Dedication: This story is dedicated to my favorite Amazon sister Yakut, with whom I have enjoyed RPGing many times and continue to do so. Nobody plays an Amazon like she does.

DISCLAIMER: I do not claim to own, or have created Xena, or Gabrielle, nor any other such character thus created by Universal. I only borrow said characters for literary purposes without the knowledge of Universal. The characters such as Vengence are my creation and I claim ownership of said character.

CLASSIFICATION: General Fan Fiction

VIOLENCE WARNING: It's a Xena related story, of course there will be some violence, we didn't watch Xena for the love scenes.

SCENE: A cave somewhere in Thesslay Greece in late winter.

        Vengence, daughter of Alti and Dahok, and her half sister Yakut, daughter of Alti, and an unknown father, had gone hunting in the early morning as they always did every morning since Vengence had reformed from her evil ways and joined her sister's tribe. Only this morning was different because Vengence, who is heavily pregnant with Ares' child, had woken up in labor. She told her sister that morning that she had plenty of time, the pains were extremely far apart, and didn't' hurt enough to call pains. “I don't even know how you can continue to hunt as heavy as you are with this child sister. The baby is so big inside of you that if I were to take a knife to your stomach, I could very easily slice your stomach from your body and never touch the baby. It looks as if someone took a large ball and attached it to your normally slim, muscular frame”. Vengence had to admit, she was huge, and she hadn't seen her own feet in so long she had forgotten what they look like. Her belly had gotten so big that not only couldn't she see the ground directly in front of her feet, but also she could easily place a plate of food on her stomach to eat. In fact, she had to eat that way; she couldn't get near enough to the table to eat. This was a great source of amusement for her sister and the other Amazons in the tribe when she had first begun to get very heavy with the baby; but by now all were used to the sight, and the only ones who chuckled were any visitors to the tribe who ate with them. Vengence didn't often walk about the village when strangers were around unless she used her powers to hide her enormous belly because she had no alternative but to waddle, and she felt as if all eyes were on her and that they were laughing. No one would dare to laugh at the half sister of Shamanesse Yakut, at least not in her presence, and all greatly respected her, and thus they respected Vengence, not only because of her power, but because she'd had the strength to turn away from evil in an effort to become “good”.


With all that said, now that you are aware of exactly how huge she is, let us continue with the story shall we? Vengence laughed at her sister's quiet remark as they walked silently through the woods looking for a deer or two. “I continue to hunt sister because we have always hunted and we will always continue to hunt until one or the other of us has gone to the Elysian Fields. And if I am the one who goes first, I will still be with you in spirit my sister. I will never leave you, not even when I am gone”. As she said this, a sharp contraction hit her, and she stopped at a tree, leaned against it, and knelt to one knee; putting her bow down, she held her free hand to her contracting belly, bowed her head, and silently bore the pain. “Sister, are you alright? Is it bad? Do you want to go back? I think we should go back, your pains have begun and we shouldn't even be out here hunting”. “No…. I'm fine” she said tightly, working through the pain, they were coming closer, and getting much sharper, “Give me a moment, it's nearly done”. Vengence had been very pale these last few days but Yakut had said nothing. Her sister hadn't seemed worried, nor had she behaved any differently than she had through out her pregnancy, but she did keep an eye on her when they were together. Besides, Vengence was a goddess, and her strength was considerably more than a normal woman's, though because of her pregnancy, Vengence had told Yakut that she didn't want to have to fight any gods or goddesses or monsters because her powers were greatly diminished due to her pregnancy. The baby she carried not only drew its strength from her for survival, but also because it was a godling, it drew its powers from her as well, and that drained her the more advanced her pregnancy got.

When the pain finally let go of her, Vengence blew out a big breath, “That was a hard one, it won't be much longer now sis. That one lasted to a count of thirty, and I'm getting squeezed harder and harder with each one; but I'm not going home without a deer. I have never gone home without a deer, and it won't be any different today”. “But sis, if the baby is coming….” “No, I don't care, I'm not going home without a deer even if I have to push while I'm dragging it home”. “Sis please, don't be ridiculous, let's go home now before you have the baby out here in the woods, please? Come on sis, there's no loss of face if you go back home without a deer because it's time for your baby to come”. “You don't get it sis, I am Vengence” was all she said, and waddled off deeper into the woods. Bow held at the ready for the slightest movement. Vengence moved forward in a half crouch stalking, and listening to every sound in the woods. Knowing better than to speak, Yakut merely followed her sister, but now knowing that the pains were much more severe and closer together, she watched her sister rather than hunt.


“I'm taking to the trees to see if there's any game in the area, and don't worry, I won't travel, I just want to have a look around”. Before Yakut could protest, Vengence had begun concentrated, lowering her head and closing her eyes, and within moments her huge belly had vanished. “Don't worry,” she told her sister, seeing the worry in her sister's eyes, “I have no intention of staying this way, I can't keep them or it hidden for very long being in the late stages of labor. I just want to have a look around then I'll come right back down”. Vengence held her sister's eyes a moment longer, and then jumped into the tree she stood beside, “Vengence you drive me to insanity sometimes”, “I know, that's the fun part” came from the tree above her. “Very funny sis, very funny. You really do enjoy making me worry don't you?” “No, it's just a plus” Vengence said from the tree branches high above her. “Veng, don't go too high alright? If you have pains while you're up there you could fall out”, a disembodied voice from the tree called down tightly, “It's too late”. That put Yakut into a severe state of panic and worry. “What!” Yakut called up from below, “Vengence?” no answer, “Vengence?” “I'm, alright,” Vengence said in a tight voice that told her worried sister below that she was still in the grips of a hard contraction. How her sister was sitting in a tree, balancing on a branch while in heavy labor she didn't know.

Granted Vengence was half goddess, half shamanesse, but still it took an enormous amount of strength and balance to be able to remain on a tree branch in an extremely high tree while experiencing a contraction that would have been barely tolerable to most humans or goddesses on the ground let alone in a tree. Yet Vengence was in a tree and going through the contraction, and remained perfectly balanced, Yakut couldn't fathom it, the strength of her sister amazed her more and more everyday. Just two days ago she saw her sister carry a ten point buck on her shoulder from the woods into the village; she had offered to help her, begged her to let her help her carry the buck, but Vengence wouldn't hear of it, she had carried the deer alone from deep in the forest into the village all the way to the cook's hut. Unbelievably, as she stood below, Yakut thought she heard her sister actually pushing with a contraction, but she couldn't be, not in the tree, nobody was that strong. She tuned her hearing, listening intently, focusing on her sister above her in the tree, there it was, straining sounds, faintly, barely audibly, but she heard it, her sister was straining, pushing with a contraction. Yakut thanked her Shaman training for teaching her to tune her hearing to hear the slightest sound that most people couldn't hear. She thought to climb up into the tree and at least hold onto Vengence, but if she did that she might startle her and that would cause her to fall out of the tree for certain. She didn't want to call up to her right now, not while she was concentrating on her balance in the tree, and pushing at the same time.


But if the pain was that bad, if she had to push with the contractions, why hadn't Vengence said anything? Why had she pretended nothing was wrong? That the pains weren't as bad as they are? What was she waiting for? Why was she delaying the birth? The straining had stopped, the pushing was over and Vengence panted quietly, obviously not wanting her sister to know. Softly, Yakut called up, “Sis? Are you alright? Can you come down or do you want me to come up?” “No, I'll be down, give me a minute. We have to find a place, it's time, the baby is coming, now”.”Alright sis, come down when you can, take your time, I'm right here”. After another few minutes, Vengence climbed down out of the tree slowly, taking her time, obviously exhausted, moving stiffly. When she turned to face Yakut, her color was gone, and face looked drawn, her stomach was fully extended now, and she had wrapped her arm around it. “We have to hurry…it's coming fast. I'll hold back as long as I can”. Another pain was coming, Yakut could tell, her sister 's face began to fill with pain again, and she began to double over and fall to the ground, but caught herself, “No…not here, cave, to the west” she said, and started to walk, clearly barely able to stay on her feet but determined to get where she was going while resisting the dire need to push.

Vengence was hard pressed to keep from pushing as she walked, with Yakut's help, to the cave she used when she chose to be alone when she wanted to get away from everyonelse, or when she wanted to be alone with her sister. When she went to the cave with Yakut, she would use her powers and seal them in so that no one could disturb them once they were inside. In order to reach the cave however, once they reached the mountains where it was located, they had to climb a bit to get to it. Mind you, at any other time it was no trouble at all for Vengence to climb up to the cave, even being heavy with the baby, but this time she was not only heavily in labor but she was fighting the urge to push, and holding the baby back, while climbing up a rather steep in cline. This would have been impossible for a mortal, and nearly impossible for a goddess if she chose not to just pop into the cave itself for some reason, and even for Vengence it was a trial, because even though she was part Shamanesse, and part god, being pregnant weakened her powers and her strength considerably, and doing this climb was very very hard for her. Nonetheless, Vengence pushed herself beyond what she already was, and climbed up the steep incline to the cave. When they reached the mouth of the cave, she collapsed to ground, on all fours, and pushed as long and hard as she could without a word of warning to her sister. She was unable to speak, pushed far beyond her physical endurance, exhausted, and using every bit of Shaman knowledge she knew to keep going, she was lucky to have gotten this far.

*Have to push now * she told her sister telepathically, as I said, unable to do so vocally. Can't hold back any longer, too weak*. She held her breath, and pushed with all the strength in her body, shaking visibly with the effort, and with a loud, “Unnnnnnnhhhhhh!” she pushed until she was out of breath, and lay panting hard, still standing on all fours. Yakut held onto her sister, standing over her, “hugging' her from above. “Sis, I know I ask the impossible, but I can't carry you inside, and you can't walk, is there anyway you can try to orb yourself inside?” Her sister looked so exhausted, and strained, and pain filled that it made Yakut cry as she stood there holding onto Vengence. Through her touch, Yakut was mentally connected to Vengence and could feel the unbelievable exhaustion in her sister, and the pain. Yakut nearly collapsed herself, but she couldn't of course, she had to be strong for her sister; she of course was not a goddess, but she focused on Vengence, and opened her mind to her. Vengence immediately drew strength from her sister, *Will try to* she to Yakut, and concentrated. Yakut, through their mental and physical link, could tell that her sister needed to push again, but was once again trying as hard as she could to resist until she could orb herself into the cave. She could also tell how hard it was for her sister to concentrate enough to do it, the need to push was of course the most demanding priority.

As she stood there holding her sister up in her all fours position, she faded out, then in, then out again, then in again. So hard, have to push, can't concentrate* Vengence told her sister telepathically, and then, remarkably, she was gone. Yakut looked at her empty hands, unable to believe her sister had done it, and then turned, and ran into the cave, remembering to duck her head just in time. She reached the back of the deep cave in time to see her sister laying on the cave floor back arched, hands digging into the floor of the cave pushing with all the strength in her body, and the head beginning to show. “That's it sis, push! Keep pushing! You're doing it! I see the head!” Yakut encouraged her sister excitedly, all her concentration and strength being needed to give birth to her daughter, Vengence had broken off mental contact with her sister, and concentrated on pushing as hard and as long as she could. As Yakut knelt there at her sister's feet with her hands on her sister's legs maintaining contact so that she would know that she was there, she could see Vengence fighting not to scream, biting her lips until they were bleeding trying as hard as she could not to scream. “It's alright sis, go ahead and scream if you want to, nobody can hear you but me, go ahead and scream. There's no loss of face if you scream sis, I swear it, I won't think any less of you if you do, and it's only understandable. I can't believe how strong and brave you've been all this time as it is. Not to mention pushing with a contraction while sitting balanced on a tree limb yet. That's something no one's ever done that I know of, come on, let it out sis, scream as loud as you can, you'll feel so much better”.

Still stubbornly refusing to scream, Vengence pushed herself up into a sitting position, took the deepest breath she could, held it, squeezed her eyes shut, and gave the hardest push possible by goddess or mortal with only a squeal of effort to show her pain and effort. As she continued to push, Vengence told her sister telepathically, *Danger coming, father looking for me, knows the baby is coming. I have to hide us* she told Yakut as she physically continued to push, never stopping as she telepathically spoke to her sister. “Father's coming? You mean Dahok's coming? “ Yakut asked in disbelief. It was a stupid question, of course Dahok was coming, Dahok was Vengence's father, and if he was coming it was the worse possible thing that could have happened. The idea that he had even risen let alone was coming after Vengence's baby was the most terrifying thing she could imagine; the only one even remotely strong enough to fight him one on one was Vengence herself. Not even their mother was strong enough to fight Dahok for long if at all, but Vengence was in no condition to fight him or anybody else right now, she was a little too busy giving birth at the moment.

As Vengence pushed the head out, Yakut felt an energy course through her suddenly, and then literally saw a force field go up over the entrance to the cave, and the bushes and shrubs outside move to the front of the opening. After doing this, Vengence collapsed, panting hard, pushing and crating the force field had taken a lot out of her, but now that she had a short break from pushing, she could rest briefly. Yakut couldn't help Vengence protect them in anyway, she wasn't a goddess, she didn't have the type of strength it took to create a force field strong enough to protect them from the likes of Vengence's father. When the next contraction began, Vengence tried to sit up to push, but she just couldn't, she was too weak; maintaining the force field, and giving birth was just too much. Yakut knew she had to do something; she knew her sister was pushing herself beyond her limit now; there was no way she could maintain the force field, and continue pushing. Not only that, if Dahok were near, Vengence could feel it, and it would be weakening her as well because Dahok had drawn power from both Vengence and Hope when he'd last surfaced, and it left them both considerably weak whenever he was too close. In order for them to become stronger in the presence of their father, he had to mentally link with them, and if that happened, Vengence would return to her natural evil nature; the one she'd fought so hard to turn away from.

The only other way for Vengence to remain strong physically while fighting her father was to link with her other half sister Hope, but Hope was dormant, not dead, but dormant. Yakut didn't understand how Hope could be “dormant” but she hadn't asked any more when Vengence had explained how she'd had to defeat Hope in battle to keep her from harming Xena and Gabrielle and had had to put her in a dormant state in order to contain her. Too weak to sit up and push, Vengence lay there, trying to find the strength to push with while continuing to maintain the protective force field around them. She took the deepest breath she could, held it with great effort, and heaved with all the strength she could find, causing the forcefield to fade considerably. Knowing this was taking too much strength from her sister, Yakut told her, “Vengence, stop it, let the forcefield go, we'll worry about your father when the time comes, just concentrate on pushing, let me worry about the forcefield. *You're not strong enough to…fight…him* Vengence told her. “Never mind that right now, just let the forcefield go and concentrate on pushing, doing both is too much for you” VENGENCE, DADDY'S COMING! I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE MY NEW GRANDCHILD. SHE OR HE WILL SERVE ME WELL*. He's coming closer, father is coming closer have to hide us now* took the forcefield away and instead made both she and her sister invisible to Dahok or anyonelse who would look for them. However, the strength required to do this was even more than to create the forcefield, and in her current state, it was killing her to do it.

As she pushed the right shoulder and arm out, unable to keep from crying out any longer, Vengence issued a loud “UUUUUUNNNNNGGGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!” as she pushed and pushed with everything she had, giving it all she had, this baby was huge as it was, but then having to hide their presence from her father as well was pushing her way beyond her limits, Vengence was a powerful Demon/Shamanesse crossbreed, but there were limits even for her, and she'd gone beyond them. As she fought to keep pushing as hard as she could, Vengence gave a cross between a growl and a cry of utter pain, exhaustion, and effort. “Vengence stop it” Yakut told her sister, seeing her normally powerful sister in such a state of utter exhaustion and pain was killingYakut, and she sat there crying as she guided the huge baby from it's mother. This baby was coming far too slowly; she didn't think Vengence could keep it up much longer, she had to push at least three or four more times, but she wasn't even getting a break from the contractions any more so that she could rest in between. At least she hadn't stopped pushing since she'd pushed the head out, and that was the last time she'd rested between contractions, Vengence had been pushing hard ever since, non-stop. The left shoulder and arm were coming now, “Vengence stop it, stop hiding us, if he's going to find us let him, I have some powers, you're killing yourself, just concentrate on pushing, please, I'm begging you”.

*Near the cave, father, near the cave* was all she said telepathically to her sister, and with a new breath, quickly gasped, still unrested from having been pushing for so long, Vengence heaved the hips out as the forcefield returned. Moments after the forcefield returned, Vengence stopped pushing and lay there panting so hard; Yakut could literally hear it, a loud, unhealthy, rasping, and half wheezing, frightening sound. Vengence lay there deathly pale and still, she had yet to push the rest of the baby out, having the hips and legs to push out yet; only a little bit to go, but after the vast ordeal Vengence had just endured, this was asking a lot. Yakut touched her sister on the leg, and got an overwhelming sense of total exhaustion, to the point that Vengence was too weak to move a finger let alone push the rest of the baby out, and yet the forcefield was still up, and no doubt they were still hidden. “Vengence?” she called quietly, she could sense that her sister was just barely alive, the forcefield fading fast, “Vengence, I know how incredibly exhausted you are, I know you're barely there, but you have to try to give one more push Veng, *S…so weak…fa…father…* “I know Sis, I know Dahok is near, we'll worry about him later, you have to try to push the rest of the baby out honey, I know you have no strength left, how you're keeping the forcefield up at all I'll never know, but you have to try to give one last push, come on Venggie, you can do it, one last push, just push as hard as you can, whatever you can give me, you can do it. You've been so strong all this time, I know you're beyond your limits already, but you have to try once more, this is the last big push, I swear it come on Venggie, you can do it”.

She could sense Vengence struggling to find strength from somewhere deep down, trying to find some breathe somewhere to push with one last time. The forcefield finally fell, she was just way too weak to keep it up any more; she tried to create it again, but couldn't do it, again she tried, and it flickered into existence, but vanished again, it was just too much. Yakut could see her getting control of her breathing, sense her focusing solely on pushing one last time, she was centering what little strength she could find into her over exhausted stomach muscles, forced them to tighten one last time, held her breath, and she pushed as long, and hard as she could manage. *Mother…. help me, help me please* she called out mentally to the spirit of their mother, a last desperate attempt for any semblance of help she could get. Within moments, she seemed to come alive, and she was pushing as hard as she had when she'd pushed the first time, back arched high off the floor, hands in tight fists, Vengence was pushing, if you'll pardon the pun, “with a vengeance”, and not only that, but the forcefield returned ten fold. With a long, loud, growling grunt, Vengence pushed her daughter into the world, all thirteen huge pounds of her, Yakut held her huge niece up. “You did it sis! You did it! Your daughter is here!” Vengence was lying unconscious however, oblivious to anything, still panting hard.