Hope concentrated on her, and Xena
watched as her arm turned of its own volition and pointed the
Hind's Blood dagger toward her heart. She could hear Gabrielle
shouting in the distance, hear a sickly sounding sort of laughter
from Callisto, hear the sound of her own blood pounding in her
ears as a self-discipline that had never yet failed her came into
play. With a roar, she overcame the goddess' power, and plunged
the dagger into Hope's heart.

This was different then the last
time she had died – there was no choice involved. She felt
something release inside her, like a thread had been cut, and
suddenly her soul was forcibly ejected from her body. Colors and
sounds went rushing past her too fast to register, and the
next thing she knew, she had landed with a thud on the
bank of the Styx, the Hind's Blood dagger still in her
hand.

"Welcome to the river
Styx." Cheiron's oily voice had the nasty tone of someone
who expected his speech to be upsetting the listener. "If
you'd like passage to the – hey! Haven't you been through
here before?" His beady eyes fastened on the knife in her
hand. "Where'd you get that!? Mortals aren't supposed
to have that… not even dead ones!"

"Hello Cheiron – long time no
see." Xena suppressed a laugh at the panic on the slimy
man's face. "I haven't got a gold coin, but I suspect
your master will want to speak to me about this little toy I've
got, so maybe you could carry me over as a favor to him, hmm?"
She casually balanced the dagger on her fingertip.

"Right, right!" He nodded
fervently. "Whatever you say, warrior. Hop on in… and put
that thing away, before you hurt someone!" She smirked and
tucked the weapon into her belt as she climbed into his
boat.

“c1″>*************************************************************************************************

Gabrielle fell to her knees in
horror. She was vaguely aware of Callisto and Ares arguing in the
background, but she couldn't seem to comprehend their words.
Her entire consciousness was concentrated on the slumped body
before her.

"Xena, no… NO!! NOOOO!"
Rage overtook her, and she screamed, and kept screaming until her
voice felt raw, pounding her fists against the ground until they
bled. She wasn't sure how long she lay there, dry sobs shaking
her body. Eventually some semblance of reasonable thought returned
to her, and she wondered why Callisto was not enraged at having not
been killed. The dagger was gone from Xena's hand – presumably
it had traveled to the underworld with her. That thought brought
with it a fresh wave of grief, which she firmly pushed to the back
of her mind. Xena would not want her to panic – she would want her
to make sure that the situation had been resolved.