While he wasn't near her, he still kept an eye on her. Unfortunately since their last encounter, he'd been so busy drumming business up again that he'd had no time to see her in person, especially since their paths hadn't naturally crossed again. He'd heard back things here and there from his sister, but it wasn't as if he didn't already know. Still, Aphrodite's gesture was considerate, and he always listened with interest how she related this or that thing about Xena and Gabrielle

Deep in the middle of a fresh Roman campaign cutting sharply into Gaulic territory, the sort of lingering hum in the back of his mind that was his constant watch on Xena became incessantly distracting as he tried to focus on the matter at hand. That hum often became stronger whenever Xena took to fighting, exacerbated by his godly essence already being hooked into every mortal's violent aura pulling at him. Something was off, though. The fever pitch of the almost static-like buzz had gone on too long.

Ares narrowed his eyes as he continued to observe the battle map before him and listen to the new Roman general he'd taken under his wing, arms crossed in front of him. Lifting up a hand, he stroked his carefully sharpened sideburns and waited for a pause in his newest protégé's formation revue.

"Let me stop you there, Plautius."

"My Lord?" the general replied, concentration momentarily shattered by the interruption.

Ares's eyes narrowed further as he tried to pick up just bits and pieces of the din echoing through his mind that was focused on Xena without losing focus on the scene before him completely but it was too livid. He breathed in suddenly.

"I get what you're saying here- but what if you took this legion here and rerouted them….there?" Ares suggested, casually moving a piece upon the map to a more favorable position.

"My Lord, that's…" the general began, shocked he hadn't seen it first but amazed that the opportunity had still been given to him.

"Once you reach the isles, sent word to Claudius to come join you and see your efforts."

The general looked up shocked. "My Lord? You can't possibly expect the Emperor to—"

Ares smirked. "Trust me, Plautius. Word it the right way and Claudius won't be able to resist. And he'll bring reinforcements with him. Having an emperor bring reinforcements to you personally, Plautius…now that would be an achievement worthy of a Roman Governor."

Plautius grinned rather stupidly and Ares returned the expression with his own forced half-grimace.

"I have some stuff to take care of, but Plautius…"

"Yes, my Lord?" the general replied eagerly.

Ares frowned and with a lift of his chin, rested his hand on the hilt of his sword. "I'd keep an eye on Vespasian, if I were you. He seems a little too eager to me."

Plautius blinked in surprise at the statement as the God of War vanished into blue ether.

〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜

Ares propped himself over his altar in the Halls of War and inhaled deeply, ridding himself of the shallow Roman air and filling his lungs with the familiar heaviness of Greece. He closed his eyes and focused. Catching hold of the din, he pulled it to him and let it take over his senses. He physically pulled his face away although it changed nothing he saw before him.

No, Xena. Not that place…

He sighed in exasperation as he looked on. Xena, wielding Yamato steel, was cutting through the biggest army she'd ever confronted alone. Ares gritted his teeth. Where is Gabrielle? He watched as she deftly sliced through the bushi and dodged the onslaught of arrows when his attention focused to her face and he saw her expression change. It wasn't a big change- it was almost non-existent. Anyone who didn't know Xena like he did, knew her every grimace in battle, every swipe of her sword, would never in eternity have seen it. But Ares did.

Xena…

Suddenly, her sword failed to block an arrow.

Xena, don't do this…

It struck her deep, but she was tougher than that. Her life had been a series of gauntlets she had survived, and as another arrow "chanced" to strike her, he knew she wouldn't go down easily.

Xena was failing on purpose.

Ares pushed away from the altar as the scene continued to play in front of his eyes, his hands rubbing at his face as he brushed his fingers through his dark hair.

How many times had he watched her die? I've lost count, he answered himself, as the arrows continued to fly into her. In the beginning, he watched it with a begrudging regret- regret for what could have been, but knowing he was probably better off with her gone. But she had come back- like a persistent plague that you couldn't shake, she had returned over and over, and he realized that he had begun to anticipate her returns. He had enjoyed watching her cheat death, and even laughed when Celeste, visible only to the gods and the dying, had seemed perturbed at never being able to fully take Xena anywhere. He'd had something of a scare, however, when her soul disappeared from even the godly realm, taken to some unknown space that almost caused him to personally act. But no, she'd found a way back. She had always found a way.

When it appeared Eve and Gabrielle had been killed, however, the situation had been drastically different. Ares abhorred suicide on a basic level- the coward's way out- save for when it serviced his own needs. When Xena had drawn her sword against herself, he'd had to step in. If she'd been in her right mind, he told himself at the time, she wouldn't have done it. Ares had never forced Xena to do anything, though. Manipulated, twisted, sure, but never forced. So, even as she pulled out the vial of poison that would haunt his dreams for twenty-five years, he had respected her decision but hated himself for it in the aftermath.

Even after all that, though, she, Xena, had still come back. That was it- he'd been gone. He was all hers and he would do whatever it took to keep her close to him, even if he didn't know how- he wasn't letting her out of his sight, out of his breath, again. He'd screwed up. Over and over again he'd made bad moves. He had a hard enough time coping with her back in front of him let alone with his feelings that had become sharply romanticized during the two-plus decades she'd been "dead". He'd screwed up, but even then it had been worth it- the real thing was so much better than anything his mind could have fathomed, and it kept him trying. Losing his godhood for her, then, had been the logical culmination of his confused courting, and at least, in that, he knew he'd done something right. Mortality was a drag, however- not just because of his lack of powers, resources, and inexperience with basic hygiene, but because he could no longer keep an eye on her like he'd sworn to himself he'd do. He'd had to resort to town criers and news scrolls that took so long to get to him he often resorted to drinking and debauchery in the mean time.

Oh, but she'd come through for him in the end. She had come through for him, he recalled, as he watched the arrow count grow as they protruded like some sort of grotesque pincushion from Xena's body, yet still she fought on. Bitterly he smirked at the scene, but flashes of them together in the field during Eve's trial flared before his mind. "Bear with me, it's worth the wait…"

They'd become so close despite their distance during his bout of mortality that her aquiescence to his unfettered access to her drove him nearly mad. She'd allowed him so close, fell into him even, that not even the words she acridly flung at him afterwards held any sting, and they both knew it. It was all part of the dance- this never-ending dance that had become so deliciously slow and intentional….

Ares shifted his focus back to the scene at hand. He tilted his head up and to the side a little, as if looking down on the carnage wrought by Xena, and the carnage Xena was quickly becoming, through his temple floor. He'd respected her wishes before, never stood in her way when death came calling, but he knew where she was. He knew what she was there to do.

"No," he said aloud quietly.

"Not this time, Xena," and with a wave of his hand, Time at the scene froze in place for miles. The warriors, Gabrielle running still far off in Xena's direction, and Xena…now with at least a dozen arrows protruding from her every appendage, battered and bloody but still with a sword in her hand. All was still. All ceased.

Ares appeared before Xena, her arm raised in a calculated overhead attack with her face frozen in a defiant scream, and he studied her. In frustration, he sighed. Over and over again in his mind he felt himself say this was another bad move, but matching every chorus was the phrase "not again, not again". His face softened, and carefully he reached up a hand to brush a stray strand of her loose hair from her face. He brushed it back, and found himself again gently brushing at the blood around her mouth. His brow furrowed as his thumb brushed against her lips. Could he do this? She wouldn't like it.

Maybe not, but I'm not giving her a choice this time.

Carefully he reached up his hands and pried the katana loose from her hardened grip. He stood there, looking at her again. This was his last chance- do it now, or lose her forever. Although he felt resolved, his mind still fought back and forth over it, but soon he found his thumb on her forehead and watched as a tiny particle of light came forth and danced around his hand. He looked at it solemnly, and it disappeared. His eyes turned back to her frozen ones as his expression shifted back and forth from resolve to inner conflict, and soon he found that her sword in the palm of his hand had vanished- finding its way into a new hand that was not dissimilar from the one that had held it moments before

Bitterly, he stepped closer to her, now only a breath between them. "I'm sorry, Xena, but I can't let you do it. Not this time. Not again," he almost growled, brushing his knuckles against her chin. "But I promise you an ending worthy of the Warrior Princess," he continued passionately, "and I'll give you the closure you need. After that, you and I will have some work to do." His face resigned but resolved, he brushed a hand against her cheek and she began to collapse as the world still froze. He caught with his arm her waist and viciously ripped away a handful of the arrows at once. Xena moaned but remained limp- unconsciousness took her as he worked to remove every arrow one by one himself from her body until only Xena, bloodied, beaten, but still alive, always alive, lay fallen backwards away from him in his grasp. He leaned over her and wrapped his other arm around her upper back and shifted her around to carry her in his arms. The similarities to the last time jarred him for a moment, but he gritted his teeth, shaking it all away.

"That's enough of that," he said over her, and in a haze of silvery blue, they were gone.

A/N:

So I borrowed the title from La Femme Nikita- bite me. It was better than the alternative.

I don't buy that Ares wasn't hanging around while AFIN was going on. He already had her on perpetual "god TV", but after seasons five and six? No way he wasn't watching out for her. So, let's shake this up a little as I introduce you all to the prelude of my magnum opus. After 17 years of XWP brewing inside my head, I'll be presenting the biggest piece I've ever written. It ties up everything, and I'm ridiculously proud of it. I ended up writing this, however, today, and thought I'd share. So, please enjoy and let me know your thoughts if any Xenites are still lurking out there...

Fun Fact: Plautius is a real dude, and Vespasian really was one of the generals of the four legions under his command given by Emperor Claudius, the emperor who came after Caligula. I'd already written the part about going into Gaul before deciding to look up commanders and lo and behold it fit together perfectly. History is awesome.