A Little Time Apart
by Emily
Disclaimer: Don't own 'em.
rating: pg/pg-13
Author's note: Ares was recently asked by a warlord
fighting in Chin to come assist him in his battle.
Ares owed him a favor
from a while back. In Xena's
darker days the warlord Veralies was about to kill
Xena when Ares appeared invisible to Xena and begged
him not to kill her. He agreed, but Ares now owed him
a debt.
*******************************************************
Xena looked up at the twinkling stars in the night
sky. She was wondering if Gabrielle had made it to
Potedia. Xena rarely went there. Mostly because she
always felt a certain coldness from them. She
probably wouldn't be happy either if someone had taken
her daughter from her and exposed her to a cruel
world. Would she ever have--
Her thoughts were interrupted by a shiver. Not caused
by the cold either...
"Ares" She purred silkily.
"Xena. I need to talk to you" He said, appearing
in a
kneeling position next to her.
Xena stared at him, silhouetted against
the night sky.
She would have been very tempted to wrap her arms
around him and revel in the warmth of his body, but he
had concern in his features.
"Talk" Xena said, propping herself up on her elbows.
Ares sighed at the
stubbornness of his Warrior
Princess.
"I have to go to war in Chin...they need me. You must
take my job for a while" He said, getting right to the
point. He looked into her eyes for an answer.
'Please Xena, say yes'
Xena grinned.
"Honestly Ares, what do you want?" She asked, hoping
he was joking, but something told her he wasn't.
Maybe the serious edge
to his voice, or just the way
he was looking at her. Whatever it was, it was
getting her nervous.
"I'm not joking Xe. In a god's absence, their Chosen
is to take their place. You." He said seriously.
Xena started to get up,
and Ares held out a hand to
help her up. She hesitated, then took it. Xena was
only in her shift and once out of the warmth of her
bedroll shivered. Ares placed his hands on her upper
arms and she backed away.
"You're serious?" He nodded "You expect me to take
over your job just because you have to go to some war?
Have Discord take your place!" She said angrily.
Xena was on edge with
the situation, and being awaken
in the middle of the night didn't help her temper.
He had to be calm and persuade her to take over while
he was gone. "I would if it were that easy but the
law is that the Chosen must take the god's place. I
need you to Xe." He said calmly. Ares searched her
eyes for an answer.
Xena had never seen Ares plead before. "How long?"
She asked.
"Well...until the war ends, but if I die Discord will
take over" He said, looking away from her to a tree.
Would she care? Probably not.
"What do you mean, *die*?" She asked. The thought of
Ares dying had rarely entered her mind, and now the
possibility was so real she could hardly grasp it.
"I'll become mortal when I go there, gods don't stay
gods in lands other than their own. I have to leave
soon. Please Xena" He asked again. Ares saw a
submissive look enter her eyes.
She looked down, then back up at him.
"You could
die?" She asked softly. The Warrior Princess' eyes
widened, and a look of incredulity spread across her
face.
"Me? I'm the God of War Xena. This will be easy.
I'll just go
there, fight, come back. It's highly
unlikely I'll...die" He said lightly.
"That's-" Her throat choked up
and she coughed quietly
and said in a clear voice "That's not very reassuring.
Promise me you'll come back alive" She demanded. She
still couldn't comprehend the thought of him being
away and possibly dying, she had to have some
reassurance she was going to see him again.
"I...can't. I'm sorry Xe." He said looking deeply
into her eyes. He expected the hardest part was going
to be getting her to take his godhood, but now he
could see she was...worried about him? This was
definitely surprising.
"I-I don't know how to be Goddess of War. Why
is it
so important for you to go to Chin anyways?" She
asked, suddenly realizing how much this could change
both of their lives.
"You'll have all my knowledge when you receive my
godhood. Like I said, our Greek troops need us. If
we don't stop them there, they'll bring the war to
Greece" He said, not telling the whole truth about the
debt.
Xena realized she had no choice. If she didn't, she'd
be in trouble with Zeus, who wasn't really someone to
mess with. But could she live without the knowledge
that she may never see Ares again?
"I'll go in your place" She suggested
weakly, knowing
he'd have no part of it.
"You know I wouldn't let you do that. Anyways,
wasn't
it just a couple weeks ago you told me you wished I
was dead?" He said.
That was just like Ares. Taking a bad situation and
intensifying it by making her regret her prior actions
towards him.
"What makes you think I still don't?" She arched her
eyebrows.
Ares laughed to himself. "Honestly Xena. You are
doing a poor job of keeping up this 'I hate you'
charade. A moment ago you asked me to promise you I
wouldn't die, and now you...want me to? Tell me, how
do you feel?" He asked seriously.
"You'll never know." She forced a smile
and said
lightly "Bring me back something, okay?" She was
trembling and on the verge of tears. Why was this
upsetting her so much? She wouldn't miss him she told
herself.
He smiled widely as he stepped closer and wiped away a
tear as it fell down the side of her perfect face.
Gods he was going to
miss her. Why couldn't she just
this one time be the brave Warrior Princess and not be
so upset about him leaving. But then again, her not
caring would probably hurt him more than her breaking
down in front of him.
"Yeah" Then he stepped back a little and got back to
business. He unsheathed his sword. She took hers
from under her bedroll.
"Here, take mine." She said offering him hers.
He
grinned. Ares appreciated the gesture.
"Hold on"
He took her hand and they appeared outside a camp in
Chin. "Goodbye Xena" He said as he handed her his
sword. She immediately felt exhilarated and relaxed
at the same time by the godly power flowing through
her veins. The feeling was beyond words. She handed
him her sword. There was something about the trading
of weapons between them. To a warrior a sword was
more than a weapon, it was a part of the person
wielding it.
"Bye Ares" She said softly as she tilted her head up
and leaned in to kiss him, but then stepped back.
"Actually, I'm going
to give you something to live
for." She said.
Ares laughed. "That sounds promising"
Xena leaned up next to his ear and whispered "You
better return my sword or I'll kick your ass, dead or
alive"
He smiled. She nodded and to her surprise,
disappeared and reappeared at her camp. She suddenly
heard someone calling Ares in her head. As though by
instinct she appeared at the place that person was
calling her was.
The man looked surprised.
"Gellias, Ares is gone. I'm Xena, your new
god of
war. What's the problem?"
*******************************************************
Mortality instantly took its toll on Ares. He felt
weak and tired as though he'd had most of his life
drained from him and lead filled his boots. He
trudged down to the camp and was stopped by two
guards. He explained who he was to them in an
exasperated tone and was let by. Ares made his way to
the tent of Veralies and just walked in.
Veralies was making love to
some prostitute with fire
red hair and pale skin who had tagged along to keep
the men happy. They were so involved neither of them
took notice to Ares.
"Veralies!" He said loudly.
The warlord quickly
rolled the woman off of him and
sat up, the sheets covering the bottom half of his
body.
"Don't you knock Ares?!" He asked, slightly annoyed by
the disturbance.
"Listen. I am now the head of this army. If you
argue with that, I'll kill you. Clear?" He stated.
Ares was not one for
formalities, usually getting
right to the point, unless he chose to be decisive.
"You owe me-" The general started but was cut off by
Ares who was glaring at him from the entrance of the
tent.
"I'm here, I'll be fighting. I never said anything
about being inferior to you." He said with a powerful
voice that made the ex-general's hands tremble.
Veralies nodded and Ares
exited with a satisfied look
on his face. Being the head of the army was only a
small comfort, though. Ares knew the future held
difficulties for him, but he would get through it. He
wouldn't let Xena down.
*******************************************************
From that point on Xena was the goddess of war. She
found it sometimes challenging and stressful, but at
other times she enjoyed it greatly. Xena was born for
war. She loved the strategy, fighting, and skill
needed for war. It wasn't so much the blood lust, but
the challenge of an impossible situation was
intriguing. The Goddess of War did not stand for
half-wit warlords. If they gave her trouble, they
would pay.
The worst part was missing Ares. Xena hated to admit
the weakness. All she could think when she thought of
him was what if he never came back? What if he
thought she did hate him? He wasn't her favorite
person in the world, but he was color in her life.
When Xena would have
a bad day, he'd distract her with
a sword fight or just walk with her along the beach
for a few minutes. Yeah, there was the self
centerdness, arrogant, dangerous part of him, but Xena
could see beyond that, when she wanted to.
Sometimes when a warlord would
mention his name and
she would make a quick exit and burst into tears. The
tears came because she missed him, yeah, she missed
him. But not only that, but she worried constantly.
Telling herself that
Warrior Princesses don't worry
didn't help at all, it just made her feel weak.
And the dreams were horrible. She would see Ares in
combat and there was always some soldier that would
come up behind him and slay him from behind. They
seemed so real that Xena sometimes did believe he was
dead even when she was awake.
The long days turned into weeks, the weeks
into
months. She still saw Gabrielle and her family, but
Xena was dedicated to her job.
Xena slept in his bed chamber, finding it the most
luxurious of all the bed chambers. Just the feel of
the satin sheets against her skin was comforting. The
knowledge that he had slept in the same bed kept hope
in her mind. He had to come back.
The priests and priestesses were all
very nice to her.
Leila became a very good friend to her, and would
comfort her when she was missing Ares, but Xena
usually went to Gabrielle with her problems, she
always seemed to have the right things to say.
*******************************************************
One day while Xena was chatting with Leila a topic of
conversation came up that she didn't like to talk
about, but she just needed to talk about it.
"Leila, have you ever missed someone someone so much
that you couldn't do anything without thinking of
them?" Xena stared absently at her reflection in a
fountain as she awaited Leila's reply.
"Once, my fiance Narnius was away, fighting in a war.
It seemed like everywhere
I went I saw his face. I
would like to hear people talk about him, so it felt
like he was there, but after the conversation I felt
more alone than ever. But Xena, when he came home I
was so glad to see him. I couldn't think a rational
thought. All I wanted to do was touch him and know he
was real." Then her tone changed from the bright
remenissing one to a bitter tone. "Then a few months
later, a girl came to our village looking for Narnius.
She said she was pregnant with his baby. I told her
she was wrong, but Narnius admitted it was true. Do
you know what he did?" She asked dryly.
Xena shook her head.
"He left me and married her, because it was 'his
responsibility'" She said, sobbing. Xena put an arm
around her and held her. She felt guilty for
conjuring up those painful memories for Leila, but
Xena couldn't help but wonder if Ares was with someone
right now. She knew little whores sometimes came
along. She never allowed them in her army. No, she
knew Ares wouldn't go for one of them, when he had her
in his temple...No Xena! Bad! She told herself. She
was not here for him, it was an obligation.
Obligation, she used that word
frequently when
referring to him. Did she say that to justify the
time she spent with him? She knew she enjoyed his
company, usually. Xena wasn't going to lie to herself
any more. She couldn't live calmly without him.
Gods, if he died...well,
she would just have to get
over it, but could she?
*******************************************************
Ares fought victoriously and was an exceptional
general. He radiated power and his troops respected
him. Not mostly because of fear, but experiencing war
first-hand caused him to be more understanding. Ares
was fair and the men gladly fought at his side.
He only had a couple
problems. One was that he missed
Xena incredibly. He knew she could hold her own as a
goddess, but it was his siblings he worried about.
She didn't have to go
to the meetings attended by the
other gods because she was not part of the family, so
that might subdue the possible trouble.
Ares could swear sometimes that
he saw her fighting at
his side. Hair flowing behind her and moving
gracefully, yet deadly. He would turn back to his
adversary and when he looked back she would be gone.
Gods, he couldn't
go on like this anymore.
Another problem was that red head he had seen Veralies
with. He realized eventually that she was not only
there for the men, but also proved to be a great
fighter. Her name was Sanra. Ares found they had
many things in common, and found himself attracted to
her. He tried to avoid her to make the feelings go
away, but it didn't help.
One day Ares was helping her on some sword
play in a
vast grassy meadow when he pinned her down. He looked
down at her mischievious face. He couldn't keep
himself from leaning down to kiss her when Sanra's
face changed to Xena's. He stopped abruptly and
stared into her eyes.
"Xena..." He whispered, suddenly overtaken by the
beauty of the raven haired princess.
"Ares?" The woman beneath him said
puzzled and Xena's
image was gone and Sanra replaced it. He got up held
out a hand for her. She grasped it and stood up with
a concerned look on her face. He shook his head.
"Sanra, I can't do this. I-" He was cut off by a hand
being placed over his mouth.
"Don't worry about it. Let's take a walk and you can
tell me about Xena" She said with understanding eyes.
It amazed Ares that
she could tell what was wrong with
him. He gave her a half-smile and they started to
walk back to camp.
"Xena is the most beautiful woman, oh, no offense, I
mean-"
"Like I said earlier, don't worry about it" She said,
kindness radiating from her.
Ares stopped. "Sanra, why do, I mean, Veralies
and
other men, I-"
"Why do I sleep around?" She asked knowingly.
"If you don't want to talk about it, I'm fine with
that, but you could do so much better. You have great
skills, beauty, you're kind..."
"It's the only way I'm allowed to fight.
The men
don't want a woman fighting with them as an equal. So
I come along as a slut. At least I get to fight..."
She said, somewhat embarrassed.
"Oh" He said turning around and resuming the walk.
"Xena's a woman kind
of like you, actually a lot like
you. She had her own army a while ago. Was a great
warrior. She was great because she didn't take
nonsense from anybody" He smiled "Not even me. She's
actually taking my spot right now as God of War."
Sanra gulped. "You're a...god?" She said
disbelieving.
"You aren't from Greece, are you?" He said looking at
her. He definitely would have known the skilled woman
if she was from Greece.
"No, I'm from Persia. I don't want the war to get to
Persia, but the Persian army isn't doing anything
about it, so I decided to come along with the Greek
army. My husband-"
"You have a husband?! Does he know how many men
you've slept with?" He said as his eyes widened.
She kept her cool and replied "I'm a widow Ares, and
I'm pregnant with my husband's child."
"Oh-" He stuttered. "I'm sorry, once again I make
myself feel stupid. I shouldn't have judged you like
that" He looked down at the ground feeling stupid.
"Don't worry about it, now, tell me about Xena" she
said curiously.
"Xena is, like I said, beautiful, and she's the only
person I know that can take on the God of War. Her
and I have a love/hate relationship. I'm not really
sure how she'll react when I get back. You said
you're pregnant?" He asked, changing the subject. He
didn't like to talk about Xena when he missed her so
much.
"Yeah, I hide it pretty well, but it'll be hard soon."
She said, looking down at her stomach. Ares walked in
silence with her for a moment, then spoke.
"Go home. We're winning the war...and if you and your
child die, I won't be able to forgive myself" He said
with compassion.
"And you're the God of War?" She asked lightly.
He grinned. "Yeah, but being mortal, I don't know,
experiencing death first hand is hard. I just want
you to be safe."
Sanra pondered the thought a while, then made her
decision. "Okay, I'll leave tomorrow" She said
finally. Ares was relieved. Was he getting soft?
Nah, just mortal life
catching up on him.
*******************************************************
Then there was that final battle when they took Tei
Men Tsu. The men fought courageously and they won the
took the powerful city. The emperor surrendered and
instead of killing him, the initial in Ares' mind, he
decided to let him go. Killing him would mean more
turmoil between Greece and Chin later on, Ares forced
the emperor to sign a peace treaty.
*******************************************************
Xena finally got the news that the war was over. She
was even more overjoyed to hear that Ares had made
peace instead of killing the emperor. Even Athena
praised his intelligence on his decision. Now all she
had to do was wait until he got back...
*******************************************************
Xena stood at the shores of the Greek island that the
ship was to dock on when it got back. The waves and
seagulls usually calmed her nerves, but today she
wanted to kill the screeching birds and yell at the
waves for not bringing Ares back soon enough. Then
she saw the masts appear on the horizon of the sea.
The ships finally drew
close enough for Xena to see
sails. The sun was reflecting off of the water and
was annoying Xena to Tartarus. All she wanted was to
see Ares, but it was taking too damn long!
The first ship docked. Xena
frantically asked the
crew if he was on it and they said he was in another
ship. Then the second, and third, but still no Ares.
When the fourth one
came, Xena was sure he'd be on it.
But after talking to some of the men she found out
that the ship Ares was on had difficulties with their
sails. The man named Drant she was talking to said he
wasn't sure when the ship was to set sail. She
thanked the man and sat dazed in the sand.
The news had caused her heart to sink. If the sails
were permanentally damaged, how long would it take him
to get back? The thought of Ulysses entered her mind
and she shuddered. Was that how it would be? She
wished she didn't care if he got back, but by the gods
she did! Xena missed his devilish grins, short,
silky, raven hair, beautifully sculpted chest,
chiseled jawline, lean legs, powerful arms, wicked
sense of humor, the feelings he brought out in her...
Xena took off her boots and laid in the sand, letting
herself being warmed by the sun. With thoughts of
Ares floating in her head and the heat of the beach
melting her worries away, she drifted into a pleasant
sleep.
She awoke to someone calling her name, and finally
realized whose voice it was. Her eyes were hazy and
she could only make out blurred silhouettes or men
trudging through the waist-high waters against the
starry sky.
"Xe!"
She saw the man from which the shout came from.
With
the grace of a deer she jumped up and ran into the
water with great speed. Finally Ares' face came into
view and all she could see was him. He had a couple
bags which he dropped into the water and held his arms
open as she bounded into them. Xena felt his powerful
arms wrap around her and all she wanted to do was
touch him. All the pain of the last few months
disappeared and joy replaced it. Without thinking she
pressed her lips urgently to his and they engaged in a
passionate kiss, which only took a couple seconds to
be deepened. After a fairly long time, they parted,
staring into each others' eyes.
"I don't care for you." Xena said, eyes
giving away
the truth. They both knew she did care for him to
some degree, so the statement 'I don't care for you'
was more of an affirmation that she did care for him
than convincing that she didn't. So in turn, he said
"That's what I thought" He said, letting a
mischievious grin slip onto his face. Xena
practically melted in his arms. That grin, chocolate
brown eyes a girl could lose herself in, gods, it was
too good to be true. She pressed her body against his
in an attempt to get closer to him. He stepped back
slightly. Xena looked puzzled, then saw the bandaging
around his waist.
"Ares! What happened?" She said, looking at him with
concern.
"Got shot with an arrow by some assassins where we set
sail. It's not bad, although this sea water isn't
helping much. So if you don't mind, can we get out of
here?" He asked, giving her a half-smile.
"Oh yeah, sure" Xena said as
they vanished out of the
water and reappeared in the middle of his bed chamber.
There was no light, so with the wave of a hand all of
the candles were lit.
Xena him up and down in the dim light of his bed
chamber. He seemed the same, even his beard was still
neatly trimmed. He always was a little on the vain
side...
"Take off your vest so I can look at your wound. You
should have waited longer to come back so you could
fully recover. You should be in bed right now!" Xena
ended her small lecture as Ares started making
chatting motions with his hand. She made a power ball
form in her hand, which caused Ares to lose a little
of his cockiness.
"Well" He said, looking at her suggestively. "I agree
that part about being in bed...", he said it in a way
that he should not be in bed alone, but with a certain
Warrior Princess.
She didn't catch on at first, then got the full
meaning of what he had said. "Ares!" Xena said,
smacking his right arm.
"Hey! What did I do?!" He asked with a mischievious
glint in his eye.
"I meant you should be in bed because of your wound!"
"That's what I meant
too...what were you thinking,
Xena?" He asked slyly, walking around her towards the
bed, leaving her to stare at the wall and regret what
she said. He took off his vest and laid it on a chair
next to him.
Xena smirked and shook her head. "You haven't changed
one bit"
Ares looked at her fondly. "You have, you're even
more beautiful when I left" With that said he walked
up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist.
She rested her arms
on his gauntleted ones. The
feeling of his bare chest against her was enough to
make her shiver.
Giving in to the warmth behind her, she closed her
eyes and leaned back. Then her mind kicked in and
reminded her of her statement earlier that she didn't
care for the god, well, now mortal god. She
reluctantly stepped forward out of his embrace.
She turned and faced
him reluctantly. "Lay on the bed
so I can take care of your wound" She instructed.
"Why don't you just give me my sword, oh smart one?"
'Duh Xena!' She told
herself mentally. Xena
unsheathed his sword and he did the same. Ares handed
her her own sword and she gave him his. Xena suddenly
felt tired and weak. Ares got the opposite effect.
He closed his eyes
as he felt a rush of energy that
was unimaginable and felt the power circulating
through him once again. He opened his eyes and saw
his beloved princess standing before him looking pale,
struggling to keep her eyes open.
"I suppose you want go back to Gabrielle?" He asked
dryly.
"That...would be best. Gods, I feel like I've just
fought the Persian army..." She said with a small
smile.
"A Persian army about the size of three hundred men?"
"How did you know?"
Xena asked puzzled.
"Well, hmm, I'm only the God of War" He said smartly.
"Hey, don't use that tone with me, I may be mortal,
but I can still kick your ass" Xena said
as-a-matter-of-factly.
"Yeah yeah, so we should probably get going..." He
said with a little regret in his voice.
"Why do you want to get rid of
me so fast? I want to
know how the war went, who you all met, what you got
me..." She said hinting.
"Okay, so you don't have to go back to Gabby?" Ares
asked hopefully.
"Well eventually..." Xena said mock sadly. Ares
laughed. "Actually, I should probably tell her you're
back, but we can come back here after that. I'll have
to tell you what my plans are for the wars I have
going on. And don't call her Gabby to her face, she
doesn't like it...I found that out the hard way..."
"I'll keep that in
mind, but honestly, what could she
really do to me?" He asked with a smirk.
"Oh! That's what I thought, but she's a sneaky
little..."
"I see, so let's go pay her a visit." He said as they
disappeared and reappeared at Gabrielle's camp site,
but out of sight.
They were a little shocked and some-what disgusted
to
see the bard and Joxer rolling around looking like a
couple chipmunks in heat. Xena tried to decide how to
address Gabrielle as Ares tried to keep himself from
bursting out laughing. Gabrielle still had her skirt
on, but Joxer was working on her top, and thankfully
he was fully clothed also.
Just as Xena was about to talk to Gabrielle,
the Bard
stood up and started doing a little seduction dance
for a desperate Joxer. Gabby had a silly seductive
smile on her face and kept doing absurd moves.
"We shouldn't be watching them like this" Xena
whispered to Ares guiltily. He gave her a
mischievious look.
"Are you going to be the one to interrupt this mating
dance of the idiots?"
Xena elbowed the god standing beside her and turned
to
him. "Maybe we should come back later..." She
suggested.
"I don't know, I'm kinda gettin' into this" He
whispered back as he started doing some little dance
moves. Xena smiled and shook her head and they
disappeared.
They reappeared in his bedroom. Ares walked over to
his bed tiredly and sat down. He rested his head in
his hands, silently laughing.
"I no longer have virgin eyes" Xena sighed, causing
Ares to laugh out loud as he fell backwards onto the
bed in laughter. She rolled her eyes to look at him.
She had to admit it was funny.
"Stop it, it wasn't funny" She said, but broke out
into a fit of giggles. Ares started to calm down, but
turned his head on the bed to give her a look only he
could give her. One of mirth and mischief.
"Come here, I have your gift from Chin" He said,
sitting up on the bed. Xena gave him a wary look, but
then walked over and sat next to him on the edge of
the bed.
Xena looked at him with sparkling eyes, and he
couldn't help but smile at the sight of his Warrior
Princess looking like a little girl excited about
receiving a present.
He took out of his vest a gift wrapped in red silk.
Ares held it out to her and she closed her hand around
it, taking it to her. She could see it was in the
shape of a small circle. Xena glanced up at him, then
down to the gift.
She carefully unfolded the cloths, and was both
curious and intrigued at what she found. There were
three small silver circles which had spiked edges.
She lifted one up and
held it in her hand, running her
fingers over the smooth plane of the inside and jagged
edges of the outer sides.
Xena returned her gaze to him with a questioning
look
on her face, and just as she was about to open her
mouth, he said
"It's a Chinese star"
"I've never seen one, how do I use it and how
effective is it?" Xena asked curiously.
Ares took one from her lap and held it in his hand
like how you would hold a stone you were about to skip
into water.
"You hold it like this, and kind of flick your wrist
and let go of it. It takes a little practice to hit
the intended target. If it hits a vital part of the
body, say someone's throat, it'll prove to be quite
lethal. Here, I'll show you." Ares said as he
glanced around the room for a target. He decided the
leg of the table which held some of Xena's recent
battle plans would be fine. He threw it and it sunk
about a half-inch into the wood.
Xena looked at the table leg and then
at the small
weapons in her hand. She picked it up and gripped it
in the same way she had previously seen Ares. She
straightened her posture and glared at the table leg,
as though that would help her. Ares grinned and
watched her expectantly.
"If you can do it...I can do it" Xena said,
looking at
him, not so sure of her own words.
"Oh, sure" He said innocently, giving Xena a devilish
look. She glared at him and looked back to her
target.
The warrior princess took a deep breath and flung the
object in the direction of the table. They both
watched as it whirred towards the table, but its angle
was slanted upward. Xena's aim wasn't quite as true
as Ares' and it hit the ink bottle sitting on the the
table, causing the ink to spread all over her plans,
then proceeded to hit the wall behind it.
Xena's eyes widened as she
sprung up from the bed and
rushed over to the table in an attempt to salvage the
plans, while Ares leisurely stood up and sauntered
over to the table. The smirk he was wearing
disappeared as he saw the concern on Xena's face.
"I spent hours on these plans, and th-th-they're
ruined!" She said furiously.
"Calm down Princess, it's not the end of the world. I
can still read them..." He said, picking one up that
was dripping with ink "...kind of..." Ares finished,
cocking his head slightly.
Xena just stepped back, shaking her head.
"It doesn't
matter, I'm sure you'll think of some better ones..."
"Oh come on Xe, you know you're brilliant.
Maybe...you could stay here
with me, just for a while.
I need you to tell me what you were planning for the
wars and stuff." He said casually, but Xena could see
the hope in his eyes.
"Do you want me to stay here, Ares?" She asked
hopefully. It was more than just asking if he wanted
her to stay in his temple for a little while.
Ares sighed.
"Xena, I know this is kinda out of the blue, but I
need to tell you this. While I was gone, I missed you
more than anything in the world, more than I thought I
would. In that time I realized something..." he
trailed off hesitantly.
"Yes?" Xena asked warily.
He regained his confident composure and said "I
realized that I love you." Xena opened her mouth to
say something, but was interrupted by Ares. "I know
this feeling is hardly mutual, but I just thought I
needed to-" He was silenced as Xena put her hand over
his mouth, feeling his soft lips next to her hand sent
shivers down her spine.
"I love you Ares. It's like you said, while you were
gone I realized how much I yearned for you." She
slowly brought her hand down as they stared at each
other in disbelief as to what had just happened.
Slowly the shock wore
away as Ares let a broad grin
stretch across his face. Xena started to smile also.
Ares stepped cautiously
towards Xena and put his hands
on her waist. She put her hands on his neck and
gently pulled his head down towards hers and brought
her own lips up to meet his in a passionate kiss; one
that would start their life together.
THE END
(I know that was kinda' incomplete, but I've been
working on it a while and was getting bored w/ it)
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