Chakram Reborn: Slowly Shattered (S2E2)

Chapter 3: A Good Day Despite Ares And A Nightmare Sets Her Off

Gabrielle walks out of the small store and stores a couple of bags in her saddlebags. She is just about to get on her motorcycle when Ares appears

"Hello, Gabrielle," Ares says.

Gabrielle looks at him and asks seriously, "Ares, what do you want? Shouldn't you be causing some war somewhere?!?"

"Lately, Athena has been undermining my conquests. Now that she's all about wisdom and less warfare, she's been a downer lately." Ares says.

"So, what are you doing here, then?" Gabrielle asks unamused. "You know Xena and Sydney are unavailable at this time."

Ares gives Gabrielle an annoyed look then says, "I came to offer my condolences about your dad. You know how everything went down and all; I truly feel bad."

Suddenly Gabrielle gets an angered look on her face and asks, "What's it to you? You hate me!"

"I don't hate you, Gabrielle," Ares says, smirking a bit. "To me, you're still that annoying blonde, but hate you, no. I just feel bad, that's all. I mean, your father died young. What was he, thirty-nine, forty years old. Still, a lot of life left in him. His death was such a tragic mistake."

All of a sudden, rage comes across Gabrielle, and she punches Ares in the jaw. Ares rubs his jaw, smiles looks at her, and says, "I apologize if I touched a nerve. Again, I am truly sorry about your dad Gabrielle." Suddenly Ares disappears, leaving Gabrielle standing there with rage in her eyes.

Later on that afternoon, Xena and Gabrielle snuggle on the couch after a great dinner. Xena holds Gabrielle sensing the quietness in her. "What's wrong?" Xena asks. "You were fine up until now; what's wrong?"

"Just as I was about to come back home from the store, I was visited by Ares," Gabrielle says.

They quickly sit up, and Xena looks at her seriously and asks, "What? Why would he visit you?"

"He wanted to give his condolences about my dad," Gabrielle says. "He then said something that it was a tragic mistake how my dad died so young."

Xena gets an angry look on her face and asks, "What happened next?"

"I got pissed off, and I punched him in the jaw," Gabrielle says. "He then apologized, then disappeared."

Xena caresses Gabrielle's face, looks at her, and says, "I knew I should've gone with you."

"It's ok, Xena. I handled him." Gabrielle says. She smiles tenderly at Xena and continues, "He probably got bored."

Xena smirks and says, "You're right. I just don't want him getting to you, Gabrielle."

"I handled him," Gabrielle says. She tenderly smiles at Xena and says, "He was just his usual asshole self. Besides, he's not going to ruin the day that we've had." Gabrielle leans over and passionately kisses Xena. "Like I said before, this is going to take a while for me to get back to myself somewhat again. Right now, I just want us to live in this moment." Gabrielle seductively smiles at Xena, then kisses her causing Xena to smile back at her. Gabrielle grabs Xena's hand, gets up, and leads her to their bedroom.

The door to their bedroom opens, and Gabrielle leads Xena inside. She sits Xena on their bed and unbuttons her shirt. Xena leans in closer and kisses Gabrielle's neck, then takes off her shirt. After they undress, Gabrielle lays Xena in their bed, gets on top of her, and starts to make love to her. To Xena, this was her Gabrielle, her soulmate, her lover. Xena knew tomorrow would be so different, but for now, she knows Gabrielle is back to herself; Xena passionately kisses Gabrielle as if the past two months have been erased; they stare deeply into one another's eyes then make love to one another like it's the last night on Earth.

Later on that night, Gabrielle lies in Xena's arms, feeling calm and somewhat at peace. She feels herself again, and maybe, just maybe, it's the beginning of healing for her. Right now, all she wants to do is live in this moment. She closes her eyes and starts to drift off to sleep. Suddenly Gabrielle is taken to the afternoon that her father was killed. The scene is back in the nightclub, just after the shootout with Metao and his gang. Xena, Gabrielle, McBain, and Shaw look around, and Shaw says, "I think we got them all."

Suddenly Gabrielle is looking at herself, who is looking at Xena. Gabrielle then sees Metao slowly get on his knees and grabs his gun. He then says, "If I can't have Racheal, nobody can!" Gabrielle watches as Metao raises his gun and points it at her, pulling the trigger. She then sees her dad frantically run and push her out of the way. The scene now cuts to Mark falling into her arms. She looks down in horror as she sees herself screaming, "Dad! NO!"

All of a sudden, the voice of Ares says, "He shouldn't have died, Gabrielle. You know this! Deep down, you know what should've happened!" All of a sudden, Gabrielle jolts up, screaming, "NO!"

Xena quickly wakes up and asks, "Gabrielle! What's wrong?!?"

Gabrielle grabs her robe and flies out of bed with Xena, who throws her robe on, chasing after her. Gabrielle runs to the couch and starts breathing heavily. Xena holds Gabrielle in her arms and asks, "What happened?"

Gabrielle starts to hyperventilate as Xena holds her tightly. "It'll be ok, Gabrielle. I got you. Just relax, it'll be ok."

Later on that morning, Gabrielle is cuddled asleep on the couch with a blanket on her, while Xena sits in the chair, staring at her with a worried look. Aphrodite suddenly appears and notices Xena's face and asks, "What's wrong?"

"The past two days have been amazing!" Xena says. "Even though Ares tried to set her off, she has been back to her old self!"

"What did Ares want with Gabrielle?" Aphrodite asks.

"He offered his condolences to her about her dad and pissed her off to the point that she punched him in the jaw," Xena says. "She said she handled him. But she changed when during the night, she had a nightmare. She's been curled up on the couch ever since."

Aphrodite looks at Gabrielle with a worried look. and asks, "Do you know what prompted the nightmare?"

"No!" Xena says. "She didn't say what the nightmare was about. She's just been closed off."

Gabrielle lays there in a deep sleep. She suddenly dreams that she is standing in the nightclub again, reliving what went down. Suddenly Ares's voice says, "Deep down, you know what was supposed to have happened. Let your rage and anger out!"

Gabrielle jolts out of her dream and screams," NO!!"

Xena and Aphrodite look at Gabrielle with concerned looks on their faces, and Xena says, "Gabrielle!! What's wrong?"

Gabrielle looks at Xena and Aphrodite with anger in her eyes, and Aphrodite asks, "Little One! What's wrong?"

Gabrielle gets up off the couch and goes to the bedroom; a few minutes later, she comes out fully dressed and says, "I need to think."

"Gabrielle! What's wrong?" Xena asks as she gets up and walks to Gabrielle, "Let me help you!"

Gabrielle pushes Xena away and says angrily, "Just leave me alone!" Gabrielle grabs her jacket and keys and leaves the cabin with Xena and Aphrodite looking on with worried looks. Gabrielle jumps on her bike and takes off in a hurry.

"Something isn't right," Aphrodite says.

"No, it's not," Xena says. "Listen, I'm going to text everyone and tell them what just happened, then I'm going to go after her. I want you to go visit Ares. For some weird reason, this feels like he's doing."

"How so?" Aphrodite asks. "Why would Ares concern himself with Gabrielle?"

"It's Ares," Xena says. "He can't stand to see us happy. Just, go pay him a visit; hopefully, we can track Gabrielle down in time."