A/N: I've reordered some things in the movie to better fit this story, so don't be confused.

*****

From that point on, we were inseparable. I never really managed to remember how many hours were left in a day or how many had already passed, but as long as I was with Patroclus I didn't care. We talked quite a lot, and I told him everything about my past; the farm I lived on, my friends and family, and everything that I had ever hoped for. Everything just felt so natural with him around.

That being said, we did encounter some problems. Achilles was the most prevalent of them, and the night after he and Patroclus had their talk I found out something of why he was so upset. My friend and I were summoned down to a fire that had been set up further away from the Myrmidon's normal circle. Sitting around it were Achilles, Briseis, Eudorus, and Odysseus.

"Take a seat," Eudorus offered. We did, and observed the circle. No one looked each other in the eye, and they seemed on edge.

"Well there's no point in ignoring this any longer," Odysseus began with a heavy sigh. "There are certain actions that must be taken if you two are to stay out of trouble."

Patroclus and I glanced at each other. We knew what he was talking about; we no longer tried to keep it a secret.

"First thing's first," Eudorus said, "We have to either find a safer place for Myla to stay, or get her back to Troy."

Patroclus stiffened and took my hand.

"Why?" I asked. I no longer wanted to leave as much as I had before, and I knew the reason why.

The assembled people glanced at each other.

"For your own safety," Eudorus told us. "And for the safety of…anyone else."

"Like who, me?" Patroclus asked. We were both getting confused, and everyone around the fire exchanged another collective glimpse.

"Well, I suppose you would be included," Odysseus admitted, "but we weren't referring exclusively to you."

"Don't act stupid," Achilles snapped. "You know the consequences of your actions."

"If you-" Odysseus motioned to me, "are with child now, then-"

"Wait, wait," I cut him off. "Why on earth would I be with child?"

As the group looked at each other again, all the disjointed pieces clicked together in my mind.

"Wait, you think we…"

"Oh god!" Patroclus exclaimed when he understood.

For once, it was everyone else's turn to be confused.

"Wait," Eudorus said, "you mean you didn't-"

"NO!" we shouted in unison.

An awkward silence descended on the group, broken only a moment later by Briseis' badly stifled chuckling.

"Oh, it's funny," she said defensively when everyone looked at her. "On some level, it's funny."

"Well now that that's dealt with," Odysseus said, "we can move on to…actually, I think that was basically all we had to discuss."

"Can we leave now then?" Patroclus asked. Out of the corner of my eye I saw him shoot a glance at his cousin, who didn't meet his gaze.

"I suppose."

My friend and I rose from the circle and were about to head back to the tent, but Achilles grabbed Patroclus' shoulder and asked to speak to him privately. I watched them talk a little ways off; Achilles kept his arms crossed and his eyes on the ground for a minute or so, and moved the sand around with his foot. My guess was that he was apologizing. After that was through he returned to his normal self, and it was Patroclus' turn to look awkward. It worried me a little (mostly because I was fairly certain I was the subject of their conversation) but before I could think on it too much Patroclus left his cousin and we headed back to the tent. As I sort of suspected, he wouldn't tell me anything, and while I fell asleep against him that night I tried my hardest not to think on it.

The next morning found the Myrmidon camp in a bit of a buzz. I awoke to see that Patroclus had already dressed and was sitting next to me, looking pensive.

"Morning," I said. He looked over abruptly, startled from his reverie, and smiled.

"Morning."

"What's going on?" I asked. The noise level outside was significantly greater than normal.

"The Myrmidons decided to go watch the battles today," he informed me. "If you'd like, we can go."

"I suppose," I said with a nod. He smiled again, but his face betrayed the slightest expression of sadness, or some emotion like it. Again I tried not to concentrate on it, but I still retained an uneasy feeling in the back of my mind.

All the same, I dressed and followed the rest of the Myrmidons to a hill overlooking the battlefield. I couldn't help but be shocked at the overall size of the Greek army; they seemed to consume the landscape as they marched forward to meet the Trojans. Turning to observe what was technically my army, I saw Hector and Paris sitting on horseback at the head of the soldiers. The sight of my almost adoptive father released some tension in my throat. He was all right.

The Greek army stopped their advance just soon enough to leave a patch of ground between themselves and the Trojans. In unison, they moved from their battle stances to a position of waiting with spears rested against the ground, and I had to admit the effect was rather powerful.

A tense silence pervaded the air, broken only by the sound of horse steps as the kings of Greece and the princes of Troy rode forward to meet in the middle of the empty patch of ground. Hector and Paris dismounted their horses and the kings left their chariots, and they stood talking for a few minutes. At one point Menelaus and Agamemnon had their own conversation, and afterwards everyone headed back to their respective sides but told their armies to hold. I observed the Trojan army and was surprised to find that Paris was putting on his helmet and holding his spear. Looking back to the Greeks, I found Menelaus doing the same.

"Are they going to fight?" Patroclus asked.

"It would look that way," Eudorus told him as the two men moved to the center and everyone else backed up.

"This won't be a fight," I said darkly. "It'll be a massacre."

"You think Paris will beat Menelaus?"

"No, I think Menelaus is going to annihilate Paris."

A few of the Myrmidons who heard gave me surprised looks.

"I thought you were a Trojan," one of them asked.

"I'm also a realist," I told them. "Paris is a good archer and he can throw a spear rather well, but at hand-to-hand combat he's completely useless."

The comparatively short battle lived up to my expectations. Menelaus would have killed Paris, but the prince ducked out of the path of his sword and scuttled across the ground to his brother. Menelaus screamed something that was muffled and unrecognizable from where I was and followed him. It looked to me as though he was about to try to kill Paris at Hector's feet, but before it could happen the elder prince pulled out his sword and stabbed Menelaus straight through his stomach.

Almost instantly, everything erupted into chaos. The Greeks fell back into their fighting stance as Paris was rushed behind the walls. Just as Agamemnon called for a forward advance, the archers on the wall released a volley of arrows toward the foreign army. Most of the front line of soldiers fell right away, but the army kept moving forward.

"They're getting too close to the walls," I pointed out. It certainly seemed that way; the foot army still didn't move, but Greeks were falling dead in front of them. Finally Hector sent them running towards their enemies, and swords and spears were added to the already anarchic mess. The battle raged on in this manner for a while, until it became clear that the Greeks were being defeated. The Myrmidons became significantly disheartened and distracted in the battle, so when Patroclus took my hand and led me off the hill and behind the cover of a group of boulders, they didn't notice.

"What're we doing here?" I asked. He kept glancing over his shoulder and all around him, presumably to see if he had been followed. His behavior worried me a little.

"Patroclus, what's wrong?"

He sighed while holding both my hands in his, and glanced off to his left and over the edge of the small ditch we were in. He wouldn't look me in the eye.

"In a few minutes, the army will go back inside the wall," he said in a low, almost numb monotone. "Once the Greeks are far enough away, run towards the wall. If anyone asks who you are, say you're from a farm high up in the mountains and you just heard you had to come to the city."

I was confused, hurt, and scared all at once.

"B-but why?" I managed to stutter. He sighed and kept his eyes on my hands.

"Because that is where you're safest," he said. "Most people at the camp know about…us, and I don't want one of them to figure out that they could use you to get to me. If you were ever hurt because of me…"

He sighed again.

"I don't know what I would do."

I was no longer hurt or confused, but the fear lingered. Mostly, I was afraid of the thought of something happening to him when I wasn't there to prevent it. Barely a shadow in my mind was the fear of something happening to me. But the thing that made me the most apprehensive was the idea of not seeing him every day as I had for the past month or so.

"I don't want to go," I whispered, hearing the pain in my own voice. He sighed and pulled me close.

"I don't want you to go either," he said. "But the one thing I want more is for you to be safe. If this is the only way to make sure that happens, so be it."

He pulled back a little and dropped something into my hand. I uncurled my fingers and looked down to see the seashell necklace he always wore.

"Keep it," he said. I immediately clasped it around my neck.

"I wish I had something for you," I confessed. In a more pained voice I added, "I'm afraid I'll never see you again."

He embraced me again and spoke into my ear.

"I will find you again," he said, gently but forcefully. "No matter the outcome of this war, no matter who wins, I will find you. I promise."

I held him tighter and, more than ever, I never wanted to let go.

Unfortunately, that wasn't to be. The army started retreating back behind the walls, and Patroclus hurriedly sent me over the edge of the hill. Before I left I took a last look over my shoulder at him. My first instinct was to run back, but I didn't. As he stood there looking back at me, I suddenly had an ominous feeling. I didn't want it to be true, but for some reason I thought my greatest fear would be realized, and I would never see him again.

I tried to shake the sensation as I ran towards the wall. It seemed that the Trojan soldiers didn't notice me, but someone else apparently did; as I ran, a spear flew past me and grazed my leg. I cried out in pain and stumbled on the ground. There was a gash across my hip and the pain seared through my muscles, but I had to ignore the blood and keep running. I managed to stumble to the gate just before they closed it.

Inside the city of Troy, it seemed as if everything was exactly as it had been when I left it. Soldiers ran about trying to get things arranged, but unlike last time no one noticed me. My injury was bleeding rather profusely, so I stumbled away from the main entrance and found a quiet spot to sit and examine it. The blood was dripping down my leg, so I tore a piece of cloth from my skirt and wrapped it tightly around the wound. Once I had secured it as much as I could, I leaned my head back against the wall and thought over my situation.

I had to find my family. I didn't know where they might be, but I assumed the refugees from the surrounding countryside would have to be housed somewhere in the city. I decided to go first to the temple of Hestia nearby; the most logical place to house people who had no home to go to was under the protection of the goddess of the hearth.

My leg throbbed with every step I took, but I kept walking. My original assumption was correct, and I entered to find the temple crowded with people. The priestesses were attending to the sick and wounded and passing out food. One of them noticed me standing in the doorway and came over.

"Do you need something dear?" she asked kindly.

"I'm looking for my family," I told her. "They came from a farm outside the city, but we were separated and I don't know where they went."

"Well, these people came from the outside country," the woman told me. "You're welcome to have a look around."

"Thank you."

I wandered the temple slowly so as to not draw attention to my leg, which had now given me a rather pronounced limp. People looked up at me as I drew near, and watched me as I passed. Their faces were gaunt, frightened, and for the most part, completely unfamiliar. Fenthius, Amanthe, and Diones were not here.

"Did you find them?" the priestess asked as I left. I shook my head.

"Is this everyone who came in?" I asked.

"No," she told me. "The rest are scattered amongst the other temples."

I thanked her and left, but I knew the chances of finding my family again had just grown infinitesimally small. I struck out along another avenue and spent the rest of the day limping from temple to temple, working my way from one end of the city to the other. Before I knew it dusk had fallen over the streets, and I still hadn't found my uncle or cousins. The blood from my leg had slowly but surely been soaking through the makeshift bandage all day, and as darkness approached I could feel myself getting dizzy.

As I passed the main street again, I looked up at the palace. There were lights in many of the windows, and I began to think of food and rest. At the time I couldn't have said why, but I began to walk towards it. As I went the pain in my leg became more and more pronounced, but my mind was growing just as dim as the impending night, and it was barely a shadow in my thoughts. I approached the long set of stairs that led to the entrance hall of the royal house, and I was about to ascend the steps when I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Where do you think you're going?" a voice asked me. I looked to my right to see a royal guard staring down at me. "I said, where do you think you're going?"

"I need to rest," I murmured. My voice sounded alien to me.

"You can rest somewhere else," he said officially. "Move along."

I could barely see his face now, my head was swimming so much.

"Myla!" another voice called out. "Wait, I know her!"

I turned my head to see another soldier coming towards us. I knew him too; it was Trion, Amanthe's husband.

"Where have you been?" he asked when he got to me. "We've been looking for you for almost a month now!"

"I need to rest," I repeated. My mind knew no other words to say, and Trion looked worried.

"What happened to your leg?" he asked, noticing the wound.

"I need to rest."

He spoke to me again, but he may as well have been talking underwater. My vision too had become obscured by darkness, and subconsciously I knew it wasn't due to the absence of sunlight. I tried to take a step forward, but before my foot hit the ground everything went black and my mind was wiped of thought.