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Xena’s POV* * *

We glared at each other. Eve, or Livia, was standing to the side, breastplate heaving after fighting with me. Ares’ eyes were burning with something…I refused to name the emotion. “Here’s the deal, Xena.” Everything around us began whirling, leaving me and him in the center of the vortex. Time had stopped.

I was still in fight stance, sword drawn. “You give me a child, the Olympians never need know who Livia really is.” I restrained myself from retching. You corrupted her. Played her. Trained her like me, and she was no longer Eve. I looked Ares straight in his black eyes.

“I would rather rot in hell.” In a second he had me by the shoulders, that almost passive look on his face gone to a rage only the Gods could possess. I did not look away.

“I’m not asking, bitch! You give me what I want or your little Eve will be hunted by all of my relations!" I stepped back, holding my sword by two hands.

“The thought makes me sick,” I spat at his boots. Ares raised a fist, like he would strike me, and was gone. Time resumed at it’s normal pace. I blocked Livia. Gabrielle, Joxer, and Virgil were fending off her men. I threw the sword at her feet. “I don’t want to fight,” my daughter gave a roar of rage and leapt onto her mount. The other Roman soldiers followed suit, and were gone.

I went back to the group. Virgil and his father scoured the gutted village for any living soul. There were none. “They’ll be heading to the Temple of Eli,” I guessed. “We’ll move quickly.” We left the ruined place behind us.

* * *

“MY_NAME_IS_LIVIA!” She shouted. Parry. Parry. Thrust. Thrust. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Gabrielle deal a stunning blow to a Roman captain. A strange, yet familiar feeling coursed through my gut.

“So, Xena, how does it feel to know that the one you love despises you?” My daughter and I looked up at Ares’ voice. With a vicious thrust I threw my sword into the earthen ground.

“All…right,” I breathed, knowing that everyone’s eyes were on me. “If you get Livia to the Baptist I’ll go with you.” Supressing emotions that threatened to explode outward, I went and got astride Argo II.

“Xena! Don’t you know what you just did?!” Gabrielle was amazed. Joxer, dragging his sword, was too out of breath to say anything. Virgil was silent.

“It would be her sacrifice, or mine,” was all I would say. We made camp outside the small village where the Baptist lived. After everyone was in their bedrolls, I slipped away on the pretense of using the latrine. “C’mon out,” I demanded. The sound of the forest at night greeted my ears. The moon was full, and it was almost bright as day.

“What say we go somewhere more, civilized?” The God of War wheedled. ‘We’ve got all the time in the world. Your friends, over there, will be sleeping for at least 10 hours, and Livia is safe with…a mutual friend.” Ares grabbed my arm and we were transported to his mountain fortress. With pride he showed me the master bedchamber, hung with scarlet, black, scenes depicting the Trojan War and some Roman scenes. I crossed my arms over my chest and looked around critically.

“It needs a woman’s touch,” I commented. THEN I noticed the absence of my chakram and sword. He must’ve noticed the change in my posture, because he put a caressing arm around my shoulder. I shrugged it off. “Why did you choose---Livia as your protégé?” I had almost called her Eve. My name is LIVIA! My daughter’s roar reverberated through my head.

“You were dead. She was the best with a sword since you, or better! But I mourned for you every_single_day of the first mortal decade you were gone. Then it was time to move on. I needed someone else to train.” I turned my back on him, and looked out at the silent mountainous night. Ares slipped the straps of my woven slip off of my shoulders, till it was pooled at my feet. A gown, deep emerald green, was slipped around my shoulders and buttoned up. He waved a gauntlet covered arm and a mirror hung in front of us. I stifled the familiar urge to elbow the God. His mouth was practically hanging open. I pulled him onto the pile of fur-covered cushions that served him as a bed…

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THIRD PERSON* * *

This…is bliss. The God of War thought dreamily, his arms around his princess’s waist, her rhythmatic breathing like a lullabye. Carefully dislodging himself from the sleeping Xena, he vaulted himself out of their little nest and poured two goblets of watered down wine. Summoning a cloth-covered basket, he bit into a tart green apple. But paradise never lasts, he chided himself. Just then, the sun rose, and Helios drew his chariot across the eastern sky with all his muted glory. Ares dressed, and Xena stirred. “Good morning,” he smiled, and took another bite of the apple.

Xena stretched like a mountain cat, and took a pear from the fruit bowl. She stared at it for a minute, and took a bite. “I’m going back, you know.” Ares’ eyes darkened. “You won’t stop me. We have a deal.” He absently threw the core of the apple over his shoulder, where it vanished.

“I won’t. But what makes you think you’ll be roaming the countryside fighting after this? How can you guarentee that our child will be safe when you’re busy fighting petty thieves? No, Xena. You’ll stay here with me, once you’re satisfied with the condition of Eve’s soul. I won’t have my heir die by the hand of your enemy.” Eyes widening, Xena backed away and found herself in the forest glade where she had first gone with Ares. Gabrielle, Joxer, and Virgil looked up from their breakfast; overcooked eggs a la Joxer.

“That SON OF A BITCH!” Xena threw her half-eaten pear on the ground. “Blackmailing me one child for another and then refusing to let me do my living! I swear by Hestia I wish I had stayed a virgin.” The Warrior Princess mounted Argo, and, with the trio behind her, set off for the villiage where Livia/Eve’s salvation was waiting.

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so? There IS more to come. Q’s? C’s? AniaHope@aol.com