Dogs and Time - August 30th
Twisted Shorts August Fic-a-Day Challenge - Day 30
Title: Dogs and Time
Author: hermione2be
Rating: PG/FR13/K+
Crossover: BtVS/Batman/DC
Disclaimer: I do not own any of BtVS/Angel or Batman/DC people, places, or ideas. This fiction is done simply for pleasure and I receive no profit.
Summary: The end of training in some ways is a giant step forward.
Notes: Part 8 of Athena Follows Bruce - Don't ask me, it's 2am, I have to be at work in 4 hours and I still have 1 more day to try and write for. Time jump halfway through because that's what my addled brain has decided was needed, probably another in the next chapter. Maybe it'll flesh out more next year or when "Fates" is complete.
Word Count: 2735
Four days a week, Athena studied in Constantine’s shop. Sometimes it was just reading, others it was practical attempts. It was clearly pity that drove him to help her, but he never said anything about it since their first meeting.
The worst part was starting from the beginning again, trying to understand how she managed the magic that had kept her secrets hidden in Smallville. Though it was minor, it did given them a place to start.
A month in and she was finally starting to understand her own power. Understanding had come with a leap in ability.
Athena stepped off the platform and made her way towards the shop. She liked getting off more than a stop away, it allowed her to calm before reaching the shop.
She turned down the street and nearly tripped on a puppy. Completely black, she had missed its form on the dark stones.
She kneeled down and looked at the pitch black puppy. “Where did you come from?” she asked as she looked around. She listened a moment, but could not hear a mother or other puppies. “You’ve got to be more careful.”
It whined up at her.
“I don’t have anything for you,” she told him regretfully. “I have to go. You should find a home.”
Athena stood and made her way to the shop. She opened the door and entered to a small tinkling bell.
Constantine appeared after a moment.
She grimaced, he was clearly hungover.
“You brought something with you, Seph,” he said as he brushed past her. Constantine opened the door and looked down at the stones. Then he sighed and stepped back.
In trotted the black puppy.
She shook her head. “He followed me after I nearly tripped over him.”
“Not so much,” Constantine replied. “Certain types of witches reach a point when they create a familiar.”
“I didn’t create a puppy.”
“The use of magic creates them.”
“You have a familiar?”
“It doesn’t come to everyone,” he said quickly. “But given your type of magic, it was only a matter of time.”
Athena kneeled and studied the pup who had collapsed at her feet. “It just looks like a dog.”
“It most ways, it is. But he will be especially attuned to you, able to enhance your spells and anchor them. Right now he’s too young, but soon.”
“Travel isn’t conducive to a dog.”
“Familiars, once they mature, are less pet and more companion. They get their own food, feed you if it comes to that…”
“So in three years, he’ll be useful?”
“He grows with your magic. He’ll go from puppy to full-size in a matter of weeks.”
Athena laid her hand on the little head. It was soft and solid and warm.
“Like all things related to magic, his name will give him power.”
“Cerberus,” she answered without hesitation. The puppy looked up at her and gave a snort.
Constantine regarded her for a full minute before nodding. “Then shall we get to work, get him to grow?”
88888888
Bruce was surprised to find Athena waiting when he entered the house. She was sitting on the couch with a black animal asleep in her lap.
“What is that?” he asked as he set his bag down.
“Cerberus,” she replied. “Magic-user’s familiar, my familiar. He’ll be full-grown in a few weeks and then he’ll be a self-sufficient conduit for magic.”
Bruce watched her a moment before sitting. “Why ‘Cerberus’?”
“Because I still use Persephone.” She considered. “Except for you, it’s the only name I’ve been called since we arrived.”
“Then I guess the question is, why Persephone?”
“Because of a vision of a bat.”
He frowned.
“The vision I had, the one that caused me to leave Smallville…it was of a bat. I have no idea what it meant or what it was supposed to tell me. On the plane, my mind was focused on what a bat could mean. One of the permutations was Persephone - Goddess of the Underworld - and she and Hades were associated with bats. When the stylist asked for my name, it was the first thing that popped into my head.”
“And you’ve decided to keep it going with the dog?”
“It’ll be ironic if he’s a beagle or dachshund.
“Any idea what he is?”
“Nope.”
“But he’s going everywhere with you?”
“Yep.”
Bruce nodded.
88888888
Within a week it was clear that Cerberus was going to remain jet black. With green eyes that looked eerily similar to a pair she had known in Smallville. As his features elongated with age, he was a clearly a German Shepard. His ears stood straight off his head.
He didn’t like collars, but would tolerate a vest with leash when necessary. He was quick to run after wildlife, but easy to recall. While it appeared that he wasn’t alert, she found he was actually aware of things even she missed. His bark was deeper than his diminutive size suggested and he used it when he sensed someone had ill-will.
Bruce seemed to take the addition in stride, even more so when he saw that Cerberus was full-grown within three weeks.
“It’s time to go,” Bruce announced early one morning. “Two days.”
Athena nodded. “I’ll let John know today.”
He stared at her for a long time before saying, “You don’t have to come.”
She didn’t acknowledge his words. “Where are we going?”
“No exact location,” he replied. “Asia, Middle East, Africa some.”
“The nomadic experience,” she guessed. “Got a lot to learn.”
“Why do you think that?”
“Your fighting styles,” she said. “I saw it was some of the more recent reading you were doing.”
“Would that be something of interest to you?”
“Sparring sounds better than running five miles a day,” she admitted. “And I’ve maxed out all the equipment in the gym.”
“Same.”
88888888
Constantine lit a cigarette as their session ended. “You’re leaving,” he said, neither accusing nor sounding upset.
“It’s time. We’ve got more to learn and it doesn’t involve staying in Europe.”
He nodded. “I have a question, one I never asked…”
She tilted her head to the side in curiosity, Cerberus making the same expression from his place at her side.
He seemed to debate a long moment. The ember of his cigarette showing his deep inhale. “It doesn’t matter, Seph.” He held out his card. “In case you need help.”
She took it. “Thank you, Constantine.” She offered her hand.
He shook her hand. “Take care of yourself and Cerberus.”
Athena nodded.
“And…try not to destroy the world with your need to save it.”
She gave him a lopsided grin.
88888888
Lex picked up a letter from his desk. He absently opened it.
Lexie,
Sorry it took so long to write. I hope you are doing well. I know you’re still angry - Father too. Clark as well, given how terribly I bungled this up.
I need you to understand something. When my heart stopped, I didn’t see angels or anything that we would expect. Nor did I just stare into the darkness. I remember your voice and Clark’s warmth. You pulled me back…but what if it was my time?
Ever since then I have felt a strange compulsion to fight, fight for good, fight the bonds of our lives. I wish it hadn’t taken me so far from you.
Maybe the truth is that it didn’t scare me. I don’t want to die, but when it comes for me - I want to be able to say I lived. Hopefully, you’ll forgive me and find it in your heart to still love me. Because I still love you - as I did every day you were at Yale.
Attie
He stared at the letter, then turned over the envelope. The postmark was for New York. Lex grabbed the phone and made a call.
88888888
Six Years Later
“This would be easier with a checklist,” Athena muttered.
“Something to say?” Bruce asked dryly.
“Not a thing,” she retorted.
Cerberus made a sound somewhere between a snort and a bark. He was about a hundred pounds, standing thirty inches tall. His green eyes had been recognized as a magical attribute a few times over the years.
They traded off intellectual and physical pursuits. When they were learning something new, they sparred against each other and against Cerberus. While Bruce could not learn magic actively, he had studied as much as he could about it - so much so that he could ‘sense’ magic the way he could detect rare poisons by smell.
Athena’s hair was long, in a series of braids. The color dark with bright red ends. Her skin was always healthy and sun-kissed. Her height had topped out at five foot five. But she was in good shape from near-constant training.
Bruce was six one and just as fit. His dark hair and blue eyes made most girls swoon no matter how uninterested he appeared. He took on vampires and demons when the need arose, but he went toe-to-toe with Athena often - finding himself her equal.
At twenty-one, both were focused on only one thing, their training. They had seen a good portion of the world in the last six years. But they were not done. For a moment last year, they had thought about settling near Quantico in Washington D.C. but four months in to FBI training Bruce had declared they were leaving.
Athena asked few questions. When they had finally had the discussion about why they were doing this, more than a year into their time together, they had come to an agreement. They were both to free to leave - though the other was allowed to pursue. Sneaking off was not acceptable, if there was something that needed to be done it wasn’t done in the dark of the night. They were allowed their privacy and private thoughts (many of their living quarters hadn’t actually permitted this).
No killing humans.
Persephone was her name - used by most of those she had met since Constantine. Bruce was the only person who called her Athena - if he knew they were absolutely alone. He went by Bruce or Hades, depending on his mood and his assessment of the risks.
Their relationship was never really discussed. So much of their time was spent training that in the quiet moments they just existed together. They were rarely at odds, and emotional disputes were exhausted by training. There was a part of themselves that was held back, even so many years in. They had been introduced as friends, enemies, siblings, strangers, lovers - whatever was needed for the situation.
The only times there was friction was when they had learned all of something and were ready to move on. How they decided and where they went next was a large part of the problem. Bruce had a mental checklist, Athena sometimes felt they were taking risks going back to some of the same areas they had been to before.
They didn’t necessarily leave on bad terms, but in pursuit of what they needed…they had definitely drawn the attention of questionable people.
Athena’s current annoyance was the wish Bruce had to keep up with technology. She rarely had a good relationship with technology, blaming it on her default abilities with swords and skill at archery. I can type, I can search, but programming and hacking are not in my wheelhouse any more than Slayer premonition is in yours.
Her favorite thing was actually driving. Her reflexes plus the engineering of motorcycles, cars, and planes. Italy had been fun in that regard.
“You’re not here,” Bruce told her, his note lacking accusation.
Athena sighed and turned to look at him across the train’s dining car table. “After six years, do you really think I’m going to just get fed up and leave? Gods, Hades, what would I be going back to? Where would I even go?”
“There is always home.”
She swallowed and searched his face. It was one she knew as well as her own, as well as Cerberus’s. She reached across the table and took his hand, turning it palm up in the center between them. “I know every scar you have. Every nick and crack. Inside and out.” She ran her finger over a scar on the base of his thumb. “You know me just as well - if not better.”
“Yes,” he agreed, his voice rough.
“Then you know you’re home to me.” She kept her gaze on his fingertips. “And I am perfectly content to travel and train and learn with you anywhere.”
His hand gripped hers, keeping it from move with a firm but gentle touch. “What if I cannot complete this training with you?”
She froze. “What?”
“If I am to become whoever I’m meant to be…I need to be able to do that free of distraction.”
“And I’m a ‘distraction’.” She could read the warring emotions across his face.
When he spoke, his words were slow and measured. “I have loved you since we were children. Since I knew what love was.”
“We’re best friends, always have been, even when we didn’t speak much,” she agreed.
Bruce swallowed. “You asked me why I invited you to join me, at that Christmas party all those years ago.”
She nodded.
“Because I wanted you with me in this. The person I love. You would either hate me for it or grow bored. But when you couldn’t keep going…I would be able to let you go.”
“Except I didn’t stay behind. And I still haven’t left. Because as the Slayer…I can keep up.”
“But I was meant to do this alone.”
“And I was supposed to die.”
Cerberus let out a quiet whine. She set a hand on his head, calming her companion as he was buffeted by their emotional energy.
“Slayers are one in three million?” she said, “Give or take a hundred thousand. What are the chances that not only would your best friend be one, but that she would agree to something as crazy as globetrotting with you while we were fourteen?”
He raised an eyebrow, a technique he had been taught by some interrogator two years ago.
“I love you,” she said, “all of you. Cranky ass days and bossy days and days where you can’t see any more than the end of crime and injustice. You are the person I want to talk to at the end of a long day of being with you.”
He released her hand and withdrew his. “Just because I’m the only person you’ve known doesn’t mean I’m what you want.” He shifted as if to make to stand.
She was faster. She grabbed his arm and pulled him down, aware of any eyes that may be on them. “You are the most stubborn ass to ever live.” She hissed at him. She made her way around the table and sat next to him, turning her whole body to face him. “In my memories of being a very small child, there were exactly two things I was aware of, two things I loved in the world before I even understood what love was. First there was my big brother, and he was everything to me. So much so, that I know he had red hair but I always see him as a bald kid.” She gave a smile, feeling her heart race. “And then there was you. Always you. From the time I was two. My best friend. The person who understood something about me that no one else did. In the last six years, you have been stuck with me, because I didn’t follow your plan and leave.”
He pulled her to him, looking down into her face. “You have to leave now. Walk away, Athena.”
“Not even if Hell froze over this instant.” She tilted her head back, taking in the boy - the man who had been her friend since they were young. The one she had trained and learned with, who had barely blinked at her power and destiny.
He looked fierce and frozen. Torn between what he wanted, what he thought was right, and the path he had clawed out for himself. “This changes everything.” The words were strangled, possibly a warning to one or both of them.
“So?”
His kiss was solid and hot. It was a demonstration of skill and an enticing offer. She responded enthusiastically, tangling her fingers in his hair.
Title: Dogs and Time
Author: hermione2be
Rating: PG/FR13/K+
Crossover: BtVS/Batman/DC
Disclaimer: I do not own any of BtVS/Angel or Batman/DC people, places, or ideas. This fiction is done simply for pleasure and I receive no profit.
Summary: The end of training in some ways is a giant step forward.
Notes: Part 8 of Athena Follows Bruce - Don't ask me, it's 2am, I have to be at work in 4 hours and I still have 1 more day to try and write for. Time jump halfway through because that's what my addled brain has decided was needed, probably another in the next chapter. Maybe it'll flesh out more next year or when "Fates" is complete.
Word Count: 2735
Four days a week, Athena studied in Constantine’s shop. Sometimes it was just reading, others it was practical attempts. It was clearly pity that drove him to help her, but he never said anything about it since their first meeting.
The worst part was starting from the beginning again, trying to understand how she managed the magic that had kept her secrets hidden in Smallville. Though it was minor, it did given them a place to start.
A month in and she was finally starting to understand her own power. Understanding had come with a leap in ability.
Athena stepped off the platform and made her way towards the shop. She liked getting off more than a stop away, it allowed her to calm before reaching the shop.
She turned down the street and nearly tripped on a puppy. Completely black, she had missed its form on the dark stones.
She kneeled down and looked at the pitch black puppy. “Where did you come from?” she asked as she looked around. She listened a moment, but could not hear a mother or other puppies. “You’ve got to be more careful.”
It whined up at her.
“I don’t have anything for you,” she told him regretfully. “I have to go. You should find a home.”
Athena stood and made her way to the shop. She opened the door and entered to a small tinkling bell.
Constantine appeared after a moment.
She grimaced, he was clearly hungover.
“You brought something with you, Seph,” he said as he brushed past her. Constantine opened the door and looked down at the stones. Then he sighed and stepped back.
In trotted the black puppy.
She shook her head. “He followed me after I nearly tripped over him.”
“Not so much,” Constantine replied. “Certain types of witches reach a point when they create a familiar.”
“I didn’t create a puppy.”
“The use of magic creates them.”
“You have a familiar?”
“It doesn’t come to everyone,” he said quickly. “But given your type of magic, it was only a matter of time.”
Athena kneeled and studied the pup who had collapsed at her feet. “It just looks like a dog.”
“It most ways, it is. But he will be especially attuned to you, able to enhance your spells and anchor them. Right now he’s too young, but soon.”
“Travel isn’t conducive to a dog.”
“Familiars, once they mature, are less pet and more companion. They get their own food, feed you if it comes to that…”
“So in three years, he’ll be useful?”
“He grows with your magic. He’ll go from puppy to full-size in a matter of weeks.”
Athena laid her hand on the little head. It was soft and solid and warm.
“Like all things related to magic, his name will give him power.”
“Cerberus,” she answered without hesitation. The puppy looked up at her and gave a snort.
Constantine regarded her for a full minute before nodding. “Then shall we get to work, get him to grow?”
88888888
Bruce was surprised to find Athena waiting when he entered the house. She was sitting on the couch with a black animal asleep in her lap.
“What is that?” he asked as he set his bag down.
“Cerberus,” she replied. “Magic-user’s familiar, my familiar. He’ll be full-grown in a few weeks and then he’ll be a self-sufficient conduit for magic.”
Bruce watched her a moment before sitting. “Why ‘Cerberus’?”
“Because I still use Persephone.” She considered. “Except for you, it’s the only name I’ve been called since we arrived.”
“Then I guess the question is, why Persephone?”
“Because of a vision of a bat.”
He frowned.
“The vision I had, the one that caused me to leave Smallville…it was of a bat. I have no idea what it meant or what it was supposed to tell me. On the plane, my mind was focused on what a bat could mean. One of the permutations was Persephone - Goddess of the Underworld - and she and Hades were associated with bats. When the stylist asked for my name, it was the first thing that popped into my head.”
“And you’ve decided to keep it going with the dog?”
“It’ll be ironic if he’s a beagle or dachshund.
“Any idea what he is?”
“Nope.”
“But he’s going everywhere with you?”
“Yep.”
Bruce nodded.
88888888
Within a week it was clear that Cerberus was going to remain jet black. With green eyes that looked eerily similar to a pair she had known in Smallville. As his features elongated with age, he was a clearly a German Shepard. His ears stood straight off his head.
He didn’t like collars, but would tolerate a vest with leash when necessary. He was quick to run after wildlife, but easy to recall. While it appeared that he wasn’t alert, she found he was actually aware of things even she missed. His bark was deeper than his diminutive size suggested and he used it when he sensed someone had ill-will.
Bruce seemed to take the addition in stride, even more so when he saw that Cerberus was full-grown within three weeks.
“It’s time to go,” Bruce announced early one morning. “Two days.”
Athena nodded. “I’ll let John know today.”
He stared at her for a long time before saying, “You don’t have to come.”
She didn’t acknowledge his words. “Where are we going?”
“No exact location,” he replied. “Asia, Middle East, Africa some.”
“The nomadic experience,” she guessed. “Got a lot to learn.”
“Why do you think that?”
“Your fighting styles,” she said. “I saw it was some of the more recent reading you were doing.”
“Would that be something of interest to you?”
“Sparring sounds better than running five miles a day,” she admitted. “And I’ve maxed out all the equipment in the gym.”
“Same.”
88888888
Constantine lit a cigarette as their session ended. “You’re leaving,” he said, neither accusing nor sounding upset.
“It’s time. We’ve got more to learn and it doesn’t involve staying in Europe.”
He nodded. “I have a question, one I never asked…”
She tilted her head to the side in curiosity, Cerberus making the same expression from his place at her side.
He seemed to debate a long moment. The ember of his cigarette showing his deep inhale. “It doesn’t matter, Seph.” He held out his card. “In case you need help.”
She took it. “Thank you, Constantine.” She offered her hand.
He shook her hand. “Take care of yourself and Cerberus.”
Athena nodded.
“And…try not to destroy the world with your need to save it.”
She gave him a lopsided grin.
88888888
Lex picked up a letter from his desk. He absently opened it.
Lexie,
Sorry it took so long to write. I hope you are doing well. I know you’re still angry - Father too. Clark as well, given how terribly I bungled this up.
I need you to understand something. When my heart stopped, I didn’t see angels or anything that we would expect. Nor did I just stare into the darkness. I remember your voice and Clark’s warmth. You pulled me back…but what if it was my time?
Ever since then I have felt a strange compulsion to fight, fight for good, fight the bonds of our lives. I wish it hadn’t taken me so far from you.
Maybe the truth is that it didn’t scare me. I don’t want to die, but when it comes for me - I want to be able to say I lived. Hopefully, you’ll forgive me and find it in your heart to still love me. Because I still love you - as I did every day you were at Yale.
Attie
He stared at the letter, then turned over the envelope. The postmark was for New York. Lex grabbed the phone and made a call.
88888888
Six Years Later
“This would be easier with a checklist,” Athena muttered.
“Something to say?” Bruce asked dryly.
“Not a thing,” she retorted.
Cerberus made a sound somewhere between a snort and a bark. He was about a hundred pounds, standing thirty inches tall. His green eyes had been recognized as a magical attribute a few times over the years.
They traded off intellectual and physical pursuits. When they were learning something new, they sparred against each other and against Cerberus. While Bruce could not learn magic actively, he had studied as much as he could about it - so much so that he could ‘sense’ magic the way he could detect rare poisons by smell.
Athena’s hair was long, in a series of braids. The color dark with bright red ends. Her skin was always healthy and sun-kissed. Her height had topped out at five foot five. But she was in good shape from near-constant training.
Bruce was six one and just as fit. His dark hair and blue eyes made most girls swoon no matter how uninterested he appeared. He took on vampires and demons when the need arose, but he went toe-to-toe with Athena often - finding himself her equal.
At twenty-one, both were focused on only one thing, their training. They had seen a good portion of the world in the last six years. But they were not done. For a moment last year, they had thought about settling near Quantico in Washington D.C. but four months in to FBI training Bruce had declared they were leaving.
Athena asked few questions. When they had finally had the discussion about why they were doing this, more than a year into their time together, they had come to an agreement. They were both to free to leave - though the other was allowed to pursue. Sneaking off was not acceptable, if there was something that needed to be done it wasn’t done in the dark of the night. They were allowed their privacy and private thoughts (many of their living quarters hadn’t actually permitted this).
No killing humans.
Persephone was her name - used by most of those she had met since Constantine. Bruce was the only person who called her Athena - if he knew they were absolutely alone. He went by Bruce or Hades, depending on his mood and his assessment of the risks.
Their relationship was never really discussed. So much of their time was spent training that in the quiet moments they just existed together. They were rarely at odds, and emotional disputes were exhausted by training. There was a part of themselves that was held back, even so many years in. They had been introduced as friends, enemies, siblings, strangers, lovers - whatever was needed for the situation.
The only times there was friction was when they had learned all of something and were ready to move on. How they decided and where they went next was a large part of the problem. Bruce had a mental checklist, Athena sometimes felt they were taking risks going back to some of the same areas they had been to before.
They didn’t necessarily leave on bad terms, but in pursuit of what they needed…they had definitely drawn the attention of questionable people.
Athena’s current annoyance was the wish Bruce had to keep up with technology. She rarely had a good relationship with technology, blaming it on her default abilities with swords and skill at archery. I can type, I can search, but programming and hacking are not in my wheelhouse any more than Slayer premonition is in yours.
Her favorite thing was actually driving. Her reflexes plus the engineering of motorcycles, cars, and planes. Italy had been fun in that regard.
“You’re not here,” Bruce told her, his note lacking accusation.
Athena sighed and turned to look at him across the train’s dining car table. “After six years, do you really think I’m going to just get fed up and leave? Gods, Hades, what would I be going back to? Where would I even go?”
“There is always home.”
She swallowed and searched his face. It was one she knew as well as her own, as well as Cerberus’s. She reached across the table and took his hand, turning it palm up in the center between them. “I know every scar you have. Every nick and crack. Inside and out.” She ran her finger over a scar on the base of his thumb. “You know me just as well - if not better.”
“Yes,” he agreed, his voice rough.
“Then you know you’re home to me.” She kept her gaze on his fingertips. “And I am perfectly content to travel and train and learn with you anywhere.”
His hand gripped hers, keeping it from move with a firm but gentle touch. “What if I cannot complete this training with you?”
She froze. “What?”
“If I am to become whoever I’m meant to be…I need to be able to do that free of distraction.”
“And I’m a ‘distraction’.” She could read the warring emotions across his face.
When he spoke, his words were slow and measured. “I have loved you since we were children. Since I knew what love was.”
“We’re best friends, always have been, even when we didn’t speak much,” she agreed.
Bruce swallowed. “You asked me why I invited you to join me, at that Christmas party all those years ago.”
She nodded.
“Because I wanted you with me in this. The person I love. You would either hate me for it or grow bored. But when you couldn’t keep going…I would be able to let you go.”
“Except I didn’t stay behind. And I still haven’t left. Because as the Slayer…I can keep up.”
“But I was meant to do this alone.”
“And I was supposed to die.”
Cerberus let out a quiet whine. She set a hand on his head, calming her companion as he was buffeted by their emotional energy.
“Slayers are one in three million?” she said, “Give or take a hundred thousand. What are the chances that not only would your best friend be one, but that she would agree to something as crazy as globetrotting with you while we were fourteen?”
He raised an eyebrow, a technique he had been taught by some interrogator two years ago.
“I love you,” she said, “all of you. Cranky ass days and bossy days and days where you can’t see any more than the end of crime and injustice. You are the person I want to talk to at the end of a long day of being with you.”
He released her hand and withdrew his. “Just because I’m the only person you’ve known doesn’t mean I’m what you want.” He shifted as if to make to stand.
She was faster. She grabbed his arm and pulled him down, aware of any eyes that may be on them. “You are the most stubborn ass to ever live.” She hissed at him. She made her way around the table and sat next to him, turning her whole body to face him. “In my memories of being a very small child, there were exactly two things I was aware of, two things I loved in the world before I even understood what love was. First there was my big brother, and he was everything to me. So much so, that I know he had red hair but I always see him as a bald kid.” She gave a smile, feeling her heart race. “And then there was you. Always you. From the time I was two. My best friend. The person who understood something about me that no one else did. In the last six years, you have been stuck with me, because I didn’t follow your plan and leave.”
He pulled her to him, looking down into her face. “You have to leave now. Walk away, Athena.”
“Not even if Hell froze over this instant.” She tilted her head back, taking in the boy - the man who had been her friend since they were young. The one she had trained and learned with, who had barely blinked at her power and destiny.
He looked fierce and frozen. Torn between what he wanted, what he thought was right, and the path he had clawed out for himself. “This changes everything.” The words were strangled, possibly a warning to one or both of them.
“So?”
His kiss was solid and hot. It was a demonstration of skill and an enticing offer. She responded enthusiastically, tangling her fingers in his hair.