Ariana's Trials

Part 11

Kaldur's POV

I had a nightmare. I saw Ariana and Noha fighting beside each other after Ariana sent me back, them fighting off hordes of monsters.

"Fall back!" Ariana commanded. her squadron hesitated but fled. Noha stayed behind. "Noha, get out of here! now!" Ariana ran her sword through a Telkhine, then got jumped by another monster, now swarmed. She screamed, and Noha moved to help her when A blinding light blurred my vision. When it finally cleared, the spot where Noha was only had a scorch mark, and Ariana lay limp on the sea bed, the battle raging on around her. Amphitrite came in her battle armor to find Ariana limp and wept over her, finally choosing to take her back to the palace, where the healers declared she was just barely alive, clinging to life. They placed her in the clamshell, and I woke up. Was the dream part of being her Guardian?

"KAAAALLLLDUURRRR!" Ariana moaned "I have a question and I've been waiting allllll morning!"

"Ariana, it's six AM," Jack said "How ADHD are you?"

"Not as much as Leo, but more than Percy. That's why I'm so good at fighting. Wanna get coffee?" Ariana and Jack's voices faded away. Wow, I never thought just how ADHD Ariana is. now that I'm thinking about it, she could never stop moving, not even when she was forced to sit and listen to some etiquette lessons when we were five. Dang. I sat up and pulled on my shirt, now slightly stained with mustard from the hotdogs last night, when Ariana threw one at me, starting a food fight. I jog around the lake a few times until Jack and Ariana come back around seven-thirty with coffee cups, laughing their heads off

"Remember North's face? He looked like a constipated duck" Ariana imitated a face, and Jack wheezed.

"They probably think I've gone rogue" He chortles

"Eh, they know you're with me" Ariana shrugged, then took a swig of coffee. "WOW! I love triple espressos!" She cartwheeled around.

"I'm never giving Ariana caffeine again" Jack smiled

"And I agree with you on that count" Ariana was flipping around the training court, trying to tap Leo's head, who tried hitting her with fire. Jack wandered over and extinguished Leo's flame. 

"I don't want you hurting my girlfriend" Leo's ears released a puff of smoke, and with his temporary distraction, Ariana managed to tap his head.

"HAHA! I win!" Ariana declared, throwing her hands in the air. Leo used a wrench to tap her head back

"Now I'm the winner!" and that escalated into Ariana chasing Leo around, trying to tap him.

"Kaldur, I know what you're going to say" Jack started "You want me to know just what will happen if I ever hurt Ariana. I've been alive for hundreds of years, and Ariana makes me truly happy. If one person is always looking for their other half, I feel like Ariana completes me" he leaned on his staff. "Ariana told me a story about how humans used to be one person, soulmates in one body, and when Zeus thought they were too powerful, he split them in half, and now so many people search for their other half. Ariana is my other half, as far as I know." I contemplated his words. The look in his eyes and his posture when he was around Ariana suggested he was entirely at ease with her, never pushing his opinion or overstepping her voice. He just wanted to be with her. She made him feel complete, and happy just with her presence. "Ariana saved my life. I fell out of a window, and I hit the water so hard I inhaled. Ariana jumped into the arctic seas and drew the water from my lungs to save my life, and I realized just how much I cared for her" 

"I never thought you would hurt her. I just wanted to be sure. And now we have to quell whatever shenanigans she and Leo have started now" We both ran down to the small fire now coating the climbing wall, Leo standing on top, and Ariana holding him hostage by blasting him with water whenever he wanted to come down

"HHHEEEEEEELLLLPPPPPP!" He cried "I'M BEING HELD HOSTAGE BY A CAFFEINATED TEENAGER!" No one came to help him, Percy and Annabeth just strolled over and laughed, Percy even helping his twin blast him. eventually, Ariana stopped, now bored with the game, and made her way to the beach, listening to her songs, and occasionally bursting out in spontaneous melodies, random lyrics pouring out of her mouth, and Jack sat beside her, them just soaking up the sunlight. I was sitting on a log a short run's distance away. I was Ariana's Guardian, but I was not a stalker. I just needed to make sure Ariana wasn't attacked. 

I picked myself up and walked further from them. I thought about Noha, and what Ariana had done. Ariana reacted so badly when Noha whispered the words, was she responsible for Noha's death? The bright light might have been...F***, Ariana was accepted as Princess of the Sea by her father, is hosting the final breaths and power of Thalassa, and was in an emotionally scarring incident. Ariana revealed her godly form, accidentally vaporizing Noha. That's why she reacted to him reappearing. She knows she killed him, and now he was under Oceanus's control because of her.

"Dammit Ariana" I muttered "Wait, you going to Jack and his friends was one of your trials. you're trying to ascend to Olympus" I finally put two and two together, then thought about cursing the three fates for making our lives so complicated.

"Kaldur'ahm" A voice called from the sea

"Who's there?" I jumped up 

"You have risen to heights beyond my expectations, Son" The voice was female. Kymapolea rose from the waves. I bowed.

"Lady Kymapolea," I said

"Kaldur, I do not wish for you to bow to me, for I am your mother" I stammered a little. Kymapolea was my mom? Ariana was my...Aunt? Whaaaaaaaaaaaatttttttttttt?

"Whaaaaaaaatttt?" I managed to squeak. she rolled her eyes

"Yes, Kaldur, I am your mother. You had a particular talent for whipping up horrid storms, so I confiscated your power. I am going to return it, I think you are ready to handle its power" Kymapolea waved her hand, and four long streams of red and green flowed into me. I struggle to breathe as I came to know its desire to destroy everything

"Thank you" I whispered. Kymapolea held my shoulder

"You will understand it, in time, my son" Kymapolea vanished in a puff of sea foam, and I sat down on a log as my head spun with newfound power