Plot summary
Defending a temple of the Fates, Xena kills an attacker and then discovers that another person who fell on her sword was only a boy. The grateful Fates offer a wish. She asks for his life back and is given a different existence on the condition that she never again draw blood in anger.
In this world Xena never became a warrior. Her brother Lyceus is alive, and she has the possibility of marriage and an ordinary home. But enemies she once stopped remain powerful. Gabrielle, who has never met her, is an abused slave belonging to Mezentius.
Xena cannot accept Gabrielle's suffering. She enters the warlord's castle, wins enough of her trust to escape with her and returns to Lyceus. Their attempt to oppose the warlords ends in capture when Xena refuses the sword her brother throws her.
Her suitor Maphias frees them, but Lyceus turns back to confront the rulers rather than flee. Gabrielle and Maphias follow, while Xena continues fighting without a weapon to preserve her second chance.
Seeing Gabrielle kill Mezentius with satisfaction finally changes her decision. The life she wished for has spared Lyceus but cost her friend the compassion Xena values. She takes a sword and draws Caputius' blood, ending the bargain.
Xena returns to the original temple battle at the moment before the boy dies. This time she lowers her weapon and spares him, securing his promise never to kill again. She keeps the life she has chosen rather than the easier one the Fates offered.
Credits
Adapted from Legendary Journeys Wiki contributors, Remember Nothing. Complete episode narrative, rewritten and condensed for clarity; causal developments and the episode's ending retained. Illustrations, dialogue quotations and non-story metadata omitted.