Violence/Sex/Subtext/Profanity: No subtext, no profanity, a small hinting of sex, and a small bit of violence.
Author's Notes: I just saw "Livia" and I couldn't resist. I have to admit that I'm one of those people that likes Ares and Xena together, so this is kind of slanted that way. This is Ares' POV when he first learns that Xena is still alive. Oh, and this is my first Xena fic so feedback is appreciated, but please don't be too hard on me. Thanks.
Summary: During "Livia" Ares reflects on how not even twenty-five years apart could change his love for Xena.
Rated: PG
What Even Time Couldn't Change
By Michelle
When I saw her my hearty almost stopped.
She was alive.
Xena.
The only woman I ever loved, the only one who made me feel at all.
When I tried to kiss her I knew for sure it was her.
How? I wondered. How was it possible? I saw her drink that poison. I saw her die.
A part of me died that day.
For twenty years I couldn't even look at another woman without seeing her face.
Eventually I was able to take pleasure in a woman again, but it was never the same. They were never her.
Not even Livia.
Especially not Livia.
Livia's beautiful and she's strong, but she's not Xena. I chose her as my champion because of the similarities, but because of the differences she'll never be more than that.
Xena was, she was much more.
She still is.
She's as beautiful as she was, she hasn't aged at all since that day.
Since the day she died.
The day I preserved her in her frozen tomb.
I did it so that I would always keep a bit of her alive. So that if I ever wanted to see her beautiful face, I could, as beautiful as it was the first time I ever saw her.
But I never went back.
It would have been to hard. I couldn't bear the thought of seeing her like that, a frozen memory of what she was.
So I left her there. As a reminder of the woman who had touched my heart.
I didn't need it.
She was with me for a long time afterwards. She was always in my thoughts.
I grieved for her for years.
Yes, I, Ares, the God of War, actually mourned.
I didn't know I knew how to, but then again before I met her I didn't know I knew how to love.
She showed me that side of me, just as loosing her showed me how to mourn.
Now I learn that it was all for nought, since somehow she survived.
I don't know how she did it, but I will.
And if there's a chance she can be mine again, she will be.
Because, the truth is that even twenty-five years haven't changed what I felt for her.
When I put her in her tomb I said something about how the part of her that saves people is Gabrielle's, but that the warrior in her is mine. It's true.
Even now it's true, she's still my warrior princess.
Even time couldn't change that.
Please e-mail the author of this story with your comments. misha_beth@yahoo.com
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