Matt.

Despite it being two years since the battle, not everything has been rebuilt, although it's finally taking shape. It has taken a long time to heal the wounds that were inflicted upon us. Immediately after the battle we were overwhelmed – there was so much to be done, but we were all just exhausted. I ordered everyone to go home and sleep and rest up for a week before we tried to start piecing things back together. The only one who struggled with that request was Ethan. Reluctantly I agreed to let him start helping the Tribunal fix the mess immediatly. He needed a distraction more than anyone.

I look over at him now. We're in Athens, having just met with the Tribunal. We had thought the Citadel was lost, but the survivors are apparently extremely resilient; they are rebuilding it, with our help where possible, although the technology is beyond most of us. Then there's Veridian; the city is just about restored to its former glory, with everyone settling back into their homes. There was a lot of damage done there, too. Not just the buildings – the people were hit hard. Us Named among the casualties.

Ethan has been doing well. Better than I expected him to, in all honesty. He has thrown himself into helping fix Veridian and the Citadel. His help has been extremely useful, but I can't help but wonder what he will do once it's all over. I know he has tried to push a lot of things behind him – Rochelle's death hit him hard, and it was even worse that she sacrificed herself to save his life. He feels like he has to make that sacrifice worth it, even though I know there have been many times he has wanted to just give up.

He looks over at me, a small smile on his face. He doesn't really smile much any more. Or laugh. He was very withdrawn to begin with – barely eating and hardly communicating with anyone, but we've slowly brought him back out of himself. That said, he is still a shadow of his former self.

"We did good, Matt," He says, and I know he is talking about all the restoration we have done. "The building work is nearly finished. We have nearly regained everything that we lost." There is an unspoken question behind his eyes, and I urge him to continue. "But what do we do when it's all finished?"

I sigh a little, looking back ahead of me. The day is beautiful here in Athens. "There is still much to be done with locating Lathenia's supporters. Many continue to evade us. I fear there will be trouble brewing soon. They can't start to mess with the past, at least for now – they aren't able to create any portals, although I worry that they are focusing there attention on figuring that particular issue out. We haven't had much trouble for a while, and that does worry me." There were times when her supporters were launching half-hearted attacks nearly weekly, but there has been no movement for quite a while.

Ethan nods. "We'll get them eventually, though. Without Lathenia they are nothing." I nod in reply to that. "We better get back, anyway. I'm meeting with Dillon to do some training."

"Yeah, Arkarian wanted to meet with me, so I need to get moving as well. How is Dillon?" I ask. Things were never really the same between us after everything that happened with Neriah, although I think he has finally understood that she never saw him that way. We are still friendly, but not in the way we used to be. Ethan and Dillon do training very regularly now – another thing that Ethan threw himself into was practising in physical combat.

"He's good. He's enjoying being a Trainer." He laughs a little. "He doesn't take any crap from poor Stephen! But he's a good trainer, definitely keeps them in line. He works really well with the troubled kids who have acted out a lot. I guess he understands it, with his past and everything."

I nod. I've heard good things about Dillon's abilities as a Trainer, which I'll admit did surprise me. But he's certainly doing a good job with Stephen. The kid came to us when he came into his power of speed at school. He was getting in a fight with some bully, and suddenly he was throwing punches out at superhuman speed. It seemed a natural match to pair him with Dillon, and Stephen is flourishing under his tutoring.

"How is Isabel?" Ethan asks me as we walk, shoving his hands in his pockets. "I haven't seen her much recently. Been busy, you know." I can feel the guilt through his mind. He feels like he's been a bad friend, but Isabel understands. We have spoken of him often.

"She's doing well. She's currently developing an idea she had about training the rest of us in basic Healing. She's only been working with Arkarian so far, to see if it's possible, but it seems to be working. Only basic stuff – obviously nobody else will be able to match her skill, since it's one of her powers– but even just being able to stop or stem bleeding and doing basic pain relief would be a help for missions. At least gives chance for us to get the wounded to her."

Ethan is nodding enthusiastically as I speak. "That sounds like a great idea!"

"It is, but we'll see. Arkarian has more power than the average mortal, but I think he's grasped some basic healing. Not much though." I look up at the sky. Time is passing as we speak, and we both have places to be. "Let's go, Ethan." And with that, we vanish.

Author's Note: This chapter was more to place the scene, so you can see how the characters are and what's been going on. The fun stuff starts in the next chapter. :)

I'm sorry if I got any of the stuff wrong regarding their world (citadel, veridian) I have read the books so many times and that's the one aspect I seem to struggle to get my head round – what is where, what they can get to with their mortal bodies, etc! So confusing. Hopefully what I've written works for you guys!