Best Friends, Better Enemies, Chapters 24 & 25The two women met with a clash of metal, sword striking sword loudly and vibrating from the strength of the blows. Although unused to the weapons they held, they continued to rain blow after blow upon the other, never stopping in a determined attack.
She's good, Xena acknowledged, watching Ara perform an agile leap over the blade thrust across her chest.
This one is better than I expected, Ara mused, ducking another well aimed blow and swinging her leg up in an attempt to kick Xena in the face. But Xena saw the flex of muscle and blocked the move with a sweeping leg thrust, taking out Ara's one steady appendage and dropping her like a sack of grain on the ground. Ara's sword flew out of her hands, skidding across the marble floor of the temple to halt against a support pillar.
Xena wasted not a moment to move into a killing position, raising the sword high for a swift downward plunge, but Ara predicted the move. While flipping up and backwards to retrieve her sword, her foot caught the flat underside of Xena's blade, tearing it from her grasp and sending it soaring through the air.
The men watching the battle were amazed to watch as Ara made a series of consecutive backflips to reach her weapon, and Xena, chanting her battle cry, leapt backwards into the air. curling herself into a spinning ball and bursting to her feet an instant later, her sword caught effortlessly in her hand. Both women, upon seeing the other with their weapons in hand once again, screamed out their battle cries and raced back to clash once again.
But Xena took a side trip. Standing to the side were four broken columns, topping off at different levels and forming an odd looking staircase. Before Ara could summarize Xena's actions, Xena flipped onto the top of the first column then ran up the remaining three. On the last one, she was high overhead of Ara, who was still trying fruitlessly to follow her actions. But she wasn't fast enough as Xena spiral flipped down behind her and thrust her sword with all her strength towards her enemies body. At the last minute, Ara turned aside, making a lethal strike bounce off her arm. She stumbled back, clutching the cut and staring with amazement at Xena, who was calmly waiting to engage again.
"You took first blood, Xena." Ara said, her gaze fixedly locked.
"This time. If you'll recall, I believe the pleasure was mine not long ago. Tell me, how does it feel to be raped by your best friend? Didn't you enjoy it just the least little bit?"
The taunting words were meant to goad Xena into recklessness, but only a tightening of her lips followed the remark.
"Are we here to talk or fight?" Xena asked while fingering the grip of her borrowed sword.
"It seems to me your just stalling from the inevitable. Your death."
Xena's words, on the other hand, had the exact effect Ara had been attempting. She screamed in rage and ran towards Xena with death in her eyes. Again, the two met, colliding like titans on the steps of the temple. So evenly matched were they that the battle continued on for hours, thrusting, flipping, blocking and successfully delivering a series of minor wounds to the other.
But like all small cuts, the wounds bled profusely, until their bodies were streaked with blood. Sweat trickled down their faces, making the wildly whipping hair of Xena & Ara stick to their faces. Before long, the fight began to look like some bizarre ballet, with the two opposing dancers center stage. Both were exhausted to the point of collapse, but neither was willing to concede the victory to the other. Too much was at stake for both of them.
As the sun began to set on the battle, both individuals were visibly tired, but little differences separated them. Ara, her hands feebly clutching her sword, was almost bent double, her arms barely having the strength to lift the weapon.
Xena's arms were also hanging low, but her grip was firm and her back was straight. And most telling was her eyes. They glittered dangerously as she stared at the woman across from her. The two circled each other like deadly predators, looking for the opening that would end the conflict.
I must destroy her, I must destroy her, Ara's mind repeated, blocking out any other thing not directed at Xena. And Gabrielle, hidden in the depths of the shared body, realized this and took the opportunity she had been waiting for. She gathered up all the energy she had left and began to struggle, trying to break back through to the surface.
The force of Gabrielle's determination rocked the exhausted Ara, who was totally unprepared for a double assault. She floundered forwards, stumbling over a moss covered step as she attempted to get the real Gabrielle back under control.
In her distraction, she allowed herself to become vulnerable to Xena's attack, who seized the opportunity and thrust the stone encrusted sword into Ara's heart with all her might. Ara stopped and gazed wide eyed down at the sword protruding from her chest, then slowly lifted her gaze to Xena's face.
"How could you kill your best friend?" Ara asked, slowly and softly, exactly like Gabrielle would say.
Hearing the words, Xena's eyes began to tear up as she began to withdraw the blade from her body. But a memory of Aries words stopped her.
"Petros' spirit must be entrapped in the stone before Gabrielle will be free."
Xena saw the look of panic cross Ara's face and replied, "I didn't kill my best friend. I killed you."
And like magic, the fading rays of sunlight struck the stone of the blade, shooting out shards of light straight into the body of Ara. She convulsed and began to scream, but as filaments of spirit started traveling up the blade to the stone, the sound changed and faded, sounding masculine where it had once been feminine.
In Xena's hands, the sword darkened, changing from a beautiful, golden object into a rusted tool of destruction, long since discarded. Just as the last beam of light faded from the sky, Xena withdrew the blade from Gabrielle's chest and watched as the final link between the two was broken.
Looking at the corroded sword and decided no one would ever fall victim to the evil entity ever again. She laid the sword on the ground and picked up her own weapon, lying at her feet.
"Goodbye Petros. May you rot in Tartarus for eternity!"
Xena's battle cry was triumphant as she pierced the dark stone with her blade, shattering it into a million pieces. A brisk wind filled the area and as she watched, the sword rumbled into dust, blowing away on the drifting winds.
"And so it ends." she whispered softly.
Chapter 25
With Petros' sword now history, Xena's primary concern was her friend, Gabrielle. In all haste she knelt beside her body, checking immediately for a pulse. But there was nothing. Not even a faint flutter of life could Xena find, and the emotional barrier she had thrown up came tumbling down like a house of cards.
Salty streams of tears bubbled forth from her eyes and left their tracks down he face. Her heart felt shattered as she brushed the sweat darkened strands of golden hair away from Gabrielle's sweet face, gently caressing the skin beneath.
Xena's grief finally broke completely loose as she gathered her best friends body to her chest and started rocking slowly, like one would cradle a child. A hiccuped wail of loss echoed across the steps of Aries temple, so dejected was the sound that the would seemed to stop with her grief. All was quiet, the only disturbance being Xena's mourning.
"Gabrielle," she whispered, leaning over the serene face of her friend, uncaring that her tears fell whimsically onto Gabrielle's eyes and cheeks.
"No, don't do this. Don't you leave me. I can't do this without you."
Her throat closed up, and he pain in her heart was spreading to the rest of her body, shaking her with it's force. Muffled, pleading words escaped straight from Xena's soul as she poured out her anguish.
"You're all I've got. Don't leave me. Wake up, Gabrielle. Wake up!"
Her voice broke and Xena fell back into her dejected well of tears once again. What have I done? She asked herself. I've killed my best friend. The one person in the whole world who deserves to live, and I have killed her.
"NOOOOOOOOO!" she screamed to the world, throwing her head back and clutching Gabrielle's body to her chest.
"Don't you die, Gabrielle. Come back. PLEASE!"
Xena hunched her body over her friends, holding her close and resting her tear-stained face on Gabrielle's. Until something unusual happened. A light fluttering sensation caressed Xena's cheek and she jumped, startled by the unexpected contact. Rearing back, she stared at Gabrielle's serene face, but nothing had changed. Her beautiful eyes were closed and her porcelain complexion was translucent with death.
Xena bowed her head and muttered, "She's gone. Stop wishing. She's gone."
The litany comforted her not at all. She felt like her heart had been ripped out and the cavity left behind would never be filled.
"Xena?"
Soft, hoarse and weak, Xena heard her name being called, but didn't bother to answer in her grief.
"Xena, look at me."
When the words again received no reply, Gabrielle gathered all her strength and shouted, "Xena, I'm NOT DEAD!"
Xena shot up like a bolt of lightning, staring down at her best friend, who was very much alive.
"Thank the gods! You're alive!"
Xena couldn't contain her happiness and scooped Gabrielle up in a big bear hug.
"Xena! I'm not going to be much longer if you keep squeezing the air out of me!"
Gabrielle laughed at the remorseful look on Xena's face and threw her arms back around her friend.
"Oh, I missed you, Xena!"
