Children of Gods
XWP: Awakening 9Ms. Hunter Ash
I don't own X&G, no harm intended.
pairing: Xena/Gabrielle
rating PG13
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“Mom?” Xena asked softly as her Mom walked out of the back room with an armload of carrots. Her mom looked up and grinned and handed her daughter a knife. Xena settled into peeling and cutting the vegetables for the evening meal.
“What’s up, little one?” Cyrene asked as her quick hands made short work of the vegetables.
“I don’t know how to ask it,” Xena complained.
“Direct questions usually work best,” Cyrene commented with a smile.
“Gabrielle and I want to stay on here for awhile and to do that I have to face Ares. I want the backing of the gods to keep him out of our lives and Apollo hinted to Gabrielle that there was something mysterious about my parentage.” Xena held her breath, trying to control her shaking hands.
“Wow, definitely a direct question. I’m glad you two would like to settle down here. I can certainly use the help around here and you know I love Gabrielle very much.”
“Mom?”
Cyrene sighed heavily and closed her eyes. “Yes, there’s more about your heritage than you’ve been told. I guess I just hoped it would never come up. A mom wants a normal life for her children.”
Xena nodded, understanding that one. She knew having the daughter of a god was going to add additional burdens to being a parent and no one knew what those were yet. Then again, Xena’s life hadn’t exactly been “normal” either.
“It’s not Ares is it?” the warrior whispered, shuddering a little.
“No!” Cyrene said quickly, thinking the same thoughts as her daughter. Even for Greek Gods that would be just a little too close to home.
“Come on, Mom,” Xena urged.
Cyrene sat down at the table and motioned Torris back out the door when he poked his head in. He disappeared with a scowl. Xena sat down across from her.
“This isn’t easy, Xena.”
“I know and I really don’t care but it might be important in dealing with Ares about Sasha.” Xena reached out and placed her hands over her mother’s and Cyrene sighed again.
“When your father was away I was approached by a woman, a stranger. She revealed that she was the goddess Hecate.” Cyrene hesitated, remembering how scared she had been to face the dark goddess.
“Hecate?” Xena whispered. Hecate - the goddess of the dark moon and of magic?
“Yes, I am part of her worship in this area. We gather and hold suppers in her honor and we exchange knowledge of magic and secrets.”
Xena raised her eyebrows, she had never known her mother to be particularly religious and this secret worship of a dark goddess of magic was a surprise.
“What did she want?” Xena asked.
“She was running from Hera, seems she had an affair with Zeus and Hera was fit to be tied,” Cyrene grinned.
“Figures, he gets around almost as much as Apollo.” Xena shared the grin.
“You know how Hera feels about Zeus’ offspring with mortal women, Hecate asked if I would help them.” Cyrene hesitated.
“Help? As in how?” Xena urged her mother to continue.
“She asked if I would take her child, we would both be mothers and I would raise the child.” Cyrene said softly, not looking Xena in the eye.
Xena felt a chill travel over her body and a roaring fill her ears. What? She shook her head.
“What? Are you trying to say that I have three parents and two of them are gods?” Xena whispered.
“Yes,” Cyrene tried to pull her hands away from Xena but the warrior resisted, holding her mother’s hands tight.
“But I’m human.” Xena protested. She had died, come back to life and had suffered enough wounds to prove to anyone that she wasn’t a god, she thought.
“That was Hecate’s gift, that you would inherit my human side. I carried you and gave birth to you and we hoped that you would live your life without attracting the attention of the gods,” Cyrene answered.
Xena surprised her mother by laughing and sitting back in her chair.
“Then along comes Ares!” Xena smirked and Cyrene had to smile with that twist of events as well.
“Not only do you take up with him, now you’ve got a daughter by him to deal with,” Cyrene smiled ruefully.
“I know, I know, wouldn’t have been my choice for father if I’d been in my right mind,” Xena complained.
“She’s beautiful,” Cyrene countered, bringing a big grin to Xena’s face.
“That she is. Gods, what in Tartarus do I do with this information? Hera would still probably kill me just out of spite.”
“I don’t know, little one. You know Ares is going to cause you problems if you don’t find a way to keep him out of your life.” Cyrene mentioned.
“Ack!”
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“Well that might explain why you’re drawn to the shamanism,” Gabrielle ventured as they sat under the same tree by the stream, bard in the warrior’s arms.
Xena didn’t tell her bard that it was also probably why Alti was drawn to her energy. The daughter of the Dark Goddess, gods, Alti must have been drooling to get a hold of that energy, Xena thought. No wonder she wanted me to kill the Amazons, she knew I had the power and the darkness to do it and harness it, she thought to herself, once again cursing herself for her past. She shook those thoughts aside.
“Yeah, what do we do about Ares?” Xena complained.
“Haven’t a clue yet, lover.”
“Maybe I can help.”
Both women jumped to their feet and had weapons in their hands when with a flash of light Ares stood in front of them. Xena moved to stand beside Gabrielle, a snarl on her lips.
“What do you want, Ares?”
“I sense a mystery that needs solving. Why do you need to ‘do’ anything about me? And why was Aphrodite dead set on keeping me away from you two?” he asked with a smug grin.
“Maybe because she thought we needed a day off from you?” Gabrielle asked with an innocent smile, causing Ares’ to snarl back at her.
Ares closed his eyes and Xena felt a chill run up her spine as he concentrated. The warrior felt a sense of dread as he opened his eyes with a grin.
“A child? We have a child?”
“Get out of my head, damn you!” Xena snarled with an overhead swing which he quickly blocked with his own sword, appearing in his hand with a flash.
“Is that anyway to treat the father of your child?” he grinned, blocking another blow and spinning out a side kick as Gabrielle sprinted forward with her sais, kicking her in the chest and sending her flying back into the tree.
“Gabrielle!” Xena cried out, managing to land a blow on the side of Ares’ head with her sword hilt but took a backhand from the God of War, sending her flying back next to the bard who was shaking her head and holding her chest.
Ares grinned and disappeared.
“Gabrielle!”
“No, go - Sasha!” Gabrielle gasped and Xena was gone at a run towards the inn.
Xena rounded the corner of the inn only to be stopped short by the sight of Ares flying through the door, landing on the door and his backside. The God of War shook his head with a snarl. Hercules stepped out of the doorway and grinned at Xena.
“Hi, we had company,” he merely said. He turned back to Ares. “I told you at their wedding that if you didn’t leave them alone I was going to keep pounding your head into things until you couldn’t remember your own name.”
Ares disappeared as Hercules reached for him. The demi-god turned to Xena, taking in her bloody lip and drawn sword. Xena suddenly turned and began running back towards the stream with Hercules following.
They found Gabrielle standing by the tree wincing and cursing. Xena quickly examined her mate and smiled. “No broken ribs but you’ll have quite a bruise there, love.”
“I know, is Sasha all right?”
“Hercules sent him scurrying away.”
“This time,” Hercules said grimly.
“I know, we’ve got to find an answer.” Xena muttered as they began walking back to the inn to find Solan and Torris lifting the door back to the doorway. Hercules shrugged his shoulders with an embarrassed grin at Solan.
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Xena smiled as she opened the door to their room and found Gabrielle playing with Sasha on the bed. She also nodded approvingly when she saw the sais in the bard’s hand. Gabrielle sat it down next to her.
“He’s not likely to come through the door,” Xena grinned.
“No, but he’s been known to send goons on his dirty work.” Gabrielle grinned back.
“Momma!”
Xena grinned even wider and opened her arms as she approached the bed and grabbed her daughter up in a hug. Gabrielle smiled and leaned back against the wall, watching her mate and daughter interact.
“We need to figure something out because I could get used to this,” Gabrielle commented.
“So could I,” Xena agreed.
“Really, Miss Never Settle Down in My Life? You barely even stop anywhere for more than a day.” Gabrielle teased, causing her mate to blush.
“Well, I think motherhood this time around has gotten to me.” Xena admitted. “What about you, my love. Ever want to have one of your own?”
“As long as I’m with you, I’m not sure how we’ll arrange that one. I am NOT sleeping with Ares!” Gabrielle grinned.
“Oh you are so in trouble!” Xena growled as she sat down on the bed, sitting Sasha down. “Get her, Sasha! Tickle fight!”
The bard squeaked and tried to keep a pillow between herself, her mate and her daughter as everyone began tickling each other, bringing tears of laughter to their eyes. No one was ever sure who won that fight.
A short time later found Gabrielle reciting a tale to Sasha and her warrior. Snuggled in Xena’s arms with Sasha between them. After awhile Xena reflected once again that she could get used to this as the bard and daughter slept curled up next to her, the bard wrapped protectively around Sasha.
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The next morning Gabrielle found Xena unusually quiet over breakfast while Solan chattered away with Sasha and Iolaus.
Torris, bumping into Gabrielle coming down the stairs, merely mumbled something and left the room. The bard rolled her eyes and shook her head.
“I wish he would get over it,” she muttered.
Gabrielle sat down, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. She smiled at her mate’s blue eyes and Xena reached out to hold her hand.
“This is the first time you’ve slept past dawn.” Xena commented. “Like old times.”
“Told you I could get used to this,” Gabrielle smiled back.
It had long been a joke among them that Gabrielle was not a “morning person.” Nope, no way. Not only difficult to wake up at times, but she usually fought for every extra minute asleep she could get. Unless it was Xena’s lips waking her up, the warrior smiled to herself.
Then the bard had been taken as a slave gladiator and hadn’t slept past dawn since, until now. Xena reflected that her mate must be healing in spirit as well as body.
“Any ideas, Xena?” Gabrielle brought the warrior back to the present.
“Actually, I do. I need you and everyone else to guard Sasha while I make a short trip to the mountains.”
Gabrielle frowned. “Not without me, no more separations, remember?”
“I need to do this alone and I know Sasha will be safe with you and Hercules.”
“What are you planning? You’re not going to take on Ares by yourself!”
“No, I’ll be fine, my love.”
Gabrielle’s eyes narrowed, she hated it when Xena kept things to herself but merely nodded. “When are you leaving?”
“Right away.”
Xena was surprised to find her mom waiting at the stable with Argo and another horse already saddled. Xena’s quick eyes noted her mother’s riding clothes and the packs on the back of the other horse.
“What’s up, Mom?” Xena asked cautiously.
“I figured you’d want an early start to get to the mountains.” Cyrene answered simply.
“How did you know?” Xena grinned as she mounted Argo.
“I know you, my daughter. I’ll help you.”
“Mom, I didn’t want you to think....”
Cyrene held up a restraining hand. “I love you and I understand. Let’s go.”
Xena gave silent thanks for the Mom she had as she followed Cyrene out of the stable.
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Xena was content to let Cyrene led them once they got to the mountains. Her mother seemed to have a destination in mind and Xena didn’t ask. Her mother had refused to answer any questions during the trip, frustrating her daughter to no end.
Cyrene carefully walked her horse up a narrow trail to a cave Xena had spotted earlier. When her mother dismounted Xena followed but Cyrene turned and stopped the warrior.
“Wait here for awhile. I’ll call for you.”
“Mom, what do you have planned?” Xena demanded.
“The same thing you do, I’m going to talk to your other mom.” Cyrene answered with a smile and then disappeared into the cave.
Xena sat down on a rock with an impatient growl, noting her mom had taken the heavy pack with her.
To the impatient warrior a candlemark seemed twice as long but she held her place. She knew from working with Alti that magical rites could take awhile and that her mom probably needed absolute concentration. The warrior shook her head, still having problems imaging her mom as a magician.
“Xena,” her mother called softly after the sun had gone down.
Xena turned and found her Mom standing at the mouth of the cave with a torch, her body and face hidden by a hooded cloak. As the warrior approached her mother held a finger up to her lips indicating silence and then pointed to Xena’s weapons. The warrior quickly placed her weapons on the blanket she had been holding around her.
The priestess motioned Xena to follow her into the cave. Xena could pick out the scent of incense, a combination of spices and herbs, she thought. Also candle wax and fresh water. The warrior figured there must be a stream at the back of the cave.
The priestess placed the torch in a holder in the wall and motioned the warrior closer, around a corner of rock. Xena wasn’t surprised to see a stone altar with several items on the smooth rock. The warrior waited as her mother, the priestess moved past her and stood behind the altar.
On the altar stood a golden wine cup and in front of this was a plate of bread, fish, eggs and fruit. Additional items included a rope, a dagger and a pair of keys and an offering bowl. To the far left and incense bowl.
“Welcome, Seeker of the Night. Here, hidden in the darkness you shall find what you seek. But before you take one step further, be warned; this place is sacred to She Who Shows the Way and She Who Commands the Nightmare. If you have been called her by Our Great Queen, be you welcome. If you intend to profane this place in word or deed, then a curse be upon you for all your lifetimes.” Cyrene intoned in a powerful voice and Xena felt a chill go up her spine. Her mother wasn’t just part of the local worship of Hecate, she realized, Cyrene was the priestess.
Xena moved forward slowly and reached into a belt pouch and dropped several coins in the offering bowl, poured a few drops of wine on the floor of the cave and added incense to the bowl. Cyrene nodded approvingly and motioned her daughter to stand in front of the altar.
“The rope symbolizes the cord of life and it also represents what binds you from the truth.” the priestess picked up the rope and approached the warrior slowly and Xena extended her hands behind her, sensing what was expected. Cyrene quickly bound her daughter’s hands and motioned Xena to her knees. “The crossed keys represent the crossroads where we leave offerings for the Dark Mother, to bring the wisdom that allows us to make the right choices when faced with them.”
The priestess picked up the dagger and walked around the altar again to face her daughter. “The dagger expresses the desire to cut away the darkness so that wisdom might arise. Is this what you seek?”
“Yes,” Xena answered simply.
With quick strokes the priestess cut a small “x” at Xena’s left breast, just below where her armor would cover. The priestess then quickly held the chalice to catch several drops of the blood and then returned the chalice and dagger to the altar.
Cyrene walked behind the altar and raised her hands in invocation.
“Hecate the Beauteous, you I invoke
You of the roads and crossways,
Of heaven, of earth, and sea as well.
You, among the tombs, dancing with dead souls the Bacchic rite.
You, daughter of Perses, lover of desolation,
taking joy in deer and dogs, in the night.
You, terrible Queen! Devourer of beasts!
Ungirded, possessed of form unapproachable!
You, bull huntress, universal sovereign Empress:
You mountain roaming guide, and bride, and nursemaid,
I entreat, O Maiden, your presence at these sacred rites.
With grace to the oxherd and a joyful heart eternal.”
With another quick movement the priestess had taken up the dagger and sliced a cut across her palm and let some of the blood drip into the wine. She raised the chalice high in offering and poured several drops onto the cave floor and then walked around the altar and presented the chalice to Xena’s lips. The warrior drank several swallows easily and the priestess moved back behind the altar and drank several swallows.
With a start both women realized that there was another figure in the cave with them as a hooded figure stepped out of the shadows from the back of the cave. Cyrene quickly went to her knees with her head bowed and Xena bowed her head as well.
“Rise, Cyrene.” a strong and musical voice ordered. The figure pulled the hood back and Xena was surprised to see a woman that looked very much like Gabrielle, only slightly older. “Relax, I appear as one you would trust. You have done very well, Cyrene.” Hecate commented, walking over to Xena and around her. Xena raised her eyebrows, feeling like she was in a market place being judged for a sale. Hecate then laughed and pulled the warrior to her feet and Xena blinked, the rope was gone.
“I know the problem with Ares, I’ve been keeping an eye on things since you got back from the North.” Hecate said simply.
“What do we do about it?” Xena asked bluntly.
“I would suggest that you not rely on the gods to protect you or yours. Hera could cause problems at any time, Ares could get even more demanding, Zeus could change his mind about protection at any time.”
“That would suit me fine, I hate depending on the gods for anything.” Xena agreed with a growl, bringing a smile to Hecate’s face.
“Even though you’re mostly a god?” Hecate countered.
“I prefer the human part, thanks.”
“Xena!” Cyrene squeaked but Hecate merely laughed again.
“It’s all right, Cyrene, it’s what we had hoped for.” Hecate contemplated the warrior for a moment. “So you don’t want to be a godling, that’s all right with me and I’m sure Zeus would rather you stay a secret from Hera as well. She’s finally settling down about Hercules but that can change at any moment. The need then is to level the field between you and Ares.”
“How do we do that?” Xena asked, curiously. “Hind’s blood? Dagger of Helios?”
“The only things that can kill a god by a mortal? You forgot the bones of Cronos. No, I don’t think so. The threat would work for awhile but how long could you stay by Sasha’s side every minute of the day?”
Xena frowned.
“Then how?”
“A gifting from me. What gives Ares an advantage over any mortal?” Hecate questioned.
“Besides his immortality, the fact we can’t hurt him.”
“If I give you and Sasha that gift, that any weapon you take to hand could hurt him?”
“Again, I’d have to protect her every minute of the day until she was older.” Xena continued frowning.
“It would even the balance between you and once I threaten him with my own magic, he’ll back off.” Hecate promised. “Most of the Olympians don’t like to cross me.”
“He’ll hurt Gabrielle,” Xena suddenly looked concerned only to be confused when Hecate smiled.
“He can but he probably won’t try. She already has the gift from her father.”
“What do you mean?” Xena whispered.
“Warrior daughter, Gabrielle died on that cross.”
Cyrene moved quickly around the altar to help support her daughter as Xena’s knees went weak. They both looked at Hecate who had a sad smile on her face.
“What?” Xena whispered.
“Apollo brought back the spark of life to her and Gabrielle herself fought to keep it alive on that cross. Her love for you kept her alive and fanned that spark to a flame. That’s why her recovery was hard, death was fighting hard to take her. She won’t be sick again, any wounds that she gets will heal quickly and it will take more than any other human can take to kill her.”
“That’s why Ares took her out so quickly and why I know I heard her ribs crack but they were fine when I checked on her,” Xena muttered and Hecate nodded.
“Yes,” Hecate confirmed.
“What is the cost of such a gifting for Sasha and me?” Xena asked, eyes narrowing.
“You have to die,” Hecate answered simply and Xena heard Cyrene gasp beside her.
“Again?” Xena asked with a rueful grin and both warrior and priestess were surprised when Hecate laughed again.
“Afraid so and this will require you to do something that might be impossible,” Hecate warned.
“What’s that?” Xena demanded, she hated dealing with the gods, damnit!
“Trust me to bring you back.”
Xena frowned, eyebrows furrowing. She turned and began pacing. Trust? Trust a goddess? Trust anyone but Gabrielle? The warrior turned to face Hecate and Cyrene, her two mothers, still frowning.
“If you can’t, I understand. I’ll take you, Gabrielle, Solan and my granddaughter to the north.”
Xena began pacing again. She finally stopped and faced both older women.
“All right, let’s do it,” she said simply. Hecate looked pleased and Cyrene looked fearful.
“Goddess, sometimes the initiates don’t survive,” the inn keeper said softly.
“They were either ready for death and not for life or their faith wasn’t strong enough. Is yours, warrior?” Hecate suddenly demanded, her eyes hard.
“You know I’m not one for worship of the gods,” Xena countered.
“How is your faith in life and love?”
“What do you mean?” Xena questioned.
“There was a time when you would have welcomed death, a time when you thought you deserved it. Even now you doubt whether you’ve made up for your past. You still carry that guilt.”
“After all I did, how could I not?”
“If you carry that with you there is a chance you won’t cross back over, even with my guidance. Your love of life, for Sasha, Solan and Gabrielle must be enough to resist the darkness,” Hecate warned.
“For Gabrielle and my children I would fight Hades himself!” Xena hissed and Hecate nodded.
“Then at dawn it begins, my daughter.”
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