The Flames of Hope Ch 32

Chapter 32~Not the End, Just the Start of a New Journey
I walked up the snow covered hill and heard my foot prints crunch with every step. The girl under the stars turned around and saw me as her eyes lit up. She ran over and grabbed my hand, pulling me to the top of the hill and showed me the night sky. This was definitely Megan, but when she moved she didn’t make a sound and her words couldn’t reach me, most likely because of Hades. I looked at her face as she gazed at the stars and I wondered if she even wanted to leave. This place did seem to have everything after all and I couldn’t force her to go.

“Megan, I need to tell you something,” I said as I placed my hand on top of hers and grasped it. It felt ice cold to the touch and I wondered if that was from the snow or made her body was just that cold. I then thought that if I mentioned the deal with Hades, I would somehow be quilting her into following me back to the surface. I needed to phrase my question in a way that she could make the choice herself.

“Hades gave me some time to see you, but once I leave I can't look back,” I told her. “It really is nice here. If you want to stay, I can't think of a better place to be, but I can't stay here with you. I hope I see you soon.”

Before she could make any kind of protest, I closed my eyes and began walking back the way I had come. I kept my head forward just in case she was behind me, but I had no way of knowing and I wondered what would happen if she ran in front of me to get my attention. I pasted by the heroes once again who all watched me leave and Ajax gave me a nod as I walked by.

“I can't wait for that rematch,” he said as he held the broken head of his hammer in his hand and raised it up to me. Hopefully it wouldn’t be for a long time, but when you’re a demigod, life is normally short.

“Rain check,” I called back to him, but he didn’t seem to understand the expression and started checking for rain by looking at the sky. It was actually pretty funny. Odysseus jumped off his rock and wrapped an arm around my shoulder as he walked me to the gate of Elysium.

“Yes sure, we have been following your progress for some time. That hydra battle, priceless! Plus your friends seem to stay behind you all the way, my group of men followed me to the ends of the Earth,” he bragged.

“Didn’t they all die?” I asked him and he seemed to freeze for a second as if my statement broke his brain for a second. “Well yes, but when I met them all here again they gave me a punch in the shoulder and it was like old times again. A few of them even admitted it wasn’t my fault. You too should walk forward and don’t look back on your mistakes as good times are head and happy memories will always be waiting behind you.”

“I’ll remember that,” I told him and he smiled at me, but in truth he kind of seemed overly cheerful and I wanted to escape his arm. We arrived at the gate and he pointed to the exit.

“Good bye young warrior, and keep looking forward,” He told me and shook my hand. I walked into the dark tunnel and had to keep my hand on the wall to make sure I didn’t get lost or bump into a wall. My ADHD started to kick in along with my hatred of cramped spaces. I wanted to look behind me but this could be my only chance to save her, if she wanted to be saved that is. I closed my eyes and listened for a sound, but all I heard was the eerie sound of the black walls of Erebus, that seemed to be living stone. I kept walking for what felt like forever and I saw a bright light at the end of the tunnel, which I felt was ironic as I had just come from the land of the dead. I climbed out of the hole and got to my feet, looking around the room to see if anyone was there, but the room was just as empty as I had left it, with the exception of Hades. I then heard the entrance to the Underworld close up behind me and I still didn’t hear anything. My heart sank in my chest and I lowered my head.

“I guess she stayed behind,” I said out load. “At least I got to see her one last time.”

“Prepare to see a lot more of me Slowpoke,” I heard from behind me and I turned around in surprise and happiness. Before I could even make a move, there was a flash of silver and our lips met in one perfect moment.

“Look at that, they finally did it,” I heard behind me and we split apart in embarrassment and shock. We both turned to see not only Kat, but all of our friends as well.

“Hey,” Malcolm said as he walked up with his arm around Erika. “The firework show is coming up, maybe we could double date.”

“Malcolm!” Erika shouted as she gave him a quick jab in his chest, but her face turned bright red. Malcolm on the other hand just kind of laughed it off. From there everything seemed to fall into place. Megan and I spent almost all out time together that night and had slipped out the back of the mess hall as people started flooding inside for dessert.

“So I have to know, if you were following me the entire time, why didn’t you just jump out in front of me,” I asked her as we walked down a dirt path on the edge of the woods.

“After you left, I looked around and saw all the wonders of the Underworld. But they didn’t seem as wonderful without someone special to share them with. After that I ran after you, but Odysseus wrapped his arm around you and used his other to tell me to stop. He then kept using the word follow and stay behind. After awhile I got the hint, the rest was up to you,” she explained and bumped her shoulder into mine with a playful motion. “Why didn’t you just ask me to come back with you?”

“I wanted to it to be your choice. I didn’t want to make you feel like I was quilting you into following me,” I said as I pushed her back. She then started to laugh out loud, and it kind of took me off guard as she very rarely laughed this hard. “What’s so funny?”

“Let me start by saying that we may not agree on everything in this relationship, but let me tell you this. Whenever we fight, every choice will be mine,” she said. “Now close your eyes.”

I did as she told me and we shared another kiss as our arms wrapped around each other. When we parted after maybe a full minute, I wasn’t sure as time seemed to stop. But when we opened our eyes we arrived at a fork in the road.

“It is up to you, which road do you want to go down?” she asked me and I kept special care to make sure we weren’t parted as I held her hands tight. I looked at the two roads and thought about all the possible paths we could take in our lives. While not all of them were right, I’m sure that they would be filled with memories with her.

“None,” I said as I pulled out my hammer. “We’ll make our own road together.”

Darkcloud1111 ~Fastest Hero Alive