A Midsummer's Nightmare By Chelsea Disclaimer: All characters belong to MCA/RenPics/Studios USA etc. Summary: I like most of the Gods, flaws and all, so I wasn’t too happy with the twilight story arc. The beauty of fan fiction is that I can rewrite the story to my satisfaction. This is my way of saving the Gods. Feedback: Please send all comments to chelsi1977@yahoo.com ******************************************************************************** Gabrielle shot out of her bedroll and in the process woke Xena. "What? What? What??????" Xena said sleepily. "Umm, sorry, just had a nightmare." Gabrielle looked at her friend and saw to her relief, she’s still pregnant. "Huh?" "It was just a strange dream." Gabrielle shivered in shock. "You woke me because of some stupid dream of yours?" Xena sounded incredulous; "didn’t you realize that I need my sleep. I’m sleeping for two now, you know!" "You do know that pregnant women usually eat for two, but they don’t exactly sleep for two?" Gabrielle said sarcastically. "Well, judging by the way you eat, one would think that you are permanently pregnant. " Xena sat up, "anyway, since I’m already up, what were you dreaming about?" "It wasn’t a dream Xena, it was a nightmare. The worst one I’ve ever had, my worst nightmare." Gabrielle emphasized. "So tell me about it." "Well, in my nightmare, you had already had your daughter. You named her Eve, but then we got frozen in an ice cave and she grew up as Livia, the Champion of Rome. She went on a rampage and killed tons of people. And…" Xena interrupted at that point, "hey, are you writing another scroll?" "No, really, that was my dream." "How did we get frozen in an ice cave?" "Well, we were trying to fool the Gods, so we faked our own death, but then Ares put us in an ice cave so we just got stuck there for 25 years." Gabrielle shrugged, "you know Ares, he never can leave things alone." "Why would he put us in an ice cave?" "Cause he had a thing for you so I guess he was trying to preserve you or something." "Hey this is fun, so what else happened?" Xena laughed. "Well for starter, you threw your chakram at me, cracked open my skull, and almost killed me. Then you had the audacity to drag me on the ground, I might add, all the way up to Mount Olympus." "Now come on Gabby, it was only a dream. I would never, I mean never do that to you. I’m sure I was the one that finally saved you, right?" Xena asked hopefully. "Indirectly, I guess you were." Gabrielle thought about it for a moment, "actually Ares saved me, you, and your brat of a daughter." "How did I do that?" Ares materialized in a flash of light. "Oh get lost Ares, this isn’t your dream." Gabrielle said impatiently. "Hey, you mentioned me, remember?" He added, "I didn’t even know you had dreams about me." "Listen, nightmare, my worst nightmare!" "You haven’t told me about your fantasy, I mean dream, okay, nightmare." Ares amended as Gabrielle just kept shooting him dirty looks. "And I’m not telling you anything now." Gabrielle stood up and walked off. "Is she always like this in the morning?" Ares turned to Xena. "Sometimes even worse!" Ares followed Gabrielle as she made her way down to the river. "Come on Blondie, I want to hear all about it, and I’m not leaving until you tell me." Ares stood there as if he had all the time in the world, which of course he did since he’s still a God. "Okay, in the end, you lost your immortality. Is that good enough for you?" Gabrielle goaded. "Whoa, how did that happen?" "Well, you had this ‘thing’ for Xena, so you gave it up in order to save her." "Hmm, pretty heroic of me, wasn’t it?" "Pathetic, you mean." "Hey, I just saved your best friend and you are calling me pathetic?" He looked at her in surprise. "At the cost of your family I might add. Almost all of them are dead including Zeus and Hera, you know, your parents?" "Did I whack Hercules too?" "No, you tried to, but Hera saved him." "Huh, that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense." "Nothing made sense in this dream, well nightmare, of mine." "Who else died?" Ares asked gleefully. "Almost everyone. Athena, Hades, Artemis, Poseidon, Discord and bunch of them died. Dite is still alive though but that’s probably because she tried to save me." "I thought I was the one who saved you?" "Well, yeah, but she tried." "So you would rather I let you die?" "I would rather this nightmare never happened." All of a sudden they heard a voice singing the Joxer the Mighty song, "here comes loser." Ares said. "Oh hi Gabby," Joxer said happily as he spotted Gabby and Ares. "Hi Joxer, I’m glad to see that you are still alive." "Huh?" "Well, I had this nightmare, and in it you were killed by Xena’s daughter." Gabrielle tried to explain. "You dreamt that I was killed?" Joxer asked in shock. "Cool!" Ares laughed. "You know Gabby, you could be real a bitch sometimes." Joxer said and stalked off. "Well… hey Joxer…" Joxer continued off without listening. Gabrielle just stood feeling totally frustrated while Ares couldn’t keep the grin off his face. At that point Hercules showed up, "hey Gabby and oh you." He looked at Ares. "Hello to you too." Ares said as he gathered a fireball in his hand. "Oh cut it out." Gabrielle stepped in between them. "What are you doing here Hercules?" "I heard about Xena’s baby, so I thought I’ll stop by and say hello." "Oh no, you heard about the Gods trying to kill her baby?" Gabrielle asked anxiously. "No, what are you talking about?" Hercules looked at Gabby in confusion. " I said I came to say hello to Xena." "Oh sorry, it’s just that I had this nightmare…" "Nightmare?" "Yeah, my worst nightmare, and I’m still kind of confused." "I was in it." Ares said happily, "I saved her life." "Anyway, you killed Zeus while Xena was having her baby." Gabby said to Hercules. "I killed my own father? What kind of monster do you think I am?" Hercules said in anger. "Well, you were trying to save Xena. I guess she’s the love of your life or something, just like she’s the love of his life." She pointed at Ares. "You know Gabrielle, you need to stay out of the ale." Hercules shook his head as he walked away in search of Xena. Gabrielle turned back and saw Ares still grinning at her, "oh, stuff it." The End