Andria Andromeda Rivera and The Chalice of Belief

Broken Dam

"Sometimes it's not the bad memories that make your cry, but the good ones that though you've revisited, held something you never realised."
- Unknown

The last part was the hardest.

There were no footholds, no ridges good enough to support her weight. Eava cursed in a language called gibberish. Now she had only two options: either to climb back up, or jump and land 15 feet below, without a good view to assist her landing and placement, because she was currently facing the wall and turning around was out of question. She was barely managing to hold on. Why hadn't she just stolen -borrowed- a parachute from somewhere and jumped off the cliff like people did when they were skydiving? Strange how ideas only seemed to reach her when it was too late.

Not much time to reflect now, though; either she took a leap of faith and a little stupidity, or she would have to climb all the way back up and then rethink.

The sensible thing to do would have been to go back, so obviously her stupid self jumped off. Oops.

Her training instincts came in, and when she was going to face the impact, she stretched her hands forward, did a messy cartwheel-headstand, and landed on her feet. Then she fell down, groaning and clutching her sore legs and body in general. She felt as though she'd come really close to breaking her wrists. Really, really close.

I'm still alive though, She noticed calmly, catching her breath in relief. Yup, that was all that mattered. Wounds would heal over time; they always did.

She scanned around, but there was no sign of life. She didn't know what to make of that. She stood up again, and explored her location. Something had pulled her here, and now she needed answers. She couldn't have climbed down here for nothing! The sense of familiarty this place brought her was getting stronger. What was so different about this place-

"ALICE!" came a voice from somewhere. Eava felt a thud in the back of her head, and so much pain-

And that was the last the daughter heard.

••••••••••

Jace felt as though the dam that had contained, held back, all his memories was starting to crack. He remembered the first time he'd played hide and seek with his mom-

Jace had only been around three, so he was wonderstruck with the fact that he could manage to recollect the memory: Younger Jace hiding behind a tree in the park, and his mom pretending as though she couldn't see him as she called out his name. It sounded so sweet when she called out his name. Jace missed her.

'The Wilsons, well, they were cruel people. Each wanted only the powerful ones to live. That resulted in them hating regular people. They killed hundreds,' Lee had said.

How could his mother, who was playing with him so lovingly, ever have done such a thing? Jace almost doubted what Lee said. Almost.

His mother pouted. "Jace, we have to leave soon. The taxi will arrive any minute, dear. Enough mischief!"

Younger Jace gigled from behind the tree, and slowly, came into unobstructed view.

His mother spread her arms, and Jace felt a tug in his heart, a sense of yearning, longing, as he remembered. But it was his younger self who got to hug her, and hug her he did.

"Jace..." His mother said softly, and he noticed that her eyes had turned rather misty, "I'm...sorry."

Younger Jace looked at her with his innocent, adorable face, "Mum?"

The mother shook her head lightly, as though they had all the time in world to discuss things later.

"Someday, maybe you'll understand." She said, "I wish you never see the day where you have to understand."

She looked at him with an air of importance, "I don't wish it, but if the time comes, the only way to win is to use..." she whispered into his ear, "the chalice of belief. I love you."

And then she leaned back, smiling as though nothing wierd had happened. And that was over then and there, that memory had completely slipped from Jace's mind-

That was the last precious moment he ever had with his mother. Shortly after, the boy was left at St. Mary's House for Children, where he would continue his life alone. There were other kids, sure, but though they too didn't have parents, Jace continued to feel abandoned, alone; and he was, untill a certain Andria 'Dromeda Rivera.

She would smile and crack jokes, but he could see right through her. He felt as though it'd been her who'd run away from her parents, though, and one day he'd finally gotten her to open up.

Everything had made so much sense, just then, to the little Jace. He had someone to blame it all on, someone other than his mom. The man who had attacked Andria's parents, he must have scared his mum, that was all; she'd left him here only to protect him!

A silent tear streaked across present Jace's face. Yes, his mother had left him to protect him, but not from Cresto, not from Quietus; from herself, and her mistakes. She wanted to protect him from what she thought was her fault. She had failed, though, for her Jace was now left in the middle of snowy mountains, without her, where even the tiniest of his mistakes would set off an avalanche. And Jace would not be the only one to go down if that happened.

A/N Who is your favorite character? ;)