Disclaimer: Troy is property of Warner Brothers. I wish I could own Eric Bana… he could live in my closet… I think…

Reviews REVIEW: Thanks for the reviews, guys!!! Please continue sending your comments! :-) I must admit I didn't like last chapter a lot… and it was kinda short.

Language Note/Summary: Achilles is fighting on the plains of Troy looking for Briseis, who has decided not to go onto the walls, and is instead revealing all to Andromache. However, Helen is a little edgy towards Briseis, for obvious reasons. Achilles' PoV is first, then Briseis', then Andromache, and then Briseis again, with a little dream sequence. Andromache begins to understand Briseis' situation, and Briseis and Achilles are beginning to really regret their actions. I realise that I didn't have much of the character's thoughts last chapter; I have more this time. The quote is from the chapter before, since Achilles didn't say it in last chapter, but he does in this chapter.

Announcements: Just REVIEW!!! Oh, I have Chapter 11 of A Ripple on the Surface up!!! It's Hector and Andromache.

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Dreams of Iris

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"I cannot exist without you. I am forgetful of everything but seeing you again. My life seems to stop there, I see no further. You have absorbed me. I have a sensation at the present moment as though I were dissolving. I have been astonished that men could die martyrs for religion... I have shuddered at it... I shudder no more. I could be martyred for my religion: love is my religion. I could die for that. I could die for you. My creed is love, and you are its only tenant. You have ravished me away by a power I cannot resist."-John Keats

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The other Greeks eyed me with respect and fear, also. What reason is there for them not to be? I had apologised to Eurdonus. If only I could do the same to Briseis.

The armour that I wore felt heavy and suffocating. Heavy? When did my armour become heavy? Patroclus had worn it two days before. He had died because he wore it. Because I did not fight, he had pretended to be me. And Hector had killed him. I did not realise that I was squeezing my spear until I looked down to see my knuckes, as white as ivory.

It felt the same as I entered the battle-field. It did not feel the same once I began to cut down men.

I could spot Hector on my left. He was hacking away at the Greeks on that side. Odysseus was pressing toward him, but not nearing. Because they know that I want to kill him. But do I? Agamemnon was pushing his men, near the center, towards the Trojan flanks, although it seemed to me that if he did that for long, there would be no men of his left. My thoughts were cut short when a Trojan sword clipped my forearm. Blood oozed out of the small wound. But it was a wound all the same. The only blood on me should be the blood of others, the blood of the enemy, not my blood. The Trojan did not live long after that.

Briseis was probably on the walls. She would be watching the battle. She would be watching me. She would be watching me kill her brothers and cousins. What will she think of me? Yet as I looked up and scanned the ramparts, there was no priestess with long, brown locks. There were no witty eyes. There were only eyes watching in fear. By returning to the war, I had increased the morale of the men, and the Trojans' morale was dramatically reduced. You have good reason to fear.

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When the battle started the next morning, I did not go to watch it. Helen did, but Andromache stayed behind to speak with me. I had asked her to stay. An I told her everything, every little detail. From the slaughter at the temple, to Achilles' first words to me, to the things I had said to him in Agamemnon's tent, to when he first kissed me, and everything after, before, and in-between. I want to tell her all of these thoughts inside of me. I want someone to know. I want to let all of these confusing feelings out. All the while, she sat there in her soft green robe, listening. Astyanax was asleep in his cradle.

There was a long silence before she spoke. "Do you regret anything that happened?"

"No… yes. Yes, I do. I regret ever loving him. He doesn't want me."

"He treated you well. You slept with him. He hasn't come to the gates demanding you back, has he?"

"No yet," I murmured. She laughed softly.

"Well, we shall know if he loves you or not by the end of today. Forgive me, I must hurry to the walls. Hector-" she began. But I cut her off.

"No, Andromache, I understand. I need some time to think by myself."

And I did. What did she mean by "We shall know if he loves you or not by the end of today?"

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She looked lost. Torn from her duty to her country, to her love. She might deny it, but Briseis loved Achilles. I doubted that he loved her. How could he? He cared for no one other than himself, Patroclus, and maybe his mother. But Patroclus was dead, his mother, the sea-goddess Thetis was in Pythia, probably worrying herself to death over her son… and there was no one else left. How can a monster like him, one who kills for pleasure, love a woman? How can he love Briseis the way that I love Hector?

But I was not going to be ignorant. At the end of this battle, we would know. If he killed… if he killed Hector, he would care nothing for Briseis. If he cared for her, if he truly loved her, his love would overpower his thirst for revenge and his hatred.

Hector. I could hear voices calling his name inside my head. Hector. I remembered his words from the night before; that if Troy fell, I was to take Astyanax and as many others that I could and flee through the secret tunnel, and run. He had told me this because he thought that Achilles would kill him today.

I had expected Achilles to call for Hector in single combat; but this was not so. Watching from the walls, looking to the dreadful battle below, I expected to see Achilles somewhere near Hector, if not already fighting him; but his was not so. Instead, Achilles was looking and glancing at the walls at every possible moment. Mother of Zeus, he's looking for Briseis!

I thought that I would faint. But I didn't. I made a quick descision. I turned around, and ran to the royal palace, trying not to trip on my robes. If the man-killer wanted to see Briseis, well, I would let him. We would see what his reaction is. And then, Briseis could decide for herself: if he loved her or not.

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The floor was a rich carpet of green grass, each blade perfect. Through the treetops sunlight streamed down. It seemed to be raining flower petals, and strewn across the earth were iris flowers. The scent of the forest ran through my nostrils. This place is beautiful… is it Aphrodite's glade?

"Briseis?" asked a cautious voice.

I recognised that voice. Achilles! I turned around to meet him. He was dressed in his soft blue tunic. But his hair was no longer in strands; someone had ran a comb through it. Suddenly, I felt a pang of envy and jealousy. Why had I not been the one to comb his hair?

"Briseis, I cannot exist without you. I am forgetful of everything but seeing you again. My life seems to stop there, I see no further. You have absorbed me."

I was surprised by these words.

"I have a sensation at the present moment as though I were dissolving. I have been astonished that men could die martyrs for religion... I have shuddered at it... I shudder no more. I could be martyred for my religion: love is my religion. I could die for that. I could die for you. My creed is love, and you are its only tenant. You have ravished me away by a power I cannot resist. I just wanted to say that to you, Briseis."

I reached out to touch him- but my hand passed through.

He seemed to drift away from me, his features fading, away, away, away… into nothing. And then, I was alone. There was no Achilles here in this forest. I was alone. And then, I woke up.

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So, what's gonna happen next??? REVIEW!!! And read A RIPPLE ON THE SURFACE!!!