Thia's POV

When I finally came to, it was dark. I had no idea how long I'd been unconscious or how much time had passed but I remembered falling. I remembered the horrible sound. I remembered Andy.

Sitting up caused my head to flare in pain but I ignored it. The moon was nearly gone tonight, as if it were grieving the loss of something. Just a sliver of it was visible. The weather was colder now. Cold enough for my breath to fog in front of me when I exhaled.

I stood shaking from my place in the gravel and glanced about. Andy was laying a meter or so away from me. He was two feet from the edge of the water. He was sprawled out face down in the rocks.

"Andy." Feet digging into the gravel I rushed to where he laid unmoving. The ground was damp where he was laying. Perhaps water. Hands shaking, I struggled to turn him over. He must have been really out of it. "Come on Andy get up. We gotta find Leah and keep going."

My next thought quickly abandoned me. At last I had gathered enough force to roll him onto his back and I wished I hadn't. My heart leapt into my throat and there was no stopping the vomit that came as I turned to puke in the rocks.

His chest was...no I couldn't look at it again. The horrible cracking sound flickered in my head. It had been him. He must have hit something on the way down. It had-it had completely crushed his sternum and ribs. His chest was practically imploded.

With shaking hands, I turned back to face him. Carefully, I undid the buttons of his flannel as some odd part of me wanted to see the damage. His pale skin was now a deep bruise. Internal bleeding had killed him if the fall hadn't already.

The back of his head was split open. Blood had seeped into the rocks. It wasn't water wetting the ground like I'd originally perceived. His eyes were wide and glassy now. He wore a surprised expression on his face. At first it didn't make sense. the reality began to set in and my veins seemed to fill with ice.

"Oh no. No no no." This wasn't supposed to happen. It couldn't. Not so soon. The quest had barely even started! "Andy, come on. This isn't funny."

He didn't respond. He stayed there on his back looking at the sky. My throat felt painfully tight.

"Andy, we have to find Leah. Come on." Shaking his shoulder, I expected him to crack a teasing smile stand up and dust himself off. I would punch him and he'd just laugh it off and call me Kid. "She's gonna be worried about us okay? We gotta get to Italy and find Order remember? Once we do that we can go home like I said."

He was gone. He was gone and I didn't want to believe it. Maybe I could have saved him if I hadn't blacked out. "You were supposed to make it back Andy."

Tears stung at the edges of my eyes. He'd infuriated me so much but as the quest had gone on he seemed to find himself. He seemed to relax. He was a genuinely good person under all of that flare. Like an older brother of sorts.

"You can call me kid, Andy. I won't get mad this time, okay? I promise." The words were futile. Taking a shaky breath I tried to steady myself but I couldn't. I was crying and I couldn't help it.

Andy didn't deserve this. He'd made some mistakes but he'd been good. He was just a kid with a rough start to life. This had been his chance to prove he could be a hero. That he could someone good not just a lost cause.

I looked around for something I could use to help him but there was nothing. It was quite
when the world should have been upset. It should have grieved for the death of such a young person only it didn't seem to care.

When I'd run out of tears to shed a realization settled over me. I couldn't leave him here out in the open. Not like this for scavengers to ravage his body. I couldn't deny him a proper burial or he'd never make it to the underworld.

Crawling over to my bag I dug around in it until I found the small hand held multi tool. It consisted of a tiny knife, spoon, pliers, and scissors. It was pathetic really but I found the softest spot of ground I could.

With great effort I managed to clear out the surface gravel with my hands before plunging the spoon violently into the ground. It was laughable how little of an impact it made. I was simply turning over tiny portions of soil.

The whole idea of how demeaning and pathetic this was had me crying all over again. Shaking from the cold and emotion I slammed the spoon into the soil again and again. There was a loud ping as the spoon head snapped off having lodged between two rocks.

"Really?" Voice shaking, I shook my head and tore the spoon head out of the ground and chucked it aside. Hair plastered to my face from my tears and sweat I began to dig my hands into the ground.

The soil was rough against my skin like sandpaper, abrasive, damp, and cold. Thirty handfuls in and I'd only managed a small dent. The task seemed impossible but the idea of quitting frightened me more than anything. If I quit I'd lose any and all motivation.

Seventy handfuls later and a shape had at least been scooped out of the ground but my knuckles were raw and pink like the flesh of a strawberry. Grunting, I set back to work with a fierce fixation settling over me. One hundred and sixty two handfuls later it was sufficient enough to lay down in. My nails were now nubs.

Two hundred handfuls later they were bleeding. Two forty eight and they were broken and only inflamed nail beds with jagged edges. When my arms ached with exhaustion I resorted to scraping futility away with a rock.

The hole grew and grew until it was a foot deep. Deep enough for the ceremony. My entire body ached and I was forced to lay back against the cool mountain of dirt to collect myself. The blood that was slick in my palms didn't phase me much.

Swallowing despite my dry throat I shuffled back to Andy who had yet to move. I half hoped he'd get up and start walking again but he was heavy and difficult to move. Stubborn even now.

I dragged him to the edge of the water and did my best to wash what parts of him I could. He deserved to be clean when put to rest. His hair was matted and despite my hands and their horrific state I carefully tugged out the tangles.

Task complete, I struggled to get him situated in the small grave. He fit perfectly in it. Crossing his arms I reached into my pocket and fingered the one remaining drachma we had left.

A dilemma flashed across my mind. I could call for help. Contact Leah or maybe my parents and assistance. Only that would deny him entry to the underworld. It would deny him a right of passage into the afterlife but it would ensure the success of the quest. It meant that we could continue and finish what we had started without delay.

The pros and cons danced like demons in my head for another moment or two. "I can't. I can't."

As much as I wanted to I couldn't keep it for myself. Slipping it into one of his hands I closed his fingers snuggly around it and crossed his arms over his bare chest. His shirt lay off to the side.

He seemed cold. Distant and frozen. Standing, I turned to face the woods where kindle awaited. It took hours to saw away at the branches with the small knife. My arms had lost feeling a long time ago.

I carried bundles of wood to the grave and placed them into a pointed structure. When the entire grave had been covered, protected, I began the quest for a flame.

It took too many tries for my liking but I had no energy to get mad. When the fire caught onto the kindle I held I placed it carefully amongst the other wood. It lit with a satisfied sound and the wood began to crackle as the flames licked at the fuel.

Settling on the ground I knelt by the fire and closed my eyes. "Lord Hades please guide him to the underworld. See to it he has a fair trial. Nature has taken his life, not a man or warrior, but cruel fate. Forgive him of his past. Wipe clean his darkened slate. I have nothing to offer you in return for your kindness. For that I am sorry. Please, I-he is my friend."

Friend. I had struggled with that term for some time now. I hadn't wanted to rush to conclusions and call him such a thing but it was fitting. He'd helped me, thanked me on more than one occasion, and he'd apologized. He had grown so much as a person in such little time. Part of me wondered what he could have been.

No one would know now. The heat of the fire grew as did the noises. "Lord Hades, the prophecy called for one to be killed in nature's realm. I hold no ill will against your wife for this is her territory. One cannot determine prophecies. You are kind when others are not. Perhaps you can be kind again?"

Mumbling another thank you I raised my head to study the bonfire that was raging in front of me. The smoke was thick and white carrying easily in the cool breeze. The weight of my actions began to finally settle in.

Sitting back on the ground I closed my eyes remaining still for some time until I heard the sound of a voice calling out.

"Andy! Thia!" At first I thought it was a trick. Only when it came closer did I realize it wasn't. Leah staggered into the clearing hair wild and a nasty cut on her ankle. "There you are! I saw the fire. Did you and Andy-"

She paused meeting my gaze. Her eyes flicked across my expression, studied my eyes, my hands, the fire, and the blood.

"I'm sorry."

"Oh no."

"It was Andy. The prophecy said one of us was going to die from nature's tricks. It was him." There was no warmth to my voice. I couldn't be calm or polite. I had no heart or feeling for it. "We both fell Leah. It didn't have to be him."

"Thia-it shouldn't have been you either," she spoke softly.

"It should have! If I hadn't fed that dog we could have gone on happily without the manticore showing up! If I hadn't let us rest on the beach we'd be in Italy by now and Andy would be with us." Somehow I thought I couldn't cry anymore. I was wrong.

"You don't know that." Leah shook her head eyeing the flames. "Look, Andy wouldn't want you beating yourself up over this."

"You don't know what Andy would want!" I snapped. "Only he does, but he can't tell us now can he?"

"Thia, on our way here Andy nearly died twice and you saved him both times. Both times he almost died because of nature. The fates nearly got him twice before and you intervened." Leah took a hesitant step towards me. "He never told you this but he knew, Thia. From the first time he nearly died he knew. He told me not to tell you because he didn't want you to worry. He said you already had too much on your shoulders."

"You're lying."

"It's why he was so cold to you at first because he didn't want you getting attached. It was only a matter of time," Leah explained, her eyebrows creasing together. "It was a theory at first but after he almost drowned it was hard to ignore. The fates did this because you couldn't interfere for once. His lifeline was cut before this quest even started."

"You're lying!" It was all I could say. That couldn't be true. "Don't tell me that. Things aren't set in stone. He wasn't supposed to die!"

"Thia!" Leah grabbed me by the shoulders. "The prophecy called for two lives to be lost. It was a 2/3 chance it would be him! Or me! Or you! He wasn't supposed to make it."

"I was supposed to get you both back. This is my quest. I'm the leader. If things go wrong I am the one who is supposed to suffer." I didn't realize I had Leah's shirt balled up in my fists and I'd tugged her forward so my eyes bore into hers and our foreheads pressed together. She held an expression of shock and wore the slight scent of fear.Immediately, I pushed her away and took a step back. "Sorry I didn't mean to-"

"We should go home." Leah mumbled, eyes cast to the ground.

"What?"

"We can't keep this up. We're out of supplies. We need to restock and come up with a new plan," she replied, not making any eye contact.

"We can't do that." Shaking my head I ran a hand through my tangled and gross hair.

"It's that or we die before we finish this," Leah argued stubbornly.

"We can do just fine. We can't go back. There isn't enough time. We have to finish this now," I insisted, watching her jaw set.

"I'm not finishing this with you if you aren't going to be sensible."

"Leah, we can't risk going back. The world is falling apart. We can't restart. We're too far away. I'm not changing course now."

"Thia, we'll die if we keep going. Look at you!" She gestured to me angrily. "You're a walking skeleton. You've eaten the least out of us all. You won't have the energy and you're emotional right now from what happened. I understand, but I'm going back. Please come with me."

"No. There are people depending on me. On this! I don't know what's going on back home. I don't know how my cousins are, or my aunts and uncles, or my parents. If I don't do this they could die. Everyone could." Even as I spoke I knew she wasn't going to listen let alone believe me.

"I'm leaving, I'm getting supplies, with or without you," she mumbled, studying the flames of Andy's burning pyre. "I'm not going to watch you destroy yourself with this."

"You can't leave. I won't let you. I-you said I'm the leader. Then as the leader I'm demanding you stay." There was no authority to my words.

"You didn't want to be the leader minutes ago and now you do?" Leah laughed bitterly. "Look at yourself. This is consuming you. You have this ungodly desperation that when something goes wrong you have to fix it by being reckless. It won't fix anything. You'll just get yourself killed and I don't want to be around to watch it."

Leah turned curtly on her heel shoulders stiff and posture indignant.

"Leah...wait!"

"Good luck Grace." She gave a flippant salute before heading off into the woods pack slung over her shoulder.

Gravity seemed to crash down on my shoulders with an insurmountable force. Emotions that I wasn't sure how to explain ravaged my head like vultures picking on prey.

Grasping a rock I yelled chucking it against the cliff side where I watched it shatter. The action only spurred my anger and despair more. Kicking at the ground my feet slipped out from under me and instead of standing up I laid there crying, throwing a blatant tantrum because I just needed to let it out.

"Come back. Please don't leave me!" My cries were only heard by the sky. "Don't leave me."

I cried as Andy's pyre burned bright and well into the morning. When it snuffed itself out I sat there watching the black smoke waft upwards.

I was alone.