Part 2 - Investigations

Chapter 1 – Breaking Down, Summing Out

Xena looked froze in shock. There must be some mistake here.
"Xena," Autolycus showed up running. Xena didn't respond, and just kept staring at the two dead villagers.
"Xena, we have to go."
Xena slowly removed the towel she covered the baby's face with, and of course the baby was crying loudly.
"Hey, come on, Xena, they're burning down the village, we have to do something."
"I have to get out of here" Xena suddenly said.
"You have to what?" Autolycus was astounded by the Warrior Princess' sudden lack of interest in the welfare of the village.
"Autolycus, I have to get out of here" she looked up at him with teary eyes. Autolycus didn't know what to say, but as he looked into her eyes he saw the despair she was in. He also thought he knew what happened, but he couldn't be sure. And besides, this wasn't the time. The mere sight of Xena, holding a baby in her hands, crying… It was enough for him.
"Go" he said. "Get out of here, Xena; I'll take care of this."
Xena nodded, and without a word just pulled the baby closer to her chest and started running. Autolycus knew that the last look she gave him before she ran off said thank you. He also knew that the same look said something was terribly wrong, and as he looked around he saw two dead villagers lying on the ground, lit in scarlet waves of light – emerging from the flames that were slowly consuming the entire village. Next to the two slain villager lay a soldier with Xena's sword stuck in his chest, and Autolycus could only assume what went on there before he arrived. He took out the sword from the soldier's chest and examined it. Xena would never have just forgotten her sword. Not Xena. Whatever it was that made her run off like that, it must have been related to that baby.
That baby was orphaned in front of Xena's eyes, and although Autolycus figured that would be a difficult picture for anyone, he knew that Xena's been through worse.
No, it wasn't that, he thought. It had to be more, much more than just that. Autolycus thought again of the look that Xena gave him when she said she had to get out of there. He recalled how when Xena's spirit occupied his body, he felt what she felt, and learned to read her. And now, as Xena gave him that look with the baby in her arms, he knew that Xena was feeling shattered in a way that could only mean that whatever it was that happened – it had to do with Gabrielle.
He just hoped that the baby wasn't Gabrielle herself, but he knew that he was hoping against all hope – Xena's confused and heart-breaking look said it all. The fact that suddenly the baby was more important to Xena than the village also was cutting proof that the baby was indeed Gabrielle.
Autolycus looked down again at Xena's sword, and then at the two dead villagers who he now realized were Gabrielle's parents. He looked around him at the turmoil of the flames, at the screaming people, at the burning town, at the dead people…
He then raised Xena's sword in front of him and examined the stains of blood. Looking down at the dead soldier, and then again at the two dead villagers, he dropped the sword from his hand as he fell back in shock and suddenly realized what has happened - It was all his fault! It's gone too far! What has he done?

Xena ran.
With the young child in her hands, she ran as far as she could. She wasn't even sure why she was still running, as Potedia was far behind them now, but still she ran.
She ran until she couldn't see the flames anymore. She ran until she couldn't hear the screams anymore. She wanted to run until she could no longer see the dead villagers in her mind anymore, but she got tired of running long before that ever would have happened.
She looked again at the child. The baby fit the description perfectly; Blond hair, green dreamy eyes, wide cheeks. And she didn't shut up for a second. Not that Xena could blame her this time, but still – it was just another sign that perhaps this was indeed Gabrielle.
Xena thought back. The house was Gabrielle's house, and the villagers were Gabrielle's parents, although she never knew them well enough to have recognized their faces so many years younger.
Still two mysteries remained: Xena would have been about 12 or 13 at this point, and as far as she knew by that point everybody in Amphipolis knew either her or her mother. And Autolycus said he spoke to someone from Amphipolis who's never heard of neither. The second mystery was of course – how did all of this happen? It was obvious that it had something to do with Xena and Autolycus' arrival at Potedia, but Xena couldn't think of anything in particular that would have triggered such a thing. She only spoke with one person other than Autolycus, and that was that deaf woman who told her rather loudly about the Amulet of the Nightwishers.
Of course, how didn't she think of it earlier? Someone must've heard them talk about it, and then stole it.
Xena's line of thought was interrupted as the baby started crying.
"Shh" Xena smiled at her. "It'll be alright, I promise you."
The baby just kept on crying, and Xena felt helpless.
She hugged her and started to rock her gently back and forth, and gently sang:

Hush now my little one, please don't you cry
Lay your head now on my shoulder and sigh
The sun's gone away, and mama will pray
Silence will keep all awhile you're asleep

Hush now my little child, do not despair
Not even an army could make us unpair
Not even the gods or heaven or hell,
Could take you away from me, Gabrielle.

It worked. The baby fell sound asleep, and Xena just looked at her face and smiled.
Things were pretty messed up.
Xena knew there was only one being she could trust, but she had to get to her temple first.

In the meantime Autolycus did the same math as Xena, and came to the conclusion that something was crooked in the air. How could someone from Amphipolis know neither Xena nor Cyrene?
Furthermore, who could have stolen the Amulet, and why?
And what troubled him the most was how it all happened. How come their mere arrival to Potedia made somebody else, who they probably didn't even know, steal the Amulet and create all this chaos?
Autolycus got onto his feet. It was time to stop wallowing and start investigating. Being a master-thief gives one many skills that are useful for investigative work. Autolycus had a sharp eye for details and supreme analytic skills, but most importantly, he was going to investigate an act of thievery – and he was, after all, the king of thieves.
Autolycus ran to the town hall, figuring that that's probably where the Amulet would have been before it was stolen. The town hall was the only building that wasn't burning up, but that was probably due to the fact that it was made of stone. He squeezed himself through a low side-window, and found himself in a cellar. A look around showed nothing but a couple of scrolls, probably archived city-documents, some hardware, and other barred windows. Autolycus looked again at the window he came in through, and realized that since that was the only window without bars on it, that is where the thief probably came in and out from. He approached the window again, and saw that the bars were actually removed by force. Not even he could just pull out bars out of a stone window like that. Only a god could do it. Then again, a god would not need to go through the bars, he could just teleport himself. He figured it was probably a half-god, like Hercules, only he wasn't sure how old exactly Hercules was at this point. It probably wasn't Hercules anyway, so it didn't matter. Autolycus also noticed that the window was too high to climb through, and there was nothing beneath it that could be used for leverage, so the thief probably used another escape route, although that wasn't all that important. Autolycus tried to imagine how he would have stolen the Amulet. He would not have even gone through the windows; he would have probably found his way through the main entrance, which probably didn't have much security - if at all. This was, after all, only Potedia, not Athens. Which brings him to another question – why?
The Amulet of the Nightwishers was a worthless piece of crap. It was valuable, yes, but not for a thief. It didn't have any mystical powers, it had not historical value, and stealing it was like taking candy from a baby that doesn't like candy anyway. There was neither the challenge nor the prestige a self respected thief would look for in an act of thievery. He could only presume that either it wasn't a self respected thief, or that whoever stole the Amulet wanted to rage chaos in Potedia. And, of course, there was the option that whoever it was that stole it just really needed the money.

Chapter 2 – Sweet Love of Mine
Xena entered the temple of Aphrodite with somewhat of a bewilderment. It was odd. Aphrodite didn't know her yet, and it made Xena feel somewhat inferior to her, as if again they weren't just friends, but that Xena was a mere mortal, and Aphrodite was a goddess in all her glory.
Xena had never felt inferior to any god before. She faced some herself, and even battled one (among other things she did with him), and still, now she felt frightened of Aphrodite's glory.
Maybe it was the temple – as it was high and intimidating, yet very colorful, and Xena would even have to admit it was even a little gay. Maybe it was the fact that she was holding a child in her arms that made her a little submissive to the glorification effect the temple was designed to apply. She still didn't grasp the fact that the baby was in fact Gabrielle. She knew it, but she still thought of her just as "a baby".
The baby was calm now, for maybe the first or second time ever since they left Potedia.
Xena wondered if Aphrodite would help her. She and Gabrielle after all do become close friends later on. Or do they?
Xena couldn't help but to think what would happen now. Gabrielle's life would have changed immensely due to all that has happened. Xena thought about it for a second and realized that whatever it was, it didn't affect her meeting Gabrielle, or else she wouldn't have known her now. Then again, how can she know that this was never supposed to happen if it just did, which would have supposed to make her think that it was supposed to happen?
This was too confusing. Time Travel is much too incomprehensible – Zeus was wise to disallow it. She thought maybe meeting Aphrodite wasn't a wise idea either, but it didn't matter anymore. Xena didn't care about anything anymore. Not history, not anything. All she cared about was Gabrielle and her welfare, and there was no other person she knew in this time that could take care of Gabrielle. A thought emerged in the back of her mind to take Gabrielle to Amphipolis and put her at the doorstep of her own house. She had no doubt that her mother would take Gabrielle into her own care, but she couldn't risk meeting herself or her mother, and besides, the thought of growing up as Gabrielle's sister made her feel all awkward.
Xena sighed and cleared all thought from her mind. She kneeled down in front of the altar and looked up at it. A statue of Aphrodite was in the middle of it, showing her in all of her glory, covered with only a couple of flowers. The statue, that is, the figure itself was of course completely naked.
That's just like her, Xena thought.
Focus Xena, Focus.
"Aphrodite" Xena recited. "Goddess of Love - hear me, O-Glorious divinity who has blessed us with her grace, and gave us the gift of love."
The baby made giggled and Xena looked down at it and saw it was smiling at her. Xena smiled back and looked back up.
"O-Goddess, please appear before me – I have no sacrifice to give you but the sacrifice of love"
Xena looked back at the baby, and again at the altar. Nothing happened. Xena sighed. Aphrodite didn't know her, and wouldn't appear before her for just like that.
"O-Goddess, please appear before me – I have nothing to offer you but the love I have for this woma… Child"
Still no response.
"Aphrodite, please" Xena stood back on her feet and looked at the statue in eye-height.
"I don't take human sacrifice" suddenly Xena heard Aphrodite's voice from behind her. She turned and saw Aphrodite in her casual pink gown.
"Aphrodite" Xena walked closer to her but Aphrodite took a step back herself.
"Honey, I don't know what the deal with the baby is, but I have a no-return policy" Aphrodite smirked.
"No… Aphrodite, you must…"
"And what's with the leather, girl? Last I checked Butch was as out as the Titans."
"Aphrodite, you must listen to me" Xena said, and Aphrodite suddenly wore a worried and serious look.
"You don't know me, but I know you."
"Well who doesn't?" Aphrodite almost seemed offended.
"No, I mean, personally, we're… We were…. We're going to be..."
"Honey, I'm the goddess of love, not the goddess of babbling – spit it out."
"Aphrodite, I need you to take care of this baby" she presented the baby to the goddess.
"You WHAT?"
"I know it sounds weird, but you have to believe me" Xena's eyes were glimmering. "I love this child!"
Aphrodite was tempted to ask if not all mothers love their babies, but something felt weird about this one. The love she sensed the strangely leathered woman had for the baby was different from the love a mother has for her child. She couldn't put her finger exactly on what it was.
"You don't belong here, do you?" she asked Xena. "Neither does she."
"No, she doesn't" Xena said. "Listen, you're the only one I can trust, the only one who can take care of her. Please, Aphrodite, until I can sort things out, please - take care of her!" Xena pleaded and started to choke up.
"I trust you" Aphrodite said. "Your love for her is sincere."
Aphrodite didn't say it, but she also sensed that the love the woman had for the child was stronger than anything she possible could be responsible for. She suspected it was something stronger than gods and their spells. It wasn't the first time she has encountered that kind of love. She suspected that it was something that the powers that be, the powers stronger than her, have originated. She would have to ask around Olympus about the more primal powers, maybe she'll find the answer there.
"Thank you" Xena said. "I'll try to sort things out, and if all goes well, then… We'll meet again."
Aphrodite didn't understand what she was talking about, but she figured it was another part of the mystery she would have to solve. This could get interesting, she thought. Like a detective game.
Xena slowly gave the baby to Aphrodite, and seemed as if she couldn't part from her. She felt responsible for her. She felt worried, she felt torn away from her. It reminded her of how she felt when she had to give Solan away, but it was still different. She couldn't tell how. She wasn't sure. She just looked again at the baby, kissed her on the forehead, and left the temple.
Outside the temple Xena stopped and looked back. She saw Aphrodite holding the baby in her arms, and looking at it.
"Goodbye, Gabrielle" she said. "We'll meet again, I promise you."
She also promised herself.