Disclaimer: Gabrielle, Ares, Cyane belong to MCA/Universal/RenPic etc. Tiana is a product of my imagination.

Summary: Ares is after one of Gabrielle’s Amazons.

Warnings: None, PG

Feedback: [email protected]

Gabrielle walked quickly through the clearing. She had just seen Xena off on her way home with Eve. Normally Gabrielle would have loved to go home with Xena, but things are a bit tense with the Amazons lately, and Gabrielle knew that she is needed here.

Cyane stopped her as she was approaching the steps up the hut. "I’m afraid we have another problem Gabrielle."

"What now?" Gabrielle ran a weary hand through her hair.

"I’m sorry to say is Tiana again." Cyane said apologetically. "She got into a fight with Raven. Well, they broke a few things and…"

"And?"

"Tiana stabbed Raven with a dagger. We don’t know if she will survive."

"Look Cyane, I know this isn’t your fault, but I need to know how did this happen?"

"All I know is that Tiana somehow got into an argument with Raven. They got into a fight and now Raven is hurt. We have put her in the prisoner’s hut." Cyane looked at Gabrielle closely and added, "I’m sorry that I let her stay here. I know she needs to be punished. I would not oppose to your decision, my Queen."

"Let me go check on Raven first. And then we’ll discuss your sister." Gabrielle turned and walked in the direction of Raven’s hut. Cyane followed slowly.

Tiana sat in the corner fuming. They had chained her to the wall. She kept yanking at the chains without success. All she did was made a few comments about the Amazon Queen, and Raven had attacked her. It wasn’t even a fair fight. Raven had kicked her to the ground but she somehow managed to pull Raven’s dagger and stabbed her with it. She was rather pleased that she had managed to beat up an Amazon. Well, I guess now I will have to wait for my sentencing.

She heard the opening of the door and turned her head in that direction as a group of Amazons walked through followed by their queen. TheAmazons parted in front of her to allow their queen to walk up to the prisoner.

Gabrielle slowly walked forward. "Tiana, do you understand why you have been chained here all day?"

"Yeah, because I couldn’t take down a hundred Amazons all at once." Tiana replied sarcastically.

"Defiance will not help your case here." Gabrielle looked at the young girl.

"So what are you planning on doing? Hang me? I’m sure you are not going to soil your pretty little hands. So who’s going to execute me huh?" Tiana is practically screaming by now.

Cyane stepped forward and slapped her across the cheek. She would have done it again except Gabrielle pulled her back. A thin tickle of blood ran down the side of Tiana’s mouth as she gave a murderous look at Cyane

"Look, this isn’t helping anyone." Gabrielle said tiredly. "Since Raven is going to live, we will also spare your life Tiana. But understand this, you will not go unpunished for what you did."

"So what is my punishment, Queen?" The word "Queen" was said with so much malice that Cyane almost hit her again.

"You will be chained here until tomorrow. Then you are to clean out the stables for the

remainder of your stay with us in addition to doing all of Raven’s chores for her until she gets better."

"Queen Gabrielle, l do not ask for leniency on behalf of my sister. She deserves to be punished for what she did." Cyane looked at Gabrielle.

"It takes two to start a fight Cyane. I think she is getting adequate punishment for her actions. I’ve made my decision."

"Don’t expect me to say thank you." Tiana spat out as Gabrielle’s retrieving figure.

Gabrielle walked into her hut and sat down slowly. This being the queen stuff is taking a lot out of her. Since Tiana had appeared a week ago, something unpleasant happened everyday.

Although most of them dislike her, she is after all Cyane’s baby sister, so most of them tolerate her by simply ignoring her. But Tiana demands attention and she gets it by creating a scene and getting into arguments over the simplest of things.

The slow ache in her head is becoming a pounding headache. But even with her aching head, Gabrielle could still feel his presence. "Why don’t you just come on out Ares?" She said with a resigned note in her voice.

"You are getting to be too much like Xena". Ares appeared in a shimmering flash of light.

"Xena isn’t here Ares, so there’s really no point in you sticking around."

"Be social Gabrielle, couldn’t I just come to see how my favorite Amazon is doing?"

"What do you want?" She asked tiredly.

"Nothing much is going on in Mt. Olympus lately, so I thought I’ll check to see if anything interesting is happening here." He sat down across from her and smiled.

"As you can see, we are just a quiet little bunch of Amazons. Definitely not worth you time, so why don’t you take your royal self and go bother someone else?"

"Someone else? Say like…Tiana maybe?" He was rewarded with the sharp intake of breath.

"I’m warning you Ares, stay away from Tiana."

"Is that a challenge?" Ares laughed, "I accept."

"NO! It was not a challenge. Look Ares, you have problems with me, fine. But you leave my Amazons out of our quarrels or you know Artemis would never forgive you." Gabrielle hated to throw Artemis into this, but she needed some leverage.

"But Tiana is not an Amazon is she?" He could feel her tension. She is so protective of her Amazons. Well, actually she is protective of just about anyone.

"She is the stepsister of an Amazon, which makes her part of our tribe. She is staying on Amazon land that makes her Artemis’ responsibility and mine. You do anything to hurt her, and I promise you Ares, I will make you sorry." Gabrielle stood up to try gaining some advantage.

"So what can you do? Nag me to death?" He smirked.

"Ares…"

"You know that I’ve been looking for a leader for my army ever since Xena left. And since neither one of you want the job, I need to look elsewhere."

"Tiana isn’t cut out for the job, you know that. Leave her alone."

"I’m not too sure about that. When I first met you, I would never have considered you for the job, but now…" He looked at her and smiled, "just say the words Gabrielle, you come with me, and I’ll leave Tiana alone."

"You just don’t get it Ares, I will never willingly go anywhere with you. Blackmailing me will only serve to strengthen my decision."

"Well then, it’ll be interesting to see whether I walk away with the Amazon Queen or the Amazon Wannabe." He stood up and disappeared.

*********************************************************************************

Tiana was doing the washing by the stream. She knew that she should be thankful for this so call punishment. Anyone else would have ordered her whipped. Her thoughts went to the Amazon queen. Gabrielle isn’t anything like she expected. For one thing she is much younger; she’s probably only a couple of years older than Tiana. She doesn’t act like an Amazon, and she doesn’t look like an Amazon. She goes around camp like everyone else; doing her own chores, pitching in to help whenever necessary and somehow always manages to keep a low profile.

Her chain of thoughts was interrupted by a streak of light. She looked up to find a black leather figure in front of her. Tiana had never met Ares before, but she knew it was he just by looking at him. She remembered hearing about how dominating and good looking he was, and here he is in the flesh. She quickly jumped up.

"It’s okay Tiana, I’m not here to harm you." He took his first real good look at her. She is

young which means she should be easier to train. She has the looks of an Amazon; she is tall and looks to be in perfect health. Yes, this girl will make the perfect trap for the real prize.

"You are Ares." It was not a question.

"Of course I am." He looked at the half-washed laundry and waved his hand. All of the sudden the clothes were all hung neatly on the clothes line.

Tiana was amazed. "Why are you here?"

"I’m here to see you actually."

"Why?"

"Well, ever since Xena had left, I’ve been looking for someone to replace her. I haven’t had any success until now." He saw that he had her undivided attention.

"Me?" She looked at him in disbelief. "Why me?"

"You are strong and independent. I can train you on all that you need to know to become a warrior, but you need to have the ability and the stamina to learn. I think you have that."

"I still don’t understand. You can pick any one of these Amazons…even Gabrielle. Why would you choose me?"

"Amazons are protected by Artemis. They will not serve me." He smiled at her and could hear her quickened heart beat. She’s definitely tempted.

"I think…I need time to think about this." She stammered. Having Ares paying her undivided attention is an intoxicating feeling.

"Fine. Sleep on it and we’ll talk again soon." He disappeared.

Tiana watched until she can no longer see the spark of light. Does she want to go him? Part of her says yes and part of her says no. She is by nature not evil. She does not want to side with Ares, but she likes having him pay attention to her. He can train her to become a great warrior. She can be another Xena. She wants the power, she wants the admiration, and she wants to show these Amazons that she can be better than they can.

Gabrielle watched her walked into the courtyard. She can see the difference in her. She seems preoccupied, but she also seems smug. Gabrielle sighed; it would seem that Ares did not waste any time.

"Hello Tiana, how did things go today?" Gabrielle walked up and stopped in front of Tiana.

"Fine. I’ve done all the washings. You can go check down the stream if you don’t believe me."

She answered belligerently and started to walk off.

Gabrielle walked along beside her; "We haven’t really had a chance to talk since you got here. I’ll like for us to be friends Tiana."

"Friends, me and you?" Tiana said skeptically. "What’s in it for you?"

"Nothing Tiana. You are Cyane’s sister. She is the leader of my tribe. She rules in my place. I appreciate her very much, and any family of hers is part of my family."

"Oh so, I as myself is not good enough to be your friend. But with the help of my big sister, I’m all of a sudden acceptable in to your little tribe is that it?"

"No, that’s not what I meant at all. You are an individual person Tiana. I’m not making this gesture simply because of Cyane. I just wanted you to know that you don’t have anything to prove Tiana."

"I certainly am not going to waste my time trying to prove myself to you."

"The Amazons is complied of a group of strong, independent, loyal young women. I would be honored if you would join us." Gabrielle said sincerely.

Tiana stopped dead in her track. "Can you just make me an Amazon?"

"I’m after all the queen. I have the power. Your stepsister is an Amazon by birth; no one will question my decision on the subject." Gabrielle smiled.

"Well Queen Gabrielle, if you had offer me this, say yesterday, I might have considered it. But you see, I have a better offer now, so I guess the answer is no." Tiana smiled back nastily and stated to walk off.

"An offer from Ares?" That stopped her in her track again.

"How did you know?"

"You can’t trust Ares, Tiana." Gabrielle bit down hard on her lip. "Ares does not do anything without a reason. He manipulates people like they are puppets. I just don’t want to see you get hurt over this."

"I’m a big girl. He can offer me things that your pathetic bunch of Amazons never can." She said heatedly. "I don’t want to talk about this anymore." She stalked off.

Gabrielle watched her walked into her own hut and wished for a thousand times that day that Xena was there with her; she would know what to do. She thought for a moment what would Xena have done? Go to the source. She grimaced; in this case, it means to see Ares. She really doesn’t want to see him. He makes her feel…vulnerable, but she doesn’t really have a choice. She walked away from camp and started down stream until she came upon a clearing.

"Ares, we need to talk." She called to the wind.

Ares appeared right in front of her. She took a couple of steps back to put a little distance in between them and did not fail to notice his raised eyebrows.

"The queen requested my presence? What an honor!"

"You know what this is all about."

"Yes, this is all about you." He saw her looked at him defiantly and was glad that she at least did not pretend not to understand him. "I’ve told you before, I’m here for an Amazon. You get to choose whom I walk away with."

"You are walking away alone Ares. I will not let you drag Tiana into this." She stood her ground. "She is not a pawn for your sick little games. I’m making her a real Amazon which makes her off limits to you."

"Even if she decides to become an Amazon does not make her off limits. She still has the free will to choose just as you do."

"Her choice will be the same as mine. Why are you targeting her anyway? Just to get back at Xena and me?" She asked.

"No Gabrielle, this isn’t about revenge. This is about ownership." He looked at her and said softly, "come with me Gabrielle, and I promise I will never harm any of your Amazons. Let yourself be tempted." He held out a hand to her.

Gabrielle looked at his hand and had to shake her head to stop herself from taking hold of it. He can be so hard to resist when he turns on the charm. She quickly stepped further away from him. "This isn’t going to work Ares; you can’t tempt me because you have nothing to offer me."

"I can offer you more than you can ever imagine Gabrielle. You know you are destined to do great things, leave a lasting legacy and be remembered forever." He said seductively. "With my support, you can be anything that you wanted to be. You can make the world a better place for all mortals. Isn’t that what you’ve always wanted?"

"How many times do I have to tell you that all I ever wanted from you is to be left alone?" Even to her own ears it did not sound too convincing. "I am where I wanted to be. I’ve chosen my life Ares. You are not part of it."

He chuckled humorously, "How are you going to keep me away? I’m here to stay Gabrielle. You might have grown stronger and wiser, but you still can’t control a god, now can you?"

"You don’t need me Ares, and you don’t need Tiana." She added sarcastically before she could stop herself, "Why don’t you go back and play with Discord? I’m sure she gets into enough chaos to keep you amused."

"Jealous?" He smirked.

"Oh please, like I would be jealous of anything that has to do with you." She quickly changed the subject. "For the last time Ares, stay away from Tiana. She is a decent person; don’t you corrupt her."

"You can’t control her destiny Gabrielle. You know that she is not my first choice, but we all have to settle for whatever we can get."

"You can’t get to me through Tiana, just as you can’t get to Xena through me. So give it up Ares. You’re just wasting your time."

"And you thought I was hung up on Xena." He shook his head and smiled. "I’ve already told you Gabrielle, accept my offer and I’ll never come near any of your Amazons again ever."

"The answer is no Ares, go back to Olympus and toy with someone else."

"Well, then you can’t blame me for the outcome." His voice has cooled considerably.

"Fine, but at least promise me that you will play fair on this." At his questioning glance, she continued. "You can offer her the chance to destroy her life with you, and I will offer her the life of an Amazon. You can’t mess with her mind. We allow her to make a conscious and informed decision on her own."

"Agreed!"

"Good, now get out."

"I’ll let you off on that this time, but don’t get cocky with me Gabrielle. Next time I might not be in such a generous mood." He disappeared.

Gabrielle looked at the trail of smoke that Ares left behind and sighed. She put both hands on her face and grimaced. She has a tough job ahead of her, but she is determined to accomplish it. She just got herself into a tug of war with the god of war. The thought made her smiled. At least she got him to agree to play fair. Well it would seem that she would be spending a lot of time with Tiana. She went in search of Cyane. First she needs to learn all that she can about her stepsister.

"I’m sorry Gabrielle, but I’ve always lived on Amazon land. I’ve only ever met Tiana a couple of times when I went to see my father." Cyane looked at her queen and answered truthfully. "She came here after her parents died in a fire; I let her stay because she has no where else to go."

"You are all the family that she has left?" Gabrielle questioned.

"Yes, I know she has been nothing but trouble since she got here. I will ask her to leave if you want me to."

"No Cianne. She is welcome here, and I think its high time we make her realize that."

"I don’t understand."

"Tiana came here when she just lost her parents. There is a lot of unresolved anger inside her. We need to understand what’s driving her outbursts. We need to be patient with her. We need to help her find herself again Cyane."

"You don’t have to do this Gabrielle. She can find her way in life just fine on her own."

"No, she can’t. There is a lot of evil out there tempting the unexpected. You don’t want that for your sister Cyane, and I don’t want that for anyone. Yes, we all choose the path that we walk through life, but sometimes we need to be pushed into the right path. I think we can help her with that; we can make a positive difference in her life."

"Is there something that you are not telling me?" Cyane looked at Gabrielle inquisively.

Gabrielle decided to come clean. "Ares is making a move on Tiana. I just want to give her a fair chance of fending him off."

"Ares? What would he want with her?" Cyane was stunned.

"He’s…well…he’s" Gabrielle stammered, not sure how much she really wanted to tell her.

Cyane interrupted, "He’s after you isn’t he?" She said with a note of wonder in her voice. "He’s using her to get to you!"

"Cyane, calm down. Look, we will take care of this. I promise you I will not let Ares hurt her."

"And who’s going to take care of you Gabrielle?" Cyane looked at the young queen and questioned softly.

"I appreciate your concern Cyane, but I can take care of myself. I’ve had a lot of dealings with Ares over the years. He can’t hurt me."

"So what do we do? What kind of trap should we set for him?"

"Nothing like that. I got him to agree to play fair. He had already offered her his army. I’m going to offer her the life of an Amazon. But in order for her to take me seriously, I need to become her friend. I need all of the sisters to treat her like a real sister. Would you pass on the message for me Cyane? I want all the Amazons to treat Tiana like she’s one of us. Be considerate of her feelings and short comings. We all have them. We’ll also schedule training sections for Tiana. In order for her to feel like an Amazon, she needs to be able to fight like one. I would like for you to be her instructor. Make sure that someone sits with her during meal times and talk to her. We need to make her feel at home. I want her to get to know the other sisters. She needs to know that we are all flawed individuals. The more that she knows about us, the more she will see that she is just like one of us."

"O.K. I’ll have a talk with other sisters." Cyane added apologetically, "you are so different than I envisioned. I’m sorry if I wasn’t more cooperative in the beginning."

"I’m not. I’m glad to know that I’ve earned your trust." Gabrielle sad sincerely.

"Well, we got a lot of work ahead of us. I better go and talk to everybody." Cyane smiled and walked away.

Tiana was tired. The morning training section was grueling. Cyane was starting her on basic self-defense techniques. She came here with high hopes, but after being ignored for most of the time; she had convinced herself that she didn’t want to have anything to do these Amazons. When Cyane offered to train her, she accepted because she knew that if she could walk away stronger and a better fighter, she would be all the more important to Ares. Already she had learned quite a few things in just one morning.

She found an empty table and sat down to have her meal. As soon as she sat down, 2 other Amazons left their table and came over carrying their meals. They sat down across from her and smiled. "Hi Tiana, I’m Cherie and this is Synia. We saw you training this morning. You were great." Cherie spoke with an animated expression on her face and her voice was clear and sweet.

Synia smile was friendly and open, and Tiana couldn’t help but returned that smile even though she was suspicious of their presence. It was nice to have someone to actually pay attention to her for a change. Before she had time to question their motives, the two girls had engaged her in conversation. Pretty soon she forgot why they were there and just enjoy their company.

Gabrielle sat across the room watching the three young women in conversation. She smiled. This is going well. Cyane had chosen well; both Cherie and Synia are about the same age as Tiana. They are both friendly and good-natured. Tiana could do with a few friends like them. She was even more pleased when she heard laughter coming from their corner.

Ares on the other hand was not so pleased. How did she manage to do this every time?

Well, he’s not giving up yet. She started this, and he’s going to finish it. He will tempt Tiana away from the Amazons just to spite her.

Later that day Ares appeared before Tiana when she was taking a stroll by herself. "Hello Tiana."

"Ares, nice to see you again." Tiana quickly looked around, but she couldn’t see any of the other Amazons.

"I see that you have already started your training. You were doing really well too. I’m glad to see that you are a quick learner. It will make your training with me all the more productive." He said.

"I think Gabrielle started so that I won’t be tempted to leave with you." Tiana said honestly.

"So have you made your decision yet?" Ares came closer and asked softly.

"I don’t know. I mean…I want to, but…" she stammered. "Things have been going pretty well for me and they are all really nice to me."

"But for how long Tiana? They are being nice to you now for a reason. Do you think you will still have their undivided attention after I leave?" Ares sneered. "Right now Gabrielle is just trying to win you over. Her motive is to beat me. She’s catering to your whims because of me. She’s trying to make you feel important because of me. You have her attention because of me."

"That’s not true." Gabrielle had stepped forward before either of them realizes she was even there. She had followed Tiana wanting to have a chat with her. On seeing Ares, she had stayed back but did not go away.

Gabrielle gave Ares a disgusted look and turned back to Tiana. "I do care about you. I care enough about you to try to protect you from him. Yes, I have planned all this because of Ares, but I’m not doing it because I’m trying to win you over. I’m trying to let you prepare yourself for a life with meaning and real purpose."

"Oh come on, are you going to listen to that?" Ares interrupted.

"Back off Ares." Gabrielle took another step to Tiana. "The Amazons are not perfect. We have our quarrels and we face some hardships, but we are all sisters Tiana. This is the life that I’m offering you. You can have a home here. A real home with people who care about you."

"And I can offer you power. You can stay here and be a nobody or you can come with me and become the most fearsome warrior in all of Greece." Ares continued, "You don’t need them. You need me. I can give you the ability to do anything and be anything."

"Stop it, you two." Tiana put a hand to her head and started to cry.

"Well, this is just great, you’ve made her cry." Ares turned to Gabrielle and sneered.

Gabrielle ignored him and instead walked up to Tiana and put her arms around her. Tiana started to sob uncontrollably and Gabrielle just held on to her and let her cry.

Ares was more than exasperated. This isn’t fun anymore. He has no time for a crying warrior. "Fine, stay here." He turned to Gabrielle; "you and I are not finished." He disappeared.

Gabrielle guided Tiana over the side and sat down with her. She let the girl sob for a while, but eventually the sobbing turned to whimpers and then stopped completely.

"I’m such a fool." Tiana whispered.

"No, you are not. He can be charming if he makes the effort." Gabrielle admitted grouchingly. "Don’t be so hard on yourself. There aren’t too many that has turned down an offer from the God of War."

"I so wanted to fit in Gabrielle. I know that you and the other amazons are trying really hard, but I don't think that I belong here." Tiana said dejectingly.

"What are you talking about? You’ve finally learned to get along with the others. They all like you."

"They pretended to like me because of you. I know what you’ve been doing, but I also know that I’m an outsider. I can never truly become an Amazon."

"Am I an Amazon?"

"Well, of course."

"I wasn’t always an Amazon you know. I just sort of accidentally ended up being the queen."

"How did it happen?" Tiana was amazed.

Gabrielle went on to explain how she had tried to save the Amazon princess and thus became the benefactor of her right of caste. "After the Queen Melosa died, I just sort of inherited the title. I’m not a real Amazon either, but this is my home and these are my sisters. Let’s make this yours also. "

Tiana saw the sincerity in Gabrielle’s eyes and hesitantly nodded her head. Gabrielle smiled and hugged her. The two then proceed to slowly walk back to the village.