Beloved In Need

Disclaimer -  I do not own any of these characters.  All characters belong to Renaissance Pictures.  Story is for entertainment purposes only.  Sequel to Even Until Death.

Rated – PG-13 for sexual mention.

It was cold, incredibly, dangerously cold.  The snow fell with relentless fury, the wind whipping it into a blizzard.  But a grieving soul barely notices these things.  In fact, the blizzard matched the inner turmoil of the soul.  From the highest peak of Mount Fuji, Ares could see the whole of Japa.  He hated this place and only came to be close to Xena, his one true love.  Xena.  The very thought of her brought unchecked tears to his eyes, tears that froze on his face.  But he didn't notice them.  He didn't care.  Ever since Xena's death nearly one month before, he'd been grieving for her and trying to find a way to bring her back to life.  Nothing else mattered to him.  Nothing.  He'd even lost interest in balancing the scales of war.  Now all of Greece seemed on the very verge of war.

Ares had been to the Fates and was told he had until the next full moon to find a way to save Xena.  But once midnight hit, she'd be lost forever.  Five days.  That's all Ares had now.  Five miserable days.  And he had not been able to think of a single way to save her.  He raked his fingers through his hair, thinking deeply.  He sighed heavily, his warm breath colliding with the intensely cold air, creating a cloud of smoke.  His mind drifted back.

It had been a beautiful night that night, stars blanketing the heavens as far as the eye could see.  They had been talking about their relationship, if things could ever work out between them.  It was right before she had left for Japa and a little over a month since she had admitted her feelings to him…in more ways then one.

"Ares, I can't be with you right now," she had said.  "I need to take care of things in Japa first.  Akemi needs me to help her."

"Xena, don't go.  I'm begging you," he had warned.  "If you go, you are going to die.  I know, I've seen it.  The Fates have sealed it."

"I have to set things right Ares," she had responded, the pain apparent in her eyes.

"No you don't.  What happened to those people is not your fault.  Akemi was the one who created Yodoshi.  It's her responsibility."

"Maybe to you that's the way it seems.  But to me….I have to do this Ares.  I have to help them if I can."

"Xena, I don't understand."

"It's the Greater Good Ares.  The same Greater Good that you felt when you sacrificed your godhood to save Eve and Gabrielle."

"And what about us Xena?  I can't live without you.  Ever since you tended to me back at the farmhouse…."

"Ares, if you truly love me, you'll let me go and do what I have to do.  And when it's over I'll return to you.  I promise.  I've beaten death before."

And so he had let her go, unable to talk her out of going.   He had kissed her farewell, but Xena had not returned.  And now he knew that he needed to get her back.  He knew he wouldn't be able to live without her.  And he knew where he could find the Hind's blood dagger.  Funny, once he wanted to use it to kill Hercules.  Now he wanted it to use on himself.

Yet, deep in the recesses of his mind, something was bothering him.  Something he couldn't quite put his finger on.  He racked his brains.  He guessed he'd first felt it back when he had visited the Fates.  He'd felt…something different…as he held Xena's lifeline in his hand.  It was almost as if it had more energy in it, a whole new aura.  At the time he had dismissed it, his grief drowning out all other emotions.  But now, now his mind was focused sharply on it.

It was four days later when Ares was finally able to sneak into the Fate's temple.  The tension from the unchecked war scale had finally spilled over.  War had broken out all over Greece.  Ares swore to himself that he would fix it, as soon as Xena was saved.  The Fates were busy at their loom, desperately trying to keep up with the world.  Ares moved noiselessly to the vast tangled mess of threads.  He easily plucked out Xena's from the lot.  He randomly picked a point and put his fingers on it, moving them down the thread.  An energy field appeared before him, creating a window in which all of Xena's life appeared to him.

Ares moved quickly now, feeling the pressure of time.  He had less than twelve hours left.  He paused briefly at one image.  It was the first time he and Xena had made love.  In fact, it was the only time they had ever made love.  That's when Ares felt the aura of Xena's lifeline change.  As he moved along a little further, Ares could feel the aura begin to pulsate rapidly.  Then it dawned on him.  It wasn't pulsating exactly.  What he was feeling was no less then three separate heartbeats.  The strong one he knew was Xena's.  But then there were two other, newer, weaker heartbeats.  They were so new that they weren't even fully developed yet.  Could it be?

Ares widened the window of images.  Using his powers, a power he hadn't even been aware of before, he manipulated the image so that he could see the inner workings of Xena's body.  His heart caught in his throat.  Twin fetus lay within her womb – so small and new that Xena wouldn't have even been aware of her pregnancy yet.  Instinctively, Ares knew that they were his children.  He stared at them for a moment, utterly dumbstruck.  His children.  Then he regained himself and departed.

"He found the loophole," Clotho said, starring down at the lifeline in her hands.

"He had better hurry," added her sister, passing the thread along.

"If he wants to save Xena," finished Athropos, cutting the warrior's thread.

Ares appeared before a tribunal of the gods of Japa.  He was surrounded by light, but the gods lay hidden in the shadows of the darkness just outside the light.  He knelt before them, extremely nervous.  He wasn't used to pleading to other gods.  Especially not ones that weren't Greek.  But he had to try.

"Here me great gods of Japa," he began.  "I am Ares, the Greek god of war.  I have come before you tonight to ask a request.  I am confident that you know about Xena, the mighty warrior woman who defeated Yodoshi.  Right now Xena is dead, her soul ransomed for the 40,000 who died in Higuchi –  the souls that fed Yodoshi for all those years.  But what Xena didn't know was that she was pregnant at the time."

He paused a minute, trying to judge if he was being at all effective in his plea.  A heavy silence blanketed the room.  After a few seconds, Ares continued on.  "Once I believed that only war was what the world worked on.  Survival of the fittest – to determine who inherits the Earth.  But then I learned I was wrong.  I learned that my sister, Aphrodite, wields the greatest of all powers – love.  Love is the strongest force of Earth.  And that's what those unborn children in Xena's womb symbolize – our love.  Xena died so that the innocents would be avenged – saved from being lost.  But what about the children?  Must we condemn them because their mother acted for the Greater Good?  Akemi was responsible for the creation of Yodoshi.  And yet Xena took the responsibility on her shoulders."

Silence echoed for a moment until the gods spoke in unison, voices blending into one.

"Ares, we have considered your point.  Your reasoning is valid.  Akemi will not go unpunished for her deeds.  She is hereby sentenced to take Xena's place as the guardian of those 40,000 souls.  As for Xena, we cannot just bring her back to life."

Ares' heart sank.

"I will gladly sacrifice my own life so that she may live," he offered, sincerity emanating from each word.

The gods fell silent.  It was two minutes to midnight.  For a long time, nothing was heard except for Ares' soft tears.  Midnight struck.  He had failed, hadn't he?  Then, he felt the ever so gentle touch of a hand on his shoulder.  He looked up and his eyes widened.  There stood Xena, alive and well.

Ares could scarcely believe his eyes.  The room dissipated around them as they embraced.  Next thing they knew, they were back in Greece.  Xena had heard the entire plea that Ares had made.  She had not been aware of her pregnancy – had not experienced any of the telltale signs yet.  But now she was fully aware of it and she was happy.

Ares looked straight into Xena's eyes.  "I love you," he whispered, as he brought his mouth down on hers.

Disclaimer – Xena's death did not harm her babies in any way (as you shall all soon see).  But thanks to Ares' plea, Akemi has forfeited her soul and now guards the 40,000 souls.  She is not one bit happy about that.  Also, the writer would like to express her congratulations to the expecting parents.