~The Beginning of Life~

~ Chapter 15 ; The Lil' Girl ~

I sigh and stare at the ground, a ton of thoughts buzzing in my head. There were many loose ends to our appearance. Many gaps and holes. My story of us being reborn at the same time for some major event would hold for now, but there was one other thing- when heroes are reborn, they're reborn. They don't just appear at some age... So... we'd need stories as to what we were doing before this... Crap.

I look over my shoulder and past the trees. Nico was gone, to who knows where, and a few of my fellow 'reborns' were running around, trying to take it all in. I ought to be with them. Celebrating and fangirling. But it's pretty peaceful here. The dark forest behind me, cool shade above me, beautiful warm beach in front of me.
Ah, how poetic. I roll my eyes at myself and take a step forward, when suddenly a small girl runs up in front of me.

She's one of the 'reborns' too... Uhh who again? Brown hair, brown eyes... Around eight years old... Anna I guess.

"Hey... Anna..."

"Hullo. What are you doing out here?" she asks quickly.

"Just standing..."

"Like a tree? Haven't you explored yet!? There's so much to see!"

"I... really?"

"Yep. The arena, forges, infirmary, and stuff."

"But... what about our tour guides?"

"I don't know they're probably too busy. C'mon!"
Anna suddenly grabs my hand and pulls me back towards the camp.

"Okay, okay," I start walking when she suddenly lets go and takes off running. The lil' girl wants to explore with a stranger. I smile slightly and run after her, heading to the infirmary.

After three hours, we had covered in-depth examinations of the infirmary, forges, half the cabins and the beach.
Anna pockets a few sea shells before dragging me towards the mess hall.
"I'm hungry. Let's have lunch then continue!"

"Sure."

That girl was very hyperactive. Very much so.

I unconsciously spot Nico sitting alone again. He was looking over his shoulder, smirking at me. I frown at him suspiciously and he turns back to his food, still smirking undoubtedly. He probably found it funny to see a kid dragging around someone nearly twice as old as her like a mom at a shopping mall.
Wait what-
Gah, who cares?

I sit at the Hermes table, and only get enough time to eat a muffin. Before I could swallow completely, Anna pulls me up and we nearly run into Ash.

"Hey!" she says, her big purple eyes filling with alarm.

"Sorry!" Anna says. Surprisingly, she doesn't run off, instead examining Ash. "Have you explored the camp yet?"

"Uhh parts of it... I think I didn't go to the arena yet... Why?" she asks, slightly warily.

"You can come with us!" she says ecstatically.

Ash hesitates. "Okay..."

"Great!" Anna grabs both our hands and starts running off.

We reach the arena soon, and I slowly walk to the center. It was huge and circular, and pretty much how I imagined it. Raised stands and smalls obstacles here and there. A few targets were placed in front of me, and a few dummies were propped a bit far to my left.

I look towards my right when suddenly an arrow whips past my head, cutting a lock of my hair. My eyes widen and I quickly turn around to see... Nico...