3. Succession

Complete story — includes the ending

When Ares suggests he will someday need a successor, the warrior woman he is sleeping with, Mavican, suggests it should be her. This gives Ares the idea of sending her along with Xena and Gabrielle through a vortex to an alternate dimension to battle. First Xena doesn't understand why she could see the battles between Gaby and Mavican while unable to participate herself. It turns out that she and Gabrielle share one body in this place, one in the day, the other in the night. Mavican captures Gabrielle and decides rather than kill her, she should keep her alive as live bait, so she knocks Gabrielle out. When Gaby awakens in a bamboo cage, the sun rises and Xena takes her turn in the cage. When Ares mentions that he had never realized she would make a good successor, Xena finally realizes it is Gabrielle and not Mavican that he is talking about. With Xena forbidden to kill Mavican, she simply causes Mavican to admit she needs Ares' help in defeating Xena, which in Ares' view disqualifies her as a successor. So Xena and Gabrielle are returned to the natural world while Mavican is sentenced to eternity in the odd dimension.