A/N; OMG, I am so sorry this took so long to post! Last week before break, and EVERY teacher decides to make a project due on the same bloody day. The next few chapters will be more regular, I swear! So sorry!

-Ash

Chapter 7- I Can Remember

-Rythian's POV-

I would remember the time before the first Tekkit War, back when we were good friends.

I remembered his visits to my home, the times when we would both go spend time with Zoeya at her mushroom village.

I remember vividly the day the war began; As Lalna chased Sjin away from my home, I remember him shouting "I'm so sorry, Rythian!" as the roof of my house caught fire.

I remembered him showing me his castle the first time; the pride in his voice whenever he spoke of his beautifully constructed home, the hand-made doors, the high ceilings and towers.

I remember the day he caught me in a forcefield outside his castle, and told me about the nuke. Told me to watch my step. I can remember the rage, overwhelming, but contained by an emotion I can now identify as love….

I remember when he told me Zoeya had been by his castle; the flip in my heart that told me I still loved her, even when she had left me all alone, taking Teep with her. Lalna had seen her, and told me she was safe; that made me somewhat OK with the nuke, somehow.

Then, I can remember when Zoeya had told me she was 99% certain she could handle the nuke, then she told me 97%, and I started to worry. She told me to stop worrying, that she would call if she needed me, giving me her radiant, beautiful smile.

I can remember going to Ravs' bar, and drinking. A lot.

I remember the boom, rushing back towards Blackrock, finding a crater. Feeling my heart freeze. My blood run cold. My mind shut down, then speed up.

I remember digging frantically through the rubble, ash falling from the sky like snow. Breaking my arm when a piece of the tower fell on it, Teep helping me free. He tied it in a sling.. Zoeya's cape that he had found.

That was when I started to lose hope, and cry.

I remember finding her by the pond where we met, covered in blood, bent, and broken. The light leaving her eyes as she smiled one last time, and told me she loved me, and not to miss her much when she was gone.

I can remember the moment she died. I screamed at the sky; A horrible, wrenching scream, with all of my sadness, rage, and all of my emotion. I screamed so loud, everyone began to gather around me.

Lalna had been the first to do anything; He dropped down beside me and helped me carry her body to the graves she had dug before, back when Blackrock was still under construction. Once she was buried, I turned to him and cried on his shoulder. He had hugged me, and whispered into my ear that it would all be OK. I didn't even care that her death was HIS fault. I only knew that I could trust him, and he let me cry, soothing me ll the time.

Then Prince Ridgedog had flown down, wearing black. He didn't say anything, just pooled magic in his hands, then turned Zoeya's headstone into diamond. He then nodded to us all. Everyone but Lalna and I bowed; Lalna nodded his head, and I kept crying into his shirtfront. Xephos decided that today, this war would end. We all signed a treaty; then Lalna hugged me one last time, and told me that if I needed anything at all, to come to him. I nodded, then flew over to Ravs' bar.

I remember drinking mug after mug of beer, stopping only when Teep brought me Zoeya's crown. Her beautiful golden crown that he had found when he was digging through the wreckage.

I drank for months, sleeping at the bar during the night, staring at the sky during the day, drinking again in the evening. Lalna must have visited a few times; once he kissed my forehead when I was passed out.

Then, one day, I looked up at the sky, and the simplest thing shocked me out of my reverie; A little bird had fallen out of its nest, and a squirrel picked it up, and carried it around, until the bird learned how to fly. I thought about that for a long time, and that made me think of how Zoeya had affected me. She had been the squirrel; Picking me up and holding me until I managed to get over losing my sister Ari. A few months later, that same bird, now grown into an eagle, left the nest and found a mate, making its first kill and flying through the sky, screaming his victory. I thought of myself; and I decided I would try to live up to Zoeya's memory. I stopped drinking as much, and started trying to put my life back together. Then I received the invitation for the party, on the anniversary of the day I had lost my sister Ari. She was killed by an Enderman; How horribly ironic is that? Killed be something that was a part of her.

First Arianna, then Zoeya.

Who else was I going to lose? Did I have anyone left to lose? I remember thinking. I accepted the invite, because we all know that Zoeya would have wanted me to go the party. She always did love a party, I thought to myself.

All of this flashes through my head as I stand on the roof, holding Zoeya's spirit in my arms. Wishing I could hold this moment forever. Wishing it never had to end.

I can remember every moment of our life together, the good times and the bad.

Everything is clear to me now; what I must do to live up to the memory of this beautiful girl I'm holding in my arms.

I know what I must do.

It won't be easy, but it's what I need to move forward, and put the past behind me.

Once and for all.