Woah! Lots of reviews! I do admit that I was wrong about the River Styx. Gods can, in fact break them. As for my main point, the fact of the matter is that the oath of the River Styx just functions differently than magic and magecraft does in fate. Rule Breaker wasn't designed to break an oath like that. This is one of the many things that seperate the Fate and PJO worlds. I am merging very few things between timelines and usually those things either have a weird loophole or involve the Second Magic. Thank you for your understanding.

Chapter 10: A Brief Respite

Dinner was an interesting affair. Heather was flat out ignoring the suspicious glances that Shirou gave her while they talked about random things. If it weren't for Shirou's uptight attitude, it would almost feel like a family dinner.

"So what brings you two here?" Heather finally asked, eyeing shirou expectantly as he ate his mashed potatoes.

"We're just passing through," Shirou answered. "Our real destination is Jamestown."

"Jamestown? Now that's something you don't hear everyday," Heather raised an eyebrow. "What are you looking for there?"

"The history," Shirou replied before Lisa could speak. "It's the first British settlement. I wanted to learn what it's like there. Lisa's my chaperone."

"A bit young for the job," Heather turned her attention to Lisa.

"It's fine," Lisa forced a smile. "I've been having a lot of fun."

"That's good, dear," Heather said. "Do any of you want seconds?"

"Yes please," Lisa replied.

"No thank you," Shirou shook his head politely. "It was really good, but I don't think I can eat anymore."

"Thank you for the compliment," Heather smiled as she placed more mashed potatoes and broccoli on Lisa's plate, which she started to eat heartily.

"Thank you for letting us stay here the night," Shirou dipped his head. "I hope to repay your gratitude someday."

"Oh, don't worry about that," Heather smiled brightly at Shirou. "It's not often I have guests."

Shirou raised an eyebrow as he noticed the smell of the fireplace was overpowering the food. He silently finished his meal, observing Heather in a different light.

They were good children. Heather smiled to herself as she finished washing the dishes. Shirou insisted on helping but she shooed him away. It wasn't often she saw a demigod so polite.

She knew the two had a tense discussion before dinner, but she didn't want to intrude. She wasn't like the others. They were all so nosey. She preferred to stick to her own thing.

"Oh? Can't sleep?" Heather didn't even turn her head. She knew Shirou was sitting at one of the couches.

"I want to thank you for helping us out, Hestia," Shirou replied.

"Helping out? I'm not helping. I'm just offering the hearth's warmth for a night," Hestia said. Gods weren't allowed to assist on quests, but she had to admit, Shirou interested her. When she heard there was a new quest, she kept an eye on him. Such a troubled young boy. She wanted to know more about him. She wanted to comfort him. She joined Shirou at the fireplace, but she sat on another couch.

"Still, it's nice," Shirou said with a small smile. "It reminds me of home."

"Your eyes are old," Hestia pointed out. He looked tired. Aged. Weary. Hestia had never seen those eyes in a child. Even a demigod child.

"I guess they are," Shirou chuckled mirthlessly, his eyes glued to the flickering fireplace. Hestia paused. It was obvious that Shirou didn't want to talk about it, but something was pulling at her to know more. Her curiosity. She wanted to help, but Shirou didn't seem to want the help himself.

"Whatever you are looking for, I hope you find it," Hestia said.

"Thank you," Shirou looked up from the fire and looked into Hestia's eyes. This time, Hestia saw something different. Steel. So much steel. She felt her heart shatter into tiny little pieces. What could have possibly happened for this young child to have such an expression? She wanted nothing more than to run up and comfort the child, but…

"You're welcome," That was all Hestia could say. She couldn't bring herself to do anything else. Was it because of the restrictions of the gods? Was it because of Shirou's expression? Hestia didn't know. For a split second, she saw Shirou as a puzzle to solve. An enigma to piece together. Thankfully, she was able to discard that thought. Shirou wasn't any of those things. He was a child. A troubled child.

"Now off you go. It's getting late," Hestia said. Shirou nodded and went to his room with a simple goodnight. As soon as he had turned the corner, Hestia sunk into her couch. She had to think.

When Lisa opened her eyes, she was in a dark void again. Panic instantly crept into her heart. She knew this was a dream, but there wasn't anything she could do about it.

A soft growl made her jump. She turned to see a lion circling her. She kept her eyes locked on the beast. She didn't have a sword on her, so she could only cautiously gaze at it, trying to anticipate when it would strike. Before it did though, she saw a goat from the corner of her eye. Its eyes were crazed and red. Before long, a snake slithered around her. The three formed an evermoving circle. Lisa was trapped.

Without warning, the snake pounced on her, biting deep into her shoulder. Lisa let out a scream as pain seared from her shoulder to her entire body. She fell over as she lost feeling in her arm, then her torso, then her legs… The three creatures made their way to her, all looking down at her with crimson eyes. Just as they opened their mouths to strike—

"Lisa," Lisa shot out of bed, cold sweat beading down her forehead. She turned to see Shirou looking at her with a concerned expression. She looked past him to see the sun rising. Light cascaded from the window onto her bed. "Lisa, are you okay?"

"Sorry… yeah," Lisa wiped the sweat from her face. "I just had a bad dream."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Shirou asked.

"No… no I'm fine," Lisa shook her head. "Are we still at Heather's house?"

"Yeah," Shirou said. "We just finished making breakfast. We're going to eat and then go. We'll hopefully make it to Jamestown by the end of today."

"That's… that's good," Lisa took a few deep breaths, letting her nerves calm down. She stood up and smiled as Shirou led her out of the room. Waiting for her was an American breakfast of pancakes, bacon, and eggs.

"Good morning, Lisa," Heather said with a warm smile. Lisa was starting to like Heather. She was a little quirky, but she was extremely nice.

"Morning, Heather," Lisa responded as they all sat down. Shirou clasped his hands together and they all started to eat.

"So you're heading out today?" Heather asked. When Shirou nodded, her smile twitched. "As much as I want you to stay, I can't make you."

"We can visit on our way back," Lisa offered.

"That would be wonderful," Heather said before taking a bite of her pancakes.

"Yeah," Shirou agreed. "Jamestown shouldn't be too far."

"I hope everything goes alright," Heather said. "It would be a shame if you got stranded in the woods on the way there."

"It would be," Shirou raised an eyebrow. Lisa just shrugged it off. Heather was quirky. It was fine.

"Well, I wish you luck on your journey," Heather said.

"Thank you," Lisa smiled and nodded before going back to her breakfast. The food was amazing, after all.

"Bye Heather!" Lisa called as she stepped down the stairs and onto the sidewalk.

"Thank you so much for your hospitality," Shirou bowed at the waist.

"I'll hold you to your promise to return," Hestia said before closing the door. Shirou's smile fell as it did. That warning… he was hoping it was nothing, but Hestia was a goddess. He could only hope for the best.

"Now, it should only take a couple hours to get to Jamestown," Shirou said as he held out his hand to hail a cab.

"Yeah," Lisa said. "Let's hope."

Before long, they were in a cab and on a fast track to Jamestown. It wasn't long until they found themselves in another forest. Shirou was on edge. Last time they were in a forest, they were attacked by a griffin.

As they continued to cruise along the empty road, the engine sputtered.

Oh for gods' sake, Shirou thought to himself as the cab pulled over.

"Damn it," The taxi driver muttered as he hit the car before getting out. "Looks like the engine died. Sorry about that, kids."

"It's okay," Shirou said as he handed the taxi driver some money. "May I ask where we are?"

"Somewhere close to Williamsburg. About ten miles away from Jamestown," The driver rubbed the back of his head. "Thank you. Hopefully this will be enough to cover repairs."

"I think we could walk the rest of the way," Shirou looked at Lisa.

"Do we have to?" Lisa whined.

"I don't know," The taxi driver said. "Ten miles is quite far."

"We can handle it, sir," Shirou said. "Thank you."

"Whatever you say," The driver muttered. "Good luck."

"Thank you," Shirou said. With that, he grabbed his map. With a destination in mind, Shirou led Lisa into the forest.

"And we're lost," Lisa grumbled as they waded through the forest of pines. The sun was on its way down the horizon and they were still stuck in the forest.

"We're almost there," Shirou assured her.

"What do you mean?! We'll never get out of this damn forest!" Lisa shouted. It was only after she spoke she realized her language. "Sorry…"

"It's fine, I've heard the others say worse," Shirou shrugged. Lisa couldn't help but sigh. The Ares kids were always a bunch of pottymouths.

"Well, do you know how to get out of here?" Lisa asked. Shirou dug into his pocket and took out a compass. "Where'd you get that? And you couldn't have used it sooner?"

"Magic," Shirou deadpanned as he looked at it and turned. "Alright, it's this way."

Lisa had no idea how to read a compass, so the only thing she could do was trust Shirou's judgment.

"Do you know how long it will take?" Lisa asked. Shirou just shook his head as he glanced at the map and compass one more time.

"Well that's just great," Lisa grumbled. She was already exhausted from walking so much. She didn't know how long she had to subject herself to this.

That was when Shirou stopped. Even Lisa felt the shift in air. She couldn't describe the feeling. It was… unnatural. She felt like she was being watched. No… it was worse than that. It felt like she was being stalked. Like a predator saw her as nothing but prey.

"Get close to me," Shirou said. Lisa instantly rushed over to Shirou's side as celestial bronze swords formed around them in a circle. They flew out into the distance. There was a pained cry as two chimera revealed themselves, the one facing Lisa having a scar on the lion's face.

Lisa looked at the three-headed monster before her and had but a single thought.

So this is why my dreams were trying to warn me of.

Thank you all so much for getting this story to 1,000 follows! Numbers aren't really the main focus of my writing, but this is still a huge milestone for me. I'm so grateful to you all for making this possible. Please do consider leaving a review! I would love to read and reply to your thoughts. Also please join my Discord! I would love to talk to you all and answer all your questions! I talk a lot about my thought process while writing, so if you're interested in that, do consider joining. The url is discord . gg (forego the spaces) followed by a slash and CpVs7R8KXz. Unfortunately you'll have to type the rest of the url in manually because I'm not allowed to post links. If you want to read chapters as soon as they're finished along with a slew of other benefits, check out my Patron at pat reon dot com slash kfpisnotacult. They've already read up to chapter 17. Thank you for reading and I'll catch you on the flipside.