Author’s Note: Well, jeeze, lookie at all the people. *looks up innocently at the readers* Takes place in FINII/post FINII. If you don’t know by now, ‘tis about Ares and Xena in a long/short, roundabout way. Okay, finish the boring disclaimers and stuff and READ!
Dedications: Still the same people it’s always been dedicated to. Especially to Illy, LK, Tali, Tango, Rissy, Kat, and everyone who I still see online, as that’s not many anymore.
Summary: Ares reflecting upon Xena's death. An appropriately bitter and self-recriminating piece.
Warnings: Character death. Not to worry, it’s cannon.
Rated: PG
Date Started/Finished: June 20, 2006
Missed Opportunities
By Delenn
It was like watching, in slow motion, everything that he had wanted going horribly wrong.
Six moons. Six. Spent watching and waiting, trapped under some sort of palace arrest, unable to hold any audiences with or influences over… anything.
Ares destroyed his palace at least once a day during those six months, and rebuilt it, changing bits here and there each time. It made no difference, whether the palace was there or not, he was tied to its place of existence.
Zeus was nothing if not thorough, especially when Athena and Hephaestus were involved intimately in the process.
Somehow, his family hadn't been very understanding toward his choice of survival in the whole Dahak affair.
Of course, Xena hadn't particularly understood either and, in his moments that weren't full of impotent rage, Ares reflected that, perhaps, the time apart would help her forget about that debacle.
By the time his imprisonment had been over though, Xena was out of his reach again - off in very foreign lands, where the gods weren't particularly friendly to their Greek counterparts anymore, and off on dangerous adventures that he couldn't even watch.
Really, if Xena was going to kick ass without him, Ares at least appreciated the ability to cheer her on from above.
He blinked, caught up in toils with his bastard half brother and wars on home soil. He blinked for but a moment, not keeping track of Xena's movements - for at least he could find out from the other realms where she was, even if he couldn't check himself - and she was under Roman jurisdiction.
Why?
There was Caesar, still. Ares knew he was there, sure he did, and so did Xena. Caesar and Xena had a volatile relationship, to say the least. Last time, it nearly got Xena crucified.
Ares blinked and this time, it did.
Crucified. In Roman lands. Ares was appalled.
He was horrified.
He was helpless.
There was this sudden vacancy in his chest, like someone had pulled out his immortal being, and he had no idea how to reverse it.
He hadn't been there to stop her from dying. She hadn't gone to any of Hades' realms when she had died. Now she was just…
Dead.
Dead because he'd ignored the two rules he lived by: not bending to the will of another god and watching her.
Xena…
Please e-mail the author of this story with your comments. goddess_delenn@yahoo.com
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