The amount of responses were overwhelming. Thank you guys!
I was amused at how many people thought this was the end ;) Way too many questions, far too little answers. I've come to clear that up. Sadly, the story does not end here, seeing what has happened to Shem.

But as everyone must say, the show must go on! To Queen Ore-sama: You're amazing for not believing this is the end ;)
Pandalover03: Thanks for the review! Hope you keep up with the story 'til "the end" :)
EIMR: Things will be revealed, such as Ira's alliance with Austin, who Austin really is, and what became of the Medallion. That part with Charon was also very smart indeed - good catch! :)
Pinoy Gamer: Ya, the hero with the tragic end. It's a pity that it all had to come to this. Or is it?

Read, Review, and Good Luck!
-Olo Eopia03

- Chapter 38 ~ The Fated Resurrection -

Behind every beautiful thing, there is some kind of pain.

A figure appeared - letting herself go from the tendrils of darkness, knowing that she had just witnessed a grueling fight.

"Aphrodite," he had whispered.

The tears continued to fall silently. Could he really see right through her?

More than she thought?

You just don't know who you are . . . because you barely know yourself.

Ira Vagler stepped out into the open. The smaller of the two bodies on the ground was dead.

It belonged to the one she truly loved.

"But I love you," Ira whispered. She rushed to Shem's side, hands trembling as she checked his pulse. All signs of breathing - all signs of life - were gone. Just as she found he'd stopped breathing, her breath had been cut off as well. The panic rose to her chest. "I really do."

She stared into his face; it looked more pale than even a frightened ghost. He said nothing. Ira looked at Austin, who was still breathing slowly.

Soon, he would probably be able to get up.

Soon, Austin would be able to help her get him back.

She'd made a mistake.

"Don't leave," Ira said, putting her head onto Shem's chest. There was no heartbeat. She started to cry. Beside her, Austin was breathing desperately. "Please, I - I love you!"

Immediately after, her mind began to clear despite the tears that came along with it.

She could save him.

She really could.

She'd forgotten all about it, the one thing that had been given to her not too long ago.

Ira took out the pill from her pocket. Was Shem right, then? Could this be the right one after all?

She remembered his desperation to ask Kyle if it had been the right one. Now - now she understood why.

It had been all for her.

I want you to have this, She heard Shem's voice in her mind. His own hand had curled her fingers inward, until she'd open it to reveal the small pill in her hand. Use it for yourself, and only you.

Bullshit.

Hastily, she put the pill into his mouth. She unwrapped the white scarf from her neck and wrapped it around his own.

"Shem, Shem - I know you can't hear me, but listen to me, okay?" Ira said, her voice shaky. "You're here now. You're safe. Don't worry, I've got you. I've got you."

He would live.

It would just be the two of them. She didn't care if He would get angry at her.

Seconds later, a beat had passed by. Two.

Nothing was happening.

Was he wrong? Ira thought, her throat constricting once more, the panic returning to her head. Did he pick the wrong pill?

"Shem?" Ira tried again, shaking Shem gently by the shoulders. His face was as pale as a sheet. Ira shook him again, more harshly this time - more desperately. "Shem?!"

Suddenly, she felt a sharp pain in her chest. Ira gasped in pain, unable to believe what was happening.

"I'm sorry." Austin croaked, pulling out the spear from her heart. His body fell back onto the ground, unable to get up. He was gasping. "You've done all you could to be rewarded, but he doesn't need you anymore. You die with me here."

"No," Ira gasped, struggling to stay alive, but she too collapsed next to Austin. She looked over at his face. Austin's gray eyes gleamed back with emptiness and brilliance.

The life was beginning to drain away from the both of them.

Austin had hit her accurately with a fatal blow.

So accurately. Even when he was an inch away from death, he could hurt me so easily.

"If you were able to kill me so easily," Ira choked out. She struggled for a breath. "Why didn't you kill Shem that way?"

"You don't understand anything," The man whispered. "And you never will. But Shem will."

"Shem's - Shem's dead. "

"Thank you."

Ira was so confused.

The man wasn't making any sense.

She felt as though the man had said one more thing to her and she had replied, but her conscious was already starting to drift away, her memory already grasping for what was even happening at the moment . . .

She felt the tears roll down her cheeks. Why had he thanked her? She couldn't think anymore. Why?

I can't die, Ira thought. I. Can't. DIE.

It felt useless.

Ira felt her heartbeat fading, and the pain in her chest was intensifying.

He's dead because of me, Ira thought. I'm so sorry.

She felt the light leaving her eyes against her will, and her body lost all feeling.

[xxx]

I hate you.

I hate you.

I hate you I hate you I hate you I hate you - !

"Ah - !"

Petra Ashling bolted upright in her bed, gasping for air as she heard something shatter onto the ground.

She rested a hand on her temple, feeling the mat of sweat on her forehead, waiting for the beating of her heart to slow down.

The nightmare had faded away as quickly as it had arrived, but that didn't happen often. Petra always remembered her dreams.

She was also always in control of them.

Or was that even a dream?

Petra looked over the side of her bed, at the glistening glass that had scattered itself all over the floor.

"Oh, crap," Petra muttered as she bent down to pick up the picture frame from the floor. A huge crack went down the middle of the frame, splitting the picture in half.

It wasn't an old picture. Petra looked at the image of her smiling back up from the frame, her shoulders tucked comfortably under the grasp of Shem's arms. He was still seventeen in the picture, his hand resting lightly on her shoulders in a side hug, a huge smile across his face.

She'd framed the picture because it was the first time she'd seen him with a smile that big and her with a happiness so great.

Petra set the picture back on the table, smiling softly.

I'll get a new frame today when I go to the Big House, Petra thought as she stared intently at the cracked glass. She didn't know why, but the image of the broken frame gave her a sudden, chilly feeling.

Petra felt a prickling on the side of her ribs and down her right arm. She mentally shook herself, but the prickling feeling wouldn't go away. A small ache appeared near the side of her heart, on her left shoulder.

She had to remember it.

Petra's mind veered to the voice in her head.

You have to remember it.

Was it something important? Petra closed her eyes.

It had to be important.

Petra was sure - someone had died.

Then it all came in a flash. Who was she looking through the eyes of again?

Eyes flickered open. Everything was in pain.

Petra opened her eyes, trying to push the image away now. She almost groaned aloud in disgust - in fright that the horrible memory would come back.

Maybe it was better that she couldn't remember. If only she could just fight it -

There was so much blood.

A glance over to the side. Two bodies lay there, the larger figure looking more battered. Both were dead.

The other body - her face was so beautiful.

A beat passed by. Two.

He hoped she was going to the pits of Tartarus.

Petra staggered out of her bed.

No, stop it.

She felt the dizziness hit her once again as soon as her feet touched the ground. It happened to her every time. The surroundings around her were as tangible as the floor beneath her feet. She could feel Chiron sitting in the Big House, and the people training in the arena. This was what seeing everything did to her.

At least she was used to it -

A man.

There was a man standing there, walking out of what seemed like waves of darkness that disappeared from his figure. He sighed as he stopped to look at the scene. The three bodies - the shattered glass - and then he saw it.

A black cap.

He picked up the black cap from the ground and placed it on his own head. The thunder shattered above him.

"So it's been done," He said as he bent down again next to the two bodies and reached down. He placed his hand into his pocket.

He sounded tired and sad - almost familiar.

He walked over a few steps and passed the girl and the young man.

The steps were complete.

Just like He had said.

The man looked on the ground where the boy was lying and sighed.

The boy - covered in his own blood.

There was no breath.

Petra gasped, placing a hand over her chest as she caught herself from stumbling. She felt her mouth open slightly, but no sound came out. The shock was numbing her.

Her eyes glanced back at the cracked picture frame on her desk.

No.

Shem, Petra thought. The boy covered in his own blood - she'd seen his face clearly and . . . It was Shem. The shock waves were still running through her. It was just a dream.

Just a dream.

Petra calmed herself. It was a dream. Why would it be true? She was the daughter of Morpheus. Things like that come and go all the time.

Only she'd never seen anything that had struck her so emotionally before.

Petra went into her drawers and hastily took out a pair of gloves, holding them close to her chest. She walked over and sat on the chair nearby as she looked at the iridescent walls around her.

There was a window with a perfect view of Thalia's pine whenever she sat on that chair.

Petra liked it that way.

She was the daughter of a minor god. It'd only been about a year since she found this place.

When Petra closed her eyes, she could still see everything. She could feel the walls of her room, her bed, and the very ceiling. It was like some sort of vision. It was very distracting at times, and her vision extended farther from her cabin, and she knew what was going on in Camp Half Blood.

In a way she had been able to relate the most to Mike Park, who, being a son of Hecate, could read minds. Even when there were things that they wanted to see, the power would always give them things they didn't need. It drove Mike nuts, but Petra was still hanging in there.

At least people's heads are not in my own all the time, Petra thought. She looked down at the gloves that she was holding, sighed and reluctantly threw them aside. She swore she almost wanted to run back to where they had landed just to pick them up and put them on.

Another thing she possessed: whenever she touched something for the first time, she would recall their whole past.

Whether she touched a human or not, she would know what had happened to them, the past people whom they've talked to, or anything memorable they had owned. If it was an object, she would know all the people who had used it.

If she touched it again, she would probably be able to get used to the shock, but first times were always the worst. The gloves would stop it - ceasing all contact between her hands and any object, any person.

She hated the feeling of gloves on her hands, though.

Memories were like living dreams. Only the children of Morpheus would be able to separate them or make them one.

She looked at the clock by her bedside, seeing that it was already three o'clock in the afternoon. Petra smiled.

She liked to sleep for that long every time. Raymond probably came in the room at least once to check if she would even wake up.

She yawned as she continued to look out the window.

A new image - different from the plain and empty view of Thalia's Pine - brought a chill to her spine.

There was a man. A man clad in black, leaning against Thalia's Pine.

The image of the man sent a surge of energy through Petra and she stood up, focusing her vision outside her cabin, towards where he was standing.

Who was he?

Next to the man . . . Someone . . . Someone else was lying down . . .

A pain erupted in Petra's head. The man was leaning against the tree, a black cap shadowing his face.

A memory flickered in Petra's mind back to when Petra had talked to Shem a few days before he'd left.

"Okay, but I also wanted to talk to you," Petra said quietly. Shem looked at her. "I saw a boy in one of my dreams."

"And?"

"He had jet black hair," Petra recalled. Shem looked into her eyes. "And he looked about twelve."

When Shem hadn't said anything, Petra felt the defeat creep in her her veins. She decided to continue.

"But that's it," She finished.

"That's it?" Shem said, staring. He knew - it wasn't like her to remember so little. "Then why do you care?"

"I don't know," Petra said. "It just keeps bothering me."

"Obviously," He could tell something was wrong. "What else did you want to tell me?"

Petra looked up, staring at him straight in the eye.

"Oh . . . It's nothing."

But it wasn't nothing.

Petra stared out the window again. She had to make sure.

That boy didn't just have jet black hair.

He had a black cap too.

Petra bolted out the door.

"Janelle!" Petra screamed as she continued to run. The fear crept into her heart. She looked over to her right, knowing the young medic was walking by with a few scrolls in her hand. Petra had already taken in everything in her surroundings - the people in each cabin, the creatures in the forest, and everyone else in the Big House. Janelle looked up in surprise, but Petra didn't look back, running as fast as her legs would take her. "Help!"

Mike - please - if you can hear me, Petra pleaded silently. She was sorry that she was going to intrude his mind, but this was necessary. She had to get to him. Get Chiron to Thalia's Pine. Now!

As soon as Petra reached the tree, she stopped at the sight of the person lying on the ground, her mind suddenly filled with unnecessary noises. Voices.

The body on the ground. The boy on the ground.

Crimson blood covered his clothing. But how can that be? How can that - there wasn't that much blood in her dream. She didn't even know whose blood it was -

Shem. No. Please, no no no -

Petra collapsed to her knees beside him. He was not the Shem Baker she'd seen a few weeks before. The pale, sunken cheekbones were as white as a sheet. His eyes - those gleaming gray eyes - were gone, tucked away beneath closed eyelids, the sparkle unable to reveal itself.

He made no sound.

Her hands clutched desperately onto his clothing, hoping to feel warmth. To feel a pulse. To feel anything.

Nothing.

Petra panicked.

Don't touch his bare skin - not yet or else you'll see - you'll see -

Petra looked up and saw the man standing nearby. His eyes were a light gray, and the black cap hung on the side of his head. He was wearing black jeans and a dark blue leather jacket.

He looked back at her, a plain look on his face.

Who was he?

Another pain erupted at the side of Petra's head. He looked so familiar - and it wasn't just from the memory that had revealed itself earlier that day.

The man looked at her, and she could feel his eyes scanning her whole being. It wasn't like those observations that Athena children would make. It felt as though he were taking in every feature she owned, as though he wanted to find out exactly who she was, and pry out her personality.

Petra noticed that his eyes were not moving to scan her, but why was she feeling that he could see everything?

She looked back at him with a sort of curiosity. What was he doing here?

Her bare hands trembled in front of her as she looked from Shem to the man leaning against the tree. She was afraid to touch the both of them because she wasn't sure she'd like what she'd find. Not now, at least.

"HEY!" She heard a voice cry out behind her.

Two pairs of footsteps were running towards them. She didn't need to look back to know that it was Raymond and Janelle.

Janelle arrived first, her face paling when she saw Shem.

"Oh my gods -" She too dropped down to the ground, checking for a pulse as she hastily fumbled through her pouch for medicine.

Oh gods, please help us, Petra pleaded silently.

She looked at Janelle, whose sapphire eyes flickered towards her for one moment, and they both could tell what the other was thinking.

Please, Petra pleaded, thoroughly shaken. Please. He can't leave.

I promise, Janelle's eyes seem to say. I'll do what I can.

Say that he'll live. He can't leave.

Raymond came running past Petra, and the lighter he held clicked into a sword in his hand. He raised it toward the man, who only stood there with a look of amusement on his face.

"What the hell are you doing here?!" Raymond snarled at the man. "Who are you?"

"No, stop!" Petra cried as she rushed forward and grabbed Raymond's other hand. He was tall and bigger than she was, but she quickly put herself between him and the stranger. Petra felt the tip of Raymond's blade at her chest, her back to the stranger behind her.

Janelle had looked up immediately, watching silently as her mouth opened slightly.

The tension in the air was palpable.

Raymond stopped immediately, gaping at Petra with a confused look on his face, but an expression of anger quickly replaced his face as he angled his sword away from her.

"Pet, this -" he said angrily.

"He didn't do it!" Petra said. Beat. Two. Raymond put his sword down. Petra looked back, and saw that the man hadn't done anything, a curious look still on his face. His eyes were such a light gray.

She swore she'd seen his face somewhere before.

Chiron came galloping quickly. His face was struck with concern and shock when he saw Shem on the ground.

"How-?" Chiron began.

"He'll live," The stranger said. Everyone looked at him in silence. His voice was as quiet as the wind, but as clear as day. Petra felt as though he had been right next to her, whispering into her ear.

His voice could hush crowds with a single word, Petra thought as she tried to take another good look at the man's face.

"B-but that's not possible," Janelle said. Petra's attention snapped toward her. Not possible? How can it not be possible? "These wounds . . . He should've been dead a long-"

"I said he'll live." The man said, his voice now hard as hard as steel.

"Why did you bring him here?" Raymond said harshly.

"What, you want me to take him back?" The man asked coldly - quietly. Raymond lowered his sword, quite taken aback with the man's tone. "My treatments are not as extensive as yours, but I already said: He'll definitely live."

"Janelle, let's hurry," Chiron said. Janelle looked up and nodded as she hurriedly propped Shem up. Raymond bent down quickly to help her as they picked Shem up and placed him on Chiron's back. Chiron looked at Janelle. "You too."

Although she looked unsure, Janelle quickly got onto Chiron's back and the centaur rode quickly back to the Big House.

Now it was just the three of them standing there. Raymond lowered his weapon.

"You'll tell us everything," Raymond said. Petra looked at the man.

"Maybe," The stranger replied, but he seemed only to be talking to Petra. He held out his hand to Petra to shake, but Petra didn't take it.

She was afraid to touch his hand. What memories could he be holding? The man pulled his hand away. She swore she'd seen his face before.

"You didn't kill him." Petra murmured quietly.

"Pet, what are you saying -" Raymond stuttered, but closed his mouth in confusion.

The man looked at her strangely. For a second, the stranger looked as though he wanted to talk to her very desperately, to ask her a question about something important. Was it just his need to do what he wanted or was it something about her? It was hard to tell.

And scarily enough, she believed Shem had been dead at least for a while.

The man smiled as he leaned in close to her. She could feel his breath on her face, but she didn't back away from his presence.

"Oh, but he believes I did."