I know it's a cop-out, but this takes place after the events
of Sacrifice II have been resolved.
The story is supposed to be kind of like an episode, which is why this
first part is somewhat short, like the teaser before the opening
credits.
Disclaimer: Xena, Gabrielle, and any other
characters you recognize are property of MCA/Universal and Renaissance,
and are used without permission. No copyright infringement is intended.
This story is property of the author, namely me, and may not be
reproduced, retransmitted, or posted anywhere without my expressed
permission.
"Gabrielle, look." Dropping Argo's reins, Xena bent to examine a small
bush. The patient horse lowered her head and nipped desultorily at grass.
A few steps behind, Gabrielle moved to catch up.
"What?"
Xena plucked a plump berry from the bush and put it in her mouth. She
turned to face the bard, and a smile lit her face as the sweet juices
rolled across her tongue. "It's the berries you use to make those
dumplings."
Gabrielle burst out laughing. "Xena, you're like a little kid about those
dumplings." She looked critically at the bush. "Anyway, there aren't
enough."
"There's plenty! Hand me a bowl," Xena instructed, dropping to one knee,
her slender fingers probing delicately between the tiny branches. Raising
her eyebrows tolerantly, Gabrielle turned to Argo.
As the young bard pulled a saddlebag open, something caught her eye from
between a gap in the trees. Her hand stilled, and she turned to look.
"Xena, come look at this." Something odd in her voice brought the warrior
instantly to her side. Both women stared silently at the side of a distant
mountain, where a nearly vertical rockface seemed to be ... giving off
light was an inadequate description. It looked, Gabrielle thought, as
though a huge sun were glowing inside the mountain, and a tiny opening had
been pierced in the rock skin, allowing the brilliance to flow through,
but only for an instant. When it stopped, the entire mountainside
seemed impossibly dark by contrast. Before the eye could search out the
source of the light on the forbidding wall, it flashed again. And again
another moment later, the intervals irregular.
"What do you think it is?" Gabrielle asked, her voice hushed. Xena
narrowed her eyes and watched for a long moment before replying.
"I don't know. But it's not hurting me, so I'm not gonna hurt it either."
She glanced speculatively off to her left, along the mostly overgrown
quasi-path they had been following through the woods. "Let's just keep
moving."
"What about the berries?" Gabrielle bent over to retrieve the half-filled
bowl, which Xena had left on the ground when she rose to see what
Gabrielle had spotted.
Two things happened at once.
As Xena took a step away from Argo, toward the continuation of the path, a
sudden chill froze her flesh and made her shudder involuntarily. She felt
tiny hairs standing up all along her body. Her breathing rate increased,
and sweat sprang up on her palms.
As Gabrielle knelt on the ground, reaching for the bowl, her vision
suddenly clouded and where the bowl had been there was a body: Xena's. The
warrior's head lay in her lap, blood staining both their hands an angry
red. Gabrielle's hands were tangled in Xena's armor, hot and slick with
the life-fluid that was pumping out of her friend's body faster than
either of them could hold it back.
As quickly as the vision had appeared, it was gone, and Gabrielle was left
reeling dizzily with Xena's hands on her forearms, the warrior shaking her
and calling her name.
"Xe-" Her throat was hoarse, and she realized she had screamed the name in
the midst of the vision. "Wha-"
"What did you see?" Xena spoke slowly and carefully, forcing the words out
slowly, trying to cut through Gabrielle's anxiety. The bard blinked and
blinked, and then her own hands, strengthened and calloused from their
years together, closed around Xena's shoulders.
"You. I saw you," she breathed painfully. "You were d-dead."
"Hey, been there, done that, right?" Xena reminded her softly. "Tartarus
couldn't keep me." But she could see from Gabrielle's haunted expression
that it wasn't enough.
"No, it was different," Gabrielle half-whispered, half-moaned, panic
rising in her voice again. "It was ... so real ... and it...." She looked
down at the ground and suddenly sprang up, her eyes wild. "It happened
*right* *here*! You d-I held you in my arms and you just d-" She couldn't
finish the word.
"Gabrielle!" Xena could see the signs of a panic attack building. She had
to move fast to get in front of the bard, who was gasping out half-formed
phrases of fear and lashing her head back and forth as she raced round in
tiny circles as if caged.
"N- Don't-" she whimpered as Xena seized her again. She tried to pull
away. Xena gritted her teeth, hardened her heart, and slapped her friend
firmly across the face, feeling the sting reverberate across her palm and
into her soul. Gabrielle gave a little shriek and fell to the ground
again, pressing her hands into the dirt, and sobbed a few times before
catching her breath with a gasp and falling silent.
Xena knelt beside her friend and put a tentative hand on her shoulder,
braced for anything. Gabrielle lifted her head and met Xena's eyes. Her
chest heaved with every breath, her cheeks were stained with tears, but
she was calmer. Xena swallowed with relief, wetting dry lips, and moved a
heavy hand to brush a sweaty lock of hair from Gabrielle's forehead.
Before either woman could speak again, Argo gave an anxious whinny and
they looked up to see shapes melting out of the spaces between trees and
forming themselves into people. People holding swords, pitchforks, clubs
and torches.
By the time Xena had risen to her feet, taking a protective stance over
the still-shaken Gabrielle, they were surrounded.
Warnings: None so far (slight bit of violence but no more than
you'd see on the show)
Spoilers: None so far
Xenite Disclaimer for Part One: Gabrielle's culinary expertise was
not harmed in the production of this fanfic.
We belong to the light, we belong to the thunder
We belong to the sound of the words we've both fallen under
Whatever we deny or embrace, for worse or for better
We belong, we belong, we belong together.
-Pat Benatar
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Last updated 14 August 1998