Callisto sat in the dark cave with the same words rattling around in her brain. "Kill Hercules, kill, kill, kill. Kill Hercules, kill, kill, kill. Kill Hercules, kill, kill, kill". Those words had become her mantra in the past several days and the only thing that distracted her was an occasional rat that foolishly dared to stray in her path. Several times she imagined that the little creature was Hercules and she mercifully put it out of its misery.
She had been grateful that Hera had released her from Tatarus, granting her the pleasure of killing Zeus' bastard son. Unfortunately, she had failed in her mission, and became helplessly trapped in the dank cave. If only she could summon someone to rescue her, she thought, she would first kill Hercules and then she would set her sights on Xena. Oh yes. Now that was a plan. Her lips turned up in a crooked feral grin. Oh no. I haven't forgotten about you, my Warrior Princess.
Suddenly, a figure appeared before her, startling her out of her reverie.
"Ares!" she exclaimed.
"Hello Callisto." The God of War stood in the shadows with his hands across his broad chest.
"Thank goodness you're here. Do you know what your brother did? That bastard!" she exclaimed.
"Goodness had nothing to do with it, my dear," he said, stepping out of the shadows.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever. Just get me out of here!" she demanded.
"Not so fast, Callisto. I'm not here to rescue you."
"You're not?!" she asked. A smile of recognition crossed her face. "So you're here to put me out of my misery?"
"Not exactly. I'm here to give you information."
"What?" Callisto asked, confused.
"It's about Xena."
"My Xena?"
Ares grinned, knowing he had gotten Callisto's attention.
"Your Xena, my Xena, everybody wants a piece of her."
"Get to the point, Ares. I don't have time for this."
"It seems that you have all the time in the world."
"What is it?!?!?!!!!" Callisto screamed angrily.
"Behold, the Past," Ares announced with a dramatic flourish, revealing a window that glimpsed into the lives of a certain Warrior Princess and her bard, Gabrielle.
“Xena, are you okay?” Gabrielle worried about her friend who had been more quiet than usual. The warrior stared at the campfire after a long day of travelling. The day before Ares had returned Xena back to her own body and after the initial joy between her and Gabrielle had dissipated, she had lapsed into a brooding silence.
Their bedrolls had been laid out for the night but Xena wasn’t quite ready for sleep. She continued to stare into the fire, sans armour, and several times began to say something but then withdrew back into utter silence. Gabrielle sat down next to her and cautiously observed her curious behaviour.
Xena could not find a right way to begin, to ask the question. She thought of what Callisto might have done with Gabrielle before she figured out that it wasn’t her. What did they talk about? Did the bard reveal anything significant? She loathed the thought that Callisto might have discovered some tiny little detail about Gabrielle, like a treasure she had yet to find. Worst of all, she wondered if Callisto had “touched” Gabrielle.
"I can hear her thoughts!" Callisto exclaimed happily.
"Gabrielle's too."
"Ares, how? Can you do that?"
"Let just say it's a borrowed technique," Ares answered slyly.
Xena shuddered, remembering her conversation with Ares and how the God of War had told her that Callisto made wild passionate love to him while in Xena’s body.
Callisto turned to Ares. "You told her about us?"
"Yes," he grinned. "It made her sick to her stomach."
The blonde warrior giggled. That had been the point.
The thought of that depraved tryst still made Xena nauseous. But did Callisto caress Gabrielle in the same way? She forcefully restrained her mind from straying down that path.
Xena swallowed hard. How could she phrase the question without revealing her anger, her rage, her jealousy? Her love. Up until now, she hadn’t wanted to unload her true feelings on Gabrielle for fear that she might feel obligated. Xena dearly wanted Gabrielle to make love to her, not out of some sense of loyalty or guilt, but out of her own free will. A few times Xena even flirted with Gabrielle and contemplated the idea of going further, but each time she backed away and retreated to the safe haven of platonic friendship. She was afraid that the bard’s feelings weren't mutual and her doubts were not dispelled by Gabrielle’s startling marriage to Perdicus. So day after day, she suffered in silence, careful not to admit her desire. But on this night, she could hold back no longer. She had to know. Damn that Callisto!
"Xena, you are such a fool," Callisto stated, amazed that Xena could be so in love with someone she knew could only hurt her.
“I...” Xena started and stopped. Her eyes remained fixed on the fire, her unkempt black hair hung down partially concealing her face. “Ares told me that when Callisto was in my body, she um, um...” she stopped again. Get a grip, Xena admonished herself, you can’t turn back now.
“Xena, whatever it is, I’ll still be your friend. It wasn’t you, it was Callisto,” Gabrielle encouraged.
Xena looked over at the woman beside her, seemingly for the first time. What she saw was an expression of pure compassion, warmth and, well, love. She had tried to protect Gabrielle from the scum of the world but who would protect her from Xena? She wondered if Gabrielle's expression would soon be replaced with revulsion when she finished. Or worse yet, if she would be there at all.
She returned her focus to the fire. “Ares said that while Callisto was in my body, she made love to him,” Xena said quietly. She paused again, letting the words sink in. Saying them out loud made her miserable all over again but when Gabrielle accepted these words and their implication, it encouraged her to continue.
Gabrielle patiently waited. It pained her to think of what Callisto had put Xena through but it was obvious that her friend was having an extremely difficult time telling her this. She knew there was more to it, a lot more, and she silently prayed to Artemis that it wasn't what she thought it was. Damn that Callisto.
"Damn yourself, brat," Callisto muttered.
“So, I was wondering, did Callisto ever, um...” Xena steeled herself against the inevitable, the words tumbling out like two rocks careening to the bottom of a canyon, “touch you?”
Callisto burst out laughing at Xena's question, knowing that she had done just that with Xena's precious little friend. The brat enjoyed it too. Now it was just a question of whether Gabrielle would admit it.
“What do you mean, Xena? She wasn’t exactly an affectionate person, you know.” Gabrielle feigned innocence, knowing full well what Xena was alluding to, but she couldn't tell her the truth, it would simply kill her.
Gabrielle winced as Xena visibly cringed against some torturous inner demon. She wanted to tell Xena the truth. That she had made love to Callisto in Xena's body and she was horrified when she found out about Ares' pernicious trick. But she knew that it had to remain a deep dark secret that would never see the light of Apollo's rays. Callisto had definitely touched her that way. The way that Gabrielle had always wished that Xena would. The way that she wished Xena would do right now. At the time, she thought it was her Xena and she had wondered what had come over the warrior. But she didn't question her actions. She only thought that Xena was confessing how she felt, mirroring her own amorous feelings. Worst of all, she had thoroughly enjoyed it.
Gabrielle buried those thoughts as she saw apprehension flare up in Xena's blue eyes. She knew what the impact of her words would have on the volatile ex-warlord. She couldn't admit what Callisto had done and how her heart sang when she thought it was Xena. Or how the evil blonde warrior elicted such strong feelings that she had held back for so long. For days after, she could hardly keep her hands off that Xena until the warrior started behaving strangely and the real Xena, her Xena, finally convinced her of the truth. And now, as the warrior seemed ready to reveal her heart, Gabrielle could only feel ashamed and dirty. It almost seemed silly now that they had both held back for almost two years, but she surmised that Xena still regarded her as the innocent girl from Potedeia, ignorant to the ways of the world.
But too many things had happened between them and too many times they were alone. Occasionally after they bathed, she caught Xena staring at her as only a lover would. And there were other times when she was certain that Xena was flirting with her, sure that the warrior would kiss her but then nothing happened. Xena retreated into her shell and Gabrielle doubted her sanity, wondering if she'd only imagined it. And even though Xena put up a brave front when she married Perdicus, she knew that the Warrior Princess was confused and hurt by her decision. And try as she might have, Gabrielle was powerless to stop the speeding chariot that whisked her to her fate. And Perdicus'.
“Xena,” she edged closer and swept the warrior’s hair away from her face. “Callisto didn’t touch me in that way. She tried...” Xena glanced up suddenly, her eyes flashing dark with rage.
“Let me finish. She tried but my reaction stopped her.”
"Li-ar, li-ar, pants on fi-re," Callisto sang, taunting at the image of Gabrielle in the window. "And she was so easy, too," the blonde laughed.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I think she assumed that we were, you know, more intimate and she tried to kiss me on the---,” Gabrielle hesitated, “lips.” She rushed on, her nervousness forcing the words to pour out of her mouth at breakneck speed. “But when I reacted with such shock, I mean.... you never.... it’s just that, it was such a surprise and I wasn’t expecting it and---” Gabrielle realised she was babbling incoherently but she couldn’t seem to control herself. She took in a deep breath, then deliberately clamped her mouth shut, fearful that the real truth would spill out.
“Anyway, she backed away and never tried it again,” she finished. Now it was her turn to fix her gaze on the fire. She felt like an idiot. She was sure Xena now thought that it would be a big “shock” to her if Xena tried to kiss her. How stupid could she be? This was her big chance.
“Really? She never tried again?” Xena was clearly relieved but still irrationally jealous that Callisto had even tried such a stunt.
"Can't you see she's lying?" Callisto nearly shouted at the image of Xena in the window. She turned to Ares, an evil grin on her face. "Oh, this is too good," she announced triumphantly.
Gabrielle shook her head, “No, really, she didn’t,” the bard lied, hoping that Xena didn't hear the quaver in her voice. But she wanted to add that she would have eagerly responded if she tried it again but she wasn’t sure how that would sound. That she wanted Callisto? No, she wanted to say that if the real Xena, her Xena, tried it, it would be the greatest thing that ever happened to her. She was surprised when Callisto as Xena had seduced her because she had just about given up hope that anything would ever happen and the whole thing with Perd---
Xena interrupted her thoughts, “I’m sorry Callisto put you through that. If she had harmed you....” her voice trailed off. She heard the quaver in Gabrielle's voice and wondered just how much had happened between her and Callisto. She surmised it was more than Gabrielle was telling, but just how much more, she didn't want to know. She'd already heard enough. She didn't want to think of how the depraved warrior might have taken advantage of her beloved bard. She didn't want to think of the two of them--- stop it, Xena! she scolded herself. Just tell her how you feel! her heart screamed. She took in a deep breath but kept silent.
The sounds of the night forest echoed around them, both women gazed into the fire, silent and unmoving, lost deep in their own thoughts.
Callisto was lost in deep thought too. She heard the girl deliberately lie to her best friend. A smile creased her lips as she remembered back to the day when she had de-flowered Xena's precious little bard.
They had stopped to camp for the night and Gabrielle laid out their bedrolls, one on either side of the campfire, which to Callisto seemed like a barrier as huge as the Amaltheian Canyon. It was then that she realised that Xena and Gabrielle weren't as close as she had previously assumed. A nefarious plan bubbled to the surface and she would take measures to remedy that.
"Gabrielle, bring your bedroll over here," she invited. "I don't want to sleep alone."
The girl willingly complied, totally unaware of who the warrior really was.
Both women secured themselves in their bedrolls when Gabrielle said good night and turned on her side, away from Callisto.
Oh no, this won't do, Callisto thought. She patiently waited for a few moments, then silently removed all her clothing. She lay on her stomach and called to Gabrielle again.
Groggily, the bard awakened.
"Gabrielle, I can't sleep. Can you rub my neck? I seem to have a knot in it," Callisto said.
"Huh?" Gabrielle asked sleepily.
"My neck, it hurts. I can't sleep," Callisto answered.
"Sure Xena." Gabrielle got up and a small, almost imperceptible gasp escaped her lips when she saw a naked Xena sit up in her bedroll. However, Callisto heard it clear as day and she knew the amorous effect she was having on the gullible bard.
"Right here," she said as she rubbed the imagined pain in her neck.
Gabrielle kneeled behind her and tentatively began to knead the rock-hard muscles.
"I don't bite," Callisto informed her, knowing full well the reason why Gabrielle was being so tentative. She pulled her long hair out of the way so that the bard's hands had full access to her soft, smooth skin. Gabrielle rubbed her with more force but no less awkwardly and Callisto heard the sound of her breathing increase. Oh Xena, she thought, how could you pass up such a delicate flower?
"Hmmm, Gabrielle, that feels so niiiice," Callisto said as she rolled her head from side to side. "Could you rub a little lower, my back aches too."
"It does?" Gabrielle asked, her voice strained and hoarse.
"Yes," Callisto grinned, knowing the bard couldn't see her wicked expression. Then Gabrielle hesitated.
"Come on, Gabrielle, I promise, I won't bite." Callisto turned her head slightly and lowered her voice. "Unless you want me to."
Gabrielle given her a half smile and swallowed hard. She cleared her throat.
"Right here?" Gabrielle asked, and Callisto could feel her hands shaking behind her. Now I've got her, Xena, she exclaimed to the absent warrior, I've got your little brat all to myself.
"Yes, right there," Callisto answered, moaning with delight. She arched her back and made soft mewling noises that sounded like she was in the throes of passion, enticing the bard to join her in a sea of ecstasy but the bard remained frozen behind her, carefully keeping herself fixed on her task. Then she stopped.
"Xena, I should go to sleep now."
Callisto ignored her and grasped one of the bard's hands in her own, twisting herself around to face her. She saw Gabrielle unmistakably glance down at her breasts and she used the opening as a means to trap her. She pulled the bard's hand down over one breast allowing the reluctant owner to feel the intoxicatingly silky flesh.
"Would you like to rub me here?" Callisto asked as she witnessed the familiar sheen of desire pass over the bard's eyes.
"Xena, I---" Gabrielle started to say, when Callisto pulled the girl towards her and kissed her full on the mouth. Their kiss deepened as they both sank into the comfort of Xena's bedroll. Callisto laid atop Gabrielle and removed all her clothing and soon they were writhing together, naked flesh upon naked flesh.
"Xena," Gabrielle whispered as her hands roamed the length of the warrior's long lean body. Callisto felt the desperate longing of the younger woman and parted her thighs in glorious anticipation.
"You want me, don't you Gabrielle?" Callisto urged, knowing full well the answer. She just wanted to hear it from the little brat's mouth.
"Yes, Xena, I want you. Please."
What a bonus, Callisto thought. The little brat was begging too. She moved her hands along the length of Gabrielle's body seeking out the waterfall she was sure to find between her legs. And her newfound treasure was waiting for her just as she expected. The liquid overflowed to Gabrielle's thighs and Callisto rejoiced in the effect she was having on the girl. She slipped inside the bard's steaming entrance and brought her finger to Gabrielle's mouth. The bard licked the shiny digit clean.
"Do you see what I do to you?" Callisto asked.
"Oh yes, Xena, please. Take me," Gabrielle pleaded.
"Yes, I will, my sweet," Callisto answered, revelling in the sweet surrender the girl offered.
Callisto planted a trail of gentle kisses along the bard's body, igniting a tiny flame on every inch of skin she touched, until her whole body was alight with glowing embers. Gabrielle's eagerness surprised her but then again, who wouldn't want the erotic touch of the Warrior Princess ravishing her? she wondered. And what's taken these two so long, anyway? she asked herself. No wonder Xena relished a kill so much, all that pent up frustration buried inside. She was like a volcano ready to explode, she mused.
Callisto reached the apex between Gabrielle's legs and she dove into the liquid fire as if for the first time in her long and wayward life. She was certain that it was Gabrielle's first time with a woman and that thought brought with it an urgency, a desperation and an erotic charge she had never known before. She explored the depths of the bard, her tongue ravishing the soft petals she found there. The bard called out Xena's name several times and that spurred Callisto on to a height even greater than Mount Olympus. Finally, the girl screamed out Xena's name one last time, her body rigid and spent. Callisto had won.
Xena broke the silence.
“Gabrielle?” her voice was soft and hoarse. She cleared her throat, taking Gabrielle's hand in her own. “I want you to know that---," Xena stopped unable to continue. Life never seemed to get any easier and no less complicated. Gabrielle had been with Callisto, she was sure of it now, but she would never let her know that she knew. It had hardly been a fair fight. She let the revengeful fire extinguish itself in her belly, knowing that it could easily be retrieved at a later, more convenient time.
"I missed you," she finished, painfully aware that Gabrielle was waiting for her to continue.
"I missed you too, Xena," Gabrielle replied, not sure where Xena was headed.
A long pause filled the night air. "Would you say no to me?” Xena asked uneasily, still fearful that at any moment Gabrielle would turn and run away from her.
"No, Xena, I mean, I won't say no....now." Gabrielle turned away from the fire to look directly at Xena to be sure that her words sunk in.
Desire glazed over Xena’s eyes, momentarily lighting up her troubled face. Was she hearing what she thought she was hearing? Xena wondered. She hesitated, then leaned towards Gabrielle’s sweet lips, parted in anticipation. A burning need raced through her veins as she reached out for her beloved bard. Xena put her arm around the younger woman’s shoulder and drew her close. Gabrielle trembled as Xena whispered her name. The warrior planted gentle kisses on her face and breathed in the scent of her golden hair. She left a wet trail that led down to her mouth, hungrily covering Gabrielle’s and pushed her tongue inside. Gabrielle arched her body toward Xena’s and squeezed her small hand between the warrior woman’s smooth strong thighs.
“Gabrielle,” Xena moaned, “I've wanted you for so long. Let me make love to you,” she said breathlessly.
“Nothing would make me happier,” the bard replied.
Xena smiled, took Gabrielle's hand and led her over to the bedrolls.
Callisto clasped her hands together gleefully. "Oh Xena, you are mine now, Warrior Princess." She was ecstatic that not only did she make love to Xena's beloved bard first, but she also held a valuable secret in her dirty little hands.
"So Ares," Callisto said as she turned to the God of War. "What do you want me to do?"
"You'll know when the time comes. All I can say is that your friend will rescue you from this hell-hole very soon. Make the most of it."
Then the God of War vanished into a column of air leaving Callisto alone to ponder her fate.