Gabrielle

Born to rule, to one day fall into the footsteps of her mother and lead the clan into a new era, Princess Gabrielle had always known her place. Had know that one day she would take a consort and rise up as Queen, to rule when Queen Tamora and her Consort Felix decided that their time was at an end. She had been told this from the first day she had hatched, when Tamora and Felix had brought her home from that far off Nature nest, proclaiming her as their heir the moment they reached the lair.

Gabrielle had always known this. She had been told a thousand times over by her mother, her father, by the Amazon guards who kept her safe and the counsel that ruled at her mother's side. She had been told by the doctors who took care of her wounds when her unsteady hatchling limbs and awkward attempts at flight had taken a turn for the worst, and she had been told by her teachers between lessons in math and history and draconic. She had been told by the guards that patrolled their lands to keep them safe, had been told by the silly bunch of bogsneaks who thought themselves gods, had been told by the owners of the ludus and the warriors that trained there, had been told by the keepers of their dead and the keepers of their familiars and every single other dragon in the lair. She had been told day in and day out what her duty, her future, was to be.

Gabrielle had always know she would be Queen. But she didn't want to be.

She wanted to write. Oh, the stories she had swirling about in her mind- stories of far off places, daring rescues, heroes that kept the world safe. Great tales that kept her mind busy when she was supposed to be studying politics so she could keep their alliances with other clans strong, when she was supposed to be studying economic theory so she could keep their lair rich, when she was supposed to be studying everything she would need in order to rule. She dreamed instead, and longed for her life to match the stories she wrote whenever she had a free moment and some ink.

Not that she had those often. While her mother supported her writing- Tamora herself took to fighting in the wilds to blow off some steam, but to each their own- Gabrielle barely had a moment alone. When she wasn't in one of her classes, she was always escorted by one of her guards, the Amazons always weary of others. And if she wasn't with one of her guards, then she was with her parents, Tamora and Felix fretting over her the moment she returned to the nest. Even though she was almost fully grown, almost an adult in her own right, they had insisted she stay with them, living in their portion of the lair until she was ready to rule.

Meaning until she had a mate and was willing to spend her entire life sitting before the council, listening to the important but boring problems brought before her.

She didn't want that. Maybe some day she'd be willing to make that her life, would be willing to dedicate her future to the good of the clan, but right now? Gabrielle didn't want that. She wanted adventure, romance, to see the world that existed outside the borders of her clan.

So she ran away. Not permanently no, and not even very far- she wasn't stupid, and knew of the dangers that waited for her outside of the clan. She knew about the Shade touched creatures that would attack a dragon the moment it saw it. She knew about the Beastclans, waiting to take their revenge on dragons for not being the favorites of the gods. She knew about warlords and feral dragons that would hunt down any they saw and either kill them or sell them to other clans. Gabrielle was well aware of all of this, and so she didn't go far.

But she wanted a single afternoon to herself, just a couple of hours where she could sit and think and perhaps write without someone staring over her shoulder, and so she ran. Ran into the forest, found a clearing with a rock large enough to curl up on, and dozed off in the sun, her mind calmed by the warmth as she thought.

And woke to three smiling wildclaws standing over her, their claws and mouths tinged with red as they waited for her to awake.

They didn't say much- just made comments about how pretty she was, how it was such a shame that she was alone, and how it would be best for her not to fight as they 'escorted' her to the auction house. They were sure she would fetch a pretty piece of treasure to some random dragon who saw her a good breeding stock, and she would be worth even more if they made it there without having to hurt her.

She tried to fight- tried to gather up the magic that surrounded her, that she could just barely feel flowing through the world around her. She tried. And she failed, because fighting had never been one of her classes. Tamora had never expected her to lead an army, had never expected her to have to know how to fight in a war, and so had never allowed her to train. Had kept her safe within the clan, full of fully trained warriors who would die to protect her- why risk her when there were so many others to do so?

So Gabrielle tried, and when her 'attack' failed, when the wildclaws just shrugged it off and laughed, she screamed.

And screamed as teeth closed around the head of one and crunched, dropping one before moving onto the others, claws slashing and a whip-like tail destroying the other two before they could flee.

She cowered in fear from the other dragon- a Guardian like her mother, but this one struck a cord of fear Gabrielle had never know before. She knew what her mother could do, had greeted her home from her travels out into the wilds, when she came home covered in blood and carrying a pack full of food and random trinkets she had found out there, but had never seen such devastation, such destruction, in her life.

But, when the other dragon make no attempt towards her, just stood there, panting, over the remains of the wildclaws that had tried to take her, Gabrielle's fear began to drain. Drain and be replaced by curiosity, by wonder, by some grateful sense, because this dragon clearly meant her no hard. If she did, she would have already struck, right?

So Gabrielle gathered herself together and stepped forward to thank the Guardian. Only for the Guardian, the moment their eyes met, to fall to her knees, their gazed locked as she stared.

It didn't take long for Gabrielle to explain who she was, and ask for help getting home- even though her fear of the Guardian had fled, she could still feel herself trembling, terror from her close encounter with death having shaken her. And she had never been that good at flying, not yet anyway, so she couldn't believe her wings would hold her the entire way home. If the Guardian would be so kind as to walk her home, get her there safely...

The Guardian, who introduced herself as Xena, gently lifted her onto her back without a second thought and flew them home. Because apparently it was Xena's home too- she had left long ago, left from grief and pain too strong to overcome while staying here, and was only just coming home.

Her father, Felix, told her the story that night- about Xena's brother, about the stories the clan had heard over the last decade, about the horrible things Xena had spent her life doing in pursuit of revenge. As was his way, because Felix didn't believe in lying, not when there was no point in doing so, he told her everything she needed to know about the Guardian who had saved her and brought her back to them.

Gabrielle, the moment Tamora- tired from her conversation with Xena and fretful from a day of worrying about her wayward daughter- walked into the lair, asked her to make Xena her guard and let them go explore the world.

It dissolved into a fight- Xena was a murderer, a dragon many would consider a monster akin to the Shade. She had killed so many, had destroyed so many lives; what made her trustworthy enough to be Gabrielle's champion?

Gabrielle's only comeback was a question- "I'm her charge, aren't I?"

Because she had seen the way Xena had looked at her, had noticed the way Xena stood protectively by her side, had taken note of the way Xena had watched her be led away by her father and her Amazon guards. It was the exact same way Tamora looked at Felix, the exact same way she treated him, the same movements and looks and subtle check ins to make sure he was alright.

If Tamora acted that way around her charge, around the dragon she loved more than life itself, and Xena, after only just meeting her, acted the same way? Gabrielle hadn't spent her entire life studying to be ignorant of the nature of dragons, and so it was clear.

Who better to protect her than the Guardian who felt called, with every fiber of its being, to do just that?

They left a few days later, she and Xena, to the goodbyes of the clan and with two goals in mind. The first, and simpler one, was to just see the world. Gabrielle had read so much in books, had spent her entire life studying maps and listening to the stories of the dragons in the clan that traveled, but she had never traveled herself. She had never seen the world outside of her clan walls, and so she didn't understand. She didn't know how the world worked, and wanted nothing more that to do so. So that was their goal- to travel and learn, so Gabrielle could see and understand it all.

The other, much more complex goal, was to allowed Xena the chance to make right what she had done wrong. There were so many dragons out there that she had hurt, so many lives she had destroyed- it would take years to fix them all, to do enough good deeds to outweigh the sins weighing on her soul. Years Xena was going to dedicate to her cause, years Gabrielle intended to spend by her side.

And they did just that. Traveling, helping others, they spent their time doing good, growing closer all the while. From just strangers, one feeling compelled to protect the other to friends. From friends to this strange between place that Gabrielle couldn't place her claw on, couldn't seem to understand how to navigate.

From that strange place to lovers as Gabrielle, after almost losing Xena in a fight, realized just how blind she had been. Realized and confessed, because the thought of another moment with Xena not knowing hurt, physically hurt, and so Gabrielle took that leap and hoped that her wings wouldn't fail.

They didn't. Xena loved her back, just as much as she loved her. Had apparently loved her from the first moment their eyes had met, had loved her from the second she had realized she was her charge, and had only continued to love her from that second forward.

They continued their travels, but this time as more. More than just friends, as lovers and everything else with meaning in the world. They traveled the world, righting the wrongs that existed within it so Xena's soul could be light once again, and it was perfect. They lived stories that Gabrielle, stories that Gabrielle left with her parents each time they ended up back at the clan for a few days to rest, stories that told all.

It was a hard life, but it was theirs, and Gabrielle loved it more than she could ever find the words to say. Even when she herself began to turn hard, forced to fight by the dangers they encountered so she could protect her mate- even when she herself took a life, the result of a battle that had almost ended her- she still wanted nothing more. This was the life she had chosen with Xena, and it was the life she intended to live.

Until Xena died.

They were on one of the islands in the Sea of a Thousand Currents, one of the places Xena had visited all those years ago. There, she had wrecked unchecked havoc, killing thousands- by accident, that time, lashing out at those who had attacked her when she was grieving for a friend, but still an act that had killed so many. So many who had been unable to move on, kept and tormented by a Shade-touched soul that had turned. An Imperial that had turned into an Emperor, fed by the souls of those who wondered trapped between the worlds, growing ever stronger by the day. Contained only by the vast waters around it, soon even those would be no pause before it. It would one day break free and destroy the world, all because of an accident Xena had caused.

Xena fought. Even though she knew the monsters that Emperors were, even though she knew the gods themselves struggled with defeating such a creature, she fought. Fought with ever fiber of her being, fought with every ounce of strength she had within her...and lost. Lost and died before that Emperor's blow, only to rise again as a spirit. A spirit that kept on fighting, destroying it from the other side, until all that remained was ash.

A spirit that, with one final goodbye, one final "I love you," one final kiss that Gabrielle could barely feel, disappeared with the rising sun.

Gabrielle wandered for a while, lost and alone. Part of her wanted to go home- go back to her family, where safety and welcoming arms and others who had lost their mates waited and would understand. Part of her wanted to curl up between her parents once again, to pretend she was a child and the world was fair and just and lovely. Wanted to pretend that things worked the way they did in the stories she had thought of as a child, where the good dragons won and everything ended with a happily ever after.

Where all stories had an end, but never ended with a goodbye.

The rest of her raged. Raged against the dying of her mate, raged against everything within demanding that she give up, that she just accept that her mate was dead, raged against the world that had left her alone. Gabrielle raged against it all, and went to see the gods.

It was easier than she expected, getting an audience with the gods. Few actually hard guards, and those who did were easy to avoid. She easily found herself standing before them, her head held high as she demanded their powers to bring Xena back.

It was harder to convince them. Because the dead were dead, gone and should be forgotten, because if they died then they didn't deserve to live. That was the response so many gave her- dragons had been granted immortality for a reason, and if they lost it that was their own fault. They weren't strong enough, weren't quick enough, weren't fast enough.

This was the drivel so many gave her. At least until she said the name of what Xena had been fighting, the name that froze them all in their tracks. Because all of the gods feared an Emperor.

It was the Earthshaker who first gave her the power she needed. The Earthshaker who gave her a small stone, imbued with his power, that would bring Xena back if all the other gods agreed to give her some of their own. So from god to god Gabrielle traveled, alone and half the time lost, driven only by her single goal of getting Xena back. When the gods refused she fought, and when they continued to try and deny her she pressed, harder and harder, until half agreed just to be rid of her annoyance. Others demanded her servitude, demanded she complete tasks for them before they gave her their power.

And a few gave it freely, willingly, seeing the love in her eyes and the pain in her soul, pain they could stop by being free with their gifts.

The stone almost burning hot in her hands as the Arcanist, the last of the gods Gabrielle had visited, gave her his power and his blessing, Gabrielle returned to where Xena had fallen, the island where Gabrielle had last seen her love. Returning to where Xena had said her final goodbye, Gabrielle placed the stone on the ground and waited.

And waited, and waited, and eventually fell asleep. Because so long had passed by this time, so long with barely any sleep, the minimum of food that would keep her alive and going, driven only by her desire to bring Xena back- it had exhausted her, and with her goal almost done, Gabrielle was tired. She was tired, and so she fell asleep.

And awoke to a gentle voice singing, careful claws caressing her fins, and teeth bared in a smile that had Gabrielle in tears as, for the first time in years, she awoke to Xena next to her.

They went home after that. The world wasn't safe, and while there was still so much to be made up for, things that would be made up for sometime in the future, they had to. Gabrielle, even curled into Xena's side, still awoke covered in sweat, terrified she would awaken and find her mate gone once more. She was terrified, and it was clear the death Xena could barely remember had affected her as well.

So they went home and were married. Married before the eyes of the clan, Tamora proclaiming Xena her Consort. They went home and dug out their own lair, clawing through the dark purple dirt until a room more than large enough for them to live in had been added to the lair. Went home and, for the first time in years, felt safe. Safe surrounded by their friends, their loved ones, by a clan that they would do everything in their power to protect and that would do everything in its power to protect them.

They went home and focused on being in love.

They talked- about the future, about their plans, about what their lives would hold. About possibly adopting some children, about when they would eventually go back out into the world to keep doing good, about everything they needed to talk about.

But for now, they rested. And safe within the lair, curled into Xena's side, listening to the heartbeat she had missed for so long, Gabrielle finally slept. Safe and warm and in love, she slept.