AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is the introduction to the story of Xena and Gabrielle immediately following "A Friend In Need". It is extremely subtext-friendly. If two women showing their love for one another is not your cup of tea, please find another story you'd like to read. This story will be submitted in several parts and is based off the series, yet the "history" has been changed somewhat to suit the purposes of this story. Not all the parts of this story will contain erotic sex scenes as there is a plot.
Also, I'd like to note that I do not own Xena: Warrior Princess, the series, or the characters and I will not be receiving any payment whatsoever for writing this story. It is intended for entertainment purposes only.
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Gabrielle's Introduction :::
Gabrielle held the golden urn containing Xena's ashes to her chest. Xena was gone. Really gone this time. And there was no bringing her back. She had brought her back for a moment, but only for one sweet kiss. Their last kiss, and then Xena had to go again. Xena had to pay the ultimate price for all her past crimes. And that price had been death.
Gabrielle cried. She missed her best friend, her Love. Her heart felt as though it had been torn from her chest. In truth, it had. Without Xena, what was left? There was Eve. She had to go home and tell Eve the sad news about her mother. Eve was now a young woman with a life of her own. Even Eve no longer needed Gabrielle. As sad as she felt that night, Gabrielle could have tossed herself over the side of the ship, where pain would become nothing but oblivion. But she could not. She had promised Xena she would go on. And go on, she must.
But how? How without Xena? They had been One. For so long now she had been at Xena's side, and they had shared so much together. Not just their love, but their very lives. Gabrielle had no clue how to move forward without Xena.
Tears ran from Gabrielle's sorrowful green eyes. They fell onto the golden urn and mingled with Xena's ashes. "Xena, you can't be gone... you just can't be. I need you so," Gabrielle sobbed as she cried. "I need you, Xena. Can't you see?"
"Come back to me... ohhhh please come back," Gabrielle begged. She prayed to the Gods and even to The One God whom Eve and Eli had so faithly believed in. She prayed to whoever would listen. "Bring Xena back to me... please bring her back."
"I'll do anything... Anything! I'll suffer through any sort of Hell,
just bring Xena and I back together. Ohhhh please take all of this away,"
Gabrielle prayed, putting her full heart and soul into the prayer. And she meant every word. She would suffer any fate, as long as it brought her best friend and her Love back to her.
If only Xena had not become so evil. If only she had met Xena before she had killed so many. Perhaps she could have saved Xena from that ultimate fate.
But no... it was too late. Too late. Sad tears continued to fall as a harsh wind blew the ship to and fro.
Gabrielle fell upon her bunk, crying herself, still clutching the urn against. It was her last connection to Xena. The only thing tangable of the one she had loved. Merciful sleep come to take the grieving and exhausted woman into its embrace. But Gabrielle would never be prepared for the life ahead of her when she would awaken...
When Gabrielle awakened, she was in a strange, dark place. It was cold and damp here, and she was laying on the stone ground. She sat up and found the urn no where to be found. She searched for it frantically, but it was as if the precious container holding Xena's ashes had just vanished. Then Gabrielle realized she was wearing a dress which was virtually rags and locked in a small cell. "Gods, what is going on?" she gasped. She was no longer on the ship,
but where was she? This had to be a dream!
