A/N Sorry for the delay and I don't own anything except for Anton/Aretha

Thank you to Soymaid for being my beta, she is the bomb! We should all bow down to her. It'd be so funny if she has to revise her own praise sentence!

MischiefHobbit you scared me for a moment there, I thought you were going to say my story was bad from reading the start of your review, but I'm glad I've restored your hope. There are a lot of great stories out there, but you just need to weed the bad ones out first.

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My vision was present only in small glimpses, and sometimes the little that I saw did not seem right. I think my mind was jumping to the past to the present and also my fantasies and mind blended in the dizzying picture.

What I did know for sure was that I was still in Troy; I was alive. I could tell I was alive because someone kept telling me I was. Someone with a deep and gentle voice was whispering in my ear. Or perhaps he was speaking normally; I had no sense of direction at the time.

I may have seen him in a few of my brief glimpses into the conscious and present world, but I doubted it. The only man I saw over me was a man who almost looked like the Greek hero, Odysseus. It would be ludicrous to think that Odysseus, an important factor to Greece's success would be whispering encouragements to the soldier who had failed to kill Hector.

But Achilles had killed Hector hadn't he? I remember Achilles's name being called out at the end of the battle. I suppose I just assumed he would finish off where I had left off, that if I were incapable of killing the Trojan Prince, Achilles would be. In my unstable semi-conscious state of mind, I was certain Achilles had killed Hector. Troy was going to fall.

"Your war brings me tarnished souls! They wonder here blind, deaf and dumb, I do not have the time to find them their proper respect." These words came to me oddly enough. At first I didn't remember where I had heard this, but it was familiar. 'Oh yes, Hades, how could I forget,' I thought or spoke once I remembered the dream. 'So odd, that he should be mad at me. Why is it the concern of a woman's?'

"I know, I know, Anton, you must not fret," the voice told me. Had I been upsetting myself? "You're secret is safe with me."

The flower was fighting against the winter, it wanted to keep its warmth. But the heat, the heat was too much for the flower. The flower had been naïve to think it could fight against the elements, against the order of the gods.

I was amazed by the clarity of my thoughts. If only everyone thought in the conscious world as they think in the unconscious world, then I won't have been in the trouble I was in.

The dream did not appear to my vision again, nor did past memories. My eyelids were heavy, but I kept them slightly open, as wide as I could. The man standing over me came into focus slowly, mostly because my body didn't seem to can much whether they saw him or not. If my body was fully functional, I would have scrabbled backwards from the man in a spasm of shock. But I was left with just a quickly yelp and wide eyes.

"I'm not sure whether I should call you Anton any longer, my lady," Odysseus said calmly. He was crouching by my feet, his hands folded over his mouth as if he was silently thinking about my future. His deep brown eyes were comforting but also intrigued in private thoughts.

"You. . . secret. . ." I gurgled like a fool, my tongue was still unconscious it seemed. Yet an intelligent man like Odysseus was able to fill in the missing words of my speech.

"I suppose it's too soon for you to speak, lady Anton," he smiled. "I will speak for the both of us. While you laid unconscious had time to think of questions that could possibly be on your mind." He ran his hand through his drown wavy hair, before beginning. My scattered mind thought he was quite attractive. The rest of me was too dead with exhaust to either prove this thought correct or disapprove it.

"I was the only one that took care of you, Anton," he explained slowly for the sake of my resembling mind. "I thought that it was the least I could do, because you were an important asset to our forces, despite your short time with us.'

"It is true, in a short amount of time you grew from a nameless soldier to the second most powerful fighter of the Greek armies," Odysseus recounted 'Anton's' legend. "You may have wondered how a transformation of that scale could have possibly be done in the course of no more than three days." He was actually false, I hadn't given the

questionMaybe a better word for thismuch thought. I was too busy with my triangular relationship with Achilles and Breseis. Also I had to give my pride credit for my weak perceptive, I thought myself to be a very powerful fighter.

"But I was the one who suggested that you should be watched over as our second best warrior," he continued, drawing me back to him. "I had seen you fight both at the barnfire with the other soldiers, and during the raid of the village. Your techniques were magnificent, but also you had a fire to you. I saw it in your eyes," he paused to stare for a moment into my gray eyes. "They are like a storm of passion and strength. Like a storm they show that you can be reckless, your eyes remind me of Achilles. They also show that he is reckless, and despite your strength in the battlefield, recklessness can be what defeats you in the end.'

"I think your recklessness has caught up with you before Achilles' has with him," he grinned miserably. "Perhaps it is because the gods punish you as a woman, or maybe you should have stayed in the safeties of your tent that night as Achilles' did."

"Achilles. . . I thought . . . was there. . ." my sentences were growing back steadily.

"A lot of people thought so, but it was his companion Patroclus. He took the battle against Hector shortly after you fell, but unlike you he did not fall unconscious," Odysseus lowered his head in respect. "His twelve days of mourning are over today. Achilles is not allowing himself to mourn any longer. Someone say he will confront Hector privately."

"How long . . . been I . . . gone?"

"For twelve days." We were both silent, his eyes cast away from me as I came fully back.

"How long have you known?" I asked finally. He was smart enough to realize what I was speaking about.

"For twelve days," he replied calmly. "Luckily for you I had insisted to mend you, out of respect to you. And I know that Achilles was very fond of you."

"What are you going to do?" a morsel of fear was in my voice. I tried to cough to make it sound like nothing, but a quick look from him told me that he had sensed my fear.

"I want you to stop Achilles," he said bluntly. I was taken back, and this he could see. "I fear he is going to be driven by his rage, and I fear for the soul of Hector. Prince Hector is kind, I have meet him on numerous occasions. Battling him almost brings me despair. Watching Achilles ruin him, for he surely will, will ruin me emotionally."

"How do you know Achilles will kill him?"

"One look into his eyes after that night, and it was obvious to the world that he craved for Hector's death," Odysseus sighed. "Save him, lady Anton, save him and I will do my best to secure your safety back to Greece."

"My name is Aretha," I whimpered weakly. There was no way I could not accept his offer. His offer was life. I didn't understand how I would do it, but I knew I couldn't wait to give my answer or say no. I knew this and Odysseus knew this.

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A/N Another short one, I'm sorry! I hope you're happy Luthien! Hopefully there's enough Odysseus to keep you happy until next chapter. He'll be in it too, so don't worry

This wasn't checked by soymaid by the way, it's been hard to contact her

Pls R&R!!!