"Hey Lou, are you alright?" 

Lou Ellen jolted in her seat, and looked around

Her friend Logan was sitting next to her, and she was on a bus.

Oh yeah...

It was Christmas time, and Lou had decided to take a break from camp, and visit her family.

She was regretting it.

I mean, sure, she had missed her mum and dad, and she almost cried with joy when she saw her little sister.

But she missed her home.

She missed the cabins, the lake and the forest.

But most of all, she missed her friends.

Namely Cecil.

"Lou, your looking really pale. Are you sure your okay?"

She blinked.

Right. Bus. Friends. Mortals.

"Sorry, I'm fine" she said, the lies coming out effortlessly

"I'm just a bit tired"

Logan nodded, then turned back to Garreth, whom he was talking to.

Lou rubbed her eyes and sat up.

She had decided that it would help, if she saw her mortal friends again .

Aria, Garreth, Logan, Leo, Sam, and Caris.

She hadn't seen these people in years. And they'd all changed.

Aria wore more make-up, and skimpier clothes

Garreth kept pulling down his sleeves, and if he had something to hide.
He probably did.

Logan was taller, and more muscly. And a lot more full of himself.

Leo as well, kept winking at all of the girls that they passed, even though when Lou last saw him, he had wanted nothing to do with girls whatsoever.

Sam didn't say a word. He kept his head down, and sat on his phone.

And Caris kept making lovey-dovey at Garreth.

These were completely different people, so why was Lou hanging out with them?

Honestly, she had no idea anymore.

Lou sighed, as the bus grounded to a halt. She stood up, and made her way down the bus.

Just as she was stepping off, Aria ran straight into her, and almost made her topple to the ground, but Lou managed to catch them both in time.

"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry! Are you okay?" She asked, fussing over Lou's clothes.

She nodded, but inside she felt like she wanted to cry.

The old Aria would have started to laugh, and push Lou again, in a friendly way, before helping her up. Then they would walk down the street together, with the rest of the gang, laughing about what clumsy oafs they were.

She didn't like this newer version of them. They weren't her friends anymore, they were completely different people.

Aria and Caris sighed as they stepped into the warmth of the shopping centre, and both grabbed one of the boys hands, who in turn grabbed one of our hands, and started to run, like they used to do.

Maybe there is hope for them after all.

Logan ended up grabbing her arm, and he yanked her forwards, so that it felt like her arm had dislocated. She laughed. Lou knew what was going to happen next. The boys are going to start to get competitive, and start to race towards the shop they always go to first (The Ice Cream Factory).

The girls were always left behind, but this time, Lou had training on her side. She could easily outrun the boys, and she felt that they needed to be taken down a peg or two.

After a few moments, she could feel Logan loosening his grip on her wrist, and so did the other boys. Aria and Caris slowed down, knowing what was about to happen next.

The boys sped up, and so did Lou Ellen.

Garreth was in the lead, but Leo was gaining on him.

Lou laughed as she was the boys stunned faces, as she shot past them.

She kept running, enjoying the burning in her muscles, and her hair whopping in her face, until-

BANG!!

She crashed into someone.

She stumbled, as the man pushed her back, grumbling about kids these days.

Suddenly, she felt someone run into her, so she turned around too quickly, and fell, with the guy landing on top.

"Sorry" Logan said, in his 'sexy voice'
"I didn't see you there"

He tried to put his hands on her waist, until Lou kicked him hard in the leg, and stood up.

"Don't do that again" she said sternly, trying to refrain from using the mist to turn him into a gecko.

"Geez Lou, I was only kidding" Logan said, breathlessly

She shook her head, and waited for the others to catch up.

"LOU ELLEN!"Caris shouted, when they finally caught up
"Where the HELL did you learn to run like that?"

Lou shrugged, trying to keep the grin off of her face
"My boarding school" she said
"They took P.E very seriously"

They all nodded, looking a bit mystified. Until Aria said
"Hey! Why is everyone queuing around the Ice Cream Shop? It's always open now!"

Lou turned toward the crowds, and saw that they were indeed outside the shop. Everyone looked angry, and on woman was going so far as to pounding on the door.

"What's going on?" Leo asked the man the Lou had run into.

"I dunno, do I?" He said angrily
"The shop was meant to be open 3 hours ago, but it's still closed innit"

"That's weird" Garreth said
"They NEVER open late, there's got to be something wrong"

Lou peered over the heads of the crowd, and just at that moment a loud scream could be heard, coming from the inside of the shop.

The crowd stilled, and everyone took a step back, in shock. Using their distraction to her advantage, Lou suddenly sprinted forwards, into the crowd, and ran up to the door of the shop.

"Come on, come on, come on" Lou muttered, trying to work out w way inside, to find out what happened.

Suddenly, Lou's head felt like it exploded, she felt magic rush through her head. She saw what was happening behind the doors, and she could see who was there. She fell to the floor, as her head screamed in agony. Suddenly, as soon as the pain appeared, it disappeared. Lou took a moment to steady herself, before she realised what was about to happen.

"EVERYBODY GET BACK!!! RUN!!!!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, and the started crowd moved back, surprised by her sudden outburst.

As soon as the words left her mouth, the whole shop erupted in flames.

((🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥))
((Sorry, that was anti-climatic))

The flames roared out of the shot, traveling towards them at 100 miles an hour.

The heat was unbearable, it forced Lou to turn and cover her face with her arm, while she felt blisters appear all over the back of her leg.

Suddenly, the flames died down, and seemed to retreat back into the shop.

Lou felt her face flush, and then her surroundings dimmed.
"Oh, damn it" Lou thought, before her eyes rolled into the back of her head, and she collapsed, face first, into the concrete

***********
(Thanks Ash, for lending me your boyfriends time skip!)
*************

"Is she okay?"

"What do you think? She just got the full force of the blast!"

"Shut up! You'll freak her out"

"Her? What about everyone else?"

"Shut up Logan!"

"Guys, she's moving"

"Lou! Lou are you okay?"

Lou groaned and opened her eyes. Her head was throbbing, and she could feel burns all up her side.

"Wha?" She said, dizzily
"What happened?"

"You saved our lives" Aria whispered, her mascara streaking down her face, and her clothes smelled smoky

Lou sat up, causing Sam to grip her arm and she wobbled a bit.

She looked around, and saw hundreds of people crowded in the corner of the mall that they were in. Suddenly, a gap in the crowds appeared, and Lou got a good look at what was going on.

The ice cream shop was ablaze. The reds and oranges sparked up higher, no matter how much water the people around about it poured on it.

Lou had only seen fire like this once before, and she shivered from the memory.

Suddenly, a loud scream erupted from inside the shop.

Lou paled. She would recognise that voice anywhere.

She scrambled up to her feet, pushing her friends aside, and started to run towards the flames.

Garreth grabbed her arm, and pulled her back
"Lou, what is it? You can't go there..."
He broke off, seeing the tears that were streaming down Lou's face.

He stumbled back, as did the others. They had never seen her cry, and by the shock on their faces, they never expected her to.

Lou took advantage of their shock, and sprinted off into the crowds.

She could hear people grunting and complaining as she barrelled into them, pushing, shoving, fighting tooth and nail to get to that shop.

Tears kept getting in the way of her vision, as she feared the worst.

The voices returned to her head, whispering to her.

"What if you're too late?" "If he dies, it will be your fault" "You never deserved a friend like him anyway" "You should just run straight into the fire, it would make the world better off if you just died anyway"

The tears in Lou's eyes stung even more, as she scrambled towards the flames and the fire.

He screamed again.

Cecil.

She knew that voice from anywhere, and heard him cry out in pain before too, a sound which was seared into her brain, after he almost died in the Titan war.

Suddenly, she reached a break in the crowds, and started to run forwards again, faster this time.

It was as if the ground was made out of wet clay. She was running as fast as she could, but it wasn't fast enough.

After a life time, she reached the shop. But, the firemen stopped her.

"Hey, you can't go in there" a firewoman said, holding her back
"It's not safe"

Lou didn't register what she had said. All she knew was the she needed to get to him.

She stepped forwards and flipped the woman over her shoulder, not even thinking about the action. A fireman came running up to her, but she just grabbed his arm, twisted his arm and used his weight to throw him behind her. She didn't pause for a moment, her mind was blank.

She just needed to get to him.

Suddenly, another wave of heat rolled over the people, as the flames roared. The mortals jumped back, but Lou didn't. She charged forwards.

Into the flames.

The first thing she noticed wasn't the fire or the heat...

It was the smoke.

It filled up her airways, grabbing her throat and throttling her. But she continued on.

As she walked into the flames, she could see two figures at the back of the shop, cowering against the flames.

Cecil, and a young girl. Maybe 8 years old.

Cecil was trying to use his body as a human shield, to protect the girl.

Lou felt her head getting dizzy, and her lungs begged for oxygen. But she continued on.

She sprinted across the room, trying to use her magic to put out the fires. It didn't work.

By the time she reached them, the little girl was unconscious. Lou raced to Cecil's side, and grabbed her. Cecil nodded, not even questioning the fact that she was here.

Lou scooped the girl up into a fireman's lift, and grabbed Cecil's hand.

Then they ran.

The ran like wildfire, like lightning on a stormy day. They ran away from the fire as they do all things.

Together.

When they made it outside, Lou's lungs felt like they were about to explode, so she started to hastily gulp down mouthfuls of air.

Now that they were out, Lou's mind seemed to switch on.

Suddenly, she could feel the burns all over her body, and the tears streaming down her face. She could feel her head hurting and her stomach wasn ting to leave her body.

But most of all, she could feel Cecil's hand in hers.

When they finally walked out of the burning building, they were met with the sight of carnage.

Lou's friends appeared to be fighting the firemen and women, in an attempt to get past them.

Lou felt a sense of pride, and she said Aria fight tooth and nail, her makeup smudged and her clothes ripped.

The girls body seemed to weight a thousand pounds, and Cecil was gripping her hand tightly, in an attempt to distract himself from the obvious pain he was in.

"LOU!!" Caris screamed, and it seemed as if the whole room stilled. Everyone was staring at her, their eyes wide in shock.

The only one who wasn't staring at her was Cecil, and that was because the light in his eyes was fading.

Lou felt his hand tug hers, and watched in horror as Cecil have her a small smile, before collapsing.

Lou's screams broke the spell that the rook was under, but that was the only noise that she heard.

~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hey" Cecil's raspy voice came from beside her.

Since Cecil's heart attack, Lou could really remember much.

She could remember screaming, and holding onto his body so tight that he could have exploded. She remembered the faint smell of Arias perfume, and she tried to pick Lou up off of the floor, and Lou remembered fighting her, fighting the boys, fighting the adults, fighting everybody that tried to take her away from Cecil.

They say that his heart stopped for 9 seconds. They also said that he lost a lot of blood, and he'll need a blood transfusion. They said a lot of things, most of which Lou didn't was to believe.

"Hey" Lou said

Lou had sat by his makeshift bed for 3 hours, hoping and waiting and praying that he would wake up.

Cecil tried to sit up, but failed.
He screwed his face up in pain
"What happened?" He asked, his voice cracking.

Lou grabbed a glass of water, and held his head up, while he took huge gulps from it.

"There was a fire, and you were in it." She said simply, not wanting to and not knowing how to break the news to him.

Cecil nodded
"She's a demigod. I was trying to bring her to camp." He said slowly, his eyes drooping.

Lou smiled
"Yeah. She's Leo's little sister all right"

Cecil looked confused for a moment, then shrugged it off, being too tired to think about things.

"You saved me" he said, staring at her

Lou hesitated, then nodded slowly

"I couldn't do nothing" she said.

Cecil rolled his eyes, and tried to sit up again.

"No no no. You can't get up" Lou said, gently pushing him back down into his 'bed'

"Well then, when can I?" Cecil asked

Lou turned away, not daring to look Cecil in the eyes.

"Lou...what's wrong? Hold on, are you crying?" He asked, looking worried

Lou turned back around, to face him. Tears were running down her face.
She was sobbing.

"Woah, what's wrong?" Cecil said, bringing his had up to Lou's face, to wipe to tears away.

Lou sat down on the floor best to him, and took a deep breath.

"You had a heart attack" she said slowly, taking Cecil's hand away from her face, and holding it tight.

Cecil nodded
"Wouldn't have been the first time, would it?" He chuckled
"Hey, I'm alright. Why are you crying?"

Lou started to shake, the tears conning even faster, rolling off of her face and splashing onto their joined hand below.

"When you were in the fire, they said that you must have hit your head on something"

Cecil nodded, remembering nocking his head against the steel door, while trying to protect the little girl from the flames.

"Well... the say that you have reopened on old wound. I said it was from when you fell off of your bike but..." She trailed off

Cecil nodded again. He got hit around the head with a sword during the battle of New York, which almost killed him. Lou was then one who managed to get him to safety.

"They said that you lost a lot of blood and that you needed a transfusion, but...but...but" Lou couldn't speak anymore, she collapsed in a puddle of tears. She put her head in Cecil's chest and wept. Cecil stroked her head, waiting for her to calm down. He put his hand into her chin, and lifted her face up

"Lou, what's wrong?" He asked gently.

"Your blood type. It's too rare." She said, hiccuping in between words

"What do you mean, 'too rare'?"

"You have demigod blood Cecil. And the doctors don't have any of that. I offered to donate some of mine, but they said that I've been affected by the fire and your body would just reject my blood"

Cecil gasped, finally getting it.

"So...I'm going to die?" He said, not quite believing it.

Lou nodded slowly, the tears turning her face an angry red
"They said that you only have around 5 minutes left"

Cecil shook his head
"What about ambrosia? Can't that heal me..." He trailed off, seeing Lou shake her head sadly

"There's only so much it can do. And if we give you anymore, you'll burn up. I'm so sorry Cecil, it's all my fault" she whispered, and collapsed into a puddle of tears again.

Cecil felt a tear slide down his face.
'Did my life even have a point?' He thought
'Am I really just a useless pawn?'
Suddenly he knew exactly what to do.

That's the funny thing about knowing your about to die. You still have time to get your priorities sorted out.
That that's exactly what Cecil was going to do.

"Lou, look at me" he said, gently but firmly.

Lou slowly raised her head, looking into Cecil's eyes.

"I want you to get over me" he said
" I don't want you to spend the rest of your life, thinking about me, and moping"

Lou shook her head
"But I could never forget you. Your my best friend in the whole world"

"Don't forget about me completely, I just don't want you to waist your life, remembering the past."

Tears streamed down her face even faster, but Lou Ellen managed to nod.
"I'll try" she chocked out.

"Good" he said, smiling

"And if this is my last few minuets on the earth, theirs one thing I want to do" he said

"What's that?" Lou said, trying to wipe away her tears

"This"

Suddenly, Cecil pulled Lou down on top of him, and he brought his lips to hers.

Lou jerked back, looking shocked, before relaxing, and melting into Cecil.

Suddenly, Cecil wasn't dying.
Lou wasn't crying.
They weren't demigods.
They were a normal couple, on a date.
They were sitting next to a picnic, and Cecil had pulled Lou in for a kiss after they had a food fight.

Then, Cecil's lips went slack.

Lou pulled back, in time to see Cecil wink at her, then breathe his last.

The twinkle that Lou Ellen loved left Cecil's eyes, as Lou cried and cried and cried.

She put her head on his chest, which was once warm, but now was cold.

She didn't care that everyone was watching her.
She didn't care that her face was red and puffy from crying.

All he cares about, was the fact that Cecil, HER Cecil was gone.

And he wasn't coming back.