"They are beautiful, aren't they my love," the feminine voice spoke next to his ear.
"That they are. Do you ever have any regrets?" He didn't know why he asked the question, only that he felt it was important for him to know the answer.
"Never, love. I was able to do a lot of good while in Hecate's service, but now, instead of helping people one by one, I am working to save our world." The woman smiled against the man's neck. "And had I not left my position as High Priestess, I would never have fallen in love with you."
Joxer turned and pulled the dark-haired woman into his arms. "I love you so much, Meg. I hope you know that."
Meg pulled away, cupping her husband's face in her hands. She felt her heart ache at the look of sadness in his eyes. "You're thinking about him again, aren't you."
Joxer nodded. "I am so proud of our children, our family. It just isn't complete without him, though. I..."
"Stop right there. I know what you're going to say and you're wrong. There was nothing you could have done. Virgil ran off of his own accord. You were an excellent father to him, showing him right from wrong. Neither of us allowed ourselves to see the darkness inside him. How could we see anything but goodness in our children."
"I know. It's just..."
Meg placed a finger over Joxer's lips. "I know. But look out there. Remember why we are here."
The couple looked out in time to see the eldest child look up and smile at them. "Mother, Father, it isn't lunch time yet, is it?"
The proud parents smiled, Joxer's arms tightening around Meg as she spoke. "No, Livia. There is still some time left. Just watch the young ones."
"I will."
Joxer pulled away from the doorway, pulling Meg along with him until he reached a chair in the living room. He sat down and pulled her down into his lap, cradling her against him to reassure himself of her presence.
To say the last twenty-five years of their lives had been interesting was an understatement. It had all begun the day Aphrodite had come to him, telling him of a prophecy the Fates had brought to her attention. The prophesy said that a mortal would be born who, with the assistance of some of the Olympian Gods, would destroy the Greek people. Apparently, the Sovereign's bitch was pregnant, and the Fates believed that it was her child that would become the Destroyer of Greece. Joxer had doubted the prophesy, but he knew that Aphrodite wouldn't lie to him, not after he'd saved her from a marriage to the Sovereign.
Once the child had been born, Joxer had managed to kidnap her from her mother. Not knowing where to go, he'd sought out his old friend and Hecatian High Priestess, Meg. Together, they had decided that in order to make certain the prophesy never came to pass, they must raise Eve, the child, right. Meg left her temple and she and Joxer had bought a small farm outside Athens where they could raise the child, who they renamed Livia.
At first, Joxer had been paranoid for the child's safety. Xena, the child's mother, and her executioner cohort Gabrielle, had disappeared. Rumour had it that they had displeased Cupid by losing the child and he had repaid them, with dire consequences. However, after some time he came to accept the rumours and let down his guard to concentrate on Meg and Livia.
Meg and Joxer had lived under the same roof as husband and wife for two years when they had come to realize that feelings other than friendship had grown between them. Eventually, they were to have a true marriage, and their first child was born soon thereafter.
Joxer winced as his mind lingered on that day five years ago when his life had seemed to fall apart. He'd sent his eldest son Virgil into Athens to run some errands. It had been the first time he and Meg had allowed the fifteen-year-old boy to make the trip alone, and he'd been so very excited. He was only supposed to have been gone a couple of hours, but when sunset had come and gone and there was still no sign of the boy, Joxer had mounted his horse and searched all night for him, to no avail.
He and Meg had mournfully come to the conclusion that their son had run away. Nobody had witnessed any kind of struggle, and the boy had even been spotted entering a temple to Cupid. Joxer had feared his worst nightmares had come true, that Virgil had decided to follow the ways of War rather than the path of Peace his father followed.
As the days passed and nothing was heard from Virgil, the family had lived on without him. However, he was never completely forgotten.
Meg slowly disentangled herself from her husband. "I think I'd better start lunch. The troops will be restless."
Joxer nodded and watched his wife as she made lunch for their family.
* * *
The Greek army trudged alone the mountainside, trying not to let the cold get to them. They stopped when their General did. The man raised his hand to shield his eyes as he looked along the mountainside.
"By Cupid's arrow, what is that?" He'd seen a glint of light in the deep snow, but couldn't tell what it was.
"What is it you see, General?"
The elder man looked back at his protegee and couldn't help but smile. The boy had been brought to him by Cupid himself for him to teach in the ways of War. The boy's curiosity was endless, and he was a quick learner. The boy had even made his first kill within his first week of tutelage.
"I don't know what it is, Virgil. Why don't you go on ahead and find out what's up there?"
The boy nodded enthusiastically and raced up the mountainside. He slowed when he saw the
door to the crystal cavern before him. Pulling out his sword, Virgil pried open the door and
entered the crystalline room. He froze when he saw the two ice coffins and the figures they held.
* * *
The General grew concerned when Virgil didn't come back after almost an hour. Leaving his troops for a moment, he followed the path the boy had taken.
He never even saw the sword that buried itself into his back.
"Oh, you are sooo vicious!" the blonde woman said as she draped herself over Virgil's shoulder.
"He never even saw it coming," the dark-haired woman added. "So, kid, you said you knew
what happened to that idiot Joxer and my baby..."
* * *
Joxer rose from his examination of the vegetables in his garden at the sound of a horse walking down the road to the farmhouse. He smiled and headed back for the house, thinking it was Livia returning from her errands in Athens.
Squinting in the sunlight, he realized that the horse and rider were accompanied by two other people. His heart leapt with joy as he recognized the rider as none other than his son, Virgil. That same heart caught in his throat when he realized he recognized his son's companions.
It had been twenty-five years since he'd seen them last, and they hadn't aged a day.
"Is that Livia, dear?" Meg called out from within the house.
"No. Take the children and hide, now!"
"But Joxer..."
"I said now!"
Joxer listened, not taking his eyes away from the approaching figures. He heard a sliding sound behind him, accompanied by the sounds of many rushing feet. He and Meg had come to think alike through the years, and he had no doubt that behind him now lay his sword and scabbard.
"Joxer!" the boy called out from atop his horse.
Joxer tensed at the use of his name on Virgil's lips. "Virgil. You've returned, and with new friends. Or should I say, old enemies."
"I'd like to say it's nice to see you again," Xena called out, "but it isn't. Where's Eve?"
"She isn't here."
"Stop protecting her. We know she's here," Virgil said as he dismounted his steed.
"I said she isn't here. Now leave my property while you still have the use of your legs."
"Touchy, isn't he," Xena said mockingly.
Virgil pulled out his sword and approached Joxer. "I don't have time for this, old man. Where is she?"
Joxer swung around, grabbing his sword from where Meg had laid it, then swung back to point it at his son. "Even if I knew where she was at this very moment, I'd never tell you."
Virgil's face twisted in rage. He swung his sword at Joxer, who blocked it easily. The two men continued, metal meeting metal in a deadly duel.
Joxer felt as if he was dying inside. The last thing he'd ever wanted to do was end up in a sword fight with his own son, and by the looks of it, he would be faced with an impossible choice to make: Virgil's life, or his own.
He was so distracted, Joxer didn't see the figure sneaking up behind him, nor did he see that same figure fall to lie motionless on the ground.
Gabrielle glared at the woman standing over her cohort with a frying pan in her hands. "What in Tartarus do you think you're doing?"
"None of you will go near my daughter as long as I live." Meg's glare was as vicious as that of her opponent. The two women slowly circled each other, sizing each other up.
Down on the ground, Xena was slowly regaining consciousness. She crawled away from the fighting, seeing both her cohorts occupying the master and mistress of the house. As she finally got her legs under herself, she saw a horse coming up the road. Seeing the young woman on the horse, she knew it was her daughter. "Eve!" she cried out.
Joxer's head swung towards the road, worried for his daughter's life in the face of this danger. "Livia, go, now!"
The moment's distraction was all Virgil needed, and before Joxer had turned back to the fight, his son's sword had found it's way between his ribs. He felt the energy drain out of his body as his legs collapsed under him. He looked up at the face of his murderer, his son. "I love you, son," he managed to wheeze out.
"No!" The scream was torn from Livia's throat as her horse sped towards her parents' home.
Rage tore through Virgil and he raised his sword for one final swing when he was grabbed by Xena. "You got him already! Let's go. This doesn't look good." The two grabbed Gabrielle from her battle with Meg and ran off.
Meg ran to where Joxer knelt on the ground, watching helplessly as he fell onto his side. "Joxer, no!" She moved him onto his back and looked at his chest, gasping as her eyes fell on the fatal wound. "Oh, Joxer."
Joxer's hand weakly rose to cup her cheek. "I love you, Meg. Take care of them all for me."
Meg nodded, pressing her cheek against the pale hand.
"No!" Livia shouted as she approached her surrogate father's side. "No! You can't leave us like this! This couldn't have happened! Not to you!"
Joxer reached out with his other hand to hold that of his adopted daughter. "The choice isn't in my hands, Livia. Know I love you, and I will always watch over you."
"No! You can't go! Don't go!"
"I love you," Joxer said just before his eyes closed for the last time.
A sob erupted from Meg's throat and she knelt over Joxer's body, crying into the dead man's neck. After several moments, her sobs subsided and she turned to where her daughter had knelt at Joxer's side, only to find the girl gone.
Meg rose, hearing a clanging noise in the barn. As she approached, Livia came out wearing one of Joxer's old leather outfits from his days of fighting against the Sovereign.
"Livia, what..." The words caught in Meg's throat as her daughter brushed past her without even favouring her with a glance. She followed the girl as she strode towards her father's body and picked up his sword. She retrieved his scabbard from where it still lay on the ground, fastening it around her waist and sheathing the sword.
"Livia, speak to me! I'm your mother, damn it!"
Livia mounted her horse and looked at her mother with an empty gaze. "They will pay for this. I will not rest until my father's death is avenged."
"But Livia, Joxer wouldn't..."
"No! They will not get away with this! I will get my revenge, even if I have to tear Greece apart piece by piece to find them!" A flicker of emotion passed through the young woman's eyes. "Goodbye, Mother."
Before Meg could speak another word, Livia had prodded her horse into a gallop and was headed away from her parents' home. The old woman felt her legs collapse under her as she fell onto her backside next to her husband's body.
"Oh my love, we have failed, haven't we. Instead of preventing the birth of the Destroyer, it is we who have caused it."
For several minutes, Meg indulged her grief at her husband's side. Once feeling somewhat in
control again, she sent a prayer to Hecate. She rose on shaky legs, trying to figure out how she
was going to tell her children their father was killed -- by their brother.
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