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I may be a little late here, but I have now just started and finished this fanfic.

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I really did enjoy it, despite the fact that it's set in the present. I was kind of wondering about that and what my reaction to it would be considering I'm, honestly, not that interested in present day fanfics. But this was really very good.

I thought it was a really cool idea to make Xena part of real history. That was great. Lynn was such an interesting character, the way everything in her life basically revolved around Xena. And that she was writing a book about Xena was cool, too, with Jackie's help.

I had to laugh (in a good way) at the idea of Xena and Ares and the Twilight storyline being an opera. That was pretty inventive--and would have been really interesting to see them being so melodramatic and all.

The scene where Xena died and Ares came to Gabrielle to have her lock him up in a tomb--wow, that was really great. Sad, but great. I could really feel his pain of living without Xena and it's true what he said--Gabrielle wouldn't have known how he felt because she wouldn't have to live an eternity without her. I especially like the part about Ares telling Gabrielle that he might change with Xena gone, and Xena wouldn't be there to stop whatever he might become. In a way, he was doing this to protect people (perhaps subconsciously) than to let his anger, rage, and pain destroy whatever humanity was inside of him. I thought that having him lock himself in the tomb was a good way of dealing with his pain, and the consequences of his life without Xena.

When Lynn opened up that tomb and met Ares face to face, I loved the moment they kissed, and how Ares was totally and completely affected by her, thinking she was Xena. He'd woken up from such a long time without her--and he thought he finally had her back. That was great.

It was interesting to see Ares in the modern world--how it was so different from what he knew. I especially liked the part where he wouldn't have wanted to be a part of wars in the modern world, where people killed each other so violently with guns and bombs and the like. I suppose that was one way that showed how he had grown and changed as a person.

Of course, my favorite parts were the Xena/Ares ones. Those ones always "spark" for me. I loved her encounter with him in the hotel and the elevator. His reaction to coffee was cute.

Then when she regained her memories, fully, the way they walked together in the park was simply adorable. It's just like Ares to give her some nice dress to wear. He was a romantic, deep down.

The passionate scenes between them were great, as always (and truth be told, when chapter III was posted, it was late at night and since I didn't have time to read the whole story yet, I skipped ahead a little just to read their love scene. )

The fact that Xena became immortal, however, left me feeling kind of, I don't know, bothered? Not the fact that she had become immortal but that she had chosen to make such a quick decision for Gabrielle's sake. I understand her devotion to Gabrielle but, I don't know, if she continually turned down Ares' offer to become immortal and then makes the quick decision to become immortal when she knows Gabrielle is, I don't know, I guess, as a shipper, I expeceted something different. I'm not sure how else she would have become immortal, though (I can't really see her doing it for Ares, so I guess doing it for Gabrielle was more natural). I loved how he attempted to stop her from doing it even though it meant he would be able to spend forever with her. It was a nice gesture, seeing him almost desperate to cling to whatever she was, fearing that she might loose a part of herself as an immortal. I liked that moment.

It was adorable to see Ares "domesticated"--reading the paper, drinking coffee. It was cool, just to see everything about him in the modern world. Calls for a part 4, I say.

The ending was great, too. How two observers witness Ares and Xena together in the ancient arena, wondering if they are just figments of their imagination, or ghosts from an ancient past, displaying passion and heated combat all at once--I loved that.

Really great job, LadyKate. So real and true to the characters. This is how the ubers should have been in the show (even if they didn't have X/A as a couple--Xena as a historian would have been much better than what we got with Mattie, Annie and Harry). A really wonderful story. Now I have to go back and read part I and II again.