The Siege of Alexandria: Epilogue of Xena: Warrior Princess

Chapter Seven: A Surprising and Familiar Face

For the rest of the day, Gabrielle had avoided returning to the tavern afraid of having an awkward encounter with Evander for she still felt a little bit ashamed of what happened last night, instead she thought of keeping herself busy by trying to chronicle her latest adventures, but she had gotten distracted by the memories of heat, fire, passion, and mixed up emotions and feelings that she couldn't even concentrate. "Get a grip of yourself Gabrielle, it's not like he was that naturally gifted... but he didn't even finish early, and he was able to keep going until he made sure that I was completely satisfied, oh gods... why is it popping back into my head? He is part of me now and... what if he does want more? A relationship? Marriage? Children? He needs someone who is not as troubled and full of baggage, it would just be wrong for me to string him along and weigh him down. He deserves much better." Ever since the murder of Perdicus, she had never wanted to put herself into a painful position like that ever again. It seemed as if any man she had a relationship with or fell in love with all ended up dying tragically in the end, well not all of them... there was Autolycus of course, there was nothing between them, but when he was possessed by Xena, she kissed Gabrielle through Autolycus although his hand was unknowingly groping her ass when he snapped out of it. There was also Iolus, but it was a very brief moment between them because the other times that they met they had still been friends and allies, but the first time they had met, he had been the first man she had ever kissed in her life. Then there was Lin Chi, when they first met he had acted arrogant and cocky since he seemed to be an overconfident man who knew what he was doing, it was only while fighting beside him and thwarting off Khan's men from subterfuge and attacks that she learnt that underneath his bravado was a heartbroken man who hated how divided his country was, he even admired her work as a bard for he himself had said that people who were able to tell stories had hearts that were the most full of compassion. He had decided that traveling the world would help him find his place in the world someday, it was their time together that made her realize how much of a kinship had formed between them, she recalled how warm and embarrassed she felt when she had kissed his cheek goodbye as they both parted ways after finally defeating Khan and his army. Mostly Gabrielle was worried because after the incidents with Dahak and Hope, she somehow knew after giving birth to her now deceased daughter, after what Dahak had done to her while impregnating her, she was unable to conceive or have any more children ever again. She had become barren after Hope was born, that was the price, that was the curse she ended up with for getting impregnated by a malicious god and giving birth to an incarnation of evil itself. How did her life feel right now? Currently all of her friends and loved ones from many years ago had all died, and she had been struggling with trying to make a name for herself as a hero without being in Xena's shadow after she had died. Her thoughts were disrupted as she heard a groan on the streets as a familiar face wearing a thinly grey cloak as she had collapsed, running to the woman, Gabrielle instantly recognized who it was clutching her own body in pain as she looked into the eyes of the young Amazon Queen. "Varia?!" Without a second thought, she had taken the young woman back to the tavern, into her own room, had her lie down on her bed as she put aside the young Amazon's belongings. She looked horrible, her body covered in terrible bruises, her beautiful face sporting a few cuts and a black eye, she was moaning and groaning in constant pain as Gabrielle grabbed a pitcher of water and a cloth. "There's nothing wrong with her, only a couple cuts and bruises, but nothing that serious." Gabrielle whirled around to find herself face to face with the God of War himself, Ares. "What do you think you are doing here?!" She demanded, it had been Ares fault as soon as he became a god again that he had tried to take advantage of Varia's trauma and pain, because of him the young Amazon's anger had nearly caused her to kill Xena, Eve, even herself, another incident when Varia tried to kill her was when Bellerophon had blackmailed her into doing so. "Come on, I was like a mentor to this girl, of course I would be concerned about her welfare." Gabrielle scoffed, even if it was true, he was just a jerk and a selfish person at best, but it was becoming truly rare that he had some humanity and compassion in recent days since the age of the gods had ended. "If you want to help me, than you can soak the cloth in water and leave it on her forehead, I will be checking her bruises and be soaking another cloth for her eye." The God of War shrugged and did as he had been asked to do. "What happened to her? How did this come to happen?" Ares took a deep breath as he asked, "Do you remember an Amazon named Velasca?" Yes, she was the crazy bitch who wanted to become queen of the  Telaquire Amazon Tribe, she had killed the previous queen before Gabrielle who then stole her chance for the throne and then had Ephiny inherit the throne from her. For her revenge, Velasca had devoured Ambrosia, the food of the Olympians and left no more for them to consume. She had become a goddess of chaos who had to be sealed away by Callisto of all people to make sure she never tried inflicting anymore chaos. "What are you trying to tell me Ares? That Velasca has broken out and is up to no good?" Ares nodded, Gabrielle felt a cold chill down her spine, another blast from the past had come back to haunt her. "The Amazon Nation... All of my sisters... She destroyed it all." Varia's voice weakly lamented. Velasca got her revenge on the reunified tribes of the Amazons, Gabrielle felt her body go numb as she lost consciousness and the God of War had to catch her to prevent the Amazon Queen from harming herself, Varia stirred as she slowly got up and winced as her body felt the pain of the bruises all over. "She's coming here next, she said she plans on regaining her godhood and more." Ares eyes became as big as saucers as he heard himself saying. "I got to get my son out of here."