“You’re pretty scared for a son of Phobos.” Stella joked. There was a smile on Lucian’s lips. It wasn’t forced, yet it wasn’t happy. It was a smile that showed it’s being contained knowledge. A smile that said “I know something you do not.”
“Do not compare me to my father. I am as much a clone of my father as you are of yours. And what I am afraid of scares even Phobos himself to the bone. One would have to be mad as a hatter to not be afraid.” Lucian replied to his sister.
As they stood out on the balcony of the Heroes Organization’s HQ, time seemed to pass slowly. Perhaps it was just how stunning the sight was, or perchance it was the emotion between the siblings. A slight breeze through Olympus blew past them as the silence continued on.
“Do you think Kate and Mum knew what would happen?” Stella asked. The silence always brought thought of loss to her mind. She often thought about Kate’s life in particular. How she was only twenty when she went missing on the quest. She thought about Kate’s fiancé, whom she would never return to. She would never walk down the aisle, never have kids. Her life was cut short at it’s prime.
“I think that they lived like we do. They knew what they were, they knew they would have to make sacrifices and perhaps die in the process. They just tried to live while they could. Do good things, give. I think they never woke up sad because they were just happen to live another day. There was no reason to be sad.” Lucian said, a tad absent-minded.
He turned his head to look at Stella. “It’s my turn to ask questions. Can you live like Kate and Mom did?”
Stella knitted her eyebrows together. Could she ever? She had lost so much already. Her home, her mother, her beloved older sister. She fought for and served people who had done nothing but take from her her. It made her feel bitter. It made her feel empty, and hollow. Like she was only a shell, and her insides had been scooped out after so much pain endured.
“I don’t know.” She looked away. “It can only get worse.” Lucian grinned again.
“Exactly. When you’re lived like us, death is paradise. All the suffering, all the pain is forgotten after that drink from Lethe’s river. Just like that, you are painless and naïve as a child. Can you imagine a better paradise?” Lucian sighed. But it wasn’t a sigh of annoyance, but one of relief. As if he was dreaming of the paradise that awaited him, that awaited them all. “My point, Stella, is when someone leaves…mourn. Mourn for just a minute or two, and then forget. Just like they will do. Set yourself free of the pain and forget. Let yourself have a moment of your own paradise.”
“Why do you tell me this?” Stella whispered. “Tell me. There has to be a reason. You’ve never talked to me like this before! What is it?”
Lucian sighed. “Arcana senses a great battle is near. Soon there will be a final battle. Soon, tragedy will run rampage among us. And I want you to stay strong through this. We all need it.”
Stella stared forward, silent. “I’m not that strong, I’ll never be. Lucian…you and Seth, you keep me alive. You’re the only two things that I have left. I want…I want it back! I want my life back! I didn’t sign up for this, why was it me!? Why us!?”
“No one signed up for life, Stella. Even though we’re…different, we’re still human. A little, at least. Everyone is faced with problems. And just like everyone else, after we get through the storm, we will be rewarded with peace and serenity at last.” Lucian tried to calm his sister; however, it was not working. She continued to get more anxious with every word. Lucian sighed at last. “I can tell you that it’ll be okay. We’ll resurface from this fight like we always do. But that’ll be a lie.”
“What if…what if we train? Just train, day and night? Then can we win? Then can everyone live?” Stella was searching her mind quickly for any possible remedy. Lucian rested a hand on her shoulder.
“Let’s face the facts, Stella. Fate’s finally found us.”
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| The Heroes Organization <- {{{previousstory}}} - {{{futurestory}}} -> |
(Right before the third book.)