Gabrielle felt the urge to pound him
in the face for his attitude, but she shoved the instinct down. It
was amazing how much better her control over her temper had gotten
since the last time Ares had been mortal. She understood now, she
thought, how Xena could have remained so calm. When you knew what
true pain and anger was, the little things just didn't faze you
anymore. What were Ares snide comments in comparison to her
daughter murdering her best friend's son?

Besides, he was right.

She surprised herself with how calm
her voice was. "Alright, Ares. What do you want me to
do?"

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

So here she was, in the Elysian
Fields. Xena had to admit, she had never expected to see this place
again – she'd been dead before, after all, she'd thought
she knew which immortal plain she was destined for. She tried to
think of any one event that might have tipped the scales in her
favor since her adventure with the ambrosia, and couldn't, so
she abandoned that line of thought as useless effort. Apparently,
little things had added up.

"Xena!" She turned at the
voice, and was enveloped in the strong arms of a man-child with
blonde curls.

"Lyceus!!!" she returned
the embrace. "Look at you, all grown up!" He laughed, and
looked her over.

"I could say the same, big
sister. Take a look at that muscle, huh?" he slapped her arm,
laughing with delight. "It's wonderful to finally see you
again, Xe. C'mon, lemme show you around the fields!" He
was practically bouncing with enthusiasm, and a childish carefree
joy welled up within her that she hadn't truly felt since his
death.

"That sounds wonderful…"
And then she remembered. "But, I need to see Hades. It's
really important." Lyceus looked at her, his blue eyes
suddenly radiating solemnity.

"I might have known…
you're here to fix the problem with the mortal plain,
aren't you?" She blinked back at him, startled.

"What problem? You mean, with
Dahok?" Now her brother looked confused.

"You don't know?" Then
he snapped his fingers once, as though a revelation had occurred to
him. "Of course – you're new here. You already know that
the dead can hear it when the living think about them, right?"
At her nod, he continued. "Well, listen… I bet you'll
spot pretty quickly what's wrong." She cocked her head to
the side, listening intently, and Gabrielle's voice came
pouring into her ears.

"Xena, how could you leave me!?
How could you!? Don't you know how much I need you!? It's
not fair!!!" There was a deep-set anger in the
thought that Xena would have never expected in her gentle friend.
The girl had a temper, to be sure, but… surely there should have
been some little undertone of grief? Not just this pure, violent
hatred.