Rating: PG
Summary: Takes place in Season Six. Xena, Gabrielle, Eve, and Virgil find a painting of Joxer in Chin, and Virgil reveals how he learned to be such an talented fighter.

"Is he here yet?"

Xena looked to her daughter, who looked around in the huge crowd of Chin like a small child trying to cross a busy road.

"No, Eve. And please stop asking me that!" Xena sighed.

Eve stared at her mother, and for the first time saw how annoyed she looked from her repeated question.

"I'm sorry, Mother." She put a hand on her mother's shoulder as she continued by saying, "But you know how I feel about him. I mean he's cute...he's talented...not too much on the bright side...and...oh gods! Does he have a romantic way with words."

Xena gave her daughter a dirty look, and Eve straightened up. Gabrielle, then, came up to the other side of Xena, her eyes traveling the crowd in Chin.

"Is he here yet?" She asked like a excited child.

Xena faced turned blood red as she become more annoyed than ever. She knew the two had feelings for the boy, but for Eli's sake! He was just one guy, and they were treating him as if he was the only male alive!!

She began to speak, but was cut off by another voice from behind that said, "Hi, Xena!"

Her anger left her as she turned, but her annoyance stayed in the statement on her face and greeted smile. "Hello, Virgil. It's been awhile."

"Virgil!" Both Gabrielle and Eve cried. They both rushed up to his side.

"How ya been?" Gabrielle asked.

"Did you have a long journey?" Eve asked.

"Are you thirsty?"

"Are you hungry?"

Virgil looked back and forth at them both. What the hell has gotten into them? He asked himself. He looked up at Xena, who only gave him a sympithetic smile and a shrug.

Xena watched as the two women continued to harass the son of Joxer, until something caught her attention from the corner of her eye. She walked over to what held her gaze.

She walked up to a old stone wall with paintings drawn like Gabrielle saw in the Norman village when looking for her. The paintings were telling a story it looked like.

Most of the paintings were of monsters, monsters surrounding a human figure in the center. The human painting held a sword, similiar to.....to Joxer's? In fact, the entire human figure reseambled Joxer, Old Joxer.

"I haven't seen that since he died."

She looked over her shoulder to see Virgil, without Gabrielle and Eve.

"Where'd they go?" She asked.

He grinned. "Well...Gabrielle went to get some water, and Eve went to get some food because I've had a long journey."

She chuckled, then turned back to the painting of Joxer. "Do you know about this?"

He walked up beside the warrior princess. "Yeah. The people here dedicated this to him, for saving the village from what the call the Shadow God who had no form."

FLASHBACK

A middle aged Joxer, somewhere in his forties, scanned the desserted valley in Chin. He put his hand over his eyes, shading them from the strong rays of the sun. He then shook his head and frowned.

"Nothing."

He took a map that hanged out from his bag at his side. He unfolded the map, and poked a small hole through Chin with his finger, and placed the map back in his bag.

Joxer had changed a great deal. His hair was a big longer, he looked a lot more masculine, and his pale complections were replaced with a tanned complection. He looked very handsome for his age.

He fixed his sword up as well, shortening it a bit and making it more sharp, and deadly.

Voices then could suddenly be heard. Joxer looked to his side. Not to far was a large crowd of people. And as always, curiousity grabbed Joxer by the ear and dragged him. He ran up to the large crowd of people.

When he got close, he could see their faces. They looked paniced, affraid...they all looked like they were leaving some nightmare, which they were according to the leader of the group, Li.

Li told Joxer that these were the last of his people from his village. The rest were enslaved by a demon called the Shadow Lord. Shadow Lord had already killed their greatest fighters, and he was the last to protect his people.

Shadow Lord had no form, which made him difficult to fight and kill. And another thing was that Shadow Lord only came out at night, Li told Joxer. This information gave Joxer an idea.

Joxer told Li he would help him and his people. Li at first laughed at him, telling him he was really no good except making black powder the last time they met. Joxer only smiled, and told Li to see how much a man can change over the years.

Joxer and Li traveled to Li's home, and both waited for night to come, and it came quick.

Joxer couldn't believe what he saw. Shadow Lord had the figure of a man, but was all dark as the night, which made him impossible to see.

Now Joxer knew why this monster all came out at night. It hated light...meaning that light was it's weakness. This was Joxer's idea.

"NOW!!" He roared.

Suddenly, both Shadow Lord, Joxer, and Li were surrounded by a circle of fire, light, which was not to pleasent for Shadow Lord. Joxer also noticed something. Shadow Lord did have a body, it was only invisible and invincible when in dark areas. But right now, there was no dark areas thanks to the circle of fire.

Li was the first to attack, and sadly, the first to die as Shadow Lord grabbed Li's neck, and loud cracking noise echoed in the air. Joxer grabbed his sword from it's scabbard, and through his anger, strength, and speed, dicapitated the Shadow Lord. And the monster's body vanished in thin air, as all of Li's people that were enslaved were now free and peace was in the village again. Thanks to Joxer.

END OF FLASHBACK

"Joxer really did that?" Xena asked.

"Yeah. It's really not that hard to believe though, is it?" Virgil asked.

Xena looked to her side at him. "What do you mean?"

"Well, just look at me?" He smirked.

"What about you?"

"Well...Xena, how do you think I became such a good fighter, and a talented swordsman?"

Xena's jaw dropped. "Joxer taught you?"

"Yeah. He told me that he got some of his moves from watching you fight." He replied.

Xena smiled. "Both him and Gabrielle would watch me constantly doing my moves. I could have trained him, I wanted too. But I knew how Gabrielle felt about him and never wanted him to change."

Virgil looked at Xena for a moment, reading the statement on her face. After a moment had passed, his smiled and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Were you ever in love with my dad?" He asked.

He was expecting the famous shut-up-or-I'll-kick-your-ass looks. But instead there was a brief silence, and then she looked at him, pure softness and tears in her eyes. Virgil had never seen such a strong woman called the Warrior Princess like this before, ever.

"Don't tell Gabrielle."

With that, she walked away.

Please take the time to write to KScott2112 at KScott2112@aol.com, and let him know how you liked the story!

COPYRIGHT DISCLAIMER:
Xena: Warrior Princess, Xena, Gabrielle, Joxer, Eve, Virgil, and all other characters who have appeared in the series, together with the names, titles and backstory are the sole copyright property of StudiosUSA and Renaissance Pictures. No infringement of copyrights or trademarks is intended in the writing of this fan fiction. This story is copyright © 2001 by KScott2112 and is his sole property along with the story idea. This story cannot be sold or used for profit in any way. Copies of this story may be made for private use only and must include all disclaimers and copyright notices.