a warrior either. Being able to fight didn't make her one.
Joxer twitched his pursed lips to one side as he tended to do when he was in thought and slowly raised his hand up and placed it in Amarice's hand, who slowly smiled as Joxer shook her hand up and down.
"Deal."
Amarice smiled brightly. "Deal."
"What deal did you make?"
Both Joxer and Amarice whirled their heads to stare at Solan who was staring at the two with a curious look on his face that reminded the two he was indeed Xena's son.
Both smiled at Solan.
"We made a deal to annoy each other. Because we're friends." Amarice said and winked at Joxer before letting go of his hand
"Oh! Elaine and I kind of did the same thing yesterday. We even have a secret handshake." Solan said as he approached the boulder and sat between the two.
"Really?" Joxer asked with a furrowed brow.
Solan nodded his head.
Amarice squinted as she looked at Solan. Her mind asking why Elaine would do such a thing with Solan.
"She said I can ask her about anything...even things I don't think I could ask mom or you." Solan explained and Joxer placed his hand on Solan's shoulder.
"But...you...you know you can tell me - or your mom," Joxer immediately added, "anything right?"
Solan grimaced and looked down. "Elaine...knows stuff that...I don't think you are mom would understand. Sometimes I want to ask a question that...I don't feel...right...asking mom or you."
Joxer and Amarice shared a look as both understood what Solan meant.
Joxer felt like smacking himself.
Here he was crying over what people thought of him when Solan and Elaine had gone through something that were a thousand times worse than the beatings he would get from his father or brother.
He felt ashamed of himself. And angry at himself for not knowing that Solan had needed him and had gone to Elaine.
Joxer scolded himself and caressed Solan's head. "I get that. And I know you might think we don't understand but...but we love you. And you can tell us anything. ANYTHING! I...WE might get angry - but I promise! We won't be mad at you! We'll be mad at ourselves more than anything...not you. Ok?"
Solan nodded his head and suddenly stopped as he looked into Joxer's eyes. Slowly Solan reached up a hand to wipe away a tear that had stuck to Joxer's lower lid and hadn't fallen from when he had been feeling sorry for himself.
Joxer covered Solan's hand and held it as he looked away ashamed.
"Mom told me that someone said something that hurt you. What'd they say?" Solan asked suddenly upset that someone had made Joxer cry.
"Nothing." Joxer shook his head and smirked as he looked at Solan. "Nothing important anyway. It doesn't matter what they said."
Solan didn't look convinced at all.
Joxer sighed gave a half grimace at the way Solan was looking at him.
"Not convinced huh?"
"Nope!" Solan mimicked Joxer's expression looking almost identical to him.
Amarice noticed this and covered her mouth to stop from laughing at the mirrored expressions.
Joxer looked out at the lake shaking his head.
Solan didn't say anything as he leaned over and half hugged Joxer who immediately returned the embrace.
Amarice looked at the two with a twist of a smile as she found it amusing that with very little time Solan had bonded with Joxer. A little thought in the back of her mind if maybe that was a way to get Xena to pull her head out of her...
"Here you are! I almost went into the village to look for you!" Armand said as he caused the three to turn and look at him.
"I keep looking for red hair! It's going to take some time to look for that gorgeous white hair!" Armand said with a sexy little smirk aimed at Amarice.
Of course said words caused Amarice to flush a lovely red hue making both Solan and Joxer smile widely.
"Don't!" Amarice said with a side eye at Joxer.
"Wouldn't dream of it." Joxer said and as soon as Amarice looked away shared a wink with Solan who covered his mouth to stop the laugh from coming out and embarrassing Amarice even more.
"Elaine said we needed to bathe today and I need some soap. I don't have any in my pack. Do you know where we can get some?" Armand asked in complete oblivion of what had happened.
Amarice felt the blush leave her as she grimaced. "I don't have a clue."
Solan looked at Joxer and whispered, "Can't we ask Missy? She was talking to mom a few minutes ago."
"Missy came back?" Joxer asked.
Solan nodded his head.
Joxer felt odd that Artemis had come back to the Amazon village. He didn't know why but...since Elaine had told him that Artemis didn't feel comfortable around men he felt bad that just because he was a boy she felt uneasy around him.
He had heard stories about how Artemis hated men but...she had been nice to him from the beginning...and he just wanted to help any way he could.
Then with a little flash Artemis stood in front of them by the lake.
"I watch over each Amazon village Joxer. It just so happens that this one holds mortals I care to watch over more for than the others." The slight blush on her cheeks not lost on Amarice or Armand.
Joxer just gave a crooked little smirk. "Thank you for sticking up for us yesterday."
Artemis just smiled back and gave a little nod. "Your welcome...and I'm sorry you had to go through any of it. Elaine...was right. Making men the enemy to the Amazon nation is wrong. It was wrong of Cyane to say what she did Joxer. I'm sorry it was the teachings I have passed down to them that caused you pain." Artemis face showed guilt as she looked at Joxer.
Joxer looked down and shook his head. Really Cyane had done him a huge favor.
"The truth hurts Missy. I'm actually...kind of thankful she said it. I'd rather have the truth than a lie." Joxer whispered the last sentence, not really wanting to discuss any of that in front of Solan.
Missy nodded but didn't let Joxer know about the other things said after he had left.
"You'll find supplies in the hut you're staying in when you go back. Now...I must leave and tend to some of my duties. But if you need anything..." Artemis gave a little wink to Solan who gave her a huge toothy smile that showed his dimples.
Artemis smiled back and then vanished.
"Umm...sorry to ask this now but...where's Elaine?" Armand asked as he realized that normally Elaine would be right next to Joxer.
Joxer let out a sigh. "She went to see Ares with Hera. But I swear with the way Xena reacted when I asked her I think something happened that she doesn't want me to know about."
Armand gave a quick glance to Amarice who looked worriedly at Armand.
"You think mom got in a fight with Elaine?" Solan asked the only logical conclusion after watching the way his mother reacted to Elaine the day before.
Joxer looked curiously at Solan and pursed his lips. "I don't know Solan."
Solan twitched his pursed lips to one side mimicking Joxer's face and thought of something that could make Joxer feel better.
A gleam came into Solan's eyes when a thought popped into his mind.
"Have you started writing a song for Evie?" Solan asked using Joxer's way of saying his sister's name.
"Oh Gods Joxer please tell me your not going to use your song to..." Amarice was already rolling her eyes when Joxer gave her this strange hurt look.
"It's not my song." Joxer said softly making even Armand look curiously as Joxer as he went to sit next to Amarice.
"You have a song?" Solan asked with a brightness in his eyes, not knowing that Joxer was already feeling sick having to explain to the three of them how the song existed.
Solan saw the pain a second to late in Joxer's eyes when Joxer sighed and looked at him and moved his hand onto the back of his neck and held looked into his eyes.
"The...reason...that I did...what I did to those guys...it's umm..." Joxer stopped talking as he thought back to all those years ago, "It's because some boys in my neighborhood almost did it to me."
Solan looked confused as to why Joxer was bringing that up now but Joxer continued.
"They use to umm...torture me along with my brother Jett. They uhh...wrote a song about me and...and they taunted me with it...so...I turned it into my song and...I would sing it to myself when I was scared or...or when my father was screaming for me to come take my umm... punishment... so I..."
Joxer stopped talking when he saw the sadness in Solan's face.
"Your dad use to hit you?" Solan knew exactly what Joxer had meant by punishment.
Amarice looked at Armand who slipped his hand into hers as he understood she was getting upset because she had on occasion hit Joxer herself.
"Yeah...but umm...I'm use to people hitting me. I tend to annoy people a lot." Joxer grimaced when he looked at Solan and then looked down and away as having to admit that to Solan made him feel useless.
Solan looked pensive for a moment and then spoke. "It's not right to hit people because they annoy you. Does...does mom hit you?"
And all three adults became anxious at the question and immediately Joxer denied it until he realized that Solan was looking at him as if he didn't believe him.
Joxer felt his heart squeeze tight as he realized Solan REALLY didn't believe him.
"Sometimes." Joxer whispered and watched as Solan was the one to look down and away.
"Hey..." Joxer tried to get Solan to look at him but Solan actually kept trying to look away.
" No wonder you don't love her anymore..."
"HEY now! I still...I still care about your mom. BOTH your moms!" Joxer said quickly even as Solan looked completely sad and angry at the same time.
Solan wrapped his arms around himself clearly upset and it looked as if nothing Joxer would say was going to change his mind.
"People make mistakes Solan. Just because your mom did something wrong doesn't mean she's not sorry she did it or that she couldn't take it back!" Amarice said after Joxer couldn't seem to get through to him.
"That's why forgiveness is such a big thing Solan." Armand said and shared a look with Joxer, who gave a nod with a look of gratitude on his face.
Solan moved his head a little but then looked over at Armand.
"I know forgiveness is a big thing but...I helped my mom's forgive each other and it took a lot out of me to do it! And I don't know how to fix this like I did with THEM! I..."
"Solan that's not your job! What's happening isn't your fault!" Amarice said as she saw just how upset Solan had become.
Then Solan looked at her with a maturity way beyond his years and said something that made all three adults not know what else to say.
"But if he was the one hitting mom, I don't think I could forgive him! So I how can I forgive mom?" Solan asked Amarice.
Amarice looked up at Joxer who looked shocked and...worried about what Solan had said and knew she honestly couldn't answer the question.
Armand understood in that moment that Solan was far more intelligent than a boy of eleven years old. And then he was shocked even more with what Joxer did and said.
"Hey!" Joxer said and forcibly turned Solan to look at him. "Now you listen to me! What happens between your mothers and me is NOT your fault. And whatever your mothers did or didn't do - it's not your job to forgive them! It's mine! And if I can forgive them, you have to do the same! Because both are your moms and no one loves you more than they do in this world!"
Solan grimaced and looked down but Joxer reached over and pulled his chin up to look at him in the eye.
"You let me worry about all of this ok? I don't want you thinking about it when...when you need to just be a little boy! Ok! If you love me...then...then don't worry about all of this grown up stuff! I want you to have fun and...and live a better life than either me and your moms have had! OK?!"
Solan looked into Joxer's eyes and then nodded.
"Ok?" Joxer said with a small smile and let go of Solan's chin with a little tickle under his chin causing Solan to smile and laugh.
The sound lightening all three adult hearts.
"Ok." Solan relented.
"Good." Joxer returned Solan's smile.
A silence descended upon the small group.
"Elaine said we needed to take another bath." Armand said as he grimaced at the uncomfortable feeling remained at his groin.
Amarice blushed slightly as she remembered what Elaine had explained to her WHY they needed to bath and got up.
"I'll go get the supplies and towels." Amarice said and stood and was about to let go of Armand's hand when he pulled her back and without saying a word gave Amarice a slow kiss.
Solan and Joxer smiled at the sight.
When Amarice pulled away they both locked eyes and smiled at each other.
Amarice looked into Armand's eyes and knew she didn't want to make the same mistake as Xena and Gabrielle.
She leaned down and gave him a kiss of her own and then pulled back and both didn't want to let go of the other, but then Amarice said "I'll be right back."
With that both slowly let the others hand go.
As the three males watched Amarice walk away Joxer waited for Amarice to disappear from sight before saying "You hurt her I'll have to kill you yah know."
Armand didn't miss a beat, "I know."
"I'd have to hurt you too." Solan said with a glare that was soo identical to Xena's that Armand had to laugh.
"Oh I know you will little man. I'd be surprised if you didn't!" Armand said slapped the back of Solan's back and began to get up from the boulder and removed his top.
"Do we really have to bathe again?" Solan asked as his nose scrunched up and he looked at the cold water.
Joxer sighed. "Elaine said we needed to clean ourselves every day! I think that's weird!"
Solan shrugged his shoulders. "Elaine's really smart though. She told me she's from thousands of years in the future and knows exactly what's going to happen."
Both Armand and Joxer looked at Solan then.
"Really? Like...thousands of years in the future? What does she say happens?" Armand asked curiously.
Solan looked over at Armand and smiled widely, grateful that he Armand took the bait.
Hera closed her eyes and tried to remain calm.
After hearing Amarice's version of the events that had unfolded in her absence she did not look forward to what Elaine would do.
Joxer's heartache had been felt by her but she only assumed it was remembering the day before.
Apparently not.
Amarice grimaced. "I was just coming by to pick up the lotion Aphrodite gave Joxer since they bathed and he asked me earlier to put some on...and since the son is still out. I... found out what happened with Gabrielle and Xena from an Amazon girl named Rhea." Amarice gave an awkward smile to both Ares and Hera.
Ares seemed angry.
Yes he knew what Aphrodite needed to do and he had accepted that a very long time ago, but the idea that XENA was upset about it was a completely different matter.
Maybe his mother was right about becoming close to Joxer. He never would have thought the fool as competition of any sort...and now it looked like the two women he was interested in the most were currently obsessed with the idiot.
Ares grimaced.
Hera sighed again, not knowing how she was going to handle the situation that they now found themselves in.
Xena and Gabrielle were oblivious to Joxer not four days ago, and now both were hyper-focused on him. Both stubborn and obnoxiously jealous of anyone that showed any physical attraction to the man.
A week ago both were making fun of the man and now were desperately trying to hold on to him any way they could.
Hera knew it was too late.
She had seen it in the boys heart.
He was devastated.
Seeing Xena repeat the mistakes she had, it hurt her deeply that she couldn't save her the misery she knew it would bring.
Being Xena's mother had been by far the most difficult thing in all of the thousands of years she had existed.
"What's going on?"
Both Ares and Hera turned their heads to find Elaine coming out of the front door groggily.
"You should get some more sleep. I'll take care of it." Hera knew just how little sleep Elaine truly received each night.
Memories of the past tormented her dreams so much she barely slept three hours a night.
"I can't. Is...is it about Joxer?" Elaine asked as she looked between the three.
Ares nodded his head. "Apparently one of the Amazons said something to upset Joxer."
Elaine's face went from lax to angry immediately.
"Let me guess! Cyane right?!"
Amarice looked shocked and Elaine surged past the three of them and began making her way to Yakut's hut.
"This...can not be good." Ares said as he and his mother began to follow Elaine. Amarice finally following as well as she realized that Elaine didn't know what was said and this was going to be EXTREMELY bad.
Amarice just didn't expect what actually would happen.
Author's Note: I know! I'm evil for leaving a cliff hanger like that but...I need something to get you guys to write me what YOU think is going to happen! Reviews make me write faster! 😘