Veni. Vidi. Vici.

Ares was walking around Tartarus. While watching the horrors of people's eternal punishments he was also looking for someone. Suddenly he spotted him fighting with someone behind a large red rock. Ares slowly walked over to him and stood the other side of the rock, and watched the fight. The man he was attacking fell to the ground and slowly the winner walked out from behind the rock. "Well done." Ares said, "I've been looking for you." "Oh really, and why is that." The man replied. "Because I want to form an alliance with you." "To do what? In case you haven't noticed I am dead Ares." "Oh come on Caesar, you know I can bring you back." "Who are you fighting?" Caesar asked "The world." "Really." Caesar paused for a second and became more interested. "And why do you need my help with that." "Conquering the world is a big task, even for a god. I need someone to team up with, a joint partner, and since you have come pretty close to conquering the world yourself I thought you'd make a good choice. But if you're not interested then…." "No, I'm interested. How do you propose to bring me back from the dead though." "It's easy. Although I will have to go back to the mortal world to do it, I don't have my powers down here." "Then go." Xena, Gabrielle, Beowulf and Kallopiea were sat around a fire cooking some fish that Xena caught. "So, when are you going back home?" Gabrielle asked Beowulf. "Soon, I'm afraid. People need my help there." "It's a shame, I'd have like to travel with you for a while and Kallopiea could learn a few fighting skills from you I'm sure." "Actually, I'm going back home as well." Kallopiea interrupted "Why?" Gabrielle asked. "I have to find my brother, he would have got away from the Roman's, I know it and I have to see if he is OK." "When are you leaving?" "Tomorrow." "Tomorrow!!!" "Yeah." "Will you be back?" Xena asked "That depends on things back home." "I guess we'll be travelling alone for a while then." Xena said sadly looking at Kallopiea and Beowulf. Suddenly they all heard a loud thud hit the ground. "Hello Joxer." Xena said with out looking over to him. "Xena, quick we have to go." "Where?" Xena said hearing the fear in Joxer's voice. "The village near here, Ares is attacking it." They all quickly stood and ran over to the village. It was a short run but by the time they reached it it had been completely destroyed. "By the Gods." Beowulf said as he watched Ares walked around the massacred village smiling happily. They all watched from a distance not wanting to get too close to the fire that was sweeping through the remaining rubble of the houses. "Why would he do this?" Gabrielle asked. "To make a statement." Xena replied. "Ares is trying to scare people into not rebelling against him." They watched in horror as Ares dragged a dead body over to a cross and pinned it up in the crucifixion position. Kallopiea quickly stood up to run over to Ares but Xena pulled her back, "No!" Xena said. "He'll kill you." "Then you go." "And do what? The people are already dead, the village has been destroyed. There is nothing left here to fight for." "Xena's right." Beowulf agreed. "So you are just going to let him get away with that." Kallopiea said sternly. "No Kallopiea, but we can't do anything now, not here." "Well I can." Kallopiea said and ran over to Ares, this time she dodged Xena's attempt to stop her. When she got to Ares she took her axe from her belt and started attacking him. Ares struck her with his sword, Kallopiea blocked with her axe but it went straight through the wooden handle, breaking it. She tried grabbed her sword but while doing so Ares kicked her hard in the face sending her flying back into the air, unconscious. Again Ares smiled and said, "Veni. Vidi. Vici." Then he disappeared. Xena and Gabrielle ran over to help Kallopiea, she was still unconscious and had blood covering her face. Xena watched the flames get closer to them, quickly she picked Kallopiea of the ground and ran with her back over to Beowulf and Joxer. "Get me some water." Xena said examining the wound on Kallopiea's forehead. After a while they came back with some water, Xena tipped it over Kallopiea's head and she woke up. "Are you alright?" Gabrielle asked. "Fine." Kallopiea said getting to her feet unsteadily. "Are you sure?" "Yes." Kallopiea replied angrily then walked off. "What did Ares mean by Vini Vecin Vicky." Joxer asked. "It was Veni Vidi Vici, and I don't know." Xena replied, "Gabrielle do you know?" "No." "It must have meant something Ares wouldn't have said it otherwise. Beowulf go and see if Kallopiea knows." "OK." He replied and went off to find her. "Is she OK?" Gabrielle asked. "She's going to be giddy for a few days, I think her pride is hurt more then anything else though." Xena explained. Meanwhile Beowulf found Kallopiea sat on the branch of a fallen tree a short way from the village. "Are you OK?" He asked. "Fine." Kallopiea said again, still angry. "We need your help. Do you know what Veni Vidi Vici means?" "It means I came I saw I conquered, Caesar once said it, why?" "Because Ares shouted it before he left the village." "Oh, maybe he has teamed up with Caesar, can he do that? Bring someone back from the dead I mean?" "Yeah." "Then you had better go and tell Xena." "Why don't you after all you knew it." "No, I think I am going to go back home now." "Shouldn't you say goodbye." "No." Kallopiea said and stood up to leave. Beowulf pulled her arm, forcing her to sit back down. "So, what's wrong?" "Nothing." "Oh really, then why would you want to leave your friends now, when they need you?" "They do not need me." "If Ares has teamed up with Caesar then they are going to need you." "They do not need my help, I am not as good as either of them or you. I could barely win a fight against Joxer." "That's not what I heard, I heard you saved Gabrielle's life, I heard you saved Eve's life and I heard you tried to stop a god even though you knew you couldn't win." "That does not matter, what matters is that I failed to stop a god, I failed to stop Eve from being taken by a mob in the first place and I jumped on Gabrielle and was shoot by an arrow, some hero I am." "Kallopiea, come back with me, tell Xena what you know, then decide whether or not you are going to leave for home now." "I have a better idea, you go back to Xena and tell her what you now know while I go back home." "What do you think they're going to do? Everyone makes mistakes, everyone gets beaten sometimes, and Ares even beat up Xena a few times." "Then I should have been better then Xena." "No one is better then Xena. "You got that right." "Come on let's go, Xena's waiting." "I can not go." "Why?" "You wouldn't understand." "Try me." "No." "Kallopiea, just tell me, I'll understand, I promise." "If Xena does have to fight Caesar I can not go too." "Why?" "Because Caesar and Ares will have an army, with a lot of people in it. The only way to stop Ares and Caesar is to beat those people…to kill those people." "You haven't killed before have you?" "No, I have always got around it by injuring people, by knocking them out. But this time I know I will have to kill and since I have not done that before, I will hesitate, and put you all at risk." "Well that works out perfectly." "What are you talking about?" "We are warriors Kallopiea, we like risk. Now come on let's go back and warn Xena about Caesar." Beowulf started making his way back to Xena, with Kallopiea following close behind him. "Beowulf, you wont tell Xena will you?" "No, I wont tell Xena." "Where do you think they've got to?" Gabrielle asked. "Beats me, maybe he couldn't find her." Slowly Kallopiea and Beowulf started to come towards them. "You took your time?" "Sorry." Kallopiea said, "But I do know what Veni Vidi Vici means." "What?" "It means I came I saw I conquered, Caesar said it a while back. I would guess he had teamed up with Ares." "That's it, I knew I heard it somewhere." Xena said. "Xena, how can we stop Caesar and Ares together? One was enough." "They must be at the halls of war getting an army together, that's where we have to go." "Are you two coming or are you going back home?" Gabrielle asked Kallopiea and Beowulf. "Well I'm defiantly coming." Beowulf said. "I am too." Kallopiea answered. "Good let's go." Xena said and started to make her way to the halls of war. Xena, Gabrielle, Beowulf, Joxer and Kallopiea travelled to the halls of war. The journey was hard and it took many hours of trekking through forests to reach it. On the way they went through a large town called Souria and managed to get the people living there to agree to form an army while they carried on towards Ares and Caesar. Finally they reached their destination and saw what they feared the most, an army. The army surrounded the halls of war making it impossible for anyone to enter. It was made up of about 7 legions, each carrying a shield with Caesar's personal emblem on it. "What do we do now?" Gabrielle asked. "Beowulf, you and Joxer have to go back to Souria and get the army they have been forming. Then we are going to attack." "Xena, we will never win, their army is going to be three times bigger then ours." "We have to try." Xena said. Beowulf and Joxer got up and started to head back to the town. "Kallopiea, when we go to war I want you to stay in the forest." "Why?" "I need you to heal any people who are injured, make sure you…." "You're trying to save me again aren't you?" "No. I'm being serious. The best place to learn about war is by treating the wounds. You still get to see the battle but you also find out where the mistakes are made when talking to the injured." "I am fighting Xena, and this time you're not stopping me. Just because you have had a vision, I will not change the way I live my life." "Talking about vision." Xena said with a pain filled sound in her voice, and fell to the ground, Gabrielle and Kallopiea knelt down next to her and watched helplessly as a bruise started to form on her face, after a few minutes Xena woke up. "What did you see?" Gabrielle asked while try to comfort her injured friend. "We were fighting again." Xena said while trying to catch her breath. "We were in hell fighting again. I got cut on the back of my arm," she turned around and showed them a bleeding gash on her upper arm. "Xena, they are getting worse, we have to stop them." "We will…later first we have to stop Ares." "Then rest now, there is nothing we can do until Beowulf and Joxer come back with an army." Gabrielle suggested. "It will be night soon anyhow, Joxer and Beowulf will probably sleep too." Xena, Gabrielle and Kallopiea made a small camp in the forest near the halls of war and fell asleep waiting for their friend to return. Later that night they where woken by Beowulf, who had returned with a large army. "Where is Joxer?" Gabrielle asked. "He said he had to go back and recharge." Beowulf explained. "What happened to your face, are you alright?" He asked Xena. "Fine." She said, "Good job on the army, how many is there?" "Well, not as many as Caesar's and Ares's about half." "It will have to do." "When do we attack?" Beowulf asked. "First I want us to split the army in three parts, the first will attack right now, the second a shrot while after and the third a little after that." "Why? It would be stronger if we attacked all at the same time." Kallopiea said "No it wouldn't they wont expect a second attack, and wont have a clue about the third. The surprise of it just might help us win." "Who leads the army then?" Kallopiea questioned suspiciously. "I will lead the first, Gabrielle you lead the second, Beowulf can lead the third." Xena replied "So when do I go." "You don't Kallopiea, you stay here." "Fine I'll go with Beowulf." Kallopiea said and walked off. "Beowulf, make sure she doesn't go with you." "Why?" "I can't let her die, and in this war she is likely to die." "Xena, maybe you should trust her. She is a good fighter and has the instincts of one." "Beowulf, she is too young to die at war. Don't let her join you." Xena quickly walked through the army and separated it into three parts. Then walked back over to Gabrielle and Beowulf, "Good luck." She smiled. "Good luck Xena." Gabrielle said and gave her a quick hug. Then Xena walked up to Beowulf, "If you really want Kallopiea to fight, then let her, just don't let her be killed." Beowulf smiled at the compromise, "I wont, good luck." He said. Xena walked to the front of her army and led it near the halls of war, when they where in view of the Romans she shouted "Charge!!!" They ran towards the Romans and engaged them in battle. Beowulf and Gabrielle watched Xena from their position by the time Gabrielle had to led her army in Xena had already killed many of the Romans. "Charge!!!" Gabrielle shouted and her army went in the battle to. Making the army slightly bigger, but still pathetic compared to the Roman army. Beowulf watched the fight then was startled by Kallopiea, who had creped up behind him. "So, will you let me go with you?" She asked. "Xena said you could, but be careful." "Thank you." Kallopiea said gratefully while watching the battle. Beowulf noticed a staff in her hand. "Are you going to use that in the battle?" He asked "Yeah, to replace my axe." "If it comes to it then kill rather then be killed." He warned sternly. "I will." She replied honestly, "I promise." Beowulf nodded, satisfied with the answer and walked to the head of the army then shouted "Charge!!!" And ran in after Xena and Gabrielle. The battle was fierce and the noise was unbearable. The sound of swords clashing and the screams of injured people filled the air. Inside the halls of war Caesar and Ares were stood watching the battle. "This is going well Caesar. The army is brilliant." "And so should it be, once we have stopped Xena we can start on Rome and once we have that…well…then we take the world." "I like your style, ambitious yet ruthless and clever at the same time." "Who is she?" Caesar asked Ares pointing to one of the women fighting in the battle. "Here name's Kallopiea, she has been fighting with Xena and Gabrielle for a while." "Are they friends?" "Yep." "Hum….What's she like at fighting." "She's strong, very powerful. But she isn't as good as Xena." "Where did they find her, she looks almost Celtic from the clothes." "She is, why?" "Excuse me Ares, I have some business to take care of." Caesar said and left. Meanwhile outside the battle was going hard. While fighting Xena made her way over to Gabrielle. "We have to retreat!!" Xena screamed over the noise of the battle. "Why everything is going fine?" Gabrielle argued while stabbing someone with her Sai. "We need more fighters we wont win today." Beowulf decapitated a Roman running over to him with his sword, he quickly search for Kallopiea, when he saw her she was attacking a Roman. He continued to fight and watched as the Roman kicked her staff from her hands. Kallopiea kicked him hard in the stomach then drew her sword and knocked him out with the hilt of it. "When do we stop?" Gabrielle shouted. "Soon." Caesar came out of the halls of war dressed in heavy Roman armour and ran over to Kallopiea. Kallopiea was fighting a Roman who had a big shield. She kicked the shield at the bottom making it smash into the Romans legs, he fell to the ground and she kicked him in the face, knocking him out. Caesar got over to her and started attacking her. Beowulf still fighting looked over to Kallopiea and saw her fighting Caesar, he was on the ground and she had her sword over him. Then he felt someone behind him he turned around and fought the Roman, then killed him and looked back to Kallopiea…she was gone. "Retreat!" Xena and Gabrielle screamed together. Beowulf quickly shouted the same and ran with Xena and Gabrielle. When they were back in the forest just outside the halls off war Beowulf frantically look for Kallopiea. "Kallopiea!!" He shouted as loud as he could. After a few minutes of searching he couldn't find her, he looked back over to the battlefield to see if she was still fighting, but she wasn't suddenly he bumped into Xena. Who saw the frightened look on his face. "Where's Kallopiea." Xena asked demandingly. Beowulf looked at Xena and Gabrielle and said, "Xena, Gabrielle, I have some bad news. I can't find Kallopiea…." He took another frantic look around the people who returned, "I think he Caesar killed her." Xena walked off and started searching for her, but she couldn't find her either. She walked back over to Beowulf, "She's not here." "I know. She was fighting Caesar, I had to turn around just for a moment to defend myself, when I looked back over to her, she was gone." "You were suppose to look after her. I told you not to bring her." Xena said viciously and walked off. Gabrielle looked angrily at Beowulf then followed Xena. "I can't believe we let this happen." Gabrielle said with a tear rolling down her check. "I should have never let her leave the Amazon village, I should have never even took her out of Britannia to start with." "Don't blame yourself." Gabrielle interrupted, "Kallopiea died as a warrior, they way she would have wanted to." Veni. Vidi. Vici. by Kitana copywrite Kitana 2002©

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