Protecting Home: Forgotten Power, Part Two!

Chapter 30: False Blame - third person Hazel

PoV: HazeI 

They were dead. Hazel could tell. It felt like a bad dream, as if she would wake up any second. But she knew that wouldn't happen. This wasn't like one of her flashbacks. This was real. It had happened right before her eyes. And there was no going back.

"I told you, Hazel." Hazel heard Tempest whisper from behind her, "I was right. "

Hazel glanced behind her at Tempest. She didn't have her cloak anymore, and, surprisingly, tears fell from her blue and green eyes. Following her gaze, Hazel found Tempest not looking at Sophie or Dex, but at Keefe, who had turned and was glaring at her.

"You." His tone was unusually sharp, "You could've helped them. But you just stood there. You watched them die. "

"Keefe-" Tempest started.

"I don't care what stupid excuse you have! You could've helped them! But you didn't!" His eyes started watering, and he muttered something to himself before turning away , "Whatever. Just go."

Tempest opened her mouth to reply before pausing and turning away. Hesitantly, Hazel looked between the two of them before slowly following Tempest. She didn't want to be around when everyone else showed up. She also had a feeling the elves would want to be left alone for a bit.

Hazel followed Tempest until they were both out of hearing range of the others. Tempest lifted her head to the sky and started yelling in a language she couldn't understand. Gradually, as she yelled, whatever language she'd been using changed into English.

"... ny way to ruin my life, you do this?!" Tempest yelled, "Because you think a single stupid pep talk would make up for this?!? Clearly you don't see the consequences of your little games! Why do you think funerals are so depressing?!? Because we loved the person who died! You should get that! But you don't care! So screw you! Screw you mom, and anyone else who enjoyed this!"  Hazel held her breath as she waited for Tempest to be punished for her words, but nothing happened. Either whoever she was yelling at was too busy to hear it care, or they knew she was right.

Tempest took a deep breath before looking down at the ground. "Hades, if you're willing to listen to me, please, let Sophie and Dex have a good life in the Underworld. If you want to make an exchange or something for that to happen, I'm willing to stay in the Fields of Eternal Punishment for them to be treated as heroes. They deserve it more than I do."

Wiping her eyes, Tempest yelled one last thing at the sky before walking back towards where Hazel was standing. When she saw Hazel, she jumped. Neither of them said anything for a little while before Hazel went up to her and wrapped her in a hug.

"I'm sorry Tempest," She said, " Keefe shouldn't have said the things he did. You weren't the reason they died."

Tempest rubbed her arm, "It actually is. At least partially. I was just standing there and watching. I...I could've..." She sighed.

 "Was there a reason you were just watching?"

 Tempest looked at her feet, "...yeah. It was... it was my dream. It all just..." She sighed again, "It doesn't matter. You should head back to the others before they wonder where you are."

" What about you? " 

Tempest attempted a smile, "I don't think any of them want me around anymore. I'll see you around, though." Slowly, Tempest turned and started walking away.

Hazel watched Tempest leave before going back to the group. Everyone was there, and many of them were crying. Frank was the first to notice Hazel arrived and grabbed her hand. "Where have you been?" He asked softly.

"...helping someone."

Frank didn't look like he entirely believed that, but he didn't say anything, "Do you know where Tempest is?"

Hazel shook her head, "She just left without saying anything. I don't know where she went, or if we'll see her again."

Frank nodded, "I guess that's good. Fitz isn't very happy Tempest killed them. "

"Is that what Keefe said?"

Frank frowned and led her a little ways away. "Actually, when everyone else showed up, he started talking about a Chimera, but Annabeth cut him off and told him to tell everyone what he told Tempest. He actually almost looked ashamed as he told us."

" And Fitz didn't notice and took it as exactly what happened? " Frank nodded and Hazel sighed, "But Tempest didn't actually do anything!"

" How do you know that? "

"I was here fighting! "

"That's not all, is it?"

Hazel sighed, " Ok. Listen. When we first got to base, I ended up befriending Tempest. "

"Really?! How? "

Hazel shrugged, "I listened to her problems. I'm pretty sure she has dreams that are similar to my blackouts. It wasn't her fault that she didn't help, since she was unable to!"

" Are you sure? Not that I don't trust you, but... "

"You don't trust Tempest." Hazel finished, "I get it. But, I do. Which is why I'm sure she had no say in the matter. "

"OK." He looked back at the rest of the group, "When should we tell them?"

"Later. Right now probably isn't the best time."

" Hazel!" Annabeth called, "Can I talk to you? "

Hazel glanced at Frank for a moment and smiled at him before walking over to Annabeth. "What do you need?"

Annabeth led her out of earshot of the others, " Ok, I need you to listen to everything I'm about to say before you ask any questions. Ok? " Hazel nodded and Annabeth continued, "Ok. I think that the prophecy just completed itself in one battle." Hazel opened her mouth to say something before quickly slamming it shut, 

"Think about it. I made a plan to stop the Neverseen, including a plan for stopping the monsters, and Sophie was the reason all the monsters were destroyed. The 7 old and 7 new doesn't matter, since to each other, the other group is the new one. We actually split to fight just now, and right now, the Neverseen and monsters were working together. You may speak now."

"Firstly, how do you know that that's exactly what the prophecy meant? Usually prophecies take a while to complete. "

"Yeah, but usually we don't have elves. And it did take a while to complete, but it wasn't a gradual checklist like it normally is."

" Ok, but what about the forgotten power? I haven't seen any power show up. "

"Sometimes prophecies are made with the intent of future use. Maybe this forgotten power helped our friends at Camp Half Blood. Or maybe it got Nico to Camp Jupiter safely. "

Hazel looked at her feet, "Where does Tempest fit into all of this? "

Annabeth frowned, "Why do you think Tempest has anything to do with the prophecy at all? "

"Almost every person we meet on a quest is in some way important to the prophecy. Take my brother, for example. We rescued him, but without him, we couldn't have completed the prophecy. There had to be a reason Tempest was ever involved, and not just because you needed her for your plan. "

Annabeth shrugged, "Honestly, I don't really know. I can't really see where she would fit in. "

Hazel nodded before walking back towards the group. "We should get back before people start imagining Tempest killed us too." Hazel muttered. Annabeth gave her friend a concerned frown before following.