"You see the problem."
Lyceus had noted her confused face.

"People are angry… angrier
than they should be." Xena started slowly, working it out as
she spoke. "I've seen that before… Ares." She
looked expectantly at her brother, waiting for an explanation. He
grinned at her.

"You always were the sharp one,
Xe! You got it – Ares is mortal again. Nobody seems to know why,
though."

"I do." The familiar voice
came from behind her, and Lyceus' eyes widened as he took a
step backward. She didn't even have to turn around.

"Hello, Hades… I thought
you might show up eventually."

He nodded once, most of his face
obscured by his dark hood.

"I'm not here about the
Hind's Blood, Xena." She saw Lyceus' startled look –
clearly, her latest adventure had not circulated through the realms
of the dead yet.

"Good, because that's not
really my priority at the moment." She replied evenly.
"Why is Ares mortal?"

"Because of you." She thought she heard a note of
irritation in his voice. "When you interfered in Sisyphus'
little contest, you won Ares' sword, and with it, his
godhood."

"Well, yes, but… I gave it back to him." Thoughts were
rushing through her head too quickly for her to grasp them,
centering on alarming possible consequences to Hades' words. He
laughed dryly.

"It's not as simple as
that, Xena. Godhood is not merely a gift that you can give
away as you please. You didn't follow any of the customs
for the exchanging of power – no contest, no sacrifice, not even
any deal or favors repaid. As such, it was not binding – you merely
lent Ares your power."

"… And now I'm
dead." Xena spoke slowly, trying to wrap her mind around the
situation.

"Yes, you are." She
scowled at the wry amusement in his voice. "Which means that
your mortal thread has been cut, which means you are no longer
connected to the mortal plain, and your powers no longer operate
there."

"So, in order to fix it, I just
need to go through some ceremony to give Ares' back his sword
permanently, right?" There was a familiar fire blazing in her
eyes – she had a mission. But Hades was shaking his
head.

"It's not that simple
anymore. Right now, your powers are not applicable to the mortal
world – if you seal them into Ares before that is fixed, it will
remain that way."

"So I have to come back to life
first." She sighed. "Well, I've done it before – why
not again?"