The Runaway Rebels- Book 2: The War Of The Godlands

Chapter Seven: The Aftermath

The shaken Rebels teleported back to Loki and Eris' Cave with two new members and an horrible sense of grief as they hid inside the Cave. The second the small beds were conjured Dawn fell down onto one, Aphrodite falling next to her as the other Rebels kept their distance, walking around and keeping their voices down as the mother embraced her daughter. "He can't be gone." Cried Dawn, burying her head in her mother's chest as she continued. "He is. I don't think any of us were expecting them to do something like that, but your father, Dawn all he wanted was to protect you, to protect us." After Aphrodite's reply, Dawn looked up at her mother as she desperately spoke, tears coming in floods, "But I didn't keep you two with me!" "You know you needed that Cover for other people Dawn." Aphrodite said gently.

"But you're my parents- I shouldn't have let you stay I should have kept you with me!" Dawn's voice cracked and broke, almost as though she was pleading with her mother to know she hadn't done wrong. Before she went on, the Goddess of Love sighed a little as though unsure whether to go on. "Listen darling, your father, he- when they came in, they gave us a choice, we didn't know what for, but one of us stayed, and one of us had to go. I fought, I told him I'd never let him be the one to go. Who knows how many times I told him that.." Aphrodite chuckled a little through her tears as she continued, "But your father always was a stubborn one, and most importantly, he would never, ever let anyone take the fall for him. I think we both knew something was going to happen to whoever left. But he just wouldn't let me go. In the end, he would rather have died than let anything happen to me, and while I was the same for him, he protected me. We both wanted to stay Dawn. We wanted to make sure you had the chance to find more people to try and help keep you safe, we wanted to try and help from where we were. We knew the risks. We've seen war before. It's always like this. But don't think for one second, ever, that you caused his death. Look at what you did, you rescued me-" "But I couldn't rescue him-" Dawn interrupted desperately. "But you rescued me." Aphrodite finished, with a firm edge to her voice.. "And your father would be so, so proud of you. He was so proud of you, and so am I. You're our beautiful girl, our ray of sunshine, and all we ever wanted is for you to be safe. Your father loved you, and he always will, and so will I." "I just- I can't-" "I know, I know. This won't be easy. Nothing heals a wound like this, but you can keep it contained, you can it turn it around, turn it from something which rules you, which controls you, into something that drives you. Something you use to remember the person you've lost." Aphrodite said, moving a strand of hair out Dawn's tear-lined face as Dawn replied. "I love you so much." Dawn said, mustering a small smile as she hugged her mother, "I love you too my wonderful darling."

Now while the Rebels may have been able to free some of their supporters, they had not been able to save all the victims of the poisoning and it weighed heavily on their minds as they sat in the Cave, pondering their next move while they gave Aphrodite and Dawn the space they needed to talk. As for Dawn, as far as she was concerned- this was the last straw. They were going to win this war, if not for themselves then for her father and all the other innocent victims of the Loyal's regime. As Dawn was finally about to attempt to get some sleep, her mother stopped her on her way to her bed and placed a small jewel in her hand- a ruby with a gold casing surrounding it. "Your father told me to give you this before, well- you know." Aphrodite said smiling sadly as Dawn smiled a little, tears clouding her eyes, holding the jewel to her chest for a minute remembering all the fond memories she had of her father before dropping the ruby gently into her bag and doing her best to fall asleep.

When Aphrodite went to bed and it seemed as though everyone had fallen into slumbers... a figure got up off her bed and went out of the Cave entrance, not seeing a second figure get up and follow her to where she was sitting with her cloak wrapped round her against the cold. While Ace could tell Pandora knew she was there she didn't look at Ace for a minute as the two sat watching the stars glinting in the night sky, saying nothing. "They are going to pay for this. They have to." Pandora said abruptly turning to her friend with a broken expression on her pale face. "Otherwise how am I going to be able to live with the guilt of my parents killing my best friend's father?" She asked looking pleading at Ace, her green eyes drowning in sorrow, her voice breaking as Ace's heart dropped at Pandora's desperate expression. "They will pay but0 let me tell you this. Family isn't decided by your blood it's decided by who you choose. Those two are not your family and you don't need them. You've got us and you always will. And you do not need to prove anything. You're a Rebel through and through now, just like me eh?" Ace said putting a hand on Pandora's shoulder with a slight smile and looking her straight in the eye. "But what... what if I turn out like them?" Pandora asked in a rush, her eyes scrunched up as she attempted to hide from the horror of the idea. "Oh come on Pandora... you could never be like them. Look- your life isn't written by who your parents want you to be or who anyone wants you to be. YOU and only you choose who you are, and I must say, you've chosen a smashing person to be." Ace said smiling broadly Pandora's eyes opened slowly. "We are going to win this war together and even if everyone else leaves you will always have me and Dawn. We are your real family... and we aren't going anywhere." "Exactly and... what happened... to my father... that was anything but your fault Pandora. None of this is your fault." Said a voice from behind the two as Ace finished, and Dawn appeared wiping her tear stained face before the three friends enveloped each other in a long hug under the star-scattered sky. And in those precious minutes that hug protected them from everything that had happened to them in the last while and meant that, for those precious minutes they were just three friends enjoying each other's company while the stars glittered above their heads.

But suddenly, something interrupted the peacefully sparkling stars above the three, who saw Three Fiery Pegasi making their way down towards the Cave. Someone had leaked their location, the illusions were down. This could only mean one thing- there was a traitor in their mist. The three Immortals jumped up and rushed back into the Cave yelling and waking the others as the Fiery Pegasi landed outside the Cave and the figures of Hades, Hel and Zeus dismounted off each Pegasus. A split second of deadly silence ensued, and then Caspian acted, throwing his spear at Hades who didn't dodge quickly enough and received a nasty graze on the cheek, making his fiery eyes flash with anger as Caspian retrieved his spear and began a fearsome battle with the God of Death, all while Loki blocked an attack on Pandora and rushed up to Zeus with Eris close behind him, ready for a fight.

Through the chaos, Ace and Pandora ran to Hel. "What do you want?" Ace demanded dodging a punch from Hel as Pandora landed her own punch under Hel's chin. "We want our prisoner back." Hel hissed malevolently as Hades ran from Caspian and made to grab Aphrodite who turned quick as a wink and punched Hades square in the face bringing her foot up between his legs in a very hard kick as she did so leaving the God crumpled on the ground in agony, Brenda giving him a large gash on his arm with her sword as Dawn ran over and stood defensively beside her mother. "If you want her you'll have to take us too!" Dawn said as Brenda nodded her agreement, her sword raised. "That can be arranged." Hades drawled angrily as he rubbed the gash on his arm tentatively, giving Brenda a furious look as Zeus shot a huge jet of lightning at Loki, sending him tumbling backwards into Eris, the God of Thunder then to where Caspian was fighting Hel, and grabbed the God, who had no time to struggle as Zeus ran for it, followed quickly by Hel. "I've got him. Let's go!" Then as the scattered Rebels attempted to stop them Hades blasted them back like dominos and, by the time they had all got up, the Pegasi were already flying away and Caspian was gone.

Cascadia stopped dead as she got up, her eyes full of a tearstained fury as she stood stalk still, her hair blowing in the breeze as she stared out into the sky where her brother was taken, Ace turning first to Torsten as she spoke. "I knew you weren't telling us something Torsten! You replaced that illusion when Hel left didn't you dad?" Then she turned to Loki who nodded. "So how do you explain that Torsten? We bring you back from the Loyals' Dungeons where you have conveniently been spared and then they invade our hideout and take Caspian, the telepath! Maybe that was confidence but I'd guess that they didn't want him figuring out your secret- unless you've got some good evidence that is." Torsten scoffed a little, his voice low as he spoke, "Oh please, I'll tell you my theory. I think they took Caspian to throw us off after all, most of his family are on their team why shouldn't he be- that's what you all assume of me after all." There was a chorus of uproars at this as Cascadia seethed in fury, suddenly standing up and facing Torsten with her fists clenched, taking a step towards the shocked God with each word. "My brother... my brother is gone and could be killed at any minute and you, YOU think you can just come in here and call him a traitor! I'll show you who the traitor is!" Hissed Cascadia, the Goddess walking away before suddenly turning on her heel and punching a shocked Torsten full in the face, raising her arm to deliver a second blow before Brenda stepped in between the two. "Cascadia, look at me." Brenda said calmly, Cascadia not looking at Brenda as she continued. "We'll get revenge for this and Caspian will be ok... or else." Said Brenda with a deadly serious expression on her face, Cascadia's eyes slowly turned towards Brenda as she finished. "But we have other things to do right now." And at this Cascadia gave a slow, reluctant nod and sat back, giving the now very nervous Torsten a stare full of death mirrored by most of the Immortals in the room, Aphrodite and Dawn in particular, as Loki spoke up with a cool drawl, giving Torsten a disgusted look as he did. "Yes and last time I checked your... dear father is on their side and I'll bet your simpering mother is too." Loki sneered at the young God which sparked off a yell of indignation from Torsten as the room erupted in yells and protests from all sides.

Finally, Brenda grew tired of the protesting voices and called for quiet, once, twice, three times, her fourth yell drawing the attention back to her as she spoke up firmly. "We need to root out the traitor before we make a plan to rescue Caspian." "Look, we may as well go back to sleep and talk about it in the morning." Dawn said giving Torsten an uncharacteristically sour look as he slunk off to one of the empty beds. "I'm warning you Torsten..." Said Cascadia softly, her fists still clenched. "If anything has happened to my brother... you'll regret it." And with that she walked away from the God, as Ace ran her hands through her messy black hair, pacing through the shadows of the cave, while Dawn looked around the room with tear stains still present on her furious face. As Pandora slipped away to bed she could do nothing but sit awake, her mind buzzing with a million intrusive thoughts as she tossed and turned, eventually opting to fix her eyes on the dark ceiling above her, as Torsten watched a similar spot on the far end of the ceiling, his mind equally as full of merging anxieties.