Summer: The Woods Bring Forth New Incoming; Bonds PT. 2/4

We reached the parking grounds in about 2 and a half hours, near the base of the mountain the opposite side of Olympus. After that, we had to walk a couple miles upward to reach our destination.

I ended up at the back of the line, and accompanying me was Nyx, who also couldn't keep up with everybody's fast pace. We ended up slowing down together, and we watched as everybody speeded ahead, their amicable chatter fading away until there was nothing but the wonderful sounds of nature.

"Looks like it's just us today, huh?" Nyx asked, and I nodded in response. This was the first time me and her had been alone together, so I didn't really know what to talk to her about. We ended up walking in awkward silence for a while before Nyx spoke to me again.

"Do you wanna go back and ditch?"

I couldn't help but laugh at her nonchalant question and looked at Nyx. Her white eyes were faced downward, kicking a rock along as she walked next to me. I nodded before looking back on the path.

"As much as I would love to do that, Lachesis would still somehow find where we are and drag us both back." She gave off a slight smile at my response.

"You're right about that. Just a thought I had. How've you been?"

"I don't sleep all day anymore," I said, and she gave me a thumbs up.

"Progress."

"Progress indeed…" I said, nodding to myself.

"I'm glad." Nyx turned her gaze upwards to the warm light filtering gently through the trees before starting to gently sway back and forth. "It seems that Hemera really did help after all."

She suddenly stopped and gently bit down on her lip. "I wonder if we'll all be able to help…"

I stopped and looked back at her. If I'm remembering right, Hemera said something similar. I have to wonder why they feel so strongly about it though…

I felt a hot sharp emotion flash through me, and I clutched my shirt tightly, my emotions suddenly becoming a whirlpool inside me. Happiness, sadness, understanding, familiarity, but the one that I felt strongest in that moment wasn't any of those.

YOUR FAULT!

I fell to my knees, shaking, and Nyx noticed and immediately snapped out of her thoughts. "Depra, are you okay? What happened?"

YOUR FAULT YOUR FAULT!!

Stop, why am I feeling like this? There should only be two after all, but why is it so reminiscent of both of those times?

YOUR FAULT YOUR FAULT YOUR FAULT!!!

What did I even do this time…?

But instead of falling into the pit of darkness that normally awaited me, I was still able to feel the gravel trail beneath me, the warm sun enveloping my pale skin, and two hands firmly grasping my own.

Nyx, who had had her eyes closed, opened them when she felt my gaze. "That's a relief, you feel better now?"

"How did you—?" But before I was able to continue, she simply shook her head before staring directly into my eyes, her grey eyes filling with relief.

"It hurts you a lot, doesn't it?"

I was stunned into silence by that sentence and was unable to respond to her. Instead, she just kept on talking to me, her gaze firmly locked into my eyes.

"So much pain and darkness, but you should be fine for a little bit now. At least until the camping trip is over, if not longer. I'll shoulder it for now, so go have fun."

"Why would you—?" She cut me off once more, standing up, my hands still in hers.

"Because I want to. I don't need any other reason, do I?" And that was the first time I had saw her give off a full grin to anybody, and what a brilliant smile it was.

She helped me back up before brushing off the dirt from her clothes. "Well, let's continue. We've already fallen really far behind, and if we don't hurry, they really might kill us."

"Yeah, let's get a move on," I said, and we walked in silence once more until we were halfway there to our camping grounds.

"Thank you," I said awkwardly, realizing that I should've said those words far sooner.

"It's not an issue," she said simply before continuing. "Still, I wish it wasn't so damn hot out. This is why I never go outside." She shook her shirt vigorously, droplets of sweat flying off her sweat-stricken body.

"You sweat easily?"

"…Way to be subtle about it," she said, shaking her head in disbelief.

"Oh, my bad."

"I'm just teasing you, so calm down. Yeah, I always have, but not for the reasons you're thinking of."

What could that mean? "It's really hard to tell when you tease, you know that? When you're not around Hemera, you're pretty emotionless."

"Because she pisses me off at any chance she gets, duh," Nyx said, a scowl appearing on her face as she crossed her arms. "She's way too bright for my tastes, but she always wants to stick around me."

"I get what you mean. She so cheerful all the time. I have to wonder how she does it," I murmured, readjusting my backpack.

"We denizens of the night need to stick together alright. Maybe then we'll be able to handle her onslaught."

"We'll overpower her with the power of negativity!"

"Now you're talking Depra!"

We both started to laugh, and Nyx's gaze turned towards her left, where her eyes widened. "Whoa, that's pretty cool." I directed my gaze towards where she was looking, and I had my breath taken away.

It was grove of flowers, but not any normal flowers; the flowers we saw were black and about two feet tall, and there were probably at least about a hundred of them in the distance.

"I've never seen black flowers in person before," Nyx said in a hushed voice. "Wanna check it out?"

"Yeah, I wanna picture of it," I said, and I let her lead the way, us going off the well-worn gravel trail to natures earthy counterpart.

We reached them after about five minutes of walking, and they were even more stunning up close than from afar.

"They're lilies," Nyx said, setting her bag down at the edge of the flower grove. "Calla Lilies to be precise."

"You like flowers?"

"Nope, I just like anything to do with the color black." She walked into the grove and plucked a flower out from the ground and sniffed it. "However, because I like black flowers, I did some research on the language of flowers to find their meanings."

I set my bag down next to hers and joined her in the grove. "What does it mean?"

"Well, black flowers themselves are meant to have an air of mystery to them, but this one specifically represents resurrection and rebirth, and because of its trumpet shape, is also meant for victory."

She handed me the black lily before looking up towards the sky. "And as such, when given to another person, can be seen as a ray of hope that has yet to come."

There was a slight breeze that sent black flower petals scattering up, and amidst them was Nyx as they gently fell back down the ground, making a scene I still vividly remember to this day.

"I sincerely hope that your ray of hope lies with us, dear Depra."

I suddenly heard a loud crack, and I quickly looked towards the source of the noise, a fell tree that had somehow broke through the support that had prevented it from reaching the ground. And its target was none other than Nyx, who had just now seen the tree falling onto her.

I felt my legs start moving as I saw her eyes widen, but I knew there was no way I was going to make it in time. Damn it, what the hell could've caused that!?

I grit my teeth as time seemed to slow down, and I clenched my fist as I was forced to say what would always cause me so much grief…

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"What happened to you two? Hiro and the others beat you guys you know."

Me and Nyx, who were both covered in dirt, looked at each other before looking back at Lachesis.

"We hate nature."

"Huh?" But before Lachesis could continue, Hemera came running towards us.

"Depra! Nyx! Did you have fun on the way here!?" She was glowing so brightly that it hurt just to look at her.

"Too much positivity Depra!"

"We were unprepared Nyx!"

We both covered our faces using our arms, squinting at Hemera's brightness, and she stopped, confused. "What did I do?"

"Not everyone can handle your positivity Merry," Hiro said, patting her on the back. "Come on, let's get you guys unpacked. Me and Lachesis decided tent arrangements, so it shouldn't be too crazy."

"And by together, you mean you forced them on me," Lachesis grumbled, and Hiro let off a knowing grin.

"If we had it your way, no way in hell would there be any excitement. We must experience the apex of our youth immediately, and so boy-girl combos are the obvious choice."

Eh? "Uh, Hiro, did I hear you right?"

"Of course, my dear Depra. And since you and your partner in crime came late, you're sleeping together!"

It was one thing after the other with him. "Who're you sleeping with then?

"My totally adorable sister of course! I can't trust you hooligans with her!" He grabbed a nearby Luna and wrapped his arm around her red face.

"Big bro, I wanna sleep with other people too!"

"… You know, let's use the word bunk instead of sleep," Hiro said, scowling at what Luna just said. "The connotations are too risqué for me."

"Huh, but why?" Luna asked, looking up at Hiro in confusion.

"This is getting us nowhere Hiro, so hurry up and tell us where we're bunking already," Lachesis complained, and Hiro finally obliged. It went like this:

Tent 1, nearest the entrance: Hiro and Luna

Tent 2, one of four in the middle: Depra and Nyx

Tent 3, one of four in the middle: Ass and Prez

Tent 4, one of four in the middle: Aether and Hemera

Tent 5, one of four in the middle: Eros and Lachesis

Tent 6, the one nearest the forest: Erebus and Necessitas

"Why am I stuck with the weirdo at the back?" Necessitas grumbled.

"It is due to fate that we are once more together again my dear Dark Empress! Now come join me once and for all on-!" He got cut off by her pulling on his ear, his only visible eye squinting in pain.

"Nah, I just did it cuz I thought it would be funny," Hiro explained, and Necessitas started to chase him around the campground in anger.

I chuckled and turned towards Lachesis, who was musing to herself. "Yeah, it could work. Although, why aren't I with my boyfriend?"

"Because that would be too spicy for this story! We need to keep it PG!" Hiro said, appearing next Lachesis somehow.

"How the hell did he do that!?" Necessitas yelled from the other side of the campground, and Hiro shrugged before turning towards me.

"So, no objections?"

Everybody except Necessitas agreed, and we finally began unpacking. It was the mid-afternoon now, with plenty of sunlight left in the day. I unrolled my sleeping bag next to Nyx's, putting my head where her feet would go, and dropped the rest of my stuff on my sleeping bag before heading back outside.

"What exactly are we even meant to be doing," I murmured to myself, and Prez appeared next to me.

"Swim of course!" She was in a bathing suit, along with everybody else. Well, everyone except me at least.

"I didn't bring one though…" I said as the others leapt off the nearby cliff down into the river below. I walked near the edge and sighed before sitting down, gazing at them having fun.

"Why the glum look?" I glanced behind me to see Hiro who also wasn't wearing a swimsuit, his necklace out in the open, and Luna, who was wearing a light blue one-piece.

"I didn't realize we were gonna swim."

"I see." He turned towards his sister, nudging her arm. "So, you gonna jump in like the rest of them?"

She walked towards the edge, shyly looking downwards before turning back towards her brother. She clenched her fists in front of her chest and nodded in the cutest way possible. "I'll do my best for you, big bro!"

Hiro clutched his heart suddenly, falling onto one knee. "A surprise cute attack huh? So cute damn it!" He looked up at me, his face contorted in obvious fake pain. "Well, it looks like I can't swim now, so you can take my swimsuit Depra."

He pulled a black swimsuit out of his pocket and handed it to me.

I watched as Luna jumped up into a cannonball, holding her nose as she went down into the water before looking towards Hiro, who still hadn't recovered. "Thank you, but you didn't have to pull that huge stunt off."

"What're talking about? Luna's surprise cute attacks are super effective against Hiro's. Type advantage, duh."

I couldn't help but laugh at his funny way of helping me before ducking back into the tent to quickly change. Once I was finished, I approached the cliff once more, Hiro still incapacitated.

"You know, it is rather a long way down…" I murmured, having second thoughts before hearing a voice.

"In yah go!" I felt a strong push send my hurdling downwards to the river, and I felt the cold water's embrace before I resurfaced, pushing the hair out of my eyes. I glared at Hiro, who was laughing from up above.

"Have fun down there Depra!" He said, cackling as he walked away, and I couldn't help but feel a bit pissed at him, despite his good intentions.

"Oh, you actually had a swimsuit Depra!" Prez swam towards me, and she gave me a gentle slap on the back. "Good, now come join us for a splash battle!"

"Good luck Depra!" I glanced near the shore, and it was Hiro, wearing a green swimsuit. That little-!

But before I could make my way over to him and force in the water, I felt a rather strong splash of water reach my face, disorientating me before I managed to wipe the water off my face.

It was Prez, and she looked slightly annoyed. "Oi, you better get serious, since we're not holding anything back ya hear!"

I looked around to see everyone splashing each other with their best moves, and I nodded at Prez. "You're right, no holding back!"