quote:

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Ares didn't seem to realise he had been dispatched from the race, and wrote in the story thread.

Here is his contribution, in case anyone wants to read it.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Hera:
_SOUL OCCUPANCY_
... Although Alti was gone, Xena could still sense a presence close by. She lept to her feet.

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The jingle in her nerves went off again. Someone...something... was there. With measured speed and practiced smoothness Xena withdrew her sword, the usual bright singing of the blade escaping the scabbard muffled by her deliberae caution, creating instead a soft whistle of metal. Xena crouched in the darkness, completely still, straining all senses to locate what lurked nearby.

The woods answered with a silence that made her warrior alarms intensify. Her head swiveled slowly to the left, attracted by a movement that was sensed more than it was seen. Again the silence held. The stillness made her heart race faster, the night was not at all what it should be.

"ARES!...ARES YOU BASTARD!!!..." the Warrior Princess whirled around when a peel of laughter started behind her, then swirled back again, shifting all around, seemingly coming from all directions at once. The laughter even seemed under her feet at times, never still but always there. "Have fun with your games, Ares, and let me know when you really have something to say. In the meantime, just bite me."

The laughter drained away and the eerie stillness returned. Xena paused,trying to figure what the War God was up to. "First Alti, and now this crap."

Xena spit on the ground. Had she really seen Alti? or Ares playing a game? Alti's spirit had been banished from this lifetime, but who could ever be sure? Would Ares vanity allow him to impersonate a woman? Even one as powerful as Alti? A swell of fear engulfed Xena as she recalled the harrowing moments of Gabrielle's last encounter with Alti, when the Bard nearly died. That grief-wracked fear had no equal in her life, that death-like feeling of losing Gabrielle. "Gabrielle... GABRIELLE!"

Xena burst into a full warrior charge back to camp. Her feet could hardly feel the ground as she sped through brush and bramble, crunching through branches,saplings and undergrowth with no intention of stealth, as if she were a roaring chariot thundering toward her enemy with unmerciful fury. "Ai yi yi yi yi yi !!!"

Sword drawn, blue eyes fiercely blazing Xena burst into camp. The sight she beheld froze her completely. Stunned silence overtook her.

"Xena," Ares greeted her. The men surrounding him reached for strange instruments, and music unlike any ever heard suddenly filled the forest. Ares stepped forward and sang:

(to the tune of Joyful Joyful We Adore Thee, from Beethoven's Ninth)
I sing in jubilation, adoration to this joyful day
You are destined and you are chosen
Warrior Queen o'er men and nations

Xena, Xena I adore thee
Soul on fire and heart in flame
Men will follow you to glory
Empty of all doubt and shame
Show no trace of sin or sadness
Drive the dark of doubt away
Bringers of eternal badness
From our path we'll never stray.

Gabrielle and I will accompany
Zeus and Hera annoit our ways
The halls of Olympus loudly ring
Echoing your unbroken praise
Field and forest your flag carries
Tributes, riches, land and sea
Bring the Bard and follow Ares
The Fates to marry us, as Three

Mortals form a mighty army
Thick as heaven's stars above
Triumph's blood be splattered o'er me
Threesome acts fill nights of love
Always victors marching onward
Bringers of mortal ache and strifes
Conquest exalt us upward
In your triumph as my wifes.

(the orchestra joins the refrain as a full chorus)
We sing in jubilation, adoration to this joyful day
We are destined and you are chosen
Warrior Queen o'er men and nations.


Gabrielle turns to Xena. "By the gods... what is all this?"

"I lent Ares my soul," Xena replies, "And it's driven him completely fucking nuts."

By the gods... someone will pay for this.

crap. crap, crap, crap. fine. i'll have my own little race.

(shuffles off dejectedly) Do you know how boring Tartarus can be?????????

At least you died in a rather spectacular fashion.

And I believe that people are still having lots of fun with your head.

Ooer!