(5) There was an argument. Iolaus verbally challenged the man who was once his closest friend - "I tried to get past it, Hercules, I really did. I know you can't help who you are and the way people see you but ... it's just time. We knew it couldn't last forever. I'm ... I'm mortal and just so tired of being your whipping boy!" "Iolaus, I've never ..." Hercules reached out a hand, attempting to physically connect with the hunter, and was stunned when Iolaus moved away. Calmer but earnest in his resolve, Iolaus continued, "No, you would never do anything purposely to hurt me but just being with you, watching how others consider me inferior to you - no matter what you and I might think -. it's just not going to work anymore. I still have my pride and I want out." Then, with a small choking sound in his voice, "It's better we part now before we become bitter enemies. Time I make a life for myself where I'm not identified by the company I keep. I'm sorry, Hercules ..." Then lower as he turned to take his leave, "but I'm really not. I'm sorry about that too." Stricken, the son of Zeus watched as Iolaus walked away from him, across a field. "Goodbye, my friend. I hope you find what you're looking for." But the demigod's heart was unmistakably broken as he said, "Please come back to me some day." -- A new scene, slightly later in time -- Iolaus kneeled over the grave, weeping, asking someone why this had happened. Who was to blame? The figure standing before Iolaus, someone he could not see clearly for the sun was at his back, whispered - "It was Xena. She went mad. Some say it was a spell from the gods. She was given a shard from the rib of Chronos and went looking for Hercules. They fought but the villagers say his heart wasn't in it. He was grieving over some recent loss and off his game. And Xena ... she was relentless. She always is." The stone above the grave had an inscription: Hercules, Greece's Greatest Hero. Gone From Us Far Too Soon. "Xena." Iolaus seethed through his tears, "Of course, it would have to be Xena." -- 'Because if it's not Xena's fault then it's your fault. You left him vulnerable ...' With a sigh, Joxer turned from the grave - away from the sight of the grieving hunter - and walked back to the village. The blond was not the only one within recent months whose life had been shattered. When Xena, raving with ire, told Joxer to leave and never come back he truly knew the pain of inadequacy. And Gabrielle just stood there in stunned silence, but said nothing on his behalf. Xena needed to be stopped and Gabrielle needed to be set free. Maybe Iolaus would do both. Joxer could only hope and pray. -- And yet another scene even later in the future. -- Xena and Gabrielle walked together on the dirt path of a clearing, immersed in a conversation that might have been familiar if not for the vehemence in their voices. "You killed that old man back there, Xena! He didn't do anything. What were you thinking? What is happening to you Xena?!" Gabrielle cried, when her friend did not immediately reply. "I know The Furies were playing games with your mind again but we've gone past that. You whipped them ... You should be cured!" "I am cured!" Xena cried, angrily. "He was a retired warlord who wanted to bury his ax in my back. I know who my enemies are, Gabrielle, even if they are only masquerading as pathetic drunks in village taverns. I'm tired of being pushed around by every warrior, villager and peasant that wants a piece of me. I'm tired of it and I now have the power to make Greece bend to my will!" Xena clutched the Chronos rib splinter possessively in her left hand and brought it up to her chest, to cover her heart. "But all the lessons you've learned ..." Gabrielle tried her best to remain calm, to reason with Xena, but it seemed to be doing no good. And she had to know if the most current piece of gossip was true - " Xena, I heard a rumor in Thessily that Hercules was dead and that you did it ... Please tell me it's a lie ... please." The Warrior Princess said nothing for a moment, merely looking into the woods before them as if she sensed an enemy behind every tree. Then, with an erie calm, "I had to. He could see what had happened and wanted to change me again. He wanted to pick up where you failed, Gabrielle ... and I couldn't let that happen. So yes, I murdered Hercules. Now there will be nothing stopping me ..." She turned quickly when hearing the bard's quick in draw of breath, "... us from changing the world into anything we want." Her eyes gleamed unsoundly at the prospect, "It will be wonderful ...A utopia." Xena lifted a hand to touch Gabrielle's cheek, "Together we will rein and ..." "Oh gods .." Gabrielle whispered, not realizing she had done so, "Xena, sometimes I wish you never came to Potedia!" And the tears fell as did Xena's hand, anguish bursting from Gabrielle's very soul, her heart torn, and the bard turned from her one time friend and savior, unable to do anything else. "Xena, you can't be allowed to do more damage. I won't let you." There was silence. Then: "You better be with me, Gabrielle, because you won't be against me." Xena's deep voice threatened, softly. Gabrielle heard the screech of Xena's sword being removed from it's scabbard. "So it comes down to this ..." she whispered and reached for her own weapons. No sooner did Gabrielle turn to face her new enemy, her sei's lifted for battle, then she heard a pain filled, astonished scream. The warrior-bard watched wide-eyed as Xena dropped to her knees, her expression stunned, then pitched backward. The cherished Chronos rib splinter fell from her hand and rolled a mere few inches away from her fingertips. Iolaus pulled his sword out of her abdomen and grunted in satisfaction, "I did it." he spoke with an odd relief. "I've avenged you, Hercules!" Iolaus cried to the sky above. No!' Gabrielle screamed and ran to she who had fallen. But Xena was dead. No last words. No apology. She was just cold and dead. Gabrielle's path had been wherever Xena took her but now .... "I had to do it!" Iolaus was saying, witnessing the bard's suffering. "She murdered Hercules!" He said these words over and over, an obvious aberration about him that could not be hidden behind a warrior's mannerism, "Gabrielle, you have to understand! She murdered Hercules ... She was bad and has always been bad and no amount of your gentle touch was ever going to make a difference. She deserved to die ..." The bard couldn't stand it any longer. Insane with grief and wanting silence, she lifted one of her two daggers, turned quickly and jabbed forward, plunging the blade deep into the hunter's heart. Then her expression changed as did his. Their eyes met, "Iolaus ..." Gabrielle whispered, holding him when his body fell into her arms. Her bottom lip gently trembled, aware suddenly of what she had done. "Oh gods ... help me." Madness. They had all gone a little mad -- each of them. Tragedy was the consequence. "Gabrielle ..." Iolaus whispered, lucid for the first time in a long while. His body shook before he crumpled in her embrace, dying from the physical wound of a woman he loved. Weeping, Gabrielle pushed him from her and felt Iolaus warm blood trickle over her fingers. She knelt over him for a short time, wailing, then crawling over to where Xena lay. Gabrielle gasped her horror and wretchedness. "I failed ..." she murmured, "I failed everyone!" And, with nothing left to live for, the warrior-bard lifted her other sei -- the only clean blade she had left -- and took her own life .... ******** "That's quite a grim picture you painted there." Iolaus commented. "I become mad and vengeful, eh? Then I murder Xena." Iolaus appeared to be running what he and Gabrielle were shown through his brain. "Hercules would not be happy with this situation at all." "Then I attempt to abandon Xena when she really needs me most, murder Iolaus and, to top it all off. commit suicide." Gabrielle shook her head back and forth, perhaps a bit too concerned, "Bad business there. Really bad." Sin looked from one then the other, at first enjoying the two's misery. But soon her simpering smile quietly faded as she realized she was being made a fool. The mortals were toying with her. Still, that was a sign of treachery and Sin could almost admire it. "Despite those horrendous pictures you've just show --" Iolaus cleared his throat dramatically, "I'm afraid we're going to have to say NO to your offer, Sin." "We'll just have to watch our step." Gabrielle agreed, nodding her head in feigned candor. "You don't believe it?" Sin questioned, holding back an urge to exterminate each horribly. In unison Iolaus and Gabrielle said "No." The bard tried to explain, "We may have self doubts, Sin, and we may also have regrets about choices we've made in the past. However, what you've just shown us is so far off our characters that we know it for the lie it is. Your dramatization had all the right people in it, some moments even hitting home, but for the most part it was just poorly constructed and we could see right through it." Iolaus was more direct, "We're not idiots. We're not that easily fooled." Face composed and hiding an underlying rage, Sin said: "I've opened your eyes, allowed you to face up to your sins. I've shown you both a genuine horror. I'm allowing you to avoid it. I love your potential evil and respect you for who you are - cynical attitudes and all - and what you will become under my generous tutelage. I've offered you all the pleasures you could ever hope to have. I want you both by my side forever ... Admit it, as horrible as your moral selves may think of what you have witnessed here, doesn't a small part of you both find it rather exquisite?" Then, "With all that I can give you, my friendship and power, why do you still say no?" "Well, there are a lot of reasons," Gabrielle said, "starting with the fact we love Xena and Hercules." Then Iolaus spoke and lifted his hands to punctuate his words, "But what I think it really comes down to," he glanced at Gabrielle who nodded back at him, "is that we have a personal conflict with you, Sin or Mephistopheles or whatever it is you preferred to call yourself." "And that is?" Sin asked, curious. "You're a real jerk." "And we really don't like you." Gabrielle added. Sin's eyes blazed an intense, unforgiving red. (6) The air about them became suddenly charged with an electricity that was far more perilous than exciting. A hot wind blew in from one of the dark apertures. This was enough to cause the revelers, those who had been involved with any manner of corruption, to scream like frightened children and run for cover. Even the musicians beat a hasty retreat. The gale force wind caused Sin's hair to blow violently about her head. With her eyes, blazing like two blistering coals, she was indeed a terrifying sight. "How dare you rebuff me?!" she trumpeted but her voice was no longer of a woman. It was hardly that of a man. "You insipid, insolent fools!" "A-oh." Iolaus glanced briefly at Gabrielle and took her right arm in his hands, anticipating danger. With the ferocity of detonating Greek Fire, Serena's likeness changed once more into that of a demon. He roared his fury - "You have NO idea what you've done! There will be retribution!" The Master of the Underworld bellowed then catapulted a large fireball at the couple. They broke apart and launched themselves in opposite directions, deftly avoiding the force of Mephistopheles vindictive wrath. Gabrielle, with a prowess born of skill and luck, managed to roll her athletic body then hide herself behind a few large boulders in a darkened corner. Iolaus, on the other hand, landed in the open, atop soft pillows strewn about the area during a time when Sin was trying to impress he and Gabrielle with luxury and her generosity. A bolt of lightening, sparked from the demon's long-nailed fingertips, would have hit Iolaus square in the back if not for the hunter's dexterity. Again he jumped, with a startled cry, and watched as the tapestry behind him was consumed with flame. "You cannot keep this up forever, Greek hunter!" Mephistopheles declared. "Oh, yes I can!" Iolaus continued to dodge the demon's wrath, "Eventually you'll get tired!" he shouted, using a logic all his own. "I grow weary as we speak!" Mephistopheles growled his retort and, with a grand gesture, lifted both of his hands, making twisting motion. Iolaus suddenly found himself falling forward, his arms and legs bound together with something tough and sticky ... something from a childhood memory ...a nightmare ... A spider's web! Unable to move and frenzied, the hunter contorted his body against the pillows he'd fallen on. Then - immobile with shock as well as his gooey binding - Iolaus took in Mephistopheles advance ... and he was bizarrely aware of how much the demon resembled a giant, blood sucking spider! Why hadn't he noticed it before? "Much better, little boy." the demon cooed, now sounding again like Sin. He continued his advance and stared down at the hunter-warrior as he lay helpless. "If you die here you are mine and I will destroy every ounce of heroism you embody. I promise you this, mortal." CONTINUE