Patchwork

The Blood of Olympus

Again, we have reached the end of a series....  and we need new names for the chapters! After I publish this, the contest begins- vote for something you want the chapters named after! I might even start using your books' titles as chapter names (don't worry, I'd dedicate the chapter to you).

[$^$]

Winter and Ananda walked out of the rickety house belonging to the Sisters and down the pathway towards the graveyard exit. Ananda, munching happliy on an apple, walked along quietly, her ears swiveling to catch any sounds of predators.

The screaming from yesterday had subsided. Maybe that was just because the Sisters were down there. Maybe it was an evening thing and in the morning there wasn't screaming. One thing Winter was sure of, was that he didn't want to know.

He, himself, was carrying a few food items, mostly apples and nuts and dried-out-berries. He didn't want to eat anything yet. He'd need all the food he could get for the long road ahead. Oddly enough, the Sisters hadn't given them anything- not to ride or carry things in, other than the backpack Winter had brought with him in the beginning. When he'd tried to ask, the Sisters had booted him out the door and shut it.

"I do not know if it is in their nature to give," Ananda had said. "Not without a test, first." Then she'd gestured for him to follow her and, crunching her apple, led him towards the exit. She'd been silent ever since.

"So..." Winter finally said, once the apple was gone and they were safely away from the Sisters. "What did you dream?"

"What I dreamt?" Ananda echoed. "I dreamt I had been knocked out by a monster. My people had scared the monster off and taken me back home. Mama was back. She acted far too nicely. Mama never was nice, even before she ran, though she was the prettiest doe in the whole herd." Ananda blushed. "Then I woke up."

Winter cocked his head to the side. "I had a similar dream, thoug the differences were less... prevalent. Mom was alive. I had been in a coma, and after a couple years, I woke up. Everything was as it should have been... and then Mom kept knowing way to much about my dreams. And she said I talked in my sleep... and I said that comatose people don't talk in their sleep." Winter bit his lip. "I think there was something else. A scream. A sad one. Just before I woke up. Like Mom had died again." he blinked rapidly to keep the tears from coming. No, no. It had been years. He would not cry anymore.

[Fandom+ (1)]

Lyra and Andesine followed the warm strip of wall, their fingers grazing the intricate carvings that decorated the walls. At one point, it left off. Lyra panicked until Andesine pointed out the door on the other side of the corridor, where the warmer bit of wall continued.

The roars of the lady boss grew steadily closer, making even Lyra, who was weighed down by exhaustion and pnemonia, speed up.

Eventually they made their way to a room much like the grand center of the Earth Temple. Lyra, putting every last effort she could manage into it, ran to the center and grabbed the key off the pedestal, a fountain shaped like a watery girl. As soon as her fingers closed around the key, two things happened- she collapsed into a cold little bundle, and the boss burst through the door. Deja vu tugged at her mind. Andesine, forgetting that a powerful enemy had just shown up less than a hundred feet behind him, rushed over to his friend. "Lyra!" He yelled. "Wake up!"

The boss thundered towards them. Lyra cracked an eyelid.

"Use the key, idiot!" He yelled into her ear.

Lyra raised the key halfway into the air, murmered, "I summon thee, boy of the Hiroshima dimension...Natsu.... Dragneel..." Her hand dropped to the ground as Natsu stepped out.

"What?" Natsu exclaimed, his head lighting on fire.

"Just kill the monster!" Andesine shouted. "It's like a job!"

"How much money?"

"Nothing! Just kill the monster or we all die!" Andesine yelled.

"All right!" Natsu said. "Some training, then!" The boss screamed a battlecry as she ran towards Natsu. An icy spear was clutched in one hand. The last thing she ever heard was "Karyu no Hoko!!!!!"

When the dragonfire had died down, the walls were melting and collapsing. Lyra's clothes steamed.

Andesine grabbed her and threw her over his shoulder. He yelled at Natsu to follow, then dashed out the crumbling exit. He ran, taking random turns and hoping to get lucky.

After what seemed like forever, he found a window big enough to jump out of. Pausing only momentarily to see how far below the ground was, he jumped. Natsu, a little confused but happy all the same, followed. Once they were safely away from the rapidly collapsing temple, Andesine put Lyra down, sitting beside her.

Natsu poked the sleeping Player. "Lucy? That you?"

Lyra's eyes snapped open, unfocused. "Who's that?"

"Not Lucy, but it looks like her," Natsu corrected himself.

"Andesine?" Lyra asked.

"Here," Andesine replied. "Be calm, Lyra."

"Her name even sounds like Lucy's!" Natsu said.

Lyra sat up, seeming to see for a moment. "Natsu?"

"You know me?"

"Yeah..." A crack opened up. "Go through there for home..."

Natsu looked through the crack. "Hey, it's the real Lucy, and Erza too!" He stepped through, shouting, "I challenge you to a duel, Erza! Ouch! Nevermind..."

The crack closed up. Lyra laid down again, her eyes closed. Andesine looked at her for a moment, looking at the blue tinge in her cheeks and knowing he needed to get help fast.

***********************************

I stare happily at the screen, Cirra watching as I copy and paste the section into the book. "She suffers so much," Cirra says quietly.

"Worth it," I say. "When you look at the other timelines, you'll know what I mean."

Author-sama: share with us what happens.

I glance at the alert and groan. "The readers are peeping into my life again."

Cirra looks up fearfully.

"Just through words," I say hastily. "Unless this is made into a movie, they won't be able to see us... and I doubt that sincerely." Cirra stops looking so fearful, and I chuckle. "In any case, I'm NOT sharing with the audience what happens. That's skipping to the end of the story... or is it the beginning? I never could tell."

Author-sama: you are such a 8itch.

Oy, Vriska, if you don't like it leave.