Disclaimer: See Part 1
Authors Note: Hey, sorry for another late update. I'm currently starting to write the sequel to another one of my stories, and it's been taking up quite a bit of my time. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, and if you want to comment on it, my email is jacklavigne13@hotmail .com
Enjoy!
Chapter Ten
She could feel the rope cutting into her wrist as she pulled on her bindings experimentally. Her legs were also bound but her skin was protected by the tight black leather pants she wore. Glancing around the dark cavern, she looked for a way to escape and sighed when she discovered there was only one exit. Unfortunetly that exit was blocked by her lover, who stared down at her with cold eyes and emotionless features.
She knew she should be scared as she gazed back into the pale blue eyes that belong to the Destroyer of Nations, but she was defeated. How many people had stared into these eyes when they died? How many times had these shards of ice been the last thing they saw as they took their final breath? Hundreds? Thousands? She wasn't sure, but she knew she was about to join those unfortunate souls burning in Tartarus.
"Why are you doing this?" She said, suprised at the calmness of her own voice as it echoed off the cavern walls.
"You know why." Xena swung her sword casually by her side as she walked around the bound woman who shuddered at the dark haired woman's tone of voice.
"What did I do?" Alexandria asked in confusion.
"You know what you did! Don't play dumb with me, Alexandria. You might be able to fool everyone else, but you can't fool me," Xena growed, staring down at the red headed woman with narrowed eyes.
"Xena, I don't understand. I haven't done anything!" Alexandria cried, more desperate to know what she had done to upset her lover than to escape from what she knew was going to be her death.
"Don't lie to me!" Xena screamed as she reached out, moving so fast her hand was a blur and wrapped her fingers tightly around Alexandria's neck, squeezing. "I saw you with that slave! I saw the way you looked at her, the way you touched her. You fucked her, didn't you. Didn't you?"
Alexandria's midnight blue eyes went wide with shock, her lungs screaming for air as she stared into the pale eyes filled with so much anger. Xena had many jealous rages in the past, over a friendly hug or even a touch, but it had never become this serious.
"No!" She gasped out, attempting to shake her head. "Xena, I didn't."
"Don't. Lie. To. Me," Xena growled between clenched teeth. "You know, Alexandria, everyone think that I'm this horrible, murderous bitch, and they're right. But they think you are an angel. You ride into the villages before we start an attack and warn them, then you sneak out of our tent at night to go and tend to their wounded. They think you're an angel, but they're wrong. I may burn and kill everything in my path but at least I don't hide who I am. I'm the Destroyer of Nations, and everyone knows it. But you hide behind this act, pretend that you're a hero but all you are is a coniving bitch. You lie and munipulate everyone and everything around you and no one see's you for what you truly are, but I do. You fucked the slave and you're a whore. A lying, betraying, evil little whore."
Alexandria felt her anger rise at the dark haired woman's words, her eyes flashing with rage as she pulled herself from Xena's grasp, breathing heavily.
"How dare you," Alexandria spat. "How fucking dare you call me a whore. The woman that bed's a new man or woman in every village we enter. You think I don't know everytime you ask me to check the perimeter of our camp that you're in bed with another? You thought I didn't know about Borias? I knew long before you were with child! One time you say, in a moment of weakness, you two fucked. You're the fucking liar Xena. I have never been unfaithful to you, but you have never been faithful to me. You're the lying, betraying, evil bitch, not me."
"I hate you," Xena growled, her eyes narrowing to slits as she gripped her sword tighter.
"I've always hated you," Alexandria replied, her voice dripping with venom. "I wanted so much to change you. I wanted to make you happy, but all you ever brought me was pain."
"And I have planned your death every night for years!" Xena yelled, her right eye twitching as she raged. "You ruined me with your love! These thoughts of you constantly on my mind have driven me mad. I cannot concentrate with you around. You fight beside me, guard my back in battle, and yet you think about sticking a dagger in my back as I sleep. How can I live with a woman who only wants me dead?"
"If you think after I have stood besides you for all these years, that I just want you dead, then just kill me already!" Alexandria screamed.
She gasped in shock as the cold blade plunged into her chest, looking down at it in wonder. It was finally over: the pain, the heartbreak but also the love. The greatest love she'd ever known, and she hadn't even seen it coming. Alexandria looked up at Xena, who stared down at her in shock also, before her face turned into a mask of horror.
"Alexandria," she whispered, falling to her knee's in front of the red headed woman.
"You actually did it," Alexandria breathed, coughing as blood filled her mouth and dribbled down her chin. "After all this time, after everything."
"I didn't... I..." Xena stuttered, reaching out and putting her hand over the gaping wound in the red headed woman's chest. "I didn't mean to..."
"I love you," Alexandria said softly, before her world went black.
**********
Alexandria awoke abrubtly, managing keeping her eyes closed after many years of practise and listening to the sounds around her for any kind of danger. She tensed as she heard soft breathing from the other side of her camp fire and her fingers grasped the sword beside her bedroll. Her eyes snapped open and she rolled off her blankets and swung her sword towards the intruder, stopping inches away from the shocked bronze face of her new travelling companion and the woman of her nightmares.
"Oh," Alexandria mumbled, dropping her sword to her side and smiling sheepishly. "I forgot you were here."
"Good to know I'm easy to forget," Xena replied dryly, squinting up at the red headed woman.
Alexandria shrugged, dropping her sword on her bedroll before stretching her arms over her head and looking up at the dark sky.
"It'll be dawn soon," she muttered, wincing as her back popped in several places. "We should start moving. We don't want to keep the Queen waiting."
Xena nodded absently, gazing at the muscular body of her ex lover. For a moment she let the memories play in her mind. Her hands running over the lightly tanned skin, strong legs wrapped around her waist, long, slender fingers pulling her hair...
She shook her head as she attempted to rid herself of images from long ago, looking up into the midnight blue eyes that were gazing back at her in amusement.
"Speaking of the Queen," Xena said slowly, averting her eyes from her old friend's stare. "Did you tell her..."
"No," Alexandria replied, bitterness in her deep voice. "No, she doesn't know who I am. You never mentioned me to her, so I assumed you didn't want her to know that bit of your past."
Xena returned her pale blue orbs to Alexandria's, grimacing at the woman's tone. "It's not that I was ashamed of you, Alex. Nothing like that. I just... I couldn't tell her what I did to you."
Alexandria nodded, turning away from the dark haired woman and bent down to roll up her bedroll. She didn't want Xena to see how much it had hurt her to find out that her part in Xena's life wasn't important enough to be talked about. She started when she felt a large hand rest on her shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. She looked up into pale blue eyes and found something she didn't expect: Regret.
"I wanted to," Xena said softly, sighing as she shook her head. "But I couldn't stand to see the disgusted look in her eyes when I told her that I killed the one person that truly loved me for who I was, underneath the armour. I couldn't.."
Alexandria swallowed, uncomfortable with the amount of emotion that the once heartless woman she used to know was showing. She chewed on her bottom lip as she made a desicion before reaching up and covering Xena's hand with her own.
"She could never be disgusted with you, Xena. She loves you."
Xena gave her famous half smile, showing off her brilliantly white teeth before nodding, giving Alexandria's shoulder another warm squeeze.
"Yes, I know," Xena grinned. "Now, let's get going. Like you said, we don't want to keep the Queen waiting."
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