A/N: Congratulations to ScreamingFerret and Tailgunner21 for the release of 'Odi et Amo' Chapter 3! Oh and solitare_one, thanks for the reviews, all of them. You're the best (^_^). Mood swingy person I am, I am. Sorry for the inconvenience. I'm finally done with the speech! Troubles are over till Monday! Then of course I'll be having another hell week but hey, let's all enjoy the weekend shall we? (^_^)

Chapter 3

Enter Hercules.

After walking around for an hour, trying to go back to the pasture where her brother was with the flock, Helen starts to feel desperate and is in the verge of tears.

'I'm not going to cry. I'm not going to cry. Charon has GOT to be around here somewhere' she keeps on mentally repeating to herself. 'I just have to remember what path I took on the way here'

Abruptly she stops to think for a moment and is suddenly falls flat on the ground.

Dazed, it takes her a while before her vision refocuses.

"Oh, sorry. You shouldn't have stopped the way you did. I could have tripped!" comments the boy whose presence she had almost already forgotten about. He notices her on the ground and his face wrinkles into a frown. He bends down to check on her.

"Are you okay?"

Her eyes become as narrow as slits and her face turns red in anger and annoyance. Picking herself up from the ground, she brushes off the dirt in her clothes and with and amazing display of self control, says through gritted teeth.

"I'm perfectly fine, thank you very much!"

She begins to walk away again and notices that this time the boy does not follow. 'Ah, finally he leaves me alone' she thinks to herself.

"Do you really even know where you are going?" shouts the boy from behind her.

A vein pops out of the little girl's forehead.

"Of course I do." She replies defiantly.

"Oh, okay. I just want you to know that we have passed this same place six times already."

"Oh _really_? And how do to know that?"

"Well, see this tree?" boy gestures to a broken sapling "I hit it with my sword the first time we passed here and well... I've noticed that we keep on passing it again and again and umm..."

"WHAT?"

"You're lost aren't you?"

Helen turns red at the accusation.

"Of.. Of course not!" she stutters out. "Besides, what do _you_ know about these woods anyway?" she adds haughtily.

A small smirk forms in the little boys lips. His blue eyes twinkle with amusement.

"For one thing, I live near here and I've been playing around this forest my whole life(Which is not really that long - pOtHeAd). And, I know every nook and cranny of this place. Our farm is just past that way" he replies and points to the west. At least, what seems to be the west.

As the boy makes his long monologue, Helen's eyes grow bigger and bigger and steam seems to be coming out of her ears.

"Why you..." Helen starts to make her way to the boy with her hands readied to strangle him when..

*SNAP*

Both children's heads turn to the source of the interruption.

"Who's there" the boy shouts to the bushes.

"Come out coward!" Helen by some odd reason has suddenly forgotten her anger as it is replaced by a mixed feeling of fear and curiosity.

A low hissing sound is heard emanating from everywhere. The children back up, closer to each other. From out of the bushes a huge serpent comes out and makes it's way to them. They give out loud gasps. Both of surprise, one of awe, and the other of recognition.

Instinctively, the boy pushes Helen behind him.

"What are you...?" she begins. "Shhh... don't be scared" he whispers to her.

"Who say's I am?"

"I'll take care of this" he replies, not even listening to her.

"But.."

"Shhh..."

Helen rolls her eyes. 'I was going to say that he wasn't going to hurt us stupid!' she thinks to herself before she lets her mind focus on the scene before her. The serpent has halted its approach and raised itself to be at eye level with the boy.

The boy's face contorts into a deep frown. Holding his wooden sword in one hand, he prepares himself for an attack.

The serpent raises his head higher and tilts a bit. It sees the girl behind the boy, bears its fangs and starts to hiss.

Taking this as a sign of aggression, the boy runs to grab its tail. It tries to bite him but the dodges and grabs it's rear end with both hands then proceeds to spins it around and around, over his head. Suddenly, he lets go and lets it fly until it becomes a vanishing point in the horizon.

Helen is awestruck. The serpent must have been _thrice_ as big as the boy but he lifted it up as if it were nothing! Even Charon could not have done that. It takes her a minute to realize that her mouth was agape and she promptly closes it as she sees the boy approaching her.

"Are you okay?" he asks her while returning his sword to its makeshift hilt.

"I... um..." Amazed to find herself at a loss for words, she nods her head as her cheeks turn pink with embarrassment.

"Thank you" she whispers while staring at her sandals.

"You're welcome" he replies.

They stand there in silence for a few moments.

"Look" the boy says with a determined voice. Helen lifts her head up and listens.

"I don't think we started off right. I'm sorry I was acting weird earlier, I'm not just used to seeing people here in the forest. I'm usually alone here you see and well my people skills aren't that great. My mom says I should start making friends more. I do try but once they see how strong I am they usually run way or worse, make fun of me. I'll understand if you won't like me but just for the heck of it, would you mind being my friend?" he smiles hopefully and offers his hand.

'He sounds so sad' Helen thinks to herself. 'I don't like it when people are sad...'

Cautiously, she moves her hand up to shake his. 'I hope I'm not making a mistake.'

The boy positively beams at this gesture and Helen cannot help but smile herself. He gives her a few more enthusiastic shakes before letting her hand go.

"Since we're friends, I think its okay to tell you my name" he declared.

"I'm Hercules"

"I'm Helen" she replies still smiling. 'Gee, this doesn't seem so bad..."

Now that they were friends, Hercules and Helen talk for a while and she finally admits she was lost. He says it was okay because he knew the forest like he knew the back of his hand (Or something like that). On their way out they meet Charon, who has been looking for Helen. He is amused to se that she made a friend and asks Hercules to have dinner with them. Whether he went or not it does not matter because they are finally friends and this scene is finally over! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!