Arden: The Gift Of Delirium

44. I'll Be There For You

So no one told you life was gonna be this way...

*Clap, clap, clap, clap*

***

Arden

"Zane, wait." I jogged to catch up to him. We were in a normal residential area. The houses were quiet and the street wasn't that busy. "Stop." I caught up to him as he continued to walk. I grabbed his arm and made him turn around. His face was still impassive and he wasn't looking at me. "Wow, you walk really fast."

Zane was quiet as he shook his head. "Arden, I don't-I don't know what just happened back there, okay."

"Zane, it's gonna be fin-"

"Yeah, but look what she's already done so far. How are we supposed to mend together to take her down?" I stepped closer to him as he looked at me seriously.

"We just have to work together. It's important that we don't fall apart now, of all times. We have to do this together, we can't let her get to us."

"We gotta be honest with ourselves, Arden. How the hell are we supposed to stick together when we've all been at each other's throat for the past eight weeks?"

"That's not tru-"

"Yes, it is." Zane cut me off. "Armani and Ace can't stop fighting with each other. Every second, Nikki is pounding on Ali because of something stupid he did last year, Armani is bouncing off the freaking wall because she's wary about Hayden having feelings for her, Ace isn't happy about that. I can't seem to wrap my head around how you and Hayden have gotten so close, and if you wanna know the truth, yes, I'm a little jealous. Then, there's Jo who apparently isn't the girl I thought she was, and I've might've been falling for her. You, Arden, are on my mind 24/7 and the fact that we still love each other keeps me up at night. The girl that I used to love is supposedly dead, making that two exes who are gone and these visions keep making things tense between all of us, and I'm not sure what's going on with Ace, and I'm sure none of this is gonna stop."

I was speechless as Zane finished his rant. I've never seen him like this, ever. He must be really frustrated, maybe stressed. When I first met him, he wouldn't even give me the time of day, and now, he was pouring out everything that he felt. He was being vulnerable. He ran a hand down his face and shook his head. This was going to bother him more than any of us.

He was right, though. Everyone couldn't stop fighting because of these visions. Zane and I do still love each other. He probably was falling for Johanna. And this wasn't going to be easy, at all.

I walked closer to him brought my hands to his shoulders. Hoping they would relax a little, and they did. I felt the tension release in them. "Hey," I pleaded that he looked at me. It didn't matter how close we were at the moment, I just needed him to know that we're all in this together. Zane looked up at me and I ran my hands down to clasp his, holding them tightly in my hand. "We're going to be fine. I know we are, okay? Believe it or not, we're better together. We make each other better and I know it's not going to be easy but we have to try. If things go wrong, if one of us start to falter, we have each other's back." I told him. Zane just stared at me silently. "I got your back, Zane." I whispered.

He nodded after a while and I pulled him into a hug, he returned the favor. It's been a while since I've hugged him. A long while. I could feel the astriction leaving his body and I was relieved. A warm feeling spread through my body, from my head, all the way from my toes. I accepted it.

"Thank you, Arden." I felt him hug me tighter and I closed my eyes. "I needed that."

"You're welcome."

***

"Well, we have to think about the possibilities," I mumbled. "She might've said some things that could have a double meaning or some kind of indirectness."

"Like what?" Ace asked. We decided to come back to the hotel and we brought Camilla with us. Since Johanna decided to tell us what she wants with us, we have to put the pieces together for some still unclear things. Like who she is. She's obviously a disparate, but what exactly?

'I will be Queen of the gods, the way it's supposed to be.'

"Queen of the gods, why is she supposed to be Queen of the gods?" Armani asked.

I shook my head. 'Zane, I might be doing this for my crown but there's nothing more I want than us to be together.'

"What about those two girls on the field?" Ali piped up. "One of them grew feathers." He grimaced at the memory.

"It seemed to me she was turning into a bird or some shit," Hayden answered. "Do you think she might be a Harpy?"

"Definitely," Camilla spoke up. She was sitting on the bed, playing with the gold streak of hair hanging in front of her face. "I haven't seen one of those in a long time, though."

Harpy. Half bird, half woman. "She was obviously working for Johanna, but how do you think she got all these people to help her. The kobalos, harpies..." Perri asked.

"And what about....Kenai?" Nikki sat forward in her criss-cross position. Her face was impassive. "What about him and the other girl?"

"We'll have to figure that out too," Zane mumbled.

I stopped listening when Johanna's words kept running through my mind. 'I will be Queen of the gods, the way it's supposed to be.'

Oh, my gods....

She can't be...I mean could she really be a....

'Zane, I might be doing this for my crown but there's nothing more I want than us to be together. You deserve to rule next to me. A king and his queen....'

I can't believe I didn't figure it out sooner. I mean it makes perfect sense now. "I think...I think I know who she is." I said lowly. Everyone stopped talking and turned to me expectantly.

"Who?"

"Johanna's of Hera's descent," I said out loud. Everyone was quiet as they thought about my words. "Think about it," I deadpanned. "She wants to rule over the earth and be Queen of the gods- she wants Zane to be her king only because she feels he has to. In mortal mythology, Hera is Queen of the gods and she's still married to Zeus."

Perri nodded his head in understanding. "The mortals don't know about the actual affairs." He added and I nodded.

"And how it actually resulted." Zane finished. "You think she's really related to Hera?"

"She has to be," I mumbled. "Maybe her daughter..."

"How would Hera have a daughter?" Nikki asked. She folded her arms and looked around. "No one knows where she is."

"The gods know." Ace replied. I'm pretty sure the gods do know where Hera is. Hera's marriage with Zeus wasn't the best- in fact it was gruesome. He was unfaithful and unloyal in so many ways. In return, she did some pretty awful things. The gods say she turned into such a wicked woman, she was banished. Although it's a rumor us disparates made up, It might be true. Zeus probably exiled her from Olympus for her cruelty.

"Do you think she was actually banished?" Camilla asked.

"Maybe," I replied. "Only the gods really know what took place thousands of years ago."

*****
Poor Zane. Arden will always be there for him. Buttt, do you really think Johanna might be Hera's daughter?

What happened to Hera, you'll find out eventually. But next chapter- I so excited for you guys to read it. Not gonna day much but it's a flashback of the gods of Olympus B.C. Zeus and Hera are everything, y'all.

Jk, but nice to know you guys believe I'm super young. No one guessed my actual age but someone was very close. Until next time,

-brittany.