The Runaway Rebels- Book 1

Chapter Eight: The True Meaning Of The Prophecy

"Tell me what?" asked Dawn, looking from Ace to Pandora in confusion. 

"Ok, so The Prophet Goddess, seeing as she seems to delight in causing widespread confusion, left everyone to believe that she was talking about you and me, fighting Pandora. Except, every time she makes a Prophecy, after a few cases in the past that caused some pretty big misunderstandings, The Prophet Goddess will always allow a small period of questioning for the people involved."

Pausing, Ace took a quick breath before she continued,

"So, in this case, Hades and Hel stopped Pandora from going, spewed some nonsense about telling her when she was ready, which, of course, they wouldn't, but luckily, they couldn't stop me. When I was there, the Goddess said that, rather than it being me and you who had to fight Pandora, it was in fact the three of us who would have to fight Hades and Hel. Then, to make matters even more confusing, rather than you being the chosen one, she said the world needed someone who knew both sides of the Realms, the bad and the good, someone... like me," Ace said, sighing a little as she finally finished.

Dawn took a step back at Ace's words, struggling to take it all in. 

"Wait a minute, if that's right, then why didn't I hear this? I'm still involved in the Prophecy!" Dawn said running a hand through her tied hair in confusion. 

"My parents must've lied to the Prophet Goddess, made her believe you already knew or persuaded her you were 'too young' to be burdened with it," Pandora said, facing a stricken Dawn.

 "Too young?! I'm not a child, as if that would make it any less important!" Dawn said incredulously. 

"Yeah tell me about it, I mean if I actually believed her Prophecies, then my age isn't going to make me any more prepared," said Ace, prompting Dawn to shoot her a questioning look, raising her eyebrow as she did. 

"But... wait a minute, if you don't believe in the Prophecies, then why are you here? Why not just go back to your Cave instead?" questioned Dawn, continuing to look at Ace curiously.

"Because... the Nine Realms are in danger, and none of the people who are supposed to be in charge are doing anything about it, hey, even if they did know about it, knowing them, they'd just pretend they hadn't heard anything and go back to blissfully following the herd. I figured, if I don't want the Nine Realms to get taken over by those two lunatics, I ought to do something about it. Besides, there was the fact that this would give me a chance to get Pandora out of here for good- I couldn't just sit and do nothing," Ace said, shrugging slightly as she did. 

"You really are full of surprises," Dawn replied, once again smiling with that disbelieving happiness.

In response, Ace grinned as Dawn looked to me for a second, then turned to the other two and said, "Those people in the High Council really don't know anything do they?" 

Ace responded with a slight chuckle as she began,

"No. However, in many years of learning how to be a thief, and a trickster, one thing I've learnt is that people who don't know much are very good at hiding it and people who do... well they can be just as good at pretending to be idiots too."

"We should keep going." Pandora said curtly, looking around at the other two as her gaze finished skating around the gloomy surroundings. "Are you sure you want to do this Pandora? You can head back and I'll get you out of here right now, you wouldn't ever have to come back. You too Dawn, you didn't ask for this," said Ace, putting a hand on Pandora's shoulder. 

"But what about the 'power of two being tested through and through'?" Dawn asked Ace, uncertainty tainting her face.

"Like I said earlier, I don't believe in Prophecies, I believe in making your own destiny," said The Goddess of Chaos, with yet another slight shrug. 

For a little second, silence lay, until Dawn took a step forward, squaring her shoulders as she spoke,

"None of us asked for this, Ace, but we're gonna get through it, and we'll do it together," Dawn said stretching out her arm into the centre of the circle the three of them were standing in. 

Ace grinned at her and placed one of her gloved hands on top of Dawn's. 

"Besides..." began Pandora, placing her hand on top of Ace's, looking as though she was still getting used to smiling,

"I doubt we'll get out of here now, and my parents made me go through decades of hell- the least I could do is return the favour, even for a moment," finished Pandora, Ace's grin growing even more at these words. 

"Wait! What about the Professor?" Dawn asked, her eyes widening as she looked back at me, Ace and Pandora following her, their gazes filled with concern.