We of the Undeserving

by badbard

See Part One for Obligatory Disclaimers and Warnings, which really should have warnings...so that you don't accidentally read the warnings without knowing what you're getting into. You have been warned.

"This is quite possibly the greatest love story of all time," began the bard, with a suitably dramatic flourish. Xena rolled her eyes and leaned comfortably against the wall, eyeing the rest of her bard's audience suspiciously. Jazmyn's eyes were cloudier than usual, she was peering off into Gabrielle's tale, seeing it as it unfolded before her. Ashleigh continued marvelling at her claws with a slightly green tinge to her face. The warrior took the time to make bets with herself about the red-head's reaction when she realised that her canines had grown into wickedly curving tusks.

"I sing the song of Narcissus, the most physically perfect man that has ever graced our world." Gabrielle was in bardic mode now, no longer aware of Xena's not-so subtly rolling eyes, much to the warrior's disappointment. "Even the gods were impressed by Narcissus' beauty. Being prime specimens themselves, many of them envied him, some believed they had fallen in love with him and the grand majority lusted over him. Much like they all lusted over a certain Destroyer of Nations of an earlier time, the one whose bedroll was never empty..." Jazmyn took the time to note that Xena was frowning and tapping her boot at what, by Gabrielle's craftily delighted grin, was obviously a dig.

"Narcissus was like ambrosia sculpted into human form. I don't mean that he tasted good, well maybe he did, I can't know that, I don't crawl into people's bedrolls at every opportunity, even when they're as good-looking as this guy. Er, I mean, especially not when they're as good-looking as this guy. Or girl. Whatever." Now Xena was smirking and it was the bard's turn to sweat. "Just to give you a general idea of what a six star hotel this guy was, Aphrodite described him as a hunk of burning lava and Zeus said if he thought that Narcissus was into swans then he'd fly down to earth in an instant. But Narcissus showed no signs of being interested in swans, or bulls, or humans for that matter. He was only interested in himself. Thus came the day that he had his first Close Encounter of the Romantic Kind..." Gabrielle trailed off, remembering a pack of slavers and a Warrior Princess clad only in her underwear, fighting them off. Jazmyn studied the blush rising in the fair bard's cheeks thoughtfully. Ever so slowly, she insinuated a tendril of her mind into the ether surrounding the bard's busy thought patterns. What she saw and heard, she didn't find surprising.

"Ahem. As I was saying, Narcissus got his first taste of romance. He happened to be drinking from a lake and as he bent to scoop cold water into his hands, he caught a glimspe of the fairest creature he had ever laid eyes on. He saw himself." The bard's voice was rapturous as she remembered when she herself had experienced the same under the influence of Aphrodite's obsession. Yet it wasn't the watery kiss she strived to commit to memory. It was the wonderfully secure feeling of Xena's arms around her as the warrior pulled her forth from what would have otherwise been her watery grave. "He saw himself and he fell in love. This love he felt consumed his being. His reflection was so alluring, just on the verge of being tangible and he couldn't bring himself to look away. So there he knelt, gazing at his beautiful self in the still water, pining away for a love that could never be his." The bard stopped and fiercely tried to collect herself. Some aspects of this story always hit close to home. Jazmyn watched and listened to the bard's stray thoughts.

"Narcissus didn't eat and didn't sleep. He did nothing but desire the sweet young youth gazing out of the lake at him. Eventually he pined away into nothing and would have died if the gods had not granted his beauty one final favor. They turned him into a flower, the Narcissus, which grows by lakes, it's golden downy head dipped forward in eternal contemplation of its glorious reflection." The bard finished her tale with her own golden head dipped forward in miserable contemplation of her boots. Her thoughts came loud and clear into Jazmyn's subtly enquiring mind. 'At least Narcissus gets to spend eternity as an oblivious flower. I get to spend it as a blood-tainted monster accompanied by an oblivious warrior.'

Ashleigh's curious words were slurred around her prominent canines into the strained silence.

"What does Narcissus have to do with anything? I've heard that myth before, though never exactly like that..."

Gabrielle snapped back into bardic mode but before she could draw breath to speak, Xena had risen smoothly to her feet and by that one sinuously seductive gesture, captured everyone's attention.

"No don't tell us, my bard. I remember this part of the story. I was there. I'll show them."

"What do you mean, show us?" blurted Ashleigh, suddenly wary of the strangers who had invaded her bedroom and peace of mind. Jazmyn knew the instant before Xena initiated the mind meld, just what the warrior intended. Then she was no longer aware of anything except the deep throbbing resentment that wasn't her own. She was the most achingly beautiful creature that had ever graced a world, yet her father was barely aware of her existence. She was Rose. She was madly in love with herself. The time had come to offer her glory up unto eternity. It was time to author a new race.