Elizabeth sat at her usual table, reading the headlines in the morning paper. Judging by the bustle of the people around her, she assumed it must've been around noon- the diner always got really busy around noon, and she should know- she was here almost every day. She wasn't sure why she was drawn to this place, but it had proved once or twice to be conducive to her writing. A struggling freelancer, Liz was constantly trying to write quality pieces for anything that would pay (and many things that would not), and she found herself often taking bizarre assignments so that she could manage to outrageous rent for her run down studio apartment.

She thought that maybe once she was very good at writing, but now she wasn't entirely sure. Everything she wrote seemed dry to her, like she lacked motivation or inspiration or possibly both. Ever since she had turned twenty three things had gotten significantly more difficult, and she had been having trouble sleeping. Dark circles had formed under her forest colored eyes, and her golden hair was in a messy bun on the top of her head.

"I'm never going to get anything accomplished today," She muttered to herself under her breath, frustrated. She took one last swig of her coffee and got up, shuffling to fit all of her papers into her small and overstuffed bag. "Hey Kimmy," she said to her usual waitress, "Keep the change."

Liz was fairly normal, or so she would like to think. As she made her way down the busy street of the city, she compared herself to those she saw around her. Why did she always feel so different from all of the other people around her? What was she missing? She had grown up in a small town in Wisconsin, and only moved to the city to follow her (now ex) boyfriend. They had lasted for a whole two months after they moved here… and then she caught him getting blown in the stairwell by some red headed girl. She was then on her own, and had struggled for the past four years to get an education and to make ends meet. She had done it, but she still felt… empty.

She climbed the steps of her rundown apartment building, which also happened to be the ugliest red brick building on the ugliest corner on the ugliest street. She hated almost everything about her building, but once she was within the safe, warm confines of her own room she would feel at peace, and the world outside of her shell would just melt away like it always did. This thought calmed her as she climbed the stairs, until she began to feel a little woozy. Worried that she had eaten a bad sausage muffin again, she reached for the bannister to steady herself, but her hand missed. She collapsed, and her forehead struck the ground, but she paid no attention to the pain or the warmth of the blood gushing from her brow, because in that moment, she remembered.

Memories flooded through her heart, soul, mind, and body like a bolt of lightning, and suddenly- everything made sense.

Kate had been searching for her for months already. Her awakening had happened almost two years previously, but she did not start searching for her long lost soul mate right away. At first, the tall, dark haired woman feared that she might be crazy, or worse, that she might not be. But then she continued to see signs, one witch even read "She looks like herself, this time. – Joxer" and she remembered her old friend Joxer and knew it had to be true. When she had enough money saved up she quit her job and began to look. It was when she put her entire soul into searching for her counterpart that she remembered the defining details of all of their past lives, and the situation that brought them to this arrangement.

In a previous life, her very first life, actually, Kate's name had been Xena. She had been a warrior princess, and although she committed many terrible crimes and had slain many men, she also did quite a lot of good in her time. Xena had also been very fortunate, because she found her soul mate much earlier than the average human being does. According to Aries, usually it takes a person at least twenty lives, which equals out to about 1800 years or so. But Xena had found Gabrielle right away, they were bound together like two magnets, and this had complicated things.

Had they found each other later, they would've been able to expire together, in peace. Their souls would've moved on together, and they would've rested quietly in heaven for all eternity. However, when it was determined by higher powers that their souls had not spent enough time as mortal humans on earth, they were doomed to walk to the earth for the next two thousand years or so, looking for each other.

Xena had been in heaven for a number of years when Gabrielle finally breathed her last of that life. Her soul immediately found Xena's side and they embraced, overjoyed that they were finally reunited. This breath of happiness lasted only for a minute, as Aries immediately showed up to ruin things, as he almost always managed to do. "Ladies," the god had said, his hair long again and his body as firm and well-oiled as ever. He had a mischievous smirk on his face, the one that instantly set Xena's blood aflame with anger. Aries was certainly up to something, and his next words confirmed it. "I'm afraid this reunion will be short lived, girls. You see, you haven't exactly met your requirements on earth, yet."

Gabrielle and Xena held each other's hands as they both cried. The taller, dark haired woman's tears fell silently, while Gabrielle sobbed aloud. Aries revealed that until the year 2050, they were bound to be born and reborn again, and would spend each life looking for each other. Of course, certain allowances would be made to help them find each other. They would both be born on the exact same day, within the same country. Sounds easy, right? It was, at first. However, as the world grew, this became harder and harder. It was easy to ride through Greece asking if any young adult women were born on a certain day, but it was very difficult to search the United States in such a way. What's worse is that although one of the two always remembered, sometimes the other would remember much later or not at all. And how can you search for a person that doesn't know they need to be found?

Although they had failed in a few of their lives, the souls of Xena and Gabrielle had a fairly outstanding track record of finding each other. But, the year was 2012, and they were both 23 years old. This was the last time they could find each other, and then they would spend the rest of eternity in each other's arms. That would be paradise.

Kate, or shall we say, Xena, pushed her dark hair behind her ears, letting it rest there. She was sitting in her hotel, a cheap motel 6, reading the suggestions for local restaurants. Suddenly, the text on the page began to fade and warp around itself, until all that was left was a simple message. "She remembers. – Joxer." She smiled, kissing the pamphlet, silently thanking her friend for still watching over her over all of these years. She began to pack, and then looked at herself in the mirror. In the glass she saw her eyes. In some other past lives she had not looked at all like herself, but in this life she was Xena again, and she loved it. "And that means…" She muttered to herself as she zipped her bags and headed down the hallway to check out, "Gabrielle will look like herself, too."