Midnight had stopped to rest, since his confrontation with the chosen girls he had began feeling tired quicker "Tired?" the term was being thrown around in his mind, finally he decided to stop for the night and so he set up camp lit a fire and began carving a Amazon warning to place at the front of his camp site, when this was done he sat down leaning against a tree and removed a photograph from his pocket, the photograph was of Trudy as she had been just after the tribe gathering, she had been willing for a new photo but Midnight loved the one he had, not that she knew he had it, staring at it he began to wonder what had become of Trudy since he has last seen her
"Probably found her a new man to swoon after till he finds a girl and hurts her." He resolved, the more he thought about her the more his thoughts turned to Brady, the child of his most hated enemies leader and whose name was a mix of Trudy's own and that of his old friend bray, what would become of her if Amber and Brays dream of a better future didn't come to pass, would she grow up like him? Hating everyone and blaming everything on the past, or like Trudy, making her way from day to day on the hope that the next would bring love and peace
"My votes on Trudy!" a voice said from behind him, leaping to his feet he scrambled for his sword only to find it was gone "What could you do with a weapon anyway oh warrior prince, I am immortal after all." The voice said again, Midnight relaxed whoever it was, was only one of the multitudes of Olympians out to make his life even worse "I am not here to cause trouble, merely for company." The voice continued
"A goddess on earth, talking to a warrior for company, that settles it, only one goddess is that confusing… Fortune!" he said spinning to face her, fortune was short and stubby, she wore a dress of the finest satin but it didn't hide the fact she had screwed up so many times, the scars showed, midnight resolved that she had been sat in the tree the whole time he thought and now she was going to taunt him for his thoughts
"Its half my fault your out here warrior prince so why would I taunt you?" She asked,
Midnight fumed "Why call me warrior prince, I am no greater that Hercules, and yet you give him the title of loser?" he asked, fortune shrugged
"I guess because your deeds have been less selfless that Hercules, which appeases the gods more." She replied, Midnight nodded selflessness wasn't one of the Olympians strong points "and before you as the fates and I are to blame for what happened to you during the chosen, we thought you would be better suited in the fight than as a spectator like we are." She continued, Midnight didn't like where fortunes explanation was going, he knew who was to blame for the beatings and humiliation he had suffered during the chosen occupation and it wasn't the fates, "Believe what you will wa… Midnight, but I know the truth!" fortune said, Midnight shrugged before requesting that fortune come down from the tree and share his fire,
As the night waned he began to notice how friendly fortune was compared with the other Olympian gods he had dealings with
"Can I ask you something!" fortune said suddenly, Midnight shrugged he had expected there to be a reason for her visit no matter how he liked her company
"Sure." He replied, fortune shuffled a little before continuing
"If your friend, Zhane, hadn't of been taken from you, do you thing you would still have followed the path you have till now?" she asked, Midnight, who had been ready for a question regarding Trudy or Karone was taken aback, Zhane wasn't a favoured topic with the gods, he still blamed Ares for the battle that had taken zhanes life so this question was one he didn't know if he could answer
"I don't know fortune… if Zhane had not have died I don't think I would have joined the locos which would not have set in motion what happened with the chosen or the mall rats and I would have not met pride or patsy."
Fortune shrugged
"Its a start." she said rubbing her hands together over the fire "What about Trudy? Do you think you would feel for her like you do if Zhane hadn't been taken from you by Celeste." Midnight shrugged
"Probably, but I don't think I'd screw up as much, and besides if Zhane hadn't have been killed I wouldn't have become the hard faced warrior people see today I would only be half hard faced... like that medusa mask Hercules broke." Fortune laughed
"And pride? And the gaian's?" she asked Midnight was starting to see a pattern... did the gods have something planned for Zhane
"Fortune if you're asking me this so I won't freak if you guys do anything to Zhane your wrong, he's dead, can't you leave it at that." he blurted out suddenly, fortune held her hands up ins surrender
"Calm down midnight, I am only making conversation, keeping you company on such a dark night." She said
Midnight sighed "Then I am sorry fortune, it's just that I…" "I understand midnight, Hercules was the same when iolus was taken." Fortune and midnight talked until midnight finally fell to sleep,
Rising to her feet fortune looked apologetically at the form that was her Karovan 'friend' "I am sorry I had to lie to you midnight… see you around sometime." She said before vanishing.
Midnight slept most of the day, as night fell once again Midnights eyes were forced open by someone throwing stones at his face whoever it was seemed to be trying to see if he was dead
"Hey you wake up, are you dead?" a voice asked, Midnight got to his feet but didn't bother going for his weapons he guessed whoever it was had already seen them "No I am not dead, I am very much alive," he said looking around trying to find the owner of the voice "Up here." The voice said, Midnight turned his head to the tree where the previous night fortune had greeted him, now all he saw was a rather scruffy looking girl with what looked like a bat painted on either side of her face, she had long black hair parted into two tight plats at the back of her head, her eyes were the most brilliant chocolate brown Andros had seen since Trudy's
"Who are you, and what business it of your that I am alive or dead?" midnight demanded, the girl seemed offended
"I was worried that's all, you were so still… and we've had a lot of deaths around here, not just of our own tribe." Midnight was curious
"You mean there is a tribe that lives near here… interesting, I thought all the kids either lived on the country near the city or the city itself," The girl laughed
"Then you haven't travelled very far yet have you?" she said jumping down,
"I'm Dakota," said holding out her hand for midnight to shake, as he took it he noticed how cold her skin was,
"Dakota… the name of a native American tribe." Midnight pondered, Dakota smiled
"I'm native American on my mother's side," She explained "shall we walk?" she asked, Midnight shrugged gathering up his weapons and his patchwork blanket he followed Dakota through the trees
"Your tribe live so far from the city, how do you survive?" Midnight asked, Dakota smiled "Life isn't all about survival you know, it is about living in harmony…" "With the basic elements of nature and with the world around us." Midnight finished, he had heard the same speech from pride not one year ago
"You know the teachings of gaia?" Dakota asked, Midnight shrugged
"I know the teachings of pride." He said with a forced laugh
"And who is pride to take the teachings of Gaia and call them his own?" Dakota asked "He is a boy who knows more than any normal boy would." Midnight replied
"And this boy? Do you believe in him? As my kind believe in gaia." Dakota asked, midnight felt the noose tighten around his neck he had got himself tangled into a spiritual discussion, which he knew that he knew little about
"I believe he knows what he's talking about and believes in the way of Gaia, otherwise his tribe wouldn't be called the gaians." Midnight couldn't believe his ears, he'd just acknowledge that he was no longer with the gaian's when he knew he still was… Trudy returning to the mall rats had set that in motion he knew it.
Finally they came to the edge of the forest and there before them laid out like something from medieval times was Dakota's village
"A excellent reproduction of a native American tribe." Midnight complimented Dakota as she led him past the smaller huts, as they passed midnight felt thousands of eyes turn to them and he heard people begin to whisper
"Dakota brought back a warrior from beyond the mountain land." A little girl said happily as she danced around them
"You're a stranger to them, which is a rare thing, we don't get many people from beyond the mountain, you are the third." Dakota said
"Beyond the mountain?" midnight asked but he knew the answer before Dakota replied "The mountain of the eagle." She said, midnight knew it was obvious it was the most well known mountain in tribeworld not just to the rats, as Dakota led midnight in and out the rows of huts and tipi like structures Midnight noticed that each of the elders in the tribe had one of the three main senses missing, touch, sight hearing.
Finally they reached their destination, Dakotas hut was taller than most of the others and instead of being natural wood colour it was decorated with native American symbols, opening the door Dakota invited Midnight inside, once inside Dakota passed Midnight what looked like his old t-shirt back before busying herself calling for what she called the council, to midnight all it looked like was a bunch of native American children who had either painted their hair white or had suffered burns to make themselves look older
"Hello Midnight!" one of the elders said, Midnight spun to face him but all he saw was a haggard boy with a scar across his face
"How do you know my name?" he asked, the boy let out a haggard laugh
"I... that is we know more than just your name..." the boy had begun to answer but was cut off by another of the council
"That does not matter, what matters is Dakota though it a good thing to bring you to us before you carry on your quest to regain yourself." The girl who had cut in said, Midnight opened his mouth to question more but Dakota shook her hair causing her hair to fall free of her plaits,
"when, why who, how, what where." By the meetings end Midnight was so sure he was on trial that he had even refrained from talking to Dakota, and instead left her hut to look around the village.
In her hut Dakota was performing a new beginning ritual.
The next morning Dakota emerged from her hut to find Midnight on the edge of her village fending off what looked like invisible advisers, she was about to call out to him when one of the elders of her tribe approached
"Leave him to his sword my child," the elder whose name was Charles said
"he has demons only he can see, his blade is the only thing that keep them at bay, he trains to stay ahead of them" he continued, Dakota shrugged
"What about them Charles, have you told the other outsiders that he's arrived?" she asked, Charles nodded "He will meet them when they are ready." Charles said
Turning Dakota and Charles headed for a small log cabin at the other end of the village, pulling open the door Charles revealed a young couple sat huddled together on a rug in the middle of the cabin, they were both tall with long blond hair, the boy was dressed in a blue top, a light blue denim jacket, and light blue jeans, the girl was dressed in a similar colour but the difference between them was the girl was dressed in the robes of a monk of sorts, there names were Trip and Jaden,
As Dakota and Charles entered the room Trips grip became tighter on her partner jadens hand, squatting down beside them Charles felt trips forehead
"Don't know what you're looking for Charles there's no change." Jaden said, Charles shrugged
"There's always a chance her fever will let up." He replied, Jaden shook his head,
"I'm not the one whose sick here Charles, not this time, you don't have to sugar coat the truth… and trip can take it." He replied, Charles sighed, lifting trips head so her eyes were facing his he said
"Is that right Trip, do you want honest to zoot truth." At the mention of zoot both Jaden and trip tensed
"Y.y.yes." Trip managed to stutter, Charles sat down beckoning for Dakota to follow suit, once they were both seated Charles began explaining trips condition.
Behind Dakotas hut Midnight was still training, he had been there all night, he didn't know why he'd stayed but something had compelled him to
"Fortune." He hissed, the goddess had openly confessed to thinking he needed company and here he was.
That afternoon Jaden headed out to the clearing behind Dakota's house she had decided to finally confront midnight, to Jaden the boy who stood just a few feet in front of him didn't look like the bloodthirsty vengeful crazed warrior who had taken a piece out of his side back in the city, after standing there for a few moments watching Jaden decided to make his presence known, stepping forward he said "Praise be to zoot."
At this midnight did a full 180 expecting to be confronted by jaffa, the thoughts racing through his mind were of a Olympian set up, it wouldn't be the first time, but the boy who greeted his tired eyes wasn't jaffa… at least not in person, stood before midnight was a young boy who according to ebony had died of a seizure just after nightmare had defeated him, for a few moments the air between the two young ex-locusts was silent and strained but finally midnight spoke
"Jaffa jr." was all he said
"Hello midnight, it's been a while." Jaden replied
"Not long enough, what are you doing so far away from your darling brother?" Midnight asked, his voice full of contempt and hatred
"Looking after his Childs mother to be." Jaden said bluntly, he had hoped midnight would react better but the minuet the words were out of his mouth he knew Midnight's reaction, he strained an evil laugh and turned back to training
"I pity the poor fool, who is she?" he asked, Jaden shrugged
"Trip, who else?" at this midnight did stop
"Wondered what had happened to her, Kern told me she'd passed this way." He said before turning to Jaden who spoke
"Midnight please, I heard what my brother did to you, but I was expecting…"
"Me to care? I don't hit none warriors but if I had faced her the day she struck Trudy she wouldn't be here for you to be bothering me with." Jaden didn't push the subject anymore, he just stood there as Midnight breezed past him
The next day when Dakota rose she found a note by the side of her bed it read Ub Dear Dakota,
Thank you for the shirt and for your hospitality but I must continue on my quest now or Ares knows I never will, but I have a feeling we will meet again.
Yours darkly Midnight Warrior Prince.
After reading it herself Dakota scooped up the note and raced outside, but it was already too late Jaden was sprawled on the ground his face covered in blood
"He tried to stop Midnight from leaving, even asked him to help with Trip." Charles said from behind her, turning Dakota's face dropped
"Hera won't be pleased." She said.
END OF CHAPTER TWO