Camp Half Blood: One "Salty" Adventure

Camp Half Blood: A Salty Sequel//Chapter Thirty-Seven

Rose's POV:

It all happened so fast. Khione... after Knox's death, she... she went after me. She wanted to ruin our prophecy. She wanted to rule. I was closest to her, so she aimed her powers towards me, icy death reigning from her fingertips. I closed my eyes, knowing my end was near. Then I heard a yell, not my own as I thought it would be, but a boys... Nathan's. I opened my eyes to see Nathan becoming pale, lying on the ground. He held his chest in his hands, obviously in immense pain. I looked at him in shock for a split second and then became angry, glaring at Khione. She went to do the same, thing she had done to Nathan again, but I was quicker. I dodged her attack and surged all of my energy, all of my emotions. The ground began to shake, Khione was taken by surprise as a pillar came down beside her. She glared at me as I screamed, walls began to come down and the entire place seemed to be crashing all around me. Cole, Myra, and Ben ran to my side. Myra used what was left of her powers to form an ice dome around us, to protect us all from being crushed. After a few moments, the dome melted around us. Khione had vanished and the light from the outside shown around, shining on the rubble of the castle. My attention immediately went to Nathan as I ran to him, sliding onto my knees at his side. "No no, Nathan? Hey hey, you're ok, it's over you're ok? See? Look at me, we're all ok!" I looked at him as I held his face in my hands. He removed one hand from his wound and rested it on one of my hands. It's coldness giving me chills, a tear fell down my face. He wiped it away shakily with the hand he used to hold mine.

"R-Rose... I... th-this i-is it f-for m-me..." Nathan stuttered out. I whimpered and shook my head.

"N-Nath, don't say that... you're... you're gonna be ok..." I said. He smiled weakly at me.

"My Rose... I'll always l-love... I..." he tried to speak but was stopped as he began coughing up blood to his side. I looked at the others for help, but they stayed where they were, in shock. Once Nathan was finished and out of breath, he closed my hand around an object. "I love you..." he whispered. And then his eyes went still, staring at the sky.

"No no NO! Nathan please! No! Gods, no! Please open your eyes!" I screamed. He didn't obey me as tears began to stream down my face. I sobbed, hugging his, now, lifeless form. I didn't want this to happen. He didn't deserve this. He didn't deserve any of this. He wasn't even... he wasn't even part of this quest, but he came to risk his life for all of us anyways. I was in this position for what seemed like forever before I felt someone's warm hand on my back. I slowly looked up to see Ben.

"Rose... we... we have to get out of here..." he said calmly. I stared into his kind eyes, anger still surging through me. I glared at him and then looked back to Nathan's form. I leaned in and softly kissed Nathan's lips whispering only so he could hear me say "I love you" and then I got up and walked over to Myra. I looked her in the eye and she nodded and wrapped an arm around me. I let more tears stream down my face as we walked out of the rubble. I was silent as we began to travel. After around 10 minutes, I took the lead in our small group of four, walking back to go to Olympus. I wanted to be alone, just with my thoughts. The sun began to set and we finally made it to some water. It was lightly covered with ice, but I needed to heal myself further since some rubble cut my skin in the fall. I took of my jacket and all other layers except for my undergarments. I walked in, swimming to the bottom. It was dark under the water, and freezing. But I was quickly calmed. I needed this. Not for long, but just for a minute. Then, I swam back up. It was darker now, the sun halfway behind the earth. I put everything back on, not caring to dry myself off or anything like that. Then, we began walking again. We were like this for two and a half days straight and then Myra urged me to stop. I haven't talked to anybody and I didn't want to stop traveling because, if I did, then we'd be at a campsite and the only thing that we could do was to talk or to hunt. But Myra thought, after everything, we were all tired. So, I silently agreed. Ben went to hunt for food with Cole, leaving Myra and I. Myra said she'd make a fire, so I quickly gathered some wood, throwing it in a pile and then walking away to sit on my own. I took whatever Nathan had given me out of my pocket to see exactly what it was. I haven't looked at it yet over fear of getting emotional or something along the lines of that. I really did love Nathan. All he ever did was care for each and every one of us. Deep down, I wish it had been me to take that hit. Nathan deserved to go home. To go back to camp. All of this just... ugh it just sucked! I slowly opened my hand, to reveal a ring... the ring he always wore. I knew it was his weapon and I remembered the first time he showed it to me. When he showed me all of the details... all of the carvings he did himself and others that came like that. A tear escaped my eye and I let it. I admired the ring itself for a few moments and then put it on. It fit perfectly... I knew Nathan's hands. They were bigger than mine, but this ring just seemed to fit to my size automatically. I decided to swish my hand like he had in order to exchange the ring for the axe. It worked for me, effortlessly. I held the axe in my lap and traced the carving with my finger. When I turned the axe over to the side where most of the carving he did himself were, I saw a few more that weren't there the first time I saw it. There was a beautiful heart. And... a rose. My name and his were in the heart in cursive. And then the words A rose for my Rose were surrounding it. I smiled to myself, remembering him. I wanted him to be with me here, but with this ring... I felt that he would be. He'd always be with me. I was grateful for this. A small weight was lifted... not all of it, but enough for me to feel like I wasn't quite alone anymore. I got up and walked back over to where Myra was. She smiled sadly at me as I sat next to her.