Sorry for that last chapter but it HAD to happen.  Okay, now read on my wayward son, there’ll be peace when you are done.

Chapter Quote:

“It’s always hard to lose somebody. It leaves a hole in your heart that never grows back. ”

~Lucas

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Chapter 19:  Here Comes Goodbye

Luke 

Whispering was the first thing Luke he heard when he became conscious.  It was just one voice, meaning it was only one person most likely.  It sounded like Silena.  Her tone was off… like she had been crying, or was crying.

Luke wanted to open his eyes.  He’d just had the worst nightmare that Bryn had been impaled to a stalactite by Hannah.  Why he’d dreamt that was beyond him but he wanted that image out of his head.

“Silena?” he groaned, prying his eyes open.  They didn’t want to but he wasn’t going to give them a choice.

“Luke!” She exclaimed. “Oh my gods you’re awake!”

She threw her arms around him into a massive hug.  He returned it. “You okay little sis?”

“I’m okay…” It was an obvious lie but he decided to ignore it. “You?”

“Better now that I’m out of that place and awake.  Had a horrid dream about Bryn dying… why do you look like you’ve been crying?”

His sister raised an amused eyebrow. “Horrid?”

“Bryn must be rubbing off on me.  Where is she by the way?”

Silena bit her lip. “I’ll… tell you later.  Let’s just focus on getting you better and healed.  Hannah did a number on you.  Here, have some ambrosia and nectar.”

Silena quickly handed him a glass of the liquid and an ambrosia square.  He nibbled on the food, trying to figure out what was wrong with his sister, when Derek shuffled in.  His eyes were puffy and red.  Either he’d had a severe allergy attack or he’d been crying.  It made Luke start thinking that maybe his dream hadn’t been a dream… wouldn’t Bryn have come to see him by now?  Or maybe she was taking a shower?  Or maybe she was asleep?

“Luke?” Derek stared at him, as if shocked he was awake.

“Hey Derek, you okay?”

The son of Apollo looked over at his girlfriend.  An unsaid message seemed to pass through them.  Studiously avoiding the question, Derek said,  “You’re healing well.  That’s crazy considering what you looked like when we found you.  Maybe it’s all that ambrosia and nectar we’ve been feeding you over the past week but still, I’ve never seen the stuff work that well.”

“What are you not telling me?  You two are hiding something and both of you have been crying.  I’m blond, I’m not blind,” Luke pointed out. “And where’s Bryn?” When neither of his friends responded, he repeated his question more forcefully, panic rising in his chest.  Derek and Silena still didn’t answer him.  His sister looked down at her hands in her lap.  Derek’s face turned red, as if trying to prevent himself from crying.  Luke began shaking his head, refusing to believe what they weren’t telling him.

That his dream hadn’t been a dream.

That Bryn was dead.

That he’d never see her again.

Luke scrambled out the bed, dashing as fast as he could to Zeus’s cabin.  Silena and Derek were trying to stop him but he just pushed them away.  He needed to see for himself that what they weren’t telling him wasn’t true.  But as he approached the cabin and saw the flower bouquets placed in front of the building, the dreaded feeling in his stomach rose up into his head, giving him such a bad headache he could hardly stay upright.  He burst through the door into Cabin One to find it empty save for the little cove Bryn had called hers.  Chiron sat in his wheelchair, deep in thought.  When the mentor heard the door open, he snapped his head in that direction.

“Luke,” he said, transforming into centaur form. “What are you doing up my boy?”

“Tell me it’s not true.  Tell me Bryn’s alive.”

Chiron grimaced. “This is not the way I would’ve wanted you to find out…”

“You mean-”

The centaur nodded.  Luke sank against the wall to the tile floor.  Silena knelt down next to him.  Chiron left, escorting Derek with him who had tears falling down his face again.  There was an empty feeling in Luke.  He couldn’t feel anything, he couldn’t even cry.  All he could do was stare at the space in front of him with his mouth slightly open.

“Luke?”

“I never even got to tell her, Silena,” he said.

“Tell her what?”

“That I loved her…”

His sister gave him a sad, sympathetic smile. “You didn’t have to.  She already knew.”

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Later that night, a ceremony was held for the fall of Bryn Winchester.  The Aphrodite cabin created the banner that would be burned in her honor.  It was purple silk with gold-embroidery on the edges.  There was a symbol for each of her divine ancestors in each corner, a lightning bolt for Zeus, a dove for Aphrodite, a lyre for Apollo, and a crescent for Hecate.  Bryn’s name was sewn in the middle.  The pole for the banner was painted in gold.

The Apollo cabin had grabbed firewood and created a pyre five feet tall.  The pole for the banner was five feet as well, meaning the entire thing was ten foot tall.  Luke, Silena, and Derek each held a torch.  They would be lighting it since they had been her best friends.

All the campers had dressed up in battle armor, even Chiron.  It was done to commemorate the fact that she was considered one of the, if not the, best warriors the camp had ever produced and that she had died in battle protecting her friends.

When everyone was there, Luke, Silena, and Derek walked up to the pyre and placed their torches on it.  The flames quickly took a hold of the wood.  The three demigods backed up, looking up at the inferno that slowly crawled up to the purple banner waving gently in the breeze.  Luke stood in the middle, Derek stood on his left, Silena on his right.  He felt a tear fall down his face, but refused to wipe it away.  Luke was here to remember his best friend.  He didn’t care if he showed emotion.

As Luke took in the sight before him, he thought he felt the softest of kisses on his right cheek.  He turned his head, thinking maybe Silena had done it, but she was looking to her right as well, so was Derek.  Derek was actually holding a hand to his right cheek, appearing perplexed.

Maybe it was Bryn, telling them goodbye one last time.

Or maybe the three of them wished so hard that she was alive that they were imagining she was there with them still.

Whatever the case, Luke was still confused about why he would feel like someone kissed him on the cheek.  But understanding that he most likely wouldn’t be able to figure it out, he pushed the idea out of his head and focused on the pyre.  At some point, he sank onto his knees.  His hands clenched into fists as anger replaced sadness.  Vengeance replaced depression.

Hannah was not going to get away with this.  Luke didn’t care if he died if Olympus lived.  If Olympus survived, that meant his friends would live to see another day.

Luke made the decision right then and there to never tell anyone about his curse.  He was going to let them think that he died in battle.  Besides, he couldn’t bear the thought of the expression on their faces when he told them about his curse.  The only friend who knew his secret was dead.  The only person who would know what to do to get rid of it was dead.  But what would Bryn do if she was in his position?  What would she do if she had the curse and not him?

She would live with it until the end.  Luke thought.

He wasn’t a coward.  Luke was going to live with this.  There was no way to break a curse anyways unless the curser had put in a clause on how the curse could be broken.  Hannah was smart and didn’t.  She didn’t want Luke living.  If she thought he’d join her just so he would live, then she seriously underestimated him.  He was going to fight against her with everything he had.

Luke clenched his jaw.  You’ll be avenged, Bryn.  I swear on my life.

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Next chapter is the last one before UnTamed!  AHHHHHH! Please review :)