DISCLAIMER: Xena Warrior Princess and its characters are the property of Renaissance Pictures.
ARCHIVING: Only with the permission of the author.
SPOILERS: Season Five issues

Hero
By spheeris1

 

So many times... I've been there, awaiting a less than wonderful destiny, and you come.

Through bars and doors, through armies and through fire...you come to save the day. You come to be the hero.


Amarice is unhappy. All her dreams of going out of this life in a blaze of glory are being dashed. Instead, she will be like a pig on a spit - hanging and bleeding.

Eli is calm. All his dreams of peace of mind are still true. He is not losing ground in this dire hour. Instead, he is sitting with eyes closed - as if there is nothing to fear.

And I... I am calm, then nervous. I am silent, then speaking.

It comes as no surprise to me that I look for you, that I depend on you to rescue me...again.

This path I walk, the way of love - it stops my hand from harming another. You must do it. And it would not surprise me that I feel tiny tremors of worry, of guilt and of fear.

Will you come? Can you play this game of killing again? Just for me? Just for a past that forever rules you?


So many times... I've been here, reaching for your hand as you remove me from danger. And you are always there.

No sword or bow can hold you back. No threat of death can stop you. You always save me. You are always the hero.


Just as the followers begin to despair, just as Amarice lets her head fall, just as Eli's silence becomes almost too much to bear... I hear you.

I recognize the sound of footfalls, of the cold slice of metal through the air. I know the sounds you make like I know my own skin.

If I were to shut my eyes for a moment, I could smell you... Your sweat, your musk, your essence.

In my mind, I can see your eyes blazing as you search... And it is I, Gabrielle from Potadeia, that you look for.


So many times... And this is no different. I reach out to you and you pull me close. I am in your arms and there is no other place where I belong more. I want so much to stay like this, to remain in your embrace and relish the sensation of having you near. At the edge of death and the brink of life - just you and I, together.

But we move apart. I lead the people to safety.

And you are my hero as you battle the way clear for us all.

The End

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