Hope

Stop it!

 

Rachel

Ooh.  Is that fear I hear in

your hoarse voice my dear?

Oh my, that rhymes.  Did you

notice that?

 

Hope

Who are you?  What do you want?

 

Rachel

My name is Rachel, and I want

my Mommy back.

 

                                                     Cut to:

Ext-Amphipolis

A man rides into the village, calling for Eve. 

 

Man

Eve! Eve!

 

Int-Mausoleum

 

Eve hears the man yelling for her and she rushes outside to greet him.

 

Eve

I’m Eve. What’s the matter?

 

Man

It’s Eion!  Teodore is attacking the

village and Gabrielle is trying to defend

them.  She’s alone you know, since

Xena died.

 

Eve

                           I know.  Thanks for the message.

 

Eve turns to mount up, but a green mist begins swirling before her and Rachel solidifies within.

 

Rachel

                               Hello Mommy. It’s so good to

                               see you again.  

                                                                                                                                                     Time Elapse:

 

Eve

Who are you?  What do you want?

 

Rachel

I’ve been sent by Lucifer.  I’m here

to pierce the veil that is the lie of

re-incarnation. 

 

Eve

In the name of Eli and all the powers

of Heaven I command this evil presence

be cast down.

 

Rachel

(Unaffected)

You must be kidding me.  You’d

try to cast down your own daughter?

 

Eve

What are you talking about?  I

have no children.  Besides, you’re

older than me.  You couldn’t be

any child of mine.

 

Rachel

Now that’s where you’re wrong.

 

                                                                                                                                                           Cut to:

Ext-Village of Eion

Gabrielle and the villagers continue to do battle against Teodore and his men.  Her Chakram flies through the line of charging soldiers in two pieces, cutting them down.  After a few men fall it rejoins and flies back to her.  Once she has it she separates it and uses the halves to cut down the enemies attacking her left and right.  Gabrielle gives her own, distinctive battle cry and executes an impossibly high flip to the roof of a building where she sees two enemies converging on one woman.  When she lands she draws her the Katana and begins sword fighting with the men.

 

Once she has dispatched the men she takes inventory of her people versus Teodore’s men, and finds her side is winning.  The villagers set off booby-trap after booby-trap, killing the men in groups.  Finally Teodore himself makes an appearance by riding in on horseback. He is cutting down villager after villager as he rides in, so Gabrielle flips down and lands on the horse behind him.  She wraps her arms around his waist and flips out of the saddle with him, and he lands on the ground before her.  About six of his men rush her, swords drawn, but she quickly puts the pinch on Teodore.  When they see her do this his men hesitate.

 

Gabrielle

I’ve just cut off the flow of blood

to his brain.  He’ll be dead in less

than thirty seconds if I don’t undo

it.  Tell your men to surrender

and I’ll spare you.  If you don’t, I’ll let

you die then kill them all.

 

Teodore is stubborn and he waits trying to call her bluff, but Gabrielle shows no sign of being anxious to take off the pinch.  After she turns to walk away, he relents. 

 

Teodore

Throw down your weapons.  Do it!

 

His men obey and the villagers begin to cheer. Gabrielle removes the pinch.

 

Gabrielle

Chain Teodore’s men and put

them in lock up until they

can be bound for trial.

 

Villager

(who started the chant)

Don’t you mean execute them for

attacking us? 

 

Gabrielle

(dead serious)

I mean bound them and put them

in lock up.  There will be no more

blood shed here today.  Have I made

myself clear?

 

The people complain, clearly not liking Gabrielle’s decision, but they do as she asks and begin to chain the men. 

 

                                                                                                                                                           Cut to:

Int-Villager’s house

Gabrielle, bloody and dirty from her battle, enters the house of one of the villagers to freshen up.  She’s tired and soul-sick for Xena, and we can see this in her eyes. Her weariness goes a lot deeper than the physical. 

 

Gabrielle

Xena…

 

Hope

Oh.  How sad.  You miss your

precious Warrior Princess.

 

Gabrielle’s blood runs cold at the sound of the familiar, hard voice of her daughter Hope.  She slowly turns to confront her.

 

Gabrielle

Hope.

 

Cut to:

Amphipolis-Eve and Rachel

 

Eve faces off with Rachel, though Eve is unarmed.  The man who’d ridden into town calling for her unsheathes his blade and tosses it to Eve.

 

Rachel

So Mommy wants to play with

her long lost baby.  I’m touched.

Really I am.

 

Rachel draws a sword from thin air and attacks Eve. The fight quickly turns to Eve’s favor so Rachel spits a long string of disgusting slime at Eve’s blade and it eats through the metal like acid. Rachel quickly breaks Eve’s blade with hers. 

 

Rachel

You know Mommy, I don’t

like that outfit you’re

wearing.  It’s so…I don’t know.

Prissy. How about this?

 

Rachel waves her hand over Eve and her outfit transforms into the outfit Callisto wore when she made her appearance on Xena the first time. Eve looks down at her body, clueless as to what Rachel is talking about.

 

Rachel

Now doesn’t that just feel right?

 

Eve

What is this?  What are you doing?

 

Rachel

This is the Awakening.

 

Rachel’s hand snakes out lightning fast and grabs on to Eve’s face. When she gets hold, Eve begins to see images from her past as Callisto.

 

Image #1-A young 14 year old girl stands in the middle of a burning village as Xena and her men kill the men trying to fight them off.

 

Image #2-Callisto’s father charges Xena and the Warrior Princess cuts him down.  Callisto screams for her father and collapses at his feet.

 

Image #3-“Callisto” Xena and Callisto come face to face for the first time.

 

Eve pulls free from Rachel’s grasp, draws the replica of Callisto’s sword and tries to take Rachel’s head off.  Rachel ducks, Eve thrusts and runs Rachel through, but the sword becomes stuck in Rachel’s body.

 

Rachel

Why don’t you stop fighting?

You can’t defeat me with mortal

weapons.  Come home with me

now. We can get to know each

other again. Wouldn’t you like

                           that mother?

 

Eve

I am not your mother!

 

These words seem to genuinely hurt Rachel but Eve doesn’t care.  She runs to her horse and mounts up, riding out of town.  Rachel allows her to go.

 

Rachel

That’s right Mommy. Run.  You

can’t elude me forever.

 

                                                                                                                                                           Cut to:

Int-Eion-Gabrielle and Hope

 

Gabrielle and Hope are standing face to face in cottage in Eion.  Hope is looking at her mother with a mixture of rage and longing.

 

Hope

I just have one question

for you before I kill you.

 

Gabrielle

If you can kill me.  I’m not

the same woman I was the

last time we met.

 

Hope

That’s right.  You’re Xena

now aren’t you?

 

Gabrielle

There will never be another

Xena.  What is it you want

to know before we go into

battle.  For the last time?

 

Hope

How could you choose Xena

over me?  Why did you

follow her instead of taking

over your responsibilities to

Dahak as his wife and the

mother of his child?

 

Gabrielle

(sardonic laugh)

His wife?  Please tell me you’re

Kidding Hope.  You want to know

the truth?  I’ll tell you. He tricked

me into that temple.  He didn’t ask

me if I wanted to have his child, he

just forced himself on me.

 

Hope

You’re lying!   You gave him your

Blood innocence-

 

Gabrielle

I gave him nothing!  Everything he

got from me he took by force Hope. 

 

They share a moment of painful silence as Hope tries to absorb what she is hearing from her mother. It’s obvious that Gabrielle’s account of what happened differs with Dahak’s account. 

 

Hope

Father told me. You married

him and then left him to follow

Xena. You deserted me. 

 

Gabrielle

Nothing could be further from the

truth. Don’t look at me like

you’re surprised. You know your

father was a liar. He always was. The

truth is Hope I had no choice.

 

Hope

You lying bitch-

 

Gabrielle

(grabs Hope by the shoulders)

I loved you!  Xena was going to

kill you but I did all I could to

save you.  Hope, murdered a man

within hours of being born!  I

ignored that and because I did

you survived and murdered Xena’s

son.  It never stopped with you Hope.

We never had a mother-daughter

relationship because we were always

on opposite sides of a never ending battle

between good and evil.  We always will be.

 

Hope

Because I’m the evil one.

 

Gabrielle

Yes.  As long as Dahak lives

you will always be evil Hope.

For you there is no redemption.

There’s only blood and pain.

 

Hope looks as if Gabrielle has punched her in the gut.  She takes in a breath, shoves Gabrielle away and readies her weapon.

 

Hope

Like you said. Our last battle.

 

Gabrielle draws her Katana and faces off with her daughter for their last battle. 

 

Wide shot of the two facing off.

Fade Out

 

Moving On-Act 2

 

Fade In-Eve-Road.

 

Eve rides hard and fast for Eion.  However she almost falls off of her horse when another vision overtakes her.

 

Image-“Return of Callisto” Callisto stands over Gabrielle with sword raised to strike the young bard down.

 

Eve stops her horse and all but falls off as one vision after another takes over.  This time it is from Callisto’s child hood, the day she lost her village to Xena’s army. The vision is short and she comes out of it when she hears a noise near by.  Believing it is Rachel she rushes into the trees lining the road.  The Awakening intensifies and Eve becomes lost in memories once again, and she tries to talk herself out of the memories.

 

Eve

It’s not true. I’m not Callisto, I’m Eve.

My name is Eve.  I loved Mother and

she loved me.  Gabrielle will help me.

she’ll fix this.

 

Eve returns to the ground and begins running to the next town where Gabrielle will be.  As she runs another memory overtakes her and she stops.  She is so completely lost in the memory she repeats young Callisto’s movements.

 

*Thirteen-year-old Callisto stands in the center of a burning village.  She watches as Xena’s army raids her town.  The soldiers kill the men and drag the women and children into slave wagons. 

 

*Callisto looks to her right to see her father pushing her mother and sister into a shed-like building.  He doesn’t see the tree that’s on fire beside the shed. The tree is near collapsing onto the shed.

 

Eve reaches for her mother and sister, weeping as she watches the memories she is helpless to change.

 

Eve

No Daddy! Not the shed.  The

tree is gonna fall!  Daddy!