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Episode: The
Haunting of Amphipolis (S-6, E-2)
Author:
CN Winters
Fandom:
Subtext report, Xena Fanfiction, Xena and
Gabrielle fanfiction
Author
Note: Many of these reports are littered with errors
because I wrote them quickly and 'on the fly' so I could post
them quicker to the 'Nutforum' back in the day.
Feedback:
Drop me a line at cnwinters71@yahoo.com.
The Haunting of
Amphipolis
Our tale opens with
Angel Michael talking to his little dark haired buddy about
the task that lay ahead for Xena as she makes her way home
through Amphipolis. If Xena fails, Hell on earth will ensue.
As Xena, Gabby and Eve come into town they talk about Cyrene
and how she stood up against Athena. Xena tells Eve she’ll
love Amphipolis because it’s so full of life. The place
however is deserted. The tavern is pretty dumpy and Eve asks,
"Mother grew up here?". Gabby said it never looked
like this.
Xena goes up stairs
while Gabby checks the back. Eve, like most eps, is just
wandering around. (BG) Xena walks down the hallway and hears
screams and her mother being tugged along but nothing is there
when she rounds the corner. Eve is downstairs with Gabby and
Eve sees a man yelling ‘Light the fire!’ as another man
drags Cyrene down the stairs. They head straight ‘through’
Eve and she can sense it’s her grandmother’s ghost. Xena
asks if Eve is sure and Eve is certain. Gabby points out that
Eve’s never SEEN Cyrene. How could she know? (Hey!! Someone
thought about some ‘continuality’ here!!) Eve says she
knows it was her essence. Her grandmother is not at rest. And
of course this bothers Xena to no end since her mom is trapped
in the dump of a tavern.
Xena sets off to
the local crept. Gabby asks if she wants them to come. Xena
pretty much says thanks but no thanks and Gabby and Eve stay
behind. Xena finds her mother’s bones and they look a bit
crispy. She’s all upset and weepy as warrior princess’ get
when it comes to their dead mothers. Of course Xena feels
guilty but she swears she’ll find her mommy and make it
right.
Eve and Gabby are
in the tavern, eating fruit. Eve looks down and sees a bunch
of maggots in it. She asks Gabby if she ate any of it yet.
Gabby looks at the piece she just bit out of to find maggots.
She runs away gagging. Eve throws the fruit outside saying
‘By the love of Eli, I cast the evil out’ or words to that
effect. Gabby is out back washing up in a water basin when she
notices something under her skin. She claws at her hands to
get it out and it’s soon a bloody mess. She starts to cry
and freak out and when she raises her hands it’s just bloody
bones. She’s spazed at this point. Eve is still talking to
the maggots telling the evil critters to go away. After a
final chant the maggots disappear and Gabrielle’s hands go
back to normal.
At the crept Xena
finds a man lurking and gets the lowdown on what happened.
Seems a bunch of evil spirits took over Cyrene’s tavern a
long time ago and she fought them off as best she could but
went crazy in the end until the burned her at the stake for
being a witch. Xena’s not pleased by the news to say the
least and she rushes back to the tavern because the evil
spirits are still there. Back at the house some strange faces
start to appear on the ground. Eve sees them and so does
Gabrielle. Gabby tries to get a better look and a hand pops
out and brings her through the floor. She ends up in a poll of
water while demons keep her down. Eve and Xena start to search
the house for her. A voice calls out that the blood of the
messenger must be spilled. And Gabby ain’t the messenger.
Xena hears Gabby yell through the floor and reaches down into
the floor to find Gabby’s arm. She pulls Gabby up and
she’s covered in goo that burns. The three of them take
Gabby to a shower and get off the icky stuff where they get
the dirt on what’s happening from Xena and Gabby tells them
about the ‘messenger’ stuff. Xena says the king of hell
has picked the wrong battle with her. She leaves the room and
finds a vision of her, her dead brother Lyceus and her mother.
Her mother condemns her for getting Lyceus killed and the real
Xena relives the pain of her brother’s death again.
Eve is sitting in
the house when blood starts to drip all over the place. Gabby
is still in the shower and the water now turns to blood and
it’s all over her body. She starts to wig out again and
howl. Eve starts to pray again over and over but the blood
keeps coming. Next we see naked Gabby who’s now possessed.
Eve gets more worried and prays quicker. Xena comes into the
shower room calling for Gabrielle. She finds her – upside
down and naked from the rafters. Xena’s got the "Oh Sh*t!"
look on her face and before she can do anything naked Gabby
leaps on top of her. Yes I’ve wanted to see a naked bard
roll around the floor with a warrior princess (and we do get a
nice butt shot of Gabby here (BG) ) but this isn’t quite
what I had in mind.
Xena manages to
snare a potato sack or something and wrap up Gabby’s
nakedness. The king of Hell, Metosphclease(sp?), speaks
through Gabby. Since Xena has killed the Olympus order it’s
now his turn to inherit the earth. Eve runs in and starts do
the exorcist thing on Gabby. Of course ‘Gabby’ tries to
distract Xena by taunting her about her mothers death –
showing her being burned at the stake. Eve keeps doing the
prayer thing on Gabby and finally the evil dude takes off and
out of Gabrielle. However in doing so it makes Eve very weak.
They cuddle Gabby afterward (Ahhh…how sweet(BG)) and Xena
says that she wants Gabby to get out because he’s using her.
Gabby refuses to leave. Eve says she doesn’t have to worry
– Gabrielle can’t be taken again because she’s been
cleansed.
They start to leave
and Xena and Gabby start to argue again about Gabby staying.
Gabby grabs Xena’s arm to make her point and they are
suddenly joined together. Next their legs get locked together
as the evil spirits throw knives, chandeliers and anything
else they can. The special effects in this scene were pretty
cool and watching Xena and Gabby having to work and move as
one body was pretty good. Seems the warrior and the bard are
very in tune with each other’s body movements (insert
subtext snicker here (BG)).
They run out to Eve
and she does the prayer thing and pulls them apart. But all is
not safe yet. Far from it. The King says Eve can’t sustain
this battle and he’ll win. The king says he doesn’t need
Eve to die, just a few drops of blood will do but Xena’s not
gonna do that. She won’t release him. She decides to fight
him on his turf and shows Gabby how to do the pinch on her and
bring her back. Gabby is reluctant to say the least. "Why
are you showing me this now?" she asked. Xena says they
have to do this. Gabby asks, "Here." And Xena moves
her fingers up a fraction of an inch and says, "No that
will stop my heart. Here," she says. Gabby rolls her
eyes. Xena says she has faith in Gabrielle and tells her to
bring her back. Gabby agrees to do it. Xena arrives in Hell to
find her mother walking around with an ax, crying over killing
her husband. Xena takes on the king but she can’t harm him
in his realm. She says she’ll let him out into her world and
kill him there. He says if she kills him then she has to take
over Hell.
Gabby is looking
over Xena with the bleeding nose while Eve goes to get water
to try to wake her up. As she gets the water she sees the
figure of a man she decapitated…more and more Livia victims
come out to taunt her. Meanwhile Xena battles in hell while
Gabby tries repeated to take off the pinch but failing. Gabby
starts to worry (it’s a very stress for episode for Gabby)
when she can’t make the pinch work. She loves her warrior.
And I love Gabby. Have I mentioned that?(vbg) An image of
Livia appears to Eve and tells her to spill her blood. It’s
the only way to set things right. Finally Xena wakes up and
they go find Eve.
They ask Xena how
they are going to stop him. Xena has to bring him to earth
even if it means taking his throne. She’s not going to have
her family suffer anymore. Gabby tries to plea to Eve to not
do this. But Eve says Xena’s the only one capable of
stopping him and asks for her support. Gabby decides she’s
outnumbered and holds onto Eve as Eve begins a prayer by the
‘portal of hell that opened up in Xena’s backyard’. Xena
stands ready to battle him for when he comes from the hole. As
the earth opens up, Xena sends Gabby and Eve away. He comes up
and they battle. He taunts Xena that she can’t really kill
him. She doesn’t want his throne. Xena pauses but realizes
she has to do it to save the world from hell on earth. If
being on the throne of hell is what she has to do then so be
it – she stabs him through the stomach killing him.
Gabby comes up and
says "Look". They turn around and see Eve talking to
Cyrene. Cyrene gives Gabrielle a sweet hello and Gabby said
they missed her. Xena says she finally found her but she’s
gone. Cyrene said she’d never be gone if she’s in her
heart. Cyrene vanishes before Xena can hug her. Eve asks Gabby
what’s wrong when she sees a bit of concern on the bard’s
face. She says she’s worried about the legend of Xena
inheriting hell. Xena says she thinks this is not yet over as
they stare into the firepit of Amphipolis.
Fade to Black.
Next week: Xena
‘dances with the devil’. Vigil appears to be back at a
swinging soirée and Lucifer grows horns, which makes him
pretty grumpy.
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