A/N another depressing emo chapter. I'll have action in the next one, trust me. This chapter is dedicated to all the victims of 9/11, though they're not really realted. I'll blow something up in the next chapter to make up for it.

I was watching some clips of the attack on the news last Thursday. It makes me angry- how do you use your religion to justify that to yourself? What happened to 'Thou shal not kill'? I don't understand. I had nightmares.

Time. We need time.

And we're running out.

Yours,

E

O-o

"Eden, tell Rissa to pass me that list."

Eden didn't look up from her typing. "Rissa, pass Adam that list."

"Tell Adam to get it himself."

"Adam, get it yourself."

"Tell Rissa to go squirrel a stick."

"Riss, go squirrel a- excuse me?" Eden turned to look at Adam, frowning. "Squirrel a stick?" Adam carefully avoided Rissa's gaze, tracing the patterns on the long wooden table with his fingers. Eden shook her head in disgust, glowering at the both, (individually) before going back to her laptop. Her stomach rumbled, and Adam's answered.

"Eden, please report to the kitchens. I repeat, Eden, please report to the kitchens."A voice cackled. She groaned.

"Great. Now I have to spent time looking at food, too. Where's the justice."

"Won't be looking at much." Adam rose to follow her- because god forbid he be in a room alone with his ex. (They called it 'smash', as in 'Adam, did you smash again?')

"Right." Eden stalked out, the frozen grass making a dull crunching sound under her feet. Damn-crunch, damn-crunch, damn-crunch.



The kitchen was a long low building next the the dining hall, located at the far end of the green. The walk gave Eden time to mentally prepare herself for the attack on her stomach. She was not disappointed.

"We have," Olila pointed to the cupboard, "Some cheese, flour, old tomatoes, and little bits of meat that we can eat today."

Wonderful. "I can't cook worth a crap, Ol. Why am I here?" Olila sighed.

"Peter said you might have an idea. Was there ever anything made with cheese, bread, tomatoes and meat that you ever saw or heard of?"

Cheese… tomatoes… bread… bread… cheese…" What was it called? She searched her memory, a fuzzy image coming to mind. Cheese… tomatoes… bread… pepperoni! Pepperoni… pie? No, that was something else. Pepperoni… I started with a P. What starts with a P? Pi… Pizzen? No, that wasn't right. Pizzy? Pizzul?

The image solidified in her mind. A circle of thin bread, topped by tomato sauce, cheese and random vegis and meat. But the more she tried to recall, the farther it went. A sign, Dominoes? How come she could remember the name of the company, and not the food?

"There was…" She frowned, trying.

She, Emily and Lila sat around a small round table. Eden lifted the menu, running her eyes down the list.

"They used to serve this every day at camp." Emily smiled slightly. "But then the parents started to complain."

"Aw," Lila lamented. Snow fell outside, and Christmas carols played through the speakers, and Eden felt safe. Monsters were in hibernation. She hadn't been kicked out of school yet. It was Christmas.

"May I take your order?" An official looking man materialized next to them.

"I'll have pepperoni." Lila decided, dropping her menu. "And another coke."

"Did you drink that already?" Eden laughed, studying Lila's empty glass. There was a blue square logo on it, and it read 'Dominoes Pizza'.

Pizza! She had loved it. How had she forgotten pizza?

O-o

"Where'd ya'set go? I was looking for you." She heard the voices of a group of kids as if from a great distance, though they were really hardly ten feet away. Angrily, she shoved her hands into her jacket pockets. Lucky kids. They lived in one time; their own. Her eyes moved across the self standing buildings, all the new technology. When she was young, she had thought that she was so far ahead, and now…



She closed her eyes, leaning up against the side of the dub-say (bathroom.) What she wouldn't give for just a day in her own time, where people didn't look at her funny or scream when she got too close. Where she could say a word like 'duh' or 'cool' or used 'like' out of context and not have people look at her funny, when there wasn't a new load of slang she had to learn.

She thought of Harry Potter. It had been so long since she had thought of Harry Potter, The Lord Of The Rings, or To Kill A Mockingbird. Her favorite books. And Apollo 13.that had been a great movie.

And the technology. There had been something about holding a camera, seeing it focus, as opposed to commanding something to do it for you. It wasn't the same. Editing onscreen as opposed to telling it what to do. The internet. Myspace- not that she had ever been allowed to have one. Soccer. Ultimate Frisbee. All the things that had faded out, vanished with the passing of the centuries.

She looked sadly up at the sky. Grey. It felt like the sun hadn't come out since she turned ten, though in reality it had been but two short months.

And her mother. What she would give- even all this, immortality be damned. She wanted to see her mother again, see her smile, hug her after surviving a NDE. She wrapped her arms around herself, closing her eyes, imagining that it was her mother holding her, comforting her.

She imagined herself grown up, and maybe- her insides squeezed in disgust- married. Maybe. Maybe she would have gotten married, had a kid.

You would doom your great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great to this? You would have let the Titans take over the word and do nothing?

But I would be dead... I wouldn't have to deal with it.

But it would still happen!

But it didn't matter. She had joined the hunt, and she was going to turn 1000 next month. God, this was dumb (another word that was never used.)

The gods had been in NYC for awhile- but then the State building had been blown up in the great war of '500. She had been six when bin Laden's body was found.

They had been in Antarctica during most of the War, stalking a polar bear/lion chimera. There had been smaller wars, too… France had gobbled England a couple hundred years ago, and… she didn't want to think about it.

Eden realized her life would have made an interesting book… but it wouldn't happen. She was going to die. Nothing would last forever. Someday, even if their resistance failed, someday the gods would defeat the Titans. It might not be now, it might not be soon. But nothing would last forever…. Someday, the Titans would fall. They were in an eternal power struggle. And maybe someday the half-bloods would rebel. Maybe.



And maybe crickets and cicada's would become un-extinct.

O-o

Jon Pierce- here it is… the next chapter. Ta-da!

Lidm30- Good oh well or bad oh well? Are you grossed out w/ the cannibalism? I promised it in the summary…

Bubblegum11- Thanks. I'm working on my beginnings.

Next Time:

Dawn. Dawn was heading towards her.

Let it go…

Dawn's face filled her mind. Could she do that? Leave the resistance leader-less, leave the Hunt to fend for themselves?