Rating: PG/PG-13ish . . . no smut, language, G/X subtext, or politicians, but we get some pretty gory rituals going on.
Spoilers: All of the fifth season of Xena, as well as little tiny ones for The Furies, Forget Me Not, A Family Affair, Fallen Angel, Ides of March, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, and anything involving a Chronos Stone.

Five people stood in the Temple of the Furies. It was elaborately decorated in red and black, as were three of the people. They were, of course, the Furies themselves, with proud, beautiful faces and savage eyes.

"Are you sure there isn't any other way?" one of the others asked. "Some way we could substitute someone else's blood for his?"

"Not with the power of the gods fading like it is." Alecto, the leader of the Furies, answered. "If the Olympian Council were intact, maybe. But now, at the Twilight, it would be impossible. We would lose more lives than we saved."

This seemed to infuriate the man. He turned and slammed both fists hard against the wall, making the whole temple shake. "I can't do it!" he roared. "I cannot make someone else sacrifice so much."

"Hey, Buddy, cool down." the other insisted. "Maybe we'll find another option. But we need to go and tell them. It's our responsibility. No one else's."

The infuriated man took a few deep breaths and raised his head. "You're right." he said, his voice calmer. "You're right, let's find them first and then decide what to do."

"We have done what we can." Alecto said, in a voice that was quiet, but somehow shook the very air with force. "It is now in the hands of others."

The three disappeared in shimmering columns of red fire.

Gabrielle awoke in utter darkness. The only sound was Joxer breathing on the other side of the cavern. His breathing sounded cold, somehow . . . probably because she was so cold herself. Not stinging cold, but a sort of aching cold that you could feel in your bones and that refused to warm up or let you sleep in peace.

She groped over to where they'd built the fire and nudged it with a stick until she found one still-dimly-burning coal. With a bit of coaxing and nourishment, it blossomed into flame once more.

"Mm?" Joxer moaned, sitting slowly up. "What's up, Gabrielle?"

"The fire went out and I'm freezing to death. You want to hand me that firewood over by you?"

He found the bundle of sticks and brought it over to where she should reach it easily. "Shouldn't Xena and Eve be back by now?" he asked, rubbing his forearms to warm them.

"I don't know. It's hard to tell what time it is inside a cave like this."

"Joxer! Gabrielle!" The familiar voice echoed through the caverns, along with the sharp rhythm of eight steel-shod hooves. "Gabrielle, are you awake?"

"Yeah, we're in here." Gabrielle called back. She glanced at Joxer. "Nice timing."

Xena appeared inside the circle of firelight, leading the two horses. On Amber's back was an elderly man, wrapped inside a cloak to protect him from the rain outside. He reached up and pushed off his hood, revealing a face worn with laugh lines and accented by sparkling blue eyes, joyful but very tired.

Gabrielle reached up to help him to the ground. "Galonus?" she asked kindly.

"And you, I can only assume, are the legendary Gabrielle." he answered with a smile. "I'm glad to finally meet you."

"Any friend of Xena's is a friend of mine." she answered. This man was most definitely a friend of Xena's . . . according to her, he had watched her grow up in Amphipolis all those years ago.

Gabrielle turned to the warrior to help her get Eve off her back. She cradled the baby while the two new arrivals got settled down next to the fire.

Joxer hunted a waterskin out of one of the saddlebags . . . not an easy task, in the dim light . . . and handed it around. Xena took a mouthful of water, then took Eve, who was fussing from hunger.

"So how was it?" Gabrielle asked as she sat and wrapped a blanket around her shoulders. "I see you found him all right."

Galonus smiled . . . he seemed to do that a lot, Joxer noticed . . . and answered, "Yeah, she found me well enough. Never could hide anything from Little Blue-Eyes, not even when she was a little girl. Once . . ."

"Hey," Xena interrupted, "I'm doing you a big favor taking you to Athens, the least you can do is leave the embarrassing stories alone. And the nicknames."

"Right. Sorry."

"Why are you heading to Athens anyway?" Joxer asked. "And why do you need Xena to take you? It seems a lot safer to be far, far away from Little Blue Eyes the Second these days."

"Well, I need to get there quickly." he answered. "It was always my wish to die in Athens, and if I'm going to get that wish fulfilled I'll have to hurry."

"You're dying?" Gabrielle asked, half shock and half pity.

"Oh, don't take it so harshly, young lady. I'm seventy-four years old, and I've seen my share of things. Looking forward to it, actually."

Gabrielle gave one of her faint smiles that were so rare these days. "It seems to me that that's a good attitude to have about it."

"No use dreading the inevitable." he answered cheerfully.

Joxer laughed faintly. He decided he liked Galonus; nice to have someone besides himself who didn't seem to be constantly depressed. Not that Xena was so terribly depressing anymore, since Eve, but the whole tangle with Ares in Amphipolis had left her tight-lipped and silent.

"All right, everyone," Xena said as Eve finished eating, "We've got a long way to go tomorrow, and we're going to be traveling fast, so I suggest everyone get some sleep."

There was a subdued chorus of 'Good Night's as everyone found their blankets and lay down. Joxer ended up getting the good spot right next to the fire, and fell asleep watching the flickering orange lights.

And as he slept, he dreamt of fire.

Gabrielle woke once more to painful-sounding coughs. She lunged up, fearful for Eve, and poked the fire with a stick to illuminate the cavern.

Xena was kneeling next to Galonus, who shook with every breath. A glance between warrior and bard was all that was necessary for Gabrielle to understand what was going on . . . the frail, bright-eyed old man was dying.

She crawled over on her hands and knees to see how she could help. Xena's face was worried and tense.

"Is there anything . . ." Gabrielle began, but Galonus coughed again and the sound startled Eve, who woke, screaming. She moved to get the baby, but Joxer was closer and picked her up first.

"Hush, Eve. It's okay. It's okay, don't cry." he murmured, bringing a little air of calm to the chamber. Gabrielle glanced at him to assure herself that he wouldn't drop the child, then groped around in the dark to find the waterskin.

Galonus finally stopped coughing and started smiling again. In a weak voice, he asked, "Could someone find my lung so I can put it back?"

"Don't think we're gonna find it, Old Man." Xena answered, smiling back.

"No matter." he said. "I'm sure I can get another one when I get to the Other Side."

"I'm sorry we couldn't get to Athens." she whispered. "I guess we ran out of time."

"Ah, no matter. I've had time enough."

"No regrets, then?"

He sighed. "Just one." Then there was that smile again. "I always wanted to save the world. Never got to."

"Next time around, okay? I promise."

"I'll hold you to that, Little Blue Eyes."

She couldn't help smiling again. "You really have to stop calling me that, you know."

"Go save the world for me, Xena." he said. Those were the last words he ever spoke, for his head fell back and his eyes closed, letting painful stillness hang in the air.

"We've lost a good man tonight." Xena announced. "Go in peace, old friend."

"Xena, I'm sorry." Gabrielle murmured.

"Never mind." she said. "Galonus didn't have any regrets, and neither should we."

"Xena . . ." Joxer said hesitantly, as Eve began to wail again. "I think you'd better take her."

She obligingly took the baby and hushed her. "Joxer," Gabrielle began, jerking her head towards the body that had once been Galonus, "we should move him."

"It's almost sunrise anyway," he pointed out. "Maybe we should just go and start getting a pyre together."

"Good idea." She got to her feet, and the two of them left the cave. It was still dark, but it had stopped raining, at least.

Gabrielle picked up a branch at her feet and threw it down in disgust. "We could sooner get a fire going in a lake. Everything's soaked."

"No, over here!" he called, pointing at a large dead tree. "There should be something dry in here. Help me push it over."

Gabrielle, who had been feeling strangely aggressive lately, ran at the tree and hit it hard with the back of her shoulder. Joxer added his strength, and together they forced it to topple to the ground with a crash. They set about tearing the trunk up until they got to the dry wood in the center.

"That was good thinking, Joxer." she said as she brushed off her hands. He tried to smile at her praise, but saved the smile for later. You didn't grin while preparing for a funeral; it simply wasn't appropriate.

Everything was ready by the time the sun came up. The splinters of wood from the inside of the tree were stacked into what would soon become a bonfire, and Galonus' body was laid across it. Xena took the part of lighting it, and they stood with bowed heads as the smoke drifted upward into the pink morning sky. No one voiced their thoughts.

When it was burned out, Xena began, "We should . . ." but was cut off by another voice from far off.

"Hello! Hello there!"

Everyone tensed. These days, any stranger was an enemy. Sais and swords were drawn in a chorus of metal against metal, and Xena held her infant daughter tighter in her free arm. "Who's there?" she shouted.

"Xena, is that you?"

"Depends on who's asking."

"Relax, it's okay! It's us."

Hercules and Iolaus emerged from the woods, hands up in a gesture of surrender.

Gabrielle sighed and came out of her fighting stance. "You scared us half to death!"

"Wasn't their fault!" Joxer protested. "We're all kinda jumpy with this whole Twilight-of-the-Gods thing going on. Hi, guys!"

"Hey, Joxer." Iolaus answered. "And Gabrielle . . . new look; I like it."

Gabrielle smiled in mild embarrassment. Joxer fidgeted; he smelled a rival and didn't like it.

"And here's the celebrity!" he continued, looking at Eve still cradled in Xena's arm. "Sorry I missed all the action last time. Gosh, she's a sweetie."

Xena turned the child in his direction. "Eve, this is Iolaus. You be nice to him, okay? He's a good friend."

"How've you been doing?" Hercules asked. "We've had our hands full keeping gods off your back."

"So have we." Gabrielle answered. "Just tangled with Athena, and twice with Ares, and I've heard Poseidon's coming after us next. We've got a busy schedule."

"What brings you around here again?" Xena asked.

Both of them instantly stopped looking cheerful. "Well . . ." Hercules began, "We've got some bad news."

"How bad?" Gabrielle demanded, although she already knew the answer.

"Very bad. And it's a long story, so I propose we take a seat."

Everyone sat.

"I suppose I'd better start by telling you that the Furies aren't being affected by the Twilight at all."

"Drat!" said Xena, snapping her fingers. "I suppose that's natural; they're not really gods, after all."

"Well, since they'll be with us for some time longer, they're still concerned about the condition of the Earth. Which is why they informed us about the Deimas."

"Deimas . . ." Joxer muttered. "Oh, yeah. Gabrielle mentioned that once, I think. 'The terrible', right? One of those monsters trapped since the beginning of time, or something."

"Actually, it's only been trapped for about the last twenty, twenty-five years." he corrected. "It was put in a cave with some pretty tight enchantments, and no one thought that it would ever be able to get out. Good thing, too, because the Deimas is supposed to be invincible."

"I assume there's more to this story, because if I remember right you said something about 'bad news'." Xena said.

"Right. I'm getting to that. Anyway, with Eve's birth and the subsequent Twilight, the gods' powers are fading. Along with . . . all their artifacts, curses, and enchantments."

"Letting out the Deimas." Joxer finished. "That is bad news."

"But there's a way to stop it," Hercules continued. "And that's the bad news. You see, part of the original spell was that the blood of an infant was consumed in fire. That isn't as bad as it sounds. It was only a little blood, and the child grew up just fine without even knowing. But now that the spell is weakened, the Furies need the blood of that original person to restore it. All the blood of that person."

"I see." said Gabrielle, fighting back a faint wave of nausea. "And so now I expect you intend to tell us who that child was. Fire ahead."

Hercules obviously didn't want to. He shifted nervously, glanced at Iolaus, glanced at the ground, and finally let his eyes meet another pair of brown ones. "It's you, Joxer."

It didn't sink in for a moment. Joxer sat very still, and his face went a strange grayish-white. "Me?"

"Yeah." said Iolaus, pain in his voice.

"You need my blood?"

"Yeah."

"All of it?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, then," Gabrielle said decisively, "We'll just have to find another option. There's always another option. We'll find some other way, that's all."

"But Gabrielle . . . "

"No!" she snapped at the terrified would-be warrior. "You just shut up, all right? Let me handle this."

"Gabrielle . . ." he got to his feet and took her firmly by the shoulders. With the look on her face, it was about as safe as heading into a lion's den. "Calm down, okay? Just relax before you hurt yourself."

"He's right." Xena said. "Settle down, Gabrielle."

"Iolaus and I have tried everything we can think of." Hercules continued. "And I think we've come to the conclusion . . . that there are no other options. If we're going to stop the Deimas, Joxer is the only way.

"I'm no happier about it than you are. Believe me, Joxer, if it was possible to alter the spell, I'd go myself in an instant, as would everyone here. But we can't."

Still looking very ill, Joxer nodded.

"But I won't force you to give your life. This is your choice. If you decide not to, we'll do everything we can to make sure you don't have to . . . but I don't know how successful we'll be."

He nodded again, then resumed his seat on the wet, cold ground. Several things went through his mind very fast, in an attempt to ignore what was happening . . . I wonder what we're going to eat for lunch today . . . how did I make that mushu sauce again? . . . Gabrielle looks so pretty when she's mad . . . something in my boot is digging into my heel.

But in the end, it came down to one thing . . . they needed his blood. No, Gabrielle needed his blood. The rest of the world was too big for him to understand and he didn't particularly care about it. But Gabrielle . . . she was his world. To save Gabrielle would be the greatest and most noble way he could possibly die, and, like Galonus, he had to go sometime.

"I'll do it." he said finally, in a voice that didn't sound like his own.

"Joxer, are you sure?" Xena asked, her blue eyes dulled with sadness.

He closed his eyes and nodded, as if that action would bring a sacrificial knife down on his neck. "Yeah. Let's just do this quick, all right? I'm really scared."

"I do not blame you." said Iolaus fervently. "You're a brave man, Joxer, and the world will thank you for it."

"I guess we should go back to the Temple of the Furies," Hercules said with a sigh. "They know best about this sort of thing."

"I'll go start packing up camp." Joxer took off back towards the caves. Gabrielle, after a moment's hesitation, was hard on his heels.

"What do you think you are doing?" she demanded when she caught up with him. "Joxer, you are nuts. If you think I'm going to let you pull a crazy stunt like this, you've got another think coming. Look at me when I'm talking to you!"

He deliberately kept his eyes off her as he entered the cave and knelt to roll up his sleeping pad. As an afterthought, he started whistling too.

"Joxer, you're going to die. Do you understand that? If you go through with this, you are going to DIE. Delta-iota-ephsilon."

"Yeah, I understand." he said morosely. "You've done it enough times; I'm pretty used to it by now."

"I'm not going to let you do this!" she roared.

"You can't help it." he snapped back. "It's my life, okay? My life, my blood, my death, whatever. Mu-iota-nu-ephsilon. Mine. And if I'm the only one who can do this thing, I'll do it."

"But . . ."

"NO."

She froze as self-conscious, childish Joxer rose up to his full height and looked down four inches to meet her eyes. "No." he said again. "I'm not going to do what you tell me. Not this time. You can shout and order and beat me into a bloody pulp, but I love you, and I'm going to save you and everything that you care about. And you aren't going to stop me."

Gabrielle opened her mouth in a silent cry of disbelief, then shut it again. Never in all the years they'd fought side by side had he dared to stand up to her like this. It was a very new experience, and one that she was entirely unprepared for.

To save her the humiliation of an eternal standoff, Xena entered the cavern with Eve bundled in her arms. "Hercules said we might have little more than a few hours before the enchantment is weakened beyond repair." she announced. "The sooner we get moving, the better."

Gabrielle dropped her eyes . . . for the first time, she flinched away before Joxer did . . . and knelt to pick up her saddlebags. Xena looked to Joxer for some explanation, but he avoided her gaze and left.

It was a sad company that entered the Temple of the Furies. No one seemed to want to look at anyone else, and so the ground got a thorough examination by everyone.

Alecto appeared before the altar, with Tisiphone and Megaera at her sides. "You have come." she announced, in her terrible voice that embodied both fire and ice.

Joxer stepped forward without prompting from anyone. "Yeah."

"We are forever grateful to you. Say your farewells; the ritual will begin soon."

He turned to the others, with his tongue clamped hard between his teeth to fight back tears. He started with Hercules and Iolaus.

"You guys . . . thanks. For everything you've done for me and Gabrielle and Xena. It's been great being able to say I know you."

"Thank you, Joxer." Hercules insisted. "I am so sorry . . ."

"Hey, it's not your fault. Don't feel bad or anything. Iolaus . . ."

"Yeah?"

He hesitated, glanced at Gabrielle, then back at the hunter. "Take care of Gabrielle for me, okay?" he asked in a whisper. "I know you care about her too. Just make sure she's okay."

"I promise." he declared solemnly.

Next he addressed Xena. "Thanks for teaching me so much, and believing in me. It's meant a lot."

"You mean a lot to us." she answered. "Eve will remember you as the great hero you are. I'll make sure."

He reached in to stroke the baby's cheek. She watched him intently with her bright blue eyes, uncomprehending, observant. She would be a great woman one day.

And finally Gabrielle . . .

Words failed him entirely as he struggled to memorize every detail of her face. A tear slid slowly down her left cheek, and it absolutely broke his heart.

"Gabrielle . . ." he began, struggling to keep his voice steady, "I . . ."

"Don't." she whispered. "Just don't."

And so he didn't. Because, really, there wasn't anything to say. They just stood, barely a foot apart, and looked at each other and didn't say anything.

Finally Joxer stepped away and faced the Furies again. "I'm ready now."

Gabrielle tried to say something; she couldn't.

Alecto pointed to the altar. "Lay down. And I suggest you close your eyes."

He followed the instructions, and as he waited for whatever was going to happen, he hung tightly onto the image of his beloved's face.

He hung on so tightly to it that he didn't even feel the three jagged knives as they pierced the skin of his forearms and throat.

And, of course, after that he didn't feel anything.

Gabrielle couldn't take her eyes off the altar. She watched, spellbound, sickened and brokenhearted, as the demon-goddesses cut long, scarlet gashes all over Joxer's body. She continued to watch as blood seeped from them, continuing to flow for many minutes after he was dead. The blood, so necessary to the survival of the world, slid into a groove around the edge of the altar and ran off the corners into four gold wine cups.

And still she couldn't say anything. She couldn't even cry.

It was over as abruptly as it had begun. There came a hissing sound as the blood in the cups bubbled and evaporated. The Furies laid down their knives and spoke with one voice.

"It is done."

And then they were gone. And so was Joxer.

Conclusion >>>