Greek Times for a Future Girl

Aftermath Pt. 1

I felt good about that second day, I felt good about myself, and especially about my friends. It was nice to see Hercules realize that he doesn't need to worry about the opinions of others and that he didn't have to really worry about Cassandra's little vision about him. She did say that the roof would fall on him, but she never said anything about making it out alive. So, that was a good thing, really. I knew I felt apprehensive about starting this little mission at first, but I feel like if I keep playing a supporting role, I definitely could keep cosmic balance from coming undone and maybe end up becoming a hero, myself.

I left the others so I could head back to the Underworld. Although, I told them something along the lines of my uncle wanting me back home at a decent time so he wouldn't worry. I wish I didn't have to lie to my new friends, but I had no choice. Nobody could know my secret, especially those I grew close to. So long as they didn't grow suspicious, I'd have no problem keeping my secret.

However, I still had to worry about Cassandra's vision about me and the red and blue fire. And unfortunately, I had a feeling I knew exactly where, or who, would be the cause of that fire.

"Why couldn't he just give me something to teleport me to the Underworld?" I muttered as I walked through the dark, spooky woods to find the entrance to the Underworld.

Having a way to teleport may sound like the lazier option to walking, but you'd think the same thing if you had to walk for miles in a dark and -I will not stress this enough- really creepy forest in sandals that let sharp rocks and sticks and who-knows-what else into the shoe with every step you took.

"Gotcha!"

Before I could do anything, I found myself being forced to the ground by unknown attackers. I was just about to fight them off, but they had let me go the instant I hit the ground.

"Oh! Sorry! We didn't know it was you!" a familiar soft yet worrisome voice spoke up.

I turned myself around to see Pain and Panic standing by me with apologetic looks.

"And good afternoon to you too, boys." I said cynically as they helped me up.

"Sorry, Aria." Panic apologized again as he handed me my satchel.

"It's okay."

"What the Styx happened to you?" Pain asked me.

I turned to the little magenta imp. "Excuse me? You two were the ones who jumped me."

"Not that! Your dress!" he explained. "It looks like you took a dust bath on your way home."

"Well, that could also be because of us." Panic remarked.

I looked down at my dress and saw that the skirt part was completely covered in white dust from the cafeterium collapsing. The dust had turned my sapphire-colored dress into a dusty cornflower color.

"Oh, man. I thought I got out of the cafeterium in time." I complained.

"In time?" Panic repeated in a worrisome tone.

"Yeah, an orthus attacked the school today, Hercules had to fight it off, the roof fell-"

"Wait! Wait a minute!" Pain stopped me. "Did you just say Hercules?"

"Well, yeah. He goes to Prometheus Academy too." I told him and Panic. "I thought you guys knew that."

The two imps looked at each other with matching expressions of fear. I really did think that they knew that Hercules was still alive considering what had happened at the beginning of the movie when they failed to get Hercules to drink the last drop of that potion...