Sweat went drip, drip down my back. My adrenaline rushed, rushing through my veins at an illegal speed. My hands worked their way, slicing through and through. There was no pain. I felt no pain.

"Xena, I'm open!" I passed the basketball to Xander. He dribbled the ball, much like me, slicing through the onslaught of defenders hailing our way. We reached a point where we were both surrounded by the opposing team. "Pass it to me Xander." The ball swivelled through the air, over the heads of our opponents and into my awaiting hands. I dribbled the ball, under and then over my legs and shot the ball aimlessly over their snapping heads, and into the hoop. Cheers erupted all around me, the guest team stalking off the court to moan about their defeat, my own team running over to me and clamping me on the shoulders. There was a frenzy of excitement as we walked off the court and received our trophy.

After we changed out of our kit, Xander and I walked outside to the back of the campus buildings, away from prying eyes of the humans around us.

"You okay?" We leaned against a wall, shoulders touching.

"I have to be, don't I." This wasn't a question, it was experience. Failure wasn't an option and Xander knows that, he experienced it with me, but it wasn't as much of a blow to him as it was to me. Xander has always been the most down-to-earth, the most mature, the most anything positive out of the two of us. And I have to say, I love him for that.

The wind picked up, leaves being blown in one direction by the order of the world, my ponytail being blown in the same direction. Xander grasped my hand, as if I was going to be blown away by the ever- changing wind, but I didn't object so I grasped back. "It's all in the past, Xena. We need to forget and move on." He squeezed my hand tighter, our fingertips going white from the pressure. I just sighed.

"Yeah...I guess you're right." I shivered as unwanted memories came spinning back. I just held Xander's hand tighter.

"Everything can only get easier now, right?"

The wind blew harder in response.

                           *   *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *   *

I walked the rest of the way back home, as Xander lived closer to the campus than me, alone and replaying the moment of victory for both me and the team. As I approach my home, the front door of the house opened, and my foster mom, Clarissa, stood in the doorway, smiling and beckoning me to go faster. So, I jogged the rest of the way into her arms.

"Come inside, it's too cold." I stepped inside and spoke while taking my shoes off. "Why are you home so early?" I couldn't help smiling.

"I just thought I'd surprise you."  We made our way into the kitchen where my foster dad, Kilian was plating up food, still in his smart attire from work. "Here you are. How was it then?" Kilian, my foster father, sat down and loosened his tie, a smile plastered on his face.

"We won." I shrugged, and he clamped me on my shoulder.

"That's great, sweetie." Clarissa squeezed my shoulder as she went past.

Kylian was a man in his early-forties who was still as young as ever, his otherwise business-like manner would defy this observation, he was six-foot, with me coming up to his brows, being 5-foot-10 at 18. Clarissa was a different matter, she was airy and cheerful with everyone, no matter how someone else acted towards her. She was 39 years old and was a lawyer for immigrants, so she didn't need to be scary. She was average height at 5-foot-8, but her presence was big enough to fill a palace.

"What are we having for dinner?" I ask as I place the glasses of water down on the table. "Lasagne!" replied a pleased looking Kilian. Ever since I came to live with my foster parents, I have always loved to eat Kilian's lasagne, it was the only time he cooked and – boy do I wish he cooked more often.

"Yay!" We sat down at the table and dug in.

Clarissa laughed and the warmth inside me expanded to the tips of the fork. Clarissa had that effect on me, when I first came to earth after my Fall, she was the only one who could make me smile and actually mean it. I wasn't steady, after my fall. I was very unstable, but me and Xander stuck like glue and found a way to lead a normal life - or, you know...try to.

After we finished our dinner, Kilian and Clarissa said that I was off the hook for chores after a long day. So, I headed upstairs, showered, changed and ringed Xander.

"What d'you want?" a grumpy Xander spoke back on the phone.

"Hi...what's wrong with you?"

"It's happening." I sat up straighter, my spine snapped into position as my legs rolled of the bed. "What's happening?!...Xander, speak now!"

"I got a vision...I got a vision of war...and you were leading it." Xander's name means protector, protector of what is good. He gets visions, which was inherited from his mom, the Oracle of Heaven. He inherited his warrior side and title of protector from his Father, the greatest commander of armies in the lands of Heaven, the people who banished us.

"Meet me at the Great Greek Tree in 15 minutes." I grabbed my boots, my weapon, under the seventh floorboard in my closet, and went out into the refuge of dusk, of shadows and of evil.

A/N: I hope you like it.

If there are any grammatical errors etc, please let me know.

I will be posting a new chapter each week and I'll let you know in advance if I can't

Thank you for reading