Violence/Sex: Lots of violence, but this is Xena so go figure. Sex? Nope, I don't usually write that kind of stuff.
Bad words: Yep, afraid so. There are a few.
Rating: PG-13
Author's Note: This story takes place after the Twilight of the gods, and is third in the Electra series. If you haven't read the first two this will make no sense!
What's In A Goddess?
The Electra Series
Story Three
By Electra
The desert sands swarmed around the Cave of Life like a thousand bees. It incircules the statues that contain Electra and Astra. All is silent untill a blazing fire explodes from the earth and a blond woman escapes its flames. She holds a hand up and the stone that incases Electra starts to weaken. In a split second Electra explodes from her prision. She turns to the goddess and reconizes her imediatly. Not because she had met her, but by the way she looks. "Hope," Electra states, "Why have you freed me?"
Hope turns to the goddess and smiles evily. "I want you to help my father and I."
"How can I do that?" Electra asks twirling her hair around her slim finger.
"By destroying the Warrior Princess," Hope hisses. Electra's eyes light up.
"And what do I get in return Daughter of Darkness?"
"What you have been trying to claim for years.....Ares." Electra lets out an wicked laugh and shakes her head.
"I'm a goddess! I can get him when I please!" Electra screams hystericly.
Hope takes on an evil stare. "But you can NEVER own his soul!" Electra grins and nods to show she is in. Hope smiles and allows Electra to transport them out of the arid desert.
Electra and Hope reapear at the Fortress. Hope peers around a door and sees the other priestesses in the thrown room. Her eyes blaze as she sees who is there. Ares. Ares is there trying to reason with them all. Hope turns and faces Electra. "Remember. You're a goddess. You can do as you please....anything you please," Hope taunts as she paces to the other side of the hallway. "Go show them what you can do." Electra nods and starts to walk into the room. She is stopped by Hope. Hope looks at her and smiles, "Like I said. You're a goddess....make an entrence." Electra smiles diabolicly and creates a bolt of red and blue fire. She throws it at the doors. The whole wall is destroyed.
Ares and the other priestesses gasp as Electra walks through the flames. "Aww SHIT!" Ares yells as his eyes meet hers, "RUN!" Ares moves out of the way along with a few priestesses. Ceirdwyn remains, facing her friend.
"You succedded," Wyn states, staring into Electra's blood red eyes.
"Yes, I successed. Barely. Now, I'm here for Ares, but trust me this is the last time I'll have to make efort." Ceirdwyn produces a bolt of green fire. She flings it at Electra. Ceirdwyn gasps as Electra catches her bolt of fire and turns it to a shade of scarlet red. "Catch," she mocks as she throws the bolt back at Wyn. It sends Wyn flying across the room and slamming into the hard wall. Electra laughs wickidly, and turns when Hope walks up behind her.
"HOPE!" Ares yells as he grabs his sword. Hope looks at him and the sword flys from his hand, crashing agint the wall. Ares looks to Electra and tilts his head, not knowing what to say.
Electra stares at the god and smiles. "Tell Xena I'm back and working with Hope to free the evil forces that will plague this world and all of its inhabitants." Electra flicks her wrist and vanishes along with Hope.
"She wants you to follow her!" Ceirdwyn screams. "If you and Xena go you'll be trapped!"
"That's our decision. Not YOURS! We have to go after Hope and Electra," Ares replies. He turns and leaves his once glorious fortress.
Ares walks through the crowded streets of Thebes. He despretly searced for Xena, but only finds Gabrielle mengling with a group of women and men in the croud. Ares walks up to the blond Amazon queen and taps her shoulder. "I need to speak with you and Xena," he says through clinshed teeth. Gabrielle ignores him for the fact that he had been wanting to talk to them frequently. Mostly, about meaningless things or tips on how to survive as a mortal. Ares turns his head and whispers something to her. Gabrielle stops dead in her sentence. She doesn't bother to explain, just turns and leaves with Ares.
They turn into an alley and Gabrielle motions for him to stop. "What do you mean by Electra and....Hope?" she asks hopping it was noting more than a joke. Her wish wasn't granted.
"I'm telling you that I saw Electra and Hope together. Electra said she was going to help Hope and Dahalk. I'm not lieing! All of my priestesses saw her!"
Gabrielle looks shocked and bows her head. "What should we do? If they told you what they were up to it must be a trap."
"We should tell Xena first," Ares answers. Gabrielle nods her head. "Do you know where she is?"
"She's buying a new whip. C'mon, follow me," Gabrielle orders as she leads Ares back out into the market place.
Back at the Fortress the priestesses fight amongst themselves. "We can't just let Hope and Electra kill Ares!" WindSinger screams in rage.
"We DON'T even know if they are going to kill him!" Ceirdwyn yells in response.
"She just tried to kill you Wyn!!" Medea replies, adding her two dinars.
"SHUT UP!!!!" Phoenix orders. The room grows silent, and all attention is turned to Phoenix. "Now, LISTEN UP!! We're not going to help Ares by arguing with each other," Phoenix points out.
"She's right,...but what can we do?" WindSinger asks finally calming down.
The others look to each other not knowing what to say. Ceirdwyn finally breaks the silence. "I don't know about you all, but I can only think of one solution. We have to team up with....Xena." The priestesses stare at Wyn in shock. No one could speak. It seemed to be the only answer.
"I'm in BUT I REFUSE to be even the SLIGHTEST bit nice to Xena or her SPAWN," Wind hisses. The others stare at each other.
"Anyone else?" Ceirdwyn asks in worry. No one speaks up so she carries on. "Fine. Don't say we didn't offer. Wind and I will help the Warrior Princess."
In Thebes, Ares is carefully telling Xena how Electra came to the Fortress. Xena looks on in shock. She, like the others thought Electra and Hope were gone for good. "Electra is back and working with Hope!"
Ares nods and stares into Xena's eyes. *By the gods she is beautiful* he thinks. Xena turns and looks to Gabrielle.
"Gabrielle, you know what this means?" she questions the bard. Gabby motions in a 'yes' response and shuts her eyes tightly. "We have to go after them," Xena comments. She turns to a small tavern. "We'll get Eve, first." Xena rises but is cut of by Gabrielle.
"Xena, how can we get rid of a goddess? What's left to use?"
"The Dagger of Helios," Xena replies. Ares gives Xena a 'you're kidding' look and shakes his head.
"Xena, I threw that dagger into a rock wall. There is no way we can get it!"
"We have to! It's our only chance!" Xena scolds. She continues to walk to the tavern, with Gabby and Ares following close behind.
Hope and Electra stand in the main hall on Olympus. Hope sits in the gold throne while Electra goes around scorching the bodies of dead gods. She laughs diabolicly as she begins the throw a bolt at Athena. "Wait!" Hope screams to the dark goddess. "Let's do somthing useful with her."
Electra watches as Hope stares at the dead Athens. Suddenly Athena's eyes pop open and she rises to her feet. Her eyes hold the same blood red glow as Electra's. She looks to Hope and then to Electra. "It feels so good to be back." Electra giggles as she realizes Hope can resurect the gods to do their bidding.
WindSinger and Ceirdwyn keep walking closer to Thebes. They are ready to fight with Xena and defend Ares no matter what the cost. They round a curve only to see Xena and the others comming right for them. Xena narrows her eyes when they come into view. "Ares, what are your priestesses doing here?"
"I don't know. Hold on and I'll find out." Ares walks up to his two priestesses. "What are you two doing here?"
"We're here to help. We can't allow Hope or Electra to harm you. This was our last resort to help you," WindSinger says looking to the Warrior Princess.
"I never thought you two would ever work with me," Xena says still not sure of the situation.
"We wouldn't and we arn't. We're helping Ares. This is his only chance so we request permission to join you all," Wyn says with an icy stare.
"NO," Xena replies.
"Xena, let them. It could be our only chance," Gabrielle says to her tall friend.
"Fine, but if they do anything to harm ANY of us there dead." Xena continues on her way. The others fall in behind her in search of the Dagger of Helios.
Hope resurected all of Olympus. The gods were back, but not alive. Their bodies and souls were joined, but no blood flowed through their veins. They felt no emotions any more. They were nothing more than vessels that obeyed commands.
Electra walks throught the newly revived gods. She looks around and notices that none have powers. They are just immortal, in a sense. She looks to Hope who smiles at her work. She turns to Electra and begins to speak. "Electra we can use the 'gods' as distractions to the warrior princess. In order for my father to enter the world he must have a certain soul."
"Who?"
"Eve. She was recently purified into the way of 'love' and 'happiness.' Now she has to be stopped. I need you to keep the plan in flow. Your friends are helping Xena now."
"Which ones?"
"Ceirdwyn and WindSinger," Hope hisses. Electra's eyes blaze as she dissapears.
She reapears in front of Xena, Eve, Gabby, and her two friends. *Where's Ares?* she wonders. She gives her friends cold stares. "Glad to see you two are my true friends," Electra beems. Wyn and Wind look at her with unsure expressions.
"We are your friends. That's why we have to stop you from doing something you'll regret," Wind replies to the goddess.
"Well, it's a good thing I gave up on friends!"
Electra flings a bolt of fire at the group. Xena uses her chakram to block it. She draws her sword and goes after Electra. Their swords clang and sparks fly. Finally Electra gets sick of the battle and kicks Xena into a tree. Xena takes her chakram and flings it at Electra, but at the same time Electra lets her six blades fly. They colide with Xena's chakram and produce a bolt of fire. The blades hurl around and Electra grabs Eve. She holds a dagger to her throat and looks to Xena. "I would just love to stay, but I have orders." She vanishes taking Eve with her. Xena catches her chakram and Electra's blades dissapear.
"We have to go after them," Xena states, "and you two! Neither one of you tried to help!"
"We said we would help Ares, not YOU!"
Electra appears on Olympus with Eve. She drags her to Olympus's dungeon and chains her in shakkles. "Don't go anywhere pretty," she mocks turning to leave. She shuts the iron door, leaving Eve alone.
Ares is in a huge city. He walks over to a very familiar place. The exact place where he held the dagger to Xena's throat. He knew he wouldn't have killed her, but it got him so close to her. He walked over to the stone wall. "How am I going to get it out?" he asked himself. Then a white light appeared and an angel walked from it. Ares knew who it was immediately. "Eli. Great. Now what? No, lemme guess. You're here because the light wants me dead."
"Not at all Ares. We're glad you're finally helping. I'm here to see that your task is compleated." Then, Eli raised his arm and a white light surged from it. The dagger was in Ares hand within minuts. "Now, stop Hope and Electra. It may be Heavens only chance. With that he vanished.
Ares stared down at the dagger. "What if I don't wanna save the world."
Electra appears in front of Ares. He stops and stares at her. "Are you going to kill me?"
"Never. I'm just here for the dagger," Electra replies.
"You can't have it. Whay do you want to help Hope anyway? I've been down that road before. It's not a peachy way to go."
"I'm doing it to get you. It's not a hard job. All I have to do is kill your love and......" Electra is cut off suddenly.
"And produce the next of the Six Destroyers!"
"You know....I figured you did."
"Yea, I know Dahalk planted a seed inside of you. You'll have the child soon."
"That's right. A full god. Unstopable. It's worth it. I'll have you."
"ME?! You might own my soul, but I will NEVER return your feelings!" Ares watches as Electra's eyes blaze. He had forgotten she had lost most of her control when it came to anger. Now who knows what she would do?
"I'm so sorry Ares, but I don't think you'll have much of a choice!" Electra reaches for the dagger, but Aphrodite appeares on the scene.
"BRO!!!" Aphrodite quickly zaps Ares and herself away. Electra, filled with rage, dissapeares in a storm of red blood.
Xena and the others are scaling the sides of Olympus. They come to a ledge, and chose to take a break. "Xena, we'll never make it in time," Gabrielle says to her friend.
"Sure we will we just have to...." Xena stops as the resurected Athena, Hades, and Hephaestus come through the rock face of the mountain. WindSinger and Ceirdwyn stand taking their weapons. "I thought I killed you all."
"We're back," Hades replies with no emotion in his ghostly voice. Xena flings her chakram at them. It slices throught their stomachs, but they come out unharmed.
"Looks like we'll have to do it the old fashioned way," WindSinger laughs. The group shift into a fierce battle.Xena, Gabrielle, Wind, and Wyn approach the towering mountain of Olympus. They walk to its base and stare. It's huge," Gabby comments.
"Duh, it's a mountain," Wind replies.
"Neither of you two have powers to transport us there do you?" Xena asks.
"If we did we wouldn't be standing here with you two!" Ceirdwyn replies.
"Then we'll have to climb," Xnea informs. The four start to climb the mountains rocky face.
"They're here," Electra states.
"Perfect. Attention scum of Olympus, stop the warrior Princess and her anoying friends!" Hope comands. The gods mumble to themselves and vanish with Electra's help. "Electra, I need you to get something for me. Ares has the Dagger of Helios. I need you to retrieve it, but hurry that stupid Goddess of Love is going to help him." Electra nods and dissapears in a bolt of red fire.
Aphrodite and Ares appear in one of Olympus's many halls. The screams and shouts of Eve can be heard throughtout the vast palace. "I can't stay Bro."
"I know. Just try to be careful," Ares replies. Aphrodite embraces her brother and vanishes.
Xena, Gabrielle, windSinger, and Ceirdwyn are still fighting the living dead gods. Gabrielle stabs her sci into Athena's shoulders. Athena hits Gabby sending her through the rock wall. "It's a hidden entrence!" Ceirdwyn screams. She does a spin kick sending Hephaestus over the ledge. Xena uses her chakram to knock Athena off, and WindSinger trips Hades. The three gods plummit to their second deaths.
"Let's go stop Hope," Xena says. They run throught the wall and towards the main hall.
In the main hall, Eve is chained down to the alter. She struggles to free herself as Hope readies to plunge a flaming sword through her. She is about to strike when Ares enters from one end of the room. Xena, Gabrielle, WindSinger, and Ceirdwyn enter from the other.
Xena's chakram wizzes through the air and cuts Hope's sword in two. Just as Hope turns to Xena, Electra explodes onto the scene. She turns to Xena who runs up to engage in a battle. Electra flings a scarlet lightning bolt at her. She dodges it and uses her chakram to cause some of the roof to crash down on her. Electra is burried.
Hope tries to slice open Eve, but Gabrielle flings one of her sci into her chest. Hope screaches in pain as her mortal half feels the damage. She turns to finish her mother off for good, but Xena plunges the Dagger of Helios into her back. Hope gasps for air, and falls to the ground, bursting into flames.
The silence in the room is broken by the sound of exploding rock. Electra springs up and looks to where the pile of ash lays on the ground. "NO!!"
Electra produces a bolt of fire and throws it at Xena, Gabrielle, WindSinger and Ceirdwyn. They all separate into different directions. Electra aims a bolt straight for Xena. Ares springs into action and tries to tackle Electra. Electra slams him onto the ground and produces a bolt of fire. "I finally give up!" She raises the bolt ready to kill the one man she ever cared about. Suddenly there is a bolt of white, blinding light, and a woman screams "NOOOOOOOOO!!!!"
When the light clears Ceirdwyn stands facing Electra. A look of pain crosses Electra's face. She looks down to her stomach. Ceirdwyn had used the Dagger of Helios. She had plunged it straight into her friend's stomach, and now was covered in her warm blood.
Electra's life flashed before her eyes. She saw herself at five, whitnissing her first kill. Then at eight, learning how to use a war staff. Fourteen, screaming at her Amanazon tribe because they were weak. Sixteen, going to the Fortress. Her first kill. Ceirdwyn, her best friend. Some would say her adopted mother. Now her slayer. Her destroyer.
The pain worked its way to Electra's heart. Her scarlet eyes went midnight black. The tears welled up in Ceirdwyn. Electra looked into her friend's chocolate brown eyes, and asked perhaps the most important question to ever submit from her lips, "Why?"
Ceirdwyn swollowed hard as her lifeless friend fell to the floor. She subsided to her knees, her friend's last word flying through her head. Pushing deeper and deeper into her skulll. "I had to stop you." Ceirdwyn broke into tears asthe others stood around watching the incredable scene.
The next day, everyone stood in the Fortress. Even Xena and her friends were permitted to stay for close to an hour. It all happened so fast. One minut Electra was alive, Ceirdwyn happy. The next, Electra was is dead, and Ceirdwyn wouldn't speak. She would just stare off into space.
WinSinger walked into the main room and found Ceirdwyn. "Wyn, I'm......I'm sorry about Elee."
"Don't be. She'll be back! One day! You just wait!" Ceirdwyn walked out leaving Wind alone in the Dark.
"Let's hope you're wrong."
Please e-mail the author of this story with your comments. Electra1634@aol.com