Authors note: The idea for this story came from best friend, amazing the things you think of when you're recovering from meningitis!! She thought of it but I wrote it, I thought it was a great idea and we spent a good few hours discussing it and I would just like to say well done Jim, it was a fab idea, I'm glad you're better, U go grrl!!!
Xena smiled as she watched her lover sleeping, she really hated to wake Gabrielle but they needed to get moving. Sighing regretfully she poked the little blonde in the ribs and said "C'mon Gabrielle, you've slept enough, we've got to get going." Gabrielle sighed and sat up, rubbing tiredly at her eyes. "I'm still tired after last night, wanna carry me?" she asked with a mischievous gleam in her eye. Xena arched an eyebrow at the blonde and said dryly "I'll carry you to the lake, maybe a nice cold dip would wake you up" and calm you down! She sprang towards her friend who yelped and jumped out of the warriors reach. "I'm awake, I'm awake" said Gabrielle quickly as she began to gather up her things. "So what's for breakfast?" she asked brightly as she fondled her lovers pert bottom. Xena smiled in spite of herself as she turned to the bard and shoved a hunk of nutbread into Gabrielle's mouth. "This is why I never want to carry you Gabrielle, you eat too much of this stuff!!" Gabrielle playfully backhanded Xena's leather clad stomach and grinned as she tore off a second piece of the nutbread and began eating. "Lovely day isn't it?" she asked round her mouthful. "I suppose so," she said grudgingly. Then she drew her eyebrows together in mock pain and rubbed her stomach. "Some people are so violent," she muttered to Argo as she stroked the palomino's nose. The bard smiled as she placed her hand on the warrior's leather clad stomach, "I can kiss it better," she said seriously. The raven-haired woman considered the offer and said; "Better not or we'll be here all day." She reached out and gently brushed some crumbs off Gabrielle's chest, "Come on Gabrielle, get on." Gabrielle grinned wickedly and scowling Xena said, "The horse! Get on the horse!"
They travelled for the next four hours until they reached the woods that marked the spot where they were to stop for lunch. Gabrielle was right, it is a lovely day today, all the better for spending it with her. Xena licked her lips as she watched her Gabrielle, (her Gabrielle!! The thought had a nice ring to it.) rummaging through the saddle bags for lunch, all that morning Gabrielle had kept up an almost stream of chatter, telling stories, asking questions, answering her own questions. Xena wondered if her lover knew what a truly endearing habit that was. As Gabrielle turned time seemed to slow for Xena, she saw the sun glinting off the strawberry blonde hair, watched as Gabrielle's abs rippled, saw the gleam in her eyes and the radiance that shone through her smile. Xena was so caught up in the moment she almost missed seeing the arrow flying through the air on a course with the bard. "GABRIELLE" she cried as she threw herself at her the smaller woman and knocked her out of harms way. The Warrior Princess was on her feet again straight away, sword drawn ready to face whoever was out there. Behind her Gabrielle had readied her staff and was watching the men approach them from the trees on the other side. Her face grew puzzled as she saw who was leading them, "Joxer?" she said to herself, then from behind her she heard Xena's war cry.
Xena launched herself at the man closest to her and kicked him hard in the head, he fell to the ground with an audible thud and lay still, the others looking on warily. One man, who overtopped Xena by 5 inches, grinned evilly as he twirled his sword "Now you're gon' ged it" he said drunkenly. Xena looked at him pityingly "Is that so?" she asked. He leered and lurched towards her, his sword poised to run her through and stopped abruptly as she leapt over him. With one swift kick to the back she toppled the man and turned to face the two approaching her from behind, as she did she saw a familiar face among the men, Joxer?? she wondered as she dealt with the pair of goons in front of her and moved towards another.
Gabrielle swung her staff and connected it loudly with the head of one of the thugs. She felt a pair of strong arms encircle her waist and lift her into the air, she rammed her staff downward and hit the mans booted foot with a crack. He screamed and dropped the Amazon Princess to the ground. She spun around, taking his feet from under him and continued turning to face the man she thought looked like Joxer. Only when she looked into his eyes did she realise it was in fact her friend, and he looked ready to kill. "Joxer? Joxer, what are you doing?" she screamed as she fought off two more soldiers. Joxer ignored her as continued towards Xena.
On Mount Olympus Ares watched over the battle and chuckled to himself. Xena will never kill that little fool he thought as he watched the possessed man move towards his target. If I can't have Xena, I'm damned sure that silly little girl won't have her.
Xena pivoted around delivering a vicious punch to the jaw of a rising soldier, her eyes sparkling as she relished the feel of bones breaking under the impact. Suddenly she was face to face with Joxer who, to her surprise, was levelling his sword at her heart. "Joxer" She snapped "What the hell are you doing?" Joxer smiled handsomely and said "I am Joxer the Mighty, and I am going to kill you" He said self-importantly. "I'm through with you Xena, through with the jokes and the taunts and the insults, it ends here" he screamed lunging at her. She barely raised her blade in time to deflect his weapon, her sword almost knocked from her grasp with from the strength of the blow. She stepped forward to meet the crazed man only to find herself being forced backwards by his relentless onslaught. Gods, this can't be happening, what's wrong with Joxer?
Gabrielle watched in horror as her lover was forced backwards, almost absently she reached out to thump the back of a goon who was starting to stir on the ground. As she did Xena flipped over Joxer trying to gain an advantage. Joxer spun round and lashed out with his foot, catching Xena in the ribs and throwing her to the ground. Xena felt her head impact on something hard and groaned as her sword flew from her hand, she lay dazed and watched as Joxer approached. He poised his sword over her heart and said "Goodbye Xena" Gabrielle screamed in horror at what was about to happen as she launched herself in their direction. Joxer smiled and??
Wade smiled as she surveyed the world around her one last time. "Shame to leave" she said regretfully as Quinn prepared the timer. "I know what you mean" answered Rembrandt "This worlds been pretty damned close to a vacation for us, especially the opera." He smiled as he remembered the last three days and Wade smiled sadly. "Yeah well, we have work to do" said Maggie bluntly as she adjusted the shirt tied round her tanned waist. Quinn looked round to see if they were ready and gestured to the portal, "Wade, Remmie? Are you ready" Wade smiled and Rembrandt stepped forward and said "Ready as I'll ever be to leave here I guess" He shook his head sorrowfully as he steeped through followed closely by the petite redhead. Quinn smiled brightly at Maggie "Ladies first." "Thanks" she said half sarcastically, I really am going have to talk to him she thought as she stepped through, before following Quinn took one last look around, his gaze lingering briefly on the Pavarotti poster for a moment and then jumped after his friends.
?? Rembrandt plowed heavily into the armoured man. He instinctively rolled away as he landed and ended up knocking a small blonde woman off her feet. He started to rise and the sword that was aimed at the girl went straight through his chest, he grunted in surprise and clutched at the offending object. Gabrielle lashed out with her feet, her staff having gone flying, and caught the soldier in the genitals. He fell back with a squeal just a Rembrandt fell backwards onto the bard, pinning her to the ground.
Xena jumped to her feet and sprang for her sword as Joxer stood quickly up and spun round to find his adversary. He nearly took Wade's head off as she rose from the ground, she fell back and as Joxer stared down at her he suddenly wondered what he was doing, he saw the fear in the girls eyes and the sword in his hands. "What the??" he said as he heard Xena's war cry. He turned to see the warrior launch herself at a giant of a man. "Gods?" he muttered, he did the natural, Joxer, thing to do. He dropped his sword and ran straight for the trees that were only a few yards away, looking for a likely place to hide.
On Mount Olympus Ares cursed and said, "I knew that damned Joxer was useless he can't even take a spell properly." Aphrodite appeared in a puff of smoke and took the war god by the arm, "C'mon dude, 'nuff games for one day." Ares surveyed the battle one last time and said to himself, "Next time Xena. Next time!" Aphrodite looked towards the battle and felt a grin coming on, "Bitchin'" she said as an idea began to form.
"MAGGIE!" Quinn screamed as the saw the mace rising up towards her. He lunged forward and realised the soldier wielding the weapon was no more than a boy. As he pushed Maggie backwards he felt the mace connect solidly with his stomach. The boy gasped as the weapon hit home, realising that he had just killed a man the boy fainted dead away. Maggie saw Quinn fall to the ground and started towards him, calling his name and praying it was only a small wound. She was grabbed from behind by a slobbering man who leered at her and said "Where you going sweet thing". She grabbed one of the arms holding her and swung the man over her shoulder, throwing him into one of his companions. "Quinn" she cried as she lunged for her friend. Quinns eyes focused briefly, "Maggie?" he whispered as the darkness engulfed him.
Xena whipped out her chakram and threw it hard towards the edge of the trees, it bounced and went straight towards a pair of men trying to escape. With an audible whoosh the chakram cut them down while Xena quickly despatched the rest of the men, spinning neatly to catch her chakram on it's return journey. She stood for a moment trying to regain her breath. Gods, what was wrong with Joxer, he was trying to kill me, he was acting like a man possessed, I hope he didn't hurt Gabrielle. GABRIELLE!!!! Alarmed Xena quickly surveyed the scene looking for the smaller woman, she saw a familiar pair of legs sticking out from under a body, "Gabrielle!" she screamed.
Gabrielle forced the heavy man off her and sat up, she was engulfed by Xena's strong arms as the warrior scooped her up and hugged her. "Gods, Gabrielle, are you okay, you're not hurt are you?" "I'm okay, I'm okay" said the blonde as she stepped out of the embrace. "Oh my God" gasped Xena "You're covered in blood, where are you?" She didn't get to finish the sentence as the bard looked sadly down at the black man who had inadvertently saved her life. "It's not mine" she said quietly as she reached down to see if he still had a pulse. She shook her head and as she looked up she saw Wade standing there. "Is he?" she asked quietly. Tears sprang to the bards eyes as she said "I'm sorry" The colour drained from Wades face and she turned to look for the others no longer able to look into Rembrandt's open, staring eyes. Xena reached down to close them gently and looked up when she sensed Wade moving away. She was about to stop her when she realised where she was going.
Maggie sat hunched over Quinns inert body, pressing her face to his chest. She never knew losing him would be so painful, she felt a hand on her shoulder and turned around to find herself staring into Wades tear stained face. The redhead drew the taller blonde to her and held her as Maggie sobbed harshly, "Oh Wade, he's gone, I couldn't get to him, he's gone Wade, he's gone?" she trailed off into tears. Wade stroked the blonde hair tenderly as she repeated "It'll be okay, it'll be okay" like a litany to ward off what had happened. Maggie's arms tightened round Wade's waist as she pushed her face into the pale skin between the smaller woman neck and shoulder. She felt powerless to stop crying and was comforted by Wades words as shudders started to wrack her slim frame.
Xena and Gabrielle stood there watching the other two women as they grieved for their friends. Gabrielle started to cry gently and turned to Xena "T?hat? that sword was meant for me" She sobbed gently "That poor man, he had nothing to do with this, and now he's dead." She leaned gratefully into the strong womans embrace as Xena quietly said "It's not your fault Gabrielle, it's not your fault."
As Maggie's sobbing subsided she sat up and wiped at her eyes. With one last glance at Quinn she stood and helped Wade to her feet. She glanced around and saw the tall woman in the leather Better find out what's going on, she looks like she's in charge. She started towards Xena and then stopped, turning to look back at Wade who stood staring in horror at Quinns body. Wade half turned and her lower lip trembled as she said "Remmies gone too." Maggie looked at her for a moment, wanting to comfort the other woman but unsure how to. "Where's the timer" she asked coldly "We have to find it before?" Her words were cut short as Wades hand whipped out to slap her round the face. "The timer?!" asked Wade disbelievingly "Remmie and Quinn are gone and all you care about is the timer?" She's all I have left thought Wade distractedly as she searched Maggie's face for a hint of her earlier grief. "We need the timer Wade," she said as she turned to search Quinn's body. Wade opened her mouth to speak but no words came, instead she turned and bolted for the trees, she was damned sure she wasn't going to cry in front of that cold-hearted bitch. Maggie watched her leave, she took a step towards following her, her hand outstretched to stop Wades flight but it fell back to her side. No, please, don't leave thought Maggie, then with clenched fists and a determined look on her face she strode towards Xena. She stopped a foot from the woman and looked up into those unbelievably blue eyes. "Nice leathers" she said "Where the hell are we?"
Well what did you think? Like I said the story is mine so the fault is mine if it's no good. Feedback to scully_59@hotmail.com please. Good or bad comments (please don't be to evil though, this is my first story). Let me know what you think and I'll post chapter 2. No feedback, no chapter 2. What's the point if no-ones reading it eh?