Forever and a Day DISCLAIMERS: I do not own any Xena characters, I just like to play with them...heeheehee Universal Studios / Renaissance Pictures / Studios USA does. Don't come bothering me for having fun. ;)

This is a post-FiN fiction based on ideas I submitted to the Xena: Warrior Princess Virtual Season Seven project. Obviously, these ideas were rejected, if you will, or else I wouldn't be writing this fiction. =)

I worked on episode 7.2 "Honour Bound, part 2" and my episode is 7.5 "The Game." I believe Xena and Gabrielle are lovers, but in this it's just subtext...the only difference between myself and TPTB in this matter is that I acknowledge it fully...

I had to name Argo's daughter...if you don't like the name, too bad...lol

Thanks to: Hadley, Mac, Tal and Guil over at XWPVS, Bill, Evy, Tim (for Bjork stuff from the Times!), Bjork (for music that inspires my muses), Stevie Nicks (for everything), AURYN, Atreyu and Argo (my computers and hard drives ;), Barq's Root Beer, and everyone who bothers to stop by and read my fan fictions. =)

"Even in death, Gabrielle...I will never leave you."
-Xena to Gabrielle in One Against an Army

“Forever and a Day” by Magenta (the_AURYN@angelfire.com) copyright 2001 Kimyoo Films

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Chapter One:
On the Junk

She stood on the deck of the junk watching Japa fade into the horizon and cradled the small black urn that housed the remains of her best friend and soulmate, Xena, warrior princess.

"Whatcha thinkin' about?" echoed a voice in Gabrielle's head that sounded a lot like the warrior herself.

"The dead can hear the thoughts of the living, right? You tell me," the bard replied, sounding harsher than she had intended.

"Gabrielle, I-"

"I'm sorry, Xena... I didn't mean for it to sound like that..."

The warrior's shade regarded the blonde coolly before continuing, "Don't even think about it, Gabrielle."

"Why not?"

"This is my fate."

"It should have been mine, too," the bard replied, the anger building up again. "But you didn't even give me a choice in the matter. You said you wanted me to know everything you knew, but then you went ahead and left me out of your plans. I'm supposed to be your equal, but sometimes, you treat me like I'm not that important... I should have been allowed to fight by your side against Yodoshi's legions."

"I need you alive," Xena replied, almost pleading.

"I need YOU, Xena, not your ashes and not a shade reminding me that you're gone."

The warrior paused to collect herself before she replied, "Do you want me to go?"

"No...I want you to come back," stated Gabrielle.

"That's not likely to happen..." Xena trailed off as she caught the bard's thoughts again like a whisper carried by the breeze. "Don't do this, Gabrielle...please."

"You didn't give me a choice before, Xena...why should I let you have one now?" Gabrielle asked. She sighed. "Look at it from my perspective, Xena. You chose Akemi, a woman you hardly knew and who used you from the get-go, over your soulmate, me, a woman who never did anything to you but love you with everything I'm made of. You said this is your fate...that's centaur shit, Xena. You CHOSE this...so please excuse me if I'm a little pissed off here..."

"The fire at Higuchi was my fault, Gabriele...I have to atone for it," Xena replied, guilt and remorse evident in her voice.

"The fire was the villagers' fault Xena...you were defending yourself and trying to fulfill the last wish of someone you wanted to trust so badly that it blinded you to what she was doing to you. There's no dishonour in trying to help someone you thought was a friend so don't start taking the blame for the actions of others," remanded Gabrielle. She could feel Xena hang her head.

"None of this would have happened if I hadn't taught Akemi the pinch..." said the warrior.

Gabrielle silently growled. "If you're so damn desperate to feel guilty for something, why not feel guilty for leaving me out of your plans...again...for leaving me to find your body, mutilated, decapitated, naked and put on display...for killing me because when I saw you, part of me died right there."

Xena flinched as she saw herself through Gabrielle's eyes. The image haunted the bard and the guilt seared the warrior every time. What she didn't know is that Gabrielle could feel Xena's anguish. A tear rolled unhindered down the bard's soft cheek, which Xena saw. She tried to brush it away, but the essence of her hand instead moved through Gabrielle.

"Dammit!" sighed Xena. "Do you know how much it kills me every time I try to touch you and I just pass through? Don't you think I want to come back to you? I CAN'T, Gabrielle...those souls are on my head."

"If that's true, then yours is on mine...maybe I have to die to avenge you."

"Don't talk like that, Gabrielle..."

Gabrielle frowned. "Why not, Xena? It's what you did."

Xena was speechless. *Does Gabrielle really feel like that?* she asked herself rhetorically. She already knew the answer. *Yes...and because of me.*

"I wish you could understand, Xena...the fire wasn't entirely your fault...and I'm going to go anywhere I have to go to bring you back. THAT is what's right, not you stuck between worlds."

Xena sighed, tired of fighting with the bard. "Where are we going first?"

"Greece...I want Eve to hear about your death from me." With that, the bard pushed away from the side of the boat to adjourn to her hammock below deck.

Gabrielle's last thought before going to her cabin was "I love you." Those three simple words were Xena's whole whole world. The bard glanced at Xena just before ducking her head as she walked down the steps and the look in those green eyes spoke volumes of sadness and guilt...and that look made Xena determined to find out if she truly was guilty for the fires.

~~~~~
Chapter Two:
The Dreamscape

Xena and Gabrielle sat side-by-side by a cozy campfire, the warrior without her armour and the bard without her scrolls. All around them was complete darkness that the light from the fire couldn't cut through. Silent except for the crackles from the fire, the dreamscape was the only place that would allow them remotely physical contact.

"Nice choice, Xena," smiled Gabrielle.

"Well, lately we've been meeting in odd places or your parents were around. Even though it's just a dream, they still don't like me... I wanted this to be the place I'm most comfortable and I wanted it to be just the two of us..." the warrior said almost sheepishly. With a look of determination etched on her face, Xena looked at Gabrielle. "I'm going to go away for a while, Gabrielle."

The bard's eyes welled with tears, but none fell as Xena wrapped her arms around her and continued, "I'm going into the spirit world to find out if I truly am guilty of murdering 40,000 people. I'm so used to being hated, being the root of such evil, that I may have destroyed myself, us, because I was blind to the truth...but I need to find out for sure before I let you bring me back...can you agree to that? Please?" Xena pulled back and turned Gabrielle so she could look into the source of her strength, the bard's eyes. They touched foreheads. "Please?" the warrior pleaded again. Gabrielle nodded and then broke down in tears.

Xena kissed Gabrielle's forehead and pulled the bard close, pressing her head to her shoulder. "I won't be around during the day, but I'll come back to you at night, in this same place, when I can. When I have more answers, you'll know." "I feel like I'm losing you AGAIN," Gabrielle choked out, muffled against leather and skin.

Xena lowered her head onto Gabrielle's shoulder and whispered, "Only long enough for me to find out the truth. I need to know if I'm innocent before I can come back to life...and to you. I love you, Gabrielle." The warrior slowly turned her head and met the bard's lips with her own before she faded away. Soon thereafter, Gabrielle's body rocked back and forth as she sobbed.

The darkness faded into a bluish pre-dawn light and the fire melted away. Though her eyes were clouded by the tears that woke her, Gabrielle realized that she had come out of the dream and for the first time in many, many years, she felt truly alone.

the bard rolled over onto her side and curled into a fetal position, the urn tucked between her abdomen and her folded legs and continued to cry until the junk docked in Chin.

~~~~~
Chapter Three:
Beginning Their Journeys

Gabrielle, her satchel with the urn tucked protectively under her arm, quickly scanned the dock and marketplace before stepping off the junk and into the thick crowd. She needed to get a few supplies before heading to the stables to get Juniper, Argo's daughter.

She didn't feel like bartering...she didn't feel like eating anything, though it had been a day or two since she had last eaten...she didn't feel anything, like how she felt in Poteidaia, since Xena's spirit left her.

As Gabrielle walked into the stables, Juniper reared and whinnied in happiness, but was confused when Xena didn't follow. The stable master walked Gabrielle to the gate.

"You're early by a day...I'll have to go back to my house to get the money for your refund," he said as he opened the gate and Gabrielle stepped in and started to scratch Juniper's nose.

"That's alright...don't worry about it." Shocked that someone would let him keep so much and give him the tip they did, the stable master only looked at the bard. "Yes, I'm sure," she said as if she could read his thoughts. While trying to hide the smile on his face, the stable master bowed to her, then left her alone to get the horse saddled.

"Hi Juniper...did he take good care of you? Plenty of oats and attention?" Gabrielle asked before she started the inevitable. As if to say "Where's Xena?" the horse nudged the bard with her snout.

She put the saddle blanket on the horse, then Gabrielle lowered her voice to a whisper. "Xena died in Japa...and I'm trying to figure out a way to bring her back to us, so I'll need your help, okay?" Juniper rubbed her nose against Gabrielle's cheek to say yes.

"First," the bard continued as she put the harness on the horse and adjusted it, "we're heading back to Greece to tell Eve what happened. From there, I don't know...Egypt, I guess. They seem to know more about death and resurrection than anywhere else we've been...
"Don't worry...I will find a way to bring her back."

The bard hefted the saddle and put it on Juniper, then cinched the belt around the horse's body. "C'mon, girl...we've got a long way to go..."

*****

Her hawk-like blue eyes scanned the darkness around her as she walked through the mist she could only feel. She tried to reach out with her hearing, but the only things she could hear were her feet shuffling against whatever she was walking on, her heartbeat and her breathing while her thoughts were mainly concerned with Gabrielle and how she was doing.

Suddenly, she felt something disturb the mist to her left. Trying to quiet her heartbeat and breathe as quietly as possible, the warrior started in the direction of the disturbance, then felt as another one flitted through the mist to her right. She stopped to listen to the sounds around her and felt another disturbance above her head.

Xena closed her eyes and centred her spirit and with reflexes born of years of practice she turned towards her rear and reached out. When her hand connected with whatever it was, it let out a scream that pierced the warrior's ears and sent chills up and down her spine. She let go and the creature floated away.

"Who are you? You're not a Lost One..." the voice came as a whisper that surrounded her.

"My name's Xena...I'm trying to get to the world of the spirits."

'You are close, warrior princess, but if I were you, I wouldn't enter," replied the mysterious voice.

"Why is that?" she asked haughty yet concerned. *This...thing knows me.*

"You won't be able to get out again...you'll be swallowed and made into part of the whole."

"Where are we now?" Xena asked.

"Limbo, the plain where one really isn't here and really isn't there. This is the place of the Lost Ones, the souls who don't want to cross over, were rejected, or got lost on the way."

"And which are you?"

"All three in a certain sense..."

Xena, frustrated, sat and closed her eyes to meditate, energizing her chi to have it show her the way. From behind her eye lids, she could see a light grow from a little speck hardly worth considering into a light that surrounded and soothed her. She slowly opened her eyes and saw a young man dressed all in white standing by a silver gate.

"Warrior princess," the man addressed her. "What are you doing here?"

"It's possible I was blamed for a crime I did not commit...I need to know the truth..."

"Since you died in Japa, you need to go to the Kakuriyo and speak with Amaterasu Omikami. She will show you the way." With that said, the man and the silver gates faded away into the blackness of limbo.

"So...you were rejected," said the voice from before as if stating a fact.

Xena walked away, heading where her chi, her life-energy, told her and didn't respond to the voice among the Lost Ones.

"They didn't reject her...they sent her to the Kakuriyo," stated another Lost One.

"Impossible. She should be in limbo with us," said the first voice.

"Yes, she should...but the warrior princess is determined and when she's determined, she gets what she wants," said a voice belonging to a soul that wasn't one of the Lost Ones. This soul seemed fierce and darker than the area around them.

"Lucifer...to what does limbo owe the pleasure of your company?" asked the first voice, the question dripping with distain for the fallen angel.

"You can owe it to that bitch...it's her fault that I was expelled from His light-"

"Oh, I'm sure YOU had nothing to do with it," the voice replied. "She's not one of us...why not follow her?"

"Because I've come to limbo to ask you all for your assistance. Why should she get to leave paradise, get to leave limbo, never enter Hell...while the rest of us have to spend eternity here? What is so special about her that she could be given yet another chance at life when the rest of us only had one?!"

"What would you give us in return?" asked the voice, it's curiosity peaked and his jealousy aroused by Lucifer's words.

Lucifer smiled, an almost charming gesture. "I'd return you to life myself." A murmur shot throughout limbo and the energy of their response tickled the daemon to no end.

The voice, trying to contain its excitement, asked, "How do we know you'll keep your part of the bargain?"

Again, Lucifer smiled. "Because I'm going to go ahead and return some of you to earth so you can deal with Xena's little friend Gabrielle."

Without hesitation, the voice asked, "When do we begin?"

"Right now," the daemon replied. Half of the Lost Ones disappeared from limbo, on their way to earth to find and kill Gabrielle. Lucifer looked in the direction of the last half. "I need to best of the last of you to find Xena and defeat her before she reached the Kakuriyo. Go!"

With that, the lord of darkness faded away to return to his domain as the best of the remaining souls left limbo to try and find Xena.

*****

"Sir...something is happening in limbo..." said the young man from outside the silver gates.

"Something like what?" asked the angel, his armour reflecting the light of heaven.

"Uh, half of the Lost Ones have been sent to earth and half of the remaining souls have been let out to find the warrior woman."

Michael nodded and sighed. "Who let them out?"

"Lucifer, sir..." replied the man.

"Thank you, Peter," said the angel as he flew off to find Eli and tell him the news.

To be continued soon!!

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